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Introduction

This document provides instructions for setting up Blank Selections using the Supplier List Editor or the Supplier List Wizard.

Procedure

Setting up Blank Selection Priorities

The Supplier List controls the order of priority of the manufacturers and diameters of the various lenses you want to have available for Blank Selection.

The supplier priority list contains all the various lens styles and the manufacturers you want available for lens picking. As we’ve stated before, the software is very configurable, and in being so, can sometimes seem tedious to set up and or maintain. We walk you through the steps needed to enter lenses in the supplier priority list, check for errors, and correct those errors if they exist. It is essential to read this chapter in its entirety first, and then come back to the beginning and try some hands-on entering of information.

The Supplier List Editor is an Informix database form that allows you to add, edit, and delete items from your supplier priority pick list for Blank Selection. You enter and edit the information with a Perform screen. You can specify more than one base curve, color, or supplier within one entry, but you may wish to start with single base curves and colors in each entry until you are familiar with this program.

You can select the Informix form commands in one of two ways. Either use the arrow keys to highlight your choice and then press the Enter key or press the first letter of your choice. For example: Press the letter Q to perform a query.

• Once you have chosen Add or Update, your cursor moves into the form, and you can use the arrow or Enter keys to move from field to field. Fields that require information are enclosed within brackets [].
• Press the Escape key to save your changes and add or update the displayed record to the database.
• When you are at the Perform menu, you can press the ’?’ key for on-line help.
• You can clear a field by pressing Ctrl-D. All text within the field and to the right of the cursor gets erased.
• If you want to abort or ignore any changes you are currently making to the record, press ctrl-c.
• Take a look at the top and bottom status lines. You see tips on what keys to press, or what the expectation is for the current field.

Refer to the Perform Menu - Maintenance Screens documentation for instructions on navigating the Informix perform screens.

Adding Entries to the Supplier List

When first adding lenses to the Supplier List, it is easiest to group your lenses by base curves. Even though the Supplier List Editor can support up to eight different base curves per page, entering one base curve per page makes it easier to find these entries later if you need to make corrections or alterations.

Supplier List Entry using the Editor

From the Optifacts main menu:

Select Option 8 - Blank Selection and press Enter

Select Option 2 - Supplier List Editor and press Enter.

The Supplier List Editor screen is displayed.

• Type ‘A’ to add a record or ‘U’ to update an existing record.

Your cursor moves the Style field, and the bottom row of the screen gives you an idea of what text you can enter in this field. The bottom row shows you your choices as your cursor moves from field to field. As you press Enter or the arrow keys to move from field to field, notice that the cursor only stops at the fields that require input. The following diagram shows a single vision lens added. Notice the bottom row of this screen is showing the possible choices for lens style. In this example, the cursor skips over the Cylinder range or Add Range fields because these fields do not apply to a semi-finished single vision lens.

As you put your cursor on each field, help prompts appear at the bottom of the screen. In the following example, the cursor is on at the Style field. At the bottom of the screen are the available style codes than may be entered here.

Style – Enter the Style Code. 

When prompted for the style, enter the lens style as you would in Order Entry, but do not enter a 'U' or ’I’ flag for Uncut or Industrial thickness work. Blank Selection does not require these lens-style modifiers. The bottom-most line of the screen shows you your options. Enter 'SV’ for single vision, or ’SVST’ for single vision stock. Use ’D' for flat top bifocals, ’R’ for round segment lenses, ’P' for progressives, or any of the other codes shown at the bottom of the screen.

Lens Type - Enter the Lens Type Code.

Full Fields, Slab Offs and Progressives - Be sure to enter the correct lens type code when adding information for progressives or aspheric/full field lenses. The lens type is usually ’NA’ for Not Applicable when entering non-progressives or non-aspheric lenses. If you wish to blank select manufactured or pre-made slab-off lenses, you should enter the lens type as SLB and make sure you also use the lens type code SLB in the lens database for the pre-made slab-off lens.

If you wish to blank select finished aspheric product, you need to add both the prefix of ’FF’ and the suffix of ’ST’ to your lens style.

Record Number - The system automatically assigns the record number.

