Travel Deals and Packages

The Equipment To Bring On A Hunting Trip

2012-01-12T11:06:00.000-08:00

It does not matter if you are new to bow hunting or if it is something that you have been doing for quite some time, there are always things that need to be considered before you actually enter into the field. For example, the type of equipment that you use is going to make quite a difference in your effectiveness when you are actually using the bow ,and the type of packs that you have are going to make a difference in how you get your gear into the field with you. As far as the equipment that you are going to use, it is always recommended that you use something which is upgraded. Sitka Gear and Primos are two well-known bow hunting companies that can offer you items that you are certain to want to have on a longer trip. As far as the pack is concerned, you would want to have one that was upgraded, such as Blacks Creek Packs. This will let you know that you are using something which is not only durable, it is very convenient.

There are also additional things you can do that will make a difference in your success rate when you are out hunting. The most important thing that you need to consider, however, especially when you are talking about bow hunting, is to make sure that you practice regularly. When it comes time to make a critical shot, you do not want to have to worry about the tuning of your sights. You can also do some scouting in advance, as well as getting some exercise, so that you can be as comfortable as possible when you are in the field.

Arranging a Unique Holiday Trip in Israel

2012-01-11T22:54:00.000-08:00

Many older people reaching retirement age have had a long-held desire to make a trip to the historic Holy Land, as a kind of pilgrimage to see the very places that they have read about for their entire lives. Naturally, that means visiting Jerusalem, whether their religion is Christianity, Islam or Judaism. Jerusalem and surrounding areas form a most-see focus for a trip to Israel. At the same time, on the same trip, there are many other amazing places to visit, not necessarily associated with spiritual history but part of the historic land mentioned in the holy scriptures. A trip to Israel can be rewarding, and can be one of the safest holidays possible, since Israel takes the security its of visitors very seriously. As an example, its flagship airline, El Al, is considered the absolute safest airline due to extensive security.

When you come to Israel, you can visit the major metropolis of Tel Aviv, or spend a few days on the great beaches facing the Mediterranean Sea or the Red Sea. You can travel to a place that has the saltiest water situated at the world’s lowest elevation, the Dead Sea. Jump into that water and bob about like an inflatable duck. For an excursion to the Red Sea, visit the town of Eilat. All of these places, as well as Jerusalem, have great tour packages available from Israel tours. This is the easiest and most secure way to enjoy a memorable trip by booking some great tours with this specialist in providing guided tours.

Since Israel is a popular destination, especially concerning visits to the Holy Land spots, it is necessary to recommend that you arrange all accommodations far in advance through Israel hotels, especially if your itinerary includes the city of Jerusalem. By booking accommodations and packaged tours with Israel hotels, you will get the absolute lowest rates available. Their website has visitor reviews of the hotels that they cover, so take a good look at the Israel tours website to design your own holiday in Israel.

Finding the Best Savings on Travel Deals

2011-12-29T09:32:00.001-08:00

Taking a vacation can be expensive, yet you may be tired of the typical staycation. Instead, consider taking a travel vacation that you can afford. If you plan ahead you will be able to have a wonderful vacation using travel deals and discounts to keep you within budget.

Get a Deal Online

The Internet offers a great way to find some of the best prices on travel. You can easily compare prices until you find the one that works best for you. Keep in mind that the travel options and deals that are offered change often. You'll want to return to the site several times to see all that they have to offer. Check various travel sites to find the latest special deals that are offered.

Reserve Early

There are often some good price savings to be had when you book your trip early enough. The prices may go up but if you've already booked your trip you'll be able to pay the lower rate. Be sure that you check to see if extra charges apply for making date changes or if you cancel. You can also pre-pay for your hotel and meals so that you'll have fewer charges during the trip.

Wait Until the Last Minute

If you're considering a last-minute trip you may be in luck. You'll often be able to find really good prices on airfare and hotel rates when you book at the last minute. This works the best during the off season. If the hotel is under-sold they will often try to reduce rates on the rooms to increase their occupancy. You may be able to get a room upgrade for a lower price as well.

Look for Savings

Good preparation will ensure that you'll find the best deals. For example, if you need to park at the airport consider choosing an offsite parking lot rather than the airport lot. You'll often be able to get a substantial savings. If you plan your trip well, you should be able to locate several such savings options throughout your vacation. If you have kids, consider choosing a suite hotel. You'll be able to save money by cooking light breakfasts and keeping snacks on hand.

Group Savings

Traveling as part of a group is often much cheaper than going it alone. Group travel packages are a great way to find savings on your trip. One of the biggest areas of savings will be on airfare since groups may use a charter flight. Of course, be cautious of any changes. Most of these trips are for specific dates and cannot be changed or refunded.

Set a Budget

It's always a good idea to set a travel budget. Determine the total amount that you can spend on the trip as well as the daily spending allowance for food and incidentals. Be aware of your budget so that you don't overspend. It's very easy to end up going way over budget and spending more than you should on your trip. Plan some activities that don't cost anything so that you'll be sure to save money for other activities.

Finding Budget and Affordable Travel Deals

2011-12-22T01:33:00.000-08:00

Finding reasonable budget travel is not always easy! Affordable accommodations and ways to travel often leave you trying to find last minute vacation deals or booking over a year in advance (which is not always possible when vacation dates may change). It is also hard to travel during the peak summer getaway season when everyone is looking for an affordable vacation. The good news is that budget travel does not need to be that hard to find anytime of the year! Here are a few helpful tips to finding budget and affordable travel deals for transportation and accommodations in popular travel destinations all year round.

The place many people begin their search for affordable travel deals is online. Travel websites like FareCompare and Travelocity are definitely helpful and allow you to be flexible while searching for airfares, car rentals, and hotel accommodations; but they can't always find the best budget travel deals. This is because their databases often do not search many of the discount airlines or local vacation rentals that offer the best prices to vacationers.

Visiting budget airlines' websites directly and comparing the cost of their flights to the flights you find on large airfare search sites is definitely one way to make sure you are getting the best affordable travel deals. It is also very time consuming and by the time you finish comparing flights, the price you wanted could have long flown away! The problem is only compounded when you then have to find and book hotel or vacation rental accommodations and ground transportation for sightseeing and tours at the best price during your stay. If you factor in the cost of your time and energy that you have spent planning your vacation, along with flights, tours and accommodations, now you are getting expensive.

There is a way around the hassle of piecing together affordable travel: you can contact a professional travel consultant or tour operator whose job is to find the best deals and combine them into package offers! A traveler might expect the cost of a travel consultant to add to the cost of a vacation, but tour operators have several advantages to offering the best budget travel deals. In many cases, tour operators have long term relationships with cruise lines, airlines, tour guides, motor coach companies, hotels, and resorts. These relationships were built over time and allow tour operators to get the best prices from their travel associates and pass the savings on. Another key budget friendly fact about tour operators is that they have buying power! Since group travel dealers buy in bulk, the savings they receive can be passed on to you, just like other wholesale sellers.

If you are looking for affordable travel deals, make sure to sign up for tour operators' newsletters and deal alerts so that you do not miss vacation packages to destinations you want to travel to. Tour operators work yearly to create escorted vacations that showcase every season and are the easiest way to find budget and affordable travel deals.

Family Vacation Travel Deals For Mother's Day

2011-12-19T00:34:00.000-08:00

Mother's Day is May 9th this year; a date that is approaching rapidly. Mother's seem to be the glue that holds a family together. They fix scraped knees and mend broken hearts. They look out for the kids, the pets, the house, the significant other and never seem to get a break. Family travel vacations are hard to organize because everyone seems so busy, but Mother's Day might be the perfect time for that family vacation travel getaway.

Mother's Day is on a Sunday, so taking a weekend away from the norm is a perfect idea. These family vacation deals for Mother's Day are affordable and fun for everyone in the family, or made specifically for mom in mind. No matter what her preferences are, these activities and getaways are perfect for travel and leisure family vacations.

Spring Day Trips
- Day long travel and leisure family vacations give families time away from their everyday activities while not going too far from home. You will be shocked to find out beautiful park destinations you never knew about close to your home, or outlet malls for the whole family.
Destination and Resort Spa Getaways
- Resorts are a mother's dream and don't have to be too expensive. Spas allow for a time to relax and rejuvenate away from the stress of family and work.
Mother's Day weekend Festivals
- These weekend long festivals are fun for the entire family. Festivals can be a day trip or a special family weekend outing. There are ones in Hilton Head, South Carolina with visual and performing arts events, festivals in North Carolina with bbq cook-offs and international festivals in Kentucky where entertainment, midway games, carnival rides, a car show, contests and vendors give families of all sizes fun activities.
Mountain family travel vacations
- Both the west and east coast have amazing mountain ranges that are peaceful and blooming with life in the spring. The earliest bloom of mountain flowers starts at the lower elevation points and creeps its way up the eastern mountain ranges, making them a breathtaking view around Mother's Day.
Cooking Classes/Culinary family vacation travel
- Cooking classes are not what they used to be. With the influx of culinary travel, classes and demonstrations have spawned resorts, food festivals, restaurants and shops specifically catering to the culinary arts. Moms can enjoy a fun, upbeat half hour cooking class, or spend the entire weekend at a cooking resort where they have the opportunity to work in state-of-the-art kitchens, work with famous chefs and learn about foods made by different cultures.
Historic Sites
- The southeast United States is full of family vacation travel destinations with historical significance. Beautiful historic mansions like Mt. Vernon in Virginia, home to George Washington, and the Historic Natchez in Mississippi, where for five weeks in March private antebellum mansions open their doors to tourists are gorgeous options to visit. There are also battlefields, historic districts and museums that make for great weekend visits. Depending on the distance, these historic family travel vacations can be day trips or an outing for the weekend!

Last Minute Travel Deals

2011-12-11T09:35:00.000-08:00

Very last minute travel deals, commonly known as eleventh hour travels or fifty-ninth minute travels are commonly available today. These deals are flexible and economic and can be fine-tuned to meet your needs to some extent. From vacations, flights, cruises, hotel rentals to car rentals, each and every inventory in a journey can be booked at the last minute. Last minute travel deals can entail entire tourism packages or any of the above inventories on an individual basis.

The prices for very last minute deals vary. Deals are available for economy, budget, premium and luxury. As for accommodation, there are various options available for ranging from small hotels, guesthouses, pubs, holiday cottages, holiday flats and apartments to caravan parks, holiday parks and group holidays.http://www.hotwire.com. You can save as much at 55% checking out this website. They partner with all the major airlines, hotels and car rental agencies to book empty seats, rooms and cars, and you will save a tremendous amount of money.

Hotwire recommends that if you are looking for very last minute deals you have to be flexible - leaving a day earlier or later to save on fares. You also have to be willing to book immediately, because any good deals will be gone for sure if you take too much time to think. Airfares prices can literally change within minutes. Also, consider traveling in January, February, May, September or October because travel is less expensive during these months. Finally, look for hotels that are on the outskirts of major cities. They tend to be less expensive than those located right in the city.

John and Daphne: The Movie

2011-11-15T07:58:00.000-08:00

Picture courtesy of UKTV

For those of you that missed Atlas Business Group’s MD and Company Secretary John and Daphne Butler’s recent television appearance, you have another opportunity as the program is repeated at 8pm this evening (Tuesday 15th November 2011) on Sky Home channel 246.

The program is titled “My flat pack home” and follows the Butlers as they plan to erect an office in the garden of their home in Clyro. Eagle eyed viewers may also spot guest appearances from Joe, Sam, Ben, Lara, David, Ian, Ruth and Michael who were all captured during some of the filming at our Head Office in Globe Works, Nantwich.

