The topic-du-month is “HTML 5″ which, if you haven’t heard about it yet, is set to shake up the web in some pretty interesting ways.  Why?  Well, the current version of HTML (v4.01) was standardized almost 15 years ago, well before people were building applications in browsers.  Thus, HTML is pretty good if all you want to do is pen an “old school” web page.  But if you want to make an application, something like Google Maps or GMail… well, those apps were made possible not so much because of what HTML can do, but in spite of it.  HTML 5 is a bumper-to-bumper overhaul of the HTML specification, and it introduces a slew of new technologies, many of which are targeted squarely at application developers…

Robert Kieffer will lead this talk, which will provide a semi-technical overview of the various components of HTML5 (including brief, forays into code-level examples and demos), and will lead a discussion on how this will affect product development and business opportunities.

For more information, please see: BendTech

Portland SharePoint Users Group (PSPUG) Meeting

Topic: Ben Hickman will be presenting the new metadata and document management features of SharePoint 2010 for large scale deployments of document management solutions. These new features also enable SharePoint end users to more easily build and manage complex document management structures.

I was at the SharePoint conference in Las Vegas recently where I was grabbing a bite to eat with my conference buddy and a couple of Microsoft Product Managers that I had just met through twitter, including one who helped to organize the conference, and eventually our friendly waitress asked the inevitable question, “What is SharePoint, anyway?” An uncomfortably long silence ensued before one or the other of us gave her the most succinct answer we could. (How do you summarize such a powerful software to a non-technical person in under a minute? SharePoint is one of those things, like twitter, that is hard to describe in a nutshell – just Google, or Bing, “What is SharePoint?” to see how many times people have attempted to answer this question.)

We ultimately described SharePoint to our waitress as, “A web based collaboration software that allows users to easily share documents and other business information,” or something along those lines. Which is not a bad description, for starters. SharePoint, of course, is so much more than that. Enthusiastic “SharePoint for Project Management” author Dux Raymond Sy provides this succinct description, “SharePoint allows individuals in an organization to easily create and manage their own collaborative web sites,” but then goes on to elaborate. Microsoft puts forward its own somewhat wordy phrase, “The Business Collaboration Platform for the Enterprise and the Web: Connect and Empower People, Cut Costs with a Unified Infrastructure, Rapidly Respond to Business Needs,” but also expands on each area. There is even a 7 part series (and counting?) that attempts to tackle the question.

SharePoint Business Value

Maybe a better question than “What is SharePoint?” is “What value can SharePoint bring to your business?” If you’re new to SharePoint, take a look at Microsoft’s conceptual video. Some light bulbs might go off in relation to your business. Then contact us and we can give you a demonstration of some of the business solutions we’ve built with SharePoint.

SharePoint is both a product and a foundation for building on the product

It is important to note that SharePoint is both a Product and a Software Platform. Although it has a robust out-of-the-box feature set, the beauty lies in the way it can be customized and extended for business use.

Some of our favorite SharePoint strengths:

• Easy web based collaboration between individuals within an organization
• Document management (storage, check in/check out, archiving & auditing)
• Business process management (workflows)
• Security (fine grained permissions, security trimming)
• Data connectivity with legacy systems
• SharePoint lists have a database table structure
• Robust search both within SharePoint and across related business sources
• Consistent navigation (dynamic, security trimmed)
• Web content management features
  
• Project management (tasks, Gantt views, custom lists)
• Active Directory and SQL Server integration
• Integration with familiar Office products
• Active developer & user community

Examples of the types of business solutions we’ve created with SharePoint:

• Business Intelligence dashboards that present high level KPIs, metrics,  & reporting
  (including PerformancePoint integration)
• Streamlined electronic workflows from formerly paper based processes
• User friendly information portals that consolidate business data from disparate sources
• Work order, help desk, & inventory applications
• End User and Power User training modules & user fairs
• Corporate branded intranet & extranet sites
• Custom web part development & integration
• Customized document management solutions
  (custom content types, metadata planning, & implementation)
• Cross application integrations

Clearly, it is a challenge to encapsulate all of the rich features of SharePoint into a tidy sound bite. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you leverage SharePoint to bring value to your business.

