Northwestern University: Learn from the success of this Big Ten School

Northwestern University's Department of Athletics and Recreation always had a lot of balls in the air when it came to scheduling their facilities...and a lot of paper forms to track.

So, they decided to take it to the next level and develop a centralized Web scheduling system where users maintain their own accounts, individual facility managers are notified automatically with any changes to scheduling, and the system administrator assigns authorization so users only view the functions, menus, and facilities they have permission to.
See how cool it is for yourself». (Roll over menu items for more information.)

If you'd like to build one yourself, fill out this form»

Outsourcing: Executives value it, but watch out for shortcomings

There is no denying that sometimes using a third party to get things done quickly and efficiently simply makes the most sense in IT projects. But, there are also areas where CIOs need to be careful to pay attention to common pitfalls.

For example, this recent article on outsourcing reports that while 70% said they were either satisfied or very satisfied with their outsourced projects, more than a third felt they should have spent more time evaluating providers before signing on.

If you would like insights or questions into outsourcing application development, like knowing what questions to ask or where to start, let us know what you have on your plate. You may be unaware of some of the choices available to you.

Bring SQL's power to your application in a snap

SQL is a powerful language that many people use in their m-Power-generated Java applications...but many more can take advantage of it...and don't.

That may be because there's not a clear enough understanding of how easily m-Power's external object feature works with SQL. This quick article in the m-Power forum brings those capabilities home.

New web site content/feel

We recently added a new "products" section to our Web site that works a lot like the "hover" feature we've added to our web 2.0 servlets.

To check it out, first, go to http://www.mrc-productivity.com/products/

There's a new navigation in a menu bar directly below the main menu that now reads: Overview, Benefits, Demos, Testimonials, Specs, Pricing, Trial, and Contact.

If you want to find out more about what's on the screen, roll your mouse over the small gray icons.

Easy as pie.

If you'd like to incorporate this cool "hover" feature into your own applications, it's easy with m-Power. Just fill out this form for more information.

5 Innovations the CIO shouldn't miss

Here's a short list of five innovations that the CIO shouldn't overlook.

Note the fifth: AAA (Anytime, Anywhere, Anybody)and its expectation of pervasive mobility.

Really Simple Syndication - made simpler

If you use Yahoo, Google, or even a proprietary portal to subscribe to information on your favorite sports team, news, stock lists and financial information, or whatever interests you, that information is probably being put out there with an RSS feed.

Have you thought about how you can use RSS feeds to improve your business? Posting information about sales promotions, new products, technical support, and the like in a way where your customers, vendors, or employees can subscribe to it, can really help you get the word out quickly.

And now that is even easier. This document will show you how you can publish RSS information with your m-Power servlets.

If you would like to subscribe to our RSS feeds (which were built as described in the above document), click here to see how.

Three separate solutions in one.

One of our customers that had attended an ERP solution's user group event with the intention of finding one basic solution...found not one, but THREE different solutions to three very different business needs.

• They found a reporting solution that fit all of the criteria they were looking for over and above all of the usual players. Here's what they were looking for...Do you have the same reporting needs?
  
  
• They then created a series of wireless applications to allow their floor workers to quickly gain access to the information they needed from their blackberries.
  
  
• And, the icing on the cake was the shopping cart application they built with m-Power, like this one, that was custom to their wants and needs, that was less expensive (and took less time to implement) than the "canned" software package they were considering.

Fill out this form if you're interested in solving any of these problems in your business.

IT's top 5 training mistakes

While IT's relationship with end-user training has always been ambivalent, the pressure to get users more comfortable and productive on new tech systems is an ever-present challenge--particularly when facing corporate emphasis on information security, compliance and return on investment.

A good training program can count as a competitive advantage, but management isn't always sold on the business benefits of effective tech training.

Here are five reasons why they should be»

Using CSS to manipulate the look of your Web applications

CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, free up a lot of design issues, and encourage a uniform look to Web sites, giving developers an easy way to maintain their sites.

And, as such, CSS has many capabilities. Recently I came across this interesting article on using CSS to manipulate your background image.

The article also gives you greater exposure to the syntax of CSS, and how its used. If you're an mrc customer and you'd like more information on using style sheets, here's another stylesheets article in our documentation and this CSS post in mrc's forum as well.

