Your Still Using What ?

Recently I had a new client contact me regarding a legacy time matters installation. The client was running Time Matters version 7 and had no intention of upgrading to a newer instance. I will not venture into the why, however I am sure this is a situation that many Time Matters users have recently been faced with. The client had noticed in recent months that the application had slowed down significantly and that automatic relationships between records were being lost at an alarming rate. Upon inspection running database maintenance seemed to do little to rectify the issue. After speaking to the client and staff we began to narrow the source of the issue to an upgrade which had occurred six months prior. In an attempt to speed up the application the client has been recommended to upgrade hardware. As such they purchased a new server complete with Windows Small Business Server 2008. While the issues were not evident immediately, over the course of about six months application hangs and crashes, coupled with corruption in the relationship tables of the database began to rear their ugly heads.

I’m writing this article because this is an extremely counterintuitive subject for the lay user. We all think “Hey the application is slow, lets throw some fast new hardware at it that will do the trick”, and in regards to new software this is often a valid solution (although often not the best way of addressing the root issue). However, when you’re dealing with legacy installations such as Time Matters 9 (TPS version) and prior – or any legacy software for that matter – you have to step back and look at all the contributing factors. Prior to version 9 time matters data was stored exclusively in .TPS files. (You can think of TPS files as the equivlent to a SQL table in the Clarion world.) This format was popularized by Top Speed CLARION in the 1990s, it was an easy way to quickly program and deploy data-driven applications. And to a certain record threshold (data scale) it performed this task rather well, however, we are in a different age and storing data in TPS files has fallen out of vogue. In fact, the practice of storing large record sets in flat data sources is frowned upon by many software developers with the advent of so many powerful free database platforms such as: Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition, Oracle Express Edition, and mySQL. (This is one of the major issues with QuickBooks in case you’re wondering why that is such a headaches).

What does this mean for the end-user?

Well because the emphasis has shifted away from this type of data storage operating systems, hardware, security patches, .dll files, and just about anything else you can think of on your computers and servers do not take this type of data storage in the consideration. What this means is that there are major conflicts between simple things such as the file system structure protocols on a modern operating system that can cause significant corruption in flat data sources. The exact problem is a protocol known as opportunistic locking to become the default after Windows server 2003 and Windows XP. Another known culprit, is again something you would never expect. Also, modern antivirus program (Microsoft Security Essentials in specific) are known to cause corruption in flat data files such as the TPS format. Also patches, hardware driver’s, .dll files ahve not been upgraded for these technologies in over a decade. And these are just the known issues, I am quite certain that there a host of other issues that are either very rare or have yet to bubble to the surface.

So what’s the take-home point ?

You have to keep in mind that the hardware and the software compose a higly dependent relationship with one another. If you’re going to run legacy software you have to tread very carefully when you go to perform upgrades. If you do intend upgrade, perform extensive testing to make sure that the platform you’re moving to will support your legacy applications. One good way of doing this is setting up ‘FREE’, yes free virtual machine (using VMware player or Windows Virtual PC or Sun’s(Oracle) Virtual Box) with the trial version of the OS you intend to use and then test your applications thoroughly. And I do mean thoroughly.

I never looked at it like that ?

Custom Software | a Reappraisal

More often then not a company will consider upgrading, migrating, or replacing old software as an absolute last resort, and going with custom software development is usually over looked in favor of an overpriced, under featured off the shelf software product. Why ? The answer is fairly simple. Over time we become adverse to change. The same innovation that put you ahead of the curve 10 years ago can easily be replaced with the complacent sense of “if it isn’t broken don’t mess with it”. In some organizations this an acceptable practice. Who wants to change a recipe that works ? However, in our technology driven world this is the exception not the rule. As we settle into a routine it becomes very easy to get “stuck”, and as the moss builds up it becomes ever easier for the present to pass you by.

Using Software Development to Get Unstuck

Software in its purest incarnation is utility. Software Development in its purest incarnation is problem solving. When you marry utility together with problem solving you can uncover some serious potential for Getting Yourself Unstuck !

What do I mean by getting Unstuck ?

