As this is the last business day of the year for PRD Software, I thought that I would dedicate this blog to the things that we did as a company in 2007.  Overall, 2007 was another great year for PRD Software.  We wrote a lot of code, welcomed a lot of new clients, worked with a lot of existing clients, and had a lot of fun along the way.

Here’s a brief list of what we accomplished in no particular order.

• Bought a new coffee machine.  This was actually a very significant event.  I can’t say for certain that the amount of code output has increased, but I am sure that the quality of coffee here at PRD Software has gone through the roof.  If you’re in our area, drop in for a brew.  We grind daily.

• We hired a new staff member – Welcome Scott!  Scott now works in the sales team, so if you haven’t hit him up for a great deal on HelpMaster Pro, additional licences, or helpdesk consulting, contact him today!

• Created a new website and home for HelpMaster Pro – www.helpmasterpro.com (don't bother clicking - you're already here!)  is the new website where we hope to build an engaging community of HelpMaster Pro users from all around the world.  It’s built using the DotNetNuke framework, so as Microsoft .net developers, we’re keen to see how it matures and evolves.  I suspect 2008 will be a big year for DNN following their first-ever conference DNN conference, OpenForce.

• Welcomed a lot of new HelpMaster Pro users.  This year HelpMaster Pro has been purchased by companies in Australia, USA, UK, Fiji, Sweden, The Netherlands, France, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.  Apart from new registered clients, we had thousands of downloads from just about every country connected to the internet.

• Performed on-site consulting for HelpMaster Pro to many different clients throughout Australia.  As well as this, we consulted at length with a leading Australian ITIL consultancy company to discuss how HelpMaster Pro can be improved to fit within the ITIL framework for incident, problem, and change management.  We’ve got some big plans lined up for 2008, so be sure to keep an eye on the new website and the new discussion board.  If you are thinking of improving your existing HelpMaster Pro installation and configuration, or would like to get us to visit your office for a professional visit, please contact us.  The start of 2008 looks really busy so far, so be quick.

• Shipped HelpMaster Pro v8.  This was the big one.  After a successful alpha, beta and release candidate program, PRD Software released HelpMaster Pro v8 in early December.  A big thanks goes out to everyone who participated in the pre-release programmes, and especially those who provided feedback and suggestions  If you haven’t seen the new HelpMaster Pro v8, please download it now and find out what has taken us 2 years to develop.  If you are still using an older version of HelpMaster Pro, please consider upgrading as this version has a lot to offer and will be updated regularly throughout 2008.

• Totally rebuilt, refined and restructured our software development and build methodology – This is another developer thing, and let me tell you that there were some really exciting and lively moments in this one!  There’s nothing quite like a developer debate on the subject of source control, “big-bang” merges and testing methodology.  This is definitely a work in progress, but the end result is that we’ve optimized the way that we develop and deliver software.  As part of this process we’ve adopted a new source-control tool, have adopted a multi-tier concurrency development cycle, and have generally improved the core way we build and write software.  In 2008 we’ll be do a lot of technology upgrades to use the latest in Microsoft .net development tools.  This means Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server 2008, .net 3.5, Windows Installer, AJAX, and a whole bunch of other IT acronyms that plague our industry.

• Re-invested in the utilizing the best asp.net components for the HelpMaster Pro web interface.  The HelpMaster Pro web interface is built using components from ComponentArt.  The feature upgrades planned for 2008 will feature more of the rich and powerful web components from this award-winning ASP.net component vendor.  Our philosophy in designing and building software is to always use the best tools, the best components and the best developers.  In the year to come, you can also expect upgrades to the database, the reporting engine, the text / word-processing engine, the email engine as well as the graphical presentation of the product.

• Local government support.  Throughout 2007, we had a number of large government agencies here in our home-town of Canberra, ACT Australia start using HelpMaster Pro for better helpdesk management.  We also won a local business award from the Canberra Business Council for our "contribution to business in the Australian Capital Region".

Of course there were a lot of other things that we did that I won’t mention here.  Suffice to say that we’ve been really, really busy.  Thank you to everyone who has helped to make 2007 a successful year for PRD Software and HelpMaster Pro.  We look forward to working with you again in 2008.

For those who are taking time-off at the end of the year – may you have a safe, relaxing and happy holiday.

For those who are stuck at work during this time – perhaps staffing the helpdesk or performing system upgrades etc, my hope for you is that the phones remain quiet, your support email is blocked by some sort of “end-of-year email filter”, the office door becomes mysteriously jammed and the postman gets confused on the way to your office.  ;-)

See you next year.

Best regards,

Rod