Autobatching in Agency Web

Introduction

In a given year ~204,000 salmon fish tickets are created. Each year more and more of those tickets originate in eLandings. ADFG staff had difficulty keeping up with salmon ticket batching due to the volume of tickets. In an effort to make this easier, the Auto Batching tool was created for Salmon tickets.

The Auto Batching tool in the Agency Workstation allows ADFG staff to assign batching information to fishtickets efficiently within the eLandings system. You can create a batch of up to 200 fish tickets for processing within this Agency Web feature. We suggest a limit of 200 paper fish tickets to a batch, as that is approximately how many paper fish ticket forms can be inserted into a standard manila envelope.

All fish ticket reports submitted to ADFG should be reviewed for completeness and accuracy, prior to the batching process. If an eTicket is submitted with incorrect information (incorrect statistical area(s), incorrect number of fish/average weights), contact the processor and request that they correct the fish ticket within eLandings. Provide them with the landing report or E-ticket number for reference. They can access the ticket(s) within the eLandings system and correct the data. Once corrected, the processor or you can reprint the fish ticket and staple the corrected copy to the copy of the fish ticket with the signatures.

The primary purpose of auto batching tickets is to create a retrievable archive. Once processed, fish ticket records are not frequently accessed. Auto batching provides a balance between rapid and efficient data processing and source document retrieval. The batching process also validates that fish tickets have been reviewed by staff for completeness and accuracy. Once batched, tickets are then copied to the fish ticket database.

Just as a reminder, Alaska Wildlife Troopers and even ADFG staff seldom need to access the original signed copy of the fish ticket. An electronic copy of the fish ticket is easily available within the Agency Interface application for re-printing, in the original and edited version.

Original ticket without signature

Original ticket without signature

Edited ticket without signature

Unless specifically requested by Alaska Wildlife Troopers or receipt of a court order for the original copy with signature, a copy of the landing printed from the Agency Interface will suffice, in most cases.

If you auto batch daily and keep batches small, retrieval of the source document ticket is relatively easy. Using this procedure eliminates stamping each ticket with a sequence ticket number.

Pre-Batching paper fish ticket processing procedures

Sort conventional ADFG fishticket reports from the electronically generated eTicket reports, as each ticket type needs to be processed separately.

Conventional fishticket reports are data entered into Zephyr. eTickets are processed within the eLandings Agency Desktop application. Batched eTickets are pulled into the Zephyr system every 15 minutes.

We suggest you sort the eTickets by period, locale code or harvest (if you plan to modify the default code 11), if you plan to assign any of these values. You will expedite auto-batching if the pre-printed ticket numbers are in numeric sequence, although this is not necessary for auto-batching to work. eTickets from a specific processor’s tender and from a unique opener are most likely to be in sequential order. It is not required that you sort tickets, unless requested by the local area management biologist. Some local management biologists want tickets to be sorted by processor and by vessel name. If not required by your supervisor, sorting by processor, tender vessel and pre-printed fish ticket number is the most efficient procedure to expedite batching.

In all situations, count the number of eTickets for the batch. You do not need to stamp the tickets with a sequence fish ticket number, but some ADF&G staff find assigning a sequence ticket number helpful. If you do not stamp a sequence fish ticket number on each ticket, you will need to adjust your ticket stamper for subsequent sequence ticket numbers.

Within the fish ticket application, Zephyr, create a batch. You do not need to wait until all the conventional fish tickets have been processed to create a batch of eTickets. Conventional fish ticket batches and eTicket batches can be comingled in the Zephyr Batch & Ticket Log, but again, create separate batches for each category of tickets.

Count the tickets and record the number of tickets for the batch, or
Establish the ticket range within Zephyr.
Record the batch and ticket sequence number on the exterior of the manila envelope.

Again, the individual fish eTicket reports do not need to be stamped with the sequence ticket number, but you may find this helpful.

Beware of Duplicate Tickets

Be aware that you may receive duplicate, unlabeled fish tickets without signatures. If this is occurring, please contact the local seafood processing facility and ask them to label the fish ticket copies and send only the signed Fish and Game copy to the local office.

As a general practice, if you receive unsigned eTickets, set these tickets aside and determine if a signed copy is present. Also review the duplicate copies to determine if a correction or modification in the fish ticket has occurred. If so, then staple the modified ticket to the signed copy. If the unsigned duplicate copy is nothing more than a duplicate, then it can be discarded.

Auto Batching Procedures

In order for a ticket to move from eLandings to the ADFG Fish Ticket Database (i.e. Zephyr), the ticket must have batch information assigned to it. The ticket will also need harvest code information assigned to it.

