 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
MS Access Forum / Multiuser / Networking / November 2004Multiuser Access 2000 question
I have a small call center and dispatch facility. We presently dispatch 3 towing companies and 2 taxi companies. The towing calls are logged to a worksheet and transferred to a dos based Answering Service program and the taxi calls are manually logged and filed. I would like to get the initial data direct to a database and limit the paper handling. I would require call takers to enter calls to what ever data base is required and have this information appear on the appropriate dispatcher's screen automatically without requiring any kind of manual refresh. I have a Netware 4.11 server (being upgraded to 5.x) and XP work stations. The work stations also access an intranet street guide and internet based weather and road services. I use Access 2000 and have Oracle 8 & 10 and considering the learning curve on Oracle I'd rather stick with something simpler Ideas ? Steve L. If I correctly understand that you have only a modest call volume, then a multiuser Access database on your LAN should be more than adequate. There's an introductory presentation on Access in a Multiuser Environment that I did for my user group that you can download from http://appdevissues.tripod.com. It will identify topics that I thought worthwhile to discuss, and a bit more. The best collection of detailed information and links on the subject of Access in the multiuser environment is at MVP Tony Toews' site, http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm. There's also good coverage of Access multiuser in the various versions of "Access <version> Developer's Handbook" by Litwin, Getz, et al, published by Sybex. For those versions of Access where they had two volumes, it will be in the second volume, not the "desktop" volume. (And, just so you don't waste time looking for it, Paul Litwin told me that Sybex had decided not to publish and edition of the Developer's Handbook for Access 2003.) Larry Linson Microsoft Access MVP > I have a small call center and dispatch facility. We presently dispatch > 3 towing companies and 2 taxi companies. The towing calls are logged to [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > > Steve L. > required and have this information appear on the appropriate > dispatcher's screen automatically without requiring any kind of > manual refresh. This is not what a database system does. You can make a database system do this, but there are always limitations. In Access, you can set the Timer on a form to requery the database every 10 seconds or so. The query may be slow, and it may make the application unresponsive, and it may slow all the other operations happening at the same time. This is an inherent limitation of any database system. To get around this, you would use a Push data system, like a network broadcast, with a dedicated client, like a Web Browser. Even a push data system might require a database back end, and timed database queries. To get around that requirement, you would need a multi-tier system, with a data cache layer. That would then require a dedicated data entry client, to communicate with the cache layer instead of directly with the database. As you can see, it quickly becomes very complicated, so people do use database systems. Just don't expect it to be perfect. Using Oracle won't solve this problem: running a heavy reporting load against a transactional database is always problematic, no matter who you buy from. (david) > I have a small call center and dispatch facility. We presently dispatch > 3 towing companies and 2 taxi companies. The towing calls are logged to [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > > Steve L. I have this problem with interchanging 'applications' & 'database' for terminology. I guess I'm going to 'play' with some home grown applications. Our call volume is not particularly heavy but come new years eve I want to have a few more call takers since we expect 1000 calls in a 4-8 hour period and anything will be better than paper. Our Netware server is lightly loaded and averages 1-5%. If anything I will have to configure Norton to quit doing virus scans every time I get something off the server. Our local AAA towing contractor is tied by data link to the AAA computer but their system is so archaic that the local dispatchers have to remember to do manual refreshing to get current data. I'm trying to avoid that model. I finally found the references in Access Help, I should have entered 'multi-user' the first time. This will be fun ?? Steve L. >>required and have this information appear on the appropriate >>dispatcher's screen automatically without requiring any kind of [quoted text clipped - 51 lines] >> >>Steve L. I worked on a 5 tier scheduling and radio dispatch system, with SQL Server as the database backend. It had typically three dispatchers (two active and one view only). The display lag and database load was noticeable, without being disabling. (david) > I have this problem with interchanging 'applications' & 'database' for > terminology. [quoted text clipped - 71 lines] > >> > >>Steve L. Hmm That reminded me of another requirement. We get booked calls for times in the future. Is there a way to have an alarm come up at a preset time before the call is due? Presently we use the alarm feature in our answering service computers but if a screen is in use the alarm won't override it. Lag is not a major concern unless it runs into several minutes. We don't usually have extra call takers unless we are backed up and then lag is not a big deal since we are already behind. Steve > I worked on a 5 tier scheduling and radio dispatch system, > with SQL Server as the database backend. It had typically [quoted text clipped - 78 lines] >>>> >>>>Steve L. Since you are effectively scanning the database for current data, all you need to do is add a date/time field to the records. Write your database lookup to exclude records where the date is too far in the future. If the number of booked records is so large that it slows down the require for current records, put them in a separate table. Since you are scanning the database under program control, you just need to scan the booking list occasionally, and move any live records to the current list. (david) > Hmm > [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > > > (david) |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.