Eclipse e-News September 2009

In This Issue
Eclipse-fm® at the HFC Conference
Come and See us on Stand #7
HFC Logo
Eclipse-fm® at the HFC Conference
 
We will be showing the latest version of Eclipse-fm® at the HFC Conference on the 16th - 17th September 2009, at the Kassam Stadium, Oxford.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Eclipse-fm® LogoEclipse-fm® v4.1 is overflowing with new functionality including EBME/IT Management and the Annual Task Planner, whilst enhancements to Helpdesk, Asset Register, PPM, Purchase Orders modules amongst others, increase further the operational effectiveness of the product.

Development of Eclipse-fm® v4.2 is already under way, and we will have a pre-release of this available for demonstration. This release will include significant new integration opportunities with complementary products, - C4C, the Rigel Safety Analyser, and Trix Document management, all detailed further below, while within Eclipse-fm® itself the Visual Planner, first included in V4.1 is extended to cover planning for Staff Availability, taking into account personal and public holidays, shift patterns, etc.

 

This release will give you more planning power!

So, If your coming to the Asckey stand (No 7), be prepared for a long stay because there is much to see!

 
Feedback Group Meeting - Advance Notice
The next feedback group will be on 17 November, here at Asckey Data Services Ltd, starting at 10:00 AM.

A key element of the feedback meetings is to ensure that as wide a cross section of user comment as possible can be aired in open forum. For that reason, we would urge you to send a representative from your trust to ensure that your opinions are heard.
 
So, mark 17 November in your diary!

Contacting us
To tell us you are coming, and to send in any suggestions, email us at eclipse@asckey.com

Or, call us on 08701 634466
Non Users - Eclipse-fm® Demonstrations

If you would like to look at the latest Eclipse-fm® developments, please contact us on 08701 634466 and we will be more than happy to arrange a demonstration.

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C4Clogo300C4C - Credits for Cleaning
C4C is the Ward Cleaning Management System developed by Pierce Management Services. C4C allows Domestic Services Managers, Matrons and Ward Managers to manage cleaning specifications and standards in Hospitals, monitor performance and comply with National Standards.
 
This is a two way process. First, if "Housekeeping" identifies a problem during a C4C audit, these tasks will be automatically created as a task in the associated Eclipse-fm® system when the C4C PDA is docked for updating collected data. No need to manually create a document to pass on to the FM Department, no need for the FM Department to spend time entering the task details. Crucially, no opportunity for the work that the C4C audit identifies to get lost. Then, once the task is signed off as completed in Eclipse-fm®, the C4C audit record is marked off as complete as well.

This two way Eclipse-fm®/C4C integration enhances your C4C performance, adds to your FM Department’s efficiency and provides feedback to the C4C system that the tasks derived from C4C audits have been carried out - all with no extra administrative overhead.
 
Eclipse-fm®/C4C integration saves you time, enhances your C4C performance, adds to your FM Department’s efficiency and provides auditable proof of dealing with the tasks derived from C4C audits.
 
Cleaning standards are one of the most important and topical subjects in hospital management today, and Eclipse-fm® is the only Facilities Management to fully capitalise on the data collected by the C4C system in this way.

Rigel Medical logo

 

Rigel 288 safety analyser
Continuing the integration theme, The Rigel 288 is a popular safety analyser and is claimed to be the first universal, truly hand-held medical electrical safety analyser to combine the features of an automatic / manual tester with a data logging / asset management facility.

Rigel 288 Safety AnalyserThe Rigel analyser records medical device safety data and outputs the summary to the Eclipse-fm® maintenance record for each asset tested. This provides an instant record and permanent pass/fail audit trail of the tests done, adding to the existing comprehensive audit trails that Eclipse-fm® maintains as a long term record of the history of your medical assets.

 

Rigel Data Import

 
Trix Organiser Logo
 
Trix Drawing and Document management system
 
Trix is an "Industrial Strength" document management system that was designed for electronically archiving medical documents. It is capable of managing the very large number of documents that would result from a complete digitization exercise in an NHS Trust - both clinical and non-clinical.

