Brief Recap of Office 2013 Preview Features
August 3, 2012
In “Capturing the Highlights of Office 2013,” some of the main features from the recently released Office 2013 preview are discussed. The author has this to share on new social capabilities:
Microsoft has enhanced the social networking capabilities in SharePoint 2013 and plans to integrate Yammer’s enterprise social networking capabilities when that acquisition closes. Microsoft announced a $US1.2 billion purchase of Yammer in June. There are new social networking features in SharePoint 2013 that provide Facebook-like ways to follow, “like”, and reply to the status of files, sites, tags, and users. The software will suggest items to follow and can aggregate outside feeds from Facebook and LinkedIn.
SkyDrive Pro, team folders, and Case Management site features set for SharePoint 2013 are also discussed. The brief read may be worth a glance to keep up with the new features coming in Office 2013 suite.
SharePoint is a powerful and complex system, and new features are exciting. But an out-of-the-box system is rarely comprehensive. For a lean and complete solution in your SharePoint environment, check out Fabasoft Mindbreeze. Here you can read about the power of information pairing.
Fabasoft Mindbreeze:
. . . smoothly integrates itself into your website so that the user doesn’t even realize that Cloud services are working in the background. Furthermore, InSite always knows what a user is interested in. Navigation behavior on the website serves as the basis for recognizing their interests. If the user finds themselves on one of your sub-pages on the topic mobility for example, even at this level Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite still displays further information such as blogs, news, Wikipedia etc. on the relevant topic.
Check out the full suite of solutions at Mindbreeze to see what works for you.
Philip West, August 3, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
PLMIG Moves Forward in Next Round of Workshops
August 3, 2012
In an effort to standardize product lifecycle management (PLM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) the PLM Interest Group (PLMIG) was formed in 2004. Their goal from the beginning has been to create a global set of standards and best practices. A recent MCAD Café article, “PLMIG asks for help in timing the North American PLM-ERP Workshop”, announced the latest series of workshops planned by the group. The first two sessions will be in Europe and then the results of those will be examined in the United States.
The article explains of the workshops:
“The workshops will give PLM and ERP specialists the chance to work together to formalise best practices and to generate a neutral, globally-applicable PLM-ERP Handbook. Each workshop will produce a new version of the Handbook, building on the previous results, and everyone who participates in a workshop will receive the results of the whole series.”
The PLM industry is growing faster than most can follow allowing for confusion and inefficiency, two conditions PLM strives to eliminate. As new data management solutions emerge and technology advances, cloud technology in particular, PLM standards must be constantly checked and adjusted. Leaders in the industry, like Dassault, Inforbix and PTC, continue to expand their offerings furthering the industry helping the PLM IG fine-tune best practices.
Catherine Lamsfuss, August 3, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Ranking Factors for Local Search
August 3, 2012
Here are some trivial recommendations from the search engine optimization experts. Free SEO News offers, “Local Search Ranking Factors Survey: How to Get High Local Rankings.” The survey in question asked 40 local search marketers around the world which factors were most influential in gaming local search results. The write up explains:
“For some keywords (for example ‘plumbers’), Google shows local results at the top of the search result list. These websites aren’t listed at the top because they have good content or good backlinks. They are listed at the top because they fit to the geographic area of the search query. If keywords that show local results are relevant to your business, it is important to be listed in the local search results.”
Can no one seem to find the local restaurant run by your next door neighbors? Well, put this SEO research to use and help them out. The survey found that the five most important local ranking factors included the businesses physical address, its category association, its proximity to the center of the searched area, its Web site’s domain authority, and citations on aggregation sites.
Negative influencers were also noted. For example, different phone numbers across data ecosystems can hurt, but so can having multiple Google Places pages with the same phone number. Also, make sure the restaurateurs include a crawlable version of their businesses name, address, and phone number on their landing page.
So, there you go local businesses, it is simple. Or, is it simply pointless?
Cynthia Murrell, August 3, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Customers Value Effective Web Site Search
August 2, 2012
A successful Web site search is essential in today’s market. Customers expect a pleasant appearance, intuitive interface, and effective search in public facing Web sites. Those features can all be added with the least amount of effort by choosing Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite. Fabasoft Mindbreeze has long been a leader in enterprise search, but the newer InSite product enables customers to access effective search, outside your organization’s enterprise.
Registration is easy and includes a free 28 day trial. Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite will crawl your site and complete an index of your content.
Read what one customer, Dr. Manfred Weiss of Computerwelt, is saying:
We want to stand out from the crowd with a top internet presence. Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite is part of this strategy. Our readers value the service of a perfect search. Regardless of which of our portals the information is on, Mindbreeze finds it. Since the search function is operated as a Cloud service, we save time and money.
