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Adilas.biz Developer's Notebook Report - 3/1/2013 to 3/31/2013 - (47)
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Time Id | Color | Title/Caption | Start Date | Notes | |
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AU 1107 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/1/2013 |
• Emails and phone calls. • Recording notes into the main notebook. |
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AU 1132 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/1/2013 |
-Possible problems with data splitting and smaller tables… what about makes and models. We may need a corp-id to go with it. I’m thinking about the customer website (outside the secured environment) and how we push data back and forth. -From post-it note: inline custom code … use adilas as is with options to tweak and show things or doing custom things on the fly. -On the available web services… allow a company to lock things down or expose only certain pieces “settings and permissions”. |
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AU 1108 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/2/2013 |
• On the phone with Steve going over current and future projects. We talked quite a bit about custom code, middleware “API” stuff, and helping users capitalize on current reports and options inside of adilas. We talked about server models and options for manual load balancing. We talked about maybe adding a value of 1,000 to each corp id number (corp id 22= 1022). We also talked about needs for new PDF flyers that deal with pricing and tech specs. Our conversation then changed topics and we started to talk about eCommerce. Because the server is semi-stable right not (1st priority) we are going to be jumping to eCommerce which is the next hot spot that is needed. • Recording notes and ideas. • Customer upload for a company. Invoiced them for the upload. |
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AU 1133 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/2/2013 |
-Inline custom code – use adilas as is… with options to tweak and show things or do things (custom) in the fly. Think of the title of this note… inline custom code. After flow, change layouts, shortcut steps, etc. -Once we open up the outside “API” or web services… allow a company to lock things down or expose only certain pieces. Think “settings & permissions.” -It may be time to pull out the promotion code stuff. As part of that… it may be col if when a user lands on the promotion code homepage, they have a way to see and track results of certain promotion codes or marketing avenues. -Lately I’ve been thinking more about pushing elements of time and doing a couple week blitz to take it to round 2 (two). This would include showing spans, running off of numeric data, and adding more subs of time. The subs of time provide the extra functions. The one I really want is the any person, place, or thing sub. This deals with rentals, reservations, dispatching, etc. It could also be used for classes, registration and multi assignments. -Another thing that is rising to the surface is the “roll call” page for each item. Another is the calendar overlay of data. -Known issues page and date problem report. These are big helper pages. -Get the important stuff done first and then jump on these other projects that are rising to the top. |
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AU 1109 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/4/2013 |
• Getting the new training flyer ready. Created a number of new links with dates and training info. Sent an email to Steve with the new flyer. • On the phone with my dad setting things up for the next training session. Signed up for a new visa card for adilas. • Requesting a quote for 3 new dedicated boxes from Newtek. We want 2 data servers and 1 content server. • New logo for my dad’s work. Created a new corp and added colors and a logo. Set my dad up with a username and password. • Research on elements of time and showing spans. |
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AU 1110 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/5/2013 |
• Logo for bookstore play site. • Research on elements of time and showing spans. A span plays before, through, or extends past a known window. (Referring to sketch in notebook: how events fit into time slots… time slots or dates… normal known start, normal known end. Spans: -pre & ends within, -start and ends within, -start within and ends without, -start without and end without. • Research on eCommerce, platform, and time. • Wrote some ideas about “inline custom code” and “user defined processes.” It will be cool to see where this thing goes. • Reviewing a quote from Newtek. Talking with my wife about options. • Monitoring our current server and sending an email to Steve and David about options. Proposed 3 different plans. They were: o Plan A: Head toward the mini cluster model. 3 new servers. o Plan B: Buy one new server and migrate everything to that. Temporary. o Plan C: Stay where we are at until a later date – definitely a temporary solution. • Working on time spans. Showing what plays as part of given time and/or data blocks. • Added an option to hide all of the search options on the elements of time homepage. • Working on pulling time spans. |
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AU 1134 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/5/2013 |
-On the content server… set up the model so that we could separate content and data or that we can combine it together on different drives. Our current model is together on the same machine but on different drives. That works… but it may be better to separate things for growth and task separation. With images… it may not be a big deal… however with PDF, music, video, power point, it could be a big deal to keep things separate. -What if we allowed users to upload whatever they wanted for any of the main players. We then show them what is attached and how to get to it. -To secure their info, you could always store it in a database per company or per corporation. -It might be nice to have a recorded file name and a stored file name. Basically an alias. You call it whatever. We’ll store that. We’ll call it what we want and then we’ll show you what you called it. -On custom code – we could actually are things in a database and then call these defaults and settings at runtime. Or we could store in the database, push on publish, and then run on what was published. This may be part of the inline custom code option. -The code stored in the database could even be as simple as what page to use to show, edit, add or view. It could print to a flow on a process. Say for example we set up flow and standard check