Configure batch tasks

On the Batch tasks tab of the Batch Processing page you can complete any of the following actions.

Create or edit a batch task

Select Administration > Application Setup > Common Setup > Batch Processing.
Select the Batch Tasks tab and complete one of the following:
- New — Click Tap New to create a new batch task.
- Edit — Select a batch task and click tap Edit to copy it.
Enter or edit an Action Name.
In Sequence Number, enter or edit the order to process the task. If blank, the tasks are processed in the order they are entered.
Select the Action Type of task.
Enter Parameter String.
To add more tasks, click Insert a New Row.
To remove tasks:
1. Click Delete this Row.
2. Click Yes to confirm.
Click Save and Return.

See Specific information regarding Scheduling tasks and Specific information regarding Forecasting tasks for descriptions of particular tasks and supported parameters.

Specific information regarding Scheduling tasks

For Scheduling tasks, define a parameter with the following format without any space in the definition:

/parameter name:parameter value

You can include spaces between two parameters.

The following table provides general information on the parameter strings for Scheduling tasks.

If /w, /offset and /duration are not specified the engine is run for the next week (/w:1).

Parameter	Mandatory	Definition	Notes or examples
/offset:<number of days>	No	Day to start the batch event	/offset:-1 is yesterday. /offset:0 is today. /offset:1 is tomorrow.
/W:<number of weeks>	No	Week to start the batch event	/W:1 is next week. /W:-1 is the previous week. Note: When his parameter is specified, /offset and /duration parameters are ignored.
/duration:<number of days>	No	Day to stop the batch event	/duration:5 is five days from today.
/organizations:”location”	Yes	Organizational location where the batch event runs	The organizations parameter must have at least one job/location defined. You can define multiple jobs/locations as needed. Add a comma to separate two jobs or locations. Do not add any space before or after the comma. To run the engine for a single job: /organizations:”Organization 1/Location A/Job 2” To run the engine for a single node of the business structure: /organizations:”Organization 1/Location A” To run the engine for multiples nodes (or at a higher node level): /organizations:”Organization 1/Location A/Job 1”,”Organization 1/Location A/Job 2” /organizations:”Organization 1/Location A”,”Organization 1/Location B”
/procedureset:”<name>”	No	Procedure set that the PSE uses during the batch event	Only for the Priority Scheduling Engine /procedureset:”Assign Critical Shifts First”
/Split	No	The location type the system will schedule batch tasks for	The split parameter value is the Name of the location type in the business structure. /split:"site" When the split parameter is present, each location type within the defined organization will be considered separately. New batch tasks will be created for each location type defined. If multiple organizations are specified in the organizations parameter, each location is processed separately. If /organizations:"/Org/Division" /split:"site" is defined, the system will create separate batch tasks for each site under the location /Org/Division and schedule them in the batch queue. The engine will not be run for the original batch task. Note: If there is no location of the type specified in the split parameter under the location specified in the organizations parameter, the initial batch job taks is run as if the split parameter was not defined. If the location type defined in the split parameter does not exist at all the engine does not run.
/filter	No	The prefix of the strategies the system will schedule batch tasks for	The filter parameter must be used with the split parameter. When the split parameter is applied, the filter parameter is used to further narrow the scope of the created batch tasks. The filter parameter is a prefix that for the set of strategies that apply to the locations defined in the split parameter. /filter:"XYZ" If there are many strategies that correspond to the prefix specified in the filter parameter, the system will consider the first one in alphanumerical order. The system looks at strategies in the following order: Strategies directly assigned to the locations, Strategies inherited from the parent nodes Note: If there are no strategies that correspond to the specified prefix in the filter parameter, the strategy selected in the Action Name will be applied. If the split parameter is not specified the filter parameter is ignored.
/H	No	Filter by primary job.	/H is true. Blank (default) is false.
/O	No	Override unlocked shifts.	/O is true. Blank (default) is false.

You can use these parameters in combination.