Typically salmon tickets have one harvest code = “11 – State managed fishery” and this is the default setting.

The Auto Batching tool allows you to enter a list of tickets and assign batching information to them all. The benefit is that you do not have to open each ticket individually when assigning the batching information.

Login to the Agency Web application (if you need help with this please see the Agency Web Users Manual).
Select Auto Batching from the Reports drop down menu.

Batch Year will default to the current year and Harvest Code will default to 11 – State managed fishery. Additionally, the Start Fish Ticket # field will default based on the Batch Year displayed. Though defaulted, these fields can be modified to meet your coding requirements. As an example, if you have a ticket with a pre-printed fish ticket number for the previous year, simply change the default year. The harvest code default can be easily modified, as well.

The auto batching page asks for the Batch Year, Office Code and Batch Number. Optionally, you can enter the Harvest Code, Fishing Period and Locale Code here.

The Fish Ticket Numbers will default with a prefix of EYY (where YY is the current year), allowing you to enter only the six digit fish ticket number. In this example, you would enter 181164 and then hit the enter key. The EYY on this ticket = E15 indicating a ticket from 2015.

In a few cases, a processor will fail to download the current year of tLandings and it generates fish tickets with the prior year date. The ticket(s) should be batched with the current year’s fishery. Just change the prefix on the ticket. Remember to change the prefix back to the current year when you have completed processing of the ticket(s). Again, enter the pre-printed fish ticket number, omitting the leading alpha letter (the E) and the year.

Enter Batching Information

Office Code
Batch Number and Sequence Ticket Range (as established from Zephyr)
You can enter the Fishing Period, the Locale Code and modify the Harvest Code as necessary, for the entire batch, or within the batch for a sub-set of tickets, but they are not required data fields.

On the Auto Batching screen enter the following data:

Start Seq. Ticket Range: 1
End Seq Ticket Range: 6

We have 6 tickets that we would like to assign batch information too.

E18 046023
E18 046024
E18 997799
E18 997800
E18 007157
E18 045572

We can see that we have a run of four consecutive numbers E18 046023 to E18 046024 and E18 997799 to E18 997800.

Upper limit of 250 tickets in a batch

Note that the upper limit of tickets the system will let you batch is 250. If you try to batch more than 250 tickets, you will get a hard error that will not let you proceed until you reduce the number of tickets to below 250.

Add tickets in Sequence:

Type 046023 into the Start Fish Ticket # field.
Press the Tab Key to move to the next field.
Type 046024 into the End Fish Ticket # field.
While the field focus is on the End Fish Ticket # field, press the Enter Key or "-" hyphen key.

The enter key or hyphen key will add this range of tickets to the list to be batched.

Notice that each ticket is listed with the same batch information.

The tickets are not batched yet. This list shows what they system will try to do, when you click the blue "Batch" button later on. You can remove items from the list that don't belong, or edit individual records if needed.

To add the next sequence:

Type 997799 into the Start Fish Ticket # field.
Press the Tab Key to move to the next field.
Type 997799 into the End Fish Ticket # field.
While the field focus is on the End Fish Ticket # field, press the Enter Key or "-" hyphen key.

The Auto Batching feature also allows you to apply batching information in the reverse order – in other words, in ascending or descending number sequences.

In the example above, the Seq. Ticket Range is from 997799 to 997800, but it could have been done in the reverse just as easily.

The enter key or hyphen key will add this range of tickets to the list to be batched.

We entered a seq ticket range of 1 to 6. We have assigned 1-4 of this range to these four landing reports.

Notice the "Next Seq. Ticket Number" field. It now shows "5". This indicates that if you were to add another ticket to the list, it would be assigned seq ticket number 5.

Add Non-Sequential Tickets

We can now enter fishtickets E18 007157 and E18 045572:

In the Start Fish Ticket # field type: 007157

With the field focus on Start Fish Ticket # field, press the Enter key to add the fish ticket number to the list.

Now enter 045572 into the Start Fish Ticket # field and repeat the process.

Notice that the Next Seq. Ticket Number is now blank. We have used all 6 sequence ticket numbers in the range. There are no more to use.

At this point we can review the list and make any corrections needed. We could edit individual tickets or delete them from the list.

There are two buttons at the bottom of the page: Batch and Validate

The Validate button allows you to ask the system to review your list and tell you if it sees any problems. The validate button does not make any edits to the landing reports.

The Batch button will try to assign the batch information to the individual tickets in the way you have listed here.