When you stand very close to a work of art it can be difficult to see the whole piece. When you fall in to the groove of repetition it can be difficult to be present of waste. When you find routine and convenience are overwhelming innovation it can be difficult to accurately take stock of your strengths and weaknesses. The process of sitting down with un-biased observer and developing software can be more powerful then the software alone will ever be. The act itself is a opportunity to start fresh and think about, why your doing what your doing, and how you go about doing it. This is a spa treatment for your business, equivalent to massaging the mental knots that develop around the routine. Even if the following issues are not directly addressed by the final software, the simple act of bringing them into the light is a therapeutic and productive undertaking. Remember that you can’t fix problems that you are not aware of, so rooting them out is half the problem.

Developing Custom Software

Business Software Design

The reward is in the process. The process is something that wouldn’t occur in the normal grind of a day to day operation and as such it is a unique event. Because of this it can present an area of great potential to your company to Get Unstuck.

The first step in designing custom software for a business is looking at whats currently in place and figuring out how it got to that state. It is important to remember that the history and past planning is often just as important as the current environment. Once you understand the environment you can move onto working on developing solutions and improvements.

Rooting Out Weaknesses

Finding the weakness in a work chain and turning it around to a strength can offer a serious return on investment. My experience is that the law of “Rate limiting Factors” applies to most companies. A real world example of what this law says – in layman’s terms – is that you can have the fastest car in the world, yet if your stuck in a one lane road behind and old lady going five miles an hour your only going to be able to go 5 miles an hour. This is the case with many companies and because the management and staff are often so focused on running the business, they are often unable to address the issue or simply unaware of it. Identifying and releasing this congestion from your workflow can allow for massive productivity increases with minimal investment.

Capitalizing On Strengths

Lets not get bogged down by the negative stuff. One of my favorite avenues to pursue when developing customized software for a company is appraising what the strengths of the organization are. From here it is always a fun process of figuring out how to capitalize them to improve other areas, and possibly even find ways of making them better. While this may not offer the prodigious productivity increases that weeding out rate limiting steps will, it is often in this vein that we can identify, analyze, and deduce the solutions that will fix the previous.

Avoid the Blame Game

Pointing fingers does not produce good software. On the contrary once people feel the blame game coming they close up and start withholding information. Following this, the software development will quickly become a fruitless undertaking. In fact, this is very often the problem that leads to the accumulation of unresolved problems at a company. Instead of putting aside blame and addressing an issue people side step, displace blame, and sweep issues under the rug to avoid perceived fault. At the very beginning of a Software Development Engagement it must be made clear that no one is to be held accountable for past problems and instead we are focusing on how to improve the company NOW !. Obviously if you uncover something serious it must be addressed, however, if you are hiring quality staff people generally do what they can at the time and should not be penalized in hindsight as this will not resolve the underlying issue.

Is Custom Software Right for You ?

You don’t have be a fortune 500 company to develop high functionality customized software for your business. We offer affordable rates, world class service, state of the solutions and the insight to take your company to the next level.

Contact Us Today for A Free Consultation

David Wetherell
NYC-Software Solutions
consult@nyc-software.com

Implementing Cloud Services

I had written an earlier post entitled Cloud for Business where I outlined some of the more basic considerations that business owners must take into account regarding the new exodus to cloud computing based services. In this article I am going to take this theme one step further and outline some of the actual service categories, and the actually services being offered that I am now implementing for our clients.  As the major players in the technology sector continue to embrace and push the offerings available to the end user, cloud services are becoming more and more attractive to business. This is true not only from a financial stand point but also from a stand point of convenience and productivity.

Cloud Computing Vectors

Cloud computing can generally – and this is a big generalization, however necessary for the scope of our discussion – be divided into three non-discrete arenas.

SaaS | Software as a Service

Software as a service generally involves Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Email, and Applications. This is a generally advantageous to the end user at it provides a “pay per use” payment model that lower the general initial and long term costs of ownership to the end user. Because licensing becomes so simplified the savings can be passed onto the end-user. Many of the major players are offering SaaS versions of popular business software.

One of the major success stories that can be said for the SaaS movement is Sales Force. Sales force offers Sales Lead Management, Marketing and Leads, Analytic, Workflows and much much more. Sales force is such a powerful tool because it is extremely customizable by the end user, allowing you to easily add, track, and analyze the data that matters to your company. Sales Force offer an affordable, flexible, product and as such I have seen multiple success stories with customers whom I have help implement it for.

