Health tip #3 – Avoid having too many concurrent managers

Here we go again! After having written and blogged about this topic a fair bit in the past, having too many managers is a problem I still continue to see all too often. A good example is a site I worked with recently; it had 20+ managers just to run the workflow background processes.

Putting aside the need to address the excessive workflow background processes (which is another problem in its own right) there are major issues with the concurrent managers:

Problem #1 – Allowing 20 workflow background processes to run at once competes for the same resources on the same tables.

Problem #2 – Is one of basic queuing theory –i.e. 20 processes all competing for the same CPU and data resources.

In theory, 1 CPU handles 2 concurrent processes so in this case unless the site has 10 CPUs it runs the risk of CPU bottlenecking problems. The sting in the tail is these problems become most evident when you least need them to, like at high processing times such as month end.

What to do? It’s a simple choice. In this case identify why you think you need so many concurrent managers. You need to fix the cause and cut down on the number of managers, not just focus on the symptoms.

Want to know more? Take a look at the paper Concurrent Manager 101 & 202 on the www.piper-rx.com website.  In fact there is heaps of FREE information and tips on all aspects of OEBS Applications Administration at PIPER-Rx.com so why not check it out!

Improving the business efficiency of OEBS workflow. Part 2: Validating e-mail addresses

This paper is the second of a two (2) part series. Part 2 covers e-mail address validation using a 12 point PLSQL e-mail addresses validation function.

Using the PLSQL function we cover e-mail validation of addresses in both the wf_local_roles and wf_local_users objects and in a number of base application objects that populate the workflow roles and users objects.

The paper and the PLSQL function can be viewed or downloaded at the following addresses

PDF document, 500 Kb
http://www.piper-rx.com/pages/papers/email_validation_part_two.pdf

PLSQL, 8 Kb
http://www.piper-rx.com/pages/papers/piper_rx_email_validation.sql

-Gary

Improving the business efficiency of OEBS workflow. Part 1: Missing e-mail addresses

This paper is part one (1) of a two (2) part series. Part 1 covers null e-mail addresses in your workflow roles objects and in part 2 we covers e-mail address validation including a free 12 point PLSQL function for validating e-mail addresses.

 In this paper we cover the issue of missing (null) workflow e-mail addresses:

     v  The importance of a SYSADMIN e-mail address

v  What happens when an invalid e-mail address is encountered?

v  Assessing the damage in your instance ( Free SQL )

v  And how to rectify the issue

The paper can be viewed or downloaded at the following address:
Part 1: Missing e-mail addresses
PDF document, 300 Kb

In part 2 of the “Improving the business efficiency of OEBS workflow” series we will cover email address validation. Part 2 also includes an 12 point email address validation function.

-Gary

A workflow Case Review on how to lower the number of Workflow Background Processes

Having encountered a number of sites running upward of over 5,000 workflow background processes per day, in some cases over 15,000 per day, it never ceases to amaze me how so many sites get themselves into so much trouble running far too many background processes. Not only does this thrash your application but it also has an impact on your concurrent request tables as each request adds a record in the fnd_concurrent_requests table for each run.


Just recently I have been corresponding with a site that contacted me regarding issues with their workflow application and this has prompted me to put together a case review to articulate how I would look to resolve the issue of too many workflow background processes for the particular scenario outlined.

The full case review can be found on my web site:
http://www.piper-rx.com/pages/case_reviews/case_wf_bgp.pdf

It’s pointless looking for poor performing code with this issue…

This is a good example of my statement “Not all performance issues are solved by code tuning”.

-Gary