Sussex Systems Releases Verion 2.0 of Handheld Work Orders - Domino / Palm OS Service Order Tracking System.

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 15, 2001

Sussex Systems announced today that they have released version 2.0 of Handheld Work Orders (HHWO) their Lotus Domino and Palm OS based Service Order Management System.

The major enhancements in HHWO 2.0 are: Equipment based inventory tracking; Support for additional mobile technologies; and a web-based management interface.

The new Equipment tracking application is a separate, but integrated, application that allows an organization to track basic information about equipment used in the service order process. It will allow a field technician to have a complete list of the equipment being serviced whether he has an open service order or not.

Both work orders and equipment can be sync'd by category and/or technician so the tech can choose to hold all work orders, one category of work orders (a specific location or equipment type for example), all his work orders, or one category of his work orders.

Both the equipment and work orders applications now allow a variety of list sorts, in addition to the default sort by work order number. Technicians can limit their view of the data to a single category and/or switch to a sort by department, equipment number or risk assessment--all while keeping the application small and the sync times short.

A technician with 100 work orders and equipment records for each one sync'd to the handheld can expect the application and data to require about 250K and a complete sync of all data to take less than a minute.

To handle the frequent requests for a printed receipt of work completed without requiring additional hardware, we have enabled the email engine of the back-end web server so that a Technician can opt to send an email receipt to the customer when the work order is closed.

For customers without an email account, the receipts can be stored on the server, printed and mailed by a customer service representative.

In addition to the full line of 3Com and IBM Palm OS based organizers supported in earlier releases of Handheld Work Order, release 2.0 supports the full line of Palm OS organizers from Handspring, Symbol Technologies and Sony. HHWO version 2.0 also supports remote wireless updates through the Omnisky wireless modems.

This allows field technicians to update their work orders remotely without needing access to an internet attached PC or modem.

The new web based management console allows access to all of the features of the system via a web-browser. Now customers can place a service order on the web, managers can view status, results and statistics, and equipment managers can update and track equipment currently under contract for service.

Handheld Work Orders is a combination Palm OS and Lotus Domino application for tracking service and maintenance requests. Service orders can be centrally entered and tracked through a web interface and then distributed to the technicians through their handheld Palm OS devices. For more information on Handheld Work Orders please visit http://www.hhwo.net.

Sussex Systems, Inc., a Lotus Premier Business Partner, is a Software Services and Consulting Company headquartered in Gaithersburg, MD. Sussex assists clients in the planning, design, development and implementation of business to business Internet based applications. For more information on Sussex Systems please see http://www.sussex.com.