In the non-clinical area, Trix Organiser provides a one stop place where all equipment information, maintenance history, and especially vital Health & Safety history is stored. As well as supporting "text" documents (e.g. Word, Excel and the ubiquitous PDF format), Trix provides full support for AutoCad documents, covering everything from engineering diagrams to the complete set of digitised site and building plans.

Electronic storage of documents and subsequent general availability to staff who need them has many well recognised benefits - no physical searching for documents, no physical movement of documents, no mis-filing of returned documents - resulting in a much reduced opportunity for documents going missing, and the elimination of staff time involved in routine document searching and filing.

The integration of Trix with Eclipse-fm® makes all of this documentary detail easily available while using Eclipse-fm®. For any Location, Model or individual Asset just click on the show documents button to see everything - the documents for the individual asset (e.g. a Calibration Record) the documents relating to the Model of which the asset is one instance (e.g. a Service Manual), and the documents relating to the location (plans, hazard warnings, etc).

Adding integration of Trix document management to Eclipse-fm® adds the further benefit of automatic access to the right documents at the click of a button. As well as reducing staff time spent in locating needed documents, such rapid and intuitive access means that essential documents that really should be read are more likely to be read - because they are instantly available.

Trix Document Management in Eclipse-fm
 
Remote Application Hosting
Over the last few years we have hosted a growing number of Eclipse-fm® applications here at Asckey data Services Ltd

Up to now, access to hosted applications has been through the provision of a Remote Desktop requiring users to open a Terminal Service session which becomes a separate entity on their Windows Desktop, with subsequent switching between Local and Remote desktops being a potential cause of confusion.

"Terminal Services Remote Applications", to give it the full name, in contrast is completely seamless to the end users. Users do not need to open a Terminal Service session in order to access remotely hosted applications. Instead, the Terminal Services RemoteApp provides the illusion that the applications are installed locally. Both can be represented as no more than an Icon on the local desktop, and a user would be hard pressed to tell the difference between them.

What this means for you is that you won’t have to spend time training users on how to access hosted applications, because users typically won’t even realize that the applications are hosted other than for a (one time only) login request when the terminal device is first started up.

For the narrow single application usage, such as Eclipse-fm®, just having an Eclipse-fm® application icon rather than a new Desktop with just Eclipse-fm® on it makes access a lot more intuitive. Actually, it makes it as it really should have been all along, but sometimes you have to wait for technology to catch up!

For a large scale conversion of all applications to remote application operation the fact that hosted applications can run alongside locally installed applications means that you can make the transition to application hosting gradually. You don’t have to move all of your applications over to a hosted environment overnight (or at all for that matter).

Improved Printing Services
The Windows Remote Desktop could provide a solution forproblems occasionally found in matching locally available printers to the printers recognised by the remote desktop. RemoteApps puts an end to this with the new (Windows 2008 server) Terminal Services Easy Print. This feature enables users to print from a Terminal Services session to the local or network printers that are configured on the client computer without the need to install drivers on the Terminal Server. The Easy Print feature uses the drivers installed locally on the client system resulting in no differences between local and remote sessions. Testing this does indicate that printer mismatches will be a thing of the past.
 
Windows RemoteApps is being trialled at two NHS Trusts now, and first indications are that this is going to be the preferred method of deploying our hosted Eclipse-fm® service, and will change how all server based application deployment is done.
 

Application Deployment - Time for a rethink?
Traditionally, business use PCs have been full specification machines, with applications loaded locally, this in turn dictating that full specification - disk space, memory - to run the applications. Each PC needs individual attention to keep malware out, and when new software versions come along, every PC needs an individual update.

Fine for a two person business, but not so fine when it comes to hundreds of PCs in a big business or an NHS Trust. For this reason many NHS Trusts have already moved to the centralized Terminal Services or Citrix model of centralized installation and remote access - even if "remote" is only to the next room.

