Resolve HELD Commands

4 min

\ question \ what are held commands and how do i resolve them in dairycomp? \ answer \ held commands are transactions that could not be processed because of an error instead of being discarded, they are saved for review so you can correct them and keep your herd records accurate held commands must have their errors resolved so they can be reposted and entered into the cowfile dairycomp processes many types of commands—typed in by you, sent from other systems, or generated automatically when a command fails, for example because an animal id does not exist, an event name is unknown, or a birth date does not match, it is stored as a held command the command is saved together with an error message so you know what went wrong this prevents incomplete data from being lost or silently corrupting your records seeing a large number of held commands at once? when a major update or system change is rolled out — such as new data fields being sent from pulse — you may suddenly receive a large batch of held commands this is usually not a sign that something is wrong with your herd file it typically means the update generated commands for animals that are no longer in your herd (sold, died, or archived), and those commands could not be processed if this happens open the held command processor by selecting the red held button in the toolbar review the error messages if most entries reference animals no longer in your herd, they are safe to remove before deleting, select the notepad tab to save a copy of the held commands for your records this gives you a backup you can refer to if needed use select by filter to highlight the affected entries, then select delete selected rows to remove them in bulk for details on specific errors, see resolve command held errors docid\ p uvvkuwcs7u3x4f cfi8 below if you need time to work through the commands, check turn off held commands popup warning to prevent the reminder from interrupting you every ten minutes common causes of held commands held commands can occur for several reasons the most common are an animal id that does not exist in the herd file an event name that does not match your setup (for example, %pneu vs %pneumo) a mismatch in recorded birth dates between different systems a malformed command or missing reference that dairycomp cannot process commands received from pulse for animals that have been sold, died, or archived — such as aafac (age adjusted factor) updates — that reference animal ids no longer in the herd file these issues are often caused by out of sync data or simple entry mistakes, especially when transactions come from external systems how to know when there are held commands when held commands are present, a red held button displays in the toolbar (in place of the server button) the held button also shows a number that indicates how many held commands are pending for example, if there are four held commands pending, the button displays held 4 additionally, whenever you have pending held commands, a reminder window displays every ten minutes until all the held issues are resolved if you don't want to process the commands at that time, you can delay processing by clicking ask me in 10 minutes you can also disable these reminder within the held command processor by checking the turn off held commands popup warning box review held commands click the held button to review the pending held commands alternatively, you can choose process them now when prompted by the reminder either method opens the held command processor where you can review the pending held commands and take various actions to resolve them each entry in the held command processor shows the following \ date \ the date the command being held was executed \ id \ the animal id number \ error \ the reason why the command was held for example, the animal id does not exist, the animal has been sold or died, etc \ command \ the syntax of the failed command editing held commands held commands need to be edited before they can be reposted; that is, the error that caused them to be held needs to be fixed before they can be executed again to edit a held command from the list, double click it a server window displays in which you can change the syntax of the command for example, you can change an invalid animal id to one that exists in the herd when you're done editing the command, click ok note if an edited command still contains an error, it will return as a held command after reposting until the issue is fully resolved reposting held commands once a held command is edited, it can be reposted however, simply editing a held command does not automatically repost it again, nor does it clear it from the list the held command processor offers a number of options on the right side of the screen for resolving held commands, including options to repost them so that dairycomp runs them again some of the options require you to select specific held commands from the list before performing them to select a held command, check the box to the left of the applicable command the held command processor has two main options for reposting commands after you've edited them \ repost all commands \ this option sets all held commands to execute again, whether or not they are selected a window displays asking how long you want to delay processing the commands docid\ p uvvkuwcs7u3x4f cfi8 \ save and exit \ this option applies any changes you have made and closes the held command processor edited commands are reposted, while deleted commands are permanently removed a window displays asking how long