This Technology Buyer's Kit might help»
This short, lighthearted, and informative assessment packet is designed to help you gauge your current technology and software requirements and begin making the right technological choices to meet your needs.
Do you find that your company has an overall lack of business intelligence? Are you sure your applications are secure? Are consultants creating more problems than solutions? According to a recent eWeek.com article, these are just 3 of 10 IT problems you might not know you have.
Fortunately, m-Power can resolve each of these 3 problems, faster and cheaper than you might think possible.
If you've held off on purchasing BI software for price reasons, m-Power can provide these tools for a fraction of the normal price. If you've worried about software security, m-Power will take care of that for you, by generating java applications with all the security features built in.
If you'd like to learn how m-Power can best fit your business needs, or if you would like us to build a live custom app over your own files to demonstrate m-Power’s capabilities, simply fill out this short form.
With the increased popularity of executive dashboards and portals and the constant demand for better BI (Business Intelligence) one of the most useful at-a-glance tools available is the dashboard "speedometer." You can see three examples along the bottom of this dashboard.
With one quick glance, a manager can grasp what is really going on in his or her business and react quickly.
If you'd like to use this metric monitor in your dashboard, this short article tells you how.
With a weakened economy, job security has become a major concern. It’s more important than ever to stand out and demonstrate worth to your current employer.
If you’re in IT, then you will enjoy this article entitled, “Four Secrets to Becoming a Rising IT Star”. The article lays out 4 ways to not only succeed in your current position, but to also advance.
Besides those 4 methods, I’d like to add a fifth: Save your company time and/or money. How can you do that? Well, if you or your company has a need for application modernization, BI, reporting, executive dashboards, wireless applications, or web applications in general, then m-Power can accomplish this proposed “fifth method” for you.
If you would like to see how m-Power can save you time and money, please fill out this short form. We will build you a live custom web app using your own files, absolutely free.
Software vendors are not in business to give away their software for free, or virtually free. And recently there have been a rash of companies who seem to be doing just that. The problem? Their software isn't even close to free, but the bulk of their pricing is hidden.
So, it is important to keep your eyes open and ask the right questions. For example:
Here's a fun game to play next time you're at the grocery store. Count how many labels you see that read "Instant", "Ready in Minutes", or even "Ready in Seconds". You'll be surprised how many there are.
We live in a very instant world, a world where demands must be met on the spot.
That being said, I’m always shocked by the number of times I run across companies that keep and/or distribute their data on Excel spreadsheets. This data may be comprised of prospect lists, sales numbers, or other important information that may be needed instantly. When that data changes, a spreadsheet must be manually updated and re-distributed. Not only is this method unsecure, it's a completely unnecessary waste of time which can hurt a company's chances of staying competitive.
Wouldn’t it be much easier if all the data was stored in one secure place? What if all the data was sorted and displayed as graphs and dashboards at the push of a button? What if all the data was instantly accessible via the web?
Not only would this solve the security problems, it would make the company more competitive in an "instant" world.
Click here to see how an automotive manufacturer solved this very problem using m-Power.
This article states that there are two areas that can be greatly improved by establishing enterprise wikis. The first is reducing occupational SPAM aka "reply-to-all" emails that make up 30% of all email.
The second has to do with the implementation and modernization of Enterprise software. To paraphrase, when you go and buy an ERP, let's say, and implement the same 15,000 business processes that it provides to everyone, you don't gain any real competitive advantage. The advantage opportunity lies in how your business handles the exceptions to these business processes and creates solutions custom to your user needs.
One way to track these needs and the solutions that are established is by establishing an enterprise wiki. Here are some tips for getting started»
If you'd like to learn more about creating custom solutions for your enterprise software, just fill out this form.
A couple months back, I wrote a blog linking to a CIO.com article that listed 6 free BlackBerry downloads. Well, the good folks at CIO.com have just published another article outlining 6 more free BlackBerry apps that you're sure to love.
