When to use Enterprise Document Composition?

[Tony_Rush]

I've looked through a couple of answers here already regarding standard DocComp licensing vs Enterprise, but still have a few questions. It's said that the 2000 documents per day is a guideline (not a hardcoded limit) so that you can ensure the throughput of all of the DocComp jobs. Also, that standard DocComp is single-threaded and Enterprise DocComp is multi-threaded. With that in mind, my questions which all kind of build on each other:

1. The MRG implies that the Document Composition Windows Service is for Enterprise DocComp only. However, in our testing, the service seems to be used also with standard DocComp licensing when using asynchronous generation. Is it expected that the service processes jobs in this scenarios? Is the service merely running in single-threaded mode?
2. Does the single vs multi-threaded apply to when the AppServer/Workflow Timer Service does the work (synchronous), when the DocComp Windows Service does the work (asynchronous), or both?
3. With the standard DocComp license, can the DocComp Service be installed on multiple servers to help with the load?
4. With the Enterprise DocComp license, can the DocComp Service be installed on multiple servers to help with the load?
5. Are there any advantages to Enterprise DocComp other than multi-threaded?

Other threads I've referenced:

https://www.onbase.com/community/onbase_product_communities/document_composition_product_page/f/1060...

https://www.onbase.com/community/onbase_product_communities/document_composition_product_page/f/1060...

[Matt_Mahoney · Accepted solution]

Hi Tony,

Thank you for using Community!

I have spoken with coworkers and done some research regarding your questions. 

To begin, all of Document Composition is multi-threaded. Only automated (whether synchronous or asynchronous) generation is limited with the standard Document Composition license.  If a user uses the Document Composition tasks in the OnBase, Unity, or Web clients, or the non-automated Workflow tasks, those requests will be processed immediately on the Application Server.

1. The MRG implies that the Document Composition Windows Service is used for Enterprise DocComp because this used to be true.  In the current architecture, the Service is used for asynchronous jobs regardless of license.  That is all the service is used for.   The service may be running multi-threaded, but unless Enterprise Document Composition is licensed, the throughput will be low enough that that is irrelevant. 

In the MRG, the section detailing the Document Composition Windows Service is located within the Enterprise Document Composition section.  We have submitted a request with our tech writers to clarify this information.

2a. The Workflow Timer Service executes each task on a separate thread.  If there are a large number of documents to be generated in one queue, then they will be created one-by-one.  Multiple queues can execute Document Composition tasks simultaneously, each on their own thread. 

2b. When clients call into the Application Server to create documents using Document Composition, IIS allocates the work to a worker thread.  If two users happen to issue a request simultaneously, then the requests will be processed in parallel.

3. The standard Document Composition license does not allow the Document Composition Windows Service to be installed on multiple servers, as that would be in violation of the spirit of the license.

4. The Enterprise Document Composition license does allow the Document Composition Windows Service to be installed on multiple servers.  However, if you find that you need to install multiple instances of the service in Enterprise Document Composition, please let us know; our service has been fast enough thus far that this is unneeded.  If you’re experiencing performance issues with a single server, we would be glad to help. 

5. The main benefit of Enterprise Document Composition is much higher throughput for automated document creation.  Both variants of the license use multiple threads.

Please let us know if you have any additional questions, and thanks again for using Community.

-Matt Mahoney

 With assistance from Allan Schon, Can Ergin, and Derrick Maldonado.

[Tony_Rush]

Matt, thanks for all that research and for your teams contributions. My only follow-up question then is that since the DocComp Service is always running in multi-threaded mode, what stifles the throughput when you don't have the Enterprise license? Does it just simply poll the dcbatch table at a slower rate? I'm asking because it seems like now a job takes about 9 seconds to process and we're curious how much that would improve.

Thanks again...we're going to be looking into the Enterprise license as a result and I will mark this as the answer.

[Matt_Mahoney]

Hi Tony,

You should be able to pilot a license for Enterprise Document Composition. The exact throughput depends on the hardware used, but we expect that you will see greatly reduced processing time.

Thank you,

[HECTOR_JULIO_BA]

hi Matt Mahoney ,  Could you please confirm if the Document Composition capacity is 2000 documents per day?. Thank you