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Online Time Management
With more and more collaboration occurring between teams, between different locations of the company and even between companies, it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage time data that you desperately need in order to control costs. You can’t allow overtime to eat away the profit margin on a project. You certainly want to bill for all billable hours. You also need reliable data in order to quote for the next similar job. One answer is online time tracking software.
Consistency
If everyone on the project is using the same system, data gathering and analysis becomes instantly easier. I work with a lot of independent contractors. Each of them sends me their invoice or time slip in a different manner. I have to figure out how to translate that info into my invoicing system. One works in 6 minute increments; another works in 15 minute increments. One can’t add worth a darn so I have to correct her timeslips all the time. And since I’m not the best bookkeeper in the world myself, I have to deal with her errors compounded by my errors!!
Real Time View
If I can log in to a system and see exact data that is up to the minute, I have better control over my projects. Are we approaching the 40 hours I estimated but only half way through the job? Are we ahead of schedule on Project A so I can shift people and time over to Project B where the deadline is close? When I only see timeslips at the end of the week or every two weeks, I lose opportunities to make adjustments that could save a project. Or save my profit on a project.
Payroll Management
The four software packages I narrowed my search to all offer some type of report to assist you with filing payroll taxes. However, these are not payroll firms that cut checks and file the taxes for you. You take the data from the system. You cut your payroll checks. You file your own taxes. TimeClock Online will create a file that you can import into your QuickBooks software. For a small firm or a firm where the payroll is fairly consistent, this isn’t a problem. For a more complicated payroll, I encourage you to look into one of the companies that handles the whole process for you. Their fees have dropped considerably over the years and their advantages are many.
Security
The four companies I selected all offer SSL security. Tsheets and Track My People provide daily backups of your data. The software varies in the amount of personal data they ask for about your users but it is always good to confirm that your data is protected.
Online
The future of software is online. The services will only get better. The advantages even today though are worthwhile: no “minimal” hardware requirements, no updates to install, lower IT personnel needs, access from any computer with a browser, access 24/7. This allows me to keep my hardware costs down since I don’t have to buy more powerful computers every time a new, larger version comes out. I can keep my IT personnel costs down since I don’t have to have someone on staff to fix all the glitches between hardware, software versions and user errors. Note: You will never eliminate the need for an IT person. They are as necessary as your banker, your mechanic, your doctor. But you can lower the need for them so that instead of a full time staff person, you can do well with an on call consultant.
Costs
For one user, the software fees run from free to $10 per month. For 5 users, fees go from $21 – $40 per month. Ten users are between $29 – $65 per month. Twenty users will range between $59 – $115 per month. Another advantage of online software, particularly the four I’ve chosen is that there is not a set up fee or cancellation fee. These are monthly services that must constantly earn your trust and your business. That makes them eager to please. Your implementation costs are going to be lower since you don’t have to buy software licenses, have your IT person do the installations then train the users. The learning curve is shorter as the software does one thing. Unlike Microsoft Word which can do everything except Windows (a little computer humor there!), time tracking software just tracks time. Your users will pick up on the process easier.
Your Computer Lady has prepared a comparison chart of the features of the four software packages. Email me for a free copy.
Software Possibilities
Written by: Pamela Bir, Your Computer Lady
As published in Sources+Design Magazine December/January 2011 Issue
RSS Feeds 101
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Also called: XML feed, syndicated content, web feed. Podcasting is a special type of feed that is used to distribute audio files. A podcast could be music or a narration for your tour through a museum.
A feed is frequently updated content that is published on a web site or blog. The purpose of RSS is to allow the content to be distributed. If I have a standard web site or blog, I am dependent on you coming to my web site to read my new information. A feed allows me to send information to you. You control the information you receive by subscribing to the feed. A feed is typically a small piece of information on a specific topic. Instead of sending a newsletter to ALL of my clients about ALL of the software I work with, a feed allows me to send just Salesforce articles to just Salesforce users. I would compare RSS feeds to a clipping service. You’re saying, “These are the topics I’m interested in. Search them out and deliver them to my reader.”
