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We are pleased to announce the availability of the SerioPlus ODBC Driver. The driver allows SerioPlus customers to use third-party applications such as Access to write their own reports, whilst  enjoying all the benefits of a hosted solution.

It works wherever you are, over the Internet, through firewalls. Proxies are supported.

What follows assumes an existing knowledge of using ODBC-based report writers, which I know many customers have in depth, having seen the reports they have created for themselves prior to switching to SerioPlus.

We are delighted to say they can now run these reports on SerioPlus.

Testing and Compatibility

In this release, we have focused mainly on ensuring compatibility with

• MSQRY32.exe (the query tool in Microsoft Office 2010)
• Access 2010 (please read the notes below)
• Powerbuilder
• Infomaker

If you use an earlier version of Office we recommend an upgrade to the latest version.

Pricing

The driver is free to use now for anyone with a SerioPlus account, from December onwards the cost will be around £10 per month in order to cover the significant bandwidth that is used by some applications (notably Access)

Availability

Just download the latest tools from the Plustools download area. Contact support if have not yet bookmarked this.

Setup

Setup is like any other ODBC driver. Simply use the pre-existing SerioPlus ODBC profile which is installed when you install the client tools, or setup your own as you would any other ODBC data source.

About the Driver

The driver limits the amount of rows you can download in a single query to 3000, to prevent excessive loading on the SerioPlus servers. Experienced SQL users will know that this is not really a restriction – use the SQL language to aggregate rows on the server prior to download, and retrieval arguments to select just the portion of data you are interested in.

The driver also limits the amount of time a single query can take to 90 seconds. As above, this isn’t really a restriction – design your queries intelligently and they will execute in a few seconds or less.

Serio has a number of long string columns. The ODBC driver limits these to the first 4K of content.

The driver has no update capability. If you try to modify data the results will be unpredictable – this is by design.

You cannot use the driver to create tables, indices or stored procedures – this is by design. It’s a read-only source.

Special Notes for MS Access Users

If you have pre-existing queries, these queries will be bound to a data source name (the actual name will have been set by you when you created it). Simply create a SerioPlus ODBC profile with the same name to run your queries.

If you are importing tables LINK to the tables. If you import them Access will try to download the entire data in the database onto your computer.

Without doubt, the best way to work with Access is to write focused queries and to have a good understanding of SQL. Having tried customer Access queries designed to look at service level performance, these run quickly and in seconds because they are well designed. If you design your own properly you will enjoy the same results. Used in this way Access is very powerful indeed.

Pivot tables are fully supported.

‘Invalid Descriptor Index’

If you get this error, it means you have a long string in the middle of a SELECT list, when such columns should always be at the end.

For example, this query is correct and will run without error

select issue_no, issue_desc
from issue where log_date > ‘2010-09-06′.

This query will produce an ‘invalid descriptor index’ error

select issue_desc, issue_no
from issue where log_date > ‘2010-09-06′.

If you get this error, please re-design your query.

SerioPlus ODBC FAQ

Q: I downloaded the latest plustools, but there is nothing that says ‘ODBC’. Is there an install problem?
A: The install creates an ODBC driver, and the ability to create an SerioPlus ODBC data source. There is no ‘ODBC’ icon as such, it’s just like any other ODBC driver – it works with your reporting software.

Q: I keep getting ‘unrecognised Account Code/Pin’ when I try to connect.
A: You entered your Account Code or Account Key incorrectly when you setup your SerioPlus ODBC connection. Please re-enter these details.

Q: I have a Proxy, how do I set-up the driver?
A: Enter your Proxy details into SerioClient, and ensure that SerioClient works.

Q: I’ve got more than 3000 Incidents, can I still use this ODBC driver?
A: Yes. Use the SQL query language to create results on the SerioPlus server, and then only download these results. It’s really what SQL was designed for. Most properly-designed reports download no more than a few hundred rows.

