11
Scheduling Tasks
Topics
Defining a Schedule Recurrence
Scheduling a Report Task
Scheduling a Billing Code Task
Scheduling a Color Quota Task
Scheduling an Account Balance Task
Scheduling a Purge Transactions Task
Suspending, Resuming, or Removing a
Scheduled Task
In System Manager you can create scheduled tasks to run automatically at a preset date, time, and interval.
This chapter provides information about creating scheduled tasks for the following:
• running reports
• synchronizing billing codes
• setting and re-setting color quotas
• setting and re-setting account balances
• purging transactions
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Defining a Schedule Recurrence
The flexibility of the Equitrac Office and Express scheduling feature enables you to define diverse schedules for your various tasks. By scheduling tasks, you can specify whether you want a particular task to run only once, or on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
The following sections provide information on the various scheduling options available to all task types. Use the New
task
dialog box to schedule tasks. To access the New task dialog box, do the following:
1
2
3
In System Manager, select Scheduled tasks in the left pane.
In the right pane, click <Add...> to open the Add new scheduled task dialog box.
Select a task type and click OK to open the New task dialog box.
Scheduling a Task to Run Once
When scheduling a task to run once, you can run the task immediately, or you can specify a future date and time for the task to run. To run the task immediately, ensure that Once is selected in the Schedule drop-down list, and that the current date and time are selected, then click OK.
NOTE: The task scheduler uses a twenty-four hour clock.
Scheduling a Daily Task
When scheduling a task to run on a daily basis, you can select the first day, the time of day, the final day, and how frequently you want the task to run.
Enter the date in the field using the format MM/DD/YYYY
Scheduling a Weekly Task
When scheduling a task to run on a weekly basis, you can select the first day, the time of day, the final day, how frequently, and on which weekdays you want the task to run.
Enter the first and final date in the fields using the format MM/DD/YYYY.
Scheduling a Monthly Task
When scheduling a task to run on a monthly basis, you can select the first day, the time of day, the final day, how frequently, and during which months you want the task to run.
Enter the first and final date in the fields using the format MM/DD/YYYY.
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Running Tasks Immediately
When you have defined tasks listed in System Manager, you can select any of the existing tasks to run immediately.
In the Task listing, right-click any task and select Run task now from the menu.
Running an existing task immediately does not interfere with any existing schedule that you have configured for the task. For example, if you manually run an import task, normally scheduled for the weekend, on a Wednesday, the task will also run as scheduled at its appointed time.
Running a Missed Task
Scheduled tasks are designed to run in the future as determined by the start date and time for the task. If a scheduled task is missed by the system, that task is ignored and the next occurrence of that task is run as scheduled.
If the Scheduler service is offline when a task is scheduled to run, then the task does not run. When the Scheduler service comes back online, it does not execute any of the missed scheduled tasks. If CAS is unavailable when a task is scheduled to run, the Scheduler does execute the task.
In order to run a task that was missed when the system was unavailable, you must select Yes for the Run if missed option in the desired scheduled task’s dialog box. If this option is enabled, the missed task runs immediately when the system is back online, regardless of the date and time set to run the next scheduled task.
All missed scheduled tasks run in sequence when the system comes back online—missed tasks do not run at the same time. For example, if a Billing code synchronization task was scheduled to run at an earlier time than a Purge transactions task, then that is the order in which they run when the system is available again.
When the system comes back online, only the last scheduled occurrence of a missed task will run—not all missed events of a task are run. For example, if a task is schedule to run daily and the system is down for a week, only the last occurrence of that daily task will run. The system does not run a weeks worth of missed tasks.
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Scheduling a Report Task
To add a scheduled Report task, do the following:
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2
In System Manager, select Scheduled tasks in the left pane.
Select Add scheduled report under Current tasks, or click <Add...> in the right pane and select Report from the
Add new scheduled task
dialog box.
3
4
5
6
Enter a Name and Description for the task.
Select No from the Suspended drop-down list to run the task at the scheduled intervals. See
Suspending,
Resuming, or Removing a Scheduled Task
on page 360 for details on suspending a task.