points. We then allow a user to use any of the standard check points and flow but the rules (how the application plays) could be recorded and defined by a user. This could allow for custom processes that get defined at the application level. To further define this idea, say we had a standard procedure like this: To create an invoice – normal – quick sale (Say this was a pre-defined process) 1. Start cart, choose location and cart type 2. Go to view cart page 3. Allow for items to be added - Normal search and add - My cart favorites - Smart groups - Recipe/builds - Advanced add to cart - Preset special line items - Other 4. Click the checkout button 5. Prompt for payment info - Normal payment options - Special merchant processing 6. Create invoice - Preview first - Direct create 7. Send user to a predefined printable invoice page based on corp-wide settings. What if you could change the process at the application level….?? For example: (inline modified process) 1. Click a button. This button starts the cart, sets the type and location and sends the user to a point and click interface. 2. The user makes the selection and the page automatically advances to the merchant processing page for credit card payments. 3. The credit card is swiped and once approved it automatically shows a custom invoice designed by the company. What if you could use this custom process (above) without leaving adilas. Think of it as “inline custom code.” User defined processes… |
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AU 2277 |
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Brainstorming Notes from Previous Time ID's - Ideas & Things To Do | 3/5/2013 |
These are notes associated with an Elements of Time ID # 444 & Time ID #7 from adilas – discussing Ideas & Things To Do – the time ID information is scanned and available in the photo gallery for this section. Typed below are only the hand-written notes associated with the 3 pages of notes from the time ID entry. Hand-written notes from Time ID # 444 - See ideas and notes on 3/5/13 in my notebook for ideas on “inline custom code” and “user defined processes”. Tons of options. - Maybe JSON – see notes on 5/16/13 - More good information on a data-interchange format called JSON (pronounced Jason). It stands for Java Script Object Notation. See notes from 5/16/13. Huge possibilities to help with the API for adilas. The API is the application programming interface. Hand-written notes from Time ID # 7 - Add a link to the sign in page to the view web inventory page. This is from iwthin the mian secure adilas site. That way the users can copy and paste that link to their customer through email. - A quote can be like an unpaid order. - What invoice classifications. - Another powerful option is JSON format (Java Script Object Notation) - For more, check the notebook for ideas in February and March of 2013 |
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AU 1111 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/6/2013 |
• Working on pulling time spans for elements of time. • On the phone with Steve talking about servers, plans, and white labeling. Steve is getting some major pressure from different clients on certain subjects. These pressures are helping us to figure out our game plan. • Went in to town to work with my dad and my sister on go to meeting stuff. We setup cameras, mics, and ran a couple of sessions on GoToMeeting. Good stuff. 20 miles. |
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AU 1112 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/7/2013 |
• On the phone with Steve. We talked about increasing the commissions back to reps up to 40% in a tiered structure based on how many clients the rep had and was able to maintain. We also talked about resellers, load balancing, and white labeling options. Good stuff. • Went into town to work with my dad and sister on setting up GoToMeeting and options for setup, filming, and capture of the content. My sister recommended that when we started the meeting (the real one) that we kind of talked briefly about the structure of how things work with go to meeting. Who gets to talk, who gets to show webcams, who gets to chat, etc. We played with remote stations, dual webcams, and audio options. There is some power there. 20 miles. • Called and canceled the old content server. • Checked out some custom files and provided a rough quote on time frames. • New logo for a company. • Reviewing some content from GoToMeeting. • Filling out the annual PCI Compliance questionnaire. • Working on the calendar time spans. It gets pretty deep dealing with what to show and what to hide. |
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AU 1113 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/9/2013 |
• Bank stuff. • Working on time spans on the time slot report view for elements of time. • Tech support and working on time spans. • Working on the time slot view report and showing spans. |
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AU 1135 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/9/2013 |
-Little kids book – “It’s Not Easy Being Big!” – showed big bird and Elmo. Both had advantages and disadvantages. Being yourself was the best option. -It would be fun to show all pages and how they relate to the sections or tasks at hand. Maybe even down to the function level. -Part of the custom solution may be found in css (cascading style sheets). Major power there… -When getting to know different system players (application types), make sure and list permissions that deal with these players. |
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AU 1114 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/11/2013 |
• On the phone doing some tech support. • Recording ideas and helping people. Light brainstorming. • Working on the time slot spans and what I want there on that report. Having problems with the queries and logic. Interestingly tight… • On the phone with Steve talking about reps, commission levels, custom code, client needs, etc. Steve is trying to do more and more custom stuff, code wise. He is in their playing and learning. It is good for all of us. • Working on the time slot spans. • Tech support. • Migration of data for a company. They had an old corp but wanted to start over. I helped pull some things across and they should be good to go on the new blank corp. |
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AU 1136 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/11/2013 |
