If the number of persistent instances of a particular scenario segment reaches the specified maximum, no new instances can be created until expired instances are purged. Therefore it is important to set the maximum number of instances and the frequency of purging to values that make this situation unlikely.

Also, note that if the maximum instances limit has been reached and no expired instances of the segment exist, no purging can take place, which means new instances cannot be created. You should be sure to set the segment’s maximum instances to a sufficiently high value to prevent this from occurring. This is especially a concern if a segment’s initial condition is based on user properties, because in this case the Oracle Commerce Platform attempts to create all of the individual instances as soon as the scenario is enabled. For example, if the initial condition is “Gender is Female,” then as soon as the scenario is enabled an individual segment instance is created for each female customer who is registered on the site. If the number of female registered customers is greater than the maximum instances value for the segment, instances will not be created for some female customers.