Right tools for the job

Back in the day when soaps were new and sometimes watchable, one of the characters would wield a wrench as he saved the damsel in distress. Being brought up on spanners and spanner laws I would wince as the adjustable wrench was applied the wrong way, putting all the pressure on the movable jaw. Of course these were only actors but in real life it’s surprising how often a one size fits all approach is used to solve problems that really should be tackled with the correct tool.

This is pretty much the situation with cloud based software, it tries to be all things to all situations but of course every business has it’s USP which demands that the metaphorical wrench being used either doesn’t fit correctly or is used wrong.

People under pressure are hugely resourceful, and to get a job done will bend and twist the tools to this end, but, in doing so they invariably take many times longer to do the job than it could take if the right tool was used.

Tools have always played a big role in software design. When Unix™ was designed in the late 1960s it was borrowing from the long tradition of the tool kit. Where tools (commands) could be used individually or together to achieve an aim and the savvy operator could choose the best tools from the toolkit, put them together in the most efficient way to get speedy and accurate results.

Bespoke software is the next stage up from this. The software being designed for a specific business does the putting together of disparate commands so that the users don’t have to jump through hoops to get complex jobs done.

As an example a firm processing say, many self employed workers for many companies, like a recruitment agency for instance can use an off the shelf recruitment software solution which tries to do all things that a recruitment agency could want to do but find that because of their USP they do things slightly differently to the way the software was designed.

In the work around it takes two people a week to do a job which could be done using the right tools in half an hour by one person, saving the company thirty to sixty thousand pounds per year!

The proper software to do the job would cost a lot less than the salary and time of those doing the job and now they could be used to do other tasks within the company as they are freed up by using the correct tools for the job.

Just for fun, further information:

https://techchannel.att.com/playvideo/2014/01/27/ATT-Archives-The-UNIX-System-Making-Computers-Easier-to-Use

https://www.artofmanliness.com/lifestyle/gear/toolmanship-your-complete-guide-to-wrenches/

Heron Pleads guilty to stealing fish

When questioned the Heron Said that he could not give the fish back, but promised never to do it again.

Pretty unlikely you’d think. But this is the situation that many Cloud based Systems rely on while guarding your passwords, data and sensitive customer information.

The Cloud company (Heron) has your data (fish) and promises to encrypt the data to protect it. This means that no-one but the owner of the encryption key can access the information and as long as you pay the cost asked by the cloud provider, access to your lifeblood business data

Thing is no-one can control how cloud providers actually store your data and this to me is not a way to run a business

Camel Wins at Ascot!

It is said that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. However noble that creature may be, a thoroughbred horse, honed and trained and perfected through breeding outperforms a camel.

The camel has the horse in long distances and dry/arid conditions

Not so far fetched

Spreadsheet hell

Widely reported, the fact that hundreds of people could be dead because of this is a warning to us all.https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/oct/05/how-excel-may-have-caused-loss-of-16000-covid-tests-in-england

Disadvantages to use of spreadsheets

• Poor collaboration Control

• Lack of controls, vulnerable to fraud. ...

• No log of change. ...

• Not prepared for disaster. ...

• Susceptible to costly human errors. ...

• Difficult to troubleshoot or test. ...

• Regulatory compliance challenges. ...

• Hard to manage data security.

Determining the software required for a database depends on what the database is being used for. Small business, for example, require databases that track the information necessary for day-to-day operations. A database is great way to store, manage and retrieve information necessary for many small businesses, but using the right software when a business is small will make it easier to upgrade to a larger system as the business grows.

If you need to liberate your company from daily spreadsheet updates contact us now. 07985571670

Software for interpreting company

Just before lockdown ABS Software® was contacted to create a custom database system for and interpreting company. They had been using XL spreadsheets to try to manage their workload and share the data between various offices.

They had come to the end of XLs capability with constant crashes and corrupt data.

Being a very date and time orientated company, a calendar integrated with a database to track the hundreds of interpreters they had on their books and the many appointments and timesheets that required generating was suggested and a demo system created for them to try.

Using a similar system as a template the solution was called “ScheduleIT” Three months on it has solved their problems by giving greater visibility of appointments and easy management of resources. All hosted on a dedicated cloud server for multiuser access.

Week view. Clicking on an entry reveals the job details where timesheets etc can be generated with one click.

Where's me washboards?

One of the jobs that I was keen to get done was to replace the tired washboards with bifold doors. I chose the bifold arrangement so as not to obscure the instruments to be fitted on the port and starboard bulkheads.

I like the honesty of the wash boards but they are a pain to live with.

They weren’t leaking but going in and out when the weather is wet the hatch has to be opened and as they slide up and the wood swells pushing up from inside they would often stick. Also the original ventilator was missing, replaced by gaffer tape and the original marine ply was starting to delaminate.

When inside with the washboards in place and the hatch slid closed, ventilating the boat and letting some light in would mean sliding the hatch back letting any rain into the main cabin then there is storage of washboards when not in the hatchway. All in all not optimum.

I decided to make the new doors out of 15mm marine ply with Utile facings and make them fit within the existing sliders as the hatch itself only slides so far and is designed to minimise water entry while the washboards are in situ.

Also without adding extra depth to the outside Teak surround the hinges would have to be face mounted but with the doors inside the slide area if the doors are locked even if the hinges are removed the doors cannot be opened.

Using the old washboards as a template I cut out a thin ply shape then did a final fit before committing the 15mm marine ply to the saw. Three vertical lines to give four sections were cut using a bandsaw, one of the best tools to buy when getting a workshop together.

