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Most recent blog entries

What to design first: Your database layer? Or your user interface?
By App Dev Team on 9/25/2006
It seems that every six months there are new buzzwords or processes that are springing up, attempting to revolutionize the software industry; you really have to do a lot of research and apply some common sense and experience to determine which ones are worth their salt. There has been one shift in the industry that we at Artemis are definitely firm believers in:  Starting your software project from the Front to Back (UI to Database), not Back to Front (Database to UI).

Back to Front- The Outdated Method
Traditionally, when a new project began, the software architects would start by designing all of the low-level architecture along with the complex data structures that would house the software's entities.  This technique would allow the software engineers to figure out all of the data the software would track, and then build all the code to store and retrieve the data.  Lots of time would be spent in designing and re-factoring how the da ...
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Post-Implementation What?!
By Ben Eysselinck on 8/1/2006 Ben Eysselinck
In the last 12 years, one of my favorite events in the software development lifecycle, an event where I tend to sit back, smirking to myself on the inside, has been the "Closing of the Deal."  I enjoy sitting in the conference room while John Q. Salesman announces the new "Big Fish," that they just landed (of course not bothering to mention the amount of time my developers and I had to devote to their sales pitch of course, but that’s a discussion for another article) and how many orders of magnitude this sale is going to improve our finances, our company, the neighborhood, the war on global terrorism, the environment, the state of local schools, the cleanliness…  you get the idea.  

Don’t get me wrong, I love making a big sale!  It’s a fantastic feeling to have taken a completely unrealized relationship, and cultivated it into one where your new customer now trusts you to the point that they are willing to fork over their ...
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Daily "SCRUM" Delivers Top-Notch Project Management to Customers
By Marketing Director on 6/4/2006
A scrum?  What's that, a breakfast treat ... a shady character?  Niether ... it's a sports term used in rugby in which the two sets of forwards mass together around the ball and, with their heads down, struggle to gain possession of the ball.

Everday, Monday through Friday, the entire software development team at Artemis Solutions Group gathers after lunch for a Daily Development Scrum.  Named after the high action moment in rugby, this high action development methodology ensures that projects move smoothly through the development pipeline.

Ryan Doom, Senior eBusiness Consultant, describes it this way:  " We have 15 people and throughout the day lots of emails go around.  We found it incredibly helpful for us all to meet briefly face-to-face every day and cover all active and upcoming projects.  Each person takes about 2-3 minutes to report on what they’ve done, what they are working on and if they ar ...
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Artemis Embraces Children's Initiative
By Marketing Director on 5/24/2006
It is with great pride and pleasure that I present a wonderful cause that is very close to my heart.  It is a community project that Artemis will be heavily involved in.  Being a native of the Lansing myself, born in our own Sparrow Hospital, I am proud to be on the advisory board of the Mid-Michigan Children’s Initiative (MMCI).  This is an organization geared towards children's healthcare that was created through a joint venture among the major healthcare establishments here in Mid-Michigan - mainly Sparrow and Michigan State University Medical School.

Since their founding in 2004, MMCI (www.msummci.org) has succeeded in raising a lot of money, energy and talent towards the support of excellence in research, education, and clinical care benefiting the children of mid-Michigan.

MMCI’s goal is to attract national top Pediatric doctors to Mid-Michigan, and to build a w ...
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The Value of Technology Consulting
By Marketing Director on 4/18/2006
Most modern corporations employ an individual to be in charge of overseeing and implementing technology.  Often, this individual is titled as the CIO, or Chief Information Officer.  He or she is considered every bit as valuable as similar positions such as Chief Financial Officers, often attending board meetings and being integrally involved in steering the corporation forward.

 

So where does this leave the small and medium size business?  Whereas smaller enterprises often have the equivalent of Chief Executive Officers or Chief Financial Officers, often it is nonsensical for them to employ a full time “computer person”, much less an executive to oversee technology.  Often, important decisions concerning technology investment rests in the hands of an owner or manager who already has his or her hands full, or with an employee who may have some computer experience, but is often less than qualified to be making such decisions.&am ...
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Tech Seminar Hits the Mark
By Marketing Director on 3/23/2006
The "New Technology for Small Business" seminar held last week in Kalamazoo was a success, judging by the comments of participants.  100% of the attendees' feedback reported "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the event.

"(They provided) information that could be very useful!" said one respondent.  A number of attendees asked questions after the sessions were over, and many set up appointments to discuss technology solutions that were specific to their industry or business need.

The next Lunch & Learn seminar will be held in Lansing later this year, and will focus on Windows Mobile Solutions, Avaya Voice-over IP, and Microsoft CRM (Customer Relationship Management).