Schedule a bot

Scheduling an automation or bot enables you to run it at a specific time without any manual intervention.

Prerequisites

Ensure that you log in to the Control Room as the administrator or a user with the following permissions:
  • Schedule my bots to run
  • Schedule permission at folder level for specific bots and their dependencies
  • Access to run-as users (Bot Runners) that you can add to the schedule
Note: Automation will fail in the following cases:
  • If any of the automation dependencies are missing.
  • If you do not have folder privileges on the dependencies.
  • If you do not have the scheduling permissions.

Procedure

  1. Log into Control Room and click Manage > Scheduled.
    Scheduled activities page is displayed.
  2. Click Create schedule.
    Automations and dependencies page is displayed.
  3. Click Choose.
  4. In the Find a file screen, select an automation that you want to create a schedule for and click Choose.
    You can also click Browse to view a list of all the available folders and automations, API tasks, processes.
  5. In the Automation and dependencies tab, select the version of the automation to run.
    • (Optional) Click the Choose button in the Automation file field to select a different bot.
    • In the Run automation and dependencies using field, select one of the following options:
      • Latest version: To select the most recent version of the bot.

        By default, the latest version of the bot is selected. If the production label option is selected for the parent bot, the corresponding dependent bots with the production label are also automatically selected. If any of the dependent bots do not have the production label applied, the latest version of the bot is selected.

      • Production label: To run the selected bot and its dependencies using any of the available production labels.
  6. Click Next.
  7. In the Schedule tab, add the scheduling details for the automation.
    OptionDefinition
    Run once Use this option to run the bot one time on a given day at x hour. When you select this option, set the start date and start time.
    Start date
    Default value is the current day.
    Note: The value of the Start date is always later than or equal to the current date. If the start date is the current date, the scheduled time cannot be less than the current time.
    Start time
    Default value is roundup to the next half-hour.
    Time zone
    User's system time zone
    Note: The EST, HST or MST time zones are deprecated. See Upcoming feature deprecations.
    Run repeatedly Use this option to schedule your bot to run every x minutes or hour on a given day. When you select this option, select the start date, start time, end date, and end time.
    Start date
    Enter the date when you want the schedule to start running the bot. Enter the date either manually in YYYY-MM-DD format or by using the pop-up calendar. The default value of the Start date field is set to the current day of your local system.
    End date
    Enter the date when you want the schedule to end. The default value of the End date field is blank.
    Start time
    Enter the Start time using the drop-down list to set the time value when you want your schedule to start. The list contains predefined time values in the 12-hour format at intervals of 15 minutes. You can also manually set the time value in the 12-hour format. However, this is not available for the selection in the drop-down list. The default value of the Start Time field is rounded off to the next half-hour that is 15 minutes away. For example, if the current time is 11:22 AM, it will display 12:00 PM.
    Repeat every
    Select the Repeat every option to repeat the schedule every x minutes or hours.
    End time
    Enter the End time using the drop-down list to set the time value when you want your schedule to end. The list contains predefined time values in the 12-hour format at intervals of 15 minutes.
    Time zone
    Select the Time Zone both with the start and the end time. The default value is set to the current location your system. A schedule is run based on the time zone selected when creating or editing a schedule.
    Frequency
    Select the frequency for the schedule to run as daily, weekly, or monthly.
    • Daily: Select the number of days you want the schedule to run.
    • Weekly: Select the weeks and the particular days of the week you want the schedule to run. For example, if you want the schedule to run every two weeks on Monday and Thursday, increase the count to 2 in Every option and select the check boxes Monday and Thursday.
    • Monthly:
      • Day: Select the day of the months you want the schedule to run.
      • The: Select a particular occurrence of the day of the months you want the schedule to run. For example, if you want the schedule to run on the second Thursday of the months, January, May, and September, select Second, Thursday, and January, May, and September from the given options.
    Note:

    When the daylight saving is enabled and if the Start date is set for a schedule, the Start date is shown in the time zone to which it belongs to and not as per the user's current time zone. However, Next occurrence is shown in the time zone (user's system time zone) as per daylight saving time.

