Handling Task Errors (Using the Workflow Inbox)

When the System Encounters an Error

When the system encounters an error while executing a task (either scheduled or manually run), the system does several things:

• Sends email to a specified email distribution list (as specified in the task schedule).

• (In most cases) Generates a workflow task, and assigns the task to the applicable workflow role (as specified in the task schedule).

• Updates the display within Business Scheduler to indicate the error condition.

• Updates the display of the associated recipe or snapshot to indicate the error condition.

First Steps

The first step is to claim ownership of the problem and determine its cause, as follows:

1. Click the Workflow Inbox icon.

2. Click Unassigned.

   The system displays a list of the unassigned tasks.

3. Click the task to display its details.

4. Click Accept. This assigns the task to you.

5. Optionally type a note into the Comment field and click Save.

6. Then see Addressing a Task.

Viewing the Workflow Inbox

The Workflow Inbox shows all the workflow tasks. To display it:

1. Click the Workflow Inbox icon in the application menu. The system initially displays all tasks assigned to you, within the searchable task list.

2. Optionally click any of the following options, to display a different set of tasks:

   • All displays all tasks, for all roles, showing both incomplete tasks and completed tasks.

   • My Tasks displays tasks assigned to any of the roles that you belong to.

   • Unassigned displays any unassigned tasks.

   • Completed displays all completed tasks.

   • My Completed displays all completed tasks assigned to any of the roles that you belong to.

3. Optionally type into the search bar above the task list. The system then displays only the tasks whose text contains a match for your search string.

When you click a task, the system displays details for that task.

Addressing a Task

To address a workflow task, first assign the task to yourself. Read the message to determine what the error is and how you plan to correct it. For example, you may need to do any of the following:

• Ensure that the file to be loaded has the correct filename pattern and exists in the correct location (in the case of recipes involving a file-based data source).

• Correct the data being loaded (for example, if a value is out of range is or is the wrong type). This may involve making a correction in a source system.

• Reimport a schema, if the new data does not match the schema in the system.

• Adjust a schema (changing data types or required fields, for example).

• Adjust a step in a recipe.

• Adjust the query used by a snapshot.

Then, depending on the kind of underlying activity, you may have some or all of the following options within the workflow task:

• Abort—Halts the task without retrying it.

  Once you have aborted a task, you cannot retry it.

• Retry—Retries the task. This is suitable if the data has been corrected or if a missing file has been made available. It is not useful if you have made changes to a schema or to a recipe.

• Retry All with New Version—Retries the task with the new version of the recipe, considering new versions of the failed activity and of any later activities. The system will retry the recipe from the point where it failed, using the updated version of that activity and updated versions of any subsequent activities.

• Retry Failed Activity with New Version—Retries the task with the new version of the recipe, considering only the new version of one activity in the recipe. The system assumes that the new activity is the one where the failure occurred, and it will retry the recipe from the point where it failed, using the updated version of that one activity. It uses the original version of any other activities in the recipe.

Relinquishing a Task

If a task is assigned to you and another person should address the task instead of you, you should relinquish the task so that the other person can accept it. To relinquish a task:

1. Display the task.

2. Click Relinquish.

The task immediately becomes unassigned. If the task had a comment, the comment is removed. Now another person can accept the task.

See Also

• Scheduling and Running Tasks