Previous News Flash!
January, 2000


Delay of NCAS DSS Software Distribution(1/31/00)
The Office of the State Controller has postponed delivery of the upgraded NCAS DSS software due to licensing issues and the recent inclement weather. We are hoping to have everything resolved as soon as possible, then we will send out a new schedule of implementation. Ample time will be allotted to allow the installation of the DSS desktop on each user's PC.

We appreciate your patience in this matter. If you have any questions, please reply to this e-mail or call the OSC Help Desk at 875-HELP.



AP Purge(1/20/00)
The AP system will undergo a purge process on 01/22/2000 (Saturday) for the period of 01/01/98-03/31/98. Invoices for this period will be relocated to the historical files.



01/18-20/2000 AP04 Class Cancelled(1/18/00)
The AP04 class scheduled for today, Wednesday, and Thursday has been cancelled and will be rescheduled for a later date.



Upgrade of NCAS Decision Support System (1/12/00)
The Office of the State Controller will deliver the upgraded NCAS DSS Software (previously referred to as “SmartStream”) in mid-January, 2000.   The upgrade will add greater flexibility and features to our reporting tools.   See the schedule below for approximate dates for the upgrade delivery.  Please check the NCAS SIG for any changes to this schedule.

A new version of software will be used to view and report on the NCAS DSS data.  The new NCAS desktop must be loaded on each NCAS DSS user’s computer.  The new desktop can be loaded onto the user’s PC without replacing the old desktop and should take only a few minutes to install..  We will be sending the desktop software installation files and instructions to your server in the next week.

The vendor recommended minimum desktop requirements are a Pentium 100 MHz machine with 32MB of memory and approximately 70 MB of available disk space.  To meet user performance expectations, however, OSC has found that a Pentium 166 MHz machine with 64 MB of memory will provide more efficient response time. Larger agencies will have larger views and thus will require a more powerful PC.  These requirements may be subject to change based on individual hardware configurations.

As part of the delivery of the new NCAS DSS desktop, the OSC will be centrally tracking the number of users of this reporting tool.  This is required as part of the OSC’s licensing agreement with the software vendor.  We encourage your agency to provide access to as many users as possible; however, the OSC does suggest that these DSS users be adequately trained to ensure they are consistent and satisfied users.  The OSC is presently providing for current Smartstream users, the NCAS
DSS Upgrade Training presentations.  If your agency has not registered for these presentations, please do so immediately at 919-981-5415.

We expect to send accounting data from the new system on January 31, 2000.  Users should continue to use the old desktop until then.  Users should watch the SIG for any changes to the target date.  They must use the new desktop in order to view the new data.  We will provide instructions for removing the old desktop files after the new system is in production.

In order to accommodate the new software and data, the agency server must have approximately 100MB of free space in the NCAS directory structure.  After the upgraded system is in production, we will send out instructions for removing old application and data files.  If you have any server space constraints, please contact us immediately at 875-HELP.

A January 10, 2000 memo that was distributed to NCAS Users of each agency is attached for your information.  We will be contacting you again when the new installation files and instructions are sent.  If you have any questions, please reply to this e-mail or call the OSC Help Desk at 875-HELP.
 
NCAS DSS Upgrade Time Schedule
Deliver Program Files to LAN Administrators Jan. 18, 2000 (approx.)
LAN Administrator PC Install Time Frame (Any Install Questions to be answered) Jan. 19 – 28, 2000 (approx.)
Roll-out/Cut over to New MDCs Jan. 31, 2000 (approx.)



 

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