Monday, June 28, 2004

Client/Server vs. File/Server vs. ASP

There's a lot of Fear, Uncertainty and Deception (commonly known as FUD) in arguments that go through sales discussions with different vendors. Every company has staked their claim to a particular strategy (be it Client/Server, Java, Delphi, Linux, AS/400, Windows, SQL, Oracle,etc) and go through numerous steps to proclaim their approach is the best.
 
Performance is largely based on setup and usage. You could be driving the fastest car in the world but if you have to go through a tiny driveway, you have to slow down.
 
Every solution has its ideal target audience. MTI isn't going to try and sell a Windows-based solution to a company that has already made a huge investment in AS/400 unless they are ready to change. If you already have an Oracle database and people with detailed knowledge of your solution, asking you to switch to SQL Server or IBM's DB2 product doesn't make a whole lot of sense. What language a tool is written in is a similar argument. German has just as much validity as English as a spoken and written language. More people in North America just happen to speak English.
 
If you're still insistent on debating about individual platforms, consider the resources required to manage the solution. File/server based applications work just like basic Office applications. You run them on a shared drive. Either you have access to it or not. Client/Server applications require a stronger network infrastructure and someone with more knowledge about databases - a typical "network connection" guy won't usually cut it. If you've got your own IT resources, it certainly looks attractive but when things go wrong, you better make sure you have the right person to solve it - otherwise it can turn into a mess.
 
So there are pros and cons to each technology architecture. The functionality of the software is immaterial - how things get managed is critical. Hope this helps...
 
File/Server Based Applications
 - easy to move around and manage individual files
 - better performance by upgrading individual machines (desktops are typically cheaper than servers)
 - core applications located in one place (for easier updates) / runtime files on workstation
 - performance depends on optimization of individual machines and speed of network
 - corruption typically limited to few tables
 
Traditional Client/Server Architecture
 - client software installed on workstations that access data on a server
 - heavier server requirements (typically more expensive although fewer)
 - performance depends on optimization of server and speed of network.
 - invisible indexing and backup
 - corruption can be time-consuming and impacts entire database
 - stronger security access
 - client software upgrades often required on each workstation
 - often requires training of DBA (database administrator) resource on staff
 
Multi-Tier Client/Server Architecture
 - higher server requirements as business processing may be done on the server or the client
 - workstation client may be web or windows-based
 - updates typically only done on server / minimal updates required
 - ideal for hosted solutions
 - invisible indexing and backup
 - more places for possible disconnect between applications
 
 

Thursday, June 24, 2004

Catching Up On the Last Night's Deliveries

Problem: Mornings are crazy because dispatchers are trying to catch up with deliveries made the previous night as well as answer calls.

Solution: Use Quick Dispatch to quickly mark truckload manifests as picked up and delivered. Hit the Apply button to avoid closing the screen so manifest numbers can be easily added in. If you don't have to make changes to any of the assignments or details on the shipment, turn on the PD button feature for Quick Dispatch. This lets you hit a Pickup or Deliver button without having to bring up a separate screen. The check calls will be entered with the current timestamp. If you need to quickly mark a large number of shipments as delivered, use Fast Delivery to let you select and deliver shipments. You can configure Fast Delivery to use the current date/time or the Date/Time from the shipment itself.

Here are some useful links to products discussed in this article:

Quick Dispatch: http://www.mtihorizon.com/documentation/QuickDispatch.asp

Fast Delivery: http://www.mtihorizon.com/documentation/FastDelivery.asp

Greater Leaps In Productivity Coming

I just had a great conversation with Todd, who's the product manager for Horizon about some of the new upcoming changes in Form Validation. In the past, when a customer has asked for a rule to do something (like add a new pay entry or update some fields), we've had to write a brand new service or program to do it. In the new release, we'll be able to write the script directly into Form Validation.
 
What does this mean for you, the customer? Faster turnaround for writing rules in a lot of cases. But it's part of the same strategy that exists with Horizon Alerts.
 
Check out our preview of this new feature: http://www.mtihorizon.com/show/alerts
 
With Alerts, which are user-specific, you will get prompted for different events that happen in your daily operations. So if you have late shipments, you're told about them even if you're doing something else (don't worry - it's not intrusive - just a little note that appears). But what's really cool about it is that if you double-click the message, it can actually do something.
 
So let's say for example, you have an alert to tell your Dispatchers when they have exceptions in Circle of Service. The dispatcher  gets the message, double-clicks on it and up pops Circle of Service so he can correct the exceptions.
 
