Overview of the Routing System 

This is the User Manual for the ITS Routin Subsystem.  It is one of a series of user and technical manuals that is available for the ITS Systems.

The reader is referred to Section 2 for an overview of this subsystem.

It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the general operation of the menus and the keyboard.  These matters are fully discussed in the "Operational Aspects of ITS Systems - Integrator 1" Manual.

The reader is reminded that the copyright of the ITS systems and documentation remains with ITS, and that users thereof are contractually prohibited from providing information thereof to third parties, such as other educational institutions.

The purpose of this subsystem is to establish a routing or work flow mechanism within the ITS System.

In short, the Routing System can:

• Notify a User of the ITS System, or a Person defined in the ITS System (Personnel Member or a Student) that an action was taken or needs to be taken on the system.
• Notifications will be sent in a controlled, user defined sequence.
  The notification may be configured to be an Email message or to display in the Work List of Users of the ITS System. (Refer to the Operational Aspects of the ITS System for more information on the Work List).

The following  set-ups must be supplied to enable the Integrator System to send Email notifications. It is specified in the Description-field of External Conversion Codes {GOPS-21} for the records where the External Body is "WEB - iEnabler System Corres Cntrl", the External Code Type is "UTL" and the Internal Code for each set-up parameter is as below:

Internal Code	Parameter
CONN	IP Address of the Email Server
PORT	Port that is used to communicate to the Email Server
HELO	IP Address used to confirm communication with the Email Server
MAIL	The "From-address" used for Email sent by the Routing System. This is normally an unattended mailbox.

The communication  with the Email Server and the set-ups to send Email can be tested with "Check Mail Relay to Client Mail {USERS-14}"

Route

A Route includes a pre-defined “Route Road Map” with pre-defined Steps that determines the following for each Step:

• The action that triggers a message that the System will automatically send.
• The message to be sent.
• The person to whom the message should be sent. The selection of the person could be derived from other information in the system.

Routing Request

• A Routing Request is a request for an action to follow a specified route.
• A Routing Request is uniquely identified by means of a routing request number.
• The Routing Request number may be used to monitor a specific Routing Request.
• The way a Routing Request progresses through a Route is based on the Outcome of each Step.

Routing Requests are created as follows: Automatically by specified ITS Programs Routing Request may also be manually started by Users of the ITS System in Maintain a Routing Request {GROU-2}.

Implementation

The System is supplied with a number of pre-defined Routes that may be modified. Additional Routes may also be created.

Typically, the following should be done in Maintain Default Request Information {GROU-1}.

• Create the Route (assign a Code and a Name to a new Routing Entry Type).
• Define the Steps (the Sequence followed in the Road Map, i.e. the notification message and the person to notify).
• Indicate the Possible Outcomes associated with each step.
• For each outcome, indicate the next step in the road map.

Sequential or Parallel Road maps

The System can handle both sequential and parallel paths.

Example of a Sequential Path

Sequence Number	Path	Outcome	Next Sequence
1	1	C	2
2	1	C	3
3	1	T

Example:

Example of a Parallel Path

Sequence Number	Path	Outcome	Next Sequence Number
1	1	C	2
1	2	C	3
2	1	C	4
3	1	C	8
4	1	C	5
4	2	T	8

Example:

The Routing Process

1. To start a Routing Request manually, create the first Step (Sequence) in the Request with Maintain a Routing Request {GROU-2}. 
2. Indicate an Outcome for the Step with Update a Routing Request {GROU-3} or Click on an Item on the Work List.
• It is possible to indicate that a step should complete automatically (For instance where the step should only send an Email message without waiting for any response). An Outcome of (A)uto Completed will then automatically be assigned to the step.
• It is possible to indicate a maximum time to allow a person to complete a step.  A background process will monitor for overdue steps and will automatically indicate an outcome of (T)imeout.
3. A background process will generate the next step according to the outcome. Next steps may be specified for any Outcome, including (A)uto Completed and (T)imeout.
4. For Parallel Routes
• A single outcome for a step may generate multiple "next steps" where the Route becomes parallel (Step 1 in the above example)
• The minimum number of steps (parallel paths) with an outcome that leads directly into a particular step that should be completed before the step may proceed may be specified. (In the above example, it is 2Parallel Paths for Step 8). The step will automatically proceed when the minimum number is reached.
5. The progress of any Routing Request may be monitored by querying the Request in Maintain Routing Request {GROU-2} or by Printing a List of Outstanding Routes {GROU-4}.