Automation Centre

Build Or Buy Business Applications - Making a Tough Decision Easier

For organizations considering building or buying software to meet the demands on their business, there are three typical considerations: Risk, Costs and Usability.

	Build	Buy
Risk	Like any project, the risks of scope creep, cost overruns, late or missing deliverables, even total project failure, are real considerations for organization attempting to develop a solution in-house.	In buying a solution, the organization can take assurance that the solution they are deploying is completed, tested and ready to go.
Cost	In the "Build" scenario, the organization is taking time and resources away from other initiatives to invest them in the development of the software. If the project runs overschedule, the development cost of the product rises in tandem, as well as the costs in lost productivity from other initiatives.	A vendor supplied solution is largely fixed cost, which also allows organizations to better forecast their financials.
Usability	The compelling advantage of building a solution, it can not only meet the needs of the organization but also dovetail exactly into its workflow and business processes.	In buying a solution, the organization is forced to either modify their business processes to match the data inputs/outputs and workflow of the new solution, or pay for high-cost customization services.

Usability may only be one factor in favor of a "Build" scenario, but it carries significant weight, as it affects the long term cost to the organization over time, in the productivity and efficiency of the processes it manages.

The core concern with Usability is how well will the vendor-provided solution integrate with the organizations existing processes and data inputs/outputs, and how much customization services will cost to bring it in-line. Another consideration, if the vendor-solution doesn't fully address the needs of the organization, how will those other needs be met, through other 3rd party solutions or home-grown applications? How well will these other applications integrate with the vendor solution?

Our own product, TrackerSuite.Net, offers organizations leery of building their own application a solution which they can configure down to the field level without touching a line of code, to meet their needs and workflow processes. To see it in action, watch our “Creating a User Experience” Flash presentation.

TrackerSuite.Net also offers a flexible hosting options, including the option for organizations to license TrackerSuite.Net applications and host them internally. Source code is included with licensing, allowing organizations to leverage their own IT resources to customize the pre-built applications, although Automation Centre also offers these services.

Getting More Out of Search

We came across an interesting little slide show on just how many functions the Google search bar offers, which range from solving math problems to you can visit OnlinePhd.org for the full size version.

Search was one of the components that received attention in the latest release of our software, TrackerSuite.Net 4.0. For example, hitting the F3 key on the Tracker desktop opens a new Super Search function, allowing users to look up employees, phone numbers, project documents, timesheets, expense reports and more.

Search was also included in TrackerSuite.Net views, including its project dashboards. As well as searching, in the new views users can sort, filter and group data, hide and rearrange columns. Users can also export the view as an Excel spreadsheet, a PDF, or simply email it to other users.

Updated 12/12/2013: Sorry! The slide show has been removed!

TrackerSuite.Net 4.0 Released!

Automation Centre is pleased to announce the release of TrackerSuite.Net 4.0, the latest version of its Cloud based enterprise productivity solution suite. Redesigned from the ground up to provide faster solutions, better business configuration and a new, powerful user experience, TrackerSuite.Net 4.0 empowers both the organizations it serves and the users that leverage it with modules for Project Portfolio and IT Management, Time and Billing, Purchasing, Invoicing, CRM and HR.

Learn more about V4. Visit our release page, www.TrackerSuite.Net/Version4 for list of new features, Flash demonstrations and to register for immediate access to a hands-on evaluation.

From our official press release:

"TrackerSuite.Net 4.0 is a landmark release," said Steven Birchfield of Automation Centre. "It has significant performance improvements- it’s faster than previous versions, in many cases an order of magnitude faster, and there is a new security model as well as productivity features. But the greatest achievement of this release is the power it places in the hands of individual users and the organizations that use it."

"With TrackerSuite.Net 4.0, users can easily shape their own experience, how data is presented to them and how they work with it. Organizations can customize security, forms, menu choices, and workflow to wrap around their existing processes. All of this happens without anyone having to touch a line of code."

"Our innovative release process of defining release themes, platform changes, and feature targets has once again produced a product that is second to none."

