infoware Services Launched! INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Transcription

1 SatChat Official Client Newsletter of Satisfaction Software Satisfaction Software Pty Ltd A.B.N Unit 4/193 Hedley Avenue, Hendra Qld Ph: (07) Fax: (07) infoware Services Launched! Satisfaction Software is proud to release the launch of our new infoware Services. Launched in November 2003, infoware Services is focused on offering the full range of infoware products and services (a combination of both our powerful infoware accounting software and browser interface, and some help desk support) for a known monthly fee. infoware Services is provided via a Virtual Private Network (VPN) across the Internet connecting each client to a server managed by Satisfaction Software (initially in our office, but in the future could be off-site). Each infoware Services client accesses, via a secure login, their designated area. Connection is via faster Telco options such as ADSL. With the removal of a server for each client, initial capital and setup costs are greatly reduced or even eliminated. With multiple clients on a single server, support costs are then decreased, further adding to the cost benefit of this model. This initial focus is on SME s (small to medium enterprises), typically 1-3 infoware users, who have traditionally found infoware (and other more advanced business solutions) too expensive in the past. infoware Services puts in place the ability to have transaction based usage schemes to provide a cost efficient scale of fees. This initial offering is focused on businesses that require our infoware accounting and browser software only, specifically focused on the cleaning and other contract labour orientated industries. At this stage, connection of other devices, such as Radio Frequency, GPS/GPRS links etc. will not be a part of infoware Services but will be reviewed in the future. Traditionally more advanced products such as infoware require the initial capital cost and infrastructure for a server. Using the Application Service Provider (ASP) model, with the elimination of server costs, changes the delivery of infoware. ASPs such as infoware Services challenges the whole IT industry within the next 2-3 years, every IT supplier will question their business model, their role and even their relationship with their client. While many IT vendors are thinking about this, Satisfaction Software through infoware Services is doing this now. In many ways, we have reverted back 20 years to the concept of a computer bureau. The differences are fast, cheap data communication, fast reliable servers and infoware s quick and reliable processing which makes this possible now from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. says managing director Daryl Northfield. INSIDE THIS ISSUE Moreton Island Ferries on the Web Page 3 Footy Winners Page 7 Daryl s Desk Page 5 Xmas Office Hours Page 8

2 SatChat Summer 2003 Page 2 of 8 The only requirements for a user are a PC, a fast link such as ADSL (this may be additional for some clients, but is already in existence in many businesses) and possibly changed IP addresses on their existing network to conform to infoware Service s VPN structure. Once these are in place, they are ready to go! No server installation or configuration. Logins are created, staff are trained in training courses and are ready to roll out the applications! With infoware Services, Satisfaction Software will even set up some master files to minimise implementation times and also help in the consistency of support. infoware Services includes a default Chart of Accounts clients can also use their own if they wish. For the cleaning industry, payroll awards that conform to the BSCAA certified agreement at the time of installation are provided. This will quickly expedite the time that new clients go from installation to up-andrunning. We have also set up pre-defined data imports for Debtors, Creditors, and Payroll Master Files to help with the implementation and fast track the familiarity of a new system. We will make this service available to existing smaller network Satisfaction Software clients from the second quarter next year. This will be attractive for clients who are looking at replacing their existing server, especially those smaller business who also require either infoware browser applications (either Intranet or Internet) or generation but cannot justify the additional cost of an Internet server and associated infrastructure. There is the shared benefit for all existing clients in that Satisfaction Software will start running regular scheduled training courses on various infoware modules, initially Payroll, General Ledger, Cash Book, Debtors and Creditors. Training courses for other modules will be added in the future. Calendars for Training Courses will appear in subsequent SatChats and on our web site. These will be available to all clients as well as our new infoware Services clients. Satisfaction Software will shortly start employing specialist support staff. These staff will help handle day-to-day queries leaving existing programmers who are filling dual support and programming roles to be more focused on programming activities. This will not restrict clients existing access to programmers for specific projects, but will free them up from some of the day-today queries. Within the next 2-3 years, all major software providers will emulate the infoware Services business model implemented by Satisfaction Software s infoware Services! Not to do so will mean business failure! The pweor of the hmuan mind! Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

