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Friday, October 31, 2003

What's New for October 31, 2003 

Message
Happy Halloween!
 
Highlights from the Past Week from MTI Technology Marketing
 
Messaging
 
The Terion Trailer Tracking link is almost complete (docs and procs are being drawn up and posted). Similar in nature to the Aether Trailer link, this link will also store data in the Custom Data Center for easier access.
 
I was hoping for a PeopleUnit this week so we could get started on testing our PACOS integration but that never happened. Maybe next week...
 
And I thought it would be a week sans Joe Moore, but he called last night and wanted to know where all of his Aether stuff is. Seems he really wants that outbound Macro message to go through. Look for that next week.
 
Roy had a great idea about building a Mobile Application for those PocketPC and other devices. While he's working on that, our existing messaging solutions may be enough to get people interested. All the applications need is a front end that says "Send it". Roy - you also might want to check out QUALCOMM's BREW, which is their development environment for phones and the like. This can greatly speed up some development on it.
 
Book an Order Online!
Almost ready to go : visit http://www.mtihorizon.com/import for the generic page or http://www.mtihorizon.com/import/sample2.htm for a more custom designed page.
 
Basically here's what this does: a company builds a page that is similar to the pages above. This page is simply an HTML page and so can go on ANY web site. When the user hits Send, it posts the information to eshipments@mtihorizon.com which is picked up by a Web Import Message Handler. This handler is smart enough ONLY to look at messages directed for a certain customer. It then puts the Shipment into the ASCII Import format and lets it be imported into Horizon. When the shipment is accepted by the Handler, the user is notified!
 
What's important here is NOT how the entry page looks - that is up to the company - what is important is that Horizon can now accept entries directly over the web. No one really asking for this except (read on) ....
 
Sales Demos that generate new ideas
 
Never let it be said that a single sales demo can't be responsible for drawing the wrath of development! Chuck, Melody and I had a demo with NOTS services on Thursday. Hmm...these guys want to book pickups over the Internet (see above). After being admonished by Chuck for saying "Loads" instead of "Shipments" to an LTL customer (the scars on my back are still hurting!), the company actually seemed very impressed with what we've got. Still there were some neat ideas being thrown around:
 
1 - The War Room scenario. For those who aren't familiar with the concept, the War Room idea is a single screen on a wall that dispatchers use to get a "snapshot" of where things are at. In Horizon, this would be a customizer screen that refreshes every few minutes. Melody had the BRAINSTORM that it would be really cool if this switched to DIFFERENT views automatically (so from Trucks to Trailers and then to Shipments, etc) and from there, we snowballed. Look for some actual concepts on this next week!
 
2 - Route Planner for Pickups. See the current docs for more info on Route Planner but basically Route Planner automatically creates Manifests for Deliveries based on pre-planned routes (great for LTL). Maybe something like this would be useful for Pickups as well...
 
3 - Graphical Route Planning. Mapping continues to be a hot button with prospects. During this demo, I actually showed the link to MapPoint to show that it was feasible but where we will be carrying this into is:
a) show me where all my trucks are (the obvious)
b) show me where all my upcoming pick-ups are
c) plan a route for me based on my delivery times for (a specific truck or all)
d) and many more I'm sure...
 
This functionality can be accomplished with many mapping packages. I will likely finish off the MapPoint proof of concept and then hand it off to Dev so they can work on other mapping packages. The demo was very cool though - we drilled right down to street level for where NOTS Services is located (Nashville, IL)
 
Other Great New Concepts Completed and Coming Online soon
 
Evans Quick Dispatch - this is kind of cool. Basically the existing Quick Dispatch screen, this one actually shows a grid of everything that's happened up until the  current moment and then allows the dispatcher to manually add the checkcalls on the screen, changing the date/time and cities (for enroutes) as they want. Then when they click Apply, the entire route gets checkcalled through. For those who may be saying "who cares?", Evans obviously did. They paid for it!
 
Horizon File Converter - this will be of HUGE interest anytime we need to convert existing data. Once of the Outsourcing pieces that Boris has been working on is this. Basically, you specify a Source file (Text, DBF, Excel or even ODBC), select an existing Horizon file to map it to (like DISHIP, DIMFST, etc) and then specify how the fields map. You can then say Output to : New file, Update existing Horizon file, text file or ASCII Import file format. Once defined, this process can be automated (in fact the accompanying translator does this!). Some very cool features here: fields can be mapped using expressions so we can define the customer code as being (LEFT(FieldX,4)+LEFT(city,4)+St) instead of having to make the fields map one to one.
 
