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EPI - Configuration

Help with EPI Configuration consists of the following topics. Select each for more information.

General​

Monitor Data from Port - Use the drop down box to select how EPI will receive the data: COM Port, File, or IP.

From COM Port - If the information is coming from a serial device, it must be between 300 baud and 19200 baud. The serial cable must be within 120 feet from the remote system, otherwise information and packets will be dropped.

From File - If the file is being sent over the network to a file, select File. The user running EPI must have FULL ACCESS to this file so that it can read, write and delete it. It is recommended for the remote system to place the file in the local roomMaster directory rather than have roomMaster go to a remote directory or location.

From IP (TCP/IP) - If the information is coming from a IP socket (network socket), select IP. IP Communication can only use TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and not UDP. On the Interface tab, specify the IP address followed by a colon (:) and then the port. Optional parameters include TimeOut value in seconds and if you wish to disable socket "KeepAlives". (127.0.0.1:1118:3:0 which is IPAddress:Port:TimeOut Value:Disable KeepAlives) If no TimeOut value is entered, the default is 2 seconds.

Posting Interval in Minutes - Enter the number of minutes that data should be posted to roomMaster. The normal setting for this is 2 minutes. If you find that you do not post many calls and the call traffic is not busy, you can increase this number. If you find calls are not being posted fast enough, you can decrease this number.

Post Using Drawer - Enter the drawer number you wish all calls to be posted under within roomMaster. You can use this so all auto-post transactions are posted under a different drawer number than the drawer regular transactions are posted under.

Save Data to File - Enter a valid file name if you want all data which passes through the serial cable to also be saved to a file. Use this feature to trace errors, but it is not recommended to run as part of normal use since it may take up unnecessary disk space.

Posting Warning in Minutes - If no call has been posted in this amount of minutes, all roomMaster workstations are notified. The normal setting for this is 240 (4 hours) and should only be set on active configurations.

Automatically Purge Post Audit - The default is to leave this box unchecked to retain an audit log of calls posted. Checking this box would purge all calls during the Dayend Close that are older than the number of days set under purge days.

Purge Days - During the night audit process, EPI will purge all records that are older than the number of days you specify here.

Do not save posted data - Check this box to not have posted calls written to the Post Audit File.

Post Zero Value Calls to Audit - If the value of the call is zero (no cost), it will never post to a roomMaster folio. If this option is checked, the call will still be recorded in the Posting Audit File. If not, the call will be rejected and not recorded anywhere.

Start Automatically - Check this if you want this profile to start automatically when the AutoPost module is started. Usually, when there is a power failure, the system will have to be restarted. This will ensure that when the AutoPost program is restarted, that the correct profiles are automatically loaded rather than to have to manually select each one to run.

Send to Printer - Select this if you want all data which passes through the serial cable to also be printed to a printer. You can keep your current printer and as data is automatically posted to the folios, you can keep a hardcopy of the data for auditing purposes.

Interface​

Field names and the availability of fields can change on the Interface tab depending on the way data is received.

Communications Port

Baud Rate/Parity/Data Bits/Stop Bits/Flow Control - Select the baud rate, parity, data bits, stop bits which your call accounting system will be sending data through the serial port. A recommended speed is 9600 baud. Your phone vendor should provide you with this information. These options will gray out if File or IP are selected in Monitor data from port on the General tab.

Flush Timer Interval - Enter the number of half-seconds the system will check to see if there is information in the communications buffer. If this value is too high, the communications buffer may overflow and data will be lost and unpredicted results may occur. If the value is too low, it may cause other applications to run slow on your system. If you find that the AutoPost module slows down the system tremendously, you may want to increase this value little by little. The recommended value for this parameter is between 2 and 4. 1=1/2 second, 2=1 second, 3=1 1/2 seconds, 4=2 seconds, and so on.

Sleep Timer - Enter a minimum number in milliseconds (500 = 1/2 second) that the EPI system should wait before it sends back an acknowledgement packet. This is needed so fast CPU's/systems do not acknowledge a packet too soon where the remote system may drop it.

Lock Communications Port - Select this option if the port should be used even if it reports an error during the initializing phase. Usually, if the port cannot be initialized, an error will be reported and the job will end. By locking the port, the communications port is still monitored, but it is not guaranteed that each system is "talking" to each other successfully. This allows other sessions to start and not be affected with an error message on the screen. The system will try and reinitialize the port every five minutes if there is an error.

Read from File

This field appears when File is selected in Monitor data from port on the General tab.

