Master Data Management Podcasts: Two New Casts Available!
Entrance’s software consultants have been creating a few master data management podcasts lately. In fact, you can now listen to not one but two podcasts that will fill you in on master data management and help you determine the business value of getting control of data at your company. The New Master Data Management Podcasts Listen to […]
Agile and Custom Software: Getting the Most For Your Money, Part 1
I ran across an article about why users hate Agile development, and it got me thinking about what our potential clients can do to feel like they’re getting the most from their custom software project. As the article mentions, Agile custom software development can be a very ambiguous process for users, because neither the cost […]
Who Moved My SharePoint: Four New 2013 Features for Business Users
I recently presented at SharePoint Saturday in Atlanta with the topic, “Who Moved My SharePoint (to 2013),” where I shared with attendees some of things that business users need to know about upgrading to SharePoint 2013. I will presenting on this topic again at the Baton Rouge SQL Saturday/Tech Day, where I will be the only […]
Iterative Custom Software: Consolidating Timesheet Tickets
For long-standing clients for which we have created custom software applications, the process of improving and adding features is continuous, with new additions several times a year. For one project, a field ticket management application, not only has the application been a big success, it is also a perfect example of this process.
Data Management: It’s a Benefit, Not a Burden
“Information is a source of learning, but unless it is organized, processed, and available to the right people in a format for decision making, it is a burden, not a benefit.”
SharePoint 2010 and AutoSPInstaller
During a recent SharePoint migration, Entrance software consultants decided to try out a new tool that might help speed up the process of installation, called AutoSPInstaller. The description on the tool’s website is, “automated SharePoint 2010/2013 PowerShell-based installation script.”
Custom Software: Your Business Logic, Codifed
When it comes to software, every company has to evaluate whether an off the shelf or custom software option makes the most sense. Off the shelf products are often cheaper, but they may not be able to provide the complete functionality that your team needs to get their job done. For one pipeline engineering services […]
Software Consulting Best Practices: Branching and Merging Part 2
Last week, I shared some of insight I’ve learned as a software consultant about branching and merging. Specifically, I shared some of the complexities than can arise, such as increased complexity, possible loss of work, and introduction of bugs through failed merges. This second part focuses on strategies for successfully using branching.
E&P Data Management: Data versus Information
The past few weeks, we’ve been blogging about some interesting topics related to data management from PNEC’s annual conference. This week, I’d like to share what we learned from a Petroleum Engineer at Saudi Aramco, Omar Akbar. His presentation was called, “Before We Begin to Discuss E&P Data Management: Do We Speak the Same Language?” It […]
SharePoint Consulting Tips: Solutions to Common BCS External List Errors
As a SharePoint consultant, I get the chance to work through a lot of interesting problems. In this case, programmatically accessing BCS External Lists in SharePoint is a bit like working in a parallel universe. Most list access rules will continue to apply, however there are some very special caveats that one must remember.
Microsoft Campaign Highlights Collaboration Tools Like SharePoint and Yammer
Last week, Entrance covered an article that shared statistics around the usage of collaboration tools like SharePoint, and how most people mistake social collaboration for Facebook or Twitter. This week, I ran into another article in TechCrunch announcing a new campaign by Microsoft to help businesses understand how social collaboration can make business teams more productive.
Data Management: Presentation Matters
At the PNEC conference two weeks ago, one of the sessions, “Information Management in Shale,” by Fred Kunzinger, senior principal, Noah Consulting, highlighted some interesting ideas about data management, and how presentation matters as much as the data itself.
Software Consulting Best Practices: Branching and Merging Part 1
When it comes to good software consulting, Entrance spends a lot of time on maintaining good best practices so that we can produce awesome custom software for our clients. To that end, I’d like to cover a few things that I’ve learned recently about code branching and merging. It should be helpful not only to technical leads […]
Building a Case for Custom Software
We meet new prospective clients on an almost daily basis, and one way or the other they all come to us with the need for custom software or consulting. What separates the clients with super successful final products from the others is their understanding of the business value behind a software project. This isn’t to say we […]
Using SharePoint for Social Collaboration
Nine out of 10 IT staff and about two-thirds of managers and users say they are using social-networking technologies at work, according to a global study by Microsoft- and Accenture-owned services firm Avanade.
Data Management and Growth for Oil and Gas
Last week, several of Entrance’s software consultants attended PNEC’s 17th Annual Conference, “Petroleum Data Driven Decisions for Higher Returns.” There were a number of interesting sessions covering how oil and gas companies can use data management to improve their bottom line. Entrance will cover a few of them over the next few weeks.
Master Data Management and Six Sigma Strategies
At the P2 conference last week, I had the opportunity to chat with a land administration systems controller from an upstream company here in Texas about data management. Her company is in the process of divesting a number of assets, and her job is to look at the data related to those assets and determine […]
Energy Software Could Make a Difference for Chesapeake Suit
The Houston Business Journal posted an article yesterday about Barnett Shale owners suing Chesapeake Energy over mineral rights. The dispute involves 4000 acres of land, and “the complaint says Chesapeake allegedly violated lease agreements by underpaying on royalty payments from gas produced on the plaintiffs’ land in Tarrant and Johnson counties.”
Software Developer Tricks for VML, jQuery, IE 8, and SharePoint 2010
As a SharePoint consultant, I run into and fix bugs all the time. One of my recent custom SharePoint 2010 projects required the use of HighCharts.js and jQuery. I’d like to share how I fixed one bug that that caused jQuery to break in combination with VML, jQuery, IE 8, and SharePoint 2010. So let’s get started […]
SharePoint and Enterprise Content Management: The ROI
This week, several of Entrance’s software consultants are attending P2’s ASCEND user conference to go live with our “Frac Your Data” campaign for the energy industry. Yesterday I attended one of the sessions called, “The Power of an Enterprise Digital Strategy,” where we learned how taking control of your company’s assets and housing them where […]
