NetLert 1.1, a new release from SoftBase Systems, is LAN desktop messaging software
designed for the call center but adaptable to many other applications where there is a
need to communicate strategic information quickly over an Intranet. The heart of the
product is the Communicator tool, which runs on an administrator's machine, and marquee
windows on clients' computers. Using a variety of messaging and formatting options, the
administrator can send short messages, URLs and files to the clients, who can reply or
execute the file.
Installation
Installing NetLert requires only basic networking knowledge, so most call center directors
can probably install it without calling for MIS help. To install the Administrator, run a
setup file from the CD-ROM, enter an organization name and serial number, and choose the
"Communicator" and "Configuration Tool" options. Click finish, and the
Administrator's installation is complete. (NetLert works well with DHCP networks because
it uses the most recent IP address on login.)
The next step is running the Configuration Tool. For the first screen, choose the
default and click next three times - at this point, you're just passing over settings like
fonts, colors and simple preferences. This brings you to the "poll messages"
screen. ("Polling" a directory at given intervals for .nlm or .txt files is one
way of sending messages to the clients; the other is using the Communicator and its push
technology.) Here, you enter a label, a path and the polling interval time, and press the
"add" button. We suggest highlighting each of the three sample files in this
screen and clicking "delete," so you don't confuse them with your own messages
later. You must choose each file separately; the Windows convention of holding down shift
and control to select groups of files or multiple files doesn't work here. Then click next
twice more, bringing you to the "push" messages options screen. Here, enter the
server computer's name in the "Server" box, click on "authenticate"
and click the down arrow to the right of the "get user ID from" box. Choose the
"prompt user" option, click "add" and click on "finish" to
exit. Finally, reboot.
Lastly, install the client on user's workstations. You can either install the client on
each machine individually or install it once to the administrator's PC and create a
shortcut to it. SoftBase recommends the second method because it's more manageable and
much easier to upgrade in the future.
Another interesting aspect of the NetLert installation process is that you can install
the Communicator on more than one PC. This way, more than one person can have rights to
send push messages, but regardless of how many servers you install, one must be designated
as the master. The master Communicator holds the user's database.
Documentation
NetLert became a product by accident: SoftBase designed the system for in-house use,
realized its potential and decided to shrink-wrap it. We're told that version 2.0 is
already underway, and we hope it has better documentation, because the documentation for
version 1.1 is an enigma. What's available is high quality, but it is scattered in many
sources and doesn't have a common thread. There are help files on the CD, there is extra
documentation on the Web site and, if you call NetLert, an engineer will answer all of
your questions. What NetLert needs is a single, cohesive manual.
Features & Operational Testing
This is where NetLert shines. Sending basic messages is easy. To push a message, the
administrator clicks on the "new message" icon in the Communicator, types the
message in the text box, drags the intended recipients into the "to" pane and
clicks on send. To send a poll message, the administrator puts a .txt or .nlm file into
the given directory, and when the configurable interval comes up (for example, every 5
minutes), any users in a group receive the message.
However, our test of the poll option found a bug. When setting up a poll directory,
administrators can choose any directory they want, especially useful on complex networks.
But messages placed in our testing directory never made it to clients - only messages
placed in the default NetLert directory worked properly. We explained this to a NetLert
engineer on the telephone, who confirmed the bug through his own tests.
In a real-world setting, administrators would use a combination of both ways to send
messages, probably in conjunction with user groups and the address book. Regardless of the
method chosen, any message can be scheduled for transmission at a certain time or
transmission of a certain length, after which the message can end or continue cycling.
Messages can also be formatted in bold, italics or underlining, and messages can use any
font, size or color. Administrators can embed a URL or an actual file into a message,
which a user can double-click on to open. This presents another drawback, however: unless
you put "click me" or something similar into the body of a message, URLs or
files embedded have no indicators of their existence. Such an indicator is another feature
we expect to see in version 2.0.
Users have plenty of functionality in their clients, too. They can choose whether or
not to have a toolbar displayed, they can choose background colors and other formatting
options, and they have a "reply" feature to send a follow-up message to the
sender. The entire client can be sized to a user's liking. If a message is too short to
fit into the message area, it will automatically scroll, and minimized clients will
automatically pop-up when a message arrives. Clients can also beep and flash continuously
until the user clicks in the message area, acknowledging receipt. The flashing and beeping
can be annoying, but then getting the user's attention is the whole idea.
Room for Improvement
As we said above, our biggest concern about NetLert is its poor documentation, and
obviously, SoftBase needs to fix certain bugs and glitches. For example, if for some
reason you need to re-install the Communicator, you must reboot first: we found that
trying to start the setup program on a PC that's not freshly booted does nothing,
literally. The file just won't run. To really make NetLert stand out, SoftBase should make
the client program Java so it could run on any platform, and it also makes sense to have
the Communicator run as an NT service.
Conclusion
This is very good, very exciting software. We especially like its simplistic premise, and
its feature set shows that the people who designed this program plan to use it themselves.
However, it definitely needs more testing and brainstorming, and we expect version 2 to be
a far superior product. SoftBase might have a winner with NetLert 2.0, but in its current
edition, it needs work. We'd recommend this software for small- or medium-sized companies.
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