The production control analyst is responsible for making sure that batch workloads run to completion— without error or delay.

Some mainframe installations run interactive workloads for online users, followed by batch updates that run after the prime shift when the online systems are not running. While this execution model is still common, worldwide operations at many companies— with live, Internet-based access to production data— are finding the "daytime online/night time batch" model to be obsolete. Batch workloads continue to be a part of information processing, however, and skilled production control analysts play a key role.

A common complaint about mainframe systems is that they are inflexible and hard to work with, specifically in terms of implementing changes. The production control analyst often hears this type of complaint, but understands that the use of well-structured rules and procedures to control changes— a strength of the mainframe environment— helps to prevent outages. In fact, one reason that mainframes have attained a strong reputation for high levels of availability and performance is that there are controls on change and it is difficult to introduce change without proper procedures.