Please validate the tickets you wish to batch prior to selecting Batch as it will give you an opportunity to address any problems before writing to the database.

Batch the tickets

The tickets in the batch table can be uploaded at any time. It is not necessary to complete the entire range of tickets within the batch before uploading.

Click the Batch button.

If there are errors with the batching process you will see a message like this:

At this point you can correct any errors or edit the tickets to address the problems. (In this case deleting the two tickets that have already been batched after making sure they were correctly batched previously → although it would have been better to catch this through Validating the batch first).

If there were no errors and the system successfully batched the tickets, you will receive the message:
INFO 2290: 6 fish tickets batched

For more information on this process see the documentation for the Agency Desktop. Most of the material is applicable:
ADF&G Batching and Data Processing Procedures -Salmon

View Batch Information

We can go look at one of these fish tickets and look at the batching information that was just added.

We will look for: E18 045572

Click on the Agency Button to return to the Welcome Page.

When you've returned to the Welcome Page, enter the fishticket E18 045572 into the "Search by Fish Ticket" field and click the Search button.

The system will go to the Landing Report Search Screen and enter the search criteria to find a landing report with this fish ticket number and automatically run the search. The results of the search will display in the table below the Search button.

Click on the landing Report ID listed in the search results.

Looking at the resulting report we can see the batch information has been applied to the ticket as we expected.

Error Messages

You may receive error messages when you validate a group of tickets in the batching table.

Error message 2281 indicates that this fish ticket number is not in the eLandings database. This usually means that the number has been miskeyed or the data records stored on the thumb drive have not been uploaded by the processing facility staff. First check the fish ticket number and correct, as needed.

Correction of a fish ticket number in the batching table

If the fish ticket number is correct, call the processor and request immediate upload of the thumb drive data.

Error message 2289 indicates that the fish ticket is a duplicate.

Review the ticket and make certain it is not a revision of the originally submitted fish ticket. Processors should label any revised fish ticket submitted to the Department as “Revised”. Search for the landing report within the eLandings Agency Interface application and review. If it is simply a duplicate ticket, discard the ticket(s) and replace the fish ticket number with a new number using the identical procedure as outlined above. Double click on the item that is a duplicate fish ticket and replace with a new number.

If submission of duplicate fish tickets is a continual problem, ask the processor to submit all fish ticket reports once, with the tender log attached for each offload. The tender log is a complete listing of all landings associated with the tender trip.

Summary of Auto Batching Procedures

Sort tickets, conventional and electronic.
Electronic tickets can be auto batched.
Create a batch within Zephyr for the entire group of eTickets.
Sort the tickets within this batch by harvest, period, or locale code (if needed) to increase efficiency.
If tickets present in numeric sequences, ascending or descending, you can enter a range of ticket numbers.
Enter the values that represent the code assignments for the first group of tickets.
Enter the next range of fish ticket numbers, or individual fish ticket numbers, if the fish ticket numbers are out of sequence. Press the enter key to populate the batch table.
You can validate tickets during the data processing of an individual group of tickets or at the end of the entire batch.
Correct any tickets that do not pass validation.
Once all tickets have been entered into the batching table, validated and batched the Auto Batching feature will message back that all tickets in this batch have been processed.

Delinquent Fish Tickets

Electronic fish tickets cannot be printed in the eLandings System without first being saved. In some cases, the electronic fish ticket record is stored in our eLandings database, but the signed copy of the fish ticket has not been received. It is easy to determine if the fish ticket record has not been submitted to the Department. You can run a Delinquent Fish Ticket query from the Agency Interface application or OceanAK.

Please see Queries for more information on how to run the Delinquent Fish Ticket Queries.

The Delinquent Fish Ticket query returns a CSV file that can be sorted and filtered. The areas of harvest, as well as the harvest amounts, are also displayed. Seafood processor contact information is also returned.

Please run the Delinquent Fish Ticket report at least once every two weeks during the salmon harvest season and again at the end of the season.

If an Alaska Wildlife Trooper requires a copy of an eTicket, please remind the Trooper that he/she can print a copy of the ticket from the Agency Desktop. If they need access to the eLandings Agency Desktop, the Trooper can contact elandings@alaska.gov.

You can verify that all the tickets are present in the fish ticket application, Zephyr, by running any of the batch reports, 30 minutes after you have completed the auto batching process. The fish ticket applications refreshes every 15 minutes, necessitating a brief wait.

If you have any questions related to Auto Batching, please do not hesitate to contact us at www.elandings.gov.