-On eCommerce, we need to show a crumb trail of where we are and what still needs to be done. A good crumb trail that is already built in the system is the stock/unit sales process. It shows steps and allows for users to jump back and forth between steps. That may be a good guide… going forward. -On the same crumb trail or steps mentality… when a new user comes into the site, maybe help hold their hand a little bit to get them going. Help them setup a location, corp-wide settings, personal settings, banks, departments, time, taxes, and payroll settings. -I keep having the thought about putting our code out for people to look at… I’m not sure when but at some point it may need to be out there. We’ll have to be careful about security issues but it could be pretty cool. I was thinking about using text files (.txt) so that people could browse and look at them right online. For example: Say they wanted to see the code for the printable invoice. The ColdFusion file (the real file) would be called printableinvoice.cfm. If they wanted to see the code, they would just change the extension from .cfm to .txt and they could view the code, or a copy of the code. -Making our code available may come in to play as we expose an external API (application programming interface) and allow our functions and logic to become consumable. |
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AU 1115 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/12/2013 |
• Emails and tech support. • Brainstorming about an open API option. • Working on spans and the time slot report. Also more brainstorming on what our master plan is and where are we going… • Working on spans for the time slots. • On the phone with a contact talking about funding options. I told him to read more about it on our website and that I would contact him in a week or so. I mentioned some dollar figures between $20,000 & $100,000. • Added the new rep commission percentages to the rep and career opportunities document. • Working on the adilas rep commissions. Added new levels to the commission rates. They are: o Level 1: 0-25 clients – 20% o Level 2: 26-50 clients – 25% o Level 3: 51-75 clients – 30% o Level 4: 76-100 clients – 35% o Level 5: over 100 clients – 40% |
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AU 1137 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/12/2013 |
-We’ve had more and more requests to do and show custom reports, settings, sort orders, etc. More and more companies are looking for custom solutions. In a way, they are starting to outgrow “the box” on standard configuration. Plan for that and help fill that custom need. -Keep things as open as possible… Think about creating basic roads that are flexible and dynamic vs. thousands of mini static paths. I’m not sure how to do this, but maybe allow for special or custom right off the bat. Basically, a build your own type interface. Open transactions, open web service exchange. -Make a dynamic interface (outward facing) that can call any internal function. The interface needs to by dynamic. The user passes in the function name, the output variable name, and the params. The result is then passed back in xml. Once a request is made, we validate params and then look-up the function and run it internally. Instead of making everything exposed to the outside, make one method exposed to the outside that may consume any internal function. -On the open API (application programming interface), it would be cool if we allowed open entry SQL for select queries. Basically, get any data you want, just by asking for it. Maybe even a build your own point and click option. -On web services, keep it very open… it may be just a data feed (in xml) vs. an actual soap based web service. -In order to control the API, have each function be a setting inside of adilas. Maybe, only add the function if it is allowed. Basically a master list with everything turned off by default. If turned on, record that setting and allow it to be used and consumed. -Group like functions according to main players or main application types. Help get the user to what they need quickly. Maybe even use the map. -We need to add options for all states and the ability to calculate state taxes and withholdings. This is for payroll and withholdings. -Talk to a contact about interns up at USU. He has a lot of knowledge in that area. It may be worth a couple of lunch meetings. -We need to get some funding so that I can get some help from interns up at the college. -I may want to build up Moore Digital Ideas, LLC and use that company to do custom web work for LTF, MDI, freelance and custom adilas work. -There are lots of spin off companies that could help support adilas. They could be web work, custom, training, consulting, etc. |
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AU 1116 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/13/2013 |
• Images and file help. • Posted the new rep and career opportunities flyer online. • Working on time slot spans and logic. • Emails and tech support. Phone calls. • On the phone with an associate talking about the difference between a user login history and a physical user history. We may need a corporation access history to be a between step as well. • Working on the time slot report and showing spans… I had some help from the Man upstairs and finally got it to work. Added a few new links from the working with time page. This allows you to jump directly to the monthly, weekly, and daily time reports. |
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AU 1138 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/13/2013 |
-Once we create the open API. We will work to record histories of who and what is being requested and from what IP addresses. This is kind of like a big virtual back door and needs to be guarded by keys and security. -If doing cross corp stuff over the API. Maybe check for authorization codes or id’s that are created and stored in the database. -We may need a new user to corp access history. This is between a login history (general adilas level) and a user history (what did I physically touch). Basically, we need to show who had access to what corp and for how long. The word access just denotes that they got to one or more pages inside of that corp… even if they didn’t touch anything. (Maybe key off of when the corp id for the session gets set and/or changes.) |
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AU 1117 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/14/2013 |
• Bank stuff. • Studying about WDDX & XML. Ways to Steve and pass complex data structures in a standard format. Leaning toward XML. |
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AU 1139 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/14/2013 |
