CONTACTS 
0201 - Dep Natrl Recrs & Consrvtn         406 444 6699 fax 6721
020101 - Mr. Mike Sims
020102 - Broadwater Plant Superintendent =406 444 6772; plant 266 3869 fax 3817
020103 - Water Resources Division =406 444 0533 fax

SUBJECTS
DNRC, SDS Updates, Dec 12, 1993
Marketing, Evaluation, Learning, Help & Menus
User Interface, Printing
SDS Evaluation

0906 -    ..
0907 - Summary/Objective
0908 -
090801 - Mike said he has not received the program update sent at ref SDS 2
090802 - line 37, via ref DIP 4 line 33.
090803 -
090804 - He is making minimal use of SDS because it is difficult to remember
090805 - how to use its range of features.  Gave help on printing, and asked
090806 - Mike to call for assistance anytime.
090807 -
090808 - Submitted this record to confirm understandings.
090809 -
090810 -
0909 -
0910 -
0911 - Discussion
0912 -
091201 - He said he is not using the program very much lately because others at
091202 - DNRC are not using it and because SDS is not "intuitive."
091203 -
091204 -     He said features he does not use for awhile are too difficult to
091205 -     figure out how to do.  He is mainly using it as a list of things
091206 -     to do, and seems to be using the diary, but not the data base look
091207 -     up features with the Subject Index and/or Contacts, etc.
091208 -
091209 -
091210 - Yesterday he used SDS to look up a record of an event that occurred
091211 - last year, on which some follow up work is now needed.  He could not
091212 - figure out how to do a subject search, but he found a reference to the
091213 - needed record in a pending task that had been rolling forward for a
091214 - long time.
091215 -
091216 -     SDS Records Have No "Print" Menu
091217 -
091218 -     Then he had difficulty printing the record.  He expected to find a
091219 -     "print" menu item, similar to another program he is using. I asked
091220 -     if he used the "Diary/Reports" menu.  Mike said he did not think
091221 -     of this because he did not want to do a "Diary/Report", he wanted
091222 -     to "print" the record shown on the screen.
091223 -
091224 -          Comment
091225 -
091226 -          I think Mike's experience is typical of most users, and so it
091227 -          would be a good idea to have a print option on the SDS record
091228 -          menu, that would then step users through the options of send-
091229 -          ing ascii or a fully formatted file to the printer.
091230 -
091231 -              It seems that Users expect a "print" menu to send an SDS
091232 -              record to the printer immediately.  When they get a file
091233 -              instead, it is not apparent that additional "printing"
091234 -              steps can be obtained by calling the menu again with
091235 -              Shift F10.
091236 -
091237 -          This will require a different menu arrangement, since the
091238 -          current menu has no more room for another item.
091239 -
091240 -
091241 -
091242 - I explained how to convert an SDS record into an ASCII file using the
091243 - "Diary/Reports" menu, and how to open the "print" menu in the newly
091244 - crated ASCII file, to send the SDS record to the printer.  While we
091245 - were talking, Mike went through these steps on his computer.
091246 -
091247 -
091248 -
091249 - Telephone Support
091250 -
091251 - I asked Mike to call me anytime for assistance in using SDS.  About
091252 - 90% of the time the solution takes less than 1 minute to explain and
091253 - less time to implement.  This saves hours of struggle and frustration
091254 - in not being able to get things done quickly.  Mike was concerned
091255 - about imposing on my time.  I assured him this would not be an
091256 - imposition, since I need to discover the problems people have, so I
091257 - can fix them and make SDS more intuitive, easier to use, etc.
091258 -
091259 -
091260 -
091261 - Using Other Programs
091262 -
091263 - Mike said he got the record printed by finding it in the Dairy data
091264 - base directory structure, and reading it into another program that has
091265 - a "print" menu item.
091266 -
091267 -
091268 -     Comment
091269 -
091270 -     Wanted to explain how to more easily capture a record to send it
091271 -     to the printer or pull it into another program, by filing it to a
091272 -     temporary name like "x."  I will send this record to Mike so he
091273 -     can see following two step procedure:
091274 -
091275 -
091276 -         1.  Hit "Home" key to move cursor to command line at top of
091277 -             the screen.
091278 -
091279 -         2.  At command line, type:
091280 -
091281 -                       CMD>file x    <Home>
091282 -
091283 -             ...this closes the record and makes a copy on the disk in
091284 -             the current directory called "x".  If you do not want to
091285 -             close the record, instead of typing "file", type:
091286 -
091287 -                       CMD>save x    <Home>
091288 -
091289 -             ...notice the command is not executed with <Enter>,
091290 -             because in SDS, <Enter> is an action key; therefore the
091291 -             <Home> key is used to execute commands.
091292 -
091293 -
091294 -
091295 - Program Improvements
091296 -
091297 - I thanked Mike for the idea on improving "print" options, and asked
091298 - that he let me know of other problems that arise in the course of
091299 - using the program which need attention to make it easier for him to
091300 - use.
091301 -
091302 -
091303 -
091304 -
0914 -

SUBJECTS
Voith Contract, Punch List
Planning
Installation
Punch Lists
Replace v. Retrofit, 920120

1308 - Summary/Objective
1309 -
130901 - Mike said Voith is scheduled to complete repairs to the speed
130902 - increaser next July, and will complete pending punch list items at
130903 - the same time.
130904 -
130905 -
130906 -
130907 -