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Workflows implement jobs and dependencies for workload automation. Orders are triggers that cause the execution of workflows.

• The Configuration View offers provides a graphical design view from of the JS7 - Workflow Editor.
• The Workflows View offers provides a tactical view that which can be used to monitor the processing of orders with workflows in near real-time and to perform interventions if required.

Workflows can be started:

• automatically:
  • by JS7 - Schedules,
  • by JS7 - File Watching,
  • by other workflows using the JS7 - AddOrder Instruction.
• manually:
  • by users adding orders from the JOC Cockpit GUI.
• programmatically:
  • by external applications using the JS7 - REST Web Service API,
  • by external applications using the JS7 - PowerShell Module.

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• This view has the following panels:
  
  • Left panel: The tree allows navigation to folders and objects. Workflows can be available in any folder from in the Workflows sub-folder Workflows.
  • Middle panel: The design view allows JS7 - Workflow Instructions to be copied from the tool panel to a workflow by drag & drop. 
  • Right panel: The property editor allows management of instruction properties such as the jobs that are available with a workflow.
• For details of how to design workflows see the JS7 - Workflow Editor.
  
  

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Execution Views for Workflows

The Workflows View offers allows a tactical approach to Workflows and Orders:

• Operations on Workflows include:
  • filtering workflows by name.
  • searching for workflows.
• Operations on Orders include:
  • filtering orders by date.
  • monitoring orders: The JOC Cockpit GUI is updated regularly to display , displaying orders moving through the steps of a workflow.
  • controlling orders: The view allows, for example, cancelling, suspending and resuming of orders.
  • adding orders: The view allows orders to be added for immediate or later execution.

The Workflows View is available accessed from the main menu item of the same name:

Explanation:

• The header row provides the summary of orders and related states across all workflows displayed. For explanations about orders states see JS7 - Orders.
• Each row in the right panel displays a number of action shortcuts:
  • Image Added and Image Added icons allow display of all nodes in a workflows to be expanded or collapsed.
  •  and  icons allows allow display of top-level nodes in a workflow to be expanded and or collapsed.
  • icon allows allows an order to be added for immediate or later execution.
  • icon allows navigation of to the Tabular View of the workflow.
  •  icon icon allows navigation of to the Graphical View of the workflow.
• In addition, the  icon opens icon opens the action menu, which also contains the above actions.

For jobs in the Workflows view the following options are displayed:

• Image Added icon opens the Job History sub-tab in the History panel at the bottom of the window. History entries are displayed for the selected job.
• The job label is displayed in brackets right to the job name.
  
  

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Graphical View

The graphical view displays shows JS7 - Workflow Instructions and patterns used, for example, in forking.

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Tabular View

The tabular view offers provides a concise display of workflow instructions with similar actions as and allows actions similar to the graphical view:

• Running orders can be monitored as they pass along the instructions of the workflow.
• New orders can be added.
  
  

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• The tabular view shows the instructions for the selected workflow and any orders that are currently being processed by this the workflow.
• Depending on the order state operations are , operations are available in the order's action menu for cancelling, suspending and resuming orders.
• The lower part of the screenshot shows the execution history and provides access to order logs and task logs.

Operations on Workflows and Jobs

Quick Search

The Quick Search is activated in the Workflows view by clicking the Image Addedicon:

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Based on keyboard input matching workflows are looked up in the inventory:

• Quick Search is case-insensitive.
• Quick Search looks up workflow names independently from folder locations.

The Quick Search displays results from a list like this:

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Users can apply meta characters using the asterix (*) for zero or more characters and the question mark (?) for a single character.

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Clicking one of the resulting hits will navigate directly to the respective workflow.

Filter Operations on Workflows

The Workflows view allows filtering of workflows by use of using the following buttons: 

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• Synchronized: Displays Shows workflows that have been deployed to a Controller and Agent. Such workflows are considered in sync between inventory and Controller.
• Not Synchronized: Displays Shows workflows that are not available with a Controller as they have not been deployed or have been revoked. No orders can Orders cannot be added to such workflows.
• Suspended: Displays Shows workflows with the suspended or suspending status status.
• Outstanding: Shows workflows for which an operation to suspend or resume the workflow has been started but is not yet confirmed. For example if an Agent that is assigned a job in the workflow is not reachable then the Controller will instruct the Agent once it successfully connects to the Agent. In between the outstanding status is returned.

