To run a report, you must tell the system when and where you want the report to run. For example, you might tell the system to run the report on the database server at midnight or on a Microsoft Windows server every Sunday afternoon, or you might tell it to run the report immediately. For most reports, you must also set parameters that determine the content of the report, such as the business unit or time period on which to report.

A run control is a database record that provides values for these settings. Instead of entering the same values each time you run a report, you create and save a run control with those settings. The next time that you run the report, you select the run control, and the system completes the settings.

You can create run controls that apply to several related reports. For example, suppose that all of the reports that you run at the end of a month require the same parameters: business unit, department, and from and to dates. You can create a single run control that provides values for these parameters and use it for every report.

Conversely, you can create several run controls for the same report to manage different situations. For example, you can create one run control that sets the parameters for a quarterly report and another run control that sets them for a year-to-date version of the same report. Each time that you run the report, you select the appropriate run control. This way, you can print several variations of the same report without changing the settings every time.

A run control ID is used as a key (with a user ID) for records that contain the parameters that a process needs at runtime. Storing the parameters in a table that the process can query using the run control ID and user ID enables the process to run without user intervention.

The PeopleTools Run Control table stores information that is required by PeopleSoft Process Scheduler, such as output type, format, distribution, file dependency, and destination. The application run control table stores information that is required to run a process, such as the from date, department ID, employee ID, and so on. All application run control tables are keyed by user ID and run control ID.

Information gathered from Understanding Run Control IDs from Oracle's PeopleBooks.

1. After navigating to the desired tile or navigation item, the process' search page displays.
2. If you are a first-time user of this process, you must create a Run Control ID specific to this process. The steps are as follows:
   1. Select the Add a New Value tab to create a new Run Control ID and select the Add button.
   2. Do not include spaces in your Run Control; you will receive a message, "Invalid Run Control ID. (65,33) The entered Run Control ID is not valid. Because this field is passed as a single parameter, it cannot contain embedded spaces."
   3. Run Control IDs cannot be deleted except for in Finance (see examples below).
   4. We encourage the Run Control ID to have the same process naming convention but unique to the step; therefore, including your institution code and a  short process description in the Run Control ID is recommended.

1. Choose the Find an Existing Value tab.
2. Enter an existing Run Control ID into the Run Control ID field. If you are unsure of the exact Run Control ID name, select an option from the drop down menu before the Run Control ID field.
3. Select Search to reuse the Run Control ID specific to this process if you have already run it.
   1. Ensure that you select the appropriate Run Control ID from the available search results.