Does your company have business applications that you wish could be accessed wirelessly through your BlackBerry or handheld device? m-Power allows you to create custom business applications tied to your ERP, MRP, CRM, or whatever software package you use...that can all be accessed wirelessly. Click here to learn more about the benefits of wireless applications.
What does it cost to keep an IT worker happy? Perhaps the question should be asked, what does it cost if you don't? Some estimates place the cost of losing a valued IT worker at 150% of that employee's salary when all is said and done.
This is even more dramatic in IT when factoring in the time and costs of technical training, education, and certifications that can easily stretch into the tens of thousands. So, keeping your IT workers happy can be a definite advantage. Here are 7 easy ways to keep IT workers happy.
One way to keep workers happy that is not mentioned in the article is to make their work fun. Many of my customers tell me that m-Power makes programming fun again.
Of course, if you're interested in improving productivity, then try m-Power. Here's an example of a company that reduced development time by 98% using m-Power.
Application security has become an increasingly hot topic. It seems like I see new articles on the subject every day. Recently, Microsoft was in the news for putting a feature in Vista designed to annoy users and put pressure on software vendors to make their code more secure.
It seems like they may be on to something. According to an eWeek.com article, “75 percent of attacks are now targeting applications”. The article also speculates that developers who know how to incorporate security into application development will be in high demand, and easily command a higher salary.
You can read the entire eWeek.com article here.>>
If you're interested in developing secure java applications quickly, m-Power makes it easy. Here's a demo site that gives a good example of role based security, one the many security features that can be created with m-Power.
In good times, 7 out of 10 companies look to keep IT costs down. If the economy weakens, the pressure to make deep cuts will soar. Will your CIO slash jobs or adopt other cost-reduction strategies? What are the best options for making a major difference to the bottom line in such cases.
Here's a quick presentation on improving your ROI through Web initiatives that can provide new areas to make money as well as save money.
If you'd like to learn more about improving your bottom line through Web initiatives, fill out this form.
When building a Web application, you may often find it useful to provide users with selection criteria using drop down lists that are "forward filtered" or dependent on each other.
For example, if you had drop-down menus for state and city, you could make them dependent so that choosing a particular state would repopulate the city drop-down menu to only include the cities in that state.
m-Power makes it incredibly easy to accomplish this. Here's how»
When Boise Cascade's management told them to develop a complex and comprehensive Web-based reporting system that could interface with multiple host systems...and then to do it in just three weeks time...they just about fell over. That deadline would be impossible to meet.
However, despite being short a developer, they not only got it done, but did it well! How? Here's what IT Jungle's reporter uncovered»
There is always a constant buzz around the hottest new areas of IT, but the savviest IT professionals understand that it's the core specialties that can provide solid career prospects.
Here are 7 Top Tech Skills That Employers Need»
And note #2. Many of our customers began teaching themselves Java application development using m-Power. Here's how one IT manager got started»
In his latest book, author Jim Champy studied 1,000 companies with double- to triple-digit growth, and then he produced a collection of case studies on the most innovative, growth-charged business models he found.
The common thread? These companies all drew on IT to produce substantial competitive advantages. Here's what else he found»
I can remember a while back when “free” meant something. It simply meant you were getting something and paying nothing. No longer. Now there are asterisks and fine print. To say an item is free these days invokes justifiable skepticism and spam filters.
Nothing is free.
A similarly disturbing trend is arising in the web application development world. “Easy” is going the way of “free”. When nearly every product claims to be easy, but nearly all aren’t, “easy” has been relegated to an overused marketing term.
So, what can I say? Is m-Power easy? Read our customer testimonials. Look through all the m-Power demos. Try our online lab.
You be the judge.
This white paper lays out five key practical steps that legacy-based businesses should apply to modernize their systems, and how to do so using Java (much faster than PHP.)
The article demonstrates a practical application of these steps through a carefully detailed case study on how we modernized mrc's character-based mrc-Productivity Series legacy software into the fully Java-based m-Power solution, including all metrics, technologies, and timelines involved.
"Getting to Java in 5 Practical Steps" can be found in our white paper library.