Surf's Up - A Quick Guide To Web Safety Abroad

2011-10-25T03:05:00.000-07:00

Accessing the Internet whilst on holiday abroad is an increasing trend amongst British holiday makers. But is that Internet cafe down the road from the hotel safe and if it isn't, what steps can you take to make sure your surfing is secure? Our resident Internet expert Stuart took a look at the dangers of surfing abroad.

Surfing abroad can be a risky business to the unprepared, as hidden dangers lie out of sight. It might seem that you're flying along those familiar waves as if back home, but you may be tumbling towards the rocks without even realising it. Coming from C2 Internet, I am of course talking about surfing the web. As we are leaving the busiest time of year for holiday making then this may be a little late for some of you, but hopefully with your holiday fresh in your mind it will make you take note of the risks to your data security whilst abroad, that pose danger at a time when people may be likely to drop their guard. Whether we like it or not it is getting more and more difficult to stay completely offline when taking time off, but even if you’re just checking personal emails, you must be careful.

A convenient method of getting online when abroad is to use an Internet cafe; they can be found in almost every tourist destination and can even be found within many hotels. So for a small fee someone might jump on the Internet for 30mins, before logging out and heading back to the beach. This is fine if they were just having a look the weather forecasts and catching up on the news, but not so good if they logged into their online banking, their Gmail account or even worse, their company system. The biggest threat faced in using a publicly available computer to access the Internet comes from key loggers. This is usually done using a simple application that logs the keystrokes entered. This method is used for malicious purposes to obtain the user's complete login details. It could even be a hardware key logger, attached to the computer.

The only way of getting around this problem is to use your own device to access the Internet, no other solution can ensure your data security is secure on a public computer. This could mean using your laptop, tablet or even smart phone to connect to a wireless hot spot. If using your smart phone, you need to be very careful to ensure you don't mistakenly connect using your mobile Internet connection, as this could lead to a costly phone bill.

Unfortunately for those wanting to ensure their Internet usage is not intercepted, this is still not enough. Even if using your own device, the wireless connection itself may be intercepted. Most people these days are aware that they need to use a security key to secure their Internet usage. But the key is obviously no secret if it’s a publicly available connection, and someone can therefore use that to bypass the encryption. But before you start packing the satchel of pigeons into your suitcase, there is a safe way to surf, and it’s a lot less noisy and messy than using our feathered friends to communicate with friends and colleagues.

To secure your wireless hotspot usage, the best method is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN). This can be used to connect from any wireless point, and it will encrypt the traffic. So what VPN should you use for safe web browsing, well that depends on what device you're connecting from. Below I have included a few examples of the sites that provide these services:

http://hidemyass.com/vpn/
(paid for service - covers most laptops, tablets, smart phones)

https://www.ipredator.se/
http://www.acevpn.com/
https://www.vpntunnel.se/en/

Most of the secure browsing VPN suppliers have user guides to take you through the process. I would add that when using a VPN, there is a method of quickly confirming that it’s ready, so that you can begin browsing safely. Before connecting the VPN go to:

http://www.whatismyip.com/

This website will display the public IP that (as far as the Internet is concerned) you are browsing from. Make a note of this IP and close the browser. Connect your VPN, now go to http://www.whatismyip.com/ again, the IP displayed on this website should now be completely different.

So there you go, you've gone from casually connecting on an Internet cafe computer and having a quick catch-up, to having to connect your smart phone up, then enabling a VPN to encrypt the traffic. Well I never said it was going to be plain sailing. This is not an exhaustive list, there are many methods to lessen the risk, but using your own device and a VPN is probably the best sure fire way of protecting yourself from the main dangers discussed in this article.

The potential threats continue to increase on the Internet, this is a trend that will not be stopping anytime soon, but with a little effort you can learn to safeguard your usage, so you can continue to enjoy the benefits without putting your privacy/finances at risk. Or as Jon Kabat-Zinn put it:

‘You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf’

Our MD’s talks with Bank of England Governor’s Deputy

2011-10-03T07:29:00.000-07:00

(Outlooks and Growth 2012-2015)

(or is that better as, His talks with Me?!)

Hobnobbing and name-dropping with The Great (and, maybe, The Good)

Our Group MD participated this week in an ‘intimate’ gathering with no less a personage than the Deputy of the Governor of Bank of England, at the invitation of our RBS Corporate Bankers. He (the Deputy) was seeking in Davy Crockett scouting style (though without the skunk hat!) to get a ‘Status and Outlook’ reading from the binoculars of us ‘coal-face’ SME business leaders. He also gave us some interesting and challenging insights on where the big wise-men see our ‘seasonal climate’ likely backdrops over the next year or two; particularly the practical paradoxes of The Bank’s policies to support the funding and capital needs of businesses by our big corporate banks which the Government are ‘desperate’ to see expand and grow successfully.

Setting and Organisation of the Event

The small private dining room at Crewe Hall with its beautiful panelling and white linen place settings for twenty for luncheon certainly didn’t add to the air of open relaxed informality for the exchange of views which nice intelligent Simon (who previously was a lobbyist for the CBI) said he was looking for ... ... ... but this ‘stiffness’ was counter-acted by the fact that he had to settle for talking directly to us from his Powerpoint notes because the projector/screen was unavailable /Kaput! This was certainly just as well though! (See below!)

The ‘PPP’ Principles of Practised Hobnobbers (Position, Position, Position)

I had drifted in as ‘tail-end-Charlie’ on the in-bound procession to table, and found myself to be ‘last-man-standing’ after all my lunch companions had shown the typical English reserve, politeness, and hanging-back deference (for which we are so justly modestly famous around the world!). Thus, the only chair left for me was at ‘God’s’ left-hand (the one to his right was occupied by a lady much prettier than I, who subsequently turned out to be a solicitor, though only of the boring kind for conveyancing mortgagees into debt with their bankers!

Lunch with, or without, Refried Chips or Power points, Sir?

Accordingly, in my place right ( I mean left!) next the Great Man, I was ideally placed to observe his speaking notes on this three-to-view Powerpoint slides (as well as to pass the butter, offer him water etc. because 500 years of ‘butlering’ service do leave one with politeness instincts towards male colleagues as well as ladies!) Anyway, but for the ‘duff’ projector, I think that the Man who had come ‘to listen to us’ would have otherwise given us the treat of an hour-and-half barrage of charts (line, stack, pie, soup and nuts!) which would surely have guaranteed an unquestioning white flag surrender by any survivors from the battle of the bulge lunch!

Passive Audience becomes (slightly) Animated Actors!

As it was, however,! ... ... ... it turned out to be congenially frank and thoughtful in both directions of the conversations around the suitably elliptical table! Just over half of those 20 souls there to ask and to observe were bankers (our hosts) or auditors, financial advisers ... ... ... so I guess that makes it about representative of the same proportions that the rest of us seem to find in real life these days!

Degrees of Freedom and Constraints in the ‘Hadron Collider’ Canteen

If ‘elliptical’ and ‘frank’ seem a bit odd joined in a single sentence, it’s important to remember that there’s truth in the old proverb about ‘not biting the hand’ that you hope is going to feed you ... ... ... (at least until its clear that it won’t!)

Neither is it polite to kick sand or good white wine onto white linen in pique at the inexplicable refusal of whole wunches of bankers to give growth-inducing economic quick-start, substantial unsecured, ten-year, low-interest, capital-repayment-free, loans in the style of big corporate bonds to all SMEs that can find good use for them ... ... ...

Surely, this is what ‘QE3-SME’ ought to be all about, isn’t it? ... ... ... or are these only truly needed by those with great big commercial properties as anchors (not sure whether these are seen to be on the assets or albatrosses side and sandy bottoms of bank balance sheets these days!)

Definites, Maybes, and May-not-Bes

It may or may not be that we will all be helped indirectly by the magic of ‘trickle-down’ from Government and Bank of England policy, through further multi-billion loans and further ‘investments’ in sovereign debt of Greece, Ireland, Mexico and Brazil all over again. After all, I.O.U. £s from a ‘sovereign’ state must be more secure than ‘risky’ loans to SMEs mustn’t they? (even though the true debt value might be devalued by some healthy inflationary erosion and exchange losses between £s and sovereigns!)

Or even, from ‘Government Knows Best’ strategies through direct investments into secure ‘vital infrastructure’ projects like a new series of three-week skills transfers courses to get the unemployed assembly line workers from Bentley Crewe or BAe Wharton productive again ... ... ... as innovatory web developers, or hair stylists ... ... ... or maybe they will do a ‘direct-jugular’ injection into town-centre redevelopments, white elephant domes, virtual Camelot spires, or just more old-new state of the art fire-stations.

Making our Own Luck

Overly heavy irony and sarcasm, maybe, but the assessment from all of the above for ourselves, and our business success in 2012, is that we need to do our damndest to help all of you to succeed! ... ... ... and that you, and we, will be very well-advised not to place our faith in external helping hands, steering, buoyancy aids; and especially not banking hot-air balloons!

On the Cusp; 2011 going into Rear View, and Steering into 2012

It has been brilliant for some, and bruising for others. Regardless of what mix of good seeds, fruit, and weeds you’re celebrating or crying over on this last day of September 2011; whether for you the fat lady is singing yet, the fact is, that for almost all of our UK clients this ‘Today’ is the ‘cusp’ and cross-over point in Business Seasons between ‘current 2011’ and ‘Emerging’ 2012!

Autumn equinox passed this week, and the Harvest Festival full-moon didn’t slip late into October from its more normal mid-September timing (though many are finding that the business economic ‘flatlands’ seasons are running slower and weaker than hoped earlier in the year – unlike the natural seasonal cycles, which are wildly out of kilter the other way. Many species are starting their 2012 growing and flowering rush many months earlier than ever! ... ... ... And that’s exactly what you should be doing in your Business 2012 , starting with our Business Growth Success 2012 Workshops in early November (see separate listings for these).

Or, will the current balmy benign Indian summer weather and economic sunshine be guillotined at knees (or higher still)! by bitter winds from frozen Urals, with icy statues of fleeing bankers immortalised in Russian easterlies ice, until they thaw in five years or more from now?

John Butler

30 September 2011

PS: If, by the time we meet with you in early November, it really has transpired that Greece has fallen out of the Euro, and that an indefinite UK-wide and General Strike has been called to herald the start of a New Ice Age in January 2012 ... ... ... then we promise we shall bring you a valuable present of your own personal pair of ear muffs!

A Must For Company Laptops

2011-09-26T03:56:00.000-07:00

Laptop protection software has hit the headlines recently with some high-profile success stories of laptops recovered after having been stolen. Always keen to protect Atlas' technical equipment, our team of techies went on the hunt of the popular software.

Prey is a small free piece of software that is designed to protect personal and company laptops from theft and enable easy recovery if they do happen to wind up in the possession of a criminal.
The website sets out the software's aims...

'Prey lets you keep track of your phone or laptop at all times, and will help you find it if it ever gets lost or stolen. It's lightweight, open source software, and free for anyone to use. And it just works.'

So how does it work and why should you use it for company laptops?

The install is clean and easy to achieve and the nice little piece of software just sits on your laptop doing not much at all until the point of panicked realisation... 'OH MY WORD MY LAPTOP HAS BEEN STOLEN/LEFT ON A TRAIN/ABANDONED WHILST I WAS HAVING THAT SNEAKY CUP OF TEA AT BURGER KING.

You then login to your control panel with the email and password you used when you set it up and click the missing button.

The software will then activate and as soon as somebody turns you laptop on and connects to the Internet it will start sending you information on where the laptop is. If you have a built in webcam the software will even provide a photo of the person using it.

