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Daily Routines
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This section gives details on activities which normally take place on a daily basis. |
4XTRA backup
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4XTRA normally takes its own backup to laser disks. However some installations like to use their existing backup mechanisms. If you use your own backup procedures you should find your site's instructions. (For details of Laser Disks see Appendix F). You may find 4XTRA disk catalogue useful. |
Rates
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4XTRA is built to accept an external rate feed, which is used to supply all 4XTRA users and tasks with the latest rates. An editor is supplied to allow manual updates. Rates are used throughout 4XTRA to re-value positions and overnight the close of business rates are used to finally value all positions, and then roll them forward for tomorrow's trading. This section explains how to change the times of the COB and Overnight batch events. |
Close of Business (COB) rates
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Near the end of each working day, a snap shot is taken of the rates file and copied to the COB file. The COB file is then automatically used to produce two reports closing Dollar Rates and closing Spot GBP rates for the day. A message is broadcast to alert users. The COB file is also used to value positions for the rest of the day and during the overnight. This event normally takes place at 17:00 hours. |
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In special circumstances, for example early closing, end of month or change of business practice, the time can be changed either for a specific day or for all future days. In case of printer problems the reports can be reproduced by selecting the Print Rates option from the Managers menu and then selecting the specific closing rates to be reported. This is an exact copy of the previous report. Normally once the close of Business Rates have been taken they cannot be re-taken as they may have been already sent to other systems. |
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Changing Close Of Business (COB) Rates event time |
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To change the Closing Rates event time for today, or for all future days: |
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1 Select Managers or Operator from the top menu bar. |
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2 Choose Operator Options. |
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3 Choose Closing Rates Time. |
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4 Enter the New COB Time hh:mm, for example 16:30. |
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5 You see the message Save as normal Closing Rates time? (Currently hh:mm) No / Yes.
Choose No if you only want to change the time for today.
Choose Yes if you need to change the COB rates event time for all future days. |
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For special procedures used at end of month and end of year see End of Month process section of this guide. |
Overnight Batch Process
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At a pre-determined time, (the end of each working day), after the COB rates have been taken and all deals have been cleared, the overnight process is run. This consolidates and reports on the day's trading and moves the dates and data ready for the start of the next day's trading. As with COB rates the time can be changed by the 4XTRA operator. |
What time will the Overnight Batch Processing start?
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The Overnight Batch Processing starts automatically at a pre-determined time if there is no manual intervention. This is normally at 18:00 hours but, check with the dealers to find out what time they usually finish dealing and what time they will actually finish dealing. (Experience will show that there is a distinct difference.) |
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If the dealers have finished dealing for the day and the COB rates snapshot has been taken, then you can either start the batch manually or let the system start the overnight process automatically. It is usually best to start the batch manually and have 4XTRA ready for the next trading day. |
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The batch will not start if any deals have been done without instructions and in this case you will need to contact the dealers responsible for the outstanding deals. Sometimes it may be necessary to delay the start time and in this case it is good practice to reschedule the overnight batch process start time to some hours ahead. When all deals are complete, you can use manual intervention to change the time again to start the batch manually. |
Rescheduling The Overnight Batch time start
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If you need to delay the start time for the overnight batch process today, or find that the current setting is not reflecting the way you now normally run, you can change the normal default start time of the overnight batch. |
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1 Select Manager or Operator from the top menu bar. |
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2 Choose Operator Options. |
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3 Choose Overnight Start Time (4XTRA close down). |
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4 Enter the new Start Time hh:mm, for example 18:00. |
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5 You see the message Save as normal Closing time? (Currently hh:mm) No / Yes.
