MainBoss Newswire

April 2006

 

Topics:

  1. MainBoss Tip: Don’t forget about that Audit Report!
  2. Customer Spotlight: Taylor & Mathis in Atlanta, GA
  3. Upcoming Tradeshow in Las Vegas

 

******************************************

1. MainBoss Tip: Don’t forget about that Audit Report

The Audit Report in MainBoss is a wonderful tool to help you keep your database running problem free. Many customers do not realize that this tool exists and often don’t take advantage of it until they experience an error or a problem with their MainBoss.

 

Found under Administration -> Database -> Audit, this report will go through your database and list any internal errors. These include:

·         Lost links and orphan records caused by deleting records that are still linked to other records in the database

·         Date related errors, such as when the close date of a work order occurs before the start or end dates.

The date related errors will not cause actual problems in your database but they often point out typing mistakes or incorrectly closed work orders, which will affect your reporting and record-keeping. Lost links and orphan records, on the other hand, can pose serious problems for your database. If they are allowed to accumulate they will cause all kinds of strange occurrences and error messages. For example, two companies recently reported that their schedule dates for their PM tasks went missing. This was caused by the fact that thousands and thousands of lost links and orphan records had accumulated in the database. Not only did they have to spend a considerable amount of time cleaning up their audit report, but they then also had to manually re-enter the schedule dates.

 

In order to avoid such problems, please consider the following:

  1. Be responsible about deleting records. Within a database environment, records are usually linked with other records. So deleting a record may cause the following:
    1. Historical records (such as work orders) are now incomplete since data is missing. For example, deleting a personnel record will remove the personnel information from any previously created work order.
    2. A lost link is created within the database structure, since the work order record is looking for the missing record that has been deleted.

As a result, please be very careful about deleting. If possible, archive your historical records or assign a different record first. After you delete a record, run the Audit Report to clear any internal errors.

  1. Reindex and audit your database on a regular basis. After a certain time period, such as a month, or after deleting records, you should do the following:
    1. Backup your database (Administration -> Database -> Backup) – just in case!
    2. Run the Audit Report (Administration -> Database -> Audit). The Audit Report will go through your database and report any errors. MainBoss Version 2.9 Update 5 will allow you to safely remove both lost links and orphan records from the list, which are the two main ‘troublemakers’ (Please contact us if you don’t yet have Update 5 installed: support@mainboss.com). After you have gone through the entire Audit report, click the Refresh button to run the Audit report again – often removing one layer of errors will cause a secondary layer to surface. Repeat this procedure until no new errors can be found.
    3. Once you are finished with the Audit report, reindex your database (Administration -> Database -> Reindex) to allow the database to build a new index file.

Overall, this procedure may take some time initially, but, if performed on a regular basis, will ensure that your database runs efficiently and error-free. Please refer to your User’s Guide for more information on backing up, reindexing or auditing. If you are a Support Plan subscriber, you can also contact the MainBoss Customer Service Department with any questions!

 

******************************************

2. Customer Spotlight: Taylor & Mathis in Atlanta, GA

Taylor & Mathis has a lot of clients to keep happy. The Georgia Pacific Center, for example, holds about four thousand people on fifty-two floors. Other T&M properties in the Atlanta area are even bigger. Before MainBoss was installed, the customer service representative fielded up to two hundred phone calls a day from tenants requesting maintenance work.

Now, that number is almost down to zero.

This dramatic turnaround is mostly due to MainBoss @Requests, an add-on package that allows work requests to be submitted by email. In every T&M building, a few contact people on every floor are authorized to submit such requests, reporting maintenance problems or asking for other services. Emailed requests are placed directly into the MainBoss database without human intervention. Once the requests have been stored, maintenance personnel can easily review them, converting them directly into work orders as appropriate.

Even better, clients are kept informed of the request's status as it progresses through the system: when the request is received, when a work order is issued, when the job is done. All of this happens automatically. The software itself sends updates to the requesters, freeing maintenance staff to get on with real maintenance work.

"You can't place a value on that," says Mr. Cissa. "It's hands-off for us, and a real benefit for tenants. It's so much easier for them to keep track of how their request is being processed."

To read the full story, please click here: http://www.mainboss.com/english/stories/articles/taylormathis.shtml

 

******************************************

3. Upcoming Tradeshows

Thinkage will be attending the following tradeshow to demonstrate MainBoss:

·        ICSC Spring Convention at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV  from May 21 to 23, 2006. Visit us at booth 762.