The UK police recently recovered a laptop stolen during the London riots, after the software was activated by its owner. After just one day the owner had enough evidence for the police and when the offender turned it on again the police raided his house to find him sat on the sofa with the stolen laptop on his knee. He was subsequently prosecuted for handling stolen goods and the laptop returned to its rightful owner. Just one of several successful stories for the project so far.

atlascenter

2011-09-22T20:46:00.001-07:00

atlascenter

Beetle's About!

2011-08-22T05:07:00.000-07:00

ASM Engineer Michael Hughes blogs about the joys of owning a forty-year old VW Beetle and how the atypically German car actually has a colourful English heritage.

The long summer evenings lend themselves to escaping the television and taking my forty year old VW Beetle for a gentle amble round the leafy lanes of Cheshire.

I have owned the car for a long time, running it as my first car for nearly a decade before replacing it. But I just couldn’t part with this thoroughly reliable beast even though it had started to look a little frayed around the edges.

I had offers to buy it but that only encouraged me to keep it. I therefore decided to have it restored professionally - a project which lasted for a little over two years. It returned to home looking like a shiny new vehicle which now appears on dry days or at the occasional Classic Car show.

But how did this vehicle become iconic being manufactured across different continents of the world for forty plus years and become the centre for films Walt Disney has made based on the character ‘Herbie’? It’s not exactly an attractive or practical vehicle yet it still doesn’t look out of place on our roads. Its origins as the “Peoples Car” for the German people before the Second World War is well documented but the destruction of the factory at Wolfsburg at the end of the war may well have seen its demise.

What may not be known is that it was left to a British Army major to organise the restarting of production after the end of the Second World War. Major Ivan Hirst of the Royal Mechanical and Electrical Engineers was responsible for the Beetle project under British Administration and he restarted the production of the Beetle car. Beetle production was eventually passed back to German Heinz Nordhoff to organize production. He quickly increased production and by 1955 the one millionth beetle had come off the assembly line.

Taking the Beetle to Classic Car Shows is always interesting. Many people approach you to recall the days when they had a Beetle and discuss how reliable it was and what fun to drive. They always were reluctant to part with it but growing families meant it was no longer practical to keep it.

I have been asked by children if this is “Herbie” from the films but explained that it is Herbie’s first cousin. This has satisfied the young inquiring mind. Shortly after the launch of the last Herbie film children wanted their photograph standing by my Beetle because, being Pastel White, it is close to the colour of Herbie in the film.

The fun for me is in owning the car for so long as well as the fact it is so reliable. It is always quick to start. It also a reminder that cars of its era are very basic and that car technology has come a long way since my Beetle was built.

Serbia

2011-08-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

I've only ever known one person from Serbia, a landlocked country in centralish-southeasterny Europe. He was the professor of a college course I took entitled "War, Technology and Society." Based on my experience with him, I'd say that Serbians are a grumpy, diminutive people who all talk gleefully and knowledgeably about medieval war implements and spout adorable bits of folk wisdom like "Never rub a man's face in defeat. Just kick him until he stops moving." That's probably a safe generalization, isn't it? Serbian people dislike Albanians and Chelsea Handler.

Most Serbs.

Senegal

2011-08-18T17:20:00.000-07:00

Senegal is a West African nation wrapped around the Gambia, a small strip of land which the aforementioned Senegal never had the gumption or the inclination to conquer for itself and feast on its riches. The other nearby areas which Senegal has failed to annex and subjugate include Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania and the vast unclaimed depths of the Atlantic Ocean. Despite having a diverse array indigenous languages, the national language of Senegal is French, which I personally think was taking the easy way out. I've recently decided to start calling Senegal "The Disappointment of West Africa" based on its chronic underachievement in categories like size by area (88th in the world), size by population (72nd!) and GDP (111th, behind Iceland. Iceland, you guys!). Come on Senegal. Why can't you be more like your brother?

Senegal's capital, Dakar, is tiny compared to the world's largest city, Shanghai. What a fucking letdown.

Bugernomics In Images

2011-08-18T06:06:00.000-07:00

Confused about what Burgernomics is? It's an economic scale that analyses currencies, lifestyles and stability by closely analysing the prices of McDonald's Big Mac burger in countries across the globe. Don't believe us? Read our news article and check out the graphed images of burgernomics below.

The Hidden Cost To Your Business Of Not Training Your Staff

2011-08-15T03:56:00.000-07:00

Atlas Director and project consultant Diane Lonsdale blogs about the risks businesses take when they fail to invest properly in the training of staff members and the impact this can have on their ability to provide great service to their customers.

This article, on a website aimed at employees with problems in the workplace, interested me as I train end users and am involved in our Application Systems Management department.

Your company will have invested in business software solutions in order to maximise the potential of the business and to ensure that your workflow processes are as lean as possible. One interpretation of lean is to maximise production with the minimum of labour resources. This can only be achieved if the users of the business software solutions know how to use them correctly and in the most effective way.

When your company invested in these solutions you will also have invested in specialist training, delivered in a way to ensure the solutions were used correctly and in the most effective way, but what happens when these trained staff leave your employment?

Do you have dedicated members of staff who can train any new employees effectively in all aspects of the systems they are expected to use? Or is it that the incumbent staff member simply spends a few hours showing their replacement what they think they need to know, and will more than likely just hand over the sections of knowledge that are pertinent to their job role rather than the whole spectrum of the solution. Is the potential value of the software diluted during this 'training'?

Can you afford not to invest in initial training or indeed refresher training on a regular basis?

Cost is the main reason cited for not implementing this process but if you don’t then the value of the original investment is diminished.

It may be more cost effective to ensure key members of your workforce have the necessary skills to train new employees, and this is not just about your IT solutions, it also needs to be your business processes and Health and Safety Regulations.

Another reason cited by Senior Management for not investing in staff training is that if they normally have a high staff turnaround then the investment is wasted, as soon as the employees have been trained then they leave the business and therefore incur high costs. Research has proven the opposite to this theory. In an article by Jonathan Moules in the Financial Times, he quotes the latest piece of research on the subject,

“The biggest motivator for 43 per cent of staff surveyed was having a passion for their job or company. Seven out of 10 workers said that an employer’s commitment to staff training is important in helping them feel valued, and 69 per cent said it was important in making them want to work hard.”

Training employees on a regular basis ensures your investments - in software, in people, in the very core of your business processes - don't diminish and enable your workplace to remain productive, proactive and happy. Training isn't an 'optional extra', it is a must have which empowers workers and ensures customers are satisfied.

Saudi Arabia

2011-08-03T15:16:00.000-07:00

Saudi Arabia is a country in the Middle East where everybody is constantly at least kind of mad because it's hot all the time, sand gets into all of your shit and no one is ever allowed to have any fun doing anything. It's kind of like Utah, if you've ever been there before. Saudi Arabia is an Islamic absolute monarchy, which I think basically means that if you live there, you shouldn't fuck around. Saudi Arabia is also located on top of the world's largest oil reserves, which means that despite continued criticism over human rights issues such as equality between men and women and the perennial question of whether or not cutting off the hands and feet of minor offenders is the best method of criminal rehabilitation, the king (currently Abdullah bin [more names]) still gets to have lots of weird sleepovers with powerful foreign heads of state. Saudi royalty aren't really all that different from the kid you knew in the fourth grade who was kind of a shitty person, but you hung out with him anyway because he had a Sega Dreamcast and Crazy Taxi was a really fun game.

The Burj al-Mamlaka, Saudi Arabia's tallest building, was built in 2002, in case someone ever needs to open a really huge bottle.

Keeping Up to Date... Receiving Training...

2011-07-29T02:01:00.000-07:00

In this, the second of two articles, Commericals Projects Controller Ian Skaife blogs about Atlas' constant thirst for knowledge, how we acquire it and the things he's discovered whilst on his hunt...

So, not only can we learn from reading the FT – I think the answer must be yes - but also all those other sources of rich information and comment too...

Sometimes we have to sit back and receive new knowledge, and here at Atlas over the past few months this has certainly been the case. In between helping our clients with systems we have been updating or knowledge of new products and technologies. In fact we have spent in excess of £20,000 in fees and time training a variety of people as follows.

- Microsoft Gold Partner
Two of our technology team have undertaken a variety of new and updated courses to fulfil this certification which gives confidence to many of our clients for whom we do technical systems management and hosting services.

- PropsectSoft CRM
One technical consultant on installation, two consultants for a total of 10 days on implementation and report writing in the new version 6+. We have done several upgrades and new work already using these new skills.

- QlikView
We have trained our third consultant in this growing area of Business Intelligence. She has attended 5 days of designer and development courses and is on another for advanced analysis. We have implemented this with several new customers recently.

- Access Accounts v2.50e and Web Services
Several consultants have been on training to keep us up to date in new features and the Web Services technology to link into the increasingly remote and web-based world we live in.

- AFS Suite
You may have seen in our recent blog article that this is another of the offerings which we are updating and up-skilling our consultants and those from other industry partners.

- Albany ePay
The well known provider of BACS solutions for payments and direct debits has a new offering out with increased functionality and Windows 7 compatibility. Four consultants are being trained just this week, ready to roll out to new and existing customers.

Keeping Up to Date... Searching For Knowledge...

2011-07-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

In this series of two articles, Commericals Projects Controller Ian Skaife blogs about Atlas' constant thirst for knowledge, how we acquire it and the things he's discovered whilst on his hunt...

Here at Atlas, like most companies, we try to keep up to date with current issues and the latest thinking that affects our customers and the services and technology we employ to meet their needs. Like every other company we also have to be sure that we ‘take our own medicine’ to run our people and systems to the best advantage.

Our MD John Butler recently challenged the Executive Board recently to read more trade magazines, the Financial Times etc., on a regular basis in order to know what was happening and what factors will influence the way we and our customers do and think about business.

Taking up this challenge I picked up a free copy of the FT at a recent conference I was at – thereby keeping up to date at no cost....I read each page and extracted the following as examples of the sort of snippets that get me thinking...

‘Yell Moves into the cloud with Microsoft’
This caught my eye – a traditional paper directory company that has taken to the Internet some time ago tying up with an industry giant using a technology ‘The Cloud’ which seems to be one of those ‘buzz-phrases’ at the moment. Key points were...
• Move allows Yell to broaden its offering to small/medium businesses as its traditional print market is eroded by a move on—line...
• Microsoft provides Yell with cloud hosting, website creation and new Office 365 Suite
• Yell search results will be high up Microsoft’s Bing search engine
• A 21% increase in Yell’s share price – so someone thought it was a good idea..

‘Citrix by Cloud.com’
Citrix is one of Atlas’ business offerings and again that word ‘cloud’. The article proved that the .com bubble still exists...Cloud.com employ 70 people in California, have only being going for 3 years, have yet to make a profit and yet the price....$200-$250million...! The group works with some big customers like Apple & Facebook allowing remote groups to manage their remote data centres and provides tools to companies who want to be cloud providers.

Analysts are predicting cloud computing market to be worth $11billion by the end of 2013 as more companies opt to have their computer networks hosted remotely.

So this tied in very well with us at Atlas as we have many customers who are seeing the advantage of both Citrix to connect remote workers to company data, hosted in one of our several data centres including the ‘Secret Nuclear Bunker’ near our head office in Nantwich from which we can provide clients with private clouds.