PaaS | Platform as a Service

Platform as a service is a intermediary requirement that has emerged to meet the needs of Cloud Computing development and delivery. This is slightly beyond the scope of this article however it is important to note that PaaS is emerging as a powerful tool to take business applications from design to production in remarkably short time frames. Services such as Microsoft Azure, and Force.com (A Division of Sales Force) allow you to build on demand applications and deploy them to end users with a mouse click.

• Force (Sales Force) PaaS offerings
• Microsoft Azure PaaS offering
• Google App Engine IaaS Offering

IaaS | Infrastructure as a Service

Infrastructure as a Service can be thought of as the most basic, foundational, and easily understandable offering of the Cloud Computing Arena. Essentially you are transferring -or setting up – your IT Infrastructure (Servers, OS, etc ) to a provider. It is beneficial to small and large business alike as it significantly reduces the financial investment that must be made into establishing – or maintaining a state of the art IT solution. It also reduces the cost of the unexpected. If you provision your budget to purchase a server to handle 1,000 imaginary transactions a day and then find three months later that you actually need to hand 1,000,000 imaginary transactions a day, you have a problem. Not only have you invested in a server that does not meet your needs but you have to spend more money on a new more powerful server. The unexpected can be expensive. Even the most thoughtful consultant, or IT manager can get it wrong. IaaS gives you a buffer from the unexpected by allowing you to scale a server hundreds of times over with the click of a mouse.

• Amazon IaaS offerings
• Layered Tech IaaS offering
• Rackspace IaaS Offering

Put the Cloud to Work

Putting the Cloud Computing Puzzle Together

While I have outlined and explained the Cloud Computing Services to you as independent entities which can benefit your business, the real potential lies in the fact that all of these services can interact with each other in new and interesting ways. Cloud computing is the interaction of these services. The way you can take an IaaS and build it into an enterprise solution with integrated SaaS for less then the price of a Standard Microsoft Office license. What we as Cloud Computing Consultants try to do is finding the recipe that will take your business to the next level, all while keeping the most money in your pocket at the end of the day. Cloud computing is a new state of mind and we are learning and trying to keep up with the potential and present it to our clients..

New York’s Leading IT Consultants

We are ahead of the curve and we work hard to stay there. Technology is evolving rapidly and investing money in what was state of the art 5 years ago is not a good business investment. Unfortunately this is what you get with many consulting firms. We offer state of the art solutions that translate into prodigious returns for are clients in annual IT cost, cost of ownership, and overall productivity.

David Wetherell
NYC-Software Solutions
consult@nyc-software.com

So if your reading this your in bad shape, just kidding. However if you think your database is or may be corrupted, there are some general steps you can take to resolve the issue. For many this can be an overwhelming issue, however there are steps that even the novice IT consultant can follow which often will easily resolve the issue. As I mentioned in the previous article, Time Matters Database Corruption Part 1 if you are uncomfortable with any of the steps in this article or do not know what SQL Server is, or what SQL Server Management Studio is you should contact a professorial. So the first thing you are going to want to do is run DBCC CHECKDB. Ideally you should do this from the SQL command prompt but I find that if you can access the program you are good to do this from the Management Studio. If you don’t know how to access or don’t have SQL Server Management Studio you can read my Time Matters 11 Installation Guidelines article where I outline some of the steps and have some links to download the installer.

So again run the following command, it may take several minutes.

use TimeMatters10
GO
DBCC CHECKDB
GO

So now you have to interpret the results. If there is no red text then take a deep breadth and try to think about what else could be cause your issue (whatever that may be). If there is Red text in the output this is the area you want to focus on. If there is just about nothing but red text, contact us or another proffesional Database Administrator. I generally find that there are three major fixes for corruption that I end up having to implement (of course there are more then this, however these are the most common).

• 1. An index has become corrupted. (rebuild the Index).
• 2. There is some form of foreign or primary key violation.
• 3. There is IO corruption.

The output from CHECKDB is generally pretty descriptive however sometime you will get system identifiers rather then a name, such as “object 1269579561″. You can easily query the identifiers name like this:

select Object_Name(1269579561);

Scenario 1

If you get an error like I/O error on index such and such, this means that the index has been corrupted. This is the most common type of corruption I see and it also generally the easiest to fix. Figure out what index is corrupted (generally you can ascertain this directly from the output of DBCC CHECKDB) and the run the following command: (substituting in your table and index).

