COM Context Properties

Once COM has been installed, the appropriate COM context properties must be defined to allow it to receive customer feedback and record the actions taken to resolve the feedback.

These tasks are typically completed by your Trapeze representative at the time of installation; however, you may need to alter settings or acquire additional modules and extensions from time to time.

The following table explains the settings for COM-specific context properties:

Table 1. COM Context Properties
Property Description
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Default Directory for Attachments Path to default directory for saving subject attachments in COM.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Days to keep sent e-mail notifications Number of days the system keeps the copies of the sent notifications in the log.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Default Client Business Address Abbr (For PASS-related feedback) The abbreviation typed (for example, CB or CW) is used to generate the business address of a client from the Address table to be populated in the COM Representative and COM Investigator screens.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Default Client Home Address Abbr (For PASS-related feedback) The abbreviation typed (CH) is used to generate the home address of a client from the Address table to be populated in the COM Representative and COM Investigator screens.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Include all days when calculate target date A target date is the date by which feedback must be resolved. The start date is the date at which the feedback is typed into the system and the number of turnaround days is determined by the priority it is given. See Feedback Priorities for more information.

If selected, all days including Saturday and Sunday and holidays are counted by the system when calculating a target date, that is all calendar days are used. When set to No, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays are excluded from the count, that is, only business days are used.

COM > Customers Feedback settings > Default Investigation Tool

Select for either OPS (Fixed Route) or PASS (Demand Response) as the Investigator tool by default.

COM > Customers Feedback settings > Investigation Margin Determines the search window used when investigating an incident in the Investigation Tool. For example, the Incident start time is 12:45 and the incident end time is 13:30. This property is set at 10 min. Thus, the Investigation Tool searches for driver events recorded from 12:35 to 13:40. If no incident end time is specified, the window applies to the start time only - the From Time is 12:35 and the To Time is 12:55. The maximum value is one hour.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Use StreetNo instead of StreetNum If selected, the system displays “Street No” instead of “Street Num”.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Auto Refresh Interval Amount of time after which the system refreshes the List view in the COM Investigator screen. After the specified time, you can view new feedback after it has been typed.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Process Idle Time Amount of time that the application is not in use after which the connection is ended.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Web Communication Mode Communication mode that you wish to associate with feedback received through the Web. For example, if you type “E-mail”, which you created as a type of Communication Mode ancillary data, all feedback that is an “E-mail” is identified as being in Web Communication Mode.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Scheduled Form Letter Print Week Template Date for batch printing of form letters in MTWTFSS format.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Scheduled Form Letter Print Time Time for batch printing of form letters.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Default Form Letter Template Specific drive on the server (no UNC path/mapped drive) to template file for default form letter. (Universal/Uniform Naming Convention (UNC) path describes the location of a volume, directory, or file, that is, \\server\volume\directory\file.)
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Temporary Folder Path to the folder where the temporary files generated by COM are located.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Screen Reader User Group User group that requires a third party screen reader, for example, JAWS for the visually impaired. (This was previously known as Window Eyes User Group.)
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Spooling Form Letter Max Attempt Number of retries that batch print jobs will attempt before stopping.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Extra COM Data Description Path to COMExtraFields.xml file. The extra definition file should use a specific format. The following example shows ProviderId. as the Trigger:
<Field> <Name>ProviderName</Name>
<Source>PASS</Source> 
<Trigger>ProviderId</Trigger> 
<Query>Select ProviderName From Providers Where ProviderId=@@ProviderId@@</Query>
</Field>
Table 2. Attributes for Field
Attribute Description
Name Is displayed in the Screen Information screen or the email setting file.
Source Optional and refers to the source of the data, which can be FX, PASS, OPS. If it is blank or missing, the source of the COM data is used.
Trigger Optional and refers to the screen fields (can be more than one separated by a comma), which triggers the extra field that is updated when it is changed manually. If it is blank or missing, the extra field is updated when the ticket is saved. Query is used to retrieve the data required.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Automatic Close Current Action When Forwarding Action If selected, COM closes an action without prompting you when forwarding an action.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Convert Customer Information
To make searching easy, customer information can be converted when typed. The options are:
  • No Convert
  • To Upper Case
  • To Lower Case

COM > Customers Feedback settings > Use PDF Document as FormLetter Template If selected, the form letter in Portable Document Format (PDF) is used when merging. Make sure that Adobe Acrobat version 7 or a higher version is installed if property is selected.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Use Word document as FormLetter Template If selected, the form letter in Microsoft Word is used when merging. Make sure that the Microsoft Word 2003 or a higher version is installed if property is selected.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Tab Width in Comment Fields Number of spaces to replace the tab character.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > RunID Field

This is used when the OPS Lookup is set to the Trapeze BD system. This allows you to set the BD field that will be used as the Run ID field within COM.

