Creating a Settings ID

To define the settings for the OutBoard Housekeeping Household tasks, it is important to be in the Activity view to define the settings for each activity. For each activity, it is possible to define activity at various levels. This depends on how the system landscape is defined within the Landscape editor. The settings can be created on the following hierarchical levels:

Group Level
Subgroup Level
Individual system level

_{Settings on Group/sub group individual level}

On creating settings for each OutBoard Housekeeping activity, a settings ID is required to be entered. OutBoard Housekeeping will not allow the creation of a duplicate ID in the whole system landscape for the particular task. Instead, the user could do the following:

Create new settings by entering a new ID 1 or choose from existing settings that are on the current or a higher level,
The default will be the last used settings ID for the specific user and task.

In the settings screen, there is a toolbar with buttons for saving created/modified settings, for the deletion of existing settings. In addition, there is also documentation about the housekeeping activity and the option to clone settings and save under a new Setting ID (copying functionality).

_{Settings toolbar}

_{Entering a Settings ID for an activity}

_{Message when selecting settings from higher hierarchy}

The Settings ID only covers settings of Datavard tasks in OutBoard Housekeeping. There are also standard SAP Housekeeping tasks that can be found in the OutBoard Housekeeping menu, however, they use a different approach than that of settings IDs. They follow the variant concept common for SAP reports.

_{Standard SAP tasks settings maintenance}

When creating the variant, the first step allows the user to specify the selection criterion of the variant. The user could select all section screens or choose selection screens individually. The variant can be created only on the central system.

_{Variants: Change screen assignment}

In the next step, the user sets the variant settings corresponding to the task.
On the top left of the Settings screen, there is an Attributes button , the user could click on this to define additional attributes to the task variant.

_{Variant Attributes}

Once the variant is specified, it is possible to transfer the variants to Settings, i.e. it can be used as a Settings ID. The user could highlight the variant and click 'Transfer variants to settings'. As the first attempt, OutBoard Housekeeping tries to assign a variant name to the settings ID. If it would lead to a non-unique settings ID, you are requested to insert an ID into the Settings ID screen. In case you prefer using your own Settings ID name, you can go to Housekeeping global settings and in tab User Specific, mark 'Use own Settings ID' name. After Saving this setting, an insert ID pop-up appears every time variants are transferred to settings.

_{Variant Maintenance}

The user could highlight the variant and click 'Change variant'. The specified variant can be modified, saved, and transferred again. This action could be done concerning already scheduled runs with this variant. For cases where the variant is no longer required in the system, it can be removed using the 'Delete variant' button.
Once the variant is specified and transferred the user may run the variant from the Main menu.
Note: Should the user create a new settings ID for an activity the settings will fall into the scope of inheritance. Depending on where the settings are created from a hierarchical perspective, the settings could be cascaded down to the levels that may be below within the landscape architecture. When the current node is displayed, it is possible to see which settings are available for use by using the column 'Valid for'.
To understand more about creating the settings for the Household activities in OutBoard Housekeeping please refer to the Activities chapter of this user documentation where it will go into more depth of the individual settings for each of the activities available in OutBoard Housekeeping.

Inheritance

By default, anything defined from the highest level will be cascaded down (settings created from sub-levels cannot be cascaded up. This is where Inheritance comes into play, as it provides the flexibility to set up and use different settings for specific sub levels.

_{Inheritance in Activity View}

Should the user want to change the task settings, click on the inheritance icon, and a popup will appear with a list of available settings IDs.

The settings must be created prior. Remember, settings IDs are available on the level they are set and can only be cascaded downwards and not upwards.

_{Inheritance – settings ID pop up}

To avoid naming conflict (in the overall landscape a duplicate settings ID for a specific task can't exist), the renaming dialog is shown for each chosen settings ID.

_{Rename Settings ID Screen}

Should the inheritance settings ID change from the settings ID used from the level(s) above, the inheritance symbol will become blacked out.

_{Inheritance change indicator}

The user may change the Inheritance on the group and individual levels. Should the inheritance be changed on a group level, the subordinate levels will inherit the changed settings ID by default.
In turn, the user could disinherit the changed group settings ID and change the sub-level setting(s) ID to another, should the user click on the inheritance button, all settings ID(s) available for that particular level will be visible.

