Working with Time Windows

Tabs and Fields

The following table illustrates the fields of each tab of Time Windows editor dialogs.

Tab Field Description
Time Window Partition The Partition where you wish to store the Time Window.
Time Window Name The name of the Time Window can contain any combination of US ASCII letters, digits, and underscores; limited to 80 characters.
Time Window Application The Application of the Time Window.
Time Window Description The description of the Time Window can contain any combination of printable UTF-8 characters, limited to 255 characters.
Time Window Time Zone An optional time zone for the Time Window.
Time Window Enabled During Time Window Another Time Window that defines open times for this Time Window.
Time Window Disabled During Time Window Another Time Window that defines closed times for this Time Window. The current Time Window is closed when the Disabled During Time Window is open.
Time Window Is Calendar The current Time Window is a calendar open entire days; a Calendar Time Window cannot have times set, only dates.
Time Window If an open day is closed during Specify a Time Window that is closed at the dates you want to shift the open dates forward or backward. The specified Time Window must be a Calendar Time Window.
Time Window then shift this day Direction in which you want to shift the open dates.
Time Window to the Amount of open periods you would like to shift.
Time Window open day in definition of open periods.
Documentation Documentation A comment about the object, can be used for documentation purposes.
Elements Description An optional description of the Time Window element.
Elements from/until-<time zone> The times in specified time zone at which this element is open. Not to be used with Calendar Time Windows.
Elements and from Period of months this Time Window element is open.
Elements and from the/and until the Days/weeks of the month.
Elements and from/and until The times (without time zone) at which this element is open. Not to be used with Calendar Time Windows.
Elements and period function This Time Window element is [partly] defined by the following period function.
Elements with parameters Parameters for the period function; all parameters of the period function must be specified.
Elements Time Zone Time zone of the Time Window element, if different from the Time Zone field of the Time Window tab.
Elements Enabled During Time Window Another Time Window that defines open times for this Time Window element.
Elements Disabled During Time Window Another Time Window that defines closed times for this Time Window element. The current Time Window element is closed when the Disabled During Time Window is open.
Elements and shift open periods Specifies how many days forward or backward should be shifted - it is an unconditional shift that is always performed.
Elements day rollover at A time offset for day rollover.
Opens At Overview of when the Time Window is open (dates, times) and when the next opening and closure is.

Security * This is where you can specify who can access/change/remove the Time Window.

Time Windows support the following context menu options.

Note: For generally applicable object context menu options, see Object Context Menu.

Action Description
Edit Security Edit the security of the Time Window
Duplicate Make a copy of the Time Window to create a similar one
Delete Delete the Time Window
Edit Edit the Time Window
New time window Create a new Time Window

REL Substitution Parameters

Name Class Description
averageRuntime Number The average runtime of the current process
jobId Number The process ID of the current process
parameters InParametersScriptObject The values of input parameters of current process
parameters.<name> String, Number, Date, DateTimeZone Value of parameter named <name> of current process
requestedStartTime DateTimeZone The requested starttime of the current process
scheduledStartTime DateTimeZone The scheduled starttime of the current process
standardDeviationRuntime Number The standard deviation of the runtimes of the Process Definition of the current process
topLevelAgerageRuntime Number The estimated runtime of the top level process in the Chain
topLevelJobId Number The process ID of the top level process in the Chain
topLevelRequestedStartTime DateTimeZone The requested starttime of the top level process in the Chain
topLevelScheduledStartTime DateTimeZone The scheduled starttime of the top level process in the Chain
topLevelStandardDeviationRuntime Number The standard deviation of the runtimes of the Process Definition of the top level process in the Chain

Note: REL expressions begin with an equals (=).

To make sure that a job completely finishes within the Time Window, you can set Min open time window duration to fit process field to averageRuntime (plus a safety margin).

Example

  • =averageRuntime - the average job runtime
  • =averageRuntime * 2 - twice the average job runtime
  • =averageRuntime * 3 - three times the average job runtime
  • =averageRuntime + standardDeviationRuntime - the average job runtime plus the standard deviation
  • =averageRuntime + standardDeviationRuntime * 2 - the average job runtime plus twice the standard deviation
  • =averageRuntime + standardDeviationRuntime * 3 - the average job runtime plus three times the standard deviation.

presubmitted Processes

The Submit Frame Time Window and the process Time Window are intersected. The returned start times must match the result of the intersection.

  • Skip when time window is closed is true - return only the calculated start times for which the intersection is open, skip if the intersection is closed.
  • Skip when time window is closed is false - slide the result to the next opening to the intersection. If the Submit Frame element has an anchor time, try this time on the day of the result. Is the Time Window open, the anchor time is returned, otherwise the calculated opening of the intersection is used.

If the Queue has a Time Window, it is applied after the start time calculations. This implies that if the Queue Time Window is closed on the calculated start time, the start time slides to the next opening of the Queue Time Window. In this case, the anchor time is tried first as well.

