More On TransLog
It can be easy to forget that not everyone knows about our products. New customers come on board and we sometimes forget that just because we posted information on a product last year it might not hurt to go through it again.

What It Is, Dude
TransLog is a SAFExtension. This means that it is not a separate program to run, but is rather a 'plug-in' that adds functionality to your existing SAFE program. (In this case, the only visible sign that TransLog is installed is a TransLog menu option under UTILITIES.)

Once TransLog is installed it runs transparently in the background, logging changes to your database as they are being made. These changes may be monitored and managed in the TransLog Browse under the previously mentioned menu.

What To Put In, What To Leave Out
It's important to know that TransLog only monitors changes to the areas of SAFE that you indicate. In other words, you have to tell it what actions to monitor. In the broadest strokes, it is quite easy for your administrator to set up monitor for various procedures.

Re-Appearo!
If you choose, you can not only monitor who/what/when a record was deleted, but also keep a copy of the deleted record (long time customers will remember that, ironically this was a feature of the original SAFE/DOS wayyyyy back in 1988.) So, for example, if someone deletes a Customer record, it is possible to look at the record exactly as it was at the moment of deletion and possibly to have SAFE automagically restore it. This one feature has saved many customers' derrieres at various points.

More Power, Cap'n!
Many of you who are aware of TransLog haven't purchased it out of concern that it will slow performance significantly. We bear the blame for perhaps over-emphasizing this as a potential problem in years past. But today, in fact, if your system can properly run SQL Server, you almost certainly can run TransLog without noticeable reduction in performance.

Limitations
First of all, for some reason we're always asked if TransLog can monitor changes made by a particular user. Nope. It is designed to note changes to data tables. It is not a user-monitor. So when you set it to monitor changes to Sales Orders, it won't monitor changes only made by one particular user, but rather by all users. That said, however, you can easily use the Browse and Report Queries to get a filtered list of activity made by a particular user.

Second, some things cannot be monitored in detail. Most of these are automated processes. A dramatic example is Inventory Calculate Usage. You can monitor who initiated the procedure, but you cannot monitor all the thousands of changes it might make to the totals of your inventory usage. So in short, TransLog can monitor changes made by users. It cannot monitor batch changes made by SAFE itself.

Finally, some things (many things) cannot be 'undeleted'. For example you cannot (currently) un-delete a deleted sales order if another Sales Order has already taken it's transaction ID or a Customer ID if another record is now using the same Customer ID. You get the idea: you can't undelete something that would create a duplication.

The Future Will Be Undeleted
SAFE 7.0 (coming real soon) will have the ability to 'undo the un-undoable'. That is, the above mentioned limitation on un-deletions will be largely lifted. If you delete a Sales Order or Vendor Bill, you will be able to un-delete it, even if it's Transaction ID has already been used.
Capitalistic Ed. Note: This feature will only be free of charge to existing licensees of TransLog. In other words, get TransLog today and you'll get this capability gratis tomorrow. Get TransLog tomorrow and this feature will cost extra.

Hopefully this gives you some ideas on how TransLog works and why it's such a powerful (but SIMPLE!) idea. Oh you want to order it? Great. Keep reading...

Til Next Time!
 

Save Over 40% On Translog Now!
Have we gone insane? . Our TransLog SAFEextension is now on sale for $895 until August 31. To refresh your memory: TransLog is a SAFExtension which allows you to track changes to any and all data tables in SAFE. Want to know who changed an address? Arguing over who billed a customer with the wrong Ship To Address? Interested in data on gathering data as to which CSRs are performing particular tasks? The answer to all these questions and more is in TransLog.

HOW IT WORKS
TransLog is completely transparent. After installation it adds another menu option to your Utilities screen. From there you can

• Set up events to monitor
• Browse and report on monitored events using our Query functions.

Until now, sales of TransLog have tended to be by our larger customers. After all, if you're doing large volumes of transactions, monitoring isn't just a good idea; it's essential! But thinking about TransLog as being only for 'big companies' is a shame really, because whether you do 50 orders a month or 5,000 there are many times when you need to know 'who did what, when'. As we so often say, 'Even the smallest broker/distributor has almost all the business complexity of the big shops!'.

Plus! In addition to the above, users of TransLog will be able to further benefit from the new editing features in SAFE 6.5 and be able to undo changes to Sales Orders, even after invoicing!

So we're glad to be able to offer this discount as a way of spreading the gospel. We're convinced that once you start using TransLog you'll find literally dozens of important benefits; not just in terms of find out "who's responsible?" but also as a management tool that can actually increase sales and provide better customer service!

So order TransLog today here. You won't know how SAFE is really being used without it!
 

Ciaran's Corner: Marketing Wizards?
I'm no salesman, that's for sure, but from a tech support point of view, I have a deep appreciation for what benefits a good marketing program can do to help in the customer support arena. And like most 'programmers' I have worked with, many of my partners hate marketing. I said that wrong. We don't hate 'marketing' per se. We just hate doing it. Maybe it's because many of us have worked in companies dominated by the wrong type of marketers. And, since, you'll be happy to know, business seems to get better every year regardless, there isn't the deep panic to 'do something!' For example, it seems to get better whether we go to DMIA conventions or not; or whether we advertise in Print Solutions Magazine or not.

CASE STUDY: TRANSLOG
Now my concern is that we have services that can benefit you but are not aware of them; or more likely, you are aware of them, but don't realize that you really do need them.

TransLog is one of those services. I can't think of a customer we have with more than $500,000 in annual sales who shouldn't have TransLog installed. But ironically it is one of our poorest selling SAFExtensions. Which surprises me because, as I said last time, auditing is one very important measures of any accounting system. And TransLog is the missing link

My theory is that, unlike some other SAFExtensions such as PDFXtensions or Ollie, TransLog doesn't seem to generate revenue. And most of you who write the checks are salespeople. And frankly auditing is not exactly near the front of your brain most of the time; making more money is.

MO' MONEY MO' MONEY MO' MONEY
But TransLog does make money; or at least it saves it. By letting you see who is doing what, TransLog lets you monitor how SAFE is being used in a way that is simply not possible otherwise. For example, you have sales reports with SAFE, but do you have an accurate idea about how many steps are involved in processing an order? How long it actually takes? How many people are 'touching' the order before it is billed (or after!) Don't be surprised if your estimate is not all that accurate! But with TransLog you do know.  In fact, with TransLog it is quite simple to get informationl showing all the steps involved on not only one particular order, but in any number of orders over a given period of time. Export that info to your handy spreadsheet and et voila! Instant time study: how much effort is really going into 'getting an order out the door'.

Armed with this information, our customers have:

• Created new workflows to save steps
• Re-assigned the customers for their CSRs to get better responsiveness.
• Re-assigned salespeople to various territories to get more effective coverage
• Created new employee incentive programs based on the tasks they were completing in SAFE

All these things let you do more with what you've got. That saves money and makes customers happier. Does it take a bit of effort from you to massage this fount of data? Sure! But that's why you're the manager, right?

As Jack Welch likes to say, 'Show me the numbers. It's all in the data!'.

OK, NOW IT ALL COMES OUT
So how am I doing? Have I piqued your interest in TransLog? I talked revenue and cost savings benefits and didn't once mention how great it is at tracking down problems, preventing accidents and recovering lost data. I have seen how much money TransLog saves, not just in reactive mode (which is my usual job), but when used pro-actively as I described above. Will my shameless plug have an effect on sales? I'll let you know after the sale ends. Which is August 31, by the way!

Til Next Time,

Ciarān Marron
Technical Support Manager
cm@suntowersystems.com