TCM Advantage
User-Designed Customization
We offer significant customization services to licensed users of The Clinical Manager™software at cost effective rates. Our unique approach is to share such enhancements with our entire user base at no additional cost. All of our customers, working together with Clinical Data Solutions, then become the beneficiaries of the ideas and innovations of our entire user base, from clinicians to administrators to physicians, social workers, psychologists and other medical professionals. In this way, all of our customers benefit from the expertise and ideas coming directly from the field that enhance and expand our system.
Customizable Yet Upgradeable
Most other software companies require you to make a choice; they will customize the software for you but you will be cut off forever from future upgrades and enhancements, or you must use the software as they designed it and work within it’s parameters, leading to the inevitable workarounds or compromises. Clinical Data Solutions does not force you to make that choice. Because of the way we manage the internal workings of TCM, customizations do not cut you off from future upgrades and enhancements. You can have us customize TCM as your needs evolve and still have access to all feature enhancements, bug fixes and system improvements as they are released.
Many of our customers find that they use our customization services in the same way that they would use their own in-house programming staff but at a fraction of the cost and without having to commit the resources. When combined with the technical support that comes with a maintenance contract, our customers find that they don’t just have something similar to an in-house staff, but an entire department at their disposal.
We also encourage our customers, especially whether there are affiliated agencies or county governments with which to cooperate that also use TCM, to collaborate and share costs and resources in customization projects, thus lowering costs and magnifying the benefits of being a TCM user. Once you become a CDS customer, we will be happy to connect you with other agencies within your area that use TCM with whom you can collaborate.
Expandable, Scaleable, Affordable, Flexible
The hallmark of good software is a system that can expand and adapt as your organization’s needs change. We have customers who started out with a few dozen users and now have hundreds users running our software every day. As your needs change, TCM changes with you.
Our web and desktop based system is designed for larger organizations that require more robust server-based transaction processing. The Clinical Manager™ is designed to work with most SQL database software. All of our development has been tested and used with both Sybase and Microsoft SQL Server on both Unix and Windows servers. System capacity (number of users, number of records, etc.) is limited only by the hardware (disk space, memory, etc.) and number of software licenses. Data can be accessed via ODBC and/or other third party tools.
Unique License Upgrade Program
Sometimes our customers are uncertain how many licenses to initially purchase. We have helped to alleviate some of that uncertainty with our unique license upgrade program. After your initial purchase, if you find that you need to add licenses, we take into account what you paid to date and then only charge the difference to the next licensing level. TCM has a built-in usage reporting system so we can help you ensure that you are properly licensed at all times.
Choose your platform, Any Platform
TCM runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and select distributions of Linux. You can mix and match client workstation platforms to fit your need.
Software When You Want It
Most software companies release updates to their software once or twice a year. If you have a problem affecting your operation, you have to wait for their next release for a fix to your problem, if you are lucky enough for the fix to have made it in.
At Clinical Data Solutions, we take a different approach. If you discover a problem in the software and are under our normal maintenance program, we will fix it for you, normally within a day or two, and we make the new release available immediately after that.
Know Your Support Person
Customers under our regular maintenance program are assigned a person for technical and user support issues. No dialing into a call center the get the next anonymous support person you never heard of and who never heard of you. Because every customer is different and uses TCM in different ways big and small, having a customer support person who is familiar not only with TCM but is familiar with the unique way you use the software is critical. That is why we assign you to a specific person. We also ask you to identify a specific person within your organization to work with our support person. This creates a partnership between our organizations that is based on shared knowledge and common objectives, achieving a far more productive support and service environment.
Data Driven
TCM’s functionality is driven by over 100 categories of user-defined look up information, from Program Type to Funding Sources, to Domains to just about any type of look up information you can imagine. This data driven model dramatically increases accuracy, reduces errors, and eliminates duplication of data. That in turn makes reporting far more accurate and flexible.