Note: The Skip when time window is closed setting has an effect on both the Time Window of the Submit Frame and the Time Window of the process.

Deleting Time Windows

You can only delete Time Windows when no other objects relate to them. For example, if there are processes that have run with the Time Window, the Time Window cannot be deleted until all processes that ran with it have been deleted. You can see all processes that relate to the Time Window in Related Objects in the lower detail pane and on the show page.

The table in related objects contains three columns:

  • Type - the type of object with a link to it
  • Related Object - the name of the object with a link to it
  • Used As - objects can sometimes be used in different roles

Security

The privileges available in the Security tab are as follows.

For more information, see Security Tab.

Privilege Description
TimeWindow.Create Create Time Windows
TimeWindow.Delete Delete Time Windows
TimeWindow.Edit Edit Time Windows
TimeWindow.View Access Time Windows

Procedure

  1. Choose "Environment > Time Windows".
  2. Choose Refresh to see all existing Time Windows.
  3. Choose New Time Window to create a Time Window.
  4. Fill in the details, refer to the section below.
  5. Choose Save and Close to save the Time Window.

Values

The configuration details for Time Windows can be found in the Configuration Data for Time Windows section of the documentation.

Example

Upgrade Maintenance Window

The BRLN_AIXS4 system is going to be upgraded and a Time Window needs to be created.

  1. Choose "Environment > Time Windows" in the Navigation bar.
  2. Choose the New Time Window button and fill in the values for the Time Window tab.
  3. Optionally choose the Documentation tab and fill in the details in the Doucumentation field.
  4. Choose the Elements tab, choose Add and fill in the values for the Elements tab.
  5. Choose Save and Close.

Note: You can choose Calendar to choose a from and until day.

Values to fill in on the respective tabs as follows:

Time Window tab:

  • Name: DataWareHouseUpgrade

  • Description: Data Warehouse Upgrade

Elements tab:

  • from: 15-03-2022 17:30

  • until: 15-03-2022 20:30

Tip: Redwood Server contains many predefined Time Windows that can be used to create new Time Windows. However, never remove built-in Time Windows.

You want to have a process run on every third workday of the month according to an SAP Factory Calendar

  1. Choose "Environment > Time Windows".
  2. Choose Refresh to see all existing Time Windows.
  3. Choose New Time Window from the context menu to create a Time Window, fill PR1_Never into the Name field and check the field Is Calendar.
  4. Click Save & Close and choose New Time Window from the context menu.
  5. Fill PR1_FR into the name field and check the field Is Calendar.
  6. On the Elements tab, fill SAP_FactoryCalendar into the and period function field, fill calendar = PR5 FR into the with parameters field.
  7. You must ensure the factory calendar is imported from the SAP System named PR5; you submit the SAP_ImportCalendars Process Definition on the PR5 SAP System to import the calendar.
  8. Click Save & Close and choose New Time Window from the context menu.
  9. Fill PR1_3RD_Workday into the Name field, check the Is Calendar field.
  10. Fill PR1_Never into the If an open time window is closed during field.
  11. Choose Forward in the then shift this day field, fill 3 and PR1_FR into the to the and open day in fields.
  12. On the Elements tab, choose Add, and select last in the and from thedayof the month (6th field from the top).
  13. Choose Save, inspect the open times on the Opens at tab to make sure they are ok.
  14. Click Save & Close.

Using Time Windows in Processes

Processes and Chains can have Time Windows to restrict the start time to specific time periods. Time Windows restrict the start time of a process, a Time Window open from 10:00 until 10:05 forces the scheduled process to start at 10:00 if resources are available but the process must have started by 10:05 or the process gets the Overdue status.

Process Definitions and Chains can be configured to run according to a specific Time Window, that can be overruled at submit time.

Note: When using a Time Window that does not have a time zone, it is recommended to define a time zone as well.

Procedure

To restrict a Chain to a specific Time Window:

  1. Navigate to Definitions > Chains.
  2. From the context menu of a Chain Definition, choose Edit.
  3. Choose Edit Chain Definition.
  4. Enter a Time Window into the field Restrict to Time Window of the Chain Definition tab.
  5. Click Save & Close.
  6. Choose Apply.

To overrule the Time Window at submit time:

  1. Navigate to Definitions > Chains.
  2. From the context menu of a Chain Definition, choose Submit.
  3. If the Chain Definition has parameters, fill these in and choose Time and Dates.
  4. Choose advanced, notice that the Time Window field is filled with a Time Window.
  5. Enter a new Time Window.
  6. Choose Scheduling and enter a Queue name.
  7. Choose Submit.

To verify which Time Window a specific process is restricted to:

  1. Choose "Monitoring > Processes".
  2. Select the process.
  3. If the process is part of a Chain, in the lower detail pane, choose the ID.
  4. The Time Window is displayed in the lower detail pane.

See Also