 June 30, 2002 Keystone Systems, Inc. Volume 2002 Number 2 140 South Arthur, Suite 515, P.O. Box 206, Spokane, Washington 99210 Sales: (888) 863-9833 Fax: (509) 535-0520 Support: (888) 863-9797 Web Site: www.Trucking-Software.com E-mail: sales@KeystoneTruckSoftware.com |
| KEYSTONE LIFTS A SCOTTISH CLOUD |
 Last quarter, we
talked about a client who had gone from Keystone Systems to Innovative Computing software and has now happily returned to Keystone. In this
newsletter, we will follow the experience of Sartin Trucking, a Sunnyside, Washington, company that used Keystone's DOS-based version, switched to McLeod, and has since come back to Keystone's Windows-based software to better meet their software and support needs.Marcie Wall feels the switch from McLeod has been good for them. Tanya Charles, Keystone support, has been a great help with any questions. Marcie had worked with McLeod for about six months, but never got totally comfortable with it. She likes our windows-based approach much better than the text-based system. She especially likes our lookup capabilities and is looking forward to getting into Keystone's user-defined reports feature. |
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Marcie has been getting some real positive feedback from the dispatchers. They really like it because the data entry is simple and includes easy lookup features. Everyone loves the keyword lookup feature, which allows the operator to find a company or account using any word in the name. She has even added an additional nickname for a driver, to make things even easier. Terisa Richmond is thrilled with all the tax reports. She used to have to do spread sheets and hand reports but now the computer just prints them out for her ("including Oregon, which is the worst!"). Patty Graham is pleased at how well payroll is going. She says, "This has been a real smooth transition for us." Being able to invoice everything out in a timely manner has proven to be a big plus for the cash flow of the company. With the other system, they had to wait for dispatch to do "final notes" before she could do the billing, which sometimes took up to a month! Users at Sartin also love the integrated backup feature. They were recently able to easily recover from a payroll problem that, without the backup, could have been a real headache. "We keep finding great new features!" |
| WHOA, PONY! |
 At least two of our clients were previous users of COLTS software. McDermid Transportation, in Oconto Falls, Wisconsin, had used the software for several years. Jeri Gauthier, operations manager, says "We are glad we made the move from Colts. After getting through the transition and learning the new software, we are finding that KSI does even more than we could have imagined!" He was not sure how the dispatchers felt about it ("They aren't complaining, so I don't ask!"), until they started recommending KSI to other trucking companies with which they work. Sometimes actions speak louder than words! |
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Bob Hay, accounting manager at Atlas Forklift Rentals, Phoenix, Arizona, says that bottom line, "KSI is a lot less complicated to use, requiring less steps to accomplish the same task." Bob did like their accounting, except for a few data integrity issues which he was able to work around. The dispatchers find it easier to get their job done because they can move around to complete various information on the load as it becomes available. In the old system, they had to move through three screens and sub-screens, one at a time. They had to access each field, even if it was just to hit enter on a blank field. With KSI, they can use the tabs and the mouse to jump to any piece of information. "Keystone is better organized to help us get the work done." Do you have a story to tell? Prospective clients often ask what we know about different software packages. We try to keep up, but usually do not have direct experience to relate. If you would be willing to tell others about your experiences, let us know. Even if you want to tell us about a feature that you liked about another package you have seen or used, we are always interested in your ideas! |
| CHECK OUT OUR NEW WEB SITE www.Trucking-Software.com |
 We invite you to take a look at our new web site, which includes information about all the new features in Keystone Truck Software, at www.Trucking-Software.com. Our web site was last updated in 1998 and we have implemented a lot of new features which needed to be included! We used a more generic name for the new web site, hoping to catch more visitors looking for "trucking software." |
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One feature is a copy of the quarterly newsletters for the past two years. You can read them at our web site, giving all your users access to this information. |
| TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SOFTWARE UPDATES |
 When you receive a software update, be sure to read the "Update Notes" so you can take full advantage of new or enhanced features that have been added to the software. Battery customers should also read their 'Special' notes under the BT Program, Help, Read Update Notes. |