Another option in the Value dropdown list is Piecemeal, which enables the system to fill in the Run ID field with the Piecename field.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Automatically set Chargeable and Valid options only when the last Action Type is changed. If selected, the Charge Recommended and/or Valid checkboxes are automatically marked on the Subject pane of the CS Investigator screen if the last Investigation Action Type selected was set with either or both options, that is, the Charge Recommended and/or Valid checkboxes were marked when the action type was created or edited.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Check Spelling when saving feedback If selected, COM automatically runs the spell check feature before saving feedback. If not selected, the system checks the spelling after the user modifies the data in the field.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Default Agency If selected, the path to the user application data folder, (C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Trapeze\Core3\COM\lex\USERNAME) is automatically to the user dictionary set as the default. This is not user changeable.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Always Show a Message After Checking Spelling If not selected, the path to the user application data folder, is automatically set to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Trapeze\Core3\COM\lex\. This is user changeable, which means that you can change the dictionary applied to the spell check.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Update Action Division and Department when they are changed in Subject

If selected, when you edit the division and department data that you had initially typed in the COM Representative screen, the changes are saved. The changes are also applied in the division and department fields in the Actions pane of the COM Investigator screen. If not selected, you are unable to edit the division and department fields that were assigned when the feedback was created.

If the division and department of the subject are the same as the division and department associated with the action, the action data is not updated. If you modify the division and/or department of a subject, but the action is inactive, you are prompted to choose to reactivate the action and have the data synchronized, that is, same division and department or leave the action inactive and not have the data synchronized.

COM > Customers Feedback settings > Load all customers when the search criteria is empty If selected, the system does not return any search result. The Customers pane is empty when searching for registered users. You must type some data in the search fields.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Email Communication Mode Set the communication mode: email, letter, or phone, through which your site will respond to client feedback.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Use signup and line information to populate division If selected, when the sign-up period and line have been selected, the appropriate division is used.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Division Groups for Schedule Division group responsible for transit day-to-day operations, for example, scheduling trips, assigning drivers.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Division Groups for Investigation Division group responsible for responding to feedback, for example, acknowledging complaints, resolving issues.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Bus Division Groups Division group based on the bus transportation mode.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Rail Division Groups Division group based on the rail transportation mode
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Allow multiple subjects in a feedback If selected, you can add more than one subject to a feedback record. The Add New Subject, Previous Subject, and Next Subject buttons are enabled in the screen toolbar. If not selected, you can only add one subject to a record.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Use ReportGroup instead of FeedbackSubtype on the F3 context window If selected, the Report Group field is displayed instead of the Sub Type field in the Context dialog. This is applied if you prefer to filter feedback by report groups instead of feedback subtypes.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Display FeedbackSubtype Choose how the feedback subtype name is displayed: Abbreviation or Description (full name).
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Maximum items returned on ComRepresentative context screen Maximum number of records that are returned when searching for feedback. Set to 100 by default.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > AlwaysUpdateActionDate AndTimeOnSave If selected, when you click Save on the COM Representative or the COM Investigator screen, the date and time stamps of the action associated with the current feedback are updated. If not selected, the date and time stamps are only updated when the action has been modified. By default, it is activated.
Note: In the COM Investigator screen, the action is not updated if the Subject is closed regardless of the setting.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Use Transportation Mode and Transport Type from Line If selected, the Transportation Mode and Transport Type fields are automatically filled with data from the selected line for a feedback record.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Allow updating registered users information from COM screen If selected, when users make changes to a user record in the COM Investigator screen, the changes are saved in both the ComFeedBack and Registered Users tables.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Filter out line list by division If selected, only the lines associated with the selected division are shown in the schedule lookup.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Always select default division and department for feedback type and subtype

If selected, the division and department are restored to the default for the feedback type and subtype when the employee and vehicle data is changed.

COM > Customers Feedback settings > Allow user to preview media file in attachment window If selected, users can preview the attached media file through Windows Media Player. (Windows Media Player must be available in your workstation. If the media file is large, a file sharing violation might occur.)
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Allow user to view all actions when using action related search criteria If selected, the investigator assigned to perform an Action is able to view all actions related to the selected feedback including those performed by others. If not selected, the investigator is only able to view the actions he or she has performed.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Update division drop down choice list when department is changed If selected, when users select another department, the Division field shows the divisions associated with the department. If not selected, the Division field shows all divisions.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Save feedback after link or unlink OPS incident If selected, the feedback record is saved after you link or unlink an OPS Incident report.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Preset incident date as today on COM Representative F3 search If selected, the Incident date is pre-set to the current date. If not selected, the Incident date is blank.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Decode MS Word Special Characters If selected, Microsoft Word special characters are decoded. For example, the en dash ( – ) is decoded to a hyphen ( − ).
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Remove Tab characters when display data in grid If selected, Tab characters are replaced by a number of spaces. The number of spaces is determined by the context property, COM/Customers Feedback Settings/Tab Width in Comment Fields.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Default phone number length

This controls the display of phone numbers in COM with the default value set to 10. If the raw phone number is shorter than the value set, spaces will be added at the beginning of the phone number to match the input mask.

