Generating a BOD as a background task

In this application, a BOD is generated automatically by the appropriate application events—for example, a change in status or receipt of an item—as defined in the Replication Document forms. In certain cases, a BOD could also be generated by a scheduled event rather than an application event.

For example, ProductionOrder BOD generation is triggered by a change of status, but is not triggered by changes in the production schedule. Generating a ProductionOrder BOD each time a date change event occurred would generate so many BODs during a single day that it could overwhelm the system. Thus, using an application event to trigger ProductionOrder BODs on schedule changes is not a good choice. Instead, use a scheduled event that runs as a background task. The generated BOD includes all schedule changes since the last time the BOD generation was run.

  1. On the Replication Document Outbound Cross References form, set up a definition for the BOD that will require a scheduled event.
    1. To quickly set up the BOD definition, copy a current definition for the same BOD to the new definition, and assign a new method using the Applies To Method field.
    2. To enable the BOD to be generated as a scheduled background task, select Eligible for Background Manual Request.
    3. Optionally, apply filter conditions.
      We recommend the use of filter conditions to restrict the number of BODs that are created and to define the times at which they are created. This can help prevent system overloads during business hours.

      See Filter Conditions for BODs.

      The ProductionOrder BOD is particularly vulnerable to causing a system overload because of its size and the number of times it can be generated.

      For examples of filters that are appropriate for production orders, see Example: Setting up a Production Order BOD Generation to Run in the Background.

  2. On the Replication Categories form, create a new category that contains the method you created in Step 1, or use the existing ESB category.
  3. In the Replication Document Manual Request Utility, create a background task to generate the selected BODs:
    1. Execute Filter-In-Place.
    2. Select the appropriate BOD Noun, BOD Verb, and Applies to Method options.
    3. From the Initial Load/Update drop-down list, select Update.
    4. From the Actions menu, select Background.
    5. Specify when to run the background task and click OK.
      Note:  For the ProductionOrder BOD, we recommend that you run the Planning or Scheduling process before running the background task.

The background task selects the outbound cross reference definition and generates the BOD at the scheduled time. Settings and filters used in the outbound cross reference definition are not saved within the background task, so that you can adjust them and use them for the next scheduled run.