Welcome To The

Software Presentation

Business Computing, 2418 Via Bonita, Carrollton, TX 75006, (972) 417-1050

Copyright Notice: The name Animal Records Management System, the ARMS logo, and all screen designs are copyrighted by Business Computing.

ARMS is the cost-effective professional solution for managing records in Animal Control agencies and Humane Societies. This presentation will show you how the ARMS program is designed, its benefits and advantages, and many of the special features that will help you work more efficiently. After reviewing this presentation, you will have a good understanding of what ARMS can do for you. Feel free to call with your questions, and thanks for evaluating ARMS!

ARMS is not the cheapest software you can buy, nor is it the most expensive. But when you evaluate the areas of cost, features, benefits, performance, reliability, and support; we think that you'll agree: investing in ARMS is the right business decision. ARMS is reliable software that provides you with the features you need - at an affordable price.

ARMS is available in two versions: Standard and Deluxe. The differences are described further down in this presentation, but here is a brief description: The Standard version is designed for organizations which have more traditional records management and reporting needs. The Deluxe version includes additional features that are intended for organizations which want additional information, or which provide services to more than one town or city, as is often the case with county agencies. Details are in the section titled "Standard vs. Deluxe Versions" in this presentation, as well as in the brochure.

The first version of ARMS became available in 1991, and the newest version is currently in use by professional organizations across the USA. Over the years, ARMS has proven to be a very high quality program. Many organizations which previously used other software have also found that ARMS is more efficient to use, and lets them maintain more complete records.

Shown here is the ARMS main menu screen. As you can see, it is designed to be easy to understand and use. Later in this presentation, the main menu is described in more detail.

Software Presentation Menu

For convenience, you can either scroll through this entire presentation, or click specific items in the menu table shown below. Each section also has a "Back To Menu" choice so you can easily get around.

Overall Design: ARMS consists of these six modules: Field Activity, Sheltered Animals, Licensing, Lost & Found, Traps, and Donations. To accommodate the needs and budgets of various organizations, ARMS modules can be purchased individually. So, if you only need Shelter, you can purchase just that module.

Each module allows you to effectively manage a variety of situations. For example, Field Activity handles complaints, bites, pick-ups, and other field-related work. The Shelter module manages animals brought in, adoptions, re-claims, euthanasia, rabies testing, etc.

When designing ARMS, we talked with hundreds of people like you who need software for their organization. The six main things most people want are:

professional features and flexibility,

easy to use,

straightforward installation,

minimal support requirements,

a high level of reliability,

designed for regular people - not computer professionals.

ARMS provides all of that, and much more!

ARMS is written in Visual Basic, and the database files are completely compatible with Microsoft Access. It does not require any other software to be installed (ODBC drivers, back-end database software, etc.) - just the ARMS program and associated files. The Microsoft Jet database engine, needed to manage the database, is built in. This makes it a simple matter to install the software. I.T. / M.I.S. departments like this design, since it is a fast and easy installation, and only requires minimal on-going support. All of this translates into high reliability, and - by minimizing the load on your computer department resources - keeps on-going costs low.

By using Access-compatible databases, it is easy to use the data in other popular software such as Word, Excel, Access, and Crystal Reports. In addition, although ARMS contains numerous built-in reports, you can use Access or Crystal Reports to easily create your own printouts, giving you many options for creating custom reports, letters, mailing labels, etc. Or, if you choose, Business Computing can handle the design of your special printing needs.

ARMS is also designed to be reliable. This is especially important for organizations which have limited assistance from their computer specialists. If you are familiar with other government applications like Finance, Human Resources, or Fleet Management, you know that the computer department can spend a lot of time maintaining those applications. Our clients greatly appreciate the fact that they rarely have to have their computer specialist come out to work on their ARMS installation.

ARMS provides a wide range of data tracking and lookup features, as well as many time-saving features. In addition, you can customize many settings and capabilities to suit your needs. Animal information and owner information is very thorough. See the screen layouts below for details.

Every software vendor says their software is easy to use. But people who use ARMS for the first time are able to perform most tasks without assistance, such as entering a new record, looking up an existing record, printing a record, and printing a report. This proves that ARMS is truly easy to use and doesn't require a lot of training or time-consuming guesswork. However, you also get a User Guide which describes how to use the ARMS program. And, when a person has a question, technical support is just a phone call away. Most of our support calls are answered immediately - with a live person, not a message machine.

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How ARMS Works: ARMS is designed around a very straightforward combination of menus and command buttons. The Main Menu provides quick access to each major function area. All menu choices and command buttons can be activated with either the mouse or keyboard, giving you the option to work whichever way is faster for you.

The way the menus and command button items have been designed makes it very easy for a person to perform tasks in ARMS, and makes it easy to keep track of what they're doing.