This symbol tells you that the web site you’re viewing offers RSS feeds.
Most subscriptions are free. A subscription will automatically pull new posts from the RSS feed and let you view them in your reader. Most readers give you the ability to tag posts for later searches. You can build your own library of information about your favorite topics.
Most readers allow you to choose to receive new posts only or posts and their comments. The original post may be an editorial, a link to an article on the topic, a link to an interesting web site, a photo. Really anything that can go on a web site can be a post. Comments are from the visitors to the web site or blog. It could be a question to clarify something the author said in the original post. It could be an opinion, a disagreement, another perspective, etc. The whole point of blogs is to encourage discussion. The author wants to hear from you!
There are many readers available to you including Internet Explorer version 7+, Microsoft Outlook version 2007+, Google Reader, RSSReader, Snarfer, GrabIt. Some like Outlook store the posts on your hard drive. Others like Google Reader store everything in the cloud thus saving your hard drive space and making the information available from any computer. Like any other type of software, the readers have different features and benefits. Try out two or three to find the one that suits you best.
A relatively new development in RSS is the ability to have an email subscription. (See an example on the Your Computer Lady blog.) Instead of using a reader, a visitor can sign up to receive posts via email that will come right to their Inbox. So each Tuesday and Thursday you could automatically receive a new tip about Microsoft Office from Your Computer Lady. If you’re marketing to an older audience who aren’t familiar with RSS Readers, this is the way for you to get in touch with them.
For your web site or blog – It’s important to offer an RSS feed to encourage your visitors to stay involved with you. Promote the feed along with your other marketing and social media efforts. You want to build a community of people interested in what you’re saying.
For you as a professional – Sign up for feeds that give you educational or industry news. Stay on top of new products or trends.
Take a look at these sites which offer RSS feeds:
www.npr.org National Public Radio has multiple feeds including my favorite “StoryCorps”
http://www.office.microsoft.com/ – information about Microsoft’s Office Suite
http://www.webmd.com/ – medical information site
http://www.wallstreetjournal.com/– podcasts and news feed
Written by: Pamela Bir, Your Computer Lady
As published in Sources+Design Magazine February/March 2011 Issue
Protecting Your Image(s)
Marilyn Monroe holding down a flying white skirt. The sailor kissing the nurse in Times Square. The explosion of the Hindenburg. Ansel Adams’ The Tetons – The Snake River. The lone protester in Tiananmen Square. Photos that capture the essence of a person, a time or a movement.
While an architect’s project photos or a designer’s interior pictures may not equal the power of the above photos, they are still extremely important to the firm. The photo of an award winning project. The charrette sketch that turned the tide for a complex project. The final CAD files. They must be protected as the valuable assets they are. They document not only the professional success and accomplishments of the company but also the history of the firm and its people.
So how do you protect your assets? My credo for backing up any data is that the more important the data, the more copies you should have of it and the further apart those copies should be from each other.
Step one is a database. Build a database to catalog photos, sketches, project details, personnel details as related to projects. A database allows you to find the information much easier since you organize and file the items in a more logical manner than “Photos” on the company server. The database’s keywords allows great flexibility to find “fire station” projects or “$10 million” projects. A side benefit of your asset database is that you can respond to Requests for Proposal or award submittals much more quickly as all of the data is gathered in your database instead of being crammed willy-nilly into project file boxes.
Part of the organization process should be placing the clearly ID’d items into appropriate containers in a protected area. Slides in slide boxes. Photos in appropriately sized boxes with acid-free paper. Plans in flat boxes.
So how do you make the second or third copy of an asset? Go digital.
With older items, this means scanning the item. Scanning software will not only capture the item, it will allow you to add keywords, dates, names, etc. for your database. Newer photos from your digital camera or your computer can be stored and go right into the database.
Where do you store the digital images?