Artist & Writers Fest – USU -Brandon Mull – Author of Fablehaven – - Dream it up in your head and then do it - Use the real world as a model - Spend lots of time daydreaming - Details and memories provide additional insight - World building – create a new environment or world - Think through how the world would work and what would happen. Example: Say a good fiction writer might talk about a concept of an automobile. A great fiction writer goes clear to the traffic jam level of this concept. o Take things to a new level and what happens in their society or culture. How do you deal with cause and effects? - What new abilities does this bring to the picture? - Brandon interacted with the audience quite well… lots of questions and responses. Story based. He was talking about concepts of world building. Think through the realities of the world you are building. - Characters, details, physical description, use of words, how they think, what do they do, personality, learn about past, base off of real people, what they choose, stay true to that, relationships, interactions between players. - Five key pieces to a story and/or world building: characters & relationships & trouble & decisions & consequences. - Imagination can take you places. - Sometimes no’s help create who you are – a great teacher! Reading session – Writer’s & Artist Fest - I want to accomplish my dreams – so that is what I’ll do – young author. - Limitless! o Creativity, motivation, capacity of the heart, challenges. |
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AU 1118 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/15/2013 |
• Activating a business credit card for adilas. • Sent out emails and attached some cc info to a piece of flex grid inside the system. • New logo for a company. • Working on creating dynamic XML based on query output. • On the phone with our tech sub-contractor. We talked about a bunch of different subjects. Some were business related and some were adilas related. He had a couple weird things on invoices that happened. We also talked about using the database auto id as the main id instead of assigning numbers to corporations. We talked about splitting databases, XML feeds and an open API, and eCommerce. The other subjects were on payroll and last known costs. We may need the ICC’s to come in to play very soon… the ICC’s are internal cost corrections. |
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AU 1140 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/15/2013 |
-We’ve had a few requests for a smaller or limited version of the sales and profit report. The report would be at a salesperson (employee) level and would only show sold info. Any cost and profits would not show up on that report. -For XML – use adilasDataRequest and adilasDataResponse as main root elements. -Inventory with attributes. One part number with multi attributes – sizes, colors, etc. -Last costs – may be a problem. Last known costs vs. average costs. We may need ICC’s pretty soon! Maybe a corp-wide setting for costing. -On new databases per corps – maybe use an auto id for invoices, deposits, expense/receipts, PO’s, time, etc. instead of assigning new numbers by direct assignment. This could help (using auto id’s) to eliminate or minimize duplicates. -When allowing persons to submit external data, suing the open API, allow for FORM scope, URL scope, and XML options. Make it flexible yet manageable. -Use adilas university, for documenting the API. -Thinking of breaking the API into main players, functions and details or options for each function. Think outlines and drill-downs. The API will be on the tech level of the application. -We are walking an interesting line… Education vs. Development… Development is fun but without education – what does it do? Education without development – feels limited or dead? We may need to mix and blend. (Kind of like faith and works – you need both.) |
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AU 1119 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/16/2013 |
• Brainstorming about custom code and API stuff. • Called Steve, we talked for almost an hour just on business stuff and then went into a gotomeeting ColdFusion training session. We went for long enough that my phone ran out of juice and we had to end the session. Steve is learning tons in ColdFusion and will do a great as he gets deeper into things. Most of our normal conversation this morning was dealing with custom code and where things are going. |
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AU 1141 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/16/2013 |
-On the API… we may need to go with all lower case. I started to play with dynamically looping over structures and the key names came out in all caps. I would much rather have all lower case vs. all upper case. The normal is called camel case. An example of camel case is: ThisIsCamelCase each word starts with a capital and then back to lower case. If I can’t get camel case, I’d rather have all lower case. -On the API (application programming interface)… Think of a corporation permission level. We normally do user permissions… what about corporation permissions? Interesting concept. -When creating and allowing users to have their own database and system. Allow them to turn on/off different settings such as payment types, log note types, tax categories, etc. let them tweak things out a bit more and make it feel more custom. -When building out each corporation in its own system. We may need to change how the application and session scopes get recorded and controlled. Some of these pieces will be lessened or removed. –Not trying to be negative, but this is going to be a big project. I’d dare say a full new version or product in some ways. -As long as we are talking about re-writes and changes. We need to limit the big queries that are capable of pulling tens of thousands of records. Where ever possible, it may require a re-write to split the search methods into id’s, pagination (controlling out flow), and then the actual data. Most of our queries are fairly small and very fast. However, there are a few big monsters out there. -On eCommerce … we need to run the whole thing right on the main adilas.biz site. We have an SSL, full access to data, methods, look-ups, and we can totally skip the web services portion of what is going on. Make it quick, simple, and all in one place. -We’ve had a request to merge customer and other records. Think find and replace on a customer level. This may also be handy on a vendor level, but we would need to be careful with parts and PO’s. Expense would be fine but parts may be a problem. -For inline custom code – what if we allowed users to define main pages. For example: what pages do you use for – printable invoice, start cart, view cart, add item, checkout, customer log, invoice home page, customer homepage. If different than the normal, pull those pieces in as page flow corp-wide settings. |
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AU 1120 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/18/2013 |
