Welcome to Umler

Railinc Umler™/Equipment Management Information System (Umler) provides a variety of enhanced equipment management functions which can be completed through an Internet connection. This chapter presents an overview of Railinc’s Umler, its system requirements, descriptions and references to supporting documentation, contacts, as well as a description of standard Railinc web interface elements and the Umler-specific interface elements.

Umler is the industry’s central repository for registered rail and intermodal equipment in North America. This system rests at the heart of nearly all railway activities. It is critical for effective industry interline operations. It provides the physical characteristics of equipment and the inspection data needed for the safe routing, loading capabilities, and rating information for car hire accounting. Virtually all of the electronic exchange of rail equipment data relies in one form or another on Umler. It serves as the industry’s database for equipment management and inspection information.

In order to facilitate the industry’s ever-changing business rules and government regulations, industry leaders commissioned the development of Railinc Umler.

Railinc Umler allows users to access and manage rail equipment information through an Internet application. The Umler interface promotes greater efficiency by providing web-based access to the Umler database, allowing users to query and to make real-time updates to their data. This system has been designed to meet the data integrity needs of our customers by providing this greater flexibility in a fully-secure environment.

Functions

This document has been updated to include Umler 3.9 functions. Major functions include:

User Guide Structure

This document has been reorganized to reflect the application menu order of Umler. It describes use and interpretation of new interface elements in Umler 3.8.

Dictionary-like retrieval text appears in the headers. A full index is included.

Screen captures generally show only the content area of the web pages (headers and footers have been removed).

Railinc Single Sign On (SSO) information has been removed, and references to the Railinc Single Sign On User Guide added where needed. SSO information for Umler administrators has been moved to the Umler System Administrator User Guide.

Whenever possible the term “select” is used to indicate making a choice using either the mouse or keyboard. Left-clicking generally activates a control or selects an item. Where a double-click is required, it is specified. Typical keyboard selection equivalents are described in Railinc Interface Elements.

Underlined blue links are functional links to go to another section of the user guide.

Requesting Changes to Umler

To request changes to Umler:

1.      Double-click the embedded document.

2.      Complete the document and Save (leave open).

3.      Select the link at the top of the form. This opens an e-mail to CSC with the subject line set to Umler Change Request.

4.      Attach the saved document.

5.      Send the e-mail.

Here are some basic computer requirements for Umler.

Exhibit 1. Umler Computer Requirements

Web Browser

Railinc Umler requires a web browser to display its data. Most computers have Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox  installed. To ensure optimum performance of Umler, use a recommended version of Internet Explorer or Firefox. Here are the two download sites:

·         Internet Explorer 7.0:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/default.mspx

·         Firefox 3.0:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

PDF Viewer

Many functions of Umler require Adobe Acrobat Viewer to view Portable Document Format (PDF) documents. For example, updates to this manual are available in PDF.  Here is the download site for a free and current version of Acrobat Reader:

·         http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

CSV Format

Many Umler download functions use Comma Separated Value (CSV) file format.  This format is supported by Microsoft Excel versions 97 and higher. Users that do not have Excel 97 or higher installed on their machine or have a compatible spreadsheet application may download a free Microsoft Excel Viewer from Microsoft Corporation:

·         http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c8378bf4-996c-4569-b547-75edbd03aaf0&DisplayLang=en

TRAIN II, Volume 3 – Umler™

This volume discusses the use of Umler. The focus of this manual is the mainframe processes involved in the maintenance of Umler, including the details of relevant TRAIN II messages. The system’s menu-driven screens are explained in depth, allowing users to query, add, delete, or make changes to the Umler Master File.

Information for ordering this manual can be found on Railinc’s website www.railinc.com.

Umler™ Data Specifications Manual

The Umler Data Specification Manual provides the data requirements and input formats to register equipment into the Umler system and is needed when registering equipment. It also contains tables of business rules and field definitions. The Data Specification Manual is available on the Railinc website and within the application by selecting the Help link on the upper right of any page.

The current version of the Umler Data Specifications Manual can be downloaded from Railinc at the following link: https://www.railinc.com/rportal/web/guest/umlerreferences.

AAR Field Manual

Published by the Association of American Railroads (AAR), this manual contains all rules dealing with the care and repair, responsibility for, disposition of, settlement of freight equipment.  It includes the procedures for the operating and billing of maintenance pools.

Information for ordering this manual can be found on the AAR’s publication website www.aarpublications.com/.

Railinc Contacts

The Railinc Customer Support Center  (CSC) is a free service to Umler users and is operational twenty-four hours a day, every day of the year. Call (877) 724-5462 or e-mail csc@railinc.com to report problems accessing Umler. Password, user ID and other issues related to access will be solved as soon as possible.

Railinc’s Umler staff can be reached via e-mail: Umler@railinc.com.