Time and Attendance import

This optional module is capable of importing progress registrations from an external data collection system and assign the progress information to correct operation in ROB-EX Scheduler.

Note: requires license to “CSV Progress” import module (see Help->Register…).

The import logic will treat imported information “intelligently”. As an example an operator using the external data collection system only enters information about the project he/she is working on, the type of activity in question and the number of hours spent on the activity.

When data is exported to ROB-EX the external time and attendance system can only supply

Project id or number
Operation type
No. of hours spent
Time for last registration

When the CSV Progress Import module in ROB-EX imports the information it will first lookup the project, next ROB-EX will automatically search for first possible operation of the specified operation type, still having hours left to spent. In case first operation of given operation type has no outstanding hours the import module will search for next possible operation of the specified operation type etc. etc.

In case operation A has been split in ROB-EX into two new operations A-1 and A-2 progress on these operations will be assigned according to the following rules:

1. If split operations are all located on the same resource, progress is assigned in route order, e.g. progress will be assigned to operation A-1. Once it has no more outstanding work progress will be assigned to operation A-2. In case of sur-plus progress hours, these will always be assigned to the last operation in the route.
2. If split operations have been moved to individual resources R1 and R2, then the import will assign according to a possible assignment to field Progress.resourceId (i.e. progress performed by resource R2 will always be assigned to operation A-2 and never A-1). If Progress.resourceId is not assigned progress is assigned according to route order (see description in point above).

Note that the CSV progress import module in ROB-EX versions prior to 4.1 build 424 and 4.1 ER2 build 10 did not support import of progress in the form of produced quantity.

Also see description of the CSV Progress Import macro.

The remaining part of this document covers the following

• How to setup and configure the import
• Supported import fields
• How to map operation types
• How to use and import a file

How to setup

In order to initially setup and configure the Progress Import module you will need a text file with sample data generated by the external data collection system. An example import file from the external data collection system could look like this:

99921,1,1429,0,24-08-09 08:00:00,0,1.00,0
99921,1,1431,0,24-08-09 09:00:00,0,2.50,0

In order to use this module you initially have to create a configuration instructing the import module how import files from the external data collection system should be interpreted, i.e. what is the meaning of column 0, column 1 etc.

To create a new configuration simply start the import module using the toolbar button

and press the “New” button

and select a sample import file:

Selecting the Excel file type will enable another text field called Sheet. Here it is possible to input the Excel sheet to use for import. The input can be either the sheet name or the sheet index. If no sheet is defined, the default is to use sheet 1.

In the next wizard step you need to specify the delimiter character and possibly what character is used to surround strings (String marker):

In third and final step of the wizard you will specify what column in the import file is mapped to what field in ROB-EX. Select a column in the example table and next in “Column data format” specify either

• No import (the default)
• Date. Used for date columns and you must supply also a date format (see Date formatting)
• Standard. Use this for all other columns than Date columns

Finally select what field in ROB-EX to link to by pressing the “Choose” button. Also see list of supported field entries. Do the same for all columns you would like to import.

Note you can add virtual columns in order to assign a default value to a field. Virtual fields are especially useful in combinations with import fields that alter the import behaviour: Progress.oneLineOnly and Progress.cumulative. In order to add a virtual field press “Add virtual”, select the new column and assign new fixed value in the “Fixed value” text field.

For a description of the “Mappings” button se paragraph concerning Mappings.

Note that the “Finish” button will only be enabled when enough information has been supplied. This means that all the following criteria must have been met:

1. One of ORDER, ORDERID, PROJECT or PROJECTID fields has been mapped
2. and one of either OPERATIONTYPE, OPERATIONID or OPERATIONINDEX has been mapped
3. and either both REGISTRATIONDATE and ENDTIME or alternatively ENDDATETIME has been mapped

When “Finish” button is pressed the configuration of the CSV import is complete

Note that the setup wizard does not support editing of the configuration after “Finish” has been pressed. So in order to edit an existing configuration you either have to repeat the setup or alternative edit the configuration directly in the .xml file stored in the custom directory of your ROB-EX installation (it will have the name “progress_.xml”).

Supported import field values

The following field values are supported and correspond to the entry=“XX” attribute in the configuration file places in the file \custom\progress_XXXX.xml

Field names in bold are the most commonly used fields.

Valid input for Boolean fields are: 0|1, false|true, no|yes, off|on

Mappings (Progress.operationType)

Mappings are used to create a translation table between an operation type in the import file and a corresponding ROB-EX operation. The translation is applied to the field “Progress.operationType”.

To create a new mapping press the “Mappings” button in step 3 of the setup wizard. Note that each named configuration may have its own mapping definition.

In the following the external id 0 is mapped to ROB-EX operation Cutting etc.

If the value in “Operation” is red it is a warning about that specified operation does not exist in the currently loaded ROB-EX plan.

If a value in “Operation” column starts with the character ‘#’, the entire text will be treated as a regular expression. A regular expression will allow you to map same external id to multiple operations in ROB-EX. As an example

will map the external operation id “0” to either Painting or Packing – whatever operation is first in the route of the projects/orders being searched.

Note you may even specify “#Pa.*”, which would map to anything starting with “Pa”

How to use

Import using the CSV Progress Import module is carried out using the toolbar button
.

Next select a previously created configuration and press the “Next” button. Select the file to import and press “Open”.

Note that to automate these steps you can create a macro.