Inheritance On:
Inheritance Off:

Execute and Scheduling of Activities

Once the settings IDs have been created, the execution of OutBoard Housekeeping tasks may be executed manually or on a scheduled basis.

_{Execution and Scheduling of Tasks}

Execute

To manually execute, click on the execution button and select a settings ID in the pop-up menu.

_{Settings ID selection (common for all non-variant settings)}

Depending on the level in the hierarchy, if the task is executed, on all of the subsystems inheriting the settings is the task executed as well.
Note: Standard SAP reports that have a rigid limit of processed entries/objects, are from the 2.62 version automatically executed in cycles, till it is necessary to perform this report. Check the availability statement "Cyclic execution of standard report" in the task chapter header.

Scheduling

To schedule a task to be executed periodically, click on the schedule button and choose the settings ID.

_{Settings ID selection (common for all non-variant settings)}

An input screen will appear to specify the time, date, and period (amount + period type – daily, weekly, monthly, etc.). As from OutBoard Housekeeping release 2.51, the end date and time can be set up using task scheduling. There are two options available; the first is to a final date for the last run. The second is to set the number of runs for the task, the End date and time are calculated by the system.

_{Scheduling of periodic tasks}

Depending on the level in the hierarchy, after the 'Schedule' button is clicked, the inheritance settings are cascaded downwards on all of the subsystems.
The Icon on the scheduling button will display whether activities have been scheduled or not. This functionality is visible in both activity and system views.
No Activities scheduled
Activities scheduled

Calendar

The Calendar button is available in both activity and system views and provides a calendar view of all scheduled activities.

_{View Calendar – Scheduling assistant toolbar}

In Calendar view, it is possible to:

Display scheduled tasks with additional information in the left pane
Display scheduled tasks in day/week/month calendar grid
Reschedule single selected tasks
Un-schedule one or more selected tasks
Display scheduler logs (what task, which parameters and when was it scheduled/unscheduled)
Display scheduler daemon logs (information about scheduled task run – license check, systems status, etc.)
Shift the scheduled time of the run for one or more selected tasks.

_{View Calendar – Scheduling assistant (left-hand side)}

_{View Calendar – Scheduling assistant (right-hand side)}

On the left-hand side, the activities that have been scheduled are displayed and on the right, the calendar and when the activities are scheduled to take place are displayed. In the calendar view, by hovering the mouse over the activity view additional information is displayed. Each type of job is marked by a different color. Old executed jobs are grey, scheduled ones are blue, and failed/locked jobs are marked by red color.
If the system is locked for any reason (manual lock, RFC lock, or scheduled lock), the padlock icon will be displayed next to the task name.
The left pane contains also the list of the scheduled tasks. In case you click on the next run date (first column), the right pane (calendar view) is adjusted and shows the task's occurrence (or occurrences, if multiple ones are visible). The relevant cell is emphasized with the red border. In case that some tasks are paused (due to calendar timeslot functionality), the date is empty and there is no possibility to navigate to the next run.
In case the task destination is different from the locked node, the relevant locked node marked with a padlock icon is displayed below the task details. This means that some tasks will be running, but not on locked nodes.

_{View Calendar – Scheduled Task detail}

In case there is a scheduled lock planned or active, detailed information about the time period is visible within the additional information pane.

_{Scheduled lock detail}

If scheduled activity needs to be changed, click on the activity to highlight the row (on the left side) and then click on the edit button . This will take the user to the scheduling of periodic tasks where the activity can be rescheduled or unscheduled.
It is possible to change the shift of scheduled tasks in the Scheduling assistant by selecting required run IDs and pressing 'Shift tasks'. Time is calculated in minutes and can be added and reduced.

_{Scheduling assistant – shift of scheduled tasks}

Task execution will be done in real-time, so when scheduling any new tasks, or any task is executed, the time for the next run is calculated from the next calendar entry (next scheduled task), or in case there is a scheduled lock in place, the unlocking time will be taken into consideration…
Info about the next run is shown in Central Scheduler Status.
Additional information is implemented into the calendar view for the expiration of content temporarily stored in RecycleBin. The yellow box indicates the date when expired content will be deleted and the tooltip shows additional info. If for various reasons a deletion is postponed, the box changes to red and is shown in the corresponding date cell.

