My Life as a Student

The 5 Future Technology Movies

2011-03-10T16:27:00.002+08:00

We are tasked to make a reactiom about the movies which are the Wall-e, Eagle Eye, I,Robot, Surrogates, and the Pirates of Silicon Valley. So basically, these are the things that I thought about the films.

Wall-e

What would life be if humans were too dependent on the technology? The answer is, it would cause a huge alteration between who’s the superior one, Humans or robotics. The movie Wall-e shows that sooner or later the existence of life will totally be different. It’s like contradicting the human developmental stages where it affects the physical systems. From a being that can walk to a “can’t” one. Well, at some point, robotics do has its positive side. Doing everything that human can’t. Scientists today can only dream of having a robotic explorer like EVE. But some researchers are working on autonomous spacecraft, airships and rovers that can cooperate intelligently while exploring distant worlds. An orbiting spacecraft to make a global survey for interesting scientific targets, before deciding on its own where to deploy an airship such as a dirigible. The airship could look even closer at a region to find the best landing site, and finally drop a rover or some other surface explorer. That surface explorer could then move quickly to the target area.

Eagle Eye

In a world populated by empty, vacuous action films, it’s refreshing to see a production that tries to inject proceedings with at least a modicum of intelligence. It implies that time would come, robotics will rule the world. Robotics controlling humans instead of the opposite one. It would create a chaotic world if a robot turned against its creator. However, as the complexity of robots has increased, so has interest in developing guidelines and safeguards for their operation. Some experts and academics have questioned the use of robots for military combat, especially when such robots are given some degree of autonomous functions. The impact of the hypothetical possibility that robots and computers could become self-sufficient and able to make their own decisions. The possibility and the extent to which computers and robots might be able to acquire any level of autonomy, and to what degree they could use such abilities to possibly pose any threat or hazard. Some robots have acquired various forms of semi-autonomy, including being able to find power sources on their own and being able to independently choose targets to attack with weapons.

I, Robot

A battle between the saints and evil. The right and wrong. The truth and lie. A movie based on the Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics but turned out that the robotics turned against its creator. Self-awareness as depicted in science-fiction is probably unlikely, but that there were other potential hazards and pitfalls. Once the accelerating pace of technological change allows us to build machines that not only equal but surpass human intelligence-we´ll see cyborgs, androids and other combinations beyond what we can even imagine. On the other side, this movie shows that a robot may not harm a human being, unless he finds a way to prove that ultimately the harm done would benefit humanity in general. If in the future, human-like robots will be created , a principle like this one would exist, ”A robot must protect its own existence” and so does human. Robotics can become the tools of murder, provided they are not aware of the nature of their tasks; for instance being ordered to add something to a person's food, not knowing that it is poison.

Surrogates

The future of robotics has certainly been addressed several times over. From books to movies, virtually everyone has at least some idea of how they believe the future of robotics technology will play out. Human experience is marked by a refusal to obey our limitations. We´ve escaped the ground, we´ve escaped the planet, and now, after thousands of years of effort, our quest to build machines that emulate our own appearance, movement and intelligence is leading us to the point where we will escape the two most fundamental confines of all: our bodies and our minds. Androids for the future? I think that would be nice. Anyone can be whoever he/she wants. But just any other technology creations, there’s still a possibility that Androids are capable of violating laws. Scientist’s debates the possibility of human-like robots could think and act like human or not. If ever the possibility is high then a new genre of world is being created. The future of robotics technology looks bright. It has been pondered however just how robotics technology will affect future generations.

Pirates of Silicon Valley

The Pirates of Silicon Valley is a flick about the rivalry between Steve Jobs, the one who introduced the Apple Computers, and Bill Gates of Microsoft. The movie draws out the historical development of these two large computer companies, from the time when Bill Gates and Steve Jobs’ college days to 1985, in moving pictures using old cinematography. It is an enlightening depiction of the evolution of a true phenomenon, the age of personal computers. The movie also emphasized the negative qualities of the two gentlemen that are now having big names worldwide. Despite of the unenthusiastic attitude of Steve Jobs to his team and co-founders, he still managed to uplift and give a renowned recognition of the Apple Company. On the other hand, Bill Gates also tried to put everyone down who are in the same business even though Microsoft at first was an underdog. Still, he survived and also made Microsoft as a threatening counterpart to Apple. What was really amazing about the film was that the two contenders actually worked together until Steve Jobs realized that Bill Gates developed Windows using the software that Apple had programmed for their computers. The movie is really interesting for it caters the audience not only the development of the two largest computer companies but also the curious students specially students studying computer-related courses. The character of Bill Gates was quite hard to understand and I just kept seeing him as that nerdy kid who is nuts about computers but the characters of Steve Jobs and Bill.

Why do we need to study technology/gies?

2010-12-10T10:54:00.000+08:00

Basically, technology is there, it’s present and just roaming around somewhere. Like, the ancient times where they use carved stones for cutting and carving. Then after the carved stones where developed and became a cutting tool, such as today we call it knife, axe, and others. These where technologies that was basically based from the ancient times then was developed up to date. Simply, technology will always evolve; it will always find a new way to a simpler life.

The world wouldn’t be this better without the technological advances we had over the years. Most people admire technology because of the benefits it has given to them. The perfect reason for this is they are dependent on it. No doubt that the uses of technology and society interact strongly. Obviously, it made our lives easier to the extent that repetitive and monotonous tasks need not to be performed manually and giving us the idea to create shortcuts in working.

As simple as, the need to study technology, is to sustain the demands and needs of every mankind. The more advancement people get, the more they yearn for something much better. Reasons of studying technology also indicate how broad human knowledge is because the better the ideas the more curious humans are. At some point, technology helps in uniting people all over the world and made our communication process more interesting. And basically, technology will always continue until life ends.

I'm back with some action...

2010-12-06T22:03:00.002+08:00

Hi guys, It's me again and I'm back in business. This time going to tackle more about technology. And the future technologies. I have a lot of things to tell you and i hope you will have fun reading it.. See you all soon. :)

PRF and the INTERFACE

2010-09-03T22:18:00.001+08:00

Contrast and discuss the enrolment input form (PRF) with the enrolment university interface. (at least 1000words, not to include illustrations/figures/diagrams)

First of all ill let you try to observe the different illustration pertaining to the enrolment process of the university. The focus would be on the enrolment input form (PRF) and the university enrolment interface. To start, the first picture is the enrolment input form (PRF) of the university. Thanks to Charmaine Dayanan for the photo.

As you can see, this is the enrolment input form (PRF) of the old type. Here, on the top of the form is the school name and under it is the college/department with an underline. Then, you can see the name, id number, and address. And below as you can see, is the semester, school year, course, major, section, sex, type, and the scholarship that is sectioned in the first row. And below, the code, subject title, subject description, units, section, days, time, room that is labeled in the second row. And the following rows are for the filling of information. And at the bottom as you can see, are the date, student signature, and adviser. Now, let’s go to the new enrolment input form (PRF) of the university. Thanks to Chris Romarate for the photo.

As you can see, in the new enrolment input form (PRF) is just pretty the same with the old enrolment input form (PRF). The only difference is that the college/department is already named after the college which is the Institute of Computing. And the form is simpler. Lastly, we will try to see the university enrolment interface. Thanks to Joan Rose Dandoy for the photo.

As you can see, this is the enrolment interface of the university. Here, we can see the search, delete, print, new, and edit button at the top of the interface and same as the working semester and the exit button. Below, we can see the id number, the student name, address, class, gender, civil status, birth date, contact, email add, religion, year, type, desired career, college/unit, course, major, parents. In the side portion of the interface is view subjects button, official add/drop button, student’s grades button as well as the interface of the code, subject, description, unit, room, time, and days.

To compare, the interface should be the same with the enrolment input form (PRF). Or shall we say, the enrolment input form (PRF) should be the same with the interface. But, basically the interface should be the same with the enrolment input form (PRF). My points are just simple if the id number in the enrolment input form (PRF) is on the right side in the interface should also be in the right side. In the interface, you can see the working semester and in the enrolment input form (PRF) is the semester. Why shouldn’t it be semester also in the interface? The next point that I’m going to share is that the gender field in the interface while in the enrolment input form is sex? It should be gender to make it more conventional and conservative. In the interface you can see the birth date while in the enrolment input form (PRF) there is no birth date. So for me, birth date is basically part of basic information of a person so it should be included same as the religion and contact number. Lastly, the desired career in the interface should not be included because there are only 2 courses offered in the Institute of Computing which is the Bachelor of Science in Information Technology and the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. So the desired career should not be included anymore. And the spelling of the desired career is wrong.

So basically, that’s all about it.

Network Environment of USEP

2010-07-30T04:26:00.000+08:00

Interview your university network specialist. Ask how various parts of the system communicate with each other throughout the university. (Q) Given the chance to redesign the existing setup, enumerate and discuss your key points for an effective and efficient network environment ideal for the university.
(at least 3000 words)

Basically, all of our answers are all the same because we submitted a questionnaire to Sir Ariel Reyes as a class. We set a schedule for the interview with Sir Ariel Reyes last week but unfortunately there are problems occurred when the planned interview was about to take progress; the server had a problem so Sir Ariel Reyes needs to cut the planned session and move it to another time, but due to Sir Ariel’s busy schedule we didn’t had a chance to have a class discussion. So, the planned class discussion failed because due to some conflicts, later it turned out to be just leaving Sir Ariel Reyes a questionnaire so that he could answer all of the questions. Unfortunately, he didn’t answer all of the questions, so my answers are all base on Sir Ariel’s answers.

These were the questions that the class had come up with.

Questions:

1. In system development, how various parts of the system communicate with each other throughout the university? In what way?
2. What are the components involved in the system(s) in the university? (hardware, software, technology, etc.)
3. How do these communicate with one another? (topology, network connectivity, protocols, etc.) – may include data flow/ UML diagrams to better explain
4. What are the processes involved in the communication (each system to other systems)?
5. How do you go along with the maintenance of the system?
6. Does the system follow a specific standard? Explain Please.
7. How is the security of the system? Are there any vulnerabilities? Risks? Corresponding mitigation techniques? Access control?
8. Are there any interference? During what (most) times do these occur? Explain their effects especially with regards to the business of the university?
9. What are the current trends in network environment ideal for the university?
10. Based on your experience, can you enumerate and discuss your key points for an effective and efficient network environment that is ideal for the university?
11. Can those key points apply to the current trends for the university’s network environment? How it works?
12. Can you draw the general network architecture of the university?
13. On your own opinion, are the users satisfied with the current network setup?
14. What network architecture is used in the university?
15. What are the drawbacks that you found in the existing system? How would you treat these drawbacks?
16. On you own opinion; are there any changes that you want to change in the existing network architecture?
17. How would you see the university few years after implementing the newly developed system?

So basically, those where the questions that we had come up with and below are the answers that Sir Ariel Reyes had come up with.

• In system development, how various parts of the system communicate with each other throughout the university? In what way?

Answer of Sir Reyes:
Regarding System Development, the best person to ask is our University Programmers, Mr. Fortich and Dr. Mercado.

So here, Sir Ariel Reyes recommended Sir Japh Fortich and Maam Tammy Mercado to answer about the first question. I tried to communicate with Sir Japh but unfortunately I didn’t get him due to busy schedules.

• What are the components involved in the system(s) in the university? (hardware, software, technology, etc.)

Answer of Sir Reyes:
I am not in the right position to discuss the details of the software components used as there are other assigned personnel for such job. However, talking about hardware component and technology used, basically I, assigned as the network administrator, is entrusted to maintain our different servers to run 24/7. Currently, we have our Web Server hosted here in our University in our HP ProLiant ML350 Server. Its an old but stable server set-up here in our Networks Office and has been active since Engr. Val A. Quimno , not yet a dean, was appointed as the Network Administrator. The said server has the following specification:

-Intel Xeon 3.0 GHz, 3.2 GHz, or 3.4 GHz processors (dual processor capability) with 1MB level 2 cache standard. Processors include support for Hyper-Threading and Extended Memory 64 Technology (EM64T)
-Intel® E7520 chipset
-800-MHz Front Side Bus
-Integrated Dual Channel Ultra320 SCSI Adapter
-Smart Array 641 Controller (standard in Array Models only)
-NC7761 PCI Gigabit NIC (embedded)
-Up to 1 GB of PC2700 DDR SDRAM with Advanced ECC capabilities (Expandable to 8 GB)
-Six expansion slots: one 64-bit/133-MHz PCI-X, two 64-bit/100-MHz PCI-X, one 64-bit/66-MHz PCI-X, one x4 PCI-Express, and one x8 PCI-Express
-New HP Power Regulator for ProLiant delivering server level, policy based power management with industry leading energy efficiency and savings on system power and cooling costs
-Three USB ports: 1 front, 1 internal, 1 rear
-Support for Ultra320 SCSI hard drives (six hot plug or four non-hot plug drives supported standard, model dependent)
-Internal storage capacity of up to 1.8TB; 2.4TB with optional 2-bay hot plug SCSI drive
-725W Hot-Plug Power Supply (standard, most models); optional 725W Hot-Pluggable Redundant Power Supply (1+1) available. Non hot plug SCSI models include a 460W non-hot plug power supply.
-Tool-free chassis entry and component access
-Support for ROM based setup utility (RBSU) and redundant ROM
-Systems Insight Manager, SmartStart, and Automatic Server Recovery 2 (ASR-2) included
-Protected by HP Services and a worldwide network of resellers and service providers. Three-year Next Business Day, on-site limited global warranty. Certain restrictions and exclusions apply. Pre-Failure Notification on processors, memory, and SCSI hard drives.

Aside from it, our mail server running under Compaq Proliant ML330 Server, our oldest server, is also hosted here in our Networks Office. Together with other Servers, such as Proxy and Enrollment Servers, both proxy and our enrollment servers are running in a microcomputer/personal computer but with higher specifications to act as servers.

• How do these communicate with one another? (topology, network connectivity, protocols, etc.) – may include data flow/ UML diagrams to better explain.

Answer of Sir Reyes:
All Servers are connected in a shared medium grouped as one subnetwork. In general, our network follows the extended star topology which is connected to a DUAL WAN Router that serves as the load balancer between our two Internet Service Providers. All other workstations are grouped into different subnetworks as in star topology branching out from our servers subnetwork as in extended star topology. At present, we are making use of class C IP Address for private IP address assignments. Other workstations IP assignments are configured statically (example: laboratories) while others are Dynamic (example: offices). All workstations are connected via our proxy servers that do some basic filtering/firewall to control users access to the internet aside from router filtering/firewall management. So, whenever any workstation has to connect to the internet, it has to pass through software and hardware based firewall.

• What are the processes involved in the communication (each system to other systems)?

Answer of Sir Reyes:
As mentioned above, in item 3, all workstations are connected via a proxy server. It means that whenever a workstation is turned on, it requests for an IP address from the proxy server (for dynamically configured IP address) and connect to the network after IP address is acquired. As connection is established, each system can now communicate and share resources within the same subnetwork and to server following the concepts discuss in your Computer Network Class.

• How do you go along with the maintenance of the system?

Answer of Sir Reyes:
Basically, our servers are expected to be in good condition since it is required to be up 24/7. Daily, during my vacant period, monitoring on the servers are observed that includes checking logs, checking hardware performance such as CPU health, etc. If problems are observed, remedies are then and then applied. Once in a week, regular overall checkup is observed as preventive maintenance to ensure not to experience longer downtime if possible.

• Does the system follow a specific standard? Explain Please.

Answer of Sir Reyes:
As I was appointed as the Network Administrator, everything was already in place except for some minor changes. Basically, different networking standards was already observed such as cabling standards, TIA/EIA 568A-B, different IEEE standards as discussed in your Computer Networks Subject, etc.

• How is the security of the system? Are there any vulnerabilities? Risks? Corresponding mitigation techniques? Access control?

Answer of Sir Reyes:
As I have mentioned, we have implemented both software and hardware based filtering/firewall. Basically, Risks or vulnerabilities and different mitigation techniques were considered to increase security in our network. Aside from filtering/firewall, constant monitoring on networks activity also increases the security of the system.

• Are there any interference? During what (most) times do these occur? Explain their effects especially with regards to the business of the university?

Answer of Sir Reyes:
Major Interferences are normally encountered as an effect of unforeseen and beyond our control events such as black outs, and the like. The said interference would of course affect University’s day-to-day businesses for obviously this will paralyze all our activities that rely on electricity and further this might cause damage on our network devices, etc. that may later be the reason for longer downtime. Problems encountered by our providers such as connection to the National/International Gateway also affect University’s business such as correlating to University’s Business Partners outside and within the country.

• What are the current trends in network environment ideal for the university?
• Based on your experience, can you enumerate and discuss your key points for an effective and efficient network environment that is ideal for the university?
• Can those key points apply to the current trends for the university’s network environment? How it works?
• Can you draw the general network architecture of the university?
• On your own opinion, are the users satisfied with the current network setup?
• What network architecture is used in the university?
• What are the drawbacks that you found in the existing system? How would you treat these drawbacks?
• On you own opinion; are there any changes that you want to change in the existing network architecture?
• How would you see the university few years after implementing the newly developed system?

As you can see, Sir Ariel Reyes hasn’t answered all of the questions because he explained that no time and he has a very tight schedule. Luckily, for us he manages to answer at least some of the questions.

In relevant to the second question about given the chance to redesign the existing setup, enumerate and discuss your key points for an effective and efficient network environment ideal for the university.

For me it all begins with a plan. Plan what is the best way to improve the network environment of the university. Planning on the thing that needs to be improved, these are the requirements of the university. What are the important processes that the university really relies on, from the businesses to school related processes such as enrollment and other processes. As we all know the university has some business related establishment that currently servicing customers such as the university dormitory. In relation to network communication, do the university dormitory needs to have a better network environment for communication or are they satisfied with it? so by looking at that we can get the requirements that is needed for the improvement. Now, we go to the enrollment system of the university, does the processes satisfying? or not? So it is really base on the requirement. After the requirements are set, the next thing to do is to analyze if what are the best solutions for the requirements. Do we need to relocate the servers? Do we need to change the server? Or do we need to change the specs of the server? These are the thing that needs to be considered. So after analysis, the next thing to do is design. What are the things to do when designing? What topology are we going to use in order to attain the said requirements. What standard are we going to use in designing the network environment? So these are the questions that would basically pop out when you want to design a network environment. As the design goes on, the next thing to do is to get started.

Here are some factors that affect network performance. Unfortunately, not all networks are the same. As data is broken into component parts (often known frames, packets, or segments) for transmission, several factors can affect their delivery.

• Latency: It can take a long time for a packet to be delivered across intervening networks. In reliable protocols where a receiver acknowledges delivery of each chunk of data, it is possible to measure this as round-trip time.
• Packet loss: In some cases, intermediate devices in a network will lose packets. This may be due to errors, to overloading of the intermediate network, or to intentional discarding of traffic in order to enforce a particular service level.
• Retransmission: When packets are lost in a reliable network, they are retransmitted. This incurs two delays: First, the delay from re-sending the data; and second, the delay resulting from waiting until the data is received in the correct order before forwarding it up the protocol stack.
• Throughput: The amount of traffic a network can carry is measured as throughput, usually in terms such as kilobits per second. Throughput is analogous to the number of lanes on a highway, whereas latency is analogous to its speed limit.

These factors, and others (such as the performance of the network signaling on the end nodes, compression, encryption, concurrency, and so on) all affect the effective performance of a network. In some cases, the network may not work at all; in others, it may be slow or unusable. And because applications run over these networks, application performance suffers. Various intelligent solutions are available to ensure that traffic over the network is effectively managed to optimize performance for all users.

And also, network configuration management refers to setting, changing, collecting and restoring information about network devices (bridges, routers, workstations, servers, switches and others).
Networks of any size are in a constant state of flux. Any of the engineers responsible for the network can change the configuration of the switches and routers at any time. Configuration changes to live equipment can have devastating effects on the reliability of the network and the services provided by it. The aim of network configuration management is to save you time & reduce errors on your network due to misconfiguration of network devices. A network configuration management system is designed to allow you to take control of network changes, to simplify the job of managing networks and to fix configuration errors quickly.

There are direct correlations between properly configured devices and network security. Today's network configuration management solutions are specifically designed to automate the process of changing, securing and managing devices throughout the network. Whether configuration changes are introduced through malicious attacks, manual update errors, or network product defects, devices can become vulnerable and place the business at risk.

So, for me I would suggest that we would really have our own building that is properly located in a good space. Then, we will put up the server in that building. So that it would be spacious and the network administrators can easily move in the server room with good space for be able to make good use of the time specially when you have server crashes and server down. The more space you have the better your work is because you can free work on problems when occurred. Next would be good network architecture. The more the architecture is the better the service it can offer. Example, cables that are properly arranged makes a better connection. No entangling of wires and cables. And it can also be a very good atmosphere when you are inside the server room. Next, is good ventilation and good cooling system for all of the hardware that is currently running, the more it gives good performance. As it is all set, the next thing to do is have a more adequate server unit. I’m not against of the specs of our server but it’s kind of old and needs a better one. But, if it is still at good condition and meets the requirements needed for the university then I shall say go. But, as we all know all things has its limits, maybe we need to let it go. The next point I want to say is that the network topology. With good network topology I think all communications throughout the university will be with no problem. There will be some problems but it is minimal, and with a proper security features I think its all going to be ok. As it is all set, the next thing to do is the maintenance. Once it is operational the main thing that should be done is the maintenance. So, it should have a weekly maintenance.

One thing that I want to point out is that our network security. As Sir Val Quimno told us, the security level of our network is not very high. It is prone to all attacks and unwanted events. So for me, they really need to focus on the security so that attacks cannot penetrate the system. And it can lessen the problems in a network environment. So if this are all been done and meet I guess it’s a good network environment.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_performance_management
http://www.networkdictionary.com/networking/ncm.php

Relative to Assignment 1

2010-07-18T20:24:00.001+08:00

Relative to your answer in Assignment 1.... What’s your take on the design of the enrollment system?

