Go fix it yourself! Introducing Job History in the Desktop Client

March 8, 2013 posted by Alan in How To

We’re constantly looking for ways to reduce the amount of work involved for our beloved Argos Administrators. At most companies that use Argos for cost recovery, there are one or two people who are responsible for making sure that the project or matter code that is assigned to a print job is actually correct.

We give the end users many tools to encourage them to bill correctly. Robust search-ahead in the billing code field, favorites, recently used codes, and most recently used codes are some of the features we’ve had since Argos 7 was came on the scene back in 2009.

None of these, however, address a problem all too common: “oops.”

“Oops” happens.

No matter how user-friendly or intuitive a piece of software can be, you can always mess up. Select the wrong project. Select the right client code, but the wrong matter. Forget to mark it as “non-billable”.

Until now, the only way to fix “oops” problems is to have the Argos administrator open the Argos Manager and change the record. In a company with a handful of employees, this isn’t so bad. But with 100, 500, 1000 employees, all possibly making mistakes when they bill prints? Its more likely that they’ll just go unreported, and either get caught at the billing review time, or worse, but your clients when they review their bill.

Job History saves the day

Job History, a new feature in the Argos Desktop Client, puts the responsibility back on the employee who made the mistake in the first place. They don’t need to call the Argos admin to get it fixed, they can just do it themselves. Just right-click the Argos icon in the system tray, and choose “History”.

How do I set it up?

Job History is enabled by User Group in the Argos Manager. You choose how far back the users can change data (current month, two weeks, 30 days, all data) and which user groups have access.

The users can change billing code, status, and add a comment. Version 7.4.1 or higher of the Desktop Client is required on the workstations to access this feature.

For more details, read up on Job History in the Argos Manual.

My hard drive crashed and I lost all my Argos data!

March 4, 2013 posted by Alan in Tech Tips

You can be as prepared as ever, but hard drives are mechanical machines built with tiny, fragile parts. If something goes wrong inside that little box, everything on your hard drive can be lost.

For customers using Argos to track printing, copying, scanning and more, this not only creates a headache for the IT staff, but a potential billing nightmare for the accounting team. If Argos data is exported or reported on once a month, there’s the possibility of losing up to a month’s worth of cost recovery data. If your data isn’t exported to another system (Deltek Vision, BST, ProLaw, Oracle, etc), losing your Argos data means potentially losing all historical billing information.

Where Backup software fails

Thankfully, most companies use some sort of automatic backup software (Backup Exec, Acronis, etc) to run a daily backup of all server hard drives. But pay attention to the fine print – they don’t always back up everything. Argos uses a SQL database to store all settings and activity. SQL database files are constantly in “write” mode as long as the SQL Server services are running, so they cannot be backed up by standard backup applications. The database first needs to be written to a static file, and then it can be backed up. Many Backup applications will often offer, for an additional fee, a module that will back up a SQL database, but by default this feature is not enabled.

Argos to the rescue

After having too many heartbroken customers who called frantically wondering why their backup software didn’t store any of their Argos data, we did something about it. Starting with Argos 7.0, the Argos Maintenance Service makes a nightly backup of your database and stores it in the Program Data folder. In the unlikely event that you ever need this backup, you can find it here:

Windows 2008, 2012, 7, Vista:
C:\ProgramData\Sepialine\Argos7\Backups

Windows 2003, XP
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Sepialine\Argos7\Backups

The big thing to notice here is that the file is still written to the local hard drive. So, if your hard drive crashes, your backup file is gone too. A standard backup routine for your servers is still essential to plan for that day when your hard drive decides to spin itself into the great oblivion in the sky.

Happy March! Its time for a new Argos website!

March 1, 2013 posted by Alan in News

We still have 20 days until spring officially starts, but it’s 70 degrees here in San Francisco. We decided it is time to inject a little color into our website. Behold:

Yes, we put a bird on it.

Argos 7.4.5 has been released!

February 15, 2013 posted by Alan in Releases

Argos 7.4.5 was released this week, and features a few small, but important features.

• Users can delete entries from “Recently Used/Favorites
• Require comments for specific status codes
• Support for latest PLP Plotworks log file format

Users can delete entries from “Recently Used/Favorites”

The Desktop Client stores the last 25 recently used billing codes for each user. Some sites only use a handful of codes regularly and don’t want to see the older codes. With the 7.4.5 Desktop Client installed, users can remove anything from the “recently used” sidebar.