Do not worry about installation or configuration. Complete your registration now and let Fabasoft Mindbreeze do the work for you. Organizing your enterprise is no longer enough, set yourself apart from the pack by presenting an efficient search on your public facing Web site with Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite.
Emily Rae Aldridge, August 2, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext.
Dashboards Demanded by Industries
August 2, 2012
As manufacturing processes grow in complexity the need for data management solutions to keep pace with those processes grows as well. Recently, MCAD Café sang praise of Autodesk in the article, “Global Manufacturers Select Autodesk Digital Prototyping Solutions over Rivals”, for their dedication to transparency and ease of use within the manufacturing industry among many others.
The article quoted director of engineering, Sunkist Research, Alex Paradiang, as saying,
“Autodesk software helps us display our engineering talents to our customers and shows them that we are constantly innovating on their behalf. Both Autodesk Factory and Product Design Suites are invaluable tools and big parts of our success in developing solutions that help maintain our lead in the citrus industry.”
While Autodesk has accomplished some impressive feats in innovation and product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions they are not alone. One of the ‘new kids on the block’, so to speak, is Inforbix, a PLM provider comprises of some of the best data management brains in the industry. Understanding the need for quality dashboards as discussed in the MCAD Café article they are developing Inforbix Dashboard:
“The idea behind Inforbix Dashboard is to give you multiple customizable views of useful product data presented in tables or charts. Creating a dashboard of product data takes a few seconds… a single dashboard present(s) the following pieces of information: a report for drawings updated within the last week, a chart of the latest drawing approvals, your project assembly bill of material, (and) a list of assembly references and dependencies for CAD drawings your working on.”
We look forward to Inforbix Dashboard and are happy to see the resolution within the PLM provider community to further simplify the reporting features of software.
Catherine Lamsfuss, August 2, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
SharePoint 2013 System Requirements
August 1, 2012
Bjorn Furuknap is again hot on the trail of recent SharePoint activity. With the release of SharePoint 2013, much discussion has taken place surrounding system requirements. While Microsoft initially made a report that requirements would not change from 2010, it seems that is not entirely truthful when referring to SharePoint Server 2013.
Furuknap gives the rundown:
Short story: If you plan on doing development work on SharePoint Server 2013, you need a minimum of 24 GB of RAM. That’s assuming you are NOT going to need Visual Studio, which will only add to that number.
Wow, we were overwhelmed by this number. Most small organizations are not going to want to invest in a separate and beefed-up machine just for SharePoint Server work. In addition, customization is discouraged with SharePoint 2013, so developer work will come at more of a premium as well.
For organizations that need to overcome these challenges, we recommend a smart third party solution like Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise. Serving as a compliment to an existing infrastructure, or as a standalone solution, Mindbreeze can run on the Cloud, is highly scalable, and receives an efficiency update every quarter. See what users are saying about Fabasoft Mindbreeze, and why they were not willing to settle for SharePoint.
Emily Rae Aldridge, August 1, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Dassault Partners with Washington Tech Colleges
August 1, 2012
All industries have data – some more than others though. And some industries, especially those that fall under manufacturing, have engineering nightmares when data management solutions don’t do what they are supposed to. Many times it is software error but many times it is also human error. That is why according to the Market Watch article, “Dassault Systemes Partners with Washington State to Prepare the Next Generation of Aerospace Innovators”, the state of Washington’s community and technical college system has partnered with PLM provider, Dassault, in an effort to train future aerospace workers so that they are ready to use data management solutions their first day to work.
As the article explains,
“Washington has already invested $4.8 million for aerospace training and apprenticeship programs during Gov. Gregoire’s administration. With this agreement, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges is purchasing foundational applications of Dassault Systemes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform, including CATIA and ENOVIA. The platform will be implemented during the 2012-2013 academic year, with 34 of the state’s two-year colleges each having access to the software.”
Dassault’s generosity is quite profitable for the company securing their stronghold as one of the industry leaders, but they are not the only company carving a niche for themselves in complex manufacturing. Inforbix, an up and coming provider of new data management solutions, says this about their offerings:
“Inforbix is a young up-and-coming company thinking BIG about the data challenges in manufacturing companies. We’re thinking how to combine elements of Open Source and data analysis with an understanding of manufacturing data to deliver an affordable data solution for companies of all sizes.”
We recommend that any company struggling with data management issues whether it is software or human related contact Inforbix for new solutions to old problems.