• Helping Steve with a query for a custom page. Minor tweaks. His skills are improving. • Getting ready to start on light eCommerce. Light review and planning. • Adding new settings for eCommerce to the corporation’s database table. Added 15 new settings. • Added settings for eCommerce. • On the phone with Steve going over funding, options and direction for eCommerce. • Working on new settings for eCommerce. |
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AU 1142 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/18/2013 |
-On inline custom code – we could technically even switch domains, scripting languages, and traverse databases. We could use Asp.net, Ruby, Php, Java, etc. If someone wanted to, they could make a local code set that could run locally and then batch update a server. Tons of options. -Once we have an open API and/or custom inline code and corp-wide settings and corp-wide permissions. It may be worth our time and money to become certified as an official shopping cart and get on people’s radar as a certified solution or platform. -This may or may not happen, but it may be fun to take adilas to the open source level. -On pages – it would be cool to control the navigation links, buttons, and options. This could either be corp-wide settings and permissions or user settings and permissions. Or, I suppose, it could be a combination of both personal and corp-wide. -On parts categories – it would be cool to have a graphic tied to the category. It would also be cool to allow and show counts of what you had. For example: Accessories (7), Men’s Shoes (26), trailer parts (137). -I’m thinking of leaving the web (general customer side web site) presence on a remote server. If the companies want to use eCommerce, pull it back under the main adilas.biz roof. The web presence would be free and eCommerce would be variable, depending on the corporation. Variable meaning setup cost and/or fees. It may also depend on usage or quantity of items. -On eCommerce, maybe have levels… under x number of items we do it for free. Over x number of items we charge a small fee or add it to your monthly. -We may need a way to monitor eCommerce activity. This could be invoices created, quotes made, statements made, payments made, items or parts, etc. -eCommerce may need special settings for sub domains, load balancing and access. -When migrating to stand alone databases and systems maybe consider: - Integer field sizes - 10 vs. 11 - Database storage engines - MyISAM vs. InnoDB tables - Inter-corp actions and assignments - Customer settings for look-ups and drop-down menus. - Use of corp_id even though each corp will be a standalone. This value may be needed later on if doing a multi-corp look-up or report. -On getting corp-wide settings – that method or function may need to be broken up into smaller pieces for speed and economy. I’m thinking about a general setting, a subset (pre-set values), or a custom list (list of fields to pull). Anyways, it is starting to get bigger and bigger with more options planned. |
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AU 1121 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/19/2013 |
• Setting up a new laptop for mobile GoToMeeting stuff. Awesome machine for only about $500-600. 500 GB hard drive, 8 GB RAM, Windows 7, external ITB hard drive, awesome graphic card, built in web cam, and nice speakers for a lap top. • Prep for meeting with a contact to talk about using college inters on projects. • Went into town and had a lunch meeting with my contact. Great meeting and got lots of notes. • Went up to the University and went and talked with a bunch of people, department heads, and staff. Went by HR. They directed me to go talk with the department heads and also to go to Career Services. I went to the instructional technology and talked with a gentleman about Flash stuff. I then went to Career Services and spoke with a lady about recruiting and interns. I then went to the business department and spoke with some people, great meetings. I also went to a Target Store info session to see what it was like. Tons of ideas and brainstorming and writing down notes. Awesome day! 30 miles. • On the phone with Steve to go over the day and chat about a few different things. We talked a lot about interns and future mapping projects for adilas. |
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AU 1143 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/19/2013 |
Questions about using interns: 1. What is the general process? - Start with a budget. - Offer a premier internship… - Leverage to new business options. - Sell yourself as the best. - USU is your friend and they want to be exploited. - The more you praise somebody… the harder they work. 2. What is required? Time, money, paperwork, contracts, etc. - Manage things with price. - Let price be your friend. - The University wants to be sold. 3. Who do I contact? How do I go about that? - Go up to USU. Talk to a specific contact. Go to the HR department. - Ask to come and speak to different departments. - Go with BIS students… you could always teach programming. 4. How did you get so many at a time? Where did you start? - Bid half of what you need or expect on the first go around. - Go simple and learn as you go. - The cash cow – bring in money…. - Layout the basics – training. 5. What where some things that you did that you thought were successful? 6. What were some things that you did that you wish you could do over and/or change? 7. What was the interview process? - Skill and heart. - Great attitude. 8. What kind of time did it take on your part to put things together? 9. Was anybody assigned to help you? 10. What was your favorite part about using interns? Why? 11. Recommendations…. - We didn’t get to all of the questions. - Protection through giving. o He asked me how I was protecting myself. My answer was – through giving… I’m okay with that! -Career Aggie, usu.edu/career -I was walking past some landscape architect drawings… tons of details and great concepts. Why not do the same thing for adilas… Let somebody design the layout and flow for what they want and need. We already have the dynamic interface capabilities, why not let them tweak it out. Let’s get some artists. -Adilas by itself is a bare bones interface…. Allow each corporation to customize their own skin or GUI (graphical user interface). USU – Info blast or Information Session – recruiting event – Target Stores was the presenter -Power point slide show – simple – bulleted – branded. -Why do you love your job? Come to work and love your job. -How is the company doing… Growing… -What is the business structure… this is this and that is that, etc. -What are we looking for? What