Delta Systems Blog

The National Newspaper Association brought their new website live recently at nna.org This new site features a design by Delta Systems with content being supplied by Avectra’s NetForum association management software.

The NNA has retained some features of the old site that Delta helped with, including the membership dues calculator that allows potential members to calculate their annual membership fees before they sign up.  (Delta previously featured a story about the member dues calculator). Delta also helped save the NNA some money by suggesting using an off-the-shelf collaboration system (phpBB) to launch their NNA Great Ideas forum.

Recently, the Columbia Daily Tribune ran a story on our friends over at Photo Gliff. Delta Systems has been advising and incubating Photo Gliff since they opened their doors in January 2008.

Photo Gliff offers event and on-site photography services. From action shots at sporting and cultural events to portraits for school yearbooks and business directories, owners Scott Smith and Ric Wilborn provide digital photography and printing services for a variety of clients and occasions. Using the latest digital technology and graphic designing software, Photo Gliff also offers on-the-spot photos, which allow customers to review and purchase photos the day of an event. Photographs also are available for purchase online.

You can read the full story in the Columbia Daily Tribune

The good people at the Business Times Company electronically delivered the latest issue of the CBT to Delta in PDF, printer ready format. Delta then publishes the PDF and dumps graphics and stories into WordPress to get the individual stories properly indexed by Google News and a myriad of search engines. The official publication date is every other Saturday. The online issue is set to automatically go live at 5:00pm on the Friday before the day of publication since print copies start arriving in mailboxes on Friday.

The Columbia Business Times can be found online at http://www.columbiabusinesstimes.com

Everything you see on that site is database driven - no human layout is required for each issue - it is automatically handled by the system and all stories in each issue are pushed live simultaneously and automatically.

Articles started appearing in Google News within 7 minutes of them being posted. Not too shabby. :-)

If you know a Columbia businesswoman who:

• exhibits leadership in supporting small business
• has a record of volunteering in the community
• is a mentor to other business women
• owns (or is employed by) a Chamber-member business, preferably a Women’s Network member

NOMINATE HER TODAY!

DEADLINE TO SUBMIT IS MAY 2, 2008
Mail or email nomination to:

Michelle Earhart mearhart@columbiaMOchamber.com
300 S Providence Rd
PO Box 1016
Columbia, MO 65205-1016
Phone: 573-874-1132
Fax: 573-443-3986

The recipient of the Award will receive a $1,000 grant from Women’s Network and Delta Systems. The winner will be announced at the Annual Chamber Meeting in June 2008.

The Debin Benish Outstanding Businesswoman Award is a business grant designed for Columbia-area businesswomen who have achieved excellence in leadership, mentoring and volunteerism. It is awarded annually at the Columbia Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting.

Previous winners include Lili Vianello (2005), Lynda Baumgartner (2006), and Melody Parry (2007)

In 2005, Delta Systems Group and Women’s Network established the award to honor Debin Benish - Delta Systems Group’s founder and former owner. Sadly, Debin lost her battle with cervical cancer on June 14th, 2005. This award will live on to celebrate her life and the distinguished efforts of women in business throughout Mid-Missouri.

Recently Delta Systems empowered all articles on the ColumbiaBusinessTimes.com website with Sphere. Sphere connects the CBT’s current articles to contextually relevant content from the Columbia Business Times archives as well as from blog posts, media articles, video, photos, and ads from across the Web. Over 62,000 websites are using Sphere to relate their content to other content on the Internet.

How does it work?

At the bottom of every article, you will see a link to “Sphere: Related Content”. Clicking that link will pop up a window with relevant stories found elsewhere on the Web. Click the image to the left to see an example.

Diamond Pet Foods needed to improve and update the capabilities of their online Professional Pet Food dealer location services. Delta Systems implemented a city lookup as well as a zip code lookup system that will allow website visitors to find stores in which Diamond Pet Foods products are sold. Simply enter a zip code and how far you are willing to travel.

The system places a series of pushpins on the map. Clicking the pushpin will open a bubble with contact information for that dealer. The maps are fully integrated with Google Maps and all the zooming, panning, dragging, and other features are available - making it easy to get directions to or from each dealer location.

Visit the Professional Pet Food Dealer Locator now.
Check out all Diamond Pet Foods products at www.DiamondPet.com

Previously the dealer locator only allowed a visitor to click on a State to see a list of all dealers in that state. In some larger states, this meant hundreds of locations were returned. There was no additional filtering allowed.

In the past, Delta Systems built a system to handle customer calls, online data collection, and case management needs pertaining to a product recall.

Delta Systems partners with Woodruff Sweitzer and Jeremy Fields to meet the online needs of Diamond Pet Foods.

Client calls and is having issues with a PC getting online. Delta Tech Guy goes through all our usual steps and nothing works. Tech figures it must be the router so he has a staff person walk him down to where their equipment is located.
Here is what he sees:

This is a textbook example of how NOT to run wires on a server rack.
Oh, by the way, this is the FRONT.

Delta Tech Guy now begins to play the game: Where’s the Cisco router?

Turns out, the Cisco and DSL modem are hanging off the back/side of this monstrosity. They would have hit the floor, but the cable mess is just as bad in back as it is in front. Also, see that black panel to the right there? That is another rack jammed sideways so you can’t really get behind the rack unless you are a gymnast or have a pole vault handy.

Delta Tech Guy has to pull things up to the front by their cables, praying that things don’t disconnect in the process because he’ll never get that cable back in the right place. It turns out he didn’t have to worry much because they have zip ties about every inch. After what seemed like several hours of cutting cable ties Delta Tech Guy can finally arrange the Cisco router, DSL modem and 5 port switch. Now, he can actually do what he went into this room to do - reboot the router. Good times.

Does your computer network have you tied up in knots? Does your current network support company think its OK to have a squirrel’s nest in your server room?

We can help straighten things out. Give Delta Systems a call at 573-442-9855

We originally posted these Office 2007 tips in our October 2007 Newsletter, but we’re getting calls almost daily from people having issues using Word 2007, PowerPoint 2007, and Excel 2007. So here are the tips again:

Create a PDF directly from within Office 2007

Making Microsoft Office 2007 Documents Viewable by Previous Versions

What is a .docx, .xlsx and .pptx? How do I open Office 2007 documents in Office 2003? And more. . . (Word Document)

Delta Systems can provide Office 2007 training to your organization. Give us a call at 573-442-9855 to discuss how we can empower you and your employees.

 The good people at the Business Times Company electronically delivered the latest issue of the CBT to Delta in PDF, printer ready format. Delta then publishes the PDF and dumps graphics and stories into WordPress to get the individual stories properly indexed by Google News and a myriad of search engines.  The official publication date is every other Saturday.  The online issue is set to automatically go live at 5:00pm on the Friday before the day of publication since print copies start arriving in mailboxes on Friday.

The Columbia Business Times can be found online at http://www.columbiabusinesstimes.com

Everything you see on that site is database driven - no human layout is required for each issue - it is automatically handled by the system and all stories in each issue are pushed live simultaneously and automatically.

On March 6, 2008, AirPlay Direct added its 10,000th artist.  2008 looks even more promising with soon to be announced company leadership and salesforce additions.

Read the full story on AirPlay Direct’s new blog

Delta Systems helps to support AirPlayDirect.com’s technical systems, artist members, and radio station members.  Delta Systems is a founding partner and part owner of AirPlay Direct.