Schedule jobs to run automatically | Microsoft Docs

Job queues in Business Central enables users to schedule and run specific reports and codeunits. You can set jobs to run one time, or on a recurring basis. For example, you might want to run the Salesperson - Sales Statistics report weekly, to track sales by salesperson each week, or you might want to run the Process Service E-mail Queue codeunit daily, to make sure pending email messages to customers regarding their service orders are sent out in a timely manner.

The Job Queue Entries page lists all existing jobs. If you add a new job queue entry that you want to schedule, you must specify information about the type of object you want to run, such as a report or codeunit, and the name and object ID of the object that you want to run. You can also add parameters to specify the behavior of the job queue entry. For example, you can add a parameter to only send posted sales orders. You must have permission to run the particular report or codeunit, or an error will be returned when the job queue is run.

A job queue can have many entries, which are the jobs that the queue manages and runs. Information in the entry specifies what codeunit or report is run, when and how often the entry is run, in what category the job runs, and how it runs.

To set up background posting with job queues

Job queues are an effective tool to schedule the running of business processes in the background, such as when multiple users are trying to post sales orders, but only one order can be processed at a time. Alternatively, you may want to schedule postings for hours when it is convenient for your organization. For example, it may make sense in your business to run certain routines when most of the data entry for the day has concluded.

You can achieve this by setting the job queue up to run various batch-posting reports, such as the Batch Post Sales Orders, Batch Post Sales Invoices, Batch Post Sales Return Orders, and Batch Post Sales Credit Memos reports. For more information, see To create a job queue entry for background sales order posting.

Business Central supports background posting for all sales, purchasing, and service documents.

The following procedure explains how to set up background posting of sales orders. The steps are similar for purchasing and service.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Sales & Receivables Setup, and then choose the related link.
  2. On the Sales & Receivables Setup page, choose the Post with Job Queue check box.

  3. To filter to job queue entries for sales order posting, choose the Job Queue Category Code field, and then select the SalesPost category.

    A job queue object, codeunit 88 Sales Post via Job Queue, is created. Proceed to enable it on the Job Queue Entries page.

  4. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Job Queue Entries, and then choose the related link.
  5. On the Job Queue Entries page, choose the New action.
  6. In the Object Type to Run field, select Codeunit.

  7. In the Object ID to Run field, select 88, Sales Post via Job Queue.

    No other fields are relevant for this scenario.

  8. Choose the Set Status to Ready action.
  9. To verify that the job queue is working as expected, post a sales order. For more information, see Sell Products.
  10. Review on the Job Queue Log Entries page if the sales order was posted successfully. For more information, see To view status or errors in the job queue.

If you also want sales documents to be printed when they are posted, select the Post & Print with Job Queue check box on the Sales & Receivables Setup page.

IMPORTANT

If you set up a job that will post and print documents, and the printer displays a dialog box, such as a request for credentials or a warning about low printer ink, your document is posted but not printed. The corresponding job queue entry eventually times out and the Status field is set to Error. Accordingly, we recommend that you do not use a printer setup that requires interaction with the display of printer dialog boxes in conjunction with background posting.

To create a job queue entry for batch posting of sales orders

The following procedure shows how to set the Batch Post Sales Orders report up to automatically post released sales orders at 4 PM on week days.

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Job Queue Entries, and then choose the related link.
  2. Choose the New action.
  3. In the Object Type to Run field, select Report.
  4. In the Object ID to Run field, select 296, Batch Post Sales Orders.
  5. Select the Report Request Page check box.
  6. In the Batch Post Sales Orders request page, define what is included during automatic posting of sales orders, and then choose the OK button.
  7. Select all check boxes from Run on Mondays through Run on Fridays.
  8. In the Starting Time field, enter 4 PM.
  9. Choose the Set Status to Ready action.

Sales orders that are ready to post will now be posted every week day at 4 PM.

NOTE

If the job queue cannot post the sales order, the status is changed to Error and the sales order is added to the list of sales orders that the user must handle manually. For more information, see To view status or errors in the job queue.

After job queues are set up and running, the status can change as follows within each recurring period:

After a job has finished successfully, it is removed from the list of job queue entries unless it is a recurring job. If it is a recurring job, the Earliest Start Time field is adjusted to show the next time that the job is expected to run.

To view status or errors in the job queue

Data that is generated when a job queue is run is stored in the database, so that you can troubleshoot job queue errors.

To view status for any job

  1. Choose the Lightbulb that opens the Tell Me feature icon, enter Job Queue Entries, and then choose the related link.
  2. On the Job Queue Entries page, select a job queue entry, and then choose the Log Entries action.

To view status from a sales or purchase document

  1. From the document that you have tried to post with the job queue, choose the Job Queue Status field, which will contain Error.
  2. Review the error message and fix the problem.

The My Job Queue Part

The My Job Queue part on your Role Center shows the job queues entries that you have started, but which are not yet finished. By default, the part is not visible, so you have to add it to your Role Center. For more information, see Changing Basic Settings.

The part shows which documents with your ID in the Assigned User ID field are being processed or are queued, including those related to background posting. The part can tell you at a glance whether there has been an error in the posting of a document or if there are errors in a job queue entry. The part also lets you cancel a document posting if it is not running.

To view an error from the My Job Queue part

  1. On an entry with the status Error, choose the Show Error action.
  2. Review the error message and fix the problem.

Security

Job queue entries run based on permissions. Those permissions must allow the execution of the report or codeunit.

When a job queue is activated manually, it is run with the credentials of the user. When a job queue is activated as a scheduled task, it is run with the credentials of the server instance. When a job is run, it is run with the credentials of the job queue that activates it. However, the user who created that job queue entry must also have permissions. When a job is “run in user session” (such as during background posting), it is run with the credentials of the user who created that job.

IMPORTANT

If you use the SUPER permissions set that comes with Business Central , you and your users have permissions to run all objects. In this case, access for each user is only limited by permissions for data.

Using Job Queues Effectively

The job queue entry record has many fields whose purpose is to carry parameters into a codeunit that you have specified to be run with a job queue. This also means that codeunits that are to be run via the job queue must be specified with the Job Queue Entry record as a parameter in the OnRun trigger. This helps provide an extra level of security, as this prevents users from running random codeunits via the job queue. If the user must pass parameters to a report, the only way to do this is by wrapping the report execution into a codeunit, which then parses the input parameters and enters them into the report before executing it.

See Also

Administration
Setting Up Business Central
Changing Basic Settings


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