The NERDS Group, 11911 Tech Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20904, US

Application Service Provider ( ASP )The ASP ( Application Service Provider ) Consortium gave a general definition -- An ASP manages and delivers application capabilities to multiple entities from a data center across a wide area network. The Internet is the largest wide area network on earth. ASPs connect you to your business applications through their network infrastructure and centralized management and hosting environment. In stead of buying a complete software package and installing it to your PC or your company's LAN, you "rent" the usage of an application over the Internet for a small monthly or yearly rental fee. In effect, you buy web-based access to the software you use rather than buy the software itself or the supporting technology. Ideally, the ASP should make accessing your applications over the web as seamless and dependable as connecting to your apps over your company LAN. But within the general definition of ASP, the level of service can vary dramatically.The true full-service ASP should be as concerned with the ongoing performance of your application as with getting it deployed. This means continuous network and applications management, the tightest security, and 24x7 availability and support. In other words, an ASP should take total responsibility for the full life cycle of your solution. We like to call it Delivering Software as a Service.In August 2001, Cleverex became the first pioneering company in the United States that delivered a hosted solutions to the Head Start organizations throughout the United States. Our PROMIS ( Program Resources and Outcomes Management Information System ) solution covers the complete service cycle including ( 1 ) Client Intake ; ( 2 ) Screening and Assessment ; ( 3 ) Goals Establishment ; ( 4 ) Service Plan ; ( 5 ) Service Delivery ; ( 6 ) Analysis and Evaluation ; and ( 7 ) Self-Performance Monitoring. Cleverex has been carefully planning and developing this ASP solution based upon our well established Services Planning and Management ( SPM ) software solution model. Our dedicated systems analysts and engineers are currently developing the next generation SPM based on Kynamic platform.With the latest technology, we can rapidly deploy solutions on our SPM platform and continuously support our clients with a highly-skilled technical and management staff. Our SPM platform consists of eleven functional components such as Intake, Assessment Instrument Builder, Health, Social Services, Education, Community, and Staff Development. This comprehensive approach enables social services organizations to gain the competitive advantage of advanced applications and evolving web-based technologies without having to divert time and resources away from their core business. Offered for a flat annual fee, Cleverex's SPM platform seamlessly integrates the hardware and software, networking, security, and round-the-clock availability, and are backed by the highest possible service level guarantees.In the following sections, let's answer the three most frequently asked questions from the past discussions with our clients.Should I consider an ASP over in-house development or consulting services? There are so many components to a Services Planning and Management ( SPM ) software solution. Fairly speaking, many internal IT departments and consulting firms do a good job of coordinating all the separate elements and vendors. But this approach can be very expensive, take a year or more to deploy, and result in false starts. ASPs have a proven, repeatable methodology for delivering these individual elements as a comprehensive service, enabling you to offload the risks associated with internal development, restructuring, and operation. As importantly, you'll reap the benefits of a complete SPM solution much more quickly because of the fast implementation and lack of start-up costs. Here is a list of benefits of using the ASP approach: