Geotech Computer Systems

Spring 2014 Newsletter

In This Newsletter...

Free Tip -  Plan Ahead 
Spring Special - FREE Case of Sequum Wine with Enviro Data Purchase
Enviro Data News
- Validation Upgrade, Performance and Other Improvements, Praise From China
Enviro Spase News - Enviro Spase .net Update
Geotech News - LinkedIn Company Page, Case Studies Wanted, New and Old Clients, Trade Shows and Meetings
Smart Moves in Tough Times - Let Geotech Supplement Your Staff
Geotech Humor - Laughter is Good Medicine!

A Quick Word

Welcome to the Spring issue of our newsletter.  We hope you find it interesting and useful.  And remember, this newsletter is for you and not for us, so if there's something you would like to see, please let us know at info@geotech.com or call 877-740-1999 Toll-Free and we will try to include it in our next newsletter.  Click here for previous newsletters.

Free Tip -  Plan Ahead!

The Boy Scout motto is: “Be prepared.”  To this day it remains some of the best advice around.  It is so important these days to not only have a plan in place for all situations, but to also have a backup for the worst case scenario.  Let’s say you are running a typical environmental project, with routine monitoring, a few sites, and multiple parameters.  It’s a project that has been going on for a while, but then a new law comes out and you need to compare not only this year’s data, but last years to a new regulatory limit.  Anticipating changes can be hard during a project, but with every project, things are likely to change.  The best case scenario involves using the right tools and working with the right team who can accommodate change.  Lead time for changes is key but in short supply.  The sooner everyone knows about the changes, the sooner everyone can react.  But what do you do if you don’t have the right tools?  You can struggle to accommodate the new law with a nonflexible system and manually report or graph the new results.  You can switch to a more flexible system but that is not a quick fix.  Or you can plan ahead for the next project by implementing the right tool ahead of time.  And who knows, if you get the right system, maybe it can open up a new realm of project types or clients.

Spring Special - FREE case of Sequum wine with Enviro Data purchase

For decades Enviro Data has been used for environmental projects around the world.  From site assessment to cleanup, Enviro Data has proven to be one of the greatest tools anyone can have when facing any Phase 2 investigation.  What most folks don’t know is that Enviro Data is so versatile, it can be used for much more than typical environmental data.  Enviro Data is used by one of our clients, Paul Skinner, in California to track lab and field data for soil chemistry for growing grapes.  Along with weather data from the real time sensors he installed, our client tracks disease models to determine how much to spray the plants that day.  The wine he produces, Sequum, is phenomenal, and ranked one of the best by wine critic, Steve Heimhoff, and while you can’t taste the data structure in every sip, Enviro Data is a significant contributor to its excellent quality. To learn more about the wine made with Enviro Data, visit www.sequum.com/new/index.php. Find out how Enviro Data can be used to solve your specific problems at www.geotech.com. Some restrictions apply to this special offer.

Enviro Data News

Updated Validation Tool

Geotech is preparing a new release of Enviro Data, tentatively called Version 2012 D. One of the changes is a big upgrade to the Validation tool. While the calculations are pretty much the same as we have had for years, the user interface has been rewritten to make it easier to use, and provide more flexibility in selecting and configuring calculations. It will also include many new report formats, most of which are based on suggestions by our chemist clients. Here is one example: 

Many Other Changes

The new version of Enviro Data also contains significant performance improvements for very large databases (millions of records), along with numerous improvements to data selection, formatting, and output. These improvements will keep Enviro Data in the forefront of environmental project databases.

Praise for Enviro Data from China

In 2012, Geotech was contacted by a very bright graduate student at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhiyu Li.  He was looking for a dissertation topic for his thesis, so Dave Rich, Geotech’s President, and Chris Watson, one of Geotech’s consultants, spent quite a bit of time talking to Zhiyu, and decided that he could help us with the recent modifications to Enviro Spase, and use this as the topic of his thesis.  Working closely with Chris, Zhiyu helped modify and test Enviro Spase, and identified and corrected some minor bugs. A year and a half later, Zhiyu has completed his thesis, and will be defending it this June.  It was a pleasure to work with Zhiyu, and we found him to be very talented, diligent, and easy to work with. Zhiyu also worked with Enviro Data as part of this project. His comment about Enviro Data was, “…Enviro Data is the most sophisticated, powerful and professional software based on Microsoft Access I have ever seen.”

Enviro Spase News

.net update

Geotech continues to finish up the new version of Enviro Spase. We are now completing final testing and documentation of the software. Once the new version is completed, which will now be in VB.net rather than VBA, we will begin on the next development cycle. We are currently soliciting feedback on what features should be added to the software. If you have ideas on functionality you would like to see added, please email drdave@geotech.com.

Geotech News

Geotech LinkedIn Company Page

Geotech links in with the world!  Now you can find Geotech Computer Systems on LinkedIn.  We will post updates on Geotech news, what trade shows we will be attending, new features, software announcements, helpful tips, and much more.  Follow us on LinkedIn and receive special deals on the Enviro system and services.

Looking for Case Studies

Geotech is looking for case studies for some companies who have used Enviro Data and have a good story of either it making their job, life, or project easier, how it landed more work, or how it even saved the company a lot of money.  Most folks like to hear success stories of how Enviro Data has helped with their project during the sales process and so we would ask that you lend us a hand.  Since we know there will be more stories than we can publish, we are offering $20 Starbucks gift cards to those with the best stories.  If you have a great Enviro Data story you would like to share, email mrich@geotech.com.         

