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Increa$e your revenue
Our initial entry into the software market has
been met with a positive response (whew!). The PowerBuilder application takes the
guesswork out of the development of customized Time Matters Power Views.
 Have you ever had a TM customer ask for a
Power View? Ever have to hire a developer or another CIC who is experienced in
the ways of HTML to assist in the completion of such a project or worse yet pass
up the opportunity all together?
For those that have a limited knowledge of HTML and CSS
development (or none at all!), this utility allows you to quickly create a
professional and customer specific Power View which meets the targeted needs of
your user. Your field laptop becomes a real time HTML development tool that
allows you the freedom to produce full scale Power Views within minutes while
working at the customer site. |
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Those who are more familiar with the intricacies
required to customize the Time Matters Power View feature will see an immediate
benefit in that the time required to complete a project will be reduced
considerably. PowerBuilder will write the necessary code for you freeing you to
direct your attention toward billable hours.
PowerBuilder
provides you with the following features:
- User defined
logo at the top of the Power
View
- Multiple
list layouts on the same view
- Adjustable
list layout returns for 5, 10 or
all records
- Ability to
add layout templates (FunctionPaks)
as your needs change
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Visit the
PowerBuilder
Website today to purchase a license or call 888-389-2724 to schedule a product demonstration.
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Access your files from anywhere
How
many of us can say that we have our own personal computing cloud? Well, with
this little gadget you can. Sorta...
The
pogoplug (yeah, all lower
case) is a device designed to allow you to plug in any USB drive and quickly be
on your way to sharing your files across the Internet. It really is that easy.
Imagine having immediate access to all of your data from any
computer on the Web! We don't have one of these but the more I write the more
appealing it sounds. I currently use LogMeIn to get to my desktop at the office
but am forced to either email or FTP my files around which can be a headache
especially when time is of the essence.
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The makers of this beautifully simplistic device
have also developed an iPhone app. Now I have a good excuse to "drop" my
Blackberry into the fishbowl or mistakenly leave it just behind the rear
drivers side wheel.
This little guy can be purchased directly
from the pogoplug Web site for 129.00. Not a bad deal if you compare it
to other well known NAS solutions. Since I can always just upgrade the
hard drive, it becomes a very dynamic device. |
The only down side that I can see is that access to your
files is dependant on your Internet connections integrity. I guess that any such
network accessible storage device would fall into the same category so that may
be a moot point. I may have to pull the stand apart and paint it tough guy black
as it would be the only device in my office with any color.
The Website has a decent setup page which walks you through
the process. It looks like it may just take more time to fill out the online
order form than it will to get the device online. They do not get into such
necessary configuration needs as ports, firewalls and IPs but I am guessing that
the device is configured to work over port 80. This may pose a problem if you
are running a Web server but keep in mind that this is pure speculation at this
point so don't let that sway you from taking a hard look at this NAS device.
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Backing up the TM database in SQL
This came about from a conversation with a
fellow CIC who asked how we go about backing up the TM database. I quickly ran
through the process of creating the .bak file through the SQL Management Studio
and figured that this may just make a good newsletter article. Couple that with
the double Latte that I had just consumed and you have the ingredients for a how to!
So the next time you find yourself running queries and want to make a backup,
there is no need to open TM to do so...
We will first need to open SQL Server
Management Studio. I am writing this article based on SQL Express 2008.
| Next, identify the database that you would like to
backup. Right click on the database name and select Tasks then Backup: |
fig1 |
| |
| SQL will have a defualt backup path. If you wish to
change this path then click on the Add button: |
fig2 |
| |
| Click on the elipse button and you will be provided
with a path selector: |
fig3 |
| |
| Choose your desired path and enter a name for the
file that you are about to create. The backup files use a .bak
extension. |
fig4 |
| |
| If you are feeling psychic and guessed that you will
be clicking next, you are right! |
fig5 |
| |
| You have just created a new backup file location.
Click on the new name and select OK: |
fig6 |
| |
| The backup is running. Keep an eye on the green
animation in the lower left of the dialog as it will give you an idea of
your progress: |
fig7 |
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Getting to know you...