Diving into Disruption

The disruptive nature of the Cloud and SaaS to business models is fast becoming apparent. Gartner Research predicts that by 2015:

Industrialized low-cost IT services (ILCS) is an emerging market force that will alter the common perceptions of pricing and value of IT services. In the next three to five years, this new model will reset the value proposition of IT. Low-cost cloud services will cause the cannibalization of current and potential outsourcing revenue.

From: Gartner's Top Predictions for IT Organizations and Users, 2012 and Beyond

Warning: 80s ahead.

However, not every disruptive technology is a single item. Some of the most significant, game-changing technology shifts have been created through a new combination of tools, the IT version of that old commercial for Reese’s Peanut Butter cups. One such combination popped up in the late 90s, and its impact is still felt today (just ask the Recording Industry Association of America) : “Hey, you got your mp3 file on my peer-to-peer file sharing network! Wow, that works great!”

Our own solution, TrackerSuite.Net, is well-positioned to step into the disruption through such a partnership. While the second component of our own disruptive duo, email, isn’t particularly new (as of 1965, apparently) the impact they have working in tandem is tremendous. The ability to create tasks, documents and support tickets through email drag-and-drop saves time for users by eliminating the need to re-enter data already provided in the email (for now, this feature is only available in Outlook).

Users also enjoy surfacing TrackerSuite.Net in their email client (typically Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes), which also saves them time from having to open and switch between multiple windows, using TrackerSuite.Net their email and their workspace are one and the same.

It's not as tasty as chocolate and peanut butter, but it IS zero calories.

Consider this, if you have an organization of 100 employees, saving them just 5 minutes each workday from data entry, extra clicks and window management, amounts to over 2000 rescued hours in the course of a year.

If you’d like to see it in action, watch our Flash demonstration of streamlining and automating workflow with Outlook and TrackerSuite.Net.

Purchase-to-Pay, Your Way

The wait for TrackerSuite.Net 4.0 (which will be released later this month) is almost over, but in the meantime here’s another preview (if you missed them, we also have previews of our new Project, Time, and HR solutions posted). The subject of today’s sneak peek is our Web based purchasing system – Purchase Tracker.Net. Here are just a few of its new features:

• A redesigned interface that simplifies search, sorting, filtering and grouping of purchase request data. Users can configure views to their individual preferences and save them as a Public (available for other users to leverage) or Private views.

Users can easily track and manage Purchase Requests using the new, configurable views in Purchase Tracker.Net (click here for a larger image)

• Organizations can customize invoice forms to their preferred formats.
• Workflow enhancements:
• Streamline financial review of capital purchases.
• New user roles for managing purchases by Account Codes.
• New approval tracking functions for Change Orders.
• New view that lists all of the purchase orders created by the user’s colleagues within his or her department.
• Copies of Purchase Orders can easily be forwarded to stakeholders via email for review and feedback.

TrackerSuite.Net 4.0 To Be Released in April 2012

We're pleased to announce that TrackerSuite.Net 4.0 will be released later this month. More news about this release and its features will be posted to this blog - stay tuned!

Twice as Easy, Ten Times as Fast – Time Tracker.Net 4.0

The type-ahead feature makes project and task selection a matter of keystrokes

Here’s another sneak peek at the upcoming TrackerSuite.Net 4.0 release! Today we’ll look at Time Tracker.Net, our Web timesheet system. The new type-ahead and auto-complete functions in this module work overtime to simplify the creation of timesheets (although our current features for auto-populating the entire form, based on previously submitted timesheets or the user’s scheduled work assignments make the process easy enough already), while new tools for tracking and managing timesheets, as well as drilling down for work details, are available.

The features available in Time Tracker.Net 4.0 include:

• Performance improvements that speed timesheet creation, approval routing and processing, from three to ten times faster, depending on the previous version of TrackerSuite.Net.
• In Time Tracker.Net 4.0 it’s even easier to track where your resources are spending their time. Review project activity levels per week, or drill even deeper into individual timesheets to see an employee’s tasks and work descriptions.

