SMUG Article May 98

Back in issue 38, August 1995 (my doesn’t time fly when you are developing systems with a wonderful package) we took a look at our Crime Management system. The system has not changed very much during the time since we last looked at it, however the operating system we run it under has.

Since the early days of using the system on a single machine, then a personal netware network computers have become more powerful almost on a daily basis. To take advantage of the ever increasing power means developing ever more powerful operating systems to unlock the potential available. In addition to this the users expectations increase exponentially to match.

Our crime management system has now started to move towards 32 bit Windows, and in fact Windows NT 4.0 as the operating system of choice. Windows NT provides a number of significant advantages over DOS, not least of all a good solid networking base and security, combined with excellent memory and resource management.

ANGOSS Smartware however provides the flexibility and backwards compatibility that ensures we are able to squeeze every little ‘drop’ of usefulness out of older and more technically challenged equipment. After all police finances are not a bottomless pit, and we are able to protect the investment we already have in equipment and software by not using memory and resource hungry applications from other software manufacturer's who shall remain nameless. Due to reorganisation of the force following local government reorganisation 18 months ago we now have 8 ‘Crime Management Units’ that deal with incoming crime reports. In general these units, with the exception of a ‘pilot district, Bristol Central’ all run a mix of equipment.

All CMU’s have an NT4 Workstation which acts as the server. This machine is a Pentium 166MMX with 64MB RAM and a 2GB Hard Disk. Connected to this server are a number of DOS and Windows clients. The local LAN (Local Area Network) is based on NETBEUI, an effective but not particularly efficient network protocol, and the server in addition also runs TCP/IP connecting it to the force WAN (Wide Area Network). The WAN connectivity has only been completed very recently but this has opened up the vast potential of the system providing a quick and effective means of updating the systems and transferring data back to headquarters.

As the network is only 10MBit across the WAN, a centrally based server is not a viable proposition at this time and as such batch sending and updating of data is carried out, and in fact can be totally automated a couple of times a week. As we all know the power and flexibility of Smartware is such that user requirements can be implemented within hours and using a ‘Developer System’ that we have, well ‘developed’, changes can be circulated with bulletins in moments. The WAN really has provided the ultimate in system management and control.

Despite the mix of equipment and operating system being utilised we only maintain one copy of the project files and data files. The same interface is shown to the user regardless of the OS, although there are a number of additional benefits provided to the NT users.

NT is not without it’s headaches however (much of this discussion also relates to Windows 95), multitasking is one such problem. A number of processes that we use for backing up our data and projects rely on DOS command shells. Whenever you do this, i.e. TOOLS OS, or BIGOS, a shell is created and control is immediately transferred back to Smartware. Fine you may think, but think again, if the remainder of your project relies on the result of the DOS session, the DOS session is still open and running when your project is waiting for a result. We need some way of getting Smartware wait while a DOS session is running. A suitable function was created in the form of oswait().

The project is pretty well self explanatory, and works under DOS also without any problems. However because DOS is single tasking you don’t get the scrolling message that is present under NT or Windows 95.

The basis of the project is simple, Smartware stays in a loop until the presence of a file in the ‘temp’ path is detected, written from the batch file created by OSWAIT on the fly.

Many people who look at Smartware try to compare it with Windows based packages for look and feel and consider this as the be all and end all of the system. We still choose to maintain a balance between the requirements of the end user and those of the analyst looking at the data. We have introduced additional tools that build on the windows theme however we choose to use a character based input screen and as few ‘flashy items’ as possible. The key to our systems success amongst the end user is it’s straight forward no frills interface. The main user, the data inputter, usually a trained typist benefits from the approach of straight typing as opposed to many drop down features and pick lists that other packages consider so important. Yes, we use pop up menus in places, but they are few and far between, they hinder and slow down the process of data entry in our opinion and the longer we keep away from them the better.

QAS names tracer pops into action as a result of a field calculation which passes the postcode as a command line parameter. A quick check of the data, press

<ENTER> and the result is pasted back to Smartware. Process_Create is the Smartware function used to launch QAS.

Additional functionality is provided by means of add on software, QAS Names Tracer is used to good effect. Provide this system with a postcode and it is able to provide not only the address, but the details of people recorded against the electoral roll living there. Combine this with Smartware and a useful tool for inserting accurate data into data files is created.

To take advantage of these facilities requires the use of ANGOSSW as opposed to ANGOSSX, but this does create a few problems, not least of all with printing. The ANGOSSX printing manager, although not the most speedy is sometimes a lot more effective and trouble free, but perhaps this could form a debate at a future meeting.

The Crime Management system now has an ‘add on’ system created as a standalone system, but shortly to be linked to provide additional information from scenes of crime. This system, known as SSEMS, Scientific Support Event Management system is used by scenes of crime officers for recording details of scene visits and exhibits recovered. All the SSEMS systems run on standalone NT Workstations, connected via WAN to a central server. This system again does not run in real time, but batch processing and updating is used. The system is in the final stages of being completed at the time of writing this and is proving to be a useful tool in our ever continuing fight against crime. More in a later journal ?

Much of the work on the Crime Management System has cantered around more efficient ways of storing information relating to items of property and details of suspected offenders. Originally these items were stored in two single and separate fields in the crime data file, now the are stored in linked tables providing the benefit of being quickly searchable in isolation of the crime data files.

	The new property data file custom-view, crime details are displayed on page 2, using ‘filelookup’ techniques.
The new suspect data file custom-view, crime details are displayed on page 2, using ‘filelookup’ techniques.

Splitting the data away from the main file also allows a form of standardisation to take place in the way different sites recorded the information, allowing cross district searching to be more accurate. After all criminals don’t always follow police district and beat boundaries ?

The system, introduced in 1992 as a short term measure continues from strength to strength. The new additions in relation to add on software is proving to be very interesting. QAS not only provides address details from postcode information, but also Ordnance Survey grid reference information allowing us in the not too distant future to add ‘digital mapping’ of crime data to our Smartware system. The ODBC that we have just started experimenting with will provide the necessary links to windows systems and windows front ends that a few users require, thereby ensuring a few years yet in Smartware, although it may be hidden, it will still be the workhorse that it has always been.

That just about concludes the 1998 grand tour of our Crime Management System, but in the true fashion of SMUG I couldn't sign off without some more bits of code.

One of the most useful functions developed by us is called XFIND. It uses key fields to quickly search records. Prior to using this code (why didn't I think of it sooner) all the key fields were hard coded. The program 'iskey' scans all the fields and produces a space separated list of the SCREEN PROMPT function of XFIND. The 'barmenu' program featured in an early SMUG newsletter goes from strength to strength. The latest version includes mouse support.

As I have said in the past, I have yet to find something I can’t do with Smartware, regardless of the operating system. As we all know it is capable of running on many types of computer, old and new, different operating systems and all simultaneously. Perhaps it is about time that users started shouting more loudly.