Terian ID Creator – Reporting System Complete

With Terian Image Capture Standard/Pro out the door for a couple of weeks now, and the release of the new website at the same time I’ve had a chance to work on Terian ID Creator.

I’m pleased to say that I’ve completed the integrated reporting system utilising Fast Reports and have rolled out a new update for live testing.

Goodbye Crystal Reports:

Up until now I had been using Crystal Reports v11 in other ID Systems, however integration with later versions of Delphi was no longer supported, and required manual patching to ensure compatibility. This combined with a relatively steep learning curve, made it difficult for clients to utilise it effectively if they were not regularly designing new reports. This in turn meant that I spent a fair amount of time designing reports for clients, instead of them doing it themselves, which defeated the purpose of having an integrated report designer. The expense of Crystal Reports also limited upgrades, so whilst newer versions are available, I was still often stuck using an older version.

Hello Fast Reports:

I had been looking at a replacement reporting system for quite some time, and was impressed with the Fast Reports CodeRage 8 session. After watching the session I purchased the product immediately and started development with it.

Designing reports is infinitely more intuitive compared to Crystal Reports, and the early demo’s I provided for testing received promising feedback. With the ease of use of the report designer it allows the client to quickly and efficiently design new reports (even if they do not need to regularly design new reports). The integration of Fast Reports will help provide a cornerstone of the functionality required within ID Creator. From a development point of view, the support for Delphi also makes it a very attractive platform to utilise.

Timely Roll-out:

It has been great to get this update out before the end of the year too, as the test client starts their busiest time of the year on their return after the Christmas and New Years break.

Integrated reporting is the last major piece of functionality to be included in the initial release of Terian ID Creator. The first few months in the new year will be spent on minor updates and enhancements (no doubt there will be the odd fix here and there too ;)), which will hopefully lead up smoothly to the final release of version 1.0 in 2014.

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It’s Alive, It’s Alive!!!

Just a quick blog entry, and apologies for a longer gap that I had wished since the previous blog entry, however I have been tirelessly working towards the release of the Terian ID System. Whilst the Terian ID System (now to be called Terian ID Creator) is not yet released, I have just released the Terian Image Capture System in two varieties; Terian Image Capture Standard (ICS), and Terian Image Capture Pro (ICP).

Terian Image Capture Standard and Terian Image Capture Pro:

These applications will enable an operator to quickly and easily capture group photos as required in the case of school ID Cards, or corporate ID Cards. The standard version provides simple image capture functionality, where as the Pro version provides data integration to allow for more efficient bulk capturing. For more info, check out the all new Terian Image Capture web site

Other News – Employee #1:

While I have been busy finalising the software for release, I have also taken on a new employee (my first) to look after the web development. There were all sorts of new business things I had to undertake to become an employer, most of which can be done on-line which is great.

• Register as an employer with IRD
• Register as an employer with ACC
• Sign up employee for KiwiSaver
• Organise a Payroll
• Check indemnity insurance cover

A month in and it’s all relatively straight forward now, with little more required than paying additional taxes related to the employee and ensuring I pay them too.

With the employee being an undergraduate there is also a lot of learning on the job, and so far there is sufficient motivation and interest to keep everyone happy. However, it has quickly become apparent that there is more work than hours available to do it in.

Work a Plenty:

With Phase 1 of ummm… errr… “Heaps” complete with the Terian Website rollout, and Image Capture System release we can now move onto the next step which includes additional website functionality, and of course the continued testing/updating of Terian ID Creator.

So definitely plenty of work still to be done.