I have a client who’s planning to purchase new ERP software. I made clear to him a distinction about ERP software that I think is worth sharing. When choosing new software, it’s important to distinguish between complex transactional requirements and complex reporting requirements. People often get the two confused. And when they do, they end up buying a lot more software than they need.
Read more on Use the Simplest Software Possible: Reporting vs. Transactional Requirements…
Full disclosure: This blog post is somewhat self-interested. In it, I argue why you need to invest continuously in reporting and cleanup even when things are good enough. As a consulting firm specializing in report writing, this is perhaps not surprising. But in my defense, I can tell you we take pride in doing no unnecessary work. Read on and draw your own conclusions.
Read more on The Costs of Good Enough: Justification for Continuous Improvement…
Lately, I’ve been copied on several lengthy email exchanges (unfortunately). The emails all relate to situations where end users (finance or HR) are trying to get more control over their software, while their IT departments resist.
Read more on Facts Don’t Matter When There’s No Trust Between IT, Finance, HR…
Continuing my last blog post on data points, behavior and the subway, the TransitUp folks say their app (which sounds cool) will change people’s behavior by providing transit information before people leave home or work. This brings me to question one of four in questions to ask yourself before you present data: Will people change their behavior based on your data?
Read more on Waiting for the Subway: The Value of Data in Different Scenarios…
A couple weeks ago I wrote a blog post about New York’s new countdown subway clocks, and how although these clocks gave commuters more information about arriving subway trains, they did little to change behavior.
A client recently asked me if it’s possible to export data from Crystal to Excel. I was a little surprised at the question, as this is a fairly common practice. I said yes. But, then I added it’s not just whether it’s possible to export to Excel, but whether the data is usable afterwards.
Read more on Is the Data Usable? Exporting from Crystal to Excel…
Seth Godin’s recent post, Making Big Decisions About Money, is an excellent example of rule number five of 7 Ways to Make Data Work for You – tell a story.
His point – many numbers in this world are absolutely meaningless. Is $200,000 a lot to spend for a college education? Is $500 a lot for a better car stereo? These things are just numbers to people. They aren’t real. To make them real you have to translate them into things you can actually appreciate. Take, for example, the college education costing $200K versus a full scholarship at a “lesser” school. He writes:
How Do You Know You Have a Great Report?
I’m all about reducing things to three major points. In fact, the “three” in our name, Red Three, represents this philosophy. Recently, I’ve been training people in reporting and thinking about what makes a great report. So here, for your reading enjoyment, are the three key things your reports need if they’re going to be good.
Multitasking is the bane of modern existence. We have too many tasks. We’re responsible to too many people. We have to switch back and forth. It gets so we can’t pay attention to anything properly.
Ken Hamady writes a very useful blog about Crystal Reports. At Red Three, we’ve used his tips and tricks on several occasions. He recently wrote a post on when you need to write code and when you can use Crystal Reports’ visual linking code. He writes:
