FOM Software Features

Professional

FOM is not a general calendar or scheduler that is available everywhere. FOM is professional management software for shared instruments.
FOM is designed and programmed by real life facility managers specialized in electron microscopy. We know the best of what you need and always welcome suggestions for new features.
FOM is written in Java and use Microsoft SQL engine. FOM is highly modularized and easy to expand or customize to meet your facility needs.
FOM has a clear administration structure: System admin, facility admin, instrument manager, supervisor, and user. Every user role has its own privileges.

Reliable

FOM was designed in 2002 and has been installed in more than 10 universities in the United States.
At Northwestern University, one FOM server is used to control 14 shared facilities all over the campus. More than 1000 users are using the same server to schedule time on 120 shared instruments.
With optional remote switch control, FOM keeps the most accurate accounting of instrument usage. Users cannot use the controlled instruments without logging in FOM.
FOM database is automatically backed up every day with the FOM's internal backup function.

Flexible

FOM provides the most flexible schedule and fee structure. For each instrument, a manager may configure different schedule increment, daytime start/end, schedule limitations, and billing policies.
Instruments may be charged per reservation, per actual used time, or combination of reserved and actual used time. Charge calculations are rounded to one minute.
FOM provides fairly complicated yet flexible rules to validate user financial accounts. For Northwestern University, FOM validates user's account numbers dynamically against the NU financial system.
Managers have complete control of usage records. Manual insertion of service records, modification of users' records, or batch import of large numbers of usage records from other databases. All these functions are available to select on one page.

Thoughtful

All scenarios are carefully considered. Reservations, cancellations, modifications, early logons, late-comers, extended sessions, conflicting reservations, no-shows, forgot logoffs, auto-logoffs, reserve for users, training sessions, service sessions, repair sessions...
On each instrument, unlimited discount structures can be configured for different user groups.
FOM provides complete management of consumable sales and inventory. Consumables may be associated with certain instruments or sold separately. Warning messages are sent to mangers when a consumable is running out.
Unlimited operation manuals and other documents can be linked to each instrument. Users can browse documents by facility, instrument, and description of the documents.
FOM provides numerous reports for various purposes. Customized reports can be easily added upon requests.

Customizable

FOM has been customized for Northwestern University to use a centralized NetID login. FOM developers will collaborate with your institution's IT support staff to implement your own single-sign-on system.
FOM has been customized for Northwestern University to be fully compatible with its financial system. We will customize FOM for your institution to provide data transactions fully compatible with your accounting system.
FOM supports unlimited number of instruments in a facility. It takes just a few minutes to configure parameters for the new instruments.
FOM supports unlimited number of facilities on a single server for the whole institution. A new facility can be added with just a few mouse clicks.
From free online hosting service to complete enterprise solution, we provide four different license types that you may choose from. click here to see the four license types