Question regarding scheduling feature

[akaras]

I have jobs that need to be scheduled to run the first business day of every month, but this is not an option in the scheduler, is there another way to do this?

Thanks.

[Todd Niemi]

Akaras, a couple of possibilities come to mind. The easiest way would probably be to set up an input file specification for the process (or processes), and then trigger the running of the process(es) by placing the specified input file(s) in the monitored folder(s) on the 1st business day of each month.

If this isn't an option, you could configure two duplicate processes, and then specify a different schedule for each one.

For example, for the 1st process you might do the following:

When scheduling the process to run, on the Schedule tab under the Schedule Task heading select "Monthly", then click the Advanced button.

In the dialog that appears, specify a start date (e.g., 5/1/06), and specify an end date (e.g., 12/1/06), then click the OK button.

On the Schedule tab under the Schedule Task Monthly heading, select "1" for the "Day n of the month(s)" option, then click the Select Months button.

On the Select Months dialog that displays, select the following months -- May, June, August, September, November, December (the 1st day of these months is a business day) -- then click the OK button to close the Select Months dialog. Click the OK button on the Schedule tab to close the Scheduler.

When scheduling the second process to run, do the following:

On the Schedule tab under the Schedule Task heading select "Monthly", then click the Advanced button.

In the dialog that appears, specify a start date (e.g., 4/3/06), and specify an end date (e.g., 10/2/06), then click the OK button.

Under the Schedule Task Monthly heading specify that you want to run the process on "The first Monday of the month(s)", then click the Select Months button and select April, July and October (the 1st business day of these months is a Monday). Click the OK button on the Schedule tab to close the Scheduler.

If you do use the "two processes with separate schedules" approach, you will have to be careful that the running of each process doesn't move, overwrite or delete a file required by the other process. Depending on your needs, this approach might work fine, but it could also cause problems if you're not careful.

There may be an easier way to do this (any ideas anyone?), but until someone comes up with one, the above will hopefully work for you. Good luck.

[akaras]

Is it possible to add a script that schedules this?
I might be able to get the file put into a file to be monitored.
The second choice is not really an option... because we would need to be making constant changes to the processes based on what day of the week the first of each month falls from year to year.

[Todd Niemi]

Perhaps, but someone who is more adept at scripting than I am would have to answer that for you. (Any takers?)

As for the two scheduled processes method: it's not clear to me why you feel "constant" changes would be necessary when going this route. I would think you'd only have to configure and schedule the two processes once a year (i.e., at the beginning of each year).

I think importing the input files into a monitored directory on the first business day of each month may be the best way to go, if there's an easy way for you to do that.

[ March 09, 2006, 05:21 PM: Message edited by: Todd Niemi ]