Suntower Systems recommends and uses the Firefox web browser.
Suntower Systems recommends and uses the Firefox web browser.
Ollie: On Line Information Exchange!
Make e-commerce simple. Now your customers can place orders, releases and manage their inventory from any Internet browser!
Install Ollie on your web server and your customers and immediately begin entering their own orders, releases and getting their own management reports. Customers can check the status of their own orders, place requests for releases, or even do routine reorders all on their own. That means faster response for them and less work for you. And that adds up to increased customer satisfaction and more net profit for you.
A user simply connects to your web site and begins using Ollie inside their browser in exactly the same way they would access any other web page. Screen response is quite snappy, even at 56k modem speeds.
Ollie enables your clients to perform the following main tasks from any web browser:
Additionally, Ollie is highly customizable for your company using standard CSS style sheets. If you like, you can literally re-draw the look and feel of Ollie to meet the requirements of each customer!
A user simply connects to your web site and begins using Ollie inside their browser in exactly the same way they would access any other web page. Screen response is quite snappy, even at 56k modem speeds.
Transactions entered into Ollie are immediately seen as orders or releases in your office version of SAFE.
Each user sees only his/her own products and multiple companies can be configured. No scripts; No extra programs, remote control software; no messy communication setups. The only requirements for a remote site are a PC capable of running Windows and any modern web browser such as Firefox or Internet Explorer.
Security is
managed inside SAFE, using the included Simple
Accounting Security Extensions. Each user logs in with a User ID and a
password which determines the menus and options she has access to. Data can be encrypted,
and users can be limited to only data associated with their log-in ID (ie. a salesperson
may only 'see' her orders, while a remote client may only 'see' his inventory). And, since
users are working with the data on your server, all updates are in real time: no remote
updates are required!
Two Ways To Serve You
There are two options for hosting Ollie: configuring your office server as a web
server in your office, or purchasing hosting services from an Internet Service Provider
(ISP):
A basic Ollie installation is $5,995. This provides the capability for fifty (50) simultaneous log-ins. (You can have as many users as you like, but only 50 may be logged in at the same time. Additional 50 User Licenses are available for $1,295 each.) Of course you must already have SAFE installed at your office!
If you will be hosting via ISP (ie. not installing Ollie in your office) you will need
our On-Line Connector ($1,295) to communicate transactions between your ISP and your
office copy of SAFE.
| Do I need Ollie or WebSAFE? What's the difference? | Ollie is an end-user package and is appropriate for most companies who wish to create an e-commerce presence. Ollie packages the most commonly requested features of on-line ordering into a single solution which is both easy to configure and use. Ollie lets end-users place orders and releases and track shipments and inventory levels---all the basics. WebSAFE, on the other hand is a completely extensible e-commerce package used by some of the largest distributors around to run accounting and inventory control systems over the internet. WebSAFE can be modified to fit into virtually any existing web site design. So whereas Ollie is basically an end-user tool for on-line ordering by your clients, WebSAFE adds the ability to use every function of SAFE from inside a web browser. This makes possible remote sales support, purchasing and inventory control over the internet. WebSAFE also can be set up to integrate with other on-line ordering systems from office supply and ad speciality vendors such as United Stationers and ASI! |
| What software do I need to run Ollie on my own web server? |
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| Can users see each others orders? What about approval---Some customers will want to approve their user's orders before they are transmitted. | At the most basic level, each user sees only his/her own orders.
And users designated as Administrators for a particular customer may have access to all orders from that customer. And of course, there are Approvers which may be configured in several different ways, including having multi-levelled approvals (where it requires more than one approver for particular users.) There is also an Order On Behalf Of function which allows certain users to order on behalf of someone else. Further customization may be achieved using Simple Accounting Security Extensions to handle pretty much any scenario your customers will come up with. For example, approvers may see all orders for those users they approve, or for all users within a particular cost center. Approvals can be set up independently for each of your customers! |
| Imprinted Orders are important. How are these handled in Ollie? | You can set up an unlimited number of templated
items in Ollie. Each of these is simply an Adobe Acrobat PDF, using their
form fill functions which we refer to as a Template. Therefore,
each template can use whatever design you like, for any device, at any
resolution, including any font which can be embedded in a PDF document
(including bar codes!) When users fill out a templated item in Ollie, their data is transferred to the Template PDF and a copy is created. They can preview the actual PDF that will be sent for production so there is no doubt as to what they will get back. Once an order is submitted, this PDF is sent to the user, their approvers and the factory (when you create a purchase order in SAFE.) This is a fool-proof system that provides the ultimate in flexibility. Anything from the smallest ad specialty to large personalized documents can be handled with equal ease. And best of all, you can create your own templates any way you like; any time you like. |
| How do I know I am getting the right components for my server? | The easiest solution is to purchase Microsoft's Small Business Server® software bundle. This includes all the Windows Server components required to run Ollie plus Microsoft Exchange for e-mail services and faxing and SQL Server for SAFE. |
| What about security? Could someone break into our site? | Ollie enables the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) found on most Web servers. This is the encryption standard for the internet. It prevents unauthorized users from interecepting your data off the net. Also, our Security Extensions program lets you encrypt your SAFE data to prevent users from copying data to their local machines. |
| Can we customize the look and feel of our web site? Can we prevent some users from accessing Ollie while still allowing them access to general information? | To some extent. In order to keep Ollie economical, many
features of Ollie are pre-configured to meet the needs of the widest variety of
companies.
However, many aspects of Ollie are modifiable to taste using standard
HTML style sheets.
These include:
Each of these can be controlled per customer. In other words, your large bank customer may have a particular look and feel that is completely different from that of your insurance services customer! |
| How do I know I am getting a good deal from my Internet Provider? |
If you host your own web server, you will need DSL a cable modem or other high speed access from your web server to the internet. For most businesses this will already be in place. You will will also need to order a Static IP address in order to make your web server available to the wide world. We have heard all manner of shameless pricing on these types of services, however your first calls should probably be to your local telco and your local cable TV provider to see what they have to offer. We generally loathe dealing with these companies, but they may well be the only game in town. We can help you determine which carrier is best for your needs, but we cannot, ultimately, guarantee your results unless you purchase a complete server and installation from us. If you choose to host Ollie at an ISP there is the issue of performance. In this scenario you are counting on them to make Ollie always available for your customers and serving up pages fast. You also need to see how responsive they are when you need support. You should ask them for performance and reliability data before you commit. Again, we've seen it all so if you have questions regarding which ISP to go with, let us help you do your vetting. Since we have to work with them as well, it's in everybody's best interest to be sure. |
If you've been concerned about the complexities of e-commerce, don't worry! We can help get it all together for you in the following ways:
To schedule a personal demonstration of
Ollie, click here!