Schedules management
What are schedules?
You can automate Symphony executions by scheduling them to start at a specific time in the future or run at defined times or intervals. This capability ensures consistent orchestration of business processes without manual intervention, aligning execution timing with organizational needs and time zones.
Benefits of scheduling executions
These are the benefits of scheduling executions:
- Automation: Reduces the need for manual initiation of Symphonies.
- Consistency: Ensures timely and repeatable orchestration of workflows.
- Control: Enables precise execution timing based on time zones and business requirements.
Scheduling modes
Enterprise Orchestrator supports two scheduling modes:
- Basic scheduling:
- For simple recurring jobs.
- Supports intervals ranging from 10 minutes up to 30 days.
- Quick to configure and manage.
- Advanced scheduling:
- Uses 6 digit Quartz cron expressions to create complex execution patterns, and set start of the executions.
Note: The next three scheduled are displayed next to the cron expression. You can review the schedules and adjust your cron expression if the timing does not match your intended schedule.
- Suitable for sophisticated timing needs. For example, specific days of the week, multiple time windows.
- Uses 6 digit Quartz cron expressions to create complex execution patterns, and set start of the executions.
Cron expression
The advanced scheduling uses the 6 digit Quartz cron expression to create execution patterns.
Cron expression is a string used to define a schedule for running tasks automatically at specific times or intervals. It consists of five fields separated by spaces, each field represent a specific time unit.
The fields are interpreted in this sequence, starting from left side:
- Minute (0-59): The minute of the hour when the task should run.
- Hour (0-23): The hour of the day when the task should run.
- Day of Month (1-31): The specific day of the month when the task should run.
- Month (1-12): The month when the task should run.
- Day of Week (0-6): The day of the week when the task should run. For example: 0 represents Sunday, 1 represents Monday.
You can use special characters to create complex scheduling patterns.
This table shows the special characters you can use in cron expressions:
| Special Character | Function | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Asterisk (*) | Matches any value in the field. Use it when you do not want to restrict that time unit. | * * * * * runs every minute. |
| Comma (,) | Separates individual values or ranges. Use it to specify multiple values for a field. | 0 5,16 * * * runs at 5 AM and 4 PM daily. |
| Hyphen (-) | Specifies a range of values. Both start and end values are included. | 0 0 * * 1-5 runs from Monday to Friday |
| Slash (/) | Specifies intervals | */15 * * * *runs every 15 minutes |
Example
The 30 14 * * 1 cron expression specifies to run the task at 2:30 PM every Monday.
Time zones
By default, all times specified in a cron expression are interpreted as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
You can specify a different time zone to control when scheduled triggers occur, allowing you to align executions with local or business-specific times.
Best practices
- Keep schedules accurate and up to date to ensure reliable orchestration.
- Use clear naming conventions for variables.
- Validate cron expressions carefully to avoid missed executions.