DataPipe is a complete Environment, Health
and Safety (EH&S) information management software
solution. Its easy-to-use, customizable, modular software
design is based on state-of-the-art Microsoft .NET
technology. DataPipe has a proven track record for
collecting and managing EH&S information, with extensive
reporting capabilities and analyses tools that maximize
your return on investment (ROI). DataPipe can be run via
Web or as a Windows application. Users can automate
features and interface with external systems making
DataPipe the best choice for EH&S Information Management
System (IMS) software.
Click
to expand each question.
Staying
Power
Knorr Associates Inc. (KAI) has been in business
more than thirty years (Since 1979) specializing in EH&S information management
software. The company was founded for the purpose of interfacing software with external EH&S instrumentation
and logically DataPipe was born. While other EH&S Information Management Packages have come and gone, DataPipe and Knorr Associates is are here to stay.
As a result, our products have grown with the industry and you can be confident that we will continue to meet the needs of your organization. DataPipe covers EH&S like no one else.
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Advanced
Technology
Knorr Associates has been working with EH&S data since 1979. In 1989, DataPipe was released as the first Windows based EH&S software solution, wining numerous industry awards. Since then, times and technology have changed and so has DataPipe. Now, with the significant advance of programming languages and the release of Microsoft's newest platform, Microsoft .NET, DataPipe has made the leap into the future as the premier, technologically advanced information management software solution.
Using .NET technology allows DataPipe to be deployed and run on Microsoft's premier platform now and in the future, helping to alleviate the concern of implementing a software solution that's based on dead-end technology. Security, database access, different deployment options are all part of the .NET Framework (not added on as an afterthought) assuring a secure, robust, highly scalable environment.
Run as Web or Windows - Your choice (by user)
DataPipe can be used as a browser-based system using Internet Explorer or as a native Windows application (your choice – it comes both ways). It uses the latest technologies and programming tools for designing, developing and operating Web-based programs and it is “firewall friendly” because it uses HTML, XML, SOAP and other “friendly” protocols. How users access DataPipe really depends on your organization’s infrastructure and the choices that you make regarding access to the Internet, firewalls, Intranet, application servers, etc.
In this way, users can choose to log on as a windows application or a web login from anywhere they have access and permission. This gives global organizations that are spread out by great distances the ability to easily utilize one centralized database, thus minimizing costs and increasing your organization's return on investment (ROI).
Customization
Customization is one of the big key words in DataPipe. Using the powerful Form Designer tool, which is included in the package, you can achieve extensive user, group or global changes. This tool allows a user with the appropriate authorization to customize a form or groups of forms using a point and click interface. (i.e. no computer programming is required). The changes you make can be applied to a specific user or a large group of users. Your choice. The kind of things you can make changes to are; label names, field positions, masks (for Social Security #, postal codes etc.), required fields, lookup tables, validations, email triggers, basic look and feel, custom dictionary creation and even the ability to change the entire language from English to anything else – all at the click of the mouse (plus much more). This is a “must see” during our DEMO.
In working very closely with our clients for nearly 35 years, KAI has found that the ability to customize is essential to meeting ever changing business needs. Now you can work with DataPipe – your way. Forms can be easily tailored to conform to changing regulations and in-house systems.
Modular Design
DataPipe is built using a modular design. KAI has over 100 modules to choose
from, covering the whole spectrum of EH&S. No one DataPipe customer has them
all. Its important to know that there is NO cost penalty for adding modules to
your system at a later date.
The advantage to this is that the customer can pick-and-choose exactly the
components necessary to run their business thus improving efficiency and keeping
costs low. DataPipe is designed to expand seamlessly as customer needs grow.
Common Microsoft Office Look-and-Feel
DataPipe has been designed with the standard Microsoft Office look and feel.
We use an Explorer navigation window to easily navigate from form to form.
Multiple forms and reports can be tracked and used simultaneously. Standard
menus make the learning curve next to nothing for new DataPipe users.
Save time and money on training. Menus, forms and reports are all accessible
and easy to find, use and manipulate based on the standard Microsoft Office
look-and-feel. You will feel “right at home” with this enhanced interface.