As we all know that the issue of our enrollment system is the talk of the town or rather the main example of our discussions in SAD. The main thing is that all my experiences since the day I came in this University pertaining to the enrollment system of the university was satisfactory to the length that the enrollment system did change and did improve. As we all know that the University's enrollment system was one of the problems that the university is facing. The administration tried to improve the enrollment system of the University. As I stayed in this University I still have some hard time in enrolling myself in the school. Even if I am already a senior in this University still I really haven’t mastered the system yet. Although I already know the things or shall we say the processes in the enrollment system, there are still cases that confuses me. And also the time for the whole enrollment process would take me so much of the time.

So my suggestion for the design of the enrollment system?

Basically, my suggestion is simple. First is to make a formal planning among the developers of the new enrollment system. Planning is the key to all success. Planning to fail is not an option rather to plan not to fail. So planning starts with what will be the requirement, and what will be the wanted output. So if it is all set, then proceed to further study and analysis on the requirements. What are the things that are needed to be done. What are the steps in acquiring the said requirement. What are the possible way to improve the system. So, further analysis is needed to be done in order to attain the said requirement. After the analysis, go to design. So for the design, make it very simple and understandable by the users. Don’t make it complicated, just simple processes and very important processes. Eliminate unnecessary processes that would not be very relevant to the enrollment system such as to many fees to pay, why make it into one payment for better and faster process. And also, there should be one booth per department so that the process of all transactions will be more efficient especially in the finance department. So to add in the design they should be more man power for more coverage of the processes. So basically, the main thing is that, do the following things; plan, analyze, and design in order to attain the goal. But, support from the administration is also the key to have a better enrollment system for the university. So basically that’s it. Thanks..

Accounting 2

2010-07-10T16:30:00.000+08:00

MOVING TO DESIGN

Systems design is the process of describing, organizing, and structuring the components of a system at both the architectural level and a detailed level with a view toward constructing the proposed system. Systems design is like a set of blueprints used to build a house. The blueprints are organized by the different components of the house and describe the rooms, the stories, the walls, the windows, the doors, the wiring, the plumbing, and all other details. To understand the various elements of systems design, we must consider two questions: What are the components that require systems design? What are the inputs to and outputs of the design process?

A second important idea underlying systems design is that of the different levels of design. During analysis, we first identified the scope of the problem before we tired to understand all of the other details. We called this step top-down analysis. Analysis, as it was presented, included both top-down activities (for examples, scope first, then details) and bottom-up activities (for examples, DFD fragments first, then the middle-level diagram). The same ideas apply during design will use the term architectural design.

During the activities of the analysis phase, we built documents and models. For traditional analysis, models such as the event table, data flow diagrams, and entity-relationship diagrams were built. For object-oriented analysis, we also used the event table and developed other models such as class diagrams, use case diagrams, and use case descriptions. Regardless of the approach, the input to the design phase activities is the set of documents and models that were built during earlier phases. Design is also a model-building activity.

Designing the application architecture involves specifying in detail how all system activities will actually be carried out. These activities are described during systems analysis in great detail as logical models, without indicating what specific technology would be used. After a specific design alternative is chosen, the detailed computer processing – the physical models – can be designed. A key decision is to define the automation boundary, discussed in chapter eight, which separates the manual work done by people from the automated work done by computers.

No system exists in a vacuum. A new information system will affect many other information systems. Sometimes one system provides information that is later used by another system. Other times systems exchange information continuously as they run. The component that enables systems to share information is the system interface, and each system interface needs to be designed in detail. From the very beginning of systems design, analysts must ensure that all of these systems work together well. Some system interfaces link internal organizational systems, so the analyst may have information available about the other systems.

Designing the database for the system is another key design activity. The data model (a logical model) created during systems analysis is used to create the physical model of the database. Sometimes the database is a collection of traditional computer files. More often, it is a relational database consisting of dozens or even hundreds of tables. Sometimes files and might be used instead of relational databases. Analysts must consider many important technical issues when designing the database. Many of the technical (as supposed to functional) requirements defined during systems analysis concern database performance needs (such as response time).

During the design phase, it is important to continue creating and evaluating prototypes. Prototyping can also be used to confirm design choices about user interfaces, the database, networking architecture, controls, or even programming environments being used. Therefore, when analysts consider all of the design activities, they think about how prototypes might be used to help understand a variety of design decisions. It is also important to recognize that rapid application development (RAD) approaches develop prototypes during design that evolve into the finished system. In those cases, the prototype is the system.
A final design activity involves ensuring that the system has adequate safeguards to protect organizational assets. These safeguards are referred to as system controls. This activity is not listed last because controls have to be or it is less important than the others. On the contrary, it is a crucial activity. It is listed last because it is less important or the controls have to be considered for all other design activities – user interface, system interface, application architecture, database, and network design.

The initiation of design activities is a pivotal point in the development project. The focus changes from discovery to solution development and the whole tenor of the project changes. Coordinating all of the ongoing activities is challenging for even the best project managers because myriad details and tasks must be handled to keep the project on track. Even though analysis for iteration is essentially complete at this point, some analysis tasks remain. Every new system has a multitude of business rules that must be integrated into it missions are calculated, what happens to commissions on merchandise returns, when commissions are paid, how the commission schedule varies to encourage sales of high-margin items and sale items, and so forth.

The fundamental tool to coordinate the various project teams’ activities is the project schedule. As the activities of the design phase begin, the project manager must update the schedule by identifying and estimating all tasks associated with design and implementation, as well as any outstanding tasks associated with ongoing requirements definition. The project schedule usually must be reworked substantially to ensure that the project remains organized. Weekly, and sometimes daily, status meetings are held. If this group includes people at remote locations, teleconferencing support may be required.
As a customer support system project moves forward into design at RMO, the project team has been enhanced with the addition of new team members. Consistent with the earlier discussion, RMO initiated two new subprojects at this time, one for data conversion and one for the system and acceptance test plans. To integrate new people into the team, Barbara Halifax reorganized the structure of the project team. Those who had been on the team through-out the analysis phase are now key players in getting the new team members up to speed.

As design moves forward, the development teams begin to generate a tremendous amount of detailed information about the system. Modules, classes, data fields, data structures, forms, reports, methods, subroutines, and tables are all being defined in substantial detail. The most common and widespread technique to record and track project information is to use a CASE tool. Most CASE tools have a central repository to capture information. A major element in a CASE tool system is the central repository of information.

In chapter eight, you learned that defining the deployment environment is an activity that bridges analysis and design. The deployment environment consists of the hardware, system software, and networking environment in which the system will operate. In this section, we describe common deployment environments in detail, and in the next section we’ll explore related design patterns and architectures for application software. Single-computer architecture is an architecture that employs a single computer system executing all application-related software. A multitier architecture is an architecture that distributes application-related software or processing load across multiple computer systems. A clustered architecture is a group of computers of the same type that share a processing load and act as a single large computer system. A multicomputer architecture is a group of dissimilar computers that share processing load through specialization of function. The term centralized architecture describes deployment of all computer system in a single location.

Centralized architecture is generally used for large-scale processing applications, including both batch and real-time applications. Such applications are common in industries. Any application that has two or three of these characteristics is a viable candidate for implementation on a centralized mainframe. Current trends in conducting e-business have instilled new life into centralized mainframe computing because of the transaction volumes of many business-to-business (B2B) processes. Centralized computer systems are seldom used as the sole hardware platform for an information system. Most systems have some transaction inputs that must be accepted from geo-graphically dispersed locations and processed in real time – for example, a cash withdrawal from an ATM.

A computer network is a set of transmission lines, specialized hardware, and communication protocols that enable communication among different users and computer systems. Computer networks are divided into two classes depending on the distance they span. A local area network (LAN) is typically less than one kilometer long and connects computers within a single building or floor. The term wide area network (WAN) can describe any network over one kilometer, though the term typically implies much greater distances spanning cities, countries, continents, or the entire globe.

The internet is the infrastructure on which the Web is based. In other words, resources of the Web are delivered to users over the internet. An intranet is a private network that uses (usually members of the same organizations or workgroup). An extranet is an intranet that has been extended to include directly related business users outside the organization (such as suppliers, large customers, and strategic partners).

Simple deployment environments, such as a single centralized computer with video display terminals, can be matched to relatively simple application architectures. More complex distributed and multitier hardware and network architectures require more complex software architectures. This section describes common examples of application architectures for distributed and multitier deployment environments and the design issues and decisions associated with each. A server manages one or more information systems resources or provides a well-defined service. A client communicates with a server to request resources or services, and the server responds to those requests. Like earlier forms of client/server architecture, three-layer architecture is inherently flexible. Interactions among the layers are always requests or responses, which makes the layers relatively independent of one another. It doesn’t matter where other layers are implemented or on what type of computer or operating system they execute. The only interlayer dependencies are a common language for requests and responses and a reliable network with sufficient communication capacity.

Client/server and three-layer architecture relies on special programs to enable communication between the various layers. Software that implements this communication interface is usually called middleware. Middleware connects parts of an application and enables requests and data to pass between them. There are various methods to implement the middleware functions. Some common types of middleware include transaction processing monitors, object request brokers (ORBs), and Web service directories. Each type of middleware has its own set of protocols to facilitate communication between the various components of an information system.

The Web is a complex example of client/server architecture. Web sources are managed by server processes that can execute on dedicated server computers or on multipurpose computer systems. Clients are programs that send requests to servers using one or more of the standard Web resource request protocols. Web protocols define valid resource formats and a standard means of requesting resources and services. Any program (not just a Web browser) can use Web protocols. Thus, Weblike capabilities can be embedded in ordinary application programs.

Modern organizations rely on networks to support many different applications. Thus, the majority of new systems must be integrated into existing networks without disrupting existing applications. Network design and management are highly technical tasks, and most organizations have permanent in-house staff, contractors, or consultants to handle network administration. The analyst for a new project begins network design by consulting with the organization’s network administrators to determine whether the existing network can accommodate the new system. In some cases, the existing network capacity is sufficient, and only minimal changes are required such as adding connections for new servers or modifying routing and firewall configuration to enable new application layers to communicate.

Location-related information gathered during analysis may have been documented using location diagrams, activity-location diagrams, and activity-data matrices. During network design, the analyst expands the information content of these documents to include processing locations, communication protocols, middleware, and communication capacity. There are many different ways to describe the network infrastructure for a specific application. The diagram embodies specific assumptions about server locations, which would be decided in consultation with network administrators. The Web/application servers could have been distributed outside an establishment data center, which might have improved system response time and reduced data communication capacity requirements on the private WAN.

The network diagram is also a starting point for specifying protocol and middleware requirements. For example, the private WAN connections must support protocols required to process Microsoft Active Directory logins and queries. If the WAN fails, messages are routed through encrypted (VPN) connections over the Internet, so those connections must support the same protocols as the private WAN.

Data size per access type is an educated guess at this point in the system design because none of the software layers, interlayer communication dialogs, or database has yet been designed. So basically, that was the summary of the chapter moving to design. The points that where tackled where the issues related to managing and coordinating the design phase of SDLC. Explain the major components and levels of design, and describe each design phase activity, and describe common deployment environments and matching application architectures and lastly, develop a simple network diagram and estimate communication capacity requirements.

Enrollment

2010-07-08T17:35:00.000+08:00

Assuming you were tapped by the university president to evaluate the new enrollment system implemented this semester, enumerate your observations/comments and suggest possible areas and ways where improvements can be made. Your observations/suggestions should be properly validated with facts and literatures... (You may start with the diagrams posted in the strategic locations of the university)... (1000words)

Before I suggest my comments and observations first I will just explain to you the things that are going on in our current enrollment system. First is the enrollment procedure for the shiftees. First is that they go to the student accounts to do the following check the student account, check the balance, and then signing of their clearance. The next step would be going to his/her department to request that he/she will shift, and then the recommendation that he/she can shift to another department. Then he/she will go the new department that he/she will be transferring, and then evaluating the student, and then advising or pre-registration process. The step four is that they update the student profile. The next step would be the payment of other fees, encoding, assessment of fees, and then temporary COR (Certificate of Registration) printing. After that, the student will go to the student accounts if he/she is a scholar, and if not he/she can directly go to the cashier for the payment of the matriculation. After that process, he/she will go to the registrar to present clearance, present official receipts, and printing the student’s original COR. After that he/she is officially enrolled. The image below represents the enrollment system of the shiftees.

The next one is for the old students of the university. It is pretty the same with the enrollment system of the shiftees, the only difference is that if you are a scholar you go to the OSS office to renew your scholarship grant, but if your not a scholar then you can directly proceed to advising. Then, if your still taking up NSTP subjects you go to the office and enroll to the NSTP programs either ROTC or CWTS. After that, you go to your department for advising then encoding and printing of the temporary COR. Then, if you’re a scholar you go to the student account for posting of accounts, and if you’re a paying student you will go to the cashier to pay your matriculation. After that presenting of clearances, official receipts, and then printing of the original COR, and then you are officially enrolled. The image below represents the enrollment system of the old students.

The last thing would be for the new students. The processes are different here because the starting enrollment process is from the admission process. The student will evaluated and then if accepted they will issue an admission slip. After that you go and take the USEPAT exam and if you passed the exam you can proceed to the next step. The next step will be done in the University Guidance and Testing Office (UGTO). Encoding of student information and assigning the students ID number. After that, if the new student is a scholar he/she will go to the OSS office for scholarship application, but if you’re not a scholar then you can directly proceed to advising. Then, he/she will enroll to the NSTP programs either ROTC or CWTS. Then after that they go to the college/department that they will be enrolling and then present all the enrollment requirements, and then go for advising, paying the other fees such as local council fees and etc. then after that is the encoding and then printing of the temporary COR. If you’re a scholar you first go to the student account for posting of accounts. If not, you go to the cahiers for payment of matriculation and printing of official receipts. Then, go to the registrar then submit all the enrollment requirements such as form 137, photocopy of NSO birth certificate, USEPAT entrance exam result, admission slip, medical certificate, certificate of good moral, 2 pieces 2x2 picture, prospectus of the enrolled course, 1 piece long brown envelope and the official receipt. After that printing of the original COR and you are already officially enrolled. The image below represents the enrollment system of the new students.

So basically, those are the things that are happening if it is enrollment time in the university.

Now, the things that I notice in our enrollment system is that when you pay the other fees such as the headlight and the others is that you are going to go to their office in order for you to pay the fees. For me, I would suggest that every payment are all in one place, an example would that they’re would be one representative each office to handle such payments. Let’s take it for an example, if you’re in the IC department all payments should be handled in that department in order for a faster process. When the collection is already done that’s the time the representative will submit the payments to its office.

The other thing that I observed is that the diagrams of each enrollment system are adequately confusing such that the arrows and images seem didn’t fit. For me, I would suggest that make the diagrams more simple and understandable.
One thing that I also want to point out that if there is funds that are available for the improvement of our enrollment system why would they just make each department have their own finance office so that it would be faster if one cashier per department same goes to the registrar, one registrar booth per department.

Basically, the new enrollment system of the university had quite improved since the first day I got here. Basically, the processes are quite fast as to compare before that people in each steps wait in such long queues. But for me, still I’m not satisfied with the enrollment system of the university. I may also include factors that are involved in the said matter, maybe financial issues that no enough funds are available for such actions. As we all know cost is really a key factor in creating new systems.

I’m not really satisfied in the current enrollment system but at least some of the processes in the enrollment system had improved if not much at least in a little way.

ERP Companies

2010-03-08T02:13:00.000+08:00

No two people see the world the same way. We invent accordingly.

HOYA Vision Care of the Americas makes and supplies ophthalmic lenses to Eye Care Professionals located within the United States, Canada, and South American countries. HOYA supplies a complete range of high quality lens designs, coatings and materials.

HOYA is tirelessly pushing ahead with the development of new lens technologies, always offering products with superior functionality and higher quality that further meet customer needs.

HOYA's complete offering of lens products includes the high index materials EYAS™ 1.60, EYNOA™ 1.67 or EYRY™ 1.70. HOYA's Phoenix™ lens material offers the broadest range of consumer benefits - it's safe, tough, light and clear.

HOYA offers superior AR lens performance through SUPER HiVision - the most scratch resistant anti-reflective coating on the market today. SUPER HiVision also automatically includes HOYA's ViewProtect, providing "easy to clean" lenses.

In the area of lens designs, HOYA offers unbeatable products such as HOYALUX iD - the world’s first integrated double-surface progressive lens design.

No matter what the needs of your patient are, HOYA has an unbeatable solution.

Mission Statement

Our Mission is to provide North America's highest quality eyewear and the industry's best customer service, to meet our customer's requirements and exceed their patient’s expectations.

Our Values

Team members who:
-Treat one another with fairness and respect
-Take accountability and ownership for failures as well as successes

A Company that:
-Believes and demonstrates that the customer is of the most importance
-Supports open and honest communications without fear of reprisal
-Celebrates its successes

A Workplace that:
-Provides the tools and resources to provide Great Quality
-Is safe from injuries and pleasant to work in
-Encourages and supports continuous improvement
-Provides training and opportunities for career advancement

HOYA Corporation Worldwide

Creating opportunities and exploiting them.

From our inception back in 1941, the HOYA Corporation has experienced remarkable growth. We intend to continue to expand our horizons in the future to be able to create and exploit new opportunities together with you, our customers.

A flexible global player.

The year 1974 heralded a period of globalization for the HOYA Corporation. Since then factories and distribution centres have been opened worldwide including our acquisition of the Buchmann group, which strengthened our position within Europe, and the integration of the North American market. All of our branches are founded on local and regional circumstances and cultural qualities, by spreading its production capacity in this way HOYA is able to operate flexibly.

It is not just a unique position from which we can provide you with new technologies and products; it is much more than that. It is also the far-reaching support that forms a central part of our working culture. In the meantime, with 46 branches in 24 countries HOYA has carved out a strong position for itself and in the process has become a flexible, global player.

This is the article that was release which is a sub company of HOYA Visions.

PRESS RELEASE - July 2009

Important step in the strategic plan of INDO a sub company of HOYA

Indo has reached a strategic agreement with the Japanese multinational Hoya.
Indo has signed an agreement with its bankers’ pool to refinance up to 85% of its bankers debt.
The Institut Català de Finances has granted a credit of 8 million euros.

Barcelona, 31 July- Commitments completed. This is what the strategic and financial alliances could be considered to be. One year ago, when Juan Casaponsa became the new Indo Executive President, Indo announced that the company initiated a major project of transformation. This project has been materializing in its two main areas: the refocusing on its three business units: lenses, eyewear and equipment, and consolidating and ensuring their financial soundness. Regarding financial soundness, just a year ago Indo made a successful capital increase. Now we can announce the agreement reached with the Banco Santander, BBVA, Bancaja, Banco de Sabadell and Banco Popular Español to refinance, in the long term, around 85% of its debt, which is equivalent to some 35 million euros. Besides, Indo has obtained a loan of 8 million euros from the Institut Català de Finances. These financing agreements underscore the trust placed in Indo’s financial future by financial entities and the Public Administration. The new approach in its three business units began with the Indo-Buchmann agreement of intent to merge their respective businesses of Equipment in order to create the new world leader in machinery. In the eyewear area, last Shareholders’ general Meeting we announced the agreement with McLaren for the design, production and worldwide marketing of its brand eyewear, which collections are avant-garde designed, innovative in materials and high added valued. In lens area, Indo reminded at a Shareholders’ General Meeting, that efforts were being made to strike-up a strategic alliance. The project has materialised with the signing of the agreement between the ophthalmic lenses divisions of Indo Lens Group and Hoya Vision Care. Hoya Corporation is the leading Japanese optical manufacturer and one of the worldwide ophthalmic lenses leaders regarding its business turnover. It also has other business areas such as Information Technology, Medical and Image Systems. Hoya Vision Care is one of its most important divisions, with its head office in Holland, and it is especially known for being a reference in high-index lenses, hardening and non-reflecting treatments for lenses and its products are among the most technologically advanced. This alliance will allow the interchange and supply of technology and of products, as well as collaboration in matters of research and development between the two companies. The agreement, which will be valid until the end of 2015 and which is extendable, states that Hoya will contribute 15 million euros to purchase technology and that Indo Lens Group will buy approximately 25% - 30% of its supply needs each year from Hoya Vision Care, especially in semi-finished products currently purchased from various sources of supply around the world. A key aspect of the agreement is that the two companies will continue to compete independently in all the markets, maintaining differentiated commercial strategies and complete independence in the management of each company. Juan Casaponsa, Indo's Executive President, considers that this strategic alliance will allow Indo “to substantially improve its structure of costs, making the most of synergies in R&D and offering the customer a wider and more innovative portfolio of products. Thanks to the association with Hoya, Indo will also benefit in scale, meaning that it will open the door to increasing its international presence with the entry into new markets". “The initiated transformational approach and the new new strategic business plan, will now be developed in detail once they have secured the foundations”

About Hoya Corporation

Since its creation in 1941 in Japan, Hoya Corporation has been the leading manufacturer of ophthalmic lenses. The Japanese giant company, which is listed in the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, has diversified its business areas to also include information technology, medical systems and imaging. With more than 32,000 employees and 100 subsidiaries, Hoya Corporation registered total sales of 454.1 billion Japanese yen in the fiscal year 2009 (04/08 - 03/09). Hoya Vision Care Europe is responsible for the regional management of the Vision Care division, logistics centre, sales and marketing activities, dealing with European subsidiary companies and export activities in Europe, the Middle East and North and South Africa. The Spanish subsidiary company had a turnover of 26 million euros in 2008. About Indo International Indo is a Spanish multinational company dedicated to manufacturing and commercializing lenses, eyewear, sunglasses and equipment for opticians and ophthalmologists. Indo has more than 70 years' experience in the optical sector and is one of the leaders in the Spanish market. The group has subsidiary companies in the United States, France, Italy, Portugal, Morocco, India and Chile and has production centres in Spain, China and Thailand. Indo exports its products to more than 80 countries.

