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:
- Click Delete this Row.
- 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 |
|
|
/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 Sorts employees, matches employees to an open shift, and assigns employees with the best match. that the PSE (Priority Scheduling Engine) assigns open shifts to employees according to sorting and matching rules. uses during the batch event |
Only for the Priority Scheduling Engine (PSE) assigns open shifts to employees according to sorting and matching rules. /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:
|
| /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:
Note:
|
|
/H |
No |
Filter by primary job. |
|
|
/O |
No |
Override unlocked shifts. |
|
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 Key Performance Indicator measures the result of an activity in an organization so that you can compare it to operational or strategic goals and attempt to improve performance. | 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 Defines both the period when employees can submit requests (submission period) and the period when those request can be applied (request period). maintainer | Periodically refreshes the employees associated with each of the defined employee visibility periods The time period during which specified open shifts are visible to specified employees. |
| SCHEDULE_BUILDER | No | Schedule Builder | Rolls out the schedule patterns of all employees, schedule groups Assembles employees who share schedules or any other work characteristics. and employment terms Legal contracts between employer and employee. When scheduled to work hours differ from the hours in their contract, the pay rules of the employees determine the impact on pay. |
| SCHEDGEN |
Yes See parameters in Step 6 above |
Schedule Generator Creates or assigns shifts based on the workload, shift templates or profiles, employee and organizational rules, and engine settings. | 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:
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 forecast week (/W1). (Note that /W indicates the current forecast week, /W2 the forecast week after next, /W1 the next forecast week, /W0 the current forecast week, /W-1 last forecast week, and /W-2 the forecast 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". /M - Maximum number of weeks to generate prediction, including the start week. Valid values are 0 - 3. Examples: /W1 /E 04/19/2020 /W1 /E 04/19/2020 /D true /W0 /MW3 In this example, the system will run the forecast for the current forecast week, next forecast week and next forecast week +1. |
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 |
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.