MainBoss Newswire

November 2001

 

Topics:

  1. The First MainBoss Users Group was held in British Columbia, Canada!
  2. MainBoss Website Update: new Newswire Subscription section
  3. New! Currency Converter for use with MainBoss CMMS 
  4. Did you know: Archiving MainBoss data
  5. MainBoss welcomes new Dealers in the USA and Mexico!
  6. MainBoss Technical Support Center: Holiday Hours

 

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1. The First MainBoss Users Group was held in British Columbia, Canada!

 

Summary of 1st MainBoss User’s Group Breakfast October 2nd, 2001

The first of what we hope will be many MainBoss User’s Groups has been formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The people at BC Gas Utilities who wanted to share ideas spearheaded the group’s formation. It is also group’s intention to suggest positive changes in the program through interfacing with the other users.

 

The first breakfast meeting was attended by Chris Whiteside, President of MainBoss Maintenance Software and Pat Maloney, Implementation Services Manager as well a representatives from some of the MainBoss Users around the Vancouver area. The topics discussed included Bar Coding, Application Program Interfaces, and Pat reviewed the use and setup of the new Work Request Notifier, which is available for MainBoss 2.8. The group discussed enhancements to MainBoss and suggested that any enhancements should be aimed at making it easier to perform software related maintenance duties.

The MainBoss Western User’s Group also developed a Terms of Reference document (see below), which sets out their mission. The next meeting is scheduled for February-March 2002 and we at MainBoss encourage them and wish them the best of luck with their notable endeavor.

 

Terms of Reference -- DRAFT

The Western MainBoss User Group

October 2, 2001

Background

MainBoss was established in 1989 as a producer of Preventative Maintenance Software. The company has grown to the point where there are currently over 600 clients of whom approximately 40 are located in the western provinces and states.

Given the number of clients in this area using MainBoss software, it would seem to benefit both the clients and MainBoss to have a single source to turn to for the resolution of common concerns. As such The Western MainBoss User Group has been created.

 

Mandate of the User Group

The purpose of the User Group is to provide an avenue to resolve issues that relate to the MainBoss software application, which may not typically be resolved by individual users alone, and to share best practice procedures. Specifically, the User Group will deal with issues in the following areas:

·        Software concerns/enhancements

·        New Developments with MainBoss

·        Best Practice MainBoss Procedures

 

User Group Membership

The membership of the User Group is open to any company or individual that is currently licensed to operate MainBoss Software and one representative from MainBoss. Members will typically be involved in day-to-day preventative maintenance activities. The Chairperson and Secretary’s responsibilities will be appointed on an annual basis.

 

Resolution Process

Issues are to be submitted to the Secretary prior to meetings for inclusion on the next meeting agenda. The User Group will meet once every 4 months to discuss and review submitted issues and decide on the appropriate course of action.

 

If you are interested in creating a MainBoss Users Group in your area, please contact Patrick Maloney at pat@mainboss.com or call 1-800-563-0894 ext. 219

 

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2. MainBoss Website Update: new Newswire Subscription section

Last month we made some changes to the MainBoss website section pertaining to Newswire subscriptions. This change was made in order to accommodate Newswires in multiple formats and languages, and to allow for easier and faster updates of the Newswire subscription list. However some users had problems with the subscription form and we apologize to anyone who had trouble subscribing or unsubscribing to Newswire. Since then we have made further changes and the forms are now easier to use, while still allowing for subscribers to change their subscriptions to include multiple languages or formats. If you would like to change your subscription, simply follow these steps:

  1. Open your Internet browser and go to www.mainboss.com
  2. On the MainBoss homepage, click on News Center (top right hand corner)
  3. Once you are in the News Center section, the yellow panel on the left side of your screen will have a link called Change Subscription. Click on this link
  4. Now enter your e-mail address in the field provided (this is the email address to which this Newswire was sent) and click on Change Subscription
  5. You can now choose the preferred formats and languages in which you would like to receive Newswire by clicking on the various pull-down menus and choosing from the lists. For example you can choose to receive the English Newswire in HTML format and the Spanish Newswire in text format.
  6. Once you are happy with your selections click on the Change Subscription button
  7. You know your request has been processed when a bold sentence appears on the form, stating: Your Newswire settings have been changed to the settings shown below.

 

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3. New! Currency Converter for use with MainBoss CMMS

The Currency Converter is a Freeware Add-on available to all MainBoss customers.

To download your free copy, go to the MainBoss website www.mainboss.com and login in to the Support Center. Here you will find the link to download the program as well as easy-to-read documentation for the installation.

 

If you are a MainBoss customer but do not know the password to login in to the Support Center or if you would like to renew your Annual Support Plan, please contact Customer Service.

 

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4. Did you know: Archiving MainBoss data

After using MainBoss for several years, you may want to archive some of your older data into a separate database. This will allow for greater manageability of your current data and may also prevent a slowdown of the program, which may happen as the database becomes very large. MainBoss has a built in archiving function, available on the Administration menu. Some points to remember about archiving:

·        Once you have archived data, you can’t bring it back to your main database. From that point on, the archived data will exist in a separate database

·        In order to continue producing effective reports, archiving should be done for a period of a year, preferably in accordance with your company’s fiscal year. For example, you should archive from January 1st ,1999 to December 31st, 1999; or from April 1st, 1998 to March 31st, 1999.

·        It is advisable to only archive data, which is at least a year or more old. It is often useful to create comparison reports such as Downtime for equipment in the year 2000 versus 2001. If you have already archived your 2000 data, this report will have to done separately for each year.

·        Only closed work orders, closed purchase orders, and inventory history records are archived. If you have a closed work order, which is linked to an open purchase order, this work order will not be archived. You should therefore make sure all work orders and purchase orders relevant to the archive period are closed before doing the archive.

How to create an archive:

  1. Login as the Administrator and go to Administration->Archiving->Archive
  2. Create a code for your archive that will help you identify it. For example a code might be: year1999
  3. Now enter an archive date in the field called Archive Date. This is the date up to and including to which you would like to archive. For example if you would like to archive all you data up to December 31, 1999, enter 12/31/99 (or another appropriate format) into this field.
  4. Next you can enter comments into the Comments field, which will provide further explanations.
  5. To start archiving, click on the Archive button.

 

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5. MainBoss welcomes new Dealers in the USA and Mexico!

MainBoss is please to announce that the following Representatives have joined the MainBoss team:

 

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6. MainBoss Technical Support Center: Holiday Hours

People and companies around the world are getting ready to celebrate the Holidays and so are we! The office will be officially closed from December 24th to January 4th, 2002. However, our customer service center will be open during this time for technical assistance with MainBoss. The hours of operation are (all times are EST):

Thursday, December 27th: 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Friday, December 28th: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Wednesday, January 2nd: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Thursday, January 3rd: 12:00 pm – 3:00pm

Friday, January 4th: 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Regular office hours will resume Monday, January 7th, 2002