Monitoring Current Runs of Periodic Process Chains

Selecting Individual Process Chains and Chains of an Application Component

1. To select a process chain to be monitored, choose (Add Chain) in the table toolbar, select a process chain in the next dialog box, and choose (Continue).

2. To select the process chains of a process chain application component, choose (Add All Chains of a Component), select an application component in the next dialog box, and choose (Apply).

3. To exclude one or more process chains from monitoring, select it in the overview and choose (Remove Chain).

Using Includes

To be able to offer specific groupings of process chains for selection to multiple users in RSPCM, you can create and edit includes:

1. To create an include, select the transaction (Include bearbeiten) in the toolbar, and in the following dialog box select the entry <New>. Enter a name for the include, choose (Continue) and select how the include will be created (empty or with all the chains in the system, excluding subchains).

2. The screen for editing the include appears, and here, as described above under Selecting Process Chains for Monitoring, you can select or deselect other chains. You can also enter the setting for time monitoring described below, and you can nest includes. The include is saved automatically after each setting.

3. You go back to return to your personal list of the process chains monitored.

To insert an include into the list of the process chains monitored, or into another include, you proceed as follows:

1. Choose (Select Include) in the toolbar in the transaction.

2. Select the include and choose Apply.

   The process chains contained in the include will be displayed immediately in the list of process chains monitored, or in the higher-level include.

3. Instead of displaying the process chains contained in the includes directly in the list of monitored process chains, you can display the includes by pressing (Compress Includes).

   Note

   Note that for the process chains included, the time monitoring can only be activated or deactivated in the include itself. In the list of process chains monitored or in a higher-level include, you can only make this setting for directly inserted process chains.

Under  Extras   Refresh at Start , you define how the status is refreshed when the transaction is started. You can choose from the following options:

• All Chains: The statuses for all chains are determined again when the transaction is started.

• Only if Status is Unclear: Only the statuses for those chains with the yellow execution status are determined again when the transaction is started.

• No Automatic Refreshing: The statuses of the chains are not determined again when the transaction is started.

To refresh the status for all process chains in the list, choose (All - Refresh All Chains).

To refresh the status for process chains with execution status yellow, choose (Yellow - Refresh Yellow Lines).

You can modify the layout of the list and, in addition to the fields displayed in the standard setting, you can add fields with information on the log ID, the current deviation from the mean runtime, and the mean deviation. To change the layout of the list, choose (Choose Layout). For more information, see Changing Layout

If you also want to monitor the runtimes and delays for the process chains, you activate the time monitoring. When the time monitoring is activated, then status determinations for the runtime and the delay are also performed. The status determination is always based on the last 30 process chain runs. The time monitoring is not activated by default.

1. To activate the time monitoring for all the process chains displayed in the list, choose the transaction (Time Monitoring) in the toolbar.

   You thus select the checkbox Time Monitoring for all the process chains in the list.

   With (No Time Monitoring), you deactivate time monitoring for all process chains displayed.

2. To activate the time monitoring for individual process chains, you select the checkbox Time Monitoring for these process chains in the list.

When you activate the time monitoring for one or more process chains, the statuses for the runtime and the delay are determined for these chains and are displayed in the list with the runtime of the current run and the forecast starting time for the next run.

The following table shows how the status symbols for the execution status (symbol in the column Status) of a process chain run are assigned:

To obtain more information about the status of a process chain run, click on the status symbol:

• When you click on the green status, you go to the log view of the process chain run.

• When you click on the yellow or red status, you go to a dialog box in which you can perform the error analysis for the current run and start the repair process. The error messages for each process are displayed in the dialog box with their long texts. The following activities are possible in the dialog box:

  • Press the (Log) pushbutton to go to the log view for the run.

  • Press the (Next Start) pushbutton to go to the job overview for the start job of the process chain or, depending on the chain, to another dialog box for analyzing the time intervals between the last 30 process chain runs. For more information, see the section Monitoring the Process Chain Delays.

  • When you press the (Runtime) pushbutton, you go to another dialog box that displays the determination of the runtime for the current run and a history for the last 30 runs. For more information, see the section Monitoring the Runtime of the Process Chains.

  • By pressing (Repair), you can start repairing the process chain. If there are errors in the processes, when they are repaired these processes are repeated. If there are errors in the process chain framework, the chain is rescheduled and the processes for which the successors could not be started in the previous run are completed again so that the successor processes can be started.

If you have activated the time monitoring for process chains, the column Delay displays the status for the delay of the process chain run. The following table shows how the status symbols for the delay status of a process chain run are assigned:

The Next Start column displays information depending on the type of the process chain:

To obtain more information about the delay status, click on the status symbol:

• For time-based chains, you go to the job overview for the starting job of the process chain.

• For non-time-based chains, you go to a dialog box displaying a histogram. On the horizontal axis, the histogram shows the time intervals / periods between the chain runs, and on the vertical axis the number of chain runs. Use the pushbuttons (Reduce Intervals) and (Increase Intervals) to adjust the precision of the time axis. The upper screen area also displays the next start calculated, the current delay, and the mean period between the runs.

If you have activated the time monitoring for process chains, the column Runtime displays the status for the runtime of the process chain run. The runtime of the last process chain run is also displayed. The following table shows how the status symbols for the runtime status of a process chain run are assigned:

To obtain more information about the runtime status, click on the status symbol.

A dialog box appears displaying the runtime statistics for the process chain. A diagram shows the last 30 successful chains and their runtimes. The horizontal axis displays the runtime, and the vertical axis shows when the chain ran. You can use (Analyze More Values) or (Analyze Fewer Values) to define how many chain runs are used for calculating and displaying the statistics in the dialog box. Outliers ( (Display/Hide Outliers)) are always based on the statistics calculated and displayed, and are displayed in red. The current run is displayed in green.

In addition, the following statistical values are displayed in the upper screen area which relate to the values currently used for the calculation and displayed:

• Runtime of the current process chain run and mean runtime

• Current deviation from the mean runtime

• Runtime change

  If there is a plus sign in front of it, this is the time by which the runtime worsens per day. If the sign is a minus sign, the time improves. The runtime change is based on linear regression analysis.

• Current and mean idle time

  The current idle time is the sum of the idle times between the processes in the current run. The mean idle time is the sum of the idle times between the processes in the runs on which the statistics are based, divided by the number of these runs.

Press the Show Processes pushbutton to go to another dialog box that lists the processes of the run in a table, with their status and runtime. In the default setting, the list is sorted by runtime in descending order. Click on a process to go to the log dialog box for that process.

You can automate the monitoring by scheduling the calculation of the status (and the delay and runtime calculations) and the sending of information about runs with errors and runs with alerts to a previously defined list of recipients in the background. These messages are user-dependent. When you create a message, a corresponding process chain variant RSPC_<user name> is generated.

1. Choose (Automatic Notification).

   The message editing screen appears.

2. If required, create an introductory text for the information about the incorrect process chain runs.

   Note

   Note that you cannot add attachments to the message.

3. Define the list of recipients for the message.

4. Save the message and go back to the previous screen.

5. To schedule the status calculation with report RSPC_MONITOR, choose (Schedule Monitoring).

6. On the Execute a Report in the Background screen, press Schedule.

7. On the next screen, enter a job name and a date of execution and choose Schedule Periodically.

8. In the next dialog box, define the interval at which the report should be executed and choose .

   When it is executed in the background, the report calculates the status, and if applicable the delay and the runtime, for the process chains defined in transaction RSPCM and sends a message about incorrect process chain runs to the recipient list previously defined.

By pressing (Display Jobs), you can display an overview of the background jobs for the status calculation.