SCOOPS! Newsletter SPRING, 2001

KEYWORDS: Scoops! Oz. CMMS

Are your work order history reports running slow? Work order history reports run faster when you specifiy a date range. To make sure your file is sorted and in sync, run the Work order rebuild option. If you are on a network system, make sure all other users are out of the completed work order file.

Fun with graphs

OOPS! has many graph options to choose from, under Adhoc Reports, Graphics. You can create your own graphs or print a one-year summary report with graphs.

To print graphs in color (you of course must have a color printer):

  1. Open the Windows paint program - usually found under your accessories tool bar.
  2. Go into OOPS! and create and display your graph.
  3. Once you have the graph displayed, press print screen.
  4. Alt tab to the paint program.
  5. In the paint program, click on Edit, Paste
  6. It may prompt "The image in the clipboard is larger than the bitmap, Would you like to enlarge the bitmap" Reply Y
  7. It will then paste the graph from OOPS!. If it is a standard graph, it will have a black background. To change the background, select Image, Invert colors. The black background will change to white.
  8. At that point, just select File Print and print to the printer of your choice!

Windows Me and Windows 2000

Microsoft Windows Me and Windows 2000 still run on DOS, even though your IS Dept and Microsoft may say otherwise. There is still a DOS prompt and DOS commands. We have several users testing OOPS! under these operating systems and so far we have not had any major problems that we were unable to find solutions for.

Words to the WISE:

As more and more of our OOPS! users run OOPS! under one of the many Windows operating systems, we are finding that an increasing number of the support calls that come in are really Windows problems. Just for the record, we have never gotten a call from an Oz user that was an operating system problem. Does this tell you anything?

Oz for ECS is coming soon!

Letter from the Editor:
Our Sales Office often gets calls from "former" OOPS! users. These are people who have moved on to a new job. They tell us their "new" company does not have a CMMS and they want OOPS! Although this makes us very proud that they feel so strongly about our 15 year-old DOS CMMS, we have to tell them we no longer sell new copies of OOPS!

The good news for these former OOPS! users is, we have an even better system to offer them (at roughly the same price) . . . Oz does everything OOPS! does - no features were lost and many new features were added. Oz is a state-of-the art, graphical user system - that means it is easier to use. One user recently sent us an e-mail saying "I'm using more and more of the features. It's fun" Fun! Needless to say, it was extremely satisfying to get that e-mail.

On the other hand, we also receive calls from users who have been forced, by "corporate" or "IS", to move to a Windows-based CMMS because they believe DOS is dead and refuse to even consider anything that isn't Windows-based. Many have seen Oz in action and were very impressed and ready to purchase, only to be told "NO, absolutely not" by IS. These users tell us DOS OOPS! was a much better system than what they currently have and they (the users) are not happy with the new system, that their new system requires more of their time, is rigid and, to our surprise, one even said "OOPS! was more user-friendly" Too bad the folks who actually run the systems don't have any say over the software that they have to live with and that often comes out of their budget! Sadly, in some companies, it appears it is not enough to have an excellent product at an excellent price. It used to be IT's job to get you the best software; it seems now all they care about is that it is Windows-based - even if it will cost the company more in money and time. Isn't this a real disservice to you and the company you both work for? By the way, this newsletter was done on an OS/2 machine.

Networked Printing in OOPS! & Windows
Under the Printer Properties in Windows

  1. In Windows, set the printer up to be able to print DOS applications. You may have to reinstall the print driver and make the choice during the install.
  2. Set the printer properties to the following port as : port address
    For example: lpt1: (\\addapo72\si\l146)
  3. Make sure under capture printer port you list the port and the network address & have it set to reconnect on logon.
  4. Set the printer to default printer In OOPS!
  5. Make sure that the default printer is set correctly: under special features printer setup, press escape, find, look for a printer that has Y as the default. Reset it if necessary and also make sure the output destination is set to the correct printer port, i.e. lpt1 or lpt2
Reboot the computer for all the changes to take affect.