Splash pages are the pages that pop up in Web applications, most often to let the user know that the program is in the process of loading or processing their last request. But there are other areas where incorporating a splash page into your Web application can enhance your business. For example, you can:
If your business has applications and business data housed on multiple databases, you know that transferring data between disparate databases can be a frustrating, problem-filled process.
Arduous steps are involved for IT and these steps often lead to transfer errors, impartial or incorrect data, and delays. And, when there are errors, you may not know it. That can spell big trouble for BI, reporting, order fulfillment and inventory management.
This new method gets rid of all of those troubles in just one easy step.
General Binding Company was in a bind. Their Movex software package didn't have the operational reporting capabilities they required and their IT department was being forced to create ad-hoc reports, taking time away from their more critical IT projects.
GBC knew it needed a better operational reporting system that could tie directly to Movex, but didn't want to make changes to the underlying core software package.
Here's how they did it»
In just 20 minutes there are things you can do that can have a meaningful long-term effect on your IT organization, your career, your technology knowledge, your management skills and your relationship with the business.
I like #4 and #16, but then again, I've always thought asking the right questions is the key to those successes you never knew were possible.
Here's the list»
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»
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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»
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.
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.
This brief questionnaire may help you determine if DB2 WebQuery's free price tag is actually free...for you.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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»
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»
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.
At first glance, you might think that since there is no way to define physical file members to m-Power, that you cannot use them.
But you would be wrong. This post shows you how easy it really is.
Northwest Door, a large door manufacturer based out of Tacoma, Washington had a multi-faceted dilemma...multiple plants with multiple data servers, an aging ERP (Frontier), a need for centralized reporting and BI via the Web and a staff of developers who had no background in Web development.
Here's what they did».
There is a raging debate among technology pundits, and it boils down to one question: Does enterprise software need to be user friendly let alone sexy?
This has become more and more a debate as growing numbers of non-technical executives are calling the shots on solutions. Some say sexiness is key. Others say that consumer software needs to be sexy and user-friendly, while enterprise software must be secure and reliable.
Why the debate? It's easy to have it both ways. Here are just a few of the easy to use (and secure and reliable) enterprise solutions available.
As of this mailing, mrc has changed its methods for sending out emails.
To ensure that your emails are getting to you week in and week out, we have (as of today) hired an outside resource to help us with this.
This change should mean that you consistently receive the emails you have requested, and you can more easily maintain your own accounts.
Please let us know what you think if you have any issues at all, or questions about these new emails, or problems clicking through. We'd love your input.
For those of you who want to make it easier for your current customers to spend their money with you...one way is to create a well-designed online order-entry system and shopping cart. Here are the top must-haves to include.
You may also find that creating your own custom order system or a shopping cart may actually be faster, easier, and much less expensive than going with a package "bolt-on" solution.(As counter-intuitive as that may seem.) Just consider this story»
According to a recent report from the London School of Economics, studying the productivity of US-multinational companies, and non-US multinationals, there is robust evidence that it is IT capital that has contributed the most to US-multinational gains.
This is even the case comparing US firms in the UK who consistently got more productivity out of their IT than other comparable firms in the UK.
And, this finding holds in the cross section when including fixed effects and even when examining a sample of companies taken over by US businesses. The data remains consistent. So what does this mean for your business?
Read the abstract and and conclusion of this paper»
Read the full academic paper»
One hurdle often mentioned by frustrated executives and IT managers alike is the problem of pulling together various data resources, particularly when it means including data from smaller "mom and pop" systems into a working database. Here are two ways to overcome this:
1) Create applications that simultaneously pull data from multiple data sources together side-by-side simultaneously in one dashboard view or portal.
2) Create BI applications that can analyze data from various databases behind the scenes, and present it in one report.
I read the most fascinating comment recently on System i News in response to one of their articles: “In many companies, managers want to manage problems, not solve them. It makes them look more important if they have many issues before them.”
Do you feel that that is the case in your organization? Are your managers encouraging problem-solving, or do they look to simply manage the problems that are there? What are the challenges you face? Share your experience here and see what some of your peers and colleagues are facing.
