Setting up a workflow that processes a pull list

To extract documents from a job using a pull list, you set up a workflow that includes a step based on the SetDocPropsFromList step template. Additional steps and conditional processing (or additional workflows) are required to process both the documents extracted from the job and the documents remaining in the job.
The PullPDFSample supplied workflow resembles the PDF workflow that we are going to set up in this procedure. Before you set up your own workflow, open the PullPDFSample workflow. Examine the steps and conditional processing in the workflow as you read this procedure.
    Note:
  • If you have the AFP Support feature installed, the PullAFPSample supplied workflow shows how to extract documents from a workflow that processes AFP files.
To set up a workflow that processes a pull list:
  1. Identify data that determines whether a document is pulled.

    Examples:

    • You want to pull documents based on a list of account numbers. The account number determines whether a document is pulled.
    • You want to pull documents based on a list of postal codes. The postal code determines whether a document is pulled.
    • You want to pull documents based on a list of policy types and states. The policy type and state determine whether a document is pulled.

  2. Decide which document properties you are going to use to specify the data that the IdentifyPDFDocuments step (PDF files) or IdentifyDocuments step (AFP files) extracts from each document in the print file.
    You can use existing RICOH ProcessDirector document properties, or you can define your own custom document properties.
    Examples:
    • You can use the Doc.PullProp document property, which is supplied with all document processing features.
    • You can use one or more custom document properties, such as Doc.Custom.AccountNumber, Doc.Custom.PostalCode, Doc.Custom.PolicyType, and Doc.Custom.State.

      If the custom document properties do not already exist, you must define them.

      Note:
    • To define document properties:
      • Edit the document properties configuration file.
      • Run the docCustom utility.

        The first time that you run the utility, it creates the Custom Document Properties feature.

      • Use Feature Manager to install or update the Custom Document Properties feature.
      • If you are working with PDF files, load the updated RICOH ProcessDirector document properties to RICOH ProcessDirector Plug-in for Adobe Acrobat.
  3. Specify the data that the IdentifyPDFDocuments step (PDF files) or IdentifyDocuments step (AFP files) extracts from each document in the job:
    • If you are working with PDF files, use the Define Document Property function in RICOH ProcessDirector Plug-in for Adobe Acrobat.
    • If you are working with AFP files, use the Document Property Designer (DPD) mode of RICOH Visual Workbench.
        Note:
      • If the AFP files do not have index tags defined for the document data that you want to extract, use AFP Indexer to add the tags. AFP Indexer is installed with the AFP Support feature.
  4. Save your document property definitions in a control file for use with the IdentifyPDFDocuments step (PDF files) or IdentifyDocuments step (AFP files):
    • If you are working with PDF files, use the Save control file function in RICOH ProcessDirector Plug-in for Adobe Acrobat.
    • If you are working with AFP files, use the Save control file function in RICOH Visual Workbench.
  5. Send the control file to the RICOH ProcessDirector server in a directory that the RICOH ProcessDirector system user has access to.
  6. Log in to RICOH ProcessDirector.
  7. Click the Workflow tab.
  8. Make a copy of the workflow that you want to modify, or create a new workflow.

    In this procedure, we modify a simple workflow that processes PDF files. The workflow has these steps:

    • SetJobPropsFromTextFile
    • CountPages
    • IdentifyPDFDocuments
    • WriteDocumentsToDatabase
    • BuildPDFFromDocuments
    • UpdateDocumentsInDatabase
    • CreatePageRanges
    • PrintJobs
    • RetainCompletedJobs
    • RemoveJobs
      Note:
    • If you have the AFP Support feature installed, a simple workflow that modifies AFP files might have UseInlineFormDefinition and EnableRepositioning steps in place of the CountPages step, an IdentifyDocuments step in place of the IdentifyPDFDocuments step, and a BuildAFPFromDocuments step in place of the BuildPDFFromDocuments step.

  9. Add a step based on the SetDocPropsFromList step template to the workflow after the WriteDocumentsToDatabase step.
  10. Set values for the properties of the SetDocPropsFromList step:
    1. For the List file directory property, specify the location of the directory that contains the pull lists.
      For example: /aiw/aiw1/clientfiles/pull.
    2. For the Delimiter property, specify the delimiter used to separate values in the pull list.
      If the pull list only uses one property, you must put each value on a separate line and specify New Line as the delimiter.

      If the pull list uses two or more properties, you must put each set of values on a separate line. Specify the delimiter that you use to separate the values on each line: Tab, Semicolon, Comma, Space, or Tilde.

