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Setting Optimal Sleep Interval for Workflow Policy Groups

This topic is part of Tuning Workflow Policies for Performance.

By creating groups with similar polling intervals, you can assign the workflow policy group to a Workflow Agent process with a polling rate that matches the workflow policy group. Different polling intervals can be assigned to each workflow policy group using the Sleep Time parameter. For more information about Workflow Policies server administration, see Siebel Business Process Framework: Workflow Guide.

After Workflow Agents process all requests, the agent processes sleep for the interval specified by this argument before processing begins again. Set the sleep intervals as large as is possible, but at an interval that still meets your business requirements.

NOTE:  Setting sleep intervals at values that are too small can put undue stress on the entire infrastructure. Make sure the sleep interval is as large as possible within the context of the business process.

Adjust the sleep interval for each Workflow Agent process to meet the requirements of each workflow policy group.

For example, workflow policy group A contains accounts that require a response to a Severity 1 service request within 10 minutes. Workflow policy group B contains policies that require a customer follow-up call within 14 days.

Workflow policy group A is very time-critical, so you could set the sleep interval to 60 seconds so that the assigned Workflow Policies instance polls frequently. Workflow policy group B is not as time-critical, so you could set the sleep interval to 48 hours and the Workflow Policy instance can still meet its commitments.

Another example where optimal configuration of the Sleep Time parameter can be required is in the case of multiple users who might need to update the same record. If you have, for example, a workflow policy that monitors service requests and you have multiple users who retrieve and modify open service request records, then set the sleep time parameter so that users will have enough time to update the text fields.

If the sleep interval is not set high enough, then you can encounter an error message stating "The selected record has been modified by another user since it was retrieved. Please continue." In this case, you will lose your changes as the new field values for this record are displayed.

NOTE:  If you find that Workflow Policies runs significantly slower during a certain time period, then investigate what other processes might be contending for CPU resources on the Siebel Server. You might discover that the Siebel Server has certain time periods with high activity that interfere with the ability of the Workflow Policies process to monitor or act. Arrange the Workflow Policies processes on the Siebel Servers so that the polling periods are compatible with the resources available.