Material - Enter the material code for the lens you are entering.

Again, this should be the same material code used when entering the Rx in the order entry.

Seg Sizes – Enter the seg size.

If the lens is multifocal with a segment size, enter up to five segment sizes. For starters, please enter a single segment size; this makes any errors easier to track down.

Regular and Extra Thickness – Enter the thickness value.

• ‘1’ = Yes
• ‘0’ = No

The regular thickness and extra thickness fields are directly related to the extra thick field in the lens database. If you are entering a lens supplied in a manufactured extra thick blank, then place a one ‘1’, which means ’True,’ in the extra thickness field. ‘0’ is used on regular thickness lenses.

Sphere Range/Nominal Bases - Enter the Sphere range or Nominal Base Curve range.

• Nominal Base range: -15.00 to 30.00
• Sphere Power Range: -35.00 to 35.00

The Supplier Priority Editor contains a section labeled Sphere Range/Nominal Bases. Do not let this confuse you; the fields here are for the sphere range of finished lenses or the nominal base range of semi-finished products. There are eight sections, two above and six below.

When working with a finished product, only the top two fields are available. You need to enter the sphere range, from smallest to largest. The database treats these as raw numbers, so a -3.50 sphere is smaller than a -1.00 sphere. The simplest way to remember this is to use a number line when entering your sphere ranges. Remember this, because you need this information later for the cylinder range as well.

When entering a semi-finished product, all eight fields of the sphere range/nominal base are available. The fields are now going to be used to enter the nominal base curve for the current record. This is typically 2.0, 4.0, 6.0, etc. Some of the aspheric lenses and possibly other lens styles are now dividing nominal bases in two. You may have a 4.0 and a 4.50 nominal base curve, be sure you enter the correct information from your lens database. The supplier differences report explained later help weed out differences between your Supplier Priority List and your lens database. We strongly suggest you enter a single nominal base curve per page until you become familiar with the Supplier List Editor and Blank Selection. Doing so helps in debugging any potential problems with overlapping entries.

Cylinder Range – Enter the Cylinder range.

• Cyl Power Range: -35.00 to 0.00

When working with a finished product, the cursor stops on the fields for cylinder range. Remember that you need to enter these fields from the highest minus to 0.00. Use the number line to help if needed. For example: For a cylinder from a -0.25 out to a -3.00, enter a -3.00 in the first field and enter a -0.25 in the second. The cylinder range fields are not accessible unless you are working with finished products.

Colors – Enter the Color code.

There are twelve fields available for various lens colors. You can enter specific lens colors, the same colors as entered in Order Entry, or enter ’DFLT’ in the first field to specify all possible lens colors. As stated before, we recommend entering a single lens color per page until you become familiar with the Supplier List Editor and Blank Selection. Doing so helps in debugging any potential problems with overlapping entries. If you have entered ’DFLT’ as the first color, you do not need to enter any other colors.

Add Ranges – Enter the applicable Add ranges.

• Upper Add Range - Enter the upper add range.
• Add Power Range: 0.25 to 20.0
• Lower Add Range - Enter the lower add range.
• Add Power Range: 0.25 to 20.0

The four fields in the add ranges split into two sections, the upper add power range, and the lower add power range. The only time you need to enter information in the upper add power range is for Quadrifocal and other Occupational styles that have both an upper and lower reading segment. Enter the range of add power, from lowest to highest in the fields. If the lens is available with an add power range of 0.75-3.50, enter 0.75 in the leftmost field and 3.50 in the rightmost field.

Supplier List #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 – Enter the applicable combinations of Mfr and Diameter. You can group up to 5 combinations of manufacturer codes and diameters.

• Enter the Mfr code.
• Enter the Diameter.
• Continue to enter more manufacturers and diameters as applicable.
• Press Escape to save the data.

The last entry for the Supplier Priority Editor is the Supplier List. This list consists of five field groupings of manufacturer and diameter, for a total of ten fields. Enter the manufacturer code in the leftmost field of the group and the diameter in the rightmost field. The Supplier List sets up a priority, with group one having the most priority and group five having the least priority.

