Did you know that Planning Analytics has a build in scheduling functionality call Chores? Chores can be used in two distinct ways; you can schedule one or more TurboIntegrator processes to execute at defined intervals or you can setup a sequence of TurboIntegrator process to be execute by a user. These two concepts can be used interchangeably.

Best Practices for Chores – Naming Convention:

If a chore is scheduled include a run time in the name and frequency, if it is not scheduled name it as “AD HOC” or “User Executed”. This will make it easy to sort through and quickly find chores.

For Example:

  • NIGHTLY – 01.00 AM EST – GALILEO BACKUP
  • WEEKLY – 12.00 AM EST – GALILEO SERVICE RESTART
  • HOURLY – HH05 EST – TURN ON CUBE LOGGING
  • AD HOC – SYSTEM FORECAST GENERATON

Chores can only be scheduled natively to run on frequencies including Days, Hours, Minutes, and Seconds. If you need to run a Chore at different frequencies, you can leverage a caller TurboIntegrator process to do things like check the day of the week or check a variable bore execution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best Practices for Chores – Parameters:

Chores execute TurboIntegrator process, these processes may contain parameters, if a process contains parameters it is advised that you make these as fool proof as possible. An example would be to create a Global Variables cube that contains parameters for chores, when you create the chore set the parameter to “Global” within the prolog of the TurboIntegrator process utilize an IF statement to take “Global” and assign the desired parameter from the Global Variables cube.

Sample Code:

IF( pPeriod @= ‘Global’ ) ;

  pPeriod =  CELLGETS ( ‘Global Variables’ , ‘Chore Load Month’ , ‘String’ ) ;

ENDIF ;

Note: This may NOT always be necessary, an example would be a data load that is parametrized to do selective loads by geography, however the chore should always load All Geographies, in this case the above would not be required.

Parameters are set by clicking on “Specify Parameters values…”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parameters Setup Screen:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best Practices for Chores – Scheduling:

Given that chores execute TurboIntegrator process, be mindful of the timing of chores. If you are doing a meta data load or a SAVEDATAALL you may cause locking within the system. These types of processes should be scheduled with the users in mind to not cause interruptions.