LCCS Blog (News & Comment)

We now have two new telephone numbers which you can use to get in touch with our office or support team. These are a Local Rate 0845 number - and a UK Geographic Number.

0845 257 0829 (Local Rate)

Charged at a standard "local rate". This is the best number to use if you are calling from the UK on a standard land line. Call costs will vary depending on your package but should be around 4p per minute.

028 9099 8450 (Geographic Number)

A normal geographic number (Northern Ireland) - costs will vary depending on your location but this number can be useful if calling from a mobile which includes geographic numbers in a talk plan.

0870 068 7503 (National Rate)

Our original number - calls charged at "national rate" - usually around 8p per minute.

Our office will be closed on Friday 21st & Monday 24th March for the Easter bank/public holidays. However we will be operating a voicemail support service for Care Pack Subscribers who have an urgent support issue.

If you have a support incident and require our attention please leave a message on our voicemail system. This will be forwarded automatically to our "on call" team who will endeavour to return your call as quickly as possible.

We will resume normal operation on Tuesday 25th March.

PS - Please note that such out of hours service is outside the terms of our support agreement and is provided on a best endeavour basis only.

After about 18 months in our current premises at "The Corn Sheds" we have outgrown the available space and have now moved a few miles down the road to a new office.

Our new address is :-

LCCS Ltd
4a Tullynagarn
Lisnarick Road
Irvinestown
Co. Fermanagh
BT94 1EY

Telephone & email contact details remain the same :-

We started the move on Thursday morning and in two days have transported all our Servers, PCs, Scales & Furniture to the new office! This evening all that was left at "The Corn Sheds" was Lee - single handedly manning the Support Line having been reduced to working at the kitchen table once we'd taken away his desk!

... enthusiastic, hard-working, and talented people - who have a passion for technology, and the drive and determination to help us continue to deliver great products & service for our Clients.

As part of a small and focused development/support team there is opportunity to get hands-on experience with a variety of technologies - and to work in an environment in which you will be continually learning - and where you can make a significant contribution to some exciting new software applications.

If you're interested or want more information see the formal job descriptions & application procedures here.

LCCS & Bizerba are currently exhibiting at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair / Scotland Food Fair in the S.E.C.C, Glasgow. If you're a new or existing customer who would like to see what new developments are available then please come and see us on Stand D84.

The show is open on Sunday 27th, Monday 28th & Tuesday 29th January 2008

More information available here.

Wishing all our clients, suppliers, friends & colleagues a Happy & Prosperous New Year. Looking forward to working with you all on some exciting new projects for 2008 ...

We will be maintaining support cover for all Care Pack Subscribers over the Christmas & New Year holidays.
Please note that due to the low volume of support calls over the holidays we do operate a smaller staff than usual so please leave a message for us if your call is not answered immediately and we will get back to you as quickly as possible.

The office & support desk will be closed completely on the following UK Bank Holidays.

25th December 2007 - CLOSED

26th December 2007 - CLOSED

1st January 2007 - CLOSED

Wishing you a Happy Christmas & New Year from all the team at LCCS.

--->> Last chance to upgrade to Eureka 4.0 for FREE!

As another year comes rapidly to a close we have put together a short outline of our plans for the continued support of your Eureka software over the next 12 months.

2007 has seen a rapid expansion of the LCCS Eureka Support Team with considerably more Eureka software support now handled directly by LCCS rather than by partners like Bizerba and Avery Berkel, distributors or agents.

The introduction of our new Care Pack scheme has supported this change ensuring that our clients get rapid & informed support for their business critical software systems. We are committed to providing high quality telephone & remote support which is available when you need it most.

• Last chance for a FREE Eureka 4.0 upgrade with your Care Pack subscription

For the last 9 months we have been offering a FREE OF CHARGE upgrade to Eureka 4.0 for every customer who subscribes to our Care Pack support plan. This offer has been enthusiastically received and we are therefore extending the promotion, but ONLY until the end of 2007.

After 31st December 2007 the upgrade to Version 4.0 will cost £450 per licence in addition to the 12 month Care Pack subscription fee.

 

• Support withdrawal schedule for Eureka 3.0 & 3.5
  
  Eureka 4 is the current version of the product and we have already started development on Eureka 5 with lots of the new features our users have been asking for.  New developments in the world of technology has helped to drive this progresssion and we want to be sure we are satisfying our commitment to bringing you the best new features quickly.
  