When Optifacts attempt to blank select a lens, the software attempts to find a lens that matches the style, color, material, segment size, add power, and type. The base curve of the lens attempted is determined based on the entries located in the Base Curve Table Editor, which we explain in more detail in the next chapter. Once the system finds a match, the software uses the lens in the #1 supplier slot and calculates the job, checking for cutout and thickness problems. If there are problems, the first lens gets rejected, and the software re-calculates the Rx with the manufacturer and diameter in slot #2. This process continues until all priorities get checked. It stops as soon as it finds a manufacture and diameter combination that works. If all the entries do not work, or Blank Selection cannot find a match, you get one of the error messages listed at the end of this manual. Solutions get provided with the Error List.

Examples: 

The following examples show a few ways that a lab may choose to set up their Blank Selections. All lenses may be setup singly by specific base curves, range, colors, manufacturers, and diameters or combined, as shown in the following examples. Notice that some of the examples show multiple lens colors for one lens entry. You may want to break this entry into two separate entry screens, one for each color, to make searching for this lens even simpler.

Progressives are typically set up with only 1 manufacturer since they are type code specific and made by a specific manufacturer. They can be set up with multiple bases and colors, as shown in this example:

SV semi-finished with 1 base, 1 color, 1 manufacturer, and diameter:

SV semi-finished with multiple base curves and colors with 1 manufacturer and diameter:

SV semi-finished with multiple bases and colors, as well as 2 manufacturers and diameters:

D28 semi-finished multifocal with multiple base curves and colors, as well as 1 manufacturer and 2 diameters:

Expanding and Checking for Duplicates

After you have made entries to the Supplier List, you must expand this list and let Optifacts check the list for any overlapping or duplicate entries. Any overlapping or duplicate entries need to be corrected before you can use the Supplier List for Blank Selection. You can have the duplicate report printed or displayed on the screen. If you choose to have the report displayed on the screen, duplicate checking suspends when a duplicate entry is displayed. Press any key to resume checking. When printing duplicates, all the duplicates are printed without delay. If there are no duplicate entries, the screen returns to the Blank Selection menu immediately after the duplicate checking completes,

Supplier List Expansion 

Once blank selections has been updated, you must run the expansion and activation.

From the Blank Selection Menu:

Select option 4 - Supplier List Expansion and press Enter.

• Press 'Y' to proceed with the expansion. (Recommended)

The Supplier List expansion begins and checks for duplicates.

If there are no duplicate entries, the screen returns to the Blank Selection menu immediately after the duplicate checking completes.

Finding and Eliminating Duplicate Entries

If the software informs you of any duplicates, you must correct these before going any further. You need to go back to the Priority List Editor and search for entries that match the criteria output of the duplicate checking report. Once any overlapping or duplicate entries are corrected, you must rerun the expansion routine.

For the duplicate warning which prints to the screen shown in the diagram above, go back to the Supplier List Editor and place a general query, as shown in the diagram below. If you have any entries with more than one base curve or color, this general query finds them, and possibly some entries we do not need to see. It is merely part of the correction process, and we need to use the process of elimination to find the errant entry.

The resulting search of the lens style, color, and material will bring up all matching entries, and we will need to move through the list using the next and previous menu options. The search shown below found 14 rows that matched our query.

Press the 'N' key to move through the results to find the 6 Base on the error screen. If you compare the data shown in Image 1.0 with the error screen, you see the remaining information matches. The base curve, color, and thickness fields are a good match.

Image 1.0

The next Image 1.1 shown below does not match the base curve, even though some of the other fields contain matching entries. It also has multiple entries for the color.  If we had expanded our query to search for color, we would have to search for the specific color within the specific color field to find a match. If we searched for the color ’AR ' and placed the query in the first color field, it would not find it because the color ’AR' is within the second field. That is one reason we suggest beginning with single entries for your Supplier List. It just makes it easier to find mistakes while you are learning the program.

Image 1.1

Now in the next Image 1.2 shown below, we see it contains multiple entries for both base curve and color. It looks like it overlaps with the data in Image 1.0 above. If you examine both images, you see that they both contain a 6-base curve, AR color, and even the same supplier.  You have found the duplicate! The solution, in this case, would be simple. Delete the entry shown in image 1.0.

