Local Government jBASE sites form User Group

Since its release onto the market in 1994 jBASE has attracted a growing band of Local Government sites. Amongst the latest additions to these discerning customers is Exeter City Council who have recently bought 160 jBASE licences running on a Sun Solaris 2.6 box.

Exeter City Council is an erstwhile customer of MDIS and council IT staff are very familiar with the highly structured environment of Reality. As the migration to jBASE began it became clear that a conceptual leap would be needed before staff became confident in using the more open environment of jBASE. They decided that one way of bridging the gap was to enlist the experience of colleagues who had already made the jump.

So, on 3rd February 1999 the inaugural meeting of the Local Government jBASE Users Group (jUG) was held at Exeter City Council. It was well attended with delegates from five councils plus representatives from jBASE Software Limited.

The day-long session began by agreeing a Chairman (Andy Billington, Exeter’s IT Development Manager) and a Secretary (Liz Oxburgh, one of Exeter’s analyst programmers). It continued with sharing experiences of migration to jBASE including triumphs and disappointments. Over a working lunch Ted Jolly of jBASE Software Limited gave a technical demonstration of jQUERY and jDP - two methods of opening up data held in jBASE files to other applications. The day ended with a discussion of each council’s aspirations and the strategies being employed to achieve those ends, including ways in which jBASE Software could enhance their product and service delivery.

All the delegates agreed that the day had been very productive and were particularly grateful to Sedgemoor District Council’s Paul Davidson who as the most “senior” customer of jBASE was able to pass on some good tips (and dilemmas!).

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, 5th May in Exeter. At present the user group is only open to Local Government although this will be reviewed in September. If you are interested in attending, please e-mail the Group’s Secretary at liz.oxburgh@exeter.gov.uk.

For more information about jBASE Software Limited, please contact Robert Cowen at rcowen@dircon.co.uk.

Last Updated: 30 June 1999

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