Support: A day in the life of.

Recently Random and I were going over our daily activities, which can include internal support, Client support, and project work, and we were discussing how scattered and at times hectic our days can end up. We put together a list of events that could happen on any given day. This shows how techs covering several duties must be able to multitask and not pull your hair out in the process.

7:50 AM -Arrive at work, boot up laptop, and prepare for another work day.

7:55 AM – Check emails that came in over the night. It looks like we received a ticket regarding a client’s Oracle IPM that had crashed and they are not sure why. They attached the log information, but it will take some further investigation to fully vet the issue. Go to get coffee and found none ready so I needed to start a pot, I’ll come back later when the coffee is done.

8:00 AM – Begin work on an internal project that I was unable to work on much yesterday. Nothing scheduled for today so I should have time to work on it and I expect to finish it by the end of the day.

8:30 AM – Support Hours start.

8:35 AM – Reviewed Oracle IPM logs from the ticket that came in last night. I called the client and was only able to leave a voice mail.

8:55 AM – Returned to work on internal project.

9:02 AM – Internal Support: Employee calls asking for help with their second monitor. They cannot get it to come up even after several reboots.

9:18 AM – Replaced the cable and it fixed the issue.

9:21 AM – Back to work on my project.

9:40 AM – New Ticket. Here is the customer’s description: Urgent: System down!!! Please contact ASAP!!!. The call is listed as urgent, severity 1, so I will call immediately.

9:42 AM – After a couple of attempts to call I could only reach a voicemail. Sent off an email and still awaiting a response.

9:44 AM – Go to get Coffee and had to start another pot as someone left the pot that I had started earlier empty!

9:52 AM – Resume work on my internal project.

10:07am – Instant message from another employee who needs some help trouble shooting an issue for an upcoming demo. Started a WebEx to review the problem and help trouble shoot system.

11:01 AM – NEW TICKET – Client has questions about Nexus 10, forwarded ticket to their Sales Rep and Marketing to answer their questions. Back to work on trouble shooting.

11:55am – Found the issue in the linked server configuration on the system that is being configured for the demo.

11:57am – Stretch break right before lunch time.

12:50pm – Return from lunch only to find out that the entire network is down including all email.

12:59pm – Received phone call from employee letting us know that the email is down. I ensured them that we are working on the issue and we will have it up as soon as possible.

1:04pm – Received phone call from another employee letting us know that the email is down.

1:11pm – While trying to fix the networking issue, we received IM letting us know that the email is down. We are unable to send out a companywide email to inform people that the network is down because the email is down.

1:48pm – Found the issue with the network. An employee had connected a LAN line back into an internal jack causing a dead loop. This in turn shut everything down. After many insults we were finally able to forgive the coworker. Sent companywide email letting everyone know what had shut the system down and how to avoid this in the future.

1:50 – Back to work on internal project.

2:03 PM – NEW TICKET. Description: 1-3 users are unable to look at images on their workstations. They are able to see the images on other workstations. We have tried rebooting several times as prompted, but we are then asked to reboot again. Please Help!

2:09 PM – Finally able to figure out what the client’s was trying to say and sent email with the steps on how to correct issue. Returned to internal project

2:13 – Received response from “urgent” ticket. Contacted the client and jumped on a WebEx to solve the issue.

3:40 – After several attempts to unsuccessfully ping the storage server, the client rebooted the server. After the reboot we are still unable to ping or remote into the server, we successfully attempt to directly log into the server, and found that the NIC drivers became corrupt. Reinstalling drivers and rebooting the server brought it back up online.

3:41 – Back to project.

3:50 – Customer called wanting help configuring a batch class in ILINXCapture. I then walked the client through submitting a support ticket .

4:09 – Finished assisting client with building the desired batch classes in ILINX Capture.

4:28 PM – NEW TICKET – Client needs assistance in backing up their system. The client is busy through the rest of the day and we set up and appointment first thing in the morning.

4:33 PM – Restart internal project

5:00 – Entered in time for the day and realized that I was never able to finish my project. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

Brandon Konen
S.E. at ImageSource Inc.

Random McParks
S.E. at ImageSource Inc.

