ZFW RADAR CTLR DESCRIBED RADAR ASSOCIATE THAT FAILED TO MAKE TIMELY HDOF DURING FLT PLAN ENTRY CONFUSION.

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I WAS WORKING IN RADAR/R-HAND COMBINED POS. OJT WAS BEING CONDUCTED ON THE RADAR ASSOCIATE POS. WX FROM THE NE RAN TO THE SECTOR BOUNDARY; WITH SCATTERED CELLS IN THE SECTOR. RIC APCH CALLED WITH INFO ON A DEPARTING ACFT X. THE RADAR ASSOCIATE TRAINEE TOOK THE INFO AND SAID 'RADAR CONTACT.' BOTH THE TRAINER AND I EXPRESSED A PREFERENCE FOR A POINTOUT; GIVEN THE WX AND PROBABLE RTE OF FLT. ACFT X THEN CHKED IN; HIS CLRNC TO DEVIATE WAS CONFIRMED. WE HAD IFR FLT PLAN DATA IN THE URET BUT NO HOST FLT PLAN. A CODE WAS ACQUIRED AND CORRECTED FOR HIM; GENERATING A TENTATIVE FLT PLAN IN STORAGE. THE D-SIDE THEN ENTERED (CORRECTLY) THE 'VP' MESSAGE 3 TIMES. THE HOST APPEARED TO ACCEPT THE MESSAGES; BUT ONLY TENTATIVE FLT PLAN DATA WAS STORED IN THE HOST. THE TRAINEE THEN BEGAN TO INPUT ON FLT PLAN MESSAGE MANUALLY; BUT WAS HAVING DIFFICULTY. THE TRAINER AND I BOTH COACHED HER THROUGH IT; CORRECTING FORMAT ERRORS AS SHE TYPED. AFTER IT WAS ENTERED AND ACCEPTED; THE HOST STILL ONLY SHOWED A TENTATIVE FLT PLAN. I THEN REALIZED THE PROX OF ACFT X TO ZME AIRSPACE; AND DIRECTED THE TRAINEE TO MAKE A MANUAL HDOF. THIS WAS NOT COMPLETED BEFORE HE HAD DEVIATED ZME AIRSPACE. I WAS; AT THAT TIME; UNAWARE OF THE DEV; HAVING TURNED MY ATTN TO MY OTHER (FEW) ACFT AFTER DIRECTING THE RADAR ASSOCIATE TO MAKE THE HDOF.