COM > Customers Feedback settings > Default extension number length

This works with the context property, COM/Customers Feedback settings/Default phone number length. The values set in these context properties should match the length of the input mask set in the Screen Information. For example, if the input mask is (###) ### - #### (####), the length of the phone number should be 10 and the extension length should be 4. If the phone number is shorter than the required length, spaces will be added at the beginning.

If the extension number is shorter than the required length, spaces will be added to the end. If either one of them is longer than the required length, it will be truncated.

COM > Customers Feedback settings > Automatic Populate > Customer Fields If selected, when you add another subject to a feedback record from a client, some of his or her data is automatically added to the input fields, that is, you do not have to retype the same data. If not selected, you must retype the client information for each subject record.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > Automatic Populate > Incident Date If selected, the Incident Date field is automatically filled in with the current date. If not selected, the field is blank and you can type in the date of the incident which may not necessarily be the current date.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > SchTime auto populate fields > Block

If selected, applies to BlockId, BlockNum, and BlockName.

If not selected, the fields associated with the property are not automatically filled in when the SchTime field is updated.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > SchTime auto populate fields > Employee If selected, the EmployeeId, BadgeNum, EmployeeDetail, and EmployeeInfo fields are automatically filled in when the Schedule (Sch) Time is modified. It is selected by Default.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > SchTime auto populate fields > Run If selected, the RunId, RunNum, and RunDetails fields are automatically filled in when the Schedule (Sch) Time is modified. It is selected by Default.
COM > Customers Feedback settings > SchTime auto populate fields > Vehicle If selected, the VehicleId, VehicleNumber, VehicleDescription, and VehicleInfo fields are automatically filled in when the Schedule (Sch) Time is modified. It is selected by Default.

To prevent the Vehicle Number field from being cleared when other fields such as the Stop or SchTime fields are updated, this property should not be selected.

COM > Fast Find > Client > Delay Time in milliseconds between the time the user stops typing data and the fast find feature fetching results.
COM > Fast Find > Client > Max Items Maximum number of items returned by Fast Find.
COM > Fast Find > Client > Options > Client Code > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the client code that the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Client > Options > Client First Name > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the client first name that the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Client > Options > Client Id > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the client ID that the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Client > Options > Client Last Name > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the client last name that the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Client > Options > Client Medicaid Number > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the client Medicaid that the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Client > Options > Client Phone Number > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the client phone number that the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Client > Options > Client SSN > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the client SSN that the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Customer > Delay Set the time in milliseconds between the time the user stops typing data and the fast find feature fetching results.
COM > Fast Find > Customer > Max Items Maximum number of items that the system returns.
COM > Fast Find > Customer > Options > Customer Email > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the customer's email address that the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Customer > Options > Customer First Name > Use Exact Match

If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the customer's first name that the user typed.

COM > Fast Find > Customer > Customer > Options > Customer Last Name > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the customer's last name that the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Customer > Options > Customer Phone Number > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the customer's phone number that the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Customer > Options > Registered User Id > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the registered user ID that the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Employee > Delay Set the time in milliseconds between the time the user stops typing data and the fast find feature fetching results.
COM > Fast Find > Employee > Max Items Set the maximum number of items that the system returns.
COM > Fast Find > Employee > Source Set where Fast Find or the Investigation Tool uses the employee information from Trapeze OPS or PASS.
COM > Fast Find > Employee > Options > Employee Badge Number > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the Employee Badge Number that the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Employee > Options > Employee Code > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find to return the exact match to the employee code the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Employee > Options > Employee Driver License > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the employee driver license the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Employee > Options > Employee First Name > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the employee first name the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Employee > Options > Employee Id > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the employee ID the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Employee > Options > Employee Last Name > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the employee last name the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Employee > Options > Employee Phone Number > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the employee phone number the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Employee > Options > Employee SSN > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the employee SSN the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Location > Delay Time in milliseconds between the time the user stops typing data and the Fast find feature fetches results.
COM > Fast Find > Location > Max Items Maximum number of Location items returned by Fast Find.
COM > Fast Find > Stop > Max items Maximum number of stops that Fast Find returns. If set to 0, all matched stops are returned.
COM > Fast Find > Stop > Delay Waiting time in milliseconds for Fast Find to allow you to input more information before calling the service to get results.
COM > Fast Find > Stop > Options > Stop Abbr > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find matches the whole Stop abbreviation. If not selected, Fast Find returns all stops with the Stop abbr that match the first characters of the search text.
COM > Fast Find > Stop > Options > Stop Id > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find matches the whole Stop ID. If not selected, Fast Find returns all stops with Stop IDs that are greater than the search text.
COM > Fast Find > Stop > Options > Stop Name > Use Exact Match

If selected, Fast Find matches the whole Stop name. If not selected, Fast Find returns all stops with Stop names that start with the search text. If the search uses % as a wild card value, this setting is ignored.

