Lists

One of the biggest keys to making IndySoft work well for you is understanding that everything is stored in Lists. There are lists of equipment, users, employees, Types, Sub-Types, etc. Everything is part of a list. There are lists of events, lists of invoices, and lists of permissions. What IndySoft does for you is help you keep all of those lists of information organized, enabling you to avoid making mistakes.

It is also important to realize that there are lists of lists. For example, there is a list of 'Companies.' Each Company maintains its list of Employees, Equipment, Bins, Locations, etc. (unless you use a Default Company for a list). Type and Location also have sub-lists. For each Type, there is a list of Sub-Types. For each Location, there is a list of Sub-Locations. Suppose you have an Employee, Bob, who works with ABC COMPANY in ROOM 138 at TABLE 3. You would set this up by listing Bob as an Employee in Company ABC COMPANY; you would specify ROOM 138 as a Location in Company ABC COMPANY and select TABLE 5 as a Sub-Location in Company ABC of Location ROOM 138. Other companies may have Location ROOM 138, but not with the same, or necessarily any, Sub-Locations. Further, some rooms in ABC COMPANY may have tables for Sub-Locations, while others will have stations, benches, or nothing at all. For every list, it can be essential to understand how it relates to other lists to get at the information you are looking for.

Companies/Locations/Sub-Locations

Finally, be aware that many lists in a calibration lab should be set from a Default Company (set in User/Location Settings). It is much easier to set up and maintain a single list of Types, Manufacturers, Model Numbers, etc., than to create the same list for every new customer. In addition, it is much easier to be consistent if there is only a single list. For example, suppose you have 50 customers who all use CALIPERs, and you want to send out a reminder to all your customers who have CALIPERs that need to be calibrated this month. In that case, you will miss a customer if you accidentally set the Type to CALIPER. If you maintain a single list of Types, that mistake is much less likely to happen.

See List Management for more on using lists and how individual lists relate. |