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Short Line Data Systems ROCS Update – July/August 2005
Website – www.sdsrocs.com
Greetings –
We are now in the declining days of summer, and we have been busy with a number of things. First, we have completed a long string of travel that started in May, and continued through the end of July. Next, we have started work on what will become Version 10 of ROCS, with a number of new features already testing at the M&E. We have also been making revisions and additions to ROCSDispatch, with the biggest change being a new, easier to read screen color scheme. Finally, we are proud to be celebrating our fifth anniversary, and to honor this birthday we are introducing a redesigned corporate logo and tag line, and a revamped website. The new tag line reflects what our goal has been all along, just in a more grammatically correct form:”Running a small railroad made easier.”
In this update we will explore where we are going with Version 10, the changes to Dispatch, and some other goings on.
Version 10
Believe it or not, Version 9 has been in user’s hands for about a year now. Our plan has always been to release a new version incorporating all of the small changes that have been made since the main release at least once a year, so the time has come for Version 10.
The first change is the incorporation of automatic rating on outbound cars. When ROCS was initially built, the users were railroads that received most of their freight, instead of forwarding cars out. As the user base has expanded, we now have roads that are primarily shippers, and the need has arisen for outbound rating. An added feature that has come from the above is the expansion of the number of rates that are possible for a single STCC. We now allow as many rates as needed, instead of the four that allowed in previous versions.
Next, we have added the capability for the user to look at the raw data received in the last download. This will help the user to determine if the download was successful, and if there are any possible problems.
We have also added the capability to re-send any of the last five uploads with just one click, instead of having to re-create all of the messages in the queue before sending them a second time. A new report that will be incorporated in Version 10 will allow the user to look at how many hours cars have spent on line for a user specified time period. The report will list both reported and LCS times if they are available, and will show time to the end of the request period if the car has not left the user’s railroad yet.
Another feature that is in the works is the ability to match a received outbound waybill or bill of lading to a car that is currently on line. This is another addition that has been asked for by our primarily outbound shipping users, but one that can benefit everyone.
The above is only the start of the new items that will be in Version 10. There are a couple of reliability changes that will be incorporated in the background, and some more features that we will build before the final release version is completed. As always, if there are any suggestions that you might have, let us know and we will try to put it in the system.
ROCSDispatch Improvements
The development of ROCSDispatch continues, and we have added and revised a couple of things over the last few weeks. The big addition is a field to keep track of FRA miles for the monthly reports. We will be adding a new report to show these miles, and we are looking at possibly creating the reports in the system. One of the other advantages of keeping the miles is that we can also add fields to keep track of mileage for state or other reports.
We are also testing a new screen format, with the blue and gray reversed. If this works well we will make it a permanent addition to the dispatch system.
New Website
Well, not exactly new, but we have changed the look of the site to correspond with our new logo. As the development of our products continues, we will continue to revise the site to provide the most recent information about all of the ROCS family of products.
Well, that is about all for now. We are busy working on the new features of all of our products, and next month we will update you on our progress.
Enjoy the rest of the summer and stay safe,
Steven Friedland President |
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