5 Myths about Automated Excel Telecom Dashboards

I spend a lot of time talking about Automated Excel Telecom Dashboards.  Why?  Because they have made a tremendous difference for me.  There are 4 main benefits.

Automated Excel Telecom Dashboards
Automated Excel Telecom Dashboards
  1. Save your time by instantly updating periodic charts, graphs, and reports
  2. Declutter your brain to focus only on important business metrics
  3. Maintain laser-focus on the important metrics in your area
  4. Make you the “go to” person for your team and department

But many people don’t believe Automated Excel Telecom Dashboards are even possible.  Like there is something magical about them that puts them beyond the reach of mere mortals.   Here are 5 common myths some people believe about Automated Excel Telecom Dashboards. Continue reading “5 Myths about Automated Excel Telecom Dashboards”

Historical Forecasts for Your BTS Project Tracker

In writing about Historical Forecasts I want to know if you’ve been following this series?  I’ve written in detail about all the steps to put together a project tracker that was easy to update, quick to use, and did most of the work automatically.  It’s my strong belief that any Excel Workbook which you use frequently should conform to my 3-step Mantra: Update, Refresh, Share.

Historical Forecasts in Excel BTS Project TrackerWhat this means is that you have to do a little more work up-front, in designing and building the workbook.  This up-front work gives you automation.  So that when you use the workbook, all you have to do is enter any updates, refresh the pivot tables, and that’s it, you’re ready to share the new data.  No additional or separate steps are required to update any charts or other workbook elements.  It’s all done for you automatically!  Update, Refresh, Share!

The point of this mantra is that Excel can do most of the work for you if you set up the Workbook properly.  I use this approach throughout this series of articles to show you how to do that.  It does take a little extra work at the start.  But the payoff is a fully automated workbook which is very quick to use.

And after you’ve used these techniques a few times, two things will happen. First, it will become much easier for you to implement other Excel trackers and dashboards using these techniques.  It won’t be long before you are implementing these automated workbooks faster than you read my articles about them.  Continue reading “Historical Forecasts for Your BTS Project Tracker”

Single mod_perl Instance Serving Multiple Domains

I manage several low-traffic websites sites.  These sites use the classic 2-server Apache/mod_perl architecture.  The front-end server is a light Apache instance hosting a WordPress blog.  The heavy, back-end server is mod_perl-enabled Apache serving various web applications I’ve created.

To the best of my understanding, mod_perl/Apache can only set-up and cache a single database connection.  Is that right? Only one database connection per mod_perl instance?

But my applications need to access several databases.  All the databases are hosted on a single instance of MySQL.  I’ve set it up to use that single cached database connection, and also distinguish requests from the different front-end domains.  Lastly, I’m experiencing a problem using $r->push_handlers.  Let me tell you about it and ask for your feedback. First, the set up. Continue reading “Single mod_perl Instance Serving Multiple Domains”

Excel BTS Project Tracker – Forecasting

When I first began writing this article, I set out to create a Project Dashboard; a self-updating, all singing, all dancing dashboard that would automatically reveal everything anyone might possibly want to know about this project.  Having such a Dashboard would have fabulous consequences.  Like shortening all the project status meetings because the answer to every question is right there in front of you.  Like having an up-to-date Dashboard about 3 seconds after applying the most recent updates.  Like having a ready-made slide for the monthly or quarterly management presentation.

Having an automatically and instantly updating Project Dashboard is like a superpower.  It’s like X-ray vision.  It’s like bringing a gun to a knife fight.  You’ll crush all the status meetings.   Even if the project is running late, having all the answers is the best way to approach any situation.   People will begin to look at you as an expert. They will start to ask you unrelated questions.  I suggest you have your superhero cape dry-cleaned in advance.

But that will be on a later day.  One of the first things I wanted to add to the Dashboard was a project completion forecast.   But I haven’t made one, yet.  So that’s what I’ll do in this article, give the Project Tracker a forecast.  I’ll show you a couple new Excel functions to implement forecasting, and once again I’ll achieve complete automation in the BTS Project Tracker. Continue reading “Excel BTS Project Tracker – Forecasting”

October 2017 Writing Roundup

Each month I summarize my work during the previous month.  I hope that by pausing to reflect on my activities and reviewing my progress that I can learn how to do better in the future.

bangkokbeachtelecom.com Monthly Traffic ReportOctober traffic increased quite a bit, more than double September!   Makes me happy because it means more of you are reading and sharing what I’m writing.  I hope it also means you are getting more value and useful information from me.  Comment if you agree or if you’d like me to write about something specific.

Getting more of your comments and feedback is the thing I need to work on the most.  Engagement.  Right now, mostly I’m broadcasting.  I write and you read.  This is probably a result of my writing style.  I suspect I’ve too many years of reading and writing dry, technical documentation, having no plot, no hero, no winner and too little interest in feedback from the reader.   I’m trying to change my approach.  Please feel free to offer your suggestions. Continue reading “October 2017 Writing Roundup”