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Articles:
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New Jayhawk
Software Phone Number
To reach
Jayhawk Software for information or technical support, you
need to start dialing our new area code.
In addition to the area code change, our parent company
(Advantage Computer) is redoing the phone system so all calls
will be answered through one system and one receptionist on May 1st.
After that date, you will simply need to tell the
person that answers the phone that you need to speak to
someone about your Jayhawk
Software and they will immediately transfer you to
someone that can help you.
Also, although we moved our office a couple of years
ago, we still get mail/checks that have our old address on it.
(We will also be notifying all of our Support Agreement
holders of our new Toll-Free Phone Number.)
Please be sure to update all your records to the
following:
Advantage Computer Enterprises, Inc.
P.O. Box 826 (mailing
address)
501 N. State St. (physical & shipping)
Iola, KS 66749
Phone: (620) 365-8065
Fax: (620) 365-7980
FYI –
Your calls, support and programming will be handled by the
same people you’ve been used to. We have made this small
phone change to improve our overall service and response time.
We are still the same Jayhawk Software (we have not
changed ownership). A bit of history for our newer customers,
Advantage Computer Enterprises, Inc. has been in business
since 1980 and purchased Jayhawk Software in 1993 (from Eldon
Flory). Advantage’s
hardware technicians provide networking and PC service and
sales. The
software development division sells and supports other
software we’ve created in addition to the Jayhawk Utility
Billing System.
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NEW Version of
Jayhawk Utility Billing System
We are busy
working on a new version that will improve existing features
and add great new features requested by YOU.
To help us create the new version, we would like input
from our most important resource for information – our
Jayhawk software users. (We
have also consulted with some other experts - people like you
who filled out surveys at utility conferences).
We have enclosed a JUBS Development sheet that we would
like you to fill out and return to us with your ideas and
comments. As a “thank you” for taking the time to help us out, all
sheets returned by May 25th will be entered
in a drawing for a $25 check we’ll send to you
(made payable to you - not your district).
Also, if more than one person in your office uses
Jayhawk, please copy the sheet and each person can send one in
(so we get everyone’s input and everyone has a chance to
win).
Some features
we are planning to add or improve include:
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Custom Report Creator |
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Time-saving bar-code payment entry |
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Easier tracking for required accounting GL entries |
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Automatic Electronic Bill Payment |
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Better Even-Payment Plan Support |
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Create and Track Service Orders |
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Reliable Data Backup |
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Toll-Free Technical Support
Get unlimited
technical phone support for your JUBS, by purchasing a
Software Support Agreement (SSA). Not only is the support unlimited, but you also are
provided with a Toll-Free phone number. In
addition, SSA holders receive discounts on custom programming and lower
pricing on select JUBS modules ($200 discount on Totals Based
Monthly History Ledger, for example). Due to the rising costs of creating and supporting the
larger utility billing systems, we are also going to divide
our Software Support Agreement pricing into two categories.
We have found that utility districts that either bill
more customers or bill for more services require more robust
systems and therefore more support from us. Since we have not increased our SSA price since 1997,
you will find that our support is still priced lower than
comparable billing systems. Those customers using our Standard Series 300 System
will not have a price change. However, effective June 1, 2001 (or upon renewal of an
existing SSA) the annual support agreement for all other
versions of our software will be $300. Please look over our technical support policy on page 4
for more information. See the enclosed SSA for more details
and some additional benefits you will receive from a SSA.
If you already have a SSA with us, we would like to say Thank You! for helping us continue to provide
top quality systems and support.
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New JUBS Add-on Modules
We have also
been busy creating new modules that can be added to improve
your current Jayhawk Utility Billing
System. Some of the
most popular modules include:
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Totals
Based History Ledger (Shows monthly totals for usage,
charges, payments and balance by customer for a selected
date range - more like the old DOS system’s history) |
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ZIP
Backup (quick, easy way to backup all your JUBS data
or program on multiple floppy disks) |
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New
Bill Card Format (meets the current post card postal
regulations) |
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Batch
Usage Estimator (estimate usage for all customers
instantly – great if bad weather hits) |
| Customer
Receipts (print receipts to provide to walk-in
paying customers) |
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Past
Due or Termination Letter (automatically generates
letters that include amount due and service termination
date to send to all past due customers) |
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Aged
Past Due Notices (send past due notices based A/R
Aging – 30, 60, or 90 days Past Due.) |
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Sewer
Averaging
(option to bill sewer based on average water usage from
user-selected months) |
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pcAnywhere
Remote Support (provides you with a secure but quicker
and easier way to get support, updates or program changes
via your PC modem and phone line) |
These are
just a few of our many JUBS modules available.
Please see the enclosed modules sheet or call us for
more information about these or other modules that we offer.
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Before you upgrade your version of Windows . . .
Please give us a call if you’re thinking about upgrading to
a newer version of Windows® on your PC. If you bought
your JUBS prior to when that Windows version was released and
you install the Windows upgrade, you may need an update for
JUBS to continue to work properly. For example if you
bought your JUBS in 1997 and now want to upgrade to Windows 98
or ME (Millennium Edition), then you may need an update.
Since your JUBS was created before that version of Windows
even existed, there may be changes required that could not
have been known about at the time you purchased your JUBS.
