Phone call with Steve. We were going over the state of things and talking about projects, plans, and what is going on. We spent quite a bit of time diving in deep on the datasource project. It has also been called world building and the bus to motorcycle project. Basically, we have a database that has a number of different corporations on it. Each main web server is linked with a single database server. We have duplicated this over time and have close to 20 pairs (40 servers) doing this right now. What we like to do is split up each corporation to have it's own database. We could then move them more easily once they are decoupled from the other corporations. Queries should run faster, we could monitory sizes (database storage) easier, and move things around as needed. We were talking about what that would look like and how we could go about doing that. We both seemed to be on the same page as to where we are going.

The other major topic was dealing with elements of time and what they can do and how they interact with other pieces of the application. We just made a quote for connecting elements of time (EOT's) to PO's (purchase orders). Steve is working on a project that connects expense/receipts (E/R's) with elements of time. Some of that is already done, he is just tweaking it out a little bit. We talked about simple project time clocks, virtual mini P&L (profit and loss) statements per element of time, and other tie-in connections. That's awesome, and that's what we made elements of time for. We wanted a business calendar, not just a simple calendar.

Steve is working on a page that will allow a user to clock in/out for payroll and also tie those values to sub dates and times for projects. Both payroll and project time clocks from the same entry. Fun stuff.

Lastly, we briefly talked about funding and sales. Mostly cash flow type stuff. Always a something going on.

Great two-day conference. Took tons and tons of notes. See attached.

So, Sharik Peck, owner and founder of Rezzimax allowed me to come watch he and his team put the conference on. I brought my mother, who loves that kind of learning and content. Those people (the participants) were her kind of people. That was fun to watch all of them interact. I ended up loving it as well. I learned a ton, tried out the products, and even contributed a bit to the conference (questions and comments). My main goal was watching what they were doing, how they interacted with the conference participants, and observe little tips and tricks that I could pick up and use when I do some training events and conferences. Good stuff!

Here are some of my notes. Once again, this was more of me observing and picking out tiny tidbits of information vs taking notes on what they were really doing and talking about. I hope that makes sense.

- The Dream - telling a small story. Dreaming and then trying to put the dream into reality. Just the motion of following a dream led to a whole other set of ideas, situations, experiments, and achievements. Basically, the whole journey that ensued and is still going. All from following or attempting to follow a dream.

- One of the main goals was sharing knowledge and getting manuals and resources out to their users. One of their biggest problems was - How can we replicate "Sharik" (fill in the name of whomever is a major key player or awesome influencer)? Sometimes, to start with, lots of the main knowledge and/or know how resides in a few key players. We have to get that information out, virtually duplicate that person, and let others help run with it.

- They spent some time, right at the first, trying to get the conference attendees to help pass the word along. They did a whole section on the affiliate program that they are using. This could be done through referral links, commission structures, affiliate program website, training, certification, and specific tracking of coupons.

- They used some guest speakers to help spread the word. They also have done some research, written articles, and gotten things published, in order to get the word out. Some of that takes times and networking. Along with that, it is always good to bounce ideas off others in your field. Collaboration and idea farming.

- "Form follows function" - they kept saying that

- Small pieces of world building - I saw interconnected system, relationships, finding and fixing problems, addressing pain and disfunction, and seeing how those interrelated pieces worked together to almost create a world. This is an older entry dealing with some world building concepts.

- The smallest change in a system can play through and create new problems and new solutions. Trying to get a good balance - along the way.

- Straightening out disharmonies

- Helping people help themselves - teaching them coping and learning skills

- Deprogramming - things that run in natural or normal habits that may be unwanted or causing problems and issues. Deprogramming, in a way, means undoing or rerouting paths and avenues.

- Lots of experimenting and being okay with that - nothing happens by magic.

- Practice and hands on training - they were giving additional instruction during the practice session. The instructors were miced (had microphones attached to them) as they were walking around and helping others with the practice session. Everybody was able to gain from the instruction and feedback given to individuals.

- Durning the presentation, they would bounce out to a well formatted video to help encourage the participants to go to their YouTube channel for more information.

- Talking about alignment and getting things in-tune or aligned - This was tied into a foundation and going back to the basics. This included basic knowledge and basic techniques. The alignment seemed to be a key factor.

- Focus your mind on what you are grateful for... One of the best sources of change.

- Over the years, Sharik has gone onsite and helped out many people - where they are (to their place, their home, or their business). That seemed to be a reoccurring theme.

- Look where you want to go - If you do, you'll have a better change of getting there.

- Victim or Advocate - Question - I make things happen or things happen to me?

- Thinking about thinking - an active approach

- They used their tagline over and over again. It was - "Tune out pain and tune into life!"

- He, Sharik, tries to surround himself with people who have lots of skills, knowledge, and talents.

- They had products and samples that they gave out and let people use, try, and experiment with.

- Their packaging was very professional looking. Nice glossy info sheets, nice visuals, everything looked very professional.

- Matching frequencies - we don't want to stay out of sync very long. We tend to want to match what we are hearing and/or feeling.

- Great interactions between the instructors and the conference attendees.

- Consistency and creating good habits.

- Don't be afraid to try something new. Learning over time and recognizing patterns.

- There were a few different times that Sharik would talk about the process of inventing - He would wake up, write things down, react to things as they keep coming (from any source), and keep moving forward based on where he was and where he wanted to go. I loved the stories.

- Quite a few user stories (from the participants) and testimonials. You could tell that everybody liked the products and the procedures (protocols).

- Lots and lots of great hands-on practice sessions. He even had a number of people (assistants) who could help him out, there at the conference.

- They kept referring back to their website for videos, information, manuals, products, etc.

- They had a new product that got introduced at the conference. You could tell that a lot of time, energy, money, planning, and excitement were part of the new product release. They introduced their mini's or mini version of their calibrated vibration tuner. It was pretty cool! Everyone there got one to play with and experiment with it. Lots of ideas and scenarios started to play out. The participants were expressing ideas and possible solutions, almost imediately. That was really fun to watch.

- Feedback was requested and very welcome.

- Sharik has been doing some public speaking at different events for quite some time. Great way to get the message out there.

- Loved the light flexibility in their agenda. They switched things up on the training as needed. If you were a person who fully expected perfect clockwork, you would have been disappointed. If you were ok with some flexibility, they you were spot on. They still kept it moving but there were definitely some custom alterations on the fly. I really enjoyed it.

- Recipes - basic steps to get a certain outcome or output. They called them "rezzipes" for Rezzimax but they were virtually recipes - simple steps to get certain results.

- Harvesting ideas from others - giving credit where due.

- Lots of personal stories, details, knowledge, hints, tips, and experiences. That made it fun.

- They kept showing success stories - it almost made you want to be one of the success stories. Almost a level of marketing without actually marketing. That was cool!

- They ended the first day pretty casually and soft - they didn't teach clear to the end. Sort of a soft ending on day one. Light interactions, hands-on experimenting, networking, etc. Quite a few people hung out and chatted, asked questions, and had some great interactions.

-------------

Day 2

- Small suggestion from my mom - A bag with your logo on it. We got lots of goodies and new toys. My mom recommended that a bag would be nice. It would be reusable, helpful, and people could see your logo and name as the people carry their stuff.

- Sharik started the day off by asking for feedback.

- He had a few people that could only be there part of the day. He was willing to change his agenda to help accommodate some of the people who needed to leave early. Those people wanted to cover a specific topic. That showed great flexibility and a personal touch.

- He, Sharik, made some fun and great introductions to those who were helping him out. His fun introduction added credibility to the presenters and/or helpers. Whatever their role was.

- They showed a new mobile app to go along with their new minis (calibrated vibration tuners). Super small demo. Talking about upcoming changes. The users wanted to be able to read/write new hardware names (be able to name the devices - in English vs multi-digit serial numbers). They wanted ways to name the device, assign them to a room, or attach a type to the device. Basically, ways to flag and tag things so that they could organize their environments. It was all about organizing their flow.

- They (the users) wanted to be able to turn things on and off remotely. Using technology to help their clients and patients sleep better.

- They also wanted full control to program multi devices with plans, modes, times, timers, and custom options.

- The end users wanted to know timelines, they were really excited to get using it.

- Currently, they are using Bluetooth to connect. They want to be able to do all functions, remotely, including ways to control all of the micro functions, timers, wake-up, go to sleep, modes, cycles, etc. Ideally, they would love it if they could program something remotely and then the device could go pick up that information from a central server or central location. Basically, a web app of sorts. Going beyond Bluetooth.

- Users wanted to know about updates, notifications, communications, and how to provide feedback.

- Not only feedback but also recommendations and feature requests.

- Sharik was asked a question and jumped back into a small history of where they came from. The electric toothbrush story. That was part of the start of the whole dream. In his dream, he was told, "Vibration will heal the human nervous system. Go figure it out!". Through experimentation, they went through over 800+ electric toothbrushes. This is a side note, but I've known Sharik for years. At one point, he was experimenting with handheld sanders (from a hardware store). The toothbrushes were too little and small and the handheld sanders were too big or too powerful. They ended up with their own tuners that allow for calibrated vibration (speed, intensity, and frequencies) and even waves and patterns. All part of the invention process. Kinda fun.

- It was fun to see journeys come full circle

- Back to the minis and the new app - the users wanted to know protocols - who to talk to, what to send in, how to communicate, etc.

- Sharik invited the developer to show the new app. All of this feedback was being thrown at him while he was presenting. They were recording it and others were taking notes. There was no way for the developer to actually take all of the notes for the requests, ideas, and suggestions as he was presenting. It really helped to have other helping to either record or jot down the notes.

- Just for fun - Sharik said about the programmer - "A programmer on a mission!"

- Note about the media guys who were helping - they had two guys recording the conference. One was the primary tech guy. The other was more promotional and marketing. They were capturing testimonials along the way. They miced (used microphones) all of the speakers. If someone else made a comment, they tried to resay it or recap over the microphone. Sharik was also recommending that the attendees get with the media guys to get their stories and/or testimonials. Pretty cool setup.

- Jumping back into the conference and some of the topics. Lots of time spent on "Trauma" - aka problems, issues, and pain. Without pain or needs, no solution is needed. Once trouble or a problem exists, a solution or answer is needed or wanted.

- Pornography, drugs, alcohol, PTSD, life events, etc. All forms of trauma or issues. Some of these things are taken in by the eyes, ears, hands, mouth, touch, feel, or other ways. Eventually, they get into us and/or affect us in some way or another.

- Teaching the law of opposites - joy and misery, happiness and sadness, inhale and exhale, push and pull, etc. Being ok with being uncomfortable. Pairing these opposites and finding patterns. Back to trauma - front door and back door approach. There is always a way in, look around and be creative.

- Let it go! Exposing yourself and being vulnerable. "IT" will come later. It meaning, what you are looking for. Sometimes you just need a catalyst for change. Replacing negative with positive (thought).

- Standing next to the event, not in it (trauma and events). Can you remove yourself from it and virtually watch it play out, what can you learn, do, observe, as you look at it from a different angle. If you only look at things from a single vantage point, you may be limited as to what options are available.

- Going almost empty and then rebuilding and replenishing.

- Trauma has attachments - it could be other traumas or connections with other events or situations. Usually, it is not just a single thing... there are relationships and multiple interconnected pieces.

- Forgiveness and understanding. Forgiveness doesn't make it right. It does have power to help you. At some point, you may need to ask, how is this all done? Where does that lead you?

- Having a safe place to recover and seek healing.

- The ability to connect to the music within you.

- Saying prayers - for self and for others - looking beyond yourself.

- Sharik was sharing his story and tons and tons of other experiences. It makes it real.

- Triggers

- Learning lessons and then passing on those lessons learned. Experiences just happen!

- At one point, they went over a number of FAQ's (frequently asked questions). They had a preset list and it made it easy to just jump through them and/or skip around as needed.

- Different people do things in different ways - that's ok and even encouraged...

- Great discussions and awesome feedback and ideas from the participants. There was enough flexibility in the presentation to allow for that.

- Inspiration and being open to new ideas. Sometimes it takes time to come to an understanding.

- Freely give, freely share - keep it open.

- Each participant comes from a completely different place. Acknowledging the pioneers in the room. Go explore. Learn from your experiences. If you are experimenting, try it on yourself first - controlled experimenting. Fun discussion.

- Mixing and combining techniques and skills.

- Finding out what nature does and either using it (nature or natural ways) or trying to simulate it. Helping to integrate those type of techniques and processes.

- There are tons of other things that can be added into the mix. Take what we have and what we offer and then add to it and even enhance it. Build off of a stable base.

- Back to a topic in the main presentation - deep questions and sequences - Am I safe? Once you feel safe or relatively safe, you can open up and/or work from there. Interesting.

- Making time to care for ourselves.

- Stick to the basics - back to recipes.

- This is from my mom - She can hear the main presenters but can't hear anybody else (other people who asked questions or chimed in). That bothered her a bit. She knew that I was taking notes on my observations and leaned over and asked me to write that down. That can be hard to fix and tends to fall on the presenter to restate the questions and comments. Just noting that was requested (restate what is being said by others).

- Pathways - things that are used over and over. What works for you? Use that and then build and go from there. Along those same lines - think about strategies and figuring out how to duplicate or predict certain outcomes and behaviors.

- Light humor lubes the discussion and/or topics being taught or discussed.

- Gathering information - connecting the dots - even over time. Be patient! Along the way, seek for opportunities and find alternate paths or pathways.

- Sove a problem, then move on to the next... the deeper you look, it will become a map of the environment. That's pretty cool!

- Going back to basics - the goal is the big picture.

- Repetitive processes - that's how we learn.

- More videos and referring the participants to subscribe to the YouTube channels (plural).

- Lots of techniques, tips, and tricks.

- They were talking about self-healing... at times more advanced help is needed - meaning surgery or other advanced help. That is okay! Start with self-healing and go from there. There is a point that we need other people and their skills and knowledge.

- Talking about pain - if you take it all away, sometimes you do something stupid - keep it real - without any pain, you can push things too hard. Pain can be a great teacher. Knowing your limits.

- In their videos... there was a lot of consistency - well done. Some of them felt repetitive but yet different.

- Sharik's wife kept helping them, whoever was presenting, with reminders and helping them if they forgot something.

- Giving service - helping and doing good

- Public speaking and facing fears

- They were talking about sharing energy and sharing energies (plural)

- The feet are great messengers to the brain

- Simple steps - set timing - set steps - make it repeatable

- Watching friendships and relationships being made from the conference attendees - fun to watch

- People cheerleading each other and supporting each other

- Good laughter and fun times

- Emotions tied to injury - making new paths to the brain

- Putting all of the pieces together - creating a system and using other systems that already exist

- This was big for me... what have we found... letting people know... passing on that knowledge

- Just noticing - some of the attendees were standing, going up, getting closer, taking pictures of slides, videoing, recording, and taking notes - internal thinking

- People want to learn - some great questions and follow-ups

- Telling the brain "the map"

- Being developed on the fly... people testing things on the fly. They were putting ideas into play on the fly (meaning the attendees and the presenters). This was especially true as they were playing with tuners and techniques.

- Alignments - keep coming back to simple alignment concepts

- Improvements and seeking improvements

- Major participation - he called someone up to the front, let them do it, and he was commenting and lightly direction what was being done. Very hands on.

- Watching for reactions - seeing through their behavior

- Things working together

- Talking about sensitivity and visiting or building up those areas over time.

- Following protocols - set steps to follow to get certain results

- Translating ideas and concepts to different applications

- Personal stories and tying them into parts of the bigger or main story

- Helping to solve problems - daily

- Constant message of gratitude - being grateful

- Good resources - that helps to bring back that knowledge quickly

- Sensitive individuals - start where or wherever they are at - helping them quickly get back to recovery

- If it takes time - take that time

- When they are ready... there is always a timing that goes along with healing

- Question - Are you trying to solve things or just make things better or easier? There is a difference.

- Thanking others

- Explaining why we do the same things over and over again - finding those patterns and reasons

- For me, I loved the stories and how much Sharik and others had helped others, all around the world, making a difference.

- If you do some pain... Make sure you put a smile on their face before they leave.

- Some of the participants want a way to share and pass on advanced tips and techniques. They talked about a Facebook group(s) and making them public or private, depending.

- Wanting to stay connected

- Mindfulness and being focused - going there on purpose

- Self regulating

- A tool to help - not the end all solution

- Primitive reflexes - a return to a pattern - there are both good and bad primitive reflexes - ways to help overcome ones that are unwanted

- Light it up (an area of the body or a pathway to the brain) - the brain loves information - food for the brain

- Asking others to help us get the word out - work of mouth

- Technique - cross grain or crossing - going across the midline and then back again.

- Transforming and transferring energy

- Test it as you treat

- Work on the weak side

- Working through barriers

- Accelerating processes

- Isn't that cool (both ! and ?) - statement and question

- Combos

- Tests

- X is tied to Y, is tied into Z, is tied into... Everything is interconnected.

- Reviewing, even at the risk of sounding like a broken record.

- Spent some time going through scenarios (different changes or alterations based on the circumstances)

- Integrating both sides - of the body or of your environment

- Keep working on things that need help - wake it up - then integrate it

- Mirror therapy

- Don't put limits on what people can do - the mind and body are amazing

Title: Exploring Digital Storytelling - Benefits of going beyond the data

Description: Everything has a story to tell. What if you could help your data start talking back to you (nicely)? Wouldn't that be awesome! Imagine asking something like this: What's your story? Who created you? Where have you been? Where are you headed? Who are your buddies? Where do you belong? When did you finish? In this session, we will be exploring the 12 core concepts of digital storytelling. We'll discuss real world examples of how using these concepts can bring life, depth, and value to your data, apps, systems, and platforms.

Outline:

Here are the 12 core concepts of digital storytelling:

1. Capture & Record The Story
2. Groups, Players, Individuals, & Characters
3. Relationships
4. Trouble, Problems, Pain, Needs, & Goals
5. Decisions & Choices
6. Consequences (cause & effect)
7. Accountability
8. Permissions & Settings
9. Systems
10. Vision & Future Developments
11. Tech, Tools, & Maintenance
12. Tracking Objects & Data Over Time

Other things that I would like to cover:

• Systems thinking approach
• Success isn't a destination, it's a journey!
• Finding success along the way
• Everything has a story to tell
• All the W's - who, what, where, when, why, wHow :) - just being funny!
• World building
• Digital assembly line concepts
• Tying everything into the 12 core concepts of digital storytelling

References:

I've been studying and using some of these concepts for years. See attached for some of my notes. In my notes, I took pages and pages and boiled them down into a smaller list of key points. Each main point is numbered and underlined. For reference, the numbers look like this: #2.8 or #4.5, depending on which document the idea or point comes from. I may refine it further, but this is the rough draft.

Below are the links to the original docs in digital form (no mark-up, no numbers, no underlining on the originals).

Number #1 - Submission to speak at an Adobe ColdFusion conference - link

Numbers #2.0-#2.13 - Text from the business zipper website on the about us page - link

Numbers #3.1-#3.17 - Text from the old adilas.biz website. You may have to scroll down to see the text. - link

Numbers #4.1-#4.51 - Core concept document - taken from the adilas archives - still partially unfinished - link

Digital storytelling research. Printing things out, reading, highlighting, and reviewing a number of different articles that I (we - Shannon and I) have written on the subject. Fun research project. I really enjoyed it, the deeper I went, the more everything was making sense.

Merging and pushing up code with Eric. After the initial work, we spent some time talking about data modeling. Here are some of my notes.

- Eric would love to do some more data modeling and taking things into consideration and making a plan. He used to do this for other companies that he has worked with and for. Great resource. We could really use his help with adilas lite or fracture. This was like a mini database and data modeling lesson of sorts. I was loving it and scribbling down notes as quickly as I could. Fun stuff.

- We talked about flex grid tie-ins, flex attributes, and parent attributes. Basically, things that he sees that we do that might be built out into more efficient tools and features. Maybe rework some of this and/or combine some of the features.

- What really connects to other things (natural relationships) or what things are forced together (forced or special relationships)? We may want to look at use cases and try to pull out the natural relationships. Then build your application according to those natural relationships. You may still need to allow the forced or special relationships, but those become the edge cases vs the norm.

- If something happens over and over again, this should be part of the core system. Currently, we do use a lot of flex grid tie-ins to help with some of these special cases. As a side note, some of these one-off features are becoming more normal and should have their own logic and tables vs putting everything into the flex grid tie-ins. Great tool for getting things started but eventually, you may need to build out specific tables, logic, and pages. Make it more normalized and more efficient.

- As a note, what does the flex grid do? It allows for one-to-one connections, one-to-many connections, add log notes to anything, tying things together (main id's to sub id's or main id's to other main id's), and it also allows for up to 30 custom fields. Once again, it can be on a one-to-one basis or used and setup as a one-to-many relationship. Here is a help file that has more info on the flex grid tie-ins.

- As a note, the flex grid tie-ins have been the big brother to the things we are trying to build called flex attributes or real in-line database extensions or real in-line extensions for short. Here is a small, older graphic link, of what we are trying to do.

- We talked about the bus to motorcycle project (datasource project or world building project). We are headed to a new model where the corportion id numbers (corp_id) will be left out per database. Each company will have its own database and thus may not need the corp id number. This deals with table names, joins, and data that gets stored in the database.

- Back to the flex attributes and a possible option to build them right into the main entities or high level tables (for the 12 main players or wherever we see fit to put them). This option has some pros and cons. We'll have to work this out. Currently, I'm really leaning towards something similar to what we did for the current flex attributes or parent attributes. Let them build and setup any custom fields that they need. Dynamic relational model. Just for fun, here is the progression - flex grid tie-ins (2009), sub inventory attributes (2015), parent attributes (2016/2017), flex attributes (2020).

- Lots of talk about data modeling and being able to take off the corp_id. Including on the end of corp-specific tables - for example: invoices_53, invoice_payments_53, time_sub_inventory_53, and a slew of others.

- Maybe break the pili or po invoice line items into two different pieces. It was joined together to help with inventory counts over time and across multiple locations. Anyways, we may look at separating those tables into multiple pieces. Super important, make sure to remember and include locations. If just a single location, we could do the architecture differently. However, with multiple locations, it gets a little bit more complicated or tricky. There are tons of other possible options.

- The payee table should be broken up as well. Currently, if a person or entitiy is tied to an expense/receipt, a PO, an inventory item, it lives in the payee table. Payees consist of users, employees, vendors, and special customers that had to get paid out of the system (a copy and convert process). Anyways, we may want to break that table up into users, vendors, and special customers (something like that).

- We talked about a concept called "attribution" and data normalization levels. There are two main types of data models. You have the logical data model and the physical data model. Entities and entities have attributes. Eventually, those entities and attributes get translated into tables, columns, and fields in a database. Often, most attributes become their own database column or field.

- Attributes are different than types.

- We talked about fields like "flag_for_1099", "password", etc. Those are attributes for certain entities. However, does a vendor need a password field, most likely not. Each field or attribute needs to go with the entity that it belongs with. We, at adilas, tend to mix and blend some of the attributes between different entities. In some ways that is fine, but it requires explanations, instructions, and training. It's not as easy to follow without someone to guide you along. Anyways, some good conversations about data normalization stuff. What goes with what and why does it fit like that?

- Make the names readable and logical where possible. We do a pretty good job on that, but there is some randomness in there as well. Along with that, we jumped into talking about a section called special accounts. We are planning on using that for gift cards, loyalty points, in-store credit, vendor credits, punch cards, and other special account transactions where we almost need a bank account style with a rolling number and being able to add/subtract using individual transactions or actions. Anyways, we have a few fields in there called dev_flag_1, dev_flag_2, and dev_flag_3. We use those flexible fields to help with certain parts of the process. In a way, we didn't know what we were going to need, so we added in some flex fields. Well, now, those flex fields have rules and hold certain data that could be its own column or field. However, because we didn't know what would be needed, the fields are somewhat mixed, depending on what is stored there and what kind or type of transaction record is being stored (loyalty points vs gift cards or whatever).

- The conversion trickled over into human reference fields vs computer identifiers, ids, or computer reference fields. They are different and play different roles.

- As you think things out, eventually you have to transform or go through a transformation from logical models to physical models. Eric kept saying that we should be shooting for the third normal form (data modeling and database modeling). Figure out the whole business world (plan it out as best you can) and then build out what you need, based on what you see and/or know.

- We talked about aggregates and data warehousing. I mentioned that I would like to build out tables for yearly per location, quarterly per location, monthly per location, weekly per location, and daily per location. We would also have the underlying transactions or transactional database tables (raw data that holds all of the data). The other tables would be what we transform the transactions into (a form of aggregates or business intelligence).

- Along with aggregates, Eric was saying that sometimes you can watch the database and see what tables, queries, and reports cost the most (data, traffic, or processing time/energy/frequency). You then build out aggregates based on those findings and/or known needs. For us, we've been doing this for long enough, we know a few places that could really help with speed, server load, and provide great BI or business intelligence levels.

- Our system has to go clear out to the full accounting level. That changes how we do certain things. That is awesome! Our sort of end goal is perfect accounting, aggregates, per day, per location, and per category. Some of those (category levels) vary but they have mostly been defined in the current system. That is huge. We have a plan, we have a path. We just want to refine it. Eventually year over year reporting, monthly by month comparisons, real-time data - all data is live and searchable (adilas).

- Snapshots, aggregates, different preset and controlled data levels. We may need current data (tables without any dates - assumption of current counts, values, sums, totals, averages, maxes, mins, etc.) as well as dated or historical data (tables with dates to allow previous or prior lookups and date driven lookbacks).

- What about enterprise mappings and cross-corp stuff? We need to plan that out as well.

- We also need to consider servers, speed, reliability, backups, redundancies, and how deep we going?

- Lastly, Eric could help with a ground up data model. We could pick a topic, break it down, and do a number of smaller sessions vs a big push. That would be too much. Anyways, great meeting and Eric could be a great resource for planning, checking out our decisions, and planning out the best course of action. Good stuff!

Digital storytelling - using data and drill-downs - to tell the story. See attached for a multi page document that Shannon and I were working on (a couple of years ago). I was proofreading and doing some editing on it. Not sure why, but I was thinking about this older document and decided to reread and revamp it a bit. See attached for where I'm working at - still under construction.

Communicating with Hamid about meeting next week for lunch.

The document has an analogy of how people use a video recorder to record and duplicate scenarios and actions. As part of the analogy, it relates what adilas does in the digital storytelling to help with full world building. I thought that it was kinda fun. The document goes pretty deep. Spent lots of time rereading, adding and taking away little bits, and doing some proof reading. Only got about half way through it.

As a fun side note, I sent it to a contact, even though it wasn't fully finished. Trying to get the word out.

Meeting with both Alan and Aspen. I took some notes and Aspen took some notes. After the meeting, I did some more note recording and note digitizing for 6/15/23 and for 6/16/23.

Alan was on with us for the first hour. Here are some of my notes. See attached for all of them.

- Let's build out the MVP for the plan - general fracture or adilas lite planning session - what documents does that mean and/or require?

- Two of the first main things we want to do is define the jelly fish model (business structure) and the value add-on core model. Those two are some known needs of where we are heading.

- We spent quite a bit of time talking about how to break functionality and features up. We want to keep those separate as far as options.

- I showed Alan the presentation gallery and the outline of the business functions. There is quite a bit of work that has already been done there. Great resources.

- Small packages and/or starting points - We could call it whatever - recipes, packages, templates, industry specific skins, presets, etc.

- Alan wanted us to think about tiers and scaling - both vertical and horizontal. I was thinking, what about the Z scale or the depth/layering axis. Just for fun 3D scaling and 3D world building. It might be fun to explore this.

- We talked a little bit about pricing and tier levels. We would like to set breakpoints, ranges, and fees for going over.

- We asked Alan about his vision for adilas lite and fracture - He is really excited about creating a solution that is light weight and very efficient. In his words, he said, How can I get the most power with the least amount of drag? We went on to talk about hiding things that they don't need and getting them to the meat of the operation as quickly as possible. We will do future planning sessions where we look at each section and slim it down to the minimum or minimal requirements.

- This is a side note, but as I have been thinking about minimal pieces, I keep coming back to a concept that we were looking into called standalone declarations (full entries without any other connections and/or supporting documentation). They exist by themselves but they also may be mapped and pointed to the right place. We could sum them up, count them, map them, and keep it super simple. Originally it was going to be something that could be made for financial documents (P&L and the balance sheet)  but technically we could use them in any way. Simple standalone pieces.

- Spend the time and do some market research on what business verticals we could hit and take care of.

- Lots of talk about automation and even automating the setup of new systems. Let people try things out as a free or limited version. We would setup thresholds, limits, ranges, or whatever. We want people to try it out and like it.

- We talked about ice bergs and mountains (perception of how big it is). We also switched and talked about the depth of the water... pretend levels of swimming - Imagine that you are at the beach - you could get your feet wet, do some wading, swimming, snorkeling, or scuba diving. All at the same place, just how deep and serious are you or what are you looking for?

- Once we have a list of things that need to be done and/or worked on, we get to prioritize that list. What do we want to build out and when?

- Alan had the idea of putting our outline information into a database. That way we could just query things (just in time) as needed. That way we could make the lists super small and then allow for it to be expanded at will. Great idea. Simple displays with drill-downs. Almost the presentation gallery for sales, marketing, pricing, features, and education.

- We also want to highlight future plans and what is up and coming. We change things all the time. Make that part of the plan and the part of the presentation. Put it in a database and let our users pull back what information they want and/or need. Self-building templates, feature lists, tiers, and other levels.

Went over to Bryan's house and we had a brainstorming session on his new upstairs patio. Beautiful view and good times. It rained on us but we were protected from most of it. See attached for a scan of my notes. Lots of ideas for fracture or adilas lite.

Here are a few notes:

- Mobile first - plan accordingly. Allow for mobile and desktop settings (show/hide for fields).

- Be able to setup your own data assembly line - based on what you care about. We will try to provide the pieces and modules and you can put it together how you want it and/or need it.

- Lots of talk about API sockets and small microservices.

- Lite or simple apps - for each layer - if you want more, just choose the next pieces. Play with aggregates (sums, counts, averages, maxes, mins, etc.) unless you need more details. If yes, just keep peeling back the layers.

- We have a friend that was pitching us on Deductr a long time ago (back in 2015 ish). It was a quick mobile app for simple expense tracking, simple mileage tracking, and simple categories and reports. Adilas can do so much more but we need to present it in a way that feels easy like Deductr (aka Hurdlr).

- Choose your own adventure or choose your own business process - similar concept. When I was a kid, I used to love reading the choose your own adventure books. As I grow up, what if I could do the same thing and put together my own business adventure (map it out based on needs, wants, and decisions).

- Talking about free versions of our software/web apps. We could also have or offer upgrades. If someone really wanted to play the reoccurring revenue game with us, we could allow them to sponsor and/or fund certain modules or sub modules and then pay them a reoccurring commission on clients who use those pieces. Bryan and I were talking about possible ideas and how that might work. Fun stuff!

- We talked about growth, slow and steady, and natural (organic) growth.

- At what point does the scale start tipping? What feature or add-on will really make it go? Or do we need to pull back some of the complexity and make it even more simple. If you want deeper, you just ask for it (layers) and then you get what you want vs having to have the whole thing every time.

- Lots of talk about pain points and how that tends to help with growth and being willing to pay for a solution to those pain points. If someone pays for an enhancement or feature, we tend to roll it into the mix. Kinda a piggy backing type system where one person pays for something, everyone gains (piggy backs) and then next person pays for the next enhancement. It has worked great for us. Sometimes we call it idea farming.

- Creativity is a chance - there is a possibility of failure with creative stuff - that doesn't mean don't do it - you just have to know there is a chance involved.

- It may be ok to use older code, if needed. Keep rolling forward and revamp, refactor, and rewrite as needed.

- Bryan and I also talked about API socket connections, simple website builders, easy payment solutions, dashboards, widgets, advanced reporting, and simple timeclocks. Tons of fun topics. See the attached notes for some other ideas.

Recording notes from 5/25/23. Sent an email to Brandon Mull (see attached) about world building and a sci-fi story idea about a small computer software company that is building a dream app and discovers world building along the way. Kinda fun.

Working with Aspen to go over our plan for making the plan. Light review and discussing expectations and where we are going. Started in on adding some research links to part of our plan. Pushed up the new stuff to the google doc that John and I had started.

Here is a light version of where we are heading... (just barely starting - for the record, it looks nicer in the google doc)

Master Adilas Plan or Adilas Master Plan

1. Company Structure - Adilas Jelly Fish Model
2. Product Development - Adilas Value Add-On Core Model
3. Education & Training - Adilas University
4. Community & Outside 3rd Party Solutions - Adilas Marketplace
5. Social & Efficiency Options - Adilas Cafe & Community
6. Deeper Product Development - Adilas Lite - Fracture Project
7. Budgets, Finances, Marketing, & Sales - Other Business Plans

New note added on 8/14/23 - For a pretty good breakdown of these projects - just at a high level, see this element of time 10377 and it's photo gallery.

________________

Table of Contents. To-do

All time id's are inside of adilas

2283 - Main Index

2284 - Jellyfish Model

- Research on the Jellyfish model - link

2285 - Value Add-On Core Model

- Research - link

2286 - Adilas University

- Research - link

2287 - Adilas Marketplace

- Research - link

2288 - Adilas Cafe & Community

- Research - link

2289 - Fracture - Future Project

- Research - link

- Adobe XD mock-ups with options

2290 - Budgets & Finances

2291 - Marketing & Sales

- Adobe XD mock-ups with options

- World Building Concepts and Concepts of the Data Assembly Line - Pitching the concepts

- Research on world building, research on data assembly line

- Presentation Gallery - great start for an outline of what adilas does

2292 - Other Timelines, Plans & Projects

After the server meeting, just Wayne, Alan, and I stayed on to go more in-depth on the framework stuff that Wayne is testing, trying, and pitching. Wayne has been spending tons of time looking into the ColdBox framework and experimenting with things. He's really going for it.

We talked about files, folders, and structure of how the application could and would work. The whole thing is setup in a rest type interface with specific paths, pages, and URL's (web addresses) to make it work. REST API or RESTful API architecture stands for representational state transfer. Basically, that deals with logical paths, files, and folders to create organization. You then place special code at each end point to do a specific task. That is part of the way it is organized. Our old site has tons of pages, all bunched into a couple of folders (all mixed together). When I say a ton of files, I'm talking thousands of files. This newer site will have like or similar pieces and pages in specific spots or places. It's all part of how it gets organized and managed. Interesting.

Alan and Wayne were talking about object-oriented coding with options for extending, inheriting, and sub classing functions, variables, and conditions. They both fully get it. I haven't had any formal training on this, but I'm picking up some of the pieces and concepts.

Next, they got into talking about limiting the handlers (receiving pages or virtual doors and windows). We covered a number of other topics such as nesting, sub classes, pre and post level page handlers, and how all deeper business logic needs to be over in the service models. Once again, it was mostly Wayne and Alan talking shop and I was listening. To translate, our existing site and pages have a bunch of things that we do every time to make sure that the page gets valid information. They are talking about doing all of that pre validation and logic as a simple handler and thus making each page smaller and not duplicating code (hundreds of lines per page).

After talking for a while, Wayne was showing us what it takes to rewrite things and pages using the new architecture and structure. We kept jumping off on tangents as Wayne was explaining and we were asking questions and making comments. Fun little interchange. At one point, Wayne had to either jump off and/or deal with something at his home. Alan and I were talking about options for permissions and limiting things even before we show them. Keeping things skinny and lite.

Here are some of my other notes. They don't really flow into nice paragraphs.

- Currently, our main pages, inside of adilas are kinda like handlers. We just don't call them that. Sometimes we call them the wrapper pages and string together some black box and/or special page includes to make it all work.

- All business logic would need to be in the services.

- Lots of talk about separating logic and views (pages).

- Using fracture (potentially more complicated) to show less (looks more simple - based on show/hide settings and configuration stuff).

- Creating rule books and using the database to help drive the pages, logic, rules, and procedures. Basically, the code gets stored in the database, where it could be updated, shared, or tweaked as needed. The pages just process the rules and/or instructions.

- Migrating data, seeding things (pre work and adding things for setup), checking for pending actions, and processing different actions. Small data assembly line stuff, for our own setup and configuration. That could be pretty cool!

- Wayne was saying, not really rewriting our code, more of moving it...

- Alan would love to help with this restructure project.

- We talked about options of how to integrate these things together.

- There are still some core changes that are needed. The key word was "core".

- Lots of talk about scale - how fast, how many, etc.

- Too many includes (code pages pulled into other code pages). This gets hard to trace down dependencies and variations if different pages are mixed together.

- We have some master copy and paste coders and developers. If that is the case, let's help them out so that they can copy and paste what we want them to do and use. If you can't beat them (some of our team may never change), then join them type attitude (give them good stuff to copy and paste).

- Tiny servlets and micro services. Everything is based off of time or events.

- We talked about budgets for both time and money. How quick can we do this? Time, money, resources?

- How long do we have if we don't do this? Not sure... meaning making changes and/or moving things over towards fracture (future plans and making the changes listed). Just part of our discussion.

- Wayne will reach out to Ortus Solutions (maker of the ColdBox framework) and see what options we have. Is there any way to use some of what they have and still keep some of our older existing stuff? We are looking for a middle ground, if possible. Basically, just a quick check to see if an option exists - mixing old code and new code and old structure and new structure. We may have to just choose one or the other, they may not cross or mingle very well (water and oil).

- Small story of how the Utah pioneers had to stop building a temple so that they could finish up the railroad. Once the railroad was done (lines completed) they were able to build their temple faster using the railroad to haul rock from the quarry to the temple site. Fun story.

- We talked about a new possible name for fracture (current code name for our future build out) and/or something that has a nice ring to it. We were thinking about "adilas lite" or something along those lines.

- What about building out a mini version, creating small modules and then charging for those pieces? Everything could be broken down into modules and sub modules.

- Originally, we were going to leave the existing adilas code alone and build something new, using the same database. As we were talking, it became apparent that we needed to build new. Meaning new code, new data, new database, new, new, new. The whole thing. As we were talking, we kept referring to ship A (existing adilas platform) and ship B (new or future adilas platform - aka fracture or adilas lite).

- Our first prototype, that Wayne is already working on, will be for payees. This is for vendors and users and will include a single sign-on option. Once again, just a prototype and proof of concept.

- Lots of great conversation about the adilas cafe and community. This is dealing with a global or master level list and access to the whole platform and/or adilas application. Imagine a single global login and then you could choose if you wanted to work (only show corporations where you have permissions and access), play (demo sites), buy things (marketplace), sell things (marketplace for goods and services - professional services), participate (community and social media stuff), and/or get some training (adilas university). Here is a link to more info and research on the adilas cafe from the developer's notebook.

- After Alan left, I talked with Wayne about percentage ownership stuff in adilas. Wayne would like to get some more ownership. He's doing a great job! We have many on our team that are really pulling the load very well. That is awesome!

- For me - adilas lite - make a simple play or plan. It could be a rough sketch or simple layout plan. Keep it simple.

Long meeting today. Started out talking to Wayne and Shari O. about emails, internal emails, external emails (outbound to different clients), and possible options. Wayne repointed the IP addresses yesterday back to the original way we had the email system setup. It was kinda wacky for a couple of days. Anyways, we put it back to what it was. We still need to look deeper into this, but it should be stable for now.

Steve was asking about the bus to motorcycle project - datasource or world building project. Wayne was reporting that some of his new code is trying to deal with this issue or these issues. We talked about the current state and where things are going. Briefly touched base on combo primary keys and removing major dependencies on existing standalone primary keys (database connection and relationship stuff). Along with the datasource topic (which database to talk to as a single time) the conversation also included our ever growing need to do cross corp stuff. We didn't talk about it, but some of this is very similar to the adilas cafe talks and discussions that we have had.

If we get majorly into cross corp stuff, and each corp has its own database or sandbox, we may end up doing cross corp stuff through API socket connections. That sounded like a good idea. We'll have to look at it, as we may do unions, API sockets, or other temp database tricks to show and/or report combined data.

We flipped over to the new framework that Wayne is working on. He did a small demo for us on what he is working on. These are just a few of my notes. See attached for a 1:39 - one hour and 39 minute video of of some of meeting.

- Our switch to a new framework is not just a time saver. It goes way deeper than that.

- Lots of conversation about supporting different frameworks, themes, and versions of code.

- The whole new framework is setup as an MVC framework or MVC model - model, view, controller

- We need to keep moving forward in order to stay valid

- Layouts and views

- Everything is event driven

- We have both raw input (info and data directly from a user or customer) and we also have cleaned up and formatted data (okayed, approved, combed, retrieved, or sanitized data).