So to define Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is an integrated computer-based system used to manage internal and external resources including tangible assets, financial resources, materials, and human resources. It is a software architecture whose purpose is to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organization and manage the connections to outside stakeholders. Built on a centralized database and normally utilizing a common computing platform, ERP systems consolidate all business operations into a uniform and enterprise wide system environment.
An ERP system can either reside on a centralized server or be distributed across modular hardware and software units that provide "services" and communicate on a local area network. The distributed design allows a business to assemble modules from different vendors without the need for the placement of multiple copies of complex, expensive computer systems in areas which will not use their full capacity.

While SDLC Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a logical process used by a systems analyst to develop an information system, including requirements, validation, training, and user (stakeholder) ownership. Any SDLC should result in a high quality system that meets or exceeds customer expectations, reaches completion within time and cost estimates, works effectively and efficiently in the current and planned Information Technology infrastructure, and is inexpensive to maintain and cost-effective to enhance.
Computer systems are complex and often (especially with the recent rise of Service-Oriented Architecture) link multiple traditional systems potentially supplied by different software vendors. To manage this level of complexity, a number of systems development life cycle (SDLC) models have been created: "waterfall"; "fountain"; "spiral"; "build and fix"; "rapid prototyping"; "incremental"; and "synchronize and stabilize".
SDLC models can be described along a spectrum of agile to iterative to sequential. Agile methodologies, such as XP and Scrum, focus on light-weight processes which allow for rapid changes along the development cycle. Iterative methodologies, such as Rational Unified Process and Dynamic Systems Development Method, focus on limited project scopes and expanding or improving products by multiple iterations. Sequential or big-design-upfront (BDUF) models, such as Waterfall, focus on complete and correct planning to guide large projects and risks to successful and predictable results.
Some agile and iterative proponents confuse the term SDLC with sequential or "more traditional" processes; however, SDLC is an umbrella term for all methodologies for the design, implementation, and release of software.
In project management a project can be defined both with a project life cycle (PLC) and an SDLC, during which slightly different activities occur. According to Taylor (2004) "the project life cycle encompasses all the activities of the project, while the systems development life cycle focuses on realizing the product requirements”.

References:
http://www.hoyavision.com/home.aspx
http://linux.sys-con.com/node/160739
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_Development_Life_Cycle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_Resource_Planning
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:UkGw6w1qSZAJ:www.hoya.be/dn.php%3Fid%3D97394%26m%3D0%26dm%3D1+HOYA+Vision+Project+Plans&hl=tl&gl=ph&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShu0URvoO1EEGlSrwvYAxIIlNYFGVd1tF5ITvyURciqhzMgHZC47WsP0NcklSVqIafVNOZAmnI5JscNw3t1FtsV1TQVweVABfcLVo-3S6qn7Amd48hP0Mw8Wl64mNgusN-hsGd-&sig=AHIEtbTQmSzG2fe01uKDyR-4o-801re00A

Deployment Environment

2010-03-08T01:30:00.001+08:00

You were tasked by the IC-dean to evaluate the enrollment system of the university, list and briefly describe the characteristics that an analyst (you) examines when choosing or defining deployment environment.

So basically, my idea is that use open source servers because the primary benefit of open source is that it is free. Also considering the university which lacks in budget allocation should really be advisable to use open source servers. But I’m not against package servers my point only is that we consider the budget allocation of the university. But for me, as to evaluate I think I would use Microsoft package servers because it’s the most commonly used servers. So I basically choose the SharePoint 2007. For organizations preparing to deploy SharePoint™ 2007 or to move from a pilot to full deployment, creating a properly designed environment is critical to the successful deployment of an enterprise business productivity infrastructure. The purpose of the SharePoint Environment Design and Deployment is to create a design and project plan that will meet the organizations requirements and leverages Microsoft and DataLan standards and best practices around the following areas: Physical Architecture, Logical Layout, Security Configuration, Connectivity Planning, Usability Planning, Disaster Prevention and Recovery Planning.

• Physical Architecture – This includes the physical layout of the servers and network elements needed for the SharePoint environment. Physical architecture considerations will include:

o SharePoint Server Farm Topology Configuration
o Third Party and Custom Service Configuration
o Server specifications and allocations
o Network integration points with other systems
o Network entry/boundary points

• Logical Layout – This includes the logical layout of the SharePoint web application and service elements needed for the environment. The logical layout review addresses:

o Web application, site collection and site structure and configuration
o Shared Services and My Site placement and configuration

• Security Configuration – This outlines the security mechanisms that will be employed to control access to the environment and environment resources including:

o Environment access method and AD integration
o Content access, control, and governance
o Security delegation
o Auditing and Policy management requirements

• Connectivity Planning – Details the environment access points and user connectivity methodology and controls. Connectivity planning includes:

o Local connectivity approach planning
o Remote user connectivity approach planning

• Usability Planning – Details the usage for the environment and reviews application needs and plans. Usability planning includes:

o User experience and usage of the environment will be reviewed
o Application planning will be performed in order to identify those applications to be created within or migrated into the environment

• Disaster Prevention and Recovery Planning – Including the protection of the environment from potential service interruptions or loss of data in the event of a disaster. This planning includes:

o Environment disaster methodology creation based on SLA requirements
o Environment backup requirement levels
o Environment Monitoring requirements and solution architecture

The deliverables include:

• SharePoint environment architecture document detailing all aspects of the environmental architecture
• Deployment of the SharePoint environment based on the Enterprise Architecture Plan
o Installation of a SharePoint small or medium farm environment
o Documentation of the installation and configuration of the SharePoint environment

But I’m not closing my doors to any suggestions or alternatives, maybe in my own opinion this is the deployment environment that I would suggest to them to be defined and used.

References:
http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/Pages/Default.aspx
http://www.datalan.com/Solutions/Pages/Design%20and%20Deployment.aspx

Evaluating DFD Quality

2010-03-08T01:04:00.000+08:00

With reference to assignments 8 and 9, what characteristics does an analyst (you) examine when evaluating DFD quality? (1500 words)

Before going to the point I will just discuss about what Data Flow Diagram is:

As information moves through software, it is modified by a series of transformations. A data flow diagram is a graphical representation that depicts information flow and the transforms that are applied as data move from input to output. The basic form of a data flow diagram, also known as a data flow graph or a bubble chart, is illustrated in Figure 1. The data flow diagram may be used to represent a system or software at any level of abstraction. In fact, DFDs may be partitioned into levels that represent increasing information flow and functional detail. Therefore, the DFD provides a mechanism for functional modeling as well as information flow modeling. In so doing, it satisfies the second operational analysis principle (i.e., creating a functional model). A level 0 DFD, also called a fundamental system model or a context model, represents the entire software element as a single bubble with input and output data indicated by incoming and outgoing arrows, respectively. Additional processes (bubbles) and information flow paths are represented as the level 0 DFD is partitioned to reveal more detail. For example, a level 1 DFD might contain five or six bubbles with interconnecting arrows. Each of the processes represented at level 1 is a sub function of the overall system depicted in the context model. As has been noted earlier, each of the bubbles may be refined or layered to depict more detail.

As information moves through software, it is modified by a series of transformations. A data flow diagram is a graphical representation that depicts information flow and the transforms that are applied as data move from input to output. The basic form of a data flow diagram, also known as a data flow graph or a bubble chart. The data flow diagram may be used to represent a system or software at any level of abstraction. In fact, DFDs may be partitioned into levels that represent increasing information flow and functional detail. Therefore, the DFD provides a mechanism for functional modeling as well as information flow modeling. In so doing, it satisfies the second operational analysis principle (i.e., creating a functional model). A level 0 DFD, also called a fundamental system model or a context model, represents the entire software element as a single bubble with input and output data indicated by incoming and outgoing arrows, respectively. Additional processes (bubbles) and information flow paths are represented as the level 0 DFD is partitioned to reveal more detail. For example, a level 1 DFD might contain five or six bubbles with interconnecting arrows. Each of the processes represented at level 1 is a sub function of the overall system depicted in the context model. As has been noted earlier, each of the bubbles may be refined or layered to depict more detail.

Data flow diagrams defined

Data flow diagram is a geographical tool that shows, process, flows, stores and external entities in a system. Dataflow diagram shows the transformation of data into a system. DFD has got the following symbols

Process flow diagrams

Process symbol has got the following entities, process number (tells the number of the process), locality (where activity is happening) and a process name

Data flow datagram process symbol rules

• It symbolizes the transformation of data
• There must be data flowing into/out of the process
• Process can have several inputs to it or output to it
• Process with no out becomes a null process

Data store Symbol

Consist of the following entities, data store number and name of data store. The function of data store is to designate the storage of data in a DFD diagram

Rules of Data store

• DFD data store do not by level but they may reappear incase needed
• The symbol and the numbering remain the same

Data flow symbol

Data flow symbol may appear in different shape and they signify the movement of data. They do not signify the movement of people, goods etc

• Doubles arrows signifies that activities occur at the same time which is wrong
• Data flow in is never equal to data flow out

Extended entity symbol

Extended entity is sources and destination of data. This means that source is the origin and destination is the sink of data

Dos and Don’ts of external entity
• External entity never communicate with each other, this signify that there is no need for the process
• External entity should not communicate directly with data store because external entities can be identifier with the record of files and databases

How to develop Logical data flow diagram

Below are the guidelines in developing data flow diagrams
1. Develop a physical DFD
2. Explore the process for more details
3. Maintain consistency between the process
4. Following meaningful leveling convention
5. Ensure that DFD diagrams clarifies what is happening in the system
6. Remember DFD audience
7. Add control on the lower level DFD only
8. Assign meaningful level
9. Evaluate DFD for correctness

Step in drawing DFD diagrams
1. Make a list of all business activities and use it to determine the various external entities, data flows, process and data store
2. Create a context diagram which shows external entity and data flows to and from the system
3. Do not show any detailed process or data store
4. Draw diagram zero or the next level to show process but keep them general. Show data stores and the level
5. Create a child diagram for each of the process in diagram zero
6. Check for errors and make sure the levels you assign to each process and data flow are meaningful
7. Develop a physical DFD diagram from the logical DFD and distinguish between the manual and automated protocol, describe actual files and report by name and controls to indicate when the process are complete or errors occurs
8. Portion the physical DFD by separating or grouping parts of the diagram in order to facilitate programming and implementation

Advantages of data flow diagrams
• It gives further understanding of the interestedness of the system and sub-systems
• It is useful from communicating current system knowledge to the user
• Used as part of the system documentation files
• Dataflow diagram helps to substantiate the logic underlining the dataflow of the organization
• It gives the summary of the system
• DFD is very easy to follow errors and it is also useful for quick reference to the development team for locating and controlling errors

Disadvantages of data flow diagram
• DFD is likely to take many alteration before agreement with the user
• Physical consideration are usually left out
• It is difficult to understand because it ambiguous to the user who have little or no knowledge

So basically, these are the characteristics that a system analyst must have in order to evaluate the Data Flow Diagram with quality. The system analyst must have a good background of what are the systems that existed and he should also be able to identify what are those processes that a system must have with regarding to the goals of the organization. And also, an analyst must gather important information in order to have sufficient information in making the DFD. And he also must have enough background on what is their business processes. Good communication skills as well as good critical thinking. And lastly, being able to adapt to change, as we all know we are in the fast changing world or era. Well, that’s it. These are the characteristics that a good system analyst must have in order to evaluate the DFD with quality.

References:
http://hubpages.com/hub/What-is-a-data-flow-diagram

Common Frustrations

2010-03-07T23:51:00.000+08:00

What are the two most frequently experienced causes of frustration of IS professionals and users while working on an IS plan?

So before I answer the question I will just share some ideas about what are those common frustrations of IS professionals and users while working on an IS plan.

Use of technology often has unpleasant side effects, which may include strong, negative emotional states that arise during interaction with computers. Frustration, confusion, anger, anxiety and similar emotional states can affect not only the interaction itself, but also productivity, learning, social relationships, and overall well-being. This paper suggests a new solution to this problem: designing human–computer interaction systems to actively support users in their ability to manage and recover from negative emotional states. An interactive affect–support agent was designed and built to test the proposed solution in a situation where users were feeling frustration.

The agent, which used only text and buttons in a graphical user interface for its interaction, demonstrated components of active listening, empathy, and sympathy in an effort to support users in their ability to recover from frustration. The agent's effectiveness was evaluated against two control conditions, which were also text-based interactions:

1. Users’ emotions were ignored,
2. Users were able to report problems and ‘vent’ their feelings and concerns to the computer

Behavioral results showed that users chose to continue to interact with the system that had caused their frustration significantly longer after interacting with the affect–support agent, in comparison with the two controls.

These results support the prediction that the computer can undo some of the negative feelings it causes by helping a user manage his or her emotional state. Some problems stem from the users’ lack of knowledge, poor training, or unwillingness to read instructions or take tutorials. Often frustration results that from flaws in the computer hardware, software, networking, troubling interactions among components supplied by diverse manufacturers, or the result of malicious actions by other users.

A number of preliminary research steps are necessary to guide developers who are working on the goal of making computer usage less frustrating for users. A first step is to gain a better understanding of what frustrates users of computers. Then taxonomies of frustrating experiences can be developed and means to measure their severity and frequency can be identified. These three steps should lead to solutions with enough supporting evidence so that requests for improvements will be well received by all parties involved. Computers can be valuable tools, and networked resources via the Internet can be beneficial to many different populations and communities.

Many e-commerce and e-business firms today are turning to systems planning and systems analysis. Such analysis provides a broader view of organization catering to system development. System development activity aids in producing information systems solutions and provides a platform for resolving organizational problems using information systems. The paper puts light on objectives, management challenges faced by an organization, and road map indicating direction of systems development.

Another thing working on information systems plan takes patience and perseverance. In order to have a good outcome, IS professionals should do profound analysis and must consider a variety of factors. Without a thorough understanding of the problem and organization’s need the IS plan is intended to solve, and without knowledge of the best practices for organizing the required data, the implemented IS plan becomes an unwieldy beast that requires constant attention. Developing an IS plan is never an easy task. That is why there are methods that IS professionals try to follow and standards they try to thrash out. IS plan should serve the company and the users the way it is expected. Learning from my experience from the previous semester, IS professionals’ task does not end with a scrutiny of the information systems. Indeed, they must evaluate the entire message in terms of coherence, the quality of hanging together in the IS plan. To achieve its purpose, statements must be organized appropriately. They must be ordered in a logical manner and should support the business plan of the organization so that the transition between each one contributes to the overall objective of the plan. After answering the first question, my next purpose is to respond to the next question, “What are the two most frequently experienced causes of frustration in IS professionals and users while working on an IS plan?”

According to Freud, it is not simply the nature of the frustrating incident that determines how people will react to it. Rather, there is interplay between the situation and the psychological characteristics of individuals. The level of maturity of the individual also plays a part in the reactions to frustration (Barker, Dembo, & Lewin, 1965). With maturity, there is an increase in the variety of responses to a situation employed by individuals, in the control of the environment, and in their ability to employ problem-solving behavior and plan steps to obtain the goal. It would appear that learning, which is culturally determined, is a major factor in developing socially acceptable responses to frustration.

Frustration occurs when there is a condition, which interferes with or stops the realization of a goal. It makes us feel useless or worthless. Any interruption to our action or task can be very frustrating. Level of frustration experienced by an individual clearly can differ depending on the circumstances surrounding the frustrating experience and on the individuals themselves. There could be so many causes that lead an IS professional to frustration. Same thing happened to me. I made a list of my goals, when and how to attain those goals. I made my own schedule to help me budget my time and succeed in attaining the goals. But then the outcome was in contrast to what I had expected. I thought if I took those actions then all things would go right. This time, I should say that I am not a good planner but I will still keep on trying. I made a realization that the failure was not because I failed to plan and not because I planned to fail but there was something missing and I have to find out what it was. I learned from that experience and I should do the right thing next time.

Going back to the question, I need to identify the causes of frustrations not the frustrations itself. Similar to my experience, IS professionals fail to have a good plan. It might be because they are only focusing on one factor and others are taken for granted. Since we are dealing with information systems, that is why IS planning requires profound analysis and should consider all factors and all the necessary things that would contribute to the improvement. IS professionals may get tired of the unending revisions of IS plan, they should never ignore themselves be dominated by the feeling instead they should keep on working and let the perseverance power over.

My second idea on frequently experienced causes of frustration in IS professionals and users while working on an IS plan is the lack of support from the management or from the personnel. Without the support, the IS professionals efforts would end up in frustration.

New technologies are emerging and old ones are outdated. Many major technologies can have a life expectancy of less than five years. These pressures have resulted in a drive for new approaches to planning and managing information technology (IT) services. That is why many of the organizations right now are having a greater investment in IT and information systems (IS). This is now the moment that organizations would try to hire IS professionals to have analysis and improvement on their information systems to help them compete in the market.

Design systems by IS professionals could also frustrate users in the workplace. Users find it hard to understand and use the implemented system. This frustration can affect workplace productivity, user mood, and users’ interactions with other co-workers. It also can affect their emotional state. These frustrating experiences also harm organizations by undermining productivity, lowering quality, and raising stress levels. Improving user interface design is one clear opportunity and it would benefit many users. To build better interfaces, more user involvement is needed in the interface design process. Designers should follow the interface guidelines that exist. User training will also help, especially if it addresses problem solving strategies that will help build self-efficacy. Even small changes in the interface can make a big impact on user satisfaction. IS professionals should also be better situated as the intermediary and be able to get better information between users and vendors when understanding frustration in the workplace.

Frustration is a natural feeling after all. Even none IS professionals experience being frustrated. It happens all the time when we fail to take the action and/or fail to attain our goals. Our response to it should be adaptive. Adaptive responses are constructive and are implemented to solve the problem that is blocking goal attainment. They may include preemptive efforts to avoid the problem, or once the problem is encountered, problem solving strategies to overcome or circumvent the problem.

And also strategic planning must be inclined with the business plan. Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. Various business analysis techniques can be used in strategic planning, including SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) and PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological analysis) or STEER analysis involving Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors. According to other source, strategic plan is a document used by an organization to align its organization and budget structure with organizational priorities, missions, and objectives. It is also a process of comprehensive, integrative program planning that considers, at a minimum, the future of current decisions, overall policy, organizational development, and links to operational plans. And according to the project management club, strategic planning is a basic document for planning of different projects and their sub-projects. It is based on the content of the Financing Memorandum (FM) and the Monitoring and Evaluation Matrix attached to the Financing Proposal and translates the two documents into detailed operational terms. A satisfactory strategic plan must be realistic and attainable so as to allow managers and entrepreneurs to think strategically and act operationally. In align with that, strategic plan must be reliable and suitable for the need of the company.

In doing a strategic plan, it is not really known to everyone that there are frustrations that may trigger. Frustrations in a way that it may cause depression and stress to the professionals and users that are doing it. In doing an Information Strategic plan, it is really a must that the user and the professionals doing it must first determine the company’s background and other facts and information that can help and then again be a useful tool for the planning.

Computing systems this era raises high in a short period of time. Though our country is a 5 year behind than those countries abroad, still using internet is a common tool for someone like in communications. And more likely in a business, it is also a trend of using internet and intranet in their operations since it can help progress their company. Now a day, an even small scale business also acquires using internet and computers for their daily routine. That is because it can help them improve their skills and at the same time it can lessen the work load since using computers doesn’t requires much time. Relatively, why I’m discussing those computer trend marketing in such a way, since that industry now a days is a computer based industry, lot of professionals and users must be aware of using computer in such a way that it is one of the basic tools for doing the planning.

As what I have stated in the first question of this slide, during our Management Information Systems 1, we did a strategic planning in one of the pronounce company in the city today. Not only here in Davao this company well known, also to the other sites of the city. During our discussions with the group, we have decided to have each an individual task. From that then, we can focus on our topic. But that was one of the problems we have encountered.

Misunderstanding between tow parties is also one of the frustrations that IS professionals encounter. That is one of the frustrations we have. We didn’t know what to do and on the other side we don’t know the topics of our other group. At the end of the compilation, the report of one is not related to the report of the other one, and in vice versa. We then realize our mistake after we have compiled the technical paper. So how can we let ourselves give the technical paper to the company we have if there and else we don’t understand what we did, how much more to them. If such case, we are then called to be the professionals who done lousy approach to the planning for the company we are required to have the plan. Then the user also, such a way that there were the people involved in that strategic plan, are then also approach us lousy for the mistake of some persons. Like what I said above, strategic plan must be reliable so that the company must excel in accordance to era.

Another frustration that may trigger in the planning of this IS plan is the time. Time problem is not only for this kind of situation. Even in our other subjects, we do have difficulty in time management. Stress may occur if we hear the word “deadline”. That can cause cramming that can cause also mistakes. Time management may not be a frustration if and when it was been managed accordingly. But also time management requires more budget than of any other. Since this planning is suitable and a provider for the company, there is also a satisfaction that it can really cost big. Like our technical paper before. By committing mistakes, another big cost is at stake.

That frustrations I have stated is only my point of view. Since I have encountered strategic planning before, I have then encountered such frustration things like that. And that frustration I have encountered might then encountered by those professionals.

These are all my opinion about the question so let’s discuss about what I have interviewed which is the Davao Light and Power Company, as what we have interviewed he told us that frustrations based on his experience is that communication, if there is no proper communication its hard to make an IS plan. If no good communication between the management and the IS professional its hard to make a good IS plan. He also told that budget is also a factor if no budget allocation it’s hard to make an IS plan. Time is also a frustration as what he told us that time is gold indeed. So basically, those were the frustrations that he identified and discussed.

