Schedule Multi Actions in the Calendar
In the SAP Analytics Cloud
calendar, you can create automatic multi action tasks that help you define the start time of
your multi action. Multi actions are a flexible planning tool for making structured changes
across multiple model data and versions, including copying data from one model to
another.
Context
Automatic multi action tasks can be for you alone or you can let others manage or
view your automatic multi action task. If you don't have the appropriate permissions
to run a multi action, you can change the assignee from yourself to another user who
has the necessary permissions and send a permission request. Once the assignee
agrees, the task can run automatically at the specified start date or start
condition.
You can define the start date according to your needs:
-
Set the start date. Need to schedule something on a recurring basis? You
can set up recurrence, and change individual occurrences as needed.
-
Let the task start once another calendar event reaches a certain status
(accomplished, for example), or several other calendar events reach one
of the defined statuses.
-
If your task is grouped within a parent process, let it start at the same
time as its parent process.
Procedure
-
In the Calendar, select .
-
Provide an Event Name.
-
Select the start condition:
Start By |
Description |
Time |
Set the Start Date. |
Dependency |
The start date of your task depends on other events and their
status.
-
Select
Add Events to define which events
your task shall depend on.
-
Under Statuses, select which status
these events need to meet before your task can start.
Note
All of the selected events need to meet any of the chosen
statuses before your task can start.
For more information, see Define Dependencies Among Calendar Events. |
Parent Process |
Your task will start at the same time as its parent process.Note
If you haven't added a parent process to your task yet, you'll be
asked to select one.
|
- Optional:
To specify the duration of the task, you can do the following:
-
To change the default duration from 0 minutes to 10 minutes, select
Estimated Due Date.
-
If you suppose that the duration of the task will be different,
select Estimated Due Date and specify the due
date you expect.
Note
The duration of an automatic task is fixed. Changes to the parent process
won't influence the duration of the automatic multi action task.
- Optional:
If the start condition is set to Time, you can set up
recurrence: Select
Add Recurrence and then fill in the settings.
Option |
Description |
Recurrence Pattern |
Set the task to repeat by Minute,
Hour, Day,
Week, or
Month. |
Every |
Set the recurrence frequency.
- For tasks that occur in a minute interval, enter a number
between 5 an 9999. The minimum interval is every 5 minutes, the
default interval is every 30 minutes.
Note
A high recurrence frequency of about every 5 minutes can
put extra load on the system and may slow it down.
Automatic multi action tasks with two preceding task
occurrences that are still running are automatically
canceled.
- For tasks that occur in a weekly interval, pick a specific
weekday.
- For tasks that occur in a monthly interval, define the day of
the month.
For example, you can set the task to occur on the
5th day every 2 months.
When you enter
31 as day of the month, the event
will occur on the last day of the month (February 28th,
March 31st, April 30th, for example).
|
Start Date of First Occurrence |
Set the start date and time for the first occurrence. |
End Recurrence by |
Set when the recurrence pattern ends:
- End Date: fill in the end date
details.
- Repetitions: set the number of
repetitions; this includes the first occurrence.
- No End: task continues to run until it's
manually ended
|
Note
Note that you can't add a recurrence when a parent process is
selected.
- Optional:
If you don't want the task to start automatically, turn off the corresponding
option that's available depending on the chosen start condition:
-
Activate the event at start date
automatically: The task will be activated automatically
at the selected start date.
-
Activate the event automatically once any status of the
dependencies is met: Once all selected events your
task is dependent on have met any of the selected statuses, the task
will be activated automatically.
-
Activate the event automatically once its parent process
starts: The task will be activated automatically at
the start date of its parent process.
- Optional:
If there's an overall process for the task, such as the Q3 2021 Forecast, add
the task to the process:
-
Choose
Add Parent Process and select the
process.
-
If you selected a process in the calendar before creating this task,
this process will be selected as a parent process by default. You
can remove or edit it to add a different parent process if
needed.
Creating this structure helps you stay organized when the planning process
involves unlocking, updating, and locking data at different times.
Note
You can select only the processes that you can edit. You need to be
the owner or the assignee of the parent process.
If you've set up recurrence for your task, you can't add it to a
parent process.
-
Select Create.
The multi action will automatically run according to the selected start
conditions, unless you've turned off the option to have it activated
automatically.
