MainBoss Newswire
July 2004
Topics:
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1. New! MainBoss live, online Support now available!
MainBoss head office is pleased to announce that live, online support on MainBoss products will now be available. Using Webex, a world leader in web conferencing, MainBoss support representatives will be able to link to your computer using a safe and secure internet connection. As a result, support staff will be able to see exactly what you are seeing on your screen and will thus be able to diagnose and resolve the problem faster and more effectively. And the best part is that this support is available at no extra cost! As long as you are a member of the MainBoss Support Plan and have pre-purchased a support incident, this live, online support is available to you. No more trying to frantically write down error messages or describing a screen over the phone. You won’t have to try and follow instructions sent to you per email…simply sit back and watch while a MainBoss support representative resolves your technical issue in no time at all! Of course Webex is secure and you will always know and be in charge of what is happening on your computer. Thousands of companies around the world support their customers in this way and now Thinkage Ltd is able to offer the same leading edge support to its MainBoss customers. For more information on available support options, please click on the link below (note: you must be an active MainBoss Support subscriber in order to access this page):
http://www.mainboss.com/english/support/login/loggedin.shtml
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2. MainBoss
and PDA’s
This article discusses ways of using PDAs with the current version of MainBoss (Release 2.9 Update 4).
The most desired functionality is the ability to deliver work orders to a PDA so that workers can read the work order from the PDA. This can be done in several ways, depending on the capabilities of the PDA.
Email: If the PDA can receive email, work orders can be emailed to the PDA. One easy way to do this is with PDFMAILER from Gotomaxx Software (www.pdfmailer.com). PDFMAILER makes it easy to create and email PDF files.
When you install PDFMAILER, it creates a special “printer” that can be used like any normal printer. For example, you can tell MainBoss to print work orders on the PDFMAILER printer. When you do so, PDFMAILER converts the output to PDF form and emails the result to any destination you specify. In particular, you can email the work orders to a worker’s PDA (if it has email capabilities). When workers read such email messages, they’ll see the work orders in PDF format.
Note that this requires that the PDA be able to read PDF files. Palm computers, BlackBerries, and even some PCS cellphones have PDF capabilities. Therefore, this gives you a one-step procedure for emailing work orders to workers.
“Documents To Go” from DataViz (www.dataviz.com) is another product that can be used to email work orders to PDAs. It can be used much like PDFMAILER, providing a one-step procedure for emailing work orders.
Another email-based approach requires two steps. In order to use this approach, you must create a printer using the Windows “Generic / Text Only” printer definition. Once you’ve created this printer, you can send text email files in two steps:
1. Using MainBoss, print one or more work orders to the generic printer. In the print operation, specify “Print to file” and enter a name for a new text file. MainBoss will print the work orders to the given text file.
2. Using your normal email program (e.g. Outlook), email the text file to the worker’s PDA.
The worker will receive the work order(s) as a text file and can use the PDA’s normal text editor to read and/or write to the file.
· If you send work orders as PDF files, workers will only be able to read the files.
· If you send work orders as text files, workers will be able to edit the files as well. For example, if the work order contains a number of checkboxes, workers may be able to enter X’s in the boxes to mark off that each part of the task has actually been done. In this case, workers could mail the edited text files back to HQ to indicate that the work was done. The workers might also include any comments on the job.
Even if workers email back text files as discussed above, the current version of MainBoss has no facilities for automatically updating MainBoss’s records with the results. Someone will have to read the email message and manually transfer information back to MainBoss (e.g. by cut-and-paste methods or typing information by hand).
Synching: If your PDA doesn’t have email capability, you can deliver work orders by synching the PDA with a Windows computer. The technique is similar to the two-step email procedure described above.
1. Using MainBoss, print one or more work orders in Generic Text format (or some other format the PDA can read). Make sure you “Print to File” and specify the name of a new text file.
2. Using Documents To Go, “synch” the text file to the PDA. From this point on, the worker can read and/or edit the text file using the PDA’s standard text editor.
3. If workers use their PDAs to edit the text file or to record other information about jobs, this information can be copied back to the Windows computer using Documents To Go in another synch operation. Someone can then manually record the copied information in MainBoss, using normal MainBoss procedures.
This procedure requires someone to copy information back and forth, but it still allows workers to read work orders on PDAs rather than from paper.
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3.
Upcoming Tradeshows
Thinkage
Ltd will be attending the following tradeshows to demonstrate MainBoss:
·
High
Performance Facilities Expo (HPFE) at the Austin Convention Center, Hall 4
in Austin, TX on September 22 and 23, 2004. Visit us at booth 306.
·
AZFA 2004 Conference at the Oklahoma City Zoological Park and Botanical Garden in the Rosser
Conservation Education Center from September 27th to 29th,
2004.
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