AutoSchedule Project Job Failing

Products

• Clarity PPM SaaS
• Clarity PPM On Premise

Issue/Introduction

Auto Schedule Project job is failing for an specific project with the following error: 
ERROR 2018-07-27 09:51:36,058 [Dispatch Autoschedule Project : [email protected] (tenant=clarity)] projmgr.scheduling (clarity:user_name:14590072__C5F102DF-94DE-4C00-95DA-D288B914397B:Autoschedule Project) 
java.lang.NullPointerException
                at com.niku.cse.util.SECalendarUtil.diffWorkday(SECalendarUtil.java:32)
                at com.niku.cse.datamodel.SETask.initSEFloat(SETask.java:158)
                at com.niku.cse.SETaskHandler.initFloatForPriority(SETaskHandler.java:418)
                at com.niku.cse.SETaskHandler.initPrioritySort(SETaskHandler.java:173)
                at com.niku.cse.SETaskHandler.getPrioritySort(SETaskHandler.java:156)
                at com.niku.cse.SEAutoScheduler.forwardPass(SEAutoScheduler.java:296)
                at com.niku.cse.SEAutoScheduler.cpm(SEAutoScheduler.java:228)
                at com.niku.cse.SEAutoScheduler.autoschedule(SEAutoScheduler.java:145)
                at com.niku.projmgr.autoschedule.SEClarityAutoscheduler.autoschedule(SEClarityAutoscheduler.java:309)
                at com.niku.projmgr.autoschedule.SEClarityAutoscheduler.doAutoschedule(SEClarityAutoscheduler.java:783)
                at com.niku.projmgr.autoschedule.SEClarityAutoscheduler.doAutoschedule(SEClarityAutoscheduler.java:91)
                at com.niku.projmgr.autoschedule.jobs.AutoschedulerJob.scheduledEventFired(AutoschedulerJob.java:66)
                at com.niku.njs.Dispatcher$BGTask.run(Dispatcher.java:393)
                at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
                at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
                at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
ERROR 2018-07-27 09:51:36,058 [Dispatch Autoschedule Project : [email protected] (tenant=clarity)] projmgr.scheduling (clarity:user_name:14590072__C5F102DF-94DE-4C00-95DA-D288B914397B:Autoschedule Project) ---> could not execute autoschedule job (6169051)
java.lang.Exception: Autoschedule throwable caught: null
                at com.niku.projmgr.autoschedule.SEClarityAutoscheduler.doAutoschedule(SEClarityAutoscheduler.java:799)
                at com.niku.projmgr.autoschedule.SEClarityAutoscheduler.doAutoschedule(SEClarityAutoscheduler.java:91)
                at com.niku.projmgr.autoschedule.jobs.AutoschedulerJob.scheduledEventFired(AutoschedulerJob.java:66)
                at com.niku.njs.Dispatcher$BGTask.run(Dispatcher.java:393)
                at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
                at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
                at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
                at com.niku.cse.util.SECalendarUtil.diffWorkday(SECalendarUtil.java:32)
                at com.niku.cse.datamodel.SETask.initSEFloat(SETask.java:158)
                at com.niku.cse.SETaskHandler.initFloatForPriority(SETaskHandler.java:418)
                at com.niku.cse.SETaskHandler.initPrioritySort(SETaskHandler.java:173)
                at com.niku.cse.SETaskHandler.getPrioritySort(SETaskHandler.java:156)
                at com.niku.cse.SEAutoScheduler.forwardPass(SEAutoScheduler.java:296)
                at com.niku.cse.SEAutoScheduler.cpm(SEAutoScheduler.java:228)
                at com.niku.cse.SEAutoScheduler.autoschedule(SEAutoScheduler.java:145)
                at com.niku.projmgr.autoschedule.SEClarityAutoscheduler.autoschedule(SEClarityAutoscheduler.java:309)
                at com.niku.projmgr.autoschedule.SEClarityAutoscheduler.doAutoschedule(SEClarityAutoscheduler.java:783)
                ... 6 more
ERROR 2018-07-27 09:51:36,073 [Dispatch Autoschedule Project : [email protected] (tenant=clarity)] niku.njs (clarity:user_name:14590072__C5F102DF-94DE-4C00-95DA-D288B914397B:Autoschedule Project) Error executing job: 6169051
com.niku.union.utility.MessageKeyException: PRJ-SE04: Could not execute autoschedule job (6169051): Autoschedule throwable caught: null
                at com.niku.projmgr.autoschedule.jobs.AutoschedulerJob.scheduledEventFired(AutoschedulerJob.java:91)
                at com.niku.njs.Dispatcher$BGTask.run(Dispatcher.java:393)
                at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
                at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
                at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)

Environment

Release: CODFSS99000-15.4.1-PPM SAAS FedRAMP-Sandbox-Small Environment
Component:

Cause

This error points to a circular dependency that PPM should not have allowed to be created which causes the autoscheduling job to fail.

Resolution

To find the circular dependency, you need to delete dependencies one task at a time, autoscheduling after each removal, until autoscheduling completed successfully to narrow down which task had the issue.
Or you can run the query below to identify circular dependency:
--if this query fails, it means there is a circular reference.
select *
from
(
SELECT PRNAME, LEVEL lev, SYS_CONNECT_BY_PATH(PRNAME, '//') path
FROM (
select prtask.prid, prtask.prname, prdependency.PRPREDTASKID
from prtask
left join prdependency on prdependency.PRSUCCTASKID = prtask.prid
where prtask.prprojectid = 5359023
) results
START WITH prid is not null
CONNECT BY PRIOR prid = PRPREDTASKID
)
order by 2

--Run this query and look for connect_by_iscycle = 1 which will show you the circular references
select *
from
(
SELECT PRNAME, LEVEL lev, SYS_CONNECT_BY_PATH(PRNAME, '//') path, CONNECT_BY_ISCYCLE
FROM (
select prtask.prid, prtask.prname, prdependency.PRPREDTASKID
from prtask
left join prdependency on prdependency.PRSUCCTASKID = prtask.prid
where prtask.prprojectid = 5359023
) results
START WITH prid is not null
CONNECT BY NOCYCLE PRIOR prid = PRPREDTASKID
)
order by 2