References:
Wikipedia.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frustration

Business Plan and IS Plan

2010-03-07T23:04:00.000+08:00

The question was what should be the nature of the relationship between the business plan and the IS plan? To answer the question I will need information that would answer the question and thus ill be able to decide in my own understanding what should be the relationship between the business plan and the information systems plan. So first we should gather enough information in relation to the said topic so that we could answer it correctly. To start, I will define what a business plan and what is information systems plan or also called strategic planning.

According to wikipedia.org a business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals, the reasons why they are believed attainable, and the plan for reaching those goals. It may also contain background information about the organization or team attempting to reach those goals.

The business goals may be defined for for-profit or for non-profit organizations. For-profit business plans typically focus on financial goals, such as profit or creation of wealth. Non-profit and government agency business plans tend to focus on organizational mission which is the basis for their governmental status or their non-profit, tax-exempt status, respectively—although non-profits may also focus on optimizing revenue. In non-profit organizations, creative tensions may develop in the effort to balance mission with "margin" (or revenue). Business plans may also target changes in perception and branding by the customer, client, tax-payer, or larger community. A business plan having changes in perception and branding as its primary goals is called a marketing plan.

While strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. Various business analysis techniques can be used in strategic planning, including SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats ), PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological), STEER analysis (Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors), and EPISTEL (Environment, Political, Informatic, Social, Technological, Economic and Legal).

Strategic planning is the formal consideration of an organization's future course. All strategic planning deals with at least one of three key questions:

1. "What do we do?"
2. "For whom do we do it?"
3. "How do we excel?"

In business strategic planning, the third question is better phrased "How can we beat or avoid competition?". (Bradford and Duncan, page 1).

In many organizations, this is viewed as a process for determining where an organization is going over the next year or more typically 3 to 5 years, although some extend their vision to 20 years.

In order to determine where it is going, the organization needs to know exactly where it stands, then determine where it wants to go and how it will get there. The resulting document is called the "strategic plan."

It is also true that strategic planning may be a tool for effectively plotting the direction of a company; however, strategic planning itself cannot foretell exactly how the market will evolve and what issues will surface in the coming days in order to plan your organizational strategy. Therefore, strategic innovation and tinkering with the 'strategic plan' have to be a cornerstone strategy for an organization to survive the turbulent business climate.
So for me the relationship between business plan and strategic plan is this:

• Why plan?
– To obtain resources
• Financial
• Facilities – “Capacity planning”
• Staff
– To align IS with the business
– To identify needed applications
– To establish goals, schedules, and milestones in order to track progress
– To provide an opportunity for communication with top management and user management
• Outcomes vs. process?
• Reactive vs. proactive?
• Planning vs. forecasting?
– Forecasting is predicting the future
– Planning is being prepared for that future

Information Systems Strategic Planning
• Establish a mission statement
• Assess the environment
• Set goals and objectives
• Derive strategies and policies
• Develop long-, medium-, and short-range plans
• Implement plans and monitor results

Establish a mission statement
• These are the services that you are responsible for; it is your place in the organization
• It is not what you are supposed to achieve, it is who you are and what you do in the company

Assess the environment(s) . . .
1. The capabilities of the IT department
2. The readiness of the company to use IT
3. The status of our customers, our industry
4. The status of the economy, government regulations, environment, society, etc.
5. Technology

This is similar to a SWOT analysis – Strengths and Weakness – items no. 1 & 2; and Opportunities and Threats – items no. 3, 4, & 5

Goals and Objectives
• Set goals – what do you want to achieve?
• Set objectives – what are your specific, measurable targets?

Derive strategies and policies
• Strategies for
– Technology focus
– Personnel and career development
– Aligning with the company
– Others . . .
• Policies for
– Funding criteria; how much to spend on IT?
– Allocation criteria; priority setting
– Organizational arrangements
– Use of outside IT services, outsourcing
– Selling IT services to outside organizations
– Others . . .

Short-, medium-, and long-range plans
• Short-range – the next year, the next budget period; developing and operating current systems
• Medium-range – committing to development efforts for applications that will take more than one year to complete; meeting management’s current information needs, projected into the future for as many years as needed to complete them. This is what most organizations call “Long-Range Planning.”
• Long-range planning – preparing for management’s future information needs. These are not application specific; they are investments in infrastructure; it is creating an information architecture.

And finally, implement plans and monitor results.

Business planning and strategic planning are very closely interrelated. Business planning can be seen as an aspect of the overall strategic planning of a company, minutely following in written form all the sides of the business. Also, the strategic planning can be seen from the perspective of the business plan of a company as a delineator of main rough, undetailed aspects.

Strategic planning implies general directions of a business, main strategies, a long-term perspective, for about 2-4 years.

Business plans, on the other hand, state in detail the data of the business from the marketing point of view, from the management and personnel point of view and from the financial point of view. They also contain stipulations for contingencies. They offer a shorter term perspective, for about 1 year.

In a world of an ever increasing competition, less stable and predictable, planning has become more important for managers, conditioning business existence. Times are for thorough analysis of a business from all its perspectives, the difference between an evolving business and a failure depends on this.

Even if inclined to base their actions on immediate-gain grounds, successful business managers have learned to take their time for a prospective analysis. Even if initially starting off their business on a gut feeling, successful talented managers have learned that they have to go beyond the gut feeling, putting together a concrete plan of action, meant to enhance more stability and reduce the tendency of working at random.

Although there are voices saying that most successful businesses did not need a plan to begin with, I would not minimize the importance of a business plan, integrated within the strategic business planning, as every business, be it small or "oversized" will need a plan in a certain stage of its growing. The reason might be not necessarily its founding, but the need to communicate in the business environment — be it raising some money or hiring quality personnel.

Basically we can refer to the strategic business planning through the SWOT analysis used for marketing: analysis and identification of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors of the business, while opportunities and threats are external factors.

The strength analysis requires a look at the advantages of a business, its strong points and all its resources and capabilities that can be used as a basis for developing a competitive advantage.
Weakness may be absence of certain strengths. Weaknesses' analysis must reveal where there is room for improvement, what is there to avoid.

Opportunities and threats are triggered by environmental occurrences such as unexplored marketing niche, new technologies, new loosened regulations, identifiable as opportunities or, on the contrary, threats such as consumers' change in tastes away from the firm's products, new regulations, debt or cash-flow problems, etc.

The business plan treats in detail the main directions that the strategic planning settles. If strategic planning provides general directions for the next 2 years, the business plan analysis what the business' characteristics are, how to implement the directions, what will the impact on the market and the potential customers be, the financial side of the action etc., generally all the ins and outs of the matter.
When starting a business online there are some things you certainly want to know and be able to put in place to offer yourself a much higher chance at success.

The first draft of a business plan for an online venture must include the means and targets you are going to use to drive customers to your business that are more inclined to buy.
It makes sense that just being able to send random people to your business is not going to lead to a high percentage of buyers. This is why we target and the internet gives us the easiest way to find our potential customers and put our products or services in front of them without spending a dime.

Advertising online has much more to do with knowing than it does with spending. There are certainly ways you can spend money online advertising and make a very good return. When starting a business and putting together that first draft of a business plan you want to consider these as well if you can afford them.

You key is going to be spending time looking at the searches people are making every day online as they relate to whatever it is your are trying to use as your online business.

If you are selling bird cages you would want to know what searches people are making and in what frequency in order to craft your website and content to attract those people. This is the key to making money online regardless of what type of product or services your new online business is offering.

So basically, the relationship between the business plan and IS plan is that the IS plan is inclined to what the organization or business is aiming at. They should be related to each other to meet a common goal. So basically that’s it.

References:
Wikipedia.org
http://www.businessplanning.ws/learn/business-strategic-planning.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?Starting-a-Business---First-Draft-of-a-Business-Plan&id=3868596

DFD

2010-02-21T21:58:00.000+08:00

Create at least 3 different types of Data flow diagram of USEP's pre-enrollment system

There are 4 different type of Data Flow Diagram which are the following:

1. Current Physical
2. New Physical
3. Current Logical
4. New Logical

But i will just give u 3 examples of it which follows:

1. Current Physical

The image below shows a Current Physical type of Data Flow Diagram.

The next example is:

2. New Physical

The image below shows a New Physical type of Data Flow Diagram.

And lastly the last example is:

3. Current Logical

The image below shows a Current Logical type of Data Flow Diagram.

This illustrates the 3 different types of Data Flow Diagram of USEP's Pre-Enrollment System.

Acitivity Diagram

2010-02-15T10:33:00.000+08:00

Using the same narrative as refelcted in your assignment 4, develop an activity diagram and a fully developed description for a use case.

University of Southeastern Philippines Pre-Enrollment Activity Diagram

The diagram above is an activity diagram of the pre-enrollment process of the University of Southeastern Philippines. The diagram was based on the use-case diagram of the pre-enrollment process presented in the previous assignment.

3 Years from Now

2010-02-12T19:11:00.001+08:00

The question:

The pace of change seems to increase relentlessly, especially changes involving information technology. Using your crystal ball, identify and discuss three changes likely to have substantial impact on your school services in the next three years.

If I had a crystal ball and I need to identify and discuss the three changes likely will have a substantial impact on my school services in the next three years, my answer would be the enrollment, the infrastructure, and Wi-Fi access. These are the things that would be more likely have a substantial impact on my school services in the next three years. To have a brief description to why I chose these three changes in our school, the reason is because enrollment process in our school is such a hassle for students. And the process is not followed accordingly in some way. About the infrastructure, when we talk about infrastructure we really don’t say that its all about the buildings that exist in the university but also about IT infrastructure, maybe the next three years the Institute of Computing shall have its own building exclusively for IC students and a better IT infrastructure. And about the Wi-Fi connection, we all know that the university have a Wi-Fi access, but it is limited, sometimes is secured and sometimes unsecured. To elaborate I will describe it further one by one. Let’s start with the enrollment.

The enrollment of the university three years from know would change for the fact there are some system that is being made for the enrollment process but still it needs proper dissemination of information and proper system process. About the dissemination of information, proper dissemination of information to the students so that the student would know what is the proper process. Proper dissemination of information can led to a very more peaceful process. And there should be a proper implementation of the enrollment process. In order for it to be effective proper implementation of the enrollment process should be done accordingly. We know it won’t be perfect but at least proper implementation leads to a good and proper enrollment process. For the next three years there will be more system that pertaining to enrollment that would help for the betterment of the enrollment process. Basically, that should be it for the enrollment process. Next, we will go to the infrastructure.

As we all know the infrastructure of the university is not really that good. First, we don’t have our own building of our own college the Institute of Computing. Maybe, in the next three years we will have our own building that would cater the needs of classrooms. That is one of the problem that our college undertake. Having our own building would lead to a better quality education. The next would be our poor IT infrastructure, we have lots of systems that are current available the only problem is that no proper implementation and maintenance. If we only have a good IT infrastructure in our university it will be very useful not only the students but also the university itself. There are already some systems that are available to the university which is the Uniiisys. Let’s take it as an example; Uniisys is an integrated system of 10 subsystems that provide as a tool for the students and the university. Let’s discuss one by one first is the Ebenta which is an online bidding system for the university students to engage in E-Commerce activity promoting their competitiveness and experience in entrepreneurship. The next is the Edikit which is an online publication system which let the students upload and publish their literary works online. The other one is the Upahibalo which is an organizational information system, which handles the information of organizations and its members. The next one is the Iskolar which is a scholarship information system, which manages information and renewal for the university scholars. Then there’s the Shareit which is a file sharing social site which lets students share files for reference and other materials. The other one is the Etudlo which is an information system that lets tutorial service providers and seekers communicate and establish schedules online. Another one is the Escheduler which is an information system that provides services for the faculty to establish both academic and appointment schedules, and also lets them request appointments online. The next one is the Alumnay sa USeP which is an information system handling the university Alumni and creates a hub for their communications. The second to the last is the USeP eMap which is a map of the university where you can view and see where the buildings are located. And lastly the Davao eMap which is a map of davao city where you can view and calculate the shortest path available. So basically, these are systems that are very useful to the university as well as the students in the university. With proper implementation and dissemination of information this will be the starting point of the change that we are looking for which will be useful if properly utilized. We will also go to the computer laboratory of IC. As we all know that we really are poor in laboratory equipments which affect the quality of education. We all know that other schools really have 1 person per PC whereas in our own university average of 2 persons per PC. So in the next three years would see that we will have a better computer laboratory. Better computer laboratory the better the quality of education will be implemented. So I think that is for infrastructure. Now we will precede to the last one which is the Wi-Fi access.

The last but not the least is the Wi-Fi access, as we all know that the university has a Wi-Fi access in its computer laboratory but it’s limited. If it’s not unsecured it’s secured and if it’s unsecured still it’s slow. So three years from now we will have a better Wi-Fi connection which is not secured and has a good connection also. If it’s free it will be very useful to students especially us IC students who generally needs internet connection for information. As we all know that in our course information is very crucial, so in order to perform better in schools and in other aspect Wi-Fi access should be implemented that is free is unsecured.

So basically, these are the changes that I foresee in the next three years.

Pre-enrollment System

2010-02-08T16:04:00.001+08:00

Consider USEP's pre-enrollment system, develop a use case diagram and write a brief use case description.

This is the Pre-enrollment System for Incoming First Year Students:

Figure 1 - USE CASE DIAGRAM: USEP Obrero Campus First Semester Pre-enrollment System for First Year students

Actors: Students, UGTO Officer, Cashier, Nurse, Faculty

Brief Description of Use Cases:

• Get Requirements – This use case describes the student acquiring and filling up the application for USEPAT exam.
• Pay Examination Fee – This use case describes the payment of the USEPAT examination fee by the student to the cashier
• Get Exam Schedule – This use case describes the confirmation of schedule for the USEPAT examination of the student by the UGTO officer.
• Issues Receipt for USEPAT – this use case describes the issuance of receipt for the USEPAT examination fee by the cashier.
• Take USEPAT Exam – this use case describes the student taking the USEPAT examination
• Get Result – this use case describes the student verification of the result of the USEPAT examination by the UGTO officer.
• Take EBP Exam – The student is required to take the English Bridge Exam
• Pay EBP Fee – This use case describes the payment of the English Bridge Program fee if the student failed the English Bridge Exam.
• Issues Receipt – this use case describes the issuance of receipt for the English Bridge Program fee by the cashier.
• Undergo EBP – This use case describes the actual participation of the student to the English Bridge Program
• Medical Examination – This use case describes the compulsory medical examination of the student by the attending nurse of the university.
• Interview by College - This use case describes the interview by the college faculty as the last part of the pre-enrollment system of the university.

Figure 2 - USE CASE DIAGRAM: USEP Obrero Campus First Semester Pre-enrollment System for Old Students.

Actors: Old Student, Student Official, Professor

Brief Description of Use Cases:

• Secure Clearance – This use case describes the completion of the Clearance Form as signed by the student officials that is involve in the signing of clearances except for the professor.
• Secure Grades – This use case describes the completion of grades as given by the professor of the student.

List of Questions

2010-02-06T19:50:00.001+08:00

Fast forward ..., you were hired and have been tasked to develop a strategic information systems plan for a company. The company officers have extended an invitation for you to meet with them to discuss the direction of the company. Before this meeting, they have asked that you provide a list of questions with some explanation about the "why" of the question so they can be prepared, thus maximizing the output from this meeting.

I’m about to be hired and have given a task to develop a strategic information systems plan. The company officers have invited me to meet with them to discuss things. So before the meeting, they have asked me to provide a list of questions so that they can prepare, in order to maximize the output of the meeting. So, I was given a task to provide questions. These are the list of those questions that I’m going to ask them:

1. Why me?

This is the first question I would ask the officers why they hired to develop a strategic information systems plan. And also as an introductory part of the meeting. As an IT professional you also wanted to know the reason why they chose you to do the job.

2. What are your expectations?

This is the complement question in the first question which is why me? As a hired IT professional I would like to know what will be there expectations as I develop the strategic plan for them, and also for me to make an evaluation for myself.

3. What business are we in?

The first and most important question is, "What business are we in?" What business are we really in? I want to fully know what type of business am I going to develop a strategic plan. To define the business in terms of what they do for their customer or to the company. Keep expanding the definition of the business so that it is as broad as possible. Never be satisfied with the first answer.
For example, railroads defined themselves as being in the business of moving people and freight by rail. In reality, they were in the transportation business. By ignoring the other avenues of transportation that were developing, such as trucks, buses, ships, and airplanes, many railroads went out of business.

4. What is the background of your company?

This is the fourth question I would like to ask them. I would ask this question because I would like to know how what is their business all about. As a hired IT professional I would really basically know what is there business is all about, but in order to have an effective strategic plan it is better if it is coming from the officers. And also for formality’s sake, I’d ask them about their company so after they would answer my question; they would know that I have knowledge already about their company. So this is the fourth question I would ask the officers.

5. What are you mission, vision, and goals?

This is the fifth question I would ask the officers. I have to ask this question to them. Why? Because this is the reason why I am making a strategic plan for them so I need to know what are there mission, vision, and goals. I have to know what the company or the business wants to attain so that I can also align it with the strategic plan that I am going to make. The strategic plan would be useless if what the plan that I would produce has no connection with the company’s vision, mission and goals. As we all know that making a strategic information systems plan should be inclined with the business mission, vision, and goals.

6. What is your current strategic plan?

This is the next question I would like to ask to the officers. The main reason why I included this to my list because I want to know what is their current strategic plan in order for me to evaluate what are the their business flow. What processes that are important and not.

7. What is the status of your company right now?

So basically, I wanted to know if their current status is good or not. Knowing the current status of the company makes it easier to pinpoint the constraints and risk that is involve. Knowing the status of their company is a key to evaluate the company in making a strategic plan.
8. What are your needs?
In order to make a strategic plan which is efficient I would ask them what are the needs of their company. So after discussing what are the needs then you can evaluate what will the things you would do to make the SISP.

So these are the list of questions that Im going to ask them in order to maximize the said meeting.

Juan or Pedro?

2010-02-05T04:30:00.000+08:00

This was the scenario:

Consider the following dialogue between a systems professional, John Juan, and a manager of a department targeted for a new information system, Peter Pedro:

Juan: The way to go about the analysis is to first examine the old system, such as reviewing key documents and observing the workers perform their tasks. Then we can determine which aspects are working well and which should be preserved.

Pedro: We have been through these types of projects before and what always ends up happening is that we do not get the new system we are promised; we get a modified version of the old system.

Juan: Well, I can assure you that will not happen this time. We just want a thorough understanding of what is working well and what isn’t.

Pedro: I would feel much more comfortable if we first started with a list of our requirements. We should spend some time up-front determining exactly what we want the system to do for my department. Then you systems people can come in and determine what portions to salvage if you wish. Just don’t constrain us to the old system.

Required:

a. Obviously these two workers have different views on how the systems analysis phase should be conducted. Comment on whose position you sympathize with the most.

b. What method would you propose they take?

