Customer Case History:
Chatham County Board of Assessors

It's an undeniable fact of life that any job related to the setting or collecting of taxes is about as popular as a dose of measles. Property tax assessment is no different. Across the United States, legions of county tax assessors spend many days braving a variety of weather conditions, traffic jams and hostile family dogs - just to visit, photograph and place a value on local properties.

But the job doesn't end there! An assessor must often face the subsequent ire of the taxpayer, who demands to know why his property tax is "astronomically higher" than that of his neighbor who owns a comparable home. As a public servant, the assessor must find data and photographs relating to both homes to substantiate the assessment and provide a reasonable response.

While no current computer hardware/software combination can adjust weather conditions, lighten traffic or soothe the family pet, assessors in Chatham County, Georgia have received substantial assistance in accessing and retrieving data and visuals of the properties under their jurisdiction. That help is being provided by AGE Logic, Inc., in the form of XoftWare/32 for Windows.

Chatham County encompasses a broad area of the nation's eleventh largest state, including Savannah, a major southern port. County assessors are responsible for approximately 110.000 properties, ranging from ante-bellum mansions to sleek condominiums. Until the early 1990s, the assessor's office relied on a Unisys mainframe computer for database storage, four IBM workstations for graphical information, and PCs for office applications. When property data and/or photos were required, they had to be retrieved from different computers or file cabinets. No computer network existed that enabled them to display simultaneously both the data and photos they needed to review.

Gary Udinsky, manager of support services in the assessor's office, realized that a technology upgrade was necessary, and knew exactly what form it should take. Because of his geographical information system (GIS) background, he was aware of the benefits of X Window technology. "When we began to plan a reconfiguration of the office," he observes, "I recognized that we needed X for our multi-windowing requirements. There is nothing else currently available that could do what we needed. But Ukinsky's plan had to accommodate much of the existing equipment. "I knew that we weren't going to toss out our PCs in favor of X terminals. We had to find a way to use or existing PCs. X provided the answer.

In 1992, the Unisys mainframe within the assessor's office was replaced by an IBM RS/6000 running an AIX operating system. A network using FTP's TCP/IP network software linked the approximately 40 users in the office to the UNIX-based system. 99 percent of these users continued to rely on their 386/33 PCs, which are configured with 8MB of random access memory (RAM), a Token Ring network card, a Super VGA card with 1MB of RAM and a single 3.5 inch floppy disk. No hard drives were used; PC-based applications resided on a networked Novell server.

Choosing a PC X server software vendor was one of the last remaining issues. After evaluating several vendors, the Chatham County Board of Assessors Office asked its hardware supplier, IBM, for suggestions. The computer giant recommended XoftWare from AGE Logic, Inc. Because the entire configuration was in the initial stages of evaluation and implementation, there were problems orchestrating all of the components of the new network. For help integrating the PC X server, Gary Udinsky turned to Brad Weinert, AGE's technical support manager, and received an immediate response. "Brad Weinert sold the product," Udinsky comments. "He was always available to provide direction or answer a question. And if he didn't have the answer, he found it quickly. Other vendors didn't respond as rapidly-not even close."

Eventually, Udinsky switched his user base from DOS to Windows. By taking advantage of a local window manager, the load on the RISC system and network was significantly reduced. In addition, a variety of data graphic applications from the UNIX system were available with the same look and feel of the PC-based applications. By using XoftWare/32 for Windows, the PC users can simultaneously view property data, photos and topology maps from the RS6000 system on the same screen as PC applications such as WordPerfect, Lotus and dBase. The XoftWare PC X server also permits an easy exchange of information between the UNIX and PC programs with a simple cut and paste tool. Such capabilities expedite the processing of questions about relative property values, locations, and differences in assessments.

Because users in the Chatham County office are not versed in advance UNIX technologies, ease of use is critical. The "transparency" of XoftWare/32 for Windows makes a major contribution to its criterion. Unlike many competing products, a default server configuration file is automatically created during the XoftWare installation process, eliminating the need for a user to work through each configuration option. Because icons can be created to start each UNIX application, the time required to get the end user up and running is minimized. According to Udinsky, "To our PC users, an X Window is just another Microsoft window. They don't know they're going to a different machine."

Future plans for the Chatham County Assessor's Office include the investigation of a remote serial product that will allow requesters to retrieve data by dialing in on a normal asynchronous line. When it comes time for installation of such a product. Chatham County, Georgia will look to the west once again, to X serial products currently available from AGE.

In the meantime, property assessment, data retrieval, and even irate phone calls are easier to handle. XoftWare/32 for Windows has established a successful 18-month record in the County Assessor's Office. AGE's products and customer support don't need any reassessment in Chatham County, Georgia.


XoftWare is a registered trademark and AGE, XoftStart, CascadeX, AFS and RAPID are trademarks of AGE Logic, Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective organizations. ©Copyright 1995 AGE Logic, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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