This LibGuide includes:

• What are Jobs
• Run a Job
• Restoring Records Removed or Changed by Jobs
  • Re-run the job to change back
  • Restore records
• Monitor Jobs

In Alma, a job is a scheduled or on-request process that runs in the background. They are called jobs or processes in different places in the system, but they refer to the same thing: being able to act on batches of records in bulk.

To run a job on a set:

1. If there are no sets defined or if you require a specific set for the job you are running, you must first define the set. For information on defining sets, see sets.
2. On the Run a Job – Select Job to Run page (Admin > Manage Jobs and Sets > Run a Job), find the job you want to run. Note that each job requires you to have a certain role to view the job in the table.
3. Select a job and select Next on the top right.

   

4. Select a set and select Next.
   
   If there are parameters to set, the Run a Job - Enter Task Parameters page appears. If there are no parameters to set, the workflow skips this page. Enter the required parameters and then click on Next. 
   

5. Then the Run a Job - Review and Confirm page appears. Change the job description as needed. Select Submit and select Confirm in the dialog box to run the job.

1. Re-run the job to change back

For some jobs, you can "restore" records to an earlier version by re-running the job and changing back whatever parameter you changed.

Example: If you used Physical item update to change all Item Policies to 02, you could set them "back" to 01 by re-running the job with that as the parameter. However, this would not restore any notes that were overwritten by a new note, or similar limits.

For other jobs, there may be complementary jobs that will "undo" each other's actions. If you run one job, you can use a second job to "revert" back to earlier conditions, with some limitations.

Example: The Change PO Lines Status job and Update PO Lines Workflow job work together to change the status of PO Lines from open to cancel/closed and back again.

2. Restore records

You can restore records that were removed or changed by the a few jobs:

• Withdraw items
• Change holdings information
• Delete portfolios
• Delete bibliographic records
• KORMARC/MARC 21/UNIMARC normalization
• Authorities-preferred term correction (see Authorities - Preferred Term Correction)

To restore records removed or changed by a job:

1. Go to Resources > Advanced Tools > Restore Jobs, enter the job ID of the job that removed or changed the records.
2. Select Overwrite later changes.
3. Select Restore and select Confirm in the confirmation dialog box. The removed or changed records are restored.

Go to Admin > Monitor Jobs. For each job in the list, you’ll see a status:

• Queued – The job will run only after a blocking job completes. For example, only one electronic activation job can run at a time.
• Pending – The job is waiting for system resources to run.
• Initializing – This is relevant for multi-part jobs only.
• Running – The job is running.
• Aborting – Alma is stopping the job.
• Finalizing – The actions that result from the job running are being carried out — for example, processed files are being sent to their recipient.