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Short Line Data Systems Inc. ROCS Update October/November 2002
www.sdsrocs.com
Greetings –
First of all, my apologies for being a little tardy with this update, but it have been a very busy six weeks since I last wrote. There have been a number of things going on with SDS and ROCS, and I’m going to bring you up to date on those, as well as update you on some projects that are currently underway.
New Installations
The Raritan Central Railway (RCRY) and the Adrian & Blissfield Railroad (ADBF) are now up and running Version 5 of ROCS with FTP communications. Both railroads were previously not doing any EDI or TRAINII, so two more “black holes” have been removed from the national transportation picture. ROCS has been an ideal solution for those railroads that have not been involved with any of the EDI systems, as it is easy to learn, and the database can be backfilled relatively quickly.
We hope to be adding one or two more installations by the end of the year.
Version 5 Deployment
We will be moving the SRNJ over to Version 5 and FTP communications in the next few weeks. The great improvement to ROCS that FTP brings is really evident to a user who had to deal with the dial-up system. Since we started using the FTP system at the M&E two and a half months ago, we have had no communications errors or outages, and no transmission problems.
New Features/Development
As part of the ADBF installation we developed a feature to allow railroads with remote operating locations to utilize ROCS. The system can generate an Excel spreadsheet that can be attached to an email, and the remote user can record requests, placements, releases, and interchanges on the spreadsheet. When the remote user is done recording the movements, they can email it back to the central office, who then processes the movements and transmits the reports via EDI and TRAINII. Our current plans are to make this feature available to any user that requires it.
An additional feature that is in test at the moment is tracing using the Canadian National Quick Trace system. We have plans to incorporate each Class 1 tracing system in ROCS, and we now cover three of the seven systems.
We are also making a number of reliability changes to the system. For the most part these will be invisible to the user, but these are being done to move towards more of a standard installation of the database, with fewer items that have to be set to the individual user. The ROCS system will still be a custom setup for each customer, however, we will have to make fewer changes to the user’s computer to make things work properly.
Development of the in house car hire system is ongoing. We are working on the framework of the system at the moment, and our big concern is that the system should be virtually invisible to the user, and extremely easy to use. By keeping those goals, most of the mystery of car hire payables should be removed.
Well, that’s all for now. It was great seeing everyone at the Eastern Region Meeting in Baltimore, and it was our pleasure to co-sponsor the Tuesday evening reception. We will have the updates to the web site up in the next day or so, and if anyone has any questions or is interested in a demonstration, just give us a call or email.
Enjoy your fall,
Steven Friedland President |
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