Scheduler (Timer) Event

(Available in EFT Enterprise) The Scheduler (Timer) Event allows you to execute a specified Action (e.g. send an e-mail or a report) only one time or to recur at specified intervals. For example, you could schedule the Cleanup in folder Action to occur on July 8 at midnight, or every Monday morning, or on the last Friday of every month at 2 a.m.

The PCI DSS requires that you develop a data retention and disposal policy. With the Cleanup in folder Action, you can configure EFT to clean up a specified folder at regularly scheduled intervals. If Strict security settings for compliance with PCI DSS was selected during Site setup, the Data Retention and Disposal dialog box appears in which you can create a Scheduler Timer Event with the Clean-up Action to delete files matching the expressions you specify. You can also choose to define it in the administration interface on existing Sites.

A recurring Timer does not stop recurring if the Rule Actions fail; it will recur as scheduled until you disable or delete the Rule. For example, suppose you want to download a file from a remote server, delete the file from the remote location after transfer, then send yourself an e-mail. If the file that you want to download is not yet in the remote directory, the Rule will fail for that particular instance of the Timer running, but it will run again at the next scheduled time (e.g., every four hours). In the case of Timer Rules, "Stop processing this rule" means "do not execute any further Actions with this Rule" (such as sending an e-mail), but it does NOT mean that the Timer will stop. For example, if you have defined the Rule to run every hour, the Timer Rule will fail when the file is not in the remote location, but the Timer Rule will run again the next hour, and the next hour, and so on, until you tell it to stop (by manually disabling it).

Refer to EventRuleExamples.pdf for an example of defining an Event Rule using the Scheduler (Timer) Event.

To define a Timer Rule to download a remote file

  1. Follow the procedure in Creating Event Rules.

  2. In the Create New Rule dialog box, click Scheduler (Timer) Event, and then click OK. The new Rule appears in the Rule Builder.

  3. To specify the start date, start time, recurrence pattern, and/or interval, in the Rule Builder, click the link. The Scheduler dialog box appears.

  4. In the Scheduler dialog box, specify the parameters of the Timer Event: the Run frequency, whether to exclude holidays, when the Event should start, date the Event should end (optional), time the Event should end (optional), and recurrence frequency (optional). (When the End date is reached, the Rule will remain active in the Event Rule list, but will no longer execute any Actions.)

  5. The Run options include the following frequencies. The dialog box options change depending on your selection in the Run box.

  6. Click OK to save your changes. The event is updated in the Rule Builder.
  7. Specify the Action to occur when this event is triggered.

  8. Click Run Now to test your Rule.

    When you create a Timer Rule, the Run Now button appears at the bottom of the Rule Builder. When you click Run Now, EFT executes any actions associated with the event, and any Rule construction errors are identified. You cannot perform any other operations in the EFT administration interface while EFT tests the Rule. Multiple synchronous Actions defined in the Rule, such as move, copy, or download, take longer to test than asynchronous operations such as e-mail notifications.

  9. If there are no errors, a confirmation message appears asking you to verify the expected outcome. Click Continue to execute the Rule or Cancel to refine the Rule.

  10. Click Apply to save the changes on EFT.