| What
is an ASP? |
| ASP
is an abbreviation for Application Service Provider. It is a company
that puts an application, likes Clients Case Management (Clients),
up on the Internet and allows people to use it for a fee. It allows
a legal aid office to outsource their computer needs and get back
to what they are best at, representing clients.
Clients is a
computerized case management system that tracks cases for legal
services, law school clinics, and pro bono offices that represent
low-income people. The ASP version of Clients is located in an extremely
secure data center that is accessed over the Internet. Your computers
become thin clients when using the case management software. |
| Safe |
| Economical |
| Easy
|
| Powerful |
| Flexible |
|
Safe
The information
at the data center is actually much safer than it is in your own
office. This is why: |
| 1. |
Your
database is backed up on tape on a daily basis. |
| 2. |
The backup tapes
are stored off-site in a vault.
Backups are transported in metal boxes with seals by a courier service. |
| 3. |
There is redundancy
built into the hard drive systems. |
| 4. |
Usage and access
to the database are monitored 24 hours a day. |
| 5. |
There is intrusion
protection. |
| 6. |
There is 24-hour
physical security at the data center. |
| 7. |
The facility
uses biometrics to identity who wishes to enter. Only if they are
approved can then get in.
There is fire protection. |
| 8. |
Virus protection
is monitored and updated regularly. |
| 9. |
Employees’
backgrounds are checked for criminal records before being hired. |
| 10. |
Cleaning service
employees’ backgrounds are checked for criminal records before
being hired. |
| 11. |
A firewall is
in place to prevent unauthorized traffic. |
| 12. |
Venture Technologies
data center is a Tier 1facility, which requires passing stringent
tests. |
| 13. |
No data leaves
the data center. The workstation sends mouse moves and keystrokes.
It receives pixel data to construct an image on your monitor. |
| 14. |
The information
going over the Internet is encrypted. |
| 15. |
A backup of the
data (in a Microsoft Access format) can be downloaded to your local
hard disk once a week. |
| 16. |
The data center
provides enhanced security and redundancy that you couldn’t
afford in your own office. |
| 17. |
Your database
will not be "marooned" on broken hard drives or “lost
at sea" on computers that have been stolen |
| 18. |
The data center
is more dependable than a typical wide area network, being available
for use more than 99% of the time. |
| 19. |
If your Internet
Service Provider goes down, you can use an office or home dial up
connection, such as MSN, ATT or AOL to access your data. |
| 20. |
The data center
is inspected and monitored by third-party evaluation companies. |
| 21. |
There is a password
to access the ASP. |
| 22. |
There is a password
to get into the database |
| 23. |
The ASP password
is changed periodically. |
| 24. |
You own your
data. |
Economical
Studies show
that offices using ASPs save money. In evaluating your savings it
is important to look at the total cost of ownership (TCO) of operating
your computers.
With an ASP,
you DON’T need: |
| 25. |
To buy a SQL
server. |
26.
|
To hire anyone
with SQL server knowledge. |
| 27. |
To buy SQL licenses. |
| 28. |
To buy a Citrix
Server or Servers. |
| 29. |
To hire anyone
with Citrix XP knowledge. |
| 30. |
To buy Citrix
XP software. |
| 31. |
To upgrade your
computers, since the speed of the system is independent of the workstation
using it. |
| 32. |
To buy Microsoft
software licenses. |
| 33. |
Upgrade your
hardware to run Windows 2000 or XP (which is what the database runs
on at the data center). |
| 34. |
To buy and setup
backup hardware, backup software, and tapes. |
| 35. |
To spend time
backing up, rotating and storing the tapes, and testing the backup. |
| 36. |
To figure out
load balancing within servers in your office. |
| 37. |
To hire anyone
who knows how to run a Web Server |
| 38. |
To find a safe,
locked, secured room with air conditioning to house your servers. |
| 39. |
Bigger bandwidth
coming into the main office, since each office communicates with the
data center. No one office acts as the compilation point for all the
others. |
| 40. |
To provide dual
data lines from multiple providers into your main office to deal with
outages that might occur to one. |
| 41. |
Routers and dedicated
lines. All you need is adequate access to the Internet. |
| 42. |
A team of engineers
debugging the latest version of Windows, Citrix XP, SQL or how they
interact with each other. Venture Technologies has that team working
for you. |
| 43. |
To staff a help
desk. |
| 44. |
A Diesel generator |
| 45. |
Battery backups. |
| 46. |
To install a
fire suppression system. |
| You
also save in other ways. |
| 47. |
There is an extremely
short setup time, measured in days not months. You and your staff
are not tied up for six months getting things working. |
| 48. |
There is a low
cost to get up and running |
| 49. |
An ASP causes
reduced overall costs for both management and hardware. |
| 50. |
Bandwidth requirements
are kept to a minimum, 12 to 20K per user. |
| 51. |
Your application
costs become predictable. This makes budgeting much easier. |
| 52. |
The ASP compensates
for lack of internal IT resources. If you don’t have highly
skilled computer people, you don’t need to hire them. |
| 53. |
Extend the useful
life of your old computers. Replace them three years after you normally
would. |
| 54. |
Buy new inexpensive
desktop or laptop computers with no performance penalty. The speed
of Clients depends on the equipment at the data center. |
| 55. |
Pull old computers
out of the closet and start using them again. |
| 56. |
Expensive hardware
and software experts don’t sit idle for long periods of time
waiting for calls when things are working correctly. |
| 57. |
Attorneys and
administrators can go back to doing their normal jobs, rather than
trying to be an IT department. |
| 58. |
Other high-end
applications that you might not otherwise afford are now within reach. |
| 59. |
Complex applications
usually require support for both the application (Clients) and the
database (Microsoft SQL). Eliminate the need to support the database. |
| 60. |
Eliminate the
worry of or liability for illegally pirated software existing on workstations.
