Latest Blog Posts
How to automatically backup a PostgreSQL database to Microsoft Azure
I wanted to backup a PostgreSQL database automatically to some offsite storage/server.
The first thing I had to do was decide where to put the backup. In the end I decided to use Azure as part of the solution. I know people say Azure’s expensive, but you can get a 12 month free trial. So at the time of writing, this solution doesn’t cost anything.
Let’s start with the Azure end of it. There are lots of options in Azure and it can take a bit of time to work where you should store the backup file. I knew nothing about Azure when I started, but I worked out that the best option was to use blob storage.
MoreWhat's the difference between measures and calculated columns in Microsoft Power BI?
Power BI calculated columns and measures can be confusing at first - they seem to do almost the same thing. In the following example we use some simple school attendance data to explain why calculated columns and measures are different and we show you which one to choose when you want to do more analysis of your data.
MoreBuild a simple interactive school student satisfaction survey report with Microsoft Power BI
Power BI is a great tool for visualising data and finding useful insights, particularly when you use it to then share your insights with colleagues and other stakeholders.
This student satisfaction report is an example of an interactive report built on top of some very simple data in MS Excel. The report illustrates a couple of fundamental lessons:
MoreHow do you choose between Dynamics 365 or bespoke CRM development?
How do you choose between Microsoft Dynamics 365 and a bespoke customer relationship management (CRM) solution if you want a new back office system to collect and manage information about customers, products and orders? Perhaps you want to capture new leads, allocate them to your sales team and then track sales conversations. When is a bespoke CRM system a better long term solution?
MoreThe hardest part of software development - identifying and prioritising business requirements
Writing software isn’t difficult when you know what you want to do. Coding is the easy bit. The tricky bit is working out what your end users and your customers really need. And when you think you’ve done that, you’ve got to document it and communicate it in a way that makes it as easy as possible for your development team to design and build the best solution.
MoreBespoke CRM Development - 10 Things You Should Know
A bespoke customer relationship management solution is an affordable alternative to more complex off-the-shelf software. It will put you in complete control of the information you collect about customers, enquiries, leads and sales; you make better decisions when you can report on accurate, well organised data.
MoreThe Sheaf Digital Test - 12 Steps to Better Bespoke Software
This post was inspired by Joel Splosky’s The Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better Code. That post is now more than 20 years old, but it is still very relevant and has plenty of good, clear advice for its software developer audience. This one is slightly different because my intended audience is customers - people with little or no software development expertise who want to commission bespoke software. It’ll take you less than 5 minutes to read and you never know, it could save you a lot of time, hassle and money.
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