Select Yes or No from the Run if missed drop-down list to determine whether to run a scheduled task that was missed when the system was offline. If Yes is selected, the task runs immediately when the system is back online.
Select the desired report from the Report name drop-down list, and click Destination.
NOTE: Only standard and customized site reports appear in the report name drop-down list; customized personal
reports are not included. See
Saving a Custom Report
on page 368 for details.
7
In the Report destination dialog box, select either Email or File as the report destination.
If you select Email, do the following: a b
Select the attachment file type. More than one Attachment type can be sent.
In the To field, enter the email address of the recipient. To email multiple recipients, separate email addresses by commas or semi-colons, without any spaces between addresses.
c
Enter a Subject and Message (optional) for the email, and click OK.
If you select File, do the following: a b
Select the File type.
Enter the Path\filename for the report, or click the ellipse button to select a destination, and click OK.
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Schedule
the task to occur either once, every day, every week, or monthly.
9
10
Enter a Start date and Start time for the task to run.
Click OK to save the scheduled task.
Scheduling a Billing Code Task
To add a scheduled Billing Code Synchronization task, do the following:
1
2
In System Manager, select Scheduled tasks in the left pane.
Select Add scheduled billing code synchronization under Current tasks, or click <Add...> in the right pane and select Billing code synchronization from the Add new scheduled task dialog box.
3
4
5
6
Enter a Name and Description for the task.
Select No from the Suspended drop-down list to run the task at the scheduled intervals. See
Suspending,
Resuming, or Removing a Scheduled Task
on page 360 for details on suspending a task.
Select Yes or No from the Run if missed drop-down list to determine whether to run a scheduled task that was missed when the system was offline. If Yes is selected, the task runs immediately when the system is back online.
Enter the File name for the report.
NOTE: If scheduling a billing code sync task in System Manager on a workstation, the local .csv file name must
contain the workstation UNC path, otherwise the file will be considered local to the Scheduler service running on
CAS. (e.g. \\workstation_name\folder\filename).
NOTE: If System Manager is launched from a workstation, manually enter the UNC path for the .csv file to open the
file. If System Manager is launched from the CAS server, the browse button allows for a local file search.
7
From the Behavior drop-down list, select the action that the synchronization task takes when it encounters a billing code in the Equitrac database that does not exist in the text file.
• Ignore the accounts – Perform no action on accounts found in the database but not in the text file.
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• Lock the accounts – The system cannot charge printing to the accounts.
• Delete account information only – Remove accounts from the accounts database. The system retains stored account transactions for reporting purposes.
Schedule
the task to occur either once, every day, every week, or monthly.
9
10
Enter a Start date and Start time for the task to run.
Click OK to save the scheduled task.
Scheduling a Color Quota Task
To add a scheduled Set Color Quotas or Reset Color Usage task, do the following:
1
2
In System Manager, select Scheduled tasks in the left pane.
Select Add scheduled set color quotas under Current tasks, or click <Add...> in the right pane and select Set
color quotas
from the Add new scheduled task dialog box.
3
4
5
6
Enter a Name and Description for the task.
Select No from the Suspended drop-down list to run the task at the scheduled intervals. See
Suspending,
Resuming, or Removing a Scheduled Task
on page 360 for details on suspending a task.
Select Yes or No from the Run if missed drop-down list to determine whether to run a scheduled task that was missed when the system was offline. If Yes is selected, the task runs immediately when the system is back online.
Select the Task type from the drop-down list.
• Set Color Quotas – You can schedule a different quota task for the same user, department or group. For example, you can limit User A to print or copy 10 color pages during peak business hours, and then allow that same user to print or copy up to 30 color pages during off-peak hours.
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• Reset Color Usage – Resets the number of color pages used back to "0". The user can then print or copy in color until they reach their set quota.
Apply the task to one of the following:
• All Users – applies to all users, regardless of the department or group they may be assigned to.
• Department – select a department from drop-down list that the users are assigned to.
• Windows Group – click the Browse button to select a group that the users are assigned to.
Schedule
the task to occur either once, every day, every week, or monthly.
Enter a Start date and Start time for the task to run.
10
Click OK to save the scheduled task.
