What is Info-Alert?

Info-Alert is an automated “alert” system which, on a daily basis, will search your business systems data looking for conditions that meet a specific set of parameters that you have defined. Once any of these conditions are found it sends an alert, either via email or by report, to those persons assigned to receive the alert. There are many predefined alerts in a variety of categories such as Accounts Receivable, Order Entry, Inventory and Purchasing. You pick and choose which alerts are applicable to your business.

For each predefined alert you can establish a set of criteria. For example, “only review customers in my “A” group and only for those assigned to a specific “Sales Rep”. Each alert allows you to establish multiple scenarios of parameters in order that you can send alerts for different “groups” of information to different people.

Does Info-Alert come with any predefined alerts?

Yes, Info-Alert comes with various predefined alerts. All would be considered common items that most businesses would like to be alerted on. You select which of the predefined alerts would be useful to your company. Additional alerts will be periodically added to a library file on the TIW web site where they  may be downloaded.

How easy is it to set up initially and begin using?

Very Easy. You can quickly install Info-Alert and begin using it almost immediately if you like. After you let Info-Alert know where your data is, all that is left is to select the alerts you want to use and indicate where you want the information sent, (via Email or Report). Most businesses would also choose to review the parameters for each alert and make adjustments that relate more specifically to their own company. Making adjustments to the parameters is a quick and easy process. After the initial setup, Info-Alert will run each night unattended, reviewing your data for information you have requested.

Can Info-Alert be customized for new alerts?

Once you have Info-Alert installed you may want to have some of the more specific aspects of your business addressed by Info-Alert. Your dealer can work with you to identify the specifics of any new alerts, then create and install them directly into the Info-Alert engine.

Can Info-Alert be attached to other Databases?

Other than your ALERE Accounting or Manufacturing software many of us have various databases in our office. These may be used for Delivery Schedules, Customer Contracts, Production Tracking, etc. Most Microsoft or ODBC compliant databases can easily be connected and mapped, by ICS or your dealer, to Info-Alert to allow you to generate alerts based on your company specific data.

Using Info-Alert without email?

If you don’t have a compatible email system, or choose not to use it, Info-Alert can be setup to provide all of the same notifications via reports. The reports can be configured to print daily, weekly or monthly and will print to user-defined printers automatically each night.

Do I need a separate server to run Info-Alert?

No, Info-Alert does not take up much space and because it is designed to run at night there will normally not be any problem with performance. It is recommended that you install Info-Alert on the same server where your main database is located for performance reasons, but this is not absolutely necessary. If you wish to use the Email functions, you must install Info-Alert on a server capable of running Microsoft’s CDO components and one that is able to forward the email to your local Exchange server or Internet Service Provider.