Interview with Russ Boehle
Q: Russ, you use Alpha Software in your business if I understand correctly. Can you tell us a little about your business?
I am the president of NESSteel Inc. in Stafford Springs, CT. We are a processor and distributor of tool, mold, alloy and carbon steels. We have been in business for 23 years and due to our extensive machining and grinding capabilities tend to get jobs that other service centers can't manufacture.
Q: I understand selling steel, but what is a "steel service center"?
A steel service center is an organization that buys steel from mills in large quantities and resells it in smaller quantities to meet the needs of the customers. We also do a lot of additional processing of the steel, including saw cutting of plates up to 12" thick X 13 ft long, automatic saw cutting, and Blanchard and surface grinding of parts up to 120" long. Often this grinding is done to very tight tolerances for specific machine or production applications. This is where Alpha came in as the packaged solutions were not able to properly handle all the custom processing instructions and calculations necessary for what we do.
Q: Can you give us an idea of the size of your company?
We are a small company, currently about 32 employees but are in the process of building a new facility. Once we move we will have the space to hire more employees and of course take on more work.
Q: How long have you been using Alpha's database software products?
We have been using Alpha since the days of Alpha 4 version 2. I guess that would put it back somewhere in the early 80's.
Q: Where does Alpha Four and Alpha Five fit in with your business?
We still run much of the day to day processes with Alpha Four v6. This includes order entry, customer contact, accounts receivable, invoicing, and a substantial use of Alpha for custom Customer information and processing. We have begun the switch to Alpha Five. Most of the new development is in Version 5. We currently use Alpha Five for most of our contract quoting, which for some customers can be quite complex and could not be done very efficiently manually. Most of the applications that were written in Alpha Four have been redone in Alpha Five. We will make the complete switch when I can get the time to finish everything and get it beta tested. Both the company and I have been extremely busy for the last year or so with the rebound in the economy so I haven't been able to work on it as much as I would like to.
Q: Do you do all the Alpha Four and Alpha Five development work for your company?
Yes. I am it. In addition to having to run the company I run the company network and do all the programming and application development as well as selecting the apps that we will use and deploying them. I realize that this is perhaps not the best use of my time, but it is what I like to do. Computers are my hobby, or perhaps sickness according to my wife.
Q: This is a loaded question Russ, can you give us some insight as to why you have chosen to remain with Alpha Five rather than some of the competing products?
Glad you asked. Back when we were first computerizing the business, in the early 80's, I first needed an application for accounts payable and general ledger processes. I selected a general accounting package for that which I still used. At the time, and today, there were a number of applications available specifically for the steel distribution industry. I looked at probably everything that was available at the time. The ranged from awful, to at best, not able to do what I needed, usually at outrageous prices. The custom processing part of the business just was not built into anything available at the time. I also had my own ideas on how things should work, and didn't agree with the packaged solutions. I came to the conclusion that if I wanted it to work the way I wanted I would have to write it myself. First I tried modifying the accounting package that we had to make that work. That was a bust. I needed something more flexible. I heard about Access and tried that. It was much too complicated unless you were a professional programmer, which I wasn't and still am not. I then tried Paradox, as it got great reviews. I went as far as taking a course in the Paradox language. The problem again was it took professional programming, and was extremely time consuming.
About that time I got a postcard promoting a software package from a company that I had never heard of "Alpha Software". They advertised that one could develop "real" applications without programming. I didn't really believe the ads but it was only something like $79.00 so I gave it a try. I really didn't know what I was doing when I started, but with the help of the tech support people at Alpha, and the Compuserve bulletin board I actually got a working program, and as they claimed, I did it without programming. I have been with Alpha products ever since. Now Alpha Five isn't for every company. For a large organization I am sure Oracle or something like it is probably a better choice, but for a small business Alpha Five has everything you could need. (Well not everything, there is a lot I would like that's not there - yet.) I haven't gone back to any other product because there is no need and I still don't think there is anything on the market that compares to Alpha, or is even close to it in speed and ease of development. When Alpha says that development is 5 times faster in Alpha Five than in Access, I think they are being conservative. It really is a great product.
