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Q - What does Drain Tracker do? |
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A -
Drain Tracker's primary purpose is to efficiently and accurately
generate invoices and assessment reports for municipal drain projects,
such as new drain construction, maintenance and repair work.
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Q
- Does the program have any other useful features? |
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A - Drain
Tracker
allows you to send out notices and cost estimates to any or all land owners on a drain.
The system can also store and link digital
images and scanned drawings to your drain, project and property records.
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Q -
How much does Drain Tracker cost? |
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A - The basic
system is $4,000.00 and includes one user license. Multi-user
(concurrent) access is possible and is an additional $500.00 per seat.
There is also a Maintenance Agreement cost of $800 per year. The Agreement must be in effect while the
program is in use. The cost includes installation of the software and
one day of training. Additional training is available at a reasonable
cost.
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Q - Can multiple users access the system at the same time? |
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A - There is no
technical limit on the number of users, although a practical limitation
will exist for your particular situation depending on the configuration
and speed of your network. It's important to note that a one user
license for Drain Tracker allows access by multiple users on a 'one at a
time' basis. This scenario often meets the networking requirements of
smaller municipalities without the additional cost of licensing
concurrent users.
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Q - What does the
Maintenance Agreement cover? |
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A - The
Maintenance Agreement covers user and technical support, as well as all Drain Tracker updates and
any version releases during the period of time it is in effect.
Additional custom programming to add non-standard functionality is not
included, however it is available at a reasonable rate.
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Q -
What type of user support is provided? |
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A - Three types
of support are utilized. Email seems to be the most useful and efficient
method, however remote control software is a great tool as well (we
prefer to use pcAnywhere because of it's excellent security features and
reliability). You can also phone us and place a support callback
request. We'll get back to you quickly. Occasionally we may need to look at your data. If that's the case
we'll ask you to send us your Drain Tracker files.
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Q - Is
an onsite demo possible? |
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We would be pleased to
provide a Drain Tracker demo at your location. Please use the 'Contact Us' button at the top of each page for
more info on how to arrange for that. Group demonstrations are also available
for municipalities in a particular geographic area.
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Q -
Are other
municipalities using the program? |
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A -
There are currently ten
Ontario municipalities using Drain Tracker.
Click here to view the list. You are encouraged to contact our
existing clients.
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Q
- What are the hardware and operating system requirements? |
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A - Although Drain Tracker will
run on older computers, a Pentium 3 or better is recommended. The program runs on the TCP/IP network
protocol, with the data and interface files typically stored on a server.
The database platform must be installed on each workstation. Drive space
required on the server is approximately 100 MB. If you make use of the
digital image capabilities additional hard drive storage will be
required.
How much space you'll need will be directly related to the file sizes of your pictures and
drawings.
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Is Drain
Tracker easy to use? |
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A - Yes,
once you're accustomed to how it works. Drain Tracker is based on
standard drainage industry practices and regulations, which means you'll
already be familiar with the type of work that needs to be done.
Understanding how the software handles various tasks is what you'll need
to become familiar with. To assist users with that Drain Tracker
provides users with real time feedback on what they are doing, as well
as featuring activity logs that detail what actions have been performed
in the past. The value of this functionality can be significant in a
busy office environment where interruptions are common. Drain Tracker
also has pop up help.
Clicking on underlined text anywhere in the system results in a tip explaining what a
particular field or function does.
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Q - Why is Drain Tracker better than using spreadsheets? |
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A - A user
friendly interface, advanced functionality and data storage efficiency
are the primary reasons database systems are utilized instead of
spreadsheets. Drain Tracker also allows information to be linked and
cross-referenced in ways that are not possible with a spreadsheet. Generating
invoices and reports are fully automated processes.
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Q - Does the program handle
grants? |
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A - Grants can
be applied to individual properties (based on ag/non-ag zoning). Grants
can also be allowed or denied for all properties when billing a
particular project.
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Q - Does Drain Tracker handle
tile loans? |
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A - Yes. A
module called 'Loan Applications' is provided that utilizes the same
property information that the billing process requires. Loan details and
calculations are based on current regulations.
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Q - Is the information entered
into the system only usable by Drain Tracker? |
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A - No. The
ability to extract data from Drain Tracker and use it elsewhere is an
important feature. All data in the system can be
exported at any time into a file format that Excel, Lotus and various
other applications can readily make use of.
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