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Request Sets

Defining Request Sets


Request Set: is a linked group of normal requests that related together and run together.

To create a request set:

1. Navigate into System Administrator responsibility  Concurrent  Request Set window.


2. Enter a Name for your request set.
3. Enter a Short Name for your request set. This name is used internally to reference your request set.
4. Enter the Application with which you want to associate your request set.
5. Enter a Description of your request set if you like.
6. The Owner field defaults to your username and can only be changed by your system administrator.
7. Enter the Active Dates From and To fields to define an effective period when you and others can
run the request set. If the current date is outside the range you define, the request set will not be
available in the Submit Requests window.
8. Check the Print Together check box to send all your requests to the printer together when they
complete, or uncheck the check box to send each request one at a time to the printer as it completes.
9. Check the Allow Incompatibility check box to allow your system administrator to specify programs
that this request is incompatible with (may not run with). Leave Allow Incompatibility unchecked to
specify that this request set may run with all other concurrent requests or request sets.
10. Choose Define Stages or Link Stages if you have finished defining your stages.

By defining request sets, you can submit the same set of requests regularly using a single transaction.
You use the Request Set window to create and edit request sets. Alternatively, you can use the Request
Set wizard to create simple request sets.

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Request Sets

Defining Stages

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Request Sets

1. The value for the Display Sequence is defaulted in sequence as you enter your stages. You may
change the display order of the stages by modifying this field.
2. Enter a Name for the stage.
3. Enter a Description of your stage if you like.
4. Enter a Short Code for the stage. This code is used internally to reference the stage.
5. In the Function field of the Function region, use the List of Values to select a function. The default
value for this field is the Standard Stage Evaluation function. This function bases its completion status
on the normal completion status of the requests it contains. Other functions may be provided by your
Oracle product. For a description of these functions, refer to the user's guide for that product.
6. Use the "The Return Value of this Stage Affects the Set Outcome" checkbox if you want to ensure
that the request set's completion status is equal to the completion status of this stage.
Note: If you choose this checkbox for more than one stage, the completion status of the request set
will equal the completion status of the last of these stages to run within the set.
7. Use the Allow Incompatibility check box to allow your system administrator to specify programs
that this stage is incompatible with (may not run with). Leave Allow Incompatibility unchecked to
specify that this stage of the request set may run with all other concurrent requests or request sets.
8. Choose Requests.

Organizing Requests with Stages

Request sets are divided into one or more "stages" which are linked to determine the sequence in
which your requests are run. Each stage consists of one or more requests that you want to run in
parallel (at the same time in any order). For example, in the simplest request set structure, all requests
are assigned to one stage. This allows all of the requests to run in parallel.

To run requests in sequence, you assign requests to different stages, and then link the stages in the
order you want the requests to run.

The concurrent manager allows only one stage in a request set to run at a time. When one stage is
complete the following stage is submitted. A stage is not considered to be complete until all of the

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Request Sets

requests in the stage are complete. One advantage of using stages is the ability to run several requests
in parallel and then move sequentially to the next stage. This allows for a more versatile and efficient
request set.

Stage Requests window

In the Stage Requests window you define which requests you want to include in the stage.

9. Select the report or program you want to include in your request set. A description of the request
you choose and its associated application appears in the Description and Application fields.
The list of requests you can choose includes the requests that your responsibility's request group lets
you access from the Submit Requests form.
10. The Print Options region reflects the options for the current request. Specify the number of Copies
of output to print, the Style to print, the Printer to print to, and whether to save the output to an
operating system file.

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Standard Request Submission saves these options so you do not have to specify them again when you
run the request set. If you do not wish to specify these options for each request when you define the
set, Standard Request Submission uses the values of your personal profile options as the default when
you submit the request set.
Note: Some requests may have a required Style or Printer that you cannot change.
11. Use the Allow Stage Function to Use This Program's Results check box to indicate which
programs or reports should be included.
12. When you are done with the Print Options, choose Parameters to display the Request Parameters
window.

Request Parameters Window

The Request Parameters window lets you customize the parameter values of a specific request in a
request set. The fields at the top of the Request Parameters window list general information about the
current request set and the request for which you can customize the parameter values. The multi-row
portion of the window lists the parameters for that request.

13. The Sequence field displays the order in which each request parameter appears when you run the
request in the Submit Requests window (lower numbers appear before higher numbers). Only your
system administrator can change a parameter's order.
14. The Prompt field is a display-only field that shows the request parameter's prompt.
15. Check the Display check box to specify that you can see a request parameter at submission time, or
uncheck the check box to specify that a parameter should not be displayed at submission time.

