Overview

The development of ALEX started back in 1996 under the direction of Barbara Harper of the Tallulah Ranger District (Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest) in Clayton, Georgia.  Barbara contacted Tom Kinser of Cymations Inc in Atlanta to see if there could be a simple database designed to track appropriated funds from Congress for the Tallulah Ranger District.  It was intended as a simple tracking database to help users reconcile their allocations and expenses with management reports from the National Finance Center.  And so, the name ALEX was derived from Allocations and Expenses.

ALEX was so successful that Districts and Supervisor Offices in Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alaska and others throughout the US Forest Service have now implemented it.  ALEX is also supporting users in Job Corp offices in Tennessee, Virginia and Arkansas.  

Support for collection tracking was added back in 1998 for Fee Demo and ALEX now supports many forms of revenue collection.  Support for planning projects by employees, equipment and supplies was added in 2000.  ALEX continues to be enhanced and expanded as more use it and offer their suggestions on how to make it even better.

 ALEX can be downloaded from the Internet and installed for a single user or networked and shared by multiple users.  ALEX is loaded on a user's PC under the folder  "C:\Program Files\Alex."  ALEX is comprised of 3 Microsoft Access databases:  Alex0; Alex1; Alex2.  Alex0 is used during installation to upgrade older versions to the latest version.  Alex1 contains all screen and report definitions.  Alex2 contains the unique data for each installation site and can be moved to any other location on the user's network.  Alex2 must be backed up on a regular basis.

ALEX can be started in Microsoft Windows from the Programs menu or by starting Microsoft Access 2002 and opening the Alex1 database from within Access.  The first time ALEX is started on a user’s computer a lock number is generated and a key code is required to unlock the database.  The user is allowed 10 free trials before requiring the key code.  The key code is per user and can only be acquired from Cymations Inc.  If no key code is entered after 10 free trial runs then ALEX disabled.  A limited key code can be acquired at no charge and a user be allowed to connect to other ALEX database and print reports only.

ALEX is $375 per key code. 

Price is based solely on number of users and not the number of databases used.

Multiple copies of Alex2 are supported in ALEX so that a user may enter and report on multiple districts or locations while keeping the data separate.  Each Alex2 database can be shared from a file server or a single user’s computer depending on the network’s design and security.

The screens for the database are divided between Projects, Transactions, Reports and Maintenance.  Maintenance screens provide the means to add and update supporting codes such as Program (EBLI) codes, Job codes, Cost Org (Work Activity) codes, System Transaction codes, Budget Object codes, etc.  The Transactions screen captures data for collections, allocations, operating expenses and salary expenses.  The Reports screen provides the printing of multiple reports for sorting and totaling all funds and expenses by any date range and/or any of the supporting codes.

Reports include Allocations and Collections by Job Code, Expenses by Job Code and System Transaction Code, Expenses by Budget Object Group, Salary Expenses by Job Code, Expenses by Program (EBLI) and Job Code, Summary by Program (EBLI) and Job Code, Summary for All Job Codes, Collections by Site, Percentage of Collections by Job Code, Annual GAO report and graph, Summary of All Collection Sites, Salaries by Employee, Employee Planned Hours, Salaries by Pay Period and others.

Since ALEX is written in Microsoft Access then any Forest District that currently has Microsoft Office installed already supports it.  Other applications in Office such as Word and Excel can pull information from ALEX for more customized reports such as spreadsheets or letters.  ALEX can also be customized to connect to any other supported database such as Oracle or SQL Server for additional data retrieval.

Starting ALEX

Start ALEX by clicking the "Start" button in your Task Bar; clicking "Programs"; and then clicking "ALEX".  The "splash screen" or main window is then displayed:

ALEX is designed in sections:  Connection, Location, Projects, Transactions, Reports, Maintenance, Support and Backup.   These sections are available from the main window along with a command button for "Exit".  Clicking on the "Exit" button will close ALEX and return to Windows.

Last Updated:  August 21, 2004