Note
As soon as the event is In Progress, you can
no longer edit it.
The event is added to the calendar and opened in the
Details panel.
If you created a recurring event, the Details panel
will open with the Series tab selected instead of the
Occurrence tab.
- Optional:
In the title area, you can select a different style for the task or create a
new style.
- Optional:
Under Description, you can add some details or
instructions you'd like to share.
- Optional:
To set reminders, select Add
Reminders and fill in the required time settings.
-
Select a multi action from the dropdown list.
If you want to edit the multi action or get familiar with its steps and
parameters, select
(Open in Designer).
-
Set parameters for your multi action, if needed.
-
If you have parameters without default values, you need to add
values.
-
To set a number parameter, you can type a value.
-
To set a member parameter, you can either type a member
ID or a description, or choose a value by selecting
Select Member.
-
If there's a default value you can select the icon to
switch between that value or a custom value.
For more information, see Add Parameters to Your Data Actions and Multi Actions.
- Optional:
Add people to the task.
Select
Add Owners. |
To let more people monitor and manage the task, you can
add additional owners. |
-
Select You in the
Assignee section, and then
choose Change from the
dropdown menu.
-
In the Change User dialog,
select the user name of the person you'd like to
send a request to run the multi action with their
permission.
|
If you don't have appropriate permissions to run the
multi action, you can change the assignee from yourself to
another user who has the necessary permissions and send a
permission request. |
Select
Add Viewers. |
If you want other people to be able to see the task, you
can share the task with them. |
-
As owners and viewers, you can add individual users or teams that
have been created in SAP Analytics Cloud:
Adding teams instead of individual users may help save you time, and
you don't need to define who's taking care of the task. You can
choose to Resolve the team so the individual
users are displayed, and adapt the list according to your needs.
Note
After you resolve a team, the reference to that team is
removed. Instead, the system behaves like you added all the
team members individually. Any changes to the team on the
SAP Analytics Cloud
Security page (like adding or
removing team members) will not be reflected in the
People section of your calendar
task.
-
You can also add someone who isn't already a member:
- To add a non-member, in the appropriate
People section, select the
dropdown list and then select Invite Non-Member
by Email.
- Type the person's email address.
Tip
If you add someone and then decide to share the task with someone else,
select the user name or the team name, and then choose
Change from the dropdown menu. In the
Change User dialog, select the new name.
If you add more than 5 people as owners or viewers, a link
(... 3 More, for example) lets you access a
dialog with the complete list of added users and teams. In this dialog,
you can can search for user or team names, and you can add, change, or
remove them.
- Optional:
If you haven't done so already, you can add the task to a process in the
Hierarchy section.
-
Choose
Add Parent Process and select the process,
for example, the Q3 2021 Forecast.
-
If you've already set a parent process, it is displayed as the parent
process. You can select it to see its details. You can remove or
edit it to add a different parent process if needed.
Creating this structure helps you stay organized when the planning process
involves unlocking, updating, and locking data at different times.
Note
You can select only the processes that you can edit. You need to be
the owner or the assignee of the parent process.
If you've set up recurrence for your task, you can't add it to a
parent process.
-
When you're finished filling in the details and are ready to send the task out,
do one of the following:
- If the status is Inactive, select
Activate or Activate &
Notify.
This option is also available when you click on
the arrow next to the status in the header section.
When you
activate the task, and you've added some teams that haven't been
resolved yet, the teams are resolved automatically. You can remove
individual users of the team, for example. Users assigned to multiple
teams are only counted once.
- If the status is In Progress, select
Update and Notify.
- If you've adapted an existing task, select View
Changes to review all the changes that have been applied;
decide whether to send them out or delete any of the changes, and then
select Update.
- If you replaced yourself with another assignee, select Start
Permission Request.
Note
If you don't start the permission request, the task will
automatically be canceled at start date.
- Optional:
Once you've activated the task, you may want to send an immediate reminder to
the assignee: In the Time section, select
Send Immediate Reminder and enter some text as
message.
The assignee will be notified right away.
Results
Notifications are sent to the involved people.
After running the multi action, its status will automatically change to
Successful or Failed, depending on
the outcome. If you replaced yourself with another assignee and sent the permission
request, but the assignee didn’t grant permission before the task started, the multi
action won't run and the task status will be set to Canceled.