Iowa’s Recent Code Camp

By Grant Keiser, Senior Application Developer

I was fortunate enough recently to attend the Iowa code camp, sponsored in part by Geonetric.  A code camp is a great idea where developers are encouraged to follow a few guidelines, including things like “always free” and “by and for the developer community.” Iowa’s code camp followed these guidelines and in my opinion, was a success.

Co-Design with Moms in Mind

By Pete Wendel, User Experience Researcher

We just finished co-design (also known as participatory design) sessions with an amazing group of women—mostly moms. Moms of all ages and situations: young, old; single, married; just starting out with young kids, taking on a mother-like role as an adult-child caring for her elderly mother.  I love co-design sessions because people share remarkable experiences and stories. Though I am a father, a husband, and a son, these sessions gave me a renewed appreciation for what it means to be a mother: a dynamic care-giver whose role changes significantly over time, yet is always overseeing the care of others.

When it comes to healthcare in the home, moms rule over all. It’s a benevolent dictatorship that (usually) has everyone in a family looking to mom for any and all decisions when it comes to healthcare. This isn’t a shock to anyone, but it certainly can be a difficult burden to bear. This is especially true when it involves care for chronic illness or caring for elderly parents.

The Joel Test

By Matt Youngblut, Engineering Manager

Joel Spolsky gets it. He leads a software company that builds great software by hiring and building great people. In the process, he came up with “The Joel Test“, which, by his own admission is his

“own, highly irresponsible, sloppy test to rate the quality of a software team. The great part about it is that it takes about 3 minutes. With all the time you save, you can go to medical school.”

It is a simple test. 12 yes-no questions. It can help potential hires determine if this is a place they would like to work. Here is how Geonetric scores:

Embracing Changing Technologies

By Eric Engelmann, President & CEO

It’s always interesting to be the patient once in a while. I had my annual physical this morning, and my doctor happens to be at a hospital that’s going through a big EMR upgrade, first implemented just a few days ago. Both the nurse and the doctor I saw sighed noticeably when sitting down at the application, and of course when I casually asked about the new system, neither had anything positive to say about it. The questionnaire that my doctor was working through included a question about my alcohol consumption, to which I answered “1-2 drinks a week” (CEOs don’t get out much). She tried to type exactly that into the system, but got an error message “Please enter valid data.” She sighed again, and tried to figure out a few other ways to type it, until I suggested that perhaps it only wanted numbers, not letters. Sure enough, that worked. I’m a software guy, she’s an MD. It shouldn’t require a software guy to use.

DevConnections Spring 2009 – A Smashing Success

By John Oberreuter, SQL Developer

A few weeks ago, I attended DevConnections Conference and was particularly interested in learning about SQL Server.  Last August Microsoft launched SQL Server 2008 and, to no surprise, SQL Server 2008 was the main focus of many of the sessions. These sessions covered a wide range of topics including Business Intelligence, performance tuning and database maintenance.

Pleasant Time

By Andy To, Application Developer

Having fun while working … what more can one ask for? That is the case for six developers from Geonetric, myself included. We were given an opportunity to attend the DevConnections Conference in Orlando during the midst of an economic downturn. This just proves Geonetric is willing to invest in its employees and continues to strive for excellence.

A Look into Providing Business Intelligence

By Jason Adams, Senior SQL Developer

I recently attended the Microsoft’s DevConnections Conference.  As a database developer, my focus was on sessions dealing with the business intelligence and data warehousing technologies that ship with Microsoft SQL Server.

The concepts of data warehousing is something I have been researching for the past year; I believe it’s a concept that can assist organizations in making better decisions about their business. The sessions I attended covered all of Microsoft’s data warehousing tools  - from tools that help you develop a data warehouse to tools that help deliver business intelligence to key decision makers.

There were a few sessions that stuck with me the most.  The first two – “Why Data Warehousing Projects Fail” and “Avoiding Common Analysis Services Mistakes” – provided guidelines on how to design a data warehouse solution and avoid common mistakes.  The other session focused on delivering business intelligence to the end user and addressed how to create a digital dashboard with the reporting tools that are a part of Microsoft SQL Server.

Sweet Validation

By Scott Youngblut, Application Developer

When developers are tasked with a difficult project, there are many resources to turn to; books and Google are the most widely used.  But what happens if those fail to provide the needed direction and guidance?  Many times you set down a path using your best judgment and hope everything works out in the end.

The recent DevConnections Conference, which I along with five of Geonetric’s developers attended, validated many of my feelings. During sessions on the first day, it became very clear to me that we have found the correct solutions to many complex problems that others struggle with.

Microsoft Developer Training Conference Emphasizes Windows Communication Foundation for Service-Oriented Applications

By Jim Kropa, Senior Application Developer

Of course, we expected to imbibe in a certain quantity of “the Microsoft Kool-Aid” when six Geonetric software developers traveled to Orlando for the three-day Microsoft DevConnections conference, but after the first day’s sessions in which Microsoft executives described the new features in forthcoming versions of their products, we were able to see how those new innovations match the larger trends in software delivered over the Internet, and how to prepare for further innovations.

Optimizing Code Reuse Between an Application and Database

By Jason Adams, Senior SQL Developer

Every good developer strives to reduce the amount of repeated code.  One area that has been difficult to tackle is the sharing of code between the application and the database.  Certain pieces of logic are typically repeated in the database. But when SQL Server 2005 was released, the ability to write .NET code in the database became a possibility, thus reducing the amount of repeated code. 

An often repeated code between the application and the database are enumerations, a set of related name constants.  Enumerations can be used to define a piece of data’s current state.  For example, in a system with workflow, a page can be in one of many states: submitted, approved, published or archived.  In VitalSite, Geonetric’s content management solution, we maintain the meaning of the state in two places: an enumeration in the code and a table in the database.  The problem arises when the list of possible states changes; at that time, both the application and the database must be updated. If negelected, issues can arise.