It is important to understand how repeat tasks get scheduled in order to best utilize them for your use case. At its core, a repeat task is simply a series of nearly identical single tasks that are scheduled based on the Repeat Task Start, Repeat Cycle, and Repeat Task End.
Single tasks created from a repeat task are unique in that they are scheduled before other single tasks in order to increase the likelihood of getting consistently spaced collects.
Weekly repeat example
Let's say you want to get weekly collects over a particular location for four (4) weeks. It can be set up like this:
- Repeat Task Start (UTC): 2022-04-04 T00:00:00Z
- Repeat Task End: Number of collects = 4
- Tasking Tier: Routine
- Repeat Cycle: Weekly
The further out your Repeat Task Start date is, the higher the likelihood that all of your collects will be spaced similarly as your first tasking requests won't have to compete with other single tasking requests already in the schedule.
What the scheduler does
- Creates a repeating series of individual, back-to-back, tasking requests with open & close windows space seven (7) days apart.
- Schedules the first available collect for the first tasking request based on the Repeat Task Start.
- Schedules the first available collect for all of the subsequent tasking requests as they reach the scheduling horizon.
What it doesn't do
- Guarantee a repeat collection on a specific day or time within the week.
How the scheduler sees it
- Single Task 1
- Window Open: 2022-04-04 T00:00:00Z
- Window Close: 2022-04-10 T11:59:59Z
- Single Task 2
- Window Open: 2022-04-11 T00:00:00Z
- Window Close: 2022-04-17 T11:59:59Z
- Single Task 3
- Window Open: 2022-04-18 T00:00:00Z
- Window Close: 2022-04-24 T11:59:59Z
- Single Task 4
- Window Open: 2022-04-25 T00:00:00Z
- Window Close: 2022-05-01 T11:59:59Z
The first available collect in each of those windows will be scheduled and collected.