3 SatChat Summer 2003 Page 3 of 8 Moreton Island Ferries on the Web In August 2003, Moreton Island Ferries commenced taking bookings via the Internet. Previously all bookings were taken via phone and keyed directly into a booking system developed for Moreton Island Ferries by Satisfaction Software. Now customers can book online by visiting and check for space is available for their vehicle (including optional trailer) on specified dates. Should the visitor proceed, they can make a booking and pay online by credit card. An is sent to the customer confirming booking details. Importantly an is also sent offsite as a failsafe record in case of an unrecoverable server failure to protect and maintain integrity of booking history. The first step is to check the availability of spaces on a specific departure and return date. On some days, the ferry can run a number of times:

4 SatChat Summer 2003 Page 4 of 8 The next step is to confirm your details should you wish to proceed with the booking: Customers can also pay by credit card for bookings taken by phone. Upon completion a booking record is created within infoware. Payment is processed immediately online. In Moreton Island Ferries case, this requires passing to a third party provider recommended by Westpac for payment processing. Security of all credit card details and processing is maintained on a secure site no credit card details are recorded in infoware. A request for approval of payment for transaction amount is passed to credit card payment site. An approval transaction reference (or decline of payment) is returned to infoware. The Internet accepts bookings 23 hours a day (1 hour per day is reserved for backup), 7 days a week. This provides a better service to Moreton Island Ferries both local and overseas customers. Further, this frees up staff within the office to be focused on other activities. One technological lesson learnt in this process, is the degree of difficulty of accepting online credit card payments which is dependant on your bank. Initially Moreton Island Ferries selected National Australia Bank (NAB). NAB has their own online web banking and was fairly easy to communicate with. However, just before the initial implementation, the decision was made to change banks to Westpac. Westpac did not offer the same degree of flexibility instead recommending 3 alternate third party providers to communicate with. These all required software to be on a local PC to communicate to their host applications. This added a greater degree of complexity and delay in initial implementation. Roz Shaw, Managing Director of the Hawkins Transport Group of Companies including Moreton Island Ferries says All staff were surprised how well the bookings system went when it was first implemented 3 years ago, to be able to have our own online bookings system was beyond our expectations. It is now being utilized by more of our clients each day. Our online bookings system will save us from putting on extra staff when our new ferry comes online as well as offering our customers a system normally only expected from large multinationals. Moreton Island Ferries are part of the Hawkins Transport Group of Companies including Hawkins Road Transport. Satisfaction Software has been the IT provider to Hawkins Transport since August This includes our full range of accounting modules, plus transware Linehaul Management Software for the transport fleet. In addition to this is the booking for Moreton Island Ferries (both in office and now online). This is another successful implementation of the browser interface to infoware to provide service and operational efficiencies to a Satisfaction Software client. This could not be achieved without a browser interface as this application is also accessible via the web.