The question was about the two workers having different views on how the systems analysis phase should be conducted. And then comment on whose position you sympathize with the most. So to start, for me I will go on to Mr. Juan’s point of view in the analysis phase because if the management really wanted a new system, the workflow and all of the processes of the organization will also change. So they will start from the scratch. But still they will base their new system to the goals and objective of the organization. What I like about Mr. Juan’s point of view in the analysis phase is that their business has already been running and had already set the goals and objective of what their business will be. Shall we say we will propose a new system, a really new system and not a modified one, all of the workflow and processes of the business of the organization will be affected and will definitely not the same as before. So that is also a risk that will be taken to account. Before proposing a new system, this is what you need to do in order to have an effective proposal. First is, you must plan and analyze all the necessary information or data that is needed for the new system but you are inclined to the business goals and objective of an organization. I’m not against the idea of Mr. Pedro to propose a new system that is not modified old system, a really new system. He just needs to be sure and work out well all the needed information and data for the new system. Changing an old system to a new system is very risky and hard to do but if it is successful the benefits of the system will be definitely come to use. Planning out a new system but still turning into a modified one is not really bad it is just making things easier, for example the old system is already coming to its full capacity, meaning the memory is coming to its limits then maybe they can modify it to be more efficient in the next 10 years, if not 5 years. When you talk about having a new system you are also taking it to account its life span of service in order for it to be more efficient. Talking about proposing a new system there are risks that is involve so proper planning is needed. But maybe also in addition, if you want to propose a new system you could do these things, it my own idea, first is gather all the needed information, then list all the requirements needed for the new system, then plan it very well and evaluate. Maybe this will help. If things are settled apply those things that are still useful and those things that can be eliminated. But that is only an idea. But generally, with very well planned system is also a good alternative. As relation to God what had said that there is no perfect thing or creature in this world as same as to those systems, just proper development and maintenance in order to have an efficient and well generating system.

b. What method would you propose they take? Why?
So the method that I would propose to them that they will take is the method of a system development process? For me the method depends on what really the management wants in order to make the system. So what are the steps? There are steps in creating a system, so in order for them to develop a system they should follow some protocols in developing a system. So there are steps in developing a system, which is the planning, implementation, testing, documenting, deployment, and maintenance. So these are the steps in system development process. So first things first is what is its definition a software development process is a structure imposed on the development of a software product. Synonyms include software life cycle and software process. There are several models for such processes, each describing approaches to a variety of tasks or activities that take place during the process. The reason why I added the definition is that they can understand what my point is, or shall we say it is an overview in creating or developing a system. So to start, the first step you need to do is to plan; the important task in creating a software product is extracting the requirements or requirements analysis. Customers typically have an abstract idea of what they want as an end result, but not what software should do. Incomplete, ambiguous, or even contradictory requirements are recognized by skilled and experienced software engineers at this point. Frequently demonstrating live code may help reduce the risk that the requirements are incorrect. Once the general requirements are gleaned from the client, an analysis of the scope of the development should be determined and clearly stated. This is often called a scope document. Certain functionality may be out of scope of the project as a function of cost or as a result of unclear requirements at the start of development. If the development is done externally, this document can be considered a legal document so that if there are ever disputes, any ambiguity of what was promised to the client can be clarified. So planning is short for SPMP (Software Project Management Plan). SPMP is a technique in which making the planning phase feasible. As you acquired the SPMP that is the time you can proceed to the analysis phase. So part of this is step are the analysis phase in a system development. So the requirements on analysis phase are the SRS or (Software Requirements Specification). Here you are going to identify all the information that is going to be included in your system. An example would be the system features of your system, the functional and non-functional requirements of your system. So if you are done in doing the SRS the next thing you should do is design. So these are some of the things you need to do in order to attain what are the goals that are needed to be accomplished. So if you already finished planning on what are the things you need to do, then you can proceed to the next step which is implementation, testing and documenting. Implementation is the part of the process where software engineers actually program the code for the project. Software testing is an integral and important part of the software development process. This part of the process ensures that bugs are recognized as early as possible. Documenting the internal design of software for the purpose of future maintenance and enhancement is done throughout development. This may also include the authoring of an API, be it external or internal. Then, deployment starts after the code is appropriately tested, is approved for release and sold or otherwise distributed into a production environment. Software Training and Support is important because a large percentage of software projects fail because the developers fail to realize that it doesn't matter how much time and planning a development team puts into creating software if nobody in an organization ends up using it. People are often resistant to change and avoid venturing into an unfamiliar area, so as a part of the deployment phase, it is very important to have training classes for new clients of your software. Maintenance and enhancing software to cope with newly discovered problems or new requirements can take far more time than the initial development of the software. It may be necessary to add code that does not fit the original design to correct an unforeseen problem or it may be that a customer is requesting more functionality and code can be added to accommodate their requests. It is during this phase that customer calls come in and you see whether your testing was extensive enough to uncover the problems before customers do. If the labor cost of the maintenance phase exceeds 25% of the prior-phases' labor cost, then it is likely that the overall quality, of at least one prior phase, is poor. In that case, management should consider the option of rebuilding the system (or portions) before maintenance cost is out of control. Bug Tracking System tools are often deployed at this stage of the process to allow development teams to interface with customer/field teams testing the software to identify any real or perceived issues. These software tools, both open source and commercially licensed, provide a customizable process to acquire, review, acknowledge, and respond to reported issues. The other technique that is crucial in developing a system is that you need to identify your model. There are many examples of models such as waterfall, agile, and extreme programming. But also there are other model that is also needs to be considered. Iterative development prescribes the construction of initially small but ever larger portions of a software project to help all those involved to uncover important issues early before problems or faulty assumptions can lead to disaster. Iterative processes are preferred by commercial developers because it allows a potential of reaching the design goals of a customer who does not know how to define what they want. Agile software development processes are built on the foundation of iterative development. To that foundation they add a lighter, more people-centric viewpoint than traditional approaches. Agile processes use feedback, rather than planning, as their primary control mechanism. The feedback is driven by regular tests and releases of the evolving software. Extreme Programming (XP) is the best-known iterative process. In XP, the phases are carried out in extremely small (or "continuous") steps compared to the older, "batch" processes. The (intentionally incomplete) first pass through the steps might take a day or a week, rather than the months or years of each complete step in the Waterfall model. First, one writes automated tests, to provide concrete goals for development. Next is coding (by a pair of programmers), which is complete when all the tests pass, and the programmers can't think of any more tests that are needed. Design and architecture emerge out of refactoring, and come after coding. Design is done by the same people who do the coding. (Only the last feature — merging design and code — is common to all the other agile processes.) The incomplete but functional system is deployed or demonstrated for (some subset of) the users (at least one of which is on the development team). At this point, the practitioners start again on writing tests for the next most important part of the system. The waterfall model shows a process, where developers are to follow these steps in order:

1. Requirements specification (AKA Verification or Analysis)
2. Design
3. Construction (AKA implementation or coding)
4. Integration
5. Testing and debugging (AKA validation)
6. Installation (AKA deployment)
7. Maintenance

After each step is finished, the process proceeds to the next step, just as builders don't revise the foundation of a house after the framing has been erected.
There is a misconception that the process has no provision for correcting errors in early steps (for example, in the requirements). In fact, this is where the domain of requirements management comes in, which includes change control. The counter argument, by critics to the process, is the significantly increased cost in correcting problems through introduction of iterations. This is also the factor that extends delivery time and makes this process increasingly unpopular even in high risk projects. This approach is used in high risk projects, particularly large defense contracts. The problems in waterfall do not arise from "immature engineering practices, particularly in requirements analysis and requirements management." Often the supposed stages are part of review between customer and supplier; the supplier can, in fact, develop at risk and evolve the design but must sell off the design at a key milestone called Critical Design Review (CDR). This shifts engineering burdens from engineers to customers who may have other skills.

Other models

Capability Maturity Model Integration

The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is one of the leading models and based on best practice. Independent assessments grade organizations on how well they follow their defined processes, not on the quality of those processes or the software produced. CMMI has replaced CMM.

ISO 9000

ISO 9000 describes standards for a formally organized process to manufacture a product and the methods of managing and monitoring progress. Although the standard was originally created for the manufacturing sector, ISO 9000 standards has been applied to software development as well. Like CMMI, certification with ISO 9000 does not guarantee the quality of the end result, only that formalized business processes have been followed.

ISO 15504

ISO 15504, also known as Software Process Improvement Capability Determination (SPICE), is a "framework for the assessment of software processes". This standard is aimed at setting out a clear model for process comparison. SPICE is used much like CMMI. It models processes to manage, control, guide and monitor software development. This model is then used to measure what a development organization or project team actually does during software development. This information is analyzed to identify weaknesses and drive improvement. It also identifies strengths that can be continued or integrated into common practice for that organization or team.

Formal methods

Formal methods are mathematical approaches to solving software (and hardware) problems at the requirements, specification and design levels. Examples of formal methods include the B-Method, Petri nets, Automated theorem proving, RAISE and VDM. Various formal specification notations are available, such as the Z notation. More generally, automata theory can be used to build up and validate application behavior by designing a system of finite state machines. Finite state machine (FSM) based methodologies allow executable software specification and by-passing of conventional coding (see virtual finite state machine or event driven finite state machine). Formal methods are most likely to be applied in avionics software, particularly where the software is safety critical. Software safety assurance standards, such as DO178B demand formal methods at the highest level of categorization (Level A). Formalization of software development is creeping in, in other places, with the application of Object Constraint Language (and specializations such as Java Modeling Language) and especially with Model-driven architecture allowing execution of designs, if not specifications. Another emerging trend in software development is to write a specification in some form of logic (usually a variation of FOL), and then to directly execute the logic as though it were a program. The OWL language, based on Description Logic, is an example. There is also work on mapping some version of English (or another natural language) automatically to and from logic, and executing the logic directly. Examples are Attempto Controlled English, and Internet Business Logic, which does not seek to control the vocabulary or syntax. A feature of systems that support bidirectional English-logic mapping and direct execution of the logic is that they can be made to explain their results, in English, at the business or scientific level.

The Government Accountability Office, in a 2003 report on one of the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic control modernization programs,[2] recommends following the agency’s guidance for managing major acquisition systems by

· Establishing, maintaining, and controlling an accurate, valid, and current performance measurement baseline, which would include negotiating all authorized, unpriced work within 3 months;
· Conducting an integrated baseline review of any major contract modifications within 6 months; and
· Preparing a rigorous life-cycle cost estimate, including a risk assessment, in accordance with the Acquisition System Toolset’s guidance and identifying the level of uncertainty inherent in the estimate.

So these are the methods that I would suggest or propose to them.

References:
Google.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_development_process

Google?

2010-01-28T20:10:00.002+08:00

What is Google?

Via John Battelle, Rick Skrentas remarkable piece on what Google have actually built. They don’t just have the world’s best search engine; they have the world’s largest and most scalable platform for developing huge web-based applications.

Google has taken the last 10 years of systems software research out of university labs, and built their own proprietary, production quality system. What is this platform that Google is building? It’s a distributed computing platform that can manage web-scale datasets on 100,000 node server clusters. It includes a petabyte, distributed, fault tolerant filesystem, distributed RPC code, and probably network shared memory and process migration. And a datacenter management system which lets a handful of ops engineers effectively runs 100,000 servers. Any of these projects could be the sole focus of a startup.

Who are Google’s Competitors?

These are some of Google’s adversary:

Yahoo! Inc.

MSN

AOL,

Disney Online

Match.com, LLC

Sina Corp.

Daum Communications Corp.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AT GOOGLE

The focus of information technology at Google for both software and hardware is speed and cost.

These two metrics are valued more than any other criteria such as reliability of machines or high performance enterprise computing hardware. Ultimately, the result must transform a response time of user query using Google’s search engine to be completed within a one second time-frame. Started in Larry Page’s dormitory room, the information technology at Google has transformed into a full-blown large cluster PC network that functions similar to a computing grid. Even though information technology infrastructure has changed dramatically over the years, the model of IT use at Google has stayed the same. This model follows the original principles adopted by the co-founders of building a prototype system that uses commodity hardware and intelligent software. The shift of computer industry with PCs becoming commodity electronic hardware over the years has worked in favor of Google’s IT strategy in getting the best cost performance ratio (Patterson & Hennessy, 2004). Thus, instead of purchasing the latest microprocessors, Google IT performs calculations to look for the best value of processing power per dollar and purchasing many PCs that are only a few months old in the market, but at a much lower discounted price. This is suitable for Google because the framework of their search engine is built around parallelizing many user query requests across multiple machines and if more processing is required, the system can simply increase more machines to serve even greater user requests. The overall price per performance is more important than individual peak performances, and this enables Google to achieve superior speed at a fraction of the cost rather than using a few, but expensive high-end server systems. The end equation for Google’s IT in selecting machines is calculated by the cost per query, and is derived by the sum of capital expenses and operating costs divided by performance. For accuracy, the calculation takes into inherent effects due to hardware depreciation and maintenance repairs. At the data centers, the primary cost factor is capital expenditure credited to hardware, followed by personnel and hosting costs (Barozzo, et al., 2003).

What are the services that Google offer?

Key Product and Services

Online advertising is Google’s core product and accounts for 90% of the company’s revenue. AdWords, a cost-per-click pricing scheme, was a result of Google’s newly formed business Model in online advertising. AdWords allows advertisers to pay Google once visitors click on an Advertisement after entering a search query. Unlike other online marketing that use image and animated banners, these advertisements are text-based to maintain an uncluttered page design. This is a concept that Google’s co-founders believe is essential for an enjoyable user search engine experience since most users typically want to find information and promptly leave the search results page. Increasing the covered audience is a complementary product called AdSense which involves placing targeted AdWords advertisements on Google’s partner websites

Product/Service Name Description

Google Earth - Satellite imagery of geographical locations

Google Maps - View driving maps and directions

Google Local - Search for local businesses and shops

Google News - Search for news stories

Google Video - Search for TV programs and video clips

Google Desktop Search - Search for offline information stored on computers

Google Image Search - Search for images online

Google Sketch Up - 3D model design tool

Google Checkout - Online payment processing service

Google Search Appliance - Enterprise search engine

GMail - Web-based email client

GTalk - Internet instant messaging and VoIP

Orkut - Online social network community

Froogle - Electronic shopper product search

Others:

Google Page Creator, Google Analytics, Picasa, Blogger, Google Mobile, Google

SMS, Google Finance, Google Groups, Google Scholar, Google Pack, Google Book

Search, Google Code, Google Alerts, Google Calendar

What is Google’s unique advantage?

One thing that has become evident to me is that Google grows in an organic fashion, unlike any other company I know of. Google develops tools that are internally useful and then releases them to the world. Google does not develop products to sell to the world. Google does not have external contracts, at least in the traditional sense, as far as I can tell.

Let me elaborate on this. Google is obviously best known for search and for ads associated with search. This is in essence Google’s one true product. It is the one feature Google developed for the outside world. When Google developed search it was no different from a small company. It is what Google has done since then that makes Google different.

Google doesn’t answer to any external power. They don’t have anyone they have to deliver a product to. There is no contract with a deadline. Due to not having any external dependencies, Google can continuously iterate over a product until it reaches a state of near perfection. It can stay in internal testing as long as Google wants and no one is going to care. See Gmail, Google Maps, etc. This then allows Google to use the perfect form of the agile process. Continuous iterations and testing and development, continues improvement. Then as Google sees fit, release the products. As they get better and better, more people use them and more money from ads comes in. It’s beautiful.

It’s also unlikely any other company is going to be able to pull this off. Google hit on the formula for ads before anyone else. They now have such a commanding lead in that arena that to compete with them you need deep pockets of money of your own. That makes it difficult to launch a company and follow Google’s lead of avoiding external dependencies and having the near perfect product development process.

At this point, you might be screaming at me that I’m wrong, because Google does have external contracts, especially for serving up ads on other sites. But notice that Google’s contracts are different from most companies’ contracts. Google isn’t developing a product for these companies. All they are doing is giving them an existing product that Google has already completed and released. Development on that product might still be happening, but it happens within Google, not within the realms of the contract. Google is still free to develop how ever they want.

For almost everyone else, you’re going to have to create a product and then drive sales of that product or else sign a contract and then deliver a custom product to the customer. You’ll have external dependencies that will force an outside reality upon you that Google simply doesn’t have. You can argue that Google is dependent upon ads, but at this point Google has captured such a large share of that market and is steadily capturing more of it, that it really isn’t a dependency for Google. Sure, Google should probably diversify; just in case the ad market tanks, but at this point Google has so much money they can afford to take their time.

Global Expansion

The international markets are critical for many technology companies in expanding new business opportunities and generating more revenues. Similarly, this principle is reminiscent in Google’s case, as the international markets contribute from 30% to 40% of the company’s total revenues every quarter for the past two years.4 In order to tap into the international market, Google’s search engine has been translated to allow multi-language search capabilities, while maintaining its philosophy of objective and unbiased search results (Brin, 2001). The strong international markets for Google include the United Kingdom, Western Europe, Japan, Canada, and Australia. Google has transformed from a start-up firm to a multi-national corporation; however, the majority of its employees are still based in the Mountain View headquarters. Google has international presence in all continents of the world other than Africa and Antarctica. However, the location of its international employee base is divided into two primary groups: engineering and product development team, and a sales force team. Google offers customer interfaces in over 40 different languages and close to 50 different currency exchanges to date.

Conclusion

In only a short period of time, Google has become a dominant player in search technology and a formidable threat to many other technology firms in various industry sectors including advertising, standard software, web application development, and telecommunication networks. Behind the scenes, the use of information technology has been strategic and critical for Google’s search engine success and other Google products and services. A variety of advanced concepts in computer science have been applied to many of Google’s products and services ranging from topics in distributed systems, machine learning, software architecture, and communications networks. Google’s vision of applying advanced computing concepts and innovative ideas has allowed the company to stay as a forefront leader. However, there are even greater challenges for Google as it matures into a multi-national corporation. How will Google be able to enter international markets where information dissemination is highly regulated and controlled by the foreign governments? Can Google continue to sustain its rapid growth while continue to hold on its unique work culture? With the massive amount of information collected on a daily basis, will Google invade privacy concerns? Will Google be able to maintain its technology leadership as competition gets even more intense? And how real is the threat from Microsoft as it claims to defend itself and compete rigorously with Google in the search market? The story behind Google is only a start. Only time will tell Google’s destiny. Many futurists predict that Google may perhaps become the most important technology company this decade, similar to how Microsoft and Intel have changed the technology industry in the past.

References:

Google.com

Assignment 5 in SAD

2010-01-03T12:25:00.000+08:00

The question was consider your school, how do you know that the life cycle was developed specifically for the university. How do we know it meets our needs? This is the question that’s need to be answered in order for me to answer it I will need references from different articles on this matter. To start, I will give you some insight about our University which is the University of Southeastern Philippines.

USEP
The University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP) is a regional state university created in 1978 through Batas Pambansa Bilang 12. The university is an integration of four state institutions, particularly, the Mindanao State University-Davao, the University of the Philippines-Master of Management Program in Davao, the Davao School of Arts and Trades, and the Davao National Regional Agricultural School. The university has four campuses, namely, Obrero (main) and Mintal Campuses in Davao City, Tagum-Mabini Campus which has two units – one in Tagum City and one in Compostela Valley Province, and Bislig Campus in Surigao del Sur. The USEP offers graduate and undergraduate academic programs in the fields of engineering, education, arts and sciences, economics, business, computing, governance, development, resource management, technology, agriculture and forestry.

The University of Southeastern Philippines has the following mandate:

To provide programs of instruction and professional training primarily in the fields of science and technology, especially medicine, fisheries, engineering and industrial fields. To promote advanced studies, research and extension services and progressive leadership in science, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, engineering and industrial fields and other courses needed in the socio-economic development of Mindanao. To develop courses at the graduate level along the fields of specialization and to respond to the needs of development workers in the academic community. To provide non-formal education and undertake vigorous extension and research programs in food production, nutrition, and health and sports development. To offer scholarship and/or part-time job opportunities to deserving students from low-income families.

Now, the Mission of the University

USEP shall produce world-class graduates and relevant research and extension through quality education and sustainable resource management.
Particularly, USEP is committed to:
· Provide quality education for students to grow in knowledge, promote their well-rounded development, and make them globally competitive in the world of work;
· Engage in high impact research, not only for knowledge’s sake, but also for its practical benefits to society; and,
· Promote entrepreneurship and industry collaboration.

Now, the Vision of the University

A PREMIER UNIVERSITY IN THE ASEAN REGION

By becoming a premier university in the ASEAN Region, the USEP shall be a center of excellence and development, responsive and adaptive to fast-changing environments. USEP shall also be known as the leading university in the country that fosters innovation and applies knowledge to create value towards social, economic, and technological developments.
And lastly, the Goals of the University

Aligned with the university’s vision and mission are specific goals for Key Result Areas (KRA) on Instruction; Research, Development, and Extension; and Resource Management:

KRA 1. Instruction
Produce globally competitive and morally upright graduates

KRA 2. Research, Development, and Extension (RDE)
Develop a strong R, D, & E culture with competent human resource and responsive and relevant researches that are adopted and utilized for development

So basically, these are what the University is looking and aiming about. So the University had made some improvement during the past years of it’s existense such as the addition of the Institute of Computing in the year 1997, the new building which is the offices of different department is located such as the OSS office, the UGTO office, and the Clinic these are just improved infrastructure. Newly added internet library for the education department, the new Institute of Language, and other improvements that the University attained.

So why is it important?
In any organization there should be a plan? A business plan, a strategic plan, a systems development plan or any plan that supports the goals of an organization. The university is an organization that needs a well developed plan or shall we say a well planned plan. So considering the life cycle of the University it has a systems development life cycle that embodies the set goals of the University. The University which is an organization, go through different life-cycles just like people do. For example, people go through infancy, child-hood and early-teenage phases that are characterized by lots of rapid growth. People in these phases often do whatever it takes just to stay alive, for example, eating, seeking shelter and sleeping. Often, these people tend to make impulsive, highly reactive decisions based on whatever is going on around them at the moment. Start-up organizations are like this, too. Often, founders of the organization or program and its various members have to do whatever is necessary just to stay in business. Leaders make highly reactive, seat-of-the-pants decisions. They fear taking the time to slow down and do planning. In our comparison of organizations and programs to people, we note that, as people continue to mature, they begin to understand more about the world and themselves. Over time, they develop a certain kind of wisdom that sees them through many of the challenges in life and work. They learn to plan and to use a certain amount of discipline to carry through on those plans. They learn to manage themselves. To survive well into the future, organizations and programs must be able to do this, as well. Experienced leaders have learned to recognize the particular life cycle that an organization or program is going through. These leaders understand the types of problems faced by the organization or program during the life cycle. That understanding gives them a sense of perspective and helps them to decide how to respond to decisions and problems in the workplace. According to wikipedia.org an organizational life cycle is the life cycle of an organization from birth level to the termination.

There are five level/stages in any organization.
1. Birth - ("Can the dream be realized?")
2. Growth - ("How are we going to pull this off?")
3. Maturity - ("How can we build this to be viable?")
4. Decline - ("How can the momentum be sustained?")
5. Death - ("What do we need to redesign?")

Birth
This stage begins with a dream, vision and opportunity. Almost every church starts with a person, or group of persons, who has a vision. In their mind and spirit they see the potential, visualize plans, and the church is birthed. The infant church is characterized by strong commitment and purpose. Although they may feel uncertain about the future, the attitudes of those involved are positive and supportive. The young church requires much nurture and attention. Members are interdependent, totally involved and willing to work together. Those who don't share the dream and aren't willing to get involved will leave. The infant organization is action-oriented, opportunity-driven, and vision-focused. The birth stage requires a strong visionary leader who can maintain a high degree of commitment. The leader must maintain control and have significant input into the infant organization. It is normal at this stage that the leader be more hands-on and in control with little or no delegation, but if the work is to survive he must be willing to listen and include people. It is essential that the leader's family be supportive of him and the infant church, and that the larger organization to which the church is affiliated be supportive and provide external intervention and help as needed.