USE TimeMatters10
GO
DBCC DBREINDEX ('TimeMatters10.lntmuser.yourtable', 'your_index', 80)
GO

The “80″ on the end is the fill factor for the index you can learn more about this in the MSDN Fill Factor Overview.

Scenario 2, 3

If you are getting error’s about key – primary or foreign – violation or I/O corruption, there are two steps that the novice can take, run DBCC CHECKDB with no data loss, or run DBCC CHECKDB with Data loss.

Attempt to repair without dataloss:

ALTER DATABASE TimeMatters10
SET SINGLE_USER
GO
DBCC checkdb ('TimeMatters10', REPAIR_REBUILD);
GO

Attempt to repair with data loss. Only use this script after doing a verified backup or baseline:

ALTER DATABASE TimeMatters10
SET SINGLE_USER
WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE;
GO
DBCC checkdb ('TimeMatters10', REPAIR_ALLOW_DATA_LOSS);
GO

Other Considerations

To run some of the above scripts you may have to put the database into “single user mode” and/or force close the connections to the database, here are the scripts:

Create procedure to kill connections.

USE MASTER
GO
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.clearDBUsers
@dbName SYSNAME
AS
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT ON

DECLARE @spid INT,
@cnt INT,
@sql VARCHAR(255)

SELECT @spid = MIN(spid), @cnt = COUNT(*)
FROM master..sysprocesses
WHERE dbid = DB_ID(@dbname)
AND spid != @@SPID

PRINT 'Starting to KILL '+RTRIM(@cnt)+' processes.'

WHILE @spid IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
PRINT 'About to KILL '+RTRIM(@spid)
SET @sql = 'KILL '+RTRIM(@spid)
EXEC(@sql)
SELECT @spid = MIN(spid), @cnt = COUNT(*)
FROM master..sysprocesses
WHERE dbid = DB_ID(@dbname)
AND spid != @@SPID
PRINT RTRIM(@cnt)+' processes remain.'
END
END
GO

Call the procedure like: 

dbo.clearDBUsers 'TimeMatters10' 

Put Database in Single User Mode:

USE master;
GO
dbo.clearDBUsers 'TimeMatters10'
ALTER DATABASE TimeMatters10
SET SINGLE_USER
WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE;
GO

 
Put Database back in Multi User Mode:

USE master;
GO
ALTER DATABASE TimeMatters10
SET MULTI_USER;
GO

Feel free to contact us if you are having any issues with your Time Matters or with your SQL Databases.

David Wetherell
consult@nyc-software.com

1. Installing a new instance of the Time Matters application and an empty Time Matters database.
2. Pointing this empty Time Matters instance at your existing Time Matters database (data-source).
3. Click Import. Hope for the best.

There are many thing that can go wrong in this equation, and while Lexis offers a broad set of guidelines in their Time Matters Installation Guide (Do read and/or keep this handy if you’re attempting this for the first time as it has lots of handy screen shots), it in my opinion does not cover all the bases. Personally I like to go a little more in depth before moving gigabytes of data between databases and / or servers.   This article is is intended as a complement for the Lexis Installation Guide.

Please note that steps outlined in this article are intended for advanced users and we make no guarantees as to the success that you will have in employing them, if you have any doubt about your ability to perform the steps in this article contact a professional.

What you will need

1. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Management Studio. Microsoft SQL Server Management studio (SSMS) allows you to easily perform database maintenance on your server. Here is a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Management Studio Installation Guide as this can be a little tricky to get installed (Go figure). It is also a great idea to have on your server in case you need help from tech support or someone like me as it cuts down the amount time it will take to get things underway.

2. Access to your SQL Instance. If you installed Time Matters standalone SQL your server name should be .\SQLEXPRESS your user is always SA and your password should be your poduct key (which if you don’t have you can find in the tmconfig file in your setup folder.  When open SSMS you will get this login screen and you can try the standard credentials or if you have installed SQL on its own your system administrator should have the needed credentials (hopefully).

SQL Login Screen

If you are unsure of the instance your Time Matters Database is installed on or if you have multiple SQL servers I have intance checker application that you can download, this will analyze all running SQL servers and list them in a console window for you.  Simply unzip the file and double click the executable file.  Note that this requires .NET framework 3.5 or higher.

Download SQL Instance Checker

*Note: All Scripts Below (in Blue) are meant to be run in SQL Server Managment Studio.

