Creating jobs as part of a workflow allows for improved scaling and management of complex, routine workflows, making them easier to understand and complete. The Create Job step can automatically generate dependencies and establish parent-child relationships between jobs to ensure that each part of your business process is maintained and respected.
When the step is run, a job is created from the job template configured in the step and a relationship is established between the new job and the current job depending on the step's configuration. If help text is configured for the step, it appears at the bottom of the job tile.
Configure the step
To configure the step, do the following:
- Create or edit a workflow diagram to access the Step Library panel.
- Drag Create Job from the Step Library panel to a connection arrow of a step on the workflow canvas.
The Step Details panel appears.
- Provide a name for the step in the Step Name text box.
- Click the Job Type drop-down arrow and choose a job type that corresponds with the type of job you want to create.
- Optionally, check the Create as Child Job check box to have any created jobs become children of the active job.
- Optionally, check the Create as Dependency check box to have any created jobs become dependencies of the active job.
All job dependencies must be completed before the next step in the current job can be completed.
- Click the Options tab.
- Configure Step Options as necessary.
- Manual—Run the step manually.
- Optional—Allow the step to be finished without being run.
- Automatic—Run the step as soon as it becomes active.
Note:
If your workflow diagram is configured to automatically run a sequence of steps that includes the Evaluate Data Quality or the Run GP Service step, steps that attempt to run after the user token that started the sequence of steps expires will not run automatically. You must have a license for the ArcGIS Workflow Manager Server Advanced role to continue running additional automated steps without manual intervention.
- Run on a Schedule—Run the step according to a schedule you set.
- Manual—Run the step manually.
- Optionally, provide help text for the step in the Step Help text box.
You can also use ArcGIS Arcade expressions to provide a dynamic value for the step help. If the step help contains plain text and Arcade expressions, you'll need to format the text as follows:
'For further assistance, please contact ' + JobCreator($Job) + '.'Tip:
Click This input supports Arcade Expressions
and choose an ArcGIS Arcade expression to add it to its associated text box. - Optionally, click the Style tab to change the shape and color of the step.
- Optionally, click the About tab and provide a description for the step in the Step Description text box.
Tip:
The About tab also contains the step's ID that can be used with dynamic job properties to obtain a step's output. Click Copy Step ID
to copy the step ID to your clipboard.
Return value
When the step is completed, its return value is stored to indicate the result of the step. The return value can be immediately evaluated using paths to determine the next steps in the workflow. You can also retrieve the return value for completed steps throughout the workflow using ArcGIS Arcade expressions. The following table lists the step's return values:
| Return value | Description |
|---|---|
| S000001 | The step completed successfully. |
F000001 | The step failed to complete successfully. |
Output value
When the step is completed, its output value is stored and can be used to determine the path the workflow follows or can be used as inputs for other steps throughout the workflow. The following table shows the step's output value:
| Output | Description |
|---|---|
<JobID> | Returns the JobID of the created job. |