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Short Line Data Systems Inc. – ROCS Update October 2003
Website: www.sdsrocs.com
Greetings –
Well, the summer is over, and we have been busy with a number of things. New features and an ISS certification have been the prime items on our hit parade, and a trip to San Diego for the ASLRRA Pacific and Central region meeting has also kept us busy. Let’s get into a little more detail into the goings-on.
New Feature – AutoTrace
We have been developing a new tracing system, which we’re calling AutoTrace. This system sends a TRAINII tracing request through RAILINC, without having to go to a website to get the data. All the user has to do is click once, and a tracing request for all cars on the Advance List is sent. The next time that the user downloads data from RAILINC, the tracing reports are downloaded, and car locations updated. We are still in the testing stages of the first version of this feature, and will be including it in the next release of ROCS.
ISS Certification
As we announced last month, the M&E is going to be operating some lines in Maine as the Maine Eastern RR (MERR). ROCS will be the EDI package, and we are using RAILINC’s Concur as the ISS system. We have completed EDI Forward & Store testing (all new railroads need to go through this, whether they have been doing it under other marks in the past), and we are now in the middle of ISS Certification, which is a whole new world for us. ISS Certification is done with two railroads acting as your testing partners (we are using NS and CSXT), and RAILINC as the testing organizer. There are ten test cases that you have to go through, and by the time you are done, you have sent or received fifty to sixty waybills. ROCS has been modified to provide the output waybills that are imported into Concur, and we have made some small changes to the EDI output to better conform to the ISS standards. There is no doubt in our mind that the ISS Certification testing is much harder than the regular EDI process, and it should be. Electronic Data Interchange is just that, data movement. Interline Settlement involves money, and everyone must be held to the higher standard. MERR will be starting operations in November.
ASLRRA Pacific & Central Region Meeting
We had the pleasure of attending the ASLRRA Pacific and Central Regional meeting in San Diego at the end of September, and it was great talking to a number of people about the ROCS system. We also had the pleasure of sponsoring the refreshments at registration, and speaking on the panel during the “Membership has its Privledges” presentation. Unfortunately, we will not be at the Eastern Region meeting in Cleveland (it’s my wedding anniversary, and I’ll be on a much needed vacation), but we are already making plans for our booth at the Annual Meeting and Exhibition in St. Louis next April.
One other note. After some discussions with RMI, we have found out that ROCS users can use RMI’s ISS system if they desire. We will work with any user to make our systems work together, if this is the course that they would like to take.
Well, that’s all for now. As always, we are available for demonstrations, either on line or in person, and if you have any questions about the ROCS system or EDI communications in general, just give us a call or send us an email.
Steven Friedland President |
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