General FAQ's
Dispatcher Functionality FAQ's
Reporting FAQ's
Mobile Client FAQ's
System Administration FAQ's
Networking FAQ's

General FAQ's

• What methods can be used to communicate the locator's work tickets?
  KorTerra C/S supports a variety of communication types for sending the tickets to the locators. Some of the more common types are:
  • Printer
  • Fax
  • Email
  • Web Services
  • KorTerra Mobile (click here for more information)
    
    
• Are dispatchers notified when locators do not receive their tickets, or go out of coverage? If so, how is this notification handled? How is return to coverage handled?
  KorTerra handles the communications of messages in a couple of different ways depending on how critical the information is.
  • In a non-emergency scenario, the dispatcher can monitor the coverage of the mobile users by viewing all pending tickets. These are all of the tickets that have been dispatched to the field and are waiting for the mobile unit to either be turned on or come into coverage.
  • In an emergency scenario, it is critical the information be received in a timely fashion. For example, if an emergency locate has been received and dispatched, it is very important that this information is sent and received on the mobile unit quickly. In this case, KorTerra monitors the amount of time it takes to send the information to the mobile unit and the amount of time it takes the locator to acknowledge the emergency. If the threshold has been exceeded, then the KorTerra C/S messages the dispatchers of the situation via the KorTerra Herald application. The dispatcher is then aware of the situation and can take action.
  
  Upon the mobile coming back into a coverage area, the system automatically re-establishes communications and sends the communications packets back and forth between the server and the mobile.
  
  
• What is the recommended numbers of field clients and dispatchers for your product?
  KorTerra takes great care in and works diligently to maintain the most current technology in their applications and in optimizing database queries for maximum performance. KorTerra's modular design allows the software to distribute workloads across multiple computers. This approach allows our higher volume customers to receive the very best performance from our software.
  
  The number of dispatchers is theoretically unlimited and is directly tied to database server capacity.
  
  As stated above the system was designed to be modular, therefore for mobile communications to handle addition mobile users, all that is required is to add an additional mobile communications server. In our load testing analysis we have determined that each mobile communications server can support approximately 400 mobile users. Additional mobile communication servers can be added to support additional mobile users.
  
  We have several large customer implementations that perform in excess of 4,000,000 locates annually and have 600+ mobiles users on the system at any given moment.
  
  
• Is there a maximum number of locates per day that the system can process?
  No. KorTerra clients have received more than 20,000 locate requests daily. Our scalable architecture does not limit the number of tickets that can be processed.
  
  
• Can KorTerra C/S integrate with 3rd party workforce management or mapping systems?
  The KorTerra Product suite has an open architecture that allows it to integrate easily with other software products.  As an example, we have interfaced KorTerra with many other leading third party software applications such as MDSI, Utility Partners, Axiom/ClickSoftware’s Mobility/Click Schedule application and proprietary in-house software applications.  KorTerra has software “hooks” in place that gives us the ability to interface with multiple mapping applications as well.  For example, we have interfaced with ESRI, SmallWorld, MapPoint, MapFrame, Faar and GTI.
  
  
• We are a municapality and send a locator from each department to complete the locate. How can KorTerra help us?
  KorTerra CS and KorWeb both have the ability to receive a single ticket from the one call center and split the ticket - one for each department. Each department can then complete the ticket individually. This saves you the expense of paying for multiple one call center tickets. KorTerra is intelligent and can merge the multiple department completions to send a single positive response message back to the one call center.
  
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Dispatcher Functionality FAQ's

• Is there a need to have a dispatcher after implementation of the software or system?
  This depends on the operation requirements as defined by each of our customers. We can configure the system for a dispatcher to have full control of the locate requests, partial control, or the system can be configured to operate automatically with minimal dispatcher involvement.
  
  Many of our clients find they can dramatically reduce the number of dispatchers focused on the locating functions to 30% or less.
  
  
• What operating systems does the Dispatcher component run on?
  Microsoft Windows 98 / ME®, Windows NT®, Windows 2000®, Windows XP®.
  
  
• Do individual dispatchers have the option of personalizing their display?
  Yes.  Each display is user configurable and is stored on the server so each time they login on any computer they will retrieve the configuration set-up by them.
  
  
• How are “emergency locates” handled?
  When emergency locates are received from the One Call Center we notify the KorTerra messaging application called the KorTerra Herald. These notifications are also color coded on the dispatch and mobile screens. These messages can be configured to auto send or a dispatcher can manually dispatch this request as they wish.
  
  Normally, when an emergency locate ticket is received, it will automatically be assigned to the proper locator and then dispatched directly to the field.  Alternatively, KorTerra can also be configured to prompt the dispatcher of the emergency for them to review before sending to the field.
  
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Reporting FAQ's

• What are the reporting capabilities of the applications?
  KorTerra has numerous pre-programmed reports that have been developed within the system.  These reports allow the user to enter their specific selection/filter criteria to provide the information they need.
  
  The major groupings of reports fall within the following categories:
  • Audit Reports
  • Ticket Reports
  • Maintenance Reports
  • Locator Activity & Productivity Reports
  • Custom Reports
    
    
• Is the reporting capability included in the base software or as an add-on module?
  Yes.  The reporting functionality is included in the base KorTerra system.
  
