Hi Guys,

I have an SQL database that is setup running from a custom built Metastorm CRM for our business.

I was wondering if there is a method to display business information to our sales team using just one computer. in our office hooked up to a TV.

The kind of information displayed will be new sales created and sales for the week etc.........

Is there any software out there that can do this in realtime that can be hooked up t the sql database?

OR

Can people advise on how to further the project from a home grown programming perspective?

Best,

JMC

software available.. providing you can write the SQL to extract the data you require then yes.

TV on its own no, at least not without some messing around
however what you could do is attach a simple cheap computer to the back of a TV and feed the TV from that computer (some all,ow HDMI inputs some RGB [VGA 15 pin D plug]). you coudl then get the cheap computer to act as a web client displaying the data in whatever sixed TV you want.

Im thinking of the something like the ACER Revo
Google

however if you are going down that route you might as well make the web page available to the sales team directly on their computers.

Ive used this approach in an educational context where the institution wanted 4 (as it turned out 8 large screen panels in their main entrance. they wanted the ability to change the display at will, so sometimes its a routine 'advertising' eg these are the courses we do..., sometimes they wanted one or more screens to act as a notice board eg "blah di blah University welcomes blah di blah to the hot de hoot conference"
sometimes they act as information swtichboard eg "go to room XXX for blah di blah"

lastly they panels can be activated using a fire / emergency evacuation and so on... all done through web pages, so there is minimal client programming, no need to access the panels regularly, virtually all administration is done remotely.

the only thing we can't do is to 'chain' the displays ie a scrolling message form one screen to the next without resorting to some development on the display computers

of course if you have a spare computer sittign around ytou coudl save the cost of the computer and just plug it directly into a suitable TV and get the same effect.

to go down this route
you'd need a web server capable of sendign out the data a suitable front end language to create the web page(s)

effectively you'd have something similar to the 1970's era of Teletext
Teletext
although the quality of the image should be much much better.

Thanks for the prompt reply!!

In answer to your question, yes, I have a computer that will be hooked up to the TV and connected to our network.

The requirement of the job is that there is one location in the office for the information to be consistently displayed. If it were displayed via a webpage, the user would have to access the page........not what is wanted.

You mentioned that there is software available, can you please advise what would be suitable?

Best,

JMC

why wouldn't a web page be appropriate? you fire up the revo. TV parasite computer which displays its web browser who's home page is set to whatever... no interaction required.

display a page, after N seconds it then pulls the next page and so on.
you can have as many pages as you like, although I'd limit it to say 3..5 minute cycle at most.

if all you want is a large display, then use a VGA distribution box to split the VGA signal. heck of you want to be cute, use a big powerfull dispay adapter that can support two (or more displays) and have the data displayed on that other display.

its going to be easier and cheaper to do a web page than a traditional progrma, unless you happen to have the tools available. you cna get a webserver + web scritping language (say PHP) for £0.00p, the problem may be in writing your scripts inm terms of time and experience.

I'd also go down the simple web page route. You just need the SQL to pull the sales figures for each salesman (office, product line...) and then get it to refresh once every 10 minutes (or whatever is appropriate).

It should obviously display the data in a format that's easy to read from a distance ie a colourful bar graph. Ideally you could get it so people could drill down to see who's the top salesman in their office etc or perhaps look at figures for a previous period.

The people who come out at the top will love it while those lower down will find all sorts of holes in your calculations.