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.
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
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
Microsoft and Yammer: Extending SharePoint Functionality
July 31, 2012
Yammer is what an enterprise social network tool; organizations implement it to spur collaboration between users. On the Yammer homepage we found a new application which permits Microsoft SharePoint Integration. After reading the specs, we found on the Microsoft blog about “Yammer-The Next Step for Social Networking In Schools?”
According to the post, Microsoft recently purchased Yammer. The post explains Yammer’s basic functions, the dashboard mirrors Facebook’s design with hints of Twitter. The post digs into how Yammer would be used in schools, basically the same way it would for any company: staff would use to communicate between departments, share content, etc. It can also be a boon for students too:
“We know that group work is a great way to encourage students to engage with their peers, but this isn’t easy when they all use different social networks, clouds and systems. By joining Yammer, students can create secure groups via which they can communicate their ideas, ask questions and share files, as well as allowing for their competitive side to come out through ‘Leaderboards’, which show data about who has received the most likes, replies and much.”
Students can perform group work, receive studying help, share content, and even praise each other within Yammer. While it can be a tool of food for students, it can also make cheating and plagiarism easier if not monitored. Yammer should install an app that will be able to detect plagiarism.
The surge of interest in social content is growing in government agencies, commercial organizations, and educational institutions. However, indexing and making this content
findable can be a challenging task. The tools an organization uses require tight integration with
a search system. Mindbreeze provides capabilities to make social content easily findable within a SharePoint environment. A Yammer style can enhance productivity. Mindbreeze offers a range of social and collaborative features and has the engineering expertise to resolve almost any search and retrieval issue. Check out the Mindbreeze social collaboration Web page for more information.
Whitney Grace, July 31, 2012
Sponsored by Mindbreeze
Inteltrax: Top Stories, July 23 to July 27
July 30, 2012
The growing availability of cloud based and open source analytics and the resulting beefed-up security demands surrounding such easily accessible software are the topics pervasive in this week’s posts on Inteltrax. As usual the nature and existence of ‘big data’ was discussed and the post, “Big Data is Analytics for Dummies”, accurately gets to the heart of the matter using text from the Tech Week Europe article as evidence.
“The author is probably spot-on with his analysis of the ‘big data’ hype invading industries around the world. Being right doesn’t change the fact that thanks to open source and cloud technologies more companies than ever before now have access to analytics. If the sage analysts need to dumb down their definitions then so be it. Thankfully, there are analytics providers committed to the industries and companies previously not invited into the analytics club.”
All that talk of openness among comrades came to a point with the announcement that Datameer was offering their analytics free of charge to academics mired in the muck of unstructured data. As the post, “Datameer Offers Free License to Academic Researchers”, quotes Market Watch,
“Academic researchers are particularly challenged by the massive amounts of data needed for their research. Collecting and analyzing data requires enormous computational effort and has typically been slow and tedious, often requiring a computer science background. Datameer offers an end-user focused tool that enables researchers themselves to integrate large quantities of data, do complex analysis in a familiar spreadsheet-like interface, and then visualize their results to easily understand, communicate and share their findings.”
Open and free are great especially in the world of costly analytics but both come with a price – heightened security risks. Inteltrax author Catherine Lamsfuss tackled security concerns with the post, “Security Top Concern for Cloud Based Software”. Live Mint compared cloud breaches to a door lock – it’s not a question of if the door will be broken down, but when. The article summarizes the state of security surrounding today’s cloud.
“These security issues should be at the forefront of companies’ decision making process when it comes to choosing a cloud based analytics provider. All cloud based software is protected to some degree but if protecting sensitive information is important than a thorough investigation into a provider’s security background is due.”
Whether one’s company is struggling with finding affordable cloud based analytics, applying open-source to existing systems or trying to strengthen security Digital Reasoning is a solid analytics provider more than capable of helping. With an extensive relationship with the intelligence community they understand the need for security but also are realistic about budgets, especially those of small and midsized businesses.
Follow the Inteltrax news stream by visiting www.inteltrax.com
Patrick Roland, Editor, Inteltrax.
July 30, 2012
A View from Mindbreeze Management
July 30, 2012
KM World highlights the leadership of Daniel Fallman as managing director of Austrian based Fabasoft Mindbreeze in, “Mindbreeze, Daniel Fallmann Managing Director: View From the Top.” KM World is a respected authority in content, document, and knowledge management as well as all things enterprise.
Fabasoft Mindbreeze has been making headway in the American enterprise market, having already made a name for itself in European sectors.
Fallman highlights some of his company’s latest news in the above KM World piece:
The aim of Mindbreeze is to ensure the maximum possible reduction of manual effort in delivering pinpoint accurate information to the user-eliminating the search process to be replaced with an instant finding experience. Fabasoft Mindbreeze InSite is a Cloud service that delegates the searching to an invisible dynamic background process-via semantics and information pairing. The user is simply presented with relevant knowledge. Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise consolidates data from enterprise and Cloud sources. The aim of providing an unprecedented level of information is fulfilled by hybrid scenarios that combine enterprise and Cloud information stores.
For SharePoint users who are hesitate about the upcoming 2013 migration, consider a smart third party solution like Fabasoft Mindbreeze Enterprise. Instead of spending time on advanced customization, and money on developers to do just that, invest in an efficient and intuitive enterprise option.
Emily Rae Aldridge, July 30, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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