(Just sign in as Marcy/Marcy if you wish to remain anonymous.)
In a recent interview on wireless in the enterprise, a number of CIOs said securing the data on wireless devices was the biggest challenge. "Nothing can get on [wireless devices] unless we put it on," said one executive. "We lock it all down and keep it inside the enterprise and decide what goes out."
Of course, this puts a limit on the whole notion of the freedom wireless provides. And what happens if you lose the device with all that crucial data on it? Or it's stolen?
Here are 7 steps to a highly effective mobile strategy.
And here's Emhart Glass's Alan Batchelor's practical and effective solution he achieved with m-Power.
A widget is a tiny software program that allows for collaborative information sharing, and can be as useful as photo data-sharing and as silly as throwing a sheep at someone on Facebook.
But, if you think these techniques are flashes in the pan...think again. Here's a great article on the widget boom. According to this article "corporations are viewing widgets less as frivolous gadgets, and more as business tools to boost traffic and ad revenue on their sites."
And here's an article on quickly making your applications into gadgets to work in a B2B setting.
Note the "real world web" entry as well as Web applications on the list:
'Real world Web' uses the comparison between printing out directions from a Web site and going on a trip, and using a GPS device. The printed out directions can't change based on construction or traffic. The GPS device is live, and therefore can. The same applies to your business.
Being able to access your data, as it changes and evolves, and provide snapshots of that data to your employees, is crucial. And, providing these types of solutions using your current system is not as difficult as you might think. Let us know what your ideal application is and we'll show you how to build it.
You know you have to modernize. That isn’t the question. The question is, where do you start?
We may be able to help you find the path that makes sense to you. Just fill out this form and tell us some areas where things need to change, but you're not sure where to begin.
And, if you’d like to get your creative juices going, see what you can build here»
There are so many new benefits to data-driven Web applications now that we built a whole new Crazybikes Web site to demonstrate what you can create with m-Power. Check out the applications you can build. (Roll your mouse over icons, click to drill down, play around.)
Interested in seeing how to apply these capabilities to your business? We can create these same features over your files in minutes for no obligation. Let us know here which ones you might like to see.
mrc is kicking off 2008 with new partnership initiatives and incentives:
Are you a consultant?
Are you an software vendor or re-seller?
Are you in marketing or sales and want to expand your leads?
This customer wanted to create a secure online order system for business partners that was written in Java. Only they didn't know Java.
See how they were able to bypass their language limitations, begin learning Java, and create this lucrative ($100,000 in online sales in its first month alone) Linux-hosted B2B Web site in a matter of weeks.
Young people entering the workforce today have an entirely different way of using technology, so it's crucial to provide more and more collaborative Web 2.0 applications.
But collaboration doesn't stop there. The intellectual property and tried-and-true business experience of the older members of the workforce, coupled with the techno-savvy new generation, can give your business the edge if you harness it properly.
Younger users are often surprised to find systems and technologies they have never encountered (like the AS/400) have a stronghold in the long-term. And older workers may be surprised when such younger workers can help them erase age-old Business Intelligence problems using solutions like m-Power to rapidly create Web 2.0 applications.
If you have questions, or comments, that you would like to ask...but wish to remain anonymous, there's an easy way to do that in the mrc forum.
Just sign in as "Marcy". So, simply go to the forum and sign in as User ID: Marcy, Password: Marcy. (NOTE: Both the Password and ID are case sensitive.)
Then, click on the 'New Topic' link at the top, and let us know your question!
At 67% of the companies surveyed in this recent Business Intelligence survey, it's the spreadsheet.
But, that's not good news if you've invested tens of thousands of dollars in a Business Intelligence system. It usually means end-users can't quickly access the information they need and spreadsheets are the only way of controlling their productivity.
But, you can change that. Here's one easy way»
Now that the champagne is chilling and we begin to look ahead to next year, let's take a quick look to see what the predictions were for 2007.
Did any of them come true for you?
Click on the image below to watch the movie and get a holiday cookie recipe!