Logging

To view logs of executed tasks, the user could click on the 'Logs' button. After entering the date and time for log selection, the status, description of the tasks, and when they were executed will be provided.

_{Selection screen for Logs view}

Depending on the view and the level of the Landscape hierarchy, the user may see grouped or individual system logs of the activity executed. In the System view, the user should see the logs from only one selected system. Only logs corresponding to the selected activity profile will be displayed.
Logs are displayed in the system time zone, not the user time zone. See the SAP note 1892208 for more information.
Note: each execution of activity will be given a unique run ID and snapshot of current parameters.

_{Logs view of activities executed}

OutBoard Housekeeping supports parallel processing for some tasks and the Log tree is extended to include particular parallel jobs.

_{Logs view of activities for parallel processing monitoring}

Should the user click on the following monitor buttons:

Per activity (task)
All activities (tasks)

Similar to logging, the user will view the status of the task runs. However, in the monitor, the perspective is from a higher level, all runs associated with a particular activity (task) are displayed regardless of when they were run, unlike in logging, when a timeframe is required, and the information on the activity is more detailed. Only the tasks corresponding to the selected activity profile will be displayed.

The user can filter activities in the Monitoring by:

Settings ID and schedule when these should be executed
Tasks according to their date with the Date Selection filter. This option is available only for successfully finished tasks.

If more information is required, the user can drill down to view the run log.

_{Monitor view activity (tasks)}

Short dump detail is available. To be more efficient with analyzing errors, a link to the short dump is provided. Short dump detail is visible from the central system after clicking on the flash icon in Run Logs.

_{Short dump detail icon}

The OutBoard Housekeeping Monitor provides overall information about activities (tasks).
Runs are sorted based on status

Status Not Defined – stores information about tasks, where the status was manually changed/reset.
Status New – stores information about tasks, which are ready to be executed again.
Status Running – list of all tasks that running right now
Status Warning – list of all processed tasks that finished with some warning.
Status Error – list of all processed tasks that finished with error.
Status Finish OK – list of all successfully processed tasks.
Status Paused – list of all tasks that were paused and can be manually continued.

The monitor provides additional information about the technical status, which can be found in the T. Status column. This status informs you of the last status that RunID reached during its execution. Technical status cannot be manually changed, unlike standard status.
Special parallel processing layout
Some of the tasks will be using Task handler for parallelization, therefore the monitor layout is updated with extra columns that provide the following information:

All jobs – overall number of jobs that were generated and need to be processed
Remaining jobs – number of jobs that remains to finish the task
Running jobs – number of jobs that currently running
Task handler RunID – provides a possibility to do some manual changes right in the task handler

_{Monitor – extra columns for parallelization}

For a RunID that is running this layout also provides an option to pause the processing and if a RunID is paused there is also the possibility to resume the processing.

_{Monitor – Pause run action}

_{Monitor – Continue run action}

Note: To differentiate older runs from current ones that are using parallelization a new status has been defined. This status indicates that status isn't stored in the OutBoard Housekeeping table but gathered from the status of the task handler.

Recycle Bin

The Recycle Bin provides temporary storage of deleted entries from OutBoard Housekeeping's housekeeping activities. The deleted entries are compressed and stored with the option for the user to restore the entries to the system should it be necessary.

_{Navigating to the RecycleBin.}

The icon on the RecycleBin button will display whether RecycleBin contains some data, is empty, or is not accessible.
Data are in RecycleBin
No access to RecycleBin
No data
The user may view the recycle bin for an individual activity or a complete view of all activities by clicking on the recycle bin found on the top menu under Goto -> RecycleBin. Only tasks corresponding to the selected activity profile will be displayed.
The Information on Display for the user will be the Activity name, Run ID, Table where they should see the Status, Number of Entries description, retention time (how long the Table entries should be temporarily stored), and how many days are left.
During the data load, the Run ID will have the status 'In process'. The status within the Run ID will be changed according to table action within the run. When data is loaded into the recycle bin, the status 'Modifying the table' can be seen, followed by the status 'Deleting from DB'. After a successful run, the status of the table is changed to 'No action'.