Then the hinges were fitted on the inside to test the fit.

Had to drill two sixteen mm holes in the underside of the sliding canopy to fit the rack and pinion barrel bolts.

In this image the outside rain stoppers are in place covering the joins which are cut on a 35% angle away from the direction or water ingress and the barrel locks are in place which fix into the sliding canopy. These can be operated from outside and inside, important for security.

All this is so much like software design in that one tries to cover all the angles in the most elegant way and if there is existing infrastructure, use this as much as possible where it benefits the finished project.

Next the covering strips of Utile where added and the whole thing given a sealing coat of epoxy resin and five coats of exterior varnish.

Ventilators of stainless steel with a wire mesh insert to stop insects where added along with internal bottom bolts. You can probably see the small indentations added to accommodate the ventilator handles and bolt sliders so the doors would fold almost flat.

Sometimes working with existing constraints ( the thickness of the marine ply having to match the original wash board sliders) these compromises are required.

Spot the deliberate mistake? had to move the handle as it tended to fold the door instead of close it.

The doors can be opened nearly all the way with the canopy in place, just as I’d hoped and with the canopy slid back a few inches more they fold completely out of the way.

Getting in and out without opening the canopy more than a smidge is bliss.

The finished doors haven’t let a drop of rain in even during what seemed like our own tropical rain storms that overwhelmed our gutters at home which with the doors facing west is a good test.

With no horizontal lines to trap water the bottom rails are angled to offer least resistance.

So next: How to steam bend a new ceiling.

In another life over twenty years ago before I started ABS Software®, my main passion was furniture making and working with wood.

In another life over twenty years ago before I started ABS Software®, my main passion was furniture making and working with wood.

Over the years I was lucky enough to make and design furniture for Liberty’s in London, taking my design cues from the Arts and Crafts movement as the simplicity and clean lines appealed to my ascetic sense.

Dresser, display cabinet, table and chairs from the Liberty 2 range in the Regent Street display showroom

Two injuries, one serious and one not so had me reconsider my vocation and as I was spending a lot of time designing on a computer, with the help of a friend from BT who taught me the rudiments of programming I found a fascination with code and Inline with my preference for honest furniture the desire to keep it simple.

Over the years this has helped in writing readable code and building apps that performed in a timely manner.

Around three years ago I really wanted to get my hands involved with making again so cast around for a project that would satisfy my urge to work wood in a practical way.

I’ve always loved boats and back in the 80’s completed a course on boat outfitting and building so bought an inexpensive 23 ft sailing boat in need of TLC.

Westerly 23ft Pageant built circa 1973 being delivered to the boatyard.

The interior had been just about gutted with the headlining gone in both cabins, all electrical wiring removed and the engine not run for over ten years.

Keeping things simple looked like a long way off as everything boat wise is curved and I’m no electrician when it comes to sacrificial anodes.

But with no launch date I can at least do a pleasing job in my own time.

More pictures to follow cataloguing the refit.

Thanks for reading.

Happy Holidays

Wishing all our customers past and present a very happy Christmas and a buoyant new year!

Flat economy? Use software to help you gain trade advantage

““Productivity is an economic measure of the efficiency of a workforce. It typically measures the level of output per hour of work, or per worker.
A more productive workforce signals stronger growth and healthier public finances. Productivity gains are vital to economic prosperity because it signals that more is being achieved by workers in less time. Gains are typically achieved through advances in technology and increased skill levels within a workforce.
In the UK, productivity growth has stalled since the financial crisis, putting it behind international rivals. The UK ranks fifth out of G7 leading industrial nations, with Canada and Japan having weaker levels of productivity. Germany is the most productive nation per hour, while the US is top for output per worker.
Weak productivity is problematic because it signals weaker economic growth, therefore eroding the public finances. Without an improvement in productivity, economies miss out on increases in wages and living standards, putting further pressure on the welfare system and depressing tax receipts.
Some industries are more productive than others. In the UK, manufacturing firms are among the most efficient, whereas the services sector operate at below average productivity.” ”

— https://gu.com/p/7j7tv/sbl

Productivity hampering profits?

There are two main ways to increase profits:

1) Sell more

2) spend less.

Productivity gains can be made by:

3) Being more efficient

If you can do all three, fantastic, well done, hooray. But in the real world things are not always easy.

There is some crossover in these categories. It can be hard to sell more without spending more and becoming more efficient is no good if your costs are the same and there are no extra sales.

“72% of salespeople spend up to an hour a day on data entry and connecting records from different sales tools.
75% of marketers spend up to an hour a day analyzing data and connecting reports from different marketing tools.”

— https://research.hubspot.com/reports/tech-is-making-us-less-efficient

Efficiencies within an organisation can free up people enabling them to market and sell more effectively. Not just marketing, productivity workers in warehouses, outworkers, service engineers all these resources can benefit from having a single unified data source that is multi user, networked and cross platform.

Trading is set to get difficult over the next decade as the UK finds it's way in a new reality.

Don't wait until your company is struggling to keep up before getting a system that actually helps now and improves the key aspects of your business.

"The most difficult time to change is when the company is making a profit and may be muddling through with ad-hoc systems. don't be misled by the business comfort zone. Act now."

ABSSoftware News Update Video

There has never been a time when organising your business has been more important or can be done more cost effectively.

Tired of entering the same information in different places, Need to share data outside the office? See how you can benefit from an /abssoftware database system.