- These are just some keywords and concepts - handlers, events, models, interceptors, layouts, views, classes, methods, etc.

- One of the goals is to get rid of all of the repetitive, ticky-tacky maintenance code. This is stuff like params, validation, permission checks, making sure that certain values have been set, etc. Basically, the prep work before the real meat of the page begins. Some of our pages may be hundreds of lines of code deep before we actually get to the meat of the page. The framework would help us simplify and standardize some of the prep work stuff.

- If we build this way, it could open up options for multiple layouts and/or views (what it looks like). Keeping a separation between the business logic and the view or presentation of that data.

- Events, watchers, and triggers that help us run clean-up and other processes and routines. Key everything off of certain events.

- Getters and setters - smaller mini functions for each class, object, and property within that class. All built-in and/or available. We really wanted to do this for the fracture project (future project for adilas).

- Options for self-documentation

- Debugging, tracer options, logging, and security stuff already built-in

- Lots of talk about the benefits of using a framework.

- Mementos and smaller sub sets of data, that may be pre-formatted and/or setup how we need it - saving time in conversions and retrieving available data.

- Defining things and then using them over and over again in other pages.

- This is huge, but the framework already has a ton of built-in documentation and samples. That takes a lot of work and preparation. Also, it is able to self-generate basic documentation based on how we code it (based off of keywords, hints, notes, and rules).

- If we build off a new framework, we could use either Adobe ColdFusion (current model) or we could use Lucee - open source CFML engine. The framework can flip flop pretty easily between the different backend engines. It's basically a config option.

- We do lots of things over and over again. Make that more simple, standardized, and compartmentalized.

- They offer a standard set of options and configurations. We can use that and/or pick and choose or customize whatever we want.

- Light talks about the pros and cons of an ORM model (object-relational mapping - mixing of objects and relational databases)

- Shooting for a more modern approach - use of code, technology, and a layered approach

- Wayne really wants to come up with a process of how to convert our current pages and code into the ColdBox framework. Think of a set of instructions (virtual recipe) and then allow other developers to help convert the pages. Basically, a road map to follow.

- Our customers really need and want us to be more stable and reliable, as a company, and as a software system. This includes how we develop code, release and deploy code, and manage systems and servers. In a nutshell, they want us to grow up, as a company and have a bit more of a standard structure and presence.

- We are heading more and more towards clustering, enterprise level stuff. We need to build towards that.

- As a side note, Wayne says we have way too many includes (files that get included and/or strung together to make the whole).

- One of our major focuses on switching the backend architecture is customer reliability.

- Wayne sees a need for radical changes to simplify, stabilize, and build things out for the future. It has to be sustainable and sustainability. Light talks about evolution vs revolution or changes over time vs drastic changes all at once. Things are smoother if software can evolve vs just being harshly changed. However, sometime things need to majorly change, hopefully for the better. There are some pros and cons to both approaches.

- Building new has a motivation factor to it - true story - what keeps us going?

- This is a chance to rebuild it like we want it - build to the dream

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We switched subjects and were the guys were talking about hosting companies and how that scene is changing in the datacenters that we are using. We have seen a lack or lowing of the customer service levels. We may end up checking out some other hosting companies.

John and Cory were talking about other projects and timelines. They were also talking about uptime, downtime, and databases. We talked about coming up with new SOP (standard operating procedures) for pushing up code, code rollbacks, and deployment of new features. That got into talks about manual and automated database updates, scripts, auto processes.

That topic lead to a discussion on roles and responsibilities and who does what. There is a need to define some of the roles a little bit deeper and make it clearer who does what and in what order. More SOP stuff for the backend processes and procedures. There also needs to be good communication between the developers and the system admin persons. We have to keep up those communication channels. That is really important. Nobody can read minds.

Towards the end, John and Cory were going over projects and coordinating dates/times for testing, review, look and feel changes, and testing. Good stuff.

Steve, Cory, and I stayed on the Zoom session after Kelly left. We were talking about the evolving nature of software and how it seems like it keeps heading towards a form of AI (artificial intelligence). We were talking about developers, projects, and project management stuff. We really want to get that datasource project done (bus to motorcycles or world building project). We spent a lot of time talking about funding. We are pushing as hard as we can, we need some gas money. Big requirements and a tiny budget. It takes time and resources. Our product and our users keep evolving. Project management and quotes with Cory after Steve left.

- It may be good to do a pros and cons analysis of attributes - parent attributes, sub attributes, flex attributes, flex grid tie-ins, and other in-line database extensions. Speed, bulk, capabilities, searchability, show/hide on all or certain templates or views, etc. Where are we headed next or how can we tighten things up to make it even better?

- We first have to get the data into the database. They we have to be able to get it out. Next, what happens if anything changes? We need to think through all aspects of lifecycle of the data.

- We really need a plan - detailed out - commit to it - then really do it.

- More and more of a need for bulk tools (data coming in, data going out, and updating and changing things).

- Charging for what we are doing. We, as a company, are missing out.

- The value of our user/client base as a testing group. We couldn't pay for what they are doing.

- Cory and I were talking about requirements for industry specific software. Expectations of our clients. We have a standard package and then we customize on top of that. It's really tough to do everything, well.

Zoom meeting with Cory, Steve, and Kelly. We were talking about sub inventory. Subs are great but do require more work and effort. Getting info in, out, reporting, and bulk updates and bulk tools. When we started, we didn't even know what was needed. As things unroll and unfold, we are beginning to see a bigger picture. That is awesome!

We have mountains and mountains of data. Now what?

As the meeting progresses, we spent some time talking about the challenges to sub inventory. Here are some of my notes:

- Sub inventory attributes and being category specific

- Settings all over the place - configuration

- What about changes, updates, and flipping categories (after the fact)?

- Possible mapping of categories, sub attributes, etc. Talking about mapping by id numbers and not names or column numbers.

- We need a sub inventory history section. Tables are already built, but they have not been tied in.

- Some of our clients want so much control

- Sub attributes, parent attributes, flex attributes, flex grid tie-ins, and other different levels or layers

- Master list of sub attributes and then repurpose those per category. This could be tied in with the mapping options listed up higher. Either start from the top (master list) and go down (what sub attributes are needed per category) or list out each attribute per category (current model) and then tie and/or map them back to a master type list. We may have to go in both directions. Just some thoughts.

- Kelly likes how parent attributes can be bridged over categories. Having said that, we need to be able to search by sub attributes, parent attributes, and flex attributes.

- Certain clients want to pull data without the category specific reliance. Basically, once we catch the data, we have to be able to let it be searched, pulled, filtered, shown, and exported. It's all part of the puzzle. Being able to get at and use the data. That's a huge key. Just being silly - ADILAS - all data is live and searchable

- Maybe upping the permission level to add/edit sub inventory or sub inventory templates or sub attributes. Once again, we need some histories of who is doing what in the system.

- Steve was talking about - 1. Capturing the data. 2. Then being able to get it back out (in any form - CSV, Excel, PDF, printable, web). and 3. Being able to play in bulk and deal with automation options. Those are some of the goals (small summary).

- We have people who are wanting to add certain sub attributes on the fly, as part of a sub process or sub phase. This gets into sub locations, sub phases, and sub processes and/or steps. Currently, we only show the subs at certain steps and make them go back to certain places to add/edit or update that data. There is a lot of manual work involved. How cool would it be if we could help them and let them setup their own processes, phases, and sub processes. Mini concepts of the data assembly line.

- There is a need for bulk update tools, easy flow processes, and being able to setup their own data flow based off of the subs or steps within a process.

- The use of templates to help control other actions, defaults, rules, and assignments. Having that example and/or template really helps answer a number of questions.

- We went back to the main need of being able to pull data out of the system (quickly and easily) - all data is live and searchable - We really need this and keep going with what we already have.

- Kelly and Steve working on advanced reporting and moving beyond a band-aid. What about going back and correcting the plumbing from the get go. Planning for the future.

- Need for more controls, handrails, and ability to scale.

- Build and break, build and break. Well, it's time to fix it again! it's breaking!

- What if we re-imagined it??? What would it look like? What things do we need to consider if we were to rebuild this out?

- Kelly was recommending that we get into a real life system to see the challenges. We made some plans to meet with Kelly again see the tools that she uses, how she uses them, and what is still lacking and/or needed.

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This is more for me, but what are the next steps in the planning process for new phases, data assembly line stuff, and where do we want this to go? Help lead and guide it! Keep pushing for more bulk tools, bulk options, and bulk tools to add, edit, update, change, pull data in, pull data out, etc. We can do a bunch of things on a one-by-one basis, let's keep pushing that to the next level. Yee haw!

Meeting with Aspen and going over her world building presentation and progress. She is working on scripting a presentation and then matching her slides up with her script. Also got her a check for the work that she has been doing.

GoToMeeting brainstorming session with Steve to go over ideas and concepts for SG&A costs (sales, general and administrative costs). The whole first hour was talking and going over ideas. We were drawing and going through some fake scenarios. Here are some of my notes:

- Imagine a bucket with a relative fill line partway up the bucket. This would represent the bucket or holding account for SG&A costs that need to be distributed. As new sales happen, we would bleed off that bucket (lower the amount) based on the sales (percentage of average sales per month and what we thought was going to be the average monthly SG&A costs).

- Some of what we are doing would be considered smoke and mirrors. We have some known values and some unknown values. We have to mix and bled both, known and unknown. We also talked about flex and being able to flex at different times (image 1 and 2 how we see flex bubbles or data assembly line concepts).

- We talked about how we move monies for automotive vehicles (managers checkbook) and slush funds. Virtually padding things as needed to help offset costs, basis, and profit.

- We talked about using a fake number as an average and/or a fake burn number. These would be settings for average monthly sales and average monthly SG&A costs. Once we record these as settings, we can then base our math off of those values. If we want to run things harder or faster, we just change those values, which in turn would change the ratios.

- We talked about thinking on an invoice based model not on a daily basis model. That way, each invoice would carry its own weight and only happens as it really happens. For this first round, this was an easier tie-in to make.

- It keeps going, average SG&A and average sales per month. Constant fill and remove, fill and remove of those associated buckets.

- We talked a little bit about time. How many days to drain each tank or bucket? Monthly bills, annually bills, and other time variables.

- Here is the rough formula for our calculations: sg&a cost = invoice sub total * (average monthly SG&A costs / average monthly sales)

- Don't let SG&A go into the negative. We can't spread out or disperse more than we have available to spread. Adjust the buckets as needed. Being able to control the flow (gas and brakes) based on settings.

- We could show them (our users) the rough averages on the SG&A homepage. We could even do some forecasting or showing a "look ahead" view of what it should play out to look like. We could even show what things would look like under different circumstances and conditions. Almost a snapshot and/or predictive model.

- We will format our data in groups, drill-downs, and details. The goal is to seek the IRS's approval for this technique for tracking SG&A costs.

- Steve and I spent some time talking about systems vs trying to marry together multiple independent software packages. That can be a real nightmare. This topic lead to talks and discussions about systems, normalization of data, and even other outside 3rd party solutions using our data to show reports and statistics.

- Interpellation or Interpolation (not sure on the spelling) - good estimate and/or an educated guess

- Putting a white label over the top of our software. This would allow us to play a more build and supporting role vs the main point of contact and training. We may really want to look into this as we build out fracture (future project). We could be the Intel chip inside the computer or laptop vs being the actual computer (analogy with the Intel chip being inside various different computers and laptops). Being the underlying pieces of the system vs the top level or frontend piece.

- Steve was saying - selling what they want and how they want it - that's how you sell and market things.

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After talking about SG&A costs for the first hour, Steve and I switched over to talking about our guys, hours, projects, and having our guys record their time and progress. I really enjoy the building and brainstorming part of the puzzle. The management portion is less fun. This has been a small pain in our rear. Too much babysitting. Nobody wants to document what they are doing. Steve and I talked about our burn rate (money wise) going forward and what are plans are. We need to be able to finish up projects in a timely manner. Sometimes all we can do is keep chipping away at it. Some of these things just take time and resources. We know that, but still, it's hard to swallow sometimes. We need to add in some levels of accountability. It's an abundant model and there are lots of players who could play along with us. Lots of options. There are some real challenges to running a software company from a distance. We will keep trying to help our guys and gals finish their projects. Sometimes all we can do is keep pushing forward as we are able. Here we go...

Met with Aspen to look over her world building presentation. We ended up getting into this little Q and A session and small virtual interview. It was kind of fun. Aspen took a bunch of notes on a Google doc. I won't share all of the info that we covered but I may pull out a few key pieces.

- Settings and speaking the client's language is a huge part of it - where it starts or where they (the client) gets some buy-in. Once you speak their language, they feel more comfortable.

- System configuration - I like this, I don't like that, can I hide this, can I make this show up here or there, etc.

- Using world building concepts in trainings and demos. Once the clients figure it out and catch the vision, they use world building terminology in describing what they are wanting or what they are hoping to achieve. Basically, if you can get the client to start thinking about the bigger picture, it really gets the juices flowing and the ideas rolling in. Virtually get the wheels spinning.

- Keep building what we know and then deal with other ideas and requests as they come. Custom code vs settings and toggle on/off features. A growing blossoming idea farm.

- We have outgrown a number of different models. For example: We started out with 5 different roles for permissions. Things like sales, mangers, accounting, admin, and backend/web. Now we have over 170 individual permissions that may be applied in any configuration vs the five simple roles that we started with. Also, our first round of corp-wide settings was to build out six corp-wide settings. We had to flip the model when we got up to the 400 ish level. We ran out of room. We ended up building vertically (variable/value pairs) and using custom setting objects (JSON objects and linking similar settings). Tons of ways that things have exploded, changed, and evolved over time. It's been a process. The other big challenge is adding in or taking away new stuff without affecting those who are already in there working (existing clients). You almost have to make the system a chameleon that can change its shape and color on the fly.

- Aspen and I talked about the potential of doing a white label approach. Kind of like the Intel chip inside of a computer. It could be branded however, but the chip is what the whole thing rides on. For example: You could have an HP, Dell, or some other brand of laptop but all of them use the Intel chip as the underlying microchip processor. We would like to do something similar. Whatever brand, powered by adilas.biz on the inside. We don't have to be the main company like HP or Dell or whatever. We could easily just help power those brands using our tech and underlying engine.

- Along the lines of a white label - It would take a potential competitor years and years and millions and millions of dollars to do what we can do right now. If they saw the value of a white label option, they would be smart to go in that direction (saving time and money). Just reskin it and start selling it vs building it from the ground up. There is already a market for what we do (based on our current clients and 20 years in the business and millions and millions in revenue - even though we aren't done yet).

- Aspen asked me about a couple of features that we are using right now and how they relate to world building. I mentioned elements of time and the flex grid tie-ins. Both are hugely customizable and fill gaps and needs, out the door. We talked about selling in bulk but tracking individual items, tracking processes of change (dealing with sub locations, sub phases, or steps of a process). One-to-many relationships, custom fields, preset settings, configuration, and being able to limit what is shown (even though behind the scenes it could be very complex). Tons of samples, examples, prototypes, and working models. We have nuts and bolts companies, bike shuttles, ski schools, and tons of other companies that use these pieces. This is just two pieces of the much bigger puzzle.

- Most of our progress is somewhat limited by outside funding, not ideas or needs. We have huge dreams; it just depends on where the funding for that comes from. This whole thing has been build on a garage type budget. We have ideas and projects that sometimes sit for weeks, months, and years before we can get to them. Our list for an MVP (minimal viable product) keeps revolving and growing. If there is funding, it moves to the top of the list. If not, we chip away at it little by little.

- Lots of analogies between our system (the adilas.biz system) and the body. Often, we start out talking about things like arms, legs, feet, etc. As we get deeper, we get into layers, joints, muscles, system, and clear down to the cellular or molecular levels. People keep wanting to be able to control and/or see the next layer, the next layer, etc. We haven't found the end or bottom yet.

- Aspen was asking what is the difference between world building and fracture? I tried to explain that the fracture project is more of list of lessons learned, ways to speed things up, ways of standardizing things, allowing for customized things, show/hide things, toggle on/off certain settings, full control over flow and display, and controlling things at a smaller detailed level. World building is what we are trying to do and/or accomplish (think bigger picture). We use fracture (aka the next generation of the system or application platform) to get to the bigger world building pieces. We talked about Legos and building blocks of different size, shape, and functionality. Sometimes you need to play in bulk (bigger or preset pieces), medium pieces, and super small pieces.

- We got into talking about the iceberg analogy (or ice berg analogy - different spelling) and how if we could have the whole mountain but only show the iceberg, it would sell better than something seeing the whole big mountain. It makes it look too intimidating (showing the whole mountain). The iceberg looks so much more approachable (be able to configure just what you want to see and use). That's where fracture and some of those ideas come in. You could still have the whole mountain (under the surface) but only have to show what is needed or wanted. Put the rest of the engine under the covers (under water) like the Intel chip inside of a computer. It's all perception and expectations.

- Ideas that don't get exposed (out to the public) can sometimes die in a hole. We talked about if a bigger company was pushing some of the world building concepts or data assembly line concepts, they would sell like hotcakes.

- Towards the end of the meeting, we were getting into costs, growth, and projections - numbers, costs, financials, etc. Fun stuff!

Anyways, a great meeting. Aspen has more notes in her Google doc where she was recording things from the small interview. I enjoyed the chat and the learning session. Sometimes you don't know what you have until you start trying to verbalize it. Good stuff!

Working with Aspen and meeting with her to go over her proposal, presentation, and progress on the world building project and presentation. Looking good. She has been working on verbiage and content for her PowerPoint slide presentation. It's almost 70 slides right now. I'm curious to see where it ends up. Part of it is more marketing focused that what I saw last time we met. I can tell that she is working on it. I got her a check and all paid up.

Aspen got with me and was pitching her ideas on a presentation for world building and trying to get buy in on that subject and topic. She showed me a small PowerPoint slide show (just roughed in) but it had some good stuff. It still needs a lot of work but getting there. We also talked about co-ownership inside of adilas and options there for her as we go throughout this year.

Prep for a meeting with my dad and his friend Harry. I made a small list on a post-it note for some ideas that I wanted to go over with them. Here are a few of the ideas and notes:

- Go over the elevator pitch for adilas

- Playing the game of add-on as a business model

- Finding pain points and coming up with solutions

- History of where we came from and how things developed over time - it's part of our story

- Demo login and letting them get in and start playing around

- MVP - minimal viable product, plan, person, presentation

- Graphics and world building concepts

- General rules and setup - what's the flow process

- Operations and accounting - horse and the cart - operations has to lead (it's the horse) and accounting follows (the cart)

- Permissions and settings - configuration

- Going over flow and processes

- Systems and relationships

- Simulating reality or simulating the real world - what really happens and why?

- Non-linear system - concept of the data assembly line

- Adilas quick search and standard navigation

- Our current goal - fill in the gaps

- Help files and videos

- Reach out and ask for help - use the whole team

Recording notes from past meetings. Meeting with Aspen and listening to her world building proposal and wireframe type mock-up of where she would like to take that project. Sounded good and I gave her permission and approval to keep pushing on it. We uploaded some notebook scans on the element of time that she was recording her notes and time on. As a fun side note, Aspen is trying to take the world building project and really turn it into a pitch as if she was pitching it to investors and/or new clients. We have tons of historical data, timelines, and plans. All of that stuff is still good but will play more of a background or reference material type roll. I'm excited to see what she comes up with. Good stuff.

Wayne, Cory, John, and I jumped on the server meeting. We were reporting on updates and what has happened since last week. Cory had some questions about being able to move corporations around. That lead to a discussion about future goals of being able to move to a fully clustered environment. Talking about plans and where we are headed. We also went over a few of the prep steps that we need to do in order to get there. Light talks about the datasource project. That is part of an overarching world building project that we are working on and chipping away at. It keeps coming up. We really want to push it forward, as we are able.

Wayne was explaining clustering to Cory. I was mostly just listening to them talk back and forth. We did talk about maybe doing a small prototype or demo project to do a proof of concept. Next, we talked about building up a data dictionary. At some point we want to document the whole database, tables, relationships, primary keys, foreign keys, data types, and other data definitions. As a fund side note, inside of the adilas shop corporation's site, we have a number of documents that Brandon has worked on over the years - the beginning of the data definitions and data dictionary stuff. To find those, do an advanced media/content search and add the keyword "database" to the file name or path field to get the results. Some of the original work was done back in 2014 and then added onto later on.

As we were talking about data dictionaries and definitions, we talked about getting everything in one spot where all of us could see it and contribute to the document. We have it stored inside of adilas, but it isn't really setup for quick contributions like a google doc or something like that.

Lastly, both Wayne and John got into some deep talks about Java memory stuff. John and Cory were also talking about look and feel pages and upcoming projects as we ended the meeting.

Helping Steve with some image paths for a 3rd party solution menu system. After that, John was showing us some new pages that he is working on and changing the look and feel. We looked at some custom Expo/Herbo code and layout stuff. At times, we are not sure what certain older pieces of code do and accomplish. Sometimes, just like in life, we have to fake it.

Steve chimed in with some accounting history to help John with some of our terminology. He was talking about the term "Posted" and what that used to mean. In a way, this older term was a way of locking things down and moving data along a virtual data assembly line - old school style. As a side note, it is amazing how much training and education it takes to help our users know what to do and how to do it. That seems to be a never-ending process.

The last topic of the meeting was looking at some of John's new mobile responsive code and page layouts. It is looking good. We are excited to see where it goes.

Meeting with Aspen on her world building research and visual timelines project. Light training and history of adilas. Printed her out a check. Pitched an option for co-ownership for part of adilas, llc - MMLLC - multi member LLC stuff.

Steve and Sean were talking about sales stuff and where they are heading and going. Danny jumped in and they were all talking about personalities and outcomes. Fun conversations. Adilas is such a great tool, you can watch everything... we want to keep using that! That's what we want our clients to say. Giving our clients the knowledge to help make the decisions that they need to make.

The guys were talking about maybe hiring a new salesman and doing a 60-day trial period. Just trying to get some ideas. We also talked about education and the big need for structured learning within the system and about the system.

Switched to working with Wayne and John. Got a temp file from Wayne and a dump of his local database. As we were downloading and installing things, I was asking them where we stand and what are their goals? Wayne said - I think that our goal is clustered servers on both the database and code side of things. Small talks about load balancing and not overloading our servers. We also talked about back-ups and storing all external files and images in a different way (maybe the content server or something like that). Basically, getting rid of the local file storage so that the clustering would work better for the different servers and clusters.

Wayne would also like us to switch over to Lucee. That would cut the hosting costs on a monthly basis with a big overall savings year over year. We briefly touched base on the datasource or world building project (getting each corporation on its own database). The other goal that Wayne was talking about was tracking usage based on each corporation's load and data traffic usage (bandwidth and storage). Once we have those pieces in place, be able to bill accordingly.

After that, we switched back over to my local development environment. The way that they have it setup, both Wayne and John, the local environment closely simulates the live or production environments and servers. Trying to make things be more consistent for both test and live environments. Ideally, once we get it a little bit further, some of our automated tests will make sure that things are flowing and behaving consistently. That lead us to a whole other conversation about testing and having a whole test suite. Both unit tests and migration tests.

Lastly, Wayne was helping me install Sublime Text libraries and custom packages. We also went over creating new code snippets to help me code quicker. I had tons of those on my old box, and in my old editor, got to get it all setup again on the new laptop. 

Working with Aspen on world building and research. Printed her out a check.

Morning meeting. Sean joined and was just checking in. Danny joined and we started chatting about different subjects. Sean had some questions about SG&A costs (selling, general and administrative costs or internal manufacturing and unitizing costs to specific units). We talked about recipes and the potential there to keep track of things and to virtually unitize different costs through the recipe/build process.

We switched gears and started to talk about pitching "potential". We already have tons of that. This is a quote from a business consultant that we were working with at one time. He said - "Part of what I pitch is hope, the potential to be and do better!". I would like to help us keep pitching potential and hope. That is awesome!

We talked about new companies and helping to keep them up to date with new training and getting them started. We talked about how much to bite off at a single time. If you take smaller bites, it works better, but you have to be willing to circle back around. If you give too much, you could overwhelm them or flood them out. Baby steps and smaller bites. It takes longer, but the experience is better over time. Basically, get comfortable and then move on to the next thing.

Lots of discussions and talk about "custom". Most software systems are just as is, they really don't allow for custom solutions over and above their base product. We, on the other hand, love custom and can either do the whole thing or fill in the gaps as needed. This is from Russell Moore, back in 2016, "Adilas is a great companion software package for any business." We can fill in or virtually fill in the gaps wherever there is a need. We got into talking about how you can virtually use any part of the system or any part of the whole. Everything is an option but not required. That really leads us to do more customization of things. We are ok with that. It is part of our model.

One of our biggest benefits is being able to pull things together in one place. We even want to keep expanding on that concept and make other homepages or bring it together type pages or sections. We talked about getting all of the settings together into one page. That conversation caused us to get into the four different types of settings (that we know of right now). We have world or corp-wide settings, group level settings (invoices, customers, products, etc.), page level settings, and user level settings. After talking about that for a bit, we got into talking about world building and where we are headed there. Literally, the deeper you get, one thing will lead right into the next, in a true system or world building experience.

The guys were talking about a client who has a running list of things that they want us to do (once we or they have some funding). That is part of world building and deals with - what do you need, what do you want, and how will we get there?

The next part of the session was me, going off and giving an impromptu history lesson on where we came from and a series of events that lead to where we are now. I was having fun. I hope that the guys liked it. We bounced into adilas, looked at numbers, projects, histories, etc. I showed them a new graphic that I was working on called the progression of things and we chatted about that. I jumped into an old Excel file that had some numbers to show growth, etc. Anyways, I thought it was a fun history or historical session of sort. Good stuff. See attached for some of the files that we were going over.

Working with Aspen and going over her training website project. She finished it up and we went through each page and looked around. Light critique, some small suggestions, and fun looking around and getting a flavor of her subject. Good stuff. I would say it was a good session. Then after that, we flipped over to her next task of doing some research on world building. We are looking for a virtual funnel and pulling things together and gathering up all of the research. She was talking about summaries, timelines, etc. It should be fun.

Working with Danny, Sean, and Shari O. on the rafting site (demo site). They, especially Danny, were requesting and wanting some kind of SOP's (standard operating procedures) or some kind of a quick start guide. See attached for our notes. New notes are at the bottom. Mostly the session was just checking in and some light communications for today.

One of my observations is we have things all over the place. We have things inside elements of time, in physical notebooks, in emails, on adilas university, on YouTube, in help files, on different google drives, and the list goes on. We have a ton of resources, but they are not yet linked, cataloged, and organized for use. It's too spread out. That would be an awesome project to get all of that together and available to the public. That could be a future fracture type project. Training and education are huge spokes that we need in our wheel. There is a whole other side to this thing and it's on the education and training level.

Totally random, but a fun side note or thought - Think how cool it would be to go through the different system players (all 12), all of the different system business functions (12 of those as well), and the underlying core concepts. That would be awesome. Beginner, intermediate, advanced, and deep dive or backend levels. Show how things act, cause and effect relationships, where they show up for roll call, how things happened historically, how they effectually show up for roll call, and even how they financially affect inventories, banks, P&L's, balance sheets, and other financial relationships. That would be sooooo cool! I would love to work on that project.

I would love to get into the how, why, and what we are doing. The how and why really seem like fun topics. The "what" is pretty normal but allow us to do the other parts of the puzzle or passing the data along the virtual data assembly line. Getting into 3D world building and all kinds of cool stuff. So many things that we want to do and build. We just need help getting to that next level.

Steve and Cory were talking about looking up projects in bit bucket (code repository stuff). Being able to check on commits and branches. They were then talking about different industries and how they are financing some of their developments. Lots of games that people play and how do we fit into that mix. While Steve was still on with us, Cory was reporting in on some meetings that she had had with Kelly dealing with the adilas label builder and sub inventory attributes. Both of those subjects seem to be heating up a bit.

Our current goal is to focus and try to get some small victories (projects being done and across the finish line). Cory and I spent some time going over projects. We talked about the need to test everything. Even small stuff. We have had it bite us before. Next, Cory and I looked into a possible bug in some settings. We looked and looked and couldn't see anything quickly. We may have to jump in deeper, when we get a chance.

Shari O. popped in and had some questions about getting a new internal email server. Our current solution has been giving us some problems lately. We don't change any code on our side and it works great, all of the sudden it will be down, and without any changes on our side, it all of the sudden starts working again. Kinda crazy. Shari O. calls it the gremlins or email gremlins. As a side note, later in the meeting she popped back in to let us know that it was working again. Random.

Wayne joined the meeting and got Cory and I up to speed on a few things that he is trying to work on. Performance tweaks.

Cory and I then started going over her list of possible projects, quotes, and estimates.

- Need quotes for inputting sub attribute data all at one time upon PO creation (start with build page)
- Bulk update sub attributes interface
- Mapping of EOT (elements of time) data to sub attributes (settings for cultivation and manufacturing)

Along the way, we were talking about options and settings that relate to the concepts of the data assembly line, recipe/builds, showing subs in the packaging and production pages, and managing recipe/build output better. Lot of talk about bulk edit tools for sub inventory attributes, batches, phasing, sub locations, and moving subs along a known path or virtual assembly line.

Dealing with the data assembly line concepts, I was telling Cory how we setup both rules and assignments for smart group buttons (tiered pricing buttons). I was mentioning that we could use something similar to help setup and do the mapping between elements of time, sub phases, sub locations, sub groups, and monitoring the progress of certain things. We need the rules (what or how to do things) and the assignments (who or what to connect or monitor). Using the two pieces in combo (rules and assignments) we could then have the computer and/or system help us monitor progression and progress. They are good at that, they just need instructions and the who, what, when, how, and why and they can do those jobs over and over again.

As we keep rolling more and more towards the concept of fracture (future adilas project) I would really like to keep working on the data assembly line concepts and using rules and assignments to get the correct flow and mapping in place. I see that as important as we keep going forward.

Database meeting with Steve, Wayne, Alan, John, and I. The primary topic was splitting up the bus and making motorcycles (datasouce project or world building project). Basically, the current database is big and has both shared tables and corp-specific tables. We want to split things up so that the whole thing will be faster and more nimble. The whole meeting was dealing with ideas, notes, and brainstorming along those lines. See attached for multiple pages of notes from our meeting. Lots of good comments from all parties on the meeting.

Good meeting - Going over the advanced time search page. Chuck is reworking that page. It is a huge form and has multiple smaller search forms all on one page. He is rearranging them into vertical tabs to show each one separately. That will really help. Here are some of my other notes.

- Chuck would really like to use drop-downs or predictive text drop-down selectors vs open text entry fields.

- Elements of time - very powerful but almost overkill - sooooo much data and sooooo many settings. How can we narrow that down? We talked about a couple of different analogies - cover the walls (imagine all the plumbing and wiring being shown vs a nice looking wall that is pained and has pictures on it), a hood covering the car's engine (style on top and complex and even dangerous below the surface), icebergs vs mountains (how much are you seeing at a time).

- Being able to pull data as needed using things like AJAX (asynchronous data being pulled in just in time, based on user inputs and requests).

- Sort of big and confusing - what does this do? How about that? How can we educate our users without making it look complicated?

- Make the whole thing (elements of time) more consumable - plans for fracture - break it down - Ask our clients and users, how do you use it? Offer preset settings or feature packages - such as: basic calendar, appointments, rentals, bookings, project time tracking, etc. Keep it small and tiny and lead the users along to get it setup correctly and not be intimidated by the number of options.

- Simple interfaces that are to the point and optimized for smart phones, mobile, and responsive layouts.

- Do some market research on how people use it and what they want.

- More dynamics and allow for the users (or preset settings) to change the naming and make it more dynamic. This would be from the top down - what do you call it? What does it do? What is shown, hidden, defaults, etc.? Allow for dynamic naming, layout configuration, and flow of data. At the highest level, almost the data assembly line type concept. If the preset options don't do enough, allow for a build your own layout system (super configurable).

- I mentioned to Chuck that we had some other plans for time templates and dynamic settings that we want to build into the next level (fracture project). See elements of time # 8004 for more details.

- Timing and budgets - sadly, it may take months and years to get all of this done. We have lots of changes that we would like to do. All in good time. Keep floating, watching timelines, budgets, and available funding. We'll get there.

- For fracture, we talked about some sort of education mode. This could be small popup walk through guides, wizards, tutorial helps, or whatever. Along with this, if we show little popup helpers, keep track of what has been viewed and what had not yet been reviewed. Be able to reset if needed.

- Chuck and I also talked about date pickers and time pickers. We looked at a few samples. Ideally, with the new UI/UX changes, we will be able to add both date pickers and time pickers to all pages that need that type of user input fields or selectors.

- The value of a team. We don't have anybody who can do everything to the fullest level. Plus, that would take way too long. That's where the team comes in. We've got backend guys, frontend guys, designers, database guys, coders/developers, project managers, dreamers, admin, and managers. Good stuff! Keep going in that direction.

Alan and Shari O. joined our server meeting today. Wayne was reporting on the server settings and new corp-wide setting object code. Both he and Alan have been working on that project. It is getting really close to being launched here in the next couple of days.

Wayne was also talking about a different data export project and doing some validation and text normalization. Basically, a way to check for special characters and then replace them (the special ones) with a normal or standardized character. For example: take different spaces as a sample - there are big spaces, narrow spaces, thin spaces, non-breaking spaces, special width spaces, etc. - all of those would just be converted into a normal space vs the special characters. The same is true for double quotes, single quotes, bullets, dashes, spaces, and all kinds of other special characters. Wayne got a new library from Ben Nadel to help standardize some of those special characters. All part of keeping good data that can be used by us and by other parties (for example - in the data export for a specific client).

We talked about moving and combining servers and sites to save money. This is mostly dealing with clients who have one or more dedicated boxes. If they shrink or close some of their locations, they don't want to pay for multiple boxes (servers or VPS's). Wayne was talking about some possible hybrid type solutions and being able to configure and setup multiple datasources and folders (sub sites) per box. This is a prep step for the datasource project or world building stuff that we would like to get to eventually.

This topic lead us into some talks about different clients and options for data storage and archiving data. As a side note, Cory was being very careful about trying to protect us and make sure that we are covering our costs. Just because we can do something, doesn't always mean that we should. There is a balance between time, money, effort, and promises made. It also plays into - what are our future plans? We talked about billing, value, perceptions, and making sure that we really cover our true costs.

Alan and Wayne got into talking about the new settings and changes on that side of the fence. We really want to keep moving that project forward but may need to wait a couple of days so that Cory can help with the testing and tech support side of new releases (system wide changes being released to all servers). Towards the end of the meeting, they were talking about dates, times, and coordinating deployment and rollout of new changes. That is awesome.

Everybody except for Steve, Cory, John, and I left. At that point, John gave us a small report on what he has been doing. He reported that his billing was in, times had been recorded, he is working with Dustin on some server training, doing other server maintenance, and working on other projects. Cory is really trying to make sure that communication channels are up and going between Wayne and John. Trying to make sure that we aren't duplicating efforts and everybody is on the same page.

Special client meeting on Cory's Zoom account. The goal was to cover and go over internal ways of monitoring and tracking quality control issues for a client. The user wasn't super familiar with adilas, but wanted a full-on system that could hold and track all of his pieces and processes. He works for a company that uses adilas but didn't know much about the existing tools. The underlying goal was a deep level of tracking for quality control within his processes. He's in the food and food production industry.

From what I was hearing, it sounded like a number of possible sub location or sub phases type stuff (data assembly line concepts). The need seems to be the ability to setup and manipulate the environment, setup standard and custom data points, and control the flow (start/stop/controls) of the processes. For our upcoming fracture project, I would really love to build in user controls that help people setup the sub systems, sub locations, sub phases, sub categories, and sub flow of data (forms, steps, or processes). The other important part of the data assembly line concept is the ability for the users (companies) to change, add, edit, remove, delete, and make their own processes more efficient. The concepts of the data assembly line have been on my mind quite a bit lately.

Kelly joined and was basically running most of the conversation. She just jumps in and sort of takes over. Some people really like that. She was talking about blending time, scheduling, inventory tracking, histories, and permissions. She really has a talent with consulting, talking, pitching ideas, show vision, and helping to make the sale or up-sale. Very interesting to watch and learn.

I also liked how she explained ERP (enterprise resource planning software). She said - "we track both money and goods, thus making it a light ERP system." I thought that was a good and simple definition. She also said, after the meeting, "The goal is moving the client from a problem based approach to a solution based approach. Get them excited about the possibilities." I enjoyed watching her work with the client. Kinda fun.

On with Steve and Cory talking about dynamic data fields and custom software development. Lots of needs for sub phases, sub locations, and data assembly line stuff. We need to know the data points, the flow, and the processes. That also means we need to know the pain points and other important pieces of the puzzle. Instead of guessing, we need real communication and a working knowledge of what they want their workflow to be like. Basically, where, when, and what to do or grab.

We talked about checks and balances, virtual stops, actual stops, and other critical data or checkpoints. More needs for that data assembly line type environment. As a follow-up, we will be looking at setting up some client meetings before we quote anything and/or make any promises.

I got an email about an Adobe ColdFusion conference coming up in October. As part of the email, they were requesting people who wanted to speak and/or present. I decided to put my name into the mix. I would really like to be able to pitch the concepts of world building and the concepts of the data assembly line. I sent them links to our website and also a link to an adilas origins - core concepts document that Shannon and I worked on at the beginning of the year.

Steve and I touching base on different things happening over the weekend. Steve and Sean then jumped into some labels, custom invoices, and gram tracking options. Steve is really trying hard to build out more settings to help automate different pieces and processes.

John was showing us some of his work and progress on the discount engine. He gave us a small demo and showed us what is still remaining, things that still need some work.

The conversation switched over to getting things pushed up and out for testing and live usage. We are really trying to focus on doing lots of tiny or micro releases vs big huge releases. Along with this topic, we started talking about possible projects and helping out Wayne with some of his bigger projects. If anyone gets too big of a project, they tend to virtually stall out and lose some productivity. We talked about the datasource project (world building), flex attributes for other system player groups (in-line database extensions), and client facing scheduling stuff.

I woke up this morning dreaming about adilas and what value it brings to the table. I went downstairs to record a couple of thoughts and ended up staying down there for a quite a bit of time, just recording ideas as they came to me. I then took a small notepad of post-it notes upstairs and kept coming up with different ideas. These could be expanded upon, it was just a quick, record what thoughts are coming to your mind, type of thing. I had all of these little one-liners written on about 9 pages of post-it notes. Kinda funny.

- 20 years of experience

- 250 customers

- Working model

- Trained team

- Data like crazy - tons of it

- Usage patterns

- Able to handle multi-industries (business verticals)

- People use it - daily

- Success stories from some of our clients

- Database model and database schema (what rows, columns, tables, indexes, data types, records, values, etc.)

- Code repository (huge code base)

- 10 full versions with back-ups of each version (over time)

- Documentation (things written, recorded, and organized)

- Commercial product

- Developer's notebook - full story and all that we have learned

- Able to do custom out of the box

- All of the custom code (as an asset)

- Plans for fracture (upcoming and future project)

- Established billing and revenue

- R&D and prototyping

- Graphics, visuals, and other artwork (even sketches)

- Presentation gallery - Full presentation ready gallery for business functions, attributes, key players, and core concepts

- Concepts - these are worth more than our code

- Pioneering paths and ideas

- Over 6.5 million in sales

- Willing to push the limits and try new things

- We know the pit falls, the costs, the good, and the bad - we've been playing in this arena for quite some time

- No one else is doing what we are doing and how we do it. Our approach to bring operations and accounting together is unique.

- Our story is fully recorded

- Reoccurring model and reoccurring revenue

- Support a team of 15-20 individuals and their families

- Thousands of users that use it every day

- Refinement and bug fixes

- We've built and maintained this application - we know what it takes

- We are doing it - following a dream

- Tons of video recordings and trainings

- Knowledge and experience

- Minimal debt

- Generating revenue right now

- Plans and vision for the future

- 40+ servers

- Ok with being who we are right now

- We don't have to have every client - Ok with serving those who like what we do

- Relationships with clients, vendors, 3rd party solutions, users, and team members

- Tons of intangibles

- Ecosystem

- 12 main players, 12 business functions, 12 core concepts

- Data assembly line

- 3D World building concepts

- The concepts are worth more than the code - We are one of millions of possible options vs everybody will go down the main primary path that leads to what we are doing and trying to do. If they (any other company or software system) choose to follow us, they will come down the core paths that we have found and are exploring. These are the core concepts that we are built on. There is tons of room down here (like exploring a giant cavern with tons of off shooting tunnels and shoots).

