Scheduler

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The scheduler allows Blue Prism to execute processes at specified times and repeat their execution at various intervals. The scheduler runs as part of a configured Blue Prism Server Service, which has access to the Blue Prism environment and the processes held on it.

Schedules run as a background process waiting for the next schedule activation time and then executing any schedules due to run at that time. The schedule activation times are interpreted using the time zone configured for a particular schedule.

The following diagram shows an example of a schedule workflow:

Example Schedule - Click for a larger image

For details on how to configure the scheduler, see Scheduler configuration.

For troubleshooting information, see Troubleshooting - Scheduler.

Schedules

A schedule represents the point of execution of a set of tasks. Each schedule is self-contained and contains various data, such as name and description, timing data and a set of tasks to perform.

When a schedule is executed, its initial task is executed first and the subsequent tasks to perform are determined based on the outcome of that task. Thus, the tasks within a schedule are executed serially.

A schedule cannot be executed concurrently with itself. For example, if a schedule starts at 12:00 GMT and is scheduled to run again at 13:00 GMT, if at 13:00 GMT the schedule is still running, it will not be executed again.

Schedules are created in Control Room using the Schedules element. They can be configured to run once or be repeated at minutely, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or yearly intervals. Calendars can be used to set schedules to run only on working days, skipping specific certain weekdays and/or public holidays.

Tasks

A task represents a component of a schedule. It defines a set of sessions which are to be executed concurrently and it provides a combined status outcome of those sessions so that the scheduler can determine which task to execute next.

A session is a top level process which runs on a runtime resource. Each task can contain an arbitrary number of sessions. When the task is executed, each session is first created and, once they are all registered and pending on their host resources, they are executed.

Tasks are configured in Control Room using the Tasks element.