AS/400 or also called as JDA is the database application user in my organization.
JDA is a scripting language that was created by IBM, an IBM platform reassembled to handle job controlled language.
JDA Language includes C, C++, Pascal, Java, COBOL...etc , this data base handles different features such as Kronos to punch in Time attendance, calculate overtime hours and holiday hours , it also handles and control the printing activities for jobs submitted via the JDA Server , jobs either submitted directly from the POS (point of sale controller ) that runs 4690 OS ,there reports generates from different locations after collecting data , whether its sales , quantity , units received , or units sold. A programming command sends the info to the server requesting it to either release, stop or place a job on hold the reports in queue. Printers communicate with JDA server using IPDS chip that’s added to the printer. “Intelligent Printer Data Stream (IPDS) is IBM’s Systems Application Architecture host-to-printer data stream for Advanced Function Presentation subsystems. It provides an attachment-independent interface for controlling and managing all-points-addressable (APA) printers that allows the presentation of pages containing an architecturally unlimited mixture of different data types, including text, image, graphics, bar code, and object container. It is used by a variety of IBM and OEM print servers that drive all-points-addressable (APA) page printers. Generally these printers are at the medium to high end of the print speed and volume spectrum. “ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPDS
The performance of jobs are pretty slow, adding faster servers with more speed can improve this. When multiple jobs are submitted at the same time and from different locations the queue tend to back up , causing jobs to stack up , and delaying print outs , it becomes a first come first server base