Scheduled updates to analyses

For analyses that contain links to large amounts of data, downloading fresh data can take a significant amount of time. Scheduled updates save time by downloading the latest data before users need it.

Based on settings in Spotfire Server, or on messages that the server receives from an external source, selected analyses can be preloaded with fresh data, stored on specific Spotfire Web Player instances, and then made available to users as needed.

Scheduled updates are most efficient if you have analysis files with linked data (from a data connection or any other linkable data source), that are updated regularly with large amounts of new data. For example, in the case of sales data that is tallied at the end of the day, you could schedule the update to occur overnight so that users can quickly access the analysis first thing in the morning, when they log in. Or, if you have a large analysis that users tend to refer to several times during the day, to check the latest figures, you could schedule an update every 20 minutes. Instead of having to load this into memory every time a user opens the analysis, you can make sure this analysis is already pre-loaded from the data source, ensuring a rapid response for the users.

You can trigger updates in two ways:

In Spotfire Server you can create rules that specify the analysis to preload, when to do it, whether the new data is automatically displayed to the end user, and so on.
Using TIBCO Enterprise Message Service™ (EMS) or a web service, you can create "event-driven updates" that are triggered by an external process. For more information about event-driven updates, see Creating a scheduled update by using TIBCO EMS or, to use a web service, consult the Web Services API documentation.

When scheduling an update from Scheduling & Routing in the Spotfire Server web administration pages, you create a rule and can configure the following options:

The days of the week that the update runs.
The times of day between which the updated analysis is available to end users.
How often the server checks for new data.
The resource pool on which to preload the analysis, and the number of Spotfire Web Player instances that should be available for users opening the analysis.
Whether the updated data is automatically displayed in the user's copy of the analysis, or the user decides when to refresh the information.
Whether to allow cached and pre-computed data when the analysis is reopened.

In the Rules list you can identify scheduled updates (as opposed to routing rules for groups or users) by their Type (File) and the fact that a schedule is shown under Schedule in the list. At the top of the list, you can see a summary of the latest scheduled updates statuses. Click on a status indicator to filter the list.

On the Saved schedules page, you get an overview of all schedules that can be used by one or more schedule update rules.

You can also view the Activity and Notifications pages to monitor job status.

Rules, jobs and tasks

The process of running scheduled updates for analyses involves three parts: rules, jobs and tasks. See the definitions below.

A rule is a configuration of when and where to load or update an analysis. A rule can be either Enabled or Disabled.

A job is the execution of the rule. A job with a unique ID is created each time the rule is set to load or update an analysis. It only lives on the Spotfire Server. It contains one task per Web Player instance that the analysis is to be loaded or updated on. The status of a job is an aggregated status from the combined statuses of the tasks in the job.

The task is what is sent to each Web Player instance that the analysis is to be loaded or updated on. One task with a unique ID is created on the Spotfire Server for each Web Player instance the analysis is to be loaded or updated on. The task is placed in the scheduled updates queue on the server, and from there, it is sent to a Web Player instance when a slot is available on an instance matching the settings of the task.