Introduction

JS7 - Workflows implement jobs and dependencies for workload automation. Orders are triggers that cause the execution of workflows.

• The Configuration View offers a graphical design view from the JS7 - Workflow Editor.
• The Workflows View offers a tactical execution view that can be used to monitor the processing of orders with workflows in near real-time and to perform interventions if required.
• The Dashboard View offers a summary of current order states and navigation to the Orders Overview that allows bulk operations, for details see JS7 - Orders - Bulk Operations.

Orders can be cancelled and can be suspended to prevent execution of instructions such as jobs and they can be resumed.

Status Operations on Orders

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

The following sample workflow is available that implements a number jobs and passes variables between jobs:

• Download (upload .json): pdwOrderOperations.workflow.json

Cancel Order

Orders in a PENDING, SCHEDULED, IN PROGRESS, RUNNING, SUSPENDED, PROMPTING, WAITING, BLOCKED and FAILED state offer to cancel operation of the order, for details see JS7 - Order State Transitions:

• Cancel: The operation allows the order to complete the current instruction, for example executing a job, and after completion of the instruction the order leaves the workflow with a failed history outcome.
• Cancel/Kill Task: The operation kills processing of the current instruction, for example a running task for a job, and makes the order leave the workflow.
  
  

Explanation:

• When an order is cancelled this is performed from an asynchronous operation that includes JOC Cockpit, Controller and Agent.
  • In a first step the order is displayed from a green/red bullet  icon that indicates that the order still is running and that the operation to cancel the order is in progress.
    • Should the Controller or Agent not be accessible then display of the order remains unchanged.
    • Consider that "inaccessible" can mean that the network connection is lost and that the Agent in fact is up and running. In this situation the order will continue processing with the Agent until the operation to cancel the order is successfully transmitted to the Agent.

Suspend Order

Orders in a PENDING, SCHEDULED, IN PROGRESS, RUNNING, PROMPTING, WAITING, BLOCKED state offer the operation to suspend the order:

• Suspend: The operation allows the order to complete the current instruction, for example executing a job, and after completion of the instruction the order is put to the SUSPENDED state.
• Suspend/Kill Task: The operation kills processing of the current instruction, for example a running task, and puts the order in the SUSPENDED state.
  
  

Explanation:

• When an order is suspended this is performed from an asynchronous operation that includes JOC Cockpit, Controller and Agent.
  • In a first step the order is displayed from a green/orange bullet icon that indicates that the order still is running and that the operation to suspend the order is in progress.
    • Should the Controller or Agent not be accessible then display of the order remains unchanged.
    • Consider that "inaccessible" can mean that the network connection is lost and that the Agent in fact is up and running. In this situation the order will continue processing with the Agent until the operation to suspend the order is successfully transmitted to the Agent.
  • In a second step the order is displayed from an orange bullet icon that indicates that the order is suspended.

Resume Order

FAILED and SUSPENDED orders can be resumed from the Workflows view like this:

• Resume: The order is resumed from its current position in the workflow. 
• Resume Parameterized: The order is resumed similar to the Resume operation. In addition this operation allows to modify order variables.
  
  

If the operation to resume an order is used then the tabular view of the workflow is displayed:

• Users can click the Submit button to resume the order from its current position.
• Users can resume the order from a different position before or after the current position: clicking the order with the mouse and moving the order to the desired position makes the order resume from this position.
  • This operation is offered for top level instructions in a workflow.
  • This operation is denied for nested instructions, for example resuming an order from a position inside a JS7 - Fork-Join Instruction or JS7 - Lock Instruction is not allowed.
  • This operation is offered inside nested instructions, for example if an order in a branch of a Fork/Join Instruction is suspended it can be freely resumed inside its branch.

If the Resume Parameterized operation is used then in addition to the tabular view of the workflow

• The order can be resumed from any position in the workflow as explained above.
• In addition the list of order variables is displayed.
  • Users can modify values of order variables.
  • Users can use the Add Variable link to specify a variable that is not available from the order but has been declared with a default value from the workflow.

Bulk Operations

The Workflows view displays a maximum of three orders with each workflow. The overall number of orders available for the workflow is displayed with the grey order indicator:

When clicking the order indicator a popup window is displayed with the list of orders like this:

Explanation:

• When clicking the Order ID of an individual order then the order log is displayed.
• When selecting one or more orders then depending on the order state bulk operations to cancel, to suspend and to resume the selected orders are displayed.
• When an order is resumed from a bulk operation then
  • the position to resume the order from cannot be selected,
  • the order variables cannot be modified.

Further Resources

• JS7 - Order State Transitions
• JS7 - Workflows - Start Positions and End Positions of Orders
• JS7 - Orders - Bulk Operations