There is way to translate a date such as 8/27/2014 and to August 27, 2014.   In the image below we show how the Event record user 13 field has been customized into a Narrative style date field which may look a bit better in a letter.  This is an undocumented feature.  Try it on the Tutor database first or get your favorite CIC to assist.

Click the image for a better view.

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Recently I worked with two very competent and pleasant law staff members on a data conversion.  The process was a bit of a roller coaster ride where one person was thrilled and the other a little bit(byte) terrified during the ride.  We joking referred to the mid part of the process as being upside down in a high speed turn.

One staff person suggested ‘some’ records seemed to be missing (they were not) .  In re-tracing the steps I said ‘… in Excel we created the full name by combining two fields( first and last) using the ‘concatenate’ command” see below.  The staff person responded  ‘Oh, concatenate, that’s one of my favorite Excel commands’.   Right then I knew that this was probably going to go smoothly. I think I heard some music.  We identified where the missing record was (seemed the last name was in two parts, something like  ‘Ben Adams Franklin’ and they were looking at Adams not Franklin).

This reaction reminded me of the usefulness of the Kolbe test.  Kolbe  would likely indicate that the person who knew and loved the concatenate command was well suited for this data conversion type of task.  We all recognize that everyone has a logical and an emotional aspect in the way they think.  According to Kolbe, the third aspect is the ‘conative’ aspect of the mind. ‘Kolbe Indexes are the only tests that look at conation, evaluating the instinctive talents you were born with – identifying the way you take ACTION.”

I recall a certain highly regarded lawyer state how employee turnover was all but eliminated once the firm started using the Kolbe test for all new hires.  So moral of the story is it probably is time well spent to be careful in assigning the right person to any particular task or job.  Kolbe tests can help.

Let’s assume you have 1 to ten users and are considering a cloud (rental) vs licensed software (buy and maintain) approach for your law practice management software.  In our example, one ‘opportunity’ is a Cloud system at $72./user per month and the other ‘opportunity’ is to buy licensed software with one year of annual maintenance with the option to continue or not continue annual maintenance each year.  Which costs more and what could you do with the savings… You may be surprised at what you will see.

External Cloud vs Internal Cloud

Interactive Excel Web Page: Enter Your Own Data

Incidentally, I define ‘Internal Cloud’ as your own on-premise system enabled for Internet (dare I say cloud) based access. There are (ahem) folks out there who will assemble, install, maintain your system for you on a contract basis muck like a cloud contract.

Or how about we take the savings and split it – in return we will provide a networked system, web enabled, with maintenance, support and training.

You decide.

Alyssa Caffrey on harp at Richardson Hall Princeton University with the Greater Princeton Youth Orchestra – making her parents proud.  June 7th, 2014

What To Do If You Still Have PC’s with Windows XP

It has been reported that 28% of computers connected to the internet are using Windows XP.  Windows XP is not safe to use and gets risker the longer you use it. There is a lesson to be learned in a classic and hilarious Bob Newhart episode that you can apply to the future use of Windows XP  ‘StopIt!’

Here is what Premier’s veteran technical specialist Keith Crankshaw says about the Windows XP issue:

As you are undoubtedly aware from recent news media, Microsoft ended its support for the Windows-XP operating system on April 8, 2014. What does the end of support mean?  Well, there seems to be a lot of confusion as many users are being told that their systems will suddenly stop working and their networks will crash, similar to hype for the Year 2000 date change, commonly referred to as the “Y2K bug”.

According to Microsoft, it means Windows-XP users should take action. There will be no new security update patches, hotfixes or technical updates after April 8, 2014.  If any company, such as a banking institution, medical facility or law firm, were running Windows-XP after April 8, 2014, said company will be exposed to potential security risks, because their Windows XP operating systems will no longer be patched, and unpatched computer operating systems are vulnerable to security risks.

At this point in time, your company should have already assessed the potential risks that may threaten the confidentiality, integrity and availability of your information technology systems associated with continued use of the Windows-XP operating system. You should also have chosen an appropriate way of mitigating risk, which should have included:

1. Replacing old Windows-XP computers with new units running Windows 7 Pro or Windows 8.1 Pro, or
2. Disconnected Windows-XP computers from the internet and isolate them from your internal network.

Are you confused or overwhelmed??  If so, call us at Premier Software so that our technology engineers can assist you in performing the risk assessments, selecting the most expeditious and appropriate mitigation for your firm, assist you in planning for upgrades and/or replacement computers, and installing monitoring/reporting onto your network as your company moves past this Windows-XP risk.

In the meantime, if you haven’t performed the aforementioned steps, you should perform the following actions:

1. Block staff and volunteers who remotely access the institution’s computer network using the Virtual Private Network (VPN) via a computer running Windows-XP.

2. Do NOT use your Windows-XP computer to do online banking, and ensure that proper online banking authentication is in place to prevent fraud by hackers who have gained access to a Windows-XP computer;

3. Advise your employees that they should NOT accept information, data or documents that were created or stored on a Windows-XP computer, especially via a thumb drive or other storage device; and

4. Verify that third party service providers have properly addressed the Windows-XP concern on THEIR equipment, as it is likely connected to YOUR network.  This could include phone system voice-messaging equipment, internet filter units, fax server units and remote access stations, to name a few.

Contact Premier Software Solutions at 856.429.3010, and our support staff will assist you as you migrate through this Windows-XP risk assessment and migration to a more stable and trustworthy environment.

So in summary be sure to obtain and apply the lastest and last  Windows XP update published on April 8th.  Use a more modern browser like Chrome or Firefox if you nowuse Internet Explorer 8 on Windows XP, and contact us to discuss your ‘XP’ situation.

Or as Bob Newhart so elegantly says, ‘Stop It!’

Contact Premier:

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AVVO seems to be fairly popular.   I used Alexa.com  to verify web traffic see below
You may want to use Alexa to check the traffic status for your firms’ website(s).