Optimise Systems Limited

NEWS LETTER October 05
Forward	Since the last news letter Optimise Systems have moved premises and increased the number of staff yet again. Marketing have been busy and we have several new prospects on our books, some of which are getting close to signing contracts for Prodigy.
New Location	On the 3rd October 2005 we vacated our offices at the Howitt Building and moved to a more accessible location to the South East of Nottingham.
	We are now located at the Wheatcroft Business Park just off the A52/A606 junction, Wheatcroft Island on the Nottingham ring road. The location gives ease of access for visitors and is much quieter for the programming staff. Caroline Shaw did imply that she could now get twice as much done in one day now she has peace and quiet. We will see!
	I do have one word of warning, if you are visiting and you have SatNav, when you get to Wheatcroft ignore the lady in the dash as she will tell you that you have taken the wrong turning. Reason; there are two Landmere Lanes, one at Wheatcroft (correct) and one at Nottingham Knight Island (incorrect). Nottingham Knight is the next island from Wheatcroft if you are going North or the opposite if you are going South.
	You are all probably aware of the address and new phone numbers, but just in case, they are:
	6 Wheatcroft Business Park Landmere Lane Edwalton Nottingham NG12 4DG Tel: 0115 984 9840 FAX: 0115 984 9849
New Staff	With the introduction of Tim Spate in August it gave us the opportunity to assess the programming requirements and how best to deal with the demands that were being placed on us. We took the decision that both Caroline and Tim should have there own teams. After careful consideration we decided to look to employing 4 more programmers (2 for each team). They are now in place and getting used to that strange language called “C”. Not an easy task if you know little or nothing about the language.
	We expect the learning curve to take approximately 6 weeks before they begin to become productive, but I have to say they seem to be making good progress.
	To introduce them; they are:
	Caroline Shaw’s Team Lee Bakewell Adam Brown
	Tim Spate’s Team Stephen Cansfield Richard Corrie
	Caroline’s team will have the unenviable task, as their first project, of changing the Sub-Contractors module to cope with the statutory charges required by HM Government by both Contractors and Sub-Contractors.
	Tim’s Team by comparison have acquired the easy project, writing a Web based internal stock ordering system for Contract field/site managers.
NNPG Update	In our last news letter we informed you of our first new customer since taking control of Prodigy. They are now up and running on Prodigy, have caught up with the back log of work caused by the move from one system to another and appear to be very happy with the way the system performs. All bespoke items of software were delivered and commissioned as per specifications.
	I think it is at this point that I congratulate the two ladies concerned at NNPG and the programming staff for their dedication to the tasks. It must have been quite frightening for them. To install and commission the Trading System and Accounts in such a short space of time is quite remarkable.
Maintenance	A short while ago we were confronted with a situation that set us thinking about third party software on NT or SBS servers.
	The situation started with a crucial NT server going down. The server was on maintenance; did any one think about the third party software on it? Answer NO. They assumed that it was covered on the standard agreement for the hardware, but it is not. DO YOU HAVE COVER? I suggest that this is placed on your priority list.
System Health Checks	Linetex are offering Health Checks on all types of systems installed. The check will include not only the servers, but the network infrastructure, firewalls, anti virus software etc. A report will be provided detailing what had been checked and make recommendations to the customer for improving systems and security. If you are interested in safeguarding your investment in your computer infrastructure and would like to take advantage of this then please give Phil Carter a call.
Conclusion	Finally I would like to thank all our customers and suppliers for being patient with us during the move at the beginning of October. I would also like to apologise for the late publication of this news letter and for the inefficiency of a certain company in not getting our phones installed on time. Even at this late stage we do not have a broad band connection. The line is in but it takes 2 weeks to flick the switch to ON. Monday the 17th October is the day????