Drilling Down in the Time Compliance View

• More options and tools for organizations to configure timesheets to suit their workflow, down to the field level.
• The type-ahead function for project and task selection makes time sheet creation a breeze, users no longer have to click through pick-lists to select where their work should be charged.
• Users can upload files with their timesheets, such as their work orders or time slips.
• Line-item color coding in submitted timesheets simplifies review and approval.
• New options for approval routing, including requiring approval from project managers for time charged against their initiatives.
• New views that users can re-configure and save for their individual use, simplify the tracking and management of timesheets.
• Employees can now see their available sick leave on their timesheet.
• Easier proofing of timesheets with an improved spell checking.
• Administrators can export multiple timesheets to a single PDF for easy reference.

A Sneak Peek at Project Tracker.Net 4.0

The upcoming release of our online project management solution, Project Tracker.Net 4.0, delivers a substantial amount of new features to simplify the user experience, improve resource allocation and empower project management. What's more, the new structure of Project Tracker.Net 4.0 will allow organizations to more closely shape it to fit the way they work.

Here are just some of its new features:

A Simpler User Experience

• More UI improvements for keystroke support, type-ahead, and inline editing of views.
• Improved color coding in views, including task dashboards and project status tabs that help users zero-in on important information.
• New links in views and forms that simplify navigation, for example, the Project Dashboard now includes "Report" links that allow users to drill down into reports on project data with a single click.

Easier Resource Tracking and Management

• New widgets, including Time Pies and a Resource vs. Available widget that gives decision-makers a mile-high view of the workload of the organization.

Time Pie Widget

• More filters for the Resource Availability view, including Project Status, Priority and Approval Status, as well as support for skills tracking. The Resource Availability view also offers functions for looking up existing tasks to simplify the assignment of under-utilized resources.

New Tools for Managing Projects

• Simplify project creation by copying an archived project into a new one.
• New function for renaming programs updates all projects within the program accordingly.
• Improved document management functions, including optional document locking during the approval process, to maintain the tight audit trail and the ownership of the documents with classified information.
• Updated form designs that simplify the presentation of project, budget and billing data.

The New Project Status View

• Import budgeted data from task allocations, and new tools for reviewing project budgets by line item, with Account Code comments.
• Easier drill-down into the actual documents with details that are contributing to the project’s Committed and Actual budget totals.
• More options for task creation and leveraging of templates.

The upcoming release offers a number of other new capabilities as well, but it also benefits from the new structure of TrackerSuite.Net. Organizations may create and configure their own forms, including tabs, labels and fields.

• Define the label for any standard field and provide a default value.
• Configure the interface, and disable fields that will not be required in a particular environment. Establish new, security enabled custom tabs with various field types including Text, Number, Currency, Date, Text Area, Keyword Lists and more.
• Control the edit security of the form information including the fields.

This new structure allows organizations to truly mold TrackerSuite.Net applications to the way they work, all the way down to terminology.

The New TrackerSuite.Net Desktop

TrackerSuite.Net 4.0 offers users the option of utilizing a brand new desktop interface, in which they can create their own personal workspaces for projects and IT, with shortcuts, folders and view collections. For a quick overview, watch our Flash demonstration, and if you’d like to try creating your own Tracker desktop, register for immediate access to our demonstration site.

For users that prefer the classic TrackerSuite.Net menu interface, it is still available within TrackerSuite.Net 4.0. Users can easily switch between the new and classic interfaces with the click of a button.

A Sneak Peek at Personnel Tracker.Net 4.0

These are just a few of the new features in Personnel Tracker.Net 4.0. If you would like to see the new Personnel Tracker.Net in action, watch our Flash demonstration.

The new features in Personnel Tracker.Net 4.0 include:

• Updated phone lists that can include employee pictures.

• Support for skill recording and tracking. Filter the Resource Availability view by Skills when assembling project teams.
• An updated Company Calendar with color-coded leave requests that can be opened from the Calendar. The new Company Calendar also has filters that Resource Managers can use to filter information for better resource planning.

• Store employee related files as attachments – resumes and applications, goals, performance reviews and more.
• New functions for updating multiple employee files simultaneously, including role assignments.
• New vacation tracking interface and functions to help monitor and review employee leave.

• A simpler user experience, with updated forms that reduce click-through requirements and offer auto-complete field functions.