This article gives a quick snapshot into ways you can start thinking about Web 2.0 methods to improve your business. Your customers are talking about you. Here's how to join their conversation»
And, if you are interested in learning more about how m-Power can help get you to Web 2.0, here's an article we did recently on understanding Web 2.0 and how to make it work for you.
As growing trends point to businesses shedding IT staff and farming out noncore competencies, CIOs and IT managers must learn to adapt fast in order to keep their departments (and their skills) relevant.
This article gives good tips on how to move forward, evaluate core competencies, recognize outsourcing risks, and what that implies for IT management.
The most important component to Business Intelligence is how it's digested. This survey shows how users both receive BI and...(more importantly) how they prefer to receive their BI.
Are you providing Business Intelligence in the ways your users prefer?
Business Intelligence is more than just a buzzword. It can be daunting. It can be expensive. It can sink IT departments below ground for months and longer.
And, with the IT world aflutter with articles about it, it can be easy to forget that Business Intelligence is more than technology.
Here are 10 key principles to help you develop a successful BI strategy (even if you are in the midst of BI hell.)
How does a portal fit your business needs? Let's see if it does.
Here is a new straightforward overview of portals and portlets and what they can mean for your business.
And, creating a portal like this one (Sign in as 10DKS10 as both user and password to view it) can be accomplished very quickly and cost-effectively. For more information, sign up here.
Oftentimes large companies have a problem with Web architectures because they might want their code to execute over variable data sources. A variable data source may be as simple as a library list in a System i environment, or as complex as information coming from a different server(IP) and different database(e.g. Oracle, DB2, etc).
In many cases a company's choice becomes either A)make multiple copies of an application for each specific data source (which can quickly become unwieldy to manage), or B) find a non-Web architecture way to deliver the application (which keeps you relying on legacy).
m-Power's web 2.0 templates eliminate this Hobson's choice by making it possible to point one Web application to your variable data sources. Here's how to do it.
Delivering BI applications while they sort out their platform/database discrepancies isn't any big deal--especially when you are creating applications in minutes that can work with either system.
Testing that out online is easy enough, but if you want to really put it to the test with your own files, drop us a line and we'll show you how.
Congratulations to Lionel Halvorsen of the City of Farmers Branch, TX who won our Fall giveaway of the brand new iPod Touch!
And, thank you again to those of you who went the extra mile and participated in our mpowerment quiz to identify the kinds of topics, industry news, and product information you'd like to see from us in 2008.
It's not too late! Just take this two minute mpowerment quiz and tell us what kinds of information you could use to be even more successful in the coming year!
Small and midsize companies can use basic technologies and outside service providers to collaborate seamlessly with larger partners, and do it for very little. Here's how»
And, if you'd like to see a real life example of how one customer has been able to improve collaboration with their partners, take a look at this case study.
We're drawing the winner of an iPod Touch, Wednesday, November 21.
Take this two minute survey to help us stay "in touch", and enter to win this iPod Touch. (Get your surveys in before 11:59, CST, November 21 to be eligible.)
It's time for that age-old question. What to do with all of that leftover turkey? Here's a great way to turn it into something fresh and new!
Here's our closely guarded recipe for Homemade Turkey Pot Pie
Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at mrc!
If you do not enlist the aid of a qualified graphic designer in developing your web applications, you need to take a look at this forum post.
This CIO magazine article is one of the most useful Web articles I have read recently. It's targeted to developers creating self-service Web applications for suppliers, partners, customers, and prospects...but the underlying advice is universal.
Here are the top 10 mistakes companies make in introducing self-service...and how you can avoid them.
When you're putting together the graphical elements for your Web applications, one of the most important elements is one that you probably take for granted...Space.
Here's an interesting article from CIO magazine that every IT leader, and really every manager should read about sharing information and communication...including the three elements of effective feedback.
This white paper, as you might gather from the title, offers eight ways to modernize the applications you use with your enterprise software packages, and it breaks down the pros and cons to each.
It also includes a handy checklist that you should keep by your side when selecting your solutions. Access the "8 Approaches for Modernizing your ERP" white paper here»
Sometimes even little changes can make a big difference in business productivity and profitability. What was the world like before calculators? Post-it notes? Staples? Staple-removers?
