Off-Line Operations

When a distributed station is connected to the main files via a network and can access those files it is considered to be executing in on-line mode. When the network connection or main files become inaccessible for whatever reason, (eg. network failure, server failure, files locked for backup, etc.) the station operates in off-line mode.

When in on-line mode a machine behaves, to all intents and purposes, as though it were a normal undistributed station to the Acumen system. It should be noted however that even though the machine has access to the master files it will still use the General files stored locally for pricing , products, customers and credit checking details. This allows the machine to continue operation should it be required to operate in off-line mode.

When off-line the operations that a station can perform are obviously more limited. Following is a list of the key facilities available in off-line operations:

• Sales document entry (Invoices, Cash Sales, Credit Notes and Refunds).

• Receipts entry and printing but no allocation to transactions is possible.

• Customer prices for products and the Product price lookup facilities.

• Authorisation of Prices, Customer Credit and Purchase orders.

• General file details are available for read only access (eg. Customers, Products, Suppliers, etc).

In more complex installations it is possible that a station operates under partial on-line conditions. Dependant on the systems available to the station different facilities will become available or inaccessible. The following table demonstrates some typical possibilities:

Facility	Required files
Invoices, Cash Sales	None
Credit Notes, Refunds	(Debtors, Sales Batch Archive optional)
Customer Orders	Orders
Automatic picking of a Customer Order	Orders, Stock
Purchasing from a Customer Order	Orders, Purchases, (Stock optional)
Manual Purchase Orders	Purchases
Full and Semi Automatic Purchases	Purchases, Stock
Receiving goods on a Purchase Order	Purchases, (Orders, Stock optional)
Product, Price, Customer, etc. Changes	Master
Customer Account/Transaction details	Debtors
Receipts against Customer Accounts	(Debtors optional)
Journals	Debtors/Creditors
Supplier Documents, Payments	Creditors, Cheques, (General Ledger optional)
Stock Movements	(Stock optional)