"Delta" on Last Recieve Alerts….

Maybe someone on Clovertech or at Healthvision can help with this.   We are having issues (debate, call it what you will) with whether or not to use “delta” on the last recieve alerts.   This issue was sent to Healthvision support and this is the response we recieved:

“We don’t have much information here in Support regarding this Delta function other that, it’s NOT needed.  Make sure it is UNCHECKED.  Sorry, I’ve even asked colleagues of mine who have been here for many years, this is as much information as we have.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking Healthvision support here.  I’m simply trying to get some answers.  Why is delta even offered if it isn’t needed?  It seems to me it must serve some purpose.

Here is my take on the whole thing and someone PLEASE PLEASE correct me if I’m wrong:

We have our last receive alerts set up to execute a script that will bounce the thread.   It is my understanding that without the delta checked, the time used for comparison of the last recieve time is reset when the thread is bounced.  (If the last message received is at 3:00pm and the alert triggered after 3 hours at 6:00pm, then when the thread is bounced the last message recieve time for that alert is lost meaning we won’t get further alerts if the situation persists).

It is also my understanding that with the delta checked, the time used for comparison of the last recieve time is held when the thread is bounced.  (If the last message recieved is at 3:00pm and the alert triggered after 3 hours at 6:00pm, then when the thread is bounced, we will continue to get alerts based on the duration that is set in the alert configuration.).

I may have all, part, or none of this right.   I need help in identifying just how these alerts should be set up and set up correctly so that we don’t miss alerts that should be firing when they aren’t.

Thanks for any input…

Tom Rioux