Stories by Mike Heck

Improving project execution and predictability

Building revenue and capitalising on available resources are increasingly demanding challenges for enterprises. It's not just managing the details of an individual project that really matters but also understanding how a myriad of projects interact.

WebCatalog enables quick site setup

Developing dynamic e-commerce sites can prove to be a daunting task, so the job is often delegated to high-cost, hard-to-find Web development specialists and can take weeks to complete.

Eliminate Web publishing bottlenecks

Enterprises face huge content management challenges - not just in administering volumes of documents - but also in getting this material online and keeping it up to date.
Documentum 4i eBusiness Edition 4.0 provides a first-rate solution for large-scale content management. Global 2000 and Internet companies will find this product moves content quickly from authors, through approvals, and onto live Web sites, allowing e-businesses to respond quickly to changes in the online marketplace and deliver timely, relevant information to customers and business partners.

Making Work Flow Less Work

Most government agencies have set procedures that staff members must follow - for processes ranging from getting purchases and proposals approved to tracking requests from citizens. And in government, even more than in business, workflow is often oriented around forms.

UpdateThis.com Streamlines Web Publishing Process

Whether your company is managing an intranet, extranet, e-commerce site, or all of the above, you know that material must be continuously refreshed for the Web to be an effective information dispersal or sales tool. Alas, Web content maintenance is the stress point for both overworked Webmasters and content providers -- often resulting in delays of days or weeks before revisions are completed.

Astound Promises a Better Way to Meet

Web conferencing and collaboration quickly is becoming as pervasive as e-mail. And as with e-mail services, you can find a variety of conferencing ASPs (application service providers), some of which even offer free meetings for small groups. Still, as enterprises look at these tools to reduce travel costs, introduce distance learning, and improve technical support, they are uncovering hidden costs. For example, you may need to spend a great deal for conference calls to augment your online slide presentations.

Microsoft Project Goes to High Levels with ELabor

In any large organization, hundreds and perhaps thousands of projects run concurrently. Because Microsoft Corp.'s Project lacks high-end decision-support tools, executives in Microsoft Project shops have a hard time getting a companywide snapshot of budgets, project status reports, or resource requirements -- information necessary for keeping projects on track. More significantly, Microsoft Project doesn't provide any human resources information to project managers, failing to consider that matching a worker's skills with a task can significantly improve the project's outcome.

ActiveProject v2000/E Boosts Team Collaboration

When enterprises need to get time-critical information to external partners, extranets are often their first lines of communication. Geared for building, manufacturing, and product development projects, Framework Technologies Corp.'s ActiveProject v2000/E is an unusual application that helps large organizations rapidly build dynamic extranets for which project information is stored in Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server databases.

Details 3.0

Traditional project-management software is useful for planning jobs and for letting you know whether you're falling behind schedule once a project has started. Unfortunately, these packages seldom track the fine points-submittals, change orders, and correspondence-crucial to a project's success. AEC Software Inc.'s Details 3.0.1, a specialized database for small to medium-size graphic design, publishing, contracting, architecture, and manufacturing businesses, can help ensure that essential project information doesn't slip through the cracks.

Global Meetings Made Easier

Web conferencing is the next important technology you should evaluate for your enterprise. By moving meetings that include employees from all over the world to the Web, your company can cut not only travel expenses, but also unproductive travel time.

X-Community Lets Teams Collaborate

There is no shortage of ASPs (application service providers) offering space on their servers to store your documents and files. But very few of these services give businesses a compelling reason to subscribe. For example, users are unable to see what documents other team members are using in real time, which often results in duplicate work.

Automate Software Installs and Updates

The internet has not only propelled rapid and radical changes in the way we communicate, but it has also significantly altered how enterprises are able to deploy mission-critical applications.

Serve Corporate E-Mail to Wireless Devices

For most mobile workers, e-mail is their lifeline to clients and company matters. But getting electronic mail usually involves unproductive time, such as booting up a laptop or finding a phone line to connect a PDA's (personal digital assistant's) modem.

Casio Soft Brings Projects to Windows CE

Managing projects effectively often requires project managers to go where the project work is being done, which is sometimes far away from their desks. If you need the ability to update your Microsoft Corp. Project schedules at client sites or other remote locations and you don't want to lug around a bulky, expensive laptop, Casio Soft Inc. Project 2.0 could be your answer.

AvantGo Enterprise Tools Serve Web Content, Apps

MANY CORPORATIONS now consider handheld devices the standard link between enterprise data and mobile workers. But supporting these devices, including making sure their users have access to the corporate data they need, places an extra burden on IT staffs. Furthermore, this burden will increase as more handhelds find their way into the enterprise in the coming years. How can you extend corporate data to mobile users while keeping support costs to a minimum?

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