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Short Line Data Systems Inc. – ROCS Update March/April 2005
Website: www.sdsrocs.com
It’s show time!
That’s right folks, we have reached that time of year again for the ASLRRA Annual Meeting and Exhibition in Anaheim on April 3-5. SDS will be there in full force, with a booth in the exhibition hall, and the pleasure of being a sponsor of the event. We will have all three products available for demonstration (ROCS, ROCSMobile, and ROCSDispatch), plenty of data sheets and information about the products, a couple of fun items for your playing pleasure, and of course, our annual big drawing (the prize is undetermined at the moment, but it will probably have something to do with that small amusement park around the corner from the hotel). So please stop by the booth (number 318, right in the middle of the hall), say hi, and take a look at what we have to offer. If you aren’t going to be in Anaheim next week, please give us a call and we’d be happy to set up a web demonstration of any of the products.
Version 9 Update
We added a small new feature to Version 9 in response to some questions about time gap between transmissions. A box has been added to the Customer Status screen that shows the time of the last transmission which will help you determine if you need to transmit your data to remain in the 12 hour window.
Event Reporting Time Frames
SDS, as well as the rest of the EDI providers, sits on the Short Line Integration Team with the Class 1s, and a number of short line members. The group has been charged by the AAR’s NEMC (Network Efficiency Monitoring Committee, I believe) with the task of improving event reporting by the short lines. The job has two parts: first, get as many railroads as possible reporting, and second, get the time between the event and reporting the event down to Class 1 reporting standards as possible. Farmrail’s Judy Petry has been leading the group for about a year now, and with her leadership not only has the number of non-reporters dropped to about one hundred, but the compliance has been growing, and the time gap shrinking.
I spoke with one of the non-reporting railroads last month, one who moves a significant amount of hazardous materials every year. After explaining the importance of event reporting, it was simply a matter of getting the railroad started on the Steelroads reporting tool. What had kept them from reporting was two things: one, they had a legacy system in place that didn’t report, and they misunderstood the difference between the tracing and reporting modules in Steelroads. Once this was cleared up, they started to use the tool. You might be hearing from the SLIT in the near future looking for help with the non-reporters. If you can help, all it might take is a call to one of your fellow railroaders to eliminate another one of the non-reporting railroads.
Well, I think we’ll keep this update short. We look forward to seeing everyone in Anaheim, and make sure you stop by the booth if you are there.
Safe travels,
Steven Friedland President |
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