Some companies point proudly to their CD or DVD library. However, CD lifespan is questionable. When asked how long CDs could be relied on, a MAM-A engineer replied “Who knows? We’ve only been making them for 12 years.” Realistic estimates from international testing organizations place the timeframe between 2-5 years. The readability lifespan has lots of factors that can compromise it. CD-R disks survive longer than CD-RW. There’s a lot of difference between manufacturers. How well was the CD burned? Did you use good software at a slow speed? How was the CD stored? In a place with little light, the right humidity in the right container?
Some companies have developed RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) systems. Having multiple hard disks which back each other up gives you duplicate or triplicate copies of your photos as well as your daily work files. Should one drive fail, its information is on another drive. You can simply replace the bad drive with a new one. Your database provides the means to locate the particular photo, plan or sketch you want.
Your most important data should have a third copy in online storage. While cloud storage is more expensive than CDs or RAID back ups, it has the advantage of being off site with its own back up system. A company in tornado alley can choose a cloud server in Arizona where there is little threat of natural disasters.
Eric Jamison, principal with Studio J, (This month’s Hotshot photographer!) works with his clients to develop a storage plan. They were able to help one client scan and organize 20 years of printed assets into a digital storage box the size of a bread box. Eric emphasizes the need to catalog your digital assets carefully. Sort carefully to distinguish 2 copy, 3 copy or even 4 copy assets based on the importance of the item. This gives you protection while controlling your costs.
Bringing in an expert with database experience and a wider range of scanning equipment can be advantageous for your firm. Let experts set everything up, catch up the backlog and train your staff to keep the system up to date. Schedule an annual review to be sure the system is still fulfilling your needs.
Regardless of how you store today, your company must have a plan for updating its storage plan that is reviewed regularly. Media changes! It is conceivable that a company could be audited and need 7 year old financial data that is on floppy disks. Who has a floppy drive anymore? Your company needs to upgrade storage media as new alternatives become available. Don’t be caught flat footed!
Written by: Pamela Bir, Your Computer Lady
As published in Sources+Design Magazine October/November 2010 Issue
Faster Cloud
Several previous articles have discussed SaaS (Software As A Service) and the prospects for cloud computing. Today we’re going to look a step further at PaaS (Platform As A Service) as it is being utilized by RevUp Render.
Glossary of Computer Terms You Need To Know:
The Cloud – Just another way to say the Internet. The distinction would be that the Internet is a method of connecting a whole bunch of computers so they can talk to each other. The Cloud expands the use of those computers to store data, to serve as the host for software and now even to provide a platform for software to work on. EX: Google Apps gives you several software programs such as word processing and lots of storage space on their servers. You don’t need a server in your office. The server is owned, managed, protected by Google. You access it via your Internet browser. You pay an annual or monthly fee to Google for access to their servers.
SaaS – Software that is totally hosted on the Internet. It is not downloaded to your computer. You use your browser to go to the service provider and to access the software. EX: Salesforce, Google Apps, Zoho. Some software manufacturers offer both downloadable software and SaaS to choose from. EX: QuickBooks, Microsoft Office.
PaaS – A server in the cloud that you can use with your software and a browser. EX: Chermayeff & Poole tried to process a Revit file of a 42,900 square meter multi-use project. Their powerful in house computers locked up after hours of working. RevUp Render was able to complete the processing in 10 minutes.
CPU – Central Processing Unit which most of us have in our offices. The typical single chip processer that is in your laptop or that box that is your desktop computer. The Intel Pentium III had 9 million transistors.
GPU – Graphics Processing Unit. A supercomputer used for computing 3D functions. The first GPU was developed by NVidia. The GeForce 256 has over 22 million transistors and can process 10 million polygons per second. (These are a tad bit expensive and usually out of the budget of an architectural firm.)
Platform – The hardware that is used to run the software. The CPU or GPU is my platform for running my software. My IBM Commodore CPU is too old and slow as a platform to run my new Windows 7 software.
