In previous articles I wrote about IT efficiency and mentioned that having good tools impacts employee job satisfaction.

According to an oft-repeated cliché, “May you live in interesting times” constitutes a particularly malevolent curse in the Chinese language. Like it or not, these days are indisputably interesting times in the field of defense acquisitions.

"We will get a huge circus tent , with open sides on both ends to usher in and out the hundreds of guests that will attend. We will put our highest performance vehicles on display so visitors can touch and feel the quality. We will have mounted engines, chassis, cut-a-way models, accessories, performance charts and graphics, racing vehicles, performance tests, resource libraries, driving video games, give-a-ways, and live entertainment as well as high powered presentations and music."

Trinity writes about its early years of great experience with HostMySite.com. However, after the company merged with Hosting.com, the experience went downhill fast.

Proposal Director Mike Schutz writes about SF330 development: how A/E firms can separate themselves from the pack by handing this standard form properly.

The John C. Grimberg Company, Inc., an award-winning general and mechanical contractor that has served the Washington DC metropolitan area for over 55 years, has commended Trinity for its range of creative and technical services.

Here is the methodology that Trinity uses when performing backup and disaster recovery planning for a client. This article follows Is Your Network Data Backed Up? Are Your Sure?.

Proposals bust be relevant to the concerns of the buyer. Don't fill in your proposals with boilerplate marketing material!

Here is an example of how the designer can help at a press check. I recently attended the press run of 25,000 4-Color books, which I had designed. After the job was set up on the press, I was called to look at the initial review sheets, and noticed that the registration (the 4 layers of overlapping process colors) was slightly off.

Mergers, acquisitions, and expanding product lines can create unique challenges when it comes to designing and producing trade show and retail product displays.

Below are 3 additional sets of preliminary designs created for CONFLUENCE Watersports. These trade show and retail displays explore optional approaches that allow the client to showcase their branded kayaks and kayak accessories.

One of the features of Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) is built-in Developer Tools, and one of those tools is the ability to emulate Internet Explorer 7 (IE7). This would ostensibly make life easier for the developer. In fact, in development experience at Trinity such has not proven to be the case.

Browser compatibility, or the ability of a web site/application to work in multiple browsers, is a concern for every web developer. Recent statistics show that five web browsers hold significant market share. The leaders in that report (in order from greatest to least) are Firefox, Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8, Internet Explorer 6, and Chrome.

Three years ago, Trinity collected research from diverse sources about increasing business efficiency through Information Technology. Specifically, we were looking for low-cost solutions that did not require implementation of sophisticated process automation.

During my (lustrous) career using ColdFusion, I have seen a lot change! One of the most important changes was the introduction of Object Oriented Programming (OOP) interface with ColdFusion 6 in the year 2002. This finally provided a logical way to separate functions and procedures into discrete bundles for reuse. More features and improvements to the OOP interface were found in subsequent ColdFusion releases, continuing up to the present.

Because Trinity’s copywriting work is so transformative, we often refer to it as “strategic copywriting”. The reason? Trinity doesn’t just “write to spec”—we help you create the specifications to makes sure your materials have maximum impact.

Branding isn’t just about a brand name and trademark—it is about personality development. A critical and foundational part of that personality is the language in which your company expresses itself.

Internet Explorer 8 can be customized in many ways, but some changes made directly to the browser--not a plug-in/add-in--will benefit power users the most. Here are two.

Trinity's graphic design process focuses intently on the client's need to communicate its message, mission, and unique benefits to its target audience.

Since Trinity Consulting does a good amount of work in both the for-profit non-profit sectors, we occasionally serve as a sounding board for individuals who are contemplating the career leap from for-profit to non-profit. This is particularly true as Trinity assists our clients with staff recruitment.

Choose a typeface, and you’ve made a design decision. If something “as simple as that” has a great impact on the effectiveness of your written materials—and it certainly does—what impact will “more significant” decisions have?

Fundamentally, companies are human societies interacting with other societies. Like any human society, companies are laden with corporate or cultural virtues and vices that stem from human virtue and vice.

Large general contractors require an IT solution to handle the creation, access, and storage to what I call “jobsite documents”. Jobsite documents are those created by field users, such as daily reports, RFI, drawings, etc. Many companies develop the bad habit of storing these documents on jobsite computers and/or in the Project Manager’s email software data file.

The John Carroll Society, an organization that promotes the enhancement of spiritual, intellectual and social fellowship among hundreds of professional members in the DC Metropolitan area, has commended Trinity for its provision of effective strategic and web design and development services.

Understanding how the government solicits business and evaluates proposals is critical for those who want to win contracts. This was discussed in Trinity's recent Proposals Done Right workshop.