- We keep taking the next little step and keeping linking things together

- The depth of what we do and what we cover

- High-end software as a service (online SaaS model), we cover anything to do with operations and accounting, we have a standard package and can built out custom on top of that.

Shannon and I met up and started to get back into some user guide files that we were working on in mid 2019. We were going over some financial theory, what makes us different, and why do we do what we do. We'll circle back in and keep working on that section. The underlying tone of the documents was dealing with the concepts of the data assembly line and how to track objects and data through their lifecycles, states, status, and checkpoints. Good stuff.

Shari O. and Cory joined and were talking to John and I about server costs. I was impressed, they had a multiple page spreadsheet and were trying to really dial in exact costs and even semi associated costs. In the past, we primarily just looked at raw costs, and didn't take into consideration maintenance, monitoring, upgrades, and primum server support for our servers and boxes. Lots of back and forth. I'm excited to see us looking at real costs. We have flown by the seat of our pants for way too many years.

We got pretty deep in to costs and what we gain from having Fusion Reactor and server monitors in place. We are being charged by the minute that those servers are being monitored. The costs stack up really quickly. We've quadrupled our costs in the last couple of months. We looked at ways to possibly bring that down or manage it better.

John keeps bring up this concept of providing a white-glove type service for our big clients (tons of server monitoring, optimization, and access to reports and even system admin personnel). Anyways, just throwing things around. We were also getting into deep level configuration scripts and how to manage some of our existing servers and assets. One of things that we were talking about was dealing with old corps and inactive accounts (old or dead data) and how to clean some of that stuff up and make it faster and smoother.

We talked about monitoring our clients and their storage levels, media/content files, number accounts, amount of data, traffic, and overall usage. We have some that we know that are big and there are others that slide under the radar because they don't call us or complain. We need to help those who want to play and charge accordingly. Some of our clients are so different, based on their habits, usage, and system needs.

There was some talk about wiping data and starting fresh for certain sandbox and smaller accounts. We need to load up certain servers with more clients to make it economically feasible to keep certain servers up and running. Basically, manual load balancing and monitoring what clients are on what boxes and how those boxes (servers) are doing (sever health). We have some of the servers that we probably need to kill and get rid of them. The other option is loading them up with more clients and then really using them.

We have a project out there that has and keeps circling around. It is called the datasource or world building project. Currently, we have a perfect one-to-one relationship between a data server and a supporting database server. We would like to allow for a single data server (code box) to interact with multiple databases, as needed. Make it more configurable. This datasource project would allow us to do those types of things. This has been referred to as getting our clients off the bus and getting them setup with their own virtual motorcycles (quick and speedy smaller databases). We would love to split some of these things up and make everything faster.

Another big project is paring down some of the big corp-wide settings tables. We have two huge ones right now that are over 400+ columns (going across or horizontal). We would like to rebuild this system and stack things vertically (data records per setting - going down vs a single column going across or a unique field per setting). Anyways, this project keeps rearing its ugly head as well. We are starting to work on it (Wayne and John).

The last section of the meeting got back to budgets, checking and monitoring usage and traffic, checking CPU's and RAM allocations per server, and adjusting as needed. Along with these budget type questions and topics, we would also like to look at possible up sales and offering other services to our clients. Including targeted or specific offerings to certain clients. Trying to harness more out of our existing clients.

Both Sean and Danny joined in on the meeting and were checking in this morning. We spent a little bit of time and went over some of the intro to world building stuff that I sent around yesterday evening. This is the small five-page doc that Shannon and I have been working on for the adilas core concepts - origins doc. Anyways, we had some fun discussions about some of the concepts. My goal is to keep introducing some of these pieces, one piece or step at a time. I think that the full-blown concept of world buiding or business world building is too deep for people to get right off the bat. However, as they learn about it, I really think it helps them envision possibilities and creates the "why" for what we are doing.

Eric joined and we went over some progress on the sales tax aggregate project. We have learned some big lessons on this one. Anyways, I think that he and Wayne have had some great meetings and have a good plan in place. One of the things that was happening was cross merging. We had some hidden first round pages and prototypes in place on the master branch. Then as new development would happen, even on a different branch, we would merge in the master code branch to keep it up to date. The problem was, the true older code was on the master branch and so it kept overwriting the new development. Anyways, I think we got it figured out. Lots of cause and effect things. It also brings into light the need for a manual touch vs just letting the code or applications do everything automatically. All part of the learning curve and what it takes to have a master code branch, a dev testing branch, and keeping everything straight and still up to date. Lots of challenges.

One other topic that Eric wanted to bring up was a communication platform called "Discord" and how it may help us connect and interact better. We currently use GoToMeeting for online meetings. We also have a number of folks who will pop out to Zoom sessions or whatever. Eric is going to look deeper into Discord and then give me a small walk-through to see if we want to switch and check things out there for some of our meetings and communication needs.

After everybody left, John and I were talking and going over some of his skills and how diverse they are (backend, servers, IT, graphics, frontend UI stuff, and modern trends and strategies). He also has done some managing and admin level stuff in the past. A good mix.

General to do list stuff. Checked on a bug, pushed up a new video recording, reread a page that Shannon and I were working on - dealing with the origins of adilas core concepts and how that ties into world building concepts. See attached for a copy of the document.

Overarching concept of world building and finishing up the adilas core concepts - origins document. Shannon and I worked on the conclusion and the first couple of paragraphs to help tie the whole document together. See attached for our finished first draff copy of the document. We may end up adding pictures and such to the document later on. The main goal right now is dealing with the story, the history, the verbage, and the copy.

Re-reading the adilas core concepts origins document with Shannon. We were working on the section that talks about why and how we have used world building (concepts and theories) to help us build up what we are doing. We also were moving some teaser type content from one document to another. Basically, some good stuff, but it just didn't fit in the current document, but we didn't want to lose it. Lots of reviewing pass entries, lists, notes, scans, and pulling out small gems. See attached for our progress.

Touching base and catching up after the Christmas holiday break. Shannon and I did a work session on the verbage and copy for the adilas core concepts origins document. We are right in the middle of an explanation of the concepts of world building and how that concept has influenced us, as a company. Fun stuff. It's good to be back working on this content. See attached for where we are at in the process.

Work session with Shannon. We were reviewing some of the verbage and copy for the adilas core concepts documents and coving some origins of how we got introduced to world building. See attached for where we are working. Today we started into the section dealing with how learning about world building has influenced our decisions and direction. Lots of brainstorming today. We'll keep refining it until it fits in with the rest of the story. As I think about it, the concepts of world building are huge in what I do personally and what I'm hoping to help our company do as a whole. It, being introduced to those concepts, was a paradigm shift for me and adilas. Kinda fun to rehash some of that.

Working with Shannon on some verbage and copy for the world building piece inside of the adilas core concepts and origins section. It's not finished yet, but here are some things that we are working on: See attached for the other parts of the story.

So, what is world building? And how does it relate to business software? We would like to answer this in three different ways. First, we would like to answer the question. Next, we would like to explain it a little bit further and give some examples. Lastly, we will try to explain how it has influenced our decisions and direction as a company.

1 - Answering the questions, what is world building and how does it relate to business software?

World building is the process of creating a unique environment for each business entity.

Often software tends to be built for one industry specifically. If you only have one industry, the whole package is built to support that business model, or world, and there is no need to diversify it. But what if the software package allowed you to diversify it to all kinds of business models and verticals. This allows you to customize the environment to meet your needs.

As you setup and create this unique environment you end up answering a number of questions. Some of these questions could be where are you located at? Does your business deal with time, products, services? Who are your customers? What do you call them? Members, clients, patients, students, etc. Basically, you are determining what you want your world to be like and what you want it to do. The Adilas system is flexible and able to handle all kind of choices and decisions. As you mix these together this is what creates the customized landing area for your data. As soon as you can start seeing that every single business is technically a different world - it starts making more sense.

2 - Explaining world building further and giving some analogies.

The author who introduced us to the concept of "World Building" was Brandon Mull, a New York Times bestselling author. He was giving a presentation for young writers and artists at a university and one of the co-founders and his children happened to attend the seminar. In his presentation on world building, he stressed 5 key components. They are characters, relationships, trouble, decisions, and consequences.

To further explain this concept here is a small analogy, or example, he gave as part of his presentation. A good science fiction author may come up with the concept of a flying car. But a really good science fiction author thinks at the level of world building. What are the causes and effects that occur with having a flying car? What is the technology that allows that? What are the traffic laws? What things keep it in check? What happens if there is a traffic jam? A wreck? How are they powered? How are they stored? How are they fixed? What are their speeds, capabilities? Are they armed? Etc., etc., etc.

Think of your favorite movie or book. What different things make up the environment that makes it unique and special? Some of the best books and movies are those that are able to create an environment that is so rich it almost feels like a real place you can be transported to and participate in.

These same concepts apply to the Adilas application. Imagine one of the richest environments you will ever use, ready to run standard out of the box, or customize it to meet your business needs. Think of custom naming conventions, toggle options on and off, settings, permissions, tons of tools and business functions at your disposal. The ability of the Adilas system to adapt to any business world is incredible! That is what Adilas has been created for.

To start your mind thinking along the lines of world building, here is a little exercise. Consider answering some of the following questions whether you are creating a world for storytelling, or creating a world for your business entity:

General World Building Questions

- Where is your world located?

- What special features does your world have?

- What does your world have an abundance of?

- What does it have a lack of?

- Who is on your world? Different civilizations? Friends? Enemies?

- How diversified are the civilizations, areas, or locations?

- What are the reasons they are separated or diversified?

- Who are the characters and the groups?

- How will they interact with each other?

- What kind of things are they trying to overcome or accomplish?

Okay, now let's transition into business world building questions:

- What do you call your business?

- What type of business do you have?

- Where is your business located?

- What is your company size? Mom and pop, small, medium, large, enterprise, custom?

- What do you call the people who work for you and work with you? Salesperson, staff, associate, team member, or whatever you may call them.

- Are you doing things alone or as part of a team, department, etc.?

- How many different locations do you have? What do you call those? Locations, stores, clinics, departments, jobs, facilities, or other?

- Who are the people that buy your services or products? Clients, customers, members, patients, students, etc.

- Do you sell labor, time, services, subscriptions, perishables, non-perishables, little items, big items, bulk items, serialized items, or custom?

- How do you distribute what you are selling? In-person, online, call-in, internal manufacturing, wholesale, delivery, etc.

- What are your pain points or challenges?

- Do you have certain processes or a special flow in your business world?

- Do you already have certain pieces in place and need another software to fill in the gaps? Do you need the whole package? Are you required to use certain software or applications?

- Do you have state, government, or industry requirements?

- Do you have paperwork, documents, forms, scans, contracts, or other files to capture and record?

- Thinking of data and reporting needs. What do you want? What do you need? What key data points are you interested in?

- What are some of your goals? Financial, physical, personal, etc.

Still working on content below this, but having fun... :)

Work session between Shannon and I going over more changes and content for the adilas core concepts and the intro to world building document that we are working on. Fun work and brainstorming session. We talked more about the MVP model and options to getting things to the "sufficient" level. See an earlier entry from today to see some other comments on MVP models. See the attached document for our progress from today.

Shannon and I were working on the adilas core concepts and intro to world building document. We added in some new analogies and verbage today. See attached. Making progress.

Shannon and I had a good work session on the adilas core concepts and introducing the world building concepts that we got from Brandon Mull, a New Your Times bestselling author. Funny story, we actually got the concepts of world building from a presentation that Brandon Mull gave to middle school writers and artists in the Logan, UT area. Here are my notes, back in 2013, from that event. Fun memories. See attached for where we are at on our progress.

Emails, follow-ups, and calling the bank. Other little to do list stuff.

Good work session with Shannon. We were refining the adilas core concepts origins project. Coming up with verbage and copy for introducing the concept of world building. See attached for our progress.

Server meeting with Wayne, John, Cory, and I. We talked about some of the domain names that we have and making sure that they resolve to the correct servers. These are extra domain names that deal with data assembly lines, world building, business zipper, data sphere stuff, and more.

We talked about budgets and light work on Excel doing some simple math. Along with this, we also talked about transferring backend code over to Lucee, an open source product that reads and translates the Adobe ColdFusion language. Basically, a switch between using the commercial (high dollar) version or the lower cost, but still super powerful, open source option. This could save adilas over $30K/year going forward. That is a great possible savings. We talked about what it might take to switch over.

Towards the end, Cory had some questions and we did some math, budgets, and drawing on what we are trying to do. We were talking about clustering of servers, possible fees per CPU cores, etc. It became more clear as we went through it. Good stuff.

Working with Shannon on editing some new verbage and storyline content for the adilas core concepts origins document. See attached. Working on the part where we were introduced to the concept of "world building" and business world building. Trying to show the tie-ins between the concept of world building and how that relates to custom business software. Good work session. Making progress.

Working on content and verbage for an article we are writing (Shannon and I) dealing with the origins of the adilas core concepts. See attached for where we are at. Shannon and I were exploring on where, why, and how some of those core concepts came to life. We weren't planning on getting into all of this stuff like super deep custom business software and theory, but... The core concepts sort of just fell into our laps. We just picked them up and mixed them together... We didn't come up with them, but we sure have been grateful for them. The results are the lessons that we have learned and where we are trying to go and head.

Gratefully, the core concepts have been one of our best guiding lights and we are very vested in them. He/She who masters the concepts, masters much. They are kind of guiding us along this path and journey. I personally love learning and really enjoy talking about, teaching, and brainstorming on the different topics and subjects. I've been in and through many of these situations, scenarios, concepts, and topics. I've lived it, to some extent. I'm still learning, but loving it. I love talking about world building concepts, 3D data assembly lines ideas and ways to implement things. I've also really enjoyed brainstorming on other 3D business world building ideas. Shannon and I were talking universe level, galaxy level, cluster level, solar system level, word level, locations, groups, individuals, data, and running all of these different levels over time. So many different levels.

Fun stuff like 3D data levels (x=time, y=resources and money, and y=space and depth (layering, stacking, details, relationships, etc.). Good stuff.

As part of our research today, we were talking about more world building stuff and how all of that (those concepts) came to be. Once again, we didn't come up with them, but we for sure will help be a spokesman for the subject and topic. We love it! We were discussing the idea of learning and then protecting things through sharing of intellectual property (IP) stuff. That feels like one of our roles. We learn it, then we share it. If we just keep it to ourselves, no one else will gain from it. We really want to share and protect these pieces. Here is an article (developer's notebook entry) on intellectual property and ways of sharing to protect things. I feel driven to help educate, demonstrate, and protect some of the main core concepts and ideas that we, adilas, are founded upon. It give me purpose to try to play a role with these things. Good stuff.

Talking about some marketing and ideas. Danny, Sean, and I were on the meeting to begin with. We were talking about the use of the blue dog avatar and where we are trying to go, marketing wise. Lots of good and open conversations. We talked about a few different ideas and just kicked the ball around. John joined and we asked him a little bit about his experience and questions that he has been asked and/or had to explain. Good conversation.

After Sean and Danny left, John and I went over some stuff for the content server. I showed him some old graphics and drawings of our world building concepts and how we were going to structure data servers, content servers, databases, and corporations within those databases. Click here to see some of the other analogies and explanations for universe level, galaxies or galaxy level, clusters, solar systems, worlds, etc.

Work session with Shannon. Going over some of the origins story for the adilas core concepts. We worked through a number of paragraphs and started into a small intro to world building. See attached for where we are working.

Having fun talking about history and progression. Dustin and Wayne were swapping stories and even talking about fun old games that they used to play. Lots of learning along the way. Interesting to see how far things have come.

Talking about current servers and monitoring CPU spikes and loads. Checking logs and scripts. Both Wayne and John are doing awesome with the servers. Wayne reported in on converting Application.cfm (in-line or line by line code) pages to Application.cfc (components, methods, and functions - much more versatile). Cory was asking about timelines for projects.

Wayne and John have a new testing environment almost fully setup to help our developers out. That is really cool! We are putting John in charge of the developer box. He can reach out to Wayne as needed. Some of our plan is to keep making it up as we go... :)

Talking about redundancy in the databases and some cool stuff that is coming down the pipeline. Talking about being able to switch out databases, datasources (pointer to the database), and even having multiple datasources and databases per server. At one point, we were calling that project world building or the datasource project.

John was reporting in on the adilas phones project. Cory and Wayne were chiming in. They were coordinating efforts and communication stuff.

Shannon and I were working on adilas core concepts. We started out and did a small review of the Bear 100 from last week and what we are learning and hoping to do in the future. Kinda fun. We then started in on the primary adilas core concepts. The first one is dealing with capturing and recording the story (digital storytelling). That may seem super simple, but that is a huge part of what we are doing. Our goal, is to go over these core concepts and make a small standalone document for each of the main core concepts. There are 12 main core concepts that we are pitching and hoping will get traction and weight. They are:

Adilas Core Concepts

Why & how does it work? Virtual world building...

1. Capture & Record The Story
2. Groups, Players, Individuals, & Characters
3. Relationships
4. Trouble, Problems, Needs, & Goals
5. Decisions & Choices
6. Consequences (Cause & Effects)
7. Accountability
8. Permissions & Settings
9. Systems
10. Vision & Future Developments
11. Tech, Tools, & Maintenance
12. Objects & Data Over Time

We decided that we may end up doing a preface or lead in before we just jump into the core concepts. In doing so, we were looking at some existing verbage and seeing if we could use it. The existing verbage is already in story and paragraph type form. Just seeing what we can come up with. See attached for what we are working on. Also, I added some sub notes and comments to cover some of the other verbage that we are looking at. All of this verbage is from our older website and some PDF flyers.

Steve was working on a database update for some new corp-wide settings for PO names and recipe/build names. We looked at his code and made a few changes. We then went on and talked about the growing need for super high enterprise or global level product and item catalogs. It seems to be more and more needed, yet it is still out there a little ways.

Steve and I chatted about some funding options and then I pitched some ideas to Steve about the data assembly line concepts. Lots of small little drawings. We are actually doing it, building towards the full data assembly line concepts, but we just haven't really made that our focus. Dustin has already added a phase base process for cultivation. Steve is currently working on some production phases, and we have other projects that have similar flavors. The absolute ideal would be to allow our clients the ability to setup and run their own business processes and let them (our users or our clients) setup the phases, sub locations, options, flow, defaults, timing, etc. of these processes and procedures. That would be really cool!

Wayne, John, Cory, and I were on the server meeting. More discussions on super backend admin documentation and roles and permissions. Let's get everything recorded and then we'll figure out how we want to get it out to our guys (only to certain ones).

We then moved into discussing a small server outage from yesterday. It was Labor Day yesterday, and the servers went down (almost all of them) for 7-15 minutes at the exact same time. Not good but also not really something that happened on our end. Both Wayne and John were looking at log files, pings, reports, databases, and other resources. It seems like it was upstream of us and we responded as quickly as we were able, but it was somewhat out of our control. Servers were, in fact, up and running, we just couldn't get to them and nobody else could either during the period. They are go to look into it deeper. They already have some support tickets submitted to different entities to see what happened.

We briefly talked about updating our email server and the next steps in that process. We talked about getting some grey listing removed and see if that helps with the speed. We also went over some of the transfers from Newtek to Hostek (different server companies). We transferred a couple of servers last week. Most of our servers are now on the Hostek side of things. That has been years in the coming...

The last major subject was dealing with the need to allow for multiple databases to be connected to from the same servers. We are calling this the datasource project or world building project. It would allow a single server to have one set of primary code, but it could interact with any number of databases. Currently, the ratio is a perfect one set of code to one database. That would be expanded as we take it to the next level. Needed, but still in the planning stages. It comes down to resources and time.

Work session with Shannon on the analogy and crossover between a video recorder and the adilas recorder or business recorder (the adilas application). Just for fun, I thought that I would attach some of the verbage and copy that we are working on. We are still refining things, but here is what Shannon and I are working on. See attached for more info (still in raw format).

Adilas Core Concepts

Why and how does it work? Every company becomes its own world - virtual world building. What does your world look like?

The 12 Main concepts we are going to cover: 

1. Capture & Record The Story
2. Groups, Players, Individuals, & Characters
3. Relationships
4. Trouble, Problems, Needs, & Goals
5. Decisions & Choices
6. Consequences (Cause & Effects)
7. Accountability
8. Permissions & Settings
9. Systems
10. Vision & Future Developments
11. Tech, Tools, & Maintenance
12. Objects & Data Over Time (Tracking Full Life Cycles)

Small Overview

Concepts 1-6: Elements of digital storytelling - characters, relationships, decisions, consequences, etc. 

Concepts 7-12: Tools and concepts we use to allow, and capture, people's stories playing out on the web/cloud environment. 

Game Changers And The Value Of The Story

We have started realizing that Adilas has created a digital way of recording the story. Similar to what the video camera did in sharing widely with people what was possible; we have started realizing we have created a way to capture and record all of the pieces and relationships in the business environment. Imagine the movie of your business. What would that look like?

From a book called, "The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance" by Steven Kotler, one of his topics was dealing with the role of the video recorder. Before the video recorder so many people did not even know certain things were achievable. Once it was recordable, it could become repeatable. People could share that, study it, run it back and forth, and really get into the details. This allowed others to see what was possible, which produced bench marks and standards that caused people to keep growing and pushing the limits. 

As we were thinking about the ability to record and share content, we thought of some other advancements that have taken place in our lifetime. Video recorders used to be very expensive, now people have them almost everywhere. They are on phones, go-pros, and can be small and hand-held. These video recorders have become very portable, low cost, and widely accessible.  They have become a widely used tool for how people document things.

Another neat thing about a video recorder is that you can jump around the video - pause, record, rewind, go forward, slow it down, etc. On the Adilas side, as you work with the system, everything gets recorded as well. This allows you to have all of your data at your fingertips. You can see the current, real-time rolling data or you can access any data in the past. 

In the business world, there are so many things happening, interacting, and a whole digital story that is unfolding. There are different players and relationships. Resources are going up and down. Things are interacting and being time stamped, tracked, and organized. 

What if you could watch all of these interactions and this story unfold from a bird's eye, high level view? What if you could be on the ground where things are really happening, seeing the causes, effects, and relationships play out? What if you needed more details and you could physically get inside of that piece and see the details and logic? This is ADILAS!

People want to see things tracked the whole way through. Once they understand and see the potential and possibilities of what we are doing with Adilas - they just want more.  What if the Adilas recorder becomes a game changer for capturing your business story? Think of the doors that you could unlock if you had a fully integrated system that works and flows together - the possibilities are unlimited. 

Before you think that this is just a dream - you need to check out Adilas. We have a viable, working solution that does all of this right now! This is a game changer. We will continually be building and expanding on the application but these features are available to use right now! Go, do, build, play, and let's start making those dreams happen together!

Phone call with Steve. We started out talking about some of our current projects and where things are at. Lots of moving pieces both in business and in life in general. Here are a few of the topics that we talked about. I filled up a couple of post-it notes while we were on the phone.

- We briefly talked about sales and reoccurring invoices (reoccurring revenue steam). Looking at trends and where things are at with the reoccurring invoices. That is our bread and butter. We also do custom code, deployment, training, and other things, but the reoccurring invoices are our primary source of income.

- We talked about the MVP (minimal viable product). To some people and some industries, we are there. To others, we are still not there, even through it's been years and years. As we were talking, we also mentioned, that adilas is so deep and complete, maybe we are just now even getting to an MVP type level. Real digital storytelling and world building requires deep waters.

- Timelines - Sometimes it takes a long time for certain things to happen. That is just true, no mater what. You almost have to adjust to the longer play (for certain things).

- Get out there and rattle the bushes a bit. If we need more custom code or client funded work, get out there and ask people if they need anything done. We could get them a quote and then get a developer on it. All of our guys are busy, but not all of them are on funded projects. That means that we are picking up the bulk of it (the virtual tab), for the new development.

- Pitch things as they are. If needed, we could customize and we can bill for that.

- We need to do some immediate fixes. We have some payables that are stacking up that we need to get out. We also have tons of receivables that we need to collect on. If we had that, we would be fine, but it's hard to get the money out of our clients some times. Always this little game of sorts.

- We talked about some short term funding and cash flow options.

- We are going for the full system or fully integrated system - that's where we want to head. This allows for the ability to record and track things end-to-end, through the entire process.

- We will still allow 3rd party solution but we really want to focus on what we do. There has to be a balance.

- Steve was talking about calling some of our best clients and seeing if they want anything? Development at $100/hour or training at $65/hour. Couldn't hurt to ask. This could be custom development or filling their needs in some other way.

- As Steve and I were talking, it is amazing how functionality and needs for functionality keep bubbling to the surface. We don't even try and it just comes up... Kinda like the ongoing idea farm type mentality... it literally just keeps coming and we end up taking the next step.

- We are a serious solution - those who get it, love it! Those who don't, go elsewhere.

- Harvesting some of our R&D and building out some of the fracture type pieces. We really want to build where we want it to go vs being pulled in certain directions. There needs to be a balance, but right now, we feel like we are just being yanked and pulled in every direction (spreading us thin). It would be great to be able to focus and really go where we feel the bang for the buck would be best for us as a company.

- Dedicate time and resources to those pieces. Work the plan! Carve out some time and push on some of our pieces.

- At some point, you kinda have to keep faking it until you make it. That sounds shallow, but it is true. Fake it till you make it!

John and I were on a meeting. I ended up doing a little bit more research and looking at the file from Jonathan Wells and his Adobe XD mock-ups and prototypes. I FTPed  the files up to the content server. John asked me to explain the content server and how that whole thing works. We did a lot of drawing and bouncing to different pages to explain the processes. Some of the highlights were talking about why and how we allow for 3 different sources for media/content (files). We allow for local paths (where are things stored on the local computer or drive), remote references (where are files stored on outside or other servers such as google drive, drop box, skydrive, etc.), and finally, physical upload (files that you push up to our servers for storage and security). Great questions.

John really wants to help out with some visual flow charts and graphical user interfaces, including graphical homepages and layouts. That would really help - for people to get their heads around what is out there, possible, built-in, and available. Each section needs a small visual and/or virtual map of the area. As we get into fracture, I really want to include some maps of the sections so that people could follow along, know what is there, and also be able to customize their own workspace and data flow (digital assembly line with phases, sub locations, date/time stamps, checkpoints, etc.). Make the whole thing a visual delight to work with and organize your space or work environment.

Chuck and I started out talking about payables and cash flow stuff. After that we switched over the to the sales and presentation gallery project. Chuck showed me some of the progress that he is working on. One new change is that he has implemented some +'s and -'s (plus signs and minus signs) to help with mini drop-downs for sub or extra verbage. It is looking good and he is making progress. He also reported that he is almost all the way done with the background images and having the different themes stick and play through the entire presentation gallery.

We talked about some new verbage and content for the adilas core concepts. Marisa has been feeding Chuck some new verbage and content. I pointed him to the latest Word document that Shannon and I were working on for new verbage and content for the adilas core concepts. He pulled the document up and we went over some of it briefly. I touched base with him on some of the brainstorming that Shannon and I were doing just yesterday.

Chuck was showing me some training that he is working on and some email campaigns and automation processes that he is researching and playing with. Chuck was talking about using lead magnets (slowly leading the, our clients, to the goal) and using things that we can help them with vs just plain buy our product type marketing. Interesting direction. Also, as you look at marketing, if we can show a need, fill that need, and offer to help ease some kind of trouble or pain, that is very effective. How can we help you? Let us show you how we can!

Along with the email campaigns and automation processes, we talked about controlling splitting paths, following user actions and/or non-actions, and building the automation processes and campaigns based on where the client is in the process.

We then changed directions and talked about bookings and online reservations. We have a client that will need some of these pieces here in the next few months. We talked about some of the new time settings and going over more adilas core concepts and virtual game changers. Both of these pieces are dealing with where we are heading in our world building and digital storytelling processes. I find it interesting that time and elements of time is going to be at the heart of some of these new changes and advancements.

Brainstorming on core concepts. Why do we do what we do? Lots of world building pieces and what do we gain from that. Working on sections for relationships, trouble, problems, needs and goals. See attached for where we are at in the process.

Dustin and Cory joined the meeting. We were looking into Dustin's new cultivation and batch process actions. He showed us some small bugs and enhancements that he is working on. We talked about some possible strategies and he took some notes. It is looking good and we should be within a few days of getting the current version launched and pushed up live. That is exciting!

As a fun side note, Dustin made his local environment look really cool with a custom dark theme on the look and feel. It looked very professional and fun. Throughout the meeting, Cory and I would ask questions and Dustin would respond. Some great back and forth with ideas, flow, and user experience stuff. Once again, looking great. Some of the things were form on the top, bottom, how much to scroll, filters, flow, show/hide buttons, verbage changes, etc.

We want to keep things at a minimal but still make it fully functional (as far as what is currently done) without rolling into weeks and weeks of more development. Kinda putting a temporary cap on things to get them up and going, instead of creating the never ending feature creep type scenario.

One interesting takeaways from our meeting was the concept of creating a dynamic, user controlled, environment that allows for data to be started, gathered, structured, categorized, and a full end-to-end process all through settings and automation. Basically, it was the concepts of the data assembly line and a user controlled (dynamic) data assembly line. Phases, locations, moves, bulk functions, printing labels, batches and batch controls, removals, new items, etc. All in one place and flowing towards an end goal. Pretty cool.

The last thing that was brought up was how recipe/builds could help in manufacturing and production systems. It could be pretty cool.

Meeting with Steve McNew and Steve Berkenkotter. Both Steve's were on for a bit. Then Steve Berkenkotter had to bail out and just Steve McNew and I chatted and went over some things together.

Here are some rough notes:

- Trying to push more on sales

- Ideas on prospecting with customers and doing demos

- We will need to keep building out the info graphics - a good image speaks a thousand words

- Refining the installation plans and deploying new clients - getting them going well and properly

- Steve Berkenkotter's top 3 on the tick list, as of right now - 1. Sales, 2. Work on earn and burn ratios, and 3. Servers (being able to split up databases - datasources and/or world building project - bus to motorcycles transition)

- Top 5 things from the conference that we just had from Steve McNew - see attached - 1. Helping Kelly with an installation plan, 2. Working with Sean on deployment processes, 3. Bug tracking and getting things tighter, 4. Communications and collaboration within our team, and 5. Projects and planning pieces (heading toward fracture).

Server meeting with Wayne. John and Steve were on as well. Mostly we were talking about and making plans for the new website. Chuck, Danny, Marisa, and John have been working on the new site for a couple of months. Well, that is getting ready to launch and so Wayne and I are making plans on how to roll things out and get it fully deployed. As a fun side note, the new site is up in beta mode for some of our guys and gals to test and play around with. That is awesome.

Anyways, I pitched a plan and then we came up with a modified version of that plan. Brandon has some notes on his local computer about some of the plans.

Towards the end of the meeting, we switched gears and talked about the usage on the content server. Eventually, we would like the content server to hold all of the files, images, CSV files, PDF's, Word, Excel, and other media/content files. Currently, the system is setup to hold and store certain files locally (per box or per server) and then all of the bigger media/content pieces up on the content server. We would like to get all of the pieces in one general place. That would help with future projects on clustering servers and what not.

We also talked about breaking up and adding more content servers as needed. This gets into world building, universe level stuff, galaxies, clustering, solar systems, and stacking of servers and technology. See this help file for more info on world building.

Wayne is also pushing hard on some test driven design stuff. He is out pioneering some concepts that he wants us to use in our normal development processes. After that, Steve needed some help with some logic and wanted to get a number of sample files for uploading CSV files to the server. He has a new project that he is working on for a client.

We had a bunch of guys on the meeting this morning. Sean and Marisa were asking questions about using sub inventory out in ecommerce. There are tons of different settings. Ecommerce was not designed for the customer to be super detailed, like they are inside the main system. Out in ecommerce, they just say something like - I want this and that. Behind the scenes we have to check packages, counts, quantities, and other availability. This makes it kinda interesting... We have to play in simple requests but record things in crazy levels of details.

Steve was helping to guide the discussion. He did a great job and it was fun to watch and participate. We ended up having Alan pop in and go through things. As he was talking, I was scribbling down notes, ideas, and such. There are so many moving parts and pieces. All part of the same game or same puzzle.

We got into some Metrc and state compliance issues and needs. We ended up checking out some data for a client. They had added things, removed things, set things to inactive, voided things, and adjusted quantities using adjustment tools in the system. A complex series of events and timing. Also, different things done by different people. Thank goodness for histories being kept and maintained by the system. We ended up having Sean and Marisa do some fixes and then reach back out to the clients to let them know (passing on the knowledge and info - training).

Putting in another plug for a couple of other things that we still need to build out and/or refine a bit:

- We need to add a history table for sub inventory. The table already exists, but has not yet been wired up. That would really help.

- A quick search tool for RFID tags, media/content (files and links), and sub inventory attributes and packages (batches). The quick search already exists, we just don't have those things listed in the available search options. That would be really cool.

- The story about what is happening is so important. Eventually, it will end at a certain state or status, but what happened to get it there is huge. That's where the history and story comes in.

- We added more to the known issues report and known issues list. This will become part of the master code branch so that we can gather up ideas and such. We are hoping to get this report and tool out soon. Still under construction, but coming. Yeah!

- Steve is doing awesome on JIT (just in time) project management and delegation. Super fun to watch him work today.

- Steve and Kelly were on a meeting earlier today - as part of that meeting, they were using elements of time (calendar objects) to schedule recipe/builds to happen on certain days (production). The elements of time hit the calendar and the individual elements of time had links to fire off or do certain recipes on certain days. Creative use of both tools and mixing them together. As a side note, we are seeing elements of time being used more and more to coordinate and orchestrate different pieces as needed. So powerful!

-  There is a value of group trouble shooting and putting the puzzle pieces together. Not too many, but enough!

- Some of the jobs and tasks require planning and even pre-planning.

- We deal with moving targets all of the time - static (non moving) vs dynamic (constantly moving)

- Out in ecommerce, we have different levels. Inside the system, we help take the users into deep waters, based on permissions. However, out in ecommerce, we need to keep it simple (customer view and customer level), yet eventually we need the deep water info. What do we automate and what do we leave or make as a human type interaction? There is a balance and not situations are the same. Wouldn't it be cool if we could virtually setup the data assembly line with automated tasks and manual entry tasks. We can do that, but we have to be involved every time. Wouldn't it be cool if we could build the tool to help configure things as needed and have it all tied into the big picture software package or system app. Let's keep working towards that!

Meet with Steve McNew via GoToMeeting. Steve M. lives in Colorado and is a retired software engineer and project manager for US Air Force level project and contracts. He is going to be helping Steve Berkenkotter (normal Steve) and I out with taking things to the next level.

Brandon (myself) has a seven page document that goes over a bunch of questions and ideas that Steve M. was proposing and pitching. Much of the meeting today was going over that document. Here are some of my other notes:

- Pull in some nuggets from other places

- Base line assessment – top down and bottom up

- Finding the low-cost solutions and putting those pieces in to play

- We do have a place for the docs to land and be housed – docs, reports, standards, forms, checklists, letters, updates, etc.

- Steve M. has some possible samples – may need to be sanitized (from other projects and other clients)

- Capture some of the proof of concepts, prototyping, risks/approaching, telling the story, R&D – we already do tons of this... maybe bring it more into the forefront of what we are doing and even marketing

- Model based engineering

- Throw a few things around and see what fits

- Connecting the dots – lots of existing pieces, let's just start connecting the dots

- As we connect these dots – how can we turn this into marketing?

- Some migration stories – where are we headed, where were we, and where are we now?

- Layering the big picture

- Trade studies – why do you do what you do? Prove it and/or show the reasons

- Finding our own mix of methodologies

- Steve M. will throw things at us and we'll judge and respond

- Letting some of the things rise to the surface and even showcase things

The following are a few URL's (web pages) that we used while talking. Some fun things:

https://www.adilascontent.biz/top_secret/images/corp748_EA81FBBDE6/pdf/doc_144771_AF2CA12EDB.docx - starting of a plan for our company

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/help.cfm?id=393&pwd=map - help file and diagram of the interactive map - inside look at adilas

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/help.cfm?id=479&pwd=core - help file and diagram of the core interface and world building concepts

https://www.adilascontent.biz/top_secret/images/corp748_EA81FBBDE6/pdf/doc_81817_A099C1744F.xlsx - versions of adilas

Emails and recording notes.

Reviewing a 7 page document from Steve McNew - internal consultant and software process engineer. I have a copy of the document saved on my local computer. Some new and exciting things. Mostly a structured refinement of some of concepts, methods, and practices. Trying to become more structured and standardized in our approaches and philosophy.

I also had a half an hour phone call with Steve Berkenkotter. Part of it we were going over the document from the other Steve (software consultant), talking about funding, and what are the next steps for us as a company. We talked about scale, stepping up to the next level, allowing others to help handle small teams and sub projects, and concepts of the data assembly line.

We keep seeing a need for things to be open and flexible, then coming together and getting more rigid, and then expanding and contracting again, over and over. This same process will be needed as we go up the chain, clear into aggregated or master systems at the enterprise levels. These are the virtual flex bubbles or flex pods that we keep seeing. It all comes back to the data assembly line type concepts. Kinda fun to see it go full circle and even to keep expanding beyond the simple transactional corporations and worlds. "O|O|O" (pretend that those are little flex pods or flex bubbles - the O's are the flexible or open areas (based on phases and permissions), the | (pipe symbol) is the checkpoint or divider for the next level.

More info on the data assembly line concepts - help file

Going over questions and projects. Lots of talk about normal barcodes (2D and older barcodes) vs QR codes and moving more into that direction. We are running into issues with traditional barcodes due to how much is being crammed into such a small space. Eventually, you are pushing up against limits and restrictions. We want to keep moving toward the next logical step(s). We want to virtually skate to where the puck is going to be (thinking hockey).

We also talked about sizes of corporations and how much they impact others on their servers. They may have started out as smaller entities but they have grown. They, some of our clients, are now starting to impact their neighbors (virtually on the different servers) due to their size and load that they add to the servers. We need to put our foot down, help them make the changes that are needed, and then let them know that this is what their bill will be. We have a few big dogs that are still in the shared environment, they really should be on their own or at least in a semi-dedicated environment.

There was some talks about moving data over to the deep freeze and what those costs would be. It doesn't cost much to put it over there, but it does cost to get it back out. We need to keep that in consideration.

We also talked about a current/future project called the datasource project (world building project - older code name). This would allow for multiple databases per code server. We could then mix and blend as needed on both code servers and database servers as to who services who and how many.

Our core costs have gone up, including the storage of our client's data. Costs seem to be going up across the board. We actually hurt ourselves by trying to stay the same. It's no longer the same thing. We need to adapt.

Meeting with Steve over a GoToMeeting session. We were talking shop and going over budgeting and funding and different things. Here are some of my notes:

- CAS Accounting - Client Accounting Services - aka compliance and oversight - new accounting buzz word and service offerings - Basically, the client run a system and then the CPA's provide oversite and guidance

- Offering full services to our clients - setup, consulting, data imports, training, servers, IT, development, custom, design, etc.

- Steve was talking about how he describes the "inventory stack" - 3D inventory stack - relational model

- On parts and items, parent categories - can cross over between part categories

- Looking back, we used a thing called "usage classes" for stock/units - basically a way of adding flags and tags - being able to search by those things

- 2D vs 3D - searchability 2D (this or that) or searchability 3D (this, this, that, or whatever) - allowing for a deeper search or more a connected story based look at numbers and values.

- We are doing more deployment stuff - working more on that - that is awesome. We used to always push that work out to outside or independent reps and consultants

- Just an idea - having Brandon and Steve be a bug fixer - Monday through Thursday - have Alan cover Fridays

- I'll run some projects and Steve will run other projects

- Setting goals for our guys on what they could generate coming back in - see excel spreadsheet - budgeting both inbound (what we/they bring in) values and outbound (what we pay out) values

- Even though we do custom... what if we switch the focus and just keep building out the main core? This is always been a question. Often, we spend a lot of time that we could be building our own thing out, but instead, we build a one-off for a different client or need.

