Recurring Workflow Scheduler Solution

The Recurring Workflow Scheduler Solution allows users to schedule jobs that will trigger workflows at regular intervals.

Although this solution was built as part of the Simple ETL for CRM Project, it can be used as a generic workflow scheduler to trigger any On-Demand workflows in your Microsft Dynamics CRM 2011 system.

Install the Solution

To Install the solution, download the Managed Solution or theUn-managed Solution from Codeplex here: (links to follow)

Quick Guide:

1. To Create a Recurring Job

To create a recurring job:

1. Go to Scheduled Jobs View (you may need to customize your Sitemap if Scheduled Jobs is not available), or open it from the Advanced Find view. Click the New button to open the New Scheduled Job form
   
   
2. Enter the information on the Scheduled Job form and save it.
   

• Name: The name of the Scheduled Job.
• Status Reason: Draft (Scheduled jobs will not be created) or Running (The scheduled jobs will start running)
• Start On: Optional. If left blank, the Scheduled jobs will start running at the time when the status reason changed to Running.
• End On: Optional. If left blank, the Scehduled Job will continue to run, until the Status Reason is changed back to Draft, or when the Scheduled Job is deactivated/ deleted.
• Scheduling Type: Allows user to select from the following options: Run Once, Start every X hour Xmin, Start everyday at HH:MM, Start every week on Xday at HH:mm, and Start every month on X Days at HH:MM. Additional information is required to be entered, based on the Scheduling Type selected.
• Workflow: The workflow that will be run by the Scheduled Job.
• Target Record ID: The record ID where the workflow will run against.
• Workflow Configuration: A place to store the workflow configuration if the custom workflow requires it.

2. To Start, Stop, Restart a Job

To start a scheduled job,

1. Open the Scheduled Job form.
2. Change the status reason of a Scheduled Job to "Running", and save the Scheduled Job.

To stop a job,

1. Open the Scheduled Job form.
2. Change the status reason of a Scheduled Job to "Draft", and save the Scheduled Job. (Note: this will cancel all existing System Jobs that are waiting to be executed.

Similarly, to restart a job,

1. Open the Scheduled Job form.
2. Change the status reason of a Scheduled Job to "Draft", and save the Scheduled Job 
3. Then, change the status reason of a Scheduled Job to "Running", and save the Scheduled Job

3. Monitor Recurring Jobs 

To view the current list of Active jobs and their status:

1. Go to Active Scheduled Jobs View (you may need to customize your Sitemap if Scheduled Jobs is not available), or open it from the Advanced Find view. 
2. The Active Scheduled Jobs View shows a list of Active Schedule Jobs with information on the  scheduling type, Status Reason (Draft/ Running), Last Executed Time and Next Executed Time. 

 To view the history of System Jobs that have been executed by the Scheduled Job:

1. Open the Scheduled Job form.
2. Click on Workflows on the Left menu of the form. This will show the list of recurring system jobs that was triggered by workflow. Also, key job informations are also displayed on the footer of the form (e.g. Created on, Modifield on, Last Executed On, Next Executed On).
   
3. Alternatively, you can create a custom system view or user view on the System Job entity