Examples:

/offset:4 /duration:2 /organizations:"Organization/Division 2/Super Store/Shoes Department/Sandals" /PROCEDURESET:"Assign Only"
/offset:4 /duration:1 /organizations:"Organization 1/Location A/Job 1"
/offset:0 /duration:3 /organizations:"Organization 1/Location A/Job 1","Organization 1/Location A/Job 2"
/offset:7 /duration:7 /organizations:"Organization 1/Location A"
/offset:1 /duration:14 /organizations:"Organization 1/Location A","Organization 1/Location B"
When the batch task is configured with the following command line:
/w:0 /organizations:"Organization/Division" /split:"department" /filter:"XYZ" and with “DefaultStrategy” as Action Name.
- The system will automatically schedule new batch tasks for every location of type "department" under the location "Organization/Division".
- For each department, the system will look first for the strategies that have names beginning with “XYZ” (“XYZ….”) and that apply to that department, then select the first one, in an alphanumerical order.
- If such a strategy does not exist, the system considers the “DefaultStrategy” Action Name.
- The engine will be run for the current week.

The Scheduling batch tasks are defined as follows:

Batch task name	User-Configurable?	Batch Action Type	Description
SCHEDULING_BACKGROUND_PROCESSING	No	Scheduling background processing	Generic task used to leverage the Background Processing Framework, but can represent multiple kinds of processing
SCHEDULING_KPI	No	Scheduling KPI Processor	Processes a set of stale or missing scheduling KPI Data
SCHEDULING_PATCHER	No	Scheduling DB patch executor	Used to run specific database patches
PSE_ENGINE	Yes See parameters in Step 6 above	Priority Scheduling Engine	Used to run the Priority Scheduling Engine
REQUEST_SUBMISSION	No	Employee Visibility period maintainer	Periodically refreshes the employees associated with each of the defined employee visibility periods
SCHEDULE_BUILDER	No	Schedule Builder	Rolls out the schedule patterns of all employees, schedule groups and employment terms
SCHEDGEN	Yes See parameters in Step 6 above	Schedule Generator	Used to run the Schedule Generator
TEAM_DEFINITION	No	Team definition maintainer	Periodically refreshes the employees associated with each of the defined teams

Specific information regarding Forecasting tasks

Consolidated batch tasks allow the system to calculate volume or labor totals at the site level every time data or configurations on the levels below a site is changed. Consolidated batch tasks are automatically triggered upon:

Execution of an import, update or create REST API.
Update to a forecasting configuration, for example, volume driver assignments.

Consolidated data might be missing if the batch is running for the root location that has child locations with different start day of weeks.

We recommend expanding the period during a manual running of the batch to cover the entire range. You can have separated batches for regions or union rules (stores) with different start day of weeks.

The Forecasting batch tasks are defined as follows:

Batch task name	Parameters	Batch Action Type
CONSOLIDATE_ACTUAL_VOLUME	/S - Start Date (required). Any valid date. Does not need to be the start of the forecast week. /E - End Date (required). Any valid date. Does not need to be the end of the forecast week. /A - As-Of Date (optional). Any valid date. Used for category validation/retrieval/receipt. If omitted, then the end date is used for consolidation. /F - Date Format (optional). Batch is processed by using the specified date format. Otherwise the date of the user's locale policy is used. /W - Week Offset from Current Week (optional). Default value is next week (/W1). (Note that /W indicates the current week, /W2 the week after next, /W-1 last week, and /W-2 the week before last.) Examples: /S 04/19/2020 /E 4/25/2020 /A 04/25/202 /F MM/dd/yyyy	Consolidate Actual Volume
CONSOLIDATE_LABOR_BUDGET		Consolidate Labor Budget
CONSOLIDATE_LABOR_FORECAST		Consolidate Labor Forecast
CONSOLIDATE_VOLUME_BUDGET		Consolidate Volume Budget
CONSOLIDATE_VOLUME_FORECAST		Consolidate Volume Forecast
CONSOLIDATE_EARNED_HOURS		Consolidate Earned Hours
CONSOLIDATE_LABOR_CONSTRAINT		Consolidate Labor Constraint
TRAFFIC_PATTERN	/W - Week Offset from Current Week (optional). Default value is next week (/W1). (Note that /W0 indicates the current week, /W2 the week after next, /W-1 last week, and /W-2 the week before last.) Examples: /W0 /W1 /W-1 Additional options: Use Machine Learning with the Traffic Pattern batch task by adding the /ml parameter Run the Traffic Pattern batch task for multiple weeks by adding the /MW parameter. Examples: /W0 MW3 /ml (where "3" indicates the duration in number of weeks that the batch task should run for the current week.)	Traffic Pattern
VOLUME_FORECASTER_INTERVALS	/W - Week Offset from Current Week (optional). Default value is the current week (/W). (Note that /W1 indicates next week, /W2 the week after next, /W-1 last week, and /W-2 the week before last.)	Volume Forecast Intervals