I'm super-psyched about this type of productivity gain and I can't wait to show it to you - in the meantime, check out the presentation and write me at amacneill@mtihorizon.com with your thoughts on it.

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Tracking New Information

Problem: Recently a customer had a situation where they wanted to track whether their trucks had bob-tail insurance. This was critical because some of their trucks didn't have insurance and certain claims weren't accepted because of this missing piece. The company was losing money because of it.
 
How We Resolved It
With the Custom Data Center, we added a new insurance expiry date field, added it to the tractor list in the customizer, highlighting it if it was ever empty or coming due in the next two weeks.
 
http://www.mtihorizon.com/documentation/HorizonCustomDataCenter.asp - This is a link to the full documentation on the Custom Data Center that explains how to add the field.
 
The field we added was named BTEXPIRY and we used a Date field type.
 
In the Customizer, the new field expression in the Tractor list was entered as:
 
LKUP("UDMFTRAC","FKID",unitno,"BTEXPIRY","","","","CUSDATA\UDMFTRAC")
 
And the back color expression to highlight it was:
LKUP("UDMFTRAC","FKID",unitno,"btexpiry","","","","CUSDATA\UDMFTRAC")<DATE()+14
 
Note that we simply used DATE( ) + 14 to ensure a two week window.
 
That was it!
 
With Form Validation, you could also put in a business rule that would prevent dispatchers from assigning trucks that didn't have bob-tail insurance. Same logic would apply as used for the Back Color Expression but this time instead of referring to unitno we would refer to ctractor.
 
LKUP("UDMFTRAC","FKID",ctractor,"btexpiry","","","","CUSDATA\UDMFTRAC")<DATE()+14
 
See the following procedure for adding a rule into Form Validation - but when doing this, use the Tractor Assignment event.
http://www.mtihorizon.com/documentation/doc424.asp
 
 

Thursday, June 17, 2004

Dealing with Large Customer Files

Problem: Customer list is too big and unwieldly. Users can't find the right customer to enter for specific jobs.
 
Solution: Use the Custom Booking Customer Filter feature to limit the customers displayed when users hit F2 or look at lists. If you have a lot of older customer records in place, consider using the Purge feature found in the Customer Master Files to remove customers with whom you haven't had any activity since a particular date in time.
 
Using Customer Filters with Custom Booking: http://www.mtihorizon.com/documentation/doc318.asp
Using Purge: http://www.mtihorizon.com/documentation/doc497.asp
 
 

 

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Why Horizon Imaging Rocks

So you've looked at your piles of papers and trip logs that have come back and been entered into the system and now you're wondering - where can I put these so everyone can access them again?

Maybe you've purchased a scanner (or several) for your office and even though your staff have been scanning in images for weeks now, no one really seems to be getting better at finding the information.

At MTI, we offer some hardcore high level imaging integration with Pegasus TransFlo (http://www.mtihorizon.com/mtipegasus.htm) but sometimes it's can be overkill or a little too much for what you want to do. You've already bought your scanner, scanned the files - you just want some way of linking them with the information in your Horizon Trucking software.

Enter Horizon Imaging.

Horizon Imaging is an add-on that lets users link image files such as scanned images and documents with different Horizon resources, such as drivers, shipments and products. But it also falls into the mobile communications market as well, allowing signatures and images to be captured from PeopleNet and other devices and then made accessible in Horizon.

With the assistance of several customers, we've put some features in here which make it really useful for offices who have already taken the time to scan their documents. A Find Images feature lets you specify a file naming convention and the type of document and Horizon Imaging will instantly link scanned documents back to their Horizon data counterpart. For example, you may have placed all your Bill of Ladings in a folder named BOL with names like B24709.TIF. Horizon Imaging will strip the starting character and link the image with shipment 24709. All without you having to do a thing.

But why would you want to work with images? Aren't you just adding more effort to your already heavy workload?

Consider the following uses:

a) add pictures of your driver's licenses for security purposes
b) take pictures of leased vehicles prior to purchasing for confirmation upon re-sale
c) use digital cameras to take pictures of accidents and link them to claims
d) save signed bill of ladings and attach them when printing invoices or statements
e) store driver logs electronically and pull them up instantly for review purposes

Try as we might, we can't get rid of paper but by using a scanner and Horizon Imaging with your fleet management software, you can get it out of the office and store it offsite while still having all documents easily accessible.

Read the documentation online (http://www.mtihorizon.com/documentation/doc306.asp) (login required) and contact our sales or support team for more information.


