Schedules can be used to automatically run an ordered list of tasks, at regular intervals. Supported task types:
| Task type | Description |
|---|---|
| Workflow run published | Will execute the selected published Workflow. |
| Dataset refresh | Will refresh the selected Dataset from an external system. |
To create a Schedule:
Go to Automations.
Go to Schedules.
Click Create new Schedule.
Enter a name.
(Optional) Enter a summary (this will appear in the Schedules list) and a longer description.
Select the task type from the first drop-down.
Then select an object from the second drop-down (i.e a Workflow or Dataset). You can add in as many tasks as you require, each task will be executed in sequence; if one fails, subsequent tasks will not run.
For the workflow task type, you can click on Parameter to configure re-configurable Workflow parameters of the Workflow.
Specify when and how often you want this scheduled job to be run.
Click Apply to save your changes or Apply and enable to save changes and activate the Schedule.
The Schedule will appear in the Schedules list where you can see when the Next run will occur, or "Not Enabled" if the Schedule has not yet been activated.
To stop an active Schedule, click Options > Disable.
A CRON expression is a string of either 6 or 7 fields, separated by white space, that can be used as a shorthand way of defining a recurring schedule.
To create a CRON expression use the following fields:
| Field | Required? | Allowed Values | Allowed Special Characters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seconds | Required | 0-59 | *-/, |
| Minutes | Required | 0-59 | *-/, |
| Hours | Required | 0-23 | *-/, |
| Day of month | Required | 1-31 | ?*-/,LW |
| Month | Required | 1-12 or JAN-DEC | *-/, |
| Day of week | Required | 1-7 or SUN-SAT | ?*-/,L# |
| Year | Optional | 1970-2099 | *-/, |
Some example CRON expressions:
0 0 0 1W * ? 2022 will run at midnight on the first weekday of each month in 2022.0 15 0 1/2 * ? will run at quarter past midnight every other day (for the current year).0 0 9-17 ? * MON-FRI * will run every hour between 9AM and 5PM, Monday to Friday.0 0 0 ? * 2#1 * will run at midnight on the first Monday of every month.0 0 0 14W * ? * will run at midnight on the closest working day to the 14th day of every month, which could be before or after the 14th.0 0 0 4/14 * ? * will run every 14 days starting on 4th of the month. Executions could happen on any day, including weekends.0 0 3 ? * 6L * will run at 3AM on the last Friday of every month.As well as running at the defined interval, a Schedule can be run as a one-off event for immediate execution in two ways:
When you click on the Run now, a Run Schedule dialog will appear, and you can specify the execution details for each Workflow in the Schedule such as version, sources and parameters.
The Version to run setting determines whether to execute using Draft or Published versions of the Workflows.
You can also select Prefer drafts or Only use published dependencies to run. This setting decides whether to execute the Workflows using unpublished dependencies, such as Views and Functions.
You may need to configure the re-configurable Workflow parameters for each Workflow task in the Schedule (if available).
The parameters' value that you have defined in the schedule will be populated here, but you can still replace it with other value.
Optional Workflow parameters will use the configured value for execution, otherwise the default value will be used.
Go to Jobs to review the status of running and completed Workflow tasks. For Workflow executions triggered by a Schedule, the Initiated by column will indicate which Schedule initiated the job. Click Show Job on the job to see more information such as the status and duration.
For Dataset refresh tasks, you can use automations on events to detect when a Dataset has successfully loaded with the Dataset loaded event or failed with the Dataset automatic load failed event.