Step 1. Getting Started

The first thing were going to do is test the continuity of the existing Time Matters Database. Log-in to your SQL Server Management Studio with right click on your Time Matters 10 Database and click new query, paste in the following code, and click execute (or hit F5 on your keyboard).

use TimeMatters10
GO
DBCC CHECKDB
GO

If you have a large database this command can take several minutes to execute. Essentially what we are doing here is checking the database for continuity issues or outright corruption. If the output (which you will see as several pages of text in the output window, upon completion) has any red text you have a issue that you need to address, contact a professional or technical support. If you see no red text or error messages you are clear to precede to the next step.

Step 2. Create Backup as a Reference

The first thing you should do is create a backup, this is always a good idea and if at any point you find yourself with a non-functional install you can always revert to this backup, if you use imaging software on your server (which is another good idea), this would be a great time to catch an image.

You can Backup from within Time Matters but I prefer SQL Backup Script

BACKUP DATABASE [TimeMatters10] TO DISK = 'M:\SQLBACKUP\TMSQL_PREMOVE.bak'
WITH INIT, STATS = 10, NOFORMAT

 
Step 3. Run Time Matters Database Maintenance

Run the Time Matters Database Maintenance on your existing instance, this will run several stored procedures that should help cleanup any issues with bad relationship in your lntmuser.relatea and lntmuser.relates tables. Here is a screen shot of what I check off:

Click to Enlarge Image

Step 4. Baseline

One of the things that continues to amaze me when I see people do critical data migrations or high priority maintenance, is the lack of any type of base-lining. People do a massive import, have someone look at it see if it looks right, find some wood to knock on, and then they act surprised months later when someone discovers missing data. Whenever you move data, files, or perform mission critical updates you should perform base-lining to make sure that you have 100% of the data in the new instance.

USE TimeMatters10
GO
SELECT OBJECT_NAME(object_id) AS [ObjectName],
SUM(Rows) AS [RowCount]
FROM sys.partitions
WHERE index_id < 2
and OBJECT_NAME(object_id) not like 'Audit%'
and OBJECT_NAME(object_id) not like 'tmpsrt%'
AND OBJECT_NAME(object_id) NOT LIKE 'sys%'
AND OBJECT_NAME(object_id) NOT LIKE 'queue_%'
AND OBJECT_NAME(object_id) NOT LIKE 'filestream_tombstone%'
GROUP BY object_id
ORDER BY SUM(Rows) DESC
GO

You don’t have to know exactly what this means just paste it into your SSMS and execute (or F5). This script will allow you to get a count of how many records are in each table in your Time Matters Database, here is an example:

Baseline Number for Import

Save this result set to excel and put it somewhere safe, this will be your point of reference after you imported into Time Matters 11. The reason we are doing this is that in our Time Matters 10 Database we have 54,099 records (or matters) when we do the import into Time Matters 11 we better have 54,099 matters. If this is not the case we have a problem, and we need to address it before we can put the database into a production environment.

Step 5. Rebuild Indexes

Without getting into a technical explanation of INDEX structure and page fragmentation I will tell you that Time Matters Key Setup (sysid) leads to significant index fragmentation. The following script will rebuild all the indexes in the Time Matters Database, this will rebuild the physical leaf level of the I/O locations on disk lowering the fragmentation as much as possible. The lower the fragmentation in the indexes in the databases the faster our import to Time Matters 11 Database will occur.

Here is the script: (this is an undocumented stored procedure in SQL server 2005 and higher to parse the tables in a database).

use TimeMatters10
GO
sp_MSforeachtable @command1="print '?' DBCC DBREINDEX ('?')"
GO

Step 6. Do a Final Check for Database Integrity

Repeat the DBCC CHECKDB (Check Database) Command to make sure that everything is good to go. Again if you see anything in Red you’ve got a problem that must be resolved before you attempt the import.

use TimeMatters10
GO
DBCC CHECKDB
GO

Step 7. Truncate the Log File

Because we have just done a ton of maintenance we have also generated a ton of corresponding log file which we don’t need for our import. This script will decrease the size of the Log File.

USE TimeMatters10
GO
ALTER DATABASE TimeMatters10
SET RECOVERY SIMPLE;
GO
DBCC SHRINKFILE (TimeMatters10_Log, 1);
GOALTER DATABASE TimeMatters10 

SET RECOVERY FULL;
GO

Step 8. One More Backup

Using the script above catch one more backup (note: don’t overwrite the original one).

