END returns to the previous RELATED process level and continues operation. CANCEL returns to the DETACHED process level and continues operation. This may sound very similar but are actually quite different. A simplified answer is that END terminates the current process and goes back one level, while CANCEL terminates the current process and may go back more than one level.

For example, when a report is selected from a menu it may start a job that has several steps. It may contain an input that asks for a date range, a query that will select and sort records based on that date range, a disposition to direct the report to the desired device, and an output that actually creates the report. In this case the menu is the parent of the job, which is considered DETACHED since creating the report is not dependent on any information received from the menu. The input, query, disposition, and output steps of the job are RELATED, since the task depends on successful completion of each step.

If you are on the disposition screen and you decide that you want to terminate the report you must decide whether to press END or CANCEL. If END is pressed, then the disposition is terminated and control is returned to the RELATED level, or the job, and processing continues. In this case the output would then run, creating the report that you thought you were exiting. On the other hand, if CANCEL is selected the disposition is terminated and control is returned to the DETACHED level, or the menu. This skips any remaining RELATED steps of the job, giving the desired results.