The JOB statement is the first statement in a JCL job and is used to identify the job to the operating system. It provides essential information such as the job name, accounting information, and various job-level parameters.

• Job Name: A unique identifier for the job.
• Accounting Information: Used for tracking resource usage.
• Job Parameters: Control job execution, such as priority and time limits.

The basic syntax of a JOB statement is as follows:

1. JOBNAME: A unique name for the job, up to 8 characters.
2. JOB: Keyword indicating the start of a job statement.
3. (accounting_info): Optional, used for resource tracking.
4. 'job_description': Optional, a brief description of the job.
5. parameters: Optional, various parameters to control job execution.

Here is a simple example of a JOB statement:

• MYJOB01: The job name.
• (12345): Accounting information.
• 'Sample Job': A description of the job.
• CLASS=A: Specifies the job class.
• MSGCLASS=X: Specifies the output class for messages.
• MSGLEVEL=(1,1): Controls the level of messages produced.

Here are some commonly used parameters in the JOB statement:

Let's create a more detailed JOB statement with additional parameters:

• FINANCE01: The job name.
• (ACCT123): Accounting information.
• 'Finance Report': A description of the job.
• CLASS=B: Specifies the job class B.
• MSGCLASS=H: Specifies the output class H for job messages.
• MSGLEVEL=(2,0): Produces detailed messages.
• TIME=1440: Allows the job to run for up to 1440 minutes (24 hours).
• REGION=4M: Allocates 4 megabytes of memory to the job.

Create a JOB statement for a job named PAYROLL01 with the following requirements:

• Accounting information: PAY123
• Description: Payroll Processing
• Job class: C
• Message class: Y
• Message level: (1,0)
• Maximum CPU time: 720 minutes
• Memory allocation: 8M

• Job Name Uniqueness: Ensure the job name is unique within the system to avoid conflicts.
• Parameter Syntax: Double-check the syntax of parameters to avoid errors.
• Resource Limits: Be mindful of resource limits (TIME, REGION) to prevent job failures.

The JOB statement is a crucial part of JCL, providing essential information to the operating system about the job. Understanding its structure and parameters is fundamental for creating effective JCL jobs. In the next topic, we will explore the EXEC statement, which specifies the program or procedure to be executed by the job.