The Miami Herald

Monday, March 11, 1996

Craig Crossman

Online in/out board helps keep whole office up to date

Q. As the office manager of a small firm, I must keep track of where everyone is -- one of the nuisance tasks. Most everyone at one time or another needs to know were someone on our team is located. We use one of those large chalkboards with a grid for comments, but they're often outdated and unreliable. Some people don't even bother using the board. Is there something computerized to keep track of people?

A. It sounds like you need an in/out board that can be accessed by anyone on your computer network. There is such a product, but I can't say how effective it may be for you. It's inexpensive ($99.95) and worth a try.

Touch N' Go, from TNG Systems, is a small program that puts an electronic in/out display on any computer in the office network. After a simple set-up, a glance gives you all the basic information about everyone in the office.

There are two types of displays: The Mini Display highlights everyone's name and status. The Detailed Display shows names and phone extensions, whether they're in or out along with a remarks field that displays the time and entries such as "conference room" of "out sick."

A third option lets you know if someone is in but not available.

Updating the information is as easy as clicking and typing. Since Touch N' Go is on a network, changes are instantly visible on all screens.

Like some mechanical boards, the color behind each person's name helps you to see someone's status instantly. If he's out, the background is red; green means in; yellow is for in but occupied or unavailable.

The main deference between Touch N' Go and a mechanical board is that it can be accessed form any computer in the office. No one will have to leave their desks or page a colleague.

Touch N' Go, for Windows networks only, works with up to 20 people. A 100-person version is in the works.

(Note: Two new products have been released since this review: The 100+user Enterprise Edition, and the 200+user Corporate Edition. Both are feature rich and upgradable. ed.

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