Control-M Job Dependencies and Prerequisites | Generated by AI
In BMC Control-M, if you want Job B to start only after Job A has finished successfully (the most common requirement), here are the most common and recommended ways to do it:
1. Prerequisites (In-Condition) – Most Popular & Recommended Method
- Open Job A (the predecessor).
- Go to the Post-Processing tab → Add On-Do Actions → Add Condition.
- Create an outgoing condition, for example:
- Condition name:
A-OK - Date: ODAT (or a specific cyclic date if needed)
- Add (this creates the condition when Job A ends OK)
- Condition name:
- Open Job B (the successor).
- Go to the General or Prerequisites tab → In-Conditions.
- Add a prerequisite condition:
- Condition name:
A-OK - Date: ODAT
- And/Or: (leave as default)
- Condition name:
Now Job B will wait until A-OK condition exists → Job B becomes eligible to run.
This is the standard and most flexible way in Control-M.
2. Order Jobs in the Same Folder/Smart Folder (Simple, but less flexible)
If both jobs are in the same Smart Folder or regular Folder:
- Open the folder in the Planning domain.
- In the Job Sequence or just drag & drop the jobs so that:
- Job A is above Job B
- Right-click the connection line between A and B → make sure it says “Complete” (not “Not OK”).
- Or simply select both jobs → right-click → Order → Job B will automatically wait for Job A to finish OK.
This automatically creates the A-OK → B prerequisite behind the scenes.
3. Using “Run After” in Job Definition (Control-M 9.0.20+ / Control-M Automation API)
In newer versions, when editing Job B, you can directly add:
- Scheduling tab → Run After → select Job A → “After completion”
Very intuitive, does the same as method 1.
4. If you want Job B to run even if Job A fails (rare)
Use two conditions from Job A:
- On OK → add condition
A-OK - On NOTOK → add condition
A-NOTOK
Then on Job B add both conditions with OR logic.
Quick Example Summary
Job A (any type)
Post-Processing → Add Condition:
A-OK ODAT Add
Job B (any type)
Prerequisites → In-Condition:
A-OK ODAT And/Or: (blank)
That’s it — Job B will start automatically as soon as Job A ends OK.
This works in all versions of Control-M (Desktop, CCM, Workbench, and Control-M Web). Let me know your Control-M version if you need screenshots or the exact menu names!