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Integrated or Component Software
What a Dilemma!
During the week, we were discussing the benefits of using a suite of integrated products of fair average quality over using a collection of specific products which, in their area of effect, work exceptionally well, and usually better than the suite equivalents.
Almost everyone will have experienced the benefits of a suite product, one of the most prolific being Office. Within a single family, you can have access to a word processor, a spreadsheet, a presentations creator, an e-mail client, a basic publisher and a database. Keystrokes and menu options within the suite remain fairly consistent, reducing the amount of time required to learn the functionality offered by the huge range of options included within the suite.
You may also learn how to, quite simply (when you have practised) create files which consist of components of the disparate applications included in the suite. So the word processor can contain data maintained in the spreadsheet which can be populated in its turn from the database, for instance.
All this is achieved in a much simpler way than if you had chosen products which might be, for your specific requirements, much more capable or easier to use individually.
To create a composite WordPerfect document which contains an Excel spreadsheet which is populated from a Delphi database will be a much more taxing task than doing it all within Office.
When to use a suite
There are lots of suites around. There are the Adobe Photoshop suite, the Works suite and the CA Security suite for instance.
If you are seeking a range of products which may be offered in a suite, look at the suite first. This perusal should be aimed at assessing that the applications within the suite each meet your needs and that the benefits of common interface, easy learning and component integration are reasonably simply obtained.
If these benefits are achieved without costing more than a collection of specialised applications, there is no reason to look anywhere else. If your requirements are not all adequately met, then it is time to have a look around.
When to create your own
It may be necessary to use specialised applications if a suite does not adequately meet your usability or simplicity needs. It may also be required if you need to meet a specific requirement which is not handled by the suite product.
In this case, you should search the marketplace for component applications which meet all your needs in their area of influence. Once you have identified products which will cover all your requirements, you need to assess the ease with which components can be made to work together, if this is a requirement. Of course, in many situations, working closely together will not be a requirement, so, in this case, this step may be ignored
Finally, you may need to assess ease of use. Ensure you are prepared for the “strange” ways dissimilar programs might work. Measure this against the benefits accrued from using best of breed before making your final decision.
Some examples
Internal security: Recently, we were looking for a security suite to protect a new site. We looked for anti virus, firewall, anti spam, access control to applications and in-house security.
We found a number of sources which were able to meet most of our requirements, but not one of the product suites we looked at would do the lot.
Our final response was:
• a combined anti virus and anti spam suite
• a Linux firewall with intrusion detection and attachment filtering etc, and
• a program which enabled us to secure all readers and writers on all machines inside our secured area.
This meant that we had used a range of unrelated products to protect our client’s systems from both external and internal invasion.
What none of the suites could do was to lock or restrict access to USB ports, floppy disk drives or CD/DVD writers. The final component in our solution allowed us to do just that.
Once loaded, we could restrict use of these by user or group across the whole network in a manner which prevented our client’s business assets (data files etc) being written to or read from these devices, except with specific reason.
As it becomes easier to carry huge amounts of data on gadgets like memory sticks and DVDs, so this third component of our solution must become more and more important. For now, it is largely overlooked.
Digital Dictation: Most of the available dictation solutions come as standard with a little application for recording and transcription. We have a client who wanted more than the standard application provided.
We sourced the dictation hardware without the software and then installed a commercial strength recording and transcription package which allowed embedding of text and graphics at the time of recording, saving hours of copy typing or file finding.
File security: Many of our clients are becoming aware of the risks associated with e-mailing files in .DOC and .XLS format.
Often, the obvious solution was to add a freeware PDF writer to the system to create very secure PDF files. However, one of our clients realised that this approach was costing a lot of time and effort as the PDF writer placed the resulting file somewhere where they could not be easily found.
We found a product which did more that just produce a high quality PDF file. It collects the files into an organiser from where they can be e-mailed, faxed, printed, saved or OCRed.
This little application also allows multiple individual PDF files to be very simply concatenated into a single PDF, which can then be page numbered, have a watermark applied and stickers appended etc. So a small annual cost provided not just a secure PDF writer but a very powerful processor as well.
Program a suite: Remember, mega suites like MS Office can be “taught” to do some very clever things. If you are generally happy with your selected suite, but want to simplify some aspects of its operation or squeeze further gains from its capacities, speak to your Tripos IT account manager about how we can customise your suite to provide the facility you require. We have the skills and experience to assess your needs, specify the solution, write the code and train you and your staff to use the new functionality to optimise your return on investment.
If you feel the need to work with components to achieve what you want, please contact Tripos IT and we will be happy to work through your needs and assist you to select appropriate applications to build your own suite.
If you have an interest in one of the facilities discussed above, please speak to your Tripos IT account manager.
Tripos IT Newsletter
January 2006
Integrated or component software
Faxback: 8272 7344
I am interested in:
Suites:
☐ discussing a suite based solution.
☐ discussing a composite software solution.
Internal security:
☐ securing internal ports, like memory sticks, floppy drives and CD\DVD writers.
Digital dictation:
☐ discussing digital dictation.
☐ dictation software that allows me to embed text and graphics at time of dictation.
File security:
☐ the PDF writer which includes the PDF processing capabilities, like e-mailing and faxing.
Program a suite:
☐ getting more from my installed suite.
Please contact me.
Name: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Enterprise: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Contact: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Details:
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Of course, you could call us and arrange any change you would like.
Thank you.
Stewart Rankin Pty Ltd – ACN 007 972 901 & DL & LD Greenhough trading as
TRIPOS IT
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