Efficiency
We have designed DataPipe to take advantage of the latest technologies and
techniques to offer maximum performance and minimum network utilization. The
Microsoft .NET technology has allowed us to greatly improve the usability and
functionality of the software. We have also included tools within DataPipe that
help track bandwidth use and user login statistics.
While there are variables based on bandwidth, number of users, etc., DataPipe
can be deployed and configured in numerous ways so that it runs as efficiently
as possible depending on the environment it's being used in. All this is
transparent to the user. DataPipe uses the best technologies available to
maximize performance.
Multiple Reporting Options
Reports offer a powerful tool for combining any and all information in
DataPipe. There are multiple capabilities for output to applications such as
Word, Excel, PDF, Access, Crystal Reports and more. There are three primary
classes of reports available within DataPipe, Ad Hoc (for quick access to
important information), Crystal (for detailed graphical analyses) and Advanced
(for sophisticated reporting with highly specific outputs such as an automated
OSHA report generator and more). Every module comes with at least one Ad Hoc and
one Advanced Report per form (sometimes many more). You can create and save as
many reports as you need.
Reports are at the core of DataPipe’s usefulness. Much of your Return on
Investment will come from cost-saving and risk analyses done in the reporting
section. Reporting is quick and easy. DataPipe allows editing and saving of your
reports for future use.
Automated Email Notification and Condition-Based Triggers
Using the powerful Form Designer Tool that comes with DataPipe, clients can
set useful triggers and notifications. Certain data can trigger an event or an
email that goes to a supervisor. Enter criteria that tells DataPipe to send an
email reminder to an employee that his yearly checkup is due or provide a
detailed report based on a specific piece of data that was just entered. The
uses are limitless and setting them up is as easy as a mouse click. Access to
the Form Designer and some basic knowledge and your done.
Save time and money by instantly being made aware of important events and
potential hazards. Let DataPipe work for you. Be made aware of a dangerous trend
before danger strikes. Reports can be sent to you based on triggers that you
define. Save money by being ahead of the game. Become proactive instead of
reactive.
Instrument Integration
KAI started out in 1979 integrating with lab instruments. The next logical
leap was to develop software to manage the information. That’s what lead to
DataPipe’s launch in 1989. In fact, since its founding, there has not been one
instrument that Knorr Associates could not interface with given the required
access.
Your new or old systems and instrumentation can be completely automated to
exchange information with DataPipe. Eliminate manual data transfer. Save time
and money.
Database Independence
DataPipe is database independent. It will run using either Oracle, SQL
Server or DB2. It’s your choice: Organizations tend to standardize differently.
While an Oracle database may be the preferred database in one organization, SQL
Server may be preferred by another and DB2 in yet another. In order to
accommodate the various databases, DataPipe supports the top three database
vendors. As other databases become more prevalent in the future, adding support
for them would be as simple as writing a new data access driver that targets a
particular database.
So not only does DataPipe support about 95% of the database market, it has
room for expandability in the future, thus assuring that DataPipe can
accommodate the present as well as grow with your organization’s needs..
Multi-Tier Application
DataPipe is a multi-tier or n-tier application.
Tier 1: or “Client” includes the entire user interface. Since DataPipe can
be run as a Web-based application, users access and interact with the
application using a Web Browser (Internet Explorer), from their WorkStation,
Laptop, handheld or pen/slate type computer. DataPipe can also be accessed as
a native Windows application as well.
Tier 2: is the IIS Server and Web Services part of the system. The
distributed application resides on a Web Server and components provide the
business logic and the rules that govern the application. This tier acts to
connect the user at one end with the data at the other end.
Tier 3: is the “Data Services” part of the system. DataPipe is a database
independent system, which allows customers to select and use their preferred
database.
Separating application logic in to several tiers allows an application to
distribute processing power across multiple computers. This allows us to offer
an extremely scalable solution. As usage of DataPipe may grow, so too can the
infrastructure needed to support it grow to accommodate the increased demand on
resources. DataPipe was architected to scale up (add more hardware to a server)
or out (add more servers to an environment) to meet the resource demands of even
the largest organizations..
