About orchestration groups¶

An orchestration group is one (or more) orchestrations that are scheduled using a cron expression string to define the schedule’s frequency. For example, an orchestration group can be scheduled to run at 8:30 AM every day of the week: 30 8 * * *.

Orchestration groups are configured in the Destinations page, from the Add orchestration group link at the top of the Orchestrations list.

There are three configuration options for orchestration groups:

Run after courier group
Run on a schedule
Run manually

An orchestration group may include more than one orchestration. Add each orchestration to the orchestration group by configuring the orchestration to run automatically, after which you may select the orchestration group to which this orchestration belongs.

Run after courier group¶

An orchestration group may be configured to run only after a courier group has run successfully, including loading all data and meeting all requirements.

To configure an orchestration group to run after a courier group

	Open the Destinations page, and then from the Orchestrations section, click the Add orchestration group link.
	In the Add orchestration group dialog box, give the orchestration group a name, and then move the slider to enabled.
	Under Run options, select Run after courier group. Select a courier group from the drop-down menu.
	Click Save.

Run on a schedule¶

An orchestration group may be configured to run on a schedule, using a cron schedule to define the specific time at which the run should begin, and a UTC timezone.

Note

You will see the enable/disable status only for scheduled orchestration groups.

To configure an orchestration group to run on a schedule

	Open the Destinations page, and then from the Orchestrations section, click the Add orchestration group link.
	In the Add orchestration group dialog box, give the orchestration group a name, and then move the slider to enabled.
	Under Run options, select Run on a schedule.
	Click Save.

About cron schedules¶

A schedule defines the frequency at which an orchestration group runs. All orchestrations in the same orchestration group run as a unit and all tasks must complete before a downstream process can be started. The schedule is defined using cron.

Tip

Amperity workflows are typically run once per day. For the best results for a daily schedule, define only the minute and hour settings. For example: 30 8 * * *.

Important

Some workflows do not require a daily update. Amperity supports running workflows on less frequent basis, such as on a weekly basis. For example, to define a workflow that runs at 8:30 AM every Monday, use a cron string that identifies the day of the week. For example: 30 8 * * 1 where “1” identifies the day of the week (Monday).

About cron

Cron is a time-based job scheduler that uses cron syntax to automate scheduled jobs to run periodically at fixed times, dates, or intervals.

Cron syntax specifies the fixed time, date, or interval at which cron will run. Each line represents a job, and is defined like this:

┌───────── minute (0 - 59)
│ ┌─────────── hour (0 - 23)
│ │ ┌───────────── day of the month (1 - 31)
│ │ │ ┌────────────── month (1 - 12)
│ │ │ │ ┌─────────────── day of the week (0 - 6) (Sunday to Saturday)
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * * command to execute

For example, 30 8 * * * represents “run at 8:30 AM every day” and 30 8 * * 0 represents “run at 8:30 AM every Sunday”. Amperity validates your cron syntax and shows you the results. You may also use crontab guru to validate cron syntax.

About timezones¶

An orchestration group schedule must be associated with a UTC timezone. The timezone determines the point at which an orchestration group’s scheduled start time begins.

The timezones that are available for selection in Amperity are modeled after the Google Calendar and are similar to:

(GMT - 08:00) Pacific Time
(GMT - 07:00) Mountain Time
(GMT - 06:00) Central Time
(GMT - 05:00) Eastern Time

The timezone that is chosen for an orchestration group schedule should consider every downstream business processes that requires the data and also the timezone(s) in which the consumers of that data will operate.

Tip

Do not create orchestration group schedules that may occur during a daylight savings time transition.

For example, an orchestration group schedule with the cron string of 30 2 * * * and a timezone of “(GMT-08:00) Pacific Time” will run once a day most at 2:30am, except for one day in the spring when it will not run at all and one day in the fall when it will run twice.

This is because American daylight savings time transitions at 2:00 AM, meaning the 2:00 AM hour occurs twice when transitioning out of daylight savings time (Fall) and is skipped altogether when transitioning into daylight savings time (Spring).

Run manually¶

An orchestration group can be configured to be run manually.

To configure an orchestration group to run manually

	Open the Destinations page, and then from the Orchestrations section, click the Add orchestration group link.
	In the Add orchestration group dialog box, give the orchestration group a name, and then move the slider to enabled.
	Under Run options, select Run manually.
	To run the orchestration group, on the Destinations page, and then from the actions menu for that orchestration group, select the Run menu option.
	Click Save.