For security and usage auditing, each user is assigned a User ID, Password, and Access Level which keeps track of who entered a record, who was the last person to change a record, and what functions a user has access to. This is especially useful in keeping unauthorized users out of functions such as Program Configuration, Drop-Down List Maintenance, deleting records, etc. With 7 levels of access, you have extensive control over who gets access to what, including the ability to only view records but not change them. In addition, ARMS automatically stores the User ID of the person who originally saved a record, and the person who last updated it.

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Main Menu: Shown below is the ARMS main menu. It provides quick access to each of the major functions: adding a new record, locating an existing record, printing reports, and the various utilities. This makes it easy for users to perform any commonly needed task. In addition, it contains choices for users to log in and out of the ARMS program without having to exit.

When you need to add a new record to the database, you don't have time to go through a lot of preliminary steps. In ARMS, you can start entering a new record with one click or keystroke. And, entering multiple surrendered animals, or multiple new licenses, for the same person can be done without re-typing repetitive information (name, address, etc.). To locate an existing record (or history on a person or animal), one click takes you to the Search function, where you'll be able to do searches quickly and easily. Take a look at the Finding Records part of this presentation for details, and see how easy it is!

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Data Screens: The next several screens show you how the various record layouts look, giving you a thorough understanding of what information can be stored. On each screen, only a few items are required entries, with the others being optional. This allows you to store very complete records, but still be able to create and save a new record quickly, by letting you fill in the other items later. Only the items with an orange label are required. In the program Configuration process, you can determine whether or not certain items are required entries.

The command buttons at the top of the screens are consistent from one record type to another. For example, the 'Save' and 'Close' buttons are always in the same place. Some buttons change from one type of record to another. For example, a License record has a 'Renew' button, whereas a Shelter record has a 'Narrative' button.

Also note the status indicators near the top left part of the screen. These indicate that you are working on either a new or existing record, and whether or not your changes have been saved. This is especially useful for busy offices, where people are interrupted by phone calls, walk-ins, etc.

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Sheltered Animals: There are many kinds of situations involving animals which come into the shelter. ARMS handles all of them, and helps you keep track of the details easily. An ARMS shelter record can contain very thorough information, or can be very simple, depending on the situation. There are two main screens for a shelter record. The first screen primarily contains information about how and why an animal was brought in, the animal's information, and the owner information (if known). The second screen is mainly for tracking how the animal was removed from the shelter, and for follow-up in the case of a re-claim or adoption. Fees are entered into the "Line Items" list which is accessible from either screen. You can also enter narrative and notes if needed.

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Field Activity/Dispatch: The Field Activity module handles all types of field work, including complaints, bites, and stray captures; and tracks warnings and citations. In the Deluxe version, up to four call codes can be entered into a record, enabling you to keep track of - and summarize - all occurences of each type of complaint or incident. For example, if you want to keep totals of "running at large" as well as bites, a complaint which involves both can store both codes, not just one of them like most software.

In cases where an animal is picked up, the animal information can be easily copied from the Field record to a Shelter record, or vice versa. Narrative can also be entered. In the Activity area of the screen, you can keep track of who has worked the call and whether or not it is completed. Summary reports can be printed which show uncompleted calls, and calls which need to be followed up on. In the Deluxe version, there is also a screen which shows the detail of injuries from bites and attacks.

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Animal Licensing: This is one of the most important areas for most agencies. As a result, the ARMS program provides very extensive capabilities for these records. Because the ordinances and office procedures vary widely from one organization to another, the ARMS configuration capabilities let you customize many settings to work the way you need them to work. See the configuration screen near the end of this presentation to get an idea of the options available to you.

Notice that there is extensive information about the owner, the license, rabies vaccination, and veterinarian. This helps you to do more with your licensing data and provide better service to animal owners. In addition, it is a simple matter to issue licenses for several animals to one owner, and to renew existing licenses. You can also set up a wide variety of fees to accommodate 1 year, 3 year, and lifetime licenses, and to give different rates to senior citizens, or for animals which are spayed or neutered.

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Lost and Found: This module provides thorough information about where an animal was lost or found, by whom, and complete animal information. Lost and found records can be deactivated even if they are not resolved, so they won't continue to be included "forever" on Lost and Found reports.

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Traps: ARMS helps you to keep track of animal traps that you either loan or rent out. The due date is calculated automatically, or can be entered manually. Fees for lost, late, or damaged traps can also be entered. Built-in reports include All Traps Currently Out, and Overdue Traps, making it much easier for you to keep track of traps that are due back.

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Donations: In the donation module of ARMS, you can keep track of a wide variety of donation types, as well as pledge types. This is especially useful for organizations which hold special fund-raising events. In addition, you can manage various types of memberships for people who are members of your "friends" organization.