Status Operations on Workflows

Status Operations are available can be carried out individually per workflow and are available as bulk operations when users select a number of workflows in the Workflows view.

Suspending Workflows

The suspend operation for a workflow means that:

• orders running in the workflow will be frozen after they complete their current processing step.
  • This implies that orders are not cancelled and running tasks for jobs are not killed.
• orders scheduled for execution of the workflow that reach their start time while the workflow is suspended will wait until the workflow is resumed.
• orders that are added to the workflow for execution at a point in time while the workflow is suspended will wait until the workflow is resumed.
  • This applies to orders available from the JS7 - Daily Plan.
  • This applies to orders added from the Workflows view.
  • This applies to file orders added from JS7 - File Watching.

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As a result of this operation the workflow will switch to the suspended status:

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The operation of suspending a workflow can include a number of Agents:

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For details see JS7 - Workflows - Status Operations on Workflows.

Status Operations on Jobs

Status operations are available for jobs in a workflow, for example, to skip and to stop jobs.

For details see JS7 - Workflows - Status Operations on Jobs.

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Resuming Workflows

The Resume operation is available for a suspended workflow from its action menu.

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Status Operations on Jobs

For jobs in a workflow the following status operations are available:

• Skip job: The job will not be executed, instead an order continues execution with the next instruction following the skipped job.
• Stop job: The order will be put to the suspended state if it meets a stopped job. Users can resume suspended orders.
  • An order can be resumed from the same position, from a previous or later position in the workflow, depending on the workflow design. For a stopped job a resumed order again will be suspended.
  • Orders are not automatically resumed when a job is unstopped. Users find the category of suspended orders in the Dashboard view which offers to display the list of related orders and workflows. Bulk operations allow to resume a larger number of orders at the  same time.

Status operations on jobs can affect a number of Agents that are assigned the related jobs. If one or more Agents assigned to jobs in a workflow are not accessible to the Controller then the status operation is considered being outstanding.

• The Controller will forward the status operation to the respective Agents when they become accessible.
• The workflow remains in an outstanding status indicating that not all Agents confirmed the status operation.

Skipping Jobs

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Stopping Jobs

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The operation to stop a job can be reverted by using the Unstop operation that is available from the job's action menu:
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Precedence of Status Operations on Workflows and Jobs

Jobs in a workflow can be stopped and skipped at the same time. In addition the workflow can be subject to suspensionsuspended.

The above explanations suggest the following precedence of operations in descending order:

• A job being stopped is assigned the highest precedence.
  • Should a workflow be suspended then this includes that orders can complete the current instruction in the workflow.
  • If the current instruction in a workflow is stopped then the order will be suspended before the workflow is suspended.
• If a workflow is suspended then orders will be frozen having completed processing of the current instruction.
• If the order has been added with an end position being specified then the order will leave the workflow on reaching the end position.
• A job being skipped experiences the lowest precedence compared to stopped jobs and suspended workflows.

Operations on Orders

Start Position and End Positions of Orders in a Workflow

When adding orders Start and End positions can be assigned for orders in a Workflow when orders are added from JS7 - Schedules and , from the Workflows view and when modifying orders in the JS7 - Daily Plan then they can be assigned

• a start position in the workflow:
  • users can select a later instruction, for example a job in a workflow, from which the order will start,
  • any top-level instructions can be selected.
• any number of end positions in the workflow:
  • more than one position can be selected,
  • any top-level instructions can be selected.

Note: The start position and end positions specify the instructions in a workflow before which an order will start or complete.

Adding Order Positions from the Instruction List

The popup window for adding orders allows to select the start position and end positions.

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For details see JS7 - Workflows - Start Positions and End Positions of Orders.

Status Operations on Orders

Status operations are available for cancelling, suspending and resuming orders in a workflow.

For details see JS7 - Workflows - Status Operations on Orders and JS7 - Orders - Bulk Operations.

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Adding Order Positions from the Graphical View

The popup window for adding orders offers theImage Removed icon to display the graphical workflow view for selecting a start position and end positions:

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Further Resources

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