Read Job State, Freshness, and Last Success

Separate the current run from the age of its output, and keep the last successful result inspectable.

See the situation

Start with the situation below. Next, we will work through an example together before you try the activity.

Samir · Workflow operator

The case

A status panel that hides four states

Current run state, freshness, and last successful output describe different things and can coexist.

What it shows: One figure, and a spinner while a run is in progress
Is the figure current?: No way to tell
Did last night’s run finish?: No way to tell
Did half of it fail?: No way to tell
During the incident: The panel went blank

Your task

Choose the current job status and data freshness separately. Decide what happens to the last complete result.

Need a little guidance?

You’re done when: A failed current run cannot make an older successful result look fresh.

Operators need to know both what is happening now and what trustworthy output still exists.

Need a reminder? Reopen the worked example

Watch one example first

A run succeeded yesterday, and its output is now older than the six-hour freshness window. The display can truthfully say execution succeeded and output stale.

Why this follows from the evidence

Run state, freshness, and last successful output answer different questions. Keeping them separate avoids calling old data an execution failure.

GTM Lab

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Cross-System Operating Plan · 0 of 8 sections started

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Case evidence

A status panel that hides four states

What it shows: One figure, and a spinner while a run is in progress
Is the figure current?: No way to tell
Did last night’s run finish?: No way to tell
Did half of it fail?: No way to tell
During the incident: The panel went blank

The panel above answers one question and hides four. Build the state model, then decide what the job log records.

Read the run status separately from the data status

At 08:02, run-84 updated 12 of 15 records before three failed. The last complete result is from 07:00; this panel’s freshness window is 15 minutes.

Current job stateLatest output freshnessPrior successful output

Run ID: run-84
Initiating actor: Integration worker
Duration: 2m 14s
Records touched: 12

Restoring this case draft…

Optional: compare the original decision choices

The case workbench above records completion. These choices are optional review and do not create the activity receipt on their own.

Work the case · 0 of 2 sections drafted

Make the states visible

Compare these alternatives one section at a time. Check a choice to see its consequence; the draft summary below keeps the proposed changes together.

Step 1 of 2

What must the interface be able to show?

Show waiting, running, completed, partially failed, and failed as job statuses. Show freshness separately and preserve the last successful result.Running, completed, and failed, with a stale result treated as a failure.The current figure, with a spinner while a run is in progress.

This is a proposed draft until the chapter check runs. Selecting a choice alone does not complete the chapter.

3c · Proposed

System handoff draft

System handoff draft · current draftCompare the original state with the proposed change. This preview does not change live records.

System handoff draft · current draft
Item	Before	Proposed	Why
What must the interface be able to show?	No saved change in this exercise draft	Not drafted yet	Choose a proposal to see what it would add to the draft.
Record history already exists. What does the job log add?	No saved change in this exercise draft	Not drafted yet	Choose a proposal to see what it would add to the draft.

What must the interface be able to show?: BeforeNo saved change in this exercise draft; ProposedNot drafted yet; WhyChoose a proposal to see what it would add to the draft.
Record history already exists. What does the job log add?: BeforeNo saved change in this exercise draft; ProposedNot drafted yet; WhyChoose a proposal to see what it would add to the draft.

A choice appears here as a proposal, not as evidence that a live system changed.

Your place saves as you go.

Chapter 3 of 80 complete