Version 12 News

The best–laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

For the greater part of the past year IndySoft development has been hard at work on some new and frequently requested features and enhancements. We are very excited to be bringing them to you in our Version 12 update.

Perhaps you were paying attention, or perhaps not, but the update was scheduled to come out today, September 17. As our post heading was about plans going awry you may have deduced that we have made the tough decision to alter the release date. Two factors were at the root of us deciding to make this change, both had you, the customer’s, best interest in mind.

IndySoft’s Inaugural Customer Advisory Board Meeting

For 20 years IndySoft’s product development has been driven by our customers. Every feature put into the IndySoft line has been upon request from, or in interaction with, our loyal customer base. This year we decided to formalize that process so that we could be more strategic in our product direction to ensure that we continue to be a valuable partner to our customers. Thus the advent of our Customer Advisory Board.

Our first meeting was held on August 26 in conjunction with the NCSLI Workshop & Symposium in Portland. In the room were customers from a variety of backgrounds and experiences with IndySoft. There were representatives from the enterprise side as well as commercial labs. From this meeting we received a ton of feedback on wanted improvements. A number of them we determined could be implemented quickly, so we added them to the Version 12 release docket:

1. 12 new Event Fields. BP/BP Type, Branch, 6 user defined fields, Start Date, Start Time, Incomplete Event Status
2. Real-Time Turn Around Time Calculations
3. Multiple-Technician/Masters/Repair Parts Assignment to Work Orders and Scheduled Work
4. New Masters Scheduling System
5. New Branch & Vendor Capabilities System
6. Technician Trainings can now be scheduled by Procedure or the standard Template Type
7. New “Awaiting Training” Section of Pending Work tab

Hurricane Florence

Hurricane Florence has been a force to be reckoned with. Fortunately our offices in both Charleston and Greenville, South Carolina and our employees and their homes all made it through unscathed. The unfortunate part was that due to the mandatory evacuations our employee work days were significantly disrupted for a full week. Typically the week before a major release is spent doing internal training, final testing, documentation, etc. With our employees scattered and working remotely and the last-minute additions that came from the Customer Advisory Board we were unable to complete those tasks to the satisfaction that our customers’ experience would not be negatively effected if we went ahead with releasing today.

There is Good News!

We know that there are several customers that are chomping at the bit for some of the new features (hello automated tech sync!) and new specifications that will be included in Version 12. If that is you, we will have a beta version available for you. Please contact support to get the details on getting the beta version.

To Sum it Up

After some long debate we came to the conclusion that postponing the release was the best decision for the product as well as for our staff and our customers. With this delay you will get:

• 7 new features/enhancements that would not have been included otherwise
• IndySoft personnel that is fully prepared due to comprehensive internal training and testing
• Complete documentation
• A beta version that is available for those who need it immediately

Once we resettle we will take stock of the requirements and will let you know what the new release date will be. We appreciate your understanding.

We send heartfelt thoughts and well wishes to those that were effected by Hurricane Florence. 💗