Thanks for visiting our Start Software blog. Follow the blog to keep in touch with news and developments from Start Software, the developers of Alpha Tracker, Alpha Legal and more!
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| You can't beat a bit of Bully! |
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| Visit https://alpha-tracker.co.uk/alpha-tracker-mobile for more info |
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| The Global Asbestos Forum Magazine on director Robin's desk |
A farming family local to our Shropshire HQ is introducing innovation throughout their business, and the two sons driving the farm forward featured this week on BBC Countryfile: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002cgz8/countryfile-shropshires-nature-comeback
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| Watch the Nicholson brothers on BBC iPlayer |
We're currently working with the Nicholson family to develop an app to help them and other dairy farmers. Watch this space!
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| Ray, Mavis & Sir Stephen Timms |
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| Kim with clients and friends from around the world |
Zac and his Support Team responded to 957 tickets in April. More than 99% of the urgent tickets raised were resolved within our 2-hour target time - a fantastic result.
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| Zac looking appropriately surprised! |
The number of open tickets has also been kept under control, with only one ticket remaining open at close-of-business on the Friday before the long weekend. That's one ticket between hundreds of client companies - quite an achievement!
Overall, nearly 94% of tickets were solved within the timescales requested by the caller during April.
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| The asbestos Client Portal is now much faster to load |
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| The conference is being held at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel |
We're just about to wrap up the feature-list for asbestos & water hygiene software Alpha Tracker Release 42. Is there anything you'd like to suggest for us to squeeze in?
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| Ideas-a-plenty for Release 42 |
We're already focusing on:
Welcome Matt and colleagues from Nova Group UK to asbestos software Alpha Tracker!
Our Alpha Tracker specialist Kim completed their training today by Teams
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| Kim in her training pod |
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| The HSE are asking for opinions on accreditation and surveying cost |
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| Read more about Malcolm Gelsthorpe's story here |
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| The Daily Mail have covered the report's launch - read here |
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| Robin, Jonathan, Piers |
Maria has come to stay in the UK for a two week vocational study exchange, from the happiest country in the world! She is a graphics designer and animator who will be spending the day here, at Start Software.
Our director Robin is passionate (and angry!) about the state of the UK roadside verges. They are often full of litter and debris and, in his opinion (and ours), it has become a national embarrassment.
We've created a free app for the CleanUpBritain campaign to enable car passengers to log the condition of verges as they drive along. This data will be gathered and used by CleanUpBritain to encourage the Government and responsible agencies to do something about it - the litter is not going away by itself!
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| Try roadvlog.uk for yourself - it's completely free |
You can access the app at https://roadvlog.uk - give it a try as you are driving home tonight! Even better, ask your team to use the app to record the condition of roads as they drive around for work - the more data we collect, the better!
We love taking our Alpha Tracker stand to conferences and exhibitions.
Kim & Judy have just finished up at FAMANZ 2025 in Queenstown, New Zealand, and they met so many wonderful Australian and New Zealand Alpha Tracker users.
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| What a fabulous event FAMANZ was again this year |
We'll be making an appearance at events organised by UKATA, Asbestonomy and EAF later this year, and elsewhere. Come and find us, say hello, and find out what Alpha Tracker can do for your asbestos, water and fire consultancy.
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| Visit www.alpha-tracker.com.au |
Our new Master Project importer is nearly ready and is being tested by two of our beta-testing asbestos consultancy clients.
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| Look out for the new "Verify" step at position 3 (of 4) |
It will highlight where the UPRNs are missing or are the placeholder "TBC" (or similar) and it will also show you where sites already exist in the system. In addition, it highlights jobs already recorded against the sites you are importing, to help prevent you from importing duplicates accidentally.
Early feedback has been really positive and this updated screen should save your admin teams a great deal of time when checking and fixing mistakes on imports.
Do get in touch if you have any other ideas for improvements. At Alpha Tracker (UK/Aus), we're here to help!
The stand is up (thanks to Judy's husband & kids - they did the hard work while Judy watched on, we believe!!). That was step 1 - Judy and the stand from Adelaide to Queenstown to arrive at the FAMANZ 2025 asbestos conference.
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| The Alpha Tracker stand is up - courtesy of Judy's family! |
Kim has also arrived in Queenstown from the UK, with husband Tim in tow. That's quite a journey - they look remarkably refreshed! Step 2, complete.
If you're attending FAMANZ this year, make a bee-line for Judy & Kim, they will be delighted to talk to you and show you the latest Alpha Tracker Release.
Jack & Adam are working on some more updates to asbestos software Alpha Tracker.
