Well, its offical…someone other than my mom thinks we are the best computer related consulting services in Ann Abror. Next stop: best of Nashville! Here’s the press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dynamic Edge Receives 2009 Best of Ann Arbor Award

U.S. Commerce Association’s Award Plaque Honors the Achievement

WASHINGTON D.C., June 8, 2009 — Dynamic Edge has been selected for the 2009 Best of Ann Arbor Award in the Computer Related Consulting Services category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA).

The USCA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2009 USCA Award Program focused on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USCA and data provided by third parties.

“Bruce, we reboot the server each morning when we come in. This keeps it from crashing,” my new client told me as we discussed the action plan we put together to make their network stable and problem free. As I tried to figure out how to respond to this, he went on to ask me if rebooting his server would be covered under Fixed IT. The answer is YES, if you want your server rebooted every day, we will do it for you. However if you are rebooting your server every day or even once a week, there is something else going on! In this customer’s case their backups were not set up correctly by their last vendor (who never seemed to get around to calling my new customer back, good for us, bad for them). Each night this backup process would get locked up and cause the server to fail when the staff arrived and started to log in to the network. Moreover, they were not even getting a complete backup of the data on the server!

This is why we spend the first two weeks cleaning up and stabilizing our new Fixed IT customer’s networks. We find all the little issues that no one else had the time or the motivation to deal with and take care of them. Solving these issues eliminates network downs and computer issues, while allowing us to focus on maintaining the system rather than reacting to outages. Oh, and we actually test your backups for you.

If you are currently rebooting your server each night, it’s time to pick up the phone and contact Bruce about getting a problem prevention network audit done.

The celebration of Dynamic Edge customers started on Saturday with dinner at Miro District, one of my favorite places for a drink in Nashville.

Yes, we do provide Miro District’s computer and server support as well as all of their website deign. But did you know that we also give them feedback on their martini and wine selection?

Back to Michigan on Monday and found that Debra made Jiffy Cornbread Muffins for the team! Tasty. We provide all of the web design and database programming for their website. (and we are getting ready to release an update!)

On Tuesday I stopped in at Bivouac. Quick reminder – Bivouac is the only place in Ann Arbor that sells Kiehls. Bivouac is a new Fixed IT customer, so we are backing up their data while eliminating computer glitches and downtime.

Now all I have to do is find a grocery store that wants to be a customer and I would be able to eat, shop, and play…all while purchasing goods from our customers. NICE.

Before I get started about how to make a Pivot Table, you may want to know why you’d use it. Here are some a few of the most common reasons people use the Pivot Table:

• It can be easier than working with complicated formulas.
• You can summarizing rows of unreadable data into a chart you can use.
• Perfect for tracking product sales by location, customer demographics, etc.
• You can impress your boss, co-workers, or statistically-inclined friends with a informative and efficient reports.

Now, what you’ve been waiting for! Here’s how you make and use Excel’s Pivot Table function. (Click on any of the images to view in detail!)

1. Open your spreadsheet and start by removing any blank rows or columns.
2. Make sure each column has a heading, because they’ll be carried over to the Field List.
3. Make sure your cells are formatted the right way for their data type.
4. Highlight your data range.
5. Click the Insert tab.

6. Select the PivotTable button from the Tables group.
7. Select PivotTable from the list.
The Create PivotTable dialog will appear.

8. Double-check your Table/Range: value.
9. Select the radio button for New Worksheet.
10. Click OK.
A new worksheet opens with a blank pivot table. You’ll see that the fields from our source spreadsheet were carried over to the PivotTable Field List.

11. Drag an item such as PRECINCT from the PivotTable Field List down to the Row Labels quadrant. The left side of your Excel spreadsheet should show a row for each precinct value. You should also see a checkmark appear next to PRECINCT.

12. The next step is to ask what you would like to know about each precinct. I’ll drag the PARTY field from the PivotTable Field List to the Column Labels quadrant. This will provide an additional column for each party. Note that you won’t see any numerical data.

13. To see the count for each party, I need to drag the same field to the Values quadrant. In this case, Excel determines I want a Count of PARTY. I could double-click the entry and choose another Field Setting. Excel has also added Grand Totals.