Growth
At this stage the church's beliefs, values, goals, structure, and actions become more formalized. The beliefs provide a doctrinal agreement for organizational action. The goals extend the organization's shared dream and the structure organizes the action. In this stage members tend to share a strong sense of mission and purpose. There is a high level of goal ownership by both leaders and members. Everyone feels involved, committing time and resources to the church. Volunteers are easily found. The scarcity of space because of rapid growth is a common characteristic in this stage. The early phase of the growing stage is marked by excitement. A negative result may be a tendency for leaders and members to become complacent. The new church may be like a baby that gets into everything and has trouble because it is uncoordinated. It may face a severe crisis precipitated by fast growth combined with lack of systems, finances, policies, and structure. Then it may experience a kind of second birth. As it was birthed physically the first time by the founding leader now it is being born emotionally apart from the founder. This second birth is more prolonged and painful than the first. Moving to the next stage depends on the development of policies and rules on what and what not to do. Leadership must learn to delegate authority not just responsibility. The growth stage may require a crisis to cure arrogance and push the church on to experience maximized effectiveness. The church must be able to focus its energies and resources and find the delicate balance between managing the organization and continuing to take risks.

Maturity
The maturity stage is still on the upside of the life cycle. It extends from about two-thirds of the way up to the peak. This stage is characterized by high visibility for the church. A strong understanding of its common purpose and mission continue to energize and drive the church. It knows what it is doing, where it is going and how to get there. It makes plans and then follows up on those plans. Members are enthusiastic and willing to get involved. New members are exceed and quickly find a place to become involved. The vision of the organization is becoming a reality as the organizational structure and functional systems are working to maximum efficiency. A strong results orientation increases the satisfaction of the members and newcomers. The church reaches out to others, developing its members, and living out its dream in Christian love. Structures and ministries are now created in response to new needs. Positive and effective delegation begins while new roles and responsibilities are created allowing more people to become involved. The church excels in performance and effectiveness in ministry. As a result it starts new ministries and programs. In the normal development of the church in the maturity stage there will not be enough well-trained people for the ministries. Although there is excitement, momentum and a willingness to volunteer, there are few who have been adequately trained. Training must become a major focus. The greatest challenge is for the organization to stay in the maturity stage full of vision and creativity while managing effectively and continuing to train people for leadership. Abnormal development occurs if the church does not redream the dream and allow creative minds to work. The maturity stage church feels alive and senses little need. This can lead into a maintenance mode. Since it is easier to administrate or manage than it is to be entrepreneurial the church has a tendency to begin to run on autopilot. Taking risks is replaced by playing it safe. When the church loses its entrepreneurial spirit, it begins to age.

Decline
This decline stage is characterized by a decline in the members' understanding of and commitment to the church's purpose. New members do not sense ownership of the church's purpose. They assume others to be responsible, so there is decline in involvement. To compensate for this decline more paid staff are needed. As the decline stage progresses, the church moves from nostalgia to questioning. In the nostalgia phase the group reflects on and longs for a comfortable past. You know the church has reached this phase when you hear: "I remember when." "We can't do that." "We've tried that and it didn't work." In the questioning phase, members initially question within themselves, concerning leadership and church problems. Then the questioning becomes more intense as groups begin to discuss problems. At this point, either the organization redefines itself and is revitalized by its dream, or its rate of decline accelerates. A polarization phase develops, characterized by a climate in which members mistakenly view each other as enemies, and conflict erupts. Leaders face a mounting challenge. As the aging stage progresses the tension between leaders and members builds. There is the increasing awareness that something is wrong but nobody knows what it is. Leaders are frustrated and seek to find answers. In an attempt to bring life the leader may suggest a new program or ministry and begin to implement it. The new ministry is placed into the existing structure of the church and brings some excitement and success, but soon the group is back at nostalgia and aging again. This cycle is repeated but each time with less excitement and effectiveness. The group moves from enthusiasm to frustration, to apathy and then to burnout. When this happens the leader's credibility is lost. The challenge for such a leader is not just to get a good idea for a new ministry but to redream the dream and somehow stimulate revitalization of the whole organization. The only hope is if leader and people can find a way to return to the birth stage and pray for a new vision.

Death
This fifth stage is characterized by the total loss of purpose and hope. The mission is not understood. As questioning and polarization increase, the emphasis shifts to who caused the problem, rather than what to do about it. There is the assumption that finding the who is solving the what. Conflict, back stabbing, and infighting abound. This polarization leads to either a splintering away or a split in the church. Paranoia freezes the church and everyone is lying low. Focus shifts to the internal turf wars while the unreached and the newcomer are seen as a nuisance and ignored. The church disassociates from its community and the people it should reach and focuses mostly on itself. Leadership is extremely frustrated to the point of despair by not knowing how to stop decline and the infighting in this stage. Frequently the leader is perceived as the problem which may or may not be the truth. Leadership takes many hard hits in the dying stage, particularly if the primary influencers do not support the leader. If the leader is visionary, creative and aggressive, he will likely not last long in the church or the group. if the leader is passive and maintenance oriented, he may make the patient comfortable while it continues to die. Few churches or groups ever truly recover at the dying stage. If they do it is because new leadership is able to revive the church with a vision and strategy. This requires also that the remaining members be willing to allow a heart transplant and add new life through new members.

So this is the organizational life cycle which is important for organizations such as the University in order to attain the goal that is intented to attain to be a premier University in the asean region. So in order to attain everyone must do its jobs in order to be more fruitful.

References:
http://webuildpeople.ag.org/wbp_library/9608_organization_lifecycl.cfm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizational_life_cycle
http://managementhelp.org/org_thry/org_cycl.htm
http://www.usep.edu.ph/version/

Assignment 4 in SAD

2009-12-31T12:44:00.002+08:00

The question was to identify and discuss at least3 systems development models, and discuss each of them. So in order for me to answer the question I also need to identify and discuss to you what is a systems development models, its definition and functions. How important it is in an organization to achieve its goals. I will also identify 3 examples of systems development models that is commonly used system development models. Such as waterfall model, the v-model, and the spiral model. So I will discuss each of its functions and importance in systems development life cycle. But before that I will discuss first what is a systems development life cycle or model.

A systems development lifecycle (SDLC) has three primary objectives: ensure that high quality systems are delivered, provide strong management controls over the projects, and maximize the productivity of the systems staff. In order to meet these objectives the SDLC has many specific requirements it must meet, including: being able to support projects and systems of various scopes and types, supporting all of the technical activities, supporting all of the management activities, being highly usable, and providing guidance on how to install it. The technical activities include: system definition (analysis, design, coding), testing, system installation (e.g., training, data conversion), production support (e.g., problem management), defining releases, evaluating alternatives, reconciling information across phases and to a global view, and defining the project's technical strategy. The management activities include: setting priorities, defining objectives, project tracking and status reporting, change control, risk assessment, step wise commitment, cost/benefit analysis, user interaction, managing vendors, post implementation reviews, and quality assurance reviews. In order to meet all of the SDLC's objectives and requirements there are certain design approaches that are required: the SDLC must be an example of a system created using the techniques it espouses; it must use a layered approach to analysis, design, installation support and production support; it must keep distinct the "what" from the "how" in regards to doing the tasks and creating the outputs; and it must organize its information in a hierarchical manner so that users with varying degrees of familiarity can find what they want easily and quickly. Defining or selecting an SDLC should be undertaken as a project with full time resources who have the appropriate level of expertise. It is an extremely high leverage effort. It also represents a major cultural change for the staff. It must be planned and executed in as professional a manner as possible.

A Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is any logical process used by a systems analyst to develop an information system, including requirements, validation, training, and user (stakeholder) ownership. Any SDLC should result in a high quality system that meets or exceeds customer expectations, reaches completion within time and cost estimates, works effectively and efficiently in the current and planned Information Technology infrastructure, and is inexpensive to maintain and cost-effective to enhance. Computer systems have become more complex and often (especially with the advent of Service-Oriented Architecture) link multiple traditional systems potentially supplied by different software vendors. To manage this level of complexity, a number of systems development life cycle (SDLC) models have been created: "waterfall"; "fountain"; "spiral"; "build and fix"; "rapid prototyping"; "incremental"; and "synchronize and stabilize". SDLC models can be described along a spectrum of agile to iterative to sequential. Agile methodologies, such as XP and Scrum, focus on light-weight processes which allow for rapid changes along the development cycle. Iterative methodologies, such as Rational Unified Process and Dynamic Systems Development Method, focus on limited project scopes and expanding or improving products by multiple iterations. Sequential or big-design-upfront (BDUF) models, such as Waterfall, focus on complete and correct planning to guide large projects and risks to successful and predictable results. Some agile and iterative proponents confuse the term SDLC with sequential or "more traditional" processes; however, SDLC is an umbrella term for all methodologies for the design, implementation, and release of software. In project management a project can be defined both with a project life cycle (PLC) and an SDLC, during which slightly different activities occur. According to Taylor (2004) "the project life cycle encompasses all the activities of the project, while the systems development life cycle focuses on realizing the product requirements".

Now after discussing all about SDLC I will now discuss the 3 systems development model that I had identified. First one is the waterfall model, or the most traditional model of all SDLC. According to wikipedia.org a waterfall model is a sequential software development process, in which progress is seen as flowing steadily downwards (like a waterfall) through the phases of Conception, Initiation, Analysis, Design (validation), Construction, Testing and maintenance. The waterfall development model has its origins in the manufacturing and construction industries; highly structured physical environments in which after-the-fact changes are prohibitively costly, if not impossible. Since no formal software development methodologies existed at the time, this hardware-oriented model was simply adapted for software development. The first formal description of the waterfall model is often cited to be an article published in 1970 by Winston W. Royce (1929–1995), although Royce did not use the term "waterfall" in this article. Royce was presenting this model as an example of a flawed, non-working model (Royce 1970). This is in fact the way the term has generally been used in writing about software development—as a way to criticize a commonly used software practice.

In Royce's original Waterfall model, the following phases are followed in order:

1. Requirements specification
2. Design
3. Construction (AKA implementation or coding)
4. Integration
5. Testing and debugging (AKA Validation)
6. Installation
7. Maintenance

Advantages of Waterfall Model

1. Clear project objectives.
2. Stable project requirements.
3. Progress of system is measurable.
4. Strict sign-off requirements.

Disadvantages of Waterfall Model

1. Time consuming
2. Never backward (Traditional)
3. Little room for iteration
4. Difficulty responding to changes

The Waterfall Model is the classic software life cycle model. According to Schach [1999], this model was the only widely accepted life cycle model until the early 1980s. This model represents the software life cycle using processes and products. Each process transforms a product to produce a new product as output. Then the new product becomes the input of the next process. The table below lists the processes and products of the Waterfall Model.

Input Product

Process

Output Product

Communicated Requirements	Requirements Engineering	Requirements Specification Document
Requirements Specification Document	Design	Design Specification Document
Design Specification Document	Programming	Executable Software Modules
Executable Software Modules	Integration	Integrated Software Product
Integrated Software Product	Delivery	Delivered Software Product
Delivered Software Product	Maintenance	Changed Requirements

Notice that the output product on the right becomes the input product on the left of the process at the next lowest level. The general formula for describing the transformation of products by processes can be written as follows:

Each product is represented by a gray box and each process is represented by a solid arrow connecting the boxes. To learn more about these processes and products, view the Waterfall Model animation below.

So I think I have all discuss all the important things that are needed for you to understand all about the waterfall model, now we will go on to the next stage which is the V-model. According to wikipedia.org a v-model is a software development process which can be presumed to be the extension of the waterfall model. Instead of moving down in a linear way, the process steps are bent upwards after the coding phase, to form the typical V shape. The V-Model demonstrates the relationships between each phase of the development life cycle and its associated phase of testing. The V-model deploys a well-structured method in which each phase can be implemented by the detailed documentation of the previous phase. Testing activities like test designing start at the beginning of the project well before coding and therefore saves a huge amount of the project time. The V-model consists of a number of phases. The Verification Phases are on the left hand side of the V, the Coding Phase is at the bottom of the V and the Validation Phases are on the right hand side of the V. As shown below;

Verification Phases

Requirements analysis
In the Requirements analysis phase, the requirements of the proposed system are collected by analyzing the needs of the user(s). This phase is concerned about establishing what the ideal system has to perform. However it does not determine how the software will be designed or built. Usually, the users are interviewed and a document called the user requirements document is generated. The user requirements document will typically describe the system’s functional, physical, interface, performance, data, security requirements etc as expected by the user. It is one which the business analysts use to communicate their understanding of the system back to the users. The users carefully review this document as this document would serve as the guideline for the system designers in the system design phase. The user acceptance tests are designed in this phase. See also Functional requirements, its is to develop in testing in now a days

System Design
Systems design is the phase where system engineers analyze and understand the business of the proposed system by studying the user requirements document. They figure out possibilities and techniques by which the user requirements can be implemented. If any of the requirements are not feasible, the user is informed of the issue. A resolution is found and the user requirement document is edited accordingly. The software specification document which serves as a blueprint for the development phase is generated. This document contains the general system organization, menu structures, data structures etc. It may also hold example business scenarios, sample windows, reports for the better understanding. Other technical documentation like entity diagrams, data dictionary will also be produced in this phase. The documents for system testing is prepared in this phase.

Architecture Design
The phase of the design of computer architecture and software architecture can also be referred to as high-level design. The baseline in selecting the architecture is that it should realize all which typically consists of the list of modules, brief functionality of each module, their interface relationships, dependencies, database tables, architecture diagrams, technology details etc. The integration testing design is carried out in this phase.

Module Design
The module design phase can also be referred to as low-level design. The designed system is broken up into smaller units or modules and each of them is explained so that the programmer can start coding directly. The low level design document or program specifications will contain a detailed functional logic of the module, in pseudocode:

• database tables, with all elements, including their type and size
• all interface details with complete API references
• all dependency issues
• error message listings
• complete input and outputs for a module.

The unit test design is developed in this stage.

Validation Phases

Unit Testing
In the V-model of software development, unit testing implies the first stage of dynamic testing process. According to software development expert Barry Boehm, a fault discovered and corrected in the unit testing phase is more than a hundred times cheaper than if it is done after delivery to the customer. It involves analysis of the written code with the intention of eliminating errors. It also verifies that the codes are efficient and adheres to the adopted coding standards. Testing is usually white box. It is done using the Unit test design prepared during the module design phase. This may be carried out by software developers.

Integration Testing
In integration testing the separate modules will be tested together to expose faults in the interfaces and in the interaction between integrated components. Testing is usually black box as the code is not directly checked for errors.

System Testing
System testing will compare the system specifications against the actual system. The system test design is derived from the system design documents and is used in this phase. Sometimes system testing is automated using testing tools. Once all the modules are integrated several errors may arise. Testing done at this stage is called system testing.

User Acceptance Testing
Acceptance testing is the phase of testing used to determine whether a system satisfies the requirements specified in the requirements analysis phase. The acceptance test design is derived from the requirements document. The acceptance test phase is the phase used by the customer to determine whether to accept the system or not.

V-Model advantages:

• It is also called as verification and validation Model.
• This means the verification and validation will be done side by side.
• It emphasis the strict process flow to develop a quality product.
• The errors occurred in any phase will be corrected in that phase itself.

V-Model disadvantages:

• It needs lot of resources and money.
• It needs an established process to implement.
• It can be implemented by only some big companies.

So lastly, we wll now go to the last example which is the spiral model. According to wikipedia.org a spiral model is a software development process combining elements of both design and prototyping-in-stages, in an effort to combine advantages of top-down and bottom-up concepts. Also known as the spiral lifecycle model (or spiral development), it is a systems development method (SDM) used in information technology (IT). This model of development combines the features of the prototyping model and the waterfall model. The spiral model is intended for large, expensive and complicated projects.

History of the spiral model
The spiral model was defined by Barry Boehm in his 1988 article "A Spiral Model of Software Development and Enhancement”. This model was not the first model to discuss iterative development, but it was the first model to explain why the iteration matters. As originally envisioned, the iterations were typically 6 months to 2 years long. Each phase starts with a design goal and ends with the client (who may be internal) reviewing the progress thus far. Analysis and engineering efforts are applied at each phase of the project, with an eye toward the end goal of the project.

Steps
The steps in the spiral model iteration can be generalized as follows:
1. The new system requirements are defined in as much detail as possible. This usually involves interviewing a number of users representing all the external or internal users and other aspects of the existing system.
2. A preliminary design is created for the new system.This phase is the most important part of "Spiral Model". In this phase all possible (and available) alternatives, which can help in developing a cost effective project are analyzed and strategies are decided to use them. This phase has been added specially in order to identify and resolve all the possible risks in the project development. If risks indicate any kind of uncertainty in requirements, prototyping may be used to proceed with the available data and find out possible solution in order to deal with the potential changes in the requirements.
3. A first prototype of the new system is constructed from the preliminary design. This is usually a scaled-down system, and represents an approximation of the characteristics of the final product.
4. A second prototype is evolved by a fourfold procedure:
• evaluating the first prototype in terms of its strengths, weaknesses, and risks;
• defining the requirements of the second prototype;
• planning and designing the second prototype;
• constructing and testing the second prototype.

Spiral mostly Used
Game development is a main area where the spiral model is used and needed, that is because of the size and the constantly shifting goals of those large projects. The spiral model is mostly used in large projects. For smaller projects, the concept of agile software development is becoming a viable alternative. The US military has adopted the spiral model for its Future Combat Systems program. The FCS project was canceled after six years (2003 - 2009), it had a 2 year iteration (spiral). FCS should have resulted in 3 consecutive prototypes (one prototype per spiral - every 2 years). It was canceled in May, 2009

Advantages
1. This model improves avoidance of risk
2. This model is very useful to choose a methodology for a software iteration
3. This model can associate other methodologies like Waterfall, Prototyping, and Incremental methodologies. Suppose a project having a low risk of not meeting the user requirement and on other side having high risk of missing budget would follow waterfall approach
4. In this model more functionality can be added in later versions.

Disadvantages
1. This model limiting reusability
2. This model is quite complex
3. Spiral model is very customized for every project
4. To use this model an experienced and skilled team required
5. There is no proper control to move from one cycle to another cycle

In order to manage the risk of a single phase in the Spiral Model (i.e., one loop of the spiral), Boehm [1988] used the template below for risk assessment during the development of a software productivity tool. The rows of the template represented various management elements of the project. For each new phase, he created a new instance of the template to review the status of the project and decided whether the risks were too great to continue. To illustrate the use of the template, the rows have been filled with a fictitious example phase [Sommerville 1996].

Template	Explanation	Example Phase
Objectives	The goals of the software project	Significantly improve software quality
Constraints	Limitations which the project must meet	Within three years Without large-scale capital investment Without radical change to company standards
Alternatives	Possible ways to achieve the objectives	Reuse existing certified software Introduce formal specification and verification Invest in testing and validation tools
Risks	Potential risks for this phase	No cost effective quality improvement possible Quality improvements may increase costs excessively New methods might cause existing staff to leave
Risk Resolution	Strategies for reducing the risks	Literature survey, Pilot project, Survey of potential reusable components, Assessment of available tool support, Staff training and motivation seminars
Results	Results of applying risk resolution strategies	Experience of formal methods is limited - very hard to quantify improvements Limited tool support available for company standard development system Reusable components available but little reuse tool support
Plans	Development plans for the next phase	Explore reuse option in more detail Develop prototype reuse support tools Explore component certification scheme
Commitment	Resources needed to achieve the plans	Fund further 18-month study phase

Spiral Model Template

In the example above, software company A has the objective of significantly improving the quality of their software. In order to meet this goal, the company evaluates three alternatives and three risks. One of the alternatives is the use of formal specification and verification. This alternative, however, may incur the risk of causing existing staff to leave since they prefer to use more familiar methods of software development. To resolve this risk, staff training and motivation seminars are conducted to show the benefits of these new methods and determine the current level of expertise in formal methods. As a result, Company A discovers that the staff know very little about these methods. Therefore, it is difficult to estimate what type of benefit the company might receive from using this alternative to meet its objective. Since this option seems too risky, the plans for the next phase focus on another alternative that is more promising: the reuse of software components.

So to summarized it all, I had identified and discuss 3 examples of a systems development models. There are many systems development models that are available. It depends on what do you want to use in order to help you achieve what you are achieving for.

References:
http://www.blurtit.com/q7769291.html
http://courses.cs.vt.edu/csonline/SE/Lessons/Spiral/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_model
http://www.allinterview.com/showanswers/33292.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-Model_(software_development)
http://courses.cs.vt.edu/csonline/SE/Lessons/Waterfall/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_Development_Life_Cycle
http://benderrbt.com/Bender-SDLC.pdf
http://www.blurtit.com/q533918.html

Critical Success Factors

2009-12-30T11:50:00.000+08:00

For an introduction, first I will give insights about critical success factors. To start, so many important matters can compete for your attention in business that it's often difficult to see the "wood for the trees". What's more, it can be extremely difficult to get everyone in the team pulling in the same direction and focusing on the true essentials. That's where Critical Success Factors (CSFs) can help. CSFs are the essential areas of activity that must be performed well if you are to achieve the mission, objectives or goals for your business or project. By identifying your Critical Success Factors, you can create a common point of reference to help you direct and measure the success of your business or project. As a common point of reference, CSFs help everyone in the team to know exactly what's most important. And this helps people perform their own work in the right context and so pull together towards the same overall aims.

So the question is identify and discuss the steps for “critical success factors” approach. So this is the question that needs to be answered. But in order for me to answer it, I should discuss all about what is a “critical success factor”? so what is a critical success factor or (CSF), according to wikipedia.org it is the term for an element that is necessary for an organization or project to achieve its mission. It is a critical factor or activity required for ensuring the success of your business. The term was initially used in the world of data analysis, and business analysis. For example, a CSF for a successful Information Technology (IT) project is user involvement. Others also says that it is an an element of organizational activity which is central to its future success. Critical success factors may change over time, and may include items such as product quality, employee attitudes, manufacturing flexibility, and brand awareness. Or any of the aspects of a business that are identified as vital for successful targets to be reached and maintained. Critical success factors are normally identified in such areas as production processes, employee and organization skills, functions, techniques, and technologies. These are some of the definition about what critical success factor or (CSF) means. So we proceed to the next.

