batch jobs are run mainly in the

background of an application, no user

interaction is required its all a
predefined process flow without any
interruption from the user. while
online jobs are run in the foreground,
that is user input is required for the
process in the job, at as many steps
requried depending upon the
application. for example when a user
makes an ATM transaction he/she 's
actually running the foreground
processes, the calculation of balance
amounts deductions, discounts,
refunding, interest calculation saving
the transaction record in the main
storage area etc etc etc are the
background jobs or the batch
processes.
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BATCH PROCESSING-
Batch processing is execution of a
series of programs (" jobs") on a
computer without manual
intervention.
Batch jobs are set up so they can be
run to completion without manual
intervention, so all input data is
preselected through scripts or
command-line parameters. This is in
contrast to "online" or interactive
programs which prompt the user for
such input. A program takes a set of
data files as input, processes the
data, and produces a set of output
data files. This operating
environment is termed as "batch
processing" because the input data
are collected into batches of files and
are processed in batches by the
program.
Benefits
Batch processing has these benefits:
It allows sharing of computer
resources among many users
and programs.
It shifts the time of job
processing to when the
computing resources are less
busy.
It avoids idling the computing
resources with minute-by-minute
manual intervention and
supervision.
By keeping high overall rate of
utilization, it better amortizes the
cost of a computer, especially an
expensive one.