AX2247
Batch processing
For example, you might have several reports that you want to run at the end of each month. You can set up these reports in a batch, and then run the batch manually or schedule it for execution using Scheduler. Each report can be processed once or multiple times, using different settings—for example, you might have an income statement that you want to run by country, then by region, then by VP.
Batch processing allows you to:
- Create a list of files to be run in a single batch process. Files can be enabled or disabled for each particular execution of the batch. The files must already be set up to use file processing.
- Define alternate file processing settings for each file as desired, or use the native settings defined in the file itself. Batch variables can also be used to impact the file processing.
- Process the same file multiple times, using different file processing settings for each execution.
- Combine multiple file processing types within a batch, for an "end-to-end" process. For example, you can process several files to create various snapshot copies, and then run a file collect report to combine all the snapshots into a single report package.
Batch processing is a special feature of file processing. Unlike other file processing types, where you are refreshing sheets in the file with data and then performing actions on those sheets, batch processing uses special control sheets to define the settings of the batch operation. Although the file can contain other sheets, they are essentially ignored for the batch operation (unless the control sheets reference those sheets to determine batch settings). In most cases, the only purpose of the file is to contain the batch settings.
When you set up file processing for batch, you specify the processing type and the sheets to process. All other file processing settings, including multipass, do not apply to the batch process itself. All batch settings are managed within the special Batch Control Sheets.
