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Posts from the ‘Services’ Category

Apr 10

Time Matters at the Web and I

The Web and I Masters Time Matters

The Web and I is working on a special installation of Time Matters for an esteemed attorney client. Time Matters is a Customer Relationship Management product from Lexis Nexis designed especially for attorneys.

The Software

One of the differences is that there is an entity called the Matter or Case which tracks court cases and legal matters. There are built-in roles for most of the parties a law office will deal with, and there is strong billing capability built right in. Some of the third-party document generating programs attorneys like to use like Hot Docs and others are supported by Time Matters.  There is robust synchronization between Time Matters and Outlook as well. Once installed, maintenance can be done remotely. In fact this client we are installing Time Matters for now is over a thousand miles away! What we can do is install and load the software with all data, customizations, and options, and then all you need to do is plug it in. No technical support needed, other than us, and we can log in remotely and fix problems. Repairs, as you will see under hardware, can be done by anyone in the office.

We are not affiliated with Lexis Nexis except that we install and service their products, so I did not go to their advertising place to say something nice about Time Matters. I really love the synchronization capabilities, the interactivity with document tools my clients already like and use, the wonderful service at Lexis Nexis if there is a problem and one more important feature. Regular Customer Relationship Management software does not include anything to perform or track legal research. So many attorneys are already using Lexis Nexis as their legal research source. Right in the software you can simply hit the Lexis Nexis buttons and do your legal research and have it attached to the case record.  For an attorney, this is a great gift and time saver.

The Hardware

The Dell PowerEdge T620 has a 9 Terabyte SAS Hard Drive Array with a special hardware controller. This means that the RAID services are done through firmware and the drives are set at the BIOS level: that level of machine that is below the operating system and resides on the motherboard itself in chips. That special combination of drives and a RAID Array Controller help provide fault-tolerant, redundant, and speedy disk service. The drives are also hot-swappable. If my client has an outage, an employee needs to simply pull out the bad drive and plug-in a fresh one, all without shutting down the server. The same is true for the power supplies. The twin 750 watt power supplies can also prevent failure. For power failures, there is power backup that will automatically shut everything down safely. For those that want to keep  a small office going and don’t mind a 2000 lb battery system, I can keep your office of ten running for an afternoon. Power failures being rare enough not to cause the loss of significant work in most offices, so a smaller system is fine. Larger companies are best served by a large battery backup and a diesel generator. We can source, deliver, and install these as part of your total disaster management plan. In addition, we recommend off-site backup. This ensures that in a disaster your server and everyone’s work can be up and running in one business day in case of the complete destruction of your facility. We never let our clients lose their data. Memory and CPU power is also important, sporting 24 cores of Xeon processing power, the model we are using has 16 GB of fault-tolerant RAM.

The database

The database is Microsoft SQL Server 2012. This is a wonderfully reliable and robust database, and it stores not only your data but all of the case documents you store in Time Matters. The 2012 Edition is the latest from Microsoft and considered the industry standard by most credible systems engineers.

To find out more, call one of our experts at (646) 853-0573.

Feb 20

PowerPoint
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New Office 365 2013 Preview: PowerPoint

Like other Microsoft Office 2013 products, PowerPoint 2013 uses the same basic ribbon command structure, but it has been optimized for tablet use. The simplification of the interface also makes it more phone ready.

PowerPoint’s built-in themes now have a variation feature which makes them more customizable than the original.

More Choices from the Start

The starting sequence of PowerPoint is different. Rather than opening to a default blank PowerPoint presentation, a starting screen offers you the option of using templates to start off with, open a recent file, and of course, the option of starting with a blank presentation.

More Ways to Start

More Ways to Start

The slide show view known as Presenter View now automatically adjusts to the projection setup in place by scanning the hardware in use and adapting the presentation to it.

Presenter View

Presenter View

  • Presenter View can now be used on a single monitor.
  • Clicking the magnifying glass allows the user to zoom in on a single slide.
  • Moving or jumping to any slide is possible within this interface.
  • Easy set-up: PowerPoint automatically detects hardware configuration and optimizes the presentation for the available audio-visual equipment.

For more help with Microsoft Office or any other computing issue call the experts at the Web and I at 646-853-0573

Feb 17

Microsoft Excel 2013
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New Office 365 2013 Preview: Microsoft Excel

Microsoft is known for two things: being the provider of software which is the industry standard for business, and for being extremely innovative. Microsoft may not be the first company to come up with some innovative features, but Microsoft would rather be the first company to come out with those features executed correctly rather than the first chronologically. Microsoft Office 2013 is no exception. The first major goal of Microsoft Office 2013 was to clean up graphic effects to make the interface cleaner, smoother, and easier to operate. The second goal with the 2013 Edition was to make Microsoft Office tablet friendly.

