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Short Line Data Systems ROCS Update – May 2004
Website – www.sdsrocs.com
Greetings:
I’m writing this month’s update while waiting for my flight home from the ASLRRA Annual Convention in St Louis. Why am I starting so early? Well, I wanted to get out an update on the goings on at the meeting, as well as get the update out before the CN short line conference next week. Or maybe I got bored staring out at the empty tarmac waiting for my delayed flight…
For those of you who are receiving this update for the first time, welcome. We have been updating customers, friends, potential customers, potential friends, and other interested parties in the industry for over two years now on the goings on with SDS, changes to ROCS, and other items of interest within our industry. The archives of past updates are available on the News page of our website, and we encourage anyone who might be interested in the growth of the company or our products to read them. And now, on with the show…
ASLRRA Annual Convention and Exhibition
Congratulations are due to Rich Timmons, the ASLRRA staff (especially Kathy Cassidy), Chuck Laggan and his planning committee, and all of the volunteers involved with the meeting in St Louis. In speaking to many of the attendees, everyone thought that this year’s schedule was well planned and executed. If any problems did exist, they were dealt with swiftly and quietly. Tom Schlosser and his planning committee have a high standard to meet in Anaheim next year, but I am sure they are up to the challenge.
We spent a lot of time talking to a number of people about the ROCS system, and we encourage anyone with further questions or anyone who would like a demonstration to contact us, so we can answer the questions or set up a demo. One of the highlights of the meeting for myself was the opportunity to speak on the “Event Reporting in a 24/7/365 World” breakout session with the other three EDI providers. It was the first time that the four of us spoke on the same topic at the same meeting, and if Friday’s presentations are any indication, those of you who will be at the CN meeting next week will hear a good consistent message from the four of us.
The four providers have talked amongst ourselves, and we have decided to try to work together on three points, all of which we feel will greatly help the short lines:
1. The four EDI companies will work together to “get the word out” to the short lines on Event Reporting, and encourage all short lines to comply with the event reporting guidelines. 2. The four EDI companies will work together to allow a short line to move from one provider to another easily, and make their data compatible with the new provider’s system. 3. The four providers, along with the ASLRRA and the Class 1 railroads, will try to work together to ease implementation of new requirements for the short lines with the least amount of trouble to the short lines.
One of the most popular questions in the exhibition and the breakout was that of the implementation of handheld or wireless technology in our system. While the promise of the technology is exciting, we feel that the execution is still not there yet. When the best combination of cost, hardware, and ease of use becomes available, we will offer a portable system to our users. In the meantime, it is possible to have a laptop in the cab with a wireless modem card, and have a fully operational ROCS system.
Version 8 Rollout
We only have one more railroad to go with the rollout of Version 8, the Adrian & Blissfield. We did the change over for the Housatonic two weeks ago, with only minor typographical and no performance issues. Our plan is to install an “8 plus” version for any new customers that will incorporate many of the features of the next release, but not all of them since we have not finished defining all of the features that Version 9 will incorporate. When 9 is rolled out, it will be a minor upgrade for these new users, compared to what the current users will have done to their systems.
Version 9 Features
We have started testing a couple of new features that will be incorporated in Version 9. The first is a trace scheduler, which sends a trace request at the user’s desired interval. At the M&E we are using the feature to send a request in the morning before we get to the office, so that we have a fresh trace when we do our first download of the day. The second feature is the communications scheduler, which will do a send/receive at the user’s desired interval. The code has been built, and we will start testing the system soon.
CN Short Line Conference
We have been invited to speak at the CN Short Line Conference in Chicago next week (May 3). We will be available to answer any questions or arrange a demonstration, and look forward to seeing and speaking to the assembled.
Well, my plane is now at the gate, and it looks like Holly and I will finally be heading home.
Be safe,
Steven Friedland President
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