will you be doing? -The interview process. -Managers vs. Leaders – looking for leaders. -Little tag lines as branding. -Star method – situation, task, action, result. -They had someone who had already done the internship. -Fast, fun, and friendly. -The discussion was fun and engaging. -Where will you be in three year, five years… -See if you are a good fit? Check it out. -Recruiting – selling yourself, your ideas, your products, your vision… Recruit and seek help! ___________________________________________________________ -What if you missed business data mapping with inline custom code… Instead of just altering a process… what if your process was dynamically mapped to your reports and even your accounting. You virtually get to create the process, the flow, and the mapping for accounting or other key points or indicators. Make the whole thing be dynamic. What is the story? What are the key check points or states, and what are the cause and effect relationships or mapping? If you don’t like our default process or mapping… no problem… do it your way! -What if we had a mini date/time clock application that could virtually be a cross between the following pieces… - A digital time clock (ins and outs) - A date or date range with pre-defined flags. - The power of the flex grid but smaller… maybe or maybe not. -What if we added more to the flex grid and let it play into the custom flow, flags, and time clock level? What if we added a section to the flex grid that could be mapped to and would hold a value as a state, status, or checkpoint? -Let the flex grid hold and/or become a bigger player. Use it in doing custom mappings, custom flow, etc. We would need another date field, sometime fields, and some numeric fields. -One known issue is data types… the flex gird uses a lot of text based fields… What if we could dynamically “type” or “cast” certain fields to be certain data types. For example: strings, numeric, dates, decimals, etc. Interesting. -A mix between: tools, functions, data, settings, and permissions. What do you want? What do you need? How do you want to do it? What are the steps? -make your own model… -We just sell Legos… what you build or do with them is up to you… We sell potential! -On the flex grid… we could add more fields like dates, times, numeric, and then allow users to turn them on/off just like time templates. If they aren’t used, they are attached but hidden. If they are used, then they play as part of the game. -If you are controlling the mapping of the data… you may need to record the logic and SQL (math & formula) for your custom mapping. Something to think about. -What if the entire adilas application was all done by code in the database. Instead of using rigid files… what if each corp virtually created their own files based on instructions from within the system. -At some point, some company will want full SQL access to their data… that way they could do or run multiple pieces with custom data and calculations. -Random note and idea – I think it would be fun to write a book about my different worlds. I have reality with home and family, and I have this fantasy or sci-fi world of adilas with smoke and mirrors, data objects, relationships, and full of ideals and dreams. It might make a fun book at some future point. |
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AU 1122 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/20/2013 |
• New logo for a company. • Tech support and research into Adobe Creative Cloud. • Emails and tech support. • Research on Adobe Flash SCG and phone calls to my cousin, he is quite the salesperson. • Reviewing an Adobe Flash SCG class. • Submitting the sales flyer to USU. • Follow up, thank you’s, and recording notes. • Working on admin (hidden) corp-wide settings for eCommerce. |
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AU 1123 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/21/2013 |
• New logo for a company. • Working on eCommerce. • Recording hours to the other notebook. Did some training and tech support on expense/receipts. Added a view button to the chooser page. People were clicking on the set as default button instead of the graphic. The view button helps them make a decision. • Went into Bridgerland to test the laptop on GoToMeeting. Worked with my sister for a couple of hours and tweaked some settings. Shared with my sister about what I want to do for adilas university. I also brought up the next project and how we went to take the adilas user guide to a digital level. We talked about concept, beginner, intermediate, advanced, and tech levels. At the tech level, we would be into database and code stuff. Basically, I need my sister’s help to help me carve out time to work on it. While at Bridgerland, I also talked with a guy about “PLC’s”, I think that stands for Programmable Logic Controllers. I was interested in setting up a business type model that could be arranged like an electrical or circuit board PLC. This would allow for mapping, flow, checkpoints, etc. This goes along with what we want to do for our open API (application programming interface). Anyways, I watched his run through a couple of training problems to get some ideas. What I saw was multiple tools being used at once or as needed. I saw maps, structures, desired output goals, inline monitoring, ability to see cause and effect, and ways to code and simulate code. Our model doesn’t follow perfectly with a PLC but there are quite a few similarities. Good stuff! 20 miles. |
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AU 1144 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/21/2013 |
-When doing and making the open API – know up front that what you make you will use personally. Make it very ease, logical, and what you want to use. There is a saying… “Each company needs to eat its own dog food.” Meaning, be willing to use what you produce. Make it to that level. -I can see companies creating whole solutions to ride on top of adilas for specific industries and businesses. Basically an adilas engine and a custom body. This same idea could be duplicated for tons of industries. Adilas engine and some sort of custom or specialized interface. -Right off the bat – a couple of custom options that would be awesome are: - Industries that only have one location – you could hide all of the location stuff. - Industries that don’t deal with stock units – you could take all of those options out. This includes makes, models, floorplan, stock unit permissions, settings, commissions for payroll, parts of the income statement and balance sheet, even parts of the interactive map. - Make a home or personal version – very simple but still riding on the full adilas engine. |
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AU 1124 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/22/2013 |
