December 04 newsletter  


 

Dataworks monthly newsletter - 12th edition
Welcome to the December issue of our newsletter. In this issue, we return from Limerick after a successful technical talk 'Shop Floor & IT - Closing the Loop'. We will hit the road again in the first quarter of 2005 to talk to our automation colleagues in Cork this time. Also some news from Florida where our team has been traveling to extensively over the last few months.

Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our customers and friends a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year. Should you want to unsubscribe, simply click on the link provided at the end of the page and type "remove" as the subject.

 


Pictured on the left hand side are (from left to right) Billy Walsh (UCC), Brian Robinson and Liam Curham (Dataworks), Martin Almond (President - ISA Ireland Section) and Marc Roosli (Dataworks) in Limerick at the presentation ceremony which followed the ISA's November Technical Talk presented by Dataworks.



The event and the need to bridge the gap between engineering and IT was also covered extensively by 'Irish Manufacturing', 'Read-Out' and 'Industrial Automation Insider' magazines.

Due to a strong demand in the Cork region, we have been asked to make the same presentation 'Shop Floor & IT - Closing the Loop' in Cork early next year. The evening technical meeting will take place on Tuesday the 22nd of March 2005 in Rochestown Park Hotel, Cork. More information about this will follow on the news & events page of the Dataworks website shortly.
 
Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society (ISA) Annual Exhibition 05
Tuesday 26 April 2005
Rochestown Park Hotel, Cork
  
Shop Floor & IT
- Closing The Loop
An evening technical talk presented by Dataworks in association with the ISA
Tuesday 22 March 2005 at 8pm
Rochestown Park Hotel, Cork
  
 

 
 
 
 

We have just returned from Florida USA where we have just gone live with the first phase in a large implementation for one of our multinational customers. Dataworks' Resources/ Downloads have spent considerable time on site during this project, particularly at the requirements, testing and validation phases. Some of the development and configuration of the system has been performed remotely. This mixture has worked out well for both Dataworks and the client and has proved to be a cost effective way of meeting all the project milestones within budget. The next phase of the project will begin in the new year.

 

Bespoke software - What is it all about?

Most software that you use will be 'off the shelf' packages and the same application will typically be run by thousands or even millions of users. The other type of software that you may use is bespoke software which has been custom made for your particular needs. There are various advantages and disadvantages to both approaches.

Bespoke software can be:

- specifically designed for your particular requirements and can be tailored to fit in exactly with the way that your   business or organisation wishes to operate.
- customised to interface with other software that you operate with the potential to provide you with a fully   integrated IT infrastructure across your whole organisation.
- customised to interface with machines on the shop floor
- incorporating business processes that are specific to you and which do not exist in any packaged solution.
- modified and changed over time as your requirements and business practices change.

The use of professionally developed bespoke software applications can give you a significant business advantage over your competition.

So why doesn't everyone use bespoke software?

By having a bespoke software application developed specifically for you, you are automatically increasing your business & commercial potential, enabling you to gain significant competitive advantage. However you have to expect to pay more for it than for a packaged solution and it is also essential that you use a professional developer who adheres to best methodology.

The main drawback to custom software applications is that you have to think through each & every detail so as to ensure a 100% fit. While a solution with a 95% fit might be good enough for you, it may well be the other 5% missing that could be critical to your organisation. Custom solutions are developed in partnership and require extensive business analysis. It is important to get as much involved into the development process as you can so as to get the most out of your solution.

If you would like to look into having some bespoke software written for you then please get in touch and we can discuss the matter further with you.

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