Automatic restart of failed PChain step and other PC improvements

Recently I ran into the SAP Note called: 1915483 - Process chain enhancements. The Note is dealing with improvements of Process Chain which were delivered by SAP via ideas given by SAP customer. The program which allows SAP customer/partner/etc. to submit their ideas is more described here: How to influence SAP.

Following situations which may occur within PC are addressed by the note:

1. Automatic restart of PC’s step – Once particular PC got stuck within its process the only way hoe to restart the process is manual interaction by administrator.  There are situations where system could attempt to restart the step by its self. E.g. target of data is locked by other load.

To implement this function you need to set this "automatic restart" properly into particular process. The property is called "Automatic Repetition". You can set it via context menu of the process. It has following two parameters: Seconds: min. time the process waits before restart, No. of Repetitions: max. number of restart’s attempts.

2. Automatic reset of previous failed PC’s run – Once PC is executed it may have its previous execution failed. This function removes failed instances of previous PC’s run.

To use this function go to your PC switch to Change mode and in menu "Process chain" go to item Attributes and choose option called "Reset Previous run" and set checkbox "Automatically reset failures in previous run".

3. Ability to stop PC by single click – The function un-schedules all pending jobs and kills all loads (via IPs or DTPs). This can be already done via custom programing with utilizing PC’s API (see all PC’s API function modes here). Now this function is available via PC’s maintenance user interface (e.g. TA RSPC or RSPC1).

To use this function while you monitor the PC go to menu "Execution" and choose item "Stop current run immediately". You can do the same in log view or from the planning view.

4. Alternative to temporarily skip PC’s step – by this you can skip the particular step within the PC.

To use this function go to context menu of PC while in plan mode and choose option "Skip Process".

How to install the Note?

Either by implementing SP (e.g. in case of SAP NetWeaver BW 7.31 it is SP10) or manually – following instruction in the note.

Enjoy these functions! I found them very useful.