"Malware" has long been the scourge of organizations of all types and sizes, with dramatic increases in computer malware infections in the past couple of years.

An industry-leading national trade association (members include 19 of top 20 corporations in the industry, as ranked by FORTUNE) has commended Trinity on its work for the Association since 2008. The statement was provided by the Association's Assistant Vice President of Communications.

In today’s market, being on the web is imperative for most businesses. The degree to which each business needs a web presence is determined by the expectations of the market: you need to respond to the needs of your potential/current customers and keep your competitive advantage. These are the primary considerations when exploring the necessary scope of building a new web presence.

Q: What exactly are "industry standards and best practices" when it comes to proposal development? A: They are what you are promised by every proposal development firm under the sun.

Choose a typeface, and you’ve made a design decision. If something “as simple as that” has a great impact on the effectiveness of your written materials—and it certainly does—what impact will “more significant” decisions have?

Strong, decisive, carefully tailored to each different proposal—Trinity’s proposal writing delivers extremely high-value content: easy for your customer to read; even easier to reward with the contract.

Trinity’s primary role as a consulting firm is to help our clients build context for business decisions. Regardless of the applied Solution Area, Trinity solicits information from the client and then adds its own expertise and insight to create the context in which good business decisions can be made.

Commercial graphic design is a coordinated process of mutual responsibilities between the client/employer and the graphic designer. This post is intended to be orienting, not comprehensive. However, if the following general principles are observed within projects, you increase the likelihood of getting a superlative design solution in the final product.

Beyond actually having the tools of the trade (or, the ability to produce excellent graphic design), being a good producer of graphic design solutions is about pursuing a true consultative approach.

Rough sketches (roughs) explore illustrative concepts and compositions in much the same way that thumbnails explore logo designs and layout concepts.

In today's crazy changing web world, a developer has to stay sharp, focused and knowledgeable to consistently deliver a great product. But this doesn't mean spending big bucks and precious sleep time in night class. Here are a few ways Trinity's web development team keeps up to date on the latest and greatest.

Graphic Design involves the organization, prioritization, and presentation of ideas, concepts, and information at the service of a defined purpose. If the ideas are many, the concepts are complex, the information is vast, and the purpose is multi-phased—then the scope of the Graphic Design services could be enormous. The cost would be commensurate with the demand.

To solidify its standing within the fields of capture strategy and proposal development, Trinity's key related staff members have recently received Shipley certifications.

When you release a solicitation, what is the desired result? The answer: information that powers excellent decision-making. The stronger the solicitation, the greater the chance of receiving that quality of information.

The goal of my recent Strategic and Business Planning workshop was to draw out the difference in roles between strategic and business plans. A good deal of interest is always placed on the difference in mindset in the two processes.

Within your company, some internal business communication is very important—so important that it is documented to create a permanent record, define positions, build consensus, and bolster support.

Movie buffs may be familiar with the 1965 classic The Agony and the Ecstasy, starring Charlton Heston as Michelangelo and Rex Harrison as Pope Julius II. If my memory serves me correctly, the movie portrays the painting of the Sistine Chapel, including the intellectual relationship between the two lead characters.

The proposal cover letter, properly constructed, is a vital part of the proposal that should not be neglected.

It can be a great benefit to have your veteran graphic designer attend the "press check"-the last phase of production for print communications.

I’ve been working with non-profit organizations for 14 years. In that time, I’ve compiled a matrix for non-profit formation built not only on my own experiences, but also on expert consensus. This structure, called the Non-Profit Best Practice Concurrence Matrix%trade; (The Non-Profit Matrix™, for short), was first composed in my thoughts and project notes, subsequently researched, and then finally assembled into structured document/presentation form in early 2009.

Trinity's fondness and sympathy for non-profit concerns stems primarily from one source: our staff, who genuinely care about the greater good, and desire to make the world a better place.

One of the important ways in which Trinity helps clients is by developing a "language" which the client uses to express its vision of itself—including its core beliefs, competencies, and products/services.

IT consulting veteran Kevin Fox, a systems administrator for Trinity Consulting, a full service marketing technology firm, addressed the National SharePoint User's Conference in Washington DC on MOSS Deployments, Lessons Learned on June 25th, 2008.

Dr. Jeffrey Mirus has retired as Chief Executive Officer at Trinity Consulting, Inc. (Trinity) after holding the position for 13 years. Former Chief Operating Officer Peter Mirus will assume the CEO role, effective August 1, 2009.

