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Introduction by Nigel Lorriman, McCarthy Taylor Systems Ltd.

Not all doom and gloom

With the UK now officially in recession it's good to know that a lot of our clients are just as busy as ever. We have seen a growth in enquiries from those who are using other software and either need to upgrade to keep ahead of the game or cut their costs. Either way, many of them are turning to LSS at this time. With headline prices starting at £250 a year for LSS Solo it's little wonder people are attracted to it, but we've never sold on price alone. An old saying went something like "The only time you save money is the day you buy cheap" and this still applies, but who wouldn't say no to an Audi for Dacia money? BBC Top Gear viewers will know what I mean.

Churning

One thing we have noticed in recent years is an increase in business 'churn' - by this I mean staff moving around and companies changing ownership and management. This inevitably brings with it a new audience for LSS and as a result we've seen an increase in training throughout 2008 and this has continued into 2009 with the first Intermediate course being sold out and several bespoke off-site courses taking place this month as well. And with David Manley joining the training and support department we now have the capacity to run more courses than ever.

Winter Wonderland

Those of you who have ever visited our offices will know how remote the site is, perched as it is on the edge of the Cotswold escarpment at a little over 300m ASL it catches much of the inclement winter weather which visits this country of ours from time to time. Take this week for instance. With night time temperatures as low as -11degC getting in and out of the office has proved tricky to say the least and some of us have had to walk-in while leaving our cars at the bottom of a steep, unsalted section of road. If we ever have to abandon ship early due to inclement weather we'll do our best to provide support via our forum, so if you haven't already done so, this might be the time to familiarise yourself with the site. You might just be surprised how much information is on there. Just go to lssforum.com.

I hope you enjoy reading our e-bulletin jottings. If you'd like to promote yourself in this or any up-coming Newsletter then please let me know. We're always keen to publish success stories. And finally, everyone at McCarthy Taylor would like to thank you for your continued support and wish you a happy and prosperous 2009.

You can install version 9.70 from our website. Simply go to www.dtmsoftware.com and follow the download links.

Everyone should by now have received a Newsletter and 2 CDs from us, one containing the LSS 9.70.01 progam and the other containing tutorial movies. If you didn't receive either the Newsletter or CDs and think you should then please let us know. Either we don't know about you or someone has informed us that you do not require a Newsletter and/or CD. Any envelopes which are returned undelivered are always investigated, so if you've moved we will eventually track you down for details of your new address.

For most users, the automatic program updates are working fine, but for others there have been some teething problems. If you have experienced problems getting the updates or have had to disable the automatic updates then please download version 9.70.02 and see if things improve.

The are three stages to the automatic program updates.

1) The first time LSS is run each day it checks to see if there are any program or support file updates available
2) If there are, then LSS offers to download and install them
3) After downloading the updates and running LSS for the first time the program attempts to notify our server that the update has been successful.

There have never been any issues with stage 2, but stages 1 and 3 have proved problematic on some user sites and in some cases LSS would hang while attempting these procedures. As a result, we have disabled stage 3 in LSS version 9.70.02 which has been available on our website for the past few weeks. So, if you are still running 9.70.01 and when you select 'Help / Check for LSS update' nothing happens, or you are not yet onto version 9.70 please go to the download page on our website and install 9.70.02. We are confident that you will like the new program and the functionality and efficiency gains it offers.

If you don't have a CD and cannot download from our website then please call and we will be all too happy to post you one.

We managed to squeeze more than the recommended amount of data onto the tutorial CDs we sent out with 9.70.01. We even contemplated putting the whole thing onto DVD, but that would have delayed the issuing process even further. Since the release we have added a few more tutorials which are available to view online and will be filling the gaps which are left in the coming few days. For LSS users these tutorials are available through the menu 'Help / Tutorials' and for non-LSS users on-line via our forum at lssforum.com.

There are probably a dozen or so questions we are often asked, expecially by new users and it is these questions we have attempted to tackle in the 'Worked Examples' tutorials. If you want us to produce more then please let us know. The biggest challenge is thinking up topics to cover and that's where you, our users, will be able to help.

If you have read our latest Newsletter you will be aware that we have decided to attend the XCES Exhibition at York Racecourse on 22 & 23 April 2009 instead of GEO9. Both shows are taking place in April and we wanted to reach a new audience while allowing access to our existing customers and feel that XCES is the right place at which to do this. By the way, XCES stands for eXhibition for Construction and Engineering Surveying.

Organised by the Institute of Civil Engineering Surveyors, all profits from the event go straight back into the profession and the organisers have promised to react to visitor comments in order to keep the show relevant and accessible in years to come. The problem we had with GEO9 and its predecessors was the unwillingness of the organisers to consider moving the show around the country, which limited the numbers of visitors able to attend. Furthermore, the ratio of visitors to exhibitors and the geographical distribution of visitors indicated to us that it wasn't attracting a broad-enough interest to justify the considerable expense, hence our decision to support XCES this year.

Whether you are UK-based or not, it will be well worth the trip. York has excellent road and public transport links and the city itself is a particular highlight. Whether it's the Minster, boutique shopping, the National Railway Museum or Yorvik Viking Centre, why not bring your wife/husband/partner along and drop them off in the city while you take in the exhibition? That way you'll earn brownie points as well as doing your bit for work. Why not make a long weekend of it?

If you aren't UK-based then what better place to visit than the City of York? Visit http://www.visityork.org/ for details.

Admission to the show is free, but you'll need to pre-register at http://asp.artegis.com/xces/2009

Just a reminder to everyone that our support line is available to all LSS users between 9:00am and 5:30pm Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays). You can call either 01452 864244 or 08456 444244 (international callers should dial +44 1452 864244). We don't charge for this service. It's all part of your LSS licence fee and we will support as many contacts there are for a copy of the software.

If you've never rung us before we'll take some details so we can keep a record on our database. Apart from that you don't need to jump through hoops to get help from us.

Every incoming and outgoing call and email is logged on our Customer Service Management system which allows us to keep track of support issues and enquiries. We hold weekly team meetings to discuss support and development issues and at that time any unresolved problems are discussed and action agreed. We are proud of the level of support and service we offer, but if you have experienced a less than satisfactory outcome to your enquiry then please let us know. We're always striving to improve things.

And because for no other reason that there's some room left to fit it in, here's an extract from Daryl Denham's Drivetime on Virgin Radio

Denham: In which country would you spend shekels?
Contestant: Holland ?
Denham: Try the next letter of the alphabet.
Contestant: Iceland ? Ireland ?
Denham (helpfully): It's a bad line. Did you say Israel ?
Contestant: No.