Exact Synergy

HrBgJobs.exe - Background process

Introduction:

In Exact e-Synergy there a number of HRM processes which can be automated using a background job. The background job used for this is HrBgJobs.exe. This background job performs the following functions:

1. Edit resources, financial components and item details based on the startdate and enddate of resources:

• Set all resource statuses from 'Hired' to 'Active' when the resource start date is today.
• Set all resource statuses from 'Active' to 'Exit' when the resource end date is today.
• Set the end of financial components of exit resources. If the resource contract end date is entered, the financial component end date will be that of the contract end date, otherwise it will be that of the resource end date.
• Re-assign the subordinates of the exit resource to the exit resource's manager. A task will be created for the manager informing him/her of the transfer of subordinates.
• Also the accounts, projects and items of the exit resource will be re-assigned to the exit resource's manager. A task will be created for the manager informing him/her of the transfer of responsibilities.
• Remove all exit resources from projects they were involved in.
• Remove the exit resource as an assistant to other active resources.
• Set the exit resource to 'Blocked', denying him/her access to Exact e-Synergy.
• Remove all roles of exit resources.

2. Create/delete Windows user accounts

• Create Windows domain user accounts for active resources (type Employee, Contractor, Student and Temporary) who do not have a Windows domain user account.
• For new users, fill in the Windows user profile with user details entered in e-Synergy. For existing users, update the Windows user profile with any updated information. Two point of note must be taken into account concerning this functionality: 1. Windows user profiles are only available for environments using Active Directory Services and when the setting 'Create Exchange Mailbox' is selected (in e-Synergy HRM settings); 2. The user profiles are only entered for resources. They are not entered for resellers.
• Delete Windows domain user accounts for all exit resources. Set Microsoft Exchange mailboxes to inactive if setup to do so.
• Create Windows domain user accounts for reseller contacts without a Windows domain account.
• Delete Windows domain user accounts for all exit reseller contacts.
• Create Windows domain user accounts for customers that have been granted access to the customer portal.
• Regenerate passwords for customers, in situations where they have forgotten the original password.
• Delete Windows domain user accounts for customers that have had their access to the customer portal revoked.
• Create a task informing the appropriate person of new and deleted accounts. For resources this person is the manager of the new or exit resource. For resellers, the person informed is the account manager if the new user is the main contact of the reseller. If the new user is not the reseller's main contact, then the task is created for the reseller's main contact.

3. Create Microsoft Exchange mailboxes, if option is enabled within the e-HRM settings.

4. Allow new users remote access via VPN, if option is enabled within the e-HRM settings.

5. Grant users access to the Exchange Instant Messaging server, if option is enabled on the contact card of an account.

6. Update the 'absent' flag in the humres table. This flag indicates whether the user is available or out of office.

7. Close the HR periods when this function is set in e-Synergy.

8. Create FTP directories for customers and resellers, if option is enabled within the e-HRM settings.

9. Add/remove the members of a certain Exact e-Synergy role to/from a certain NT domain group. This option is only applicable where a group is set in any Exact e-Synergy access role.

Technical Information:

The following tables are involved with running the HrBgJobs background application:

• humres
• Absences
• RequestTasks
• AbsenceTypes
• BacoProcessLog
• cicmpy
• cicntp

When running HrBgJobs the background job will first check the status, start date, contract end date and inactive date of all employees. When values are entered in these fields appropriate action will be taken. For example when an employee has a start date of today the job will change the status of the employee from 'hired' to 'active'. Also a NT account will be created for this employee. Where this account is created depends on the settings which can be setup via [HRM > Maintenance > Setup > Settings]. The password will be generated in a task for the manager of the employee.

After checking the employees, the background job will check whether there are accounts that have been granted portal access and whether there are contact persons of resellers that have been granted portal access. If this is the case HrBgJobs will generate an username and a password for these new accounts. Also the NT accounts will be created in the domain specified via [HRM > Maintenance > Setup > Settings]. In the case of giving portal access to a customer, a task is created for the account manager with login details. Also an e-mail is sent to the e-mail address of that account containing the login details. For resellers the same applies with one difference: first portal access is given to the main contact person. This first time a task is created for the account manager and an e-mail is sent to the main contact. From that point the main contact person is responsible for giving portal access to his colleagues. Employees don't have any influence on that.

After giving portal access to the accounts the background job checks whether there are employees absent. This is done based on the setting 'Out of office' in the request definition. Based on this field the background job searches for absences with this setting turned on. Then it checks the date in the requests and compares them with the current date. When these two dates match, the flag 'Out of office' is set for that employee. This means that when searching for that employee the icon for out of office is displayed as shown in the screenshot below.

When the parameter /FTP is given, the background application will check for accounts who have portal access and whether those accounts are linked to the divisions stated with the /FTPDIV parameter. If this is the case, folders will be created for those customers in the root directory of the ftp server. The name of these folders is equal to the account code.

