Here are Our Latest Publications

Ask the IT Director: Upgrades Get Blamed For Everything

Dear IT Director, We upgraded one of our major systems last year. We had some glitches, but overall it went fairly well. Here we are a year later, and people still blame the upgrade when they have problems. Very frustrating! Upgraded in Upton Dear Upgraded, Hahaha! HAHAHA! C’mon, laugh with me. ...

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Questions to Ask Regarding Your Company’s Data and Analytics for a More Successful 2022

Another year is quickly coming to a close. Unfortunately, 2021 did not turn out to be the year of “putting the pandemic behind us” that we hoped for. Despite that, we hope you saw this year as a turning point and are starting to see a trend toward better times ahead.

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Backups – The Who What Where Why When and How

Who should do backups?

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I Love Manufacturing

I have worked at manufacturing companies for most of my career. There were a few university jobs first, but when I got the IT job at 3M, I was hooked. The sheer number of products they made was mind-blowing. I worked in the IT department supporting the engineers that designed the equipment for the ...

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IT Leaders: Supporting a Staff Retirement

If you are an IT leader long enough, you will deal with a team member’s retirement. While similar to any person leaving a position, you may get more than two weeks notice, which can be helpful.

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Prioritizing IT Work: The Challenges

How can we prioritize effectively in the IT department? We start by understanding that there is not a separate set of priorities for IT. The priorities of the organization are the priorities of IT. We must be able to say that IT is always performing the work that is most important to the ...

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Business Processes: Set Up For Success

All organizations use business processes to get work done. Most of these processes, especially in larger organizations, rely on computers and software. IT’s role is to make sure processes, as implemented though technology, change as the organization changes. With increasing dependencies on ...

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What are the Important Skillsets for a Business Analyst?

The role of a Business Analyst is not one to be taken lightly. They are the central point of contact for many within the project team, accountable for defining and helping ensure that the right solution is delivered. It is because of this, in my opinion, that the most effective and successful BAs ...

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What is a Business Analyst and Why Does My Project Need One?

At the onset of a new project the excitement and enthusiasm for starting, and even more so implementing, a new solution which will solve every problem imaginable is infectious. The project sponsors have compiled the concerns and issues from their front-line resources and developers are giddy with ...

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SQL Server Synonyms and How to Leverage Them in an ETL Process

In 2005 Microsoft introduced the synonym functionality for SQL Server. While Synonyms are not something SQL developers are likely to use on a daily basis, they are very powerful and useful, despite being relatively simple. They are essentially a placeholder that can be used as a static value in a ...

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Improve Your Performance and Profitability Today

SCS uses best-in-class tools to deliver database, reporting and data platform and analytics solutions. We partner with your team to develop custom solutions.

GET STARTED

The Costs of (not) Catching Up

Technology is used in companies to improve efficiency, reduce the possibility of human error, and increase productivity. Once a technology stops doing these things because it slows the process, crashes, and constantly requires maintenance it is time to update. Unfortunately, it has become all too ...

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Beginner’s Guide to Web Accessibility

Today, more people are accessing the world wide web, and using a wide variety of devices and assistants to do so, than ever before. This means it is crucial that your website works properly with all the different ways your user’s can interact with your website. Unfortunately, for many small- to ...

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Awesome Apps in Microsoft 365 You Probably Don’t Know About!

Maybe you’re looking for software that allows your employees to collaborate from anywhere in the world with cloud-based services, the latest programs and robust security. Or maybe you’re already investing in technology like the Microsoft 365 platform but have only scratched the surface and want to ...

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An Introduction to Microsoft Teams

A component of Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams takes teamwork to the next level with intuitive navigation and on-point features that make doing business even easier. Let’s take a closer look!

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The Importance of Data Backups

Backups are an essential, yet often overlooked and misunderstood, part of every organization. When the computer systems are running well, the topic gets shoved to the bottom of the meeting agenda and easily forgotten.

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The SCS Associate Consultant Program

Traditionally, Superior Consulting Services (SCS) has hired consultants who bring years of experience in their respective field. Experience can be important in a consulting environment. However, in today’s ever-changing technology world, the ability to continually engage with and master new ...

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Utilizing Data Storage Solutions to Increase Workplace Efficiency

FIMC Explores Data Storage Solutions In our introductory post on the happenings at Foam Injection Mold Company (FIMC), we described three major technology solutions that Superior Consulting Services implemented to help them modernize and streamline their operations. One of these tech solutions is a ...

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Move On Premise Servers to the Cloud

Moving on premise servers to the cloud can save you time, money and effort if done correctly. There are many approaches for moving on premise servers and workloads to the cloud, but here we will be focusing on lift and shift today.

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Data Denormalization Made Easy

Power BI Query Editor Value and Table Columns Data stored as part of a transactional data processing system, for example a database to information on package deliveries, is often difficult to work with when it comes time to explore that data or create reports. This is because of a process called ...

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Where Does Power BI Fit in Our Data Journey?

Power BI is the newest business intelligence offering from Microsoft. It’s a product that a lot of people have been talking and thinking about for the past year or two, and it is gaining more and more traction every day. I like to refer to it as “The best tool that people don’t realize they should ...

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Improve Your Performance and Profitability Today

SCS uses best-in-class tools to deliver database, reporting and data platform and analytics solutions. We partner with your team to develop custom solutions.

GET STARTED

Power BI Connection Types

The most common way to use Power BI is to import the data into Power BI and define the structure of the data model there. In many situations, this is the best way to use Power BI. However, it is not the only way to use Power BI.

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Why Technology Best Practices are Critical

As with many things in life, technology sometimes allows you to take the “easy way out.” For example, you have been working hard on implementing the new Exchange server and you hit a road block. The install won’t complete. You do some digging and find out what the issue is, then you come to a ...

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Preventing Cross Site Request Forgery

Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF) is an attack against web applications that forces users to execute unwanted actions within the web applications that they are currently authenticated. By sending a malicious link via email, social network post or chat, an attacker may trick users of web ...

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Backup. Restore. Repeat. Your System Backup Survival Guide.

By Tim LaPean, SCS Infrastructure Consultant

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