|
Easy
The ASP version
of Clients is actually easier to install and work with than the
normal version. This is because the work is done for you. |
| 61. |
When your data
is ready, we can set you up in a day. |
| 62. |
Venture Technologies
can set you up with all your applications on an ASP, not just case
management. You can add email, word processing, accounting and other
applications that wouldn’t be affordable to buy and support. |
| 63. |
In a totally
ASP-based system, the only software required on the user’s desktop
is a Web browser. This would totally eliminate the need to manage
client software desk-by-desk. |
| 64. |
Venture Technologies
can arrange to provide you with connectivity to the Internet if you
need it. |
| 65. |
All you need
to run Clients ASP is a computer that supports an Internet Browser.
Clients ASP will run on Windows, Linux, Unix, Macintosh and even Windows
CE. |
| 66. |
Upgrades are
easy. Changes can be made to your system from our offices in Atlanta
or at the ASP in Jackson. |
| 67. |
Data entry error
checking is easy. Check data entry daily or weekly from your own office. |
| 68. |
Avoid the search
every two years for experienced hardware and software people to replace
ones who left for higher paying jobs. |
| 69. |
Escape the pain
and challenge of installing and managing a Wide Area Network (WAN). |
| 70. |
Almost totally
eliminate application maintenance tasks. Take the time you would have
used learning SQL and Citrix and use it to train your staff on how
to use case management. Use the time freed up to use case management
information to manage, rather than fiddling with hardware and operating
systems. |
| 71. |
Be worry free
about server and workstation setup. (Did the backup really work, and
should I test it?) |
| 72. |
Dial-up connections
will work for one or two people. |
| 73. |
KCW can help
you with data changes without having to visit your office. |
| 74. |
Guaranteed performance
and uptime. |
| 75. |
There are no
additional development, testing, or deployment procedures for other
individual applications. These can be ‘turned on’ in a
day. |
Powerful
Clients ASP
has all the features of the normal version and more. Having it on
an ASP makes it even more powerful. |
| 76. |
Your case management
runs on extremely fast computers at the data center. As time goes
by, these data center computers will be upgraded without you even
knowing it |
| 77. |
Clients ASP has
all the powerful features of the normal Clients program, and more. |
| 78. |
Use case management
from any device, at any location through the Internet. |
| 79. |
Add additional
applications that are just as easy to access over the Internet. |
| 80. |
Access case management
from visitation sites, senior centers, at home or even on the road. |
| 81. |
Use your time
to improve your focus on what case management does, rather than maintenance
and installation |
| 82. |
Training and
support can be handled centrally using "shadowing.” This
means we can take over a computer and show the user what they need
to do, even if the user is on the other side of the country. |
| 83. |
Eliminate the
need for visiting each office and desktop to troubleshoot or install
updates. |
| 84. |
There are no
WAN servers in the central or branch offices, so having a technical
person on staff travel around to maintain them is not necessary. Your
technical staff can concentrate on how the software works and helping
advocates, rather than traveling. |
| 85. |
The available
power expands to match the size of your data (there is scalability). |
| 86. |
The speed of
the application is almost completely independent of the equipment
being used by the staff member. |
| 87. |
Use your freed
up time to use case management for strategic objectives.
Eliminate disk or email transfers of data from branch offices. |
| 88. |
The system uses
the industrial strength Microsoft SQL Database. |
| 89. |
The more complex
technology tasks a legal services office takes on, the more they jeopardize
their ability to represent clients. Legal Aid offices should focus
on what they do best, representing clients. |
Flexible
One important
reason offices purchase Clients is that it is very flexible. Putting
it on an ASP makes it easier to utilize this flexibility |
| 90. |
Clients ASP can
be modified and adjusted just like the standard version. |
| 91. |
You can have
custom queries |
| 92. |
You can have
custom reports |
| 93. |
You can have
custom ‘special program’ tables and intake sheets. |
| 94. |
Expansion of
storage, users or speed is fast and easy and invisible. |
| 95. |
Customizations
to the program need to be done to only one ‘front-end’. |
| 96. |
Once customizations
are completed, they are automatically sent out to users in the evening. |
| 97. |
Load balancing
works invisibly. Underused servers can pick up the work of servers
that are being heavily used. |
| 98. |
Improvements
and lessons learned by one legal services program using the ASP are
shared among all of them. |
| 99. |
An experienced
computer responsible people can be given extensive rights to customize
and administer their version. |
| 100. |
Major upgrades
to new versions of the program can be handled without an on-site visit
or mailing the database on a CD. |
| 101. |
Downtime for
upgrades is minimized. |
| 102. |
Cases can be
transferred to other legal aid programs. |
Please contact us for current pricing. |
Kemp’s Case Works, Inc.
2304 Sherbrooke Drive
Atlanta, Georgia 30345
Phone: 404-320-7126
FAX: 404-636-7767
admin@kempscaseworks.com
www.kempscaseworks.com
|
