AFO 253 – Process final print file
253.1 Introduction
The printing process consists of three parts, i.e.: generate temporary print file, check temporary print file plus move temporary print file to final print file and the processing of the final print file.
AFO 253 controls the last step of this printing process i.e. the actual printing, which follows a standard procedure that can however be influenced by you.
You can define various options for the layout of the various types of printouts. See the description of AFO 271 (‘Print parameters control') for an explanation. In AFO 271 you also determine the numbers that must be printed, which is important when you want to print order forms (as opposed to order lists). In AFO 271 you specify by type of printout and by addressee how many forms you wish to print (e.g. three for the supplier and one for internal use).
Processing the final print file means the following:
· When printing regular order forms, rush order forms and express order forms:
- The relevant orders are unblocked (i.e. the entry status ‘G' is removed and the technical status is adjusted).
- The entry status of the relevant orders is set to ‘V' (sent).
- In case the entry date and send date of the relevant orders do not match, the dates of the entry status, first reminder, second reminder and cancellation will be adjusted by the difference (in number of days) between both dates.
· When printing other types of printouts:
- The relevant orders are unblocked (i.e. the entry status ‘G' is removed and the technical status is adjusted).
- If necessary the statuses are adjusted (e.g. the status of the first reminder is set to ‘T'- total-, when a first reminder for all items of an order is printed).
· When printing notifications for suppliers or internal notifications the codes ‘(O)' and‘(N)' are replaced by ‘(OV)' and ‘(NV)' respectively. The added ‘V' means ‘sent'. Because of this these notifications will no longer be eligible the next time you run AFO 251 (“Generate temporary print file'). See AFO 211 for an extensive description of these notifications.
253.2 Printing
After you have chosen AFO 253 an overview screen is displayed with the final print files.
Columns on the screen
1st column: A line number. When printing by location is ON, the column header will be the name of the current location (BD in our example).
Type: The description of the type of printout.
Status: The status of the process. See the description of AFO 251.
On: This column shows the date of the most recent change in status (the date on which the status in the previous column was applied).
At: This column shows the time of the most recent change in status (the time on which the status in the previous column was applied).
#: This column shows the number of printouts generated.
Options on the screen
: Select a type of printout and use this option to start printing the selected file.
: Use this option to start printing the files file for all types of printouts.
With this option the files are printed for certain types of printouts. To which types of printouts this applies depends on a parameter. This parameter cannot be set interactively (i.e. you have to contact Infor to modify this parameter). Standard this parameter is set to perform the same function as “All types”.
Choose the printouts for another location.
: With this option you go back to the previous screen without the process having been started, or – if it was started – the process will be interrupted. This option is actually no longer relevant but was created in case very slow machines were used where the execution of a batch job might influence system performance. An accidentally started process could thus be stopped.
After the command to create print files for one, more or all types of printouts has been executed the system will offer the standard form for activating processes. For more information about starting processes, see the relevant information in the document V-smart general information.
253.3 Orders not moved from the temporary print file to the final print file
When orders from the temporary print file do not appear in the corresponding final print file this can have the following causes:
· Manual adjustment by a member of staff.
· When checking the temporary print file the status of the order was changed.
Examples
- The field Dispatch has been set to N (No).
- The dates for the first or second reminders was moved to a date later than the date of printing.
· Conflicting printing parameters.
- When on the one hand you specify that a certain order type must be printed (general parameter) and on the other hand specify for all addressees 0 (zero) as the number to be printed, this conflicting situation will result in the orders appearing in the temporary print file but they cannot be moved to the final print file.
In case the parameter for delivery addresses in AFO 272 is switched on, each unique delivery address will generate a new page. A page can contain one or more orders, depending on settings. This means orders will be processed in such a way that they are sorted by supplier, by ship to code and then by order.