Right-click to remove a code from the “Recently Used” list

Require comments for specific status codes

Want to know why someone marked a job as “Mistake Print”? In a previous release, we added an option to require a comment if users choose specific projects. A logical request came out of this: I want users to tell me why they chose a specific status. For example, no comment would be required for the standard “Billable” status, but if someone chooses “Non-billable” or “Mistake Print”, you may want to know why.

Click “Require comment for interactive billing”

Support for latest PLP PlotWorks log format

PLP PlotWorks is a powerful plot submission and production workflow system used by a number of our customers in the AEC market. Argos 7.4.5 supports the most recent versions of PlotWorks, so if you upgrade PLP, Argos will continue to track as expected.

Deltek Vision, In the Cloud!

January 31, 2013 posted by Alan in Tech Tips

Deltek Vision has always been a complicated program to install and maintain. There’s a SQL database, multiple services and often multiple server installations. Starting with Vision 7.0, many Deltek Vision customers are moving towards using a hosted version of Vision. This means that instead of installing the SQL database and all components on servers in your own office, it is installed in a data center somewhere, and you never have to maintain it or worry about. Deltek offers this option, and many Deltek solutions providers, such as Full Sail Partners and SilverEdge, offer their own take on how best to take Vision to the cloud.

Why am I bringing this up on the Sepialine blog? If you’re using Argos and Vision together, things will change once Vision leaves your office. This article will help you get prepared.

Importing Projects from a Hosted Vision database

The most common way Argos customers interact with Vision is to pull a list of projects (and maybe phases and tasks) from Vision on an hourly schedule. If a project is added to Vision, it shows up in Argos. If a project is deactivated or set dormant in Vision, it is deactivated in Argos.

In a traditional Vision environment, the project list is pulled directly from a table (PR) in the SQL database. In some cases, we might use a custom view that filters the project list on additional criteria (location, type, project manager, etc). We use SQL authentication to access the database.

When Vision is hosted in an external data center, SQL access is not available. Our standard import will not work.

In Argos 7.4.4 you’ll notice a new Vision import option in the dropdown. Vision Import (Legacy) will import using SQL credentials, and Vision import uses the Vision API and standard Vision user credentials to retrieve a project list. See our Vision import help documentation for the gritty details.

This method will work with both hosted and local Vision setups.

Exporting Argos data to Vision (aka Round Trip)

The next step is more complicated. We take great pride in our Vision Round Trip adapter – it is easy to use, powerful, and something no other cost recovery provider can offer.

It doesn’t work in a hosted Vision environment though.

But, never fear, we have a workaround. Our Round Trip adapter creates a table in the Vision SQL database, which is seen by the Deltek Import Utility (DIU). For hosted Vision customers, we export the same information in a CSV format, which is read by the DIU in a similar manner.

In Vision, the process for importing Argos data from a CSV or a SQL table is the same. Sepialine Support can help you get this configured correctly.

Importing users from Deltek Vision

If you have a custom Vision user export routine set up for Argos, I have bad news. This won’t work with a hosted solution, as it requires direct access to the SQL database. But, your Deltek Solutions Provider may have a way to provide a CSV user list using the same search criteria. Sepialine Support is happy to work with you and your provider to make this happen.

Moving Vision to a hosted solution will save hours of maintenance time a month. Since Vision is a web-based application, it makes sense to move it to a cloud environment. Contact us if you have any questions about how Vision is configured with Argos.

Check out Argos at LegalTech 2013 in New York this week

January 30, 2013 posted by Alan in News

See, we have a booth!

Interested in legal technology? Want to meet our team in person? You’ve got the perfect chance this week if you’re anywhere near New York. Sepialine is showing off Argos at LegalTech, the largest Legal Technology trade show in America, in NYC this week, 1/29-1/31.

Sepialine is showcasing the following features:

• Global Print – print once, release on any printer
• Intuitive Desktop Client for client billing
• Robust integration with legal accounting packages such as Elite ProLaw, Juris, PC Law, Aderant Omega and more
• User-friendly Phone Tracking
• OnBoard copy and scan tracking for Konica Minolta, Canon, Sharp, Ricoh, Toshiba, Xerox and more
• iOS and Android apps
• And more!

Stop by booth #2609 to meet our team and see a demo.

Can Argos email reports to me automatically? Yes!