There are four basic types of CSF's

They are:

1. Industry CSF's resulting from specific industry characteristics;
2. Strategy CSF's resulting from the chosen competitive strategy of the business;
3. Environmental CSF's resulting from economic or technological changes; and
4. Temporal CSF's resulting from internal organizational needs and changes.

Things that are measured get done more often than things that are not measured. Each CSF should be measurable and associated with a target goal. You don't need exact measures to manage. Primary measures that should be listed include critical success levels (such as number of transactions per month) or, in cases where specific measurements are more difficult, general goals should be specified (such as moving up in an industry customer service survey). So next let us diccuss the factors involving CSF.

Factors:

· Money: positive cash flow, revenue growth, and profit margins.
· Your future: Acquiring new customers and/or distributors.
· Customer satisfaction: How happy they are.
· Quality: How good is your product and service?
· Product or service development: What's new that will increase business with existing customers and attract new ones?
· Intellectual capital: Increasing what you know is profitable.
· Strategic relationships: New sources of business, products and outside revenue.
· Employee attraction and retention: Your ability to extend your reach.
· Sustainability: Your personal ability to keep it all going.

Typically, critical success factors can be categorized into five primary categories:
1. leadership;
2. culture;
3. structure, roles, and responsibilities;
4. information technology infrastructure; and
5. measurement.

Leadership plays a key role in ensuring success in almost any initiative within an organization. Nothing makes greater impact on an organization than when leaders model the behavior they are trying to promote among employees.

Culture is the combination of shared history, expectations, unwritten rules, and social customs that
compel behaviors. It is the set of underlying beliefs that, while rarely exactly articulated, are always there to influence the perception of actions and communications of all employees.

Cultural issues concerning KM initiatives usually arise due to the following factors:
· Lack of time
· Unconnected reward systems
· Lack of common perspectives
· No formal communication

Structure, Roles, and Responsibilities
Although the structure is put in place to establish ownership and accountability, if there is no overall
ownership of knowledge and learning within the organization and the leadership does not "walk the talk," it will be difficult to sustain any sharing behavior.

Information Technology (IT) Infrastructure
Without a solid IT infrastructure, an organization cannot enable its employees to share information on a
large scale. Yet the trap that most organizations fall into is not a lack of IT, but rather too much focus on
IT.

Success factors related to IT.
· Approach
· Content
· Common platforms
· Simple technology
· Adequate training

Measurement
Because many variables may affect an outcome, it is important to correlate activities with business
outcomes, while not claiming a pure cause-and-effect relationship. Increased sales may be a result not
only of the sales representatives having more information, but also of the market turning, a competitor
closing down, or prices dropping 10 percent. Due to the inability to completely isolate knowledge-sharing results, tracking the correlations over time is important.

Start with a vision:
· Mission statement
· Develop 5-6 high level goals
· Develop hierarchy of goals and their success factors
· Lists of requirements, problems, and assumptions
· Leads to concrete requirements at the lowest level of decomposition (a single, implementable idea) Along the way, identify the problems being solved and the assumptions being made Cross-reference usage scenarios and problems with requirements
· Analysis matrices
· Problems vs. Requirements matrix
· Usage scenarios vs. Requirements matrix
· Solid usage scenarios
· Relationship to Usage Scenarios
· Usage scenarios or "use cases"; provide a means of determining:
o Are the requirements aligned and self-consistent?
o Are the needs of the user being met as well as those of the enterprise?
o Are the requirements complete
· Results of the Analysis

Now, I will give examples of CSF.

Statistical research into CSF’s on organizations has shown there to be seven key areas. These CSF's are:

1. Training and education
2. Quality data and reporting
3. Management commitment, customer satisfaction
4. Staff Orientation
5. Role of the quality department
6. Communication to improve quality, and
7. Continuous improvement

These were identified when Total Quality was at its peak, so as you can see have a bias towards quality matters. You may or may not feel that these are right or indeed critical for your organization.

The Critical Success Factors we have identified and us in the BIR process are captured in the mnemonic PRIMO-F

1. People - availability, skills and attitude
2. Resources - People, equipment, etc
3. Innovation - ideas and development
4. Marketing - supplier relation, customer satisfaction, etc
5. Operations - continuous improvement, quality,
6. Finance- cash flow, available investment etc

Steps in identifying CSF.

In reality, identifying your CSFs is a very iterative process. Your mission, strategic goals and CSFs are intrinsically linked and each will be refined as you develop them.

Here are the summary steps that, used iteratively, will help you identify the CSFs for your business or project:

Step 1:
Establish your business's or project's mission and strategic goals

Step 2:
For each strategic goal, ask yourself "what area of business or project activity is essential to achieve this goal?" The answers to the question are your candidate CSFs.

Tip: How Many CSFs?
To make sure you consider all types of possible CSFs, you can use Rockart's CSF types as a checklist.
· Industry - these factors result from specific industry characteristics. These are the things that the organization must do to remain competitive.
· Environmental - these factors result from macro-environmental influences on an organization. Things like the business climate, the economy, competitors, and technological advancements are included in this category.
· Strategic - these factors result from the specific competitive strategy chosen by the organization. The way in which the company chooses to position themselves, market themselves, whether they are high volume low cost or low volume high cost producers, etc.
· Temporal - these factors result from the organization's internal forces. Specific barriers, challenges, directions, and influences will determine these CSFs.

Step 3:
Evaluate the list of candidate CSFs to find the absolute essential elements for achieving success - these are your Criticial Success Factors.

As you identify and evaluate candidate CSFs, you may uncover some new strategic objectives or more detailed objectives. So you may need to define your mission, objectives and CSFs iteratively.

Step 4:
Identify how you will monitor and measure each of the CSFs.

Step 5:
Communicate your CSFs along with the other important elements of your business or project's strategy.

Step 6:
Keep monitoring and reevaluating your CSFs to ensure you keep moving towards your aims. Indeed, whilst CSFs are sometimes less tangible than measurable goals, it is useful to identify as specifically as possible how you can measure or monitor each one.

And lastly, I will just share a little CSF on DLPC. This is the data I gathered during the interview. Critical success factors that involve DLPC is their peopleware, project cost, support from business owner, time, and budget. These are the factors that is critical to the success of a project. So these are all I want to share. Thanks!

References:
http://docs.google.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_success_factor
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_80.htm
http://rapidbi.com/created/criticalsuccessfactors.html

Systems Analyst as a Project Manager

2009-12-25T12:45:00.002+08:00

To start, let me differentiate a systems analyst to a project manager. A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers can have the responsibility of the planning, execution, and closing of any project, typically relating to construction industry, architecture, computer networking, telecommunications or software development. A project manager is the person accountable for accomplishing the stated project objectives. Key project management responsibilities include creating clear and attainable project objectives, building the project requirements, and managing the triple constraint for projects, which are; cost, time, and quality (also known as scope). A project manager is often a client representative and has to determine and implement the exact needs of the client, based on knowledge of the firm they are representing. The ability to adapt to the various internal procedures of the contracting party, and to form close links with the nominated representatives, is essential in ensuring that the key issues of cost, time, quality and above all, client satisfaction, can be realized.

Responsibilities

The specific responsibilities of the Project Manager vary depending on the industry, the company size, the company maturity, and the company culture. However, there are some responsibilities that are common to all Project Managers,

· Developing the project plan
· Managing the project stakeholders
· Managing the project team
· Managing the project risk
· Managing the project schedule
· Managing the project budget
· Managing the project conflicts

Project management
Project Management is quite often the province and responsibility of an individual project manager. This individual seldom participates directly in the activities that produce the end result, but rather strives to maintain the progress and mutual interaction and tasks of various parties in such a way that reduces the risk of overall failure, maximizes benefits, and restricts costs.

Products and services
Any type of product or service — pharmaceuticals, building construction, vehicles, electronics, computer software, financial services, etc. — may have its implementation overseen by a project manager and its operations by a product manager.

Project tools
The tools, knowledge and techniques for managing projects are often unique to Project Management. For example: work breakdown structures, critical path analysis and earned value management. Understanding and applying the tools and techniques which are generally recognized as good practices are not sufficient alone for effective project management. Effective project management requires that the project manager understands and uses the knowledge and skills from at least four areas of expertise. Examples are PMBOK, Application Area Knowledge: standards and regulations set forth by ISO for project management, General Management Skills and Project Environment Management[1]

Project teams
When recruiting and building an effective team, the manager must consider not only the technical skills of each person, but also the critical roles and chemistry between workers. A project team has mainly three separate components: Project Manager, Core Team and Contracted Team.

Risk
Most of the project management issues that influence a project arise from risk, which in turn arises from uncertainty. The successful project manager focuses on this as his/her main concern and attempts to reduce risk significantly, often by adhering to a policy of open communication, ensuring that project participants can voice their opinions and concerns.

While, a systems analyst is responsible for researching, planning, coordinating and recommending software and system choices to meet an organization's business requirements. The systems analyst plays a vital role in the systems development process. A successful systems analyst must acquire four skills: analytical, technical, managerial, and interpersonal. Analytical skills enable systems analysts to understand the organization and its functions, which helps him/her to identify opportunities and to analyze and solve problems. Technical skills help systems analysts understand the potential and the limitations of information technology. The systems analyst must be able to work with various programming languages, operating systems, and computer hardware platforms. Management skills help systems analysts manage projects, resources, risk, and change. Interpersonal skills help systems analysts work with end users as well as with analysts, programmers, and other systems professionals.

So basically, a systems analyst is also a project manager in a way that they both responsible for planning systems and other task.

The Reasons to Initiate IS Project
· The new information system is part of an overall strategic plan.
· The new information system is to respond an immediate business need.

What Is a Project?
· A project is a planned undertaking with a beginning and an end that produce predetermined result and is usually constrained by a schedule and resource.

Reasons for Project Failure
· Incomplete or changing requirements
· Limited user involvement
· Lack of executive support
· Lack of technical support
· Poor project planning
· Unclear objectives
· Lack of required resources

Reasons for Project Success
· Clear system requirement definitions
· Substantial user involvement
· Support from upper management
· Thorough and detailed project plans
· Realistic work schedules and milestones

Project Management
· Project management is organizing and directing people to achieve a planned result within budget and on schedule.

· Success or failure of project depends on skills of the project manager.
· The responsibilities of project manager are both internal and external

Internal Responsibilities of the Project Manager
· Identify project tasks and build a work breakdown structure
· Develop the project schedule
· Recruit and train team members
· Assign team members to tasks
· Coordinate activities of team members and subteams
· Assess project risks
· Monitor and control project deliverables and milestones
· Verify the quality of project deliverables

External Responsibilities of the Project Manager
· Report the project’s status and progress
· Establish good working relationships with those who identify the needed system requirements
· The people who will use the system
· Work directly with the client (the project’s sponsor) and other stakeholders
· Identify resource needs and obtain resources

Various Titles/Roles of Project Managers

Project Management Tasks
· Beginning of project
· Overall project planning
· During project
· Project execution management
· Project control management
· Project closeout
· Project management approach differs for
· Predictive SDLC
· Adaptive SDLC
·
System Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
· Project planning – initiate, ensure feasibility, plan schedule, obtain approval for project
· Analysis – understand business needs and processing requirements
· Design – define solution system based on requirements and analysis decisions
· Implementation – construct, test, train users, and install new system
· Support – keep system running and improve

Project Management Body of Knowledge
· Scope management
· Control functions included in system
· Control scope of work done by team
· Time management
· Build detailed schedule of all project tasks
· Monitor progress of project against milestones
· Cost management
· Calculate initial cost/benefit analysis
· Monitor expenses

Project Management Body of Knowledge (continued)
· Quality management
· Establish quality plan and control activities for each project phase
· Human resource management
· Recruit and hire project team members
· Train, motivate, team build
· Communications management
· Identify stakeholders and their communications
· Establish team communications

Project Management Body of Knowledge (continued)
· Risk management
· Identify and review risks for failure
· Develop plans to reduce these risks
· Procurement management
· Develop requests for proposals (RFPs)
· Evaluate bids, write contracts, monitor performance
· Integration management

Three Driving Forces to Start IS Project
· Respond to opportunity
· Top-down
· Resolve problem
· Bottom-up
· Conform to directive
· Legislative changes

So basically, in connection to what I have interviewed, he is a systems analyst of the Davao Light and Power Company. He stated that all of the jobs in their department is focused on supporting all the processes in their organization. They can suggest projects to the top management, but basically all projects are for fast processing to other departments and support type. So basically, they come up with projects but still they depend on the top management.

Appendixes:

References:
www.itk.ilstu.edu/.../Chapter%203%20-%20Analyst%20as%20a%20Project%20Manager.ppt
http://en.wikipedia.org/

Organizational Change

2009-12-23T12:31:00.000+08:00

To really understand organizational change and begin guiding successful change efforts, the change agent should have at least a broad understanding of the context of the change effort. This includes understanding the basic systems and structures in organizations, including their typical terms and roles. This requirement applies to the understanding of leadership and management of the organizations, as well. That is why graduate courses in business often initially include a course or some discussion on organizational theory. This topic includes several links to help you gain this broad understanding. The following links (broadly reviewed in the following order) might be helpful to establish some sense about organizations, and their leadership and management.

Range of Organizational Change:

1. Automation - Using technology to perform current tasks more efficiently & effectively.
2. Rationalization of Procedures - Streamline Standard Operating Procedures; eliminate bottlenecks
3. Business Reengineering - Radical redesign of processes to improve cost, quality, service; maximize benefits of technology
4. Paradigm Shift - A complete mental model of how a complex system functions

What is Organizational Change?

Typically, the concept of organizational change is in regard to organization-wide change, as opposed to smaller changes such as adding a new person, modifying a program, etc. Examples of organization-wide change might include a change in mission, restructuring operations (e.g., restructuring to self-managed teams, layoffs, etc.), new technologies, mergers, major collaborations, "rightsizing", new programs such as Total Quality Management, re-engineering, etc. Some experts refer to organizational transformation. Often this term designates a fundamental and radical reorientation in the way the organization operates.

What makes an Organization to change?

Change should not be done for the sake of change -- it's a strategy to accomplish some overall goal. Usually organizational change is provoked by some major outside driving force, e.g., substantial cuts in funding, address major new markets/clients, need for dramatic increases in productivity/services, etc. Typically, organizations must undertake organization-wide change to evolve to a different level in their life cycle, e.g., going from a highly reactive, entrepreneurial organization to more stable and planned development. Transition to a new chief executive can provoke organization-wide change when his or her new and unique personality pervades the entire organization.

Why is Organization-Wide Change Difficult to Accomplish?

Typically there are strong resistances to change. People are afraid of the unknown. Many people think things are already just fine and don't understand the need for change. Many are inherently cynical about change, particularly from reading about the notion of "change" as if it's a mantra. Many doubt there are effective means to accomplish major organizational change. Often there are conflicting goals in the organization, e.g., to increase resources to accomplish the change yet concurrently cut costs to remain viable. Organization-wide change often goes against the very values held dear by members in the organization, that is, the change may go against how members believe things should be done. That's why much of organizational-change literature discusses needed changes in the culture of the organization, including changes in members' values and beliefs and in the way they enact these values and beliefs.

How Organization-Wide Change Is Best Carried Out?

Successful change must involve top management, including the board and chief executive. Usually there's a champion who initially instigates the change by being visionary, persuasive and consistent. A change agent role is usually responsible to translate the vision to a realistic plan and carry out the plan. Change is usually best carried out as a team-wide effort. Communications about the change should be frequent and with all organization members. To sustain change, the structures of the organization itself should be modified, including strategic plans, policies and procedures. This change in the structures of the organization typically involves an unfreezing, change and re-freezing process.
The best approaches to address resistances are through increased and sustained communications and education. For example, the leader should meet with all managers and staff to explain reasons for the change, how it generally will be carried out and where others can go for additional information. A plan should be developed and communicated. Plans do change. That's fine, but communicate that the plan has changed and why. Forums should be held for organization members to express their ideas for the plan. They should be able to express their concerns and frustrations as well.

Perhaps the most asked but least answered question in business today is “What can we do to make our business survive and grow?” The world is rapidly changing into something too hard to easily predict, with a hundred opportunities and pitfalls passing by every moment.
To add to this confusion, there are hundreds, if not thousands of techniques, solutions and methods that claim to help business improve productivity, quality and customer satisfaction. A company President, CEO or business owner has so many choices in these buzzwords, whether they are called Total Quality Management, Customer Satisfaction, Re-engineering or Teambuilding. They are like new shoppers in a giant grocery store: They are hungry, but there are so many brands, sizes and varieties you don’t know what to buy.
In response to this confusion, many do nothing, often afraid of making the wrong choices. Others change the techniques they use every few months, using the “program du’jeur” method of organizational change, otherwise known as MBS (Management by Best Seller). Neither of these responses helps the organization in the long run. Changing nothing will produce nothing. Implementing a different buzzword (Total Quality, Just in Time, Re-engineering, etc.) every few months often creates a “whipsaw” effect that causes mass confusion among your employees. These buzzwords are often a hammer in search of a nail, techniques applied with no clear focus as to the why, expected results or return on investment.
One of the organizations we consulted with started on this path. Senior management proclaimed in a memo that Total Quality should be a way of life. One senior vice president declared that he wanted 25% of his organization using Total Quality tools within a year. This caused tremendous excitement in the organization, However, the follow-through was delayed, occasionally inappropriate and sometimes not there. Many employees became discouraged with the process and considered it just another management fad. With the next business downturn, virtually all training had stopped and little enthusiasm was left.
Other organizations clearly focus on technical problems and on improving what they had. They are initially successful, but become victims of their own success. I call this an improved, planned incremental approach. Their initial quality improvement teams may be so successful they rapidly create more teams, without the qualitative organization-wide changes (re-engineering) necessary to sustain a permanent effort.
One organization we worked with had over 70 quality improvement teams in a plan with only 300 employees. They had shown little results after their first successes, and asked us what their next steps should be. We suggested the union’s leadership in their efforts, look at restructuring their organization along more product-focused lines, and possibly start profit sharing. They were not interested in taking any of these actions. A few months later, its parent company shut down the site, partly because of its poor productivity.
Organizations need to move beyond the buzzwords into deciding what actions they need to perform that will help them grow and develop. In response to this problem, this article will provide you a framework for coping with organizational change independent of buzzwords or the latest management fad. Organizations must first decide on the framework their organizational change long before they choose a buzzword to implement.

The Major Decision

Instead of grasping for the latest technique, I suggest instead that organizations should go through a formal decision-making process that has four major components:

Levels, goals and strategies
Measurement system
Sequence of steps
Implementation and organizational change

The Levels of Organizational Change

Perhaps the most difficult decision to make is at what "level" to start. There are four levels of organizational change:

shaping and anticipating the future (level 1)
defining what business to be in and their "core competencies” (level 2)
reengineering processes (level 3)
incrementally improving processes (level 4)

First let's describe these levels, and then under what circumstances a business should use them.

Level 1- shaping and anticipating the future
At this level, organizations start out with few assumptions about the business itself, what it is "good" at, and what the future will be like.
Management generates alternate "scenarios" of the future, defines opportunities based on these possible futures, assesses its strengths and weaknesses in these scenarios changes its mission, measurement system etc. More information on this is in the next article, "Moving from the Future to your Strategy."

Level 2 - defining what business to be in and their "Core Competencies
Many attempts at strategic planning start at this level, either assuming that 1) the future will be like the past or at least predictable; 2) the future is embodied in the CEO's "vision for the future"; or 3) management doesn't know where else to start; 4) management is too afraid to start at level 1 because of the changes needed to really meet future requirements; or 5) the only mandate they have is to refine what mission already exists.
After a mission has been defined and a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis is completed, an organization can then define its measures, goals, strategies, etc. More information on this is in the next article, "Moving from the Future to your Strategy."

Level 3 - Reengineering (Structurally Changing) Your Processes
Either as an aftermath or consequence of level one or two work or as an independent action, level three works focuses on fundamentally changing how work is accomplished. Rather than focus on modest improvements, reengineering focuses on making major structural changes to everyday with the goal of substantially improving productivity, efficiency, quality or customer satisfaction. To read more about level 3 organizational changes, please see "A Tale of Three Villages."

Level 4 - Incrementally Changing your Processes
Level 4 organizational changes are focusing in making many small changes to existing work processes. Oftentimes organizations put in considerable effort into getting every employee focused on making these small changes, often with considerable effect. Unfortunately, making improvements on how a buggy whip for horse-drawn carriages is made will rarely come up with the idea that buggy whips are no longer necessary because cars have been invented. To read more about level 4 organizational changes and how it compares to level 3, please see "A Tale of Three Villages."

One organization we consulted with has had a more positive experience with the incremental approach. We trained an internal facilitator, helped them deliver training in a just-in-time fashion, and had them focus on specific technical problems. The teams management formed reduced initial quality defects by 48%.
The disadvantages of such an incremental approach include avoiding structural, system-wide problems, and assume existing processes need modest improvement. In addition, using incremental approaches can be frustrating to employees and management if (pick a buzzword) does not catch on in the organization. As a result of these disadvantages, many organizations experience a high risk of failure in the long run.

What level is fit to choose?

