Introduction
Mass actions in your platform are managed in the background, so that you don't have to stay on the action page while the job is being completed. While background jobs are running, you can log out of the platform, close the browser, or continue to work on the platform.
- Actions that can launch background jobs include importing large numbers of users, or importing courses and training materials.
- Newly launched background jobs become visible on the platform shortly after they are created, generally no more than a few seconds.
The Background jobs page provides a dashboard where you can check the status of the background jobs launched on the platform.
Please note: only Superadmins and Power Users can launch background jobs or view the Background jobs page. Superadmins can view all background jobs, while Power Users have visibility only on the jobs which they themselves have launched.
Checking the background jobs page
To access the Background jobs page, from the Navigation menu > Data and analytics (chart icon) > Background jobs.
The page lists all the background jobs that are currently pending or in progress, as well as the jobs that ended within the past 13 days. The status of a job can be:
- In progress: In this case a completion percentage is shown, along with the estimated time to completion (ETC). You have the option to Discontinue the job–this will interrupt the job, but any operations completed so far will not be undone. Note also that a discontinued job cannot be resumed later, or started over.
- Queued: The job is waiting its turn to be run. On some jobs you may have a Fast track option which lets you move that job to the first position in the queue.
Completed, Failed or Discontinued: These are all jobs that have ended–either successfully, with errors, or due to interruption. For these you may have the option to download the log file detailing all the operations performed by the job and any errors. You can also click the trash icon to remove a job from the list.
The Background jobs page also displays a Source column for each job.
Please note:
- The Source column may be populated with a reference to the origin of the job, depending on how the job was triggered. For example, a job triggered by an automation rule or an external integration may show the name of that source in this column.
- The availability of log files for download depends on both the type of job and how it ended. Generally, the log file is available for Failed jobs but not for Discontinued or Completed jobs, although there are exceptions
When the background job ends, you will be notified via email.
Jobs will be automatically removed from the page, and their log information deleted from the platform, after a period of 14 days. You can use the trash icon to remove a job and delete its data before that time.
Filtering background jobs
To help you find jobs of interest in the list you can use the Filters panel. This allows you to search for a specific job by name, as well as to filter the list to show only those jobs that match one or more criteria. For example, jobs of a particular type (for example, unenrollment, removal), occurring within a specified time period, started by a particular user, originating from a given source (see the previous note on the Source column), or based on job status (in progress, queued, discontinued, failed, completed).