‘Cisco eyes job cuts to reverse slump’
So not everything in the technology sector is good news...but looking more closely Cisco is planning 10,000 job losses from its 73,000+ workforce due to ‘death by a thousand cuts’ as some other large/small players have chipped away at different parts of its markets. It seems the management have looked at its diverse strategy and refocused on core technology. The comment section put it quite succinctly and is a lesson for all in the IT sector..

'It is part of the periodic pruning that all mature technology companies should undergo. In enterprise technology using your headcount effectively is not easy. Not all struggle.’’.Apple and Intel are ruthlessly efficient in squeezing more and more revenues out of each worker. But in the gritty business of selling and servicing clients’ technological infrastructure, competitors must constantly shift their mix of business to protect margins and retain customers. That means that cuts...are simply part of the game.’

Report warns of ‘cyberjihad’. This puts the topic of security of all systems in the spotlight as al Qaeda adapts to new technologies and offers new threats. Perhaps we don’t see our systems being targeted but the principle is a warning to all as ‘the Internet and virtual space will be strategically important’.

‘Infosys sees growth ahead’
The Indian software and services concern despite pressure from its increased wages sees 15.4% rise in first quarter profits and demand from Western clients in the areas of retail, life sciences and energy.

‘Managers must take the blame for systemic failures’
Finally an article caught my eye about the apparent lack of managers in its English Electric arm in 1968 prepared to take personal responsibility. Arnold Weinstock sent out a missive which abolished all internal committees and encouraged managers to delegate and involve colleagues in decisions, but this would not reduce their personal responsibility. Until this points endless meetings were held, minutes copied into everyone, no personal commitment and everyone felt relieved of the obligation to acquire the knowledge to judge effectively. People needed to be free to make mistakes and learn from them, not just try to attach themselves to good projects

The FT article was written in a week when News International executives were removing themselves from responsibility of not knowing what was going on under their watch and blaming rogue individuals. Good management means appointing good people, delegating to them, and creating an environment in which they can give their best. Failure in this is a failure of management not of subordination. It points out that Apple’s success and failures are closely associated with Steve Jobs, but he can’t do it all himself. His management style is to emphasise the role of the ‘directly responsible individual’ for each project..

So can we learn from reading the FT – I think the answer must be yes, and all those other sources of rich information and comment too...

Keep an eye out for the second of Ian's blogs tomorrow.

Atlas Mid Year Meeting Photos

2011-07-28T05:50:00.000-07:00

Atlas held their annual Mid Year Meeting last week and our photographer was there to capture a few choice pictures of the day's events.

John Butler introduced the meeting and talked about impending changes in financial practice.

Kelvin Redmile talked business financials in a brief session in the morning.

Joe Jardine provided some feedback on some of our successful sales events.

Ian Skaife chaired the meeting and co-ordinated the presenters during the day.

Sam Turner introduced a section on Advanced Financials.

Lara Bailey covered the groups new Technical Sales strategy.

Ben Butler presented the new Atlas website (more to come soon!).

Adrian Carter presented a section on the possibilities of new developments involving tablet PCs...

...which Ben and Lara took the opportunity to test for themselves.

John Bilyj presented some recent Atlas CRM development.

Kath Welsh was recognised for her length of service with Atlas and received a framed placque for her efforts...

...as did Jenny MacKenzie...

...who also received a birthday surprise courtesy of Diane Lonsdale and Catherine Ball.

Atlas Pays Its Dues (And Its BACS)

2011-07-28T03:04:00.000-07:00

As part of Atlas' ongoing commitment to ensure all our staff are professionally trained on the latest products, we invited Jonathan Dean from Albany in to provide some implementation training on Albany ePAY, the product that will soon replace Albany ALBACS.

The session provided some overview training of the product's functionality and some in-depth training on how to successfully implement it and support it on an on-going basis. The day also included some discussions on hot topics such as the increasing use of the cheaper Faster Payments methodology (when compared to CHAPS) and the forthcoming RTI regulation changes (Real Time Information) which will have seismic impacts on how all of you run your payroll. Atlas will be communicating further details on the RTI topic in the near future.

Atlas Lead Advanced Look At Finance

2011-07-27T03:55:00.000-07:00

Atlas led a small group of industry professionals in a workshop entitled ‘Advanced Financial and Strategies Management with AFS Pro’ during the last week, with an aim of providing initial training and introduction to businesses interested in becoming involved in the topic. The day, delivered primarily by Atlas Consultant Richard Walliker and Atlas Group Managing Director John Butler, focused on the application of advanced financial methodology and when it was appropriate to use it above and beyond ‘standard’ financial systems. A particular focus was afforded to the topic of forecasting and business planning, covered by the Atlas AFS Pro product, which was demonstrated on the day. Attendees from Atlas, Hoge 100 and Elite Business Systems gave positive feedback on the workshop and Atlas intend to repeat the event with other businesses in the near future.

If you're interested in finding out more about the application of Advanced Finanacial and Strategies Management in your business or would like to discuss the Atlas AFS Pro product then drop us a line at newsletter@atlasbiz.com or call us on 0333 666 3330.

Rugby And Netball Mix In Atlas-sponsored Charity Event

2011-06-22T02:35:00.000-07:00

Atlas Business are one of the proud sponsors of Residence Netball Club. As part of the sponsorship agreement Residence committed to raising money for charity through a number of events that they would organise. The first charity that was selected was Macmillan Cancer Support and their event is nearly upon us. On Saturday 25 June, on Barony playing fields between 2pm and 6pm, is a mixed sex Netball / Rugby sevens tournament, with participants from across Crewe and Nantwich. This event has grown hugely in size, scope and participation and promises to be a day of a lot of fun.

Atlas Employee and Netball Club Captain, Lara Bailey has taken on the role of event organiser. She said: “since we first started talking about the charity events, it has grown significantly. Initially, we were talking about 8 girls trying to raise £500. Since then, through the support from our sponsors, there are not one but two Residence NC teams and we have managed to secure the involvement of another four teams from the South Cheshire Netball Premier League, we have also brought Acton Nomads RFC in as well as other RFCs and general volunteers from across Cheshire. This event will now comprise 8 teams and over 64 participants plus all the organisors, friends and families and members of the public. We have upped our game and our target and would like to bring in at least £2,000 to support Macmillan. It would be really great if we could get that number up to £5,000. Macmillan is a fantastic cause to be raising money for. Nearly everyone has or will be touched by cancer at some point in their lives, whether that be personally, a family member or a friend or relative. I myself lost my grand father to cancer and my mother thankfully recovered. Macmillan is a great cause and we hope this community event will be widely supported, and we will be able to do something that can make a real difference to people’s lives here.”

Residence NC is sponsored by local Chamber of Commerce members, Atlas Business, Banks Sheridan and Residence Restaurant and Bar. Lara also said “the support we have received from our sponsors in organising this event has been fantastic, but furthermore, we have been contacting other local businesses and asking them to donate prizes for the raffle. We are trying to get as much awareness out there as we can and get the public to come out on the day to spectate and have fun and make this a real community event.” Food and drinks will be available and there will also be a raffle with lots of great prizes. We are also hoping to get a bouncy castle there on the day as long as the weather holds out. If not and it rains we’ll have a toss the welly competition for the kids.

The media have been very supportive of the event, the story has been picked up by BBC Radio Stoke and Signal Radio, there will be live coverage on the day from local community radio stations Cat Radio and Red Shift Radio. The Crewe and Nantwich Chamber of Commerce have already run an article in the South Cheshire Chamber magazine, Crewe and Nantwich Chronicle will carry the story this week and it has also be sent to the Nantwich Guardian. Signal Radio and the South Cheshire Chambers will also be doing follow up pieces on the event afterwards.

Residence NC and Acton Nomads would like to extend an open invitation to all to come down on the day, have some fun and help support and raise money for Macmillan. If you are unable to make it on the day you can donate money to the event using the JustGiving page at: http://www.justgiving.com/LJ-Bailey

Payroll ASPP

2011-06-13T02:32:00.000-07:00

We recently received feedback saying that the subject of Payroll is a hot topic during March and April whilst we introduce the new features and legislation changes along with preparing for the year end but then it tends to get neglected for the other ten months of the year. We therefore set Joe Jardine the task of putting this right and with a ten month old at home unsurprisingly he opted to talk about the changes in paternity entitlement.

As of 3rd April 2011 any of your employees can apply for Additional Statutory Paternity Pay (ASPP) if their partner has a baby or adopts a child. If the mother intends to return to work the Father can apply for ASPP if they meet the qualifying conditions. Access Payroll can help the payroll department to decide if ASPP is due and make the appropriate calculations to save you time and effort. When you receive an SC7, SC8 or SC9 parental pay form from an employee you will need to check that it has been signed by both employees, that it has been presented at least 8 weeks prior to the ASPP start date, confirm that the ASPP date is not before the Mother is returning to work and that the Mother or adopter has taken at least 2 weeks off after the child was born. If any of these criteria are not met you will need to complete an ASPP1 form and state the reason why.

Access Payroll will continue to pay the employee the statutory amount until you reach the ASPP expiry date (or for any week where you are paying the same employee SSP). If at the end of this period the employee wishes to take any unpaid Additional Paternity leave then you will need to adjust the record manually accordingly. The employee is also entitled to the 10 KIT days (Keeping In Touch) where they can come into work but don’t lose their statutory payment.

The above is perhaps best described with an example scenario. Mrs Bloggs started her maternity leave on the 1st April 2011 and receives her maternity allowance. A fortnight later she has her baby. 20 weeks after the birth of her child she returns to work (week 22 of her maternity pay period). Mr and Mrs Bloggs complete the SC7 form and meet the qualifying conditions. Mr Bloggs takes ASPP from the date that Mrs Bloggs returned to work and receives statutory pay for the duration of her maternity period, in this example, 17 weeks. After week 39 Mr Bloggs can optionally return to work or stay at home until the child is one year old. If Mr Bloggs stays at home this will be unpaid time.

You can read more about the rules for ASPP on the HMRC website:- http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/paye/employees/statutory-pay/aspp-overview.htm.

For software assistance you will find some useful information in the Access Payroll help system or alternatively simply telephone our eagerly awaiting helpdesk team on 0333 666 3330.

The Secret Of Great Service

2011-06-10T03:40:00.000-07:00

Joe Jardine blogs about Atlas' 'best kept secret'...

The Access Service Manager solution is perhaps one of our best kept secrets. It is an excellent tool that we have until now failed to make much of a song or dance about. Service Manager Editions also known as SME has two principal functions:-

Firstly it can manage all of your customer contracts. It stores key information such as service level agreements, renewal dates, labour rates and travel charges. SME helps to ensure that you don’t forget to raise an invoice(s) and that you bill accurately in a timely fashion. Your clients can have multiple active contracts with as many detail lines as you wish.

Secondly SME logs incoming “issues”. These might be helpdesk style queries or customer complaints. The workflow engine walks the user through categorising the calls and escalates the problem to the most appropriate team member. Unique ticket numbers are generated so that no call gets forgotten and the customer can easily ask for progress updates even if the original engineer is not available. The strong reporting suite helps to identify training requirements or areas where the product or service needs to be improved to reduce the number of reported problems. The planner allows a manager to schedule engineers or resources onto jobs. A clever colour coded system alerts users to important facts such as the client is on-stop, their product warranty period has expired or their SLA doesn’t cover them for the assistance they are requesting.

It is perhaps reassuring to know that Atlas use SME as our live in-house contracts & helpdesk management tool. Existing clients already using SME will be pleased to hear that the recently released latest edition has been extended and now includes Document Management and Postcode look-up capabilities. Give your account manager or the sales team a call to request your upgrade.

