Object Forecasts

Object forecasts predict the expected execution times and the estimated runtime of executable objects. As an object designer, knowing the expected execution times of your objects helps you organize and optimize processes, resources and maintenance periods. For example, if you have large Schedule or Workflow objects with multiple child tasks, you may want to know when they will start and how long they will run to avoid bottlenecks or to plan maintenance activities without colliding with important runs.

Object forecasts can also be used to test complex schedules. For example, if you have scheduled your object using conditional Calendar Events and want to make sure the scheduling matches your expected execution times.

Object forecasts are created manually in the Process Assembly perspective or via a script. After they have been calculated, you access them in the Process Monitoring perspective. Creating forecasts is possible only for single objects. Bulk calculations are not possible.

For more information about how Forecasts are calculated, see Forecasts and Auto-Forecasts.

To Create an Object Forecast

Open the Process Assembly perspective and select the object for which you want to create the forecast.
Right-click and select Monitoring > Create Forecast. The Create Forecast for Object "xxx" dialog is displayed.
Enter the Name of the forecast.

It must be unique within the Client. By default, the system suggests the name of the object. If it already exists, it appends a number.

Renaming the forecast is possible also after the calculation has taken place. For details see Renaming Forecasts.
The Logical Start is the date and time on which you expect the object to start. The system uses it as basis for the forecast calculations. By default, the first day of the month is suggested. To change it, click the calendar icon in this field.

Forecast calculations consider calendar conditions, therefore, this date can affect the runtime calculation.
If a Job Group is involved in the execution (JOBG), or if the object contains children (Schedule or Workflow objects, for example), specify how you want the forecast to calculate its runtime:
- Consider actual entries
  
  The forecast checks the calculation method specified for each object in the group or parent object. The calculated ERT of the group is based on these definitions.
- Use ERT of the Group
  
  The ERT defined in the Group or parent object (Workflow or Schedule) and not the definitions in their child objects is considered for the runtime calculation.
- Use Fixed Value
  
  Based on your experience with your objects and processes, you probably already know how long it takes to execute most of them. In this case you can indicate here a specific value.
Click Create.

The forecast view opens in the Process Monitoring perspective and the new forecast is highlighted. Based on the object data, the estimated end date/time and status of the execution as well as the expected end status are displayed. For example:

The Logical Start and Estimated End columns specify the date and time in which the system expects the object to start and to finish respectively. Calendar conditions and system workload are taken into account for this calculation.

The Estimated Status column indicates the status the system expects the tasks to reach after the execution. The desired status can be set in the object definition on the Runtime Page.

The Estimated Runtime column indicates how long the system expects the task to run.