April 16, 2013 - Presentation at Thomas More university college.

For the second time, I spoke to a group of ICT students at the Thomas More university college. In a presentation of 20 minutes I talked about our company and I explained what we do. Before starting to develop software, it is important to know WHAT should be programmed by performing an analysis.
What did we learn today?

1. Before starting to develop, take sufficient time to think out suitable solutions.
2. Create structured documention, in a clear and understandable way, to inform all stakeholders.
3. The analyst is a key player in a project team.

Below you will find a reduced version of the presentation. I added notes with my comments and I uploaded it on SlideShare.

March 26, 2013 - New blogpost: Creativity: Essential for the Analyst

>> Read our blogpost Creativity: Essential for the Analyst (external link to Wordpress).

January 14, 2013 - New year, new logo.

First of all, we want to wish you all a nice, healthy and prosperous 2013.

As a present for new year we gave our company a new logo. It is very minimalistic: using a few curved lines the brain is sketched. In this way we refer to an analyst who sketches the analyses, in addition to writing them.
Together with the new logo we will also use another, more modern font.

Step by step the old logo will be replaced by the new one. Let me know what you think of it: info@braincell-it.com!

January 13, 2013 - New blogpost: The Analyst as a Handyman (2)

>> Read our blogpost The Analyst as a Handyman (2) (external link to Wordpress).

October 18, 2012 - New blogpost: The Analyst as a Handyman (1)

>> Read our blogpost The Analyst as a Handyman (1) (external link to Wordpress).

September 1, 2012 - BCIT continues Lessius sponsoring.

This year, Brain Cell IT will continue the sponsoring of the E-Kring, the students' association of the De Nayer Instituut. This college offers IT and technology related master classes in Mechelen and is part of Lessius University College based in Flanders.

August 20, 2012 - New blogpost: Pragmatism Gets Theory

>> Read our blogpost Pragmatism Gets Theory (external link to Wordpress).

August 1, 2012 - UML 15 years ago adopted by OMG.

OMG celebrates adoption of UML. A Brief History.

April 16, 2012 - Realisation of Private Banker at BNP Paribas Fortis.

At one of our clients (BNP Paribas Fortis) we finalized the analysis of Private Banker. This is a part of the online banking tool managing the assets of the client who has logged in. Private Banker is developed and a demo is created and put online.
The demo can be viewed at this location (site of BNP Paribas Fortis): Private Banker (Dutch version). Click 'Bekijk de demo' to start it.

July 24, 2012 - New blogpost: The Purpose of Analysis

>> Read our blogpost The Purpose of Analysis (external link to Wordpress).

March 8, 2012 – Speech at Lessius university college.

Today, I spoke to a group of ICT students at the Lessius university college. During 20 minutes I explained what we do at our company and how we work. It was not the aim to go into the details but to touch certain aspects.
I added notes with my comments to the presentation and I uploaded it on SlideShare.

March 1, 2012 - Company profile.

>> Read about our updated Company profile (pdf, 267KB).

January 10, 2012 - Unauthorized use of our company name.

Recently, we have noticed that our company name, and more specifically its abbreviation BCIT, is used unrightfully by others. Our company is the exclusive owner of both 'Brain Cell IT' and 'BCIT' based on its statutes. We are using these names as the first in a visible, public and continuous way. It means that no other company can choose or use these names and that our company can prohibit the use of the same or similar names by others in the case it could cause confusion.
In practice it means we will take the necessary legal steps to protect our rightful property and titles.

Besides the unauthorized use of our company name, we also found out that variations of our logo are being used by other companies. We would like to stress we use our logo starting from 2006 making a link with the first name of the company's founder. But above all we want to indicate that analysis is the work of a brain or a team of brains.

We think it is part of ethical entrepreneurship to be innovative and creative and not to simply copy the brand or company names or the ideas of competitors.
If you see our company name or our logo (or a variation) or you are being contacted in our name and you doubt the authenticity, feel free to inform us and send an e-mail to info@braincell-it.com.

December 23, 2011 - Brain Cell IT supports Music for Life.

Brain Cell IT supports Music for Life, a charity event organised by the Flemish radio station Studio Brussel and the Red Cross. This year Music For Life collects money for projects to bring drinkable water and hygiene. A lack causes diarrhea, the main death desease of children in the world.

Our logo will appear on the virtual wall at Logos for Life.

December 19, 2011 - Jobs.

Brain Cell IT searching for a Functional Analyst UML.

December 14, 2011 - Member of Voka and VEV.