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| Product Manager Jack and developer Adam |
There is a new version of Exchange Calendar Sync which fixes a couple of bugs. One of the fixes relates to the situation where an appointment is swapped from one member of staff to another, and then quickly moved to another date or time. One of our asbestos consultancy clients had spotted that appointments in this situation were not always being synced correctly.
Adam has been working on a new feature for PDF asbestos reports. He's enabling an option so we can including hyperlinks to photos in PDF reports enabling a larger, higher quality photo to be displayed if the hyperlink is clicked on by the report recipient. This is pretty clever stuff - also helping you to make the most of Alpha Tracker's Client Portal with your clients.
If you've got any ideas for features for Alpha Tracker Release 42, get in touch!
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| Melika's (seated front/left) first site visit! |
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| What an excellent team Salvum have |
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| Zac - leading our Support Desk |
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| Read about Release 41.5 on our website |
This year's FAMANZ conference is heading to the incredible Queenstown, New Zealand, on the breathtaking shores of Lake Wakatipu.
Alpha Tracker Specialist Kim has booked her flights and will be joining Alpha Tracker Director Judy at the conference to meet clients old and new.
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| Kim is heading to New Zealand! |
Make sure you look out for Kim and Judy and say hello if you're attending FAMANZ this year. The rest of the UK team in Telford are seriously jealous, Kim!
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| The guide can be downloaded as a PDF |
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| Anglian are making the most of our asbestos QR codes |
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"This is the story of Killer Dust, from mountains of the material in mines still operating in countries today, to the skyscrapers of Manhattan, and the terraced streets of the north of England.It is the story too of the people who fought and died for the truth in order to expose the reckless pursuit of profit in the making of one of the most dangerous building materials on the planet."
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| Microsoft are disabling a feature - you need to take action |
NORAC - the National Organisation of Asbestos Consultants - has published a report about asbestos registers following a poll of their members.
Alpha Tracker is an associate member of NORAC and we're always interested to read their reports. This one is especially interesting as it relates to the notion of a national asbestos register - a topic which is being discussed at the highest level now.
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| The NORAC Asbestos Register report |
Robin & Catherine took their chance on Thursday to see Andrew Bedwell's new boat - Big C V2 - in person. Andrew was delivering a talk to the Gloucestershire Property Forum in Cheltenham, explaining his love for adventures and the reasons he is trying again to cross the Atlantic ocean in the shortest boat ever.
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| Andrew is full flow - as inspiring and entertaining as ever |
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| Andrew's presentation being introduced |
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| Start Software are the main sponsors for Big C V2 |
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| Robin, Catherine & Andrew |
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| Look at how small the boat is! Imagine spending 90 days in this |
Andrew is raising money for cancer research and all donations are welcome: https://www.gofundme.com/f/solo-sailing-world-record
More good news has emerged about asbestos in the UK.
Sarah Albon, HSE Chief Executive, said at the Work and Pensions Committee last week that there is “agreement between HSE and government to ultimately look to remove asbestos entirely from built environment" and that “this links to the potential for some kind of register”. Parliament Live (minutes 11:12 - 11:16).
This is the type of programme that we have been supporting at asbestos software Alpha Tracker for years with our connection to UKNAR (the fledgling UK National Asbestos Register) and OpenAsbestos, our open asbestos data sharing protocol. Really promising news - at last.
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| Sarah Albon giving evidence at the Work and Pensions Committee |
You can read more on UKNAR Andrew Paten's Linked post here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andrew-paten-1755415a_asbestos-asbestosawarenes-asbestosmanagement-activity-7294705795357655041-Oul0?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web
Charles Pickles' Airtight on Asbestos campaign has also summarised the situation perfectly, including some important analysis of the relative risks arising from different types of asbestos, especially in children: https://www.airtightonasbestos.uk/post/how-to-deliver-a-uk-national-asbestos-strategy
Today's Good Morning Britain included a segment about Mesothelioma and other asbestos-related disease. The presenters were visibly moved - and so were we.
Our good friend and campaigner Andrew Paten appeared in support of Mesothelioma sufferer Emily Jane to discuss her diagnosis and the ongoing damage that asbestos causes people throughout the UK - including young women like Emily-Jane.
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| Emily-Jane and Andrew talking about asbestos disease - so moving |
This link https://www.itv.com/watch/good-morning-britain/2a3211 (skip to 1hr 8min) will take you to the interview.
At Alpha Tracker, we've long been a supporter of Andrew's UKNAR initiative, in particular through the creation and promotion of our open asbestos data sharing protocol, OpenAsbestos.
Thanks to Andrew and other campaigners, finally, in 2025, it feels like the UK Government may support the significant changes to public policy that would see the safe removal of asbestos from public buildings. We truly hope so.
