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We welcome you to the October 2005 edition of Copeland Data News. While other areas in our country have suffered from the weather, here in Western New York, we had one of the best summers ever. I just hope that this good weather is not a "precursor" for a long winter ahead! |
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Please jump right in and review our newsletter content. As
always, if you have any questions or ideas on how some of these
topics may affect you, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Thank you,
Tom Copeland
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In Summary |
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As technology
continues to progresses, our world becomes smaller. Using our
Video Conferencing system, you can have virtual meetings with
your customers, staff and vendors across town or
throughout the world. All that is required is an inexpensive
webcam and a broadband connection.
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Please see the related article on
CDS Video Conferencing
for more details... |
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Accessibility to the information within your database is important. There may be situations where you want access to your data from a 3rd Party application via a technology called ODBC.
CONNX is a product which interfaces to C-ISAM data files within CQCS and allows your data to be used
within other applications like Microsoft Excel.
Please see the related article on CONNX
for more details...
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Use the
CDS Online Customer System to look up current projects and
create new projects. It is easy to use, easy to logon to and it really helps us all communicate effectively.
- Go to
copelanddata.com.
- select Customer Support > CDS Online System
- Log on with your user ID and password.
If you do not have a logon, please
email
us to request one. Once logged in, you can easily set up new projects and find status information on current projects.
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 The need for
Mobile Connectivity is becoming more essential every day.
Many cell phones and PDAs (Palm or Pocket PCs) can now
connect to your corporate email system (like Microsoft Exchange). Many phones and other devices support this today. We can
modify your network's email configuration to enable this
capability for your company.
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Within
the CDS Online Customer System, you can setup Auto
Reports. Currently, Auto Reports will automatically create
and email you a Project Status Report every
Monday afternoon showing you all
open jobs and status for your company. This is a great way to
manage your projects with us. If you are not
currently using Auto Reports, sign into the CDS Online
Customer System and enable them today.
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Out on the road and need to access the Internet or your business system? Using your cell phone, a USB cable and a notebook PC, you may be able to get great access to the Internet and to your business system using VPN.
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Verizon Wireless, for example, allows you to connect to the Internet with your phone at speeds of about
110kbs, or about twice the speed of traditional dial-up access. In this case, you simply use minutes of airtime.
If access is in the evening or weekends – access is free
on many plans – as the call is treated no differently
than a voice call.
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 Spyware continues to be a nuisance.
Products like Ad-Aware from LANSOFT and Search and Destroy
from SPYBOT are recommended as desktop solutions. Server based tools are coming, like
Trend Micro’s Anti-Spyware product. We are currently testing this product internally to see how well it works. |
CDS Videoconference
Many of our customers have been using the CDS Online Customer System allowing them to manage project requests and other aspects of their systems.
 We have recently added a new function in the CDS Online Customer System where you can easily setup a
Video Conference between yourself and two other parties.
While we want to use our CDS Video Conferencing system to better communicate with you - our customer, you can also use this internally to
easily communicate with your remote associates or others away from the office.
This technology was designed to work well within your office environment, as it is router- and firewall-friendly,
communicating over port 80, which is used for standard web
browsing. Other consumer products work well from home, but not in an office setting where routers and firewalls are in place.
CDS Video Conference is easy-to-use and free-of-charge. It also supports three parties simultaneously – so virtual meetings between
you and up to two other associates can be accomplished. You simply need to purchase a low-cost
webcam with built-in microphone. A webcam can be purchased for as little as $30,
and we have provided several to our customers already. Please consider acquiring a
webcam for office communication.
You may also want to consider hosting your own Video Conferencing system to
facilitate interaction with your customers. If you want to know more about this possibility, please let us know.
In summary, once you have a webcam installed on your computer,
please try out the CDS Video Conference. While you are on, send us an
"Email Invitation" (this is built-in to our service) and we can
meet you online!
Most of our customers have built up a "wealth" of information
in their business databases. Many times, it is handy (or
even essential) to have this data available to a 3rd party
product.
Some examples of accessing your business system data from a
3rd party application include:
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You want to read all of your customer information
directly into EXCEL using the menu choice Data >
Import External Data...
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You want your shipping manifest system to interact
real-time with the orders on your system so orders are
updated with freight cost and tracking number the moment
a package is shipped.
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You want your website to interact directly with the data
in your system, providing product information, customer
information, or an online store. |
If you have a CQCS system, integrating a product called
CONNX will allow you to create an ODBC (Open Database
Connectivity) connection to your current C-ISAM data. Once
CONNX is installed and configured on your business system
server, it gives you direct access to your data via ODBC.
When configuring CONNX, we are able to choose whether you
third-party application will have "read" or "read and write"
access.
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using CONNX to create the ODBC connection, we are able to create
very integrated websites while keeping your data within your
current business system for real-time access. Essentially,
your web data and your business system "become one."
Our new CDS Customer Online System is fully integrated with
our business system using CONNX, and your website and business
system can be fully integrated as well.
If you would like to learn more about CONNX and how it can
fit into your business system model, please feel free to contact
us.
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Company Spotlight:
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Grand Island Sales and Service (GISS) is a trucking company
that hauls petroleum products to gas stations, industrial sites,
and manufacturers in the Northeast. The relationship
between GISS and Copeland Data Systems started in the early
80’s, when John Simon, the President and Owner of GISS,
recognized that his needs required solutions beyond what is
found in off-the-shelf software solutions.
The GISS business system manages the dispatching of drivers,
the collection of information from the drivers, the management
of fulfilling the order, as well as the invoicing and accounting
needs of the business.
Today, using cell phones, notebook PCs and an Internet
connection in the truck, the dispatchers can tell the system to
get delivery information directly to the driver – in real time.
Using our MailClone product, the business system will deliver
information to the truck, allowing the driver to interact back
to dispatch as required. The cell phones used for an
Internet connection also act as GPS units, so the tracking of
the trucks can be accomplished from the office.
Having this type of communication in the truck and integrated
into our business system is essential. John Simon adds,
"Our company has developed this system to use real-time
information to accurately send and receive information to and
from our truck to facilitate our needs as well as our customer’s
needs. We are also required by law to protect our driver
and the cargo from terrorist activity, so using this system we
know exactly where our equipment is at all times."
If you have any questions about how John uses this technology
in his organization, please do not hesitate to contact us or
John directly at
jsimon@giss.biz.
Copyright © 2005
Copeland Data Systems, Inc. |