- We are getting pulled toward big... we like small, medium, and even maybe medium/big but not really big

- Our clients are pulling us - keep following that - we have both static clients and dynamic clients - the static clients take what they are given and run with it - the dynamic clients want changes and push for those pieces and features - straight up, the static clients are easier to manage - the dynamic clients are harder to manage, but they bring an element of life to the game - interesting

- Selling more dedicated servers - start on a shared environment and then moving to dedicated as needed

- Talks about the datasource project (aka World Building) - 100-150 hours still needed - able to scale both up and down - mix and blend code servers and database servers and able to move and load balance things better

- The best team that we have ever had - keep building and pushing

- Linking small building blocks together - nothing super crazy, just mixing small pieces together

- Moving more towards estimates vs bids

- Build in some training - not getting outdated or into the burnout zone

- Prices keep going up - we need to follow suite - passing on the cost increases

- Diminishing rates of return - trying to figure out new things - (in space - an ink pen won't work - will a pencil still work, let's use that)

- There was an original email dated back in July - Cultivation report for Ianthus

- Suzi and Philip from Ianthus were on the call - there were quite a few adilas folks on the call.

- Cultivation mapping - done by Dustin

- When a plat it changed from one phase to other phase, you auto populate those fields.

- They have some custom fields (sub inventory attributes) that they want auto filled when certain actions happen - changes of specific phases

- Maybe setting up which sub inventory attributes show up based on what phase. Also, does one or more of them have (sub attributes) a mapping from other data that is being entered up higher. It may take some more mapping. We may want to show/hide certain sub attributes based on the phases. That means we need to go through the process and really detail out what is shown and what is hidden. Along those same lines, they would love to set it up so that if a sub attribute is being shown, it can get a value or its data from one or more spots (other user entered form values). 

- Currently, some of the info that they are wanting to catch (automatically) is dealing with dates and sub dates.

- As a side note, because we allow each corporation build their own sub attributes, we then have to be able to show/hide and map out these pieces as they go through the different phases. The eventually need all of this data, but we are showing so many fields, it makes it more difficult. We are catching all of the data right now, it just isn't organized (visual report or visual form) to make it easy.

- Another thing that they were talking about was getting to those sub attributes later on - other reports  and passing that data along to other places.

- Just an idea... what if we build a phase builder type app - these would be settings, user controlled, and allow you to setup a single phase, what data to gather (maybe a point and click interface to setup what will show up), then the ability to setup defaults, show/hide fields, what to default things to, other data mappings, etc.

- There were some talks about back filling the data - separate tasks going backwards. Along with that, if we back fill things (update the data), we also need to build it going forward so it becomes an automated process.

- Eventually, they were getting into the nitty gritty details of each phase. The start of one phase sets certain values, the end of a phase closes things down (other actions) and also starts the next phase. We need to detail out each phase. I'm just dreaming here, but virtually a way to setup pods or sections of a virtual data assembly line process.

- The first phase would be a backfill type report - able to do things in bulk. They were talking about being able to select a PO date range and then applying specific dates to all line items on the PO. There were also talks about a PO number range.

- Light talks about required sub attributes and optional sub attributes.

Wayne and I started working on the WordPress stuff and getting the adilas news and updates section tested and deployed. All was going well and we pushed up some new code. For about half an hour, no problems... all of the sudden, we had alarms going off right and left. We had flooded the new WordPress server and it was totally maxed out. We quickly tried to remove the WordPress API socket connections to restore our servers. We don't know if it was just our own traffic or if it was under attack, but we buried that poor server. We got things recovered as quickly as possible. We are going to build in some better error handling and enforce better timeouts and number of attempts. Crazy stuff.

On a totally different note, while everything was going good and smooth... Wayne was showing Steve and others some of the home automation and fun things that he (Wayne) does when he is not working for adilas. Some really fun stuff.

As part of Wayne's demo and virtual show and tell, they were talking about 3D layouts, gaming, 3D printers, house plans, electrical circuits, etc. As they were talking, I was having this fun vision of using adilas to virtually layout and organize a business... just like a 3D layout program or a circuit schematic, what if you could layout out your business or business flow in such a fun visual manner... this talks to this, that flows over to that, these processes get done here, and these things get connected with these other things (very general but image real instruction and flow processes). I think it would be so cool if eventually, you could virtually setup a business to help map, layout, and illustrate the full flow of data and processes. It would be so cool to virtually watch as each piece of data went through the process. You could see the data, you could tweak and change it, you could correct it, you could approve it, you could allow it to move on, recycle, add options, or whatever. Think how cool that would be... almost a 3D virtual game (data assembly line) for the game of business.

That concept of a virtual game type layout and interface may be fun and could be part of the fracture project (future version of adilas). Build your own mock-up, build your own interface, custom configure just what you want and need, tailored to your business. See above.

Steve asked me to run some of the mini units ideas and options by Danny, as he missed out on our conversation the other day. We did lots of drawing, scenarios, and even some typing of what we were hoping to accomplish. Nice little brainstorming and planning session. This is kinda funny, but I was pitching the ideas on mini units like it was my current project. I kept defending certain ideas and concepts, yet nobody was defending an alternate point of view. I don't know why, but I felt like I was trying to pitch something that was being opposed and/or had a conflict. It turned out fine, just not sure why I was so motivated to get the ideas and concepts across. Kinda funny.

We ended up going into options for the mini units and how they could be tied into packages of packages (cases, boxes, crates, etc.), media/content options (specific paperwork per mini unit), and tons of options on flow for how those mini units would flow through the processes (data assembly line and flex bubble stuff). This ended up sending us on a tangent to talk about the order, invoice, fulfillment, and shipping processes. Lots of ideas about bringing things in, tracking and recording inventory, selling items internally, and also selling items externally or through ecommerce. Certain places have subs, sub processes, data entry, uploading documentation, gathering other info, etc. Each side of that story (receiving, stocking, selling, shipping, etc.) all have different needs dealing with the same mini unit or serialized items. Very interesting.

We got into what some of the reports may look like, how to find and filter the records, we also talked about bulk ways to look and match-up those extra details (serial numbers per mini unit). We got into 1-to-many-to-many-to-many relationships. It got kinda deep in places. Build what is needed to track it all the way through. Very interesting.

Steve and Sean were also talking about tracking backorders and using quotes (orders), invoices, and monitoring the fulfillment of those orders. We got into concepts of joiner tables out in database land. A joiner table is a table that creates relationships between different objects. The subject for this meeting was quotes, quote line items (aka the order), and how those were fulfilled on one or more invoices, and invoice line items. We talked about ways of using a joiner table to monitor those relationships and fulfillment needs.

Good meeting, lots of concepts, pitching, planning, and drawing.

Steve and I spent an hour talking about ideas, key reps, key consultants, what they are doing that we like, what we could work together on and where things are headed. I was taking some notes on a separate Word document. Good stuff.

From Steve - "flex bubble" or "flex bubbles" - concepts of mini steps (bubbles or pods) to make a whole (aka processes) - parts of the data assembly line concepts - dynamic settings and user (data) driven settings. Help them build their own phases and processes - super simple. Think of a process where you are able to say... by the time we are done, I want this, and this, and that... Then setup the steps or phases to get that done. All through settings and basically a simple point and click build process to format and formulate the correct steps in the process. That would be so cool.

Keep finding people who want to play! Lots of great talks about who we are looking for and what piece they bring to the puzzle. Fun conversation.

Danny, Sean, and Steve were on the meeting when I joined this morning. They were talking and touching base on things. I was doing emails and trying to get caught up with small to do list stuff. Here are a few notes that I gleaned just from listening.

- Keep building and connecting the pieces - take the next logical step.

- The deeper we go, the more we are seeing elements of time being an underlying foundation or under weaving of almost everything we are doing. Maybe keep exposing that and building towards that. We've always know it was there (foundation of events and objects over time) but maybe keep pushing that connection and foundation piece.

- Have the attitude, let's figure it out. We keep getting hit with more and more questions, what if's, wouldn't it be cool if's... etc. Well, let's figure it out!

- If you find the pain, then look at the tools that you have, and build a solution to fit.

After that, we changed course and started to talk about a project with a gun manufacture. They need to track gun registrations and RMA (return merchandise authorization) stuff. We invited Chuck on to the meeting and took a bunch of great notes. See attached.

- In this meeting, there was a lot of talk about the data assembly line concepts and how it would be super cool if we could do the limited flex grid type approach for flex grid as well as elements of time. Imagine a small and simple form with only a couple of key values, you submit it, and the next time you need to do something (say another phase or process), the small and simple form could keep track of where you are at and only show you the new limited fields that you needed. That would be so cool. Almost a generic process or phase builder. You pick what you need at what phase and then as you walk through the phase, you only get presented what you really need at that time. That concept may be worth exploring more. Think data assembly line for data, based on settings, templates, phases, and underlying processes (tasks to do and/or record). Simple, step-by-step processes with a powerful and dynamic backend so that the frontend looks super simple (trained monkey could do it - in theory). That would be pretty cool.

Steve and Sean going over sales stuff. They were talking about the Apple Model and how someone greats you when you come in and then you could be helped by someone else by going through some sort of simple queue type process. Danny checked in. After that, we helped Steve with his local environment. Both Dustin and John Maestas checked in. Some small intros were made and what not. John is Dustin's friend. John is just getting going with us on some development projects.

They then started to talk about different versions and generations, for example: generation 3 or generation 4, etc. Dustin has been responsible for some of the new versions out in cultivation land and what not. It is fun to see the progress and the changes over time.

After these guys left, we went into a sub meeting of sorts and worked through some things. Sometimes, our clients, want industry specific processes that are fully built out and completely industry specific (super narrow focus and/or paths to choose). As we were talking, we ended up talking about drawing out the processes, pretending to do simulations and different use cases. We also talked about being proactive vs reactive  and/or passive. We really want to help our users out and then let them help us refine it vs waiting completely on the client's input. Sometimes they don't know what is possible, they tend to stick with what is set in front of them.

Often, our clients don't realize that we can customize it (tweak or refine the processes). That seems really trivial to us, but thinking in custom code (what is possible) is a skill. The deeper we go, the more we are seeing that all of our layouts need to be fully customized or customizable and based on settings. That sounds awesome, but that adds a whole other level of complexity. Small and skinny yet totally data driven.

We need to get back to the limited flex grid pages. Make it slick and skinny. We are already using it for Beaver Mountain, but want to make it good to go for all of our clients. This would be so cool, but it will take some more work. Having said that, we really really want to get back to this. The limited flex grid is a way of setting up custom fields and dynamically populating a really small add/edit form that only shows what they want or need vs all of the possible fields.

As a side note, the flex grid table has over 40+ different fields that we can and do use for different things. Imagine is you could setup a simple form that only had 5-6 of those custom values. It then becomes really simple vs too big or too overwhelming. The goal is user defined simplicity, yet still being fully connected and powerful. If needed, we could always flip over to a full or more extended mode if some other field or value is needed. It is almost like layering the interface and the data. Super simple on the surface, but deeper or more rich as needed (layering).

We got off into communications and dealing with outbound messages, communication options, and getting people connected to the correct sub or special pages (combo of communication and navigation options).

Next, we got talking about building out custom skins (wrappers of the logic and data) and how that plays into the mix. We did some light pitching and talking about different packaging and marketing options. Some of the subjects that we chatted about were things like ski area, gun shooting lanes, classes, and then working with people in those industries to build and test out products and services. Basically, have or get a dream, build it, and then use people who are in that industry to test and give feedback on interface, navigation, user experience, flow, and functionality requirements.

On the marketing and sales side, if we have someone who is using our product in a specific industry, that testimonial does tons for helping others in that industry to be willing to jump on board. We have also found that if we find someone who is in an industry and they are willing to help, provide feedback, beta test, and give ideas... that is like gold and helps the process get smoother and smoother. It is amazing how a little bit of icing makes the cake look that much better.

Expanding into other horizons, we really want to do this. Our conversation circled back around to the dream it up, push on it, and we'll help you wire that up type model. You dream it up, we'll wire it up. Making things simple, powerful, and easy. Awesome words/phrases, harder to do, but possible. We also talked about opening our eyes and minds to what is possible. Being able to see and/or imagine is sometimes harder than you think. Once we can see it, the next phase is letting our users and clients catch that vision. Once you can transfer the vision, others start helping to beat that drum and making it happen. Share the vision!

As we look at the MVP (minimal viable product or minimal viable plan) type approach, we get pulled out of the dream land and back into - what are the next step or steps that need to happen. You can't lose sight of the goal, but you also have to make it work (along the way) vs just the dream at the end of the tunnel. Having said that... one thing that has been very successful for us is... get them hooked on one aspect and then letting them go and start dreaming. They'll start putting the pieces together. You just have to get that process started. Sometimes with an MVP type approach and then let it grow from there.

Here are a couple of other topics that were discussed: saved reports and connecting to them, other future projects (fracture), reviewing topics listed above, automated and predictive logic, aggregates and quick starts, templates, build your own processes (data assembly line and flex bubbles or flex pods), and other topics. Good meeting. Lots of new ideas and also firming up some of the older ones that keep circling around.

Shannon was a great sounding board for me today. She often takes on that role and does a great job. Earlier this morning we had meetings on rules and regulations for accounting, a small question and answer session with an internal auditor, and a meeting dealing with servers, configuration, and custom project requests and needs. All over the place.

Here are some notes from our meeting today. It was pretty much all over the place as well. I guess that is us...

- Rules are part of the checks and balances. Having those rules in place create the checks and balances. Those rules help our company and culture to out live us. As needed, it is ok to keep changing the rules. Sometimes we feel like we have to nail it perfectly the first time... not so, we get to keep playing and playing and practicing as we go. That is super important.

- We play the game on a dynamic and changing playground - everyday.

- Talking about a rigid structure, like the internal audit we are conducting, do we want to be really structured or on purpose, be a more open type model?

- If we are trying to compare... our virtual boxes (where you store things and say, yes, that is done) are not a one and done type of box... our boxes sometimes takes days, weeks, months, and even years (plural).

- We are doing a lot of great things right now. Maybe just keep polishing and refining. A phrase that works for us is "tweaking" or micro adjustments.

- Often we try to be a perfectionist. That's hard for anyone to fill those shoes.

- A couple different models that are somewhat similar, if you look deep enough. The city on a floating platform powered by a core engine, a town that has a railroad or tracks helping to setup a town (a railroad town), the adilas jelly fish model (a cap of the monthly reoccurring business platform and all of the services that are needed to support that reoccurring monthly entity (code, design, consulting, training, project management, hardware, servers, data entry, other services). All of these models have a primary element that brings everything else together. Without the primary element, all of the other pieces would only exist by themselves as smaller independent pieces, there would be no need for grouping or combing assets and resources. That primary element is a big key to the puzzle.

- Shannon and I were talking about opposites. We said that a structured or linear format was one side of the puzzle. The other side of the puzzle was round or more all inclusive. Shannon kept using the word "sphere". Just for fun... think of one eternal round - not climbing a ladder but working and refining things all over the place - a sphere or data sphere type model.

- Going back to world building... If that is our goal, then a model of a sphere is perfect. Lots of different levels and pieces.

- What are our priorities?

- Seeking happiness vs full compliance. We talked about what drives people to work or do certain things. We brought up the points: some people work for money (pretty simple), some people may even work harder for other people (doing something for someone else), and some people may even work the hardest when they are driven by a cause (some form of deep passionate form of motivation more that other people and money).

- Our next few topics got into some mental factors that sometimes get overlooked. Such as fulfillment, progression, being able to take away comparison, and being ok with our own skin. That word comparison sure can add a lot of stress and pressure.

- Going back to the sphere concept, not an up or down, able to work on different levels and layers of the whole. All of the pieces of the puzzle are important.

- Concepts of the data assembly line - time based, checkpoints, flex bubbles, depth, permissions, advancing the ball as needed, ability to add in flex.

- Compassion to self and others - that is a huge thing. Be a little kinder, show some compassion.

This is sort of silly... but Shannon and I talk a lot about adilas and business principles in our meetings. We also end up talking a lot about just life in general. Maybe that's why we enjoy these meeting so much. It's a great time to reflect, learn, and express where things are at. Good stuff. I wouldn't trade it. I love it.

8/24/2020: The datasource project and splitting up the databases – help with load balancing. 50-100 hrs. It could be more like 1,000 hours. Somewhat unknown.

This project is also known as the bus to motorcycle project, world building, or the datasource project. 

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/time_web_gallery.cfm?corp=748&id=6726 - This is a list of 3 of the big projects that need to be done before we can get into database clustering and data server (web server) clustering.

Shannon joined at 11 am and we wrapped up the prior meeting. Eventually, only Wayne and Shannon were on the meeting. These are a couple of notes that I got from Wayne. He is hitting walls and boundaries on the servers. He wants to keep pushing them forward and tuning them, but he needs the following three projects done:

1. We have two really big tables that need to be pared down. He wants to consolidate some of the fields into objects of settings. Currently, we have hundreds of settings, all in their own database fields and columns. That is ok, but it makes the tables so big that we can't change the database table engine from MyISAM tables to InnoDB tables. This is all related to different table structures on the MySQL database model. MyISAM tables are an older model and if a lock happens, it locks the entire table. The InnoDB tables are more modern and if a lock happens, it is on a line by line level vs a full table lock. There are also some performance options as well as security pieces that differ between the database table engines. Long story made short, Wayne wants us to prep things in order to convert everything to InnoDB tables.

2. Some of our databases are getting huge... Gigs and Gigs worth of data. That is awesome and means that things are getting used, but because of the structure, we can't split and load balance things very easily. We have to physically pull systems off of one system and put them on their own system to do the load balancing right now. This is a very manual process. We have a project called the datasource project or splitting up the database (bus to motorcycles - world building) project. There have been multiple efforts in this direction, but we keep getting pulled off of things. This would be huge and would allow us to change the size and configuration of the databases. Small companies would only be dealing with their data vs being on a somewhat shared environment and dealing with all of the other bigger businesses traffic. You can't access the other companies data (virtual walls and sandbox type environments), but there is basically other traffic from neighbors who are on the same server. In order to grow, like we would like to, we need to fix this.

3. The way we store files, images, and media/content limits our growth model. We allow systems to store and record information directly back to our boxes. That works great for single servers. However, if you plan on clustering and/or stacking servers, to get more power, that placement of those files and assets needs to be addressed. There are tons of other entries in the developer's notebook about media/content, servers, paths, and storage locations. It works great right now, but it also is somewhat limited in the scalability of those pieces. A single company won't see the limits, but the more companies that you get on there and playing with some of the same resources, that's where you see some of the scalability issues starting to show up. Some of those same limiting factors also prevent the clustering, stacking, and auto load balancing pieces. We need to figure out a way to store the files, images, and media/content assets in a place that is configurable vs hardcoded or built in to the app or software package.

As a side note on the file storage stuff, Wayne has some code that he was working on when we were kicking around the AWS (amazon web services) stuff. We may be able to harness some of that work and effort to make this happen.

Wayne wanted to know what are plans are for these 3 projects. I told him that I would email Steve and Cory and see what they say. Without putting anybody under the bus... we've known about some of these projects for years. We push on them here and there, but we haven't really finished up any of them yet. That's where it gets hard. We can't control all of the other variables (time, money, other projects, other demands, etc.). It's a challenge.

////////////////////////////////

Switching other to what Shannon and I were going over...

Lots of moving pieces and we are getting internal pressure to stabilize and standardize certain pieces. We have had quite a few of our key players state that we've had meetings and meetings and keep rehashing the same pieces with no changes. That gets really frustrating.

Currently, Steve and I's approach has been to keep chipping away at things and wearing multiple hats, all at once. Another analogy is spinning plates on a stick... We spin what we can and hopefully the other plates keep spinning. Sadly, we are dropping some of the plates here and there. There is a disconnect between what is needed (on a management level) and who is playing and what time is available. We are doing the best we can, but we really need some help.

Shannon and I met and talked about maximizing vs optimizing. We tend toward the maximizing side of things. That is pretty natural. We also talked about setting up a MVP (minimal viable plan) dealing with our management structure and business model. Shannon and I are going to be working on a business plan, but that could take weeks and weeks (months) to tighten up and finalize. We may need an MVP type approach for the time being.

As part of that, we are thinking of proposing the adilas jelly fish model as the current plan. Our goal would be to keep firming it up and moving into a more structured environment. We would like to specify lead dependables and cofounders in certain areas. Those would be the adilas team leads for the different areas and/or virtual departments. I think we could establish this type of an MVP plan for our business model pretty quickly.

Shannon and I also talked about a couple of the current hang-ups that we are seeing and facing. There is pain in transitions some times. Nobody wants to take on the full load, if they really know what is going on, due to it's size. Shannon and I chatted about pairing people up and almost doing a buddy type system to help with managing the different areas. We may need to mix and blend to create our teams. Some of those teams already exist, but they are very loose level teams. The goal is to firm that or those pieces up a bit. I think that would help.

Sometime "titles" have become a barrier. For example: nobody wants to be the main boss, the top executive, the full owner, etc. We may need to stick with words and phrases like: founders, cofounders, advisors, mentors, trustees, dependables, etc. Along with this... Shannon said, you guys love to create new terminology, why not do the same thing for what position you hold.

Good ideas coming in from all of the people around us. We need to keep coming up with our own company structure. Along with that, we need to decide and try things. It's ok to change it up later on. Nothing is set in stone. Think phases, pick and choose, and try storming type mentalities.

Shannon and I reviewed this previous element of time (#5295) and the drawings attached (scans and handwritten notes) to get some notes and it helped us go through a great discussion.

Monday morning. There were 4 of us on the meeting to begin with. Later on, Wayne joined as well. Steve and Sean were talking about sales. Danny jumped on and has some questions about code repository stuff (Git and bit bucket). We also went over projects, touching base, server stats, sales tools and backend server stuff. As part of the sales stuff, Steve had me show Sean what we were working on for the presentation gallery and what the status of that project is or was. Good stuff.

Once Wayne joined, we jumped into a number of other topics including:

- Breaking up the databases and dealing with the single sign-in or single access login. World building and adilas café stuff.

- Manual and automated load balancing

- The concept of the value add-on core model - with different rings to denote the other levels of add-on value pieces. We have determined at least 5 levels as of right now. 1. Core, 2. Business vertical or industry specific, 3. Custom level, 4. BI or Business Intelligence level, and 5. Enterprise or multiple corp(s) level. Each of those value rings has to be purchased and serviced. You have to have the transactional data core to get it started, but anything beyond that, is extra or a value add-on piece. Very configurable.

- Speaking of configuration stuff - We need to be able to configure the servers in or at the enterprise level as to who they serve, how many instances per box, and where they point. All configuration type details, but on the server levels.

- Wayne was explaining a bunch of terms and how things work on the VPS (virtual private servers) realm. Somewhat of a controllable shared space based on settings, needs, and what not. As part of this discussion, Wayne used an analogy of a fleet of cars/vans/trucks for lease by a company. The company that is using them does have to worry about the tires, paint, and repairs, they just have to use them and pay for gas. We did a similar analogy with what we are offering on the server/IT/tech side of things. Our clients just want it to be done and handled, we have to figure out what the configuration is, for their IT/server needs. Is that 3 web servers and 2 database servers or is it a cluster of web servers, a dedicated content server, and a cluster of database servers. All configuration pieces. We need more control of what and how we set things up (server configuration options).

- Steve and Wayne got into monitoring servers and how that too could be a value add-on service. They spent some time inside of pingdom.com and talking about packages and options for both monitoring servers, uptime, and page/user specific processes and flow. Once again, it got back into value add-on services and being able to offer those add-on or add-in services.

- There was some talks about persons who could reset servers and some training that might be needed there. Trying to get everybody who needs it, ready to help.

- As we, adilas, incur a direct cost, we need to be able to pass those costs on to our clients. Wayne used the term "transfer" direct costs to our clients. More add-on service stuff.

- One of the next steps for us is in the performance and reliability side of things. We really want to be able to optimize our code and split up our databases. That would help a lot. Once again, more configuration options and settings on the code and server levels. 

Working on a business plan with Shannon. We went over a document that we got from Russell that had some outlines for mission statements and other things. Just trying to get ideas and figure out where we want to go.

We liked a term that Russell had in his mission statement. It was "business grade software package". That had a good ring to it. We took some notes on our brainstorming session and talked about what we want for our mission statement. We talked about putting the words "business grade" in front of some of the things that we are doing. For example: business grade world building or business grade data assembly line, etc. Just having fun.

Russell and I merged in some code and then talked about projects. We also spent some time talking about fracture stuff (where we are headed). Russell has a lot of good information there and has a dream and a vision already in his head. I'd love to capitalize on that see if we can get those ideas out of his head and on paper and/or recorded somewhere. Here are just a few things...

- Russell really wants to organize the core with specific sections. He has a drawing that he does to explain some of the pieces. Basically, imagine a center core that is round. On the top and both sides, there is a known slot where something may be inserted into it. Imagine a slot for special logic and/or a controller. Another for classes and/or a model (structure of the objects and pieces). And yet another for the visual or view portion. Somewhat of an MVC (model, view, controller) type model.

- Relating to the core with special insert points, each of the insert pieces (logic, view, what) would allow for both industry specific code and custom code. Basically, You set the core up so that it can and is able to handle things (code, views, logic, other objects) that change the core without hurting the core.

- Along those same lines, for fracture, Russell would like to have two different types of API's - One would be a rest (URL or path based) API. The other API socket would be for things like graph QL or some other type of API socket.

- One of the goals of this new interface and/or application would be to have the ability to reach out to other industries and be able to swap out the pieces to virtually make the application or platform switch clothes or be able to change as if the application was switching clothes and/or modes of operation. Dynamic core, known plug-ins per industry, and ability to flip/flop without affecting the core. On purpose built that way.

- What if we could... be able to... handle all custom needs? Be able to handle all industry specific needs and all core needs? That would be a very flexible and dynamic architecture and/or design. We want to head in that direction.

- We used to say something like... You dream it up, we'll help you wire it up. What if you could say, Dream it up, you wire it up? Basically, give the power to wire it up to the persons who are using it... That would be so cool. Real live world building and/or setting up their own data assembly lines. That would be super cool.

- Headless CMS (content management systems) - Headless CMS storage for your data. We offer a huge and configurable database and backend app or toolset. You get to decide how you want to use it and what you want to do with it.

- Along those same lines... if we want to reskin the app for a different industry, we do the same thing that our users do, we just do it in bulk to accommodate more than just one company at a time (think bulk setting changes and/or industry specific themes or modules). It is still a headless CMS storage system for your data and your business flow. It just deals with are we configuring it or are you (as a company or user) configuring it. We both use the same tools.

Steve and Sean were on the meeting when I got in. Steve introduced Sean Carlton who is going to be doing some sales stuff for adilas. Eric joined in and all three of us, Steve, Eric, and I spent some time getting to know Sean. Steve's goal was to introduce Sean to a few of the adilas players as a sort of flavor or culture type thing.

Eric and Sean were talking about using standard internal solutions and tools vs mixing tons of outside 3rd party solutions. Sean has worked for companies that have used adilas for the last ten or so years (experienced user). Eric was able to talk about pros and cons on the 3rd party solutions and what not. Lots of options, sometimes it is hard to figure out what path to choose (internal, external, mix, hybrid, etc.).

This was kinda funny, but at one point, they had been talking about internal vs outside 3rd party solutions, and Eric said "there are lots of little rabbit holes like this where you could spend hours and hours, all around adilas." I thought that was kinda funny, but true. Eventually the topic switched to the beauty of a fully integrated solution and/or system. Many of the current adilas users may not even know that certain things exist. That lack of knowledge makes it so that even some of our current clients are not using adilas as effectively as they could be, due to lack of knowledge and knowing what is already there and/or in the works. Things change daily.

One of the challenges is letting people know what we have and keep improving along the way. It is never done - at least it seems that way. The lungs can't tell the heart it is not doing a good job because they (the different body parts) each do different things... like a system and all the systems inside of the body. Lots of moving pieces. That is both a challenge and a blessing.

Towards the end of the morning meeting, Steve was talking and pitching pieces of the adilas culture to Sean. It was fun to listen to him pitch it and hear how it works from his point of view. We do have a unique company culture.

As a take away, it is very common for almost all companies out there, that they are trying to mix 4-6 (or more) different software solutions and packages to try to make everything work. The pain comes in the mixing, crossing, double and triple entry, and dead ends that each of those 4-6 different packages bring to the mix. We at adilas are actively trying to build a single system that handles everything in an integrated system type environment. That is where we are headed. We are calling it world building or business world building. Our goal is to follow the data assembly line type concepts and enter the data once, at the point of action, and then let it flow until it completes it full life cycle (dates, checkpoints, permission, phases, states, and status stuff). Catching and recording the story of the data as it unfolds and then passing it on to the next step in the cycle or life cycle. That's where we are heading. Good stuff.

Shannon and I spent the session working and formatting the presentation gallery outline. We also tried to add some new images to help break-up the space as well as a small intro into business world building (towards the bottom of the page). See attached.

Here is some text on world building. Just for fun.

Moving Toward Full World Building

If you cut through all of features and bullet points above (pretend you are looking at all of the presentation gallery outline stuff) the end goal and idea is for you to be able to solve any of your business needs. A good portion of what we offer and peddle are hope, vision, potential, and making your dreams become reality. 

This is why we are trying to introduce world building. The concepts of 3D World Building or Business World Building have been in the works for years. Adilas didn't start out with world building as the main goal. It kind of evolved from just taking one step after another, trying to solve our own business needs. 

The goal is not just the operations, accounting, or the data. The goal becomes capturing the story with all of the details and interactions. It is the story that brings the dates, times, numbers, locations, and groups together. 

Mixing all of the pieces together gives the values (data) or players (characters - pretend like it is a game) life or almost a personality. For example: Say all you know is we have $5,000 on 25th of October. That doesn't mean that much if that is all you get. But if you knew that the $5,000 on the 25th of October came from 20 different invoices at a single location that were collected and then deposited by John. That helps tell the story. Say you also had all of the underlying details of what each invoice was holding, what each customer bought or purchased, how much money was paid and how much was still owed... You could see inventory levels, notes, histories, trends, states, statuses, and other important details. Now you are getting a story. That is the goal!

Shannon and I had a good session and talked about where we are going next. We've been working on the presentation gallery for weeks and months now. We are getting close to finishing that up, at least for this round. We determined that we will start planning and preparing for an important project for us called "fracture". This is the next level we want to take adilas to. It included concepts like: 3D building blocks, world building, data assembly lines, beautiful and configurable user interfaces, permissions & settings, and dynamic paring. Super cool stuff.

See the bottom of the attached document for some of our concepting and brainstorming. We want to present the vision of where we are headed. We want to start tapping into the raw potential of what we are doing. The potential of what we are working on is far greater than all of the code and pieces put together to date. The sum of the whole and where that could go... It's good, I want more... Good stuff.

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/help.cfm?id=483&pwd=building - help file that talks about world building concepts

Shannon and I did a session on the presentation gallery outline and doing some clean-up and formatting. Certain sections we will leave very basic and others will be more in depth. Trying to get a grasp of things without making it toooooooo big... (easy to do). See attached for our progress.

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/help.cfm?id=483&pwd=building - help file for world building concepts

Today is Memorial Day. Pretty quite on this front today. Steve and I were the only ones on the meeting this morning. We ended up chatting about enterprise and aggregated systems. We need to make sure that the traffic and flow of data can go in both directions - up and down (to master and from master). We also talked about tons of other topics and lessons learned. We are constantly refining our model, what we offer, and how we do things. Just part of the game.

Some of the topics that we were chatting about were things like:

- Flex bubbles and concepts of the data assembly line - trying to keep operations and accounting running parallel and allowing flex to enter the equation as needed. Bring things back together with checkpoints, permissions, dates, and known phases. 3D depth, stacking, and layering to record and let the story play out. Lots of data assembly line concepts.

- Helping our developers move from the snow owl theme towards fracture. We are currently working on a look and feel them of snow owl (just a name for the current version and look and feel). What we really want to do is keep building in such a way as to get to a future project called fracture. This is where everything starts breaking into smaller and smaller pieces that may be configurable and controllable. The whole thing keeps sub dividing. So, we plan on accepting that and are planning on capitalizing on that natural occurrence of things splitting into smaller and smaller pieces. Everything is headed into sub level of controls.

- As we move forward, what would that take and how does it roll out (current to future projects)? Trying to get our minds about how this whole thing will unfold.

- As part of the conversation, we were talking about how accounting and CPA's help keep things together, once operations have taken place. Eventually, everything ends up as accounting. If we can help in that process (from operations to accounting), that helps companies become more sticky (wanting and needing our products and services) through their accounting and CPA's.

- A big part of our job is pioneering the vision and bringing both operations and accounting together. It takes a lot of hard work, ideas, good data, and lots of dreams. Steve and I love the dreaming and brainstorming and problem solving parts of the puzzle. Good stuff.

- Once you get some motion and momentum, it seems to be easier to go in certain directions. Part of Steve and I's job is to help get things started and get that motion and/or momentum going in a good direction.

- We need to give Wayne some more power in order to do everything that he needs to. He is doing a great job.

- This is silly, but we went to the corp administrator page and talked about some older pricing and verbiage that was on that page. Here is some text from there. Just for fun...

Submitting Ideas, Custom Code & Developer Rates

The adilas staff are constantly adding to and improving our business platform. We love your feedback and ideas! Just email us or let one of our reps know if you have any needs or suggestions. Many of your ideas may be incorporated for free and then passed on to all other users and companies free of charge. This is how we share the love and give back to the community. A huge portion of the adilas platform has evolved from great ideas from different users like yourself.

When you submit an idea or suggestion it will go into the general adilas "to do list". We then pull from this list according to priority, time, and needs. There are no promises as to the specific timelines or release dates for when or if ideas will be used. All changes we make that come from our general to do list are completely free to everyone.

Entering the "custom" or "priority" level...

If you have a specific idea that needs priority or needs to be custom-built, just let us know! At this level, we do charge for these changes.

Here is how things work in the custom code arena... Adilas, LLC. retains all rights and possession of code, assets, functions, and features (including custom-built code). Your data is yours, but all of the code assets and code libraries belong to Adilas, LLC. As much as possible, it is adilas's goal to reuse, resell, and permission out new projects and features to other adilas users. This becomes part of the free upgrade process that all adilas users benefit from.

We use the following as our general guideline on rates and fees:

• Submitting An Idea or Suggestion - Absolutely Free! :)

• Hourly College Intern Time - Quote or $35 to $50/hour. This could be for either design or development work. This is great option that both saves you money and helps one or more college interns get the skills to pay the bills. Adilas interns work directly with the main adilas staff to get the work and projects done.

• Hourly Adilas Development Time - Quote or $100/hour.

• Custom Interfaces - Quote or $100 and up. A simple page with 10-15 buttons will run about $100. If it gets more involved, we'll give you a quote that fits your needs. We also allow you to literally "dream it up, and we'll help you wire it up!" We are happy to work with paper and pencil mock-ups, sketches, digital diagrams, or schematics, and even designs from 3rd party designers. No problem, we'll help you wire it up!

• Custom Data Imports (parts, inventory items, customers, vendors, etc.)
Quote or $100/hour. Most imports, from Microsoft Excel, come in between $100 and $200. You provide the data file.

• Simple Custom Documents or Forms
This could be any simple Adobe PDF file, custom report, MS Excel document, or CSV file. - Quote or $100/document. Advanced documents or processes are by quote only.

• Full Day of Development Time
Block of Time (at least 6 hours and up to a max of 8 hours) - Quote or $500/day. Must schedule with developers and get approval.

• Full Week of Development Time
Block of Time - 35-50 Hours - Quote or $3,000/week. Must schedule with developers and get approval.

• Full Week with a Developer Onsite
Up to 6 days at a time - Monday/Saturday - Quote Required - $5,000/week. Must schedule with developers and get approval. This option may also include a place to stay and airfare if needed.

• Full Project Match
Quote Only - We figure out a project together and Adilas, LLC. will match and/or exceed what you and/or others put into the project (possible group effort). We, at adilas, need to see a pretty good value in the projects or features that take this route. :)

These rates and fees are "ballpark" only... They are provided to help you get an idea of what is possible and to help you determine rough budgets. If you can dream it up, we'll give it a go and see what kind of magic we can do... We love this kinda stuff! Yee Haw! :)

As a reminder, the only required fees and costs to use adilas.biz are your normal monthly fees to use the system. All other costs are done at your consent to play in the custom code or priority arena.

Copyright © 2020 powered by adilas.biz

There were 5 people on the call when I got in. Each of them asked some questions and then eventually bailed out to work on their own projects. Here are some things that I pulled out of there discussions.

- What is the real purpose there? Thinking on a per page level. If that is known, that can really set the tone for the project - aka a focus. Basically, being more clear on the objectives and then sticking to it. That really helps. Idea was presented by both Russell and Danny.

- Some marketing ideas from Danny about free software and then charge for other pieces and/or services. He was talking about a product out there for music lovers and how the sound mixing software was free but they had to pay for specific hardware. Lots of options.

- Eric was talking about being able to build business processes. I would love to take that to the next level. Think how cool it would be if we could setup an area where people could build a business process, name it, setup defaults, determine layouts, requirements, and flow. Then, once those pieces are set and in place (saved), we then could show and use those real settings. Imagine being able to setup your own data assembly line and then the system helps you keep and maintain those business processes. If you need to alter something, you could go back and just tweak some of the setup pieces. That would be so cool.

- Talking about auto printing from the web and using a queue of sorts and then doing the print jobs based off of a service that monitors that queue.

- Talking about custom code jobs. How are jobs coming in and being completed? We have lots of independents and what is the plan for the adilas shop (dev shop) and the projects being passed through? Along those lines, we need to take care of the house. The house being adilas. Often, some of the independents do the work, they get paid, they move on, but they suck tons of resources from adilas without paying for any of those usages. Time, talent, and money are all resources... we need to make sure we are managing and taking care of those pieces.

- Eric was talking about rough estimates and how he likes to bid a project. If needed, he sets up an estimate and then says he bills by the hour regardless. If things get deeper, he then lets the client know that it will be different then the original estimate. It flips it back on the clients and they get to say yea or nay. It's a way to somewhat protect yourself.

Going over a big spreadsheet with Alan on the splitting up the database (world building) project. We went through things on his spreadsheet line by line and talked about scope, depth, and what each step would take. Some great conversations. We talked about testing, changing things, and cascading new changes. Some of our talks were going clear out to the universe, galaxy, cluster, and solar system levels. See attached for an older drawing of the universe levels.

Eventually we'll get things fully dialed in at those upper levels and we'll get back to world level (corporations) and location level (locations within a world) stuff. We also talked a lot about temporary steps for master corporations and sub corporations within their different solar systems (database stuff and who is connected to what).

Lots of talks between Brandon and Steve about the business consulting meeting that they had yesterday. Wayne was also on the call showing us reports and a few small questions about the new servers that we are setting up. Some of the topics in the meeting this morning were: sales ideas, recruiting the developers for ideas on sales, servers, world building, breaking up the databases (bus to motorcycles), multi-data sources, project management, internal projects, performance testing, VPS options, and how to help our clients get what they want - even if what they want is a more robust system with roll overs, mirrors, private environments, database redundancy, etc.

Lots of new brainstorming on the business function of reporting and what that means and does. Working on the outline for the presentation gallery. See attached.

Here were some of the main topics we are working on under reporting:

define the needs
catch the data
secure and store data
transform and progress
show and filter
reporting uses
quick search
dealing with time

simplify - one place to get your reports
you've been waiting for this
bridge the gap - between your business operations and your accounting
roll call - when you need them
live and searchable
remote access
onsite data entry points
cloudbased - access any time
real-time as it happens
always up-to-date
empower the people
customized for each user
hidden features based on permission
permission levels
enter once - use many
enter at the point of action
pass to the next step
if data is correct, let it flow
data assembly line principle
no limits
no data caps
unlimited
different corps within the same login
view at a glance
recent activity and history
automated reports with aging

Just for fun, here is another link to an older what is adilas.biz? flyer - It has some fun concepts that still hold true.

https://data0.adilas.biz/what_is_adilas.pdf - What is adilas.biz? flyer

Shannon and I were working on the presentation gallery outline. Our topic for the day was accounting. We got to a certain point and basically said "plus, plus, plus" meaning and it just keeps going. I was ready to stop and Shannon kept asking some great questions. Before long, we had more than double what we started with and were still going. I'm really glad that she kept asking questions and having us talk about things.

As a fun takeaway from our meeting, we talked about making conscience decisions and then sticking to those decisions. For example, we often say to people, sorry, but we do it this way vs that way (fill in the blanks). As Shannon and I were talking, we decided that we are not doing this because we have to or we got forced into something. This, what we do and why we do it, is a conscience decision and that's what makes us who we are.

