Hercules Setup - Operation |
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This is accessed through Maintenance / Online Reservations / Hercules / Hercules Setup, Operations tab. These options control the overall operation of the 2-way integration.
If setting up for the first time, we recommend that you leave all of the values on this tab in their default state, and do not check the "Enable" box until all other initial setup has been completed. For reference, the recommended values are listed below with their descriptions, but if you're doing the initial setup then you can skip this section until you're ready to turn on communications.
Enable Hercules functionality -- naturally this turns the 2-way communications on or off. Note that if this is ever disabled, even for a short time, then a full synchronization with Hercules will be initiated when it's re-enabled.
Workstation ID to poll from -- (a.k.a.. the "Hercules master" workstation) -- If you use Campground Master on a single computer, this should be set to 0. If you have the Networking option, then we recommend that this be set to the Master workstation's ID (see Networking Setup if you're not sure what that is). However it can be set to another workstation if needed, for instance if internet connectivity is not available on the Master. While it does not technically affect operations of the 2-way integration, certain functions can only be done on the "Hercules master", and of course there are added communications delays involved when it's not set to the network Master.
Never poll from this computer, regardless of it workstation ID -- Unlike the other settings, this is set in the INI file on the computer, not in the database file. That means it stays for this computer set even if you restore from a database backup. So this allows you to disable the online synchronization for 'offline' computers, e.g. computers separate from the live system used for training, or off-site computers used for backup or reporting purposes.
Incoming reservation handling -- The recommended setting is "Fully automatic processing". In this mode, Hercules is periodically polled for new reservations, and any new ones are automatically processed and added to Campground Master. If you need a little more control, you can set it to "Automatically check for requests but require manual processing". In that mode you would be notified of new ones available to process -- just be sure to process them immediately when notified to avoid conflicts with local reservations. There is also a "Manual request only" mode, which is primarily used for testing purposes. In this mode, no automatic polling is done, and you have to request reservation downloads manually to find out if any are available.
Alert when new reservations are auto-processed -- While the "Fully automatic" mode imports the online reservations with no operator effort, we recommend that you enable this option so that you can see when this happens. This also gives you a change to review the reservation. See the Automatic Modes section for more details.
Outgoing reservation handling -- The recommended setting is "Fully automatic availability upload". In this mode, all local changes are automatically uploaded to Hercules so that its availability information is updated without any user action required. If you set this to "Manual upload only", then you must initiate the upload each time you want it updated online.
Locks/Temp Holds/Update status checking -- The recommended setting is "Do locks & synchronization, and wait/warn if issues before completion of operation". This makes the request but does not make the operator wait for a response -- e.g. they can continue to work on the reservation without delay. Once they are ready to save the reservation, they will be notified if a potential conflict might occur due to an online reservation in progress for the same site. The other options are:
•Skip all site locks & synchronization -- This of course defeats the purpose of real-time 2-way integration, and should only be used for testing or other extreme conditions.
•Initiate locks & synchronization, but don't wait -- This tells Hercules what's going on, but ignores any response that might suggest a conflict. Basically this gives Hercules a chance to lock out sites you're working on locally, but there is still a chance that an online reservation creates a conflict (e.g. if it's started online but not completed & downloaded before you use the site locally). This should only be used if you're having connection problems that are causing severe delays in responses.
•Do locks & synchronization, and wait/warn if issues before starting the operation -- This could be used if you don't mind waiting for a response before continuing a reservation, for instance. Naturally this should only be used if the response time is fast enough for your comfort. The advantage is that you avoid the possible annoyance of finding out only at the end of making a reservation that the site isn't available online. This is also a viable option if the majority of your reservations are made online at a rapid pace, such that a local reservation is frequently denied due to an online site lock.
Update frequency -- If either Incoming or Outgoing modes are set to Automatic, this determines how often Campground Master will initiate an automatic update (up and/or down). The default and recommended setting for this is 1800 seconds (30 minutes). This may seem like a long time, but unless you get dozens of online reservations each day then it's probably sufficient. Keep in mind that regardless of this frequency setting, conflicts are still prevented by the site locking. Also note that any time a local operation is initiated, any waiting online reservations are downloaded anyway, and any local changes are usually uploaded immediately -- so this update frequency is mostly applicable to times when Campground Master is idle.
Wait for idle time before attempting update -- This is usually not necessary, as the update takes little time, so the recommended setting is to not check this option. Since downloads happen automatically when starting an operation anyway, this would only be an issue if for instance a major synchronization is needed. If you do enable this, the recommended time is 60 seconds.
Further Topics:
Operations (handling errors, etc.)
Retrieving Online Reservations and Uploading Availability (Manual mode)