Dispatcher Stratus Connector

4 minute read Last updated on June 27, 2024

Dispatcher Stratus Connector icon

The Dispatcher Stratus Connector allows your Dispatcher Phoenix installation to distribute documents and data to Dispatcher Stratus and an associated Collect from Dispatcher Phoenix node. This allows you to combine the powerful document processing capabilities of Dispatcher Phoenix with the people-based workflow capabilities of Dispatcher Stratus.

Note: To use the Dispatcher Stratus Connector , you must have a configured Dispatcher Stratus tenant (http://dispatcherstratus.com/).

To open the Dispatcher Stratus Connector node’s configuration window, drag and drop the node onto your workflow canvas and double-click on it.

Adding Your Dispatcher Stratus Account

To utilize the Dispatcher Stratus Connector, the user must first add the Dispatcher Stratus tenant to Dispatcher Phoenix Web. For more information, see the Dispatcher Phoenix Web Accounts page.

Configuring the Dispatcher Stratus Connector

Dispatcher Stratus Connector

  • Enabled - To enable this node in the current workflow, ensure the Enabled box is checked. By default, nodes are enabled upon creation. If you disable the node, the workflow will ignore it. While the workflow will still validate if there is at least one enabled distribution node, documents will not be output by this node and may be lost. Note that a disabled node does not check for logic or error conditions.

  • Node Name - The node name defaults to this field. This name appears in the workflow below the node icon. Use this field to specify a meaningful name for the node that indicates its use in the workflow.

  • Node Description - Enter an optional description for this node. A description can help you remember the purpose of the node in the workflow or distinguish nodes from each other. If the description is long, you can hover the mouse over the field to read its entire contents.

Buttons

  • Metadata - To access the Metadata Browser window, click this button.
  • Help - To access Dispatcher Phoenix Online Help, click this button.
  • Cancel - To exit the window without saving any changes, click this button.
  • Save - To preserve your node configuration and exit the window, click this button.

Connecting to Dispatcher Stratus

To connect to Dispatcher Stratus, do the following:

  1. In the Connection area, select a Dispatcher Stratus account and tenant from the dropdown.

Select your Dispatcher Stratus Account

Note: If you have not already set up a Dispatcher Stratus account through Dispatcher Phoenix Web, you must do this before it will appear in the dropdown.

To modify the default Connection Timeout (the seconds allotted for the time without communication, after initial connection to the server, before a timeout occurs), enter a value in the Connection Timeout field.

Application Setup

To configure the Dispatcher Stratus Connector , do the following:

  1. In the Workflow Name area, select the name of the workflow you would like to send documents and data to.

    Note: The Dispatcher Stratus Connector will only display workflows that have a “Collect from Dispatcher Phoenix” node.

  2. After selecting the workflow name, all the available “Collect from Dispatcher Phoenix” nodes available in that workflow will appear below. Select the one you would like associated with this Dispatcher Stratus In node.

    Dispatcher Stratus Connector Selection

  3. Select the Save button to keep your configuration.

Using a Workflow ID and Node ID

The node can also be configured to automatically select a workflow and node using metadata. Do the following:

  1. Enter a metadata key that you would expect to result in a Workflow ID in the Workflow ID field.

  2. Enter a metadata key that you would expect to result in a Node ID in the Node ID field.

Important! These fields only accept metadata. If you attempt to manually enter a Workflow ID and Node ID, the fields will automatically clear themselves when the workflow is saved.

  1. Select the Save button.

Search Workflows

To aid in finding the correct workflow, you can search for it using the Search Workflows field at the top of the node configuration window.

Using the Dispatcher Stratus Connector

When the Dispatcher Stratus Connector processes a document, it attempts to connect to the selected “Collect from Dispatcher Phoenix” node and workflow. If the workflow is not running or the node is not available for some reason, the Dispatcher Stratus Connector will produce an error and send the processed document to any configured error nodes.

Documents are sent to Dispatcher Stratus once only, meaning they are not saved in a queue to be picked up later.

Metadata

The Dispatcher Stratus Connector node does not produce any metadata of its own. However it does pass along any metadata it recieves from the rest of the Dispatcher Phoenix workflow. This metadata can be used in Dispatcher Stratus by any node that can use metadata, but is not available in the Metadata Browser.

Important! Any metadata that passes through the Dispatcher Stratus Connector node is available in Dispatcher Stratus, but must be entered manually.

Metadata Format

Metadata that contains a page number is in the following format:

{file:<META_GROUP>["<META_NAME>"][<PAGE_NUMBER - 1>].value}

Metadata that does not contain a page number is in the following format:

{file:<META_GROUP>.<META_NAME>}