Scheduling an Account Balance Task
To add a scheduled Account Balance task, do the following:
1
2
In System Manager, select Scheduled tasks in the left pane.
Select Add scheduled set account balances under Current tasks, or click <Add...> in the right pane and select Set
account balances
from the Add new scheduled task dialog box.
3
4
5
Enter a Name and Description for the task.
Select No from the Suspended drop-down list to run the task at the scheduled intervals. See
Suspending,
Resuming, or Removing a Scheduled Task
on page 360 for details on suspending a task.
Select Yes or No from the Run if missed drop-down list to determine whether to run a scheduled task that was missed when the system was offline. If Yes is selected, the task runs immediately when the system is back online.
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Select the Task type from the drop-down list.
• Deposit – Adds funds to the account regardless of the current balance.
• Set balance – Adds fund to the account to a set amount.
• Deposit to minimum level – Adds funds to the account when the balance falls below the set minimum amount.
Apply the task to one of the following:
8
• All Users – applies to all users, regardless of the department or group they may be assigned to.
• Department – select a department from drop-down list that the users are assigned to.
• Windows Group – click the Browse button to select a group that the users are assigned to.
Schedule
the task to occur either once, every day, every week, or monthly.
9
10
Enter a Start date and Start time for the task to run.
Click OK to save the scheduled task.
Scheduling a Purge Transactions Task
To add a scheduled Account Balance task, do the following:
1
2
In System Manager, select Scheduled tasks in the left pane.
Select Add scheduled purge transactions under Current tasks, or click <Add...> in the right pane and select
Purge Transactions
from the Add new scheduled task dialog box.
3
Enter a Name and Description for the task.
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4
5
6
Select No from the Suspended drop-down list to run the task at the scheduled intervals. See
Suspending,
Resuming, or Removing a Scheduled Task
on page 360 for details on suspending a task.
Select Yes or No from the Run if missed drop-down list to determine whether to run a scheduled task that was missed when the system was offline. If Yes is selected, the task runs immediately when the system is back online.
Select what to purge from the database:
• Purge Transactions – Purges all transactions.
• Purge DME status change data – Purges SNMP status change messages generated by devices.
• Purge Uplink Tables – Purges uplink tables.
• Purge SDR events – Purges secure documents from the print queue.
7
8
Purge transactions older than n days, or older than a specified date.
Schedule
the task to occur either once, every day, every week, or monthly.
9
10
Enter a Start date and Start time for the task to run.
Click OK to save the scheduled task.
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Suspending, Resuming, or Removing a Scheduled Task
You can stop a scheduled task from running by either suspending or removing it. Suspend a task to temporarily prevent it from running. A suspended task remains scheduled, but does not run. You can resume the task by removing its suspended status. Remove a task to delete it from the schedule permanently. You cannot resume a task you have removed.
Use the Modify task dialog box to edit, suspend, resume, or remove an existing scheduled task. If you suspend a task, you must also manually reinstate it—it will not automatically run again on the next cycle of the schedule.
Suspending a Task
When you suspend a task, the task remains in the task scheduler, but does not run.
1
2
3
4
Select System Manager > Scheduled tasks.
In the right pane, select the task to open the Modify task dialog box.
Select Yes from the Suspended drop-down list.
Click OK. The task is suspended and does not run at its scheduled time.
Resuming a Task
When you resume a task by removing its suspended status, the task runs at its regularly scheduled intervals.
1
2
3
4
Select System Manager > Scheduled tasks.
In the right pane, select the task to display the Modify task dialog box.
Select No from the Suspended drop-down list.
If necessary, modify the task’s End date. Enter the date in the field using the format MM/DD/YYYY, or click the arrow to display a calendar and select the desired end date.
NOTE: If the task’s end date has passed, you must modify the end date for the task to resume.
5
Click OK. The task runs at its scheduled time.
Removing a Task
When you remove a task, it is delete from the schedule permanently.
1
2
3
Select System Manager > Scheduled tasks.
In the right pane, right-click the task you want to remove and select Remove scheduled task from the menu.
Click Yes to confirm the deletion. The task is removed.
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