Batch Processing ... Part Two

I must be honest, I am sometimes quite surprised by the reaction my notes some times invoke.  For instance, the note about batch processing generated a number of "high fives" in the hallway and a couple of 500 word responses.  The response was, as I expected, all over the place with some people telling me I was not in my right mind while other people were saying that this is what they have always believed.  Never one to let the flames of disagreement burn out, I thought I would list my personal rules as to whether or not something should be done in batch.  This is not something you need to follow, but it may help illuminate my comments from the other day.

Interfaces with other systems.  I originally had the word "external" but I replaced it with "other" as different systems internal to an overall application may not be able to handle a continuous stream of data.  For instance, our interface to IMAGIS is done through a file transfer which is done once a day.  To ensure that we get as much as possible into the system we do the transfer close to the cut off time that we have arranged with the IMAGIS team.  In this case the target system is just not designed to handle us sending them information multiple times per day.  Now, it may be the case that there are other ways to communicate with IMAGIS that we have not utilized, but with the current set up, we need to do it on a scheduled, batch basis.

Reports. This seems like a logical item to do in a batch process.  Whether this batch process is done via another tool, such as ReportNet scheduling the report, or whether it is scheduled via Windows Scheduler, reports are good batch residents. However, in my mind a report does not process and create data, it merely reports on the data.  If your "report" creates and stores data then that portion should be separated out and done in an asynchronous manner.  A report, any report, should be able to be generated quickly from data that is already stored in the database.  In addition, in many cases, reports do not need to be run on a scheduled basis, as long as the report can be generated on demand and that it will contain the identical content as if it had been generated on a previous day.  For instance, if reporting on the applications that were approved on July 12th, it would list all approvals, even if one of the application was subsequently denied.

And that's pretty much it.  It's a very short list of things that need to be done in a batch window.  For me it all comes down to this:

It is our job as IT Professionals, however, to not just do what our clients say, but to educate them as to what can be done, to show them new opportunities, and to give them something better than what they had, not just something newer.