mrc's Cup of Joe Blog

Join us in exploring the world of modern development, evolving technologies, and the art of future-proof software

Year: 2012

5 things to look for in embedded Business Intelligence

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Save MoneyIn a recent article, I explained a couple of ways that embedded BI is typically used. Software companies embed third-party BI tools in their software to quickly add new capabilities. Internal IT staffs use embedded BI to solve user adoption problems.

The big question: What should you look for in embedded BI software? The answer: While there are more, here are 5 of the most important features to look for in embedded business intelligence software: …

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How one small IT staff became internally productive

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ProductivityWhat does “internal productivity” mean? It means your IT staff is productive without relying on outside help. It means that you develop your apps and complete your projects quickly using your current staff and skills. It means you no longer rely on outsourcing companies or consultants.

This is a great goal for any IT department, but it’s much easier said than done. How can you accomplish everything you want to accomplish, using your current IT staff? Rather than explain it to you, I have a great example of a small IT staff that had some urgent projects, but couldn’t bring in outside help. What did they do? They found a way to become internally productive, and managed to fix everything themselves. You can read the whole story here.

Can embedded BI solve your user adoption problems?

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Save MoneyUser adoption is one of the biggest reasons why business intelligence fails. After all, if no one uses it, business intelligence is worthless. What keeps users from using business intelligence? Depends on the user. Maybe it’s too difficult. Maybe it’s inconvenient. Maybe they’re just lazy.

Whatever the reason, business intelligence that isn’t used is not only a waste of money, it’s a waste of time. Users go back to what they’re comfortable doing, like using Excel or asking the IT department to run reports.

If any of this sounds familiar, then keep reading. I’m going to explain the concept of embedded BI, and how it can solve this problem. …

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Tutorial: Create a pure CSS navigation menu for your web apps

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EducationYou’ve heard the saying, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” It’s good advice, but largely ignored. Whether consciously or subconsciously, we pass judgements based on appearance on a daily basis.

This fact is especially important in business. Studies have shown that people judge a web page/app in less than one second. What does that mean? If you’re building apps for customers or prospects, appearance can affect revenue. If you’re building for internal users, it can affect usability.

Don’t get me wrong–I’m not telling you to focus solely on appearance. I’m telling you not to ignore appearance, because like it or not, an app is judged by it’s appearance first, and usefulness second.

How can you improve your application’s appearance? There are a few ways, but one of the best and easiest way is the navigation menu. A well-designed navigation menu will improve the overall look and feel as well as the usability of the web app. If you’d like to learn a simple way to create a good-looking navigation menu using CSS, we’ve written up a tutorial, which you can find here.

For more tips on usability, this article gives a few more ideas.

Build a web (and mobile) app in 30 minutes without programming

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ProductivityIf your company plans on building mobile apps this coming year, or if you just wish there was a faster way to develop enterprise web applications, you should really try the newly revamped m-Power Trial.

The m-Power Trial was recently updated, and now also lets you build a mobile web app. In roughly 30 minutes, you will create an enterprise web app, along with tablet and smartphone versions of that web app. The best part: Everything is done without programming!

You can try it here: m-Power Trial