You download Revit, 3DS Max or Google SketchUp on your CPU. You design a great model of your project. Then you wait hours or days for your CPU to process the information to print out a page of data. Or you do all kinds of contortions to have your client, engineer and other team members view the model with you online to make final edits.
RevUp Render simplifies that whole exercise. You create your model, you use the RevUp Render to process it. You can now edit the model very quickly as needed. Then you email a link to your colleagues and everyone joins you online for an editing session in real time.
To see demos and learn more details about RevUp Render, visit their web site at RevUpRender.com
Even if you are not an architect, it is worth your time to view a demo or two. Get a glimpse of our future with cloud computing.
You do not have the option of being computer literate. It is our future. Every day more and more of our lives are being organized, managed or directed by computers. You just get to decide on your attitude and how difficult you are going to make the transition on yourself. Age is not an excuse. Your title is not an excuse. If you are a serious professional and/or business owner, you have to have basic computer skills and basic computer knowledge. Anything less is like trying to survive today’s pace while driving a horse and buggy.
Written by: Pamela Bir, Your Computer Lady
As published in Sources+Design Magazine November 2011 Issue
The Back-Up Plan
Clients often ask me this question. My somewhat cynical answer is “Often enough not to commit suicide when your hard drive crashes.” Because we know that someday that hard drive will crash!
Amount of Data Input
If I’m sitting at my desk entering client data for 8 hours a day, I want to back up hourly.
If I’m occasionally using my computer for a client proposal or letter, daily will be enough.
Difficulty in Re-creating the Data
If I lost my bank reconciliation for one month, it would be easy to re-do that work. Not pleasant, but easy.
If I lost a BIM file, CAD drawing or project management file, it would hard to re-create the work. Lots of time to duplicate the work. Double payroll. Deadline delays.
If I lost a design concept, it would be impossible to re-create the file.
Importance of the Data
If I’m audited, I need my accounting records have to be available for seven years.
If I need to re-construct events, emails documenting a project can be invaluable in case of legal action, etc.
So based on the above questions, you need to decide how often to back up.
Multiple Backup Copies
The more important the data, the more copies of the back up you want to have and the farther apart the copies should be. Don’t have one CD of your critical files! For example, my client data is my business. So I have a copy in my office in case I need to go back a couple of years to retrieve a brochure that a client wants updated. I have a second copy in my car. If the office burns down, the car would probably survive since I have detached parking. Then I have a third copy online.
Online Backup Services
I love online backups. They automatically happen on a set schedule. Heaven knows we don’t want to rely on my memory!! I get an email if something goes wrong with the backup. I can access the files from any computer in case I need something when I’m at a client’s office. Some services even allow file sharing to eliminate the need for a separate storage account to share with collaborators.
Features between online companies vary greatly. Email me if you would like a copy of my comparison chart.
Some services charge by user by file size. Others charge just by file size. So an architectural firm with huge BIM and CAD files would want to shop for the best file size provider. A one person resume firm would do better with a per user account.
Time and Stress Tips
Set up your files so that EVERYTHING goes into My Documents: your QuickBooks file, Microsoft Office files, photos, … EVERYTHING. Then when you back up either to a DVD or to your online service, all you have to do is back up My Documents. You don’t have to wander all over the hard drive to spot different files. This will also save you a lot of time finding your files!
Don’t place files on your Desktop. Put the file in My Documents. Then put a short cut on the desktop. Your files are safe in the back up set but you have quick access!
Outlook pst files can cause a problem with online backup if you use a service that backs up the entire file every time instead of doing an incremental backup. In other words, if you add a 2 KB email to your Outlook file, an incremental service will back up just the new 2 KB email. A total file replacement could be 4 GB or more depending on your version of Outlook and set up.
Online Backup Services
iDrive.com
Mozy.com
Carbonite.com
SOSonlinebackup.com
Securusvault.com
Written by: Pamela Bir, Your Computer Lady
As published in Sources+Design Magazine June/July 2011 Issue