There have been lots of inventions over the years, but here is one that can make a huge difference if your company copies data files from one database to another.
What used to be a tedious set of time-consuming steps (and error-prone) can now be done in one step, with one command. Here's how»
Sometimes, when your enterprise software falls short, it can feel like you're in an endless cycle of inefficient stop-gap measures.
General Binding Company had just that problem.
The company's Movex software package didn't have the reporting capabilities they needed, and their IT department was forced to continually create ad-hoc reports to fill the gap. They knew they needed an operational reporting system that could tie directly to Movex, but also one that wouldn't actually make changes to the underlying core software package.
Here's what they did»
Every day end-users across the globe spend a large amount of time pulling data into spreadsheet programs like Excel, and then using pivot tables and the like to analyze data. This wastes a lot of time, is insecure, inefficient, and often inaccurate.
But, there's a new way you can help your end-users save time, do away with security issues, AND create their own Web reports. Here's a short presentation on how»
Ever found yourself in the tough situation of needing better applications for your users, but not having the time (or budget) to start making changes to your enterprise system?
UK-based Stannah Group, the largest stairlift manufacturer in the world had that problem. Then, they created an entire system of Web applications for their customers in just two weeks...fully tied to their ERP, without touching it.
Here's what they did.
A few weeks back, I showed you how to use web 2.0 servlets to import html from other servlets.
That generated lots of interest and some questions that I try to address here.
The Boston Globe reports that half of employees feel "more empowered than IT to control their personal IT environment," according to a new Yankee Group report (You'll need to register with their Web sites for the full articles.)
Here's the gist: Your employees look at IT as a bottleneck or a barrier to solving their problems rather than a means. So, they try solving their own problems by downloading desktop applications or e-mailing information in spreadsheets. This puts you at risk for viruses and security breaches.
However, giving users a set of centrally located Web tools, under your oversight but in their control, dramatically changes those dynamics. You can create web solutions like executive dashboards to give them a place to go, and even let them create Web reports from spreadsheets»
For a free sample application over your own files, to show your colleagues, just fill out this form to get started.
If you haven't been to the m-Power User Forum recently, there are a number of brand new useful tips, tricks, and technical documents. And, now it's easy to stay on top of the updates. If you'd like to subscribe to a topic thread, or the forum itself, to be notified when new articles are posted, it's easy to do!
Here are the steps:
1) Click here to go to the m-Power forum and sign in, or register.
2) Click on a link to one of the forum topics...for example, "Tips and Tricks"
3) Now, in the top left corner just above the forum box, there is a link called "Forum Tools". Click on that, and two options appear, Mark this Forum Read, and Subscribe to this Forum. Select 'Subscribe to this Forum.'
4) There's a drop down window that lets you select daily or weekly updates (Your choice), and then hit subscribe. (You can click on Control Panel link, then subscriptions, to view your subscriptions or unsubscribe.)
... or just your close friends, customers, vendors, sales force - whoever you deem appropriate.
This post will show you how you can share servlets you've built through iGoogle gadgets.
This can be another way to keep your information in front of those who need to see it on a daily basis.
This new blog feature is to make you aware of new Web sites and services that might help you stay at the top of your game without a lot of extra research/work.
Today's featured Web helper is called StumbleUpon.
The premise of StumbleUpon is that you select the topic you are interested in, and the StumbleUpon toolbar shows you unique topic-related sites, often sites you might not find using your normal everyday search engine.
It may seem a little random, it IS a little random, but it's a great way to broaden your awareness of the Web, and develop a great little cache of go-to sites in topics that interest you, both personally and professionally.
Last May, when Boise Cascade's management told them to develop a complex and comprehensive Web-based reporting system that could interface with multiple host systems...and then to do it in three weeks time...they just about fell over. Boise Cascade's application development team thought the deadline would be impossible to meet.
However, despite being short a developer, the group persevered and managed to meet its deadline.
