Our long time client Kathy Korman Frey, George Washington University School of Business professor and GWU Entrepreneur in Residence, has engaged the FMS Professional Solutions Group again to update her HotMommas Project case study competition website and create another brand new website. Professor Frey has amassed the world's largest public domain collection of women's case studies, and created an environment where these women can share their experiences and challenges of creating and running companies along with juggling family and other commitments in life.

This effort is almost complete and we'll be unveiling the revamped case study competition website as well as the new "sister" site next month. Stay tuned!

Since our beginning in 1986, we've served large organizations with our leading-edge solutions designed to help people make better data-based decisions. Whether it's on PC desktops, networks, the Internet, and more recently mobile devices, we recognize you need to have the data you need, where and when you need it, in a format that helps you make decisions and avoid mistakes. We also understand the challenges of balancing application functionality with the cost and requirements of regulators, auditors, and enterprise IT.

Our general philosophy is to quickly create sophisticated solutions built on a solid database foundation. Designed to scale and expand, our solutions evolve as your business demands it. Sometimes we can anticipate future needs in our design, but more often, the application evolves based on unforeseen events such as changes in the economy, regulations, new products and customers, or competitive pressure. With our staff of experienced developers, we can quickly adapt our solutions to meet your needs. Rapid development and deployment, fail quickly and cheaply, and water and nurture the seeds that grow and justify additional investment.

We understand the needs of large organizations and deliver the quality you demand. FMS products are used by tens of thousands of customers in over 100 countries including 90 of the Fortune 100.

Learn more about our experience and services to large organizations in our new page Consulting Services and Custom Software Solutions for Large Businesses.

To find out how we can help your organization, please contact us for a Risk-Free Assessment.

Our link analysis program, Sentinel Visualizer, continues to help organizations better manage and understand their data for some amazing missions.

Read our joint press release with London based Videre Est Credere (Seeing is Believing) on how Sentinel Visualizer is a cornerstone of their methodology for organizing their data and activities. They train and equip citizens in Africa to record human rights atrocities and expose it to the global press. We're proud to play a role in their efforts to make a more safe and just world, and thank those who are willing to do so at great personal risk.

Read our new paper on using Terminal Services and RemoteApp to Extend Microsoft Access and Other Windows Applications Over the Internet.

One of the features of Microsoft Windows Server that is increasingly popular over the last few years is the Terminal Server and more recently RemoteApp. With few exceptions, most Windows applications work within a Terminal Server environment. By doing so, your investment in existing applications, and the power of Windows desktop features and interoperability, can be exposed over the Internet.

This is particularly powerful for database applications such as Microsoft Access since it eliminates the need to send large amounts of data over the Internet for Access to process and users do not need to install Access on their machine. With RemoteApp, you can set up a terminal server experience where your users can only run your application without running other applications or browsing your network. Easily web enable all your desktop applications.

The recent release of Windows 7, Service Pack 1 (and Windows 2008 R2) breaks backward compatibility for Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects (ADO). That means if your .NET, Visual Basic 6, VBA/Office, C++ or other program includes an ADO library reference, and you compile your application or COM object on a Windows 7 SP1 machine, it will not run when deployed to an earlier environment containing the existing ADO object.

An error you may encounter is: Unable to cast COM object of type 'System.__ComObject' to interface type 'ADODB.Connection'.

Basically, the interface IDs for files like MSADO28.tlb and MSADO15.dll have changed. For more information on this, read the Microsoft KnowledgeBase article 2517589 entitled An ADO application that is re-compiled on a Windows 7 Service Pack 1-based computer does not run on down-level operating systems

This is not an issue in Visual Studio .NET if you are using ADO.NET. But if you are using ADO, it is an issue. For .NET specific issues, see KnowledgeBase article 840667: You receive unexpected errors when using ADO and ADO Multidimensional in a .NET Framework application

Note that applications built on the original version will run fine on Windows 7, SP1. You just can't go backwards. Watch out!

On Monday July 19, I'll be live on the local radio show Start up or Shut up! which covers creating and running a small business.  It'll be from 2-3PM on 1580 AM in Northern Virginia. 

