MEDITECH Reports

How To Set Your MEDITECH CS 5.6 Print Preferences

      To set your default printer (just like you can in Microsoft Windows): next time you print, check out the MEDITECH 5.6 Print Preferences button to the right of your screen. 

      Since my work usually involves loading vendor databases, data marts and warehouses, my default should be Download.  Maybe your default will be the printer at your desk.

 

  

MEDITECH Data Extraction: Troubleshooting Slow Running Extracts

If the extract runs at the same speed all of the time, use binary troubleshooting to divide & conquer the performance issues inherent in the code.  Assuming the extract can be run faster when restarted, rule out slowness, 1 aspect at a time:

• Can the extract be scheduled to start at another time and run quicker? Example: 2:00 a.m. instead of 12:00 a.m.  If so ... start time could be the cause.

• Reboot the machine where the extract is running.  If ... extract run time does not improve, the state of the server was not the issue.

• Run the extract from another machine.  If run time improves, look at re-installing MEDITECH client on the original machine. If performance does not improve, then try re-imaging the client machine.
  
  

How To Visualize Binary Troubleshooting

When I use a systematic method, to locate the cause of my problem, I usually don't get very far in the troubleshooting process.  Often I'll get to somewhere around steps 6 - 9 and spot the trouble. 

That's because

• I get lucky.  OR
• I know the problem domain and I can guess based on experience, where the path is leading me. OR
• My documentation of former problems and their solutions are there to remind me how I resolved similar issues.

Binary Troubleshooting or Divide & Conquer Troubleshooting

Binary Troubleshooting is a method used to solve problems.

To start: imagine your problem as a system. Divide the system into 2 equal areas & implement tests to prove the problem is not in 1 of the 2 areas.

Continue: divide the remaining piece of the system where the problem is now proven to exist, into 2 more pieces.  Implement tests to isolate the cause of the problem to just 1 of the remaining pieces. Rinse & repeat.

Stop: when you find the cause of the problem. If your problem were to consist of over 1 million possibilities, it would only take you 20 steps: to find the root cause of the problem.

This divide & conquer process comes in handy, especially when working on projects in unfamiliar terrain. 

MEDITECH Index Used by Default

The previous article did not include an actual link to the MEDITECH White Paper. 

Thank you HP for noticing!

MEDITECH NPR Default Index Behavior

Skill: Build a Meditech List of Numerics

Programmatically build a list in MEDITECH memory of numeric characters 0 through 9. 

To build this list, implement & call the following sub-routine from a MEDITECH NPR macro.

BUILD.NUMERIC.LIST
0-1^I,
DO{I<9 @Add(1,I),1^/NUMERIC.LIST[I]}

APPLIES to: MEDITECH MAGIC, MEDITECH Client Server

Trello is Task Management on Steroids!

Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what's being worked on, who's working on what, and where something is in a process.  Trello.com is live, open, free, available to the entire public. - Trello Web Site

Is it secure?  Yes, read all about it here: http://trello.com/privacy.

 

UPDATE: Meditech Document Manager Service

UPDATE:

further Restarting the Meditech Document Manager on 12/12/2011 shows restarting the service DELETES the existing file. If you have to restart the service, you'll need to close & restart your extracts.

MEDITECH Client Server - Document Manager

UPDATE: further use of this method on 12/12/2011 shows this DELETES the existing file. 

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NPR extracts on a particular server baffled me until today.  For the past week I've restarted a set of extracts on this server when they quit progressing.  Today I realized MEDITECH might be stuck trying to send data to the DOWNLOAD file. 

Rather than killing the extracts, I opted to restart the service.  Which didn't work.  That is the service was stopped, and would not restart until I checked the: Allow service to interact with desktop checkbox.

The MEDITECH client began DOWNLOADing data to the file as soon as the service started.