You can now view my recorded presentation from Embarcadero Technologies' DataRage 2009 virtual conference.

Managing Reference Data and Codes with ER/Studio & Change Manager
In this presentation, Karen Lopez demonstrates tools and techniques for managing reference data and codes using ER/Studio and Change Manager, including 10 success tips for keeping models and code values in sync.

You will need to register, but access to the recordings are free.

DataRage Managing Reference Data and Codes with ER/Studio and Change Manager

In my first blog post for 2009's Ada Lovelace Day, I'd like to tell you about Kirstin Wright, Chief Systems Architect for Retail Anywhere, a complete POS retail solutions provider based in Atascadero, CA.

Kirstin is responsible for the management and development of software solutions used by more than 5,000 Retail Anywhere customers around the world.

She is also the Chair of the Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) Data Model Committee.  In this volunteer role, Kirstin oversees the management of the two data-related standards, the ARTS Data Model and the ARTS Data Warehouse Model.  In this role she manages a global team of staff and volunteers who produce the the retail industry standard data model used by hundreds of retailers around the world.

Kirstin brings to the ARTS committee valuable technology skills, retail knowledge and a keen sense of team building to deliver an industry standard that must meet the needs of a variety of international retailer and vendor requirements. 

What I admire most about Kirstin's work is her ability to deliver real hands-on technical solutions while balancing marketing, team collaboration and practical approaches to IT solutions delivery.  I also admire the numerous hours that Kirstin volunteers for ARTS, ensuring that the ARTS Standards are there for hundreds of retailers to meet the needs of hundreds of millions of retailer customers. 

In her role as an IT leader, it is the quote from Ada that reminds me most of Kirstin (or is it the other way around>):

In almost every computation a great variety of arrangements for the succession of the processes is possible, and various considerations must influence the selections amongst them for the purposes of a calculating engine. One essential object is to choose that arrangement which shall tend to reduce to a minimum the time necessary for completing the calculation.

- Ada Lovelace

Today is Ada Lovelace Day.  Tuesday, 24 March 2009 is an international day of blogging to highly the contributions that women are making to the profession of technology.

Women's contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognised. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines. Whatever she does, whether she is a sysadmin or a tech entrepreneur, a programmer or a designer, developing software or hardware, a tech journalist or a tech consultant, we want to celebrate her achievements.

Much like the first computers, which were not machines but women who performed intense calculations for the scientific field, there are women in the IT field who contribute to the successful implementations of thousands of project but may not be promoting themselves so that others will know about their work.

I'm hoping that by blogging today about my female heroes of the technology world, I can help raise awareness among current a future IT professionals about the role women play in IT.

...and don't worry, guys: I have something in the works for you, too.

I will publish a blog post on Tuesday 24th March about a woman in technology whom I admire' - PledgeBank

Embarcadero recently announced their new offering of Embarcadero All Access.  This licensing model allows companies to license a toolbox of Embarcadero products, with one license key for each person that unlocks a pass to all the products in a tool chest - multi-platform, multi-language, multi-model notation, multi-development environment.

Embarcadero All-Access provides all the application development and database tools you need — when you need them — across all major platforms, frameworks, and programming languages. It's the single, cost-effective toolbox solution for developers, architects, performance testers, and DBAs.

All-Access provides you with industry-leading database tools, including DBArtisan®, Rapid SQL ®, ER/Studio®, and many more. It also provides powerful application development tools, including Delphi®, JBuilder®, C++Builder®, the InterBase® SMP database, and more.

With Embarcadero All-Access you get:

• All-Access Pass - a license key that unlocks all tools for a given All-Access level
• All-Access Client - a portal into the All-Access toolbox, providing convenient access to your tools including launching, installing, updating, versioning, and more
• All-Access Server (available for network license users) - provisions licenses, installs, and updates to All-Access Clients on your network
• All-Access Membership - provides support, updates, upgrades, new products, access to premium content on the Embarcadero Developer Network (EDN), plus Embarcadero® InstantOn™ for click-and-run access to your tools without installation

Not a Subscription

The price points appear to be a great value compared to what it would cost to license all the products separately.  This works almost like a subscription, except these are perpetual licenses.  So the software costs can still be capitalized and you don't have to maintain a subscription every year to keep using your models.

There are currently 4 membership levels, and it appears to me that an enterprise data architect would need to have at least the Silver level.  That gets you ER/Studio Standard.  Gold includes ER/Studio Enterprise, which is the repository enabled version.  The chart below contains the current offerings, but Embarcadero is offering that as new tools are released, they will be added to All Access.

I'm curious, though, in how the market will respond to this pricing and licensing model.  As a license administrator, I sure would love to have the simplicity of one key for each person, versus one key for each version of each product, for each workstation.  I waste a huge amount of time each week dealing with licensing schemes.

InstantOn

The other interesting hook they are throwing in is the concept of InstantOn.  This allows you to run most of the products without having to install it on your workstation.  I'm thinking that I'd want a regular install for my normal workstation, but I'd love to be able to walk to a meeting room and open up ER/Studio or access all my tools from a laptop used for an offsite meeting.  I hope to have a demo of this sometime soon.

What do you think?

Would you consider this "all you can eat" approach?  Would having access to the more DBA and Developer oriented tools allow better collaboration with developers and DBAs?

All-Access - Embarcadero Technologies

I'll be presenting Five Classic Data Modeling Mistakes & How to Avoid Them on Thursday, 19 March at 12:30 PM PDT / 3:30PM EDT. 

We’ve all been there: a shortcut here, a compromise there, an overmodeling over there. In this presentation, Karen Lopez demonstrates five classic and all-too-common data modeling mistakes that are easy to make and yet just as easy to avoid.

This presentation also includes a 15 minute Q&A session, so I'm expecting many questions from my fellow InfoAdvisors Discussion Group members.

All audio for this virtual conference is delivered via the web, so you'll need headphones or a head set to listen in.

You need to register prior to the event, so click the link below to get that started - it's free, too.

DataRage 2009 Sessions