Step 9. Install Time Matters 11

From here on out the Time Matters Installation Guide does a decent job of getting you up. You are going to install Time Matters 11 on the server create a new database open the program and point the importer at you Time Matters 9 / 10 instance.

This starts at page 42 in the PDF install guide. After you have your new instance up you can can install Time Matters on the users workstations and your good to go.

If you have questions about upgrading to Time Matters 11 or are looking for a qualified consultant to ensure your data makes it from point a to point b safe and sound contact us today.

David Wetherell
NYC-Software Solutions
consult@nyc-software.com

No Not That Kind of Corruption

This is part one of a two part blog series about monitoring and dealing with database corruption within your Time Matters Database.  In part I we will discuss some things that can cause database corruption and what you can do to keep an eye on it.  In Part II we will discuss ways that you can correct corruption in your Time Matters Database – or any Database for that matter – after it has allready occurred.   Please note that if you do not know what SQL server is, or what SQL Server Management Studio is you should probably contact a professional.

I was inspired to write this article after I had a client (with a large network) frantically call me about an outage, all of the computers in the office were experiencing sporadic outages of connectivity to the network.  After doing some initial trouble shooting I narrowed down the problem to a faulty network switch, problem solved right ?  Wrong.  Apparently when the switch had dropped offline there had been pending updates that were rolled back incompletely, this caused some very serious corruption to the Firms Time Matters Database. In this article we will discuss some methods to monitor and correct corruption in your Time Matters Database.

Time Matters Database Corruption

Since SQL was introduced in Time Matters 9, mandated in Time Matters 10 and is now the engine that drives both the Time Matters 11 program along with Time Matters Mobility, their are some important things to consider. The Time Matters database schema (structure) has some inherent design problems that lend it to potential corruption. There are some simple steps you can take to proactively monitor and prevent these issues from occurring.

What can cause corruption to occur in Time Matters

This is little technical for the average lay user, but here we go. Time matters is designed with in table SQL triggers, what can happen with the use of in table update, insert, and delete triggers (beside performance problems) is that often the transaction that fired the trigger will be rolled back, yet the event fired by the trigger (which is non-synchronous in the eyes of the database ) will fail to be rolled back.  This can lead to indirect primary and foreign key violation.  Don’t get me wrong there is a time and place to utilize triggers but this is not one of them.  This issue is further complicated by the use of relational hash tables (relatea, relateb, relates) which rely heavily on the triggers in the dbcheck table. Neither you I nor you have direct control over the design of the Time Matters Application, however we do have control on how we monitor the integrity of our data regardless of the software design.

Keeping an eye on things

For users who have the standard edition of SQL server (which I highly recommend if you intend on running Time Matters 9 / 10/ 11) there are some relatively simple things you can do to help you and your data.

1. Setup SQL Database Mail:

• SQL Server Database Mail allows you to be notified via email for the completion of events such as backups, and more importantly to be notified when Database Engine encounters an error handling a transaction.  SQL Server Expert Dave Pinal has an excellent tutorial on Configuring SQL Server Mail. This feature is only available on standard edition and higher.  This along with the SQL Server Agent and  a higher resource utilization makes a convincing argument for using a paid edition of  SQL Server.

2. Set up Alerts (via Email) on SQL Severity Errors.

• As a general rule of thumb alerts should be set up on SQL Server Severity 17-24, 21-23 are the ones that you really have to watch for. You can either do this manually through the agent GUI or by running a script.  Brent Ozar has a script in his SQL Server Setup Checklist Part 2 which you should follow when installing your SQL Server.  The Time Matters SQL installer does a poor job of installing SQL Server.

If you follow these steps correctly you will receive emails whenever your SQL Server throws a severe error. I recommended that you have these forwarded through a distribution group to several people so that someone on your team notices the error. Here is an example of an email I received when the clients Database started to go bad.

SQL Error Email Example

Why Bother to Monitor your Time Matters Database ?

Monitoring your database integrity is a best practice, no matter what that database may be. Continuing with the example above I was aware within less than an hour that there was a serious problem and was able to resolve the issue for the client with negligible data loss. However, let’s think about the worst case scenario that could occur. You have some kind of issue that causes database corruption but you have no idea it happened, over a period of weeks you notice significant performance issues with your Time Matters application. No one checked your backups (which by the way weren’t running because of the database corruption). You have to concede weeks of data loss because you had no alerts setup. For an office that incurs 50,000 dollars a day in operational costs if you don’t notice this issue for a month, you just lost well over a million dollars. Well I’m not a mathematician but I could pretty much say with some degree of certainty that proactive monitoring pays for itself.

