Frequency type calendar time

If a sample plan frequency is configured to generate future samples for a calendar time frequency, the active QM specification using this frequency generates future samples either to the end of the shift or the time specified in the future sample generation property. If no previous sample is available for an entity in this context, then a Ready sample is immediately generated if the start delay setting is 0. Otherwise, the first sample is generated after the start delay period has passed. The start delay is applicable only to calendar frequency and jobs that have started on entities that use that frequency. In that case, the first sample is delayed by the configured interval of time.

When the MES Middleware is running and changes are made to the active QM specification, the changes will take effect immediately. When a new characteristic is added to an active QM specification with a calendar frequency and an existing sample, the default behavior of the system is to immediately generate a new sample with only the newly added characteristic(s). This is done to ensure that all characteristics within a sample wait the defined calendar frequency before being generated. To override this default behavior, change the Enforce Calendar Frequency by Characteristic system parameter to FALSE so that all characteristics will be included in the next generated sample.

If a calendar frequency has no offset start value, samples are generated at the defined frequency. The reference time for the first sample is based on the time at which the MES middleware starts or when the active QM specification is saved. If the MES middleware maintenance service is offline for a time period greater than the interval time, the sample generation starts when the middleware is online again and not at the previously defined frequency. Samples that would have been generated during the period when the middleware was down will not be created.

If the offset start is configured for a frequency, the samples can be generated at a time relative to midnight (local time) of any day or midnight (local time) of that Sunday. Subsequent, samples can be timed relative to this sample time; otherwise, the sample request times are calculated as described previously.