Applications & Services

Value Added Services

Overview

LOGIS value added services are special “extras” that we make available exclusively to our members. We provide some value added services for free—as a part of LOGIS membership. We offer other value added services at a cost far lower than equivalent services outside of LOGIS membership. All these services grow out of the central advantage of LOGIS membership: the sharing of resources and ideas in a consortium makes LOGIS much greater than the sum of its parts.

Network Services
LOGIS offers complete LAN (Local Area Network) Services to its members—from initial planning all the way through to daily maintenance. We consult with you, determine your needs, draw up the plans, help you purchase equipment and software, install the equipment and software at your site, and maintain your network on a day-to-day basis. Our network staff are professionals who have the expertise to both install a first rate network and help you gain the maximum benefit from it—all at a cost much less than the going market rate for private sector network specialists and services.

Internet Services
A city or government agency with an Internet “home page” allows greater access to information for its citizens and more exposure for the city or agency to people around the State, around the country, and around the world. LOGIS offers its members a presence (home page) on the Internet for a fraction of the cost of an “outside” vendor. We can also provide an Internet “gateway” (which allows city staff to access the Internet) at similar cost savings. Internet e-mail, yet another part of LOGIS’s Internet Services, gives you the opportunity to correspond with anyone else that has an Internet address. It doesn’t matter whether they’re from a neighboring city or live on another continent.

Purchasing
The LOGIS membership represents a large bloc of “purchasing power.” Thus, we are able to negotiate favorable deals with computer hardware and software vendors, then pass the savings along to our members. (LOGIS takes no mark-up.) As a LOGIS member, you can buy name brand PCs, printers, and other computer equipment at prices far lower than would be possible if you dealt with a vendor directly. We are also able to purchase sophisticated application software that an individual city or agency would find too costly.

Wide Area Network
LOGIS provides its members with something that no other vendor can offer: the LOGIS Wide Area Network (WAN). Our high speed WAN allows your LAN to connect with the networks of other LOGIS member cities and organizations, and other organizations such as Hennepin County. The benefits of the LOGIS WAN are too numerous to list completely, but they include remote network diagnostic capabilities, access to shared Police Department information (for LOGIS Police System users), inter-city electronic mail, access to shared peripheral devices, and other enhanced cooperative abilities. Please note that the security of your data is never a problem; you share only what you want to share.

Training

LOGIS provides comprehensive training on its applications as part of membership. The LOGIS offices contain a modern training facility and a full-time, professional Training Specialist. Each member is provided an unlimited number of free training hours each year.

Disaster Recovery
Members of LOGIS enjoy one of the most comprehensive disaster recovery services in the industry. Data on LOGIS’s central systems is backed up every day and stored in a fire proof cabinet. Once a week, a separate copy of the data is stored off-site and held there for a week (until it’s replaced by the next backup). If a member cannot access their data because of any problem (power outage, fire, natural disaster, etc.) they can still perform critical processing from the LOGIS offices or from the offices of another LOGIS member.

Technical Expertise
Members have easy access to the LOGIS staff, who represent a great breadth of technical knowledge. Thus, there is usually no need for our members to hire expensive consultants or additional technical staff to advise them in technical matters. Also, LOGIS is committed to the ongoing investigation of new technologies. Funding and staff resources are set aside specifically for this function.

Professional Association

LOGIS membership provides an ideal forum for professionals from municipalities and government agencies to share their ideas and perceptions. Regular user group meetings for our applications is just one way our members get together. LOGIS also sponsors meetings for Management Information Systems (MIS) Coordinators, makes its staff available to an ad hoc committee of Finance Officers, etc. These meetings and conferences create a synergy among their participants—yielding knowledge and insight whose value is difficult to overstate.

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