he 
 start of partitioned step processing. The method 
 returns a PartitionPlan, which specifies the batch properties 
 for each partition.</div>
<dl>
<dt><span class="returnLabel">Returns:</span></dt>
<dd>partition plan for a partitioned step.</dd>
<dt><span class="throwsLabel">Throws:</span></dt>
<dd><code><a href="http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/Exception.html?is-external=true" title="class or interface in java.lang">Exception</a></code> - is thrown if an error occurs.</dd>
</dl>
</li>