Q: Will you make this work with earlier versions of MS Office and MS Access?
A: It may work with earlier versions. However, we will only look at problems with the latest versions of the Microsoft products.

Q: I really want to download more than 3000 rows.
A: In that case, download them in batches of 3000. However, it should not be necessary to download entire databases in order to generate reports.

Q: Is the driver 64-bit or 32-bit?
A: It’s a 32-bit driver, which means that you’ll need to use 32-bit applications for best results.

Q: I’ve never written a report before, but I’d like to learn. Where do I start?
A: Access is a good place to start because there are a lot of web sites dedicated to novice users. Firebird is a good starter database. It’s free to download, and comes with a simple starter database and has an active user forum. Once you learn how to construct SQL queries, apply what you’ve learned to SerioPlus.

This weekend (19-20th June), we’re releasing our first required update to the SerioPlus tools (SerioClient, SerioAdmin, and SerioReports). In addition to fixing some bugs, we made some important enhancements which we hope you’ll like.

How to install

When you log in on Monday morning, you’ll see a message prompting you to download and install the new version – just run the setup and you’re ready to go.

Enhancements

Serio Engage (Server Edition)
Server Edition is a new version of Serio Engage that allows you to make secure through-firewall, unattended connections to your customer’s servers in order to perform remote maintenance, including reboots.

We will be including one or more free licenses of the new Server Edition of Serio Engage in each SerioPlus account.

New Billing and Itemisation Features
New billing features in SerioPlus allow you record all of your billable actions as you take them, along with the amounts charged. You can set-up the standard price bands for your time-based and fixed-fee services (which you can vary on a per company basis). You can then link these price bands to actions (for example, remote support or site visits), and accurately record the amount to be charged to the customer as the action is taken.

Later you can link individual chargeable amounts with an invoice. This enables you to produce itemised bills through SerioReports, giving a detailed breakdown of all your chargeable work, to send in support of your invoice.

New Reports
We’ve added some new reports to SerioReports. A new section called ‘Billable and Charging Reports’ contains a selection of itemisation reports that support the new billing features (see above).

There are also two new Company based activity summary reports (TS5 and TS6 in the ‘Daily, Weekly, Monthly Status Reports section’), showing a breakdown of tickets logged for a selected company, along with service level statistics and a graphical summary.

As with all SerioReports, you can schedule these reports for automatic delivery to your customers.

Additionally, we’ve added a new detailed, per company billable time analysis report (IB18) in the ‘Billable and Time Spent Reports’.

Bug Fixes

We’ve taken the opportunity to fix the few funnies you’ve reported to us since the launch of SerioPlus in March.

Spellchecker Problems
Some users found that the spellchecker dictionary seemed to be empty when pressing F7 (causing every word in Ticket and Action descriptions to be checked). We’ve fixed this issue now.

Serio Engage Performance Enhancements
A few changes we’ve made to the way our servers handle screen-sharing traffic from Serio Engage should enhance its performance for most users.

Problems Browsing Configuration Items from SerioClient
Users with large CMDBs (e.g. many thousands of records), were having problems browsing those through the Service Explorer in SerioClient. This problem has now been resolved.

Lots of Error Messages when your Session Times Out

Some of you found that SerioClient put a large number of error messages on screen after a session time out. Session time outs usually occur after a period of inactivity when your workstation goes into standby mode, cutting it off from our server. They can also happen as a result of our scheduled weekend maintenance, if you leave SerioClient logged on on Friday night.

We’ve reduced the messages shown on a session time out – you now just see a single message saying “Session Timed Out”.

Problems with the Detailed Incident Print (ID1)
We have corrected a problem on the detailed Incident print (ID1) – Ctrl+P from Manage > Incidents – which caused the Configuration Item to be blank on the report (although it was shown if the report was reprinted).

Update to SerioPlus Tools on Monday 21st July

On Monday, we’re releasing our first required update to the SerioPlus tools (SerioClient, SerioAdmin, and SerioReports). In addition to fixing some bugs, we made some important enhancements which we hope you’ll like.

