Engineering software development project completed
It’s been a long journey, but today we delivered the Release Candidate 1 for the software modernization project we announced back in 2009. Our client, a pipeline supplier, now has new and improved software that assists purchasers of pipe in designing multiple segments at a time based on specifications that they enter. Compared to the […]
SharePoint Integration
SharePoint is all about integration. After all, it integrates your office documents, business data, day-to-day processes and employees in one searchable, navigable location. But to SharePoint consultants such as myself, “SharePoint integration” means one thing: A marriage between SharePoint software and another software system. Depending on the system and how it is integrated, this software […]
SharePoint Content Databases
Some Best Practices for Content Databases in SharePoint 2010 (or: Attack of the 32-Character GUIDs) One of the coolest things about SharePoint’s platform (and one of its biggest selling points, if you ask me) is its scalability. It can follow a business from its humble beginnings to its days of Fortune 500 glory, providing a […]
SharePoint Workflow
The basic power of SharePoint stems from centralization—being able to put all of your business-related data, documents, information, and knowledge in one easy-to-browse, searchable place. That power can be extended in a very awesome way when an organization decides to build its day-to-day business processes into SharePoint workflows. But what are SharePoint workflows, and how […]
Entrance Software Launches Sharepoint 2010 Customization
Entrance Software just successfully launched a customized Sharepoint Kit that will help take students at KIPP further. KIPP is a national network of charter schools serving low-income students and families that boasts a 90% college matriculation rate. Vital Signs Reports KIPP’s employees were exerting excessive time and money collecting pertinent information from external databases, resulting […]
What Software Billing Models can I use keep costs down?
SOFTWARE CONSULTING ESTIMATE ACCURACY Yesterday we covered the dangers of hourly consulting and what to avoid with “free” estimates. Today I would like to share some advice on how to keep costs down on your software projects. As a customer, you should know that hourly projects will tend to run over the estimated budget more […]
Software Consulting Billing Models
Getting the Most for Your Money Most professional services offer a la carte or all-in-one billing models. Software consulting is no exception. You may be worried about getting ripped off, and it does take a small investment of time to understand whether what you are being offered is honest, complete and meets the needs of the […]
The Role of Custom SharePoint Development
SharePoint 2010 is a rich and fully-featured software platform right out-of-the-box, ready to tackle any organization’s document management, workflow, and intranet-oriented tasks. Many organizations that I work with on a daily basis operate quite happily with a professionally-configured, out-of-the-box SharePoint Server routing documents, managing document history, and presenting users with basic business intelligence. There are […]
SharePoint 2010: Not Just for the Enterprise
One of my favorite things about being a consultant in Houston is the variety of different-sized clients I get to meet with from week to week. One day, I may be running a SharePoint installation and configuration walkthrough with a fifteen-person shop; the next day, I may be planning out an enterprise solution for a […]
Engineering Software Development for Pipeline Services
Work is coming along on the engineering software development project we announced last spring. The re-vamped software is progressing nicely, and our software engineers are feeling good about an initial release sometime towards the end of next year. Our client is excited about the work, as they are anticipating that its improved user experience and […]
Custom Software Improves Employee Productivity
The right people must have the right tools to be productive. Custom software can be a tool that helps a business reduce the barriers for communication between departments and teams, encouraging collaboration. This results in better decisions and creates a technology multiplier to the human resources of the business, both of which increase productivity. Centralized […]
Custom Software Enhances Company Morale
Morale of skilled employees is directly proportional to the challenges available to those employees. Often inappropriate technology results in engineers and accountants performing clerical “copy and paste” work instead of analyzing information, drawing conclusions, and making decisions. Leveraging custom software allows people to use the right tool for the right job. This makes the completion of […]
Custom Software Builds Customer Loyalty
Loyalty is important in two groups: Customers and Employees. Employees will not be loyal to an organization where it is “hard” to get one’s job done. Technology can enable employees to complete the required workload in reasonable amounts of time, freeing up personal time for leisure activities. Second, customers can be offered unique services using […]
Custom Software Stimulates Profit
We increase profit by reducing the human cost of business decision-making. Custom software automates manual processes and surfaces timely data. This helps decision makers work that much faster, because they have the information they need. As a result, it is possible to create additional revenue while holding costs nearly constant, which means higher profit. Increasing […]
Custom Software Increases Sales
The sales of a company are often driven by how well the company can justify its cost through demonstrating its value. In the complex business world of today, this is often a challenge without analyzing mountains of data, but with the right custom software, any business can crunch the numbers and even present real-time cost […]
Cloud Computing – What’s your strategy?
What is Cloud Computing ? First off, It’s important to understand that cloud computing is fundamentally about resources: Structured and Unstructured Storage (kind of a hybrid of what you may think of as “RAM” or “disk” Compute power (similar to processor or CPU power)
New Dallas Branch of Entrance
Entrance Software is excited to announce the opening of our Dallas location. We now have a location in The Crescent which will allow us to better service customers in the Dallas area with software development and consulting needs. Our Dallas address and a map of the location are below: The Crescent 100 Crescent Ct. Suite […]
C# Generics Summary: Methods, Types and Specifying Generic Type Parameter Constraints
Generics in C# are classes, structures, interfaces, and methods that have type parameters for one or more of the types that they use. For example, instead of using a collection class that allows any type, we can use a generic collection class and define the specific type(s) for the collection. The primary use case of […]
LifeHouse Gala
Entrance Software purchased a table for the “Evening in the Garden of Life” Gala held on October 10, 2009 at the Westin Oaks Galleria. Over $100,000 was raised at the event for LifeHouse – a charity that provides services to residents at no cost. Please read the LifeHouse newsletter for full details about the event. […]
Entrance Software attends Houston TechFest 2009
On September 26th, Entrance Software attended the Houston TechFest 2009 event. Despite taking place on a Saturday, some 850+ tech-hungry participants met at the University of Houston campus to learn more about diverse topics such as understanding the SharePoint object model, Windows 7 for developers and Windows Workflow Foundation 3.5. The keynote presentation by Sam […]
