How SharePoint Consultants made me love technology
Here at Entrance, I was once known as a SharePoint power user. I was excited about everything SharePoint 2010 had to offer. Then we upgraded to Office 365 (O365) and I got a little scared of the tool. Things worked differently and I was sad. What happened to the good old days? I was a pretty typical user again, […]
Managing Big Data: Focus on Problem Solving
Yesterday, I started sharing a list of five strategies for successful data management from the Harvard Business Journal’s article “Why IT Fumbles Analytics.” Their main point is IT staff will use conventional methods for managing and deploying big data projects to their peril. Instead, “they need a fundamentally different approach and mind-set.” I have covered the first two strategies, […]
Silverlight and REST services are not friends
A project I’m working on uses a set of WCF RESTful services to retrieve data for a Silverlight application. The main driver for using REST is to minimize the size of the data coming back- the services return a large amount of data that is grouped and aggregated in different ways on the client, and […]
Successful Data Management Strategies
The Harvard Business Review (HBR) wrote about data and information management in their January/February 2013 issue in an article called, “Why IT Fumbles Analytics.” Their insights on how to move past viewing “information as a resource that resides in databases,” to seeing “information as something that people themselves make valuable,” is one that every company should […]
Mergers and Acquisitions A Key Growth Factor for Oil and Gas Service Companies
I’ve discussed recently how mergers and acquisitions are a key play for oil and gas companies. A report from Ernst & Young, “Dynamic dealmaking in oilfield services,” confirms these predictions, in this case for the oilfield services industry. As one CFO interviewed for the survey stated, a slow economy makes it difficult to grow organically, so […]
Oil and Gas Software Criss-Crosses the Country
It’s hard to miss evidence of oil and gas and the associated pipeline industry here in Houston. Driving down the highway yesterday, I saw a truck carrying a load of pipe bound for the field somewhere.
Windows 8 Ramping Up Slowly But Surely
I noticed an article in the news this week about Windows 8 and the slow gains it has made on the PC market. According to an article on zdnet.com, although the gains have been steadily growing each month, so far Windows 8 has only taken 2.26% of the market share. By comparison, Windows 7, its older counterpart, […]
Does Your Software’s Code Smell?
We shared earlier this week about a presentation some of our consultants made to the company explaining what unit testing is, and how, correctly implemented, it can translate to better custom software and code that is extensible, maintainable and scalable. I wanted to take a moment and take a closer look at one concept discussed during the presentation, […]
Silverlight is not WPF
I’m using Silverlight for the first time. It’s fundamentally the same as WPF in the way code is written, so I was tempted to use a lot of WPF techniques and tricks. Alas, Silverlight and WPF are not the same. Here are some of the differences I didn’t expect:
What’s new in SharePoint 2013’s record management?
Top 10 New Records Management Features in SharePoint 2013 It’s an awesome feeling when a brand you love makes positive strides and investments in the things you already love about their product. When it comes to SharePoint 2013, Microsoft has definitely been listening to our needs and expanding on what we love. There was so […]
What is a wildcatter?
Wildcatter A wildcatter is an American term for a person who drills wildcat wells, which are exploration wells drilled in areas not known to be producing fields.
What is a Central Delivery Point?
CDP (Central Delivery Point) A central delivery point, or CDP, is used to refer to a gas processing plant shared by several wells and leases. The hydrocarbons arrive by pipeline and are then separated, treated, allocated and sold.
Why flexible code matters when building Custom Software
This morning at Entrance, we got the low-down on making standard chunks of code into modular blocks from Kenny, Josh, Patrick and Brad. We have seen a lot of software come in the door that doesn’t scale, isn’t able to be modified easily and can’t be easily tested on a large scale. In many cases, this is because in-house or freelance software […]
SharePoint’s Return on Investment; How to calculate your SharePoint ROI
SharePoint’s ROI It’s not always straight forward, so make sure to check under the cushions on your couch! I hang my spurs in Houston, Texas and around here, people tend to love ‘one stop shopping’ for the sake of saving time and let’s face it MONEY. Our big super stores allow us to get in, […]
Don’t Let a Poor User Interface Get in the Way of Engineering Ability
Earlier this week in a post about streamlining engineering with custom software development, I discussed how lack of scalability and poor planning can mean the failure of a great engineering idea when it comes to creating small in-house applications which are based in Excel or the like. But as I got to thinking about it more, […]
What is Software Engineering?
I recently gave a presentation to students at Rice University on the topic of careers in software, with a particular focus on software engineering and software consulting. In addition to outling the kinds of degrees and training that are required to work in the software business, I explained how software engineering is starting to become […]
What is Joint Interest Billing?
JIB (Joint Interest Billing) Joint interest billing is a form of accounting particular to the oil & gas industry. It is the process of distributing the costs to well completions and operations among working interest partners.
Key Performance Indicators: Not Just for Internal Metrics Anymore
We’ve talked a bit lately about key performance indicators (KPI) and how they can be used internally to measure things like customer retention, capital expenditure, loan loss, refinery capacity and more. But what about using those same KPI’s to please your customers? For a major equipment rental company, Entrance built a Silverlight application, hosted as […]
What is Mud?
Mud In the oil and gas world, mud refers to the drilling fluid circulated through the drill pipe and back to the surface during rotary drilling and workovers.
Streamline Engineering with Custom Software Development
Living here in Houston, I can’t help but know a lot of smart engineers. They do some incredibly awesome things that are over my head, like structural analysis or developing better ways to get oil from an old well. But when it comes to engineering software, there is a difference between engineers and software engineers. An […]