      Examples:
      • The pull list contains account numbers: 
        4377852A
4372341A
4400076A
4401132H
        Set the value of the Delimiter property to New Line.
      • The pull list contains policy types and states separated with commas: 
        Home,AZ
Home,CO
Auto,CO
        Set the value of the Delimiter property to Comma.
    3. For the Columns in list file property, select all the document properties that you are using to specify the data that determines whether a document is pulled.
      Examples:
      • Doc.PullProp
      • Doc.Custom.AccountNumber
      • Doc.Custom.PostalCode
      • Doc.Custom.PolicyType and Doc.Custom.State
    4. If the you are using two or more document properties to specify the data, order the document properties (from top to bottom) to match the order of the data columns in the pull list (from left to right).
      To rearrange the properties, click Image of a gray pencil on a white background., the pencil icon. In the dialog that opens, right-click each selected property and choose Move to top. After all of the selected properties are at the top of the list, click and drag them into the correct order. After rearranging the properties, click outside of the dialog to close it.
    5. For the Stop for excess columns property:
      • Select YES if you want the step to move into an error state if the pull list has more columns of data than the number of document properties specified by the Columns in list file property.

        For example, select YES if the pull list has two columns of data and the Columns in list file property specifies two document properties. You want the step to go into error if a pull list with four columns of data is placed in the list file directory.

      • Select NO if you do not want the step to move to an error state if the pull list has more columns of data than the number of document properties specified by the Columns in list file property.

        For example, select NO if the pull list has four columns of data but you are using only the first column. The Columns in list file property specifies one document property.

          Note:
        • If the pull list has excess columns, they must all be to the right of columns you are using.

      The step always moves into an error state if the pull list has fewer columns of data than the number of properties specified by the Columns in list file property.

    6. For the Document property to set property, select the document property that you want to use to specify whether a document is pulled.
      The Doc.Pull property is supplied with all document processing features. It is a convenient choice for the value of the Document property to set property. As an alternative, you can create a custom document property or use an existing document property as the value of Document property to set.
        Important:
      • If you use a document property that already contains a value for the documents in the job, RICOH ProcessDirector overwrites the original value with the new value for matching documents or the new value for other documents. Because the new value replaces the original value, make sure that you no longer need the original value.
    7. Specify values for the Value for matching documents and Value for other documents properties.
      If the document property that you specify as the value of the Document property to set property does not exist in the document properties file for the job, RICOH ProcessDirector creates a column for the document property in the file and populates the column with values specified for the Value for matching documents and Value for other documents properties.

      If the document property does exist in the document properties file, RICOH ProcessDirector changes the values for the property based on the values of the Value for matching documents and Value for other documents properties.

      Example:
      • A document properties file contains three document properties: 
        Doc.Custom.AccountNumber  Doc.Custom.PolicyType  Doc.Custom.State
144372                    Home                   CO
144372                    Auto                   CO
144372                    Business               CO
187456                    Home                   AZ
187456                    Auto                   AZ
187456                    Business               AZ
223114                    Home                   NY
223114                    Auto                   NY
223114                    Business               NY
      • A pull list contains values for the Doc.Custom.PolicyType and Doc.Custom.State document properties: 
        Home,AZ
Home,CO
Auto,CO
      • The value of the Document property to set property is Doc.Pull. The document properties file for the job does not have a column for the Doc.Pull document property.
      • The value of the Value for matching documents property is YES.
      • The value of the Value for other documents property is NO.
      • When a job enters the SetDocPropsFromList step, RICOH ProcessDirector:
        • Creates a column for Doc.Pull in the document properties file for the job.
        • Sets the value of the Doc.Pull document property to YES if the values of the document properties for a document match all the values of the document properties on the pull list.

          The value of the Doc.Pull document property is set to YES for documents containing Home policies in Arizona (AZ) and documents containing Home or Auto policies in Colorado (CO).

        • Sets the value to NO if the value of any document property for a document does not match the value of a document property on the pull list.

          The value of the Doc.Pull document property is set to NO for documents containing Auto policies in Arizona, documents containing any policy other than Home or Auto, and documents containing policies in any state except Arizona or Colorado.

        • The updated document properties file has four document properties: 
          Doc.Custom.AccountNumber  Doc.Custom.PolicyType  Doc.Custom.State  Doc.Pull
144372                    Home                   CO                YES
144372                    Auto                   CO                YES
144372                    Business               CO                NO
187456                    Home                   AZ                YES
187456                    Auto                   AZ                NO
187456                    Business               AZ                NO
223114                    Home                   NY                NO
223114                    Auto                   NY                NO
223114                    Business               NY                NO
    8. Edit the other step properties as needed.
  11. Optional: If you want jobs to wait until you receive a pull list, add a Wait step to the workflow before the SetDocPropsFromList step. Specify values for the step properties.