• Recording notes in the other notebook. Great review… a lot of things going on... Hard to keep up. • Working on admin (hidden) corp-wide settings for eCommerce. • On the phone with my cousin. We talked about a bunch of stuff. He is very business savvy. See notes below for ideas and subjects… |
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AU 1145 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/22/2013 |
-Talking with my cousin – on the phone. Impressions – education – business plan – ROI – time to develop the plan – growth – where does the money go? – fire bullets first and then cannons later once you know what you are shooting at – put things on paper – writing it down will help you know where things are going – cloud of doubt – little bit scattered – API – solve the bulk of their need simply and then provide the rest as a perk. – Inventory tracking – sales – POS – eCommerce. -Sell an inventory tracking and sales system or sales and inventory tracking system (multi-featured) (keep it very simple). -What if we created a super simple sales model as the base product. Then, as needed, it could be expanded from there. Satisfy the base need first. -Think of the “Gospel of Jesus Christ” – very simple yet it comes with apostles, prophets, scriptures, etc., etc. The list goes on and on. – The simple term is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. |
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AU 1125 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/23/2013 |
• Writing notes and light brainstorming. Trying to focus on adilas as a “sales and inventory tracking system”. This is the core and then all other pieces are part of that model. • Working on eCommerce. Finished up the 15 new admin (hidden) corp-wide settings. • Copy and pasting code from the adilaswebservice.biz site to the main adilas.biz site. |
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AU 1146 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/23/2013 |
Simple title for LTF DVD -Learn to Freeride presents – Introduction to snowboard freestyle -If sales and inventory tracking is our core module, what else really needs to be fixed and done? - eCommerce - PO order status - Training on PO’s, parts, quotes, invoices, customers - Invoice classifications - Customer gift cards and customer credits - Credit card refunds - Reports for ordered, promised, have - Time – rentals, reservations, scheduling - Back orders - Promotion codes & sales - Bulk management tools -Adilas is broader than a sales and inventory tracking system. You get sales, inventory tracking, POS (Point of Sale), CRM (Customer Relations Management), scheduling, online expense tracking, BI (Business Intelligence), Payroll, Timecards, Backend office, accounting functions, and much more. –With adilas… You get it all! |
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AU 1147 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/24/2013 |
-Be positive – count your blessings not your problems. I truly have been very blessed – just look around you. -What is your maintenance plan? I heard a great talk and the guy related life to buying a car. In order to get the most out of it, you have to do and have some sort of maintenance plan. |
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AU 1126 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/25/2013 |
• Emails and recording notes in my other notebook. • Working on eCommerce and updating files with new eCommerce settings. Sent an email blast with GoToMeeting info. • New logo for a school services playsite. • Tech support. • Working on eCommerce stuff. |
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AU 1148 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/25/2013 |
-Once each corporation gets its own database. We may need to rotate through them and keep our own back-up files. We may also be able to create a full back-up file “.sql” file for all of their stuff. This same file may be cool to allow client’s to download a full database copy for themselves. As a note… the database without the code doesn’t do much good. The code without the database doesn’t do much good either. They work in tandem. -When ready… we need to go back through all of the pages and update the meta tags, keywords, and descriptions. That is very needed but will be a bit of a project. Before doing so, it may be worth a couple of hours (or more) worth of research for what we really want for our pages. |
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Adi 663 |
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Logan Training Class | 3/26/2013 | Second training course for the "We'll bring the lunch" series. | |
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AU 1127 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/26/2013 | -Busy three days… This was the Logan Training session for March. This was our second three-day training event. The first one was in the end of February. It is amazing how fast things change. The information below was recorded after the fact. (3/30) | |
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AU 1128 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/26/2013 | • Went in to town for day one of adilas training. We set things up and got on to GoToMeeting. My sister helped with GoToMeeting stuff (chat, recording, and controlling audio and web cam settings). That was a huge help. We recorded tons of audio and screen capture stuff throughout the three day session. We did three practice sessions with GoToMeeting but this was our first live or real session. For the actual training we went over and covered the map. We started on the button and went over locations and tax settings, web presence, eCommerce, tools, maintenance, customers, inventory, etc. Basically just jumping around the adilas map and training and touching on different players. Throughout the day we had a number of different people pop in and through the GoToMeeting applications. At the end of the day it took us 2 hours to convert and render the recording. Both my mom and my dad helped with different tasks throughout the day. I’m very grateful for their love and support. My mom was in the training class all day every day other than when she had to pick up a cousin from the airport on Thursday. Great stuff. 20 miles. | |
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AU 1129 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/27/2013 |
