A Fine Year!
The year 2002, again, a great year for Suntower Systems. Our business grew 18% last year over 2001 and so far, this trend shows no signs of letting up. In addition to simply lining our coffers, this increase means we'll be able to direct even more resources towards improving SAFE. And as first evidence of our commitment to making SAFE the system of choice, let's introduce SAFE 6.0.
 

SAFE 6.0 Ships!
The sixth major release of Simple Accounting for Forms Experts shipped today. Key improvements include: our SQL Server based database engine is now included free (you still have to provide the SQL Server database licenses, though). This engine provides up to 100 times the speed of SAFE 5.1, plus is scalable to handle a virtually unlimited number of transactions and users.

Users who have not already ill be upgraded If you are not

A complete feature list is available for download at http://www.suntowersystems.com/new460.htm.

As always, registered RSS users will be able to upgrade at no charge.
 

SAFE SQL Feature: Browse Improvements!
Ed. Note: This is the first in a series of articles on the major new features in SAFE SQL

Probably the biggest initial change in SAFE 6.0 will be the new locator system in the browses. Some background: SQL is incompatible with our traditional search while you type system. There are a lot of technical reasons for this, but the end result is that it just wasn't going to work if we wanted to utilize all the speed advantages of SQL. So our engineers decided to make lemonade out of lemons.

Lemon? When using Search While You Type, many new users would complain that they would accidentally type the wrong thing and end up in the wrong place in a browse. In fact, over the years our most common tech support call would be ‘the search is broken!’.
Lemonade! The new system provides a Locator Entry field where you type in what you wish to search for.

Lemon? Sometimes, even experienced users would get confused  with the various tabs in many browse windows.
Lemonade! The new system reduces the number of tabs. And, every column in the browse is now instantly sortable.

Lemon? On many browse windows, you had to click on the counters to get a current sometimes, even experienced users would get confused  with the various tabs in many browse windows.
Lemonade! The new system automatically updates the current number of records and  tagged records in every browse, all the time.

Lemon? Many users would not use the Find Button as often as they should because they found the Queries intimidating.
Lemonade!  The new Locator lets you bring up a list of records matching one particular criteria without using a Query. Combine this with the new Sortable Columns and you have the ability to run mini-queries.

Lemon? On some systems, users would not use the Query Window as much as they would like because complex Queries could be extremely slow, or unduly slow down other users, unless you had a fast server.
Lemonade!  The new database engine runs Queries up to 100 times faster with little or no impact on other concurrent users. Even the most involved Queries can be run in a matter of seconds.

So How Does It Work?
The new system works in the following way:

There is a Locator Field in every browse. Type something in this field and either press [Enter] or the [Tab] key. Two things will happen:

1. The browse will move to the first record matching your entry
2. The browse will be filtered to include only records matching your locator.
3. The sort order of the browse and the field to locate by is determined by clicking a column heading. Whatever column heading you click on, that is the order in which records will display. And that is the field which will be used for locating records.
4. The sort can also be set to ascending or descending order based by simply clicking again on the same column heading.

Example #1 (Locating a specific record): You are in the Sales Order Browse and wish to locate a Sales Order  by Order ID (the most common way to do so.) To do this, you would:

1. Open the Sales Order Browse
2. Click on the Order ID column. The browse will re-display in Order ID order.
3. Enter the Order ID (for our example, R12345) you wish to locate into the Locate By field.
4. Press [Enter]. The browse now immediately moves to order . R12345.

Example #2 (Selecting a range of records): This is the same example as above but with a twist. You are again looking for Sales Orders, by Order ID, but this time, you are not quite sure about the Order ID, so you enter a range to search for:

1. Open the Sales Order Browse
2. Click on the Order ID column. The browse will re-display in Order ID order.
3. Enter the beginning part of the Order ID (for our example, R12) you wish to locate into the Locate By field.
4. Press [Enter]. The browse now immediately moves to order. R12345 and displays all Orders which begin with R12.