This is the Fast Adjust screen. Anything in italics can't be modified but users can type directly in the list , adding their own New Amount Due, Adjustment and adjusted weight.

Fast Adjust - Handling Your Billing More Efficiently

Sometimes you come up with things that you aren't sure how they'll be reacted to and then are pleasantly surprised.
 
I just did a demo of Fast Adjust for two of our customers. This neat little service (http://www.mtihorizon.com/show/fastadjust) is a great way for companies to handle multiple adjustments all at once (see the screen shot in the next post). How valuable is it? It really depends on your business but one of the attendees actually pointed out a HUGE benefit to customers who export their billing to other accounting software and then still want to track the adjustments in Horizon.
 
The fact that you can now process about 100 adjustments in less time (<10 seconds) than it currently takes to do one (about 12 seconds) is a testament to its usefulness. Even if you think about doing 50 adjustments a week, you'll save time. So who is the target customer? Customers who:
 
a) deal with several larger customers who tend to pay in bulk. When combined with Fast Post, the entire payment and adjustments process can be done in minutes, not hours.
 
b) customers who frequently discount after invoicing. This may be due to minor changes in billing, discrepancies or other reasons.
 
c) customers who manage their pay in third party tools like Navision or QuickBooks. Fast Adjust makes it easy to make bulk adjustments all at once.
 
Maybe I'm shooting myself in the foot by saying this is going to be included in the core product (instead of being an extra dd-on) - but it makes working with billing 10 times easier!

Monday, June 14, 2004

What Is E-Statements ?

"MTI's E-Statements is one of the best tools we've ever used in our collections process. Our customers like the idea of being able to view their account. As soon as we used it, we immediately started receiving emails from our customers, concerned about their balances. We didn't have to contact them - they came to us. What a Time Saver!"

You might think we wrote this ourselves - but we didn't!This is from Joe Moore, Chief Operations Offer at PDQ Transit in Grove City, OH.

PDQ has been using Horizon Trucking Software for several years now, constantly expanding and pushing it to its limits. With mobile communication, imaging and ExecView dashboards, PDQ has placed themselves at the forefront of the future of fleet management software, providing better service for their shippers and customers. Now with E-Statements, their customers keep on top of their own accounts by receiving a full statement in their inbox on a regular basis.

 
E-Statements adds a new menu option to your Horizon Billing system with the same options as printing regular statements. The difference? Any customer who has a valid email address gets an email with their entire statement right on it. And yes, you can customize the statement to add features not normally found on your printed statement. If a customer doesn't have an email address, a regular statement can be printed out.  See the online presentation at http://www.mtihorizon.com/show/estatements.
 
E-Statements is available today for all existing MTI customers on a subscription basis. Pricing is very affordable with 1000 emails available at $100/month or unlimited emails for $250/month. Additional customization of your statement is priced at regular consulting charges of $125/hr. 
 
Who do you contact? Email amacneill@mtihorizon.com or call 877-825-9191 to get setup today.
 
 

Tuesday, June 08, 2004

New Stuff Coming: Better E-Services, Easier Customization, Alerts and more...

Just had our sales planning meeting and I'm really excited to show you some of the new stuff that will be coming in the next few months. Instead of holding some of this stuff back for a release further down the road, you should be seeing announcements coming any day.
 
In the meantime, I just scheduled a handful of new seminars for the next few weeks, including one that sounds vague (called Effective Use of Dispatch) but should be really exciting.
 
In it, we'll be talking about how to customize your Dispatch environment to do all kinds of neat things, like using the new Power Filter or War-Room Dispatch features and the Customize Columns feature.
 
While I'm on the topic of Dispatch, why haven't you completed our survey? It would be way too time-consuming to ask each of you what you want to see in the Horizon Dispatch trucking software, so our poll is the best way to tell us. Go to our main page (http://www.mtihorizon.com) and click the Poll and tell us what you want to see in Dispatch!
 

Thursday, June 03, 2004

Easy Faxing? Consider eFax


 
I've been seeing a number of requests from customers about wanting to fax their reports that traditionally go to a printer. In the past, some companies have put in Fax servers that appear as printers in their offices but there's an easier way.
 
Consider efax! (http://www.efax.com)
 
This great little subscription based service costs $9.95 a month but gives you the ability to fax right from your desktop whereever you are.
 
With eFax you can also get a toll-free fax # for your customers to fax to and the faxes come right into your email inbox!
 
It's a very convenient service and I have only seen a handful of fax machines who can't receive them.
 

Wednesday, June 02, 2004


Here's how eFax appears in the Horizon Printer Selection dialog!