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The biggest changes so far this year include: MORE IFTA OPTIONS You can now print horizontal and vertical lines, list your home state first, and/or list all states (instead of just the states you actually had miles/gallons for) to make the report format acceptable by more states. Go to the TR Program, Reports, Fuel Taxes, IFTA Options/Fuel Tax Lock tab to select these options. SALESMAN ON THE INVOICE You can now enter a salesperson, agent, dispatcher (or anyone else set up in the PR Program, Lists, People) on a invoice. This new field on the General Tab of Invoices allows you to use Report Writer to generate reports to track commissions, performance, etc. PICK/DROP INFORMATION You can now print the Picks and Drops on the settlements for both mileage pay and percentage pay drivers. To turn on this feature, go to the SE Program, Lists, General Information, Settle Tab and check the box for "Show Pick-Drops on Settlements." You can override the feature for a specific settlement by unchecking the same box on the Advanced Options tab in Settlements. LOAD FINDER MORE FINE-TUNED You now have the option to show only companies that have been used as a pickup location, instead of all companies which include vendors, owner/operators, etc. |
| THIRD QUARTER 2002 HOLIDAYS |
 July 4 - Independence DaySeptember 2 - Labor Day |
| HELPFUL HINTS |
 FINAL REALLY DOES MEAN FINAL! Keystone software allows you to review reports for settlements, fuel interface imports, finance charges, month-end closing, etc. before running the program as a final. Take advantage of this powerful tool! Before you run anything as a final, review these reports to make sure ALL the information is correct. If you find any errors, make the corrections and review the reports again as a double check. When you are completely satisfied with the preliminary reports, make a BK backup and then run the program as a final. |
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Following this simple procedure will save you major headaches later when you have to try to figure out how to make corrections to data that has been closed. Everyone is human and mistakes do happen. Keystone software allows you to correct any errors before they become a permanent part of your data history. REPLACING COMPUTERS With the price of computers at an all-time low, many clients are replacing their old computers. Before you disconnect that old computer, you need to call Keystone to have it de-authorized, even if you are just taking it out of service as far as using Keystone software is concerned. This allows us to authorize your new computer without you going over your limit on workstations. "IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE WORSE OF TIMES..." It's ironic that this opening phrase from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, which was written in 1859, is still appropriate in the 21st century. We have state-of-the-art computers to ease the burden and make our lives so much easier - that is until the computer crashes! Verquer Trucking of Sterling, Colorado, found out about the "best of times" recently when their server crashed. They had a tape backup of their data files that they were able to restore after the computer was fixed, and were able to go on without having to re-enter any data. On the other hand, Zillah Hauling Service of Spokane, Washington, experienced the "worst of times." When they had some computer problems that resulted in data corruption, they found out that the backups they had faithfully been doing were unreadable! They did find an old tape that was readable and we were able to restore the corrupt table, but still had to re-enter over a month's worth of work that had been lost! The moral of this tale is: Make sure you backup device (tape drive, Zip drive, CD-R or CD-RW, etc.) is working properly and that the backups you do faithfully every day are readable! |
| F1 HELP AND FAQ'S |
 We want to point out some additions to the software that we find very exciting. As most of you have already discovered, a lot of work has gone into updating and completing the F1 Online Help Topics. In addition to providing this information, we decided to try to answer the most FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ's) from our clients as part of the F1 Help. These new topics all start with FAQ and they can be found by typing F1 in any screen and then clicking on the Index tab to get the list of topics for that program. Or, on any menu, you can go to Help, and then click on the link to Contents or General Help for a complete list of FAQ's for the entire system. |
| Take the time to review the F1 Help Topics and FAQ's to find out more about your software. We have put a lot of work into the approximately 460 topics already in place and continue to edit and update the Help Topics to make them even better and more complete. We would appreciate your feedback, so if you find an errors or have any suggestions for the Help Topics, please email them to Tanya: support@KeystoneTruckSoftware.com. |