Question

Identifying the last usage of a process model

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
April 27, 2021
9 replies
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Hi all,

We are doing some cleansing in our environments and we want to know what was the last time a process model has been used.

I tried the process reports, when analysing the process models, I can't get other than the last modification, but not the last usage.

In monitoring or process reports for Tasks, I can get what is currently active or recently active, but not any kind of historical view.

In the health check, there is a tab named process sizing that looked promising but does not contain that information either.

I wonder if we can get any other source, of in anyone knows in table in the Appian model that we can query.

Thanks.

csteward

As active Appian process instances are stored in memory, there isn't really anything in the primary data source you can query for usage globally. If these processes are updating database values with timestamps, you could review them this way on a process by process basis.

However Process Reports are typically my go-to here for this type of initiative. Is it not acceptable to utilize say counts of active processes, with pp!starttime, from those Process Reports?

J

jordib0001Author

Hi Chris,

thanks for your response.

Active processes can be found in the monitoring and in the process model reports, so, not a problem.

The problem for me is to identify if a process model (having not active instances at that particular moment) has been used recently or not.

In other words, knowing the last time an instance was created for a process model that currently has no active instances and no references in the health-check.

csteward

Gotcha. While Process Reports can be run on completed processes as well, instances will only be available here while the timeframe is within the process archive setting, which differs per model. Once instances are archived they will drop from the report.

Any data persisted to the DB with timestamps is also a typical target, but this will be on a process by process basis as well. This is what we use to determine usage - as we configure all processes to record an audit row between any steps with timestamp, to easily keep an eye on what is moving and what is not.

Depending on how long you retain Process Execution Logs, this could be a potential source also.

At the end of the day, a process model with no in-memory instances is not putting any stress on the server, it doesn't really provide any benefit to remove them. We always retain all process models in the environment, just changing permissions where they will no longer be used. If you want the feel of more organization, you could just remove from application bundles.

Is your goal for cleansing to reduce clutter in the user experience, or otherwise?

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