  
• Is there a query tool available to create custom reports?
  Yes. KorTerra also has an easy to use query tool.  With this tool, the user has the ability to develop customized queries that can be used to develop reports.  These queries only take a few minutes to enter and can be saved for later retrieval.
  
  
• Can the reports be scheduled to run at specified times?
  Yes. The reports can be configured to run at specified times with your various reporting selection criteria and then printed or email to specified locations.
  
• Can the reports be emailed, PDF'd or exported into Microsoft Excel?
  Yes. Any report can be emailed to another person, or exported as a PDF or Microsoft Excel file.
  
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Mobile Client FAQ's

• Do I have to use the KorTerra C/S Mobile software?
  No. KorTerra C/S supports a variety of communication types for sending the tickets to the locators. Some of the more common types are:
  • Printer
  • Fax
  • Email
  • KorTerra Mobile (click here for more information)
    
    
• Do I need to have wireless communications to use KorTerra C/S Mobile?
  No. Many of our clients use the KorTerra C/S Mobile without wireless communications. Instead the locator either connects their computer to the internet before leaving home in the morning to download their tickets. Or if they come into the office each day, they can connect to the office network to download their tickets. A third option is they can stop at a WI-FI hotspot (e.g. coffee shop, restaurant, etc.) and download their tickets.
  
  
• What operating systems does the mobile client support?
  Windows 98 / ME®, Windows NT®, Windows 2000®, Windows XP®.
  
  
• What are the minimum hardware specifications for a mobile client?
  Any Windows based notebook computer built in the last 4 years with 256MB RAM and storage space of 10GB or more should be more than adequate.  KorTerra can assist you in reviewing any existing notebooks computer configurations to determine its compatibility with our software.
  
  
• Will the KorTerra C/S Mobile application work with an IP solution?
  The KorTerra TCPIP communications courier will work seamlessly with and true TCPIP connection to your mobile workers. 
  
  
• Is there a minimum communication speed required? 
  KorTerra’s application is a store and forward queuing system, so the speed of the connection is irrelevant.
  
  
• Are there any other software products required on the mobile client besides the locate ticket management software?
  KorTerra requires no third party products or additional software licenses.  If mapping is desired, the customer would be responsible for all related licenses as related to third party mapping software.
  
  
• Does the mobile client provide a summary screen displaying all tickets for the user?
  Yes.  There is a summary screen for all locates on that specific mobile.  By default, the Emergency tickets are color coded and sorted to the top of the list.  Any locates requiring a meeting between the locator and the excavator are also color coded and displayed below the emergencies.   All other locate tickets are displayed below the Meet tickets.

  The locator has the ability to re-sort their workload as they see fit.

  A “stoplight” indicator is displayed to the left of each ticket to indicate how soon the ticket is coming due or if it is past due.  The client can configure the colors and length of time between color changes based on the age of the ticket.

   By clicking on specific tabs on this screen the locator can read the details of each locate request.

• Does the mobile application allow the field user to change the columns on the summary screen?
  Yes.  The mobile application ticket view screen has the same functionality as in the office.  Therefore, the field user can display any database field they wish in any order they wish on the screen.

  To do this, the field user simply right clicks their mouse anywhere on the ticket display and they can select the database columns to display.

• Will the field user be able to sort his locate tickets?
  Yes.  The system performs an initial sort for the field user, but the default sort can be changed by the user.  The user can change the sort order by clicking on the column headers to sort by that column, or they go into a manual sort mode, where the user can click on each ticket move its position.  This functionality is very simple and quick to use by the field user.
  
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System Administration FAQ's

• Does the application provide for System Administration?  If so, is there a separate software module for this?
  Yes.  System administration is provided throughout the KorTerra application. With menu security and region/district security the administrator has full control of the system and what functionality is seen by the users.
  
  In addition, KorTerra has a very unique capability that allows it to monitor itself to ensure that potential problems are identified quickly.  For example, all background applications are monitored for uptime and activity.  Any deviance is then messaged to the KorTerra C/S Herald and can be emailed to specific users to take action.  For example, if the tickets have not been received from the One Call Center in over an hour, there could possibly be a problem.  The system would then message the Herald and send an email of the possible problem to the appropriate user for investigation.
  
  
• Are there any special hardware or software requirements for the System Administrators PC?
  No.
  
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Networking FAQ's

• What operating systems does the server component run on?  If Windows, is the software Windows compliant?
  Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows 2003.
  
  
• What is the minimum hardware configuration for the server?
  The volume of locates received, number of mobiles in the field, and number of dispatch users will affect minimum server requirements. In addition, whether the database server and application server will be one box or multiple boxes will also affect these requirements. Typical medium-sized KorTerra users are running a 1 GHz Win2K server with 512MB memory and a 40 GB hard drive. This scenario also assumes the database is housed on a separate server.
  
  
• Does the server component provide for server clustering?
  Yes.  We have clients who have implemented the KorTerra software in a server clustering environment.
  
  
• What databases does KorTerra C/S support
  KorTerra C/S supports Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle databases.
  
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