Task Management Supervisor

The Essential Task Management Supervisor is a service tool for managing tasks and email alerts that have been set up to be automatically generated. It is intended for managers who need to administer task assignments. Task Management Supervisor provides the following two task-related components:

PWTaskUpdate – Updates recurring tasks and temporary task assignments.

1. • For recurring tasks, a new instance of the task is generated regardless of the status or state of the existing task instances. For example, if a daily task is not closed today and the update component runs tomorrow, a new task is generated tomorrow even though today’s task is not closed.

   • For temporary task assignments, the automatic transfer of task owner/supervisor/team requires a correctly implemented and operational configuration, as well as a schedule that is set to run in a timely manner—ideally, at least once per day.

PWTaskNotify – Sends email notifications about tasks based on the email options specified for the task. Refer to Task Assignment for information about scheduling email reminders. The email address defined for the EmailFromAddress setting in the configuration file is used in the From field of the email notification. Refer to Configurable Settings for additional information.

Schedules can either be Time Zone-Based or Non-Time Zone-Based. Time zone-based schedules act only on tasks for entities with an assigned time zone, provided the time zone has been included in the schedule. Conversely, non-time zone-based schedules act only on tasks for entities without an assigned time zone. Associate time zones with entities on the Enterprise Entity form. Refer to Time Zones for additional information when necessary.

Define scheduling details, view task-related component run statuses, and review run errors using the Task Management Supervisor Console.

For additional instruction on the Task Management Supervisor tool, click the following links or use the scroll bar to scan the page.

Establishing a Component Run Schedule

Use the Task Management Supervisor Console form to establish a schedule that specifies when a task-related component runs. The particular hour and minute can be defined as well as the start and stop dates for the schedule.

To establish a component run schedule

1. Click Tools > Task Management Supervisor > Task Mgmt. Supervisor Console in the Navigation Tree to open the Task Management Supervisor Console list.

2. Click the New button and select the Component Name and Schedule Type from the list for each field.
   
   Based on the schedule type selected, any required scheduling options are automatically displayed.

3. Click the Enable Timezone based scheduling check box when applicable. Otherwise, skip to step 5.

4. Click the Add Time Zone link, click the check box adjacent to each time zone to be included in the schedule, and click Add Selected Items.
   
   The selected time zones are displayed as line items on the Task Management Supervisor Console form. To remove a time zone from the schedule, click the Delete button adjacent to the line item.

5. Use the guidelines below to complete the run schedule for the component selected. (The Next Run Date and Run On Demand? fields apply to an existing schedule. Refer to Manually Running Components.)

1. • Enter a Start Date and time.

   • Click the No End Date check box or enter an End Date and time.

   • For date fields, the Calendar button is available to select a date.

   • Select all applicable Days of the week for daily-related schedule types.

   • Select a Schedule Time from the list for each applicable field.

   • Enter a numerical value that represents the interval between runs in the Run Every field.

A schedule example for the Hourly type might be on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (Days), at 15 minutes after the hour (Schedule Time), every 8 hours (Run Every), beginning November 1, 2005 at 8:00 a.m (Start Date). The component would run at 8:15 a.m., 4:15 p.m., and 12:15 a.m. Monday through Friday starting November 1.

6. Click the Save button.

7. Repeat steps 2 through 6 to set up another schedule.

Implementing Time Zone Aware Tasking and Notification

To receive timely task notifications when your enterprise consists of multiple entities in different time zones, a separate run schedule for both components must be set up for each time zone. The Enable Timezone base scheduling option must be selected and the run time offset needs to be calculated based on the server time. For example, if a server is located in Chicago, IL (Central time zone) and a notification job is to be run at 1:00 a.m. for a facility located in Seattle, WA (Pacific time zone), the scheduled run time would be set to 3:00 a.m. to account for the 2-hour time difference between the location of the server and the facility. If the run time was entered as 1:00 a.m. (facility time), the job would actually run at 11:00 p.m. of the previous day. Using the same example for a site located in Miami, FL (Eastern time zone), a separate schedule would be set up with a run time of 12:00 a.m. for the 1-hour time difference between the server and the facility location.

The following steps describe the suggested work flow for implementing time zone aware tasking and notification:

1. Assign the appropriate time zone to each entity on the Enterprise Entity form.

2. Create a run schedule for PWTaskUpdate and PWTaskNotify for each time zone.

3. Select the Enable Timezone based scheduling check box for each run schedule.

4. Use the time zone of the server running the PWTaskUpdate and PWTaskNotify jobs to calculate the run time offset in different time zones.

Job Log

An entry is added to the Job Log for each component run request. The start and finish date/time, the run status, and the results are provided for each log entry. Any errors are displayed as results. Jobs are processed according to a pre-configured priority in a managed, queue-based environment to minimize system contention. Use the Job Log to determine your job's position among all the jobs scheduled to run and to determine the current/final run status. The Refresh link can be used at any time to update the log. For notification purposes, a Loading... message appears when the Job Log is being refreshed.

Viewing Run Details

The Task Management Supervisor Console list shows existing component schedules, along with run details such as the status of the run, when the last run took place, and the date of the next scheduled run. Field descriptions are provided below.

The Job Log section on the Task Management Supervisor Console form displays a list of all the runs for the schedule including the final status of each run.

Resolving Errors

When a component run is assigned the Error status, a Reset button is displayed next to the Component Status field on the Task Management Supervisor Console form and all errors that occurred during the run are described in the Job Log section. Promptly review and resolve the errors; then click the Reset button to change the status to Idle. The next scheduled run occurs only when the status is Idle. Entries can be deleted from the log when no longer needed for error resolution on the Purge APE Log form.

Manually Running Components

Once a run schedule has been established for a component on the Task Management Supervisor Console form, it can be run on-demand when necessary. Click the Run On Demand? check box and click Save to run the component immediately.

For schedule types based on a 24-hour or more period of time, such as daily, weekly, etc., the date of the next run can be changed for an existing schedule on the Task Management Supervisor Console form. Enter the applicable date in the Next Run Date field and specify the time. The Calendar button is available to select the date.