As a result, a system that works fine on Windows 95 may not
work correctly if you upgrade your PC to Windows 98 or ME.
(And if your JUBS is on a network that is upgraded to Windows
2000 you may also need an update). Call us first to help
eliminate some of the problems that can arise with an
operating system upgrade. Updates to cover changes to
your computer or printer are another good reason to have a
Software Support Agreement. A needed update will be
provided free or at a reduced price if you have a SSA.
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Preventing Printing
Problems
Although
printing in JUBS is not the only thing we get support calls
about, it is probably the one topic we get the most calls on.
Getting a printer, computer, Microsoft Windows®,
and your JUBS software to work happily together can sometimes
be challenging. To
avoid or help resolve printing problems in your Jayhawk
Utility Billing System, please
follow these simple guidelines:
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If your
reports have strange characters or the columns are not
lined up, check your printer settings in JUBS.
Select a fixed font (Courier
New size 12 & 8) for printing reports on laser or inkjet (see #8) printers.
This will also make the reports easier to read
because the number columns will be in a vertically
straight line.
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If you
are unable to print, try turning off your printer, closing
all programs and shutting down your computer. Then, turn
your printer back on and bring your computer back up.
Try printing again. If it still doesn’t work, try
step #3.
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See if
you can print out of programs other than JUBS (like Word,
WordPad or your accounting software).
If you can’t, check the printer settings in
Windows. If
you can print out of other programs, try #4 next.
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Check
your printer settings in JUBS.
Try reselecting the printer you are trying to print
to.
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Please,
call us before
you buy a new printer so we can help you select a
printer that will work best for your utility billing needs
(see #7 & #8). As
generally is the case, “you get what you pay for” and
if you try to get by with the cheapest option, “you’ll
pay for what you get”.
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If you
get a new printer, try printing some reports and bills as
a test before
the day bill cards are supposed to go out (or if you get a
new batch of bill cards).
This way any issues can be addressed during a less
stressful time frame for everyone involved. J
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For Laser
Bill Card printing, use a Lexmark Optra S or Optra T
series printer. This printer was selected
specifically to work with your JUBS and is designed to
print the heavy bill cards required by the post office.
(You may use other laser printers for the JUBS
reports, but we do not support any other printer for laser bill card printing.)
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As a
general rule, we do not recommend inkjet printers for your
utility billing office.
Since they are designed for low-volume home use,
they are usually not very durable for high-quantity
printing (except for in very small districts).
Hopefully,
this will provide you with some information to assist with
printing issues that may come up. To help avoid unnecessary
custom programming charges or if you have any additional
questions, please give us a call.
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Quick Usage Tip
If you are not able get a meter reading for one of your
customers, you can type EST (instead of the reading) in
the usage entry screen and it will calculate an estimated
usage based from past months’ average usage. If you want to
quickly estimate all your customers, you may want to purchase
our Batch Usage Estimator Module. If you have any questions,
call for more details about estimating usage.
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Old Handheld units not supported by JUBS
Just when you thought you wouldn’t hear about Y2K problems
anymore (we didn’t think we would either). However, if you
have an older handheld device, it may not be Y2K compliant
(the DAP PC1000 is not). Since we still have customers
calling us that are using older models, we wanted to let you
know that you may need to upgrade. We have new DAP
handhelds (PC 9400) that can be purchased since we no longer
support the old ones that are not compliant.
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Thank You!
Finally, but most importantly, we would like to thank all of
our customers for using our Jayhawk Utility Billing System. We
appreciate your business and enjoy visiting with you when you
call in. Thank you for taking the time to help us develop the
new JUBS by completing and returning the enclosed sheet.
We want to create a system that will work easier and better
for you.
Since it has been a while since our last newsletter, this one
was a bit longer than usual (more like a newspaper). We
hope reading the extra length was worth your time.
Please let us know if we can help you in any other way.
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Congratulations
to Winners of $50!
KRWA Conference
Shirley Hoch - Morris County RWD #1 - KS
CCMFOA Conference
Marian Cook - City of Overland Park - KS
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Jayhawk Software
Technical Support Policy
The purchase
of a new program or an upgrade to an existing Jayhawk program
includes 6 months technical support.
Please be aware that the 6 months free support will
start 1 week after your software has been shipped (not from
the time that you have installed it).
Contacting technical support refers to any contact that
you may have, via telephone calls, mail, e-mail, faxed
documents, or other methods not referenced in this letter.
After the six
months, our best technical support option is our Software
Support Agreement. This
provides you with toll-free support during the duration of the
agreement. In
addition, we will store a backup of your program (not data) at
our site and you will be entitled to a discount on any custom
programming you may request.
Our annual Software Support Agreement is only $225 for
our Series 300 Standard JUBS and $300 for all other JUBS
versions. If you
do not have a Software Support Agreement, there will be a
$100.00 per hour charge ($50 minimum) for technical support
that is determined to be a billable charge.
This briefly
explains our current technical support policies.
However, we do still reserve the right to change our
policy at any time after an attempt has been made to inform
our customers of the changes.
Due to our continuing development of new and better
programs for you, we apologize in advance for any
inconvenience to you from these changes.
Please feel
free to call if you have any questions on our technical
support policy.
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