Following a keynote presentation on business strategy and planning by Peter Mirus, CEO of Trinity Consulting, to the board members of the Catholic Medical Association, the group’s Executive Director issued the following statement:

Trinity Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Pablo Gomez, led a roundtable discussion titled "Doing business with the Federal Government". This first in a two-part series focused specifically on best practices in Business Development and Capture Management.

Trinity Proposal Director Ryan Callaghan led a roundtable discussion titled "Doing business with the Federal Government, Part II". This second part of the presentation series begun in December 2008, focused specifically on proposal development and management best practices.

Trinity recently received an outstanding review from NovusCG, a leading provider of enterprise storage solutions. In particular, the commendation highlighted Trinity’s unique ability to identify and understand client needs, before developing and executing winning strategic marketing solutions.

Dr Andrew Abela, Associate Professor at the Department of Business and Economics at The Catholic University of America, has commended Trinity on its web development efforts for his new “Extreme Presentation” website.

In less than one year, Trinity has more than doubled its customer base across multiple lines of business including proposal development, web development, and marketing strategy consulting.

A Fortune 1000 federal systems integrator has engaged Trinity's proposal development services to provide support in the acquisition of key task orders on multiple large contract vehicles.

Trinity Consulting, Inc. (Trinity) became an Adobe Solution Partner in March 2010 by demonstrating a commitment to developing and integrating client solutions using Adobe technologies.

Trinity Consulting, Inc. (Trinity),  announces that it has moved its headquarters location to 9200 Church Street in historic Old Town Manassas, VA.  The new location provides Trinity with increased office space and a central location from which to serve its growing client base.

In recent weeks, Trinity has been working on a valuable application for a leading construction contractor ("the contractor") whose primary work comes through federal contracts.

From Part 1: Trinity will be integrating three tools from the suite's toolset to improve the bid solicitation process: the Communications System, the Bidders List, and the Project File Management/Download System.

Trinity Consulting, Inc. (Trinity) extended its commitment to education in the Manassas, Virginia area by participating as one of two Gold Sponsors (along with GlassHouse Technologies) for the annual Renaissance Montessori School (RMS) fundraising event in February 20, 2010.

Trinity Consulting, Inc. (Trinity) is holding a two day "meet the experts" event to welcome members of the business community to meet and learn from Trinity's experts in the Strategic, Design, Web, Information Technology, and Proposal solution areas.

Trinity recently garnered high praise from a healthcare technology analytics firm for its full-scope proposal development services. The firm engaged Trinity to respond to a complex federal RFP seeking a system to monitor and report upon emerging healthcare technologies.

GTM Medical Consulting, LLC, a highly-regarded medical consulting group that has grown to 24 active clients in less than three years, has praised Trinity’s web design and development capabilities.

Trinity Consulting, Inc. (Trinity) recently received an outstanding review from an Executive Director at a Fortune 1000 proposal development client.

Potomac Economics, a leading provider of independent market monitoring, expert analysis and advice, and litigation support services to the electricity and natural gas industries, has praised Trinity for its web design and development work.

A Mid-Atlantic complete communications solutions provider has engaged Trinity’s strategic and proposal development services to provide support in the acquisition of key contracts in the area of integrated GPS tracking and diagnostic monitoring for superior fleet cost/productivity management. The client will be pursuing contracts nationwide.

Trinity Consulting’s Meet the Experts event on May 12, 2010 proved a success, as members of the Northern Virginia business community gathered to learn more about Trinity’s consulting philosophy, expertise, and experience.

A truly effective proposal does not merely present your solution; it distinguishes your company and solution from the competition.

Web Development is about conveying a message not about looking good. Very often the primary goals of web projects are focused on improving look and feel.

As mentioned in my last post, here is the second half of my review of some web tools that Trinity uses to facilitate business success in the areas of Time Tracking, Web Conferencing, and Online Office Productivity.

During strategic engagements, Trinity encourages its clients to pursue development strategies based on honest self-knowledge.

Copywriting, simply stated, is the process of using words to promote something or someone. Once a term that only pertained to writing for traditional (old, legacy) media, in contemporary parlance “copywriting” also includes writing for new media (such as the web). Good copywriting is a part of good brand development, and as such is of great benefit to any company.

Here are five specific ways in which White-hat Reviews increase proposal development effectiveness, providing added value to the client through lower costs and a superior final product.

While Windows 7 is, in many respects, a great leap forward in terms of application compatibility, every so often we'll discover a basic functionality that Microsoft or a Microsoft partner has inadvertently run into the ditch.

Recently, I received two Microsoft Word documents containing the manuscript for a couple books I was about to design and typeset.

WSS (Windows SharePoint Services) is a tool that most small businesses don’t realize is out there.