8.2 Queue

8.2 Queue

Accessed via the Workbench menu -> Agent Management -> Distribution Manager -> Queue

Whenever demands or credit control letters are produced they will be sent to the Distribution Manager queue.
By default, when you go to the Queue you will be shown all documents that you have produced and are waiting to be distributed. (At any time you can alter the filters to view documents that have been raised for a specific batch, block, unit, person, etc.)

Each document in the queue will have a Default Distribution preference:
  • Print PDF - This is used to merge all selected documents into a single pdf file which can then be printed locally. Once selected the message "Do you want to mark as printed ?" will appear. If the documents have been printed successfully then you should select 'Yes' in which case the documents will be moved from the Queue to the History tab. If the documents have not been printed then you should select 'No' and the documents will be left in the Queue.
  • Desktop Mailing - This preference is used to print the documents via Blocks Online's Desktop Mailing service. Once selected, documents will be moved to the Desktop Mailing tab.
  • Email - Once selected and emailed, records will be moved to the History tab and an audit is stamped on the Email Audit tab. 
If you select 'Change'. then it will allow you to switch from 'Print PDF' to 'Desktop Mailing' and vice versa, providing that you have Desktop Mailing activated. 
It will also allow you to switch from Email to either PDF or Desktop Mailing (providing you have this activated)
The 'Change' button does not allow you to change the records from PDF to Email (This is because of how the records are created)
You can de-select any document that is displayed on the screen by ticking the box on the left of each row.
If the PDF could not be produced for the demand/credit control letters, then the checkbox will not be available and you will need to re-produce the demands/credit control letters.
If you do not wish to print / email any document that is in the Queue then the 'Do not Distribute' option will move the document to the History tab with a status of Cancelled.

If you have the credit control module and you have created a case against a unit (or multiple units) with a legal case status (anything that doesn't start with CC) then a red warning is displayed in the queue. This allows you to make sure that you do not send any correspondence out to the units that have a legal case. 

 If you hover over the warning, a message is displayed as "NOTE: There is a legal case for this Unit with status: xxxx" the xxxx is replaced by the legal status. 
If you have produced demands and they appear with the PDF option but you wish for them to be emailed, you will have to change leaseholder preferences under the Portal menu. 
Delete the produced demands (via the Delete Fee Collection screen) and re-produce them in the block area again.  
You can not merge/print PDF's which amount to more than 300MB in one go to prevent a timeout error. This is due to the way the PDF's are merged and resources required to cope with a large volume. 
300MB however should be more than sufficient even for larger blocks and multiple batches. 
You will be prompted with a warning if this happens in the Queue tab and it will look like this: 

We do provide an additional module called Desktop Mailing where we use a third party company called DocMail which prints and sends out your letters/demands for you that will save you a vast amount of time. 
If you would like to have this additional module which will come at a cost, then please contact our support team via email: support@blocksonline.co.uk
In the History tab, you will have a similar warning. 
We advise that you print them in batches. 
If you select a PDF record and you wish to email it, then you are unable to do so as the record was not created with an email address and can't be sent.
If you select an Email record and click Print PDF, then you will not be able to do so unless you click on Change and convert the email record to a PDF record (You can not do this unfortunately for a PDF to an Email)


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