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PLUSS
Corporation Newsletter January 2005 - Archived newsletters are here
1.) PLUSS Corporation New
2.) Changes in PLUSS Personnel
3.) PREPERATIONS FOR PTM'S Echelon Suite Upgrade
4.) Like Mom said "ALWAYS BE PREPARED"
5.) PTM - Quick Tips
6.) Control & Effective Management of your Business (Part V of 8)
7.) FREE GLBA compliance Seminar -
1.) PLUSS Corporation News
LAST
Chance registration for the GLBA conference.
Spots are filling up quick.
Below is a synapsys of the conference.
With today's
information security concerns, we have found that there is a lack of available
resources for those in the heavy-duty trucking and automotive industries. PLUSS Corporation is offering a free 1-day
GLBA educational seminar February 18th 2005 for those in the heavy-duty
trucking and automotive market segments.
Due to limited seating, an RSVP including the number of people scheduled to attend must be received by January 21st 2005. Atendee's will have to opportunity to learn more about the Gramm-Leach Bliley Act of
1999 and how to become compliant from a business standpoint. You can find more information about the GLBA
on the Federal Trade Commission's website at www.ftc.gov.
As of December 31, 2004 PTM version 5.X has retired!
If you are on version 5, please update to PTM V6 to stay current with
support. The NEW PTM Echelon Suite is
scheduled for release this quarter and requires an update of version 6 to be
compatible with the new system.
2.)
Changes in PLUSS Personnel
As of Jan 10th 2005 Jim Hutchinson (General Manager & Director of Pluss Publishing) will be in charge of Business Services. Pam Cowley your former Business Services Director will be focusing primarily on documentation and development of more educational tools to accompany PTM's new Echelon Suite. Pam will also be available to assist with Tech Support questions.
Jim Hutchinson has outstanding customer service skills and is an excellent choice as the Business Services Director. As Director of the Publishing Department and Pluss Corporation's General Manager Jim will be able to help assess where we can best assist you.
As of January 5th Lori Lee is no longer an outside consultant for PLUSS Corporation. Lori has worked with PLUSS Corporation for several years and we truly wish her the best.
As of January 17th, Andy Alford has returned to our main office. To continue the level of service and availability that Andy has provided to our East Coast customers. Andy will be opening the main office at 6:00am Mountain Standard Time. To reach Andy from 6:00-8:00 am MST, dial 877-428-7472 and leave a voicemail
Several exciting changes for the New Year!
3.)
PREPERATIONS FOR PTM'S Echelon Suite Upgrade
PTM's new Echelon Suite will be released very soon to users with current PTM subscriptions. There will be several new features and items to learn. Point-of-Sale in E.S. will remain much the same as PTM's Point-of-Sale, with several bonus features. On the new ES there will be an add-on module available for a Spell Check program in Workorders--place your order with our Sales Department for this new feature!
The PRINTER SETUP in E.S. has been upgraded. Prior to PTM's release of Echelon Suite we highly recommend that you write down and record exactly which printers print what on each computer, it is good practice to keep these types of records up to date. See below link for suggestions and a worksheet to follow. PTM's ES printer setup will be individual to each computer, allowing for more functionality and ease of setup. By already having on file what each computer prints to, you will be well ahead of the game and the transition will be much easier.
Worksheet: http://www.pluss.net/support/ES-printer-WKST.doc
4.)
Like Mom said "ALWAYS BE PREPARED"
This time of year it seems everyone has purchased new equipment and wants to get it up and running. We simply ask that you notify and schedule with our staff when you plan to install the new items or remove the old hardware (computers or printers) so that we can be available to assist you. Changes to your Network are sometimes very easy, but more often then not you will run across problems with printer availability, firewalls and operating system issues. If our hardware/network department is scheduled out to assist you we can help get you back up and running with your new addition quickly. We understand that emergencies happen, unexpected hardware failure is a part of life. Our goal is to have someone available to assist you in these emergencies, and this is why we try to schedule for the planned network changes to make sure we are prepared and have staff available for those un-expected network emergencies. The ER is always open for quick fixes, but a scheduled appointment gives our staff the ability to provide a more complete service.
5.)
PTM - Quick Tips
*
(E.E.F8) From the PTM Echelon Suite main menu.
Change remote user printer setup from one location
*
(E.E.F8.PTM-MAST) From the PTM Echelon Suite main menu. Change PTM master print record
* When updating your Current Directory, update your last year and previous year directory to keep structures current.
MISCELLANEOUS
6.) Control & Effective Management of your Business (Part V of 8)
We have covered many topics over the last 5 months with regard to Business Management. This month's topic of "building and maintaining a balanced company" is designed to give you a different overall view of your business and how it is being managed. Building a "balanced" company is not rocket science but simply just good common sense.
BUILDING A BALANCED COMPANY
Imagine for a moment and compare your business to the wheel on a car. When too much weight is applied into one area, the wheel becomes unbalanced and a rough ride is the result. The usual solution is to apply weight to a different area of the wheel to bring it back into balance. The ideal situation is to have the weight evenly distributed throughout the wheel so that it rolls along smoothly taking the bumps in stride bringing optimum ride and performance. Think about your company, past and present and consider it your "wheel" for a moment. Break the segments of your business "wheel" into 7 categories: Sales, Employees, Customers, Innovation, Products & Services, Automation, and Vendor Relations. Each of these segments must be working equally in order for the "wheel" to run smoothly. If one area becomes weak or one area becomes too large, the company goes out of balance causing a bumpy ride for all and poor performance. The bottom line then is to manage all areas equally to keep the company running smoothly, efficiently, and profitably. For instance, to concentrate too much on promotion and not enough on products and services can bring imbalance. To constantly implement your own ideas and ignore the ideas of managers and other staff is ignoring the vital resource of employee innovation. So, I task you to ask yourself how balanced your company "wheel" is. Some of you may think I'm crazy, but take this idea to your staff and have a serious discussion with them to gain input as to their perception of the balance of the company. I am confident you will be astounded by the thoughts and ideas they may have to not only bring the company into balance, but to maintain that balance.
Next month we will explore another major area that most owners and mangers do not like to think about: Gray Areas. Until then, I wish you good business!
Kenny Nau, Director of Sales
PRODUCTS
AND SALES
7.)
GLBA compliance Seminar - FREE
As
noted in the company news section, PLUSS Corporation is offering a free 1-day
seminar covering GLBA compliance. This
seminar will be held Friday, February 18th 2005. The attendee should leave with an
understanding of their industry responsibilities and tools to help become
compliant with the Gramm-Leach Bliley
Act of 1999.
****
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PLUSS Corporation
5565 Hwy 2 West
Columbia Falls, MT 59912