The immediate impression that Excel 2013 users have is that the interface is a lot cleaner and more intuitive. It still does use the Microsoft Office Ribbon that users have trained and gotten used to from Microsoft Office 2010. This familiarity serves to lower the amount of necessary training time. The simplification of the ribbon improves functionality both on the desktop and for tablet uses.

Office Templates are something usually associated with Microsoft Word, but in Excel 2013, there is a rich collection of templates that provide both visual interest and functionality. With templates, you can concentrate on the data and leave the design to Microsoft. For the users that want more control, there are more design tools, and those tools are far easier to use.

Another new feature is the Quick Analysis feature. Just put the data into a spreadsheet and highlight it. Very quickly you can make charts and graphs to help you visualize  patterns in the data. Because of tight integration with the rest of Microsoft Office, you can easily take the data, charts, and graphs and quickly copy and paste them right into your Word, Publisher, or PowerPoint document.

Sometimes data requires columns to be filled in either identically or incrementally based on rules. The new Flash Fill feature allows missing cell data to be filled in quickly just by dragging the cursor across the column. In most cases, Flash Fill can figure out the pattern of the data you are trying to fill, making completion a breeze.

Different types of data are better represented visually with different types of charts, and if you do not like the recommended chart type, it is easy to flip back and forth between different chart styles, colors, sizes, and tables.

Sometimes, you may not wish to use the full set of data you entered to analyze, or you may wish to take out parts or limit the range using different parameters. This is very easy to facilitate using the new Slicers feature, which also allows for complex pivot functions.

In earlier versions of Microsoft Office Excel, you could open up more than one workbook at a time, but they would all be in the same window, in the same instance of Excel. Now with Excel 2013, you can have one window per workbook. This can prove very valuable when you are working with two different workbooks and want to see them both side-by-side. with this new feature, that scenario is now possible.

Saving and sharing files online is much easier with Excel 2013. It is optimized for the cloud and easier to save documents to SkyDrive or SharePoint on Microsoft Office 365.

Sometimes, webmasters want to display data, charts, and graphs, but in the past that had to be re-coded for the Web to share on public sites. Now with Excel 2013, sharing data on the Web is as easy as copying and pasting.

New programs and new features in Microsoft Office including in Excel 2013 sometimes require training. For an informal and enlightening conversation about Microsoft Excel 2013 or any other computing issue, contact the professionals at the Web and i at 646-853-0573.

Feb 15

Microsoft Dynamics CRM

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Polaris Update

One of the best things about using Microsoft Online products, besides their unprecedented reliability and functionality, is the fact that they are always innovating. Microsoft has big plans for Microsoft Dynamics CRM this year, and they are going to wow us with a great many new features and functionality. This is not only to enable greater productivity through the features directly, but the idea is to expand the interest for users as well as the number of devices they can use to work with CRM. Consider this the first in a series of many updates of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and new capabilities.

Starting at the end of January and continuing today, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is implementing a new update that will affect all users. Microsoft reporters had stated that users would be given a choice of when and how these updates are applied, but these updates are actually applied behind the scenes, with users experiencing features one way on one day, and then the next day they return to improved features. Microsoft is very smart about how they apply the updates,  because changes and their functionality tend to be intuitive to the end users, requiring no formal explanation.

Part of the rollout that is the most exciting is the addition of support for new browsers. Now users can use Microsoft Dynamics CRM with Chrome, Safari, and Firefox including on the Mac. Before, Microsoft Dynamics CRM was not usable on the Mac, and this update is very major because of the sheer number of choices that are now available for using this application.

As a result of this update, users will be able to run Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online on their I-Pads. This is a major plus because of the strong adoption of the I-Pad.

Another significant feature that was added was support for Skype and Lync. With these applications, enterprises can have click-to-call capability, which I wrote about in my article yesterday.

Other updates for CRM were designed to provided added capability to deal with the new features in Microsoft Office 2013.

Many know that Microsoft purchased the enterprise social network Yammer, and many wonder how that would integrate with other applications on desktops or servers. Microsoft has with this update integrated Microsoft Dynamics CRM with Yammer. This will help larger organizations have internal social networking and collaboration in a manner in which users tend to like to work.

Microsoft is not stopping there either. Microsoft is working on new updates that will be available for mid 2013 that include:

  • A native Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Windows 8 application.
  • A native Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Windows Phone 8 application.

