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Introduction

This document explains the basic procedure to set up printing queues that you can use to capture work tickets for new orders as they enter the system. Instead of printing immediately, the tickets get held in a series of queues defined in the system and then released through a Queue Release program.

Procedure

Custom Configuration

From the Optifacts main menu:

Select Option 3 - Editor Utilities and press Enter.

Select Option 6 - Configuration Editor and press Enter.

Select Option 6 – Edit Custom Configuration and press Enter.

The Custom Configuration Editor displays.

• Press “Q” to Query to search if the tables you are looking for exist.

If the tables do not exist:

• Press “A” to add a new record.
• Enter all the information as shown in the following diagrams.
• Press Escape to save the data.
• Press “E” to exit.

The following custom configurations must be added/enabled.

You can set up one more configuration that allows the printed orders to follow a printer override based on the time of day.

Select Option 3 – Editor Utilities and press Enter.

Select Option 6 – Configuration Editor and press Enter.

Select Option 6 – Edit Custom Configuration and press Enter.

• Press “Q” to Query.
• Ensure that the table below exists.

If the table does not exist:

• Press “A” to add a new record.
• Enter all the information as per the example below.
  • Character Setting holds the Printer info. (In our example PC1)
  • Integer Setting holds the time of day in 24 hour time. (In our example, the time is 1:30 PM)
• Press Escape to save the data.

The example above will follow program name PC1 in the Printer Routing Editor:

Select Option 3 – Editor Utilities and press Enter.

Select Option 5 – Printer Routing Editor and press Enter.

This setting allows the production center to automatically shift from one printer (or printer tray) to another printer or printer tray after a given time of day to allow different colored paper based on time of day.

Setup Printer Queues

Associate the Group Name Sets with queue names and arrange the queues in a priority order that suits the production center.

From the Optifacts main menu:

• Select Option 3 – Editor Utilities and press Enter.
• Select Option 19 – Printer Queue Editor and press Enter.
• Press “A” to add a record.
• Enter the Priority and Queue Name.
  • The priority determines the order in which the queues get displayed on the screen. The highest priority numbers show on top, and the sequence proceeds in descending order.
  • The Queue Name is the title shown to your operators when they choose to release tickets from the queue. 

• Press Escape to save the data
• Press “D” (detail) to move the brackets to the lower section of the screen. The active table is now the rte_q_dtl table.

Below the dotted line, you can add as many entries as necessary to assign different conditions to allow the system to capture all relevant jobs that apply to the given queue name. You can fill any or all of the fields at the bottom on any record. You can also add as many records as necessary.

• Add entries such as the following example:
• Press Escape to save the data.

Field Definitions

Operator Name - This name is the login name of the operator.

This could be used for situations where several order entry operators share a single printer. For example, you could set up one queue for each operator with no other conditions set up. The system will hold jobs keyed by each operator to be released later as each operator is ready. Then the pages wouldn’t need to be sorted out among the operators. If an operator name is not set, their jobs will default to the “Other” category.

Input Port - Input Port is the same value you’d see as the default for the input port in the printer routing editor so that the input terminal can control it.

Group Name - Group Names Sets for the Route Reason and Control Editor.

The group name is often used to group jobs according to coating lines or production lines. For example, labs with several coating lines can separate orders to go into each coating line in a group. Likewise, labs can separate traditional from digital for surfacing, etc.

The group names are the same “group name sets” used in job routing and printer routing. You can learn more about the setup of these groups in the Group Controls & Job Routing Rules Setup document.

Job Data Name - Job definition name gets stored in the job_data table.

Any job data name or value can be used to assign queues too. Use of Job Data Name or value can save you the effort to set up a group name set in routing if the Job Data Name is enough to use to assign the queue. For example, if you’d like to route failed orders to a review station, you could use the name INVALID. Suppose you’d like to break it down further. In that case, you could assign the name “INVALID” and then use the specific invalid value such as “TRANSLATION FAILURE.” You could route translation failed orders for remote jobs to one queue but then assign the name “INVALID” and value such as “NO LENS PRICE. WILL NOT POST” to another queue. This way, one person in charge of translation failures can deal with those jobs while a pricing person can deal with the jobs where there”s no lens price found.

The logic for queue assignment works in the same manner as that for routing rules. The system will start at the highest priority for any given job and work down the priority list until it finds a condition that matches the job. Then, that job gets assigned to that queue. You can use this logic to your advantage to simplify your rules. For example, if you have two people in charge of “INVALID” orders, you can assign higher priority to the person who deals with the fewest rules. Perhaps the first person only deals with “TRANSLATION FAILURE” orders. So, you could set up the higher priority queue with the job data-name “INVALID” and value ”TRANSLATION FAILURE.” Then the lower priority queue need only have the job data name of INVALID with the value field empty to catch all the remaining invalid orders.