This is being used ACTIVELY with our conversions this week for Accurate Express (where we export Paradox data down to a DBF file) AND 4 Truckers (who will be connecting via ODBC but with some clean up stuff).
 
Look for full docs next week.
 
Preventative Maintenance Builder
I know I've made a lot of noise about this but it's almost ready! With this tool, users can link inventory items and work codes to a specific Preventative Maintenance type (remember we now have 26 PM types). When the user creates a work order for the specific PM type, a screen appears that allows these inventory items and employee work codes to be automatically added to the Work order. The user no longer has to manually enter each one in. Why might they want to do this?  Consider the following...
 
My PM A is used for basic oil change. During this process, I know my employee will spend 1 hour Inspecting  and 1 hour cleaning  as well as use up Part XYZ. With this tool, this can be pre-defined and when I create the work order for PM A, I then just need to specify the employee doing the work (or use the default one). Changes can then be made after the fact using the standard Work Order process.
 
Many prospects have expressed a need to do this so let's hope it turns into more sales.
 
Products that Customers are using that they may be calling support about (that you may not know about)
 
Wendell Matrix Pay - docs are online on this. Basically uses a spreadsheet for assigning pay to drivers based on Origin/Destination. Based on Driver Pay Matrix. There is still a LOT of confusion at Wendell about this (primarily because Archie doesn't have his entries set up properly yet) which should hopefully subside. They are all in Track.
 
Waccamaw DM2 Export - New translator Export for their proprietary exporting module. Likely to be deployed next week.
 
Move To Location - allows users to move unassigned loads to specific locations for easing pickups. This is being used actively at Coren and 4 Truckers for easing their LTL operations.
 
New Procedures Online
 
Setting up RI/Web for QTRACS (1060). Clients that are moving to QTRACS Web need to contact QUALCOMM about a bunch of stuff. But here's what we may need to know to get them started.
http://www.mtihorizon.com/supportkb/proc1060.asp
 
Where Does the Route Start (1053) - How to understand how Route Planner does what it does.
http://www.mtihorizon.com/supportkb/proc1053.asp
 
Using Detect.exe (1054) - to help resolve corrupted index or data files in Horizon
http://www.mtihorizon.com/supportkb/proc1054.asp
 
Required Components for PM Builder (1059) - to help prepare PM
http://www.mtihorizon.com/supportkb/proc1059.asp
 
Non Published Procedures (for internal purposes)
Invoice Splitter - Proc 1051
Aether Trailer Tracking Configuration: 1056, 1057
Terion Trailer Tracking: 1058
Understanding SMS Messaging : 1050
 
New Documentation Online This Week
Aether Trailer Tracking: http://www.mtihorizon.com/documentation/doc456.asp
Invoice Splitter: http://www.mtihorizon.com/documentation/doc452.asp
 
 
New Reports Available in the Download Center
 
Customer Activity By Week: Shows the total number of loads by Week for customers
 
Breakdown Report : VME Breakdown report shows users a breakdown of Work order usage for a specific period, with filters for vehicle type, unit #, and system code. It is grouped by Unit # and System Code and Inventory Item.
 
Great Plans for Next Week...
Completing: Terion Tracking, Aether, SMS Text Messaging, and many more...
 
Have a spooky Halloween!

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

Incessant Ramblings: The anatomy of a bug 

Excellent article on how bugs are created, fixed and reported...worthwhile reading for everyone (thanks Craig!)

Incessant Ramblings: The anatomy of a bug

Monday, October 27, 2003

Power Filter To Development 

I'm moving Power Filter to development so we can include this GREAT tool for our customers. It really works well.

Revenue Code Assignment Tool for LTL Customers 

Revenue Code Assignment is a tool that makes it easier for companies to have revenue codes assigned automatically in Dispatch without the need for dispatcher data entry. Companies can set up default Interstate and Intrastate Revenue codes as well as codes specific to each customer. When a load is saved, the tool identifies the correct revenue code and saves it to the load. This way, dispatchers do not need to worry about the billing details of a load and can concentrate on dispatching.
 
 

Rate Quote Documentation Online 

Just realized that all the documentation for RKE's Rate Quote Module was already online. Just a shame I can't promote it because I know they have changes coming.

Sunday, October 26, 2003

The Scobleizer Versus Cerberus the Hound of Hades 

Great article!

The Scobleizer Versus Cerberus the Hound of Hades

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