Thanks

The batch job does create a file for each transaction it has processed. I was going to have the check process take a copy of this at certain points and count how many records had completed at that point. The idea is that if the batch job seems to have stopped or slowed dramatically the check process will place a call to the overnight operator's monitor alerting them to a potential fault.

Both the fork and sleep ideas sound good - but I'm going to have to learn about fork! Thanks for your help.

elbow