you want to delay processing the commands docid\ p uvvkuwcs7u3x4f cfi8 note reposting clears commands from the held list but does not guarantee they will execute properly if errors remain, the command will display again as a held command until resolved in addition to the reposting options, there are several other functions you can perform on the listed commands clear all selections unchecks all held command entries in the list reverse selections inverts the current selections in the grid (selected rows are unchecked and unchecked rows are selected) delete selected rows permanently removes all checked commands these will be deleted and not reposted \ important \ use deletion only if you are certain the command is not needed deleted commands cannot be recovered handle unknown events opens the event remapping window so you can match incoming event codes (for example, %pneu) to existing event names in your herd, or set them to be ignored this function is useful when events come from an outside source (such as a heifer ranch) that uses different event names than your herd file for example, an incoming %pneu event can be remapped to your herd's %pneumo event once an event is remapped, all held commands with that event are updated the mapping is saved, so future commands using the same event are automatically handled you can also choose to ignore the event ignored events are not stored in the herd file and do not display as errors again note if your cowfile has reached the maximum number of events, you may see a warning such as “cowfile is full ” in this case, contact support\@vas com mailto\ support\@vas com you may need to be converted to a v10 cowfile (which allows more event tracking) select by filter lets you enter filter criteria to highlight rows in the grid automatically find/replace search for specific text within the commands and replace it (useful when the same correction applies across multiple held commands) relax birthdates allows small mismatches between incoming birth dates and existing herd records to pass without error this function is useful when animal ids match but the recorded birth dates differ slightly between systems (for example, due to scanning or auto assignment at a heifer ranch) instead of requiring an exact match, the relax birthdates option rewrites the command to accept a date range for example, an incoming record with bdat=12/15/19 might be adjusted to allow any date from 12/12/19 through 12/18/19 it also permits a birth date of zero (bdat=0) if the animal's record in your herd falls within that range, the command can be processed successfully after reposting delete all commands permanently remove all held commands without processing them \ important \ use deletion only if you are certain the command is not needed deleted commands cannot be recovered notepad opens the list of held commands in notepad for viewing or printing exit without saving changes closes the held command processor without applying any edits or deletions delay held command processing whenever you repost held commands (using the repost all commands button, for example), dairycomp prompts you to enter a delay period before the commands are reposted for example, you might delay by a few minutes, an hour, or longer if you need to wait for a manager or technician to become available you can select any number of minutes in the prompt window, or select 0 minutes to repost the commands immediately resolve common held errors cow not found check your herd file to make sure the animal id exists if it does, check the animal id to make sure it is correct add or correct the animal id in the herd file to resolve this error aafac commands for sold, died, or archived animals you may see held commands containing aafac (age adjusted factor) data for animals that are no longer in your herd this occurs when pulse sends updated aafac values for animals that have since been sold, died, or archived since these animals are no longer active in your herd file, the commands cannot be processed to resolve, select the affected commands and use delete selected rows to remove them these commands are safe to delete because the animal records they reference are no longer relevant to your active herd note if you have a large number of these commands, use select by filter to highlight aafac related entries, then delete them in bulk gentest is invalid you might see this error if an event or item was edited after an animal was sold/died or an event needs to be remapped if the animal was sold/died, simply delete and disregard the held warning to resolve this error if an event needs to be remapped, follow the steps in handle unknown events docid\ p uvvkuwcs7u3x4f cfi8 to remap an event to resolve this error pen number needed for move event data may not have been fully captured when the event was created or edited review the move event data for blank fields and enter any missing data no bdat or bdat is out of range review your animal's cowcard to make sure its birth date (bdat) is recorded and accurate if you receive birth events from an external source, such as a heifer ranch, check your birth date range setting this range defines how much the dates can differ when two sources record different birth dates for the same animal to check the range, enter server\3 in the command line and open the itrans/dnt tab the recommended range settings are \ 0 days \ use this relaxed bdat range value if you do not receive events via itrans from other cowfiles \ 14 days \ use this relaxed bdat range value if you do receive events via itrans from other cowfiles