Eventually we will see newer and more exciting features, and some of these are already known to this author. I will write more this week about the exciting things that users can expect in Microsoft Dynamics CRM  Online.

In the meanwhile, if you want to talk about any of these great new features or about anything else Microsoft related, give us a call for an informal conversation at 646-853-0573.

Feb 13

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New Office 365 2013 Preview: Microsoft Word

New Microsoft Office Word 2013 allows you to do more than you could with previous versions of Microsoft Office including Microsoft Office 2010. some of the new things you can do is add an online video to your Word document, use Word to open and edit *.PDF documents, and use it easier on tablet computers. For those working on team documents, editing and annotating with comments is easier in Word 2013 than in previous versions.

There are different features to make reading as pleasant as creating documents as well. There is a reading mode, a feature to zoom in easily on images, text, and graphs, plus the capability to click and define words and search the Web right from within Word. If you are reading a document and close it and re-open it later, Word will ask you if you want to pick up where you left off, or start in a new place.

Word 2013 Web Application, available for Enterprise Microsoft Office 365 versions will have additional features as well, making it more like the desktop version. Another great version for Office 365 users is that if you are using a computer that is not yours and does not have office you can do a quick temporary install of one or all of your apps, which will then disappear from the host computer when you are done.

When making any technology decision, you need to talk to people who know what you want to do. Call us any time at 646-853-0573.

 

Feb 11

Microsoft Office
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What to Expect from the Office 365 2013 Edition Overhaul

Office 365 2010 Edition and Office 365 2013 edition are quite different not only in their outward appearance but also in their functionality. Little-known difficulties with Office 2010 are now making Office 2010 an attractive target for hackers, according to Kaspersky Labs. In the past, the most common files to exploit were Adobe Flash and Adobe Acrobat. Adobe has come up with a more aggressive update policy and they have changed their code to help prevent these exploits. Office 2013 has been completely re-written from the ground up to be safer and to avoid these troubles for businesses who rely on Microsoft Office. Other alternatives exist, such as Google Docs and others, but they do not provide the same look, the same features, or the same document compatibility. In fact with Google Docs, it is almost impossible to save a document sent to you on a hard drive, or have someone else open it without sharing your Google login credentials. In fact this author printed out one Google document as a favor, and now my Google account was hacked and an Indonesian bartender has taken over a facebook profile he made with my Google account. I have reclaimed my Google account, although facebook refuses to remove the page. All of this is reason enough to not go with cheap imitation software. Only Microsoft Office, with the latest versions and updates, is the industry standard. That will provide you with the most functionality and the greatest protection.

One of the new things that are available are public folders. SharePoint has its place for sharing and storing archived material, but it is too complex for some users to actually adopt and collaborate with, and the most important change that can happen in the workplace because of enterprise software is collaboration. So with Office 365 we can expect a lot more collaboration in businesses everywhere adopting the new Office 365.

Another good thing is that Lync and Skype will have improvements in video chat and collaboration. In Lync multiple faces can be seen when meeting with multiple persons in a “Brady Bunch” configuration. Skype users will have an easier time-sharing files because Skype will be federated to the user’s Skydrive account.

For tablet users, Office 365 has great news! Office 2013 is optimized for the Windows 8 tablet. All commands are touch-enabled, and pages can be flipped in a document just like flipping pages in a book.

For users who have mixed Mac and PC environment, users can install Mac or PC version of office on up to five computers even if they are not of the same kind, such as one on Mac and three on PC’s and one on a PC Notebook. Users who may be stuck on someone else’s computer occasionally, can use Office On Demand. With this feature, you can quickly sign in and use the office application that you wish to use, and when you leave that computer you leave no trace of the application or the work that has been done there. This feature is great for people on the go. A Windows 8 on a USB Key is also available, though it must require careful preparation. With it, users can use their own environment on someone else’s computer with no trouble at all.

Desktop Office 2013 has become a whole lot cooler too. You can now embed web parts such as bing maps directly into excel spreadsheets and word documents, and the interface has just gotten a whole lot less cluttered.

For help in deciding on, implementing, and training your employees with new technology you need to go to the Microsoft Experts. We have been with Microsoft since DOS was released the operating system that existed before Windows. Call us for an informal chat at any time at 646-853-0573.

 

Feb 10

Al Lyons 3
1 Comment

The Importance of Effective Employee Training in Enterprise Systems

Employees are considered good by managers when they are comfortable enough with a business process to develop a “System”. This system is a way of doing things, a way of handling common business situations in an efficient way. Employees get very attached to their way of doing things, and when technologies change, they invariably come up with resistance to that change.