File Name - Enter the file name the data should be read from in the field or use the open folder icon to browse and select the correct folder. During the posting process, this file is read rather than the communications buffer. Use this field if your POS (Point of Sale) drops files for posting rather than sending the data through a serial interface.

Network Configuration

This field appears when IP is selected in Monitor data from port on the General tab.

Settings - Enter the address and port in the field (Example: 127.0.0.1:1118)

IPAddress:Port[:TimeOut Value][:DisableKeepAlives where 1=True 0=False]

When using IP communications, EPI will try and connect to the remote system immediately when starting up the session. If the port is invalid, you will receive a hard-error and the session will not start. If the remote system is listening on the socket (valid address and port), the EPI session will go into an IDLE state and the connection is now established. If the EPI system fails to make a connection because there is no remote system connection, the EPI system (socket) will go into a LISTENING state and wait for a connection event from the remote system. EPI will always exit the LISTENING state when it has data to send, try and make the connection, and resend data. If this fails, EPI will go back in to a LISTENING state.

If the remote system closes the socket at any point, EPI will recognize this immediately and close the socket and then attempt to open a LISTENING socket waiting for a new connection.

If the Special Formula /SECURE is used, the system will listen on the port specified, but only accept incoming traffic from the IP Address specified as well. This will create a secure connection so no other workstation (IP Address) can send data to this session.

It is important for a remote system to stay connected to EPI the entire time rather than keep closing the socket between packets to maintain efficient communication. EPI will send a heartbeat to the remote system every 30 minutes regardless of activity to ensure the socket is not closed because of inactivity by sending an ENQ (ASCII-05). The remote system can ignore this enquiry or send an ASCII (ASCII-06) to acknowledge it.

EPI will always put the socket into a BLOCKING state when establishing a connection or sending data. Blocking will default to 2 seconds to wait for a full reply from the remote system. The remote system must send the entire packet response within 2 seconds, otherwise, the packet will most likely be dropped. It is important for any remote system to go in to a BLOCKING state before sending data to make sure the remote system receives the data and processes it before receiving a response. Failure to block may cause the system to go on to the next event and data can be lost. The remote system must send an entire data packet (STX through ETX and BCC) within 2.0 seconds (plus flush timer setting), otherwise, EPI will issue a 'Time-Out waiting for ETX message'.

Note: Each TCP/IP Interface must communicate on a different port as there must be only one port designated for each interface so the correct interface configuration can link to the right remote system.

Additional Settings

Add Original Extension to Voucher - Select this option if you want the original extension number to always show on the voucher. This is for when you are using this configuration entry for call accounting. If you are using the override table and you are changing the extension number, by checking this box, the voucher will show the original extension number for auditing purposes.

Emergency/911 - When the voucher (telephone number) is equal to this value, a message window will appear showing the output received. This is usually used to show when an emergency phone call is made from a room. If this is a non-telephone interface, this field should be blank.

Message Type - The message type selection allows you to load the settings that InnQuest Software has preset for certain interfaces. In addition, you can select Standard ACK/NAK and describe the transaction frame, data elements and acknowledgements yourself. If you need help for a special system or have created a configuration file for a common interface, please contact InnQuest Software so we can load it in to our database.

Click here for additional help on bi-directional interfaces.

ACK/NAK - ACK and NAK stand for Acknowledgement and Non-acknowledgement. This is used if you want to send a reply back to the BOSS system that you have received the information from. ACK is indicating the message is received and posted, NAK if the message is unreadable and cannot be posted. Some systems will not send another message until the receiving system replies with a character indicating it has received the message successfully. Enter the ASCII code which the system is expecting back. Be sure the field is in nnn format such as ASCII 6 would be entered as 006. HEX15 should be entered as 021 since HEX15 is ASCII 21. If you are using a FILE interface, these fields should be blank.

All Enquiries, ENQ's, sent to the system will be acknowledged with an ACK when the system is up and running. You do not need to set any configuration options to enable this.

First Line Text - Each system which sends data to the EPI system is different depending on the make, model, or manufacturer. Some use a standard interface such as HOBIC. The system will handle data from any interface because you have the ability to describe how the data will be coming in. If all the data appears on one line then the first, last and detail lines should look the same to indicate all data is on one line.

If the data is a Parent/Child relationship (meaning, there is a header section, detail section and sometimes footer section), enter the text which appears on the first line. Click here for an example of a parent/child relationship data record.

Last Line Text - Enter the data which will appear on the last line of the parent/child relationship or if all records appear on one line, enter a valid character which always appears on the line.

