Notes Experience
Major Project:
Conversion of VAX application to Notes and Foxpro
The Client
A large regional accounting firm with offices in northern Ohio.
Purpose of the Project
To track and summarize the status of approximately 20,000 tax returns every year for thousands of clients.
The solution would have to:
- Improve staff access to client records. -- Studies had shown that other professional offices spent approximately 25 to 30 % of their time locating records.
- Improve the accuracy of tax return status reports. -- Reports were periodically printed from the VAX to a line printer and copies distributed to management. Secretaries would manually compile statistics and type management reports. The reports were generally incomplete and outdated when delivered. Managers used the reports to look for tax returns missing in the report and begin inquiries.
- Improve the quality and number of reports. -- The format of the reports was limited and not designed to accomplish the pro-active goals management desired.
- Make the reports available in real-time. -- By the nature of the distribution process, changes to the database were not readily available to the managers.
The Solution
- Develop a series of applications in-house and retire the VAX application after converting the database and running both it and the new system in parallel until establishing confidence in the new system.
- Use a combination of Lotus Notes and Foxpro (running in DOS and Windows) to record changes to the database, compile totals, and provide summaries using both on screen and printed reports.
- Install bar-code scanners at all workstations where users would accept custody of a client's tax records. This would allow anyone the ability to query the database to find who last took custody of a record.
- AAllow synchronization the databases at all the branches with the main office every day, making the entire database available in all offices.
The Justifications
Lotus Notes
- The Lotus Notes Views allowed managers to view summary information in a real-time mode and easily view detailed information on forms where they had specific questions. Views also easily allowed edits to the database by professional staff.
- The security in Lotus Notes allowed limiting access to sensitive information.
- Scheduled database replication meant that the database would be current and available to the professional staff.
Foxpro
- Not all workstations could run Windows. The client needed to allow bar-code scanning and database queries from DOS stations as well as the Windows workstations.
- Some reports using bar-codes were easier to write with Foxpro.
Summary of Methods
Analyze the VAX database and report fields.
Interview users to:
- gain understanding of why certain features were put into the VAX software and how the reports were used
- find the short comings in the existing software
- look for ways to further improve the applications
Define database field names in both Notes and Foxpro.
Import the data into the new Foxpro and Notes databases.
Develop the Notes and Foxpro applications together to encourage the programmers to develop the best database and report designs.
Test and redefine the application until it was accepted by the client.
Run parallel systems until confidence in the new applications was established.
Personal Involvement
Included:Gave presentations to upper management and professional
staff
Performed the needs analysis.
Examined the market for working solutions and
interviewed vendors
Initially designed the database screens and application
processes.
Submitted selected vendors to upper management for
approval
Managed the project after approval
Used Lotus Notes on a daily basis to track the course of
the project
Designed databases and views to aid in the above
Installed and Administered the databases
Latest Content Revision: 5 September 1999