Lane allocation
Note
In Connect on-Device a lane is represented as a work unit.
You use lane allocation to associate a till to a work unit, such as a cash register.
The association takes place when you select the work unit and dispense a money mix. No other user can allocate an already allocated work unit.
If Connect is used, the allocation information is sent from Connect on-Device to Connect in a transaction message. The transaction message contains the following information about the allocation:
Allocation ID
Work unit name
Allocation timestamp
Deallocation time (end-of-shift)
Machine ID
The allocation information is sent to all the machines on the site the work unit belongs to. When the machines have received information about the allocation, the allocating user can't dispense any additional mixes from other machines in that work unit. The user can still make free float dispenses and deposits on other machines in the work unit.
Transaction messages are saved locally on each machine. If the machine the dispense was made from goes offline, synchronization is lost between the machines on that site and it is possible for another user to allocate the already allocated work unit from another machine. When the machine comes back online, it automatically synchronizes with other machines on that site and the locally saved transaction messages are sent to Connect.
Lane deallocation
You deallocate a lane to end the association between the work unit and a till.
The work unit is deallocated (closed) when one of the following occurs:
The allocating user makes a deposit and then ends the shift
The allocating user ends the shift without a prior deposit
Daybreak, that is the reset time of the day — unless the configuration is set to ignore daybreak.
Note
Self-service checkout points is an example where a lane could be configured to ignore daybreak.
If Connect is used, the deallocation information is sent from Connect on-Device to Connect in a transaction message. The transaction message contains the following information on the deallocation:
Work unit name
Allocation ID
The deallocation information is sent to all the machines on the site the work unit belongs to. When the machines have received information about the deallocation, it is possible for another user to allocate the work unit.
Permissions related to lane allocation
Note
User and work unit allocation permissions can't be combined.
The following permissions are related to lane allocation:
Permission | Description |
|---|---|
WORK_UNIT | Allows the user to make deposits even if the work unit has not been allocated. For example, a supervisor should be able to make a deposit regardless of work unit allocation state. |
WORK_UNIT_ALLOCATION | Must be used in combination with the WORK_UNIT permission. Required on the user role to activate the lane allocation feature. Forces the user to select an allocation when logging in. If the user already has allocated a lane (work unit), no additional allocation is required. |
WORK_UNIT_ALLOCATION_DEPOSIT | Allows the user to make deposits even if the work unit has not been allocated, that is, a supervisor should be able to make a deposit regardless of work unit allocation state. |
FREE_FLOAT | When a work unit is allocated, all mixes except FREE_FLOAT are disabled and the user is allowed to make deposits. When a work unit isn't allocated, you can only dispense predefined mixes. |
ALLOCATION_END_SHIFT_ROLE:name_of_other_role | A temporary role. Activated when the user scans an allocated till. It is recommended to only grant enough permissions to allow a single CashComplete On-Device service to be available. When the service is available, CashComplete On-Deviceautomatically starts the service after the login procedure. When the service has ended or has been canceled, the original role and permissions are restored. For more information, see the example below. |
For more information, see Permissions A-L and Permissions M–Z.
If you have a system where all tills have their own unique IDs or barcodes, you can send the user directly to the deposit screen when deallocating a work unit. You need to assign the ALLOCATION_END_SHIFT_ROLE:name_of_other_role permission that temporarily changes the user’s role to name_of_other_role for the first service. The temporary role should only have the permission(s) required to scan an allocated work unit, for example, deposit.
When the service ends or the user cancels the operation, the original role and permissions are restored. For this particular use case, you need to enable the following permissions:
WORK_UNIT
WORK_UNIT_ALLOCATION
DEPOSIT
END_SHIFT_AFTER_DEPOSIT
Note
The ALLOCATION_END_SHIFT_ROLE permission should not be assigned to the alternative role.
Allocation IDs
There are two types of allocation IDs:
Unique ID — The till has a unique ID or a barcode. Use this ID when you want to keep track of each till in the work unit. The
CashComplete\resources\configurable\configuration\allocations.xmlfile contains a list of allocation IDs and barcodes. Before the user can select an allocation, the ID must be defined in this file and cannot be used to allocate more than one work unit at a time.Common ID - The common allocation ID is identical for all tills. Use this ID when you are only interested in which work unit is allocated. The workUnitAllocationAutoId property in the
CashComplete\resources\configurable\configuration\Misc.propertiesfile specifies a common ID, for example, workUnitAllocationAutoId=Open. The common ID is set for all allocations without any user intervention.
Daybreak
You can activate allocation daybreak. Allocation daybreak automatically deallocates a work unit when daybreak occurs. For more information, see Configuring allocation daybreak.
You activate daybreak by setting a flag in the CashComplete\resources\configurable\configuration\Misc.properties file. The activation is valid for the Connect on-Device installation. You configure Connect on-Device .
In certain cases, such as self-checkout points, you may want to ignore allocation daybreak. To ignore daybreak, you set a flag on the work unit. The flag prevents the work unit from being deallocated at daybreak. For more information, see Configuring ignore allocation daybreak.
Note
If a work unit group is configured to ignore allocation daybreak, this overrides a different configuration on a work unit in that work unit group.
Files used for the lane allocation feature
The files in this table are used for the lane allocation feature.
File | Description |
|---|---|
| Contains a list of allocations and barcode IDs: <allocations> <allocation id="101" barcode="333101" /> <allocation id="102" barcode="333102" /> <allocation id="103" barcode="333103" /> <allocation id="104" barcode="333104" /> <allocation id="105" barcode="333105" /> <allocation id="106" barcode="333106" /> </allocations> |
| Contains current allocations. work unit=allocation and time stamp for the allocation. This file is volatile and should not be modified any other way: #Work Unit name (or Id) = Allocation Id + delimiter + allocation date #Tue May 19 11:19:13 CEST 2020 JK457=Open\u00012020-05-19 11\:19 JK481=Open\u00012020-05-19 11\:19 JK456=Open\u00012020-05-19 11\:19 JK480=Open\u00012020-05-19 11\:19 |
| Change the workUnitAllocationDayBreak property to true to activate allocation daybreak. |
| Edit the StartHourOfDay and StartMinuteOfDay properties to configure when daybreak occurs. |
Note
CashComplete On-Device was rebranded Connect on-Device in version 3.15.X.