There are tens of thousands of offices today filled with workers laboring away on computers on some common task, either originating or receiving phone calls, or working at some data processing task, and supervisors who need to send messages to their teams. This is commonly done with YELLING, or with complex expensive and technically challenging instant message systems or services- which usually come with spam, or a monthly service charge, as if modern business' need additional costs to doing business. Most IM services do not support group recipients anyway- or do so in a way that is complex and challenging to non geek managers.
Complex difficult systems tend to not get installed, or are a headache that get's dropped quickly. Likewise, expensive solutions tend to not be adopted. YellCast™ is simple, reliable, avoids creating new firewall openings, is reasonably priced, and being totally in house is spam free.
What is needed is a simple and inexpensive easy to implement messaging system to let them message their teams and not pollute the office with MORE noise; Yellcast™ is that solution. Don't yell, YELLCAST™.
YellCast™ is a special purpose messaging system to let supervisors send out messages to parts of their workforce organized into teams. It CAN deliver messages to a group with only one member or a thousand, and can handle ANY number of groups. It is a useful for the office setting. If you are accessing your app through a browser, you can YellCast™. YellCast™ requires you to be using normal browsers for your existing application; Firefox or Internet Explorer are compatible, and Netscape MAY soon become compatible.
Implementing this is simple and does not entail new security risks associated with opening up new ports in the firewall, as no new ports need to be opened. It operates through port 80, the http port, which is almost certainly already opened, and only uses normal HTTP transfers. There are no persistent connections. It uses ONE standard HTTP server at ONE computer- but COULD use more if you need to. It displays messages in your browser in a separate page, or in a small window in an existing application, or in a subdivided 'frame-set' page with messages in one frame and the UNMODIFIED EXISTING application in another section of that divided page- please click on the example link below to see what we mean. The impact on the hosting computer is low, and on the systems out on the work floor trivial.
YellCast™ is NOT hard to implement or difficult to understand. we include example pages on the CD, which MAY be sufficient for your needs as is; if not, a html savvy IT professional can soon have you up and running. This is a one day project, tops, and that assumes the worker is SLOW. Yes, we offer support to staff performing the install, or can install it for you.
It uses only one simple program, a python script (language is available FREE at http://www.python.org/ ), to post messages, and requires that a normal http server (a web server that supports cgi) be operating on the LAN where the script is housed, accessible by the workforce computers; Apache is fine, or we can provide a small VERY ROBUST one we favor, called TinyWeb. Supervisors can access it from other workstations on the LAN, as can the worker's embedded clients. The client incredibly simple, and is compatible with Firefox and internet explorer, and MAY soon be compatible with Netscape. Again, this is VERY easy to implement.
The script is designed to be as compatible as possible with both Linux and Windows, and can be easily modified if need be to your requirements; usually, the same script will serve in either environment. It does not need to be edited to include addresses. You only have to edit it in Linux or FreeBSD to insure the 'shebang' on the first line points at the python interpreter in that server. Windows users don't need to worry about this, for (as of the time of writing this file) installing python associates *.py files with the correct interpreter.
Only ONE computer needs a HTTP server, frequently the supervisor's workstation itself, but it can easily be another computer on the LAN. If you want to have several supervisor work stations, you COULD have several servers, or you can insure they all may access the HTTP server in that one workstation. You can have any number of 'channels' for any number of teams; You can even have a group for management personnel, if you need to yell at them. The YellCast™ system is VERY flexible. Adding a new one at a later time is very simple.
You can customize team names if this makes it easier to keep track of things; just be sure you also update the name in the client tag in the application software and/or team-menu file, and in the podium file.
BE ADVISED that UN*X type operating systems dislike the taste of space symbols and will become upset and erase the hard drive or puke or some terrible if you use them in team names, as the team name becomes the file's name; Windows does not care. HOWEVER, the file name becomes a part of a URL to that file, and spaces are not legal symbols in url's (a url is a network address for a browser). Short answer is, do not use spaces in team names, use _underscore_ instead. THIS ERROR IS EASY TO MAKE, AND FATAL IN EXECUTION.
We include a small server for you to use if you do not have one handy; we advise against the windows personal server. The tiny server program included with YellCast™ should suffice for up to approximately 100 workers, then begin slowing down. Apache will handle LARGE demands well.
Out of the box, the podium form will offer 12 work groups or 'teams' AND one manager's bulletin group and one test team, but you can have any number of groups, up to your computer's capacity to store and serve data- potentially, thousands. NO CHANGE TO THE PROGRAM IS REQUIRED to change their names or total number, merely edit the podium form (and teammenu.html if used, or the application's embedded client) to taste. Again, do not use spaces in team names if you want it to work.
We also include a web-page to monitor those 12 teams- the podium form monitors the manager's bulletins. The multiple feed monitor is also very easy to modify to your needs, although with MANY work groups, this might slow down THAT computer seriously, depending on the number being monitored and system capacity. (The developer's laptop became seriously burdened with more than 20 announcements running on it, and a web-server, a browser, an editor, anti-virus, firewall, SpyBot Search&Destroy, and a display accessory for the desktop.) If your manager's work station is a $200 wonder, increase the burden gradually to see when it starts logging down; the task manager in windows lets you monitor CPU idle time and memory usage and would be a useful tool here. You usually will not need to keep the 1-12 monitor screen open.
There are 2 approaches to implementing the built in feed; imbed it in your application, or embed the existing app in a 2 frame frameset page. Both work, each has it's strengths. Any IT webmaster of merit can accomplish this with our examples to work by; consultation is also available if there is a need. A BROWSER MUST BE USED AS THE APPLICATION/USER INTERFACE or it will NOT work. These days, this is pretty common.
This will work with remote servers AND CLIENTS if there is a communication path open, so you can even use it with work at home sorts. You can have more than one operate on the same LAN, as long as you are diligent to set unique page names and addresses so different groups look at different 'billboard' files; With a little work you could have one server handle HUNDREDS of groups, although this begins to require an IT maven to think a little bit about worst case burden issues.
When your IT people look everything over in your acquisition of the system, the system will become clear, and they will be banging their heads and wondering why they never thought of it. You do not need to open new ports or to think about tcp/ip or to install exotic servers; http is all you need, and a simple http server- and python, available from http://www.python.org/ in the downloads area.
YellCast™ Group Messaging System is COPYRIGHT 2007 by Kirk D Bailey,
and is licensed software, not shareware or freeware. Please respect copyrights and
do NOT share it with anyone else. Your purchase licenses one firm for one site, with
a small additional charge for extra sites.
LICENSES DISCUSSED UPON REQUEST. USE THE CONTACT FORM TO INQUIRE.
Relax, It's not steep, and it's user pool baised, so you pay according to the number of workers you have in the calling team.
Consulting services are available via phone, in person, or I can log in from home
and install it for you if your systems make this possible- ssh is recommended, not
telnet, as ssh is secure and telnet is not.
CONTACT US via the form accessed from the footer link to initiate contact and discuss your needs. You can also call us at 727-215-6135.
SAMPLE WORKING PAGES
That is the Mark I version; Mark II has some nice extra feqatures to help manage the system in qa working real world environment, but this illustrates the core concept nicely. What can I say, the folks at Coke don't tell Pepsi, do they?All aspects of the system are highly customizable, and it will support any number of teams. The podium form can be accessed from any command station on the LAN that can talk to the webserver on the lan (so keep the url of it confidential to your managers). Contact me (see footer link) to aquire the system and license- and if you want us to install or support it for you.
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