  To that end we are focusing our resources both in a development and support context on these newer products.  Eureka 3 and 3.5 have been long since superceeded by version 4 and we will be starting to phase out our support for these older legacy products over the next year.

Users should be aware that:

1. From the end of 2007 we will no longer be providing any new features or enhancements that will be compatible with Eureka versions prior to 4.0. In fact most of the recent releases have only been made available for Version 4.0 users and above.

2. Support for Eureka 3.0 & Eureka 3.5 will be completely phased out by the end of 2008 – after this date it will not be possible for you to get support for old versions of the software.

*** Note: If you are currently using a pre-Eureka 4.0 product then you should seriously consider taking advantage of our upgrade offer BEFORE the end of this year to ensure continued support of your software. And of course you’ll also benefit from many new and exciting features. ***

• Non Care Pack support
  
  We believe our Care Pack represents exceptional value for money.  The FULL details of the CARE PACK are available here: CLICK HERE

However if you choose not to sign up for this then you can still get assistance from our support team.  Non Care Pack support is currently chargeable at a rate of £95 per incident + £25 per quarter hour – up to a maximum of £195 + VAT per incident.

Note that Clients without a valid Care Pack subscription will not be eligible for ANY further software upgrades to Eureka – whether installed directly by LCCS or by one of our partners.

• Coming soon to a PC near you!
  
  2008 looks set to be another exciting, feature-packed year!
  
  We will be formally releasing our Eureka Point of Sale (for non-weighing applications), Customer Accounts, Warehousing, Branch Orders and many more exciting developments. Eureka 5.0 is already underway and will represent the next generation in business management software.
  
  We’re really glad you’re using our Eureka software in your business and we look forward to providing you with quality software, systems & support for years to come.

Iain Magee
Technical Director

Email: iain@lccs.co.uk

One of the foundations of our company is a belief that, contrary to popular opinion, the customer is quite often right! All our products have benefited enormously from the active feedback we receive from clients and as software developers we strive to listen to what our end users tell us and to continually improve our products & services.

To this end we are pleased to launch our new Online Discussion Forums. These forums will provide a platform for us all to discuss the range of Eureka products & services.
Discussion Forums have been around for a long time but have been used most often by those of us in the IT industry. For many of our users this will be a new concept entirely and so we’ve put together a short list of Frequently Asked Questions to try and explain things ...

"What is an Online Discussion Forum?"

A forum is essentially an online message-board where you can post questions or requests. Your message can be read by any other forum user. The question may be answered by any forum user – including: other Eureka users, LCCS Developers & Support staff, Bizerba/Avery Engineers etc. Some topics will result in an online discussion between multiple people which may go on for several weeks!



 "I’m very busy. Why should I bother with this?" : We know your time is precious ... so why should you spend time in our forums?

1. It enables you to play an active role in the future development of the software which helps run your business. For those clients who have a CarePack Subscription we are committed to rolling out updates on a regular basis. If there is something you want to see in the software then this is the place to ask. And if enough other people agree with you then there’s a good chance you’ll get your feature in a future release!

2. To learn how to use the software better. Over time we hope our forums will be visited regularly by many people who use our software in many different ways to manage their businesses. We believe you’ll be able to learn many useful techniques from the LCCS Developers and from each other which will improve the way you use Eureka in your business.

3. Because everyone needs something useful to do during a coffee break!



 "Why should I post a question online when I can just phone the support line?" : You can of course continue to phone our support team for help with any aspect of using our products or services – and for problems you need resolved quickly that’s still the best way to get an answer. 

However, posting online helps in two ways :-

1. It gives other users access to the answer to your question – and the next time you may be able to learn from an answer to someone else’s question.

2. It opens up your question to other relevant people apart from LCCS. If it’s a question about something specific to running your business with Eureka then other business owners or the scale manufacturers may be best placed to help.

"Isn’t this a bit risky for LCCS. What if I post something bad?" - We believe that our products are good – and that our service is great! However, we also know there are many ways we can improve and we don’t ever shy away from that. If it’s good please tell us – if it’s not, please tell us!



 "OK I'm interested... How do I register?" : Registering and using the forums is very easy.