Now, with availability of Terminal Services RemoteApps all the parts of the jigsaw are in place for the smaller business to look at central installation, remote access.

Hardware
Power and Performance
Servers are now powerful enough to handle the needs of running the software applications for lots of users, and cheap enough to make replacing multiple PCs with a server the more economical choice.

Costs
Dedicated "terminal devices" will be cheaper than even a cheap PC, and because they are not running the applications will not need to be upgraded to keep up with application evolution. They also use a lot less electricity, not something to be dismissed with today’s emphasis on "Carbon Footprint". Fewer or no moving parts means a longer life.

Existing PCs may not even need replacing, and certainly not just because they have run out of disk space, memory or OS upgradability. Just run the applications as RemoteApps!Application installation will be a one time exercise, saving expensive IT support time spent on updating individual PCs

Working methods
Hot Desking.
Used insensitively, this is an unloved practice. But used to allow flexibility of operation - just login from anywhere on any available PC be it your own desk or the training room - and it becomes a very useful capability.

Reliability
When the PC breaks, nothing is lost. Most of us know that sinking feeling when the dreaded blue screen of death turns up. No problem, just plug in the spare and carry on. Data, and even application state will all be just as when it broke. (You will need to sort out your server backup strategy though!)

Any place, any Time
With the right components in place, users can access hosted applications from their laptops while traveling, from their home computers, or even from a Windows Mobile device. With the emphasis on Applications rather than a Desktop full of Applications, access to only what is relevant to traveling, or to home access becomes much easier to define.

Branch Office management
Terminal Service RemoteApp is ideally suited to organizations that have branch offices, but who do not have a dedicated IT staff in those branches. Using Terminal Services RemoteApp allows administrators to maintain all of the applications from the corporate headquarters, so that the IT staff does not have to make a trip to the branch offices to perform routine application maintenance tasks.

Multiple Software Versions
An overlooked benefit of the Terminal Service RemoteApp allows for the coexistence of otherwise incompatible applications. For example, Microsoft Office is designed so that only one version of Office can be installed at a time. If you have a need to run multiple versions of Office, because hosted applications are not actually installed on workstations, it becomes possible for users to run multiple versions of Microsoft Office, (hosted on different servers) or to run otherwise incompatible applications.

The Future of your Computing
For all but the smallest of businesses we think the days of individual PCs running locally installed software are numbered. The flexibility and lifetime costs (purchase, maintenance, updates, electricity) of the centralized install, remote access model have reached a tipping point.

Even more, for those wth reliable Internet connections, the possibility of unloading all IT management to a remote hosting provider will become more and more attractive. Costs, convenience and flexibility are all pointing in that direction. Unless you are an IT business, do you need to have IT skills. Most of us don’t get oily fingers maintaining our company cars these days, we just drive them - why persist with the unpredictable hassles of running your IT hardware when you could just using it?

We could help you with this - call 0845 2707747

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Twitter
If there is one thing that has been hard to avoid this summer, it’s "Social Networking". Love it or hate it, or like us, somewhere in between, the concept has certainly been generating a lot of comment.

While not subscribing to the view that the whole world is interested in what we did at coffee break, we are seeing that Twitter can be a source of interesting and even useful information, alerting us to events and possibilities we may not have otherwise been aware of, at least, not with such immediacy.

So, Asckey Data Services Ltd, is inviting you to follow us on www.twitter.com as Asckey. We hope that some of our tweets will be useful to you!

 

Asckey Twitter Image

    

The financial climate from 2011 onwards will present many challenges to the NHS.
Let Asckey and Eclipse-fm® help you to meet these. Eclipse-fm® gives you many opportunities to
  • Improve FM quality
  • Save FM staff time by improving working methods and making needed information easily available
  • Minimise maintenance performance failures
  • Guarantee peace of mind by providing proof of best practice
Come and talk to us on Stand 7

If you need to know more about Eclipse-fm® just call us up - 0845 2707747.

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e-News from Eclipse-fm® is provided by Asckey Data Services Ltd

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