Stopping a Process that is In Progress

When a Process is in progress, you can stop the Process by selecting the Cancel All Pending Executions button. This may be necessary to correct an error, make changes or prevent incorrect outputs.

For example, it can be used if the Process is in Progress due to a blocking Task or a Delay and needs to be stopped. Or, if you have made a mistake with what the filter includes or if you want to check a Template used in the Process.

This article explains how to stop all instances of the process currently in progress. To automatically stop a process for a specific instance only, for example, if the record no longer matches the filter, or based on specific conditions, refer to the Stop Automation Process Step.

Note: If an Active Process is already running, setting its Status to Draft does not stop the Process. You will need to stop the Process as described below.

Where a Process can be Stopped from

The process can be stopped for all instances, or specific items only, e.g. clients, documents, etc.

To cancel all executions:

• A Process can be stopped from the Automation - Process - Details tab when editing a Process using the Cancel All Pending Executions button.
  
  This stops all instances of the Process. If it is running for multiple Clients, Documents, Jobs, or Tasks, all instances are stopped. Refer below to Stopping a Process that is in Progress from the Process Details.

When stopping a Process from the locations below, if the process is running for multiple Clients, Documents, Jobs, or Tasks, the process will be displayed individually for each item. You may need to stop more than one process. 

• From the Automation - Process - History tab, when editing a Process. Refer to 'Stopping a Process that is in Progress' in Process History and Activity.
   
• From the Automation - History tab. Refer to 'Stopping a Process that is in Progress' in Automation History.
   
• From the Client or Job workspace for the relevant client, from the Process History tab, or the Process History Checklist. 
  If the Process is running for more than one client or job, you will need to display the workspace for each that you want to stop. Refer to Client Process History Checklist and Job Process History Checklist. 
   
• If the Status of the blocking Task is set to "Rejected," the process will not proceed to the next step.  The process itself will stay in a "Progress" status. 

Stopping a Process

Process Details tab

The Automation - Process - Details tab will display the Cancel All Pending Executions button when the process is currently in progress.

1. From the Automation - Processes, open the relevant Process.
    
2. Click the Cancel All Pending Executions button.
   If the Process is running for multiple Clients, Documents, Jobs, or Tasks, all instances of the Process are stopped.
    
3. When stopped from the Process - Details, the Status of the Process is automatically set to "Draft".
   

When a Process has been stopped from any of the History tabs, the Status displays as "Stopped".  When a process is "Stopped", you can still display the information for any of the steps and use the links to see any documents or tasks that were created.

Note: It will depend on what the Process does and the timing of when you click Cancel All Pending Executions, whether some steps and data will have already been processed. Refer also to Stopping a Process that is Sending Bulk Emails.

When a Process has been stopped, selecting it in the History tab gives you the option to Retry or Run again.

• Retry will run the process from where it was stopped.
   
• Run again will re-run the whole process from the beginning. If any changes have been made, the process will be run using the updated configuration. Where the process was run, for example, for a specific client, this will rerun it for that client.
   
• Activity Link can be used to copy a link to the History entry, for example, to send for support purposes.

Refer to Process History and Activity, and Automation History.

Sending Bulk Emails

Specifically in the case of stopping a Process that is sending bulk emails, depending on when the Cancel All Pending Executions button is clicked, this may still send some emails. What may still be sent is determined by the following factors:

• When sending bulk emails with a Process step using "Send Immediately", there is a built-in throttle of sending a maximum of 20 emails simultaneously per minute.
   
• There is a deliberate initial delay before the execution of large batches of emails starts. This delay is: 60 seconds for more than 1000 executions,
  20 seconds for more than 100 executions,
  10 seconds for more than 10 executions.
   
• If the Cancel All Pending Executions button is clicked before these delays have elapsed, then nothing will execute.
   
• If Cancel All Pending Executions is clicked on a large email blast that has partly run, some emails will still be sent. 
  For example, if 50 out of 1000 emails have already been sent, you can expect a total of around 90 to be delivered, since approximately 40 may already be "in flight". Note that this is an estimate only, as not all simultaneous email sends will be mid-delivery, especially if other processes are running.

CSV Data Import Process

Where a process uses the CSV Data Import Filter to import data, stopping the process will stop the import of any rows displayed as In Progress. Once stopped, the rows will be updated to display the status of Stopped. 

Rows that have already been imported will be displayed as either Success, or Error. Clicking Cancel All Pending Executions for the process will not remove the imported data.

Where a process has been configured with the Run Once Per Row option enabled in the Automation Filter, running the automation again will not re-import these rows. To import the data, you will need to either:

• Click Run Again from the Process - History tab for any rows marked as Stopped.
• Create a new CSV Import file to import the rows that were stopped.