Business Value

Batch processing in Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations has been available for a long time.
Over time, more and more functionality relies on batch processing for a-synchronous processing and it has seen some enhancements to cater for enterprise scenarios where many batches run alongside.

But still, given the large number of jobs queued at any one time, the exact sequence of execution is hard to follow.
On the one hand this is fine, as each job is expected to run independently.
On the other hand, some batches do have relations or even worse, may interfere, for instance on the data tier, where they may cause sql (over)load, lockouts / lock escalation or simply slow down if ran side-by-side.

Currently the only way to mitigate such issues is to use “time-slots” and allot each batch its own run-time, with some margin in between.
This is not an ideal solution, as:

1. It is not efficient, depending on how tight the margin can be set and
2. If a batch runs long, it will end up outside the allotted timeslot, with unpredictable consequences.

Batch Orchestration will provide you with the following enhancements:

• Control over which batches can run (or should be paused) in relation to other batch jobs
• Control over the sequence of related batches
• Option to start batches only when (and as soon as) a previous batch has completed
• On error of a preceding job, you have control over the next batch to execute
• All of this across companies
• Insights in total runtime, each time

Release notes