This resistance to change is often misunderstood. Suddenly managers and employees are pitted against each other over this sudden and  unexpected resistance by good employees. But what is at the root  of the resistance? The resistance is actually caused by employee’s worry about the health of the business and the business price. These good employees are resisting what they see as a threat to the organization: a threat to getting the job done well.

Because this resistance can now be seen in an entirely new light, as a positive emotion about protecting the business and its’ processes, there clearly needs to be a better way to handle this particular resistance than with anger.

Experts in change management and software implementation always say, “welcome the resistance”. This seems to be counterintuitive, until you listen to their reasoning and use  for  the resistance. The resistors need to be converted and have their energies put into the new technology project in a process of gaining consensus. This consensus among employees is actually the biggest part of training. If you have ever tried to train employees in a technology that they dislike, you will be met with resistance and claims that the technology is too difficult. If this is the case during training, then more consensus building is needed before training. Once the consensus among employees in general is positive toward a technology and a procedure, the training will take place by itself almost as if by magic.

Staff have a long way to go with technology when implementing a new enterprise system, but it is important to keep that staff happy. The main reason for this is that your implementation staff is your front-line army for turning  technology resisters into technology champions.

This staff will have to face your staff when they feel that they are not only losing beloved procedures, but that they are also losing power. The loss of power for employees with an enterprise system is the farthest thing from the truth: a new enterprise system used by all will give them complete transparency, control, and access to the data they need when they need it.  They will be able to churn out reports faster than ever  before, and be able to take advantage of the collaborative efforts of others, who are all using the same system. For some of the oldest employees, it is useful to bring up the times when people used to do all of their computing on a mainframe. That was a form of team computing, and this new enterprise computing is simply team computing without the removal of the individual.

Planning and executing a major enterprise technology initiative is difficult in any organization. Before you get started, be sure to call the professionals at the Web and I to talk about your needs on an informal basis at 646-853-0573.

Feb 8

New Office 365
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New Office 365 2013 Preview: Interface

The new Microsoft Office 2013 and Office 365 2013 Editions have in common a new interface by Microsoft originally called Metro. This interface is named Metro after the system of signs on many Metro train systems where the typography is uniform and clear, and people can see universally what each sign means. There are less distracting graphic effects like the glass effect so popular under Windows Vista and Windows 7 and suddenly absent with Windows 8. Inspiration for the simplicity of the designs and the emphasis of content over graphic effect or, “chrome” was a combination of traditional Swiss graphic design and the signs of the Kings County Metro System in Washington, which have served to inspire Microsoft engineers in their creation.

Metro Bus Signs

Metro Bus Signs

The actual commands on the interface are the Microsoft Office Ribbon in this new iteration are almost the same as the Microsoft Office 2010 Ribbon that users have already had a few years to get used to. When they took away much of the graphic effects, the reading, navigation, and use became much clearer.

Metro Windows Explorer

Metro Windows Explorer

Metro Word 2013 Interface

Metro Word 2013 Interface

Microsoft Office 2013 is not the only product that uses this same interface with the bright white or gray ribbon at the top of windows with all of the menu controls. Windows Explorer on Windows 8 and most Windows 8 applications will have this feature. Microsoft Office 365 will have this feature as well including its’ use in Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Outlook Web Access, Microsoft Project Server and eventually Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The progress with some products is faster than with others but Microsoft always works in a definite direction for a definite purpose. The purpose with the Metro Interface is to make clearer ways to navigate all kinds of devices, to have navigation on all devices happen the same way, and to get the world ready for the advantages of touch-screen technology while also improving the capabilities of the interface for the traditional keyboard and mouse.

There is a great deal of user resistance to the new user interface. We have understood that people may unhappy with losing the start button The good news is that an aftermarket programmed start button can be added on. Eventually, however, users have to realize that the start screen is an enlarged and more useful start button which is infinitely customizable to suit the user. Right now people do not see the close similarity between their start screen as they are used to it in Windows Vista and Windows 7 and the Windows 8 Start Screen.

Once users accept the design, we feel it will be well accepted. The Windows Metro interface is a work of genius, and sometimes the value of genius takes a while to be appreciated by the public.

For help with new technology from Microsoft call upon the experts at the Web and I at 646-853-0573.

Feb 6

Cloud Security
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New Office 365 2013 Preview: Security Recommendations

GLEN COVE, NEW YORK

Premier Microsoft Office 365 cloud services consultant, the Web and I, is releasing our latest security recommendations for your Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and related products soon to be released. Soon to be released will be Microsoft Project Server, Microsoft Dynamics GP Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

From our experiences in professional installations and the security considerations we have had as well as our experiences with the new Office 365 to be released to the public on February 27 (or here from us at the Web and I today!).