    For example, for a schedule created on 15th March in GMT time zone, the Start date is shown as Mar-15th which belongs to GMT time zone. Later, when daylight saving is ON and if you edit or view this schedule in the month of August in BST time zone, next occurrence is shown as current August month date which belongs to BST time zone.

    For example, if you schedule a bot to run from 23/11/2023 9:00 AM to 30/11/2023 9:00 AM, with the frequency set at daily, the bot executes daily from 23/11/2023 9 AM and the last bot run is executed on 30/11/2023 9M.
    Missed schedule setting If you select the Redeploy the schedule again check box, any schedules that were missed when the Control Room shut down are automatically redeployed after the Control Room is restarted. An audit log entry is also added showing the Event type as Schedule misfired.
  8. Click Next.
  9. In the Run-as users tab, select the Bot Runner users from the list of Available run-as users.
    The list of Bot Runner users that you have access to are displayed.
    Use the following options to define the number of Bot Runners to use:
    • All run-as users: Select this option to specify all the users available in the Selected table as run-as users while executing the automation.
    • Custom number of run-as users: Select this option to provide a certain number of users from the Selected table that you want to use as run-as users.

      For example, if you have 5 users in the Selected table, and you only want to use 3 as run-as users, enter 3. The 3 users listed at the top of the table are used as run-as users while executing the automation.

    Note: If a run-as user (Bot Runner) does not appear in the list, ensure the user scheduling the bots is assigned a role that provides access to the appropriate run-as users.
  10. Click Next.
  11. Optional: In the Device pools tab, select the pool from the list of available device pools.
    If any of the selected run-as users does not have the bot running device, a device pool is required. You can select up to 25 device pools per schedule.
    When a bot is deployed, the Control Room selects the first available device based on the order in which you organized the device pools. If none of the devices are available at the time of deployment, the bot is queued.
  12. Click Next.
  13. Use the Resiliency settings tab to change the following options:
    • In the Pop-up handling field, clear the Ignore unexpected pop-ups check box if you do not want to avoid any pop-ups during the bot runtime.

      This option is enabled by default. If you disable this option, any unexpected pop-ups that occur during the bot run can impact the automation or delay the runtime.

    • In the Bot execution recording field, change the following options:
      • Store bot execution recording: Clear this check box if you want to prevent the bot execution from being recorded.
      • Recording preferences: If you have opted to record automations, you can further select one of the following options for recording bot executions:
        • Only failed executions: Recording will be stored only when the automation execution fails.
        • All bot executions: Recording is stored irrespective of whether the execution is successful or failed.
      Note: Functionality to record automation execution requires the Enterprise Platform license. Contact your Automation Anywhere account representative for more information about this license.
  14. In the General tab, use the Automation priority drop-down menu to select the priority level for the automation.
    Set the priority to high, medium, or low based on your requirements for resource optimization. The default permission is set to medium.
  15. Optional: Clear the Hide bot run window check box.
    This option is enabled by default and hides the bot run progress window from view. If you disable this functionality, progress window is displayed when the bot starts.

    Based on the option that you have selected, the corresponding status is displayed for the specific bot in the Manage > Scheduled > General window.

  16. Click Schedule bot.
The Schedule bot option remains disabled until all the required items, such as bots, schedule details, and devices are selected.
The number of times a bot is deployed depends on the run-as users (Bot Runners) selected for the schedule. Consider the following scenarios:
  • The number of run-as users selected is two, and both the users have the bot running device: The bot is deployed twice on the two run-as users and their bot running devices.
  • The number of run-as users selected is three, and only one of the users has the bot running device. In this case, you must select the device pool. If the device pool has only two devices, the bot is deployed three times on both the devices in the device pool and also on the bot running device of the third user.
  • The number of run-as users selected is three, and none of the three users has the bot running device: In this case, you must select the device pool. If the device pool has only two devices, the bot is deployed twice on both the devices in the device pool, and the third request for bot deployment is queued. The bot is deployed only when a device becomes available in the device pool.
  • The number of run-as users selected is two, and none of the two users have the bot running device: In this case, you must select the device pool. If the device pool has four devices, the bot is deployed twice on any available two devices in the device pool.
Note: For schedules without a device pool, when one or more active run-as user devices are unavailable or disconnected, the bot deployment fails for all the run-as users in the schedule.