METHOD, SYSTEM AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR SCHEDULING EXECUTION OF WORK UNITS WITH POLICY BASED EXTENSION OF LONG-TERM PLAN

Abstract

A solution for scheduling execution of jobs is proposed In this case, a long-term plan expressed in terms of streams of jobs is created in advance (for example, for some months). An actual production plan (for a production period P(p) typically of one day) is then generated by extracting a corresponding portion of the long-term plan and expanding the streams into their jobs. In the proposed solution, a policy for the long-term plan is defined; for examples this policy specifies a minimum length L(min) and a maximum length L(max) of the long-term plan. The (remaining) length of the long-term plan is checked after each generation of the production plan; if the long-term plan is shorter than the minimum length L(min), it is expanded automatically up to the maximum length L(max).

Description

REFERENCE TO THE DRAWINGS

The invention itself, as well as further features and the advantages thereof, will be best understood with reference to the following detailed description, given purely by way of a nonrestrictive indication, to be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a data processing system in which the solution according to an embodiment of the invention is applicable;

FIG. 2 is a collaboration diagram representing the roles of different software modules implementing the solution according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 3 a-3b illustrate exemplary applications of the solution according to an embodiment of the invention; and

FIGS. 4 a-4b show a diagram describing the flow of activities relating to an implementation of the solution according to an embodiment of the invention.

Claims

1. A method for scheduling execution of work units in a data processing system, the method including the steps of: generating a preliminary plan of execution of the work units for a long-term period,generating a production plan of execution of the work units for a production period included in the long-term period, the production plan being generated from a portion of the auxiliary plan corresponding to the production period, andsubmitting the work units for execution according to the production plan, characterized by the steps ofmonitoring compliance of the preliminary plan with a predetermined policy, andupdating the preliminary plan to comply with said policy.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the policy includes a minimum length of the long-term period at least equal to the production period, the step of updating the auxiliary plan including: extending the auxiliary plan at least to the minimum length.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the policy includes a maximum length of the long-term period longer than the minimum length, the step of updating the auxiliary plan including: extending the auxiliary plan according to the maximum length.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of generating the production plan is performed periodically according to the production period, the step of updating the auxiliary plan being performed after the step of generating the production plan.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary plan is generated and updated according to rules defining execution dependencies of the work units, the method further including the steps of: detecting any event involving a change to the rules, andfurther updating the auxiliary plan according to the changed rules.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the step of generating the production plan is performed periodically according to the production period, the step of further updating the auxiliary plan being performed before the step of generating the production plan.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the method further includes the steps of: estimating a changing rate of the rules, andsetting the policy according to the changing rate.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the work units are logically organized in streams each one including a plurality of corresponding work units, the auxiliary plans defining an execution flow of the streams, and wherein the step of generating the production plan includes: extracting the portion of the auxiliary plan corresponding to the production period, andreplacing each stream in the extracted portion with a definition of an execution flow of the corresponding work units.

9. A computer program in a computer readable medium for scheduling execution of work units in a data processing system for performing a method when the computer program is executed on a data processing system the method comprising the steps of: generating a preliminary plan of execution of the work units for a long-term period,generating a production plan of execution of the work units for a production period included in the long-term period, the production plan being generated from a portion of the auxiliary plan corresponding to the production period, andsubmitting the work units for execution according to the production plan,monitoring compliance of the preliminary plan with a predetermined policy, andupdating the preliminary plan to comply with said policy.

10. A system for scheduling execution of work units in a data processing system, the system comprising: means for generating a preliminary plan of execution of the work units for a long-term period,means for generating a production plan of execution of the work units for a production period included in the long-term period, the production plan being generated from a portion of the auxiliary plan corresponding to the production period, andmeans for submitting the work units for execution according to the production plan,means for monitoring compliance of the preliminary plan with a predetermined policy, andmeans for updating the preliminary plan to comply with said policy.