Look on the bright side - our gardens need this rain! And if it wasn't for the Autumn and Winter, we wouldn't appreciate the Spring and Summer!
The holiday season for R.E.D. is well and truly over now - Helen and John did strange things with backpacks and mountains in North Wales, Emma did equally odd things in walking boots in Albania, and JB wouldn't say what peculiar things he did! - Ideas on a post-card please!
First, and very importantly, Emma’s mother would like to say a particular thank you to everybody who has been collecting used foreign postage stamps - over £ 1000 has been raised for the Cancer Research Campaign. It goes to show that even the smallest bundle you collect all adds up to make very large bundles. Please carry on the good work.
We are R.E.D. have had a very busy summer. So much so that we are introducing advance booking forms to try and manage our time better.
Through the Square Window..
That dates us, if nothing does! But through the square window today, we saw with our eyes the first few screens of the Windows module. This may not sound fearfully exciting, but it's the culmination of about a yearns work getting the existing code to compile for either the DOS program or the Windows one. No short cuts at R.E.D., this is the real McCoy! It's like decorating - the preparation takes ages, with no apparent result until suddenly the wallpaper goes on!
We'll keep you posted as to progress, but we hope to be able to offer the module early in the new year.
Not a Lot of People Know This
Building Lists from Post Codes
You may remember last news we talked about the faster list-building options. But did you also know that there is a facility for list building based on a list of address postcodes? The codes which interest you are held in an external text file, which works in conjunction with your internal selection template. It's a really good way of making a list if you have lots and lots of postcodes which you want to use in a list. Let us know if you'd like more information.
Street Cleaning
Well, OK then, address cleaning! There has been a surfeit of this just recently. If you are sending your addresses away for cleaning, with the intention of overwriting the existing dirty ones with the clean, please remember to export the full address reference. Otherwise, it is quite tricky to find the correct address to overwrite on their return. It's so quick and easy to put the address reference on the export, why not do it now, while you think about it!
French Telephones
We hear that the French telephone system has been going through a major change recently, and that numbers now have different dialling codes. I don't have details as yet, but perhaps you know more than we do!
Our Letterbox
Though out letterbox came something which interested us. It was addressed to the ‘Secretary to the MD’ and it was an advertisement for a courier company. Boring - I hear you say - but the deal was that if you use them for a set number of dispatches, there was a free three month subscription as an incentive. The subs were from a selection of general interest publications. We presume that the renewal reminders to those taking up the offer would be very attractively worded! In other words, two quite separate companies with totally different products had got together to promote both in one mailshot. Now there's an idea.
Are we in Coventry?
We invited you to contribute, (with the incentive of a small reward) for contributions for our proposed re-implementation of the on-screen help facility. Nobody talked to us. Nobody. We simply can't believe that you don't need or want help! Come on, let's have your ideas.
New Forms
We are always striving to make sure our levels of training, and standard and premium support are as effective and efficient as possible. To this end we are introducing new booking forms and have enclosed one of each of these. You can use them any time, - just photo- copy as and when. We hope this will eliminate any possibility of misunderstanding, and enable all of us to make the best use of our time. As always, we welcome your comments on them.
These forms have been pilot tested for some months now and have been well received.
Don't Forget!!!
I know we've said this before, but at the risk of being boring, if you are BPA or ABC audited, you must take a back-up of the audit issue and keep it untouched. Then you will be able to give the auditors accurate, quick answers to their questions because you'll be able to look at the actual data that produced the label run. It is REALLY difficult to pass the audit without this.
You will also find it helpful to have a freeze copy of your company financial end.
Minimum Knowledge
R.E.D. does feel that if people are using a computer, then there is a minimum level of knowledge which is needed. We're absolutely not talking huge technical skill, just the very basics - what is a directory, what is a file, what is a network, what is the copy command, which hole do I put this disk into. This sort of stuff is not covered by your support contract.
The point about these types of calls is that individually they may not take long, and we do like to help out if we can, but once you've had several in a day, the time left for genuine support, testing new facilities and tailoring, etc, is much reduced, and so too is the quantity of hair left in our heads
Winter Viruses
We have noticed a marked increase in the import of names and addresses from external sources. These usually come on a disk. We are very hot on virus checking everything and anything, and would strongly recommend that you do the same. Among others Dr Solomon produces a toolkit for checking, and is good value at about £60 for a year’s subscription with quarterly updates. Details from S&S International 01296 318700
Messages for IT Folk
Netware Tests
We are able to offer a netware test utility. It's a stand-alone program which performs an unending series of database functions, and reports on what is going on in the server. Ideal for running over the weekend. It's free, so if you would like it, please let us know.
And Finally...
We've had many users doing new and spectacular things with their laser printed output, marketing plans, list activities, cross marketing, and the like. The wise ones involved us in their discussions, and so made the implementation of their plans as smooth as possible, just by getting the most out of their program. So remember, we can help you expand your operations and do contact us if you are planning great things!