Here's how»
This may be just about the easiest way you will ever find to build dashboards and put building block servlets together into comprehensive applications.
And what's better? It's less than a two minute read. Click here to see for yourself.
Most BI tools fall down when it comes to allowing data-entry.
If we can't add or modify important data to include the full picture of new customers, or products, or plants...then BI becomes virtually useless. And, if we're not going to be able to see the accurate or whole picture, what is the point?
Here are 2 demos showing you three easy (and different) ways you can enter/update your data with m-Power. This example shows the benefit as it pertains to creating budgets/projected sales:
Method 1: Mass (Fast) Budget Entry Methods 2 and 3: Work With Budgets and Budget Additions
This recent article from IBM's e-Server Magazine sets out to answer this question. I'll give you a hint...it's not a myth.
What it is, is a useful implement, one you should have in your arsenal, but one of many implements you should include in the ongoing battle to not only modernize your systems, but to remain relevant in a global marketplace.
Recently, our friends at Bimba Manufacturing deployed an application to SOA in a matter of seconds, giving life to a portal application, and integrating it with an outside system. You can read about it here»
While partnerships are nothing new between companies to develop new product lines or services...partnerships often get overlooked when it comes to internal innovations and departmental problem-solving. And that's a mistake.
This article examines two separate, and very unlikely, business partnerships that led to major savings, and incredible financial gains. And, with their tips for winning over management, colleagues, and staff, approaching your current business problems with a collaborative spirit might be the solution you've been searching for.
Power Business Intelligence users don't always want everything laid out for them. They often want the ability to pick and choose what they are going to look at. Something like this:
Sales By Year : Ad Hoc QueryOr they may want a combination where this is linked to some of the views we presented in Part 1. (See September 10th Post) That's all very easy to do with m-Power.
IT departments have a vested interest in keeping their counterparts on the business side informed about technology, and technological opportunities for business.
Why, you ask?
Well, keeping your senior management informed is a win-win when it comes to getting your pet projects pushed through. If you can convey to them the benefits of IT applied to your business, and make them see why technology is invaluable, you might just be considered invaluable yourself.
Here's a short article on how to teach your Non-Tech Execs about Technology.
How many steps are involved in orders? How can a field rep look up product availability from the road? How can a manager get sales numbers when they are stuck in a snowstorm in Dubuque? How can you reset a server when you are poolside yourself?
Here's how this UK manufacturer put real warehousing solutions in the palm of their users hands...literally.
Business Intelligence - Everyone does it in one form or another. Here are three examples of the more traditional approach, with all the data pre-sliced and diced for the BI user:
Sales By Year: YTDThese examples were built with m-Power, but even cooler than that is the versatility of Java servlets behind the examples. To see what I mean, click through all the links in each application and note the URLs as you go. Can you count how many times servlet I00610s is re-used, and all of its different looks?
Sales By Year: Full-Year Data
Overall Monthly Sales
The fact that a generation of some of IT's most experienced and knowledgeable professionals will be leaving over the next decade has been discussed for years, yet most organizations have done little to prepare for this exodus of talent, especially as it concerns maintaining all-too-important legacy systems.
Here are 7 recommendations on how to retain this know-how to preserve your company's assets.
With more than 15 million records in their datamart and more than 600,000 records being added each month, Bosselman had a huge BI challenge on their hands. How to analyze that amount of information, and distribute it in useful, meaningful formats among fifteen different companies representing 8 different industries.
This was no small BI task. It was a datamart challenge. See how they rose to meet it»
Our Web 2.0 reports make doing "Top XX" reports (e.g. Top 10 sales offices, Top 20 products sold) so easy and versatile.
This post will take you through some quick examples of just how easy and versatile.
In coming weeks, I'll show you how to combine this versatility with the "Import" features of our Web 2.0 reports to build dashboards in a snap.
Everyone agrees the future of global business is mobile, but America has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to adopting mobile devices and strategies.
Why that is, why that's changing, and what to look for to get your business up to speed.
If you'd like to begin, our consultants can give you a free evaluation and a place to start. Just let us know »
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