Here are Our Latest Publications

VIDEO: Making the Most Out of Your Data – Reporting & Analytics

John Bredesen, Business IT Consultant & Author, and Brian Larson, Chief Creative Officer & Partner, discuss taking data visualization in new directions in SCS’s latest video. Our experts take note that data analytics is more than just reports and scorecards—it’s seeing things past, present, ...

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Q & A with Superior Consulting Services (SCS) Founder, John Miller

Superior Consulting Services (SCS) celebrates 25 years of technology consulting in 2022. What began as a two-person show focused on using technology to solve business problems, is now a thriving consulting firm with 20+ associates. Now 534 clients later, that commitment to creating technology ...

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Long-Time Consultant Reflects on a Memorable Project

We asked long-time application development consultant, Michael Walsh to reflect on a significant memory from his 23+ years with SCS. “I remember in 1999, I was supporting an agricultural cooperative with 600+ stores across several states. There was a point of sales shut down in hundreds of stores ...

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Power BI Python Visualizations – Adding a Vertical Line to a Graph

Power BI has a great selection of visualizations that are both incredibly easy to implement, and cover most of the functionality that users have grown accustomed to. However, there are some scenarios that fall outside of the abilities that the Power BI native visualizations offer, as well as ...

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SCS – 25 Years of Technology Consulting

Superior Consulting Services is 25 years old! That means I have been an SCS employee for 25 years. How did that happen? It seems like only yesterday I was walking into our little first-floor office suite over on the Highway 13 frontage road, shaking hands with SCS founder, John Miller, and finding ...

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The IT Director: Where IT and Business Meet

The point of the IT department is to help the organization succeed. To do this, we need to understand that organization and the world it operates in. In addition, we must understand technology products, services, and trends enough to know how to apply them to our organization. We must understand ...

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Ask the IT Director: Finding Time To Improve IT Processes

Dear IT Director, Help! We are running around with our hair on fire, working on too many business projects. Our IT processes need help, but we don’t have any time to improve them. Overwhelmed in Omaha Dear Overwhelmed, I feel your pain. The list of changes the business needs is long and you want to ...

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The IT Director: Throttle For Change: How Organizations Should Think About IT

Organizations have IT departments, but they don’t always understand how the IT department can best help. Yes, we keep the computers running. But there can be more than that. Much more.

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Ask The IT Director: Cantujust Dilemma

Dear IT Director, People seem to think that IT has an “easy button.” That we can just make simple changes and slap it into production quickly. How can I respond to this nonsense? Frustrated in Fresno Dear Frustrated, I feel your pain on this. As with most jobs, there are details in our work that ...

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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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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.

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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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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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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

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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