Rx-Universe has the ability to interface to the SatisLoh Manufacturing Execution System (MES).  It can create and delete orders and update an order's job history on the MES via the Rx-Universe Job Tracker.  The information sent to the MES system is controlled by the lab via settings in the Job Station records.  When an order is entered into the Rx-Universe system, if the MES interface is active, the "Job Tracker" will create an entry into a trigger file.  The entries in the trigger file are then used when the "Job Tracker" attempts to communicate with the MES system.  Once a communication is established, and the order information transferred, the trigger entry for the order is removed from the trigger file.  The reason for this is so that even if the MES system is inaccessible, once a connection is re-established, the order information will still be sent.

The first time an order goese through an MES Job Station, the Rx-Universe system will create an "Order Creation" packet and a "Job Creation" packet for each valid eye and these will be sent to the MES system.  If an order has already been through an MES Job Station, then "Job Update" packets will be created and sent to the MES system.   If an order is deleted from the Rx-Universe system, then the "OD" job station will create "Order deletion" as well as "Job Deletion" packets that will be sent to the MES system.

Requirements

Rx-Universe version 6.45.00 or above with Job Tracker enabled.   

Activating

To activate the MES interface, the "MES Interface activated" box in the "Job Tracking" tab of the "System Settings" maintenance screen must by checked.  Communications between the LMS and the MES server is done via a TCP connection using VC communications.

The information sent to the MES server can be based on the order number or the order PO number depending on the "MES uses PO number when communicating" flag.

Set the "MES Server" field to the TCP path where the MES server resides. Set the port to the required TCP port for the Mes Server.

The MES logging feature allows you to view the steps being taken when the "Job Tracker" is processing the MES job station entries. It creates a text file called "MES-RXU.log" in the root folder of the Rx-Universe installation.  This log file will allow you to trouble shoot an MES installation to pinpoint any problems that may occur.  

The MES system also allows you to set the number of days that a record in the trigger file will be held, in case of errors, before being deleted from the file.  This is a safety measure that will keep the trigger file from being filled with records that due to some reason, cannot be sent to the MES system.   

Job Station settings

A tab has been added to the "Job Station" maintenance screen for the MES information.

The Rx-Universe system was designed to only send information packets to the MES system for Job Stations that have their "Job station updates MES" flag checked.  This ensures that a lab can determine which processes in the lab will update the MES system.

The type of information that will be sent to the MES server is determined by the setting of the "MES communication type" field.  You can select to Add, Modify or Delete an order to the MES systrem, or send a specific Job tracking station update to the machine, (ie, manual verification process). 

If the communication to the MES is for a Job Tracking update, you can specify  which eye the scan is for  and you can also send a specific MES station ID and description for the scan to the MES server.

You can also provide overerides for any VCA labels by adding them to the VCA Overrides table.  

Processing

The interfacing with the MES system is done automatically when a Job Station is processed by the Job Tracker program.   The Job tracker checks to see if the MES server is activated, and then checks to see if the Job Station being processed has it's "Job Station Updates MES" flag checked.  If the Job Station passes all the requirements, then a trigger record is created for the MES transfer.  The Job tracker processing loop during it's cycle, will check to see if there are any entries in the MES trigger file, if entries are found, then the communications with the MES system will be established and the Order/Job packets will be sent.  To ensure that the Job tracker is not tied up doing MES transfers, which can be slow on some systems,  a maximum of 10 trigger records at a time will be processed before control is returned to the regular Job Tracking processing.