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Short Line Data Systems ROCS Update – February 2008 Website: www.sdsrocs.com Greetings – The ground hog has seen his shadow, and we are in for six more weeks of winter (yeah, right). We have returned from the great white north, and have a bunch of news for this month. We will start with the announcement of a major new customer, continue with some housekeeping things that all users should do, and a preview of where we are going to be for the next couple of months. New Customer It is our pleasure to welcome the eight railroads of the Gulf & Ohio Railway family to the SDS family. G&O has contracted with SDS to supply ROCS to their railroads, which are located in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Alabama, and we have been working on the transition for the last four months. The Claussens have made G&O one of the true class operations in the short line industry and it is our honor to have been made a part of their operation. Windows and Access Housekeeping 101 As everyone knows, our products run on Windows computers running Microsoft Access. And with that, we are dependent on the quality of the products released by Microsoft. For example, when Microsoft released Access 2007, it was discovered that numerous errors existed in functions that had worked fine in the 2003 version, and many of them have been rectified in an update release called Service Pack 1 (SP1). Microsoft releases updates to their products regularly, and it is the responsibility of our users to make sure that their computers are as current as possible. For the uninitiated, here is what you have to do: 1. In Windows XP, make sure you go to Control Panel and turn on Automatic Updates 2. In Windows Vista, make sure that Automatic Updates are turned on in Windows Update 3. To update Access, go onto the internet, and go to www.officeupdate.com 4. Click on Check for Microsoft Updates (which is on the right side of the screen) and follow the instructions. We recommend that you do the Express Install, which will install the needed updates. 5. Access 2003 users should have SP3 installed, and Access 2007 users should have SP1 6. As always, if you have questions, call and we’ll be happy to help you.
New Car Hire Rules As you are probably aware, the rules for paying car hire will be changing. The change from paying to the individual car payee to paying through the Railroad Clearing House (RCH) is scheduled to take place on May 1, 2008, and you will be required to report your car hire electronically, which is already a standard function in ROCS. Contact us if you have questions about the changeover, and we’ll be able to answer most questions, or put you in touch with the people at Railinc who can assist you.
On the Road Again We made our way up to Stettler, Alberta last month to set up PETROCS at the Alberta Prairie Railway, and while it did snow a bit, we didn’t need the expedition weight long-johns. The railway is changing from a fifteen year old early DOS based ticketing system to PETROCS, so it has been a big step in capability and function for them. We are currently going through the break-in stage on the system, working out any kinks in how we originally set up the system, and making operational changes for the customer as they get more familiar with this new product for them. The operation in Alberta is very interesting, drawing over twenty thousand passengers a year to a town that has a population of only five thousand. They have both steam and diesel trains, and a full schedule that runs for much of the year. This installation is a good example of the customizing that SDS will do for a customer with our products. We have had to create custom tickets, receipts screens and procedures specifically for their operation, all within the price quoted, and we don’t have additional charges for changes made after the initial installation. Our next expedition will be to the CSX Short Line Meeting in St. Augustine February 20-22. We will have a booth at the trade show, with all of our products available for demonstration, and we will have a production copy of the TRACCURATE reader on display in the booth.
We’re going to wrap things up for now. We’ll see a lot of you in St. Augustine in a couple of weeks. Stay Safe. Steven Friedland President |
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