Additional Forecasting tasks

Batch task name	Parameters	Batch Action Type
VOLUME_FORECASTER	/W - Week Offset from Current Week (optional). Default value is next week (/W1). (Note that /W indicates the current week, /W2 the week after next, /W-1 last week, and /W-2 the week before last.) /E - Effective Date (MM/DD/yyyy) (optional). Default date is the start date of the specified week. /D [true \| false] (Labor Forecaster only) - When set to "true", runs the labor diagnostic (optional). If specified, the labor standard forecast is stored in the database. Value can be "true" or "false". The default value is "false". Examples: /W1 /E 04/19/2020 /W1 /E 04/19/2020 /D true	Volume Forecaster
LABOR_FORECASTER		Labor Forecaster
EARNED_HOURS		Earned Hours
FEATURE_CALCULATION	/offset - Number of days between today and the latest date to be included. /duration - Number of days of POS data that are available for inclusion. Example: /offset:-160 /duration:160	Feature Calculation
LABOR_CONSTRAINT_ENGINE	/W - Week Offset from Current Week (optional). Default value is the current week (/W). (Note that /W1 indicates next week, /W2 the week after next, /W-1 last week, and /W-2 the week before last.)	Labor Constraint
ML_TRAINING	/offset - Number of days between today and the latest date to be included. /organization - Organizational Root. /mlconfiguration - Machine Learning Configuration Name.	Machine Learning Training
OCCURRENCE_RATIO	/W - Week Offset from Current Week (optional). Default value is next week (/W1). (Note that /W-1 indicates the previous week.) /E - Effective Date (MM/DD/yyyy) (optional). Default date is the start date of the specified week. /SD - Start Date (MM/DD/yyyy) (optional). Start date of the occurrence ratio calculation. Cannot be used with the /W parameter. /ED - End Date (MM/DD/yyyy) (optional). End date of the occurrence ratio calculation. Cannot be used with the /W parameter. Note: The duration of the interval specified by the /SD and /ED parameters cannot exceed the value specified in the site.forecasting.batchService.maxMonthsDateRange OccurrenceRatioCalculation parameter. The default value is 12 months; the maximum value is 48 months.	Occurrence Ratio

Forecasting Engine Best Practices

The following methods describe when each method should be used:

Sequenced — Forecasting engines are run one after the other with no time lapsing between engine runs. The sequenced method cannot be used at sites that use Machine Learning as their forecast algorithm.
Independently — A configurable window of time is inserted between engine runs. When configuring Forecasting to run batch tasks, we recommend you use the independent method.

Duplicate a batch task

Select Administration > Application Setup > Common Setup > Batch Processing.
Select the Batch Tasks tab.
Select a batch task and click tap Duplicate to copy it.

Activate, or inactivate a batch task

Note: If the batch task is included in an Event Manager event deactivating it does not remove it from the event. In order to remove fully remove the task from the Event Manager delete or disable the event in the Event Manager.

Select Administration > Application Setup > Common Setup > Batch Processing.
Select the Batch Tasks tab and complete one of the following:
- Activate —Select Inactive from Filter. Select the batch task and click tap Activate.
- Deactivate — Select Active from Filter. Select the batch task and click tap Inactivate.
  Note: Deactivated batch tasks remain in the system, but cannot be assigned to batch events.

Delete a Batch task

Select Administration > Application Setup > Common Setup > Batch Processing.
Select the Batch Tasks tab.
Delete — Select a batch task, click tap Delete. Click Yes to confirm.
Note: Any location or employee that is assigned to this template is not affected.
Click Save.