Blue Prism scheduler - backend

Node.js based alternative to Blue Prism's built-in scheduler.

The project is still "work in progress" 🚧

Overview

Project consists of 3 parts:

• web app (not released yet, WIP)
• centralized scheduler (this project)
• interface to Blueprism, running on each runtime resource - (https://github.com/peterdanis/blueprism-automatec-api)

Scheduler sends instruction which process to run and when via HTTP/HTTPS to API endpoint running on each runtime resource (Blue Prism's term for computer executing the automation), which serves as an interface between HTTP/HTTPS calls and "AutomateC.exe" (part of default Blue Prism installation).

Explanation of schedules, tasks, jobs and steps

• schedule is a container of one or more tasks, expected to run at certain time
• task is an instruction which Blueprism process to run
• job is a particular instance of a schedule (e.g. when a schedule is due to run, an instance of it will be created and inserted into job queue)
• step is a particular instance of task, tied to a particular job execution

Features

• user authentication with username and password
• store data in separate SQL database
• separate queue for each runtime resource
• if multiple jobs are waiting in queue, start them by priority
• recurrent schedules
• onetime schedules
• adjustable delay after each task
• hard timeout per task (kill task)
• force run job with adjustable wait time (for time sensitive schedules, with job priority 0)
• skip job if maximum wait time in queue reached (schedule setting)
• send email on error, customizable per schedule
• run from executable on Windows (via https://github.com/vercel/pkg)
• register as service on Windows (via https://github.com/winsw/winsw)
• handle short network or SQL server outages
• view-only user accounts
• user authentication against domain
• reusable tasks (each task can be part of multiple schedules)
• reset before and after each schedule (clean environment before running schedule plus no need to run Logout)
• soft timeout per task (send "stop" request)
• multiple onetime / recurrent rules per schedule
• skip job if multiple jobs of some schedule are queued (schedule setting)
• custom "on error" actions per task/schedule
• put resource to maintenance mode (wait/softStop/hardStop options, with job priority -1)
• drilldown job to steps, to see status of each step
• timezone support
• maintenance mode
• convert tasks from Blueprism scheduler
• define multiple runtime resources per schedule - run job on whichever runtime resource will become free first
• link job/steps to session log in Blueprism database

---

Installation

1. download latest version from https://github.com/peterdanis/blueprism-scheduler-backend/releases/latest
2. (optional) generate self-signed HTTPS certificate, using generate_selfsigned_certificate.bat
3. rename sample.env file to .env
4. open .env file with any text editor and update settings
5. install it as Windows service, using install.bat
6. connect via http://yourHostname:port, or directly from same machine via http://localhost:3000 (or https://localhost:3000 if you use HTTPS and you did not change the default port)
7. if page is not loading, check logs in logs folder for potential errors

Updating

1. stop Blue Prism scheduler service (e.g. via: Win+R key combination, type in services.msc, hit Enter, find it in the list)
2. go to folder, where you installed this project
3. delete webapp folder
4. download latest version from https://github.com/peterdanis/blueprism-scheduler-backend/releases/latest and overwrite all files
5. start Blue Prism scheduler service
6. check logs in logs folder for potential errors

---

Disclaimer

All product and company names are trademarks™ or registered® trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.