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Short Line Data Systems ROCS Update – June 2002
Website: www.sdsrocs.com
Greetings:
We are going to start this month’s update off with some good news. The SRNJ is now fully up and running EDI with ROCS. As many of you know, the SRNJ has been running the non-EDI version of ROCS for over a year, and has played a big part in the development of ROCS.
The cutover was surprisingly painless. Naturally, we had done a bit of testing before going live, but there is always that fear of the computer blowing up the first time you do something new. Now that the SRNJ is fully up and running, we will have some announcements of new customers and projects over the next few months.
New Features:
Train 31 and 33 Messages
As mentioned in last month’s update, we have started working on a group of new features focusing on TrainII reporting. The first of these features are the Train 31 interchange correction, and the Train 33 movement correction. Both are triggered with a double click on the date to be changed, and the user is given the option to change or delete the action selected. The message is put into the transmit queue, and a report is available for printing..
Currently in development is the bi-directional TrainII messaging. People have asked why this is so difficult to do, so here is a short history/technical explanation of why. The EDI messages, such as the 417 waybill, 404 bill of lading, and 418 advance consist are transmitted in a format known as asterisk delimited. The format uses a asterisk to separate data elements, so a line could look like this: M7*2034*09*. Access is designed to separate the data elements into individual fields from the imported text file.
The TrainII format uses a fixed-length style file. Instead of using something to separate the data elements, the format documentation tells the user that, for example, in the first two spaces of a line the user can expect the month, i.e. 06. Here is where the problem occurs. When you receive a data transmission, the two formats are mixed, and it is not particularly easy to separate them. We have finished the first steps of separating the two formats, and we should have the bi-directional reporting completed by the end of the summer.
NS Settlement Spreadsheet
Another new feature is an Excel spreadsheet that you can attach to an email. The spreadsheet is based on a format that NS would like its short lines to use for switching, handling line, and junction settlement statements. The spreadsheet is created automatically each time you create a settlement statement, and is easily found in the same program folder as ROCS. SDS is happy to work with the Class 1s to create better means of communication with the short lines, and this new feature is the first of many that will accomplish that task.
In Development
We have started development of an Excel spreadsheet that a home office could email to a remote office, and the remote office can enter movements on. At the end of the work day the remote office would send the spreadsheet back to the home office as an email attachment, and ROCS would import the moves into the main system. This will let the user railroad spread out the reach of ROCS without having to train large numbers of people on the system.
Well, that’s all for this month, as you can see, there is a lot going on at SDS, and it looks like we are going to have a very busy summer.
Stay cool,
Steven Friedland |
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