Position - If the data will always appear in the exact same column, enter the starting position. If you want the system to scan the whole line for the text entered, you can leave the position field blank or zero.

Room Number - Enter the row, column and length (number of characters) where the room number will appear in the line of data. The room number should always appear on the first line of the parent/child relationship. If the data stream always has only one line of data, the row should be 1.

Default Room - If within a data string the room number is blank or cannot be determined, enter the default room number where the data should be posted. This is usually a "Desk Folio" which has been previously setup in roomMaster.

If the room number IS a valid room number but there is no current folio in the room, the transaction will go to the posting buffer file. The transaction will keep trying to post for each cycle. It will stay in the posting buffer file for the number of cycles specified in the Cycle Time field. Once the buffer entry has been tried the number of cycles specified, the default room will be used. If the Cycle Time field is blank, the room number will not change to the default room and continue to try each posting until it is posted successfully or you delete the entry in the buffer file.

Cycle Time - The amount of posting intervals that calls made from rooms without an active folio are unsuccessfully posted before it is posted to the default room/desk folio. (PHNE)

Detail​

Detail line text - Each text which will appear on each detail line. A detail line is where to trigger the posting event. If all the data appears on one line, enter the same text you entered for First Line Text and Last Line Text. If the information appears on multiple lines, the detail text should be the line to trigger the posting event (usually the last line), which is when all of the needed data has been read. You can press the Advanced Trapping button to "fine tune" how the system will interpret a detail line. Usually the decimal point in number fields or dashes in phone numbers should be used. You can also use slashes and colons for dates and times. See Advanced Trapping Example for more information. (If using CSV trapping, this field is based on the CSV ordinal position)

Translations

Translations are used to change the Voucher 1 (or phone number) before the voucher is used to make a match in the pricing table. You can have a maximum of 5 translations, however, when the first match is made, no other translations will execute. An example of a translation is "Change anything that starts with 12345 with 67890". The From and To values can differentiate in length. You can change 10102881 to just 1. (From: 10102881 To: 1) so if the phone number was 101028819042811800, with the previous example, the voucher would change to 19042811800.

Strip all non-numeric characters would change the voucher of 1-904-281-1800 to 19042811800.

If the special formula /CSV is used, then the Starting Position for all translations are actually the ordinal position in a CSV data stream rather than fixed format. For example, a starting position of 3 would be the third ordinal element (Duration) in a CSV datastream when it show as: 11/11/2013,09:09AM,00:01:00,8005551212 - The Length fields are ignored when using /CSV.

Transaction Information

From the data stream received from the phone system, the Row, Column Position, and Length need to be entered for the amount, duration and voucher numbers (phone number, length).

Amount - Enter the row, position, and number of characters (length) for the amount to charge for the phone call in the three fields. For length, make sure to use the maximum number of characters needed.

If no information is entered in these fields, the EPI pricing function will be activated; otherwise, the system will use the price which comes in the data stream from the phone system. Click here for information on Pricing calls using EPI.

Type - The default is Normal. If Fixed is selected, the amount will be multiplied by .01 - Only check this box if the decimal point does not appear in the data stream and you need to multiply by .01 to correct the amount. An example would be if the amount 23.56 is coming through the datastream as 0002356 and you need EPI to insert the decimal point for you. If Pulse is selected, the price is calculated against metered pulses.

Duration of Call - Enter the row, position, and number of characters (length) for the duration of the call in the three fields. Use the drop down box to select the format to read the information sent. This MUST be the same format that is sent from the phone system.

Duration format definitions

h=hour, m=Minutes, s=Seconds, x=Tenths of a minute.

Tenths of a minute is the total value times 6 divided by 60 with the modules being the number of seconds. Example: 366 would be 36.6 minutes or 36 and 10 seconds. (36:10)

hmmt is total hours, minutes and then tenths of a second. Example: 1235 would be 1 hour, 23 minutes, and 50 seconds.

mmddhhmmssmmddhhmmss is used to calculate the difference between starting and ending times. It must appear in this format and Is usually used by the NEC2000.

Minimum charge amount - Enter an amount to post for any call that has a duration greater than the Minimum duration configured.

Minimum duration in seconds - Any call that has a duration less than the number of seconds indicated will be ignored and not posted. The recommended setting is 40 seconds.

Posting​

Posting Options - An unlimited number of accounts (Debit and Credit) can be used to determine where/how to post the charge. This information is based on information that is seen in the data stream or XML (HTNG) that is being sent from the remote system.

