by dick scherrer » Sat May 17, 2008 9:15 pm
Hello,
Often, both are done by the same group. There is no "standard" definition, so this is quite organization specific.
Production Control (PC) was the name often used for the group/dept when there was a group that was between the users and Computer Operations. Users brought process requests to PC to stage and pass to operations. PC performed job scheduling (with or without the use of scheduling software). When output was produced by the computer room, the CS verified that the job was correct and passed the output back to the users (either by delivery or a "mailbox" arrangement. Files to be sent to other companies, the gov't, etc were logged and sent by the PC. This is only a brief view of what functions PC performed. When PC was first begun all jobs were batch jobs. There was no online at all.
Production Support (PS) often includes the functions that remain from "the old days" as well supporting the online environments. Online and batch problems are routed to PS. In many organizations, Production Support also performs emergency repair rather than calling developers.
Hope this helps,
d.sch.