I’m sure it goes without saying, but of course this tool integrates to your Access Accounts finance system! Access customer and stock records can be seen within SME to avoid duplication of effort whilst transactions generated in SME are posted into the sales order batch queue or sales ledger account.

Service Manager is perfect for any business that needs to track warranties, contracts and renewals as well as those in the service industry who need to provide support, repairs and maintenance for their products. To request a PDF factsheet simply send an email to newsletter@atlasbiz.com with the subject line as “SME”. Alternatively call our sales team on 0333 666 3330 to enquire further or request a demonstration.

São Tomé and Príncipe

2011-06-08T17:23:00.000-07:00

São Tomé and Príncipe is the smallest country in the world, aside from some other countries that are smaller. An island nation located some amount of miles off the coast of west Africa, São Tomé and Príncipe was uninhabited before the year 1470, when the islands were discovered by Portuguese explorers conducting an experiment to see if they could find São Tomé and Príncipe. As it turned out, they could. In 1975, São Tomé and Príncipe gained its independence from Portugal as part of an experiment to see if they could do a better job on their own. I haven't managed (nor have I tried) to find any statistics on whether or not that worked out, so I'm gonna assume that it did. One thing I like about São Tomé and Príncipe is that São Tomé has a tilde in it. I think that's pretty cool.

São Tomé and Príncipe's president is Fradique de Menezes, seen here wearing a dumb-looking bowtie.

San Marino

2011-06-07T15:42:00.000-07:00

San Marino (also known as The Most Serene Republic of San Marino [Really, San Marino? "Most serene?" There's a claim to fame. (Sarcasm!!!)]) is one of the European microstates, which is a nice way of saying that it has a soccer team that has never, ever won. San Marino is located in the Apennine Mountains, totally surrounded by Italy like a Vatican City with no popes in it. San Marino is the oldest sovereign state currently in existence, probably because it's really not all that difficult to maintain sovereignty over a tennis court-sized area in a mountainous region. Congratulations, I guess. Originally founded in the fourth century as a haven for Christians who were sick of the Roman Empire calling them mean, but not very clever names like "Christhole" and "Jesus balls." The nation's capital is the city of San Marino, located in the shadow of the country's highest peak, Mount Titano (Italian for "Mount Tittaaaays").

San Marino is named after its founder, Saint Marinus, shown here building some sort of thing.

Atlas Netballers Ready To Take Cheshire Leagues By Storm

2011-06-07T04:46:00.000-07:00

Lara Bailey and Ben Butler blog about Atlas' new sponsorship of a local netball team and how the team have performed over the season so far.

Well we are three weeks into the summer season of 2011 with Residence netball club, which is also newly and kindly supported and sponsored by Atlas Business, Banks Sheridan, Residence Restaurant and Bar and West 16. Since the last season there have been many changes at Club Residence. Some of the girls unexpectedly split from Residence and started the Rubies team, during the 4 week gap between the seasons. Lara Jane Bailey, founder and captain of the team rose to this challenge. Going on a recruitment drive in the local community, Lara (LJ) successfully managed to not only replace the five lost players but recruit 15 new players and founded a second team, a whole season earlier than planned. Residence teams L (purple) & J (navy) were born, and team B is planned for September, after a further recruitment drive this summer.

Having so many new players all starting at the same time has certainly caused some digestion problems, as players are required to be registered with the South Cheshire Netball league and affiliated with England Netball. Try outs were held, Players were assigned to teams, a new coach recruited to work with the girls, drill and coaching sessions organised, friendly matches organised, training and coaching tie ups with local team Tigers secured (from two divisions higher in the league), kit and training equipment ordered, joining fees and information collected, paper work filled, bank accounts setup, budgets and financial forecasts put in place, training and match fees tracked and audited, Internet domain name secured and work started on the new website. It was a busy four weeks between seasons that did not let up once the season started. With so many new and unknown players starting at once it has taken a few games to figure out each girls unique strengths in the different roles and positions she can play, and to then sculpt the individuals into two cohesive teams. The girls then had to get used to playing with each other twice a week at matches and training sessions with the team coach. A busy time indeed.

So Residence L are three games in now and how are things looking? Well, to be honest, rather promising considering the rushed start. Currently placed 8th in the division out of 11. Team L played Castle in their first match and were thoroughly smashed 7-56 by this new entrant, who have just voluntarily dropped from the Premier league - 3 divisions higher up. Needless to say Castle are a very strong and experienced team and the equivalent of Crewe Alexandra taking on Manchester United. Castle are currently placed top of the division in the results table. Emma Woodvine (Wing Defense) secured player of the match on the Residence L team.

Next up were The Hills, a close and exciting game where Residence narrowly lost 16-23. The Hills built up a 7 point lead in the first quarter of the game which Residence then responded by making them fight point for point for the next three quarters with Residence's defensive players doing a good job of significantly slowing The Hill's attack while the Residence attack took the fight back to them. The last three quarters of the game were effectively tied with the first quarter being the decider and Residence ultimately being unable to close the gap back up. A sterling effort when you factor in that Residence's captain LJ Bailey (Centre) and Emma Woodvine (Wing Attack) were unable to play due to sickness. So fielding just seven players and no substitutes all the girls had to play all four quarters with another newly joined team mate and returning to netball, ex-county player Kate Sherratt who started making her mark in this, (her first match) getting player of the match for her two quarters as Centre and another two as Goal Defense. LJ managed the team from the side line and continued to juggle player’s positions through the match to find the right team dynamic. All in all a very strong performance in the back three quarters from this team that is still finding its feet and was rewarded with putting their first champion ship point of the season on the league table for securing more than 50% of the score.

In the third match, Residence L drew another tough competitor, Star. Renamed from last season as Knights Grange - they were the highest placed team in the division at the end of last season that was not promoted up into the next division and are currently placed second in the division’s league table also having won all three of their matches. Residence fielded their A list line up to this match, although again due to holidays and sickness neither Amanda Lawrence or Michelle Kenyon Taker were available to play, so again the 7 girls were forced to play full matches with no substitutions. Residence's Tuesday night training coach came to the match to see the girls play and made some adjustments during the match which ended 19-30 after an early lead and then residence chasing them down in the second and third quarter before the lead extending again in the back half of the fourth, as fatigue started to take hold. A word of mention should go out to Star's Centre and Goal Shooter who both put in very commanding performances controlling the mid field and really challenging Residence's defense with the ability to sink the ball from apparently any location or distance from the net. Carley Hulse (Goal Shooter) and Laura Turpin (Goal Attack) continued to cement this new attacking partnership and learning each others style of play. Kate again won player of the match for her performance as Goal Defense and then trading positions with LJ for three quarters as Centre. The team again secured another league point by beating the 50% mark.

This week Residence L face new entrant KAM in what is anticipated to be another tough match. KAM were demoted from Division 1 at the end of last season and so are another experienced and capable team. There is a big difference between Division 2 and 1. Indigo C who remained undefeated in all but one match in Division 2 last season, and led the leader board the entire season, now reside at the bottom of the Division 1 table, after one match played losing 12:40. So any team coming down from a higher division is going to be difficult to beat and makes L's defeat at the hands of ex-three divisions higher Castle even more understandable.

KAM have only played two matches so far against Star and Residence J. Losing to Star but also managing to get 50% and then beating Residence's new team J, which is not to be unexpected, but what was a great result for the girls on team J was scoring the first goals of the season. J is a new team and comprises of many new players or players returning after a long break from netball. Kirsty Vickers won player of the match for Residence and played 50:50 Wing Attack and Centre. Centre was also shared by Lara Barrett, who playing out of normal position, delivered a strong performance in this very fitness intensive position. What is also great to see happening in J is that consistently despite only playing two matches, you can see the girls working together more and more as a team and the flow of play and awareness of game play and strategy is increasing. J is playing a season earlier than planned. We are not expecting stellar performances from J this season as this is a team in development, being prepared for the September season. J was registered in the League early to get real match experience and training under their belt rather than just in training sessions. It is astounding how much they have improved over the last two matches and training sessions. These girls had never met each other six weeks ago. It should also be noted that we are seeing good commitment and attendance from J during training and coaching sessions, something all players of both teams are very strongly encouraged to attend and take seriously. J is a work in progress and it will be very interesting to see how the team and girls grow over the course of this season. J are playing Genus Gems this week, one of the lower placed teams from Division 2 last season, and so it will be interesting to see how they bare up against this more evenly matched team, all be it seasoned team.

Samoa

2011-06-05T16:43:00.000-07:00

Samoa is an island nation in the south Pacific Ocean, the land mass of which is made up entirely of coconuts that have agglomerated in a massive pile due to a peculiar vortexy tidal situation. (Author's Note: Is that a racist thing to say? It feels like it was kind of racist. Or at least cruel and minimizing. I apologize to any and all of my Samoan readers.) The two largest islands in Samoa are Upolu and Savai'i, but even these so-called "main islands" are tiny as hell. The Samoan economy is based largely on tourism and agriculture, with its primary export being vaguely ethnic professional wrestlers - though Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka turns out to have been Fijian (Author's Note: Glad I looked that up, or I would have looked even more racist just now), prominent stars of Samoan extraction have included a guy named Rikishi, whose gimmick was "The Samoan Man with the Giant Fat Ass," as well as esteemed dramatic actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. The capital, Apia, is nothing to write home about.

Sometimes Samoan people get weird tattoos.

The Importance Of Unlocks

2011-05-24T05:32:00.000-07:00

Sales Manager Joe Jardine blogs about the importance of making sure your software unlocks are available on time...

Lastminute.com is for holidays not software.

As most customers are aware your Access software is registration unlock code driven. Each year when you renew you need to apply a new unlock to extend the licence term. If you do not renew or if you do not apply the new unlock the software will provide users with notifications to warn you that the software will expire and after a short while the software will become locked preventing people from logging in. Likewise if you wish to extend your software’s functionality by perhaps purchasing a new module or adding extra users/employees then again we will supply you with a new registration unlock key.

New registration unlocks are generated by the software authors ‘Access UK’ rather than ‘Atlas’ your Solutions Partner. Access have always had a policy whereby they state that they will turnaround new unlocks within three working days or customers can pay a £25 premium for same day delivery. In the past Access have been promptly releasing the unlock codes within 24 hours of orders being placed and this has become recognised as the norm. More recently we have noticed that this is creeping towards 48 hours. This turnaround creep is being caused by an ever increasing customer base with thousands of licences to maintain, orders to process and some periods are busier than others, for example the recent Payroll Year end was manic! Access UK still strive for new registration unlocks within three days but where customers are used to same day turnaround we want to encourage you to place orders with sufficient time to meet your deadlines and avoid downtime.

ProspectSoft Update

2011-05-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

Craig and Joe blog about this quarter’s ProspectSoft Partner Day where the latest exciting news, version releases, training and accreditation schedules and a roadmap for what the future holds were all revealed.
Version Information

Several mini scenario demonstrations were provided by some of the key ProspectSoft team members including MD Andrew Ardron and Sales Director Stuart McLaren.

ProspectSoft CRM 6.02.002 is now available. Having listened to customer feedback this version addresses introduces some efficiencies and addresses some of the users frustrations. New features include the ability to search for existing database records that are near a postcode, clickable URLs from within reports, adding an individual to a campaign from the contact record screen, the option to cancel quotes or orders and then re-open, plus much much more.

It was announced that 6.03.000 is in QA testing and will be released later in the year. Following is a mini list to provide you with a sneak preview of what is on the way. The VAT calculator is being re-written so that quotes can be built faster, a ‘recent objects’ feature is being introduced similar to ‘Recent Documents’ that is available in Microsoft Word, the Save to CRM feature is becoming more ‘intelligent’ so that is only requires 2 or 3 clicks and is able to make certain assumptions about what the user wishes to do and the telephony integration module will now sit in the Windows system tray rather than embedded in ProspectSoft.

