In mid-April, it was announced that the PSUNXPM process scheduler server was being implemented in accordance with the Good Neighbor policy.  Most students register and make payments over the web.  The same tables are accessed during this web activity as those that are used in many of the batch processes.  When you run a batch job during the day, you have the potential of running a job that will keep students from successfully registering and paying for classes.  When colleges run resource-intensive batch processes that update/insert/delete these same tables, then system resources are not available for students.  Students, faculty and staff may not be able to access the system or may be “timed-out”.  In addition, when more than one college runs a process that updates / inserts / deletes records on the same tables, it can affect overall system performance.   

The following processes are currently defined to run only on the PSUNXPM server:
            SFPCLCAN – Enrollment Cancellation Process
            SFPBCALC – Batch Tuition Calculation Process
            SFPGLIN7 – GL Interface Process    

SFTBLVAL – Table Validation Report
            VXUTRMAC (SRTRMAC) – Term Activation Process (Delivered)
            VX0TRMAC – Term Activation Process (VCCS Customized) 

Any of the above processes scheduled to start before 6:00pm or those without a start time, will queue up to execute once the PSUNXPM server comes up.  Any processes that have started running before 7:00am will continue until the job has completed.  The current schedule for PSUNXPM is as follows:

                                    Start Up                                    Shut down

Monday             @ 6:00pm         – Tuesday         @ 7:00am
Tuesday            @ 6:00pm         – Wednesday    @ 7:00am
Wednesday       @ 6:00pm         – Thursday        @ 7:00am
Thursday           @ 6:00pm         – Friday            @ 3:00am
Friday               @ 5:00am         – Friday            @ 7:00am
Friday               @ 6:00pm         – Monday          @ 7:00am  (Server available all day Saturday and Sunday) 

Based on requests from college staff and after reviewing the process scheduler logs, we have removed the restriction on running SFPGRPST – Student Financials Group Posting Process during the day.  In other words this batch job is not currently restricted to the PSUNXPM server.  That said, it is important for you to realize that the SFPGRPST job does put “locks” on student finance tables that could have a negative impact on the response time that students and other system users experience when accessing their accounts.  Our recommendation continues to be to run this job outside of normal business hours whenever possible.  If you chose to run SFPGRPST during normal business hours it is strongly suggested that you run these jobs in small batches. 

We will continue to monitor all processes and make adjustments as necessary to provide as little negative impact on student services as possible.