A question for all you computer guru's...

[Captain Michael Buffington]

I am wanting to be able to look at all of our branches records from any of our offices. We use Consumer Finance System. I want to be able to pull up everything from each office to prevent double loans to a single houshold and several other reasons. I have just started researching it and any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

Mike

[Robja]

I am sure with Longfishers phd he should be able to help you.

[Captain Michael Buffington]

I am sure with Longfishers phd he should be able to help you.

anyone elses advice will be greatly appreciated Jay

Mike

[gottaflylee]

Mike, you might be able to do it with "Go to MY PC" not sure but I think it would do what you want.

[Bent-Bill]

I am not exactly sure what you are asking. I assume that each of your branches currently operates independently, as in you are not using any sort of enterprise network. I am not familiar with Consumer Finance System and once again I assume that it is not a web based application. If I am incorrect about either of my 2 assumptions then you should easily be able view all of the data. If not, then there are a few options. Keep in mind that I am not a Computer or Systems guy. I am pretty sure that there are web based database solutions that could easily sync up with your current software to allow total visibility for you. There are of course more manual ways to do it such as build and maintain your own database with Microsoft Access, which would be large enough for what it sounds like you need. Without being on a network, that would require a lot of manual uploading.

I would look around for a third party web based solution if i were you. It doesn't sound like you need much of one, so it should not be hard to implement. I am sure someone on here with more knowledge than myself can provide some recommendations. Everything we use at work SAS, Cognos, Oracle, Ingres etc... sounds like it would be overkill for what you are looking for.

[clt_capt]

Mike,
You can do this one of 2 ways;

1) Centralize the Data and use Virtual Desktop Integration (VDI) for your remote PCs - All of the critical data is centralized and can be protected & Audited. Example - Citrix

Little or no customer data is stored on the remote PC - You can centrally administer User Accounts.

2) Install Remote Control Software on all remote PCs - VNC, PC Anywhere are a couple of examples. You can access the data on the remote PCs, but you will have a hard time making sure someone doesn't walk away with the data.

Option 1 is preferable from both an administrative standpoint and a data integrity standpoint. Option 2 is cheaper, but will take more people to manage, and the data will be less secure - not to mention that a computer savy person could disable the remote control software. That is simply not possible with Option 1.

Let me know if you need more info...

[Captain Michael Buffington]

I really appreciate your insight i'm trying to bring our finance company out of the dark ages. Thanks again!

Mike