ADI-diary.NEWSLETTER

Issue 13
March 10, 2011

Dear ADI-diary User,

At last Version 5 is complete, tested and ready to go. In my previous newsletter I listed some of the new features. In response to requests from instructors and driving schools, some more new features have been added. The final list of Version 5 improvements is below.

Click here for detailed step by step instructions on how to upgrade.

Unlimited subjects per lesson

Many driving instructors requested a feature which would allow the insertion of more than one subject per lesson. This feature has now been implemented and allows insertion of unlimited amounts of subjects along with a marking system. All additional subjects appear in Progress Report which can be printed in the normal way.

Driver’s Record

In addition to Pupils Progress Report and Additional Subjects, ADI-diary now has Driver’s Records page, where you can mark your pupils as you would using the Driving Standards Agency Chart.

Courses Highlights

The new highlight scheme has been implemented for the diary view, which allows the use of modern gradient colours. In addition, some new types of lessons have been introduced. Intro type automatically assigned to the first lesson of each pupil.

Merge Diaries

Two different diaries can be merged together. Occasionally a duplicated pupil or instructor could be inserted at the same time by different operators. You can now merge two different diaries of either instructors or pupils. In addition, the Backup Snapshot Page is capable of restoring and merging two different diaries into a single one. Two diaries are merged into the new fresh one, so, if by mistake you have merged the wrong diaries, the originals are still there.

Import

Many tables are now capable of importing data from other applications. For example: Pupil List can be imported from Excel or if you have a list of your expenses it can be imported and merged with your Cash Flow.

Recalculation and Cancellation Fee

In the previous version the lesson fee was not automatically altered if you changed lesson duration. An extra button has been added to recalculate the fee according to the new duration. An extra menu command has been added allowing cancellation of a lesson and whether it is chargeable or not.

Franchise

Instructors are usually busy and often forget to enter the franchise fee into the system. Version 5 will help you. Usually the driving school office is very strict about records and enters them regularly. Franchise records can now be transferred over the internet directly to the instructor’s computer. The records are inserted quietly in the background, so please check them from time to time.

Franchise transmission policy

For security reasons, if a record is altered on an office computer it is propagated to the entire network. However if a record is altered or deleted on instructor computer this is propagated only to instructor mirror-diaries and never sent to the main computer. If an instructor does not use mirror-diary then the Switchboard will refuse to transfer Franchise or Expenses tables. To avoid displaying errors:

Go to Network menu
Click Configuration
Select Data processing page
Put an appropriate tick into “Do Not Transfer following tables”

Server

The main aim of this essential upgrade was to launch the server capability, which will allow connection using IP addresses and make ADI-diary wireless. The older version of shared mode is still supported. You can download the Server Package from our website for evaluation over the next 3 months.

Remote Computer Synchronisation

To improve synchronisation between computers, the interface synchronisation module was entirely rewritten. Version 5 now has a single button “Send/Receive” to synchronise your diary. Background synchronisation has been introduced which is capable of sending and receiving updates without your interaction. Better synchronisation is achieved using a new system which analyses data updates, discarding those which are not valid. This greatly improves communication and speed of transmission. For security reasons, the old version only allowed deletion of lessons. To perfect the synchronisation especially for Mirror-Diary use, the new version is capable of remotely removing unwanted records in other tables on all computers in the network. An option is given to users to allow or disallow this operation.

Time Synchronisation

To keep the integrity of your database, ADI-diary will occasionally contact a public SNTP server to synchronise the time. ADI-diary keeps its own time synchronisation and will not alter the time settings on your computer.

Booking Summary

Booking Summary allows you to assess the performance of your operator / receptionist. It also has a date time stamp to record when and by whom a booking was made.

Pass the message

A very useful feature is included in version 5 which can automatically track new lessons and insert a short message which should be passed to either instructor or pupil. Very useful if you have a Mirror-Diary installed.

Vehicle Mileage

Date and the mileage of your vehicle added to the Instructor Profile, vehicle page.

Automatic Settings Deployment

It is now possible to open the same diary with different settings, such as postcodes, rates and subjects. Software settings are automatically forwarded to all computers across the LAN.

Live Backup

Formerly known as Audit (which is still supported), allows you to restore individual records. This resembles Undo function on a Word Processor.

Change Account Name

Version 5 is now capable of changing Account Names of your choice. Please contact our technical support for further information.

As usual, the basic upgrade itself is absolutely free to all customers. Version 5 has a lot of new features; however some of these features have been implemented as Upgrade #2 which is available for only £29

What is included in the basic free upgrade

Courses Highlights – improvement
Recalculation and Cancellation fee
Franchise - improvement
Franchise transmission
Remote Computer Synchronisation – improvement
Time Synchronisation
Vehicle Mileage
Automatic Settings Deployment
Live Backup – improvement
Change Account Name
Server Connectivity
Server Package Evaluation

This is a major upgrade; therefore we highly recommend making a fresh installation. The new software will search for previous versions and automatically transfer your current diary and settings into the new system. After that you can safely uninstall the previous version 4.2

Please note: To avoid confusion, we have temporally removed automatic upgrades from help menu. This feature will be restored once the majority of users have upgraded to version 5

Click here for detailed step by step instructions on how to upgrade.

Anita Campbell
All our back issues are published on our website: www.adidiary.net/newsletter/