Drop process on a folder to run on all resources in that folder

[ChrisCutting]

​We now have 150+ virtual machines in our resource pool. Occasionally I need to run the same process on a group of resources. At the moment I have to drag and drop each process individually to each machine.

I already have my control room grouped into folders by work type. I would like to be able to drop a process on that folder, and for BP to issue that process to all resources inside that folder.

[WayneDuckering]

​Fantastic Idea

[GaneshkumarSelv]

Useful one..

[AshleighRobson]

I think a big company like the one I work for would be able to utilise this well. I'd be very happy to see this introduced.

[Anonymous]

Would save a bucket load of time for instances where you don't want to have to create a schedule just to achieve a one off task. Good thinking!

[Anonymous]

​An excellent idea! This would save so much time in a company of our size, where the number of automations are ever growing!

[ChristianPanhan]

You say "At the moment I have to drag and drop each process individually to each machine."

Did you try to drag the other way?
Select more than one machine and drag/drop to the process? So you can create many pending sessions at once.

But yes, today there is no option to drag a folder to a process. I like that idea.

[Amy_T]

Hi Chris,
Thanks so much for submitting your idea. When reviewing your idea we need some help understanding part of your idea. 

Do you want all of the resources in the group to run the processes, or assign the process to available resources in that group? 

Thanks so much,
Amy

[ChrisCutting]

Hi Amy

Thanks for taking a look at this suggestion. We've started using the 'drag resource to process' option that Christian Panhans offered. That works really well, but we still have to select the individual machines.

My suggestion would be to attempt to run it on all resources within the folder, returning error messages for any resources that could not handle the request. I would typically use this to login and run a process on a group of machines so it's still important to know if any of the requests fail.

Cheers
Chris

[chris.strong]

Hello @ChrisCutting,

We’ve just tipped past the 15 vote threshold, which triggered a review.

This is my area and I’m happy we understand the ask and can see from the comments (and votes) there’s appetite for this.

I’ve set the status to Reviewed, which means we have all the info we need and are planning to review the idea for implementation feasibility and value added to the product. Ideas with this status are still open to community voting and discussion.

Kind regards

Chris Strong

Blue Prism Product Manager

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[chris.strong]

Hi @ChrisCutting

A possible solution using schedule tasks to capture all the process runs you want:

Assuming you are typically running the same process(es) on an ad-hoc manner and you want to actually run the process, rather than have a bunch in a ready to run state.

1. You could create a Schedule with a single task that contains all the workers you want to attempt to run a process on.
2. Set it up as a run once, no recurring Schedule.
3. Ensure you unselect the Fail fast on error option
   • Tip: If a task is set not to fail fast, a task is only terminated if an error occurs in all of its sessions – and that task termination only takes place when the last running session is detected to have failed. Any individual session executions which cause an error are logged, but any other running sessions continue. If not failing fast, a task is marked as terminated only if all of its sessions fail.
   • Source: Online Help: Blue Prism > Configure scheduler elements > Configure a task
4. Then simply Run the Schedule whenever you want to run a process on the defined (group) of Workers.

You may have thought of this and have figured the approach has some drawbacks?

Kind regards

Chris Strong

Blue Prism Product Manager

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