The Task List

The Tasks list in the Process Monitoring perspective is the main working area for operators and managers. It displays the list of active and inactive tasks and provides comprehensive data about their execution. This list can contain thousands of tasks. To keep a clear overview of the tasks you have to deal with, there are various ways to restrict its number.

Take a look at Process Monitoring Perspective for a short description of the Process Monitoring perspective and of the list of Tasks.

This page includes the following:

View Mode

The title bar beneath the menu bar contains two buttons that allow you to switch between the two available list views:

  • List view

    All tasks are listed without indicating which ones are parents and which ones are children. Tasks that have been started individually (not from within other objects like Workflows or Schedules) are considered as parents. Therefore, they are displayed in this list.

  • Hierarchical view

    Tasks are displayed in collapsible nodes indicating the parent/child relationship between them.

Choosing the appropriate list view is important because it affects how tasks are filtered. Also, when child tasks in a Schedule object are still active although the Schedule is not (for example, after a period turnaround). You can only see the tasks that are still executing if you set the flat list view.

When you open the list of tasks for the first time, the list view is displayed by default. If you change it to hierarchical view, leave the view and come back later, the list is laid out just as you left it. If you share this list with other users, the list opens to the view that you have selected. This configuration is stored in your user settings and it is reflected in the URL.

More information:

Which Tasks Are Displayed?

The title bar also displays the number of tasks that are shown in the list. This number varies depending on how you have configured the list:

  • You are displaying the list in hierarchical view

    The number refers to the parent tasks only.

  • You are displaying the list as flat list

    The number refers to both parent and children.

  • You have applied filter criteria using either the Quick Filter or the Filter

    The number refers to the filtered tasks.

  • You have included deactivated tasks (the Include deactivated tasks checkbox is activated)

    The number refers to all active and inactive tasks within the time frame applied in the filter. By default, the filter is automatically set to the past 12 hours.

    Note: On the Attributes page of an object, object designers configure when tasks should be deactivated. For more information about this option, see Automatic Deactivation Section.

Important! Your system administrator might have restricted the number of tasks that can be displayed in the list. This is a system-wide configuration that administrators set in the UC_SYSTEM_SETTINGS VARA object. If this is the case, an inline message is displayed beneath the task bar. It indicates the number of tasks that are currently visible due to this restriction.

System Parameters for the List of Tasks

The following system parameters determine how many tasks can be displayed in the list:

  • COMBINED_ACTIVITIES_LIMIT

    Determines the maximum number of tasks that can be displayed

    Default: 500

    If a filter results in more than 500 tasks, the top bar displays Tasks (500+) (flat view) or Top-Level Tasks (500+) (hierarchical view). Fine-tune your filter to reduce the number of tasks.

  • GENERIC_ACTIVITIES_LIMIT

    Determines the maximum number of tasks that can be returned in requests

    Default: 5000

    A + after the number of tasks in the top bar indicates that a request has returned more than the maximum number of tasks that can be displayed. Use the task filter to restrict this number.

System administrators define both parameters.

User Settings

The Tasks view provides various functions to help you work efficiently with the tasks you need. You can filter the number of tasks that should be displayed, select a predefined filter, or you can view the details of a particular task.

Whenever you select one of these functions, the system stores these settings and reflects them in the URL. If you define a new filter or select a predefined one, or if you open the Details pane, then navigate away from this view and come back later, the view is displayed as you left it.

Since these settings are reflected in the URL, you can share a filtered list or a list displaying the details of a specific task with other users.

For more information, see :

Tasks List

By default, the tasks are sorted by RunID in descending order. To change it, click on the caption of the column by which you want to sort the tasks.

The following columns are displayed by default:

  • Name

    Task name or alias, if available

  • Type

  • Platform

  • RunID

  • Parent

    RunID of the parent task, if available

  • Status

  • Activation Time

    Date and time of activation

  • Start Time

    Date and time at which the task has started generating

  • End Time

    Date and time at which the task ended

Additional columns are available but hidden. You can have them displayed by clicking the arrow button on the column header. For more information, see Main Page Tables.

  • Description

    Text as defined in the assigned Period object

  • Status within Parent

  • Users

    User names of the task owners separated by a slash: Owner/Owner

    The task owners either executes the task or actively assumes ownership of the task.

  • Runtime

    Duration of the execution

  • Estimated End Time

  • Agent

  • Return Code

  • Queue

  • User ID

  • Internal Account

    Freely definable text assigned to the source object upon definition

    You can use this text to perform searches and filter objects and tasks.

  • Archive Key 1 and Archive Key 2

    Freely definable keywords assigned to the source object

    You can use them to perform searches and filter objects and tasks.

  • Version

    Shows the object version

  • Modification Flag

    Shows if the task has been modified at runtime and the name of the user who made the last modifications

  • Process ID

  • Remote Status

    Available for SAP process chains and PeopleSoft Jobs, it indicates the status of the task in the target system

  • Priority

    The Automation Engine Priority as defined in the UC_CLIENT_SETTINGS - Various Client Settings

  • Start Type

    Trigger of task execution

  • CPU Time

  • Consumption

    Resources allocated to the task execution

  • ZDU Version

    Either base (B) or target (T) version of the agent in connection with a Zero Downtime Upgrade

  • Client (only in client 0)

    The client in which the task is processed

An arrow to the left of the task indicates that it has sub tasks. For example, Workflows, Schedules and runtime objects display this arrow. Click it to expand the contents of the parent task and see its children. For information about runtime objects, see Cyclical (C_PERIOD) Tasks and Runtime Objects.

Right-clicking a task opens a context-menu with all the functions that you can perform on it. Many functions allow you to select multiple tasks and right-click to perform a particular function in bulk. Some of the most important functions are also accessible via button on the toolbar.

Status Bar

The status bar that is between the task header and the toolbar indicates how many tasks are on each of the available main status. It takes into account the overall tasks that are currently displayed on the list, that is, it takes into account the filter that is currently being used (if any).

Interactive Traffic Lights

The traffic lights in the status bar are interactive. Click a traffic light to select it and filter the list of tasks by that status. Alternatively, use the tab key on your keyboard to navigate through the traffic lights and use the space or enter key to select one.

Click more than one traffic light to filter the list by various statuses. If all traffic lights are selected and you then click one of them again, the system interprets that you want to filter the list by that particular status and deselects all other traffic lights.

The traffic lights are synchronized with both the quick filter on the left pane (Show: Status) and with the task filter on the right pane (Status section). Activating one or more traffic lights sets both filters accordingly. Defining a status filter in either of the panes also activates the corresponding traffic lights.

Note: Activating all traffic lights is the same as deactivating them all. This means that in either case, all tasks in all 5 statuses are displayed.

Refreshing the List

The task bar in the Process Monitoring perspective contains a countdown indicator at the top right end that shows the remaining seconds until the view is refreshed. This countdown is also a button; click it to refresh the view manually. You can also predefine the refresh interval in your user settings. For more information, see Refresh Interval.

Exporting to CSV

See Exporting Tables to CSV.

See also: