Tecnonet, Tecnomatrix Customer Portal

Last July, we launched in Tecnomatrix a portal for our customers: TecnoNet. This project was done as part of Tecnomatrix Internet strategy, which also includes this blog (www.measurecontrol.com) and the recently updated corporate website (www.tecnomatrix.co.uk).

Initially, the idea of TecnoNet comes from the need of improving the communication between Tecnomatrix and their customers, particularly during the development of a project. We have all known this at least once:“yes, I’ve told you this or that and you didn’t do it”, an email with an important indication getting lost in the Spam box, a file too big that cannot be emailed, and so on.

What is Tecnonet and what are its advantages?

TecnoNet is a web application making data exchange easier for projects between Tecnomatrix and their customers. Thus, for a specific project, TecnoNet enables to:

• Know the current state of the project and its latest main steps
• Know who is working on the project (among Tecnomatrix and the customer’s staffs)
• Send messages (and comments) related to the project
• Send files (and comments) related to the project
• Validate designs made by Tecnomatrix and validate the project
• See related projects

All these actions can be done separately. The main advantage TecnoNet provides is the grouping of the related pieces of information of a project in one location, accessible as much by Tecnomatrix as by their customers. This enables to find specific data more quickly and also reduces mistakes, in particular communication ones.

Before TecnoNet:

• The project data were on Tecnomatrix ERP, and to show them to the customers we had to call him or email him
• Project-related messages were in the different email boxes of the people participating to the project
• Project-related files were either on Tecnomatrix or on FTP servers, on CDs, on the project manager hard disk, etc
• The validation of a design or a project was done by email or verbally, which made it difficult to trace, and even more so in case of several designs or modifications
• If a file was very big and could not be emailed, it had to be sent by CD or FTP
• Once a project was over, the data were stored on the server and the customer was provided with a CD with all the information. In many occasions, after a while, the customer lost the CD, asked us a copy of the same information, and we had to send him the documentation again.

With TecnoNet:

• All the data, messages and files are on TecnoNet, and each person participating to a project can have access to them. What is more, TecnoNet is connected in real time to Tecnomatrix ERP, so that any change is updated automatically.
• The validated/rejected designs are displayed on TecnoNet, with their corresponding comments.
• Files are always sent by TecnoNet, with their corresponding description. We have set a limit of 200Mb per file, but it can be increased if necessary
• When a message or a comment is sent, or a file uploaded, all persons related to the project receive an email notification
• During the evolution of a project, customers can have a full control of the information we are using, and make sure all the versions of the geometries and plans we use are the correct ones
• All the information of finished projects remains available to customers, who can consult or download it whenever they need it without having to contact us

Some pictures

1. Project List. Projects can be filtered with several criteria:

2. Project Data: state, main steps and designs pending of validation, if there is any:

3. Project Messages. They are displayed chronologically and can also be filtered:

4. Project Files. They can also be filtered by: extension, category, description, and so on:

And this is just the beginning

TecnoNet is an ambitious project, and does not want to remain as it is now. We are currently preparing more functions, some of which should be quite innovating; we will tell you about them later on. As usual, your propositions are welcome to improve this service which, in spite of being very recent, has already got some fans.