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Short Line Data Systems – ROCS Update June 2006
Website: www.sdsrocs.com
Greetings –
June already? It seems like April just ended. We have been out on the road a lot in the last month with installs, service calls, and sales calls. We have also been working on updates to the products, and even made an appearance at the NS Short Line Meeting in Roanoke last week. With all of this stuff going on, let’s get going with the updates.
PET ROCS
PET ROCS was installed at the Maine Eastern in May, and they are using it to manage their reservations. Being the first user, we spent extra time going through the system, adding reports and other features that we had missed during the initial development process. Like any new product, we have had our share of small problems, but each of them has been taken care of in less than 24 hours. One of the projects that will be taking an extended period of development is the ticket printing. The original plan for the MERR was to use the pre-printed tickets in either a laser or ink jet printer, and after some extensive experimentation we ended up with the tickets either being melted in the laser printer, or having to modify the ink jet to handle the narrow tickets. All is not lost, though. We have found a supplier of pre-perforated ticket stock that is designed to work in standard computer printers, and with the original artwork for the tickets we can create a very high quality ticket generated straight out of the system. We anticipate having the revised ticket printing completed and running in Maine in the next month or so.
ROCSDispatch
We had a very good visit at the Finger Lakes Railway to install ROCSDispatch in May, and they have been working to get accustomed to the system and we have been making some changes to match the system to their operational needs. We have added a couple of these changes into the main release version of the system. The first is the listing of yard limits on the main screen, which helps show what sections of track fall under the rules that apply to yards. The other change has been a revision of the color scheme for out of service tracks and other track conditions. This came from a concern that the screen was hard to read, with some of the type getting washed out, so we are trying a new color layout to remedy the issue. We are also looking at adding remote control zones to the main screen, and are continuing to work on GPS integration with the system.
On the GCOR side, we will be traveling to the Arkansas & Missouri and Farmrail in early July to install their ROCSDispatch systems.
ROCS
With all that has been going on with the other members of the SDS family, you might think that we have been leaving the classic ROCS system alone, but that has not been true. We have made the changes to the Excel settlement export to make the spreadsheet compatible with the new Norfolk Southern Handling Line Settlement system, and it is available to all of the users who are NS settlement railroads. We have also been working on some new reports in the system, both for marketing and operations purposes, and we have been looking into some revisions to the Block Select screen to make it easier to use.
On the Horizon
As we related in last month’s update, there has been a bit of upheaval in the EDI market, with Railinc deciding to no longer market their short line products. They are trying to sell their product line to another party, and while they have their business to conduct, we are not waiting around to see what happens. We hope to have some personnel announcements in next month’s update, and we should be making some announcements about new customers very shortly. In addition to the new people and customers, in July I will be taking a day a week to work solely on SDS business. While this may not sound like much to some, this is the beginning of my slow withdrawal from the M&E, and the start of making SDS my sole full time occupation. This additional time will also allow us to implement new installations faster, and start the development process on some new projects that we have been planning to do for a while. This is a very exciting time for the industry and for us, and we intend to take the maximum advantage of the situation.
Well, that is all for now. We will be back next month with all of the latest and greatest that is going on as SDS.
Stay safe,
Steven Friedland President
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