Export Management
This page is only available to users with Administrator rights, and allows for the generation of Violation exports - either in the Standard (default) VMS Format or third part formats such as StarTraq or Cubic. The export format is a property of the 'Region' to which the site has been assigned. Put another way: each 'Region' is allocated a specific 'Exporter', so assigning a site to a region has the effect of defining the export format that will apply to the violations associated with that site. The following actions are available:
Refresh: This will update the display to reflect the availability of violations that are in a state suitable for export.
Download: This button allows for the download of the selected export batch to the machine from which the user is connected. Depending on the structure of the export it may consist of a single file or an entire folder containing many files. Folders will be zipped upon download. In both cases the name of the download will always take the form Batch<BatchID> (e.g. 'Batch23') where <BatchID> represents the unique batch ID.
Finalization: Depending on how your VMS installation has been configured, batches may be generated automatically at pre-defined scheduled times, but may additionally be force by the Administrator on an ad hoc basis. Finalization causes a set of 'export' files and folders to be generated in preparation for copying to memory stick or predefined NAS or local disk. Note that using 'scheduled' exports is the preferred VMS configuration.
Copying: This action will copy the selected batch to a pre-specified location (e.g. memory stick, local/remote disk folder). This is only possible if the destination folder/device is accessible.
Initially, and depending on how the VMS instance has been configured, the display will look something like one of the following ...
This is the preferred configuration.
Note that depending on how the system was configured, the available controls could also include a variation of the following:
In this instance the user may define their own batch name (e.g. 'Batch9') prior to performing a manual export described below. The difficulty imposed by this option is that it's incompatible with Scheduled exports.
In this instance the Administrator has the option to copy the selected export to a specific predefined system location. See Copy Batch for details.
Headings
Most of the table headings are self-explanatory:
Batch: Unique VMS-assigned ID.
Name: Name of the batch. This is usually automatically assigned by the VMS system, but may also be overridden by the Administrator for manual exports provided that the VMS has been configured to allow such overrides. Note that the VMS allows for this name to be assigned based on a simple pre-configured pattern. The following are some examples based on batch ID 25:
00025
MET-00025
00025-HLA
Region: Exports are always generated separately by region. This applies even if the user performs a manual export for <All> regions.
Site: This denotes the site to which the export applies. Some target systems (such as Cubic and the 'Standard' export), allow an export may contain multiple sites, in which case this value will be represented by <All>. Otherwise, the applicable site code will be displayed here.
Target: This is the name of the system for which the export will be generated. Note that the export structure for the various targets will be different.
Type: Denotes the type of recording equipment, such as LC4 (LaserCam4), LW (LaserWitness), Truvelo DCam, etc.
Count: Represents the number of individual violations (citations) that this export contains.
Folder: This is the folder location within the VMS system at which the export was output. Note that most exports contain multiple files, in which case this will be a folder name, but in some cases, it may be a single file.
Username: This may be the VMS username of the Administrator responsible for issuing a manual export request, or it may just contain <Scheduler> to denote the fact that the export was automatically done at a scheduled time.
Created: The date and time at which the export request was issued.
Closed: The date and time at which the export was completed.
Last Copied: The date and time at which the last Download (or export copy) was issued, and only applies in the rare condition when export copies are enabled. See below.
Scheduled Batch Exports
Ideally, exports should be scheduled to occur automatically at one or more preset times throughout the day (usually at 02:30 AM each morning). Note that even if a system has been configured to perform scheduled exports it is still possible to force 'Manual' exports at any time.
Manual Batch Finalization
After pressing the Refresh button, the display will either remain unchanged or update to reflect the availability of exportable violations.
In this instance the Batch Name control has been suppressed (hidden), and the user has selected violations for the 'Bedfordshire' region and Site 'KH1'.
Be careful with temporary sites denoted by the 'X.' prefix. Usually such sites are not exported, however the VMS system can be configured to allow it.
To force a manually initiated export at any time, press the Finalize button, and select (or not) the applicable Region and/or Site. By default, all Adjudicated (and Supervisor-confirmed) violations for all region and site violations will be exported. Depending on how many offences are actually being exported, this may take anywhere between a few seconds and a minute. A Finalized message will be displayed once the export is complete.
Pressing the Refresh button again will produce a display something like the following ...
Note that this panel attempts to automatically refresh upon completion of a manual export, but if no change is detected after 10 seconds, then you may have to manually refresh with the Refresh Button.
Copying a batch
Again, depending on how the system was configured, one of the following displays is possible.
... or ...
It is not usually necessary for the user to use the 'copy button', and is normally only required if the batch must be copied to a predefined location such as a memory stick or shared NAS folder. Select the required batch from the list and press the displayed Copy button. Note that his button is only available if the ExporterFolder parameter has been correctly defined in the vms.locale database table. Speak to your technical support team for more details or run the 'System - Locate Details' report from the Reporter page.
Destination Folder
For security reasons, the destination 'copy' folder is pre-configured for each installation. To see the configured export folder, run the System - Locale Details report on the Reporter page.
Note
The value of the ExportFolder parameter denotes the configured export copy folder. This is generally not the folder to which generated exports are usually written by the Exporter(s) - those folders are defined on a per exporter basis.
The export folder is expected to have privileges that allow directory/file read/write access. So if the destination folder (or memory stick) is not accessible, then the Copy button will be inactive.
Once the batch has been successfully copied, the display should look something like the following ...
Note that the same batch may be copied multiple times, and original batch will remain unchanged.
Restrictions
It is important to appreciate that the VMS will not export violations that are associated with site codes that begin with the Reserved Prefix 'X.'. Consequently, such violations will not even be listed when the Refresh button is clicked. This is a safety precaution that ensures that violations have been properly allocated to valid Site Codes before export. Note for instance that StarTraq is not able to process violations that have sites codes that have not already been pre-configured on their systems.