Parameters Supplied To Background Processes

All background processes receive the following parameters.

• Batch code. Batch code is the unique identifier of the background process.
• Batch thread number. Thread number is only used for background processes that can be run in multiple parallel threads. It contains the relative thread number of the process. For example, if the billing process has been set up to run in 20 parallel threads, each of the 20 instances receives its relative thread number (1 through 20). Refer to Optimal Thread Count for Parallel Background Processes for more information.
• Batch thread count. Thread count is only used for background processes that can be run in multiple parallel threads. It contains the total number of parallel threads that have been scheduled. For example, if the billing process has been set up to run in 20 parallel threads, each of the 20 instances receives a thread count of 20. Refer to Optimal Thread Count for Parallel Background Processes for more information.
• Batch rerun number. Rerun number is only used for background processes that download information that belongs to given run number. It should only be supplied if you need to download an historical run (rather than the latest run).
• Batch business date. Business date is only used for background processes that use the current date in their processing. For example, billing using the business date to determine which bill cycles should be downloaded. If this parameter is left blank, the system date is used. If supplied, this date must be in the format YYYY-MM-DD. Note: this parameter is only used during QA to test how processes behave over time.
• Override maximum records between commits. This parameter is optional and overrides each background process's Standard Commit. You would reduce this value, for example, if you were submitting a job during the day and you wanted more frequent commits to release held resources. You might want to increase this value when a background process is executed at night (or weekends) and you have a lot of memory on your servers.
• Override maximum minutes between cursor re-initiation. This parameter is optional and overrides each background process's Standard Cursor Re-Initiation Minutes. You would reduce these values, for example, if you were submitting a job during the day and you wanted more frequent commits to release held resources (or more frequent cursor initiations). You might want to increase these values when a background process is executed at night (or weekends) and you have a lot of memory on your servers.

• User ID. Please be aware of the following in respect of user ID:
• • The user ID is a user who should have access to all application services in the system. This is because some batch processes call application services to perform maintenance functions (e.g., when an account is updated, the batch process may call the account maintenance application service).
  • Some batch processes stamp a user ID on records they create / update. For example, the billing process stamps this user ID on financial transactions it creates.
  • This user ID's display profile controls how dates and currency values are formatted in messages and bill calculation lines.
• Password. Password is not currently used.
• Language Code. Language code is used to access language-specific control table values. For example, error messages are presented in this language code.
• Trace program at start (Y/N), trace program exit (Y/N), trace SQL (Y/N) and output trace (Y/N). These switches are only used during QA and benchmarking. If trace program start is set to Y, a message is displayed whenever a program is started. If trace program at exist is set to Y, a message is displayed whenever a program is exited. If trace SQL is set to Y, a message is displayed whenever an SQL statement is executed. If output trace is set to Y, special messages formatted by the background process are written.