In the world of software consulting, it is impossible to ignore the recent precipitous growth of cloud-based software solutions. Since 2016, worldwide spending on cloud-based software has increased by 42% and is expected to rise another 38% by 2020. Cloud capabilities enable new streams of connectivity to take shape in our global networks that make our businesses operate smoothly and more efficiently. Continue reading “The 7 Benefits of Creating a Simple Software Solution Using the Cloud”
The NEW Mi4.com
We launched our updated Mi4.com website this week! Developed in-house, we think it is a big improvement over our old site, but we’re biased. So don’t take our word for it, head over to Mi4.com and tell us what you think.
In my last post I mentioned that you would be seeing more of our new logo and that we had several releases planned in the near future. I was not pulling your leg. These are busy, exciting times at Mi4. Stay tuned.
Introducing Our New Logo!
Redgate Certified Partner
Mi4 is excited to announce that we are now a Redgate Certified Partner.
Redgate makes ingeniously simple software used by over 800,000 IT professionals and is the leading Microsoft SQL Server tools vendor. Redgate’s philosophy is to design highly usable, reliable tools which elegantly solve the problems developers and DBAs face every day.
Mi4 customers have actually been enjoying the benefits of Redgate’s tools for years without realizing it. We employ SQL Compare to rollout updates across all of our customers’ databases and use SQL Monitor to ensure the Productioneer databases are operating at peak performance.
Productioneer iPhone Update Released
Productioneer Version 1.1 for iOS is now available in the iTunes AppStore. The new version adds support for additional meter types and field layouts.
Leave your gauge sheets and laptop at home and enter your production numbers on your iPhone or iPad.
CockroachDB Test Drive
We do a lot at Mi4. We create turnkey applications, custom software solutions, provide BI and data visualization consulting, software integrations, cloud migrations, cloud to on-premise connectivity, and a bunch of other stuff that is slipping my mind right now. We also write fascinating and insightful blogs.
Because we offer so many IT solutions we keep a pulse on what’s going on in the IT world around us. We stay abreast of updates, changes, and new feature options that are available on the platforms we currently use, but we also keep an eye out for new products and techniques that could benefit our customers.
I came across one of these products called CockroachDB while naviguant sur Internet (French for “doing market research”). CockroachDB is a cloud-native SQL Database; a new breed of solution that is a consistently-replicated, transactional datastore by default. Now the name “CockroachDB” makes more sense doesn’t it?
Continue reading “CockroachDB Test Drive”
Putting on Augusta….
We recently added a putting green to the office for goofing off, gambling, entertaining clients, keeping our skills sharp for the weekend, to relax so we’ll be more productive.
Mi4’s address is 1502 Augusta Dr Suite 430, Houston, TX 77057….so I’ve played on Augusta.
I feel like there’s also a pun that can be made from being on Augusta DRIVE….if you think of one leave a comment.
The Snapchat UI Change from a Historical Perspective
I’ve been casually following the recent Snapchat UI change that has generated a lot of discussion. I am not an avid Snapchat user so I don’t have much skin in the game but I like to keep track of UI trends and developer/end-user/shareholder relations. I’m a nerd like that….sorry, I mean: “I am a professional like that.”
The UI change has raised questions about whether a company should trust their R&D and stand by their change, if they should listen to a large outcry from it’s user base to roll back some of the change elements, and what impact UI changes can have on stock prices.
I looked at other UI changes that generated similar debate. Facebook, Windows, and iTunes have all had UI changes resulting in loud outcries from their users. Continue reading “The Snapchat UI Change from a Historical Perspective”
Productioneer REDD
One of Mi4’s main products, Productioneer REDD (Remote Data Delivery), just celebrated its 4th birthday this Spring. Its goal is to enable data entry when there is a bad Internet connection, or no connection at all.
The data being entered gets queued in a local database on the users’ computers until they find a spot with a good connection from which they can upload it to the Productioneer servers. We designed REDD’s interface to look very similar to that of the main Productioneer software product because it’s what the pumpers are used to working with.
In order to work well offline, REDD must also download and store all the latest Productioneer data (currently the latest 31 days), so that it can read it and of course update it. It does so with its “full synchronization” feature. Every morning, a pumper finds a spot with a reliable Internet connection and runs this synchronization before heading to the field. Any data that may have been entered already gets uploaded first, and then the downloads begin.
When a connection is available and the user still wants to upload data using REDD, they have two options: have it sent automatically like in Productioneer, or queue it in the local database and then choose to upload it later – as if REDD was actually offline. The latter option comes in handy when the pumper wants to review the data before sending it, or if they have an Internet connection that goes on and off unpredictably.
Pumpers across many different organizations have given REDD good reviews. When we started developing REDD 4 years ago we were surprised how many oil fields had little to no Internet connection and 4 years later that is still the case. We implemented a lot of the online/offline logic that we developed for REDD when we rolled out our initial iOS app a year later in 2015. It would sure be easier for everyone if every oil field had a good Internet connection, but until that day comes we will continue updating and adding new features to REDD.
Happy Birthday REDD!
Processing Excel Data with Powershell
When a new customer signs up for Productioneer, Mi4 imports their historical data from their previous system into their new Productioneer environment so that they can have a comprehensive view of their assets. Typically our customers are switching from another system like GRT, FieldDirect, Merrick, etc and the data is relatively straightforward for us to import.
Sometimes we have clients that weren’t using a field data capture system at all and were keeping track of their production in Excel. Normally these companies only have 20 or so wells and manually manipulating the Excel spreadsheets into an importable format isn’t too labor intensive.
An exception to this rule was a new client we on-boarded, let’s call them Hakamada Resources because their actual name isn’t really pertinent to the blog post and this Juzo Itami movie I just watched was really good.