Process Setup maintains a list of schedulers required for LinkSOFT to perform tasks. Schedulers are background processes that handle long running and complex tasks.  

The schedulers are used for below features:

1. Integration
2. Emails
3. Helpdesk Call Import
4. System Processes
5. ATO Payroll Integration
6. Maintenance Scheduler  

Users can choose to use either the “LinkWEB Scheduler" or “Link Technologies Windows Scheduler”.

Which scheduler should you use?.  To determine the best option, consider the following:

1. The LinkWEB Scheduler
1. Useful when you have multiple instances of LinkSOFT installed on the same Web Server
2. Managed by the Web Server Application Pool, therefore it can be configured to RESTART at specific times, use a speccific amount of resources and all other options available with the application pool.
2. Windoes Scheduler (Link Technologies Service)
1. Managed by Windows Service
2. Properties of the service can be configred by standard Windows Services
3. Is the preferred method for high volume environments
4. Can be installed on a seperate machine from the Web Server for load balancing

Import Notes on configuring the Scheduler. The scheduler is an independant service that is used to process background tasks. Consider the following:

1. Turn the Scheduler OFF when performing an upgrade. If the scheduler is left running, it will attempt to connect to the database and can result in errors
2. Turn the scheduler OFF when performing External Maintenance tasks, such as Database Maintenance, Backups etc. Recommend setting the "START Time" to 4:00 AM and the "END Time" to 11:00 PM, which leaves a 5 hour maintenance window for administrators to perform backups or other maintenance tasks. Adjust these times after discussing maintenance options with your systems administrator.

LinkWeb Scheduler (Use this with versions of SQL server that have SQL Server Agent Enabled)

1. The “Web Scheduler” manages background processes through the application pools in “Internet Information System (IIS)” .
2. The web scheduler should be used on servers with a "SQL Server Agent". “SQL Server Agent” is a component of Microsoft SQL. The SQL Agent is available in all of the editions of SQL Server except the SQL Server Express. edition.

Link Technologies Windows Scheduler (Use with any version of SQL Server)

1. This Scheduler was developed by Link Technologies to service customers that do not have an SQL Agent
2. “Link Process” is a “Windows  Service” that executes all processes and acts as an SQL Agent.
3. The “Link Process” is installed with the installation on LinkSOFT.
   1. Users can configure "Link Technologies - Process Service" file to define the server name and database for the process.
4. The Link Process should be enabled with “SQL Server Express” editions.

Steps to configure Processes

1. The "SQL Scheduler" will be auto enabled on server with SQL Agent. Users will be required to turn on the scheduler on "SQL Express" server.
2. All other schedulers should be enabled when required.
   1. Edit the record.
      1. Frequency - Enter the frequency in seconds. This is the intervals at which the scheduler will run.
         1. API Integrations have a limit on the number of calls per minute thus it recommended to set the frequency as 60 for the integration scheduler.
      2. Starting At - Enter the time at which the scheduler should start.
      3. Ending At - Enter the time at which the scheduler should stop.
      4. Reset Process Source - This will clear the current settings of the scheduler.
         1. This can be done when the "web server" is stopped and "windows scheduler" is started.
         2. The "Status" of the scheduler will be updated to show the "ownership". The owner is the service running the scheduler. 
            1. Users can enable bot the "web server" and the "windows scheduler".  The service that runs the scheduler first will get the ownership. Users can reset the process to change the ownership.
      5. Enabled - Tick "Enabled" to activate the scheduler.
   2. If the "Process Maintenance" details are changed, the Scheduler needs to be restarted for the change to take effect. E.g. If the "Integration Scheduler" is enabled and the Windows Service Scheduler is used, the Windows Scheduler Service will need to be restarted.

Process Details

1. Expand into the details.
2. The details contains the below:
   1. Process Source - This is the service (web server or windows scheduler) running the scheduler.
   2. Reference - This is the LinkSOFT module using the scheduler.
   3. Last Start Date - This is the last date and time the scheduler last ran
   4. Executions Today - This is the number on times the scheduler ran. If the frequency set as 10 and the execution is 6 then the scheduler ran 6 times in 10 seconds.
   5. Executions -  This is the number on times the scheduler ran in a day.
   6. Transactions Today - This is the number of times the transactions were transmitted.
   7. Transactions Total - This is the total number transactions transmitted in a day.

Figure 1: Process Maintenance