How to schedule an operation

Scheduling an operation is similar to creating any other record:

1. Select in the Command Center to display the Scheduled Operations module:

   

2. On the Operations tab enter a descriptive name for the operation in the Name: (Operation) field.
3. Select the type of operation to be performed from the Type: (Operation) drop list.

   By default, there are three types of operation to choose from:

   • Delete

     Delete a series of IRNs from a module.

   • Image Import

     Import images from a directory into the Multimedia module.

   • Merge

     Merge one or more records with a Target record in a module.

     Note: System Administrators may define additional operations as required. See How to create an additional type of Scheduled Operation for details.

4. In the Module: (Operation) field, select the module in which the operation is to be performed.

   Note: When scheduling an Image Import it is not necessary to specify a module as emultimedia (the Multimedia module) is implicit to the operation (images are imported into the emultimedia table).

5. In the Execution group of fields specify the time that the operation will be executed. There are two options:
   • At A Specified Time

     With this option selected it is possible to specify a Run Date and Run Time for the operation to commence its processing. This allows operations to be run outside of normal business hours or at the weekend.

     Note: A date and time specified here is the earliest that the operation will be run. The actual time at which an operation is run will depend on when the emuoperations script is scheduled to run: emuoperations is the script used to execute an operation that has been scheduled in a record in the Schedule Operations module. When emuoperations is run, it looks for any operations that were scheduled to run prior to the current date and time and commences them. Thus, if emuoperations is scheduled to run once per day, it will commence any operation scheduled to run in the previous 24 hours (in theory an operation could have been scheduled to run 23 hours and 59 minutes earlier). If emuoperations is to be run once per day, it probably makes sense therefore to schedule operations close to the time at which emuoperations is run. Alternatively, emuoperations can be run at various times throughout the day.

   • Immediately

     With this option the operation will commence as soon as the record is saved.

   

6. In Notify: (Completion Notification) attach the Parties record for anyone who is to be notified by email when the scheduled operation has completed.

   Note: Email notifications will only be received by parties added to the Notify: (Completion Notification) table if their Parties record includes a valid email address in the Email: (Internet Details) field.

   Job Status: (Execution) indicates that the operation is waiting to be run, or that it has been run and is complete. Note that if an operation terminates unexpectedly, the status will remain as Run until the operation is restarted and it completes.