How to install

When you log in on Monday morning, you’ll see a message prompting you to download and install the new version – just run the setup and you’re ready to go.

Enhancements

Serio Engage (Server Edition)

This update of SerioPlus introduces a new service-based version of the Serio Engage host, targeted at remote server support.

Install the Serio Engage Server Edition service on your customer’s server, and you can make secure unattended connections to the server to perform remote maintenance, including reboots. We will be including one or more free licenses of the new Server Edition of Serio Engage in each SerioPlus account.

New Billing and Itemisation Features

New billing features in SerioPlus allow you record all of your billable actions as you take them, along with the amounts charged. You can set-up the standard price bands for your time-based and fixed-fee services (which you can vary on a per company basis). You can then link these price bands to actions (for example, remote support or site visits), and accurately record the amount to be charged to the customer as the action is taken.

Later you can link individual chargeable amounts with an invoice. This enables you to produce itemised bills through SerioReports, giving a detailed breakdown of all your chargeable work, to send in support of your invoice.

New Reports

We’ve added some new reports to SerioReports. A new section called ‘Billable and Charging Reports’ contains a selection of itemisation reports that support the new billing features (see above).

There are also two new Company based activity summary reports (TS5 and TS6 in the ‘Daily, Weekly, Monthly Status Reports section’), showing a breakdown of tickets logged for a selected company, along with service level statistics and a graphical summary.

As with all SerioReports, you can schedule these reports for automatic delivery to your customers.

Additionally, we’ve added a new detailed, per company billable time analysis report (IB18) in the ‘Billable and Time Spent Reports’.

Bug Fixes

We’ve taken the opportunity to fix the few funnies you’ve reported to us since the launch of SerioPlus in March.

Spellchecker Problems

Some users found that the spellchecker dictionary seemed to be empty when pressing F7 (causing every word in Ticket and Action descriptions to be checked). We’ve fixed this issue now.

Serio Engage Performance Enhancements

A few changes we’ve made to the way our servers handle screen-sharing traffic from Serio Engage should enhance its performance for most users.

Problems Browsing Configuration Items from SerioClient

Users with large CMDBs (e.g. many thousands of records), were having problems browsing those through the Service Explorer in SerioClient. This problem has now been resolved.

Lots of Error Messages when your Session Times Out

Some of you found that SerioClient put a large number of error messages on screen after a session time out. Session time outs usually occur after a period of inactivity when your workstation goes into standby mode, cutting it off from our server. They can also happen as a result of our scheduled weekend maintenance, if you leave SerioClient logged on on Friday night.

We’ve reduced the messages shown on a session time out – you now just see a single message saying “Session Timed Out”.

Problems with the Detailed Incident Print (ID1)

We have corrected a problem on the detailed Incident print (ID1) – Ctrl+P from Manage > Incidents – which caused the Configuration Item to be blank on the report (although it was shown if the report was reprinted).

A few improvement are coming down the line for SerioPlus users, likely one week away.

Billing/Charging

The most significant change we’ve made is in the area of billing, and allowing you to record the chargeable value (i.e., cash) of activities you undertake for clients

We’ve created a system that allows you to define standard charging bands, which can either be standard across-the-board or varied from customer to customer.

Using the charging bands, you can nominate specific Actions to be either charged at an hourly rate based on the time taken, or on the basis of a flat fee. The system is designed to be flexible, so if you negotiate something special with the customer then the system will cope with that just fine.

At the ‘back end’ of the Billing/Charging update we’ve added a screen that allows you to manage your unbilled charges, and to assign these to invoices as you invoice your customers.

If a customer asks you to justify your charges, production of a fully itemised list will be easy.

A number of new ‘cash/billing’ reports have also been added.

Remote Tools Update

We’ve performed a few updates to the Remote Tools in SerioPlus.

Aside from changing the default screen view to ’smooth view’ to improve the visual aspects, we’ve also made it possible to show your own desktop for customer training.