Understanding Background Jobs

Understanding Background Jobs

Several operations in MatchLogic take time to complete, especially when working with large datasets. Data import, data profiling, match execution, and final export all run as background jobs on the server. This means you can continue working in other parts of the platform while a job processes.

Job Status Dialog showing an active profiling job and a completed match job

Which Operations Run as Background Jobs?

  • Data Import — Importing records from a file, database, or cloud source.
  • Data Profiling — Generating advanced analytics for a data source (column statistics, patterns, outliers).
  • Match Execution — Running the matching engine across configured data source pairs using your defined criteria.
  • Final Export — Writing the processed output to a file, database, or cloud destination.

Simple operations like saving match definitions, updating configuration, or editing cleansing rules happen instantly and do not create background jobs.

Monitoring Job Progress

MatchLogic provides several ways to track the status of running jobs:

Job Status Indicator (Header)

When a job is active for the current project, a spinning indicator appears in the header bar. Click it to open the Job Status Dialog.

Job Status Dialog

The dialog has two tabs:

  • Active — Lists all currently running jobs with their type, project name, elapsed time, and step-by-step progress. Each job shows which processing step it is on (for example, "Blocking records" or "Scoring pairs").
  • Completed — Shows recently finished jobs with their final status (Completed or Failed), duration, and a link to view results.

Active Job Banner

When you navigate to a module that has an active job (for example, opening Match Results while a match is running), a banner appears at the top of the page. The banner displays the job type and current status. It updates automatically as the job progresses.

Notification Bell

The notification bell in the header displays a badge count when jobs finish. Click the bell to see notifications. Each notification includes a quick-action button such as "View Results" that takes you directly to the relevant module.

Tip

Background jobs persist across page refreshes and browser sessions. If you close your browser and return later, your running jobs will still be tracked and their results will be available once complete.

Job Statuses

Each job can be in one of the following states:

  • Not Started — The job has been queued but has not begun processing yet.
  • In Progress — The job is actively running. Progress details are available in the Job Status Dialog.
  • Completed — The job finished successfully. Results are ready to view.
  • Failed — The job encountered an error. Check the Job Status Dialog for error details.
  • Cancelled — The job was manually stopped before it finished.

Cancelling a Job

You can cancel a running job from the Active Job Banner or the Job Status Dialog. Cancellation stops the server-side process. Depending on how far the job progressed, partial results may or may not be available.

Important

Only one job of the same type can run per project at a time. For example, you cannot start two match jobs simultaneously for the same project. If you need to re-run a match with different settings, wait for the current job to finish or cancel it first.

What Happens When a Job Completes

When a background job finishes successfully, several things happen automatically:

  1. The notification bell shows a new alert with a "View Results" link.
  2. If you are currently on the module page for that job (for example, Match Results), the page automatically refreshes to display the new data.
  3. Downstream modules may become unlocked. For example, a completed match job unlocks Merge & Survivorship.
  4. A success toast notification appears briefly at the bottom of the screen.

If a job fails, a notification appears with error details. You can review the error, adjust your settings, and retry the operation.