Access 2010 - New Features

I went to a preview of Access 2010 at Microsoft HQ yesterday.

Although there are improvements throughout, the major new feature is a facility to migrate an Access system and turn it into a web application using Sharepoint 2010.

Most features transfer (data, forms, queries, even reports) and only a web browser is then required to run the system.

Microsoft have now made the whole of Office 2010 available for download as a free "Beta" so take a look at their website if you want to try it for yourself.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/en/download-office-professional-plus/default.aspx

Tracker Web Server update

Another update is available for Tracker Web Server (latest version is v1.0.214).

This release has a number of performance improvements and also shows items of limited access ("LAG") and no access ("NAG") on both the asbestos and non-asbestos register.

Contact us if you would like this update to be applied.

Screen-pop now available in Tracker

Do you have a busy sales or customer service team using Tracker all day, every day?

Is your telephone system reasonably new?

We can now add a "screen pop" facility to your Tracker so that the correct client screen "pops" up onto your system whenever your client telephones you - without you having to search for them yourself.

If you are interested in this, get in touch to discuss with the details of your telephone system.

Prices frozen for 3rd year running

We've just completed our annual pricing review and we are pleased to announce that prices have been frozen for the 3rd year running.

Our Terms & Conditions of business have been updated during the last few months and are available on our website. Please note that it is usual for us to charge travel time and expenses.

ICT Excellence Awards - We Won!!

We are all so excited and proud that at last night's ICT Excellence Awards we won the "Chair's Award for Excellence" for our Total Diet Management software product.Held at the National Motorcycle Museum, approx. 500 people attended a glittering awards dinner. The award recognised that Total Diet Management v3 (TDMv3) is innovative, has a potentially global market, and has benefits for the welfare of cows, the profitability of the farms and for the ailing dairy farming industry.

The brainchild of academic and dairy expert Peter Allen, TDMv3 was coded by Start's software developer Adam Dangerfield.

A great night and a great product - and a wonderful way to celebrate Start's 10th year of trading.

Asbestos Tracker at Nuclear Power Station

Asbestos Tracker is an asbestos management database (with optional pocket PC interface for reinspections and Intranet/Internet access) that we supply to customers either directly or via our Tracker asbestos clients.

Oldbury Nuclear Power Station is our latest client (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldbury_nuclear_power_station for the fascinating history of the site and it's future) after an installation and training day on Thursday.

Oldbury isn't the first nuclear power station that I've visited as a consultant and they are always such interesting places to work at. Nuclear power is controversial but climate change will surely mean that nuclear power will have an increasingly important part to play in our energy plans.