Invoicing lock-out
Hi all
Just hoping to get some support for a change to the ability to access an invoice while another user is invoicing. This drives me mad as our receptionist/nurses go through the check-out procedure while I am still invoicing. In case you have not experienced this, the only solution is to cancel the invoice and to start again.
Why the %$##@ would it be useful to allow one user to crash another user's invoicing party?
Re: Invoicing lock-out
This is not innately an issue with OpenVPMS but more generally with webapps.
Internet Sessions are generally not aware of what other sessions are doing. You cant change the access atleast not at the user level it would require a project.
However why is your receptionist checking out a patient that hasnt been billed. The checkout process would list the patient as IN_PROGRESS thus she should leave it alone until it flicks over to billed which would be after you hit complete in the invoicing process.
Effectively we currently use a first to hit save wins policy...ie whomever saves the edits first will win.
This is important because your receptionist might well save first and then process the payment.
As the invoice flicks across to finalized if we accepted changes someone was making somewhere else the client could be double charged. which annoys them usually.
The answer is 1. Dont hit complete then go back and edit the invoice...when you hit complete you are telling reception you have finished billing.
2. Reception staff should not touch IN PROGRESS appointments...for any reason. They need to wait until its billed then they can add products clients might have elected to buy after the appointment.
On a side not if you receptionist is rushing clients out the door finalizing payments....you gotta ask why...they are far better if sitting for 2minutes in your waiting room contemplating all the advice you just gave them and wondering if there are any more products you sell they need or want.
Re: Invoicing lock-out
To add some background to this, objects in the OpenVPMS database have a version number. This version is incremented each time an object is saved.
If you go to update an object, and its version is different to that in the database, then the save is rejected, as it means you have an old copy. This avoids the Lost update problem*
The current approach catches attempts to save old copies, and displays an error. Saves are then disabled, requiring the user to cancel the edit and restart.
This could be changed to:
1. prompt to reload the latest copy.
2. add support for locking
E.g. when a user goes to edit an invoice, they acquire a lock that prevents other users from editing the invoice, until they have released it. The lock is released by the user clicking OK, or in the case of the Visit Editor, switching tabs.
This introduces other issues that need to be addressed:
-Tim
* Lost update problem: