NScan response times

Hi Stefanie,

Due to a number of factors (not all the fault of NScan) we stopped scanning in the end and haven’t picked it back up as yet. We faced a number of challenges which were not related to the tech which made us park the project in spring 2016.

While we were still investigating it, we tested a different type of scanner from our MC65’s, finding one which required an Android phone on top (https://saveoscan.com/), and that did perform better than the Motorola. Although it was only by a fraction of a second in most cases this was enough to noticeably speed up processing a lengthy queue.

In troubleshooting the issue you describe of several simultaneous scans queuing up, and in addition to the elements mentioned already in the NScan forum, we made some tweaks to the SQL to try and prevent it waiting for the record to be updated before returning the result to the scanner – we had found that there’s an UPDATE event in the process and I postulated that might be holding things up so I was looking to ask it not to wait for that to reply. We parked the project before we really got to the bottom of that option.

Sorry not to be more help!

Kind regards,

Paul Thompson

IT Manager

Mayflower Theatre

Paul.Thompson@Mayflower.org.uk

DDI: 02380 711821

Mobile: 07788 283031

In 2018, our theatre’s 90^th anniversary, we will be undertaking a £3.9 million refurbishment of our Grade II Listed auditorium.  To donate and for more information please visit our website.

This e-mail (and any attachments) is confidential and may contain personal views which are not the views of the Mayflower Theatre unless specifically stated.
The contents of e-mails sent or received may have to be disclosed if a relevant request is made under current legislation, such as, but not limited to, the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000

From: N-Scan [mailto:groups-n-scan@tessituranetwork.com] On Behalf Of Stefanie Lam
Sent: 25 July 2017 07:40
To: Paul Thompson <paul.thompson@mayflower.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [N-Scan] NScan response times

Hi Paul,

I know it's been a while since you originally posted this - we've also had reports of this occurring when several tickets are scanned in succession. It may scan the first few tickets and register quickly on the scanner, but then slows down considerably and holds up customers at the entry point.

We can't seem to find any pattern with this occurring - it can happen on a quiet night  when we have one show, or a busy night where there are shows on in multiple venues and up to 20 scanners being used.

The wi-fi has been looked at and additional access points placed to boost signal, so apparently the wi-fi should not be the cause. We run Nscan on a separate wi-fi network and we are using MC40s. 

Just wondering if you ended up finding a solution to this?

Kind regards,

Stefanie 

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum, still pretty new to the role in fact, just 4 months now!

Since I started, NScan has been at the top of my to-fix list. We're using the Motorola MC65b for hardware with both Tessitura and print-at-home tickets. I've identified that we may have difficulties with our WiFi network and we're addressing that through capital investment but, even when the WiFi is up, the NScan system doesn't respond in a particularly timely manner when there are lots of tickets being scanned concurrently. Has anyone else found this? It can be fine with just one or two scanners but once we have 4 or 6 on the go it really slows down.

I've put a couple of suggestions in to the development team that we
a) separate the database 'write' elements of the code to some separate procedure and
b) ensure the stored procedure is able to be called by more than one process at a time as my diagnosis seems to suggest we're seeing queuing of requests which is leading to a considerable slowdown in processing.

So far they are still pondering these ideas so I wondered what the community's experience is please and if you have any suggestions for tweaks we could employ to speed things along?

Thanks everyone, look forward to hearing from you! 

Kind regards,

Paul Thompson

IT Manager

Mayflower Theatre

Paul.Thompson@Mayflower.org.uk

Hi Stefanie,

Due to a number of factors (not all the fault of NScan) we stopped scanning in the end and haven’t picked it back up as yet. We faced a number of challenges which were not related to the tech which made us park the project in spring 2016.

While we were still investigating it, we tested a different type of scanner from our MC65’s, finding one which required an Android phone on top (https://saveoscan.com/), and that did perform better than the Motorola. Although it was only by a fraction of a second in most cases this was enough to noticeably speed up processing a lengthy queue.

In troubleshooting the issue you describe of several simultaneous scans queuing up, and in addition to the elements mentioned already in the NScan forum, we made some tweaks to the SQL to try and prevent it waiting for the record to be updated before returning the result to the scanner – we had found that there’s an UPDATE event in the process and I postulated that might be holding things up so I was looking to ask it not to wait for that to reply. We parked the project before we really got to the bottom of that option.

Sorry not to be more help!

Kind regards,

Paul Thompson

IT Manager

Mayflower Theatre

Paul.Thompson@Mayflower.org.uk

DDI: 02380 711821

Mobile: 07788 283031

In 2018, our theatre’s 90^th anniversary, we will be undertaking a £3.9 million refurbishment of our Grade II Listed auditorium.  To donate and for more information please visit our website.

This e-mail (and any attachments) is confidential and may contain personal views which are not the views of the Mayflower Theatre unless specifically stated.
The contents of e-mails sent or received may have to be disclosed if a relevant request is made under current legislation, such as, but not limited to, the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000

From: N-Scan [mailto:groups-n-scan@tessituranetwork.com] On Behalf Of Stefanie Lam
Sent: 25 July 2017 07:40
To: Paul Thompson <paul.thompson@mayflower.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [N-Scan] NScan response times

Hi Paul,

I know it's been a while since you originally posted this - we've also had reports of this occurring when several tickets are scanned in succession. It may scan the first few tickets and register quickly on the scanner, but then slows down considerably and holds up customers at the entry point.

We can't seem to find any pattern with this occurring - it can happen on a quiet night  when we have one show, or a busy night where there are shows on in multiple venues and up to 20 scanners being used.

The wi-fi has been looked at and additional access points placed to boost signal, so apparently the wi-fi should not be the cause. We run Nscan on a separate wi-fi network and we are using MC40s. 

Just wondering if you ended up finding a solution to this?

Kind regards,

Stefanie 

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum, still pretty new to the role in fact, just 4 months now!

Since I started, NScan has been at the top of my to-fix list. We're using the Motorola MC65b for hardware with both Tessitura and print-at-home tickets. I've identified that we may have difficulties with our WiFi network and we're addressing that through capital investment but, even when the WiFi is up, the NScan system doesn't respond in a particularly timely manner when there are lots of tickets being scanned concurrently. Has anyone else found this? It can be fine with just one or two scanners but once we have 4 or 6 on the go it really slows down.

I've put a couple of suggestions in to the development team that we
a) separate the database 'write' elements of the code to some separate procedure and
b) ensure the stored procedure is able to be called by more than one process at a time as my diagnosis seems to suggest we're seeing queuing of requests which is leading to a considerable slowdown in processing.

So far they are still pondering these ideas so I wondered what the community's experience is please and if you have any suggestions for tweaks we could employ to speed things along?

Thanks everyone, look forward to hearing from you! 

Kind regards,

Paul Thompson

IT Manager

Mayflower Theatre

Paul.Thompson@Mayflower.org.uk