Veranda

Track your messaging resources

If you need to track the use of your messaging resources, Tally Systems'Veranda is a product you need. This enterprise-level electronic messagingreporter keeps track of email, fax, and Internet resources. The software lets managers consolidate information about resource usage into a central location and run any predefined or custom report on Veranda's database.

To provide this reporting capability, Veranda lets you establish a seriesof resources. With each resource, you provide the name of a log file anothersoftware package generates on your system (e.g., a "sent mail" logfrom your Simple Mail Transfer Protocol--SMTP), or the name of a data file thatcontains transaction data Veranda will load and use for analysis. It also letsyou perform preprocessing steps, in case you must alter the data before Verandauses it.

The software supports many different resource types, such as MicrosoftExchange Server, Lotus Notes, proxy servers, and fax resources. Although theproduct promises adaptability using PRML (a proprietary data definitionlanguage), you cannot define your own resources--the product limits you to thoseresources that Tally Systems supports and your license allows.

The software includes a user's manual and an administrator's manualthat total 536 pages. Both manuals are in Adobe Acrobat .pdf format on thedistribution CD-ROM.

I ran setup.exe in the root directory of the CD-ROM. The software gave methree installation options: Report only, to access an existing Veranda databaseand generate reports on it; Administrative, to have full read and write accessto the database; and Custom, to select components.

Veranda requires a SQL database engine to store its data. The productincludes a copy of Sybase's SQL Anywhere, which is the default choice. If youuse SQL Server, you must set up your database manually. I chose SQL Server, andthe documentation walked me through setup without incident.

After you install the product, you are ready to configure your users andresources. This portion of the installation can be quick or time-consuming,depending on how complex you want your reporting environment to be.

To configure the software, run the main Veranda executable program from theVeranda program group on the Start menu. This program, the Veranda EnterpriseMessaging Reporter (EMR) Manager, uses an Explorer-like interface for resourceand report management, as shown in Screen 1.

To complete setup, you need to define your users, resources, and charges.Veranda lets you group users and resources into common folders--for example, ifyou have a multisite company, you can create site folders, create departmentfolders to place in the site folders, and place users within the departmentfolders. With resources, you can have only one level of resource folders--forexample, fax resources, Internet resources, and email resources--to group theresources you define.

After you complete setup and import all the necessary reportingdata, you are ready to use the Reports index tab. From this tab, you can run anynumber of reports on the data you collect.

When you select the Reports index tab, you'll see two generic folderclassifications: Veranda Reports and Selected Reports. Veranda Reports arereports that Tally Systems ships with its product. Selected Reports are reportsyou choose from the Veranda Reports. To add a report to your Selected Reports,simply click it in the Veranda Reports folder and drag it to your SelectedReports folder.

After I configured the software to monitor my Exchange Server and RightFAXresources, I used several Veranda Reports to generate statistics on my email andfax usage. When I created charges associated with the different resources andgrouped my users into departments, I could make comprehensive bill-back reportsfor each department.

Veranda is a boon for mid- to large-size organizations that need to get ahandle on their messaging resources. The reporting capabilities of the softwareare unparalleled by any other product.