Steps for Submitting a Task
To run a task, complete the following steps:
- From the Actions section>Processes Card select Tasks.
- Click on the Add button in the left pane.
- In the
Process Definition Code field, select the process that is to be run from the Field Look Up option in the left pane. The code identifying the type of processing to be initiated with this task (e.g. EmpDownload).
- Enter the Timeout Minutes to indicate how long a task may run on the agent subsystem before it is marked as "timed out" on the Request History table.
- Click Next.
- Depending on the option chosen in step 3, an additional screen may display.
- For download or badge tasks, select a Configuration option from the drop down menu to indicate which style is being run.
The configuration scheme of the download file, as selected from the drop down menu.
- Enter the File Share to indicate where the file is to be created.
The name of an existing file share location, where this task record should be created.
- For download tasks, an additional field of File Pattern is displayed.
Determines which files should be processed for the specific download. If the exact file name is known, that can be entered. If the exact file name is not known, or if there are multiple files, a regular expression search pattern can be entered (for example, "^EmpDown$" processes only the file name EmpDown, while "\.txt$" processes all files with a “.txt” extension). The file pattern should be set to "^" to indicate all files in the folder.
- When all fields are entered, click on the Next button.
Configuration
The configuration scheme of the download file, as selected from the drop down menu.
File Pattern
Determines which files should be processed for the specific download. If the exact file name is known, that can be entered. If the exact file name is not known, or if there are multiple files, a regular expression search pattern can be entered (for example, "^EmpDown$" processes only the file name EmpDown, while "\.txt$" processes all files with a “.txt” extension). The file pattern should be set to "^" to indicate all files in the folder.
More About File Patterns
The following Reserved Characters are used with Regular Expression Searches:
.
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This symbol indicates a single character preceding the value entered in the field. When using other regular expressions indicating preceding characters, this symbol must also be used.
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*
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This symbol indicates a wild card for any number of previous characters. For example, .*RN would display all records that contain RN within the field value.
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$
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This symbol is used to indicate the ending value of a string, or an EXACT MATCH. When the symbol is placed after a value, there cannot be any other characters after the field value. For example, D$ indicates the value must end with D. Since there are no wild card symbols in front of D, this indicates an exact match.
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^
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This symbol is used to indicate the beginning value of a string. This can be used with a search string combining other reserved characters.
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This symbol works like an OR operator. For example, hi|hello matches a string that has either "hi" or "hello" in it.
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Combining Multiple Symbols in an Advanced Search Expression:
Multiple symbols can be combined to indicate a regular expression with different variables. For example, entering *.Manager$ will display all records that begin with any characters, but must end with Manager. The previous character symbol (.) and wild card symbol (*) at the beginning of the expression indicate any number of characters can be in front of the word Manager. The ending symbol ($) in the expression indicates the value must end with the word Manager.
Sample file patterns for the examples above:
Example #1
Files found in Download File Share:
OrgUnit.txt
JobClass.txt
Position.txt
Employee.txt
File Pattern:
Branch Org Unit Download = ^Org (will match OrgUnit.txt)
Job Class Download = ^Job (will match JobClass.txt)
Position Download = ^Pos (will match Position.txt)
Employee Download = ^Emp (will match Employee.txt)
Example #2
Files found in Download File Share:
OrgUnit.txt
EmpNorthFac.txt
EmpSouthFac.api
File Patterns:
Branch Org Unit Download = ^Org (OrgUnit.txt)
Employee Download = ^Emp (will match EmpNorthFac.txt & EmpSouthFac.api)
File Share
The name of an existing file share location, where this task record should be created.
Organization Unit
The labor distribution to include in this file. The levels available and the label names are determined by the corporate structure.
Process Definition Code
The identification code of the type of process that is to be run.
Timeout (Minutes)
Determines how long a task may run on the agent subsystem before it is marked as timed out on the request history table. The task will continue to run on the agent subsystem after that time is reached.
This feature is used to mark the request as timed out so that other processes that are waiting for it can continue. For example, the Close Pay Period cannot go through if there are any downloads in progress. Users may subscribe to a notification in the system to receive an email or portal message that a timeout has occurred.
Hint: The value specified for this would be dependent on the client and how long a download is expected to take. This value could be set to 1.5-2 times the expected amount of time for the average download to complete for that client.