New Clients This Quarter

Geotech is happy to announce that we added four new clients to our growing list of Enviro software users this quarter.  The first client is a very large environmental company, with offices around the world.  The Lakewood, CO office purchased the Enviro software to use on a project for the Colorado Dept. of Public Health.  This project was using a competing environmental database management software package, which did not work, and so our client replaced it with the Enviro software.  Our second new client this quarter is a company of consulting scientists and engineers, with six offices in Montana and Idaho.  This client also switched from the same large environmental database management system, which failed, to Enviro Data.  Based in Minnesota, our third new client this month is an environmental services company focused on site investigations, munitions cleanup, hazardous waste management, and industrial cleaning and emergency spill response.  The final new Enviro software user this quarter is a small environmental consulting company headquarted in Alabama, and the software is being used to assist a Tribal Nation in managing their environmental data.  We welcome all our new users.          

Geotech Thanks Long Time Enviro Data Users

Geotech ran some statistics on its client user-base recently, and confirmed that we have over 30 clients that have been using the Enviro software, and Geotech’s services, for five to sixteen years.  These satisfied customers include: U.S. Government Agencies; small, medium and large environmental companies; State Public Health environmental agencies; laboratories; county governments;  Canadian airports; Canadian pulp and paper mills; large oil & gas E&P companies; Indian tribal nations; an Argentinian environmental company;  and oil & gas refineries, to name a few.  Geotech also has many clients that have started using the Enviro software within the last one to five years.  We are very grateful to all of our loyal users, and hope to continue serving their environmental database management needs for many more years to come.  Thank you for your continued business!          

Geotech Participates in Trade Shows and Professional Meetings

2014 began with Mike Rich, Geotech’s Sales Director, attending the Colorado Ground Water Association Holiday Event.  The event included dinner, and speaker Nolan Doesken, Climatologist who discussed the 2013 Colorado Flood and how it relates to Colorado history.  This event was well-attended and very interesting.  In January, Dave Rich, Geotech’s president, took a driving trip to New Mexico, where he spent several days doing Enviro training for one of Geotech’s refinery clients, then drove to Albuquerque where he met with several prospective clients, and made the final stop of his trip in Gunnison, CO where he visited with a satisfied Enviro software user of six years.  In February, Mike manned a booth at a one-day Remediation Workshop in Lakewood, CO.  Some of the topics included at this show included, “Sulfate-enhanced Technology for In-Situ Remediation” , and “Happy Bugs = Happy Clients-Optimizing bioremediation”.  The workshop drew many attendees.  At the end of February, Dave attended the Midwestern States Environmental Consultants Association (MSECA) quarterly meeting, in Indianapolis, IN.  Dave presented a talk here titled, “Managing Environmental Data for Conceptual Site Models”.  The day after the MSECA meeting, Dave did a day of Enviro training in Indianapolis for one of Geotech’s Enviro software users.  In mid-March, Dave flew to Seattle, WA to train one of Geotech’s Indian Nation clients on Enviro Data.  At this same time, Mike was in San Diego, CA manning a Geotech booth at the AEHS trade show.  Here Geotech shared a booth with two other Remediation Partners, MECX and IO Environmental and Infrastructure.  First quarter 2014 was a very busy time for Geotech!          

Smart Moves in Tough Times - Let Geotech Supplement Your Staff!

Supplement your staff with Geotech’s help. “Things are getting better” they say.  Not sure how true that is.  A lot of folks are still needing some help when it comes to their data management tasks.  It’s tough in this in-between time where things are starting to pick up but not enough to hire more staff.  So where do you turn?  You can turn to Geotech.  Geotech is more than happy to help with many data management and GIS tasks.  With trained technicians waiting to help you, you can have expertise added to your project without the permanent cost of an employee.  Contact Mike Rich, mrich@geotech.com, for help with your project needs.

Geotech Humor - Laughter is Good Medicine!

What is the metric equivalent of 1,000 aches?

1 megahurtz.

 And here's one for gardeners and solid waste folks:

You may spreadsheet in columns
You may spreadsheet in rows
But the more that you spreadsheet
The faster it grows.

Geotech Services

Geotech specializes in environmental software, database management services and custom programming. We can assist with data loading, reporting, mapping, and other services, or we can train you to do these tasks. Geotech has been successfully providing software and services to hundreds of clients over the past 30 years.  We would be happy to provide you with references. For more information about Geotech products and services, please visit our web site at www.geotech.com.

FYI

If you wish to be removed from this mailing list click Unsubscribe and then click the Send button.

We do not buy or sell email addresses. We receive them from various sources. If you have questions about this, or any other topic in this newsletter, please contact us at info@geotech.com. All emails will be answered personally.

Do you have suggestions to improve this newsletter, or topics that you would like to see discussed? Would you like to submit an article for a future newsletter? Please email these suggestions or submissions to us at info@geotech.com or call 877-740-1999 Toll-Free. We welcome your ideas.

Feel free to let us know if you have a colleague or friend that would like to receive this newsletter. We would be happy to add them to our email list.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Geotech Computer Systems, Inc.
12150 E. Briarwood Ave., Ste. 202
Centennial, CO 80112
303-740-1999 (PH)
877-740-1999 (Toll-Free US)
303-740-1990 (Fax)

www.geotech.com
info@geotech.com

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:  The information contained in this message is for the exclusive use of the addressee and may contain confidential, privileged and non-disclosable information.  If the recipient of this message is not the addressee, or a person responsible for delivering this message to the addressee, the recipient is strictly prohibited from reading, downloading, photocopying, distributing or otherwise using this message, its contents or attachments in any way.  If the recipient has received this message in error, please notify us immediately by reply e-mail and delete the message from your mailbox.