Brain Cell IT became member of Voka and VEV.
Voka is a Flemish organisation linking companies, employers and the Chambers of Commerce in Flanders. It helps companies with advice, lobbying towards different parties such as government, organising network events, and other services. Voka fulfills this mission on local level, VEV (Vlaams Economisch Verbond) does this on the level of Flemish Community and Brussels.

November 26, 2011 - BCIT expands its website.

Today we added a new part to the website. This extension has two main goals:

1. Have a specific section for potential employees informing them on our activities, our way of working and our application procedure.
2. Complete the customers and other acquaintances section with the reason for executing analysis, since it is not always clear why analysis must be performed.

Related with the update of the site, we launch a campaign in various media to attract employees and inform people about the job of functional analyst.

I thank Nick Van Meerbeeck and Luca (his dog) for the pictures, both liked the dog biscuits that we offered.

September 5, 2011 - BCIT sponsors Lessius students.

This year our company will sponsor E-Kring, the students' association of the De Nayer Instituut.
This institute is a faculty of the university college Lessius and offers Master's and Bachelor's degrees in technology and science education, such as Electronics-ICT. De Nayer was founded in 1922 and is currently located in Sint-Katelijne-Waver, near Mechelen.
E-Kring joins students industrial engineer in Electronics of the De Nayer faculty.
Lessius has 10,000 students on 8 locations and is member of the K.U. Leuven Association (Catholic University of Leuven).

September 1, 2011 - BCIT moves.

We move to new offices! From September on our offices will be located in Antwerp. The new address is:

Plantin en Moretuslei 206, Box 702
2018 Antwerpen (Belgium)

This is located at Exit 3 of the Antwerp Ring, parking is available nearby (Binnensingel) next to the train station 'Antwerpen-Oost'.
Please update your records to avoid misunderstandings or returning mail.

August 8, 2011 - BCIT meets James Robertson (co-creator Volere).

We have had the honour to meet James Robertson, member of The Atlantic Systems Guild, writer, teacher, consultant and co-creator of the Volere requirements techniques. Volere is a recognised package of best practices, diagrams and templates in order to collect and to process requirements. The first edition originates from 1995 and it constantly evolves based on new experiences.
It is surprising to hear the similarities in our daily work and the encountered issues. He gave good recommendations and solutions to real problems.
If you want to know more about managing requirements, you can read "Mastering the Requirements Process", one of his books, or follow a course (location and date on the Volere website).

August 1, 2011 - Company event: Safe and fun driving.

Today our company event took place. Three activities were planned to make car driving more fun and more safe.
In a four-wheel drive vehicle we drove on a muddy track in the forest, through a water basin, in curves and over hills. We even towed the unlucky car that got stuck in the mud.

After the lunch we got informed about good driving habits, emergency stops and what to do when a car gets spinning. On the wet track we practiced this, we had great fun using the hand brake.

To conclude the day we were invited to race with quads on a circuit. On the bumpy road some people managed to drive on two wheels only!

You can find the pictures here.

April 15, 2011 - BCIT spot in DVO gazette.

On March 30th BCIT was present at the "Ondernemen" expo for entrepreneurs in Brussels.

While having a quick chat (and drink) a photographer took a picture which was published in the April edition of the gazette "DVO De Vlaamse Ondernemer" (The Flemish Entrepreneur).

See full page.

December 24, 2010 - Happy Holidays!

We wish you and your family a nice Christmas and a successful analytic new year!

December 22, 2010 - Jobs.

Brain Cell IT searching for a Functional Analyst UML.

August 10, 2010 - Company Profile.

>> Read about our company profile in this document (PDF format).

June 7, 2010 - Enterprise Architect 8 released!

Today Sparx Systems has announced the release of its popular modeling and design tool Enterprise Architect 8. At first sight the application's new version looks similar to the previous one, but under the bonnet the engine was boosted.
Besides the performance improvement, Sparx Systems worked on the GUI and added or enhanced functionalities as 'Structured Scenarios', enhanced code generation, reverse engineering, document generation and security and version control.
A complete list of release details together with edition and pricing information can be found on the site of Sparx Systems.

January 1, 2010 - New Year, new address.

First of all, we wish you good luck and much of success as well in your professional as private life.
Brain Cell IT moved its headquarters. As of the first of January the address of the new offices is: Neerlandweg 17, 2610 Wilrijk (Belgium). Remark: the even and odd numbers are located at the same side of the street. On the first floor of the building, we have the availability of a meeting room, desks in the main room and other necessary accommodation.

