Odyssey mobile consists of two applications: the Odyssey System Manager and the Odyssey Mobile Client. The System Manager runs on a server in the office and provides the links to the back office application(s) and the PDAs. The Odyssey Mobile Client runs on a PDA and allows the rep to enquire on contacts and customer accounts, and to take quotations and orders, which are then transmitted, back to the System Manager.

All of the tasks performed by the System Manager can be scheduled to run at certain times on specific days. Therefore, once the system manager has been set up, the system runs with the minimum of user input. The system can be set up to email a specified administrator when a scheduled task succeeds or fails, and there is a full enquiry on tasks that have been run.

The system allows your sales force to take orders and quotations (including quotations to prospects) on the PDA & send the to the system manager via email. The system manager then imports the orders into it's repository and output's the orders to the back office application.

A number of standard reports are provided, including an order/quotation print, which allow you to print, preview or email the documents direct to the customer/prospect.

The number of historic orders displayed is configurable through the system manager. The enquiry also includes a list of current orders placed against the account on the PDA.

A new order/quotation can then be placed against the account.

The order entry allows the user to create orders and quotations linked using account and product details from the back office accountancy system.

The system includes checks for the customer being on stop, and for the account balance exceeding the credit limit.

When entering order lines, the system allows for multiple sales units and multiple pricing types e.g. customer special pricing and discount matrices. Against each document, the user can enter order notes and a different delivery address, and the system can even capture the customer's signature.

Once the orders have been taken, they can be sent back to the system manager at head office via email.

The system manager imports information from the back office application(s) into a repository database. This allows the system to link into multiple back office applications.

All of the standard processes in the system manager can be scheduled automatically using the Roundhouse task manager.

Each process can be set up to run every specified number of minutes or hours, or at a specified time each day. The days that each task will be run on can also be specified.

Tasks can be disabled individually when required.

Once a task is run, the processing details are output to a log, which can be viewed at any time.

In addition, each task can be set up to send an email to an administrator when it fails or succeeds.

The processes that can be scheduled include the import of back office data, the export of data to the PDA, the import of orders from the PDA and the export order orders to the back office system.