Q: Russ! This is the ALPHA SOFTWARE Newsletter, what do you mean "Alpha Five isn't for every company??
I suppose that isn't 100% true. For many companies a program like Quickbooks is probably the most cost effective solution. The problem arises when you need something more than Quickbooks or want to do customization. As far as I know Quickbooks doesn't lend itself easily to modifications. Hiring a consultant can be rather expensive for a small company as well. With Alpha, if a small company has someone on staff that will take the time to learn the program, you can do pretty much anything you can imagine, and do it the way you want it done. One observation I have is that some new users read that there is no programming required with Alpha Five and think that means that no thought is required. You still have to master the program if you want useful results. It is correct that most things can be done with little or no programming if the user understands how Alpha Five works, and more importantly really understands what they are trying to do with it. For most people starting out with Alpha the first step is to spend the time deciding what you really want Alpha to do and only then trying to make Alpha do it. You may have to change what you want to meet the requirements of Alpha, but you will certainly get a better result if the thought goes in before the development is started.
Q: If you singled out one or two (or more) features of Alpha Five that have been particularly useful to you, what would they be?
That is a really tough question as the list would be quite long so I'll only mention the top few. First, right at the top of the list is Action Scripting. I know there are a lot of developers that consider Action Scripting to be for the "newbies" but I don't agree at all. I can and do write Xbasic when I have to. I'm not good at it, but can do it. But why write Xbasic when Action Scripting can do it for you 10 times faster?
Field rules would be next. Again, you could do everything in field rules with Xbasic, but why? They save a lot of time, and time is something I have very little of.
Lastly I'll mention the form and report designers. They make forms and reports easy and flexible.
Q: Do you use any other software tools to help run your business?
Of course, we use Wordperfect Suite 9 for word processing, Winfax for faxing, Lansuite from Software 602 for email and proxy server, Windows NT for file serving. I also use a variety of open source and free utilities for all sorts of little things. As a small business money is always tight, so if something of low cost fits the bill we will use it. By the way, Alpha Five is also a very low cost application for us as we use the runtimes. There is a one time cost but no subscription fees or service contracts, and the support available from the message boards is the best out there. Some of those who frequent the message board should be on Alpha's payroll. For a beginner they make a huge difference.
Q: The Alpha Five Web Application Server was released last year. Do you have any plans or thoughts on using web based information within your company?
At this point we have no real need for the Web Application Server. I would like to play with it more but currently don't have the time.
Q: The client/server version of Alpha Five is coming soon. Do you have any thoughts on this?
This might be useful if it works more or less the same as the current version. The indexes in the dBase engine aren't as stable as I would like. (Although I haven't had the problems with them that some have had.) MySQL might be better, particularly as we add more users.
Q: Russ, we have talked about your business, but how about you, any hobbies or avocations we should know about?
My main hobby, as you might have guessed is computers. I enjoy building them from parts to check out some of the newer technologies. If I was a little younger I would probably have majored in computer science in college, but unfortunately they hadn't invented the things yet. I like to travel when I have time.
As most small business owners will probably tell you, running a business takes a huge amount of time. Much of my spare time is spent working on business related tasks.
I also spend (waste) a lot of time in the winter watching UCONN basketball and often go to both the women's and men's games.
Originally from New Jersey, Russ settled in Connecticut in the early 70's. In the mid 70's Russ began selling tool steels for one of the major mills, using his educational background in mechanical engineering and economics. Seeing a need for greater machining services, he founded NESSteel Inc. in the early 80's. Growing up Russ was a tinkerer, always taking apart and fixing things. Now he tinker without getting his hands dirty with Alpha Five.
Russ can be reached at: russcb@earthlink.net