Scheduling Bulk Actions (Classic)

 

Scheduling bulk actions enables automation of predefined bulk actions on a recurring basis. You can specify the order in which bulk actions are performed, configure the frequency at which an update occurs, define what action occurs when a bulk schedule is triggered, and define the records or fields to which changes are applied.

Important: The job engine must be running for users to complete on-demand or scheduled bulk actions.

Configuring Scheduled Bulk Actions

Schedules do not require that you enable individual fields for bulk action. As long as you have appropriate update or create permissions, you can configure all supported field types in a schedule, even if the fields are not enabled for bulk action at the field-level.

Schedule Access

System administrators have unrestricted access to all schedules in Archer.

Configuration administrators have unrestricted access to schedules in their applications, except for filter fields, reference fields, or fields being updated to which they do not have access.

System administrators and configuration administrators can also select other users to serve as the owner of a schedule.

Schedule a bulk action

1. Go to the Manage Schedule page of the application for which you want to schedule a bulk action.

   1. From the menu, click the solution.
   2. From the Applications list, click the application name.

   Note: If you have administrator access, you can also access the Manage Schedules page, which displays all schedules in the system that you have access to. From the menu, click and under Application Builder, click Schedules.

2. Click Add New.
3. In the General Information section, do the following:
   1. Enter a name and description for the schedule.
   2. In the Status field, select Active if you want the schedule to start running as scheduled once it is saved. Otherwise, select Inactive and change the status to Active later when you are ready for the schedule to start running.
   3. Do 1 of the following:
      • If the application is not a leveled application, go to the next step.
      • If the application is a leveled application, select the level where the fields on which you want to execute a bulk action resides.
   4. In the Schedule Owners field, select an owner or owners for the schedule. This role grants the user access to update the schedule and associated actions, as long as the user has schedule update rights for the application. Multiple users can be selected in this field.

      If you are not a sysadmin administrator or the configuration administrator, this field defaults to your Archer user account and you cannot make changes.

      If you are a system administrator or the configuration administrator you can select another user in this field.

      Note: The Schedule Owner field only allows you to select users with system administrator, configuration administrator, or schedule rights to the application.

   5. In the Run As field, select the user whose permissions you want to use to run the schedule. The system runs all actions associated with the schedule using the application, content, and field permissions of this user. Only 1 user can be selected in this field.

      If you are not a system administrator or the configuration administrator, this field defaults to your user account and you cannot make changes.

      If you are a system administrator or the configuration administrator, you can select any other user who has Read access to the application.

      Important: The Run As user is only used for scheduled runs. If another user uses the Run Now button to run the schedule immediately, the permissions of that user are used.

       

4. In the Notifications section, select the notifications that you want to receive.
   • Target Application. Sends a notification when records are created and updated in the target application of the schedule.
   • Referenced Application. Sends a notification when records are created and updated in any application that is referenced by the schedule actions.
   • Job Status Notification. Sends a notification to selected Active Schedule Owners when the bulk action job completes, regardless of whether it was successful or not.

   Note: These notifications are only sent if notifications have been configured for scheduled bulk actions in this application. For instructions, see Adding Admin Notifications.

5. In the Recurrences section, select the frequency, start time, start date, and time zone in which you want to run the schedule.
6. In the Filters section, create search filters to identify only the records on which you want to execute a bulk action.

   If you want to add n-tier relationships, click on Manage Relationships and select an application from the Available Related Applications column. Click the plus sign (+) next to the application and select 1 or more n-tier relationships.

   Note: In the Selected column, clicking the x next to a selected application deletes it. However, you can only delete applications from the bottom up. Users are not able to delete a topmost application without first deleting the n-tier applications below.

   Anything selected and saved from the Manage Relationships window also appears in Field to Evaluate, under the Filter section. If nothing has been selected in Manage Relationships, only the primary application is available in the Field to Evaluate .

   If you want to enforce the relationships selected in Manage Relationships, click on Configure Relationships. For each selected application that you want included in the search results, select Enforce Relationships.

   For example, if you want to perform a bulk update on all of the Vulnerabilities records that you are assigned, you might create a filter: [Security Analyst] CONTAINS "your name". For more information about filters, see Search Options: Filters.

7. Click Save.
8. In the Schedule Actions section, do any of the following:
   • Create a Bulk Update action.
     1. Click Add New.
     2. Enter a name, description, and status for the new action.
     3. In the Type field, select Bulk Update.
     4. In the Field Value Expression section, select the field you want to bulk update.

        Note: If the application is a leveled application, only fields from the selected level display in the field selector.

        Note: Only fields to which you have Read and Update rights display in the field selector.

     5. Do 1 of the following:
        • Select the Static operator, and enter a new value for the field.
        •  Select the Mapped operator, and do the following:
          1. Under the Value(s) column, click the ellipses to open the selector window.
          2. From the Available column, select which fields to map. Your selections appear in the Selected column.

             Note: Available fields displayed depend on the group-by selection, and are filtered according to the target field type and parameters of the target field definition.

          3. When finished, click OK.
        • Select the Calculated operator, and do the following:
          1. Under the Value(s) column, to the right of the field, click Edit. The Calculation Editor window appears.
          2. From the Available column, click on field names to paste the full path syntax at the correct location of the cursor in the Configuration area. The formula can be a combination of static text terms and fields, which must be separated by an ampersand (&).

