COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE: HP / Rad. Safety

[Des/abc Sys/CT <73150.350@compuserve.com>]

Hello!

I'm currently evaluating HP/ Rad Safety commercial software for  usage in a
large university setting and would dearly love to have an exchange with some
people about the two commercial products that I found.  Those products being,
the DOS based CHAMMPs and the Windows based HP Assistant software packages.

While it would be great to have 15 minutes on the phone with a current user of
either of these products, (or even someone who evaluated both of them), I
definitely would like some input on the following few items:

1) CHAMMPS appears to be a "tightly coupled" system which imposes the following
relationships: a) A specific line item of an internal license is related to a
specific line item of an external line item, b) a specific order line item is
related to a specific internal license line item, c) a specific receipt is
related to a specific order, and d) a specific disposal is related to a specific
order, and so on.  While it appears that such "tight coupling" would quickly
identify anything that might otherwise fall through the cracks, I wonder if it
require significant procedural changes at sites where it's implemented?

2) HP Assistant on the other-hand is more "loosely coupled," where it appears to
track quantity limits, purchases, consumption, disposals, and inventory on a per
isotope basis for each PI. Which, with some variance reports will over time tell
you if anything significant has been missed. How does this approach compare with
how people are actually doing things, and is it sufficient to meet regulation
requirements?

3) Both CHAMMPs and HP Assistant Internal Licenses contain a listing of all
isotopes currently authorized for each Principal Investigator (PI), and for each
of those isotopes what form they will be used in (specific form or any), the
annual order and total quantity limits. However, what I'm looking for is the
ability to track a history of authorizations for specific isotopes where each
one of them has a separate authorization number and expiration date (3 years
from approval of application or last renewal). For example; Principal
Investigator A might be on Authorization 3 for Isotope P-32 which is due to
expire on 3/23/99. In turn, for each separate Authorization I would like to be
able to track the following research related information: a) in what forms will
the isotope be used, b) will animals be involved, c) types of experiments, d)
will viruses, carcinogens, biohazards be involved, e) quantity per order, number
of con-current orders, on-hand, over three years, etc. Where do other large
universities fall, at the CHAMMPs / HP Assistant level or the level I described?
If you fall in the latter and you use either CHAMMPs or HP Assistant how do you
administer it?

DISCLAIMER: All opinions are my own and nobody elses. Also, you should be aware
that my observations about CHAMMPs and HP Assistant are based on a limited
amount of time spent playing with their respective demos and not actual exposure
to the final products. Moreover, do not consider the few observations I've made
either a dismissal or endorsement of either of these products. I am after-all,
evaluating them with specific needs in mind. Should you feel I'm wrong in any of
my observations please don't hesitate to correct me so the public at large isn't
left with a false impression, thanks.

If you would like to reply in private please email me at
73150.350@compuserve.com or call me at (203) 373-1021.

Thanks.

Des Nolan
(203) 373-1021
ABC Systems, Inc.
Bridgeport, CT