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Machines+People will print reports for you to leave with clients. These are useful to the client but only if they put them in a safe place that they will remember. For the most part if they did that then there wouldn't be any need for this application.
At the time of this writing there are two reports. One is for basic ISP account information and the other is for basic router information. You can see samples below. Click the image to enlarge.
Reports Screen Shots
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Router -
ISP
We are conducting a limited release beta program. The goal is to work with a limited number of testers who will provide feedback on a timely basis. This will allow us to fix bugs and make improvements without being overwhelmed. What we're looking for is:
- IT consulting companies with several employees. We want to understand how you manage the data files for your clients and get them to the tech on his or her way to a job. We'd like to know about your security concerns as well as application usage issues.
- IT consultants that are one person shops. Give us your feedback on usage, interface, reporting, security, etc.
To work with us at this stage of beta we will want to know you or be connected to you in some way. Perhaps we are connected through a group affiliation or perhaps you are local to the greater Boston area. We have been involved in consulting for over 20 years and we have many connections.
If you don't qualify on this round don't don't be overly concerned. We're probably saving you some work and we'll have a better product soon enough.
Your Machines+People client data files will contain highly sensitive data that might be devastating to a client if used with malicious intent. The data files are encrypted using AES-128 encrytion but you must choose the password. This application is intended to be run from a USB thumb drive where you carry it with you from machine to machine. You keep it securely in your possession at all times. You do not walk away from a machine without first ejecting the thumb drive and taking it with you. The client data files you will be using should be copied to the thumb drive in advance of leaving your office.
If you are an IT support company with consultants in the field then you will likely need to come up with a way to get the data file to your consultant during the course of the day. How you do that is up to you. One of the popular file sharing services may work or you may have your own file server. There are some newer services that will provide the level of security necessary. The idea is to be able to get the data files when you need it and sometimes there's no advance warning.
No matter what your circumstance you will need to get the data files backed up one way or another. If they reside on a server or file sharing service then perhaps that gets backed up as part of a routine. If however, you are accustomed to carrying the data files around with you in your pocket on a thumb drive you must, absolutely must, get them into a backup one way or another.
Machines+People is not yet registered with Apple as an approved application. As such it will need to be configured to run on any machine that supports that feature. It will run on 10.6 machines.
There doesn’t seem to be any issue with Windows machines.
On Linux machines the application will not run from the USB drive for privileges reasons. This will get addressed. Until that happens you will have to copy it to the machine you want to run it on. Leave the database on the USB drive. After running you can delete the application or leave it.
Machines+People uses the SQLite database. It's an open source database used in many popular applications and millions of users worldwide. It is a single user database that is embedded into applications such as email programs. It is encrypted using AES 128 encryption.
Each organization for which you gather data will have it's own database file. How you store, access, and share these files will depend on your unique needs. If you are a single consultant you might carry them around on a single USB drive. If you are in an organization with several IT consultants you might share them off a server of somekind.
It's very important to back these up from the thumbdrive. If you lose the thumbdrive then you've lost a lot of critical data.
Machines+People brings together the essential data that authenticates and unites a machine, user, software, and resources into a single working environment. As IT professionals we often do not see this data managed effectively. We often spend too much time finding this information when it is needed. With Machines+People, once the data is entered, we can find out what machines software serial numbers are located on, the hardware specs of machines, organizational information such as email servers and internet connection data, and what machines any user may have privileges to.
Machines can easily be "decommisioned" releasing software and users back to the pool. New machines can be "built" with drag and drop ease to add users and software.
Continue learning more by clicking "Is Cross Platform" menu to the right.
Machines+People is compiled to three separate executables. One each for Macintosh, Windows, and Linux. For the most part you can simply double-click the appropriate executable/application file to launch the application. They will all connect to whatever client database file that you select. As you work with machines you carry the thumb drive with you and insert it into the USB port of the machine. There you will have access to all the existing data, you can update the data, and you can create new data. You will always be up to date.
In some cases you may have a permissions issue when launching the application. If you copy the application to the desktop of the local machine it will generally resolve the issue.
Use Machines+People when the pain of gathering the necessary information to perform a task for a client is greater than entering it once formally. You're an IT professional. You are called to a client site to deploy a new desktop computer. You take the machine out of the box and gather any software that needs to be installed. Now you need to know:
- What are the serial numbers for the software?
- Where else is might the same software installed, is there a conflict?
- If it's a site license how many seats have been installed?
- What is the email configuration for the user?
- What should the admin credentials be for the new machine?
- What should the user credentials be for the new machine?
- What is the network configuration for the new machine?
- What resources need to be configured and what are the settings?
You could spend a fair amount of time gathering this information. At best it's annoying to all involved. What do you do with the information once you have it? You probably write it down and then do what with it? Keep it for the next visit? Leave it with the client?
Machines+People is a database that runs on a flash drive and contains the machine, people, and software credentials needed to deploy new machines, replace machines, add new people to a machine, decommission a machine, add new software, move software licenses, and more. Machine+People will maintain the data that your clients probably don't take the time to library.
Machine+People is a cross platform application that will run on Macintosh, Windows, and Linux. Just plug the thumb drive into whatever machine you are working on.
Machine+People is targeted to small to medium size organizations. Organizations that are too small for the costly enterprise tools but big enough to make good use of a simple system that saves time. Even the home envirnoment is complex enough to have a need for Machine+People.
The database is encrypted and is secure. It is not a database on an internet server.
Continue learning more by clicking "Manage Client Credentials" menu to the right.
Machines+People is a tool for IT professionals to maintain key data pertaining to a client's IT environment. It is not necessarily a simple user friendly application and we don't apologize for that. This application will contain data that is sensitive to your client and needs to be secure. The application will run on Macintosh, Windows, and most Linux distributions. It is intended to be run from a thumbdrive inserted into whichever machine is being worked on.
Machines
The central component to Machines+People is the machine. A computer. For the purpose of getting to know Machines+People it all starts there. When in the process of building and deploying a machine we begin by taking note of the hardware specs and adding the "base" users. The base users are the admin users. Sometimes that is the final user but sometimes it is the IT department as user.
People
Now the machine is ready to be deployed and have end users assigned to it. The first step is to add users to the People database. People data that we track is name, user long name, user short name, password, whether they have admin privileges, their email information, and notes. Enter some users and then just drag and drop them onto a machine.
Software
A machine isn't much use without software so we will need to add that as well. Before you can do that you need to enter your software titles into the database. Product title, version, serial number, and seats should be entered. There is a field for notes as well. Once you have the software entered you can drag a software title onto a machine to add it to that machine. This will also subtract one seat from the license.
Resources
Resources provide access to shared hardware such as printers as well as services such as ISP account information, router configuration basics, and email server configuraion settings.
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