Advanced Job Scheduler

Hourly jobs on IBM i?

Many of my recent backend projects involve pulling data from an API and inserting it into a database or emailing reports. These tasks, often related to EDI and e-commerce, typically run as Node.js applications executed by a CL program. To process orders efficiently, these programs need to run every hour—or even more frequently.

The default Job Scheduler on IBM i (accessed via WRKJOBSCDE) allows administrators to execute commands daily, weekly, or monthly.

This standard scheduler offers limited options. In the past, I’ve seen workarounds like creating multiple scheduled entries or writing complex CL programs. With my Linux background, I prefer CRON jobs, which easily handle specific intervals for recurring tasks.

5770-JS1: IBM’s Advanced Job Scheduler

The Advanced Job Scheduler (licensed program 5770-JS1) has been available since IBM i v7r2. It requires a separate license and installation. You can access it via WRKJOBJS or add a job with ADDJOBJS.

The ADDJOBJS screen shares many fields with the standard scheduler, but with a critical difference: it supports minute-based intervals. I can now schedule my Node.js applications to run hourly without any workarounds.

If you are running recurring integrations on IBM i and have not looked at the Advanced Job Scheduler, it is worth the license cost just to eliminate the scheduling hacks.