August 2, 2012 posted by Alan in How To

Argos has some of the best reporting out there. In addition to the two dozen or so canned reports included, you can customize them to your heart’s content using Crystal Reports (or have us do it for you). Let’s say you have a report that you like. You’ve lovingly filtered it. You distribute it to your staff like clockwork every month.

Wouldn’t it be great if Argos could do it for you? It can. Here’s how:

1. Run a report as you normally would.
2. On the toolbar above the report, click the Schedule Report button.
3. Click the Create button.
4. Type a name for the task, e.g. “Monthly Job Summary to PMs.”
5. In the ‘Send report to’ field, type the email addresses of your recipients. Separate multiple addresses with commas.
6. Check the Enabled box. The Schedule dialog appears. Set the interval you’d like, e.g. Daily, Weekly, etc.
7. Click OK

That’s it. You can set up as many report automation tasks as you want by clicking the Create button. You can also run a scheduled report ad-hoc by clicking the Run button.

In order for scheduled reports to work, you’ll need to tell Argos about your company’s mail server. That’s done by clicking the Settings link in the upper right corner of Argos Manager, then switching to the Reports Distribution tab. If you’re unsure of your mail server settings, ask your IT folks to help.

So that’s automated reports. We hope you find it helpful.

Does Argos let me charge differently for different clients? Yes!

July 24, 2012 posted by Alan in How To

If you use Argos for client chargebacks, like is pretty good. You have the Argos Desktop Client for allocating expenses, you’ve set up media and pricing, and you can run reports that calculate your costs to the penny.

Inevitably, though, the day will come that you need to set up alternate pricing. Maybe you have a new client who’s negotiated non-standard reimbursable rates. Maybe you want to extend a discount to certain clients. Whatever the reason, Argos is ready.

In Argos, the Pricing Schedule is the basis for cost calculations. Argos ships with a Default pricing schedule; for most folks, that’s enough. To set up separate pricing, simply make a new pricing schedule, assign it to one or more projects, type in your alternate pricing, and you’re good to go. Because pricing schedules are always created by copying existing ones, you’ll always have a good basis to start from.

Read more about pricing schedules here. Hope you find them useful.

The Argos Print Management Suite

July 10, 2012 posted by Alan in News, Releases

Back in 2011 we launched our MPS initiative at Sepialine. The initial fruit of that labor was secure release, followed by pull printing. The third leg of the MPS initiative is rules-based printing. It’s finally here and it’s part of the Argos Print Management Suite.

Rules make good citizens

Printing rules aren’t new. For years people have been trying to convince, threaten, persuade, and reward responsible printing behavior from their users. What is comparatively new is software that enforces that good behavior. Argos now does this by letting administrators set up rules like:

• Limit the number of pages allowed in a single print job.
• Prevent certain users from sending color jobs.
• Re-route large black-and-white jobs from going to expensive color devices.
• Prevent certain users from sending large jobs at all.

You can probably think of some rules of your own that you’d like to see in place. Starting with Argos 7.4, you can.

Managing rules

In Argos 7.4 you now get a new Rules icon in Argos Manager. We’ve made a simple but powerful interface for defining rules:

Enforcement

When a rule is triggered, one of two things happens:

• The print job is immediately discarded and the user is notified
• The print job is held and the user is asked to take action

At the desktop, the Argos Desktop Client gets a new capability to deliver rules messages and prompts:

Get started today

Argos Print Rules is available right now. Download Argos 7.4 and try it for ten days, free. We’re excited about this newest addition to Argos and hope you find it a valuable addition to your print management arsenal.

Introducing Argos Guided Tours

June 29, 2012 posted by Alan in News

Now that our new website is under our belt, we’re pleased to announce the launch of Guided Tours. This is a long-standing request from many of our partners, and it’s simple: every Tuesday at 8 AM Pacific, we’ll jump online and take all comers through the Argos system in about an hour. Anyone’s welcome and it can be as remedial or technical as folks want.

We’ve put up a shiny new sign-up page where you can register:

We’ll send out webinar instructions the day before each session, so don’t be alarmed if you don’t hear anything right away.

For those of you who use Argos to deliver services, send your customers. Those of you who’ve been away for a while and want to see what Argos looks like today, c’mon down. New customers with a couple of questions, join us and learn how to get the most from the software.

That’s Argos Guided Tours. We hope you join us.