Catherine Lamsfuss, August 1, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Google Big Gun Discusses Authorship Program
August 1, 2012
Have you noticed the little author profile pictures that have begun popping up in Google results pages over the past year or so? If you are curious, you may want to see Search Engine Journal’s “Google Authorship: An Interview with Google’s Sagar Kamdar.” One of many Googley efforts at social search, Authorship is an program for verifying Web page authors. Writer Grant Crowell reports:
“Kamdar explained to me that the Authorship program was based on the premise that content associated with a real identity is often of higher quality than content published anonymously. . . .
“Of course, one of the important reasons that Google implemented the Authorship program is to help them identify duplicate content. Some authors have had problems with others ranking higher than them in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) for their own original content. Authorship is supposed to push the original author to the top of the rankings when someone does a search for their article.”
That’s great! But wait just a moment– Google’s method is to have authors point their pages to their Google+ profiles. One could be excused for viewing this as yet another way to push Google+ onto the world. Google would stand to gain if every author without a Google+ account took on a patina if inauthenticity. Not so good for a writer like me, who is too stubborn to bow to the Google+ takeover (so far, at least.)
From the interview, we learn that Authorship does not, as of yet, directly factor into the search ranking algorithm. Instead, it is one of several “social signals” that are used to weight search results. The write up notes that the inclusion of an author photo can be a valuable tool; people like to click on pictures. Such are the observations of an SEO pro.
Cynthia Murrell, August 1, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Maximizing the Value in High-Value Engineering Content
July 31, 2012
I read with interest the article “How Inforbix Extends the Value of PDM/PLM Systems.” For companies which create engineering drawings and other types of rich media, the cost and effort required to convert an idea into a digital object can be considerable. In my experience, most non-technical professionals do not understand the effort required to move from an idea into a digital file which, in turn, makes it possible to manufacture a part or an assembly. Not surprisingly, most enterprise information management systems do not handle engineering diagrams, CAD objects, and 3D data files particularly well. In fact, most findability systems ignore these content objects.
In an increasingly competitive world, ignoring high value engineering content can be an expensive mistake. The Inforbix article asserts:
At Inforbix we’ve been working on ways of giving people easy and simple access to data within their PDM/PLM system. That way, anyone in the company, without any special skills or training can get at the data they need within their PDM/PLM system without using touching the actual system.
Professional systems used to produce a CAD object, for example, require training to use. Unlike a Web page or a mainstream office application like Microsoft Word, the interfaces and methods of performing basic tasks such as opening a project file may not be obvious.
Many non engineers do require access to specialized engineering data, information about a component, and data about suppliers. These types of information may not reside within an enterprise search system. If some of the data are present, those items may not be indexed by the project under which the items are organized.
The article continues:
Inforbix lets anyone in a company with a PDM/PLM system access data therein without touching, moving, or interacting with the actual PDM/PLM system and data. By giving anyone in a company the ability to gather and expose data within PDM/PLM systems.
If your organization wants to maintain and grow the value of its high value content, an easy to use findability system is necessary. In our search work, we know the value of the Inforbix system. You can get more information at www.inforbix.com.
Stephen E Arnold, July 31, 2012
Sponsored by HighGainBlog.com
Google Has Become Our Memory
July 31, 2012
It seems we have modified ourselves to rely on our hard drives and the Internet more than on our own memories; woe betide us if the zombie apocalypse wipes out power! ReadWriteWeb informs us, “Google Search Shapes Memory, New Research Shows.” The article by Dave Copeland reports on research from Betsy Sparrow of Columbia University, Jenny Liu of the University of Wisconsin, and Daniel M. Wegner of Harvard University. The write up explains:
“The researchers set out to determine what impact, if any, access to information via Internet search engines has on memory. Their conclusion: When posed a question, people are primed to think of computers, and when they expect to have access to future information, they have lower rates of recall about the actual information and enhanced recall of where they can find the information. For example, you’re not likely to remember the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon chain of associations that leads from the actor to Marlon Brando, but you will remember that you can easily figure it out by going to IMDB.”
This pattern is almost the opposite of the technique we have used for generations: the art of rote memorization which filled our heads with facts we might or might not need some day. Now the Internet serves that storage function. On the surface that doesn’t seem so bad; the Web or even a single computer can hold a lot more information that a human brain. Technology has us covered, right?
Well, yes, as long as everything goes according to plan. But what if the your connection goes down, or the power is out and your device(s)out of juice? From getting the boss information she needs Right Now, to remembering how to perform certain tasks in case of emergency, there’s still call for a well-trained human memory. Those of us who were educated before the computer age may have an advantage, if we can summon that training from the crevices of our minds. What about the younger generations, though, who have grown up with the world at their fingertips?
Cynthia Murrell, July 31, 2012
Sponsored by PolySpot
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