Having the Telephony sitting outside of the CRM does offer significant benefit. For instance, you could be working in MS Word or MS Outlook and when someone phones in their CRM record pops up on your screen. Imagine being able to say Good Morning Mr Jones thank you for calling Atlas!

The Content Management Solution is now up to version 3.0. The latest enhancements include a new easy to navigate menu structure and a re-write of some of the core code that in bench tests resulted in pages loading at least 25% quicker.

Webinars

There is going to be a series of customer webinars available during May and June. These will offer plenty of hints and tips on back to basics core functionality, marketing, sales management and after sales. We will inform you of the dates as soon as they have been fixed. Watch this space.

New Director

From all at Atlas a big congratulations goes out to Jon Brewer, who has been promoted and is now ProspectSoft’s Client Services Director. Jon has worked at ProspectSoft for many years and is a popular figure at customer events. Jon is very experienced in the subject of CRM and has extensive product knowledge, we know he will make some valuable contributions and improvements to the helpdesk team as well as assist existing customers with any new requirements they may have.

Awards

Last year ProspectSoft won “Best Small or Medium Sized Enterprise” at the “Rate my Placement” awards and this year they made it to the final four shortlist but were pipped at the post. However Vicki Watmough their Sales and Marketing assistance did scoop the award for graduate placement company of the year for “best Student contribution”. ProspectSoft has since offered Vicki the job as Partner Liaison and she has accepted and will join full time once she has completed her degree in July.

Focussed Efforts

Having spent the last six months working hard on e-commerce, content management and email marketing, ProspectSoft and us Partners will be concentrating our efforts during quarter two back on the core topic of CRM. In particular we’ll be looking at tracking and recording all company communications, pro-actively shrinking the sales cycle, and reporting.

Performance

This Q2 meeting announced that last year was another record achieving year with ProspectSoft continuing to grow from strength to strength. Also Q1 had outperformed the same three months for last year so this year was already off to a good start. ProspectSoft only sell via Partners and therefore Managing Director Andrew Ardron thanked us all for our efforts, and then in his very next breath announced that our targets for next year were being increased significantly! He accounted the success to the roaring trade in web solutions and eCommerce.

If you would like to discuss your CRM requirements or learn more about the ProspectSoft CRM offering please do not hesitate to contact our sales team on 0333 666 3330 or email us at newsletter@atlasbiz.com.

Atlas Customers 'Go Ape' After Event Day Success

2011-05-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

Atlas successfully ran our QlikTalk event this week at our customer Go Ape's Delamere site. You can read about exactly what a QlikTalk is and how it was received on our main site here and here. The Atlas Blog was also present at the even and we captured some of the images that told the story of the day...

David (far left) and Darryl (far right) from QlikTech set up the room with Joe (second from right) and Craig (second from left) from Atlas.

The Shell Forrest Classroom was a great location from which to launch the event.

Located towards the rear of the Delamere cafe at Delamere forest we had to procure extra seats to fit all the attendees in!

Jan from Go Ape gave the first talk which was well received by those in attendance.

Jan discussed why Go Ape had chosen the QlikView product and what they had achieved with it so far.

After a brief break for coffee, Darryl and David (out of shot) delivered a presentation about how other companies have put QlikView to good use.

We were lucky to largely avoid the rain on the day and served attendees a buffet lunch outside the classroom.

After lunch attendees were invited to join Atlas on their very own Go Ape experience. Joe and Tony Butler from Koch Glitsch get ready by reading the safety instructions.

The team from Venture, all looking very nervous!

Our brave Go Ape participants get in to their harnesses, led by David (centre) from QlikTech.

Craig crosses one of the first obstacles...

... and then sets off down a zip wire into deepest Delamere!

Leanne from Sense lands perfectly at the end of one of the courses' five 'stages'.

Joe takes care when crossing one of the later obstacles.

With the lake in the background, Leanne swings across to the next platform...

... and watches on as Craig and Tony prepare for the next zip wire...

... which Tony is first to attempt.

Atlas would like to thank all of the customers who attended the event. We hope you found it as unique, lively and engaging as we all did!

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

2011-05-19T17:43:00.000-07:00

In the cosmic sense, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has no significance whatsoever.

I, too, felt ready to start life all over again. It was as if that great rush of anger had washed me clean, emptied me of hope, and, gazing up at the dark sky spangled with its signs and stars, for the first time, the first, I laid my heart open to the benign indifference of the universe. To feel it so like myself, indeed, so brotherly, made me realize that I’d been happy, and that I was happy still. For all to be accomplished, for me to feel less lonely, all that remained to hope was that on the day of my execution there should be a huge crowd of spectators and that they should greet me with howls of execration.

Saint Lucia

2011-05-19T17:35:00.000-07:00

Saint Lucia is an island nation in the Caribbean. It achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1979. The capital is Castries. Who has time for such things when one day all of us will die?

Saint Lucia's flag is brightly colored to distract its citizens from the inevitability of death.

Saint Kitts and Nevis

2011-05-19T17:13:00.000-07:00

Saint Kitts and Nevis is the first of way too many inconsequential island nations whose names all start with the letter 'S', and will thus be afforded even less attention than most of the island nations I've already done. Located in the Leeward Island chain of the east Caribbean, Saint Kitts and Nevis consists of two islands: Saint Kitts, and another one whose name I was unable to dig up in my research. With a population of just over 50,000, Saint Kitts and Nevis is the smallest country in the Americas (in case you care [You don't though, so why did I bother? (Why do I do anything? What's the point? Does my life have any meaning at all?)]).

A view from Saint Kitts of the other island, whatever it's called. The blue part is the ocean.

Rwanda

2011-05-18T17:37:00.000-07:00

Rwanda is a small African country that most people have only heard of because of all the terrible things that have happened there. I should probably be more specific, huh? This particular bowl of sad history (part of this complete breakfast!) is located in central Africa, just south of the Equator. Rwanda was a Germany colony from 1884 until World War I, when it was claimed by the Belgians, whose prowess at destroying the lives of dark-skinned people once nearly matched their waffle-making chops. The Belgians ruled through the Rwandan monarchy, favoring the Tutsi tribe over their main rivals, the Hutu, building up massive resentment between the two, which, in an event that was completely without precedent in African colonial history, led to civil war and ethnic cleansing. Up to a million people were killed by Hutu rebels during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, and that number could easily have been higher without the heroic actions of people like Don Cheadle. Rwanda is currently a major exporter of coffee beans, good for late nights awake in bed thinking about how humankind is a pitiable, hopeless race, cursed from the beginning of time to forever repeat the blunders of history.

Rwandan coffee farmers sorting the beans for Starbucks' new blend: ultra-dark, with hints of chocolate and regret.

Russia

2011-05-16T00:31:00.000-07:00

Russia is the world's biggest country, a monolithic chunk of Eurasia that has fewer interesting things per square mile than any other nation on the planet. That's probably not entirely fair, as the western half of Russia has produced plenty of culture (mostly a lot of sad authors), whereas the eastern half is so desolate and miserable that one time a meteor exploded directly above part of it, leveling miles of forest and creating an explosion so large that it lit up the night sky all over the world, and almost nobody noticed. I think that's the part where famous dead person Yul Brynner was from. Siberia, one of the most famously shitty areas in the entire world, used to be where infamous dictator/mustache champion Josef Stalin sent people who he didn't like. Can you imagine that? What if an American president forced people to live in camps in the worst parts of the country for reasons other than because they were Japanese? Wouldn't that be crazy? Russia was ruled by a series of tsars from 1547 to 1918, when Nicholas II was doing such a lousy job that communism actually started to look like a more viable system of government. The October Revolution was led by Vladimir Lenin, whose crazy dream lasted for most of the 20th century before the fall of the Berlin Wall in late 1991. During this time, the Soviet Union not only managed to make most of eastern Europe economically retarded; they also accomplished the previously unthinkable feat of launching a dog into space. This was, and remains, the most expensive way that anyone has ever killed a dog.

Following his death, Lenin's body was mummified and remains on display at his mausoleum in Moscow for the benefit of those who think he didn't look quite creepy enough when he was still alive.

Romania

2011-05-10T15:20:00.000-07:00

Romania is a country in eastern Europe that is going to be difficult to talk about in an original way because I already used up all of my (admittedly pretty mediocre) scary accent material on Bulgaria. I am a lazy person though, so that's not gonna stop me from making hay out of the fact that Transylvania, located in Romania, was where vampires used to live before the crash in the housing market forced all of them to move to a sad, redneck town in the Pacific Northwest. Modern-day Romania was once home to Vlad the Impaler, a major asshole whose 15th-century reign of terror inspired characters like Bram Stoker's Dracula and The Count from Sesame Street. So at least his tens of thousands of victims can take solace in the fact that their brutal executions eventually resulted in an excellent means of teaching basic arithmetic to children. Plus, it's not like they wouldn't all be dead by now anyway (I'm a glass-half-full guy). The capital of Romania is Bucharest, which apparently has such a major overpopulation of stray dogs that the problem warranted a subheading on its Wikipedia page.

Bran Castle in central Romania. Forks, Washington is a pretty big step down in my book.

Qatar

2011-04-20T15:21:00.000-07:00

Qatar is a Middle Eastern country whose national motto is "The letter 'u' is for pussies." Qatar is located on the Qatar Peninsula (sort of an Arabian answer to Michigan) bordering Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf in an area which is unarguably where Qatar is located. Qatar is an absolute monarchy in which all of the power belongs to an Emir who probably doesn't force his subjects to dance for his amusement nearly as much as I would, were I in his position. The current Emir is Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, and every other position of power is occupied by someone in his family who has those same names in a different sequence, meaning every government session eventually devolves into a really unfunny Abbott and Costello routine. Owing to its vast oil resources, Qatar had the highest GDP in the world last year, but remains pretty iffy on some human rights issues, proving that there's some truth in the old Beatles lyric: "I don't care too much for money / Money can't buy me fair treatment of Asian migrant laborers." The capital, Doha, is home to the Al Jazeera news network. Seriously, I swear to God it is. Why would I make that up? Fine, don't believe me? Look it up. See? It says so right there on Wikipedia. Honestly, I don't know why you wouldn't just trust me on that one.

Qatar is slated to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup for reasons that completely elude everyone.

There's Sure To Be A Lara Lara Laughs!

2011-04-11T02:57:00.000-07:00

Atlas are delighted to announce that Lara Bailey has joined the company as Business Development Coordinator. Asked to describe herself she told the blog that she is 'blonde and will no doubt therefore have many troubles'.

Previously to working at Atlas, Lara worked in Recruitment, HR and more recently training. Her work at ESTC Group involved organising training for Spectator Safety stewards at football and cricket grounds such as West Ham Football Club and Warwickshire County Cricket Ground. For a girl not interested in football or cricket, it was impressive that by the end of her employment she knew what a ‘fixture list’ was and not only that but who was playing each week!

Her favourite employment, up to now, was working for Bentley, where she had a contract as Technical Training Coordinator. This involved forming new smarter processes to enable the training at Bentley to become more efficient. Closely working with the CAD department, she was able to organise the training of the back log of new starter trainees and put in place a whole new effective training schedule.

At Atlas, Lara will be looking at our own Technical processes and proposals, as well as putting in place steps to expand Atlas Business’ portfolio of products. This will hopefully be in the shape of training and a training consultancy service.