• On the phone with Steve. We went over a few things about training and client needs. We talked briefly about job costing and different ways to use some of the adilas tools. Eventually we will need to make both makes and models into a dynamic corp-wide setting (what to call them). • Went into town for day two of training. We had more participants with GoToMeeting and had a great session. On a fun note, we started the day talking about “world building” – a concept that fantasy and sci-fi writers use to help their readers learn and understand the rules and options in these other worlds. We then started talking about the adilas world and what goes on there. We lightly talked about five features that Brandon Mull – author of “Fablehaven” used in a seminar. They are: characters, relationships, problem and/or trouble, choices and decisions, and finally consequences. Great session. Lots of interaction through GoToMeeting. There were three clients that chimed in a good deal. There were others but those three were active and asked tons of questions. 20 miles. • During training we found and got a couple of new requests. Spent some time making some quick fixes. Linked up the default check writing bank to the add new expense/receipt page and the add new expense/receipt payment page. Also changed the flow on the Special Live PO’s and how the main vendor/payee gets changed. The old way used a dynamic drop-down list to change the PO vendor (basically setting the payables vendor). The downside was that in order for vendor to show up, they needed to have at least one PO and one item or part in the system. These requirements helped to limit the list but added some complexity to the process. The other change we made was to switch the drop-down list to a straight id number field. This makes it easy to switch but requires a vendor/payee id look-up. Posted files online. |
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AU 1149 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/27/2013 | -When adding a vendor… It would be nice if it could automatically show up in the vendor list for PO’s. Currently it requires at least one part number in the inventory pool before it goes live or appears in the parts vendor list. Another idea is an id number field that may be changed at will. | |
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AU 1130 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/28/2013 |
• Went in to town for day three of training. • Quick emails to update people about changes. • Back to training… We got to BATC and a client was already on the call and wanted help with a payroll issue. We got the GoToMeeting session going and hit the ground running. Kind of a crazy start. We got him taken care of and then rolled into some of the new changes and features we added last night. They were default check write banks and options for changing the main payables vendor id on a special live PO. We then did a training session on payroll and time cards or user time clocks. After lunch we did some training on customers, the customer queue, statements, and recording the story and how time and dates play in to every part of the puzzle. We talked a little bit about “types” and “functions” and how these play into the puzzle. The last couple of hours of the training session were quite fun for me. We switched from training and doing to a discussion based format. We talked concepts, vision, future, needs, and ideas. My dad came in and joined my sister and I talking about adilas stuff. A great brainstorming session and we recorded the audio portion of it. We talked about the developer’s notebook, training, education, pricing, and tools. We had fun talking about business tools and what it takes to break certain models. We covered the following: - Pen & paper - Spreadsheets - Databases - Software - Networks and IT stuff - Server databases - Web - API’s (Application Programming Interfaces) & business platforms * Some of the things that break these tools or models – searchability, permissions, volume, dates & times, costs, upgrades & versions, settings, conditional logic, centralized data, options for change. • Back to the training stuff… We ended on a fun discussion and then started another wave of talks after the class and while we were cleaning up. The last topic was on education and even getting adilas or adilas concepts out to the rising generation. This would involve non-profits, grants, teams, and helping to educate people and students. Great stuff. 20 miles. |
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AU 1150 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/28/2013 |
-On an education level, maybe think about putting something up on Lynda.com (online training for tons of different applications). -Interns may not be from the college… keep it open and include professionals, teachers, or independents. Thinking of a contact at BATC, that does accounting, consulting and teaches for Bridgerland. They would be a great asset. -Comment from my dad – Permissions are like scrolling a football field, maybe do it by section. -On the developer’s notebook… maybe add all of the brainstorming and ideas by section vs. by date. Get things organized and make it easy to get to. -Add a “change” link to help with flow for changing main tie-ins like vendors and customers. This would help on invoices, expense/receipts, and special live PO’s (mixed vendors). -On the training… schedule it out, ask what people want to learn about in advance, show the new features, create your culture. Maybe do more question and answer sections on a weekly basis. Record everything (within reason). |
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AU 1131 |
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Daily Tasks | 3/30/2013 |
• Recording hours from training course while driving with family down to Salt Lake. • Recording more hours and notes. • Working on a “change” link for special live PO’s, Expense/Receipts, and invoices. Added a default check bank write bank to four other pages that are tied to payables. • On the phone with Steve going over training, new changes, code stuff, and general progress report. We talked about the API and eCommerce. I also mentioned to him about the Adobe Creative Cloud and getting new versions of software for all of us to use. • Working on the change link for Special PO’s (mixed vendors). |
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AU 1151 |
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Daily Ideas | 3/30/2013 | -I was sitting at a baptism of my wife’s niece and had the thought… Pattern learning after what we do inside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We have primary, youth classes, and adult classes. For adilas we could have different levels. I loved sitting there watching a primary teacher teach the kids simple truths and concepts and even the adults were enjoying things and learning. We sang simple songs and watched authorized leaders perform saving ordinances and conduct meetings. It made me want to be one of the many. | |