DATA ARCHIVING

[slilly]

We are looking for Data Archiving, is there one that anybody would recommend over the high $$$ ADP and R&R systems?

[Matt Parsons]

I have spoken with a number of dealers who use either CD View or Kodata. Both of these companies I believe are CD-ROM based and offer a solid level of base functionality for a fairly low cost. Keep in mind however, they are not integrated to your in-house system, so depending on who you have as a DMS provider, you may have to live with many manual processes in archiving and retrieving data. I unfortunatlely do not have the numbers for either company, but they both had displays at NADA I believe and I am sure you can find them onthe web.

P.S., EDS has no relationship with either of these companies...hope this helps.

[wbkski]

Knightsbridge, Inc in Salt Lake City, Utah has been doing data archiving for over 6 years for dealers using most systems including UCS.

Email me if you'd like their number. They are very resonably priced and can meet the needs of the most meticulous client.

[clange]

In my humble opinion, the following are a couple of very important issues that should be considered.

Cost is not the most important consideration when trying to gain the benefits of data archiving. Given the relationships that usually exist between DSP's and their customers it is critically important to look at how the acquisition and implementation of data archiving, and other specialty programs, further bind the dealer to the DSP. Long, non-cancellable terms, as well as proprietary data encoding methodology are the biggest risks that confront the dealer in this decision.

For instance, consider the technology used for data archiving, and then recognize that it is changing at blinding speed about every 12 - 18 months. You then have to question why you would sign up for a program that obligates your business for 72 or more months, with no committment from the DSP to keep your technology current.

The other important consideration relates to getting a written committement from your vendor to provide you with archived data translation, AT NO COST, if you want to change to another data archiving system. If your DSP is using a system that uses a proprietary encoding technique, you can not access your data through any other system, therefore you are absolutely tied to that DSP, or you would have to scrap all your data archiving work to consider starting with another system.

This is such an important topic, it probably warrants a lot more discussion.

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Chris Lange
Senior Consultant
Automotive Technology Associates, Inc.
clange@carstoresystems.com
401.826.2885

[This message has been edited by clange (edited 02-13-2002).]