Alpha Tracker June update now at beta 4 (SVN490)

We're on track to deliver the June update to Alpha Tracker, our software system for asbestos surveyors and asbestos consultancies.

The June update is now at Beta 4 and is having final checks done and the release notes and user guide updated.

One of the client portal views

Watch this space next week!

Broadland Group go live with Alpha Tracker

We've had a busy week training the Broadland Group's asbestos surveyors and office staff to use Alpha Tracker and Tracker Mobile.

The Broadland Group are a large asbestos surveying, lab and air monitoring consultancy with offices in Norwich, Wickford and Chesterfield.

Broadland Group website

Broadland are the latest asbestos surveying consultancy to start using Alpha Tracker and Tracker Mobile in order to improve their efficiency and improve the service they deliver to their clients.

If are you are interested in using the UK's leading software for asbestos surveyors and environmental consultancies, get in touch!

Tracker Web Server v1.5.494 (SVN74) available

An updated version of Tracker Web Server, the client portal for the Tracker software system for asbestos surveyors and asbestos consultancies, has been released.

This new version, v1.5.494 SVN74, has improved functionality for secure (SSL) access to the web server.

The update is available for immediate download from http://www.start-software.com/tracker/modules/tracker-web-server/.

Alpha Tracker - new monthly update schedule

We have been issuing weekly or fortnightly updates to Alpha Tracker, our latest system for asbestos consultancies and asbestos surveyors, and this has enabled us to deliver lots of new functionality to our customers very quickly.

The down-side of issuing so many changes is that some clients have reported that they have felt a bit swamped with updates, not knowing what changes were coming up or what was available.

From this month, we'll be switching to a monthly update cycle with the first monthly release being made available at the end of June/beginning of July.

When the monthly update is released, we'll issue a detailed log of changes made together with a revised and updated User Guide (both useful to show UKAS!).

We will still be able to issue bug-fix and other urgent releases mid-month, but the majority of functionality changes will now be released in the monthly updates.

If you have any questions or queries, please do get in touch.

PS lots of client portal updates coming in this month's release - watch out for those!

Alpha Tracker release SVN446 now publicly available

More updates have been released this week for our Alpha Tracker software for asbestos surveyors and asbestos/environmental consultancies. This update, SVN446, has improvements in the following areas:

• client portal developments
• an improved software updater (no need for separate database updater any more)
• we've improved the document folders with a new "make live" button for draft documents
• the document folder handles file-names with unusual characters
• reports (data extracts) now show calendars to help choose date parameters
• bug fixes in the fibre analysis screen
• a minor bug fix in the invoice form
• several performance enhancements.

This update is ready to download within Alpha Tracker. Please note that it requires the latest database update too - do contact the office to discuss if you are not sure how to apply the updates.

Alpha Tracker release SVN433/108 in beta test

More updates are being released this week for our Alpha Tracker software for asbestos surveyors and consultancies. This update, SVN433/108, has improvements in the following areas:

• an improved project display window
• an improved survey display screen
• further client portal developments
• a change to the calendar licencing method
• bug fixes relating to suppressing priority scores for non-asbestos items
• improved report set-up screens
• new features for drop-down lists to help users to enter report parameters
• an improved "wait" message when running reports (data extracts)
• improved display of asbestos departments' activity stats in the home page dashboard
• improved quotation facilities
• PLUS all updates up to SVN420.

This update is in beta test and will be ready to download within Alpha Tracker later this week. Please note that it requires the latest database update too - contact the office to discuss if you are not sure how to apply the updates.

Latest support statistics from Start Software

We are very careful to log and track every call for assistance from our clients.  We can help our customers by telephone and PC remote control 24x7 and we typically receive more than 450 calls each month on our help desk number, 0845 612 2402.

In May, we resolved 458 calls for assistance and 403 of those were resolved in the time-scales requested by the caller.  That's really pretty good especially considering the urgent nature of many of the calls we receive:

Month	In time (%)	In time (H) (%)	In time (total)	In time (H) (total)	Total solved
2014-05	87.99	91.61	403	142	458
2014-04	88.86	88.41	375	122	422
2014-03	85.65	82.35	358	140	418
2014-02	83.80	85.64	357	155	426
2014-01	90.62	87.04	618	262	682
2013-12	90.60	92.15	453	176	500
			2564	997	2906

Looking at the reasons our callers get in touch, you can see that very few relate to "bugs" - they are mainly requests for software changes or queries with data:

Breakdown of calls received by Start Software in May 2014

The data we use to produce these statistics comes from our own Alpha Tracker system and is produced automatically by Tracker Dashboard.  All data is audited by ISO 9001 Quality Assessors to ensure that it is correct and accurate.