5 SatChat Summer 2003 Page 5 of 8 From Somewhere On Daryl's Desk Exciting Times In the 18 years or so of SatChats, this edition marks the most exciting edition. As per the lead article, Satisfaction Software is introducing the opportunity for small to medium businesses (SME) to operate and access infoware with reduced known monthly costs and with minimal or no capital outlay upfront. Small businesses have the same needs, perhaps more, with trying to compete on service with large businesses but cannot afford the IT infrastructure that is often required to provide these levels of service. This has been an opportunity Satisfaction Software has been monitoring for some time. With increased reliability and speed of various telco communications, now is the time! The details and opportunities of infoware services are fully covered in our lead article in this edition of SatChat. In 2004 regular training courses will be run on various modules. A calendar of training courses will be published in future SatChats. Also included in this edition of SatChat is the continued roll-out of infoware solutions integrating operations into administration systems through infoware s browser interface. In this article the implementation of the booking and payment system for Moreton Island Venture is discussed. This provides greater efficiencies with bookings online to free up staff for other service function related activities. This is in addition of course to providing this service 23 hours a day (1 hour not available while backup occurs), 7 days a week including payment by credit cards. A win-win scenario for all parties involved! This continues Satisfaction Software client case studies of improving business efficiency and service through infoware s browser interface applications. These ongoing developments, plus new functionality and capability to be added to infoware within the next 12 months, makes way for exciting times. I have just returned from the 25 th anniversary of filepro developers conference in Orlando, Florida. The infoware family of products, including transware and constructware are developed in filepro. There are further advances in technology. FP Technologies has 2 new products available and another shortly for release. These will be discussed in detail in next issue of SatChat in conjunction with a client open day in March or April If you wish to know more before then contact your Satisfaction Software representative. Briefly, these products are: - GI Interface A Graphical Interface (GI) has been released for filepro which allows data input through Windows with point and click mouse control. To harness the capabilities of GI requires minimal additional effort. This will be a focal point of a client open day session in A network can be a combination of PCs in both a GI interface and an existing character-based interface (and also browser interface where applicable). For many clients this will be a perceived benefit of being easier to train new staff using a point & click mouse interface. For some clients there will be no major benefit in productivity for others there will be substantial gains in integration with other windows functionality such as Microsoft word merges combined with field data entry functions such as scrollable drop down boxes and right-click to: o Access calendar on date fields o Cut & paste o Access calculator on numeric fields Allows the ability to launch Windows applications from within Satisfaction Software applications (e.g. for display of pictures of personnel or products).

6 SatChat Summer 2003 Page 6 of 8 - fpsql This is an old runner in the filepro stable. Some of fpsql s features are common to infoware s i4 Query product. fpsql allows access to our infoware database by SQL (Structured Query Language). This requires users to have an advanced knowledge of the design of the infoware database and SQL. However this is not difficult or too complex. Advantages of fpsql compared to i4 Query are: o The ability to write summarised results i.e. all of i4 Query s results are raw record data which you then have to summarise through a third party product such as Excel. o Predefined sort criteria. o The use of indexes in scanning, so results for large files may be quicker than with the i4 Query product. Disadvantages of fpsql compared to i4 Query include: o i4 query provides joins visually with no knowledge of infoware database required. You do not need to know SQL commands and infoware database design. o No security restrictions if have access to fpsql then user has access to entire database. o Only accessible on local network. For clients with an Internet server, fpsql cannot be accessed remotely (as can the i4 Query). fpsql is appropriate for clients who are not proceeding with infoware s browser interface. Due to no security restrictions it is applicable for the power user only. fpsql will be reviewed in the next client Open Day. - Biometrics Interface FP Technologies will shortly release a biometrics scanner. Biometrics store a digital representation of finger prints - rather than an actual image of the finger print image. The experts say the biometrics image cannot be reverse engineered protecting individuals privacy concerns regarding the integrity of their fingerprint images on third party databases. This can be used for various personnel identification applications. The most obvious is timesheet recording for staff clock starting and finishing their job duties, but could potentially be used for other forms of security from the automatic authorisation of certain On the trip to Orlando, Florida, for the filepro developer s conference, Daryl received the second prize in exhibitors draw (a Commemoration 25 Year cap) from Lee Machen, President of FP Technologies. The first door prize, being a Toshiba laptop, would have brought a bigger smile and softened the 30 hour return journey home. transactions in infoware through to potential for physical security access to buildings. Disney, in Florida, have introduced biometrics scanning for people who return for their second free admission day. This is a yet to be announced product and we cannot comment on its reliability until we have tested it. The price of the biometrics scanners is expected to be similar, or less than, low-end barcode scanners. While it is gratifying to see that Satisfaction Software is equal with the best in developing applications in the wider filepro development community, it is also interesting and beneficial to review applications developed by other filepro developers. These include: - Extensible Markup Language (XML) XML is an increasingly common form of passing data between applications. Typically data is in a predefined fixed format (either fixed length ASCII, CSV or tab delineated). With XML data is wrapped up with each field identifiers e.g. a debtor transaction file would include many wrapped up fields e.g <Invoice