First,

1. Load up your Internet Browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox etc)
2. Open our web site: http://www.lccs.co.uk
3. Select “Discussion Forums” on the front page.

Then,

1. Select Register at the top of the page.
2. Fill in your details.
3. We will send you an email to confirm your registration. Once you click on this and confirm it you will be a fully signed up member of the Eureka Community!


And then,

1. Browse through the forums.
2. Post a new topic or question.
3. Post a comment or answer on an existing topic or question.

Welcome to the Online Eureka Community!

A few months ago we announced the introduction of Multi-Branch Eureka for clients who use our own in house Point-Of-Sale systems. We have now completed development & testing of Multi-Branch Eureka for clients who use weighing scales at the point of sale. This blog article gives a brief overview of how Eureka can fit into your multi-branch / multi-site business.

The system has been designed to accommodate the wide ranging requirements of retail businesses already using Eureka and can operate in a variety of different modes depending on your specific requirements.

Product Maintenance

The system can run in either “Head Office Mode” or “Branch Mode” :-

Head Office Mode

In “Head Office Mode” changes made to a product at Head Office are automatically applied to the same product in every other branch. This ensures continuity and consistency of your product catalogue across each store; and one person can effectively maintain the product database across all your shops.

It is possible to have multiple locations set up with “Head Office” permissions so that product changes can be carried out at multiple locations – of course, any changes will still apply to all branches regardless of where the change was made.

Pros:
- Continuity & consistency of product catalogue
- Ease of administration

Cons:
- Product information & pricing must be the same across all branches

Branch Mode

“Branch Mode” offers more flexibility for your multi-branch business as it allows different product settings for the same product in each Branch. For example, you may have different selling prices in each branch, or slightly different Till Descriptions for the same product.

If you make a change to a product while logged in as a “Head Office” user you will be prompted to select the branches to which the change should be applied.

Pros:
- Greater flexibility to have different product pricing & settings

Cons:
- Additional administration to maintain diverged product catalogues

Infrastructure

When we talk about infrastructure we refer to the physical Scales, Servers, Computers, Routers and connections between each branch. There are two main ways in which Eureka Multi-Branch can be configured.

Centralised Eureka

In a centralised Eureka system you will have the Eureka software installed at the Head Office with only one database. You can of course have multiple PCs running Eureka at this Head Office location.

In the other branches you just have the Scales. You will have a network which connects all of your shops together – this could be a broadband based network, or just using a standard telephone line.

Product additions & changes are sent out to the scales from the Head Office location – and sales figures are collected each evening by the Head Office.

Pros:
- Simpler to setup & configure (and therefore cheaper!)
- It’s not necessary to have IT literate staff in all branches as everything is controlled from Head Office

Cons:
- Not having Eureka on a PC in the branch makes it very difficult to operate a proper Stock Control system
- Shops cannot view or print their own Eureka reports
- Individual shops cannot operate the Eureka Purchase Order / Goods In systems
- Additional administrative burden on Head Office to have to carry out end of day procedures for each shop.

Distributed Eureka

A distributed system has Eureka running on a PC in each branch. We use an industry standard replicated database system to keep changes in sync across all your branches. A distributed system can be operated in Branch Mode or Head Office Mode and offers the full Eureka-experience in each Branch.

Pros:
- Ability to use Eureka to the full in each branch for Reporting, Stock Control, Purchase Orders, Goods In etc.
-Very flexible and reliable system with the added benefit of having an offsite backup of your database in each branch

Cons:
- More difficult & therefore expensive to set up

Reporting

Regardless of the Mode or Infrastructure choices you make it will always be possible to centrally view and print reports for each Branch. This enables you to keep your finger on the pulse of each Branch from your central office.

Other stuff

Our FareEnough Restaurant system and the Eureka POS can also be fully integrated into your Multi-Branch Eureka system. And of course, all of the other add-ons which we offer can be used with a multi-branch system, including Handhelds for Stock Taking & Shelf Restocking, and Labellers.

Our integrated warehousing & internal branch order/delivery systems are currently under development and we will keep you informed of progress with these.

Note: There are many many combinations of these scenarios which enable the system to be tailored to individual businesses. Please speak with one of our technical staff if you would like further information or advice.