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About Scheduler

This section contains conceptual information about the Scheduler feature in Axiom Software.

Scheduler jobs and tasks

Scheduler processes tasks by using jobs. Each job is a scheduled unit that can contain one or more tasks.

When you create a job, you define the following basic properties:

• The schedule of the job, including recurrence (if any)
• The priority of the job
• The notification options for the job
• The tasks to perform for the job

The tasks define the actual activities to be performed by the job, such as importing data or processing plan files. Some tasks correspond to existing features that can also be processed manually (such as Process Plan Files), while other tasks are Scheduler-specific and can only be processed via Scheduler. Each task has a unique set of options that are specific to that task and to the activity to be performed.

The tasks in a job can be processed sequentially or concurrently as appropriate. Tasks can be dependent on other tasks in the job (for example, if Task 1 has errors, do not execute Task 2).

For more information on the available task types, see Scheduler tasks.

Job execution and security

When a job is executed by Scheduler, it is run using a particular user identity. In order for a job to be valid, the user must be an active user defined in Axiom Software security, and the user must have the appropriate security permissions to perform the tasks in the job. The user identity for a job is determined as follows:

• If a job is a system job, then it is run as the system-managed identity of Scheduler Service ("System") instead of a user identity.
• If a job is run by clicking Run Now, then it is run as the user who placed the job on the schedule.
• If a job is run by an active scheduling rule, then it is run as the job owner. The job owner is the user who last saved the job.
• If a job is run via an event handler, then the job may be run as either the job owner, or the job requester (the user who triggered the event handler). This is specified when configuring the event handler.

System jobs

Scheduler can execute user-created jobs and system jobs. Generally speaking, a system job is a job that needs to be run to facilitate system functionality, and should not depend on any particular user rights.

System jobs have two defining characteristics:

• System jobs are run under the system-managed identity of “Scheduler Service” instead of a user identity. This identity has full rights to the system as necessary to perform system tasks.

• For on-premise systemsAxiom Software systems that are installed on the customer's premises. All servers and technical requirements are managed by the customer., system jobs are run by the default System Scheduler service. This service is created and started automatically on the Axiom Application Server, and does not require a separate installation. This service is exclusively for running system jobs. In Scheduler, the System Scheduler service is listed on the Servers tab (Service > Servers) using the following naming convention: <ServerName>-System.

  Cloud Service systems do not have a separate System Scheduler service. System jobs are run using the available Scheduler services for the cloud system.

Because system jobs may run frequently and produce many results, these jobs are hidden by default in the Result History tab. You can clear the Hide system jobs check box at the bottom of the dialog to see the history for these jobs (or simply open the job to view the history).

There are two types of system jobs in Axiom Software:

• System jobs that are automatically created by Axiom Software to support certain system functionality. Some system jobs are created on initial startup and are intended to run on an ongoing basis, such as the system job to manage SMTP email delivery. Other system jobs are created on-demand in response to system events, using Scheduler event handlers. Only administrators can edit these system jobs.

• Jobs that are created manually by a user and then flagged as a system job. When a job is designated as a system job, the job runs on the dedicated System Scheduler service, using the Scheduler Service identity. For example, you might choose to run the Active Directory Import task as a system job, to avoid any interruptions due to user changes.

  To designate a job as a system job, enable Mark as System Job in the General job properties. The following rules apply to manually-created system jobs:

  • Only system administrators can designate a job as a system job.
  • The job cannot contain any tasks that are designated as “non-system” tasks. Non-system tasks are any tasks that might involve spreadsheet processing, such as Process Plan Files.