Azar Computer Software Services
Azar Computer Software Services Newsletter
Celebrating 30 Years! 
Your Source For News and Updates August  2009
In This Issue
Notes From The Editor
2010 Users Group
Tips and Tricks
CATvPlus
CATvMaster 7x
New Products
Quick Links
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Greetings!
 

Many thanks to all of our valued customers for helping us reach another milestone as we celebrate our 30th year in business. By the way, our current product, CATvMaster, was originally written 25 years ago and has served us all very well.

The coming year brings many new and exciting announcements many of which are a long time coming. We are releasing a brand new subscriber management and billing solution, CATvPlus, based upon an industry standard SQL Database from Microsoft. We have added hundreds of new features and capabilities with many more planned for future releases.  We know that this product will provide you and future customers with a user friendly, robust and complete solution for many years. 
 
 Again, I wish to thank you for your continued trust in us and we hope to see many of you next year at our User's Group conference here in Austin.
 
Tony Azar
 
Notes From The Editor
 
 I want to thank everyone who has responded to our 2010 Users Group questionnaire. We look forward to seeing all of you next year and are planning a packed agenda and exciting three days! For those of you who indicated that you are interested but require additional details, we are working on the costs now and will be contacting you soon.   
 
We had some requests for a section that provides user tips and tricks. I would encourage everyone to provide feedback and let me know what information I can provide that will assist you in your day to day operation.
 
Please email your suggestions to: newsletter@azarinc.com.

Sincerely,
 
Robert Wheeler
Vice President
Azar Computer Software Services
 
 
 2010 Users Group 
  
Thank you for the overwhelming response to our 2010 Users Group Questionnaire. We are in the process of putting together a tentative agenda and will be sending this out to everyone who has indicated they are interested in attending, so If you haven't responded please do so quickly so we can put you on the notification list.
 
If you are undecided please keep in mind that this is a perfect opportunity to meet with your peers, hear different points of  view on how to deal with the situations that all operators face and learn how to fully utilize the power of Azar's Subscriber Billing, Management and Authorization Solutions in your system. If that isn't good enough, you will be staying in downtown Austin, TX within walking distance of all the sights and sounds of the Live Music Capital of the World!
 
We look forward to seeing you in 2010.
 Tips and Tricks 
 
Does your interactive process seem to take longer than it used to?
Do you sometimes send global transactions which place a large number of hits in the queue?
These are just a couple of reasons why you will want to be sure to purge your transaction queue on a regular basis. It only takes a minute to do so.
 
Here's how:
 
First make sure all interactive windows have been stopped.

Then start from the System Menu.
Communications > Addressable > Transactions > Purge

Answer the questions in the following manner unless you have a specific need to purge certain transactions.

Purge Completed Transactions?            Y
Purge Transactions in Error?                N
Purge any record dated before?   000000
Purge starting at edit no.?     0        thru?     0

OK to proceed?    Y

This will delete from the queue all completed successful transactions while saving those which had an error and those which have not yet been processed. 
 
Done on a weekly basis, this procedure will help all your interactive processes
run more efficiently.
 
 CATvPlus
 
The deployment schedule for CATvPlus is on target and we are excited to be turning the corner on our production release. We are putting together some additional information that  will be available to our customers form the "Support Home" page of our web site so please take a minute and check it out.
 
CATvMaster 7x  
 
We are moving forward with the deployment on CATvMaster 7x with several new and existing customers using this new and more powerful release. If you are currently offering any type of triple play packaging you need to start thinking about upgrading to 7x. CATvMaster 7x allows you the ultimate flexibility in packaging and billing Triple Play customers.  
  • New Data encryption logic protects your database from unauthorized access.
  • User Level defined masking of Bank Account, Social Security and Drivers License Numbers.
  • Enhanced auditing of Work Order, Transactions, Inventory Changes and Rate Maintenance.
  • Component Level Addressability makes Channel Group Maintenance a breeze.
  • New CPNI feature alerts you if a CPNI PIN is set on an account.
These are just a few of the reasons you should consider upgrading to CATvMaster 7x.
 
For more information on the steps required for this release, please contact our support team at support@azarinc.com or call 512-476-5085.

 
 New Product Releases
 
Abel DRM Systems

We have developed and are testing our Abel Quintic Back Office System Web Services CAS provisioning interface with full deployment scheduled for later this month.
 
CATv Customer Care Available with Release 7.1.0
With CATv Customer Care you will be able to direct subscribers from your web site to our New Online Processing portal. From there users will be able to view their current balance, last payment date and amount and make a credit card or ACH payment*. For systems who offer Digital Services,  your subscribers will have the ability to send a refresh to their digital equipment.
 
Future updates will include Online Service Calls, New Subscriber Sign Up screens and an After Hours Technician Interface that will provide the ability to exchange Set Tops and Cable Modems when resolving service problems. 
 
For a demo of Azar's New CATv Customer Care Online Portal click here
 
For more information on these or any of CATvMaster's Subscriber Billing and Management Software Solutions, please contact our Sales Department at sales@azarinc.com or 800-525-7844.
 
 
 * Online Payment Processing requires the CATv-CCP Credit Card Processing Module 
Save
Over 
10%
If you install Azar's CATv Customer Care Online Portal before October 31, 2009 you will receive a 10% discount on the Module price and your first month support is FREE! To request your Sales Quote, send an email to
sales@azarinc.com use the PROMO CODE "CATVCARE" to qualify for your discount.
Offer Expires: 10/31/09                                                                 No cash value