November 25, 2009 - Patron of the CLC.

In November, Brain Cell IT was introduced to Mister Koen de Ridder, Flemish Commercial Consul based at the Belgian Consulate in Guangzhou (China). He spoke about the interesting matter of the Chinese Labour Corps. About 140,000 Chinese workers helped in factories, at construction works or with other hard labour during the first World War in Belgium. Two thousand of them died in Europe where they were buried. Mister de Ridder started an initiative to commemorate the Chinese workers and to construct a memorial in Belgium (Poperinge).
Brain Cell IT funds the initiative, and by that way it will appear on the website of the Chinese Labour Corps and in a participants' list that will be handed over to the highest representative in Belgium of the People's Republic of China.

October 8, 2009 - Meeting Sander Hoogendoorn.

Brain Cell IT has met Sander Hoogendoorn, an expert concerning software development methodologies and more specifically UML and Agile. As Principal Technology Officer at Capgemini in the Netherlands, he advises large and small organisations. He wrote books about modelling with UML (Dutch: Pragmatisch modelleren met UML 2.0, Addison Wesley) and Agile software development and he speaks at international conferences and seminars. We encountered regarding a workshop he presents, helpfull for employees to train analyzing and modelling systems.

January 9, 2009 - Best Wishes for 2009!

We wish you the best for the new year and hope that all your dreams will come true.
The past year was a busy and successful one, with focus on delivering analysis services. Minor attempts to work in partnerships failed due to the fact the company wants to remain fully independent and because of less opportunities as a result of the recent economic crisis. Still, possible cooperations with an international dimension are being thought of.
Besides these developments, probability exists to start working with employees or freelancers to fulfill projects. We are open to receive CV's or propositions of .NET Software Engineers, SQL Script Developers or Functional Analysts on jobs@braincell-it.com.

September 1, 2008 - Brain Cell IT sponsors.



Starting beginning of September 2008 Brain Cell IT will be sponsoring a table tennis club. For the duration of 3 years the logo can be seen on the shirts of Borsbeek Tafeltennis Club's players. The team plays games in the province of Antwerp (Dutch: op provinciaal niveau). The sponsorship will give the company more visibility and could attract possible employees.

Now it is up to the club to play and win many games in a spirit of fair play. Good luck to all !

March 11-12-13, 2008 - Microsoft TechDays: Heroes happen {here}.

In March Microsoft has launched new versions of its products Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 in Ghent. Brain Cell IT was present at the launch and the TechDays that followed. The capabilities of the products were demonstrated by notorious speakers of Microsoft and their partners.

In three tracks (developer, architect and IT professional) experts show in sessions new technologies, functionalities, programs, enhancements, extensions and so on.
Typically, such event is also a nice opportunity to meet old colleagues.

February 11, 2008 - New Website.

Finally, the new website is online! A nice fresh background colour, a new presentation style using columns and some small pictures to make the site more vivid.
A Dutch version of the site will be available soon.

December 24, 2007 - Happy New Year!

First of all, merry christmas and a happy new year.
The past year has brought some interesting projects in different types of companies. Due to time, budget or resource constraints not every opportunity resulted in a contract. Based on the predicted results, it can be concluded that 2007 was a nice launch year.
In 2008 it is the aim to professionalise the organisation of the company. The office will be expanded and rearranged. Of course, training is important in the fast changing world of IT. Externally, Brain Cell IT should gain more visibility on conferences, meetings or using the internet. Hereby we announce that the website will be refreshed and extended. Also, in the way of acting towards potential customers, we should radiate freshness, dynamics and flexibility.
Let us hope 2008 will be even more successful for you and for us.

October 12, 2007 - Project Management Course.

During four days between October 12 to October 22, 2007 Brain Cell IT is present at a "Project Management" course of the Vlerick Leuven Ghent Management School. The course includes the basics of project management, planning techniques, setting up and carrying out projects, team building and skills necessary for a team lead. The knowledge will be used within the company to enhance its working and at customers to recognise situations and to react in the appropriate way.

November 6, 2006 - Birth of the Company.

In 2006 Brain Cell IT is started as an independent Belgian company delivering ICT consultancy. The idea is to make the experiences of the founder available to customers in an unbounded way. Primarily, programming tasks will be aspired after. But in a short period of time, it is the aim to focus on analysis or project management opportunities. These challenges have to be supported by following specialised courses. Clients can be in Belgium, but also abroad.