Check back later in the week for part II of this post where I will teach you how to handle database corruption in your Time Matters Database.

Go to Time Matters Database Corruption Part 2

David Wetherell
consult@nyc-software.com

Your Time Matters

For Law Firms that bill hourly the simple truth is that for many, their billable hours are poorly tracked or even not tracked at all.  6-10 firms either do not have any form of Billable Time Tracking software in place or simply guestamate the figure.

Your Time Matters and if you are not accurately keeping track of it you’re firm is not making as much money as it could be.  This is one the areas where we can provide a very high return on investment and provide a service to you that will pay for itself in spades.

As an example I often see an increase of 15-50% in billable hours for firms that implement or improve a lacking Time Tracking solution. With the economy reeling this is something that even the most lucrative firm can embrace as a sound financial investment. So the first thing you need to ask yourself is how can I implement a Time Tracking solution.

Time Tracking | Practice Management Software Options

There are some very good options for you to explore for you Practice Management and Billable Time Tracking needs.

1. Sage, Time Slips
2. Lexis Nexis Time Matters
3. Custom Software

In my opinion a well setup Time Tracking solution should be as transparent as possible, meaning that if at all possible it is encapsulated into the existing work chain. If we can get the billable time from tracking a workflow its is beneficial because it prevents the user from logging the data, eliminating the element of user error. In this respect its is prudent to first examine what Practice Management Software you’re firm is already using. Time Slips is probably the most feature rich offering however the predominance of software like Time Matters and Amicus means that often it is more sensible to use the existing software as a foundation. A good consultant will be able to resolve a solution regardless.

Implementing Your Time Tracking Solutions

Getting the software is only half the battle, Efficient Time Tracking is the end product of three factors.

1. A solid well implemented Time Tracking Software.
2. A well thought plan to utilize the software.
3. Adherence by staff and attorneys.

Creating a solution that no-one uses is well, not a good solution. It can often be difficult to change peoples daily routines especially when technology is involved. As I noted earlier providing a transparent solution that if at all possible is invisible to the end user. This is not always a possibility, however, it is what we strive to accomplish.

If you want to get the most out of your billable time contact us today

David Wetherell
consult@nyc-software.com

We Help You Help Yourself

At NYC-Software Solutions we provide industry leading support for Lexis Nexis(c) Time Matters, PC Law, and Billing Matters for firms of all sizes, and we simply feel that we offer the highest caliber services available on the market.  Why ? Because we offer custom software knowhow with real world experience that gets result and offers a prodigious return on investment for our clients.  Whether you’re thinking of upgrading your Practice Management to the new Time Matters 11 release or training your staff to maximize your utilization of your current Time Matters install we can get it done for you.   You will never hear the statement “it’s not possible” from any of our staff.  Our focus on technology means that nothing is impossible.  We offer one-off reporting, backend scripting, custom work chains, triggers, calendaring, and billable Time Tracking options to our clients.

Time Matters SQL Database Backend

Time Matters Database – What’s Changed ?

As of the Time Matters 10 release, Time Matters operates exclusively on a Microsoft SQL Server Backend, end of story. Microsoft SQL Server is complex, in fact so much so that there is an entire field of Information Technology dedicated to management of it (Database Administration). The reality of the situation boils down to the fact that you’re run of the mill Legal Technology Consultant is not a Database Administrator, and has no interest in becoming one – Their trying to clock billable hours just like you ; ). At NYC –Software Solutions we offer Master Level SQL Server and Database knowledge that we leverage to get what you need done.

25% off Special

Affordable Legal Consulting

Technology is not a luxury anymore. Unfortunately many firms are forced to call a technology consultants as an absolute last resort due to outrageous hourly rates. This can result in a business that does not utilize technology. On the contrary, often their technology is kept to a bare minimum to reduce costs. We recognize this, and while our services are unmatched in quality, we offer very competitive hourly rates.
Why do we do this ? We don’t want our clients to be afraid to call us. We want to help your firm grow and maximize your technology efficiency to facilitate that. If your trying to push out the door as quickly as possible to keep the bill down that does not facilitate the kind of relationship we try to nurture.

