Clock Reader Interface

The Clock XML Interface is comprised of a number of Workforce Management tasks that are run periodically by the Job Scheduler. Clock tasks are provided to:

  • Import clock transactions and status values from an external system (usually a clock server and readers).
  • Export configuration and validation data to an external system.
  • Transport the data to and from the external system using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP).
  • Archive or delete the processed records.

Overview

XML files are imported and exported between an external system and the application database using these tasks:

  • Import Reader Transaction task
  • Archive Reader Files task
  • Export Reader Directives task
  • Export Schedules to Clocks task


File transfer semaphores

Semaphore files are used to facilitate the orderly writing and reading of XML data files. When the writing of a file is complete, an empty semaphore file is created with the same name as the XML data file, but with the .smf extension. After the XML data has been processed by the reader, the semaphore file extension is changed to .don.

Data exchange

Data is transferred between the Workforce Management application and the external system by either "network shares" or the File Transport Protocol (FTP). When FTP is used, an FTP server is installed, usually at the external system. The FTP Transport tasks are scheduled to transfer transaction files from the external system to the application and export directive files from the application to the external system.