Why is TDOC now "Open Source" ?
The simple answer:
Because the cost of selling has, over the years, risen from low to high. So the time has to come for a change.
The first sale had a zero cost of sale.
TDOC was first written as an "in house" solution for DHE - a small electrical design and project management company in Dumbarton. It was seen by Amerada Hess, who were employing DHE on a large project. They bought it. The original business plan was to sell one thousand copies at one thousand pounds each. And to make the sales to DHE's clients, and other engineering firms that they knew, and then to work outwards from these selling to their clients etc etc. This is classic "referral sellling", where the cost of selling is a making and receiving a few phone calls plus a visit to get take the order..
The next sales came from a surprising quarter:
One DHE subsidiary was 2M - a small consultancy specialising in preparing contract claims. The single biggest task in preparing a claim is to gather all the available information together, and then to analyse it. Seems simple enough, until one realises that the analysis is best done by storing all the information in a database, and then using the database reporting function to conduct the analysis. TDOC was soon extended to enable it to be used for this purpose. Another group of firms emerged to whom TDOC could be sold by referral.
Then came what one might call "normalisation".
As TDOC had gained a reputation of being a stable, "works out of the box" solution, interest was expressed by Scottish Enterprise. The development team had applied for some grants for bits and pieces - like the first server.
Traditional sales and marketing methods were introduced resulting in a dramatic increase in sales to major construction project managers - in particlular Heery International based in Walton on Thames. This resulted in most of the major extensions to the product being developed, and the deployment of TDOC on a large number of very major projects ranging from Airports [e.g. Edinburgh] to Banks [e.g. Bank of England] to Hospitals [e.g. North Durham] to PFI schools [e.g. Rotherham]. In those days an amazing FIFTY per cent of people responded to marketing literature ...
Other firms who have used TDOC extensively include Balfour Beatty, Laings, O'Rourke, Ballast Wilstshier, Interserve, Veolia. All of these sales were made by referral from project to project, and contractor to contractor as staff moved between them.
Broadband arrived, and changed things ...
With the arrival of the internet [over which TDOC not only runs fine but uses and relies on for communications to a great extent], came the concept of project portals, and selling methods changed dramatically: they started selling direct to the client who then specified the use of the selected portal on their projects. At the same time IT and Finance departments started taking control of specifying [EDM] software solutions. Sales methodologies have had therefore to change.
Not surprisingly there also appears to be a lack of process knowledge [of CEMDC] amongst both clients and IT/Finance personnel. The result has been a probable INCREASE in the costs of project management due to staff waiting on remote servers to perform complex data tasks. The senior document controller of a recent major new TDOC user (used to using remote portals) commented "it is so fast, and so easy". Of course TDOC sends everything out as pdf by email [zipping and FTP'ing as required], and imports the answers back in using EDI. All courtesy of a remote server doing what internet servers do best - process simple HTTP POST requests FAST. And fast for the respondents as well as for the project staff. And the respondents only need an internet connection and a browser ... no log ons, no security problems, and strict compliance with ISO9001.
So the sales problem has reverted to the age old problem of selling not a solution as such, but the methodology BEHIND the solution. Which is why in the 1980's software was so expensive.
Now Google does the selling ...
The way in which software is purchased has also changed. No longer does the sales team have to break down doors to find someone interested in buying. Thanks probably to Google who found this site for you - FREE: so the cost of finding prospects and selling to them has fallen to zero.
Consequently as no revenue is required to support a sales team, the TDOC System software is now "open source" - which means it is now FREE to use.
How it works ... what YOU have to do ...
Now that you have located TDOC,

- Visit wp.TDOCPlus.co.uk, download the Basic System, and install. There is no password.
- Any problems contact TDOC Support,
- Once you are satisfied that you have chosen the right product, download the Complete System and install the appropriate module for everyone using TDOC.
- If you need to run over the interent, or have more than 5 users, then:

- You buy the Advantage Client Server engine,
- You may buy a Dongle Licence,

- If you need support, you purchase it from TDOC Support,
- If you need help with configuration, you purchase consultancy from one of our approved consultants,
- If you need training, you purchase it from one of our approved trainers.

Visit the TDOC Web Site