We are offering a spring discount special of 25% of our first 50 hours to new customers. Contact us today to take your practice management to the next level.

David Wetherell
NYC-Software Solutions
consult@nyc-software.com

Did Someone Break Something ?

Lexis Nexis’s Adoption of an Annual Maintenance Plan (AMP) for Time Matters, PC Law, and Billing Matters was, and still is a touchy subject.  While some firms didn’t even notice the change, others refused to pay, and needless to say it created issues.  In this article I will outline what the AMP is what has changed and what it means to your firm.

Essentially the maintenance plan is a service contract with Lexis Nexis for technical support, upgrades, and training material.   An Annual Maintenance Plan is becoming a more and more common occurrence in the Software arena as companies struggle to keep a relevant product line in an extremely volatile marketplace.  The short story of what the Annual Maintenance Plan means to your firm is:

Users who have purchased an Annual Maintenance Plan have access to:

1. Free Upgrades to New Software Releases
2. Free Bug Fixes.
3. Access to 24-7 Technical Support

The sneaky part of that statement is that users who do not, or did not pay for the Annual Maintenance Plan Cannot:

1. Call technical support (for anything).
2. Install bug fixes (even for their current version).
3. Install security patches.

Lexis has changed the policy even further in the new Release of Time Matters 11 to go as far as to deny access to the release entirely unless and Annual Maintenance Plan is purchased.   The addition of Time Matters Mobility in Time Matters 11 at no addition cost to users who have an Annual Maintenance Plan is an attractive reason to reconsider.  Full explanation of Annual Maintenance Plan pricing and penalties for users who did not purchase the plan initially can be found here.

As a consultant it puts me in the difficult position of middle man.  Lexis Nexis wants me to talk you into purchasing the Annual Maintenance Plan.  You want to have working software.  I have already had several clients call me who do not have Annual Maintenance Plans (and refused to purchase them) where the issue required intervention from Lexis Nexis and it has gotten messy.

The Bottom Line

My experiences have led me to the conclusion that if you wish to continue using Lexis Nexis Products in the future, you are going to have to purchase an Annual Maintenance Plan, it is as simple as that.  If not you need to go to an alternative route, period.

Lexis Nexis’ Time Matters 11 is slated for release at the end of this month, and there has been allot of hype.  The major selling point for this release is a browser based access tool that will allow users to access, update, and create data from any computer or mobile device with internet access.  The Time Matters 11 upgrade and mobility platform are free for firms that are enrolled in the annual maintenance plan (AMP Plan).  This new access platform is based on Microsoft’s(c) Azure Cloud platform.  While Azure is an extremely secure platform, there are some security concerns with any cloud based solution (See our article on cloud security here).  However, for the majority of firms this is not a major concern and the utility (provided it works correctly) of this service, at no additional cost of ownership should be a major benefit.  This is especially true for any practice where lawyers are in and out of the office and court for most of the work day.

Under the Hood

The development of the program (for Time Matters 10 and Time Matters 11) has been put in the hands of a completely new team, and if Time Matters 10 was any indicator they are utilizing new technologies, and in general seem to be headed in a good direction.  There has not been very much open discussion from Lexis Nexis in regards to the technical changes that we will see in Time Matters 11.  This is really what I am most excited to see , I would like to see what improvements, if any, have been made to the database and data access models over previous versions  (When I dig into the program and database I will post some thoughts).   This has always in my opinion been the greatest weakness in the program and seems to be something that Lexis Nexis has had a hard time addressing (Given the diversity of versions that clients are using).

Should I Upgrade ?

The question that most firms and their IT staff will be asking is,  “should I upgrade, and if so, when ?”.  You will be getting emails from Lexis to Upgrade ASAP, don’t ! With any software it is always a good idea to wait a couple of weeks (or months) to make sure that there are no major bugs with the new release.   It will become apparent quickly what the pro’s and con’s of Time Matters 11 will be and I will put some posts up when I find out. Another thing to keep in mind is that Time Matters upgrades are never cut and dry. They involve a data migration and in the case of firms with large databases this can be rather difficult and even require custom scripting.   If you thinking of upgrading your firms software or moving to Time Matters 11 contact us to make sure you do it the right way. Data migration is not for the light of heart and straitening it out after its been done incorrectly can be costly.

David Wetherell