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Finding Records: Finding a record, or series of records, couldn't be easier. All on one screen, you choose from a wide variety of search methods, enter your criteria, and see the results that are found. You can search by Name, Address, Phone, Driver's License, License Number, Rabies Number, Breed, Map Area, Shelter Number, Master ID, and much more. Fill in your search criteria, and select "Find It". As a option, you can also limit the search to a certain record type, such as just Shelter, License, or Lost & Found records. This design and it's capabilities make it a simple task to find any record quickly.

When matching records are located, the results list shows you every occurence of the item you searched for. Note the column "Rec.Tp.". This indicates what type of record it is. By selecting one of the results lines, you can see the entire record, and make changes to it if needed. You can also print the results list. To give you more flexibility in finding records, the results list also shows records which come after the matching records.

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Reports: ARMS reports can be sent to the screen or printer. In the example below, the user selected a report, entered the desired date range, and displayed the report on the screen. It sure beats spending all afternoon adding up numbers! For convenience, the report size can be zoomed in or out for better viewing. Clicking on the printer icon will then send the report to the printer.

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Utilities: ARMS includes several utilities for managing your database, program configuration, drop-down lists, and more. Shown here is the Utility menu, and shown below are some of the individual screens.

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Program Configuration: Following are two of the ARMS program configuration screens. On the first one, you control overall program settings. On the second one, you control a variety of settings for the Animal Licensing functions. A third screen (not shown) has settings for other record types.

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Drop-Down List Maintenance: ARMS contains many items for which you can define drop-down lists. Only a few lists require entries, such as User IDs, Staff IDs, and Reporting Area IDs, so that people cannot type "just anything" into these critical items. But to provide the greatest flexibility for how you want to work, many lists are optional. If you don't define a list, ARMS will accept any entry for that item. For example, if you don't set up a list for "Shelter Intake Reasons" ARMS will allow any entry in that item. However, if you define a list of choices for it, ARMS will accept only valid choices from that list, helping to ensure that your data is consistent and accurate.

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Standard vs. Deluxe Versions: The Deluxe version of ARMS contains everything that's in the Standard version, plus these addtional capabilities:

All modules: The Multi-Area reporting capabilities allow you to easily manage and report on records for different areas you serve. For example: individual towns in a county, or various clients of a large humane society. These features are in addition to the standard Map ID. It provides a Reporting Area ID entry, associated drop-down list for selection and validation, it requires an entry, and - in the reporting functions - allows you to print a report for a specified Reporting Area. If yours is a County division or a humane society which serves multiple client cities, this is the software for you.

A built-in database copying utility, to facilitate easy and quick backups of your critical data.

An animal "Dangerous Category" of 0 to 5 to indicate your assessment of how dangerous an animal is (for example: 0 - has no history of aggression, 5 - has attacked on multiple occasions).

Field Activity: A bite detail screen for noting areas of the victim's injuries from bites and attacks (Head, L. Shoulder, R. Shoulder, L. Arm, etc.).

Ability to enter up to four call codes in a single record, enabling you to keep more accurate statistics on calls involving more than one type of potential violation or problem.

Ability to enter a dispatcher ID to track who dispatched an officer on a call.

Ability to enter a backup officer ID to note an officer who assisted on a call.

Field Activity & Licensing: A government "district" for animal owners, whether a voting precinct or council district. This is useful for responding to data requests from council members or county commissioners.

Shelter: Ability to enter the reason why an animal was brought in, in addition to who brought it in. Useful for gathering statistics about why animals are brought in. This feature also uses a dropdown list for consistency.

Ability to note if the surrenderer wants to adopt the animal if not claimed, and when it will be available to them.

Set up (in configuration) a standard hold time for euthanizing animals, and automatically calculate the euthanasia availability date (which can be overridden manually in individual records).

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Pricing: The pricing information shown here is for software, support, and upgrades. "All Modules" refers to the cost for purchasing all six software modules instead of just one or two of them. Individual modules prices are also shown. Please call for discounts for buying two or three modules. Support and Maintainance fees vary, depending on the modules purchased. Call for additional details. Call for more information and payment terms for your needs. This pricing is current as of March 3, 2008.

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Support: Technical support over the phone is available from 8 am to 6 pm Central time, Monday through Friday. In special situations, with advance notice, support may be available on Saturday. The fee covers unlimited support time for a 12 month period, and is optionally renewable each year. Although we generally answer support calls as they come in, if we have to return your call, it will be done promptly - usually the same day.

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System Requirements: ARMS runs on personal computers using Windows NT 4, 2000 and XP, with at least 64 megabytes of memory, at least a Pentium 133, and color video capable of more than 256 colors. In other words, any reasonably new business PC.

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Thank you for evaluating the Animal Records Management System! We hope you have learned a lot about the software with this information. Please fee free to call with questions - or to place your order!

To learn more about ARMS, call Business Computing at (972) 417-1050.