Image 1.2

After completing the correction, you need to expand and check for duplicate entries again. Only after a clean expansion with no duplicates will you be allowed to activate the Supplier List. Any changes made to the Supplier List after an expansion completes won’t be active until you re-expand and re-activate the Supplier List.

The possibility of duplicates is the main reason we have suggested only placing one base curve, color, and segment size per entry. Finding duplicates is much easier when there is only one entry in multiple fields.

Supplier List Activation

The next required step after a clean expansion is activating the Supplier List you have created. Up until this point, you have created a working copy of the Supplier List and checked it for duplicate entries. To begin the activation process, have all Order Entry operators stop inputting work. Choose ‘Supplier List Activation’ from the Blank Selection menu to make the Supplier List available to the Order Entry program. Once the activation has completed, Order Entry operations may resume. Any changes made to the supplier priority list after this point won’t take effect until you have run the expansion and activation routines once again.

From the Blank Selection Menu:

Select Option 7 - Supplier List Activation and press Enter.

• Press 'Y' for Yes to Activate the Supplier List (Recommended).

When the activation procedure is complete, the system returns you to the menus.

Priority List Entry Tips

• Begin with single items in your list. One base curve, one color per entry.
• Start with one style. After all of the entries are made for the style in all materials, expand and activate this list. The Order Entry program knows that it can blank select this style, but not other styles, and does so. The system prompts you to enter the lens information for lens styles, not in your Supplier List.
• Avoid overlapping entries and duplicates by expanding frequently, or after every few entries. Doing so makes it easier to track down problems if they exist. The problems lie within the last entries you made to the Supplier List
• Use the 'Enter’ key to move between fields instead of the arrow keys when adding entries to the list. The ’Enter' key verifies your entry, while the arrow key only moves the cursor.
• When you have multiple entries for a field, and you want to delete some of the extra entries, you must delete the last entry first. If you delete item three in a list of five, you can't access items four and five until you again add item three. I.e., you have five colors listed for a lens, but only want to have three. You need to delete color five, and then delete color four. If you delete color four first, color five is orphaned and causes problems.

Blank Selection Wizard

You have the option of using the Blank Selection Wizard when you are starting up your lab. If you already have some entries in Blank Selection, it may be a better idea to keep using the Editor as using the wizard with existing entries may cause some issues.

From the Optifacts Main Menu:

Select Option 8 -Blank Selection and press Enter.

Select Option 11 - Supplier List Wizard and press Enter.

Once in the Supplier List Wizard menu, you need to enter the correct data into the appropriate fields as prompted.

• Enter ‘R’ for regular thickness or ‘E’ for extra thick.
• Enter the lens style code.

A help screen window displays showing your options. Depending on the lens-style you entered, the rest of the required field prompts are different based on the style that was specified.

If you enter a style that requires a seg size, upper add, or other data specific to a lens style, the system displays it on the screen for data entry. If the style does not require that data, the fields won’t be available for data entry.

In the following example, we have entered P for progressive, so the next prompt is for the material code.

In the following examples, we used a flat top 28.

• Enter the seg size if applicable.
• Enter the material code.

For material listings to appear, leave the field blank and press Enter. You can then select a material code by typing the row number next to the code.

• Enter the manufacturer code.  You may enter up to 5 manufacturers.

• Alternatively, you may press enter to view the manufacturer listing.
• Make your selection and press Enter to accept.
• If you need to make another selection, press Enter to view the listing.

• Once all of your selections are made, press Escape to move to the next prompt.
• Enter the color or press Enter to view the available colors for the specified lens.

• Make your selection and press Enter to accept.
• If you need to make another selection, press Enter to view the listing.
• Once all of your selections are made, press Escape to move to the next prompt.

The base curve field defaults to -99.99

• Press enter to view the nominal base listing. You may see that some of the base curves have already been setup.
• Make your selection and press Enter to accept.

• Enter the beginning lower add: (inclusive). The default is the lowest add that is available for the specified product.
• Enter the ending lower add: (inclusive). The default is the highest add that is available for the specified product.
• Enter the manufacturer or press Enter to view the availability listing.

