The Batch Processing Entry is where you setup which programs you would like to automatically process.

You may have any number of Batch Processes. Each Batch Process is identified by a Batch Process Entry Number and Description.

Enter Start Date to process this entry. If there is an entry here the process will not run until this date or later.

Note: Start date is optional, and is useful to schedule a job to start in the future, regardless of whether the job will be daily, weekly, or monthly.

Enter the Time of Day to start the processing of this entry. If this field is left blank, the process will start immediately after 12 midnight.

A specific Date may be entered to run the process. The process will only run once on the date entered.

You may specify a specific Day of the Month for the process to execute. If the day of the month does not exist in the month, the last day of the month will be used. Enter 31 for the end of the month.

If a Specific Date is entered, then the Day of the Month option will be ignored.

You may enter a specific Day of the Week to process this entry. Valid entries are: MON, TUE, WED, THU, FRI, SAT, or SUN.

If a Specific Date or Day of the Month is entered, then the Day of the Week option will be ignored.

You may set a specific Number of Days between Processing. For example:  if you want to process every 3 days, then enter a 3 in this field.

If a Specific Date, Day of the Month, or Day of the Week is entered, then the Days Between Processing option will be ignored.

You may exclude one or more days of the week from processing. This option is only used in conjunction with the Days Between Processing option. Valid entries are MON, TUE, WED, THU, FRI, SAT, or SUN. You may have multiples days excluded. Enter the days of the week separated by a space between each day entered.

You may print the Vendor Memos based on follow-up date. The program will prompt: “Enter Date to print or press <ENTER> for Today’s Date.” This will automatically print Vendor Memos on a daily basis, if setup in Batch Processing. In TCL, use the command:  PRINT.VENDOR.MENU.

You must enter the program name to process. If the program is run from TCL, precede the name with a period <.>. Example:  To print the AR Aging report for customers who are 60 days past due, type AR.AGING.RPT.

To find out the name of the program, please contact Perfection Software Support Department for instructions.

A specific Date, Day of Month, Day of Week or Days between Processing must be entered or the process will not execute. If the process was stopped and did not finish, it will not execute again on the same day. The batch process entry will never start until the following day. The batch processing system will only execute once per day.

Note: When entering the Day of Month, an additional prompt will appear to request the number of months. This feature will allow for any number of months, and is ideal for setting up bi-monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual processes.

The Next Run Date is to help users verify that a batch process is setup correctly. On batch processes that have not yet been executed, the Date/Time/Who Last Proc will not be displayed.  

The Next Run Date will be utilized to determine when jobs should run. New jobs created to run later on the same day of creation will now execute properly. If a job is setup with a Start Date, the date used to calculate the Next Run Date is dependant on the Date Last Processed - the later of the two dates is used in the calculation. Users should keep this in mind when editing the Start Date. When changes are made to any pertinent scheduling field, the Next Run Date is updated to reflect the change.

The Batch Process Listing will include the Start Date and Next Run Date. The report will be sorted by Next Run Date and Time to better show the jobs in the order in which they will be processed.

The Input field is where you enter the commands used for this program to start. Each input must be on its own line. You need to press the <ENTER> key after each input. The Input must be entered in the exact order, as it would be prompted for in the program.

Special Keystroke Instructions

The ^ is created by holding the Shift key and the number 6 at the same time. (You must use the number 6 above the letter keys, not the number keypad.)

Enter ^M for the <Enter> key.

Enter ^D to insert the Current Date.

You may add or subtract a number of days for the date the batch is generated. Example:  Enter <^D-1> to subtract one day for posting Invoices. This is useful if you run the program the following morning at 1:00 a.m. and you want to post the day before.

Enter ^FOM to insert the First Of Month date.

Enter ^EOM to insert the End Of Month date.

Enter ^P to insert the Current Period based on the Current Date.

Use a + or - number to add or subtract the number of months or periods from the current month or period.

Enter ^C for a Ctrl-C.

^C can be useful for running processes or reports that require a field to be cleared to run a certain

way (for example, a Location prompt that defaults to the port location).

For example, if the current date is 03/23/2007 and you enter ^FOM then the resulting first of month would be 03/01/2007. If ^FOM-1 is entered then the result would be 02/01/2007. If ^EOM-1 is entered then the result would be 02/28/2007 (or 02/29 in a leap year). ^P would result in 07/03.

Example:  To print the Summary Aging Report for those customers who have a balance of 60-days and older. Program name:  AR.AGING.RPT. This will bring you to the AR Aging Reports. To actually print this report you must do the following:  5 <ENTER> <ENTER> <ENTER> <ENTER> <ENTER> <ENTER> S <ENTER> <ENTER> <ENTER> <ENTER> <ENTER>. You would type it like this:

       5

       ^M

       ^M

       ^M

       ^M

       ^M

       ^M

       S

       ^M

       ^M

       ^M

       ^M

       ^M

You may enter a specific Phantom Port to run this program on or leave this field blank to run on the next available Phantom Port.

You may display the History of the Batch Process. The History will show the dates and times the batch was processed.

You should always test the Batch Process entry before continuing. To test, just enter a <T> and press <ENTER>. This will Save the Batch Process Entry and go through the Input you have entered.