TIP: It may make things easier to think of the Locator as a sort of ‘instant filter’.

Example #3 (Sorting a range of records): This is where it gets tricky! This is the same example as #2 but with one more twist. You are again looking for Sales Orders, by Order ID, but this time, you are not quite sure about the Order ID, so you enter a range to search for:

1. Click on the Invoice column. You are now viewing which all orders which begin with R12, but they are now sorted by Invoice #.
2. Click the Invoice column again. You are now viewing the same list of invoiced Orders, but which all orders which begin with R12, but they are now sorted  in descending order by Invoice #.

So What's The Catch?
The only complaint with the new Locator, comes from long-time users, who got quite used to the Search As You Type. Right; so did we. It definitely is hard for us to give up. Once you get the hang of it, we think that it was the fastest way to navigate that we'd ever come up with and the new Locator system just isn't quite as efficient in that way (though it's close). Still, many of our testers did not feel it mattered much because, frankly, they don't randomly search around through browse windows all that often. That's just not how people tend to work. How they do tend to work is by looking for specific records, or groups of records, and the new Locator definitely makes this easier.

We think that new users will find the new Locator easier to get the hang of, and experienced users will appreciate it's far increased power to find what you're looking for fast.
 

Ciaran's Corner: The Annual Tech Support Gripe
You're A Winner!
A bit of business first: Jim LeFebvre was the 'winner' of my (somewhat joking) 'Lord Of The Rings Trivia Contest'. I actually did not expect to receive any takers on this, but turned out to receive several. But a deal is a deal! So, for sending in an incredibly obscure bit of trivia regarding whether or not you can actually 'kill' and Elf (evidently they reincarnate), he will be receiving the 4DVD Boxed Set of The Fellowship Of The Ring courtesy of our sponsor amazon.com. Well done, sir!

BlackViper: A Good Site To Know For Configuration!
Apart from Middle Earth, I also wanted to make you aware of the BlackViper web site www.blkviper.com. This may be the most accessible site around for configuring PCs. The chap who runs it designed the site to optimized machines for playing games. Since games tend to stress a system more than anything else, it stands to reason that if your system can run Grand Theft Auto at top speed, it will probably run SAFE fairly well. The site is a trove of information on how to optimize most any system to be secure and fast. Since it is laid out for people more concerned about killing aliens than learning about IRQs and PCI slots, it should be quite usable for many of you who want to know more about setting up PCs.

The Phone: Blessing Or Curse?
This is one of those, 'I can't believe he's saying that!' articles which tend to bring out the crowds that carry 'round tar and feathers. Oh well, please read carefully before you reach for the flaming torches, though.

Everybody wants to talk to a live person. You do. I do.  Everybody. But here's the problem: as more of you grow, the number of calls per customer has been increasing every year! The more successful you are with SAFE, the more support you tend to require. But we operate on a fixed service cost per customer. So, as manager, I have to establish a budget to deal with this: making sure you are properly covered at a reasonable price, and that we aren't losing our shirts. To do this, I have a several choices:

1. We can lie to you like many other companies which post a 'free' tech support phone number, which then always routes you to voice mail so you end up e-mailing or waiting for a call back anyway.
2. I can hire (relatively) inexpensive people with attractive voices to answer the phone and take your name, number and then have a 'real' tech e-mail or call you back. There is actually some merit to this in that many people have an inherent distrust of voice mail or e-mail because so many companies do not return calls. More on this in a minute.
3. I can hire more 'real' tech eople to man the phones and raise rates accordingly for everyone. Not too many people want to share this burden (I've asked.)
4. I can direct a customer who feels the need for more voice time to a higher tiered support contract which provides more responsiveness.
5. I can ask everyone as sweetly as mum's rhubarb pie to use e-mail as much as possible so that it is easier for everyone to get to one of our extremely knowledgeable techs.