    Examples:

    • To wait until 6 PM, set the Wait until property to 6:00 PM. Do not specify values for the Wait for and Complete step after properties.
    • To wait four hours, set the Wait for property to 4 hours. Do not specify values for the Wait until and Complete step after properties.
    • To wait six hours or until 5 PM, whichever occurs first, set the Wait until property to 5:00 PM, the Wait for property to 6 hours, and the Complete step after property to First occurs.
    • To wait at least three hours and at least until 4 PM, whichever occurs last, set the Wait until property to 4:00 PM, the Wait for property to 3 hours, and Complete step after property to Last occurs.

  12. Add steps that process the documents after the SetDocPropsFromList step.

    For example:

    • You can add a GroupDocuments step and set the value of the Group first property to Pull document.
    • Then you can add a CreateJobsFromDocuments step and set the value of the Child workflow property to the name of the current workflow.
        Note:
      • This example uses the conditional processing in the PullPDFSample supplied workflow. As an alternative, you can set the Child workflow property to the name of another workflow and use that workflow to process the child jobs.
    • The CreateJobsFromDocuments step creates two child jobs: one for the group of documents with Pull document set to YES and another for the group of documents with Pull document set to NO.

  13. Add conditional processing for documents that are pulled and documents that remain in the job.
    For example:
    • Add conditional processing for parent and child jobs near the start of the workflow, after the SetJobPropsFromTextFile step.
      • Define a rule for the branch that receives the parent jobs:

        Job number Unlike *.*

        In our example, this branch is connected to the existing DetectInputDataStream step.

      • Add a step based on the SetDocPropsFromConditions step template.
      • Create a new branch for the child jobs, which have a decimal point in their job number, and connect the branch to the SetDocPropsFromConditions step.

        In our example, connect the SetDocPropsFromConditions step to the BuildPDFFromDocuments step, which connects to the UpdateDocumentsInDatabase step.

    • Set the properties for the SetDocPropsFromConditions step.

      In our example, the step assigns a value to a job property based on the value of the Pull document document property. The property conditions file sets the value of the Custom 1 job property (database property name Job.Info.Attr1) to Pull or Print. This example shows the contents of the property conditions file: 

      "Doc.Pull","Job.Info.Attr1"
"=YES","Pull"
"=NO","Print"

  14. Add steps that process the pulled documents.
    For example, if you are processing PDF jobs, you might add an EmailDocuments step that emails the pulled documents to someone for verification that the documents were pulled.
  15. Add steps that process the documents to be printed.

    For example, if you are processing PDF jobs, you might add CreatePageRanges and PrintJobs steps.

  16. Add conditional processing to send the child jobs to separate pull and print branches of the workflow.
    • In our example, add a connector between the UpdateDocumentsInDatabase step and the new EmailDocuments step. Add this rule to the connector: Custom 1 = Pull
    • In our example, add a connector between the UpdateDocumentsInDatabase step and the CreatePageRanges step. Add this rule to the connector: Custom 1 = Print
    When jobs are sent through the workflow and the child jobs reach the SetDocPropsFromConditions step, RICOH ProcessDirector sets the value of the Custom 1 job property:
    • For a child job with the Doc.Pull property set to Yes, the Custom 1 job property is set to Pull. The child job goes through the connector with the rule Custom 1 = Pull.
    • For a child job with the Doc.Pull property set to No, the Custom 1 job property is set to Print. The child job goes through the connector with the rule Custom 1 = Print.
  17. If you created conditional processing for parent and child jobs, send the parent and child jobs together to the RetainCompletedJobs step:
    1. Add a step based on the WaitForRelatedJobs step template to the workflow before the RetainCompletedJobs step.
    2. Connect the branch for parent jobs and the two branches for child jobs to the WaitForRelatedJobs step.
      In our example, connect these steps to the WaitForRelatedJobs step:
      • CreateJobsFromDocuments in the branch for parent jobs.
      • EmailDocuments in the branch for child jobs with documents that have been pulled.
      • PrintJobs in the branch for child jobs with documents to be printed.
    The workflow now resembles the PullPDFSample workflow with these differences:
    • PullPDFSample has DetectInputDataStream, FailWithMessage, SetDocPropsFromOriginal, CountPagesChild, AssignJobValuesPull, and AssignJobValuesPrint steps.
    • This workflow has an EmailDocuments step in place of the AssignJobValuesPull and ManualStepWithAutoRestart steps in the PullPDFSample workflow.
  18. Save the workflow.
  19. Test the workflow:
    1. Create one or more input devices to point to the workflow.
    2. Enable the workflow.
    3. Enable the input devices.
    4. Place a sample pull list in the list file directory.
    5. Submit your job to the input device.

Related information:

PDF Document Support
AFP support for documents
PullPDFSample
SetDocPropsFromList
Wait
Adding a step that makes a job wait
SetDocPropsFromConditions
Running the sample workflow for suppressing PDF documents
Updating custom document properties
Installing features using Feature Manager
Parent topic: Setting up to pull documents from a job