_{Different table statuses during the load to RecycleBin}

On the Activity name you can drill down two or three levels (in case of PSA and ChangeLog):

The first level should be the run ID, by selecting the run ID from the context menu, you can restore the entries by selecting 'Undo Run'. In case you decide to 'Reload all' of the objects, there is a pop-up setting the number of jobs (important system overload prevention). Or you can 'Select' which object will be reloaded (as shown in the figure below). The 'Delete run' option permanently deletes entries.

_{Recycle Bin Data Browser – undo/delete run}

_{Recycle Bin Data Browser – reload all / select pop-up}

_{Recycle Bin Data Browser – number of jobs for undoing the action}

The second level (within the run ID), contains the tables or objects where the entries are temporarily stored, the user could view these entries by selecting the table from the context menu and selecting 'show data'. As on the Run ID, the user could also restore the entries or permanently delete them by selecting either 'Undo Table / Object' or 'Delete Table / Object'.
The third level exists only in case objects are in the upper level, similar to cases of PSA and ChangeLogs, in that the entries are stored in requests. As on the second level, you can restore the entries or permanently delete them by selecting either 'Undo Object' or 'Delete Object'.

_{Recycle Bin Data Browser – undo/delete Table}

_{Recycle Bin Data Browser – undo/delete Objects}

The status of each action can be seen on table level as well as overall status on run ID level. Once there are no more tables available within the run ID (they were deleted or undone), the run ID will not be displayed in the recycle bin data.

_{Different table statuses according to the action performed}

Clicking the menu item on table level opens the "Choose Fields" screen. Here the user may select which fields will be used for filtering the data to be shown.

_{Recycle Bin Data Browser – "Choose Fields" screen}

_{Recycle Bin Data Browser – selection screen}

_{Recycle Bin Data Browser (table level)}

_{Recycle Bin Data Browser for Z table Cleanup (table level)*}

The data stored in RecycleBin with an expired retention time (column "Days left" = 0) can be removed from RecycleBin:

Manually by selecting the run level from the context menu and choosing "Delete Run" (on table level choose "Delete Table" or "Undo records" for Z*Table Cleanup. In this case it is possible to select the entries individually. )
By scheduling the task "OutBoard Housekeeping RecycleBin Cleanup" (see task group "OutBoard Housekeeping System Tasks", folder "RecycleBin Tasks"), this will periodically clean RecycleBin.

The retention time of the stored data can be later changed. After the required RunID rows are selected, the button "Shift retention time" opens the dialog with the option to:

Shift the retention time (and thus Days left) by the days set in this dialog
Shift Expiry date to the selected date.

OutBoard Housekeeping offers flexible ways to maintain the RecycleBin data for the tasks PSA Cleanup, ChangeLog Cleanup, and Query Objects Deletion. Data in the RecycleBin are displayed as objects, not as the underlying database tables. This gives the user the possibility to restore the data, display them, or delete them based on the following objects:
PSA Cleanup Request ID within Data Source object
ChangeLog Cleanup Request ID within Data Store object
Query Objects Deletion Query object

_{Object view in RecycleBin}

Note: The data stored in RecycleBin before version 2.40 is shown as earlier, i.e. through the respective tables view.
As a product of customer development, custom objects can exist in the system. Their simplest hierarchy is 1 header table and 1 line table, but they can reach any level of complexity. The amount of stored data can increase significantly. The correct housekeeping approach that guarantees data consistency and safety, is to store selected objects in a row into RecycleBin with a defined retention time. This feature is called "Custom objects cleanup". With a small amount of development effort next steps can be reached:

Cleanup report template customization (see Appendix C)
Creating a new custom task based on a customized template (in Custom task editor) with an option "Use RecycleBin"

As the result, custom objects can benefit from all RecycleBin features:

Consistent and safe data deletion into RecycleBin and storing for a specified time
Data is stored in object form – related data from all object tables are kept together
Automatic deletion of data from RecycleBin after their expiration
Reloading of data back into the database, if required – selected objects or all at once.

_{Modifying the retention time in RecycleBin – selection of runs}

It is possible to change retention time and expiration date in the RecycleBin browser by selecting required run IDs in two ways:

Adding/removing a proper amount of days
Setting an expiration date for all selected runs.

_{Modifying the retention time}

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