Security
In addition to any security mechanisms your organization has implemented,
DataPipe has its own security mechanisms. Users or groups of users must be
granted access. The client has control over what forms users see and what they
can do. In addition you can also control what they can and can't do within the
database. Some user may be allowed to see only certain sets of data. So while
two users could in fact be looking at the same form/database, they each may have
unique views. There are many levels of security and protection within DataPipe.
How strongly you want to enforce them depends on you.
The security built in to DataPipe gives you control over how you want your
users to interact with the system. Additionally, you also have a way to monitor
and make changes based on usage data.
User Manager
The DataPipe User Manager is an included tool that monitors and enforces
session durations as well as offers a means to monitor who is currently on the
system in real-time.
In this way you will have control over access priorities and can track the
concurrent user license to see if it is working for you.
License Fee
DataPipe license fee is based on the number of modules you select and the
number of concurrent users you license. “Concurrent users” is defined as the
number of actual users logged into the system at any one moment in time. Thus,
you may have 4000 valid DataPipe users but if at any one time, only 30 people
use DataPipe, then you would require a 30 “concurrent user” license.
Our clients have always been pleased with this cost saving licensing
agreement. Apples to apples, we are well below the industry average. You choose
your components and the number of concurrent users. We provide the monitoring
tools to verify that your choice is the right one. In the event that additional
modules or user licenses are required, adding them to the system is simple,
easy-to-do and comes at NO cost penalty to you.
Annual Maintenance and Support Fee
License, maintenance and support costs are below industry average. The first
6 months of maintenance and support is FREE. Subsequently we charge 15% of the
license fee annually. If you should have a technical question you can always
speak directly with a system technician.
DataPipe offers a support fee below the industry average because frankly, the
program works so well. We make sure that our product works the way we say it
does. When questions do arise, just call us and speak directly to the people who
actually designed and built DataPipe. This personal attention is to your
advantage.
Utilization of Hand Held PDAs for Mobile Data Acquisition
Our Questionnaire module has an add-on that allows you to administer
questionnaires from a Tablet or a Microsoft Pocket PC device. You can build
multiple questionnaires from lists of questions. Build physical exams, medical
histories, safety and IH surveys and many other questionnaires with this module.
Synchronize data with your regular DataPipe system with ease. Also maintains
answers to questionnaires. TABLET PCs will actually run a full copy of DataPipe,
allowing clients to use them out in the field. Synchronize them to the database
using a wired or wireless connection and you can easily become mobile in the
workplace.
Our customers do some of their data work on the move. Using a PDA or a Tablet
PC has been a productivity booster and DataPipe makes it easy to capture the
information you need and synch it back to a central DataPipe system.
Host DataPipe at an ASP
Using an Application Service Provider (ASP) to host applications such as
DataPipe is becoming more common in today’s marketplace. With a low monthly
cost, you can eliminate the need for IT specialists and support staff to
maintain your additional applications. DataPipe can be run and maintained from a
hosting site outside your company. You maintain complete access. You maintain
complete control. You also have a support staff available to you at all times as
well. All the standard safety features can be included in a monthly package such
as incremental and full backups, security, firewalls, encryption etc.
Save money on IT resources to support your applications. Eliminate the worry
of lost data, power failures or security infiltrations. Relay on the latest in
technology and the best equipment in the market. Low cost monthly packages are
available..
Additional Features
Knorr Associates has released several add-on components to DataPipe.
Spell Checker: This is a multi-field, multiform Spell Checker.
This allows the user to quickly check the spelling in all the fields on a form
or just one field. It functions very similar to the Microsoft Word spell
checker.
Work Flow: The Work Flow module is an optional detail on many
DataPipe forms which allows for defining steps for reviewing information,
processing business rules, making notifications (e.g., e-mail), controlling who
may edit the record and finally locking the record against future edits.
Encrypted electronic signatures are attached to workflow records.
Equipment Module: Record detailed information about equipment
like location, costs, related activities (inspections, repairs, incidents, etc.)
history, documents, and notes. Equipment can be any piece of hardware such as
machinery, production lines, control devices, instruments, etc.). The presence
of this module allows referencing equipment from other modules like Incidents,
General.
These add-ons enhance the functionality of DataPipe and make it a more
versatile program for our customers.