Once the queues have been set up and the configuration above enabled, then work tickets will stop printing when entered initially. Instead, they will get held in the appropriate queue. This is just one example. You can also use these queues to sort jobs by product line, material groupings, finished/semi-finished, and more.

Job Data Value - Job data value that gets stored in the job_data table.

Queue Release

Once you set up the queues, you can run jobs through the system. As the jobs get entered into the system, they will not print immediately.

 From the Optifacts main menu:

Select Option 3 – Editor Utilities and press Enter.

Select Option 10 – Verify Lenses Picked and press Enter.

• In the tray number prompt, press “Q,” as described in the line on the screen below, and press Enter to launch the Queue Release Program.

• You'll be presented with the defined Queue Names and counts of jobs in each queue at that moment.

• Use the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard to move the brackets <> up or down to the queue you’d like to select.
• Press “S” to select that queue, and you will get asked how many you’d like to print.

“How many would you like to print of the 99 orders? (A for all):”

• Enter a number from 1 to the total in the queue. Or, press “A” to release all the orders in the selected queue.

The orders get printed in the sequence entered, and the printer routing will follow printer routing for PCK that’s in place for the input station where the operator is running the queue release program. The printer routing will not follow the printer routing rules of the original order entry operator, and it will not respect printer rules that are part of the job routing system.

Once a queue or part of that queue is released, the operator gets returned to the queue release screen. The screen refreshes to show the number of orders in the queues.

• To exit the queue release program, touch escape, and you’ll return to the verify screen.

Group Names and Routing Rules (optional)

As mentioned above, you can use group names and routing conditions in Queue Printing.

Set up several group names that use conditions to group orders into queues. This process takes some planning. First, you’ll need to decide what conditions are necessary to group orders into individual queues.

From the Optifacts main menu:

Select Option 3 – Editor Utilities and press Enter.

Select Option 11 – Job Routing Menu and press Enter.

Select Option 14- Group Control Menu and press Enter.

• Use the (3-11-14) Group Control Menu (above) along with the (3-11-8) Route Reason and Control Editor menu (below) to set up these group name sets and rules. (Refer to the Job Routing Documentation for further instructions on setting up group names and controls.)

There’s no special naming convention necessary for the group name sets.   These will be used in another editor later to assign to individual queues.

We added a special provision to the queuing system to queue orders that would have otherwise been routed to an external production center such as CHLOE or AMATA.

From the Optifacts main menu:

Select Option 3 – Editor Utilities and press Enter.

Select Option 11 – Job Routing Menu and press Enter.

Select Option 8 – Route Reason and Control Editor and press Enter.

Below are examples of a mix of group name sets for queuing among some routing rules.   We show only a few fields of the 3-11-8 Routing Reason and Control Editor so you can concentrate more on the priority and the Group Name Set: 

Group Name Set for Don't Queue (optional)           

Our example below will allow Sonic jobs that have the lite-up num 28 and bit 10 turned on to bypass the queuing system and print automatically. You can set this up for any group of accounts or products as you wish.

From the Optifacts main menu:

Select Option 3 – Editor Utilities and press Enter.

Select Option 11 – Job Routing Menu and press Enter.

Select Option 8 – Route Reason and Control Editor and press Enter.

• Press “A” to add a record.
  • The group name set must say DON’T QUEUE.
  • The priority number must be higher than other group names used to manage printing queues.

In the example below, the num and bit of the lite-up for SONIC are used to trigger the group name set, but you can also use the group control menu to set up group triggers if preferred.

If you use the “DONT QUEUE” rule and type “S,” you essentially block routing and print the orders for internal production.

Suppose you would like to “free” some of these orders to route instead of printing for local production, type “F” for free. This prompts for the number to be “free.”But, again, it will route the oldest orders first.

Of course, we recommend that you align the queues with the routing rules, so an operator can be sure that they are freeing orders to a given site, but it’s not a system requirement. 

You may prefer to group all “route-able” orders into one queue regardless of where they might go.   Then as you free the orders, some might go to one site and others to a different site, and still others to a third site.

Beyond the release of orders from the queues, there’s no maintenance to the system.  Changing group name sets will not affect the orders in the queues.   But if you change the assignments in the Printer Queue List Editor, that will immediately affect the display of orders in the queue list the next time you choose Q in the Verify Lenses Picked.

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