7 SatChat Summer 2003 Page 7 of 8 Number> A45641 <\Invoice Number><Invoice Amount>45.34<\Invoice Amount> etc. There are and will become an increasing number of standard XML formats. The order of the data in an XML file makes no difference. One major advantage is being able to add extra data to existing XML documents without other parties in the chain needing to re-adjust their file format definitions (simply because they do not search for the new identifiers and hence are ignored). This capability can be used for future infoware data interfaces. Also XML is increasingly used with displaying web pages. - Touch Screens for data capture this applies to both new GI option or infoware s browser interface option. Special touch screen PC s can be used to record data rather than use keyboard or mouse for the appropriate application. - fp Phone An interface has been developed between filepro and WAP phones communicating online and in real-time. A series of questions can be asked and communicated to a filepro application in real-time. By using a mobile phone, this would only suit applications that are low in data response and typically of Yes/No or simple responses. A mobile phone with its triple-key layout is not appropriate for high speed data input. In some environments, this may add significant advantage and efficiency if data can be captured and recalled online via WAP enabled mobile phones. NOTE Satisfaction Software has yet to investigate the interface for Australian Telco s as this has only been implemented within the U.S.A. With infoware Services combined with new technology options, this is indeed a time of excitement! There is still much activity in the technology camp after 18 years! This Year s Footy Winner is Commentary by Tracey Congratulations to David Knox from Knox Cleaning Services for winning the 2003 Satisfaction Software Internet Footy Tipping Competition under the alias of CLEANING. Being a straight to the point kind of fella, David s first comment was Where s my bloody cheque? he says he needed to buy hay for his horses mmm sure! David pretty much led throughout the entire season but looked a little unsure towards the end of the season although he managed to hold on for a nice win! Ross and Ray weren t too far behind and certainly weren t going to make it any easier for him but unfortunately, for them, they ran out of time (or luck)! The tally now is: Girls 2; Boys 1. (Who put this in? Ed.) Details of the prize winners are: Cleaning 125pts 1 st $ Ross 122pts 2 nd $ Ray 121pts 3 rd $ As with last year, there was also a $10/week cumulative jackpot for any player who was the sole highest scorer for the week. Any unclaimed jackpot at the end of the season was added to the prize pool. The weekly winners and their rounds were: Round 1 SHANE $10 Round 14 BARB $30 Round 9 TERRIANNE $80 Round 20 BARB $60 Round 11 LAQ $20 Round 21 DAZ $10

8 SatChat Summer 2003 Page 8 of 8 Everybody had a really great time being involved in the tipping contest this year, even though some of us haven t a hope in hell of ever winning the damn thing, but I ll be giving it a better shot next year might actually watch a game or two (its supposed to help so they say!) In fact I will take this moment to congratulate myself for being the first participant to pick a perfect score of 0 in one of the rounds. Couldn t believe it the first time anyone has picked every game wrong! Not a bad effort, wouldn t you say? Satisfaction Software wishes everyone a safe & enjoyable Xmas break! See you in 2004! An open invitation is extended for everybody who wishes to participate in the 2004 Satisfaction Software Internet Football Tipping Contest. Congratulations again to David! Xmas Office Hours Satisfaction Software will be open again over the Christmas break to support all those hard working people who are lucky enough to be working this time of year. Satisfaction Software s hours will be as follows: Thursday 25th December...Closed Friday 26th December...Closed Monday 29th December...10am - 2pm (Qld time) Tuesday 30th December...10am - 2pm (Qld time) Wednesday 31st December...10am - 2pm (Qld time) Thursday 1st January...Closed Friday 2nd January...10am - 2pm (Qld time) Monday 5th January...Business As Usual and would also like to thank you for your valued support over the past year! infoware is trademark of Satisfaction Software Holdings Pty Ltd transware is trademark of Satisfaction Software Holdings Pty Ltd constructware is trademark of Satisfaction Software Holdings Pty Ltd filepro is trademark of FP Technologies Any prices quoted in SatChat are exclusive of GST unless otherwise stated.