And there it is folks, your introduction to the Pivot Table. Get practicing, as this may be on our next exam ;)

From Network Slowness to Disaster Recovery, these are the top problems we see in businesses with 5 or more computers and what YOU can do to prevent and solve them.

In this one hour workshop, Bruce will talk about the problems businesses face with their computer systems and what you can do to keep them from becoming outages, data loss, or security threats. Bruce, along with a team of professional consultants at Dynamic Edge, has spent the last 10 years working with company’s ranging from 5 users all the way up to Fortune 500. He is ready to help you make your computers into a tool, rather than a burden. You will leave this workshop armed with a plan to make sure your computers are working correctly and a worksheet outlining the steps you as a business owner need to take to protect your most valuable asset: your company’s data.

Bruce McCully, founder of IT firm Dynamic Edge, opened his doors for business in 1999 while still a student at the University of Michigan. Combining his love of technology with sharp business acumen, McCully moved DE forward expanding from computer repair services to include custom software development, web design, enterprise IT project implementation, and Fixed IT. Fixed IT, our newest product, allows us to monitor and maintain our clients network and servers 24/7. Security issues, outages, backups, patches and daily “glitches” are monitored and repaired in this all encompassing program.

Date: Friday, October 9, 2009

Time: 11:45 am – 1:15 pm

Location: Maxfield Training Center
33000 Thomas Street
Farmington, MI 48336

Lunch and refreshments will be provided. Please contact Debra to sign up: 734.975.0460 x 147

Cost: FREE to members, $20 for non-members

Just did a workshop on the 12 biggest mistakes we see businesses making with their computer systems for the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce. Over 23 businesses signed up to attend! Due to the positive feedback we received, we decided to do another workshop for the Farmington / Farmington Hills Chamber of Commerce. You will leave this workshop with a clear list of items that you can go back to your office / company and do to protect your business. This workshop is designed for businesses with 5 or more computers and a server.
If you are interested in attending, please contact Debra at our office and she will give you more details.
We will also be presenting an abbreviated workshop at the Nashville Chamber of Commerce Walkabout 180. Please register at their page.
BONUS: Here’s a link to a recent interview with Lucy Ann Lance where I go over one of the 12 things mistakes, and how you can keep your data safe.

We are preparing for the 2009 Tech Grant program. In this program we help non-profit organizations with a technology project that they don’t have the resources to do themselves. Here’s a video that I came across as I was getting prepared for the big event, it was taken a couple years ago and it is all about Dynamic Edge’s philosophy toward giving back to the community.
We have helped organizations with projects like web design, database implementation, computer support, server installation, technology plans, and network audits with these grants. If you would like more information, please contact Debra at our office.

Yep, the jury is in! We are officially a great place to work. After a grueling selection process that included interviews, employee surveys and a written application, Dynamic Edge was selected as one of the 2009 Sloan Award winners in the category of workplace flexibility.
Here’s a little video out on YouTube of our office from a few years ago, it pretty much sums up why they selected Dynamic Edge for this award. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vl7qmhzzag
Our mission as an organization isn’t just to support your computer systems, protect your network, secure your data, and eliminate computer slowness – it is also our goal to create a great place to work. We measure our success by applying for and winning awards like this one.

Ann Arbor: if you haven’t heard, there’s a big city out there! The bus that Dynamic Edge sponsored to take people down town Detroit to the Crain’s house party was a success. We toured a number of houses, had some great food and just a little too much fun. The Get Me Downtown bus is a volunteer effort that plans trips downtown Detroit and then provides transportation for anyone who wants to go. Their recent trips include: going to a Tiger’s game, the roller derby, a trip to the DIA, and even a bar crawl through the city. For me, there are two issues keeping me from a night on the town in Detroit: where to go, and how to get back. The Get Me Downtown bus solves both. Keep an eye on their page for their next trip: http://www.getmedowntown.com

Supporting a business’s computer system is a tough gig. It takes a lot of hard work, patience, knowledge about technology, and THE RIGHT PEOPLE! Here’s a quick note from one of our new clients. Cheers to having a great team of people!