Answers to questions posed by the ADVISOR Users are now available online and will be updated regularly. Whether searching for a technical answer to a current problem, tips on how to perform a specific function or tricks to minimize effort needed to carry out a task, check out BNH’s responses below. If you cannot find what you are looking for, then email your question to question@bnhexpertsoft.com:
Yes, ADVISOR can import Excel files (both xlsx and xls) as well as data in a delimited file format. In other words, ADVISOR can import data from any system including Excel, LMS or ERP that can save or export data in Excel or delimited file formats. When exporting the data, please ensure that it is setup a format that can be easily imported in ADVISOR. For example, data for each item within ADVISOR (course or instructional goal, for example) are saved in a single record (row).
xml as well as web services can also be setup to directly exchange data between ADVISOR and other systems. Both the xml import/export functions and ADVISOR web services can also be customized for each application.
When importing a dropdown field such as currency, you should specify the location of the field in the dropdown list, such as 1, rather then actual text, such as $.
When importing numbers such as salaries or fringe benefits factor, you should only specify the number (such as 50000 or 30). In other words, the number should not be formatted (such a $50,000 or 30%). ADVISOR interprets formatted numbers are as strings.
ADVISOR generates reports in two formats:
a. HTML (Master Task List, for example). These reports can be exported/imported into MS Excel or MS Word.
b. Crystal Reports (Course Executive Report, for example). These reports can be exported into Rich Text Format (RTF) and Adobe Acrobat (PDF) file formats. Organizations that own the Crystal Report 11.0 Developer Edition, can convert the Crystal Report (RPT) file into a multitude of other formats including XML.
For security purposes, after 10 failed attempts to log on to ADVISOR Enterprise within a 5-minute period, the user is prevented from accessing the system. To unlock the account, three options are provided:
a. Copy and paste the URL saved in the “access.log” file (under Advisor/log directory) in the browser and hit Return. A message indicating that account has been unlocked will be displayed. FYI, sample URL is presented below.
http://intranet/Advisor/program.admin?action=unlock&unlockid=192.168.0.103&type=address&password=11520
b. You can also setup an automatic notification to system administrator each time an individual signs on the account, an account is locked or an error message has been generated. To activate this feature, edit the “”advisor.properties” file, under /Advisor/adv/WEB-INF/classes directory as follows:
*Specify outgoing email Server (SMTP) Name after “log.smtp=smtp.xxxxx.xxxx”
*Specify administrator email after “log.email.administrator=john.smith@bnhexpertsoft.com”
c. Stop and Restart the Web Server (Tomcat, for example).[/expand]
Click on the Limits tab under the User Account node under the User Accounts Folder and modify the expiry date. If no date is specified, the user account will expire with the organization, if ADVISOR is licensed on annually.
Increase the following parameters in Oracle init.ora file. For Oracle 8i, for example, the file is located under the following path: Oracle/admin/(database_name)/pfile/. We use the following values – it may be different from system to system depending on CPU, memory, database size, etc.
large_pool_size = 55614400
shared_pool_size = 51457280
java_pool_size = 20971520
This error occurs if the JVM Heap size is not setup correctly. You can correct as follows:
Windows: Add the following line to Catalina.bat
set JAVA_OPTS=-Xms128m -Xmx256m
Unix: Add the following line to Catalina.sh
JAVA_OPTS=”-Xms128m -Xmx256m”; export JAVA_OPTS
CATALINA_OPTS=-Djava.awt.headless=true; export CATALINA_OPTS
This error occurs if the JVM Heap size is not setup correctly. You can correct as follows:
Windows: Add the following line to Catalina.bat
set JAVA_OPTS=-Xms128m -Xmx256m
Unix: Add the following line to Catalina.sh
JAVA_OPTS=”-Xms128m -Xmx256m”; export JAVA_OPTS
CATALINA_OPTS=-Djava.awt.headless=true; export CATALINA_OPTS
This error only occurs if user session was lost after login. The server side setting could cause this. You should check the following:
* Is Firewall, around the Oracle box, terminating long connections?
* Was Oracle under heavy use when the error occurred?
The following options may be implemented to resolve the problem:
a. Reconfigure Firewall to allow longer connections.
b. Add more memory to the Oracle box to speed the query.
c. Increase java_pool_size, large_pool_size, or shared_pool_size in Oracle configuration file.
By default, only 10 items are displayed on each page (screen) at a time. To view the next 10 items, click on the page #2. Page numbers are presented on the top right hand side of the screen along node title.
To display more then 10 items per page (screen), click on the Options tab, under the Preferences node under Personal folder, change the Items per Page field and click the Save button.
Two reasons may cause this to happen:
a. Template is not shared with the other user. To validate and share that Template is shared with user, click on the template that you wish to share, click on the Sharing tab, place a checkmark next to the user’s name and click Save.
b. The User may not have adequate privileges. To validate and modify User Privileges, click on the Privileges tab under the User account, place checkmarks next to appropriate fields (Browse Training Division and Manage All Course Templates, for example) and click Save.
Three reasons may cause this to happen:
a. Some Templates including Instructional Design factors, Technical Capability and Transmission Costs appear under the Import Course Templates node, which the remaining Templates appear under Import Module Templates node under the Module Analysis folder.
b. Make sure that the Template is Public. To validate or modify the Status, click on the template that you wish to view, change the Status field from Private to Public, if applicable, and click Save.
c. Make sure that the Course belongs to same Training Division under which the Template has been created. To validate or modify the Training Division, click on the course title, validate that the course is assigned to the correct Training Division under Training Division field, and click Save.
By default, only 10 items are displayed on each page (screen) at a time. To view the next 10 items, click on the page #2. Page numbers are presented on the top right hand side of the screen along node title.
To display more then 10 items per page (screen), click on the Options tab, under the Preferences node under Personal folder, change the Items per Page field and click the Save button.
This is most likely due to Browser settings – i.e., the Browser is Blocking Pop-up Windows. Since the Online Help is presented in a separate window, if the Browser is blocking pop-up windows, the Online Help will not be displayed. To resolve this issue, when you click on the Help button, the Browser will prompt you to extend the permission of displaying pop-up windows from this site. Simply grant this permission.
* Click on the Templates folder
* Click on the Search tab
* Select the Client you want to copy the Templates from
* Click Save to display a list of available Templates
* Select desired Templates and Click Save to Copy
To minimize the risk of deleting useful data by accident, ADVISOR does not permit cascade deletion. In other words, all data (i.e., courses, solutions, templates, users, etc.) related to the item should be first deleted or reassigned to another division or user, before the item can be deleted. You can click on any item in the list (course, for example) to display, reassign the Course to another Client/User or delete the Course if it is no longer needed. Once all items have been reassigned or deleted, you can try deleting the Client or User one more time.