For more information, please see WoTech:

Why
Because it’s okay to talk about knitting, cooking, and code… all at one meeting.

What
Bend, Oregon is fortunate to be a place that many innovators call home. WoTech’s mission is twofold:

1. celebrate women who are technology innovators and
2. give women working in technology fields an opportunity to network with other like-minded individuals.

Who
Our group is not exclusive to women – everyone is welcome. But keep in mind that the conversation could change from Perl to purl, or from business intelligence to baking… at any moment. We’re more likely to talk about our kids (or pets) than football. And that’s totally okay with us!

We define “technology” with equally broad strokes. Software developers, chemists, medical professionals, or otherwise… if you consider yourself to be a geek girl or tech wiz of any kind, then you’ll probably find like-minded folks at WoTech.

For more information, please see COISUG:

McMenamins Old St. Francis Rambler Room

Redhawk Network Engineering Security Seminar

Few people realize how much money is tied up in their network. Not just in the hardware and software, but the information. Even fewer people know all the information can be compromised…or lost altogether. To find out the most effective ways to protect your information, you are invited to attend our complimentary seminar: “RISK: Raising Your Information Security Knowledge.”

Click here for more information on the Disk 2 Disc Event.

Healthcare I.T. – Innovations that will transform healthcare now and in the future
September Technology In Focus Series
Washington Technology Industry Association

Our region is a nexus for innovative software, health care, and medical devices.  As the healthcare industry and government seek to control spiraling costs and improve care, it is turning to IT as never before. Health IT has emerged as the prime catalyst for reforming the U.S. health care system. The federal stimulus package includes $19 billion in incentives for the adoption and use of health information technology beginning in 2011. Interoperability standards, workflow issues, physician acceptance, integration with medical devices, acceptance of telemedicine, and other improvements are needed to accelerate the adoption of health IT.  With our local software and technology expertise, the Northwest is well-positioned to profit from reform.

Hear from our panel of experts who are at the cutting edge of this transition and get their assessments of opportunities for IT and healthcare in the coming year, and the coming decade. 

Join in the discussion of:

•  Where is the smart money in healthcare IT?
• Which business models will truly revolutionize healthcare? Which ones will flop?
• Will electronic health data save money?
• Will it help doctors and hospitals avoid medical errors?
• How will privacy issues be addressed?
• What are doctors and hospitals likely to adopt?

Webcast: The Future of IT, Key Trends in Health

Thursday, September 24, 2009
10:00 am – 11:00 am Central

Exponential data growth, increasing health costs and changing consumer dynamic are causing health organizations to review their organizational strategies. Advances in technology are enabling organizations to reduce operating cost and redeploy resources to deliver new services. In the future, trends such as increases in computer processing power, disk capacity, network bandwidth and the availability of wireless technologies, along with decreases in power consumption, will enable the transformation of health.  Learn about long-term trends in information and communication technologies (ICT), and how other health organizations are responding to current policy and future technology trends by making smart investment in ICT to deliver on their vision of healthcare.

Jonathan Murray, Vice President, Public Sector Office of Technology Policy, Microsoft Corporation
Neil Jordan, Managing Director, WW Health, Microsoft Corporation
Octavian Purcarea, Industry Solutions Manager, WW Health, Microsoft Corporation

Now in its sixth year, Bend Venture Conference (BVC) is the premier regional event connecting seed and early stage companies with investment opportunities and attracting the Northwest’s top entrepreneurs, investors, and service providers.
BVC 2009 highlights include:

Keynote Speaker Dr. Paul Kedrosky – CNBC analyst, business and technology exper
Early stage company presentations
Distinguished and experienced venture and early stage investor panel

This is the second PSSPUG SharePoint Sprint – This is a free hands on event for Users, Admins, and Developers.