             Important: You must select between 2 and 255 static text terms or fields.

             Note: The available text, numeric, values list, and tracking ID fields are based on the Group By value in the Bulk Create Configuration.

          1. When finished, click OK.

             Note: After the system validates the calculation, the value in the Value(s) column shows as Defined; if an error occurs with the formula, you are prompted with a validation error. For more information, see Calculated Operator Validation Messages.

     6. (Optional) To add additional rows for field value expressions, click Add New, and repeat step d - e.
     7. Click Save.
     8. Click to return to the new schedule page.
   • Create a Bulk Create Reference action.
     1. Click Add New.
     2. Enter a name, description, and status for the new action.
     3. In the Type field, select Bulk Create References.
     4. In the Bulk Create Configuration section, do the following:
        1. From the Reference Field list, select the reference field that you want to create in bulk. Required fields from the referenced application appear in the Field Value Expression section.

           For example, if you have a Vulnerability Scan Results application that contains a cross-reference to the Findings application, you can create a new finding for all of the vulnerability scan result records that are returned by your filters.

           Note: The Reference Field list only displays Active reference fields.

        2. Do 1 of the following:
           • If the reference field targets an application that is not leveled, go to the next step.
           • If the reference field targets a leveled application, select the level in which you want to create a new reference.
        3. In the Group By field, select the option by which you want the new records grouped.

           For example, if you select Security Analyst for the Group By field, 1 finding is created for each group of vulnerability scan results that belongs to each security analyst in the records returned by your filters. This is done for each field selected.

           The Group By Field selector supports the selection of field n-tier relationships from the primary applications. In the Group By Field selector, click the plus sign (+) next to the available application and select the desired n-tier relationship(s). Selecting an n-tier application adds all levels necessary to represent the build-out. Once you select a field from a related application, other related applications are no longer available.

           On the Group By Fields selector, the meta-data relationship build-out from the primary application is based solely on reference fields to the primary application, with the ability to expand additional n-tiers through the levels in the relationship. You can select single and multiple fields from primary and n-tier applications.

           If the Group By Fields selected have a value of No Selection, they are grouped into a default bucket. Create a new reference record and link all primary records that could not be associated to a separate grouping to this new reference record.

           Note: Users must have the appropriate privileges.

           For example, if Group By Fields are selected from the Business Unit, but the user does not have the appropriate privileges for Business Unit, the user cannot edit the Action.

           If Business Unit is selected in Group By Fields, but no fields from Business Unit have been selected, the user can still edit the Action. However, when fields are selected from the Business Unit, the user is no longer able to edit the Action.

           Note: New reference records can be grouped by record permissions, user groups, cross-references, related records, and values lists fields.

     5. In the Field Value Expression section, select the field to define in the new records, and enter values for those fields.

        Fields that are required in the referenced application appear by default and cannot be removed.

        Note: Only fields from the selected level of the reference field are displayed in the field selector.

     6. (Optional) To add rows for additional criteria, click Add New, and repeat step e.
     7. Click Save.
     8. Click to return to the new schedule page.
   • Create an Advanced Workflow Content Enrollment action.
     1. Click Add New.
     2. Enter a name, description, and status for the new action.
     3. In the Type field, select Advanced Workflow Content Enrollment.
     4. Click Save.
     5. Click to return to the new schedule page.
   • Rearrange the order in which the actions occur.
     1. Click Configure Order.
     2. Drag-and-drop the actions in the order you want them to occur.
     3. Click OK.
9. Click Save.
10. (Optional) Click to return to the Manage Schedule page.

Manage schedules

Note: You can only manage schedules for which you are the Schedule Owner, unless you are a system administrator or configuration administrator for that application.

1. Go to the Manage Schedule page of the application for which you want to manage a bulk action.

   1. From the menu, click the Solution Name menu.
   2. Click the solution.
   3. From the Applications list, click the icon next to the application name.

   Note: If you have administrator access, you can also access the Manage Schedules page, which displays all schedules in the system that you have access to. From the menu, click and under Application Builder, click Schedules.

2. Do any of the following:
   • To edit a schedule, click the schedule name or, in the Actions column, click . Update the schedule as necessary, then click Save.
   • To delete a schedule, in the Actions column of the schedule you want to delete, click . When prompted if you want to proceed, click Delete.
   • To run a schedule, in the Actions column of the schedule you want to run, click . When prompted if you want to proceed, click Run.

     Important: The schedule runs using the permissions of the user who initiates the run, not the user assigned as Run As in the schedule.

     The system queues a job in the Job Engine Services queue. The job runs the search criteria and runs the actions defined in the schedule. When the job is complete, view the run report (see step 3).

     Note: The progress bar reflects both number of actions and number of records in process. The progress bar is proportioned by number of actions, and the proportion of an action reflects the progress of the action.

   • To email a schedule, click the schedule you want to share and click .
3. (Optional) To view the schedule run details, do the following:
   1. Click the Schedule Run Details tab.
   2. In the Report column for the schedule you want to view, click .

      The report provides information and statistics about the schedule job. If the job is still running, click Refresh to load the latest results.

   3. To close the report, click OK.