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16. Check the Modify check box to specify that you can insert or change the value for a request
parameter at submission time, or uncheck the check box to specify that a parameter cannot be changed
at submission time.
17. Use the Shared Parameter field to set a default value for a parameter that occurs in more than one
report or program of a request set. Once you enter the same parameter label in the Shared Parameter
field for each occurrence of the same parameter, the value that you assign to the first occurrence of the
parameter becomes the default value for all subsequent occurrences of the parameter. The shared
parameter label simply enables you to set an initial default value for all occurrences of the same
parameter so you can avoid typing the same value all over again for every occurrence of the
parameter.
For example, suppose you define a request set that includes three reports, and all reports include a
parameter called "Set of Books". You want the "Set of Books" parameter to default to the same value
in all reports. To accomplish this, enter a label called "Book" in the Shared Parameter field for the first
occurrence of this parameter. You can also assign a value in the Default Value field of this parameter
now, or wait until you run the request set to assign a default value when the parameter first appears.
Enter the label "Book" in the Shared Parameter field of all other occurrences of the "Set of Books"
parameter in your request set. When you submit this request set from the Submit Requests window,
every parameter that you label "Book" defaults to the value you assign to the first occurrence of the
"Set of Books" parameter.
Attention: Note that if you later change the value of a parameter that contains a shared parameter
label, you change only the value for that instance of the parameter, and not the value for all other
occurrences of that labelled parameter.
We recommend that if you make a parameter with a shared parameter label modifiable, that you also
display the parameter so you can always see what the parameter's current value is. This helps reinforce
the understanding that a later value change to one labelled parameter cannot propagate a value change
to all other similarly labelled parameters.
18. Optionally enter a Default Type and Value for the parameter.
19. Save your work.
20. Go back to the Stage Requests window and repeat Steps 9 through 11 to add more requests to the
request set stage.
You can select a request more than once if you want to run the same request with different default
parameter values.
21. To start a new stage, return to the Stage window and choose New Record from the Menu.

Link Stages

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1. Enter the Start Stage. The stage you enter here is the first stage submitted for the request set.
2. Enter the stages you want to run following the first stage in the Success, Warning, and Error
columns. To ensure that a particular stage follows the preceeding stage regardless of the completion
status, enter the desired stage in all three columns. To stop the request set if a stage ends in Error,
leave the Error column blank. Any time you do not specifically indicate which stage should follow for
a completion status, the request set will exit on that completion status. In the following example, the
request set will always exit if any stage returns a completion status of error. In addition, stages C and
D will terminate the request set regardless of their completion status. If Stage A returns a status other
than Error, Stage B will be submitted. Finally, when Stage B completes with a status of Success, it is
followed by Stage C, or if the status is Warning, Stage D will follow.
Name Success Warning Error
1 Stage-A Stage-B Stage-B
2 Stage-B Stage-C Stage-D
3 Stage-C
4 Stage-D

3. Choose Done.

Using Stage Status

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Like request sets and concurrent requests, stages can complete with different statuses. Each stage can
complete with a status of Success, Warning, or Error. You can use these completion statuses to
structure your request set, by defining which stage will follow the current stage based on its
completion status. For example, the request set always begins with Stage 1. If Stage 1 were to
complete with the status Warning, then the Warning link would be followed, and Stage 3 would be
submitted. After Stage 3 completes, the set ends, since there are no links that may be

followed.

In this example, the "Standard" function calculates the status for a stage using the statuses of the
requests within the stage. The Standard function sets the stage status to Success if all of the requests in
a stage complete with a status of Success. If one or more requests complete with a status of Error, then
the status of the stage is Error. For a stage's status to be Warning, one or more of the requests must
have a status of Warning and no request may have a status of Error.

Linking of Stages

There are no restrictions on linking stages within a request set. Any stage may be linked to any other
stage, including itself. Two or more links can point to the same stage. For example, Stage 1 can link to
Stage 2 if the completion status of Stage 1 is Success or Warning, and link to Stage 3 if the status is
Error.

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You determine the end of a request set by not specifying a follow up stage for each completion status.
You can end a request set after any stage in the request set. When any stage completes with a status
that does not link to another stage, the request set ends.

You can use the linking of stages to control your request set. In previous releases you had three
options: run in parallel, run sequentially, and run sequentially but abort on Error. All of these are easy
to recreate using the request set wizard. You can use the Request Set Wizard button in the Request Set
window to start the wizard. The wizard takes your input and creates the request set as follows:

Run in Parallel Creates one stage containing all of the requests you wish to run in parallel.
Run Sequentially Creates a separate stage containing the request or requests for each step in the
sequence and link in the appropriate order.
Run Sequentially but Sets up your sequence the same as it did for Run Sequentially, but when it
abort on Error links the stages, it does not enter a follow up stage as a link in the Error
completion status field.

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