I'm still trying to hold the line and stick with Items four and five. I have heard your frustrations about this, and those who require a lot of phone time have been directed to Premium Support. But here are some suggestions for the rest of you, from us on how you can help guarantee that someone will almost always be available immediately to help whenever you need it. But first, here are the problems (...er, challenges. I am told that in American Business there are no problems, only challenges. :) )

Some of you pick up the phone every time you have anything to communicate because you simply hate e-mail. I'm with you, at least partially. E-mail can be a terrible way to communicate an idea which requires a lot of back and forth. When you know a topic will require some discussion, a phone call is the way to go. And if it's an accounting or IT issue you would like to conference with your accountant or computer guy, all we ask is that you schedule the call so that we can block out that time for you. Nothing is as frustrating for us as having two or three real customer emergencies to deal with simultaneously just when another customer calls in wanting to 'conference in' people from five branch offices! How do you politely tell someone in that situation that you simply must get your other customer's files recovered now when they have all made the effort to get in the same place for their call.

A few of you avoid calling at all, thinking that this e-mail business is all part of some 'avoidance strategy' (Who knew there was a real term for this---I thought it was simply called 'hiding under the desk') Au contraire. We'd like nothing better than to chat with you. All of us here wax poetic about the glory days back in the '90s when we would chat up customers for hours, getting great ideas on how to make the products better. In fact, one of the biggest prices we have paid in trying to get everyone to communicate via e-mail has been the loss of valuable input from customers. We just don't get that feedback anymore and it hurts. But after we got past about 200 business using SAFE, it just was no longer possible to 'schmooze' and continue to grow.

And some of you call simply to escalate a problem. In other words, you're calling not because the answer you received via e-mail was unclear or incorrect, but rather because you simply don't like the answer! This typically is the I want the program to work a certain way and it doesn't and someone told me it doesn't work the way I want it to and I want someone to do something about it! This is often accompanied by the words Now or the phrase, 'I want to speak to __________ fill in the blank' (I suppose because the boss can get things done!).

And now, here are the solutions:
1. If you have an issue, please do try to e-mail it here before calling. In return, we promise to get back with you in kind, quickly. I don't care what type of bad luck you've had with other companies who simply use e-mail support as a euphemism for avoiding people, give it a try. We will respond promptly.

2. If you need to phone us, because of an emergency or simply to blue sky some idea, call for goodness sake. We want to hear from you. If it's an emergency, we'll deal with it right then! If it's not, we may ask to call you back at a time which is convenient for both of us. If you want to simply 'check in' with your CSR to find out what's new, great! But again, don't be offended if he/she asks to get back with you a little bit later.

3. If you have a problem with the way the program operates (also known as a feature request) please:
a. E-mail your suggestion/request in a cogent, detailed manner. Recognize that we can't simply jump on it that day, however.
b. And when we do our periodic begging for suggestions on how to improve SAFE, do take some time to jot down your idea, or problem so we can figure out a way to address it in one of our quarterly updates.

Sticking with Item #3b, please remember:
a. We do quarterly updates so you have a reasonable shot at getting your idea implemented much more quickly than with any other software company I know of.
b. We only put in suggestions voiced by our customers, so we need, want and expect your input.
c. The reason certain features work the way they do is because the same 20 or so customers provide all the suggestions year after year. And strangely enough, those customers consistently indicate the highest level of satisfaction with SAFE. Which is a polite way of saying that, if you're not happy with how SAFE works, it's because someone else is driving the boat. Let us know how you want the program to work so we can do something about it!

If you can do the above, I promise that we will continue to work towards making even more phone time available for everyone without raising rates. It's getting tougher, but I think we can manage it with your help. Agree with me? Disagree with me? Please let me know. I'll keep an eye out for tar and feathers.

Cheers!

Ciarān Marron
Technical Support Manager
cm@suntowersystems.com

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End of E-News From The Suntower, Volume V #2