The purpose of Karmak Compass is to keep all our customers informed of current activities within the Karmak family. This newsletter is designed for both technical and non-technical readers. 

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  Training: Karmak Legend^® - INFO 5^® - Director Series

New offerings through Karmak Training Center
In addition to Legend and INFO 5 training classes, the Karmak Training Center is now offering webinars. A webinar allows you to attend class from your location via the Internet in a live, interactive session. In addition, regional training for Legend system managers is coming to Springfield, Mo. Visit the Legend and INFO 5 Training Center websites for all currently scheduled classes.

Director Series training
For ProfitMaker^® customers, Director Series Upgrade webinars are available via the Internet. Call the Director Series Help Desk at 1-866-452-7625 to schedule a WebEx Upgrade Training date after Director Series has been installed on your server. 

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What's new at Karmak?

• Upcoming release of Director Series 1.1
• Two new ProfitMaster modules coming soon
• Sales Management Version 1.3 in development
• Special pricing on KOLD
• Important announcements regarding Windows Service Pack updates
• Important announcement for INFO 5 clients using OS/400 V4R5 or lower
• ProfitMaster Discussion Board

Upcoming release of Director Series 1.1

Karmak's Director Series replaces the current ProfitMaker product and offers you even more functionality and revenue-generating enhancements.

The Director Series software allows you to better control your parts inventory and increase service shop efficiency. The advanced software is designed for fleets, parts distributors, and service shops. The latest release of Director Series went into beta testing during the third week of September, and will be available for general release in October.

In this release, communications with the Legend business system have been enhanced and now include the following features:

• Automated finalization of stock and emergency orders to a Legend customer, and retrieving ship files to receiving parts from a Legend system sales order invoice.
• Checking available quantity-on-hand from a Legend system customer, using the Send Inquiry option in an emergency order.
• Cost/price updates pull cost from the Legend system and update Director Series inventory with the new cost.

Many more updates have been made. A detailed list of those changes are available here in PDF format: Director Series 1.1. If you have questions regarding Director Series or the 1.1 release, or would like to request the 1.1 update, contact ProfitMaster Services at .

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The newest ProfitMaster modules, Internet
Parts Sales (IPS) and Remote Parts Sales
(RPS) are now in development and will soon be available. Internet Parts Sales helps you expand your market share by allowing your customers
to order parts using the Internet. Customers can search for parts, check price and availability, create and maintain a shopping cart, and check out. Security and easy-to-use features are built into both the retail and administrative environments.

Remote Parts Sales provides a valuable tool for traveling sales staff. It allows you to gather and create customer orders remotely by using a hand-held PC. Parts can be accurately scanned with a bar code scanner, or manually entered into an order, from a customer location or any other location. Orders can be transmitted to the business system from a wireless network or USB dock.

Both products integrate seamlessly into your Karmak Legend or INFO 5 business system. If you are attending the 2004 Dealers' Conference, stop by the Product Demo Room for details. Visit the Internet Parts Sales web page, read the Remote Parts Sales white paper, or contact your Karmak Regional Manager for more information.

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Karmak's ProfitMaster team is currently working on Sales Management Version 1.3. This release has been postponed due to issues with Microsoft's new patch for their .NET version 1.1 framework. The Sales Management 1.3 patch will be available to all Sales Management users as soon as possible. This patch will incorporate your feedback, as well as changes to incorporate the new architecture. Please contact ProfitMaster Services at with any questions.

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KOLD, our innovative electronic archiving system for Karmak reports, can save you countless reams of paper, hours of labor, and prevent 
loss of vital documents in the event of a disaster.

KOLD allows you to conveniently view, distribute, archive, and retrieve Karmak reports without wasting resources, like paper, supplies and equipment, and valuable storage space. And, Karmak has special options for additional benefits, like the ability to annotate reports and archive to CD-ROM.

From October 1 to December 31, 2004, KOLD is available for $5,950. The normal retail price for KOLD is $9,900. So, start reducing your costs today with KOLD. Contact your Karmak Regional Manager, or call 800-622-6311.

