Table of Contents
Office Productivity Solutions
MigrateOnLine
Office automation from the historical typing pool to the advanced systems we see deployed in many organisations today has been the substance of my working life. Throughout, I have been struck by the chasm between the low cost of entry (a couple of computers with Word and Excel in the Cloud) and the eye watering costs of excellence characterised by highly flexible and performant centralised databases integrated with sophisticated workflow systems.
Many organisations start by designing some Word templates to capture relevant data which they then plug manually into a few Excel spreadsheets to perform the analysis of the day. Through natural organic growth the simplicity of that approach mutates into a labyrinth of disparate procedures with unreliable data and heavy manual transcription taking on a life of its own. At this point, some of these organisations can afford to invest in the necessary resources to get to the next level by changing both their technology infrastructure and all their associated processes and procedures. For others (typically smaller organisations and charities) the combination of new infrastructure cost and the level of organisational change required to realise this type of migration is too high and are stuck!
MigrateOnLine is a framework designed to address this problem. It is a C# VSTO written library that supports the integration of Word and Excel Document level customisations to create an automated workflow-based data capture and analysis resource for the organisation to use as their next step. By continuing to use Word and Excel (albeit in a more sophisticated way) it leverages the existing infrastructure and reduces the level of organisational disruption involved whilst still delivering clean data, flexible analysis and the benefits of automated workflow management. Once completed the organisation is better positioned to take further steps towards the more advanced systems seen in the best performing modern organisations as and when they are ready.
iOS Apps
I decided to learn how to develop iPhone and iPad apps during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown in 2020 and can recommend the Udemy course iOS & Swift - The Complete iOS App Development Bootcamp expertly created and presented by Dr Angelu Yu. In addition to dozens of training apps, I have developed some apps for personal use, and am working on the following commercial applications.
Summary
FlashCardGenie is an educational iOS app. It is both a teaching and learning aid that facilitates the organised storage and retrieval of data researched and sourced by the user about any chosen subject. The data is formatted into a flash card (FlashCard) with these cards grouped together as needed into flashcard sets (FlashSets). This allows users to build their own flexible library of classified information to suit their teaching or study goals.
Features
FlashCardGenie can then automatically generate either multiple choice or match to free text tests enabling the user to verify and consolidate their understanding of the subject matter. The FlashCard's illustrating image plays centre stage in the design, aiding visual learners in particular as they seek to internalise new information and delivering a classic hook for effective association and recall. Premium features include fully integrated, fast, and intuitive research tools for identifying representational images, definitions, examples, and synonyms using a variety of standard internet search engines. This allows both teachers and learners to create FlashCards interactively as information is presented, as a rich, personalised glossary of organised data. The system provides managed sharing options to facilitate co-operative working. This enables interactive guided exploration as well as an immediate learn and test cycle between teacher and students regardless of location.
Status
Fully supported commercial release version 3.3.0 available on the Apple App store .
MahJongSum
Summary
Anyone who plays MahJong will know how fearsomely difficult it is to score! This app takes all that hard work away and guides you through the scoring process with clear explanations provided of how the score is derived. All you need to do is identify the players and enter their sets, pairs and bonus tiles at the end of each play. The app does the rest!
Features
The app supports both 3 and 4 player options. You can include or exclude flower and season tiles. You can apply a maximum score limit and you can include scoring for special hands.
Status
Completed - in pipeline for submission to Apple App store.