At home Lara likes to organise her spare time as she does her professional life. She has an active social diary and tends to organise everyone else’s too. Currently she is captain of her own netball team, where she enrolled most of her friends and has canvassed some sponsorship for the kit. We are told the sponsorship for dresses is still up for grabs! On a serious note, the team hope to do well on their first season of the Coppenhall League. Lara has promised updates of their disastrous progress and welcomes any volunteer mascots or players (players however must be female – sorry to any overly keen men out there!).

Lara is mother to Jamie (5) and has lived in Nantwich now for over 5 years. This has become home to her and she loves the sense of community she has been lucky to find in the town.

As for the future Lara is looking forward to building relationships with members at Atlas business and their clients and hopes to offer something in addition to the great services and products already on offer. Everyone at Atlas is certain that this will be the case and we are looking forward to working closely with Lara over the coming months and years.

Access Payroll 4.70a

2011-04-07T08:28:00.000-07:00

It’s that time of year again! 6th April brings with it the new Payroll Tax year which means you get a nice new shiny version of Access Payroll (if you’ve ever wondered why the tax year falls on the 6th of April then we suggest you read our blog article). Within the past three or four weeks you should have received a CD in the post containing Access Payroll 4.70a.

Please find below a list of the changes and enhancements available in Access payroll 4.70a;

The Payroll software has been updated for the Tax Year 2011/2012 and contains: the NIC, PAYE, and SSP/SMP appropriate parameters for the new tax year.

P11D Car
The following changes were announced in Budget 2009 for cars made available in 2011/12 which will be reported in 2012/13

The 80,000 price cap is abolished meaning that the 'appropriate percentage' will be applied to the full list price of the vehicle.
The appropriate percentage for electric-only cars will be 9% (rather than a 6% reduction on 15%). The 9% charge will now apply from 2015/16.
Reductions for hybrid, bi-fuel, and bio-ethanol cars will no longer apply.
3% Diesel supplement will apply to all diesel cars including Euro IV standard and those first registered before 01/01/2006.

P11 Earnings Thresholds

From April 2011 the text 'Earnings Threshold' changes to 'Primary Threshold' The headings for columns 1b, and 1c will change to:

Earnings above the LEL, up to and including the PT
Earnings above the PT, up to and including the UAP

P14/60 Earnings Thresholds

From April 2011 the text 'Earnings Threshold' changes to 'Primary Threshold' The headings for columns 1b, and 1c will change to:

Earnings above the LEL, up to and including the PT
Earnings above the PT, up to and including the UAP

See also the HMRC Guidance

Electronic P60

PAYE regulations have been changed to allow employers to provide P60 information electronically and comes into effect for the year ending 5 April 2011.

Fuel Type Changes

From 6th April 2011, the P46 Car submission will report only 3 fuel types:

E - Zero-emission (whatever the technology) - includes Electric
D - Diesel cars of all kinds (includes types D and L)
A - All other kinds (includes types P, B, C, H, and G)

ASPP

The ability to pay Additional Statutory Paternity Pay has been added to the software.

P46 Car Notification
From 6th April you will now be required to transmit details of replacement cars.

P46 Starter Form
With effect from 6th April 2011 employees that start working without a P45 will notice the following changes in Tax Code depending on the choices made when filling in a P46:-

Where 'Statement C' is ticked – code BR will still be applicable.
Where 'No P46 or P46 Incomplete' is ticked - code 0T Week1/Month1 will be used.

Co-op Bulk BACS

Access Payroll SE now supports the Co-op Bulk BACS format. It is identified as 'Co-Op Bulk' in the selection drop-down.

If you have renewed but are still awaiting your delivery please telephone our helpdesk team and they will organise a replacement to be despatched immediately. On this disc along with the software you will find a set of installation instructions. If you require any assistance with the installation or year end procedures please do not hesitate to telephone our helpdesk team on 0333 666 3330.

But Why The 6th?

2011-04-05T06:23:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered why the Payroll Tax Year starts on the 6th April? We did too......

When asked, most people in our office suspected that it was aligned with the UK Government’s Financial Year, which whilst this sounded plausible it still wouldn’t have answered why they chose the 6th of the month rather than the 1st, but they were wrong anyway.

The reason for this date is because of the calendar and the tax man. Back in the Middle Ages the calendar was made up of quarters, with the first day of each quarter falling on a religious festival (24 June = Midsummer Day, 25 December = Christmas, 25 March = Lady Day and 29 September = Michaelmas). Traditionally each of the four quarter days were when employers hired their servants, pay was processed and all rents were due to be paid. Lady Day was in fact the 1st day of the New Year and it therefore also made sense that it was the start of the Financial Year too. In 1752 the 1st January became recognised as the start of the calendar year but the tax authorities found it unacceptable to lose out on 11 days of revenue (caused by leap year differences between the Gregorian calendar and the Julian calendar) and so they moved the Tax year start date to the 5th April. It remained as the 5th April until 1799 when the powers that be decided to ‘skip’ a leap year and so the tax authorities moved the start of the tax year to the 6th April.

So now you know!

13/04/11 - Of course there may well be more than one plausible explanation as to why the 6th April is the start of the tax year! James Cooper from Ripon Select Foods wrote in to the blog to put the case forward for an alternative reason behind the date. We've included James' response below to add further explanation for the reasons behind the choice of the 6th.

I believe it is much simpler than that and is related to agricultural workers and 'flitting day'. A journeyman agricultural worker would be employed for a year ending 5th April, when his contract was up he would pack up all his possessions including wife and family and move on to another farm. Just why the 5th I am not sure but logically a spring flit makes sense. He would have had to leave his small piece of allotted ground fallow and dug over ready for the next worker to then spring plant seeds, potatoes etc.

Even More Virtually Certain Than Last Time!

2011-03-09T05:24:00.000-08:00

The level of interest in our last article about virtualisation was high and so, back by popular demand, Director John Bilyj returns to the blog this week to give a practical example of how the technology can work in an active business environment.

Ripon Select Foods is a large manufacturing operation in (you guessed it) Ripon, North Yorkshire, and their processing lines are monitored at many points with weighers which measure the flow of raw materials in and finished product out. The weighers are all connected to Atlas systems, distributed throughout the plant which take the weights and, as well as providing visibility for operatives of how lines are performing, feed the figures back regularly to the main system, which runs the Atlas ‘BarRed’ application, providing them with complete and live capacity & performance analysis of the whole plant.

The issue was that the 6 distributed systems are all slightly different, as different weighers throughout the plant provide their own, usually unique, interface for taking readings, so each system has its own unique combination of interfaces.

The mission was to provide backup in case of the failure of any of these individual systems. Atlas came up with a solution which provides a single machine with 6 VMs, each with an exact image of one of the systems out in the works. In case of the failure of any of these, rather than the machine being disconnected for a time whilst being repaired or replaced, and the attendant loss of vital production information, the PC with the virtual machines is connected in its place and the VM configured for that system is started and production monitoring is continued with minimal loss of information. The fact that one PC covers all the systems out in the works made the project a viable and valuable business backup solution.

If you have a similar requirement that lends itself to virtualisation, or indeed have production monitoring requirements of your own that Atlas could help you with, please contact your friendly Atlas consultant on 0333 666 3330 and discuss this mission-critical component with him / her.

One For The Ladies - A Man In Uniform!

2011-03-08T03:39:00.000-08:00

Many of you will have met and spoken to Malcolm Black, who was a valued member of our sales team until he left Atlas in 2010 to join the Royal Navy. He is progressing very well with his Officer Training and really enjoying the experience.

Malcolm’s fame in the Navy appears to be growing following an appearance on the Discovery Channel this week! As part of his training he was lucky enough to go aboard the flagship aircraft carrier “HMS Ark Royal” on her final voyage for her final deployment before being decommissioned. It just so happened that the camera crew were aboard filming whilst the Officer Cadets were preparing for an exam. The highlight of the show was hearing the results being called out, “Mr Black, top of the class, 99%”. A big well done Malcolm, keep up the hard work.

The series has been interesting to date as it follows the illustrious ship during its mission to head up the largest International Naval peacetime exercise whilst trying avoid the ash cloud and experiencing having engineering issues forcing her to dock back at Portsmouth. You can watch the show on the Discovery Channel at 10pm each Tuesday. Episodes are currently repeated on Thursday at 10pm, Saturday 3pm and Sunday at 5pm. Keep an eye out for Malcolm.

Globe Works – The Colourful History Of Our New Home

2011-03-01T04:53:00.000-08:00

Company secretary Daphne Butler has delved into the archives and explored the history of our new offices at Globe Works. From its build in 1895 to its use today as offices, the colourful history of a remarkable building is all here...

Globe Works is a building with attitude; it has history; is well-connected; and has always embraced new trends and technology. It stands four-square to the weather, in Cheshire, on Hospital Street, the east road to Manchester and London from Nantwich. Constructed out of brick in 1895, Globe Works was a state-of-the-art factory for the tanning industry which along with salt production had long been fundamental to local prosperity, but times and technology change, leather tanning dwindled, and Globe Works fairly soon was re-utilised as a warehouse for animal feed. Thus it remained until the 1970s when it was abandoned, became derelict, a ‘brownfield’ site, dangerous, fenced off; a blot on the genteel townscape.

Probably it would have all ended there, but in 1981 Crewe and Nantwich Council, with some relief, approved the plans of a local businessman with an eye for a bargain, to rescue the shell and restore it as Globe House, a five-bedroom home for his family plus an adjacent workshop for his repro furniture business. A ‘grand design’ that was an eco-friendly mix of reclaimed materials, original features and modern amenities including, in addition to central heating and double glazing, a heat-exchange system, an indoor swimming pool, a billiard room and a music theatre. Pool parties and music sessions became a source of notorious gossip.

Attracted by this trendy life-style, a local dentist put in an un-refusable offer for the property which was promptly accepted. But the odour of chlorine proved too much for his wife; the swimming pool was filled-in, and the heat-exchange system abandoned. The dentist experienced a professional hiatus, and another dentistry team took over, living in the main house and converting the one-time workshop into a modern surgery. The business grew to enjoy a very respectable reputation around the town.

Arthritis in the thumb joints (bad news for a dentist) forced early retirement, and so it was that in August 1991 John and Daphne Butler moved into Globe House complete with two teenage children, two large hounds, one Siamese cat, and a live-in Granny. They had come from ‘down south’ escaping to the country long before the notion became a gleam in a TV producer’s eye.

An out-sourced job turned into Globe Enterprises, and in 1996 the resulting IT business, Atlas Business, began trading with offices in the now updated and refurbished former workshop. Atlas grew tentatively but steadily. Cat-5 cabling networked Globe House, fibre-optics connected it to the internet. In 2001, a data centre was added just 4 miles away in the ‘Secret Nuclear Bunker’ at Hack Green – a new venture – what we might now call ‘cloud computing’.

By 2003 Atlas had out-grown its accommodation and moved out.

Seven years later, like the prodigal son, Atlas returned, now considerably bigger and stronger, to occupy the whole site, with space to spare for growth. ‘Globe Works’ etched high onto the south wall was re-adopted; an up-front Victorian building with modern high-speed links extending around the globe; a fitting and poignant location for a 21st century IT company.

Atlas Business - IT that works @ Globe Works – Moving still faster and better than the world around it!