Discount on KOLD software only; setup and extras are regularly priced. Terms are Net 10 with a $600 down payment.

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• Microsoft .NET Framework 1.0 Service Pack 3 and Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1 
  Microsoft has released Microsoft .NET Framework 1.0 Service Pack 3 and Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1. These updates affect Karmak's Windows-based products. Microsoft delivers these Service Packs through the Windows Update site at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com.

Karmak is currently in the process of testing our ProfitMaster software with these critical updates. We recommend that you DO NOT INSTALL either of these updates on ProfitMaster servers and/or clients until we have completed testing of these updates with our products.

After Karmak has completed testing, an announcement will be posted on the Discussion Board at http://discussions.karmak.com/ and email notification will be sent to you. 

• Windows XP Service Pack 2 
  Windows XP Service Pack 2 has been released. Microsoft delivers this Service Pack through the Windows Update site at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com.

Karmak has been in the process of testing our ProfitMaster software for this Windows release. We still recommend that you DO NOT INSTALL this update on ProfitMaster clients until we have completed careful testing of this product. We are confident that there are beneficial changes that this update provides, but we would like additional time to test the final release version to prepare for any unforeseen issues that may arise.

After Karmak has completed testing this update, an announcement will be posted on the Discussion Board at http://discussions.karmak.com/ and email notification will be sent to you.

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Important announcement for INFO 5 clients using OS/400 V4R5 or lower

As you may be aware, INFO 5 Release 7.2 will soon be available for general release. This INFO 5 release requires a minimum IBM operating system version of V5R1. It should be noted that, as of December 2002, IBM has withdrawn support for OS/400 Release V4R5, as they have previously done for all earlier releases of the OS. In addition, IBM has recently announced the newest release of OS/400; version V5R3. Continued>

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As a reminder, Karmak has established a Discussion Board for our ProfitMaster customers. The discussion board is located at: http://discussions.karmak.com/. After receiving a username and password, you are encouraged to start discussions with other ProfitMaster customers and users. We have put sample discussions on the site to initiate correspondence.

There are two ways that you can request a username and password. You may make a request by completing the form located on our website at http://www.karmak.com/Forms/ProfitMasterRequest.htm, or you may contact Joyce Donaldson at or 800-252-7625 (Legend), or Heather Gardner at or 800-865-8991 (INFO 5).

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People in the news

• Karmak names Eric Ham as Manager of Profitmaster Services for INFO 5
• Michelle Sawyer to head up Karmak's Latin American business
• Ward McMillen named new Network Design Analyst

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Did you know?

• OpenVMS provides security and stability
• How to keep your laptop from being stolen

Where would your operating system be in the event of a disaster? Could it withstand extreme conditions? OpenVMS has recently been put through these tests. In addition, experts are predicting an increase in operating system downtime due to security concerns. Open VMS is one of the most secure operating systems available, and the following articles convey real-life examples of how reliable an OpenVMS system really is. Security fixes are imperative at this worldwide stage in the computer game. The information below should be a reminder to not let operating system security issues slide, whether you are running on an OpenVMS system or not--it could be the difference between being in business or being eliminated.

• Hack-proof and crash resistant - have you discovered the OS world's best-kept secret?
• OpenVMS: An Old Dog Still Doing New Tricks
• OpenVMS Gets a Case of the DT's

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How to keep your laptop from being stolen 

In this age of portable electronics and computer equipment comes a growing need to protect this valuable equipment that organizes our lives. According to the article, "How to keep your laptop from being stolen", an insurance brokerage company reported that approximately 318,000 laptops were stolen last year. To protect the time and money you have invested in your laptop and its contents, the following article outlines a few guidelines to help you safeguard your equipment. How to keep your laptop from being stolen

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Meet the INFO 5 team

ProfitMaster Services

To help our customers learn more about who they talk to when they call INFO 5 Support, Karmak Compass is featuring profiles of departments here at Karmak that work with the INFO 5 customers. The previous issue profiled the Office Support department. For this issue, we are featuring the ProfitMaster Services department. Continued>

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  About Karmak Compass

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© 2004 Karmak, Inc.
One Karmak Plaza
P.O. Box 680
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