Is IT recession-proof?

According to this article in CIO Magazine, it is. Average IT spending growth is down and pressure to rein in costs is rising, but money is still available to fund IT projects and critical technologies.

There are five areas of high growth that fit this bill of recession-proof IT: Virtualization (servers and storage), Customer self-service applications, Open Source applications and systems, Collaboration software, and storage equipment.

m-Power fits three of those five areas: Customer self-service applications, open-source applications and collaboration software.

Considering DB2 Webquery? Here's a quick quiz.

This brief questionnaire may help you determine if DB2 WebQuery's free price tag is actually free...for you.

Testing your Web applications for the color blind.

1 in 20 people have some form of color vision deficiency, and if you're not one of them, it's probably difficult to picture how much color plays a part in day-to-day life, and in business. Pie charts? Graphs? Inventory dashboards with red or green indicators? When developing Web applications, it's important to keep these things in mind.

This article also links to a cool Web link that shows you what your site looks like to someone who is color blind.

Top six free BlackBerry downloads

One of the best things about BlackBerry smartphones is their ability to download and install external applications adding new levels of value and customization to the devices. Here are six free downloads»

Of course, even better than a download, is the ability to run applications via the Web. Applications accessed via your Blackberry, won't have a security breach if the phone is lost, and customizations are always at the ready, with no need to upgrade, or redownload, giving your mobile workforce advanced solutions with which to do their job. Here's an example of one such application.

Getting to the Web can be as easy as knowing what you want.

Sometimes the most difficult step of application development is figuring out what you need in order to build what you want to build.

Here's an easy-to-follow form to help you clarify your needs».

Once you've determined the elements of your application, we can produce the application for you for free, so you can see it come to life. Or if you could use some pointers on getting started, just fill out this form and put "Request Web App Build Form" under project description.

PHP v. Java: Understanding the difference and staying relevant.

After getting caught "running in place" during a corporate consolidation, this RPG developer and iSeries author lost his job, and it caused him to take a serious look at the benefits of staying relevant, remaining marketable, and the fundamental differences between PHP and Java. From iSeries Network's latest issue, here is his take»

If you want to see just how quickly you can get up to speed, create a Java application in minutes with this quick workshop.

Surviving when there aren't enough IT workers.

Last week, 60% of CIOs surveyed said IT worker shortages are becoming a major issue. As workers shrink, it becomes increasingly important to help them focus on mission-critical projects, and to reduce the amount of time they are spending managing and tracking internal help-desk and user support issues.

Having faced similar issues in the past (on a larger support scale) we created a customer portal that allows users to report help desk/support questions, and gives us a way prioritize, track, and communicate support issues in real time.

Here's an example of what we built: Just go here. Then, sign in as: 10DKS10 as both your ID and your Password.

If you'd like to build your own support dash, let us know.

How to Bring your Business Applications to the Web

This white paper covers the techniques available for bringing your business applications to the Web, pitfalls to avoid, and best practices for making long-term technology choices in today's markets.

You can download this white paper (and others) from our white paper library.

Updating your email settings: mrc Whitelists

With the new changes we recently made to how we send email comes a new method to make sure you are receiving your emails.

To ensure that you have no interruptions receiving our weekly mailings, you'll want to make sure we're on your corporate Spam Filter's white list. Here's how»

Build-A-Web-App Workshop

Creating powerful enterprise-level Web applications doesn't have to be complicated, but now you can judge that for yourself...

Here, you can create a custom, live, lightning-fast, portable and flexible database-driven Web application in just a few minutes with your current skill set.

Enter our Build-A-Web-App Workshop»

Putting application modernization losses into actual time and dollars

According to Gartner, “...it might take an enterprise 12 months and cost an average of $67,000 to retrain a COBOL developer in Java. It’s a combination of training costs, software costs and lost productivity...”

However, it goes on to say...“You can drastically impact these numbers with RAD [rapid application development] tools,” for example, Blechar says. Companies can decrease the complexity of moving to SOA in other ways, including:
1. use of architectural RAD tools,
2. purchasing some outside components of an SOA,
3. using packaged products or
4. outsourcing the most complex development aspects of a project."

Here's the full article.