Portugal

2011-02-23T18:03:00.000-08:00

Portugal is a country located in southwestern Europe on the part of the Iberian Peninsula that Spain didn't want. For many years, the area which we now know as Portugal was just a place that a bunch of conquering tribes with dumb haircuts and funny languages had stomped over so that they could look at the ocean without having to be in France at the same time. At some point in what most people would probably consider to be history, the area which is now Portugal was conquered by the Moors. The Moors were pretty Muslimy, which didn't sit well with the more Catholicky crowd of dudes that eventually founded the first Portugal™ in 868 after a certain amount of unpleasantness. Over time, Portugal grew to become one of the most powerful countries in the world. That fell off pretty sharply, like, 300 years ago, but some Portuguese people are probably still proud of it, and I think that's adorable. On the upside, Portugal did manage to spread the language of Portuguese to Brazil, ultimately making South America more confusing than it really needed to be. The capital is Lisbon, if you catch my drift. I don't know what I meant by that.

Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo is Portugal's most famous douchebag, but most likely not its biggest.

Poland

2011-02-16T17:57:00.000-08:00

Poland is a country in central Europe. Due to its location between Russia and Germany, two countries that have never had a great deal of impulse control, Poland has historically had a really difficult time not being a part of Germany or Russia. The Polish people, who you're apparently not supposed to call Polacks (but whenever possible, I do anyway) are the subject of a series of jokes that nobody thinks are funny anymore, the punchlines of which are about how Polacks (Yeah, I said it. What?) are stupid. One example of a stupid Polack (I said it again!) is Nicolaus Copernicus, who knew stuff about space that no one had ever known before, but only because he was born in the 15th century and nobody knew anything about space then. Even I know more about space than that guy, and I'm technically not even a scientist (Author's Note: Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" is available on Netflix Instant). The Polish language is notable for sounding more like the noise a person makes when he or she vomits than any other language except for maybe Hungarian, but does really Hungarian count anyway? It probably does.

Here is a buffalo-type thing that apparently lives in Poland.

Philippines

2011-02-12T16:09:00.000-08:00

The Philippines (named for famed murderer/record producer Phil Spector) is an island nation located in the western Pacific Ocean. The country is comprised of 7107 separate islands, but remember you guys, it's quality, not quantity. If you want to see a whole lot of Filipinos hanging out in one place, your best bet is Luzon, the archipelago's largest, populous-est and [another superlative] island, located 250 kilometers from Taiwan across the Luzon Strait (which Wikipedia describes as "an important strait," but frankly I don't see it). Luzon is the location of Manila, the capital of the Philippines and the center of the 11th-largest metropolitan area in the world ("Bigger than Kolkata!" "What's Kolkata?" "It's in India!"). Filipinos speak way too many different languages, but the most popular is Tagalog, which I haven't researched, but I think is kind of like when you imitate Spanish by just speaking English while doing a really terrible, vaguely racist Spanish accent. In fact, I'm pretty sure you can just speak any language and Filipinos will be able to understand you as long as you're doing your best Antonio Banderas impression. At the very least, they might think it's funny.

These particular Filipinos will probably not be amused by your Antonio Banderas impression (unless it's really good).

Peru

2011-01-31T14:11:00.000-08:00

Peru is an outrageous place in South America where people used to live in stone cities on top of mountains because they hated it when anything was convenient. The Inca civilization, as seen in the film "The Emperor's New Groove" (that was Inca, right?), was having what I would characterize based on my research as a pretty marvelous time up until the early 16th century, when they were conquistadored pretty heavily by Francisco Pizarro, a Spanish guy with a weird hat and a creepy beard. Peru achieved independence in 1821 and I think that's terrific. I've always liked Peru because people from there are called "Peruvians" and I like to call them "Pe-groove-ians" (Author's Note: This is merely an obnoxious nickname and not in any way a slur of the Peruvian people. Some of my best friends are Peruvians. Five of them are. I have five Peruvian best friends.). Lima, the capital, is home to over seven million residents. Wow! That's more than Peoria, Buffalo and Sacramento combined!

Nice to look at, but I wouldn't wanna live there.

Paraguay

2011-01-27T17:29:00.000-08:00

Paraguay (Author's Note: I am furious with myself for using that "Pa-'poo'-a" joke on the last entry because now I can't make a joke about "Para-GAY" which would be even more hilarious) is a landlocked South American nation which has, due to its central position within the continent, been nicknamed "The Heart of America." Anatomically speaking, I think "The Appendix of America" would be more accurate, but that of course carries all sorts of other connotations, and I would prefer not to recommend a Paraguectomy until all the facts are in. Wow. I've already filled pretty much all the space I wanted to without ever actually saying anything about the country in question. The capital is Asunción. There. Now you've learned something.

Asunción, seen here in what appears to be a screenshot from some obscure Paraguayan "Cloverfield" spinoff.

Papua New Guinea

2011-01-25T13:35:00.000-08:00

Papua (more like Pa-"poo"-a, am I right? Ladies?) New Guinea is a country occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, which is located in Oceania and, oddly, nowhere near regular Guinea. New Guinea is thought to be one of the first landmasses on which humans lived after Africa and Eurasia, with archaeologists having discovered the remains of people who were trundling about the island more than 50,000 years ago (but don't do much trundling anymore [because they're dead]). Papua New Guinea is a very poor country, with most of its population making way less money than my dad does. 82% of the Papua New Guinean population lives outside of its urban centers and gets by on whatever Papua New Guinean crops they can coax out of the Papua New Guinean soil. Papua New Guinea is located right on the edge of the Pacific Ring of Fire (insert unfunny pun about buttholes) and is frequently hit by earthquakes and tsunamis, as well as being made almost entirely out of volcanoes; crippling poverty and near-constant natural disasters go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Mount Tarvurvur: Jelly, for the purposes of this simile.

Panama

2010-12-24T09:43:00.000-08:00

Not to be confused with "banana," which is a different thing entirely, Panama is a Van Halen song and a nation located on a narrow isthmus in what I guess would be called South Central America. For countless millenia, Panama kept the Pacific Ocean from spilling over into the Atlantic Ocean, and vice versa. In 1904, heedless of this important function (as well as what was, at the time, considered to be the very real possibility of South America floating willy-nilly into the Antarctic Ocean and Tierra del Fuego-ing some poor penguin in the eye), Teddy Roosevelt decided to dig a hole straight through the entire country. Why? Because Teddy Roosevelt was a hardcore dude who just didn't give a damn. Also because it was more convenient than inventing some kind of futuristic amphibious shipping vehicle. Said hole, known by most as the Panama Canal, turned out to be a pretty big deal. Such a big deal that in 1981, "Maximum Leader of the Panamanian Revolution" (a dumb title meaning "President") Omar Torrijos' plane crashed from the sheer geopolitical significance of it. General Manuel Noriega took control of the country in 1983 and reinforced the old adage that it is really easy to be mean to people when you are an autocratic dictator.

Lookin' good, Manuel.

Palau

2010-12-21T16:20:00.000-08:00

Palau is an island nation located east of Philippines in the Pacific Ocean. Established in 1994, Palau is notable for being one of the few independent nations that is too young to legally consume alcohol in most places. Luckily, I'm pretty sure its location constitutes international waters, meaning that Palau is also allowed to gamble and marry other nations of the same sex. The population is around 20,000 (or a little less than that of Laramie, Wyoming, if that sounds more impressive). The capital is Ngerulmud, which has a smaller population than any other national capital and can only be pronounced properly by someone who is having a stroke.

"Hey, any ideas for our flag?"
"How about a big yellow dot, slightly off-center, on a field of blue?"
"Yeah! But not regular blue. Like, 'Miami Vice' blue."
"You're a goddamn genius, you know that?"
"Yes. Yes I do."

Pakistan

2010-12-20T22:20:00.000-08:00

Pakistan is a South Asian nation located in what is typically considered to be one of the best parts in the world to have a really sad life. Pakistan gained its independence in 1947 when the British Empire finally gave up on its crazy dream of having just one of its occupations end without countless years of ethnic violence (well, nobody's perfect). Today, Pakistan has the second-largest Muslim population in the world and is the only Muslim majority nation with a nuclear arsenal, which the United States has allowed the Pakistani military to have as long as they at least sort of pretend not to be harboring or selling weapons to members of the Taliban. As the saying goes, "The enemy of my enemy is my so-and-so." Pakistan shares a long and porous border with war-torn Afghanistan, but can always threaten to blast India off the map if its people need quick and easy access to a war zone on the other side of the country. The national motto is "Unity, Discipline, Faith," which won out narrowly over "We haven't ended the world yet, and that's probably a good sign." Pakistan's capital is Islamabad, its largest city is Karachi and its chief export is paranoia.

I don't remember this guy's name, but he may or may not live in Pakistan now.

Oman

2010-12-18T16:45:00.000-08:00

Oman is a country and a 1976 horror film directed by Richard Donner that isn't as scary as it used to be and a 2006 remake that I haven't seen but probably wasn't that scary to begin with. Located in the Middle East, Oman is the birthplace of the popular cliché "Stuck between Saudi Arabia and hundreds of miles of gorgeous Arabian Sea coastline." Oman also shares borders with Yemen, which I don't know anything about, and United Arab Emirates, which is the one that has the indoor ski hill. Its capital, Muscat, has a human history dating back to the Stone Age and was mentioned as early as the 000s by Pliny the Elder, who described it as "A nice enough place, but good luck finding as much as a Quizno's there." The head of state is Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said, who lent his name to Oman's Grand Mosque in 2001 because he hates America. Most people have never heard of Oman because it doesn't have as much oil as Saudi Arabia and, as mentioned before, it lacks an indoor ski hill.

Muscat: Pretty enough, but lacking in restaurant chains that fill me with a sense of familiarity and comfort.

Northern Ireland

2010-12-16T14:52:00.000-08:00

Northern Ireland (or Ulster, if you have an accent that makes you difficult to take seriously) is a country presumably located somewhere in the northern portion of Ireland. The delinquent child in the family that is the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland has been the site of centuries' worth of arguments (the kind with bombs ["bombguments"]) over whether or not to be British. The 1800 Acts of Union made Ireland a part of the United Kingdom, leading to years of armed conflict between Protestants, who had always thought the Irish language looked stupid in print, and Irish Catholics, who believed that England should have asked nicely first. In 1920, the island was partitioned into Northern Ireland and Ireland Classic™ with the former remaining a part of the United Kingdom. In typical fashion, this resolved almost nothing. In the 1960s, Northern Ireland entered a bold new era of ethnic violence that lasted until 1998 when Bill Clinton put a stop to it by being awesome. This period is known as "The Troubles." Leave it to the British to make a long and bloody ethno-political conflict sound like something from a children's book.

The Giant's Causeway, shown here being climbed on by naked alien woman-things, is located in Northern Ireland.

Norway

2010-12-14T14:41:00.000-08:00

Norway is a nation in northern Europe that is such an awful socialist hellhole that it has continued to prosper throughout the recent financial crisis, with its krøne currently standing as one of the world's most stable currencies. Aside from this, one of the main reasons why everybody wishes they were Norwegian is because if they were, they would be gorgeous and tall and could probably beat you up, but wouldn't need to in order to feel good about themselves. Norway has a history of conquest that has left them feeling so secure in their masculinity that they've pretty much retired from going to war with people. More than a thousand years ago, the Vikings used to sail from Norway to Iceland, Ireland and Great Britain on their awesome boats in order to set villages on fire and make women pregnant (this is the only reason why there are any attractive people in England). Norwegians also became the first Europeans to discover North America when Leif Ericsson landed in Canada or Massachusetts or something almost 500 years before that douche Christopher Columbus was even born. Most people don't know that (Author's Note: Most people are stupid). The main reason for this is because Ericsson decided not to stick around once he got here. See, his homeland looked like this and he just frankly didn't get what the big deal was.

Seriously guys, holy shit.