COM > Fast Find > Vehicle > Delay Time in milliseconds between the time the user stops typing data and the Fast Find feature fetches results.
COM > Fast Find > Vehicle > Max Items Maximum number of Vehicle items returned by Fast Find.
COM > Fast Find > Vehicle > Source Sets whether the vehicle information should be pulled from the OPS system or the PASS system.
COM > Fast Find > Vehicle > Options > Vehicle Id > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the vehicle ID that the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Vehicle > Options > Vehicle License > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the vehicle license that the user typed.
COM > Fast Find > Vehicle > Options > Vehicle Number > Use Exact Match If selected, Fast Find returns the exact match to the vehicle number that the user typed.
COM > Launch Report > Parameters Parameters to display the Trapeze report automatically when clicking the Run Report icon. For example, the parameters required to auto launch the COM Customer Service report is:

Formfeedback Id:FeedbackId;FeedbackIds:;Number of Blank Forms (0-99):0.

COM > Launch Report > Path Path of the report (trc file) that is launched when you use the Run Report feature is used.
COM > Map > Data Source Name Data source name for the map that you use with COM.
COM > Map > Login Login name to connect to the data source.
COM > Map > Password Password to connect to the data source.
COM > Schedule Data > System Schedule data system to be used with COM. The options are:
  • Trapeze OPS
  • BD
  • Com Daily Operations
  • TransitMaster
  • Trapeze FX
COM > Schedule Data > Data Source Name Data source name for the schedule database that you use with COM.
COM > Schedule Data > Login Login name to connect to data source with schedule data.
COM > Schedule Data > Password Password to connect to the data source with schedule data.
COM > Schedule Data > Line Direction Factor Factor used to generate LineDirId from LineId and DirId. The formula is LineDirid = LineId*Factor+DirId. The default is 10.
COM > Schedule Data > Line Stop Order Determines the order that stops are displayed in the LineStop list. The options are:
  • StopSequence
  • StopAbbr
  • StopName
COM > Schedule Data > Service Group Order
Determines the order that Service Groups are displayed in the list. The options are:
  • ServiceGroupId
  • ServiceGroupAbbr
  • ServiceGroupName
COM > Schedule Data > Data Cache > Number Of Days Look Back

The system loads the schedule data from the current date back to the number of the days set. This includes data from all sign-up periods within

the date period covered.

An additional switch was also added to support this: COM > Cache > Log > Enable - If selected, the log information is added in the Cdblog.

The cache is loaded after the Service Shell has been started and reloaded based on the following context properties:
  • COM > Schedule Data > Data Cache > Refreshing time
  • COM > Schedule Data > Data Cache > Refreshing weekday template
COM > Data Cache > Refreshing time Time when the server refreshes the data cache. The time format can be in any of the following 24-hour time formats:
  • HH
  • HH:MM
  • HH:MM:SS
  • The default is HH:MM
COM > Schedule Data > Data Cache > Refreshing weekday template

Day of the week when the server refreshes the data cache. The default is 1000000

COM > Schedule Data > Historical > Enable

If selected, the schedule data used prior to the system upgrade is made available. This allows you to access the records of incidents that occurred prior to the system upgrade or that are in the previous system.

The Historical properties are used when COM is used with Trapeze OPS.

COM > Schedule Data > Historical > System Upgrade Date Date on which the schedule data system was upgraded.
COM > Schedule Data > Historical > System FX or OPS system to be used with COM.
COM > Schedule Data > Historical > Data Source Name Data source name to be used in the session.
COM > Schedule Data > Historical > Login Login Name
COM > Schedule Data > Historical > Password Login Password
COM > Schedule Data > Historical > Line Direction Factor Factor used to generate LineDirId from LineId and DirId. The formula is LinedirId = LineId*Factor+DirId.
COM > Schedule Data > Historical > Line Stop Order Order that the stops are displayed in the LineStop dropdown list.
COM > Schedule Data > Historical > Data Cache > Refreshing time Time that the server should wake up to refresh the data cache. This can be in any of the following 24-hour time formats: HH, HH:MM, HH:MM:SS.
COM > Schedule Data > Historical > Data Cache > Refreshing weekday template Day of the week when the server refreshes the data cache. The default is 1000000.
COM > UI > Action List > Column Selection If selected, you can select columns in the Action List view.
COM > UI > Feedback List > Column Selection If selected, you can select columns in the Feedback List view.
COM > UI > Subject List > Column Selection If selected, you can select columns in the Subject List view.