Scripting and the Process Menu

Scripting

The planning process typically follows a particular pattern: orders and sites must be downloaded from a host system, data checks must be made, certain customers must be prioritised and so on.

To faciliate this and to reduce the amount of repetitive action that the planner must carry out, the Optrak system has a built-in scripting language, that allows any sequence of data manipulation actions or optimisation to run from a script (similar to macros in a spreadsheet, for example).

The scripts, in turn, can be set up as menu items, so that the end user will run scripts as part of the "system" without realising the distinction between script actions and other menu options.

The creation of scripts and menu items are set up as part of the implementation process when a new system is commissioned.

Process Menu

A generic process menu for standard step by step actions.

Optrak is a sophisticated system with many options and ways of changing and viewing data. To simplify the daily job of the planner, as part of the implementation we create a "Process" menu.

This takes the user, one step-at-a-time, through the actions from import of data from the company's ERP system via data checks and optimisation, to printing and export of the results. This is particularly useful for holiday or relief staff - who, although trained, may only use the system occasionally. By following the major steps on the process menu as documented in the Process Documentation, they are able to work through the session and produce properly optimised results with a minimum of effort.