Balmori Software Inc.

[ Article ]

Should you install your SURE! DMS enterprise software in a single PC or in a local area network of several PCs (a LAN)? (SURE! DMS is a more powerful, feature-laden evolution of the old SURE! ISARAP.) This article shows the dramatic differences in user experience between the two implementation approaches.

Why a network implementation will make your SURE! DMS enterprise software more valuable to you:

With SURE! DMS installed in a LAN, everybody in the company (subject to access rights determined by top management) can get instant, on-demand access to the data they need to do their job. (Fig. 1) Within the LAN, operating departments continuously and simultaneously input () their data into one single database.

The phrase "one database" is significant. Having all your data in one integrated database means that you have one source of truth in your organization. All your data are synchronized and mutually consistent across the enterprise. Everyone is confident the data in the database is backed up by a solid audit trail. Every transaction is traceable back to its source document, instantaneously, so nobody wastes any time tracing back transactions.

For example, want to verify the original purchase before issuing the payment check? SURE! DMS lets you go back down the audit trail with a few keystrokes. In fact, SURE! DMS goes further: it won't let you issue a payment check unless the original purchase has first been inputted.

That's the compelling benefit of SURE! DMS. All departments get (controlled) access to data they need to do their work, retrieving reports () with confidence that the information is accurate and up-to-date. And mutually consistent. (Top management of course will typically view reports but do no data inputting, as indicated by one-way arrows in the illustration.) But what if you are not ready for some reason to invest in a LAN? Is a single-user setup of SURE! DMS still viable? The answer is yes, subject to certain constraints.

Using SURE! DMS in a single-user setup.

One thing is clear: having SURE! DMS in your organization, even in single-user mode, is very empowering; it synchronizes all your business data in one, enterprise-wide database that gives everybody the information they need to do productive work. All your functional departments - Sales, Marketing, Purchasing, Warehouse, Credit and Collection, Finance - get mutually consistent and reliable information from one database.

Running SURE! DMS in single-user mode, however, implies that everyone has to take turns inputting data and outputting information. Want to encode a handful of sales transactions? Get in line. Want to print a report? Get in line (see Fig. 2).

Or more likely, the Accounting Department ends up being the inputting clerks for everybody's data. Either way, data gets into the database much more slowly; and the processed information therefore also gets out to the operating departments slowly. It's a lot better than not being computerized, it's a lot better than having non-integrated islands of computerization, but does this configuration really make you as efficient, as globally competitive as you could be?

To fully enjoy the power of SURE! DMS, run it in a LAN environment. This gives your workers in every department instant, on-demand access to the information they need to do their jobs. This is the configuration that makes a difference in your core processes. This is the setup that lets your customers enjoy a noticeable speeding up of the service experience. Go back again to Fig. 1 to see this vastly superior implementation vision. -rsr

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Questions? Reactions? Write to balmori@balmorisoftware.com.

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