See attached for our brainstorming document. You may have to scroll down to page 18-19 to get to the new brainstorming stuff on the business function of accounting. Just for fun, here are some of the ideas...

- We started out with basic stuff like: balance sheets, P&L's, user-maintained items, system maintained items, accounts receivable, accounts payable, aging, reimbursements, expenses, banks, inventory tracking, layaways, work in progress, loans, etc.

- Next we got into photos, media content, custom documents and ways of connecting with other outside file assets (documentation).

- Natural flow, flex grid tie-ins, payroll, people, deposits, invoices, customers, users, stock/units, floorplan, tons of reports and exports, bank reconciliation, etc.

- Slight switch to more concepts such as: operational lead accounting, mapping, roll calling, translating, where do the numbers come from (relationships and cause and effect options)

- Loyalty points, taxes, sales tax, withholdings, PO's, manufacturing, inventory tracking and manipulation, life cycles, going backwards and forward, and automation.

- Traditional vs non-traditional accounting

- System and how that makes a difference - everything is there and you can start to interconnect the pieces - digital storytelling

- We do accounting because we have good data - the accounting comes from the data

- Tons of permission levels and who gets to see what

- Accounts, ledgers, glossary, terms, and concepts

- Data assembly line, digital story telling, cause & effect, characters interact to solve trouble and problems, more relationships and building, maintaining, and in some cases destroying those relationships. Processes.

- Time - time is a huge piece of the puzzle

- How do we zipper operations and accounting together to close the gap between the two?

- How does the system handle roll call technology, who, how, what, and why???

- If someone can do their accounting by their own design and take it to their accountant (shoe box, spreadsheets, random records) - then why can't I create something that automates and maps out that process.

- We play according to the standards and the rules but we on purpose create the processes to get to those data points.

- Tradition - our biggest competition

- This is daily, real-time, sharing, no batching/waiting, managers and admin can look at things real-time, cloud based, editable, full history, audit trail, cause and effect, cart and horse, data drill-downs, proof behind your numbers.

- Why we chose to build in a non-traditional manner - because we see all the benefits and we want to keep going in this direction - conscience choice

- We are pioneering and we are on purpose creating tools that are proof of concept

- Crazy accounting things like phantom costs, funny money, slush funds, etc.

- Sub inventory and cost controls - perfect costing vs other costing models

- Normal revenue, COGS (cost of goods sold), gross profit, expenses, net profit, assets, liabilities, equity, retained earnings, etc.

- Future - we have a challenge and we build to solve that challenge that is before us - this is part of our accounting model

- Some people expect us to be completely done but we are not done - we are going to keep building and breaking, building and breaking. That is part of our model.

- You really need human input at certain places - decisions have to be made - you really can't automate some pieces.

- Ongoing development - bring your ideas - stone soup "Bring what you've got, throw it in the pot. We are making stone soup."

- Open to suggestions and new growth

- Things that drive change: pain, brick walls, burning platforms - all these pain points help to bring about change and new solutions

- Static vs dynamic - both flow and environment - things are built differently based on the conditions (static vs dynamic)

- Allow for updating inventory counts - how do you deal with theft, shrinkage, expiration dates, spoiling, and other inventory reconciliation stuff.

- In-store credit, accounts, discounts for terms, bonuses, games, vendor credits, etc.

- We give you the tools to play the game

- Accounts, sub accounts, locations, sub locations, phases, sub phases, etc. - details, layering, and stacking (aka space)

- Add notes to anything, able to add log notes and tie things together

- Track the story - the story is powerful - telling the story is your audit protection

- We can and do deal with multi-locational stacked models. We also deal with cross corp stuff and multi-worlds rolling up or down into the respective holding containers. It can get really deep and complex.

- We don't require you to do this... this, meaning how we do and track accounting, is optional.

- From Russell Moore back in 2016 - We can be a good companion with any other software package. Run any part of our application without using the pieces you don't want. We can feed information to any other software package you want to use. Adilas is a great companion software package for ANY business.

- Conflict management - it is okay to stand your ground. Be confident in what you have built and why you have built it that way. We are going in this direction! If you like what we are doing, great! If not, great, feel free to use some of our other products, services, or pieces if you would like. You do not need to apologize for things that are in line with your values and your vision. The vision helps us all work and succeed.

Anyways, fun brainstorming session. We will take these ideas and refine them into a section in the presentation gallery that deals with the business function of accounting. Great session and fun stuff.

Touching base with Alan, Steve, and Dustin. After a little bit, Steve, Alan, and I were talking about where we can go and what would those positions look like.

- Alan was talking about helping to break up some of the bigger projects into smaller and smaller pieces. And how he could and would like to help with some of the project management. Almost having individuals being small scale specialist in certain areas. Lots of small victories.

- Steve had a question, what about all of the small little things that keep popping up? Bugs, fixes, updates, and small maintenance issues. Some of those little things are really tough to manage (shear volume and switching gears every second).

- Sometimes we lose a lot of ground if we have to switch back and forth between too many projects.

- Currently we are all spread so thin... we can't get anything done quickly. Small talks about small teams and small sprints.

- Setting up expectations, meeting times, etc. Then following through on those pieces.

- We can really get some great on the job training going on. This will really help all of the pieces as we go forward.

- Steve was saying... maybe we have Cory be the door (gateway), she then communicates with Brandon and Steve and Alan. These three work together and talk with Wayne (server stuff) and then help and deal with the rest of the developer pool (all of the other guys and how deep the water is).

- Putting in shields, bouncers, and processes to help us say no, not yet, yes, or maybe. Some of those answers are tough, but it you have a shield, it becomes easier. You can virtually hide behind the process in a way. Drawing lines and setting up expectations. Healthy boundaries.

- Gaining victories by having our guys get their own victories (helping others and helping them get their projects done). Basically, a management structure in some ways.

- Data assembly line - set the expectations, really spend the time to check things out and do good progress reports and sign-offs, and then move forward as possible.

- Helping to remove obstacles from each others path and shielding each other.

Towards the end of the meeting, we had Alex and Cory join us. Each of them reported in and we fixed a small bug for Cory and pushed up the file.

Steve and I had a good session talking about options of creating a true solar system level system (using the world build and space analogy). We did some drawings, took a few notes, and looked at some older drawings and graphics. Here is a good reference for some older world building graphics - click here.

- Ice-down dates - We had a good conversation about this. What if we pull a general aggregate for revenue, cost of goods, expenses, assets, liabilities, and equity - then when they pull it, they can then push it. These aggregate totals would be on a per day per location and per category basis. At this point, when they pull these totals, we could allow them (the users) to lock things down on that day (the date could a date back in time, depending on when they pull the data). Basically, each day could virtually get a lock-down or ice-down date. If needed, they could unlock things and then lock them back down. Just ideas and we still need to figure out the particulars, but these were some more ideas from today.

- Parent/child >> in the solar system level - We have had a very good experience talking with people about parent/child relationships and how that plays into the mix dealing with inventory items and other stacked relationships. If you go far enough, eventually it gets out into grandparents, great grandparents, etc. Normal parent/child relationships exist all over the place.

- Solar system >> planets (transactional worlds) and the sun (enterprise or aggregate system). We were talking about what terminology works best for our solar system analogy. The solar system is made up of different worlds that are closely related and somehow interconnected either through the database or through a relationship (parent/child or brother/sister or something like that).

- In inventory, we have vendors & customers (high level), PO's & invoices (medium level), items (small level), parent/child items and relationships (smaller), mini conversions (even smaller or micro)... in the universe analogy we have solar systems, suns (controller world), planets (transactional worlds), locations, groups, individuals, data, etc. Almost everything goes from big to medium to small levels, depending on how things are grouped and/or shown.

- Top level mappings - corps, locations, vendors, part categories, expense types, deposit types, etc.

- Enterprise solutions >> who is your buddy and how is everything setup (structure)? We had some brief talks about how to set this up. For now, we will just hard code things and then introduce variables a little bit later on down the road. Eventually, there may be database records and even one-to-many relationships with what corp type (world style or world type setting), who are the players (buddy list), and which way does the data flow (up, down, bi-directional, etc.). More planning is needed.

See attached for some drawings

Steve, Russell, and I met to talk about some business options. Russell has been working on some prototype code that he wanted to pitch to Steve and I. The new code is really cool, but not all the way finished. We talked about a number of the concepts and they will be great additions and could be the base for some of the fracture stuff that we are planning. Here are some of my notes.

- Russell really wants to take what we have and restructure it into a more cohesive core. We build and build and stack and stack. Some of what Russell wants to do is take all of that, and re-make it in such a way that it becomes more mobile and modular. Same type functions, just change the backend core pieces to work better in the future. See attached for a small diagram (drawing) to help illustrate the concept.

- Russell really wants to fix and patch the current ship as well as start building a new and faster ship on the side. Enlarge our fleet, in a way.

- We build and break, build and break. That's how we keep learning and growing.

- We want the adilas core to be 80% of what people need and use all the time. The other percentage will be industry specific code and custom code per corporation and/or business.

- At some point, we bump up against a few tougher obstacles such as volume (quantity of records or quantity of choices) and up against evolving tech. Those two things seem to be a common thread.

- Lots of talk about using web components. This is where we make a small mini widget and then use it over and over again. The little widget holds the code and the logic, we just pass data to it and it knows what to do. Some places where we want to do web components or something like that are: Movable pieces to set up your own flow or virtual data assembly line (think of the cards on a Trello board). Media/content libraries - be able to upload items and then use for multiple places vs just uploading the same thing over and over. We also want to add drag-n-drop functionality and our own version of the data tables. Russell has more info and ideas. There are things that will end up playing in the fracture interface.

- We talked about the value of being in the know and having experience to go along with that. Huge key.

- One-to-many and using shared libraries and media/content galleries and libraries. We already have some of that (media/content remote references) but we want to make it more visual and spread it out more across the system.

- Building and using some tech and pieces from other companies like WordPress and Trello (cards, boards, and that type of interface). WordPress is a pretty deep CMS (content management system). Lots of good ideas. We'll end up with our own flavor of sorts.

- We want to keep making the tool better, prettier, faster, and more powerful. In Russell's words - Easy, Pretty, Powerful.

- As a side note, I wanted to record a saying that Russell said back in 2016. "Adilas is a great companion software package for any business." (4/13/16)

A few more items that need to be prioritized/quoted for clients.

Cory and I spent some time looking over custom projects and making plans. We decided, if it (the project) is big, we'll need to give the person a quote for the quote. Sometimes it just takes time and we have to cover that. Some projects are really quick and we can just suck that cost up internally. Other projects, it takes hours just to plan it out. Basically, if the project is big, we may need to give them a quote for making a quote, just to be fair and to do the real quote justice.

We did some training on elements of time and how that tool allows for data to be tracked over time. We got into light training about data assembly lines and how to set that kind of stuff up and use the existing tools.

We also did some training on doing corp roll ups (aggregated systems or enterprise systems). We looked at ideas for multiple corporations, a controller entity, and how to move financial data between those corporations. All of it is manual entry right now, but totally possible. Eventually, the goal would be to automate the whole thing and make it super easy and real time.

The other topic that we talked about and did some training was stacked accounts receivable. This is when more than one party is attached to an invoice. Say for example, a controller corporation (mother corp) has a number of daughter corporations. The daughter corporations extend credit to one another but the main mother or controller corporation needs to pay the actual bill. We talked about one-to-many relationships between invoices, customers, and even sub or secondary customers. All of these pieces already exist, we just needed to do some training to show Cory how it all works. Super fun meeting with a mix of planning and training. Good stuff.

Steve and I were on the meeting most of the morning. Dustin popped in and we talked about a few quick things. He is doing great. After that, Steve and I did some of our own stuff and also spent some time talking about some upcoming pieces. There are always some challenges and Steve really likes to keep figuring out the next step. Here are some of our notes.

- We spent quite a bit of time talking about an abundant model vs just trying to hold onto what we have. We really feel like we live in an abundant model (lots of options). We have an upcoming situation that we need to figure out if we are continuing, altering relationships, or moving on - dealing with an outside party. We spent quite a bit of time talking about this subject.

- We spent quite a bit of time talking about bringing things up to the next level and how the virtual data assembly line (stages and flex bubbles) play into what we both have and where we are going. We have had great success trying to follow that model. What is the next logical step and how are we going to get there.

- Steve and I spent some time and we were drawing on the screen and talking about ideas and current models that we are trying to follow. We were looking at the tri-facto model with system features, number of clients, and education and training legs of that tri-facto. We are trying to fill in more on the education and ease of use side of things. Some of our new efforts are dealing with the graphic designers like Chuck and Jonathan. We spent some time and looked at their (Chuck and Jonathan's) newest progress reports and where they are going. We also talked a lot about the future potential of what they are doing.

- From earlier this weekend, I had a guy who asked me about adilas and what it does. We talked about a platform based model that we could build on. We related it to a chemistry set and the ability to mix and blend those pieces. Basically taking custom development to the next level by mixing and blending what we already have. Build new, change up ratios, enhance existing, etc. Being able to mix and blend like a chemistry set, made sense to me. I thought that it was a fun analogy.

- Steve and I spent a lot of time talking about transitions and handling those transitions. Steve was talking about how business is all about transitions.

- We talked about burnout and how that can effect you now and even later on down the road (virtual flashbacks and post stress stuff). It is real. How do we deal with it, how do we prevent it, and how do we build going forward?

- Running a business takes a lot of both physical and mental abilities - it is a challenge.

- We need to be compensated for our time and efforts. We give a lot of stuff away for free. It is kicking our buts.

- You are either part of the problem or part of the solution. Where do you want to be?

- We are really wanting to attract people who really want to play (developers, trainers, designers, consultants, etc.). That may take a specific bread of people, but that is what we want.

- Steve and I will be doing more and more project management as we go forward.

- Focusing on one project at a time. Staying focused. Maybe something like one main project and maybe some small filler projects. Currently we get really spread out and somewhat lose focus.

- We talked about bottle necks and being careful about who is doing what. If you create too many key points (certain people do certain things), it creates bottle necks. Be careful. Keep things moving and flowing.

Shawn and I touched base about tax and withholding stuff. We planned a different time to work on things on Monday before Christmas. After that, I spent some time working on emails, recording notes, and transferring things from small post-it notes into adilas. Busy times. If things are going at a normal pace, I can put them directly into adilas. If things are flying faster than normal, I scribble things on post-it notes and then have to go back and add more details. The never ending process.

Around 3 pm, I got on a Zoom meeting with Russell. We were chatting and pitching ideas back and forth. Russell has been working on a project and as part of that has created some different assets. He has been working on a business plan, code, and some marketing ideas. We are really hoping to be able to join forces and bring some of those pieces to the adilas family. We were chatting about a number of different options. Here are some of my notes.

- If we open up things for outside developers to work on our new testing environments, make sure and add plenty of checks and balances. The absolute ideal would be a full API socket interface and have them play at the wall. That is still a ways out, so we may have to open up some other channels.

- Make sure we charge for our time. That is huge.

- We spent some time talking about ownership and being able to get a residual back from that.

- By helping others succeed, we succeed. That is really true in many ways.

- Some of Russell's priorities are to help stabilize, improve, maintain, and plan for the future. I thought that those were fun priorities.

- Russell would really like to help with project management and job costing.

- There are these things called web components. They are virtually like mini code snippets or functions that can be used over and over again without rewriting all of the code necessary to make them run. A simple call, with some parameters, and it does its job. Russell and I talked about some new adilas web components like table components, ajax search components, cards and actions and moving things between stages (like trello cards - project management software), and modal components (interactive pages that could display or show more details where needed without leaving the underlying page). We had some great discussions about some of these options.

- As a side note, on the cards (both tasks and actions) and being able to move things from stage to stage. We also talked about an even deeper idea of being able to allow users to build their own processes and then move things simply through those processes with point and click setup, rules, validation, automation, defaults, etc. Basically, a way to build your own virtual data assembly line by using tools that already exist and being able to string things together in such a way that it works, is simple, is custom to you, and fits your needs. All from pre-built tools and processes that could be strung together to create these custom processes. Great idea.

- We talked about the company culture and how important that is.

- Making a business plan and putting things in writing. We have a number of very loose business plan type things. Steve and I are on the same page (ish). It would really help to get everybody else to know what the plan is and how we intend to roll things out. As part of this, Russell showed me a small plan that he is working on. We went over some of the ideas. See attached for Russell's proposal and business plan (starting point document).

- We talked about models and how to best combine all of the pieces. There are lots of moving pieces. We talked cores, layers, themes, industry specific stuff, custom code, etc. It gets pretty deep, but it gets fun.

- As part of the model, we also need to be able to strip things off and get rid of extras that are not needed. That is just as important and being able to add new features. Keep it simple, where possible.

Working with Shannon and brainstorming on business functions and working on an outline or breakdown report of what is what and how does it play together. See the attached document for where we are working. We flagged some of the items to help us remember where and/or what was modified from our last meeting.

As a side note, we are trying to use the concepts of the data assembly line for our own pieces and development processes. Keep kicking the ball down the road and be willing to circle back around as needed.

Met up with Shannon and did a session on the presentation gallery. We were working on bullet points under CRM (customer relationship management) and CMS (content management systems). See below for a small list... still in the building and editing process.

1. Business Functions

1.1. Sales
1.1.1. Inventory tracking
1.1.1.1. Start to finish inventory tracking
1.1.1.2. Item usage histories
1.1.1.3. Unlimited
1.1.1.4. Reports, exports
1.1.1.5. Images, scans, multimedia
1.1.1.6. Units of measure
1.1.1.7. General items
1.1.1.8. Serialized items (stock/units)
1.1.1.9. Time or services (unlimited)
1.1.1.10. Fulfillment
1.1.1.11. Sub inventory (parent/child)
1.1.1.12. Transfers
1.1.1.13. Internal builds (manufacturing)
1.1.1.14. Ecommerce settings
1.1.1.15. Updating inventory counts

1.1.2. POS (Point of Sale)
1.1.2.1. Invoicing
1.1.2.2. Quoting/Ordering
1.1.2.3. Secure shopping cart
1.1.2.4. Barcoding
1.1.2.5. Custom buttons
1.1.2.6. Discounts & campaigns
1.1.2.7. General items
1.1.2.8. Serialized items (stock/units)
1.1.2.9. Time or services (unlimited)
1.1.2.10. Locations & tax settings
1.1.2.11. Hardware options
1.1.2.12. Custom designs & layouts
1.1.2.13. Ecommerce tied to POS

1.1.3. Customer options
1.1.3.1. Loyalty points
1.1.3.2. Preset discounts
1.1.3.3. Purchase histories
1.1.3.4. Payment history
1.1.3.5. Accounts receivable
1.1.3.6. Customer billing
1.1.3.7. Online bill pay
1.1.3.8. Images, scans, multimedia
1.1.3.9. Customer accounts
1.1.3.10. Reports, exports

1.1.4. Reporting
1.1.4.1. Sales reports
1.1.4.2. Profit reports
1.1.4.3. Daily/weekly/monthly reporting
1.1.4.4. Per locations, per salesperson
1.1.4.5. Deposits
1.1.4.6. Purchase histories
1.1.4.7. Trending items
1.1.4.8. Automated P&L
1.1.4.9. Exports
1.1.4.10. Advanced filtering
1.1.4.11. Save your own reports

1.1.5. Payment solutions
1.1.5.1. Normal POS options (cash, check, etc.)
1.1.5.2. Merchant processing (credit cards)
1.1.5.3. Online bill pay
1.1.5.4. 3rd party payment solutions
1.1.5.5. On account (customer credit)
1.1.5.6. Custom configurations

1.1.6. Ecommerce
1.1.6.1. Real-time (live) inventory counts & tracking
1.1.6.2. Fully integrated systems
1.1.6.3. Online product purchase
1.1.6.4. Customer login portal
1.1.6.5. Online bill pay
1.1.6.6. View histories, statements, orders
1.1.6.7. Fulfillment
1.1.6.8. Fully configurable (settings)

1.1.7. Other special functions
1.1.7.1. Work orders
1.1.7.2. Layaway
1.1.7.3. Recipe/builds
1.1.7.4. Hidden line items
1.1.7.5. Reoccurring
1.1.7.6. Barcode/QR code generators
1.1.7.7. Emailing capabilities
1.1.7.8. Discounting engines
1.1.7.9. Quantity tracking & thresholds
1.1.7.10. Loyalty points
1.1.7.11. Gift cards

1.2. CRM - Customer Relationship Management

1.2.1. Sales & purchase tracking
1.2.1.1. Payment tracking
1.2.1.2. Monies owed
1.2.1.3. Accounts receivable
1.2.1.4. Purchase histories
1.2.1.5. Invoices/quotes

1.2.2. Customer profiles
1.2.2.1. Holds additional information & subs
1.2.2.2. Log notes
1.2.2.3. Additional contacts
1.2.2.4. Reoccurring billing
1.2.2.5. Purchase & payment history
1.2.2.6. Groups & types
1.2.2.7. Preset options - discount, tax category
1.2.2.8. Photos, scans, files, media
1.2.2.9. Expandable custom fields
1.2.2.10. Manage relationships
1.2.2.11. Unlimited customers

1.2.3. Customer tracking & follow-ups
1.2.3.1. Unlimited notes & logging
1.2.3.2. Show/hide notes on calendar
1.2.3.3. Show/hide notes in customer portal
1.2.3.4. Purchase histories - what did they buy?
1.2.3.5. Accounts receivable - what do they owe you?

1.2.4. Calendaring & scheduling
1.2.4.1. Elements of Time
1.2.4.2. Reporting
1.2.4.3. Billing

1.3. CMS - Content Management Systems

1.3.1. Upload content
1.3.1.1. Permissioned
1.3.1.2. Image galleries
1.3.1.3. Files/Media/Content
1.3.1.4. Pre-filled custom documents
1.3.1.5. Digital story telling
1.3.1.6. Manage content relationships
1.3.1.7. Multi-file upload

1.3.2. Web presence & ecommerce
1.3.2.1. Custom controls
1.3.2.2. Categorize
1.3.2.3. Turn things on/off
1.3.2.4. Change web pricing
1.3.2.5. Show/hide things on web
1.3.2.6. Provide long descriptions, specs, reviews
1.3.2.7. Full ecommerce experience
1.3.2.8. Shipping options
1.3.2.9. Customer portal
1.3.2.10. Online bill pay

1.3.3. Data controlled content
1.3.3.1. Point & click interfaces
1.3.3.2. Template based & custom options
1.3.3.3. Permissioned based
1.3.3.4. Create unlimited content
1.3.3.5. Edit content & record histories
1.3.3.6. Advance content (virtual data assembly line)
1.3.3.7. Business world building
1.3.3.8. Store, view, interact as desired
1.3.3.9. Backend logic based on content (cause & effect)

1.3.4. Whole system
1.3.4.1. The whole system is technically a CMS
1.3.4.2. System look & feel
1.3.4.3. Backend layout & design - what's under the hood
1.3.4.4. Built-in core flexibility
1.3.4.5. Custom anything (Dream it up! We'll wire it up!)
1.3.4.6. Data & content storage
1.3.4.7. Tracking all data interactions
1.3.4.8. Access points (who, what, where, when)
1.3.4.9. Solid foundation of permissions & settings
1.3.4.10. Dynamic possibilities (Let's grow together!)

1.3.5. Hosted solution
1.3.5.1. Cloud based
1.3.5.2. Ease of use - mobile, home, work, travel
1.3.5.3. Automatic updates
1.3.5.4. No hardware & minimal IT requirements
1.3.5.5. Built on multi-server environment (getting more than most businesses could afford on their own)
1.3.5.6. Backups & disaster recovery
1.3.5.7. Data & system security
1.3.5.8. Managed services
1.3.5.9. Not charged per devices or per users
1.3.5.10. All system pieces in one spot
1.3.5.11. Interconnected & accessible
1.3.5.12. Access to support & training

- still working on the outline for these sections below **

1.4. Expense Tracking
1.5. Payroll
1.6. Calendar
1.7. Data Connection
1.8. Accounting
1.9. Reports
1.10. Business Intel
1.11. ECommerce
1.12. Big Data

Small video recording with Wayne. He started out with a question... Is the world flat or round?

- People will often use examples to base their judgements off of.

- How we think and what we think we know. The perception of knowledge.

- Senses and how people perceive things - say choosing and seeing a color - lots of variations - first the physical pieces are different, secondly how does the brain perceive things. 

- Distraction, multi-tasking, true focus

- Training and a preset of memory items - recalling learned pieces and then mixing those things together as things happen in real time. 

- In certain scenarios, we start filling in certain blanks based on what are brains are giving us vs what is being actually shared.

- At times, some of the people involved can almost see a picture in their head of what is needed and where things are going and how things will work. They have the original vision even before they start into the project. Some people will start catching the vision as it starts to unfold over time.

- Questioning our own belief systems - checking things at the door (to the mind).

- Meeting expectations - Was what was delivered what was really asked for? This is hard to hit this mark. Often we are off by some degree or another.

- Small story of linked pieces (security based) and what people perceived to be the problem. Sometimes they pointed to one piece but technically, it may have been some other contributing factor or some other process that occurred. Some times the end user, using our site, they see a certain problem and assume that it means something. However behind the scenes we have multiple servers, different technologies, permissions, settings, user interface, etc. All of those things get mixed together to make the outcome.

- In Adilas, we have a mixed bag due to how many different things we offer and how many different ways these people use what we have to offer. That makes it a challenge. Wayne also started talking about some historical aspects and how things came to be. At the time, based on the needs, the knowledge, the skills, the technology, the outcome came from those mixed variables. If looked at from that historical perspective, things may make more sense vs looking at things later on based on a new set of variables.

- Group effort - it takes a village to raise a child.

- Wayne was having fun and wanted to serve in the church - As part of that, he moved to Portugal and wanted to get involved. He has been involved. Kinda like a senior mission of sorts. Sometimes higher leadership callings are a ton of work. Wayne was talking about different callings, responsibilities, and options to serve. As you get into things deeper, you end up learning tons from who you are working with and serving vs just teaching them in a one-way direction. It becomes a great two-way street of learning. We are constantly learning. Enjoy those learning opportunities.

- Often we think that we are right about something (pick a subject). If someone proves us wrong (in a nice way) and helps us think in a new direction, we become an advocate for that cause. This really comes into play when working on a team or in a team setting.

- Customers - super important. We get paid to do a job (whatever that job is). We may not get extra praise for doing our job. Our customers have certain expectations. They may not compliment you on doing your job. If they, the customers, have a problem... and you help them and fix the problem, you could gain a customer for life. That is where you get an elevated level of praise.

- Customers are always right except when they are wrong - kinda funny. At times, you even need to fire a customer. Wayne was talking about being a nice guy vs transacting business and still being a nice guy. There may be a difference. Being able to say no.

- Rationalization - still thinking of being in a start-up mode. We are getting better and better at that. It has been a slow process. We were talking about sales, but this could go into a lot of other areas.

- Steve was talking about some future goals and where we want to take things. We would like to keep progressing the ball down the road.

- Light talk about server issues and getting help from our team (aka Wayne on the server side). Good stuff.

- The dream and where are we headed... even with a dream, we have had multiple 90 degree corners that we didn't expect.

- The reoccurring revenue model is kinda like an insurance agent and basing things off of those reoccurring services and playing as a group.

- Pioneering the road. We are constantly unrolling and watching what is happening all around us. We don't have a book or a full plan to follow.

- When a new business starts... it tends to be on a smaller level. Everybody knows what is going on and hopefully following the same vision. As you grow, you start getting some new variables and they may not be part of that same vision. As it grows from there, it could completely change. It grows in needs, complexity, resources, etc. Sometimes the original startup people may not like and/or accept all of the changes and complexity.

- Light talks about changing job titles and job responsibilities. What are you passionate about? Do you like what you are doing right now?

- What is our model? Currently we are trying to structure our model so that it could keep persisting. We honestly don't know where all of these things are going. Wayne said... Ok, how do you get there (meaning the vision and dream)?

- What is it that we are selling? What is our model (in writing)? That is somewhat hard to put a finger on. It is so flexible and versatile it makes it hard. We have a lot of customization and lower priced offerings. Some of those pieces have been huge for us. From big to small - we are finding that if we can help the customers out with their dreams, things for us keep unfolding and unfolding for us and for them. Taking the next logical step. We don't want a tidal wave, but we would like to increase sales.

- Questions about managing pricing and updates (what is rolled out) - Who pays for what and who uses what?

- Wayne has a brother, Scott, who does a lot of consulting on sales.

- Steve's idea is you get everything vs selling a multiple module application. It seems easier to sell the whole thing and then just set the prices based on their sizes (business sizes). We talked about seed money and even doing some project fund matching to get the project pushed forward. We have full custom (black box code) and we have core products that everybody gets. Steve was saying that we are a somewhat community funded, open source product, but still slightly different. We are a software as a service type model (SaaS).

- Wayne was talking about direct metrics - What are our customers using and doing inside of the system? What can we measure and what can we check? Basically figuring out a price per value type metric. Subscription and what are you getting for your dollar value. We have even talked about giving the software away for free and living off of the other services (byproducts) that get produced. We have talked about charging for hosting, storage, processing, etc. vs just charging for the software.

- One of the extra services that they were talking about was "business coaching". Sometimes, as we go down the road, we have seen some of these same scenarios play out and we are gaining knowledge. Some of the knowledge and experience is worth quite a bit of money. What if the system could help coach someone through the process through navigation, processes, and training.

- Steve is trying to get into some of these CPA (certified public accountants) groups and helping them run with all of the off shooting products and byproducts. If we allow for some white labeling options, these CPA groups could really run with some of the other pieces of the puzzle.

- Steve turned some of his thoughts to the adilas café and getting this single login and then they could come and work, play, learn, train, buy, sell, and participate in the adilas community. We just build the software and then let the others who are around us help provide the other outside services that are needed.

- Steve would really like to help change the business model and the ways that employees and employers work and coordinate together. As a fun side note, we, at Adilas, are already doing some of this. It is very loose right now, but we are currently helping companies get interconnected and plugged into the correct pieces (reps, consultants, designers, customer code, business coaching, oversite, fulfillment, etc.). If we use the adilas café correctly, we could allow so many other parties and/or individuals to help provide a piece of the puzzle for any number of different companies. We would like to make that part of the adilas model.

- Wayne was talking about even outsourcing inventory control and inventory management. Often we think that topic, inventory management, resides inside the company, but it doesn't have to. More analytics, more oversite, more management tools, etc. We could build that.

- We, as a company, need to really look into the user login process and how to separate the users from the systems (single sign-on). They the users, need to exists outside the systems but still be able to play within the different systems. Eventually, we want to turn the request and accept process out to the users.

- The deeper we get, the deeper we are seeing more and more needs to be built out on the global adilas café model. The system is too big for one single person to know everything. It seems natural for the adilas community to help fill those needs.

- Wayne - What is your action list? Where do we head from here?

- Steve - Let's get the servers and database stuff super stable. Then we work on the single sign-on and the database split up (datasource and/or world building model). Build up the adilas café and the adilas community - this could be the adilas marketplace, adilas university, and the main system (adilas as a platform).

- Wayne wanted to know what the tick list was and then also how are we going to make that happen? Goals, budgets, timeframes, etc. Basically, going beyond the dream and into the logistics of getting there. Making assignments and allocating funds and time and resources.

- https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/developers_notebook_home.cfm?q=adilas%20caf&sort=asc - link for some research on the adilas café concept.

- If we were to get super busy, say 10 times or 100 times more than what we have, we would need some major help. The adilas café and the adilas market would really need to be in place for that to happen.

- From Wayne - The art of leadership is helping other people do what they want to do because they want to do it.

See attached for the video recording of this meeting.

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After the meeting, Steve and I kept talking about some options.

- We could use the camp adilas project as a precursor and even be able presell an industry specific buildout. That could be really cool.

- Help push the adilas café and help people see that they could make some great money by learning adilas and providing different skills.

- If we got enough of the community into the adilas café, they could virtually help staff the adilas university model.

- Steve talked about giving away personal adilas accounts and then allowing them to schedule, train, or do work for other clients who need their help.

- Steve wants to build the ultimate business tool and then let others provide the services that come from that product.

- Light talks about playing at the wall (API sockets) and custom white label solutions.

- Our goal is to head North (speaking about a general business plan vs a perfect goal setting and fully budgeted business plan). Everything that we are doing is in a constant state of flux. That gets really hard to nail down.

- There is a fun paradigm shift taking place using Adilas and the adilas café and adilas market as tools to help solve the employer/employee relationship. Tons of great options.

- We are surrounded by tons of cofounders. Each person is playing a role.

- The next biggest thing is a step in the right direction.

- We are going to keep breaking our projects into more and more chewable pieces. That will help with energy, moral, and code sign-off.

Steve, Danny, and I were on a GoToMeeting session. We were watching and monitoring servers, on tech support calls, and trying to get things up and running. As part of the conversation we talked a lot about some of the outside parties and being able to access the pieces that we need to. This could be outside 3rd party code, independent apps, specific code, WordPress sites, and other pieces. We really need our own access to these pieces.

Hosted solutions are big animals. We have to build it, service it, and keep it going.

We have a great team of people who all have a number of key talents and pieces. How can we keep organizing things so that we get and keep those key players.

Looking at options and seeing where we can fill in the blanks.

We talked about text message marketing and some of the crazy challenges with that. Currently, there are two main players out there. One is Twilio and the other is AWS. Both of them have some built-in text messaging options. Here is a link to Twilio - https://www.twilio.com/

Wayne popped in and we looked at data 0 and data 2. Currently, those servers are some high traffic volume players. We were talking about ways of splitting up the servers into smaller clusters and putting the databases on their own dedicated servers. We also talked about some world building project stuff and splitting up databases. As a fun side note, Wayne jumped in and showed us some of the resource monitor stuff for that server.

Sometimes we use custom code as a virtual buy-in or investment to our platform. We love it when others succeed.

Steve and I spent a bunch of time talking about our current plan and how things are developing. We will keep on keeping on. Lots of good stuff ahead.

- Camp adilas overview - see screenshots - lots of new work on the mobile side of things. Exploring all of the different screenshots and options.

- We spent some time and did a small review of the demo yesterday.

- We still used world building but we related it to pieces that they could understand (going from full abstract to hey, this makes sense - speaking their language and at their level). That is huge. We talked about how we could do the same thing in a more general way.

- The demo felt more prepared and more simplified. That was good.

- One thing that came up... tracking history and seeing who does what in the system (the hidden audit trail and use of different logins). We introduced this later on in the demo but they really got excited about it. We may want that to surface earlier as what is going on and a key feature.

- When doing the ecommerce demo... that was a little rougher. We had to keep switching between systems due to images, settings, and being able to flip to the more pretty and mobile ready version. We had a few rough spots in this part of the demo.

- Lots of talk about the permissions page (aka the football field of permissions). We want to get the permissions broken down to a better level that is easier to understand and to copy/apply. They (our users) are wanting to break them (the existing permissions) into custom permissions, sub functions, and other functionality. Deeper control, yet a simpler interface and experience.

- We spent some time and talked about the new sales outline that Chuck is working on. We used it in our demo, our morning meeting today, and almost every other meeting today. Pretty cool. We like the direction that we are headed. Click here to see a small sample.

- As we build things out (in the sales flyer)... we would like to connect these to videos - we talked about keeping things generic and highlighting the pieces vs our brand (white label options).

- There were some conversations about talking about world build and getting it into a more simple thing analogy right off bat. Maybe even some scenarios that deal with beginner, intermediate, and advanced concepts. Once again, help it be more consumable.

- Brainstorming on world building ideas... We could start with a web layout, index page and then it goes from there, or icons and a more structured layout. We spent some time talking about how to help get our users and others to get their heads around the concepts. We ended up watching two videos to help us get into the frame of mind. The links are below.

http://www.brandonmull.com/site/video-bestbook.html - Brandon Mull (author) - What makes a great book (world building concepts)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN4Ka0IXdp0&feature=youtu.be - Shannon Moore - System thinking - fun video from an older training session

We started to build out a visual tile board based on the adilas formula flyer. Here is a link to the older flyer...

https://data0.adilas.biz/adilas_formula.pdf - adilas formula flyer

We had a small discussion about world building and how it sometimes confuses people - almost too bold and too abstract. We talked about ways of softening that. For example: Say the different stores in a mini mall or different departments in a big organization. In a way, those smaller pieces or entities are building their own world.

What if we approached it by saying... currently you need a POS, an ecommerce package, a CRM, an ERP system, accounting, etc. Inside of adilas we allow you to pull those things all together under one umbrella. This becomes the virtual universe for that company. Show them how we can pull all of these things into one system. We are also really flexible, configurable, and nimble.

Results is one of the main four topics (results, business functions, application players, & core concepts). The results (what you are looking for) are huge. This side plays more on the emotions and wants of our users.

Link to a fun Ted Talk by Simon Sinek - https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en

Here are a few notes from the Ted talk:

- Why - Share the why

- The golden circle - 3 levels - innermost level Why, middle level How, outer level What

- Help people learn from and be driven (of their own free will) from the inside out (why, how, what)

- People buy why you do it, not what you do

- Attraction of people - people who believe what you believe

- Driven by a cause - willing to put in and work with blood, sweat, and tears

- Prove what you believe by why you do it

- Helping to take and push a cause further - Once again, because they want to...

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Going back to the sales document that we were working on (notes from above), Chuck sent me an updated link. Click below to see the Adobe XD layout. Pretty cool.

https://xd.adobe.com/view/e01cc5b5-caa2-4b84-4727-58b1b2ea764e-962d/

Talking with Shannon - 11/12/19. We did some review from last week and made a few new notes and expanded on some of the other topics that we were talking about.
 
- Geo tourism - showing a grouping of similar things to create more of a draw to a certain area. For example: Say someone was interested in ghost towns and old historic farms. If you could show on a map a place where quite a few of these things are located, it creates more of a draw for people to do things in that area. Once they come into that area, you show other things that are available. The more things you have to do in a certain area, it becomes a choice to go or visit there due to how many things (that interest you) that you could do from one spot or location. What if you could sell software and web ware systems like that... Look at all of these similar things that you could do from one place.

- Saving time and energy if you get everything in the same place.

- 1 thing or multiple pieces (what is the best bang for your buck).

- Pain levels - 1 thing could be really good but then you have to mary it with tons of other things, even though it is really good, it can become painful.

- Tiles (navigation buttons) and allowing you to preset just the ones that they like and/or need. Imagine presentation settings.

 - Helping to customize the options and presentations - It makes it a better presentation and it shows how settings work.

- Pain - where are the needs going to be? Anticipate some of the needs before giving a demo or presentation.

- Getting on their level... speak their language.

- Some people aren't into world building, or concepts, or history. What if you could offer multiple angles on the presentation? Let them choose the topics and the approach angles.

- Shopping for your interest(s)... what interests you?

- Write their questions and then help to navigate to those pieces
>> - go to the area, talk about what is needed, if it explodes, try to get back in line.

- Shannon was talking about looking through a "lens" and then following that through to the end. Meaning, pick a flavor for the demo or for the question and then follow it through. Help the flavor maintain itself while looking through that lens.

- Being able to link out to research (showing the need and how it can help). Giving some of the pieces backing.

- Multi learning in an awesome tool - videos, graphics, icons, graphs, etc.

- Settings for the demo... what do they call _______ (fill in the blank) - corps, locations, customers, parts, salespersons? Make the changes and then save in session scope for the current demo. Be able to reset as needed. Along those same lines. They could fill in a background image (overarching flavor), show/hide certain tiles (navigation buttons), and setup the correct naming for the demo. All of these settings could be part of a custom demo. That way the presentation could already be speaking the clients language. If you got fancy with it, you could even swap out demos, step-by-steps, key features, etc. Each business vertical could be different and/or have different options.

Working with Shannon on 11/7/19 - this was in prep for a demo for a local tech college and trying to make it more simplified. We had a good brainstorming meeting and here are some of our notes:

- Every business offers a service or product to their customers.

- Milk before meat - only run as fas as you are able.

- Pain is a huge motivating factor for change.
>> - We can handle certain levels of pain
 >> - If it gets unbearable, we are looking for change

- We want to make it easy, digestible, and pretty (yet still powerful)

- We need to show you that it is doable and we can do that by breaking it down into simple chunks.
>> - If you have to bounce everywhere... it may look like it is super complicated. Being able to bounce is super cool, but it may look intimidating.
>> - They want it to do the super complicated stuff (the little stuff) but they (meaning users) sometimes get overwhelmed when you show them without some of the other context.

- We may not even realize that we are in a world... our world becomes just part of what we do and how we do things.

