The development of the Internet, cloud technology and the cost of hosting services have significantly affected the spread of various databases, both online and offline. These include the now popular legal reference systems. These are online and offline databases that contain detailed information about decrees, laws, decrees, and other information that various departments and enterprises can use in their daily work.
Help system implementation
In the days before the invention of the Internet, information about changes in laws, decrees and decrees were published in print. With the development of the field of electronic media - CDs, it became possible to use offline versions of directories on your computer. True, to maintain relevance, it was necessary to release new media each time.
Then the Internet came and contributed. Now you can, without leaving your home, find out what has changed in a particular area of āālegislation, as well as find out what the document was before. Moreover, the information will always be relevant.
Work principles
A modern legal reference system is not only a set of useful data. This is a convenient heading, search and user-friendly interface. Everything is arranged in such a way that the user using the system can quickly find any information that interests him. Moreover, it must be reliable and relevant.
Characteristics of the legal reference system
From the properties of any help system, we can distinguish:
- Functionality The system allows you to quickly find the necessary information.
- Convenience . No need to turn over tons of books, everything is available through the search and catalog.
- Relevance . With the development of the Internet, it is enough for developers to update everything on one central server so that all information becomes relevant.
- Autonomy . The ability to use the offline version, for example, for long trips to regions with poor Internet.
This list of characteristics of the reference legal system is not complete and may vary in different implementations.
Domestic products
Russian reference and legal systems are represented by three main products: these are Garant, Consultant Plus and Codex. It is worth examining each of them in more detail to find out the pros and cons.
"Consultant Plus"
The Consultant Plus reference and legal system first made itself known in 1992. The history of its creation is closely intertwined with the "Guarantor" system. That was the name of the first product sample that the world saw in 1990. Two graduates of Moscow State University - D. Novikov and D. Persheev worked on it. During the development, as often happens, disagreements arose between partners. Persheev wanted to increase the final price of the software and expand its functionality. Novikov also proposed to delve into the distribution, availability of the product. As a result, the first got the āGuarantorā and all the initial developments, and the second had to start all from scratch. So the "Consultant Plus" was born.
Despite the fact that the āGuarantorā was almost ready, the āConsultantā immediately began to quickly bypass the competitor. Perhaps it was the right policy of product distribution and its promotion, while Garant focused on manufacturability and goodies.
Today, the Consultant Plus reference system occupies a large part of the market for the provision of information services in this sector.
Description
As of the beginning of 2017, the Consultant's databases contain more than 102 million documents. The main users of the reference legal system are students, teachers, heads of enterprises and organizations, accountants and lawyers.
The main sections in which you can get information look like this:
- legislation;
- comments on legislation;
- forms of documents;
- arbitrage practice;
- consultations for various fields;
- international legal acts;
- technical norms and rules.
An interesting feature of the system is that each item is divided into the so-called "information banks". This gives the ConsultantPlus reference legal information system special flexibility and modularity. That is, it is possible to use exactly those documents that are suitable for a specific task. Thus, developers can complete various areas with their own "distributions" - accounting, legal, budgetary, construction, medical, etc.
Interaction of the Consultant Plus system with the user
The use of the ConsultantPlus legal reference system occurs in a fairly simple mode. The main element of navigation is the search in the database. With the documents found, you can perform many different actions, for example, save, print or send by e-mail.
System cost
The Internet version of the system makes it possible to use a limited set of documents for free.
Applications available on mobile platforms also provide non-commercial access to most documents. There is a caching option that allows you to use the product offline.
Separately, you can select the application "ConsultantPlus: Student", which is equipped not only with access to legal information, but also has several textbooks that will help students understand the terms of the studied science.
Features and Features
Summing up, we can distinguish the main functionality and unusual ābunsā of the ConsultantPlus electronic reference legal system.
An interesting function āDocuments under controlā will allow you to put the desired document in monitoring mode. As soon as the legislation changes something in it or completely removes it, the user will be immediately notified about it.
A cursory examination of any document to understand its necessity in a particular situation is facilitated by a table of contents formed from links for a quick transition.
Incorporation of your comments or notes in the text of the document will help you quickly find an important place later. You can also create your own selection of documents, acts and sample forms in a separate folder.
"Guarantor"
Since the reference and legal system "Guarantor", in fact, is "Consultant Plus", the history of its appearance was described above. Its market influence is slightly less than that of the āConsultantā, however, it still has its own audience.
The structure of the software package
The reference and legal system "Guarantor", as well as "KP", is divided into information blocks. These are instances of databases formed by a general principle. From these blocks one whole product is formed, which is focused on a specific user.
The system has several options for updating and access. That is, it can be used at the enterprise for a complex of machines or locally, updated both via the Internet and using electronic drives.
There is a separate product that is produced in cooperation with 1C - 1C: Guarantor Legal Support.
Features and Features
The reference and legal system "Garant" has a modern user-friendly interface. Even an unprepared user will intuitively be able to at least roughly understand how the product works.
A search for outdated documents will allow you to find laws, decrees and decrees that have ever existed. In this case, all links, comments and notes will also rely on the same time period.
The "Guarantor" supports the ability to create an interface "for yourself." That is, the user can give the appearance of the system a special look convenient for him.
In order to track user activity, there is a mechanism for the history of completed actions - something similar to a log in browsers. In this environment, search queries, documents found and viewed are stored, which are then easy to pick up and analyze.
In the network versions of the Garant computer reference and legal system, it is possible to create special folders with selected documents. They can be configured so that it is convenient to share data with other users, delimiting access.
Codex
In addition to the main reference legal systems, there is one more that is not as famous as the first two, but still worthy of attention. It is called the Codex. This is a legal reference system, which appeared back in 1991 on DOS platforms. With the release of Windows 95, the Codex moved to this operating system.
Like her two "sisters", she is a huge set of documents, regulations and bills.
The system also implements a modular approach, that is, you can connect one or another set of necessary documents and databases.
The search in the complex is multilevel, divided into specifics - you can search by the situation, in the intelligent mode or by individual attributes.
Comparison of legal reference systems
In fact, comparing such software systems is like drawing analogies between the families of Linux and Windows operating systems. Since they all have modularity, the ability to select specific categories of documents and sections, you have to choose between usability and support.
Meanwhile, the distribution among the three systems presented by the volume of users looks like this: āConsultantPlusā takes first place, followed by āGuarantorā, and then āCodeā.
Judging by the reviews, some users note that the convenience of the "Guarantor" is an order of magnitude higher; others say that updating documents in the "Consultant" is faster.
The approach to system resources is also noted. "Guarantor", according to users, is much less productive on low-end machines.
In general, to draw any parallel between the systems is unlikely to succeed. How many people, so many opinions, someone is used to the old interfaces, someone doesnāt care how quickly documents are updated ... That is, the choice of a specific system should be justified by current circumstances and conditions.