Opinion on Time Matters v10

Lexis Nexis has released the latest version of their Time Matters suite of products and we are to now expect annual upgrades from them. 

For the first time, every version of Time Matters is now based on Microsoft SQL. Performance is up and crashes are down.  Earlier versions suffered from the strain searching and filtering placed on the database manager. Microsoft SQL has been the industry standard for database applications for years and placing all the platforms of Time Matters on this structure will undoubtedly lead to happier customers through increased speed and performance.

The annual 'upgrade' cycle where the version number was ratcheted up by one often did not provide 'enough' real improvements in features and underlying structure to merit the grandiose full version upgrade banner. Before Time Matters 10 the application could quite frankly be used to determine the enterprise 'worthiness' of your network. Anything less than ideal would undoubtedly result in unexpected crashing of the application.

The major difference in Time Matters 10 is the discontinuation of the Time Matters Professional Edition. The only flavour of Time Matters available moving forward is the Enterprise version that runs on the SQL platform. This database is structured to manage enterprise database applications and the stability has been tested and proven (although crashes have not been forever banished quite yet). 

In implementing the software and supporting it I have found the application to be vastly superior to previous versions in user friendliness. The installation process has been streamlined with wizards that ask the key questions to setup Time Matters in a standalone environment or a server client environment. There are also various wizards that help users grasp some of the more difficult concepts in the application.

This move to "SQL only" also is a benefit to consultants as we can offer many additional customizations to our entire client list. Previously only clients that used the Enterprise version were privy to reporting that is done through SQL and otherwise impossible through the flat file Professional version of Time Matters.

A process where an approaching deadline generates an email is now 'doable' thru clever behind the scenes programing in SQL.  We have also developed improvements in reports provided with the application, tweaking them and expanding their usefulness all because of the SQL back end.

Time Matters 10 also includes some extensive 'powerviews' that were actually possible in earlier versions but then you required the help of a consultant to tweak the powerviews  code to show those aspects of your database such as uncompleted tasks and upcoming events in one powerview.

In our opinion this release of Time Matters is worth noticing and even though the user interface is barely affected in this version the advantages under the hood are what make it worthwhile. We hope they continue in this direction as the stability of the application has always been a source of concern/frustration/anger/long heavy sighs/thrown coffee cups for firms that were not able to upgrade their networking equipment to the latest and greatest every year.