Knowledge Base

Introduction to Jobs

Jobs are tasks within the Narrative platform. Every operation you perform—like running a forecast or executing a query—leads to the creation of a job. Jobs allow for tracking of these operations and their status.

What Are Jobs?

Jobs represent discrete units of work performed by the Narrative platform. Each job has:

Unique identifier: Every job can be tracked individually
Type: Indicates what kind of work the job performs
State: Shows the current status of the job
Input parameters: Data and settings that control job execution
Results: Outputs produced when the job completes successfully

Job Characteristics

Trackable Operations

Jobs provide visibility into platform operations that might otherwise be invisible. Whether you're creating a dataset or running a forecast, the corresponding job lets you monitor progress and troubleshoot issues.

State-Based Progression

All jobs progress through well-defined states, making it predictable to understand where any operation stands in its lifecycle.

Parameterized Execution

Jobs accept specific input parameters that control how they execute, allowing for customized behavior based on your needs.

Common Job Operations

Based on the types available in the platform, jobs handle several categories of work:

Data Processing

Creating and refreshing materialized views
Running forecasts to estimate query results
Calculating costs for data processing operations

Dataset Management

Generating data samples for preview
Calculating column statistics for data profiling
Cleaning up data resources
Delivering data to external systems

Model Operations

Training machine learning models
Deploying models to production environments

Job Lifecycle Overview

Every job follows a consistent lifecycle:

Creation: Job is submitted with specific parameters
Queuing: Job waits for available resources
Execution: Job runs and performs its work
Completion: Job finishes with success or failure
Cleanup: Resources are released and results stored

Job States

Jobs progress through these states:

State	Meaning
`pending`	Job is queued, waiting to start
`running`	Job is actively executing
`completed`	Job finished successfully
`failed`	Job encountered an error
`cancelled`	Job was cancelled before completion
`pending_cancellation`	Job is being cancelled

Why Jobs Matter

Understanding jobs helps you:

Monitor Operations: Track the progress of long-running operations
Troubleshoot Issues: Identify and resolve problems when they occur
Optimize Performance: Understand execution patterns and resource usage
Plan Resources: Anticipate when operations will complete

Next Steps

Now that you understand what jobs are, explore these topics:

Job Types Reference

Learn about the specific types of work that jobs can perform.

View job types