This will be our second installment of the AlliancePCG
Newsletter interview segment. The intent here is to provide a glimpse into other
CIC shops around the country. We have a canned set of general questions that we
will be emailing out to our CIC peers in hopes that this will increase community
in our already close knit society.
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This month our interview spot goes to Kevin Major of
DataNet, LLC. in Rode Island.
Greetings, Kevin. You have been
selected as a participant in our monthly newsletter article “Getting to
know you”. I want to take just a few minutes to ask you some questions
regarding your consulting business...
Q: How long
have you been a CIC?
A: I have been a PCLaw consultant for many
years, a CIC for about 3 years and in the IT business since 1967. Done a
lot in the last 40 years, but really enjoy the work we are doing in the
legal community.
|
Q: What got you
into the CIC game?
A: When Lexis purchased PCLaw, I thought it wise to expand
my legal technology expertise. I have to say that in planning for the worst and
hoping for the best, I wanted to become knowledgeable in Time Matters/Billing
Matters just in case Lexis was thinking about phasing out PCLaw. As it turned
out, they are continuing development and support for the best of both (lucky for
me).
Q: What would you define as your technical
specialty?
A: I have always worked in application development and database
management. I continue to enjoy that and, with a partner and employees who
complement me with their technical skills, our consulting firm can provide full
support for the small and mid-size firms, where we specialize in Legal
Technology.
Q: What’s the secret to drumming up new business?
A: About
90% word of mouth and 10% thru traditional marketing and networking. We are now
gearing up for a major marketing program in 2010.
Q: Do you have any pearls of wisdom for the new or budding CIC?
A: If you love what you’re doing, study hard, work harder, play a lot, and
remember that you can’t do it all. Develop relationships with others that you
trust and, above all, remember that you work to live, not live to work. Enjoy
life before you are too old or too sick, this is not a rehearsal.
Q: If sentenced to the proverbial “deserted island”, what gadget
could you not live without?
A: I would gladly live without any of them. Just
provide a non-stop supply of books.
Q: If you could have any feature
added to Time Matters, what would it be?
A:
True Triggers within TM (not having to use SQL), AND
dozens of other features, although I have to admit that Time Matters is the most
customizable COTS application I have worked with in a long time.
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Soundex off!
OK,
here is the scenario...
Joe Attorney has entered a new contact record for his
client Michael McDonald. He knows that he had made the entry as it is the first
thing that he does during each new client interview only he cannot find the
contact record through any QuickPik or filter search.
To make things
worse, Mr. McDonald gave Joe a check for a million dollars (hey, it's my
newsletter, I can make the story read any way that I like) to add to his trust
account but forgot to sign it. Joe has no way of contacting Michael to get the
signature. Something must be wrong with Time Matters right? Joe calls on you,
his all knowing CIC, for help. He is willing to give you 10% of the trust money
just to find Michaels contact record.
You could sift through the 200,000
records or try to create a filter that will find the information but you know
that Joe likes his coffee and could have entered darned near anything in that
record.
A simple SQL query could get you what you want:
SELECT first_name, last_name
FROM lntmuser.contact
WHERE
SOUNDEX (first_name) =
SOUNDEX ('michael');
So how does it work? Well MS SQL Server is one of several SQL flavors that
utilize this function (it is not a SQL concept but is commonly used by most
DBMS). It tells the database to look for a phonetically similar word within the
searched row and report it back. In our example we get the following result:
|
|
first_name
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last_name
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1
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Michael
|
Rutherford
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2
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Michael
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Anthony
|
3
|
Michelle
|
Monal
|
It seems that Joe had three triple espressos and inadvertently entered
Michelle Monal as the contact name. We know this because Joe is very familiar
with the two Michaels that were returned. This quick query script brought back a
result that may never have been found otherwise.
Now don't get stuck on
the example folks. I know that you could have simply looked in the log for this.
I am trying to relate this function with Time Matters :)
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