Clock Watching on Caseworks

We have recently introduced a comprehensive system monitoring routine in Caseworks. The benefits of this to us and customers are enormous. We can monitor system issues, without waiting for any customer information. We can identify any procedures which are running slowly and address them - something we have already done. It is also an enormous security protection, as we can monitor in real time unsuccessful logins and the exact record which each user viewed or updated.

However, the analysis of the server and of the way that users use the system and when is equally fascinating.

On server analysis we are pleased to report that users using our hosted system are experiencing 98.2% of transactions within 5 seconds.

On user analysis, the distribution of usage over time is amazing at both ends of the spectrum, as the chart below shows. Note that some users are logging in before 8am and after 7pm. Unbelievably, one user from London Borough of Enfield logged in after midnight and three users from Gloucester City Homes, Aurora and Croydon logged in before 7am.

In the current economic climate, where the public sector has come under sustained political attack, this kind of dedication to duty should be recognised

Windows RT

Welcome to my Linked In followers - I have only just discovered how to link in the Blog!

The good news, was that Microsoft are developing Windows 8 to be finger friendly and work properly on touch-sensitive devices. Although many companies have tried to launch Windows Tablets, they have been pretty much thwarted by the poor user experience which the little corner boxes and icons give when trying to control Windows software, and, as a result Apple and Android have raced away with the market share.

This was bad news for those of us who have written Windows applications, because the tablet format has much to offer for users who are not desk-bound. Consequently we have got into writing for Android where the same software will work on Smart Phones and Tablets.

The bad news - very bad news - is that Microsoft are going to exercise total control over the loading of software and customisation of their new Tablet version of Windows 8, called Windows RT. This is going to make it more profitable for Microsoft, more difficult for third party developers and more expensive for end-users. It will ONLY be possible to load software via their online Application Store, and users of Office will find that they will have to buy the product a second time this way. Users of Open Office, or any browser other than Internet Explorer will find they are completely shut out. So the noble work of the European Union, to force Microsoft to offer a choice of browsers on their PC has been completely undone at a stroke. More than that, if we write applications for Windows RT - as we probably will - our customers will have to pay some of the sales price to Microsoft as well as our developers, as currently happens with every iPad application.

  It isn't just small companies like ours who are affected. HTC, who frankly did a lot to make Windows 6 mobile more user friendly with their Intellisense overlay, have been completely frozen out, because Microsoft do not want suppliers to modify their new floor tile format! TheNextweb.com

I sincerely hope that our customers - Local Authorities - will recognise this piece of negative, uncompetitive commercial greed, and move wholesale to Android for their mobile computing.

By the way, aesthetically, does anyone find the new Windows floor-tile format more pleasing to the eye than the HTC intellisense format - comments please?