Ideas on a general tour...
- top level...
strip mall** (think of the diversity in a strip mall - tons of little shops, right next to each other)
big hallway
universe
worlds
departments
locations within those areas
business needs
point of sale
invoices
collect monies
customers
tracking things - sales, customers, inventory, expenses
paying our people, timecards
accounting
paying taxes
reports
data storage and processing
ecommerce
analize and adjust accordingly

- Business functions - we have already defined 12 of the business functions

- Tools - I really liked how Shannon kept saying the word tools - that's what they really are.

- Processes are going to change based on needs and industry (business vertical).

- Meet the tools** (players may be the wrong word) - pages and options (not 1,000's of  pages but only 6-10 pages total - make it chewable - little tiles)
 - group and simplify, then go deeper as needed. think of being able to fly over the whole and drill-down as needed. Be able to navigate at any of those levels

- Using tools to get the outcome that you want.

- Mixing and blending tools, goals, and outcomes to build your world.
>> - As you are picking and using tools, you are virtually building your world.

- What tools do you use all the time? Those become important and you want them right at hand for the task that you are doing.

- pull pieces from what Jonathan is already working on
>> - go, do, see
>> - Almost a geo tourism type level. Basically the reasons why you go where you go to do what you want to do. What else is in that area? If you have multiple things in the same area... that increases the pull for that area. Getting the biggest bang for your buck.
>> - Look at all of these other pieces and features that you get. Instead of just getting one of the things that you want, you get 10.

- Be able to jump from the tour into real live scenarios
>> - What if there were canned scenarios that you could walk through? That would be awesome.
>>  - Be able to link out to other resources (videos, photos, graphics, images, help files, articles, research, etc.)

- World building (advanced concept) - maybe talk about such and such land, and this land, and that land... they are really worlds or part of a world, but maybe the word land or area or department may help people follow things better. Be able to flex as needed.

- Data assembly line - what an awesome concept, but it sometimes takes people time to warm up to that idea.

- Visual outline (foldable or unfoldable - maybe use +&- signs) - be able to jump where ever...

- The adilas cafe... work, play, buy, sell, learn, community

Jonathan, Steve, and I were all on the meeting. We started out and jumped into some general world building concepts. Just trying to keep Jonathan in the loop and seeing where we are going or where new development is happening. After that, we turned the presentation over to him and he showed us what he has been working on. Still lots of mapping, gathering, and what not. We have him on a big project - cleaning out the garage and helping us to organize things... :)

Here are some notes from the day:

- 3 main navigation buttons or area that people want to be in - they are where do you want to go? What do you want to do? How can I show you or let you pull the reports you want? In a nutshell - go, do, reports

- The Go section would be broken down into different navigation type or screens. We were thinking of cards with icons, a zoomed in map, the core layout (radial fan), and a build your own section. The Do section would be somewhat a mini search engine built into the system. They user would type a word and we would bring back results for them to click on. For example: they type discount and we show different discounts options, reports, help files, videos, etc. Super simple search with built-in navigation. The other section would be the reports or what you want to see (show me) section. We spent quite a bit of time on this section, but the main gist was categories, sub reports under those categories, and settings to allow for the page to be customized and organized as needed.

- Going back to the zoomed out map idea with icons. Jonathan took the existing interactive map, added some icons and simplified the design a bit. Great starting point.

- The action or do section could be setup like a mini google area or search engine within the system. Make it fun and light but able to jump to assets that deal with the task at hand.

- 3 different type of tools - Tools for entering data, tools for searching data, and tools for showing the results of the searches (reports).

- Lots of talk about settings. What different types of settings are there? World level (corporation wide settings), Industry specific settings, main 12 player group settings, page level settings, and individual user settings.

- Splitting up the settings into the different player groups and even allowing for page level drill-downs as needed. For example: Say we were dealing with settings for invoices. We have all of those and we also show all pages inside the invoice section that also have settings. Be able to do all different kinds of settings from one spot (corp-wide, group level, page level, and user settings).

- We got into lots of talks and discussions about build your own navigation systems. Be able to set icons, colors, naming convention, sort order, tool tips, custom URL or pick from a list, and other individual button/nab type settings.

- It would be super cool if you could turn things on/off and then drag and drop into a placeholder or a grid of sorts

- As we were talking about custom built navigation systems, I started to think about the my cart favorite buttons. We allow general buttons, photo buttons, nested or group buttons (be able to stack things), colors, custom names, add/edit custom categories (ways of organizing and grouping like buttons), custom sort options, copy or use other user's buttons, etc. Lots of fun ideas. Instead of just POS (point of sale) buttons, be able to do something similar for custom navigation. Anyways, use my cart favorite buttons or that idea to build out custom navigation systems. This could be a cool addition for the fracture stuff.

- Going along with the custom navigation buttons, we may also want to allow for colors, icons, categories, custom sort options, special placement options, etc. Turn it into a virtual pallet of sorts (pull and organize your space like an artist using a pallet for a painting). Super flexible.

- The term cohesiveness came out a number of times. Making the site cohesive through tools, apps, pages, sites, products, and even marketing.

- As a company matures, it often tries to use a designed system approach. This included style guides, requirements, code snippents, cascading CSS, components, and style assets that could be used over and over again (one to many relationship between a component and what it does and/or looks like or functions like).

Great meeting and fun conversation. Towards the end, Steve was encouraging Jonathan to keep dreaming and refining as we go. We are trying to catch the over all vision. As we keep going, we may even need to circle back around and see how the new ideas could relate to the rest of the system. Trying to get to that cohesive type design level. See attached for some screenshots.

It must be Monday. We had a pretty busy morning meeting. Dustin checked in. Alan joined in and reported on some of his projects. He set up some times to meet with Steve. We also talked quite a bit about data tables and creating more aggregated data and pushing the transactional data deeper into the system. That will definitely be an upcoming project. It is gaining momentum and heat. Eric joined in and we chatted about special accounts, new rounds on customer loyalty points, implementing new rules, and other projects that he is interested in. Steve assigned him to two new projects from the community funded projects list.

In between the different reports and sub meetings, I did a code merge for Bryan, uploaded a new video, and recorded some expenses.

Steve and I got into a discussion about world building and enterprise system (consolidated data for multiple corps). We talked about world bulding levels such as: universe, galaxy, cluster, solar system, and clear down into worlds and/or corporations or entities. See attached for an older drawing of how those levels play together.

Steve and I also did a small code session on some of the recipe/build stuff that he is working on. We talked about putting in flow and validation pieces to help him get the desired records and data. Small analogy of building a road and putting in water bars and drains (engineering where you want things to go and flow). The last part of the session was spent going over the internal flow of the adilas API sockets and how those pieces work and flow. Steve is planning on starting in on that and using the internal API to gather and record daily sales data from aggregated or consolidated corporations (worlds). He is getting dangerous in his knowledge and willingness to learn and grow. Super exciting stuff.

Steve, Wayne, and I were talking about serves and direction. We were talking about getting things going with Newtek with the new VPS and clustering options. We are somewhat putting AWS stuff on hold. We have been over there for six plus months and still having some issues and running into small little barriers of sorts. We have had great success with Newtek and want to keep that ball moving forward.

One of the main topics of the day was the data 0 box. It is currently our oldest box and plays a pivotal role. It is somewhat of the gateway for the rest of the system. We are going to be trying to change that and get all of the normal companies that need production level capacity to other servers. Basically, we are going to be splitting up the corporations (worlds or business entities) on that server into a couple of new spots. It should help things go faster and lessen the load on the actual gateway that data 0 plays (as far as a redirect or doorway type application).

Here are some of our other notes. Lots of good chats and talks.

- Lewis and Clark expeditions and mapping things out and figuring out what to do and where to go next. This is part of our explorations that are needed in the digital realm.

- Splitting up databases in to different datasources (where are things pointed) and also the structure of the data. We talked about certain tables that are independent, certain tables that need to stay as shared or master data, and other tables that are for sure corp-specific or based on a per world level. Interesting conversation. Going back to the older world building ideas - cluster database vs solar system databases.

- Wayne was mentioning that he would like to work with Alan on splitting things up between the database and different datasources. That could be really cool. Wayne was also mentioning about using the DAO's (data access objects) and having that be part of splitting up the databases. As a side note, if we create new databases and datasources for each company, we would potentially be duplicating a lot of data. It may be faster, but we need to look at what that extra duplication would cost as far as connections, storage, and even eventual clean-up. In short, moving to the DAO model vs duplicating existing databases.

- We are really trying to move more towards the adilas community funded projects... similar to how the open source software and community operate and flow. If someone really wants something big, they need to make some resources available (time, money, ideas, people, etc.).

- We talked about selling the data storage and processing services. In a way, we could say, our system or software is free, you just pay for the services that you need to support that. Those could be setup, hosting, storage, processing, custom code, marketing, training, consulting, design, etc.

- We briefly talked about owning our own hardware cluster there at Newtek. It was on Steve's list to talk about. Wayne chimed in and recommended that we not go in that direction. He explained that if we stay on Newtek's hardware clusters, they have a reason to keep upgrading and maintaining those clusters. If we ride on top of what they are doing (their products and services) we gain from all of their advancements. If we are on our own, we have to provide all of those upgrades and maintenance pieces. Great point and something to think about. Ideally, if we gain enough, we would be better off riding on top of these other products and services.

- We spent some time talking about the refresh rate and the replacement rage of hardware and who manages that.

- Stress testing on the servers - Finding server level breakpoints and stress and load testing on servers. We pointed Wayne to a number of bigger reports and processes. He will simulate those loads on some test data to see if we can find any stress points, breakpoints, and other info we can gain by load testing things. Wayne would like to work with some of the reps and consultants to find the pain points and going the daily grid and what works and what needs some more loving.

Las Vegas - Adobe cold Fusion Conference - session 1

-Maybe a hybrid sprint on certain projects . . . do a 2-3 hour blast every day. Have a mini stand-up meeting and all hands on deck for that small time period.

-With the above idea . . . that could create an employer/employee relationship for the art of the day and release it.

-Study nature and copy it

-Learn how to adapt

-Keep heading toward world-building

----------------------------------------

(Key Note) -Tesi square - fun presentation behind the first keynote speaker - easy simple and key matrix - not to much fluff. (tesisquare.com)

-Turnkey project, service, provider, business modeling, innovation

-"Build your collaborative ecosystem" integrated platform - world building

-Evolution path of systems and platforms

---------------------------------------

-New presentation - Transcend

-Online employee interactions

-Communication, recognition, development, performance

-Employee timeline

-Lots of cards and drag and drop widgets on their dashboard

-HR stuff and trying to keep up employee morale

-They use Hostek for hosting

-------------------------------------------

-Source A-Max

-A France company that uses ColdFusion 

Trying into the Java back end

------------------------------------------------

-Where is the world headed?

-A road toward simplicity

-Physical machines, virtual machines, cloud services, containers microservices, serverless

-disruptive developments

-Expensive                                 Cost-Effective

-complicated                             -simplified

from physical machines to cloud services

-If you don't make it . . . we don't make it

-Lamda functions on AWS 

-Flexibility . . . think of joints in your body . . . joints in the right spot help you to be more flexible 

-ER script 2.0

-Scriptable configuration for servers

-Mirco services

-Multi-cloud - how many different cloud services are you using and developing on - AWS, MS Azure, Google, others

-Common API interfaces - Adobe may build a common API interface to share data between multi-cloud servers

-CF is working on; their vision and focus areas, installation, develops, containers, services, security, monitoring, configuration, and going serverless

----------------------------------------------

Practical Function Programming in CFML by Abram Adams 

-Trycf.com

-FP functional programming

-CFML is a multi-paradigm language

-Side effects - when a procedure changes a variable from outside its scope

-Passing by reference vs. duplication of data

-Immutable - unchanging over time or unable to be changed

-Immutable practices

-Mutating values and variables v.s. keeping things clean

-Map, reduce, filter - array commands

-The pure function always returns a known value and don't have external dependencies

-Referential transparency

-Always return a value from a function don't output data in your functions

-Higher-order functions - functions that return a function or call other functions

-Nested call back - multi-functions and nested functions

-Lamda functions, not the same as AWS, but same name

-Reduce and reducer functions

-Chaining higher-order functions

-Functional programming tends to be somewhat lazy . . . hold the value of an expression until needed

-Memoization = "memo" - pre-computed results (local cache)

-Hops - external jumps to web services, API calls, and even database calls

-Curring

-Specialized or Composed

http://slides.com

---------------------------------------------------------

SESSION TWO

Centralsans.org

Customer Spotlight for Central San by Carl Von Stetten

-Managing infrastructure of assets

-What do I want? Planning

-What is the cost and where will I get it? (Acquisitions)

-What about operations and maintenance?

-Monitoring of other data

-Renewal/Rehab

-Disposal - sell, trade, gift, ect.

-The life cycle of ownership of assets

-Assets have value . . . we want to track that . . . the whole cycle

-They interact with two different databases

-Document management

-Visual nav to a specific job and/or asset, then drill-down to documents attached and assigned

-Assets have jobs linked in and documents assigned to those jobs

-They have drawings, permits, environmental compliance

-Maintenance history

-Scheduling and logistics

-Repeating work orders and cascading your own schedules

-Tracking changes in locations over time

-Changing the view mode . . . filter by id, filter by location, filter by other criteria

-Targetted searching by process - overview matrix of stats

-Preventative maintenance and predictive maintenance

-They also want to see what assets are connected to other assets and/or substructures

-They were tracking spare parts . . . basically a recipe of what is needed - internal builds

-Even using inventory mapping to help show items that don't get much usage or activity

-VSCode editor

-get CFML extension by Kanasamak

-CFLint

-Data fusion

----------------------------------------------

SESSION THREE

Web Sockets by Giancarlo Gomez

-Channels, authication, subscribe, subchannels

-Sending messages and creating data channels and web sockets

-Persistant Connections

-Being able to push and broadcast messages

-Chat demos and sending messages back and forth

-The use of Application, cfc is getting bigger and more important

-Threads and callbacks

-Push technology and dashoards and alerts

-Allowing users to subscribe to multiple channells 

-Keep your channells samll and concise

-Sockets can help with real-time data pushes

https://github.com/Giancarlo/Gomez/

https://ginacarlogomez.com

--------------------------------------------------------------

SESSION FOUR

Spreadsheet Magic with Cold Fusion

www.kinetic-interactive.com

Kevin D. Wright

-Basic read/write, formatting, formulas/calculations, advanced techniques

-POI - a java engine and java library

-cf spreadsheet is pretty cool

-Mixing tools to harness both CF and MS Excel

-Instead of building a whole new app, maybe look at using a spreadsheet with some cool dynamics. Does it get the job done

-You can create it from scratch and/or use an existing template and then tweak that

--------------------------------------------------------------

SESSION FIVE

Forms and PDF's by Mike Collins

-XML and JavaScript

-AEM Forms Designer - LiveCycle. ----- allowa for XML data - more dynamics

-cfdocument, cfdocumentitem

-Links to an image need to use File://

-flatten="yes"        write

-standard="3b"     archive

-Merging

-Arching

-PDFA

-3b - soon will be 4b standard

-CFPrint

-Not everything needs to be printed

-Adobe Sign

mike@supportobjective.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eric popped in and asked some questions about transitional invoices and how all of that works. We ended up talking about putting those requests into our community funded project list. Steve and I want to help to funnel the users and their requests into our project management options. Steve and I are going to be trying to focus on core vs custom and trying to figure out how maybe the custom could be core with settings (how to make it happen and/or play through).

3D calendar and time management. We are seeing people wanting to get into smaller and smaller time periods just as hours, minutes, seconds. Most of our stuff is currently on the day or single day type environment. 3D calendars deal with years, quarters, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds. Our users may even want to determine what their unit of measure (date specific) is... that way they could choose what level they want to play on (days, hours, minutes, etc.).

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/help.cfm?id=479&pwd=core - help file for world building and showing the layering options

https://www.adilascontent.biz/top_secret/images/corp748_EA81FBBDE6/pdf/doc_26325_9F86EF2854.jpg - small drawing on how the upper levels of world building may be configured and such.

Steve and I are seeing our way through the multiple databases per server type option. Those are technically the cluster and solar system levels in the world building pieces.

After Steve and I got done speaking, I jumped back on the special accounts project (rewards, customer loyalty points, gift cards, etc.).

Steve was talking about getting a designer to help us with the Bear 100. He would like to take it out to Google maps, GPS, mobile friendly, and even allow for people to use our site to do sign-ups and other pieces. We could have the site tied out to ecommerce and allow for tons of other options. That could be fun.

Eric came into the meeting and had a couple of questions about customizing the invoice and quote process. We talked about parent inventory, sub inventory, parent attributes, flex grid tie-ins, and even black box custom tables. We also talked about adding in some blank or generic flex fields in the quote line items and the invoice line items. They want some custom fields per line item. Steve was saying, don't tell me what you want... show me. That way we know what tool to use and where to put it into play. Steve was also talking about maybe going up steam and setting those moving variables up higher on the customer level. In a way, the over arching question was I want to extend the existing options and functions per invoice and quote line item. We then have to help, how do we figure that out and what solution could we use to solve that problem? Good stuff.

This doesn't play in quite yet, but at some point we would love to get into real in-line database extensions. That is somewhat of the bigger brother to the flex grid tie-ins. Being able to add and subtract data points and data fields per section. As a side note, we have tons of companies that virtually commandeer (take over - like a pirate ship) any field that they can to get the job and/or task at hand done or finished. Kinda interesting.

Steve wants to get more information, from the source. He would like to get a real world scenario and then make a plan from there. Not just a quick band-aid, he wants to help develop the solution. What are the processes, what are the needs, what already exists, and what else is still needed? It keeps getting deeper and deeper (4 and 5 levels deep).

There was an analogy of a "part changer" - think of mechanic that just swaps out part after part in order to fix something. We really need the mechanic that gets in there and looks at the problem and then makes a decision. From Steve - It's not how fast you go, it's how well you go fast - older Porche commercial.

///////////////////////////////////

Switching gears, we started talking with Wayne about servers.

We were talking about virtual machines, physical servers, load balancing, and the difference between hardware problems and software problems. We were talking about clusters and getting redundancy and depth of options. If we stay with Newtek, we need to build in some of our own pieces. If we go more with AWS, we get to just use some the existing pieces. There is a trade off - AWS has more options but it also a deeper pool. Newtek is not as deep, but in some ways easier. We were also talking about rollover, fail safe modes, mirrors, etc.

We spent quite a bit of time talking about the Adobe ColdFusion engine and how we could potentially configure cluster type environment. When you get out of a single machine environment, what do you do with the database. On a single machine (server or dedicated box), it is simple. On a cluster, you have to keep things moved and/or separated. We would love to break some of the system down into their own databases. The idea here is making each database corporation specific vs server (whole box) specific. We have talked about this for years (since 2012 ish) and have called it world building and other project names. We really want to do this, but we also know that we have tons of code changes that are needed. We could separate out the shared tables in the existing database schema but we would have to do it table by table. As a side note, we have already done this very process for invoices, invoice payments, po/invoice line items, customer queues, sub inventory, etc.

One solution would be to create a corporation specific datasource (pointer to a specific database) and then help that get migrated and pushed around. We also talked about loading in objects per user that has all of their corporation specific settings and values. Eventually, we will still need to break out the payee/users so that we have a master list and then allow them to be merged and virtually bridged to any corporation and even any system. We still have all kinds of exceptions, such as be in corp x but pretend like you are in corp y (look and feel and settings). It gets kinda crazy.

The subject started to switch to more and more object oriented programming, storing values in session objects, and other objects that are server based. We also talked about database server clustering and moving all databases (per corporation) to a dedicated database cluster that only served up data and content. Lots of possible configurations and options. Both Alan and Wayne were talking about cross-schema queries and all kinds of advanced things. As another side to this equation, we are seeing more and more of a need for aggregated totals, auto processing, daily task management, etc. All of these things play into the mix. We are seeing certain tables that are great as shared tables and other tables that really need to be independent and corporation specific.

As we move forward, even towards a fracture type model, we will need to separate databases, logic, move more towards object oriented programming, API socket calls, etc. Just for fun, Wayne and Alan were talking about different levels and using bigger teams - backend guys, database guys, middleware guys, frontend and UI (user interface) guys, etc. We aren't that big.

Steve's idea... Alan, Steve, Dustin, and Brandon are all going to be at a convention. Let's use that time to do some planning and take it to the next level. That's a great idea.

Cory jumped on the meeting and had some questions about the video for the preview for the special accounts and customer loyalty points. We went over a few of the questions and made a couple more notes for us to look at. We then started talking about some other topics and projects. One of the topics was how tight to tighten things down and/or give the user the power to control things at the source. It got into all kinds of scenarios and cases (what about this, what about that, etc.). It also goes clear out to settings, permissions, and checkpoints. You kinda need to have the flexibility at some point and then be able to tighten things down and/or have it pass through a valid checkpoint. It keeps coming back to the concepts of the data assembly line flow and process. Basically, little linked flex bubbles with checkpoints, permissions, sub pieces or layering (depth), and then track it all over time based on the flex bubbles and virtual phases.

Steve and Cory were talking about running mini manufacturing over time and even getting into different phases and WIP (work in progress) type interface. It all comes back to time and tracking what happens over time. That gets into subs - sub phases, sub locations, sub grouping, etc. They were talking about pros and cons of using recipes and doing all kinds of internal builds.

After that, Steve, Cory, and I went over a bunch of our projects and did some updates and setting budgets and priorities. We are going to keep pushing on this every week. We currently have all of our projects in a section called adilas community funded projects. It is still a work in progress, but we are making progress and trying to setup a good work flow.

Shannon came on at 11 am, but I was still working on the code merge for Steve. We got started about 11:30 am. The whole session ended up being somewhat of a training exercise about mapping out the system and what progress we have made over the years. My goal was to help Shannon as she was going to be meeting with Jonathan and doing some training for him. After Steve and I's meeting the other day, we would like Jonathan to keep going along the lines that he is working and work on mapping out the pieces.

Going back a long ways, we started out in 2010 (October 2010 ish) doing a mapping project that lead to some major discoveries. We came up with the interactive map and tons of other good needs and ideas for the future. That was literally a springboard into some of our current projects and direction. Here is a link to the interactive map graphic.

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/images/help/big_map_layout.gif - interactive map graphic (2010)

Next we got into what we ended up calling the core layout or GPS core. This is a spiral navigation wheel or a core shot of a world. This graphic started to bring in concepts of world building and almost a space type theme. Here are a couple of links for these graphics.

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/images/help/adilas_gps_layout_big.jpg - GPS core layout map (2013/2014)
https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/images/help/adilas_gps_layout_plain.jpg - core only
https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/images/help/adilas_gps_layout_world_building.jpg - world building levels only

The next level was dealing with the core interface, deeper world building concepts, with different modes or levels (data mode, work mode, usage/stats, settings, permissions, learning, concepts/theory levels). This one only got to the graphic stage, we really wanted to build it out into an interactive navigation model, but only prototype graphics were created. Here is a link for some of these graphics:

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/images/adilas_gps_core_layout.jpg - GPS core layout with different modes (2015)
https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/images/adilas_gps_core_layout_white_label.jpg - GPS core layout - white label (2019)

The other thing that we have always wanted to do was use and show some graphical homepages. Basically, have some kind of primary navigation that is really easy to use. As the users leave the primary dashboard and/or navigation, have them land on a graphical homepage of sorts. Each of these sub homepages would be a landing spot for the subject and/or topic at hand. For example: invoice homepage, deposit homepage, expense/receipt homepage, inventory homepage, customer homepage, etc. There are even smaller and more specific homepages that are sub to some of these bigger homepages. They could use some fun graphical interfaces as well. We still want to do this, we just haven't had the time. Here is a link on some of the research and ideas on the graphical homepages.

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/developers_notebook_home.cfm?q=graphical%20home - research on graphical homepages out in the developer's notebook

The next level is trying to get the whole system or platform into a deeper 3D world building level and using the concepts of the data assembly lines. That would be really cool. Here are a couple of other links that play along those lines:

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/developers_notebook_home.cfm?q=3d%20world%20building - research on 3D world building
https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/developers_notebook_home.cfm?q=data%20assembly%20line - research on the concept of a data assembly line

Here are some other fun graphics - just concepts:

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/images/help/tools_magic_square.jpg - magic square - invoices, PO's, deposits, and expenses
https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/images/help/adilas_3d_world_building.gif - concepts of 3D world building
https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/images/help/adilas_dream_it_up.jpg - 4 step - dream it up process
https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/images/help/adilas_dream_it_up_white_label.gif - 4 step - dream it up process - white label
https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/images/help/location_model_landscape.gif - What you get with adilas - map overview
https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/images/help/adilas_map_layout_all_business_functions.jpg - business functions overview using the map layout
https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/images/help/adilas_gps_layout_all_business_functions.jpg - business functions overview using the core layouthttps://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/images/help/adilas_core_map_combos_all_business_functions.jpg
- business functions overview using both corp and map layouts

All Business functions: - all business functions - shown in the core - show on the map - show using both core and map

1. Sales, Inventory Tracking, & POS (Point of Sale) - core - map - combo



2. CRM (Customer Relationship Management) - core - map - combo



3. CMS (Content Management System) - core - photo galleries - map - combo



4. Online Expense Tracking - core - map - combo



5. Payroll & Timecards - core - map - combo



6. Calendar & Scheduling - core - map - combo



7. Create Data Relationships Between System Players - core - map - combo



8. Backend Office & Accounting Functions - core - map - combo



9. Histories & Reports - core - map - combo



10. BI (Business Intelligence) - core - map - combo



11. Web Presence & eCommerce - core - map - combo



12. Virtual Data Portal (Big Data) - core - map - combo

Monday morning. Lots of action today. Steve and I were the only ones on the meeting to begin. By the time we were done, we had touched base with Dustin, Alan, Eric, and Josh. By around 11 am, most of the guys had moved on and were working on their own projects.

Steve and I were talking about a number of topics. The first one was dealing with a corp-wide setting that was setup way back but never had been fully operational. It was called show_tax_breakdown. After looking for a bit, we determined that it was setup in September of 2012. It has never been used. We did find however that a smaller version of it exists in a corp-wide setting called default_printable_invoice (option # 9 for that setting) on the mini invoice and showing a tax summary as part of the mini invoice (customer receipt). This question and subsequent look-up came from a client email that wanted to turn on the old show tax breakdown setting. It is funny how things keep circling around. Often, we do what we can, and then we know that we will have to circle back around again. We keep building out nubbins where we hope to tie things in later.

While we were looking up some history on the older corp-wide settings, we also talked quite a bit about master corporations, aggregated data, aggregated systems, and being able to move away from transactional data. We still need the transactional data, we just need a way to get to secure summed up and tallied data points. We talked quite a bit about posting, locking, and levels of being able to edit things. The analogy of water freezing into ice was brought up. Some users want us to go directly to ice and make things un-editable. Others require the options to be able to modify and edit data and values. We talked a bit about our data assembly line concept and having different permissions that allow certain levels of access in the flex bubble type model. Very interesting.

We also talked about VPS's (virtual private servers) and some times needing to go back into older environments or models with new features and/or needs. We talked about flagging data, maintaining known and trusted values, scheduled tasks, harnessing user clicks and actions, and even back filling data as needed. There were conversations about single logins, flipping between corporation, showing and maintaining aggregated totals, and validating the integrity of certain data points, sums, totals, counts, and grand totals. We are seeing bigger and bigger needs on first, sales data, and then on inventory tracking. Those seem to be the hot topics for now. Sales data tends to motivate all kinds of other sub functions such as cash flow, inventory levels, tax collection, repayment, etc. The list goes on.

Eric popped in and has a number of question about discount campaigns and how to set them up and track them. We went over ways in corp-wide settings, individual entries, and talked about the discount engine that Josh worked on. There were some talks about deciphering some data and exposing certain fields and values to outside 3rd parties through API socket connections. The users would have to agree to the 3rd party terms and turn thing on, but once completed, all discount information, campaigns, and calculated values and totals would be passed to specific 3rd parties for analysis (only if turned on).

More talks about circling back around and back filling and/or completing certain data values. There are tons of transactions, and certain records hold certain values. We may also need to expose how certain values are calculated, if it is not logical from the data itself. This gets clear into formulas, calculations, order of operations, etc. Discounts play along those lines. You can skip discounts, do standalone or dis-jointed discounts, in-line discounts, percentage discounts, dollars off discounts, mixed discounts, automated discounts, stacked discounts, etc. It gets pretty deep.

While we were talking to Eric about discounts, Josh joined in. We talked with Josh about getting with Cory and working on some concise videos and educational material for showing how to use the automated discount engine. We talked posting videos to help files, updates, and the news and updates page. We are seeing more and more of need to get the correct information out to our users. Basically, a number of things and features exist. However, due to how many there are... some times certain features are not used just because people/users don't know how and/or can't find any training on the subject. Some times they don't even know that certain tools and features exist.

Still talking with Josh, the topic started shifting towards more concise pieces. We have tons of things that are big and somewhat bulky. Those are harder to consume and digest. We need to get into smaller and smaller pieces. Along those lines, Steve chimed in and mentioned almost a marketing type approach. We need to be consistent and have some consistency between the info we are trying to share and how that is presented. We need to help people/users learn, but we also need to be putting our best foot forward. That takes things to a different level and almost adds a marketing level of showing off our stuff. There are pros and cons to that. A pro is it all looks super nice and makes sense. A con is that it requires still, time, resources, and a plan (one or more persons doing the same thing).

As we got deeper into some of the subjects, I kept thinking back to the word "teams" and what teams are we a part of? Certain people or certain teams need to handle certain parts. This really isn't a free for all, it is too complex and requires certain timing, skills, and resources.

After Eric and Josh were done, Steve and I worked with Alan. He helped me on some database query questions and then Steve worked with Alan on a project that both of them are working on for state compliance issues. A couple of other topics for the day were: directing towards teams and who does what. Using news and updates more for training and tech support, GPS tracking and delivery options, and using the right tools for the right job (talking about database and SQL query optimizers - built-in helpers for certain tasks with complex logic and tons of records).

Lots of moving pieces, all over the board. Towards the end of the meeting, I worked on some emails and then recorded a bunch of notes. Things are going so fast... the only way I feel that we can keep up is to record what is happening. We can't solve everything, but hopefully, we circle back around and get a sense and/or flavor of what transpires. Busy times.

11 - Financials & Accounting

-These are your numbers. As much as possible we let operations run and do their stuff and then we report back to accounting what happened. The numbers themselves are important but the story behind those numbers is potentially more important. For example $500 in a certain account does not mean anything unless you say it came from sales.

-Some programs focus on the numbers but one of our main goals is trying to zip up the difference between operations and accounting. The way we do that is using the system. It turns into a virtual data assembly line. We add data and if it is good data it flows through the system from check point to check point and builds your accounting and financial pieces.

-There is always a cause and effect relationship. Nothing just appears. Once again we go back to catching the story and then showing how that story unfolds as it goes forward and fills its own life cycle. 

11.5 - Adilas Theory on Accounting

-Before we go into this next section it is worth expressing that there are multiple different views on this accounting piece. As different as religion and politics are, some people have similar opinions and beliefs on how accounting should be done. We are not trying to start a fight or offend anyone and we value all of the different avenues.

 -Basically we feel like accounting is the end result of cause and effect relationships and how they show up. So our goal is to gather information and data as it starts and let it flow if the data is okay. If a change is needed, we make the change, record a checkpoint or make the correction, and then let that data flow. So accounting really does become a sum of the details. In life, most things do not just appear. There is a story or a reason.

-When we first started building Adilas we saw that there was a known gap between what is called “Operations”(day to day activities) and “Accounting” (the financials and final numbers). One of the analogies that Steve Berkenkotter came up with was a zipper where you have operations on one side and accounting on the other side. “Our goal was to bring operations and accounting together one cog at a time, like a zipper being pulled upwards until it comes together.”

-As we got into it and had been exploring we found that you often need to let operations lead, that is a huge key. Already some people might be saying no, stop this is the wrong direction for accounting but this is a critical key in how we approach the topic. Using another analogy, imagine a horse and a cart. Which one needs to come first? The horse, to pull the cart. Your horse is operations and your accounting is the cart. Natural consequences of a users action present the next logical step. This is known as accounting or accountability. Let operations lead and the accounting will automatically follow.

 -For those who are really worried that is a bad idea, accounting can still have the reigns and reign things in the horse/cart analogy. But in the end the cart has to go where the horse goes if they are connected to it and really want true accounting.

-Without going into details it may be important to say that accounting would not have anything to account for if there were not daily operations occurring in one way or another. Once again we feel that accounting is the sum of the details.

 -Another analogy on how we track things is similar to a process of water turning into ice. The water droplets are very loose at first (like operations), and slowly become crystals, then slush, and finally becoming completely frozen or ice (final numbers or accounting). Throughout the process we flag and date key check points of the life-cycle or steps in the process. This becomes a built-in history of what was going on at any given point in time.

 -Imagine the concept of a data assembly line. You basically run all actions and activities through both space and time while monitoring resources to get a 3D model of where things are really at. Digital story telling.

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/help.cfm?id=496&pwd=assembly

-The 3D model contains 3 dimensions, the x axis is time (horizontal), the y axis is monies & resources (vertical), and the z axis is space or depth (how deep are you going within that).  

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/help.cfm?id=483&pwd=building

11.6 - Roll Call Accounting Principles

-Roll Call Accounting is the ability to track objects and data over time using a series of dates and flags. Imagine the web server or computer asking the objects and data to return and report. What's your story? Who created you? Where have you been? Where are you headed? Who are your buddies? Where do you belong? When did you finish? etc, etc, etc. Virtually require each piece of data to hold its own luggage.

-The concept of a roll call is what you learn back in kindergarten/first grade when the teacher is asking, “Where is Johnny?” or “Is so & so here?”. So basically what we do is track the life cycle of data. All data has a life-cycle and goes through different processes in that life-cycle. The roll call comes into play by asking the data questions such as where the data was at a given time, where it is now, who touched it or performed certain actions, etc.

-There are 3 main groups of history tracked in Adilas: Effectual – what shows up for roll call (where is an object at, with date & time stamps), Historical – who touched what (actions/histories), & Financial – what & where does this show up on the financials.

-We have determined that there are 12 main players in the system. Some of the roll call is talking to those individual players or groups and asking them questions based off of the state or status they are in, what point in their life-cycle they are at, where they need to go next, etc. That might sound random to keep it that broad, but each individual player performs certain tasks. Many of those tasks can be mapped directly back to the financials such as sales, quantity - inventory tracking, expenses, COGS, payroll, taxes, etc. Everything has a date/time stamp along with what phase or step it is in. We simply map to that. That is roll call accounting.

-Here is a small example. Let’s say a customer comes in and wants to buy something. Before the sale happens your product is in inventory and no monies are owed by that person. Once the sale is complete we now have a reduction in inventory, we have new sales money that either needs to be deposited or is still owed based on payments made. We have a tax liability, we have COGS, and we know a profit that was made. All of those pieces can be mapped back to physical spots on the P&L or balance sheet. The important part is progressing that data through the data assembly process where you are flagging, dating, stamping, etc. The data if it’s ran through the assembly line process actually allows us to do the roll call accounting.

-A huge part of the roll call accounting piece deals with allowing your data to flex. Disclaimer: certain accounting people may start freaking out at this point but if you don’t allow your data to flex or go into virtual waiting spots while the data is waiting for some of its other pieces you have to do all sorts of adjustments to keep everything picture perfect. Our concept is that things often flex. We hold them in that flex state until they can pass that next checkpoint which is where they are flagged, stamped, and then can get passed on to the next step.

-Some people say, “Okay I see how that can happen once”, meaning a flex point,  but what we see is that it happens over and over and over again. This is why we treat it like the data assembly line. Some data might go through 3, 4, or multiple steps until it has completed its entire life-cycle. But if there is any data that has an issue or has a need to allow for time to pass before completing its life-cycle it needs to stay in that flex zone until it is ready to be advanced. This could be waiting for another process to happen to the data, another person to perform a certain task with the data, waiting for something to happen physically before the data can be advanced, etc. There are endless scenarios that cause this circumstance where the data needs to flex or get held in a waiting area of sorts before it is ready to progress down the data assembly line.

-The link below is an entry from 2014 where we were expanding our vision of how we have seen things start rolling in this roll call/data assembly line type concept. The entry shows a number of small drawings as well as information. If you are interested in this concept it might be a fun read for you. https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/time_web_gallery.cfm?corp=371&id=2894

-Here is some additional content on roll call accounting.

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/developers_notebook_home.cfm?q=roll%20call

11.7 - Old School Accounting vs. New School Accounting

-Similar to a movie that says the views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors and creators and do not necessarily reflect traditional views on accounting. We acknowledge that this could be a very controversial topic and do not mean to make any sort of inference or offense. Having said that we are trying to stir the pot a little and challenge tradition.

OLD SCHOOL ACCOUNTING

-Old school accounting, or traditional accounting, or double entry accounting, are some terms that are used to talk about classic ways of keeping books. Books meaning a company’s financials. Interestingly enough, originally things really were kept in books or notebooks. These are often referred to as journals and ledgers.  

-By way of a little history a couple of very important events happened. The father of accounting is a guy by the name of Luca Pacioli. He was an Italian monk that lived at the same period of time as Leonardo DaVinci. He is credited as the father of accounting due to a textbook he published called, "Summa de Arithmetica" (the summation of arithmetic). Here is the kicker, this book was published in 1494. To put this date in perspective, Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. Many of the modern day accounting systems have just digitized and sped up these 500+ year old concepts. This is potentially why we would call it old school accounting. 

-Going way back, before computers, company’s would keep track of their records on paper. The word “paper trail”goes back to this method of accounting. In order to keep things separated and organized they put things into accounts or T-accounts. A T-account was almost like a miniature bank balance which you could add to it or take away from it so that you could know the balance in that account. These pluses and minuses are called credits and debits. Normally a credit is a plus and a debit is a minus, there are some exceptions.  

-These processes may be different per company but this is a general overview. A company would have something that they wanted to track. Often this was something that was either important to the company or something the government said they had to track due to taxes. Where they would start is to create a list of categories that they called a chart of accounts. Each category or piece that they were going to track got a number. These numbers have all sorts of levels and specific categories that have been defined over time. There are certain numbers for cash, accounts receivable, accounts payable, long-term loans, etc.

-A journal entry was a debit or credit to one of these chart of accounts. This is where your T-account comes in, meaning credits on one side of the T and debits on the other. These journal entries are the small transactions or day by day activity. The sum of these journal entries would then be passed on to a more stable spot called a ledger. Back in the day, depending on the time period between things, the journal entries would be kept daily or as often as they could. When the time period came that they wanted to get the totals, they then summed up those totals and put them into the ledgers. This helped them save space and kept the ledgers clean so that they weren’t showing all the daily ups and downs and fluidity of business. Often these final posts to the ledger were done weekly, monthly , quarterly, annually, or some other period of time. This is where the word post comes into accounting - moving from a general journal to a ledger - aka summing things up and stamping it into the more final record.

-As part of the journal entry system businesses would do what is called double entry, meaning if something happened it may have effected more than one account. Technically this is how they were tracking cause and effects. For example if I got some new monies from a sale I would have to record those monies coming in and the other side of that would be that I got to deposit that money and my bank account increased. Some of these double entries can get very deep.

-To help businesses keep track of their financials there have been some helpful documents or reports created that we still use today. These reports helped them to know the vitality of the business. These are things like cash flow statement, income statement (P&L or Profit & Loss), balance sheet, etc. These documents are wonderful tools that were created. Most business owners will recognize these names as standard financial documents. Business owners use these documents to get business loans, submit taxes, track business operations, buy and sell businesses, make business decisions, receive other financial reports/requests, etc.   

-There are a number of other things that are associated with old school accounting or traditional double entry accounting. There are chapters upon chapters and textbooks upon textbooks that go over all of the ins and outs of double entry accounting. In general, most of the existing accounting software packages literally emulate the same 500+ year old accounting concepts and flow. They use the same names, the same flow, same mentality, it is just digitized and has some technology enhancements that help it to go faster but it is based on the traditional accounting practices. We may address some of these traditional accounting aspects further as we discuss new school accounting.

NEW SCHOOL ACCOUTING

-New school accounting, roll call accounting, time stamp accounting, tracking objects and data over time, data assembly line, world building, these are all some terms that could be used for modern and/or progressive ways of tracking your data and doing your books. As a note, some of the terms and concepts that exist in old school accounting will be mimicked or copied in new school accounting but some of the names have been changed. This is really important because if you keep some of the traditional names, people expect it to follow the same process as the traditional method does.  

