Introduction 

Background

The Agency resources software was developed and packaged for Human Resource and personnel placement organisations.

Rationale

The human resource and recruitment industry has traditionally had difficulty in capturing people skills and reliably matching these against job requirements. Many systems are run manually, with minimal computerisation other than for presentation of documents. These are very cumbersome, reliant on manual indexes and prone to human error.



Contact/Client/Candidate screens

These three screens contain most of the relevant information for the system.  To minimise screen real estate a number of information sub-views are swapped in and out of sight as the user requires.

The screens can be interrogated independently, allowing the user to view a client that is unrelated to either the contact or the candidate and then get the screens in 'sync' as desired.  This enables a contact to be viewed and connected to a client when required.

	Contacts
The central contact screen is designed to be used when on the phone to a contact and allows for the logging of the phone conversation or even the noting of a need to follow up on something mentioned in the call.  If the need for a follow up is the case then the system will use the  Sarrus product PencilMeIn to schedule an alarm for that time.  That  alarm can also be directed to another user on the network.  Information  of a personal interest nature is also kept here.  It is possible to attach  documents and correspondence to the contact so that they are  immediately available when handling the phone call.

	Candidates
The candidate screen tracks details particular to those contacts who have skills to sell.  These include skills acquired, desired rates and/or  location.  This screen also allows for the searching of candidates with a desired skill set.  The system checks when new skills are added to an  available candidate whether they suit a client with an outstanding requirement.  If a match is found then the appropriate sales person is mailed so that they can follow up with the parties involved.

	Clients
While the client screen brings together all information for a given client  it is the department level data within this screen that is the most important.  Here the user will find details of the technical environment for the department, the contractors or employees they currently have from this agency,  outstanding requirements and candidates that have been submitted for these requirements.  It is possible for the user to immediately check for available people upon receipt of a new requirement.  Whether this is done or not the system will mail the relevant sales person to advise them of possible candidates for their client's requirements.

Installation

The files:
Agency2.31.I.tar.gz		- compressed and 'tar'ed .pkg file for Intel only.
Agency2.31.NIHS.tar.gz	- compressed and 'tar'ed .pkg quad architecture file.
Agency2.31.README		- this file.  Included in each of the above.

The Agency.pkg file will self install.  The script that is run as part of the installation process will create a directory in /LocalLibrary/Agency/Resumes for all correspondence, faxes and photographs of Candidates and Contacts.  The reverse of this script is NOT run as part of the delete process.  This is so that any information and documents that are accumulated during the use of Agency are not expunged should you decide to de-install it.

As the Agency software uses the DatabaseKit for database access it will be necessary to create a 'Personnel' database in your chosen database environment be it Sybase, Oracle or QuickBase.  An SQL script (Personnel.sql in the Agency.app bundle) has been supplied to create all necessary tables and row names for you.  Paste this script into an interactive database session.  The script was written for QuickBase.  A seven day demo version of QuickBase is available from ftp.sirius.com://pub/NeXT/demos/quickbase/QBnewest/QBInstaller.app.tar.

Please advise any problems to the authors (support@softpac.com.au) so that installation adjustments can be made for different adaptors.  Security for these tables will also need to be set up.  The database tables are NOT removed if the application is deinstalled.

Registration and Support

The first time that Agency is run you will be asked for a registration code.  There are 3 types of registrations available:

	Demo			- no fee, no serial number, expires in 30 days.
	Standard		- fee based on users, serial numbered, no expiry.
	Not For Resale	- lower fee, for a single machine only,
						serial numbered, no expiry.

The intent of the Not For Resale registration is for sales organisations wishing to on sell the product.

Registration codes and support are available from support@softpac.com.au.  Requests for Not For Resale licenses must include the name of the machine onto which Agency is installed.