SCMABOX: Schedule Manager: Generic Cover for Starting Any Reports

The SCMABOX report is a report which allows you to start any report from the Schedule Manager or Financial Closing Cockpit application.

Description

As of Release 4.6A, the ‘Schedule Manager’ is available. This is a tool that displays all periodic processing on one interface. Since you may also work with non-SAP programs and transactions, you can also integrate your own programs and transactions in the Schedule Manager and Financial Closing Cockpit (see Note 325118).

To do this, you must change the source codes of all the programs. This may be too time consuming or too difficult. Nevertheless, you want to schedule a certain program using the Schedule Manager or Financial Closing Cockpit (you may use it in flow definitions) and to monitor its completion using the Schedule Manager or Financial Closing Cockpit.

Solution

You can start the SCMABOX program in three different ways:

Starting the program in the same job

The main program starts the required report in its job and calls the Schedule Manager or Financial Closing Cockpit.

Advantage:
Technically, only one background process is used, and the system directly displays the spool list and the job log with the job (in the monitor entry).

Disadvantage:
If the job terminates, flow definitions can no longer have a defined end.

Starting a new job and waiting for the end:

The main program calls the Schedule Manager or Financial Closing Cockpit, starts a new background job and monitors its completion.

Advantage:
If the report that you started terminates, the main program can respond in a ‘defined’ way, and the system issues a message in the flow definition.

Disadvantages:
Two background processes are used, and the system does not directly display the job log and the spool list of the report you started in the monitor. However, you get the information, which spool number has been generated and you can display the list by navigating, for example, to ‘Environment -> Job Management’.