-In old school accounting we added a history section that showed sort of where things came from. Before we jump into new school accounting we feel like it is important that you have an idea where some of these things came from before we start right into ideas and concepts. Right up front we didn’t set out to make a new accounting system. Our business problems were all on the operations, day to day tracking, side of the equation. If you would like a story type format here is a great document below that tells the unfolding of what happened with Adilas.

https://data0.adilas.biz/adilas_history_bio.pdf - (Tons of fun concepts as they developed. This document shows lots of the problems we encountered as a business and how our solutions evolved into the Adilas system.)

-As humans we love to use tools because they help us accomplish our tasks more efficiently. In old school accounting some of the tools used at its roots go clear back to paper and pencil, which are some great tools. Each tool has pros and cons and at some point if the task keeps evolving it can break the efficiency of the tool being used. (If you are interested in seeing a fun document exploring tools and where they excel and break click here.) 

-All data actually has a life cycle, meaning it gets started or created and ends and/or finishes. Usually that means that there is some sort of time frame between these different phases or stages in how data fulfills it’s life-cycle. In our quest for tracking things we started on the operations side. We really wanted to see where every penny went from beginning to end. The missing pieces for our business were on the operations side of tracking inventories, selling inventories, counting inventories, building new things, etc., etc. Basically we needed to get more details on what was happening in the day to day transactions and activities. Step 1 is catch the data at the source.

-As you try to catch data at, or from, the source you have to have tools in the hands of those who are doing it to allow them to capture the data. This can be a problem due to technologies, permissions, or trust issues between departments and employees. As part of this discussion we need to acknowledge that there is a known gap between operations and accounting. Operations, or sometimes the sales department, tries to make things happen to make the deals go. Sometimes accounting doesn’t like all of the decisions made by the operations department and/or doesn’t want to give all of the control for decisions to the operations department. This is where permissions come in. A permission is basically a thumbs up or a thumbs down on being able to add, edit, delete, modify, and so on to all kinds of elements. 

-At this point we want to introduce a few analogies. One of them deals with this life cycle of data. What we want to introduce is the idea of water becoming more solid or the process of water freezing into ice. At first when the water is very flexible this is like the sales - things are still happening and moving, deals might still be in process and negotiation, promises may be being made potentially on both sides of the equation. As the deals solidifies it is almost like that liquid water starts becoming snow or slush. At this point we now have fixed numbers, maybe we have monies, a transaction could have been completed, or we need to further build or fulfill something.  As the time goes on those values, numbers, monies, product transactions, and data become more firm and stable like ice. They become fixed and a piece of the history. We call this analogy the water, snow, to ice analogy. 

-The next analogy we want to introduce is a cart and a horse analogy. We propose that the horse is the thing that is moving things along which is your operation or sales side of the equation. If you don't sell anything you don't have anything to account for.  WORKING....

-The other analogy is the data assembly line

-WORKING, CONCPETS, IDEAS:

-Comparison between operations and accounting with static, parallel, perfect lines - everything is perfectly static.

-How we actually need flex bubbles and periods of time/waiting, etc.

-Difference between operations and accounting and the gap between those. Batches, things get batched, missing time, lack of communication, non-centralized data,

-Horse & cart analogy

-3D data assembly line and 3D world building models

4:17 PM

Brandon Moore

/// notes from the adilas history bio

- corps, locations, users, permissions

- web-based

- tools >> head, paper/pencil, computer tools, software, database, web solutions

- Internet came into play mid 90's

- gathering information into a centeral location

- limiting duplicate work - collecting data and allowing it to flow (start a process)

- start with your pain points

- enter once, use many, and empower the users at the point of action

- letting operations lead

- with the right tools, productivity increased and sales increased, and that drove the need for better accounting

- pain - load and stress

- zipper analogy and using the system as the common element (even the bad guy - saying no)

- permissions and opening and closing virtual windows

- solving problems and then going to the next logical step - keep solving bigger and bigger problems (cogs of the zipper)

- one-to-many relationship model

- dreaming up a super system (what if we could do this... or that... or maybe both...)

4:17 PM

Brandon Moore

- maybe grab the paragraph about no road maps and we were just going off of ideas, concepts, and needs... shannon liked that section.

- we are still doing the same things today as we were back then. where is the pain and how can we possibly fix that (more zipper cogs coming together).

-From here maybe start looking at the post-it note list and see if we can transition into some of those other pieces. We’d like to describe that there is gap, horse/cart, time, batching - and just how this gap keeps getting wider and wider with the real time effects of these things, using computers and technology to create logic that can perform these accounting operations (conversation with Brandon & Steve --- WORKING….  

-IDEAS: We are going to start defining terms, concepts, start typing up pieces and ideas and we will probably need to come back and sew it all together, smooth things out, and make transitions.

-Another Note: On 6/25/19 as Brandon and Steve were talking Steve was saying how old school accounting used to have post after post and entries and different journal entires - lots of time and inputs, whereas roll call accounting can use technology to create logic and teach the computer to look for certain patterns and use logic to map to what is actually happening. Because it uses the logic and mapping, it can do that process over and over again and allows the data to flow more on its own, it just tracks where everything is at and puts numbers where they need to go. Computers are really good at doing repetitive tasks.

-Ideas/Concepts from History Bio Article:

These concepts are enter once, use many, and empower the users at the point of action.

The entire development process was as follows: 1. Find a specific need 2. Figure out what pieces came from where 3. Take a step in that direction by releasing a new tool, feature, or report. The natural consequence of the user actions would then present the next logical step and management would be able to see where they wanted to go. In a way, the horse began leading the cart instead of the other way around.

-If you would like some additional research from the developer’s notebook on new school accounting look here.  https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/developers_notebook_home.cfm?q=new%20school

-Some entries from the developer’s notebook on Christopher Columbus and Lucas Pacioli. Christopher Columbus - 1492 sailed the ocean blue. Luca Pacioli - the father of accounting - in 1494 published a work on the double-entry system of book-keeping and accounting called "Summa de Arithmetica".

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/developers_notebook_home.cfm?q=columbus%2Bpacioli

-This is a 6 page document that has a publish date of 2011 and deals with the start of the Adilas system. It discusses where Adilas came from and how we even started on this journey. Lots of fun concepts of roll call accounting and tracking objects and data over time.

https://data0.adilas.biz/adilas_history_bio.pdf

-The link below is a photo gallery but has some interesting accounting concepts to check out especially in the second picture.

https://data0.adilas.biz/adilas_for_business/photo_gallery_full.cfm 

Met up with Shannon for another session on the tools that we use document. It still needs some editing, but it has most of the content now. We spent most of our time today working on limitations and other future topics that need to be considered if doing world building (bottom of the page in the sub comments). See this link for the full document. We have added to this doc for a couple of weeks, here and there. The original was started way back in 2013 and 2014. Long time coming.

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/time_web_gallery.cfm?corp=371&id=4029

Met with Alan for half an hour going over the existing internal API socket system. We talked about web page id's, API sockets, requirements, and how things are validated. He has a project (invoice due dates and automated watchers for overdue invoices - collecting on a/r's or accounts receivables). He will either be using the existing path way and/or slightly modifying it to work better for future development. Good stuff.

I got on a call with Drea from tech support and she had a number of questions about barcodes and settings inside of adilas. I assured her that beyond creating and generating the barcode, the other settings are on a printer driver, scanner setting, or a browser setting. We don't have any of those pieces in our system. We also briefly went over options between Adobe Flash barcodes and Calvin's PDF labels and sheet labels, using the adilas label builder app.

Grabbed some older notebook sketches and put them together into a single image and uploaded them to element of time # 4791, here in the shop. The combined image is a quick break-down of the data assembly line analogy and model.

Shannon and I met over a Zoom session. Steve and Josh were on the GoToMeeting channel. We did some review and worked on more content for the adilas user guide. We are currently still working on the limitations of world building, under a sub document called tools that we use. We also spent some time talking about our flex bubble type model and how that analogy and/or system plays into real life and plans that we make.

See element of time # 4791 in the shop for more details.
https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/time_web_gallery.cfm?corp=748&id=4791

One of our virtues is to keep going day after day. We also keep trying to solve and take the next logical step. We just keep doing this over and over again. That's what we do.

Steve and I were talking about our guys. Dustin is doing great. We are excited to see where he will end up and what we can do to help that process. Steve is really excited about Eric and getting him going on more internal stuff. He has been a great custom developer and a great team player. We keep trying to make a one stop solution. That becomes a challenge. Steve was talking about directing the energy of the guys and putting them into the right spot and best fit.

Some of our 3rd party solutions end up giving us a big black eye. We want the outside help... but it kinda comes at a cost.

Steve was talking about an analogy between an arrow and a target. If we are the bow (our company), what arrows are we going to use and where do we point it.

We then started talking about some of the byproducts that Adilas can and does create. We are seeing needs in oversight, compliance, training, sales, consulting, custom development, etc. Steve was saying that one of the main goals is making your CPA happy (on the accounting side). Oversight could a reoccurring service. Some of the other services are reoccurring but they tend to cycle through different companies. It is reoccurring and a never ending need but it does cycle more.

Make a small goal, then regroup and huddle up and make the next plan. Kind of a return and report type model.

Steve and I would like to offer more guidance and help with system oversight. To fit Steve's analogy, we need to be aiming the arrow instead of being the arrow. We tend to through the rope across the river and then someone else could come back and help carve out the trail a little bit better. Steve and I are kinda like pioneers in some ways. We keep trying to solve the problems that present themselves. Some of these projects may include scouting, research, ideas, demos, prototypes, mock-ups, and eventual plans.

Inspect what we expect.

We started talking about a trail type analogy. We want to build to certain points, some of it is pretty stable and awesome, some of still needs some loving, and some of it still needs to be pioneered and explored. It just keeps going.

We have tons of projects... we need to turn some of those ideas and projects into ice (water, slush, to ice). We need to follow the same analogy as we did for operations and accounting. We have an ideal (straight parallel lines) but in real life, it needs to flex a bit. Once we allow the flex bubbles or flex pods, we then put in some checkpoints. That helps us make sure that things get brought back together. We could then add in permission levels and eventually allow it flow just like a data assembly line for code vs a data assembly line for data, inventory, and financials.

We are seeing that we, internally, need to provide some small goals and checkpoints and then help with the oversight to help them get to the next checkpoint. We are building SaaS (software as a service). Do we really know where that is going? The answer is no, we truly don't know. But we do have a good idea (an ideal or a goal or a direction). That is great and may be good enough for now. This is a paradigm shift for us.

Taking and bringing things back to the trystorming type methodology. We make a plan and then keep trying and trying, knowing that we will have to circle around again and again.

We need a plan (even if it is dusty and/or a little rough). We then take action to get there (small goals and checkpoints). We then look at the results and make the next decision. We allow the flex but still provide some checkpoints. We do tons of mini project management stuff all the time. Maybe keep going with that and keep it going from step to step vs planning the whole voyage. We still need a vision and master plan, but keep it small and turn it into attainable steps. As a side note, if we don't get enough communication between our developers, we may need to shorten up the checkpoints and make it into smaller attainable goals and steps. Checkpoint, direction, checkpoint, direction. That would be awesome.

Such a fun conversation. We got into resource planning and management (y axis) type stuff. We want to softly start reaching out and helping our guys and gals hit their stride. A fox that chases two rabbits catches neither.

We had some more talks on the adilas community funded projects and helping to tie things into the adilas tick list (see attached for an excel file). We would like to use these two things and actually use those documents as part of the project management tools and tool sets. We also talked about pulling in a ranking (priority) and using some of the code that Bryan was working on for voting on and creating an adilas community and what they would like us to do and work on. This will be a little mini project for Steve and I. Let's use what we have and start down this little path. Yee haw!

Shannon and I had a work session working on the brainstorming document called tools that we use. We spent most of our session working on the sub comments dealing with world building and taking things to an advanced level. See this element of time for more details and then scroll down toward the bottom to see the entry on world building. https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/time_web_gallery.cfm?corp=371&id=4029

We are getting more outside vendors (3rd party solutions) trying to sell us block chain (blockchain) type technology. This is both on the inventory tracking side as well as the accounting side. Currently, it sounds good and cool but there are hidden costs and problems.

As a side note, we are also getting more pressure on servers and who has access to control what pieces. We are still bringing things up at AWS and Newtek. Both systems have a different structure. That is a challenge as well.

Another topic is dealing with API sockets and dealing in bulk sending and receiving data back and forth. The other circling topic is the need for customer rewards, loyalty points, and other special account stuff. The deeper we get, the more buried we seem to be. It almost seems perpetual and an ongoing mode of being buried. Thus is life.

On the adilas permissions (we have tons of them), we would really like to help that page with the look and feel as well as a copy user permissions and/or templates. We were also talking about a possible grouping of permissions and even a drill-down type interface for permissions, settings, and how each thing could be layered and/or navigated. The easy answer may be a simple copy a specific user's permissions. That could be the fastest option for helping out with permissions and setting up permissions for other users.

We had a discussion on the transferring of sub inventory and parent inventory. We have some clients that want to mix the locations on PO's, invoices, and quotes. It gets really crazy. They want to virtually skip the transfer step. Steve would like to maybe help them out by creating a new process that allows for bulk transfers. As an alternate option, Steve would like to potentially be a project manager for this project and work with Bryan on a new solution.

Spent some time reading over public records on blockchain. There are some advantages and a number of disadvantages. As of right now, we will continue with what we have going on and working on a digital assembly line. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain

Shannon and I were working on some new verbage and documentation for tools that we use. We spent some time on the web/API socket section, custom web platforms, and full on world building (hybrid or super customer with everything included). I'm enjoying getting in there and adding some new content and trying to help people and users follow along with where we are going and what we have learned along this journey. Good stuff.

See this entry for some of our notes...
https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/time_web_gallery.cfm?corp=371&id=4029

Alan, Steve, and I were talking about options for servers. We were talking about the progression of client needs. Virtual machines vs standalone dedicated servers. Working with clouds, virtual environments, clusters, dedicated stacks. Pretty techy server stuff. Load management, load balancing, and turn around times for different processes (flexing both up and down).

The other topics of the day were cross corp stuff, world building (breaking apart the databases), and integrating with other or outside solutions. At some point, it may be fun if some of these outside parties try to integrate with us vs us having to integrate with them. Custom interfaces and how deep (clear into details and sub levels) things really need to go. It gets pretty crazy. You really need a platform and a highly flexible system to help handle those things.

At one point, we had Wayne join us on the meeting. Some of his questions were dealing with images and icons out in the ecommerce land area. We chatted about that and then also touched base on server options, both existing pieces (physical dedicated servers) and virtual cloud and/or AWS type environments.

Later on, we had a discussion about expanding the adilas team and who would take care of what pieces. We talked about allowing white label options to take care of specific industries and then we could focus on the general engine and upkeep of the system. We also talked about the future need of project managers, graphic designers, frontend developers, backend developers, and server/hardware guys. It is going to take a team as we keep moving forward. We are already started down some of those paths. We just need to keep minding our p's and q's. Good stuff.

Steve and I spent the rest of the meeting talking about other options with developers and what plans we wanted to activate and what things we want to sit on right now. Great conversations and we feel like we have a good plan. Here we go. Yee haw!

Shannon and I were working on a session for the adilas user guide. We are working on a section called new school accounting. As part of that process, we were reviewing a brainstorming document from September of 2013 (years ago) dealing with the tools that we use. See attached for the original brainstorming doc.

As a recap, some of the tools that we use are:

1. Head and mind

2. Paper and pencil (pen)

3. Computer Based - word processing or a text document

4. Spreadsheets (rows and columns)

5. Databases

6. Software Packages and IT (information technology)

7. Web & Cloud

8. API or Custom (application programming interface)

9. World Building (virtual stories and movies - ultra custom level)

Original Document was created on 9/28/13

We found this document and used it as a resource for working on the new school accounting section of the User Guide (Section 11) on 7/3/19

Tools that we use:

Features, advantages, and benefits

Limitations and how do these tools break

Build & Break, Build & Break, Build & Break

1. Head and mind

a. Always on, not limited, imagination, switch at will, creative, huge capacity.

b.  Think through things, process clear to the end without actually committing, different scenarios, multi tasking even while doing other things.

c. Unlimited capacity to learn and process.

d. Start here and translate to other processes.

e. Limitations – Recall, searching, memory, what you do know, knowledge, affected by outside sources.

f. Break the mind – Sleep, eat and intake. Volume and number of transactions.

g.  Complexity

2. Paper and pencil (pen)

a. Write things down to remind you, categorize things, you can do all sorts of stuff.

b.  Draw, make it up quickly, written hard copy, plan, play with options, you can flip pages, you can have huge, tiny, massive, erase, mobile, searchable.

c.  Limitations – Searchability but not centralized.

d.  You have to have it. Potentially dangerous with loss or damage – outside sources or personal neglect.

e.  Not centralized – no one else has it. Hard to share unless you send or copy it.

f. Only one original.

g. Break pencil and paper – Searching, stacking, organizing, auto calculate, create relationships, nothing is automatic, everything is manual.

h.  Physical problems with the paper, run out of ink, pencil breaks, if you loose the original, you have to start all over again.

i. As it spreads, it becomes harder to get back to what you are looking for. No record of who touched anything. What date/times something happened.

3. Computer Based – word processing or a text document.

a.  All the creativity of paper and pen but you can now search it, print it, save it, send it, centralized, easy access, looks nice, readable, formatted, spell check, copy & paste, speed.

b.  Graphics, links, insert things, create columns and rows, email it, go back and change (small amounts to full pages of new content), take things away (delete).

c.  Limitations -  Structured, certain rules, learning curve (learn the tools), the program itself (does it even offer what you are looking for).

d.  Your skill level. Electricity and a computer or device. Dishing things off to outside sources (printers, faxes, email, Internet).

e. Things that break it:j If it is not centralized, it doesn’t do anybody any good. Run out of space to save it.

4. Spreadsheets (rows and columns)

a.  It does the math for you. It can do calculations. Searchable, organize it, show/hide columns and rows, color, graphs, add graphics, block in cells, lock cells, connect certain things.

b.  Ability to reference to specific cells. Ability to sub divide and expand.

c.  Good structured look and feel.

d.  Export and Import data because it is already formatted in rows and columns.

e.  Changing sizes and merging data cells.

f.  Limitations – Volume. It maxes out at a certain level.

g.  No history – once you replace it with something, it is gone.

h.  Higher skill level in order to play.

i.  Limited to rows and columns.

j.  It is not centralized. It is on your machine.

k.  Static layout – If your data is different or variable, it breaks.

l.  Break a spreadsheet – Volume, you have to see the whole thing all at once.

m.  Formulas and moving and inserting columns and rows. It may break all of the formulas and references to other cells.

n. Electricity, computer, you have to buy it.

o.  Spreadsheets are not the most compatible for touch screens.

p.  Manual filters and always looking at a full screen of data. You can get lost very easy if the columns and/or row headings are not shown.

q.  You can overwrite things very easy.

5. Databases

a.  Unlimited structure, storage in the billions, relationships, histories, you can link things, search things, you never look at the whole database all at once.

b.  Return and report, call back, dynamic level for storage (one-to-many). Scalable.

c.  Different types of databases. There are file share databases (limited number of connections) or server databases (unlimited number of connections). What are the open connection options.

d.  Calculations, filter things, pull back certain rows, you can query things (asking it for things), loop or play in bulk – multiple tasks at once.

e.  Storing and cataloging things. Modular or ability to compartmentalize.

f.  Limitations – Where is the database located at? Location is very important.

g.  Computer problems such as electricity, hardware issues, connection issues, multiple variables.

h.  Security issues.

i.  Skill level – who sets it up? Who is going to work on it? How easy is it to get the data in and out?

j. Break a database – Volume (usually traffic vs. size)

k.  Deleting or dropping information. Losing integrity between pieces of the one-to-many.

l.  Too big or too cumbersome.

6. Software Packages and IT (information technology)

a.  Package or packaged. Pre-built, on your own computer. Industry specific scope or niche.

b.  Keep coming out with new upgrades or versions. Improvements are being made.

c.  Thousands and thousands of choices.

d.  User friendly (general statement), support, manuals, well used and communities, training, etc. Lots of resources.

e.  You feel like you own something – even if it is older – you still own it.

f.  You can customize it for yourself. Create your work flow.

g.  Networking and everything can be hard wired. Established different connections.

h.  It is a tool that is meant for a specific job. It is a catered tool box.

i.  It has a version number that relates to a historic level of the software.

j. There are freeware, shareware, and different pricing structures. Bundles, packages, suites, downloadable or on a hard copy (disk).

k.  Limitations – Price or cost. Same with IT (information technology). $0 to Millions and millions.

l. Implementation and delivery. How do you get it? Install? Download it? Served up to you? How do you consume it?

m. Versions and computers – they don’t always match. Upgrades. Static and constant need for upgrades. Once you make it, it is that version until the next upgrade.

n.  Licenses – How many do you have and how many do you need? Bottlenecks or limit output by not having the right tools.

o.  Niche specific – but then you have to try to marry non compatible products together. The average is between 4 – 6 software packages. Maybe more.

p.  Skill set and use of the tools.

q.  Break software – Viruses, outdated, cost, volume, traffic and hardware issues, not support or non user friendly, natural disasters, computer crashes. 

r.  Newer products with more features. Constant leap frog of features.

s. Having multiple systems running at once & having to try to mix & match & hodgepodge things together.  Sometimes having multiple systems requires double, triple, or more entries into the different software packages. 

t. Changing requirements and changing technology can break software. 

7. Web & Cloud

a.  Great when it is fast, personal, any one can access it with a device, centralized, unlimited as far as storage capacity, versatile.

b.  Use outside pieces, tons of features, graphics, links, forms, buttons, animations, video, sound, print, you can search like crazy.

c.  If hardware crashes, no problem. Switch device.

d.  Cut your IT (information technology) costs to almost nothing.

e.  Mobile. From your car, on the go, multiple things connected to the same piece of data, collaborate from anywhere, any time, multiple people can share tasks and work on projects.

f.  Conditional logic (if, then). No updates, no waiting for the next upgrade (it gets pushed to the server).

g.  ADILAS – All Data Is Live And Searchable, Secure, Serviceable, Scalable, Sustainable.

h.  Go paperless. Scans, images, files, and other content tied into the system.

i.  Skin things (look and feel and flow and processes)

j. Cut steps, speed up processes, customize things to a huge level.

k.  Younger generations are getting more and more tech savvy.

l.  Future??? Where is going? Currently pioneering some of these fields and places. How deep is the rabbit hole? Potential!

m.  Limitations & how it could break – Have to have Internet access (somewhat of a diminishing problem). More and more places are getting it and it is becoming more and more free. Free is good!

n. Travel if Internet is down – have to get to a signal. Server issues, global blackouts, hack attempts, filters,  

o.  Security or un-secure (hacks and stolen data). Semi unknown??? Brings up question because you don’t physically have it or can’t touch it. Where is it? Movies almost create this hype or scare on vulnerability.

p.  How adilas.biz uses security – HTTPS – the “S” is very important. This deal with a thing called SSL (secure socket layer) – encryption. Check logins – 3 strikes your out policy on failed logins. Each corporation (aka virtual world) has user assigned. Each page in the system checks for a three-way tie or code. Corp to User – User to Permission on each page. System history or virtual surveillance system. 75% of the entire adilas.biz application deals with validation and security.

q.  Skill set – certain requirements.

r.  Interoperability – meaning playing with outside players and services. Everything has to work together. Adilas – uses a “System Thinking” type model. Cause and effects, consequences, tell the story, connections and relationships.

s.  Custom needs. Load balancing and potential internet traffic. Adilas tries to be an e-Business buffet – you dream it up we’ll wire it up!

t.  Play with both old and new technologies. Browsers, computers, operating systems, unknowns. 

u. Languages - for US markets things are typically created in English but there may be needs for things to be translated into other languages.

v. Trying to keep up with technology - finding people with the skills and talents. We're trying  to keep up with a the constant moving wave of technology. Hard to keep up. It takes lots and lots of money to keep up and keep developing. Trends, aesthetics, expectations of users, user interfaces, user experience, access to tech support and service for clients. 

w. The amount/quantity of data and the time required to calculate or crunch that data. 

x. Can be difficult if that site is not compatible with devices (mobile apps vs. normal web)

8. API Sockets or Custom (application programming interface)

                       a. An API socket is a way to plug into data without having to use a specific webpages or interface. You have data you can push and pull wherever is needed. You can take whatever is in the cloud and instead of having to interact through a specific webpage you can have access to raw data that you can then format, display, use, or do whatever you want with it.

                        b. You can technically mix & blend data from multiple different sources into one single location or feature - it just give you so many potential options! This could be dashboards, reports, interfaces, comparisons, stats, etc. 

                        c. You can tap into what are called data warehouses, where you take transactional data (day by day activities) and then aggregate the data to get pre-calculated sums, averages, totals, etc. 

                        d. API sockets can have their own security and can potentially bypass any permissions or add any permissions for access. So it can totally change the permission structure for what is being asked for or pushed back and forth. 

                        e. Usually APIs have documentation or samples that help speed up the development cycle. 

                        f. With custom work the sky is the limit. You can literally rewrite a process, change processes, show/hide specific values, reorganize things, make it completely niche specific, make it very intuitive, etc. 

                        g. One of the advantages of custom is that you can pay for exactly what you want without altering the core functionality. This could even be done by using outside developers to program something that may become a part of the core or a one-off job (custom mimic of core functionality).

                        h. If you deal with custom often you get to directly interface with the developers instead of just submitting to the general user request line. You  have to pay for it but you get to work with a developer directly and get to say this is what I want. What is the cost, timeline, what are the project deliverables, project mile markers.

                        i. Often when we think of custom we think of adding new pieces and functionality. That is great and well but custom could also be removing or hiding things that seem unnecessary or confusing, simplifying things.

                        j. If you are dealing with custom all of the sudden you are not limited to what the original developers created for database tables, columns, rows, etc. You can create your own structure for your data needs. 

                        k. Limitations: If it is custom you may not know what you may not know. If it is full custom you may not know where to get started. Unless you have a clear vision it can be challenging on the starting side. 

                        l. Another limitation of web API is that if you don't have enough documentation or access to the data then you have difficulty accessing the data you need. 

                        m. A possible limitation is that there may communication issues on wants, needs, availability, getting data pushed out, filtered, documented from the entity you are working with. 

                        n. It is also a possible limitation could be scripting language. One of the benefits is that anyone can talk to anything but one of the limitations is that each language has it's own quirks. It can be worked out but there are quirky things along the way when dealing in different languages. 

                        o. Because you have data, logic, and presentable pieces that may all come from different sources. You may have to determine where is your hybrid combined piece going to live. 

                        p. How it breaks: One of the most common things that happens is that a change occurs and no one lets you know. So what worked yesterday may not work today and there may not be any documentation. 

                        q. If the internet goes down, electricity out, too much web traffic, or other computer issues arise you may be back to paper and pencil again. I hope you have a good back up plan.

                        r.  You can actually custom things to death. Sometimes you can get into a never-ending cycle of trying to refine the feature which sometimes can cause over-analyzing, over-building, and over-complicating the system. 

                        s. New documentations, help files, SOPs, education, training, etc. 

                         t. Cost

9. World Building (digital story telling – ultra custom/hybrid level)

                        See sub notes below - we ran out of room 

Steve had some questions and updates. Working in AJAX and JQuery and having Dustin do some cross training and helping Steve with some of the new technologies. He is also working on some new production stuff and even possibly looking into tying in full recipe/build type stuff. Some of that is getting pretty deep.

Dustin is going to be adding more subs of elements of time to help with his harvest pieces. He is going to be using sub flags and tags and adding some new harvest types. They are already doing sub phases, sub groups, and now sub types. That will be really cool.

Eric popped in and had a number of questions about sub inventory through adilas API sockets. We ended up talking about the need for better and better documentation and someone to help with API socket stuff and keeping up with documentation. We also have a number of projects that are done and need to be pushed through the code sign-off process. There are a number of projects that have been put in my court, but I just haven't gotten to them yet.

Wayne popped in and gave us an update on some of his AWS transition stuff. We talked about which companies were going to be pulled over for some live testing. Wayne gave us an update on the document and image processing stuff. We also talked about some new functions and how Amazon is starting to build up a giant community of alternate functions and globally accepted options. We also had a fun futuristic talk about AI (artificial intelligence) and using computers doing translations (languages), OCR (optical character recognition), etc. Lots of good stuff going and coming down the pipeline.

Wayne and Eric are going to be working together on a few things. That is awesome. We are going to be changing from an application .cfm (auto include file) to an application .cfc (auot include component). Getting things ready for a single corp structure (splitting corps out to separate database - world building concepts). We also need ways to build in the payee/user integration stuff. There are potentially a number of duplicated records out there.

Steve was telling me some stuff about sales and where things are going. We then talked about some of the other developers who are out there, both established developers, and also the ones that are hanging around and may be very valuable, based on their skills. We specifically talked about Shawn, Spencer, and Josh. Those are some developers who have already played the game and could go even further.

Steve and Josh were talking about an "inventory engine" (max, mins, reorder process, etc.). The inventory engine would help manage the re-ordering of inventory and reporting on inventory levels. Currently, this is just going to be some settings based on a per category level of what is needed (eaches or grams). Think of algorithms of how fast certain projects are being used, consumed, and/or turnover rates. Helping to automate the re-ordering process and even showing some forecasting on inventory items and levels. Helping the system tell you more about selling habits, turnover rates, and the virtual batting average of some of these items.

On sales (and in life), Steve loves to look at things in halves, thirds, quarters, etc. If you can break things down a bit, it becomes more manageable.

We were going to have a meeting with Kelly and do some online whiteboarding and business planning, but that didn't happen. Instead, Steve and Brandon had a couple hour brainstorming session about their own ideas on a business model and business plan. Super fun brainstorming meeting.

- Steve and Brandon were talking about the role of the adilas market, adilas university, and the adilas café.

- Steve was talking about ideas... are you buying or selling? What section of the market and/or café do you play in?

- Just jump in... see a need, fill a need - we love it

- Another piece that we may be missing is marketing and sales type literature and media pieces

- We would love to recruit some others to help with the heavy lifting - There are tons of great adilas users out there who have some great skills

- It takes time and energy to get things going - the goal is, once it gets going, hopefully it will keep feeding itself.

- Steve is having fun tackling the business model - analogy - like a friendly pirate ship. It could be a boat, a ship, a car, a plane, or anything that moves over time. The fun come in as you start asking questions. Are we friendly? Are we mean? How many sails do we put out? What direction are we going (what is our heading)? What kind of crew do you want? How big and how small do you want to be? Etc. Fun stuff.

- Sometimes as we write and record these log notes, it may expose some of our underbellies, but we really gain from it in multiple ways.

- Steve and I would like to be open to discussions from any parties. We also acknowledge that there is a cost to being open and listening to those ideas.

- There seems to be many cycles that interconnect and play as the ball gets kicked down the road.

- Zipper analogy of bringing operations and accounting together. We started this a long time ago, we want to keep going but some of the steps are bigger and harder than others to conquer. Problems exists and that helps keep things going. Problems force decisions and hopefully a solution.

- Working in teams and pulling through things together - it helps get the ball across the finish line and you build relationships along the way.

- A constant mode of refinement - dive and resurface, dive and resurface - build and break, build and break - the concept of maintenance.

- Building blocks of teams - forming, storming, norming, performing - where are we at in our team development process?

- As we keep coming together as a team, there will be some normalizing and efficiency as we keep going. Good stuff.

- Steve is always on the hunt for the better and better ideas. He loves the hunt, in theory and in practice.

- Different angles, different views - false summits, operations, accounting, task oriented, dreamers, managers, etc. Like a pie analogy, we need the whole (in the end), and certain people are doing certain pieces (delegating tasks and processes), but hopefully as you bring it all together and it becomes the whole.

- The proof is in the pudding - if you have a great idea... let's put it to the test... we don't have a monopoly on all of the good ideas. We want to be open to those around us. Ideas by themselves don't really stand too long... those ideas have to be put into action and start applying those concepts.

- You can fund a company through investment, equity, sales, or leveraging debt. We are leaning towards sales and equity.

- Talking about models, we are even seeing some morphing models (mixing and blending), client/services, budgets, and strategic customer care projects. Customer tune ups, targeted tech support, and other customer care and retention efforts.

- Hoist anchor! Starting to get the ship out of the harbor.

- Models - rep model, hub/shop model, 3rd party solutions and white label model - We are seeing a small mix between the basic rep model and the basic hub/shop model. - Russell's word "Dependable" model. A loosely bonded hub/shop type model where the bond is the dependable type and/or dependable people who service other parts of the service model. Basically, they stick around to help pick-up and service the by-products that are created (training, consulting, setup, design work, custom code, tech support, project management, training, and other by-product services).

- Being able to clone some of the main core players - Steve, Brandon, Shari O., etc. Small teams forming under some of these key players and creating loose bonds (dependable type bonds). Very interesting.

- Talking about sales and white label options, we have no boundaries and no zones - people could consume our product wherever they are - we don't plan on adding any boundaries and/or zones.

- Anybody could identify a problem and/or issue - what we really want and need is those who help come up with and are willing to work on solutions.

- Steve was saying that the employer/employee relationship is a kin to slavery - it can work, but over time, it has other costs and drains. Steve really wants to keep moving towards the dependable type model - It is very loose but it can and does work - We want to keep helping those around us - if you look at it... we have so many by-products, the by-products completely outweigh our normal products. Very interesting. One of the key pieces is, you have to want to play the game. If you are just coasting, it doesn't work very well.

- Finding that balance point - We were talking about the difference between a normal company that has an employer/employee model vs this loose community of dependable - We also talked about how some companies are replacing the traditional model with robots, AI (artificial intelligence), or automated services. Where are those balance points and what makes things tip to one side or the other? One of the core concepts that we have is, our main product creates tons of subs or by-products. We can allow others to pick-up any of those by-products by offering their services (basically an open market type option).

- Some of this is just happening and we are figuring it out as we go... We have plans, we try things, we fail sometimes, we go backwards and forwards, we try to listen, we harvest other's ideas, we experiment, we tweak, we refine, we circle back around. That seems to work for us. It is more of the try storming type mentality vs just a plan it and build it type model.

- Randomly enough, we keep getting people circling back around after years of talking with them initially (old sales leads). We also have other people who are looking for and needing some of the functionality that we are working on and/or already have. The general public needs keep advancing right along with us. Step by step building process. Keep building towards the full system (fully interconnected pieces) and even full world building levels.

- Talking about commissions and outbound monies and such - Steve used the word semi-dependable (not a full dependable, but still part of the whole team).

- Finding the glide plane - like an airplane coming in for a landing.

- Tag teaming based on abilities - Coach, put me in... I want to play or give me a shot.

- People putting in time to help move the ball forward - Steve would like to move the company into a trust at some point.

- We are excited that we are moving some things over to deeper and more expanded technologies - tech stuff and server models.

- Keep working to get out of the way

- There is some magic in having a business plan but it can have limits - we do need some direction but it also helps to have your head up and be looking around. Our current business plan is "we are heading North" or something like "we are heading to the top of the mountain" - we have a direction and a way to go about it, that's about it. Fill in the gaps and cross the bridges as they come up (we know they are out there, but we don't have a full plan in place for every little thing).

- What about enjoying the journey? There is some fun in planning out the journey and then responding to cause and effect relationships that happen based on those decisions. That sounds like world building, in a way. The five core concepts of world building are: Characters, relationships, trouble/problems, decisions, and consequences - see this element of time for more information... https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/time_web_gallery.cfm?corp=371&id=3634

- Some people will like what we do and sadly, we may make some enemies - we want to keep it as an open model - there are tons of options out there. We welcome those who want to play and we'll keep refining and building as we go. We want people who are looking for a solution and are willing to help and invest in their solution. We want to make adilas consumable... what do you want and how can you make it work for you?

- Model of being able to charge for different components - it all needs to exist - what if we showed all of the 12 main players and what part of their bill gets charged out and/or applied to what part of the 12 main players? That could be pretty cool.

- We may want to open up the adilas ecommerce piece to all of our clients. Currently, they have to pay for the extended ecommerce functionality.

- Data - the new currency... people are offering features and functions for free, just so that they can collect data. Very interesting.

- Steve would like to help push forward the ideas of the adilas café - a virtual community of users and/or other companies that offer their services - that will be really cool - helping to push the ball along the path using the skills and talents of others (a community of adilas power users and/or outside services). Once again, the by-products are a huge part of the model.

- We do need some standardization pieces, but some of our model is the flexible ways you can do it... We need both side of the fence.

- We ended by doing a brief look at where we have been and where we are going (historical summary of invoices and client based financials). Good stuff.

4.84 - World Building & Data Assembly Line

-World building has become a key concept for Adilas. This occurs in every company and organization and is reflected in the Adilas system. The concept of World Building includes characters, relationships, troubles/problems, decisions, and consequences. This is what business and life is all about.

-As an example, different characters in the system such as customers and invoices interact together in a relationship. This relationship brings about circumstances that require decisions which have consequences. Even at the most basic level of customer needing to buy a good/service and as a result you track in the system your good/service and the exchange of good/service for money or something else of value. These interactions occur continuously throughout the system.

-As each company has differing needs, resources, personalities, different processes for accomplishing tasks, etc.; we recognize how important it is to build/create the business/Adilas “world” that will suit your purposes and needs. With Adilas we want to empower you with tools and the flexibility to do just that.

-The data assembly line is the idea that your data is more like an object that moves through a lifecycle, just like the creation of something moving through an assembly line. There are check points, assembly areas, holding points, quality control checks and measures, etc. As data move through the system it follows a similar ebb and flow of creation, assembly, checks for quality and validity, and making it to final completion or destination.

-One example of the data assembly line in the Adilas system is creating an invoice and depositing money collected from the invoice/sale. The invoice is created with a date/time, customer data and some other information. The next step is to add content or items to the invoice. After the desired items are added to the invoice it moves down the “production line” to the check out and collecting of money for the goods being purchased. After receiving the money the invoice is “completed” but then moves itself into another holding area with other completed invoices waiting to be added to a deposit. The invoice and other invoices are then added to a deposit which effects the bank and financial accounting side of the system. This can be given a final stamp of approval and locked down when all funds are seen for and accounted in the bank.

-A phrase used at Adilas is objects and data over time. Data also undergoes a creation process that moves across time and has relationships to different things. Being able to track and account for your data at any given point in time as it moves, or moved, along its life cycle is a foundational component of how the Adilas system works. This allows for incredible transparency and power with your business data.  

4.1 - General Overview

-Is it easier to say what we can't do, b/c we can do so much

-A whole package

-Interconnected,

-Buffet - pick & choose, can play at any level you want - imagine a buffet with 100 items, say you want 2, 3 or 50, you get to pick and choose what you want, it's great!

-Customizable

-All data is live & searchable, serviceable, sustainable, .... etc. Joe’s thing

-Tanya's graphic: choose your flavor, pick your tools, skin your engine, ....world

4.1 - General Overview

Understanding the Basics:

Welcome to adilas! Adilas is a buffet of user-oriented options, and you can play in a style that suits your needs and wants. It’s a whole, interconnected package that allows you to streamline your business functions through one customizable program. From vendors and customers to expense/receipts and payroll, adilas will track your data in a way that allows you to follow the entire process without having to change from program to program.

At adilas, you choose your flavor, pick your tools, skin your engine, and build your world. Adilas is a powerful data engine and a dynamic and adaptable business model.  In the following sections you will learn more about the pieces and how they interact with one another.

Getting Started:

This User Guide is a great resource as you start using adilas.  Every subsection here in “Meet The Players” begins with “Understanding the Basics” and “Getting Started”.  Each subject also includes suggestions for some basic and admin permissions or settings for that section of adilas.  There are also multiple links to help files for pages associated with each subject.   

Make sure to get in and start using the adilas system.   This is really how you will gain the confidence and experience you want.  Use the play sites, utilize this user guide, check out help files, click on links, explore, see how it all fits together and you will begin navigating the adilas system far more quickly.  We hope this User Guide will be a helpful tool as you start to use adilas.biz!

Suggested Permissions and Settings:

Settings and permissions are foundational pieces of adilas.  Settings help create the specialized work flow and the look and feel of your adilas.  Permissions dictate who is allowed to view, or work, in every area of the system.

