What is a job type?

This topic applies to ArcEditor and ArcInfo only.

Job types provide a way to categorize your work and processes. Although all jobs differ in some ways, there are usually commonalities that can be extracted and standardized. Job types allow you to group similar types of work together. In doing this, you provide templates for each unit of work you manage, making the creation and execution of that work more efficient.

By defining properties and components that are consistent throughout all jobs of a specific type, you will reduce preparation time significantly. WMX also opens up the possibility for easily querying metrics, as job comparison is much simpler for tasks that started out exactly the same.

In standardizing the way work is done, your users will become more efficient at their tasks. Once all jobs are streamlined into a few discrete types, it may also be possible to extract components or tasks that can be automated.

Basic job type properties

All job types have basic descriptive information. Some of these properties are exposed to the end user in the client application. You can use some of these properties to better organize your job types.

Basic properties of all job types.

• Job Type Name: When you create new jobs in the system, you can view the names of job types configured in the system that you can access.
• Job Type ID: This value is automatically populated when the job type is created. It can be useful to know this value for queries, some custom steps, or your own custom development.
• Category: For organizational purposes, you can specify a category. The job types will be grouped by this value in the job types list in the Workflow Manager Administrator.
• Description: A description of the job type.
• State: Only active job types are displayed in the Create Jobs dialog box. Other states include Draft and Retired.
• Extended Properties: In the Application, when this type of job is being viewed, the extended properties (1-1) tab will be named what is entered here.
• Related Properties: In the Application, when this type of job is being viewed, the related properties (1-M) tab will be named what is entered here.

Change the name of the Extended Properties tab names through the job type.