Scheduling Packages for Automatic Execution

Skyvia allows you to set a schedule for a package to execute it automatically. This might be useful if you want to configure data loading operations to run periodically or if you want to delay an operation to a later time.

Based on your needs, you can schedule the created package to execute either once (one-time execution) or at recurring intervals (repeated execution). Recurring package runs can be executed on a daily, weekly and monthly basis — once a day at a specific time or multiple times with intervals. You can select certain weekdays you want your package to be executed as well as impose time period restrictions on the package execution for a day.

Setting a Schedule

To specify a schedule for a package, first create a package you need or open the already created package for editing. In the toolbar on the left, click Schedule to open the schedule editor window. By entering all the required parameters and saving them, you activate the schedule at once or delay an operation to a later time. To make the schedule inactive without deleting it, click Disabled.

Repeated Package Execution (Recurring Runs)

Repeated package execution is intended for those clients who need to run a package on a regular basis. You can schedule a package to run based on the days selected and time specified, once or many times per day. If you choose to run your package many times per day, you need to specify intervals your package runs at. Such advanced schedule settings are developed for your comfort and to better meet your business needs. More detailed information on the advanced functionality can be found in these subsections: Running a Package on a Daily, Weekly and Monthly Basis and Running a Package Once or Multiple Times within Selected Days.

Running a Package on a Daily, Weekly and Monthly Basis

In order to specify days of your package run, use Run every parameter. By default, this parameter is set to Day. If you want to run your package each day or once in several hours or minutes, leave Day selected. However, you can change it to Month or Week. You select Week if you want to run your package on certain weekdays (for example, from Monday to Friday). You select Month if you want to run your package once per month (for example, on the 29th of each month).

• When you click Day, you schedule package execution for at least once a day.

• When you click Week, you can schedule package execution on certain weekdays by selecting corresponding checkboxes.

  

• When you click Month, you can schedule package execution on a specific day of the month (1st, 3rd, 15th, etc.) or on a certain weekday of a specific week (second Wednesday of the month or last Friday of the month).

  

Running a Package Once or Multiple Times within Selected Days

If you want to run your package once a day within selected days, click Occur once at and specify the time. If you want to run your package many times within selected days, click Recur every and specify time intervals the package runs at. You can schedule your package to run every n minutes (1, 2, 5, etc) or every n hours (1, 2, 5, etc). We do not limit you in setting the right interval for your package runs.

Please note that these time intervals are counted for every selected day independently, and each day the schedule starts at 00:00 afresh. If, for example, you schedule a package to start running at 00:00 each 7 hours, the last run will be on 21:00. For the next day, the schedule will be refreshed, and the package will start running again at 00:00. To set frequency of your package runs, use the Time parameter.

When you select Recur every option for your package, you may click Set time restrictions to limit a run period of your package. Set time restriction parameter is very important if you want your package to be executed in the very exact period, let us suppose, from 9:30 to 18:30 each workday.

Please note if you do not specify the exact period, next day package will start running on 00:00 automatically.

One-Time Package Execution (One-Time Run)

One-time package execution is intended for those clients who need to run a package only once. You can launch your package at once or delay the package run by selecting the At a specific time option under Starting. The Starting on parameter determines since when the schedule itself is considered “active”. However, that doesn’t necessarily determines the first package run. For the first package run, it is more suitable to use Set time restrictions option under Time parameter.

At the end, select Time Zone and click Save to save the schedule.

Time Zone is a required parameter that is used to define the time zone your schedule is based on.

Usage Examples

Example 1

You would like to schedule a package to run each workday every hour not at 09:00, 10:00, 11:00, etc., but at 09:30, 10:30, 11:30 and so on. Setting Starting on parameter to 09:30 will not help in this case. Instead, click Set time restrictions and set the from parameter to 09:30. Leave the default value in the to parameter or change it to any end time you want. Your package will run every hour at minutes specified in the from parameter.

Example 2

You would like to run a package twice per day — at 8:00 and 14:00. Hence, you set the package to recur every 6 hours. The from parameter should be set to 8:00. The to parameter should be more than the time of the second package run but less than the unwanted third package run. Set it to 14:30. If you want your first package run to start in the afternoon on a certain date, use the Starting on parameter. For example, set it to 09.01.2019 at 13:00. This means that the first package run will start on 09.01.2019 at 14:00 because this is when the time of scheduled package run (depending on frequency and time restrictions) is equal or greater than the Starting on parameter.

Example 3

You would like to run a package on the last day of every month. As some months have 30 days, some months — 31 days and February has 28 days, you cannot select the On day option and run your package, for example, on the 31st of each month as not all months have 31 days. Instead you should select the On the option. Afterwards, in the first drop-down list, select Last and, in the second drop-down list, select Day. If you want your package to run one time each month on the last day, under the Time parameter, select the Occur once at option and specify the required execution time. When everything is configured, save the schedule.