This section of the user guide will give you a basic idea of some of the associated permissions or potential settings that could be used.  The general format for the permissions section is to give the section name where the permission is found, the permission name, and a brief description.  If applicable, the settings section gives you the setting’s name and a brief description.  This is not all inclusive, but meant to help you get started understanding and using permissions and settings in adilas.  

Related Pages & Help File Links:

This section will contain brief descriptions of related pages in adilas and links to the help file associated with that page.

Understanding the Basics: This help file explains some of the basic theories and concepts that adilas uses.

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/steps_basics.cfm

Adilas.biz System Overview: With adilas – you get it all!  This map shows aspects of adilas grouped together to show business functions.  These subgroupings are representative of things you may find in varied business system packages.  But the most powerful part of adilas is, that here, you get it all together in one interworking system!

https://data0.adilas.biz/adilas_system_overview_map.pdf

Additional Content:

-Have some of the adilas graphics – like the GPS World Building Graphic

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/images/help/adilas_gps_layout_big.jpg

-And the Adilas.biz System Overview: Map – With adilas, you get it all! (This link is listed above, but we could potentially even show the graphic here.)

https://data0.adilas.biz/adilas_system_overview_map.pdf

4.14 - Corporations (worlds)

-At the world level, what is your world, what is your business... individual business entities - the giant umbrella that all of the groups fit under

-What are your flavors, what do you do, what do you need?

-You can technically have multiple corporations and switch between them... so a user can be bigger than individual worlds

-Can custom name your corporation, LLC., INC., entity,.... name your world

4.14 - Corporations

Understanding the Basics:

Your Corporation is essentially your world.  What you do in your industry, your look and feel, your terminology and what tools you use to accomplish your work.  All of these are specific to your organization and many are customizable in adilas to reflect your organization in the creation of your adilas world.  

You can have multiple locations and for some, potentially multiple corporations.  A user is technically bigger than a corporation, because one user can have access to multiple corporations.  Since users are assigned permissions per corporation they can flip between corporations and do the work they have been permissioned to do in that corporation.  Everything you do in adilas is tracked and takes place under the umbrella of your corporation or within that world.

Getting Started:

Setting up a corporation is one of the highest administrative functions.  This is the person who has the power to change corporation-wide settings and defaults that will cascade throughout your entire adilas world.  The Manage Corporation Info and Permissions page is where you can access all necessary links for managing corporation settings.  One especially important link on this page is the “[edit corp-wide settings and defaults]”.  This link takes you to the Corporation-Wide Settings and Defaults page with over 70 different settings to help customize your adilas world.

Get to the Manage Corporation Info and Permission page from the Classic Homepage under System Management – Manage Corp Info & Permissions; My Favorites Homepage under Other Homepages – Corp Home; or the Interactive Map Homepage under the settings button.

Suggested Permission and Settings:

Permissions:

Setting up corporations is considered an administrative function and requires high admin permissions.

Admin Use:

System Management Section: “Manage Corp Info & Permissions” – this is one of the highest admin permissions and should only be given to your ultimate administrators.  This permission allows the user to adjust any corporation-wide settings.

System Management Section: “Add Edit Payees & Permissions” – this is another one of the highest admin permissions.  This permission allows you to add/edit and assign permissions to yourself and any other user.  

Settings:

As mentioned previously, setting your corporation defaults and flow is where you use the settings section of adilas more than anywhere else. There are over 70 different settings.  Have fun checking out the different options to see what you can do with your adilas world!

Related Pages & Help File Links:

Manage Corporation Info and Permissions: This page is your hub for accessing your corporation management links.

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/help.cfm?id=216&pwd=corp_admin

Corporation-Wide Settings and Defaults: This is where you setup or adjust your corporation-wide settings or your adilas world.  Come here to setup terminology, work flow and special options to best reflect your corporation.

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/help.cfm?id=336&pwd=settings

Add/Edit Corporation: This is the page where your corporation information will originally be added.  This page also holds look and feel information such as you corporation logo and the color schemes for your adilas.  This information can be updated or edited by going to this page in adilas.  The link for this page is called “edit main corp info – look and feel”.

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/help.cfm?id=16&pwd=corps

Additional Content:

-It might be fun here to show some world building graphics here.

-I think it would also be fun to have some graphics of some different corporations or “worlds”…. Give a little idea of the flavors already out there – there are so many and it is so exciting!

Talking with Steve and Dustin about options on black box...

- They were talking about using settings saying use custom, use core, use x, y, or z... we may have to wrap pure black box code with dynamic populating options (which option to use).

- We could really use a way to help show if the corps have black box options. Maybe even a flag (under the covers or in the hidden HTML) that says whether or not it using black box and/or core functionality.

- It may also be helpful if we could allow users to pick and choose if they want the black box option (full custom), the core adilas option (non custom defaults), or an industry specific option (build these options specific per industry).

Wayne popped in and was reporting on some AWS stuff.

- As we start moving over to AWS, a lot of the switching between test and live (URL stuff), is kinda going away and things are becoming more dynamic. Mostly dealing with URL, web addresses, domains, and path stuff.

- We talked about files and media/content storage and what to make publically available and what not to. We also talked about settings and adding in public and/or private boxes per corps (places to store things). We also talked about allowing users to put timelines (expiration dates) on sharing files and such. Say something like, I'll share this file with you for two days or I'll share this file for a couple of hours, etc. Once the expiration date of the URL or file happened, they would be denied unless they opened it back up. Kinda like opening and closing windows and doors for specific time periods.

- Wayne was talking about non language specific functions that we could run at any time. He was calling them Lambda functions. Very similar to an API socket connection or API call. Basically allowing the code and the response to be run using different code languages (mixing and blending coding languages).

- Wayne was also talking about off loading certain API socket calls and groups of calls to certain sub processes. Splitting up the flow and traffic based on needs and like functionality. Basically specializing code to be more effective and grouped.

- File versioning and auto file versioning - comes automatic with certain boxes out on AWS.

- Designing a life cycle process of sorts (putting things deeper and deeper into storage). Maybe use the access time (when was it last asked for or used) as the key indicator. This could be done if we need to mange active vs passive storage. We talked briefly about the analogy of water turning into snow and then going clear to ice. This may also come in to play with compliance, storage, active/inactive accounts, and long term cold storage.

- We spent quite a bit of time going over how the transition between our existing model and where things are headed and how to help with that transition. It got us into some discussions about master corporation lists, master user lists, and what permissions where set per section. Steve joined in and gave us some good ideas while we were talking about breaking out user/payee/employees off into their own entity.

- We ended with some conversations about world building, universe level, cluster and galaxy levels, world levels, etc. Fun conversation and lots of upcoming options.

At some point, we want to circle back around and rebuild a bunch of the pieces and how they act and interact. We would like to call this new rebuild "fracture" or something to that effect. Anyways, here are some brainstorming ideas on the fracture pieces that we would like to sew together. No specific order:

- object oriented approach (objects and data over time)

- use teams and different talent pools

- ice berg vs mountain type analogy (what is being exposed and what are the perceptions - visual exposure)

- settings and different setting levels (corp, group, page, user)

- subs... of sub (everything is fracturing into smaller and smaller pieces) - plan for it and embrace it

- API socket connections and external work flow options

- database scaling (corp-specific databases or corp-specific database tables)

- real in-line database extensions (add/edit/remove database fields and help them flow through the whole system)

- 3D world building - keep going and building out these ideas and concepts - one step at a time

- data assembly line(s) - concepts of tracking phases, grouping, sub locations, allowing flex and checkpoints, permissions, mapping to financials, etc.

- using time or elements of time as a base level and then mix, blend, and share sub functionality and tracking options (more objects and data over time stuff)

- funding and making sure we can fund the planning, design, and development of our game plan

- help files, videos, and SOP (standard operating procedures) - standard and custom

- black box and ways to customize the pages, verbage, logic, and process flow

- summarized data (aggregated data) vs transactional data (all the steps and transactions) - we need both - watchers, feeders, and triggers

- following and dreaming the dream - it may sound way out there... but following that dream is huge

- make a visual plan

- include general testing, unit testing, validation (local and serer-side), and standardizing requirements

- version control and deployment

- going back and doing research and review of older notes - tons of mini gold nuggets to harvest from doing this over the years (make sure and harvest some of our own ideas)

- use of sub homepages and graphical hubs of sort - also use graphics, charts, graphs, and other elements

- summed up data with drill-downs or searches available (basic or advanced) - approach all most everything from a summed up version into a more expansive (expanded) view and/or format

- be able to export any data to CSV, Excel, PDF, and general web format

- smaller mini functions - getters and setters - for miniature database access and updates

- use sub flags, tags, and other similar features - lots of ideas about sub phases, sub groups, sub locations, sub flags, sub tags, sub progress, etc. Lots of prior documentation on elements of time and subs of time, including how to virtually adopt functionality between main player groups (invoices, deposits, expense/receipts, PO's, customers, parts/items, stock/units, vendors, employee/users, quotes, elements of time, balance sheet items, etc.)

- custom look and feel - able to match moving trends

- responsive (able to change size and layout based on device or screen size) - mobile development

- sales - how are we going to market and/or sell our products and services - how are we going to set things up for correct billing and tracking (usage, storage, bandwidth, queries, connections, data, files, images, etc.)

- communications, push/pull notifications, automated things, queues and scheduling tasks, bulk and individual communications

- good project management

- sub permissions - almost down to the function type level (as needed)

- dynamic verbage, custom layout(s), dynamic link builder (favorites), and simple look and feel

If you are looking for other ideas for the fracture account stuff. See this URL or web address: https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/developers_notebook_home.cfm?q=fracture

Keep following up on graphical sales flyer, custom emails, and adilas market.

Shannon and I started re-watching the video of Kelly Whyman doing a presentation from the Denver training event. See this element of time and look for the afternoon video on day 3 - the actual start time of the Kelly portion of the video is at 2:33:19 (ish) - https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/time_web_gallery.cfm?corp=748&id=3957

- One of the first things that she does is get the physical process that really happen and then she breaks those values into a work flow and defines who is going to do what?

- Setting and maintaining the expectations. Owners and operators are different. If things are too complicated, they, the users, stop putting things in.

- There are those who are good at frontend, backend, and maintenance. Different skills, talents, and interest levels.

- Shannon and I talked about "getting an investment approach" where the clients see what other successful people do. This was talking about other skills such as training, setup, maintenance, consulting, overseeing, etc. Ongoing help and other services.

- The setup and initial portion of the client's implementation is very important. They may need some ongoing oversight and/or help. How am I going to support you to get to your goals. Ongoing relationships.

- Try to operate out of the box first and then customize from there. Sometimes they jump too early on the custom bandwagon. Everybody loves the idea of custom but it can be a two edge sword. There might be a difference between small customization vs full or huge customization.

- Are you really ready to take on adilas? Is this the right system for you? You have to really want this (data feeding game). We talked about can's and should's... cost/time analysis.

- Maybe a way we can differentiate ourselves is based on concepts. We love talking about 3D world building, systems, interconnected data relationships, digital story telling, permissions & settings, and objects and data over time. There is an older PDF flyer that has a fun math equation of :: "Results = Mix(Functions, Players, Concepts)". See this older flyer for more info: https://data0.adilas.biz/adilas_formula.pdf - Good stuff.

- Sell the sizzle

Anyways, Shannon and I only made it part way through the video from Kelly. We had some good talks and we have some homework to keep watching and taking notes. We will touch base again next week on Tuesday.

Meeting with Steve and Dustin to start off the morning. Dustin had a couple of questions on ways to track some of his internal code changes. We talked strategy for a bit. Steve then had a question on a client's custom label. It was duplicating one of the fields. We dug in and found that it was a sub inventory attribute that was virtually sharing an id number with another sub inventory attribute. It was appearing to duplicate the data due to the numbering of the attributes. Random error. We went in the backend and fixed it. We haven't had any other complaints about that, so we are assuming that somehow both attributes got assigned the same reporting number.

As Steve and I were fixing the sub inventory issue, we were talking about sales, customer support, and how we are hoping that these new server configurations are going to help us out. We also talked about getting someone to help Shari O. - she is getting buried and needs someone to help. We also talked about some other ideas to think about while we are breaking up the bus (analogy of getting people off the bus and onto their own motorcycles or cars - aka world building). Here are some of the quick notes:

- What about mini options for AWS servers... Currently we have multiple dedicated servers (with fixed number of processors, RAM memory, and fixed hard drives for storage). What if we took those bigger boxes and virtually broke out a new virtual instance for each of our clients. If it could work, it would be almost like a mini virtual dedicated box per client. Just an idea.

- Steve would really like to split out users from corporations (allows users to exist as their own entity and also as part of a master list). Then, we could bridge people over and across and allow users to jump between corporations as they get assigned. We currently can do this, within a single box or cluster. It would be awesome if we could do this on a universe or global scale. Any user (has a single account) and could be interconnected and/or have access to any other corporation (world) based on permissions and being bridged over. Think of home planets and bridging people from worlds to worlds. (digital passports and what not)

- Currently, we (adilas admin) are the only ones who can bridge users between corporations. If it went out further... we could allow individual parties to allow/invite other users to come in and help with any projects and also set connection durations (how long they could virtually stay). If we empower the users to create those relationships, that takes the load and the liability off of the admin adilas team. Good stuff.

- Steve really wants to help out workers and/or dependables

- We would really like add some visual upgrades - CSS and settings. As a side note, settings are going to be huge going forward. We are seeing at least four levels of settings - corp (world), group (system players), pages, and user settings.

- Steve and I were looking at some stats that Wayne had gathered for us... crazy to see those stats and this is just one month from the data 0 box. We would love to see all of the servers and all of the stats, side-by-side, and compare. That would be crazy.

- The deeper we get, the more settings and being able to toggle things on/off (custom setup options) are going to play in. We were even talking about new settings for ecommerce and companies that allow for new customer/client accounts to be setup. What fields do they want to show/hide, what ones are required, what special instructions, what names or aliases, what sort order, etc. Everybody wants crazy deep levels of control on how they set things up.

- Steve and I talked about the pros and cons of the black box options... on the one hand, we can configure any page to do whatever we want. On the other hand, if we go black box vs building a new setting, we have to do the same thing over and over again. Sometimes the speed of the black box option actually creates more work later on. The longer route is building a setting, but it then becomes easier to manage that later on, plus less duplicating code.

On the morning meeting with Steve, Alan, Wayne, and Dustin. Checking up and getting caught up with what happened over the weekend.

Notes from Wayne about server stability and processes

Infrastructure - We have greatly increased this portion. We would like to fix how we deploy code to the servers. Currently we are just using FTP and are able to push code as needed to different servers.

Code - The last couple server issues have been code related (bugs, poorly written code and queries, or loose code). These code problems are currently affecting our servers as much or more than the infrastructure process.

See attached for a small proposal from Wayne about how to configure our environment. Wayne would like to look into Lucee vs ColdFusion. I put tons of notes on that physical PDF upload.

We talked about some costs and also options going forward. We talked about DNS (domain name servers - where are things pointed), SSL's (secure socket layers - https stuff), emails and texts, etc. We can virtually push some of the logging into the AWS CloudWatch services. Amazon also has some other servers that we could harness and/or use. Some of the other services are AWS Cost Explorer, AWS Budgets, AWS Cost and Usage Report, and Amazon Route 53.

Steve was asking questions about how we could make an adilas user group (power users - adilas community) that could be linked and/or joined to different companies or different adilas clients. Almost an extension of the adilas reps and consultants - who wants my skills, I have a power user account, and that could be tied in to anyone's account (based on permission and access). All secure, but also very mobile. Basically a way to separate users and clients.

We also talked about splitting up the databases (world building) into corp-specific databases (smaller single databases) and then working on the mixed or cross-corp queries. In the background it could be tons of different services and even computers, but in the frontend, the presentation seems singular and very streamlined and smooth. This also opens up more revenue options for our developers to help code cross corp or consolidated reports and such.

Some talks about future white labeling options and how we could setup adilas as a platform and then allow them to pay the AWS bills and they pay us for usage of the code.

The rest of the talks circled back around to the code and how we create and deploy our code. Lots of talks about automated testing and getting all of that stuff super stable. Being able to up-scale to handle bigger and bigger loads. Alan popped in and also brought in the possible option of down scaling as well. No one likes to talk about this, but we need to think about both side of the coin. If we are on a dynamic environment, we could virtually scale up and/or down. Once again, it comes back to a two-part puzzle... you have both code and infrastructure.

Alan was talking about how to encourage our developers to run more of a test driven code structure. This will be a cultural switch. If we make it so that the system becomes the bad guy, we could help to change that culture. We've done this before, when we first introduced permissions and such. We talked about training, tooling, and guidelines to help some of these developers. Most of the talks today have dealt with changes to infrastructure - we also know that there is possibly a bigger conversation about the code development side of things.

Where are we going and/or heading? Eventually, some of the adilas functions and features will become components and virtual standalone pieces (modules of sorts). We need the flexibility of a Legos type scenario... multi interlocking blocks that could be mixed and blended as needed.

From Steve - I'm seeing lots of our wish list boxes being checked with these new proposed changes.

From Alan - This seems great for scaling. Hardware is one of the hardest ways to scale. If we could turn it into a service, it becomes easier to manage. Alan was also talking about scaling up and scaling down. Make sure you can go in both directions. How much weight are forced to carry... being able to absorb or extend as needed.

We can make the whole presentation more seamless. Currently, we send clients to data 10, data 11, etc. If we go more in this direction, it just runs more seamless and we scale things in the background as needed. In the background, we almost need a platform babysitter that helps us know what is going on and/or what is available.

Our clients tend to like - our pricing, our possible functionality options, and how easily we can customize things.

Dealing with timelines... We are seeing this transition between 6 months to a year. Maybe even more. We will start on it immediately, but it still may take some time to roll these things out. Also, we can only see so deep, there may be some unknowns that hit us as we get into things. Alan was saying some of the fun development sayings such as the last 10% takes 90% of the time and other things like that. It always gets crazy. Slow and steady wins the race. Lots of good things on the horizon.

Wayne and Steve were talking shop about ways to configure clusters and groups of servers. Lots of talks about AWS (amazon web services) and how they monitor and provide tons of sales stats. Talks about monitoring API socket calls, queries, requests, emails being sent and received, storage, bandwidth, etc. They were talking about using the stats as the base level and then we would just do a mark-up on top of that value. There may be some thresholds and bench mark values, but we could really change our pricing model. Steve would love to almost give the software away for free and then we just charge for processing and storage.

They were also talking about letting the billing cycles run automatically based off of the stats plus mark-up. They then switched to a small demo of the Docker containers and Docker servers (ways of managing a number of like instances and virtual machines). Lots of ways of deploying and configuring mass numbers of servers and also keeping things synced up and ready to go. Lots of talk about breaking every corp into their own database instance and spinning things up on multiple different servers (clusters of servers). Tons of fun world building stuff.

We may end up needing to store and make accessible certain data and values between different servers and still allow bouncing between different corps and even different servers. Fun new levels of what is possible. Once we start breaking things up, it may allow us break up other thing (pieces and functions) within the adilas environment. We honestly don't even know what is possible and what may end up shaking out of this restructure. Pretty crazy.

Eric and I spent some time working more on the sub special accounts and special account tracking stuff. We setup some time for next week to get in there and really start polishing things up and doing some finish work. There are quite a few pages and backend methods (functions) that have been built. The next stage is going over things with a fine tooth comb and helping the mock-ups and alpha releases become more stable. Good stuff.

When I wasn't on the meeting, I was building the customer purchase history page to help show the last known prices per item per customer. This will really help out those who do either contract pricing and/or have a variable pricing model.

Spent some time working with Steve to try to roll some of his JavaScript calculations back and forth. We could get them to go one direction (populate and calculate) pretty easy, but we were struggling with rewinding things and making it recalculate. Just normal stuff. Later on, Eric popped back in and had some questions about flip flopping between FORM and URL scope variables. I showed him a number of examples, where we do the same thing on other pages. He caught on really quickly.

Working with Steve on some JavaScript to help with a new production build (internal builds) page. Lots of dynamic notation. Steve has been working on main flow and carving out some basic pages. He is then pushing things off to Dustin to help shine it up and make it look pretty. Steve wires it up (round 1.0) and then Dustin takes it to the next level (2.0). Good plan.

Eric popped in and had some questions on how to assign his sub special account tracking things to customers, payee/users, etc. After that, he and Steve were talking about future and upcoming projects. Steve was asking Eric about his backend skill sets vs his frontend design skills. We even got into some project management talks as well as backend database architecture. Eric has quite a few skills that are very marketable. We also talked about internal core projects as well as outside custom projects. Good conversation.

Steve and I were talking, briefly, about our direction for the future and near future. Good stuff. Our goal is to keep working on the system, building new pieces, refining some of the older things, putting a new coat of paint on the application (look and feel stuff), and figuring out the master plan of where we want to go. We have so many ideas out in the developer's notebook area... it would be so cool to gather all of that up and really make a plan.

The master plan could include things such as: database structure stuff (world building), graphical homepages, server structure stuff (universe level), fracture account ideas (things that we have learned and ways to break things into smaller and smaller pieces and settings), API socket access points, custom look and feel stuff, 4 different setting levels (corp/world, player/group, page/section, user settings), as well as additional rounds on balance sheet, elements of time, and subs of subs. This could also include all kinds of system stuff such as watchers, feeders, triggers and other ideas that are out there. That would be really fun, a huge project, but really fun.

First topic of the day today was talking about the talent pool that adilas has access to. Steve and I chatted about a number of the different developers, reps, consultants, and sales people who are helping us to play the game. We talked about how best to keep funding those efforts and endeavors. Good stuff, but you do have to be creative.

I showed Steve an update on where we are for the customer tax category project that I've been working on. We also briefly talked about a new sales flyer and where we are headed with that venture. Lots of moving pieces. I worked on more code for the invoice side of the customer tax category project. This helps with invoice line items being added after the fact and still being able to maintain the correct tax categories if an item is added later on.

Eric popped in a couple of times and has a few small questions. We talked about touching base almost daily until we could get a firm grip on when we could have the sub special account tracking stuff done. This deals with loyalty points, gift cards, etc. Eric also had some questions about doing custom work or internal adilas work. He mentioned, that it would be so cool if we had all of the custom one-off pieces that he has built, inside of the main adilas platform. That would be super cool. In the meantime, we are gaining ideas and knowledge of what is wanted and what is needed. Sometimes we have to play the custom one-off game until we either know enough about the needs and wants of our clients or we get the correct amount of internal funding to build it as a core piece.

Wayne popped on and we chatted with him about moving and migrating a couple of companies from servers to other servers. Basically, a company that has a dedicated box, just acquired a couple more companies that are on another server. They want everything under just one roof on the same server. As we were talking, Wayne had a couple questions and ideas. He brought up the fact that if we wanted to, we could split all of these databases into smaller single corp instances and run them on their own databases vs deploying things in a shared or semi-shared environment. We talked about pros and cons and I shared a little bit of history with Wayne on what we have been calling the world building project. We have wanted to do this (getting people off the bus - splitting up the database) for years and years. Looking forward, I'll bet that Wayne will end up helping us out there. Good stuff.

Spent the rest of the time coding on the customer tax category project, emails, paying bills, and trying to get some verbage together for a new news and update on the customer tax category changes.

Steve and Dustin were on the morning meeting. Steve had a quick question about a custom report for owners. We talked about some security hashes that could help the report be more secure. The admin report needs to be outside the secured environment and kinda a quick access link to a quick breakdown report for admin users. Steve has the report built, he is just adding some security and then going to add an access point from inside the secured environment.

I got a call from Russell. We talked for quite a bit about some custom client needs and how best to proceed with those requests. We also spent some time talking about using Bridgerland or BTech to help build out some of the fracture type pieces. The term "Fracture" comes from an idea that Steve had back in June of 2017. Everything in adilas seems to be fracturing and breaking into smaller and smaller pieces. Just discussions at this point, but basically a centralized brain (backend engine) and then a deployable front end that could be hosted on any client server or through a commercial web host. No special setup and a fully customizable frontend interface. The whole thing would talk and/or communicate through API socket connections and back and forth API traffic. We talked about ideas, options, etc.

If I were to put together a small fracture tick list, it would be something like this: (just ideas)

- Customizable look and feel (corp-level, department level, user level, and whatever in between)

- Preset defaults with ability to tweak out the defaults and settings (good starting spot and/or basic structure - starting templates)

- Permissioned out and/or micro permissioned (down to the functions per section)

- Settings for layout, settings for display (show/hide, sort order, aliases, instructions, required yes/no, validation rules, etc.) - As of right now, we are seeing settings on 4 different levels. They are world (corporation or business entity), groups or system player level (customers, invoices, deposits, expense/receipts, PO's, parts/items, vendors, users, stock/units, balance sheet items, quotes, elements of time, etc.), page level settings (what will show/hide, sort order, placement, flow, etc.), and finally, user level settings and defaults. How do I want to play the game (at a personal level)?

- Existing structure and flow, but it could be modified. Basically, a template of the starting procedure and/or process but make it able to be modular (build mini data assembly line type options per procedure/task). Think of our model with the mini bubbles and/or pods. These interface with flow, permissions, time, flex, and mapping clear out to the accounting levels.

- Real in-line database extensions. This allows us to provide a basic starting point (database tables and template flow) but also allows for things to be expanded and/or contracted (lessened) based off of configuration. These database extensions could be data types and allow for numeric, decimals, text, dates, on/off toggles, and even long text or JSON storage.

- Be able to save and build any kinda of report or data export - using existing tools

- graphics, charts, graphs, and other summary type options

- Support of both transactional data (what happens day to day) as well as aggregated (summed or pre-calculated values)

- Digital story telling, using characters, relationships, cause/effect choices, consequences, etc. World building concepts.

- Configurable interfaces and functionality per business vertical - click of button to switch layouts and/or processes.

- Customizable (data or logic hooks or black box technology) on client side, server side, and display and logic sides.

- Responsive and/or mobile ready

- Tons of flags, tags, and special callouts

- Be able to tie everything to time or elements of time. This could allow for groups, categories, types, sub locations, sub phases, sub status, etc.

- The list goes on... Most of the ideas have been recorded somewhere in the adilas developer's notebook pages. A great resource, it just may take some time to review and categorize. 

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Back to other topics, Eric popped in and we made a few more notes and decisions on the sub special account tracking stuff (gift cards, loyalty points, in-store credit, etc.). After that, Wayne jumped on and we talked a little bit about email servers and what is needed there. I spent the rest of the time recording notes and reviewing to do lists. Busy times.

While I was looking through some older papers, I saw this graphic. I'm not sure if it was ever pushed up online. It has a date of 1/11/17 and deals with adilas world building concepts. These are things like: 1. Adilas Universe Level (all adilas systems), 2. Galaxy Level (linked servers), 3. Cluster Level (individual boxes & servers), 4. Solar System Level (databases inside of the boxes or clusters), 5. World Level (corporations and/or companies inside of a database), 6. Location Level (sub areas within a corporation or company), 7. Group Level (any of the 12 main system player groups), 8. Individual Level (actual players or individual items within a group), 9. Data Level (how and where things are stored and what relationships exist between the pieces), 10. Run all levels over time (foundation concepts of time, space, and money (resources) that make up 3D world building).

The attached image is of the first few levels (universe, galaxy, cluster, solar system, world).

On the morning meeting with Josh and Alan. We went over a few new changes from yesterday. Alan reported on his work with Bryan and making a new black box database table (custom table - specific just for that client). Alan and I talked about some naming conventions and how all new black box database tables will have "bb_" to start the table name. For example: bb_53_some_table_name.

We spent a little bit of time going over some new needs for quantity and weight multipliers. Alan and I decided to add two new fields to get things into real numeric values. Currently, some of the people are using some of the existing fields, but those fields are strings or varchars (text based) fields vs real numeric fields. Alan will be making some changes. We know that this project will have two phases. The first one will be to add the new fields and then match-up what ever values we can. The other part of this is going through hundreds of other reports and top cart mini's (gram counters) and Metrc API reporting (state tracking stuff) and flipping the older text based logic into real numeric values and real math. We will be using a value of 1 in the numeric weight field as a default. 1 times anything is the same number. If they want to change that ratio, they will at least have a spot (numeric field) where to do it.

I then started to work on the sales tax project and bringing up all of the black box code to match the master code files (checking for new changes on the custom tax fields 6-10 and other dynamic naming). As a side note... Custom is awesome, but there is a flip side to that... It takes quite a bit of maintenance to keep things up to date if you are changing core pieces.

I spent some time reviewing some notes and info that Dave Forbis gathered up dealing with Stripe (online merchant processing and credit card gateway). See element of time # 4095 for some notes and links. After that, I got on a call with Dave and we went over a few things. We have four different topics that we will be looking into next. They are:

1. Reviewing some older things (tons of white boarding and graphics that were done by Dave from a couple years back) - The goal here is to circle through and pick-up anything that still has merit.

2. Start working on some billboard type sites. These are small websites that have a smaller focus and virtually point people and users to the bigger adilas application. These are things like world building, data assembly line stuff, new school accounting, 3D models for world building and digital story telling. Dave and I were also talking about some concepts that adilas is built upon that are either core and/or we've pushed pretty far. Dave was saying that we could create mini Ted Talk type videos and/or graphics. Get people thinking and talking. Use those pieces to point things back to adilas and what we are doing. Some great marketing ideas.

3. Currently, the adilas platform has a very high concentration of MMJ or Cannabis related industries. Maybe get a list of other kinds of companies that are using the system and show some of the diversity with how and what they are using in the adilas platform model.

4. Dave would like a list of the different domain names that we have and where we would like to focus on building small billboard type sites. I will get this together and send it to him. In a way, we are lightly playing the digital real estate game and trying to setup small little claims. Those claims have two fold purposes... One, they will become virtual billboard sites pointing to adilas and the core concepts that we are built on. Two, they will provide prior art - which makes it so that others can't copyright, trademark, and/or patent - intellectual property stuff. It basically strengthens and protects the main core of what we are trying to do. Good stuff.

Our product is kind like open source software only more of an open community software package (anybody could contribute and/or ask for something). They can't go in and make changes on their own, but they can help push things forward based off of input and seed monies. Either way, it takes time you have to pay someone to do that tweaking and/or changing.

As a side note, we are seeing more and more of a need for deeper and deeper ordering, backordering, fulfillment, shipping, manufacturing, sub routines, supply chain stuff, just in time stuff, and other operation based activities. We already have a number of those pieces, we just want to get them more built out and automated. I would really like to see some of this going into elements of time (mixing date/time values where needed) and also more of the data assembly line type methodology. Those would be my wishes.

Alan popped in and showed us some progress on his charts and graphs for some of the new homepages. I think that they will really help with some much needed look and feel for some of those primary homepages (invoices, PO's, deposits, and expense/receipts).

I went in and fixed a small validation bug and the started to work on a new joint venture non disclosure and non compete form with and for Full Circle Interactive Media.

Josh popped in and gave us a report on some things. Some of the report was dealing with a deeper need to mix and blend date and time options for discounts and being able to set things up with easy interfaces and yet be super powerful. Another part of Josh's report was dealing with education and getting clients setup correctly. Basically, there are so many settings that no one really goes in there and plays around with them. Also, another comment was that some of the settings and options were not related to their industry. They saw things like religious tax categories, stock/unit (vehicle and trailer stuff), and other non industry options. Our model is very open, but sometimes that creates a feeling that we don't fully know their business.

- Discount pricing engine and maybe even special my cart favorite buttons that are discount specific. This could be all kinds of stuff. We have also had some other requests on limiting discounting and even allowing or not allowing standalone discounts. It would also be super cool if you could duplicate discounts, clone things, and build off of existing items. Having bulk tools to help where needed.

- Here is some other research on discounts, pricing engines, and my cart favorite buttons, etc. I would like to go in this direction... https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/time_web_gallery.cfm?corp=748&id=3666 - you could also search the developer's notebook for pricing engine, discount, or my cart favorite buttons.

- Being able to create new items based off of existing

- Being able to do global settings for different industries... basically, set up a new corp, then be ale to click special setup buttons to update and change settings in bulk. We could have multiple sub options that may be clicked. As a side note, we could also program certain themes (actual folders) and use black box technology to virtually show/hide certain buttons, fields, features, settings, etc.

- Color coding for items going low or needing to be reordered - great idea

- Room based inventory vs a location based inventory (sub levels and sub locations)

- Limiting access to all other areas and/or rooms (once again sub levels and sub locations based on permissions)

- Being able to duplicate items and PO's even quicker. Basically, a save as type option to duplicate an item. Kinda like cloning an item or starting from a known point based off of other items. Make it quick and easy based off of existing items.

- Where is all of the data located? We have tons of great data but all of our data is on specific pages and requires a page to page progression (normal web flow). Some of the other systems are starting to pull multiple data pieces into the same page (ajax and jquery stuff). Basically, putting everything on one page or a one-pager type dashboard and/or interface.

- We have had clients who want us to auto close sub packages. This may be accomplished with settings and rules. Not everybody wants the same things. That takes us into settings and such.

- What about an off line mode? When no Internet is available? What about a local instance that could be synced up later on? This is bigger than you think... If you were to go this route, this may need to be a hybrid type solution where we mix localized software, some kind of queue type system (grabbing and holding the data), and then the ability to sync up the data later on. Alan was talking about a potential risk mitigation process and the need to have companies have other plans in place incase a disaster occurs. Both Josh and Alan were talking about possible news and updates that show options such as MS Excel, setting up a hot spot based off a phone, local software options, good old paper and pencil mode. Idea from Josh - What about a local label maker... that could really help as well (small and limited scope).

- Questions on multiple location pricing. What are the price points and price breaks? This got into a small discussion on what a white label or other entity charges.

- Let's keep working on making it pretty and simple and powerful. If you could mix these things, that makes it awesome.

- People want to set it and forget it... a one time wonder or single setup.

- People want the big dumb animal pictures... super simple.

- Once you become super familiar with something... it gets hard to let that go.

- Training a client to be proficient in all areas is really tough... it comes down to training and maintenance. Keep making things easier and easier.

- We might need to make the tips and tricks and news and updates easier to get to... if people want that stuff.

We gave Josh a task of getting out some pens and paper and sketching out interface ideas and going through the discount needs. We recommended that he use the pyramid (triangle) type approach. This would be starting at the top level (corp-wide settings), then go down to groups (customer types and part categories), then go down to tiers and/or buttons (smaller groups with rules and assignments), and then clear down to the item level. We also need to take into account both includes and excludes.

Steve and I met this morning and had a good meeting. It was just the two of us. So, we ended up talking shop and strategy. We talked about some of our internal pain points and how we could get someone to help us out with those things. One of the pain points was with merchant processing solutions. We have coded to a number of Internet gateways, and that is working fine.

We have two major needs on the merchant processing level...

1. Is on the chip reader side. We have two gateways that we have coded to, but it takes a person to get people setup and going on that (light babysitting). Those solutions require both web API socket stuff and software installed on a computer. If the company updates their software, we have to recertify and no one wants to pay for that. So far, those solutions have been somewhat of a headache.

2. We need a simple Internet solution where a new merchant could be approved very easily and then they are off to the races. Currently, the Authorize.net's and USAePay (our top two gateways) have pretty deep prerequisites that the merchants have to go through in order to be setup and qualify. As they grow and mature, they may need to go to a bigger processor, but we need a really simple solution to get people started fairly quickly. We are thinking that Stripe might be the best option and/or looking deeper into PayPal or something like that. I personally am leaning more towards Stripe.

We also talked about some other internal needs and who we could put on what projects. Some of the other needs are things like:

- User guides

- How to's

- News and updates (this is biggie for us)

- Billboard sites (world building, roll call accounting, data assembly line, and others)

- Tons of other mini projects that come up

- Build out the full Adilas API sockets and the underlying documentation to make that happen. That is a huge piece of the puzzle.

We would really like to have some focused project management on both internal projects and client projects.

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11:00 to 12:00 pm - Meeting with Global Design and Assembly - orders and backorders

- Not duplicating orders when something gets back ordered. They would love to enter things once and have it flow through.

- They would like a definitive answer of prices and timelines to make that happen.

- They import products and the resell those items. Lots of shipping and fulfilling of orders.

- They would like to go more paperless in the backend office (what is needed, what is ready, what has been shipped, etc.) - Currently, they are doing a lot of paper back and forth. They would like to eliminate the paper model.

- Steve, talking about a transitional PO (similar to a transitional invoice - between a quote and an invoice). This would be used for the on order/not quite inventory yet but maybe we are already making payments, etc. Steve was saying that Will Hudson (adilas developer) was going to be working on the transitional PO project. Basically, a work in progress type PO... it isn't fully valid inventory yet, but it is becoming more and more solid values.

- Jason, I think you guys would have a lot of clients who would like for a more automated backorder process.

- Steve, was talking about the existing manual process of duplicating the original PO and only pushing the backordered items forward. You don't have to build it from scratch, but you duplicate and keep pushing the ball forward. The other side to this, is you only pay for what you really get and have.

- Jason, would really like that process to happen (like magic) so that the whole story is still there but it flows through the whole system.

- Example: Say we ordered 500, you only got 300. What comes next? Do you have a small box that says, move 200 to backorder (aka a new PO) or what other options might be there.

- Small talks about ice-down dates

- On a technical side... how you do you keep cost of goods, inventory, accounts payable, and what is received and what is not received? Some of the questions go clear out to the balance sheet and how to track things.

- Just in time ordering and smaller draws... Say they need 500 total, but only want 100 now and another 100 by next week and then rest when possible. Just in time issues and some tracking nightmares.

- Technically, we may need another couple fields where we could put desired amount, shipped amounts, and backordered amounts.

- There is more of a need for time based ordering - just as, I need this on this date, and that on this other date... Basically, tying things into more of a time or schedule based environment.

- On the just in time... If someone wants 500 and you only have 200, how do you put it on the order? Do you put the whole 500 on there (this would drop your inventory by -200) or do you just do the 200, out the door, and then put the other 300 on another PO/invoice. Basically items still needed to be bought, purchased, and/or shipped.

- Warehousing and stocking shelves - excess inventory and back stock

- ecommerce type scenarios where orders are processed and managed as part of a supply chain scenario.

- Steve, was talking about companies that are proactively pulling sales from the other companies and then keeping a supply chain up and ready based on max/min re-ordering options. Once they (the other company) gets to certain level, a new order is always processed.

- here is a link for some of the older back order or backorder brainstorming from the developer's notebook.

https://data0.adilas.biz/top_secret/developers_notebook_home.cfm?q=back%20order%2Bbackorder

- Steve, was talking about the new plant move and harvesting options that they are building out. It used to be one manual process at a time. Now, they can click a button and move, kill, phase, or group hundreds and hundreds of plants at a time. The whole things was custom built and automated through elements of time, PO's, and parent/child inventory. Totally a new automated process.

- Jason, we only want what really happens to be recorded, but we don't want to lose the other details of the story.

- Brandi, we already have some custom code that helps us see what we have on hand, what has been placed on new orders, and what is still needed (don't have that yet)

- Brandi, we currently have to make a sales order, fulfill it to the level that is true, and then duplicate it and redo what is still needed. This is the current manual process. She would really love to automate that manual process and take out the possible human error (either multiple clicks and/or info that was forgotten).

- Backorders play on both sides of the fence... inbound items and outbound items... Both sides need a standard and automated flow process.

- Steve, was recommending that we see their existing processes and then make a plan.

- Brandon, we somewhat proposed a system that uses a request quantity (what is wanted), actual quantity (real values), and still needed values (backorders and/or wish list). We talked about having and showing all the fields and allowing JavaScript to help do the math, show/hide checkboxes to help automate the duplication process and pushing the virtual backorder and/or wish list forward. We would then keep chaining and flex gridding those pieces together. Basically, the same things that they are doing manually right now, but we speed it up and help to automate it.

- Steve, he loves clients who ask - Can we move this tree? I keep having to walk around it. While other clients just quietly walk around the tree every day. Sometimes those clients who ask the questions really help us move the ball forward.

- Steve, software and application are constantly changing.

- Jason, really likes to look at "scale". Can I do this? Can I do this for x number? Can I double or triple that and still be ok? Can I multiple by n (unknown number)? It all comes to scale.

- Jason, they have really used tons and tons of flex grid... It is now getting to the level where it is getting to be somewhat of a nightmare, due to the number of custom fields and where it is stored.

- Jason, process sequencing - what data (total) do we need to catch and then push to where it goes. First catch the data. Then we can display it, however we want to.

- Jason, he likes farming (talking about idea farming). But, he really like to harvest (seeing it through).

- Jason, will send up some docs on what they want done. We (adilas) will then help plan it out and get them some quotes and what not.

- Dream it up, and we'll help you wire it up.