  • Scanning Information - Enter any text that will be used to determine if this transaction will post to the designated account. If the position is 0, then an INSTRING (search entire string) match will be used. If the position is greater than zero, the text must appear at that starting location.

  • Account Information - Enter a Debit and Credit account code to use. Amounts that are >= 0 will use the Debit account and amounts < 0 will use the Credit Account. You can also add an Increase % that will apply to the final transaction being entered into roomMaster. For example, you can increase the amount by 10% by adding 10.00 as an Increase %.

Note: The system will start from the top of the list of Setup Posting Accounts until the first match is made. It is recommended that the last entry in the list be the default (catch-all) Debit and Credit account, and the Text On Line be blank. Use the Up and Down buttons to sequence the Setup Posting Accounts list so that the correct order is used to determine which accounts to use. Place the most popular ones at the top for most efficiency.

Setup Special Messages - This option can be used to track/trace any information that is sent in the transmission and log it to a file. It can also pop-up on workstations that are designated to do so. This is usually used to track WAKEUP CALL messages and EMERGENCY (911) messages.

Special Formula​

The special formula is only used in certain circumstances and should only be used when advised by your software vendor.

Click here for a list of valid special formulas

Housekeeping​

important

The Housekeeping Tab is no longer supported by InnQuest Software and is only available with in the EPI application to allow for backwards compatibility.

As data comes in to the EPI data stream, you are able to intercept certain codes which may indicate a change to the room status. An example would be if the housekeeper in a room picks up the phone and presses 999 and then hangs up. When the system see's "999" come through the data stream, instead of posting a call or a charge, it can mark the room as Vacant. Be sure to come up with a sequence which will not interfere with telephone numbers such as "411"which may be the same as dialing information. Try and make it something a guest would not key in by accident as well. A good example would be 9999 for vacant, 9998 as dirty and 9997 as unavailable. If your phone system does not handle bi-directional housekeeping messages, although this may be used in straight data streams, it is not supported nor recommended by InnQuest Software.

For more information on housekeeping codes, see Housekeeping Status Interface Codes

If a room is at an Occupied status, the room status change will not take effect.

Special​

EPI messages are messages trapped through the EPI system. These messages are usually 911 calls and wake-up call status messages. You can trap an unlimited number of messages by selecting the Special Messages tab in the EPI configuration. These messages are stored in room and chronological order.

The workstation most often used, like the main front desk or PBX workstation, should be configured to alert the front desk staff when a severe error has been encountered. Only one workstation should be designated to check for severe messages. If more than one workstation is configured, the first workstation which received the severe error message notification will display the message to the user. So, it is very important to only designate a workstation which is always on and in plain view. Any workstation, however, can access the EPI logging messages.

Override Extensions​

This screen is used to convert phone extensions to room extensions if needed. If the phone system 'knows' the extension as 7104 and the room number is 104, you need to create an override extension.

Import from Phone Extensions and Import from Data Extensions - These options pull the respective information into EPI from the room numbers located in the roomMaster setup screen. (Setup > Configuration > Reservations > Room Numbers). Only the phone extensions for guest rooms will be added. Use the steps below to add administrative extensions.

Delete all override entries - Use this option when you want to reset the phone extensions either because you have completely changed room numbers or the phone extensions coming from the phone system have changed.

Create Administrative Folios - Select this option to have Desk Folios ADMN and PHNE created in roomMaster.

Adding an Override Extension

  1. Click on Insert

  2. Enter the phone extension in Actual Phone Extension from Phone. This is the phone number the phone system is sending to EPI.

  3. Enter the room number the phone extension is configured for. This will be where charges for the phone extension will be posted. If the phone extension is for something other than a guest room, enter the Desk Folio where the charges should be posted. Most often this is for Administrative Extensions.

  4. Select the Special Posting Requirements to define whether to post to calls, post them to roomMaster, or post them to roomMaster and the Audit File.

  5. Click OK when complete.

Administrative Extensions - The override extensions also allows you to combine all administrative extensions to post to one single folio. Example: If you have administrative extensions 100 through 150, you would enter a record for each extension and enter "ADMN" for the "roomMaster Room/Desk Folio"

Special Posting Requirements

Post Calls to roomMaster and to Audit File - All items which have a value will be posted to roomMasterand the audit file if turned on.

Post Only to Audit File as Rate 3 and not to roomMaster - Usually used for Administrative Extensions where you do not want the transaction to appear anywhere in roomMaster but only in the Posting Audit File. You must setup a Rate 3 record for each pricing entry.

Disregard all Calls from this Extension - Any post (other than a Micros Restaurant Post) will be ignored and not shown in either place.