There are several types of administrators for Office 365 and related products, and it is clear to see their intended roles. Whoever manages the credit or debit card associated with payment, probably the owner or the accountant will be assigned the Billing Administrator position. The implementation I.T. consultant will have the Global Administrator role The Global Administrator can make changes to the Exchange, Lync, and SharePoint servers.. The Service Administrator is someone who has the permission to go and check the status of the cloud service health on a dashboard provided by Microsoft Office 365. The User Management Administrator can add and remove users and re-set passwords. The company HR person or IT person who works with the HR department are the natural choices for User Management Administrator. Since User Management Administrators are not always from a technical background it is vital to explain to them the importance of not duplicating users and stressing the permanence of deleting users.

Permission Billing administrator Global administrator Password administrator Service administrator User management administrator
View company and user information Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Manage support tickets Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Reset user passwords No Yes Yes No Yes; with limitations. He or she cannot reset passwords for billing, global, and service administrators.
Perform billing and purchasing operations Yes Yes No No No
Create and manage user views No Yes No No Yes
Create, edit, and delete users and groups, and manage user licenses No Yes No No Yes; with limitations. He or she cannot delete a global administrator or create other administrators.
Manage domains No Yes No No No
Manage company information No Yes No No No
Delegate administrative roles to others No Yes No No No
Use directory synchronization No Yes No No No

Security in SharePoint

SharePoint has its own set of security roles which can be user defined, and access can vary from site to site, from site collection to site collection. Companies can store all of their information on SharePoint and selectively share it with employees, clients, and consultants to any extent needed. Security in Enterprise-grade SharePoint such as in the S2, E1, and E3 plans have 256 bit encryption and it makes as safe and compliant an area for intranets and extranets as those used by online banking.

Security in E-Mail, Exchange, and Outlook

The Global Administrator can load the global address book or change user E-mails. Users with the Global Administrator status can also turn on and off features like mailbox archive and litigation hold. Nobody but the Global administrator can touch Exchange settings which serves to protect the E-Mail of the company by putting the responsibility squarely in the hands of Global Administrators only.
E-Mail is scanned for viruses as it arrives, and this helps prevent costly infections and having corporate information compromised.
We at the Web and I are ready to help you with your Office 365 Security plans. Please call us for an informal discussion at any time at 646-853-0573.

Feb 6

DuPont is on Office 365
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DuPont Announces Complete Commitment to Office 365 in the New York Times

PARLIN, NEW JERSEY

According to the New York Times, other news sources, and Microsoft themselves, the DuPont corporation is using Microsoft Office 365 to provide productivity and communications software for their considerable roster of 59,000 users. DuPont has employees worldwide, and they feel that they can foster a better atmosphere of collaboration by having one connected cloud system that serves as the glue that binds their offices worldwide.

Everyone is on the industry standard E-Mail software Microsoft Exchange with Outlook. Outlook now of course has ties to Lync for video meetings and video chat, as well as social monitoring of your contacts for their activities on LinkedIn and the like.

With Microsoft SharePoint, Lync, and Office Web Apps, a group of DuPont employees in various locations on the globe can have a video meeting where all participants are simultaneously editing the same document in real-time while also meeting face-to-face.

Executive management is satisfied with the high compliance standards of Office 365. Boasting a financially backed service level agreement, Microsoft has met the standard for ISO 9000 computing which includes 99.97% uptime and continual backup at multiple redundant facilities. Larger companies like DuPont can not only lower IT costs but have the potential to lower the rates on their regular business liability insurance. DuPont has healthcare and medical divisions as well. Some healthcare activities including the testing of their products require Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules compliance. Microsoft Office 365 is the only cloud productivity software that has met that high standard. With new updates that are coming into effect February 27, 2013, incredible new functionality will be added as well.

Office 365 works with every mobile platform and the Apple Mac, making it a universal software. Employees will be able to take advantage with a license to install the software on up to five devices. That is why Office 365 is the most flexible and dependable cloud productivity suite in the World. That is why DuPont and other Fortune 500 companies are selecting Microsoft Office 365 time after time.

Like all Microsoft Office 365 clients, DuPont will enjoy significant I.T. cost savings. Many larger companies have been able to make massive I.T. staffing reductions at the same time paying lower licensing costs and no equipment or power costs for traditional server-based products. Businesses of all sizes can enjoy the benefits of Microsoft Office 365. The possibilities are endless. For information about starting right away, call us at any time at 646-853-053.

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