Titus Information Systems Church Software Philosophy

Titus Information Systems, Inc.

Church Software Philosophy

Stephen E. Stern, President

Titus Information Systems was founded in 1979 by two church deacons who felt led to provide computer services for churches. Their objective was to provide technical assistance to ministerial and clerical staff so that they could spend more time in ministry rather than performing administrative tasks. The name of the company was derived from II Corinthians 7:5, which says, "Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus". With computer hardware currently being so easily acquired, the company now specializes exclusively in software services for churches, general business, utilities, and the public sector.

Titus Information Systems has an extensive suite of package software developed specifically for churches. These packages were originally developed for the Prime Mini-computer. They have been completely converted to operate on a personal computer running in character mode (DOS) and can be used on any current PC operating system, including both DOS and Windows. The process of converting these applications to operate with the graphical user interface (GUI) is challenging, but is under way. In addition, I would be pleased to examine any software specification you might have and provide a quotation for custom software development.

Titus Information Systems has been in business developing both software packages and custom software since 1979, and I have been on the staff since 1980. Currently, I am the President and sole employee, working primarily as a contract programmer for several companies both in the Phoenix area and nation-wide. A reference list is available.

I have developed both an extensive quantity and a wide variety of both software packages and custom software. I estimate that Titus Information Systems currently has over 800,000 lines of code on file. This software is written in Microsoft Visual C++, COBOL, JavaScript, Microsoft Assembly language, FORTRAN, Prime Info-Basic, Advanced Revelation R-Basic, PowerBuilder Script, Microsoft Word Macro Basic, and MS-DOS Batch files.

Titus Information Systems writes primarily business applications that incorporate information storage, maintenance, retrieval, and report generation. The company has extensive experience working with COBOL compilers on IBM mainframes with the JCL language, Prime mini-computers, and DEC VAX mini-computers. Some software currently being developed is for Personal Computers using the MicroFocus NetExpress COBOL compiler with the Dialog System screen painter. One customer has a hospital patient database with more than 30 million records; when they have something their 4GL package (PowerBuilder) takes too long to accomplish, they ask me to write it in COBOL to cut the run time from days to hours.

Another customer required a customized software package to handle donations made by churches to the denomination office, as well as to keep track of donations made by individuals. In addition, the software accounts for subscriptions made to the monthly denomination newsletter by individuals and also by groups of people whose names were submitted by churches. This software is also equipped with the useful ability to create a variety of detailed historical reports and summary reports by church, by month, and by fund.

Titus Information Systems has created a number of utilities for string manipulation, terminal emulation, custom network control, screen display, report printing, and printer drivers. Substantial work has also been done with mixing programming languages to facilitate the most efficient solution possible. Another customer has a contact management software package which doesn't interface well with Microsoft WORD and other office automation software. A custom interface program solves these problems. It is written in COBOL, which accesses the contact management database using BTRIEVE (now called Pervasive.SQL), and Microsoft Visual C++, which handles the user interface using standard windows graphics and the interface to Microsoft WORD, Microsoft EXCEL, and Pegasus Mail. While using it extensively himself, the customer is also presently attempting to market this enhancement.

Lately, many customers are requiring their applications to function on a web site. One customer required an application written in Revelation R-Basic to run on his web site. This involved a great deal of JavaScript programming for both server-side and client-side. Titus Information Systems has developed the entire web site for the newest customer. This includes an Active Server Pages application that allows visitors to calculate the appropriate ratio of fixed and equity investments appropriate for their age and income.

Titus Information Systems has modem capability using PC Anywhere, email, and proprietary Terminal Emulation software. With these packages, it is possible to download and upload software, data, and text from virtually any PC, minicomputer, or mainframe system around the world. Titus Information Systems is able to develop and test software in the home office and ship it to a customer's location for implementation and final testing. Titus Information Systems has three telephone lines so that simultaneous data and voice communication is possible.

Titus Information Systems normally charges $100.00 per hour plus expenses for software development, but stand-alone utilities or complete custom packages may be developed on a quotation basis. The philosophy at Titus Information Systems is that a computer system can be an effective administrative tool only when efficient, flexible software is running on the appropriate hardware, being used by well-trained people, and supported by competent, knowledgeable personnel who can give the correct answers the first time. Titus Information Systems wants to become your computer software company.

If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact us. Thank you in advance for your consideration.