Start up or Shut up! is a LIVE radio show Monday afternoon from 2-3pm on the Big Talker 1580 AM hosted by Mark Bucher & Tom Gregg. More info about the program here About Startup or Shutup

One of the nicest features to add to an address data entry screen is to automatically fill the city and state fields when a zip code is entered. In conjunction with the US Postal Service, FMS offers the Total Zip Code Database which gives you the entire list of valid zip codes and their corresponding city and state names. Both the primary and secondary city names are provided. Speed up data entry, eliminate typos, and clean up existing data with Total Zip Code Database. We also include the list of common city names the USPS doesn't like with their corresponding corrections. The database is provided on an annual subscription basis with an initial list and 11 monthly updates.

In addition to the information provided by the USPS, the Total Zip Code Database also includes geospatial coordinates (latitude and longitude) for each zip code. We also provide a list of countries and states to simplify lookups, and module code and sample form to add this to your applications. The data is provided in a Microsoft Access MDB and ASCII files. 

For more information, visit the Total Zip Code Database page, view the zip code flier, or get the demo.

The FMS Professional Solutions Group continues to create innovative software solutions that are making an impact on organizations and lives. Check out our updated consulting site to learn more about our solutions in action. See how we are making a difference from disaster relief in Haiti and Chile to the recent snowstorms in Washington DC. Here are some other highlighted solutions:

• Education
• Event Management
• Government
• Logistics Management
• Non-Profit Organizations
• Small Businesses

Let us bring this expertise to help you use data to make better decisions.

Professor Kathy Korman Frey at the George Washington University School of Business has kicked off the 2009-2010 HotMommas Case Study Competition. It is a unique project that takes the stories of the women and makes them teachable in a "case study" format, thus providing scalable, global access to role models and virtual mentors. You may recall us mentioning our work on this project not long ago.

If you want to nominate someone (yourself included) for the 2009-2010 competition, go to the HotMommas Facebook page or send an email with their information.

Links

The HotMommas Project

Nomination Form

Why Role Models Matter for Women and Girls

Hot Mommas Project Everyday Revolutionaties

Washington Post article

We are all used to seeing the 'rows and columns' metaphor when looking at data. In fact it is the primary interface for many of our data analysis tasks.

But rows and columns can hide valuable patterns. What happens when you take data out of a database and visualize it as a network? Now you can see important connections, centrality, trends, movement over time, and many other key indicators.

Check out our article on Link Analysis and Social Network Analysis to see how our Sentinel Visualizer solution provides innovative ways to get more meaning from your data.

I participated on this panel at the Microsoft TechEd Conference to explore the different reasons and approaches for migrating applications to Microsoft SQL Server. In addition to moving the data to SQL Server, ideas are presented for transforming applications to offer additional features while maintaining budgets. (43 minutes)

Worried about your job or career?  Uncertain about what to do to protect your future?  

Watch this video from my panel discussion at the Microsoft TechEd Conference. Hear me share my experiences at FMS with fiver other developers, and different ways we've survived over our careers. Entitled The World Turned Upside Down: Development Strategies for Lean Times, the video is 51 minutes.

Over the years, I have had an ongoing discussion about how Microsoft Access best fits in an organization's database strategy. Similar to how some Excel files evolve beyond the capabilities of a spreadsheet and move to Access, some Access applications grow beyond the features of Access.  Recently, I was interviewed by Microsoft’s Architect Evangelist Dr. Zhiming Xue on dealing with Access Database based solutions and the challenges of migrating them to SQL Server. Watch the 22 minute video and read more about Migrating Microsoft Access Databases to SQL Server. Let me know what you think.

FMS has offered Access to SQL Server "upsizing" (aka conversion or migration) services for a number of years. We have been working with Microsoft to help customers convert their database applications from Access-based systems to (most typically) SQL Server and ASP.NET websites and web applications. We are one of the few companies in the world who are recognized by Microsoft as being experts at Access to SQL Server migration (see our whitepaper and partner link at the bottom of that page on the Microsoft website).

To kick off 2009, we are offering special rates on these services. Please contact us or give us a call at 703-356-4700 to find out how we can help your organization take the next step.

FMS is excited to announce the launch of The HotMommas Project, a case study competition and social networking website for businesswomen and entrepreneurs. FMS developed this Microsoft ASP.NET and SQL Server based website for a GWU business school professor in Washington, DC. The HotMommas Project just announced their judging panel and the group is generating quite a buzz. Check it out, and we encourage you to tell anyone who may be interested to sign up and enter the competition.