Scheduling when a Robotic Process Automation robot runs

Use the Pega RPA Service to schedule when RPA robots start and stop. The schedule is stored in the RpaSchedule.json file. This file is located in the C:Programdata\Pegasystems folder in version 19.1 and later and in the C:\Programdata\OpenSpan folder in version 8.0 SP1 and earlier. In this file, there is a JSON element for each day of the week. In each JSON element, you specify when the robot will start and how long its session will last. You can schedule one session per day.

Before you begin

In the local RPAService.config file, you must set the Mode key to Scheduled. Also, make sure the RpaSchedule.json is located in the correct C:\Programdata folder.

To specify an RPA robot’s schedule, perform the following steps:

1. Open the RpaSchedule.json file in a text editor.
2. Set the Enabled property to True for the days on which you want the robot to run.
3. In the StartTime property, specify the time in HH:MM format at which you want the Pega RPA Service to start looking for jobs to send to the robots.
   The Pega RPA Service uses a 24-hour clock. For example, to start the service at 1:30 pm, set the StartTime property to 13:30.
4. Set the DurationMinutes property to the number of minutes you want the Pega RPA Service to look for jobs. The following code is an example that shows how you set up a robot to run on Tuesday from 1 a.m. until 5 am:

  },
  "Tuesday": {
    "Enabled": true,
    "StartTime": "01:00",
    "DurationMinutes": 240
  },

5. Save and then close the file.

When the Pega RPA Service detects that a robot should be started, the service performs the following tasks:

• Logs in to Windows by using the Windows credentials that are supplied by the Credentials Manager (credmgr.exe) utility. For more information about the Credentials Manager, see Pega Robotic Automation Credentials Manager utility.
• Starts Pega Robot Runtime as the user specified by the Credentials Manager utility by using the --Runtime flag. If you do not supply Pega Robot Runtime credentials, the Pega RPA Service starts Pega Robot Runtime as the user who is logged in to Windows.

When Pega Robot Runtime detects that the scheduled session has ended, it performs the following tasks:

1. Completes the current work item, if any work is in progress.
2. Shuts down Pega Robot Runtime.
3. Logs off Windows.