General

BlueWorx caches key Master Data and some Transactional Data to allow for Delta Sync and to speed up compilation of Sync Data. See article: Master Data Tables and Batch Jobs.

Batch Processing and Database Style

Starting with Support Pack 12, the processes that keep this data up to date, refreshed, and valid are being incrementally improved to perform better across a range of different databases. Prior to Support Pack 12, most of the records where updated one at a time. For example, if there were 1000 Equipment that needed to be updated/validated then each Equipment would be updated/validated one at a time. This meant the process was well controlled, but it was not as fast as performing the updates/validations in batches.

Updating in batches introduced some additional complexity that was more than compensated for by the improved runtime. To allow customers to tune the updates for their environment there are three database style options, and the batch size can be adjusted.

Database Style

The three database style options are:

• Prefer Joins (Default) - This option creates temporary key table entries for the items in each batch and uses the key tables in database selects using joins to select the required data from the core SAP tables. This approach works well over all types of databases.
• Prefer For All Entries - This option doesn't use temporary key table entries. Instead, it uses the for all entries database select syntax to select the required data from the core SAP tables. This approach works well with most database types. However, it tends to be significantly slower for those running Oracle databases, where the default for all entries range configuration is in place.
• Prefer Ranges - This option uses range tables in place of the for all entries syntax, and may be an option for Oracle systems if there are issues with joins or for all entries. It is the least preferred option.

Not all update/validation processes have all three options.

Batch Size

The default batch size is 25,000 records. When using the ranges style, this is further split into smaller range batches.

Setting the Database Style and Batch Size

The database style and batch size can be set globally in the Developer Parameters. See article: Settings Tab - Developer.

These can also be set in the variant for the program to Validate Master Data in the Application Sync Tables. Program: /SOLTIUS/PM_PROFILE_RF_MD and it's sister program: /SOLTIUS/PM_PROFILE_ADD_MD which adds only new objects to the cache tables.

Restricting the Data Processed

As of Support Pack 13, Innovation 02, there is an option to restrict the processing to certain pieces of Master Data in the  program: /SOLTIUS/PM_PROFILE_RF_MD. This allows targeted refreshes and validations where slower performing steps (such as Documents when linked to an external document management system) can be skipped.