HMS Software Announces TimeControl Express for Palm Handheld Organizers

One of the First Java-enabled Palm Applications in the World

HMS Software (www.hmssoftware.ca), a leading provider of enterprise timekeeping solutions for project environments, today announced TimeControl Express(TM) designed for Palm handheld devices and Pocket PCs.

TimeControl Express works in conjunction with HMS Software's enterprise timekeeping software, TimeControl, to allow users to quickly and easily update their activity-based timesheet regardless of their location.

TimeControl Express is one of the first applications in the world to be written in the newly-released Java kilobyte virtual machine (KVM), a lightweight version of Java designed to work on handheld devices. The product positions HMS Software as one of the leading providers of enterprise systems for handheld devices.

"TimeControl Express is an extension of the enterprise system, rather than a standalone timesheet," says Chris Vandersluis, president of HMS. "Organizations that use TimeControl as their timesheet system will now be able to extend the system outside the walls of their offices, freeing it from the bricks, mortar and wires of the organization that hosts it."

TimeControl Express measures in at a very lean 36kb. The Java kernel itself is only another 80kb, making for a very tight design.

"Our original design of TimeControl under Java included the writing of our own components at the most fundamental levels," says Jean-Francois Arcand, Java Architect at HMS. "This state-of-the-art design for a Java product has paid off here with the Express version. In a remarkably short time, we have been able to produce a compact industry-first product that will enable TimeControl users worldwide to enter their timesheet data into a handheld device."

Communication between TimeControl Express and the organization's central TimeControl database is achieved through a new module for TimeControl called the Personal Transaction Server. This module allows individuals to control how the handheld data will interact with the full TimeControl database. By simply pressing the Synchronize button on the handheld's cradle, all data will be transferred back and forth between the handheld device and the central data.

According to Arcand, Java technology allows TimeControl Express to be much more than just a cradle link. "We have designed the TimeControl Express interface using Java for a very specific reason," he says. "By using this state of the art architecture, we are able to use the same code on the Pocket PC, on other Palm OS devices and even on WAP-enabled mobile phones. The system has even been designed to allow direct communication from the handheld device to the central TimeControl database via wireless Internet connection if available."

Pricing and Availability

TimeControl Express for Palm handheld organizers will ship on July 31, 2000. Following testing cycles, HMS Software will ship versions for Pocket PCs, other Palm operating system devices and other handheld devices later this summer. The price of TimeControl Express is $39.95(US). Clients must have a Palm III or higher and must have TimeControl installed.

Product background

First published by HMS in 1994, TimeControl has been adopted as an enterprise-wide timekeeping system by clients around the world. TimeControl is designed specifically as an activity-based-costing application and includes such features as hierarchical user structures to allow for multiple levels of timesheet authorisation and an open data architecture, which makes the product ideally suited for integration with existing data systems in any organisation. TimeControl is a true client/server system supporting Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft SQL Server, InterBase and Informix. It includes both a Windows and a Java-based interface for the Web and the Palm Pilot.


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