  

Barcode Document Separation with ILINX Capture

While exploring different document separation techniques I discovered that bar code separation may cause the document to be split multiple times.   I scanned in a single document that had 334 pages and for some reason it split the document multiple times.  There were no other barcodes except one Patch Type T separator at the beginning of the document.  

After looking over the settings on the Barcode QSX module inside the ILINX Capture Server Manager I noticed that the Patch Type T document separator and the 3 of 9 barcode separator were enabled.  Please see picture below…  

ILINX Capture Barcode OSX Module

One of the challenges with setting up barcode separation with both Patch Type T document separator and the 3 of 9 barcode separator is that every time the recognition engine comes across a 3 of 9 barcode it will separate the document automatically regardless if you want it to or not . Unfortunately the software can get tripped up on its own logic and every time the recognition engine comes across a 3 of 9 barcode it will separate the document automatically.  ILINX Capture’s recognition engine still separates by the Patch Type T Patch Code as well as every 3 of 9 barcode. This can give unexpected results with the number of documents that are automatically generated.  To fix the above example I removed the bar code separation because it was not needed. As you can see in the following example…  

ILINX Capture Barcode Settings

However, in some cases this may not meet a client’s needs and different approach to document separation is needed. The best practice for multiple document separation is when using Patch Type T Patch separator pages and 3 of 9 barcode separation you need to add a prefix for each type of document you want to separate.  

Here is a good example:  

A client may want to separate documents by what’s in the barcode itself, such as capturing the word “ILINX” in the barcode for a document type of “Application” and the word “Invoice” in the barcode for a document type of “Invoice”.  To do this you need to add a prefix value with a document type see.

As you can see ILINX Capture has the ability to be customized to fit your needs no matter how basic and/or how complicated the requirements are. The main concept here is ILINX Capture is a very powerful tool and needs to be configure properly to get want you need out of it. The above example is only a small scratch on the surface on what this tool can actually do.  

However, in some cases this may not meet a client’s needs and different approach to document separation is needed. The best practice for multiple document separation is when using Patch Type T Patch separator pages and 3 of 9 barcode separation you need to add a prefix for each type of document you want to separate. 

A client may want to separate documents by what’s in the barcode itself, such as capturing the word “ILINX” in the barcode for a document type of “Application” and the word “Invoice” in the barcode for a document type of “Invoice”. To do this you need to add a prefix value with a document type see.

ILINX Capture Prefix Settings

As you can see ILINX Capture has the ability to be customized to fit your needs no matter how basic and/or how complicated the requirements are. The main concept here is ILINX Capture is a very powerful tool and needs to be configure properly to get want you need out of it. The above example is only a small scratch on the surface on what this tool can actually do. 

John Hart
ImageSource Inc.

  

Listening to the Machine

I was chatting with Sophia Marchi, the director of sales for the Americas for BÖWE BELL + HOWELL Scanners at our recent Nexus event. She had just delivered a great break-out on scanner selection criteria and we started talking about how the users need to have input on scanner selection – they really know what they like and what works for them. Often, these aren’t the people consulted when purchase decisions are made, and it’s a shame. She related how at FedEx, there were 13 identical scanners deployed, and the staff had names them all – Annabelle, Karina, Chloe, Hannah, and so forth. Workers bonded with their machines, and would line up for their favorite – even to the point of coming in early to get their machine. Or switching to it the second in came available. Well what’s the attraction — they are all the same machines, right? Then I recalled my brother and I had the same Schwinn 2 speed bikes as kids, then in college we bought the exact same motorcycles (I stuck to silver, he to purple). 3K miles down the road, I’d borrow his bike. Felt a bit funny, compared to mine with the same mileage. Fast forward to when we had put over 45K miles – what a difference. Rider habits with braking, acceleration, maintenance, even storage – added up to make these bikes ride with distinct differences. I do remember mine being faster – I guess my throttle was used to more demands. It’s the same story with scanners. Properly maintained scanners – the ones that are doted on and listened to carefully – are bound to last longer with fewer unexpected breakdowns. Sophia learned from the users that with their favorite scanners, the operators can hear roller wear, hear double feeds, even hear the need for a cleaning. Scanning shops that listen to their operators, allowing them to use a particular machine when possible, and reward regular maintenance and cleaning will outperform shops that neglect these steps.

Peter Lang
ImageSource, Inc.