Choose Yes to change the Closing time for today, and all future days. |
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Starting the Overnight Batch Process (Manual Intervention)
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You can start the Overnight Batch manually if you need to start the process sooner than the time you have entered as the Overnight Start Time (4XTRA close down). Before starting, check the following criteria: |
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1 All dealers have finished dealing, with all deals done that day entered into the system. (Check with the chief dealer to get the go-ahead). |
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2 Close of business rates snapshot has been taken. (Check on the monitor or on the relevant background task machine). |
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3 A print-out of the COB rates has been printed for the back office and all deal tickets have been printed or send to the back office. |
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When all the above criteria have been satisfied, to start the overnight batch process: |
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1 Select Managers or Operator from the top menu bar. |
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2 Choose Operator Options. |
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3 Choose Overnight Start Time. |
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4 Enter the current time, for example 17:55. |
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5 Choose No as you only want to change the time for today. |
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This should start the overnight batch almost immediately and leave the normal batch starting time as before. |
Printers
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4XTRA can have a number of printers, attached in a variety of ways. A laser printer can be attached to the back of the server and used to print reports. Deal Tickets are normally printed on a dedicated dot matrix printer attached to the Print Deals machine. Common problems are paper jams for which you should refer to the printer guide. Print servers can also be used to control printers and if they get confused you need to resolve this by resetting both the server and printer. |
Paper jam
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This should be resolved by using the printer guide and following the instruction. If output is lost, it can be reprinted during the on-line day. See Reprinting Deal Tickets and Reports. |
Resetting the server/printer from the file server
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You need to reset if there is no printout, or if the printout is unintelligible. The cause is usually the printer, but it could be the print server or the file server. |
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If you are having problems with the Deal Ticket printer, try interrupting the Print Deals machine, and then reboot, or switch it off and then on. On this machine you must press the <Enter> key when the message Press Enter to Continue appears. |
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If you need to reset, go to the server console and display the colon prompt screen using the <Alt><Esc> combination. Once at this screen you unload the print server software and then re-LOAD it which should re-establish the connection. |
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From the server console: |
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1 Type UNLOAD PSERVER <Enter> to take down the print server. |
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2 Type LOAD PSERVER NORD1 <Enter> to re-load it. |
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From the batch machine |
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3 Switch the printer off then on to re-establish the connection. |
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4 Halt (using Esc and then select Stop batch task) then reboot both the batch machines using <Alt><Ctrl><Del>. |
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Resetting the server/printer from a user station
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To reset the printer from a user station: |
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1 Exit 4XTRA. |
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2 Log into the server as SUPERVISOR with the appropriate password. You can then use RCONSOLE to remotely mimic the previous instructions. |
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Print queues and print jobs
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Any task in 4XTRA which produces a print out is done via a 4XTRA Print Job. There are various categories of jobs |
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INITIALISE |
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OVERNIGHT overnight report |
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SCREEN produced from a user terminal |
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TICKET Deal ticket prints |
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Each job has a network print command line associated with it ( see 4XTRA Print Jobs in the Static Programmer pull down) e.g. TICKET is J=TICKET/D/ND/NFF |
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Each print job is associated with a Server and a Print Queue which is associated with a device and mode (See NOVELL PRINTCON for job configuration) |
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Print queues can be examined, added to and jobs deleted from using the NOVELL PCONSOLE command |
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NOVELL PRINTDEF allows definition of modes in a job configuration (i.e. device and mode). |
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For further details use your NOVELL manuals. |
Reprinting Deal Tickets and Reports
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This section explains how to reprint a report or deal ticket images, for example after a paper jam. |
Today's Deal Tickets
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1From the top menu bar select Manager or Operator. |
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2 Choose Operator Options. |
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3 Choose Reprint Deal Tickets. |
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4 Select the tickets to be reprinted using the cursor keys and press <Enter> to tag. |
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5 Press <End> to get to OK and press <Enter>. |
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The tickets selected have now been flagged for reprinting and should appear on the printer shortly after the background task has recognised that they are to be reprinted. |
Historic Deal tickets
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Normally you do not need to reprint old deal tickets, as you should check that all tickets were OK before the Overnight Batch process. However, if you need to reprint past days tickets you can do so by selecting the Operator pull down and choosing View Historic Tickets. The procedure is then similar to view/print reports, i.e. select the required day and then browse the file. You can use F7 to find the pages the tickets you require are on, then exit and re-enter to select and print the pages of tickets you need. |
Reprinting or screen viewing an overnight report
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1 From the top menu bar select Managers or Operator. |
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2 Choose Operator Options. |
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3 Choose Reprint Overnight Reports then OK. |
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4 Select the required report. |
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5 Select Browse to view on the screen, or Print. |
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6 If browsing, F1 shows help.
If printing, type in the number of copies, start page and end page numbers. The defaults presented are suitable for 1 copy of all pages. |
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