1	The InfoToday Rams Data Server Open communications with your Rams data !
2	What’s been missing Rams is a powerful, feature rich, and highly customisable software product. It allows the user to quickly and easily retrieve and edit customer data and, with the new Visual Rams , we now have a new windows interface and the inclusion of an extremely high level of data integrity. However, what Rams does not currently provide, is a way for other applications to communicate with it’s data. In today's B2B and WEB world, there is a huge demand for applications to provide an interface through which it can communicate with other applications. Applications such as; WEB sites Automated payment systems CRM applications B2B systems Application Integration systems such as Microsoft's BizTalk
3	What do I want from a Rams Interface I want an interface through which all my applications are able to communicate with my Rams data I want a single interface that; can be used by my WEB site, automated payment system, automated service booking system, CRM package and other applications is completely COM compliant CONTAINS ALL THE BUSINESS LOGIC OF RAMS FOR ITS PERFORMED FUNCTIONS integrates my own company specific business logic has the endorsement and support of Alpine Technologies
4	What do I not want from a Rams Interface I do not want; the vendors of my other applications, who know little of the workings of Rams , developing separate interfaces to Rams leading to replication and high maintenance costs to have to develop and maintain this interface myself a solution which consumes large chunks of network resources
5	It's not so simple Initially you may think that the solution to creating such an interface is as simple as setting up an ODBC connection to the Rams data. However creating a solution to this problem is not simple. For instance consider the following issues when remotely editing Rams data; When your add a work order to Rams , how do you make sure that all other connected processes are carried out within Rams . For instance, creating the appropriate “Tray Items”, or adding the work order to the service diagram When you enter new records to tables, how do you make sure that all the data entered is valid, and if not, how do you feed these errors back to the client application If you change data, how do you make sure that your additional company specific business logic related to this change is carried out And what if setting up an ODBC connection from your external WEB server to your internal Rams data just isn’t possible
6	The Solution by InfoToday InfoToday provides the solution. The InfoToday Rams Data Server (ITRDS) InfoToday has had seven years experience programming with Rams InfoToday is developing the InfoToday Rams Data Server (ITRDS), with the co-operation of Alpine Technologies The ITRDS; Is a single, fully COM compliant Interface to Rams data Provides a single interface to Rams data to ANY application which can use COM objects Incorporates all the business logic of Rams for the functions it provides Can be easily modified to incorporate your company specific business logic Will be updated as Rams is updated, removing the need to update your own code as updates to Rams arrive Can access your Rams data in any of the following ways; Direct access to FoxPro Tables for fast LAN access Using DCOM for fast WAN access without using large amounts of network traffic Using HTTP (port 80) for remote access over the WEB
7	How It Works
8	Sample Uses Incorporating the Infotoday Rams Data Server into your applications will; Allow customers to; make live online service bookings through your WEB site enquire about their invoice balances print their invoices make payments online Allow your CRM package to retrieve customer information and even create appropriate comments back into Rams for your Customer Service staff to keep track of Sales Staff progress Get your automated telephone enquiry and booking system to talk directly to Rams and enter customer requests and answer customer questions
9	Rams version support and Database Access Currently there are three versions; ITRDS DOS ITRDS Visual for Version 6.0209 ITRDS Visual for Version 6.0311
10	Version 60311