(Greg Marshall, greg@aceware.com) Matthew, our intrepid Student Manager programmer, has added a great new feature to Student Manager.  You can now map addresses to Microsoft Bing maps to help visualize customer information.

Here’s some information straight from Matthew:

MS Bing Mapping Sample

“First, if you do not have virtualearth.htm and json.fll in your manager folder, you will need to obtain mapping.zip from the Tools section of our FTP site and unzip it to get those files. Please visit your tech if you need the username and password and instructions on getting to the FTP.

Second, you need to pick a report any report. The only requirement is that the report must have the address fields you wish to map. This is not limited to students. You can map firms, instructors, and course locations. If the report has more than one type of address, it will ask you which one to map.

Third, you must modify the report to add one field. That field is: justafter([do mapping])

Fourth, when you get to the map (after the report runs), you need to hit the Go button. It’s one of those deals where I can load the data and load the map, but I couldn’t load them both at the same time. So, the button merges the two pieces together.

That’s it! Of course, repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 as needed if you have more than one report you want to map. Otherwise, just run the report as needed with different queries. Might I suggest that you run this out of Mailing Labels to really take advantage of the query aspect of looking at your markets.

Now, I must disclose a few downsides to this. If you have hundreds of people to map, you will need to grab a Snickers bar during your wait. Also, if your IT has restrictions on your Internet Explorer, chances are this will not run properly. Finally, if you have multiple people at the same address, a pushpin will only get created on that address once. So, if you are looking for numbers of people and you do have several people in a household that take your courses, you will be slightly off looking at the map. Oh, and there is just no way to map a P.O. Box, so those will be filtered out of your display as well.”

This ability is very powerful.  Use it to visualize data that can be hard to see in data form.  This includes seeing which neighborhoods are producing the most registrations.  Why?  Knowing where your registrations come from allows you to adjust your marketing away from areas you don’t get customers into areas where your customers are coming from.  You can also map data about a particular class.  By seeing where your students for a particular class are coming from (or type of class) you can adjust where that class is being held at to move it closer to your audience…potentially increasing enrollments.

Watch our YouTube video that explains in more detail: Mapping Data in Student Manager

Ahhh Spring!    Poets have waxed eloquent on the machinations and permutations of the season.    If you are a gardener, thinking of spring quickens the blood!   Thoughts of fresh veggies et al.     I enjoy gardening.. the eating part… BUT.. am not as fond of the rest.     The digging, weeding, watering and constant maintenance (in 100+ degree Kansas weather) takes a bit of a stretch to call it fun.

But, if you want succulent snacks… you gotta do the work.
Managing your Cont Ed database is  like maintaining a garden.     We could go on and on… you have to take out deadwood, prune poor performing shoots (names..??), take notes on what crops grow best where.. and what combination (water/fertilizer … marketing/program type) generates the best yield.

ACEware Systems tries to help you by building tools you can use to manage your data.    But, we can’t (at least right now…) do the heavy lifting for you.    Recording the data, analyzing the results and running the purge routines are your responsibility.

Another analogy to gardening is… to what end do we garden?   Some folks may garden to save money, some like to DIY, others (me included) enjoy watching the life cycle play its course.    Same thing in CE.   Some programs are Jerry MacGuire types… “Show me the $$”, others may see their role as a community resource, others see it as a way to build good will and community.     The goal you have will determine what things (in the operation and setup of your database) you choose to do.

So, it is all about opportunity and choice.   we at ACEware work hard at trying to provide you opportunity (in the form of our Student Manager and ACEweb software) to do your job.   It is your choice to learn about these tools, how these tools can be used, and finally to implement them in your quest for the perfect crop.. whatever that may be.

Finally, I think that another trait that gardeners and Cont Ed folk have in common is optimism in the face of uncertainty.    We don’t know in advance whether that “Seed idea” of a new class or conference will take root and produce.    We have to understand our environment, have to know what our resources are and enhance (Continuing Ed??!!) our skills in developing and managing our resources.    If we do that, whether we anticipate  sitting down to a fresh salad, or welcoming a packed house, we’ll increase our chances of success.

One of these opportunities for growth is happening next week in Savannah at our 16th Annual ACEware User’s Conference.   If you haven’t gone to one of our annual meetings, you need to put that in your “Crop Planning” for next year.   This is always a great learning event… and a lot of fun.

Now go out there and plant!

Chuck