The available manufacturers and diameters list displays on the screen.

• Make your selection and press Enter.

Suppose you have more than one entry that you need to add to Blank Selection (example: S70, S76, SO80), press Enter, and the listing window re-appears. You can again select from the menu. Up to 5 manufacture/diameter combinations can be selected. Once done, press Escape to save.

• Once all of your selections are made, press Escape to move to the next prompt.
• Save these entries? (Y/N)
  • Type Y to accept.
  • Type N to return to the form.

The entries get saved in the database.

• Press Enter to return to the base curve field.

The new entries save, and the cursor returns to the ‘Base Curve’ entries field where another base curve can be selected.

• If you would like to bring up the listing window again, type any value in the base curve field (like a BC of 4.00). The list displays so that you can choose another base curve. Repeat the process as needed.

Once you have completed entering all of the base curves and saved them:

• Press Escape to return to the top of the menu. The cursor then appears on the top. You can enter another product or press Escape again to exit the program.

Supplier List Expansion

At this point, the system displays a prompt to begin the Supplier List Expansion.

• Press ‘Y’ to proceed with the expansion. (Recommended)

The Supplier List expansion begins and will checks for duplicates.

If there are no duplicate entries, the screen returns to the Blank Selection menu immediately after the duplicate checking completes.

Supplier List Activation

Once the Supplier List has expanded, the system then prompts you to activate the Supplier List.

• Press ‘Y’ for Yes to Activate the Supplier List (Recommended).

When the activation procedure is complete, the system takes you out of the Supplier List Wizard menu and back into the regular Optifacts menus.

Blank Selection Reporting

All Blank Selection reports are available through menu option 8 - Blank Selection

Reports are available for all areas of Blank Selection. Some of these reports do the job of maintaining Blank Selection much more manageable and help you track down errors in your Supplier List.

Many times, a report seems like much paperwork. A report is a handy way to organize data into a readable form that can assist you with some tasks. The reporting features of Blank Selection are no exception, and the reports contained herein help you to correct errors with the supplier priority list, tighten up your base curve selection, as well as give you handy hard copies of the information in the Supplier List and the base curve table.

Supplier List Entry Report

Optifacts menu option 8-3

When you choose to run the Supplier List entry report, you have the option of printing an extended version or a condensed version. The comprehensive report appears identical to the entry screen you use for the Supplier List Editor. The condensed version prints the exact information, but arranges it differently to fit each entry onto just ten lines of print, as opposed to the eighteen lines for the lengthy report. Both reports allow the option of reporting on specific materials and lens styles. The ‘condensed’ report does use less space but may be more challenging to interpret or relate to the screens.

Supplier List Differences Report

Optifacts menu option 8-5

The Supplier List differences report cannot run until the Supplier List Expansion is complete. This report prints a listing of lenses from the Supplier List, but are not in the lens database.

You may activate an expanded Supplier List that contains differences from the lens database; however, errors occur when running the Order Entry program. Every time Blank Selection selects a lens that does not exist in the lens database, you get an error message and need to recall or re-enter the Rx.

As with most reports, you have the option of printing the Supplier List differences to the screen or a printer. The format of the report differs slightly with each version. The screen output vertically lists each lens, prompting you to press a key to continue when the screen is full. The printer report lists each lens horizontally until the report has finished. There are no options for specifying materials or styles on this report — all differences print.

If you find differences, you may add the corresponding lenses to your lens database or make the corrections to the Supplier List. If you make changes to the Supplier List, you must re-expand the Supplier List before activating it. Re-expansion is not necessary if you only make changes to the lens database.

Supplier List Expansion Report

The expanded report prints out the Supplier List after the expansion routine is complete. This report may appear similar to the Supplier List report mentioned earlier, but the expanded report lists the information as it appears after the expansion process.

The report may print to the screen or a printer, and the format of each report does differ slightly. The screen output lists lenses vertically, and the printed report lists the lenses horizontally. Each lens is individual by the material, style, segment size, and base curve. Each lens can list up to five suppliers for the item.

Blank Selection Error Messages

Click here to view Section 4 Base Curve Ranges.

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