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Track-It vs. HEAT

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by timmitchell 1 view

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I'm in a quandry. A while back I evaluated two software products, HEAT by FrontRange and Track-IT by Blue Ocean. HEAT was obviously the superior product, with rock solid stability and excellent support; unfortunately, its cost ($32,000) was several times greater than Track-It (about $5500). In the end, I had to rule out Track-It because of a number of unresolved bugs, specifically in the notification module (which is mission-critical for us).

But now somehow the funding for HEAT has been postponed, and possibly declined altogether. So I'm revisiting Track-It (or any other budget-minded solution that will suit our needs).

By the way, we're currently using ACT/SiteNet by SRS. It's an old version and is buggy; even the upgrade version has very little of the functionality that we need, but somehow it's the most expensive solution I found. So, continuing or upgrading this solution will not be an option.

So, all you help desk administrators and technicians out there: Could Iget some feedback on Track-It and HEAT?

For users of Track-It, what kind of bugs have you experienced....how easy to implement and to train techs/users....how good is support....tell me about your usage and level of satisfaction overall with thisproduct.

HEAT users: are all the features and functionality of HEAT enough to justify waiting until we can get the funding approved to pay for it (could be a year or longer).

Thanks in advance for your input.

4 replies

by beecee

Well, we ordered Trackit for our company and its not very configurable at all on the back side. Our programmers are pulling there hair out trying to get it to do what we want it to do. Also, the way it tracks users, tickets or any record is absurd. For instance, if you start to create a record for anything and want to cancel it, the # for that record is considered used and it wont let you resuse it. You may think thats OK, but in the long run it stands for trouble on the backend.

In addition, their inventory, audit and user management system is nothing to be proud of. The Audit part and the user database don't work well hand in hand. In my database I am #1000076 or something like that. Well, when the audit is done (you have to do selections from existing data of users) the numbers don't match, you end up having to edit them by hand and each audit comes up with 5 files or 4, cant remember. if you merge it into the database without edits it just creates new records or doesnt merge at all.

Also, from what my programmers state, the tech support for this product is not very helpful. The backend uses some FoxPro also, and from the rumors, I think FoxPro is going bye bye or has already meaning bye bye support for Track it on their end and that means even MORE limited support on the user end. The programmer states that he gets about 1 out of every 20 questions answered, if that.
Also, its very picky on what it takes user information from (import) so check that too oryou'll be doing LOTS of typing.

If I had a choice to do it all over again I would have chosen HEAT even though it seemed a bit much at the time for our small IS dept.

If you need any more information I can see if I can pass you along to the programmer. After all, front ends are easy... its the backend that is important.

by timmitchell

Thanks for the info. I had a demo version of Track-It running for over a month, and was somewhat pleased with some of the product features. However, when I called for support to ask questions about what the product could and couldn't do, I was often put off and sometimes ignored. Calls to tech support are sent directly to voicemail, and you have to leave a message and hope for a callback or email response. Further, when I finally did get a human being on the phone, she sent me a list of known bugs with the software... and it read like a rap sheet. Her suggestion was that we go ahead and buy the product, because all the bugs would be resolved with the next release late this year. Sure......

Anyway, I'm still leaning strongly towardHEAT. Track-it may have some usability, but I need it to be configurable and have rock-solid stability.

Thanks for your help.

by beecee

Well, we have been using Track-It now steadily for about 2 months and everyone that has anything to do with the thing is just annoyed by almost everything it does.

As for the demo. I tried it also, it's about as useful at demonstrating the program in Flash format! In other words... its not like the actual product, just visually the same.

Good luck with Heat! ;)
Adriana

by nikodiemus

i recently research, and purches Track it for my dept. i work for a school sytem of 20 schools, each with about 1000 pc in them, and track it has been nothing but helpful, as for the duplicate file and the screwing up of #'s well im sorry but your programmers must not know how to read... the back of the track it book tell you about how to use the database files, thats the other thing... your programmers shouldnt be touching track it its for use for your computer tech and database manager..its not ment to be tampered with by buggy programmers..if you need any help on how to use the software please let me know ill be glad to help!

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