There are quite a few specific parameters that can be used when running the HrBgJobs background application. Two of those are the mandatory parameters /S and /D. The other parameters are the following:

• /NOPDC - If this parameter is used, the background job will attempt to create/delete Windows user accounts even if a primary domain controller cannot be found.  This option is used in development and debugging activities when there is no access to a primary domain controller but only to a local workgroup.
• /IGNOREBLOCKED - If this parameter is used, the 'Blocked' status of hired resources will not be changed.  Also, the 'Blocked' status of 'Active' employees who have just had a Windows account created for them will also not be changed.
• /NOEMPACCOUNT - If this parameter is used, no Windows user accounts will be created or deleted for employees.  All other processes relating to new or exit employees will still be ran.  This option is used in situations where the user wants to control the creation/deletion of Windows user accounts, but want e-Synergy to handle the other administrative tasks e.g. reassignment of subordinates of exit employees, reassignment of items etc.
• /RAS - If this parameter is used, all new employees will be granted remote access permission (Dial-in or VPN).  Applicable only if Active Directory is used.
• /IM - If this parameter is used, all new employees will be granted rights to use the primary Instant Messaging Server on the Active Directory domain. This parameter is also only applicable when Active Directory is used.
• /L - If this parameter is used, the new resource's NT account 'LogonScript' property will be updated with the name specified after the /L parameter (e.g. /L:ADCLogonScript.bat).
• /FTPR:[DIRECTORY] - Reseller contact person root directory on the FTP server.
• /FTPC:[DIRECTORY] - Customer root directory on the FTP server.
• /FTPDIV:[001;002;003] - List of divisions (separator = ;) to which the customers/resellers have to belong. In other words, the FTP directories will only be created/maintained for those customers/resellers which have e-Synergy portal access and which belong to this list of divisions. This parameter is mandatory if you want to use any of the other /FTP parameters.
• /FTPEXP:DAYS - Number of days after which the content of the FTP directory expires. Example: /FTPEXP:5 if you want to have the content expire after 5 days. 

Implementing some of these parameters could give the following command line for the background job:

• C:\Synergy\bin\HrBgJobs.exe /S:VORS31266-1 /D:DeltaBike /NOPDC /NOEMPACCOUNT /RAS /FTPC:C:\Customers

Please refer to document 07.211.289 in order to see some specific parameters which can be used for a functionality which allows you to add/delete roles from a certain NT domain group.

Settings Exact e-Synergy:

The screenshot below shows a part of the screen that can be accessed via [HRM > Maintenance > Setup > Settings]. These settings determine how and where new employees are created and also where accounts for customers and resellers are created if given portal access. When portal access is given you can also determine which type of request is created for the account manager and you can adjust a part of the e-mail sent to the account. More information about the fields in this screen be found in this document: e-Synergy on-line manuals e-HRM: settings - server.

The screenshot below also shows a part of the screen that is accessed via [HRM > Maintenance > Setup > Settings]. These fields determine the settings used for closing the HR Periods. Closing these periods is necessary for an actual calculation of the absence entitlements. This functionality is described in detail in this document: e-Synergy on-line manuals e-HRM: settings - absence.

Troubleshooting:

There are some known issues with regard to HrBgJobs for which solutions are already documented. This section describes these issues and their solutions. First of all there are some messages displayed in the process log which appear to be errors, but they are not. The log can be checked via [System > Reports > Log > Processes]. The following messages may appear:

These messages are 'Info' messages which means they are just informative and there is nothing wrong. In this case the background job indicates that there is no domain specified for employees, resellers or customers.

In the screenshot below you see an error message which is mostly caused by faulty settings in [HRM > Maintenance > Setup > Settings] screen or due to the fact that the background job has no rights to edit information in the specified domain or on the specified server.

The solution is to either check the settings via [HRM > Maintenance > Setup > Settings] and correct them if necessary or make sure the background jobs are run by a user who is administrator in the specified domain or on the specified server.

Error create user mailbox - Hector Andreu Zuriaga - -2147016656:Automation error There is no such object on the server

This error message is caused by moving the administrator account from the group 'Users' to another group on the server. When you do this, the job cannot find the administrator account nor the mailbox of the administrator account. It needs that account to perform certain operations.

31-03-2005 20:42:12 Fout HrBgJobs /S:EXACT-SVR1 /D:100 EXACT-SVR1 Error creating NT (ADS) account for customer 10150 Freewheeler, 10150 - Automation error

This error message was found when working with a two domain environment, one domain for the resources and one domain for customers and resellers. The domain for the resources was exactsoftware.com and the domain for the customers/resellers was web.exactsoftware.com . This is not a good setup for HrBgJobs.exe and renaming the second domain to web.local made creation of the accounts possible.

Related Topics:

• How to set up portals in Exact e-Synergy?
• Installation background jobs
• Setting up Microsoft Exchange
• How to set up the absence registration?
• How to set up the HRM background job?