These levels have much of the same goals: increasing customer satisfaction, doing things right is the first time, greater employee productivity, etc. Despite these similarities, they differ substantially in the methods they use to achieve these goals.
Levels one through three, on one hand, focuses on "big picture" elements such as analysis of the marketplace, out-sourcing, purchase/sale of subsidiaries, truly out-of-the box" thinking and substantial change in the management and support systems of the company . In my experience, companies that use these methods tend to have a high need for change, risk-tolerant management, relatively few constraints and have substantial consensus among its management on what to do. Types of industries include those whose environment requires rapid adaptation to fast-moving events: electronics, information systems and telecommunication industries, for example.
Companies using mostly incremental tools (level 4) have management that perceives only a modest need for change, is relatively risk-avoidant, has many constraints on its actions and only has a modest consensus among them on what to do. Instead of focusing on new opportunities, they wish to hone and clarify what they already do. Types of industries that often use these methods include the military, aerospace, and until recently, health care organizations. Those organizations whose strategic planning solely focuses on refining an existing mission statement and communicating the paragraph also fall into using incremental (level 4) methods.
When discussing the continuum of structural vs. incremental change, its important to realize that what labels companies use are not important here. One must carefully observe their actions. Many companies have slogans, "glitter" recognition programs and large budgets to provide "awareness" training in the buzzword they are attempting to implement. The key, however, is to note what changes they are really making. If management is mostly filling training slots with disinterested workers and forming a few process improvement teams, they are using level three methods. If they are considering changes in business lines, re-organizing by customer instead of by function, or making major changes in how the everyday employee is being paid, they are using level 3 methods.
Unfortunately, all of this discussion hinges in management's belief about how much change is necessary. This belief often hinges on their often unassessed beliefs of 1) how well the organization performs compared to other organizations (a lack of benchmarking); and 2) what the future will be.
As a result, my recommendation is that organizations conduct scenario/strategic planning exercises (level 1) anyway, even if they have already decided that level 4 (incremental) methods will suffice to solve their problems. This way management can be aware of the limitations of the lower-level methods they are using and realize when it is best to abandon these lower-level methods for something more substantive.
Based on this exercise, comparison of existing internal processes with world-class examples (benchmarking) and market analysis, management may come to realize how much change is necessary. The greater the gap between what the organization needs to be and how it currently operations and what businesses it is in, the more it suggests that greater change is necessary, and greater restructuring is necessary.
This decision is very important. IBM in the mid 1980’s felt that the future would be much like the past and a result didn't have to change much. They did not realize how much microcomputers would replace the functions of their bread-and-butter business, the mainframe. The net result was tens of thousands of people were laid off, with the company suffering the first losses in its history.

Goals

Based on whatever level work you are doing, the opportunities that are found need to be evaluated to determine which of them best suit the existing and future capabilities of the organization and provide the most "bang for the buck" in terms of improvement in your measures of success. In addition, goals need to have the resources and management determination to see to their success.

Goals also need to be SMART, that is:

Specific - concrete action, step-by-step actions needed to make the goal succeed
Measurable - observable results from the goal's accomplishment
Attainable - The goal is both possible and is done at the right time with sufficient attention and resources
Realistic- The probability of success is good, given the resources and attention given it.
Time-bound- The goal is achieved within a specified period of time in a way that takes advantage of the opportunity before it passes you by.

Some examples include:

“We will expand into the polystyrene market within the next five years and achieve 20% market share”
We will decrease the time from research to customer delivery by 50% within two years
We will increase the quality of our largest product by 20% in three years.

Strategies

Where goals focus on what, strategies focus on how. Some examples include:

“We will re-engineer our research and development process”
“We will evaluate and improve our sales and marketing department”
We will conduct a SWOT analysis and then define our core competencies

Additional examples of strategies are included in the "Moving from the Future to your Strategy" chapter.
Wait a second. Aren't goals and strategies really the same? They are in one sense as they both need to be SMART. As what you might guess, the goals of a level are achieved by creating strategies at the lower levels.

The Measurement System

Without measures of success, the organization does not know if it has succeeded in its efforts. Someone once said, “What gets measured gets improved.” Someone else said, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”
For more information on measurement systems and their place in organizational change, please see the "Balanced Scorecard" article, along with a number of articles where employee surveys are used.

Implementation and Organizational Change

The success of any organizational change effort can be summed into an equation:

Success = Measurement X Method X Control X Focused Persistence X Consensus
Like any equation with multiplication, a high value of one variable can compensate for lower levels on other variables. Also like any equation with multiplication, if one variable equals 0, the result is zero.

On employee involvement

Some organizations involve employee’s right from the start, where they have significant influence in the strategic plan of the organization. This kind of involvement tends to reduce employees’ resistance, which is always a very important factor in the success of any organizational change. Such organizations as Eaton, Eastman Chemical and Rohm and Haas have used such an approach.
Such employee involvement, however, might also be threatening to management’s traditional power. Some organizations decide employee involvement will be limited to implementing the strategic decisions management makes, or further limit involvement to purely task-focused teams working on technical problems. Many aerospace organizations have used this approach.

Focused persistence, good project management and the sequence of implementation

The sequence of implementation is also an important factor. There are four basic options, with many variations of them. The first involves the entire organization from the start, with the whole organization intensively working at once on making the change. Ford Motor Company is currently restructuring its entire organization, moving from planning to implementation in nine months.
Another option is a more relaxed approach, in which divisions or business units of the organization go at their own pace. This option can often become an incremental approach like the first or second village. Many conglomerates or other companies with diverse operations try this approach.
A third option is similar to the previous one, with the focus being on individual business units doing the implementation. In this case, however, business units implement roughly the same things in roughly the same time schedule. Unisys, the computer company, is using this method on some of its organizational change efforts.
A fourth option is to create a pilot project in one division or business unit, learn from its mistakes, and then apply those lessons to the rest of the organization. Examples of this option include the Saturn car facility at General Motors and the Enfield plant of Digital Equipment Corporation. It’s important to note here that creating pilot projects is a high-risk business. In both cases, the lessons learned from these pilot projects have not gained widespread acceptance in their parent companies due to their heavily ingrained cultures.

In an organization there are different processes and workflows. And organizations are different from each other, maybe they have the same concept but still every organization is unique. So in every organization there are different problems that would occur plus the fact it has different type of solutions to partake. And it has different employee and management head to provide solutions to different problem. To make it easy, every organization can choose to what change they will use, that depends on what change fits to the solution. So for me, any of the choices is a radical type of change the only difference is that how to use those changes properly and adequate to the organizational goals and problems occurred.

References:
http://www.organizedchange.com/decide.htm
http://managementhelp.org/mgmnt/orgchnge.htm
http://managementhelp.org/org_chng/org_chng.htm

a good systems analyst

2009-12-15T19:17:00.001+08:00

The question was based on my learning from chapter 1, identify and discuss some characteristics that a good Systems Analyst must have. So for me to start, I will discuss first all the necessary information that you need to know about chapter 1 which is the world of the information systems analyst. So to start, first I will give you all the definitions and etc. so what is a Systems Analyst? A systems analyst is a business professional who uses analysis and design techniques to solve business problems using information technology. So a systems analyst is just basically person that handles all the necessary analysis and design in an organization. System analysis is the process of understanding and specifying in detail what the information system should accomplish. So as a systems analyst, they are the one who do the analysis so basically they need to understand and specify what the organizations information system should accomplish. And in design, as a systems analyst they should also be able to do systems design. Systems design is the process of specifying in detail how the many components of the information system should be physically implemented. So in short, a system analyst also needs to design the information system of an organization to specify in detail the physical aspect of the desired information system. Now let’s go to the characteristics that a good systems analyst have. I have searched some inputs over the web and this is all the inputs I have gathered. The system analyst must be able to communicate in writing and orally. The analyst must easily get along with people. The analyst must be a good listener and be able to react to what people say. The analyst must be knowledgeable of technology. The analyst is not expected to know the intricacies of programming, but a decent general knowledge of concepts and terms is essential. The analyst must be knowledgeable of business. The analyst is not expected to be an expert in business but a decent understanding of the client's world is required. Other sources are as follows, one should be familiar with designing concepts that is appropriate for the particular development environment. This means one who is good at designing commercial buildings isn't necessarily a good person to design residential housing. Although a lot of concepts overlap, one who is good at designing mainframe system isn't necessarily a good candidate for web projects. One should have the skills to use the tools to facilitate his/her work such as design software tools. If someone is struggling to use a hammer s/he is worrying about putting a nail in straight not about building a good structure. One should have the industry/business knowledge or the capacity to acquire them. System implementation is a lot like a bunch of blind people trying to figure out what an elephant looks like. Each person has his/her own field expertise. However, the more knowledge one person has would make the process easier and create better results. Good communication skills without saying are very important. So these are basically all the characteristics that a good system analyst have. So let’s go deeper to that.

A business problem solver – systems analysis and design is, first and foremost, a practical field grounded in time-tested and rapidly evolving knowledge and techniques. Analysts must certainly know about computers and computer programs. They should possess the special skills and develop expertise in programming. But they must also bring to the job a fundamental curiosity to explore how things are done and the determination to make them work better. Developing information systems is not just about writing programs. Information systems are developed to solve problems for organization, and a systems analyst is often thought of as a problem solver rather than a programmer. How does an analyst solve problems? System analysis and design focuses on understanding the business problem and outlining the approach to be taken to solve it. Now I will discuss to you or show you the systems analyst approach in problem solving. Obviously, part of the solution is a new information system, but that is just part of the story.

· First is research and understand the problem
· Then, verify that the benefits of solving the problem outweigh the costs
· After, define the requirements for solving the problem
· Next, develop a set of possible solutions (alternatives)
· Then, decide which solutions is best and make a recommendation
· Next, define the details of the chosen solutions
· After, implement the solution
· And lastly, monitor to make sure that you obtain the desired results

The analyst must first understand the problem and learn everything possible about it – who is involved, what business processes come into play, and what other systems would be affected by solving the problem. Then the analyst needs to confirm for the management that the benefits of solving the problem outweigh the costs. If solving the problem is feasible, the analyst defines in detail what is required to solve it – what specific objectives must be satisfied, what data need to be stored and used, what processing must be done to the data, and what outputs must be produced. What needs to be done must be defined first. After detailed requirements are defined, the analyst develops a set of possible solutions. Each possible solution (an alternative) needs to be thought through carefully. Usually, an information system alternative is defined as a set of choices about physical components that make up an information system. Many different alternatives must be considered, and the challenge is to select the best – that is, the solution with the fewest risks and more benefits. Alternatives for solving the problem must be cost-effective, but they also must be consistent with the corporate strategic plan. Does the alternative contribute to the basic goals and objectives of the organization? Will it integrate seamlessly with other planned systems? Does it use technology that fits the strategic direction that the management defined? Will end users be receptive to it? Analyst must consider many factors and make tough decisions. After the systems analyst has determined, in consultation with the management, which alternative is to recommend and the management has approved the recommendation, the design details must be worked out. Here the analyst is concerned with creating a blueprint (design specifications) for how the new system will work. Systems design specifications cover databases, user interfaces, networks, operating procedures, conversion plans, and of course, program modules. After the design specifications are complete, the actual construction of the system can begin, including the programming and testing. An information system can cost a lot of money to build and install so detailed plans must be drawn up. It is not unusual for dozens of programmers to work on programs to get a system up and running and those programmers need to know exactly what the system is to accomplish. So this is a characteristic that a good systems analyst must have.

Systems that solve business problems – so let me define first what is a system, a system is a collection of interrelated components that function together to achieve some outcome. An information system is a collection of interrelated components that collect, process, store, and provide as output the information needed to accomplish a business task. What are the interrelated components of an information system? A subsystem is a system that is part of another system, so subsystems might be one way to think about the components of a system. Every system, in turn, is part of a larger system, called a supersystem. Another way is to list the parts that interact. Examples of this include hardware, software, inputs, outputs, data, people, and procedures. This view is also very useful to the analyst. Every system has a boundary between it and its environment. Any inputs or outputs must cross the system boundary. Defining these inputs and outputs are important part of systems analysis and design. In an information system, people are also key components, and these people do some of the system’s work. Another boundary that is important to a systems analyst is the automated boundary which is a part of the system, where work is done by computers. And now I will discuss the types of information systems that a systems analyst must know which the following is:

· Transaction processing system (TPS)
· Management information systems (MIS)
· Decision support and knowledge-based systems (DSS/KBS)
· Enterprise applications
· Communication support systems
· And office support systems

Required skills of the systems analyst - first is the analytical skills, so what is an analytical skill? Analytical skill is the ability to see things as systems, identify, analyze, and solve problems in an optimal way for a specific organization. So from what is stated above, the ability to see things as a system, the ability to identify, the ability to analyze, and the ability to solve problems are the main concerns of a system analyst in the analytical aspect of a systems analyst. So a system analyst must develop these types of skills. As we all know that we can have all these skills but a system analyst must really develop in order to be more effective in designing any modeling process. So, enough for the analytical skill and lets go to the next one which is the technical skills.

The second one is the technical skills, so what is a technical skill? Technical skill is the ability to understand how computers, data networks, databases, operating systems, etc. work together, as well as their potentials and limitations. So from what is stated above, the ability to understand how computers, data networks, databases, operating systems, and etc. work together is the main concerns of a system analyst in the technical aspect of a system analyst. So a system analyst must develop these types of skills in order to be more effective in designing any modeling process. I think for me this very important that a system analyst must really develop in order to be more effective.

Technical skills needed by systems analysts include but are not limited to:

1. Computers (PCs, mini, mainframes, etc.)
2. Computer networks (LAN, WAN, VPNs, administration, security, etc.)
3. Operating systems (UNIX, Mac/OS, Windows).
4. Data Exchange Protocols (ftp, http, etc.)
5. Programming languages (C++, Java, XML, etc.)
6. Software applications (Office, project managements, etc.)
7. Information systems (databases, MISs, decision support systems)
8. System development tools and environments (such as report generators, office automation tools, etc.)

The third one is the management skills, so let me define what a management skill is all about. So what is a management skill? Management skill includes organization’s recourse management, project management (people and money), risk management, and change management. So to elaborate more it is just management skills help systems analysts manage projects, resources, risk, and change. So a system analyst must develop these types of skills in order to be more effective in designing any modeling process. They should be able to manage all the things that are needed to be manage in an organization such as resources, be able to properly disseminate all workforce in a project and properly manage it, be able to know the risk that are involve, and be able to anticipate changes in the environment.

Managerial skills needed by systems analysts include but are not limited to:
1. Resource management - effectively managing the project’s resources, including time, equipment, hardware, software, people, money, etc.,
2. Project management - determining the tasks and resources needed for a project and how they are related to each other,
3. Risk management - identifying and minimizing risks,
4. Change management - managing the system’s (organization's) transition from one state to another

The last skill that a system analyst must develop is the communication skill. So let me define what communication skill is all about. So what is communication skill? Communication skill includes effective interpersonal communication (written, verbal, visual, electronic, face-to-face conversations, presentations in front of groups), listening, and group facilitation skills. To elaborate, communication skills are very important to develop in order for the system analyst and clients understand each other. Having good communication with client’s makes things go smoothly and properly. Poor communication leads to mismanagement and even resulting to project failures, and etc.

Communication skills needed by systems analysts include:

1. Clear and effective interpersonal communication, whether written, verbal, or visual, from writing reports to face–to–face conversations, to presentations in front of groups;
2. Listening (accepting opinions and ideas from other project team members),
3. Group facilitation or formal technical reviews (FTR) skills:

· setting an agenda,
· leading discussions,
· involving all parties in the discussion,
· summarizing ideas,
· keeping discussions on the agenda, etc.

The analyst’s role in strategic planning – we have described a systems analyst as someone who solves specific business problems by developing or maintaining information systems. The analyst might also be involved with senior managers on strategic management problems – that is, problems involving the future of the organization and plans and processes to ensure its survival and growth. Therefore, the analyst might be asked to participate in a study that carefully examines existing business processes and procedures and then to propose information system solutions that can have a radical impact. Many tools and techniques of analysis and design are used to analyze business processes, redesign them, and the provide computer support to make them work. So basically, the role of a systems analyst in creating a strategic plan is very crucial, so systems analyst must really have the skills in creating a strategic plan.

The analyst as a system developer – we have discussed many roles that a systems analyst can play in an organization, however the main job of an analyst is working on a specific information systems development project. As a preview of what system development involves the systems analyst, systems analysis tasks, systems design tasks, and implementation and support. So these are the requirements that a system development involves.

So to summarize basically to be called a good systems analyst, one must be a problem solver, business problems using information systems technology. Problem solving means looking into the problem in great details, understanding everything and generating several alternatives for solving problem, and then picking up the best solution. And also to be a good systems analyst, you must have the skills needed to be more effective in solving problems such as technical, analytical, managerial, and interpersonal skills. Integrity and ethics behavior are crucial to the success of the analyst. And lastly, become involved in strategic planning.

References:
http://books.google.com.ph
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080725042042AA2MqMh
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070731092009AAjzWqQ

my IS plan for the university

2009-12-14T21:18:00.000+08:00

The question was if I were invited by the university president to prepare an Information Systems plan for the university, discuss what the steps are in order to expedite the implementation of the Information Systems Plan. So in order for me to be able to come up with the IS plan I need some resources for it. Especially, the focus of creating the Information Systems plan is to expedite it. So to start, let me give you some definitions and overview of what is an Information Systems Plan.

Just to review I will just state some of the content of the Information Systems Plan of the university which was create in the year 2007. The university planned a 15-year Strategic Plan for the betterment of the said organization. The 15-year Strategic Plan of the University of Southeastern Philippines specifically aims to provide the University with a roadmap to reposition itself toward becoming more competitive and responsive to the needs of its stakeholders. Essentially, this would mean USEP achieving academic excellence in the future and the leader in research, development and extension in Southern Philippines and the rest of the country. The Strategic Plan covers the period 2007 to 2021. It consists of five parts containing the long-term directions and medium-term strategies for the University. The long-term directions which are found in Part I, include the vision, mission and goals of the University. This was formulated through a consultation conducted with the faculty, non-teaching personnel and students and take into consideration the existing challenges and potentials of the University. The medium-term strategies which are found in Part II of the plan, take into account the major final outputs of the university on instruction, extension, research and development, and production and how the same may be strategically improved to respond to the growing demands of the University and its stakeholders. The strategies to build up instruction, extension, and research and development give enough consideration to the desire of the university for program accreditation. The plan, as discussed in Part III, likewise, outlines university-wide strategies and defines specific strategies for each campus. Strategies for each campus of the University allow for the distinctive demands of the localities where it is located to be factored in. This is without disregard to the overall direction of the University in the medium-term. The plan implementation and communication are discussed in Part IV. It specifically contains the procedure for the implementation of the plan as well as the manner of communicating the plan to the university constituency and external stakeholders. The Institutional mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation of plan implementation are discussed in Part V. It contains the following elements: scope and focus; monitoring and evaluation process; accountabilities and responsibilities, deliverables and costs and timing. So basically, this was the Information Systems Plan of the university in order to expedite the implementation of the Information Systems Plan. It has five parts which is composed of the first one is Development Direction, the second part which is the Competitive Benchmark Analysis, the third part is the Strategic Actions, the fourth is the Plan Implementation and Communication, and lastly is the Monitoring and Evaluation.

The first part is composed of the ff:

· Introduction
· Vision
· Mission
· Goals

The second part is composed of the ff:

· Competitive Advantage of the University
· Current development Trends
· Challenges and Priorities

The third part is composed of the ff:

· Academic Programs, Curriculum and Instruction
· Research, Development, and Extension
· Administration and Institution
· Physical Plant and Facilities
· Human Resource Development
· Financial Resources
· Student Services
· Library Services

The fourth part is composed of the ff:

· Implementing Mechanisms
· Communicating Mechanisms

The fifth part is composed of the ff:

· Scope and Focus
· Strategies
· M & E Deliverables

So basically, this is all what’s inside the Information Systems Plan of the university. So enough of that I will now proceed to my own Information Systems Plan for the university in order for it to expedite the implementation of the Information Systems Plan. So first is I will discuss the steps in creating my Information Systems Plan. These are the following steps in creating my Information Systems Plan.

1. Gather Base Information
2. Create the mission model
3. Develop a high-level data model
4. Create the resource life cycles (RLC) and their nodes
5. Allocate precedence vectors among RLC nodes
6. Allocate existing information systems and databases to the RLC nodes
7. Allocate standard work break down structures (WBS) to each RLC node
8. Load resources into each WBS node
9. Schedule the RLC nodes through a project management package.
10. Produce and review of the ISP
11. Execute and adjust the ISP through time

Step 1: Gather Base Information

Interviewing the Client
Why interview the client? Good question. Well, who's the person that's going to build the database, and knows exactly what information is needed in order for you to gather all the necessary data?
You of course!
Sure, in the big, wide (and well-paid) corporate world, there mightn't be much chance of you, the fabled geek in the cupboard, actually meeting the client. But not everyone's in the corporate world are they? So perhaps your chances of interviewing the client will be higher. Make sure you're prepared for the meeting -- and by that, I mean prepared for the fact that the client won't understand much of what you do. Unfortunately for us, the majority of clients have a tendency of thinking visually: forms, Web pages and other user interfaces. As a general rule, the client won't really care how the data is structured or how it interacts with their system. Because changing visuals can usually be done easily and quickly, the client may often think this ease applies to every kind of change. So be ready to explain to them the importance of the schema in the overall development process, and the difficulty they'll experience in making changes down the track. Now, how do I get the right information out of a client? Well, I generally approach interviews with the following points in mind:

Interview Rule Number 1: Be nice to the client and don't make it seem like you're smarter than they are. The word is "interview", not "interrogate". The client doesn't have your technical expertise, but they have the information you need. It's your job to get to the data. So the best way to approach the interview is tactfully, and to avoid frustrating your client, overwhelming them, or making them feel like an idiot.

Interview Rule Number 2: Enter with an agenda and ask the right questions. Enter the interview with an agenda, making sure that you're going to cover the important areas, but always retain an open mind. The best opening question might be "What do you want from this project?" Asking this question first will give the client/interviewee the chance to tell you what they want from the project in a way that makes them feel comfortable. It also shows that you're attentive to their needs. Try to find out their initial ideas about the job, and how they'd like to achieve their goals. This should hopefully give you a clear idea of what they want. Be prepared to listen, and take notes -- lots of them.

Interview Rule Number 3: Talk to everyone who's involved with the project. Have you ever been in a situation where you're going to the movies with a group of friends, and one person decides what you're going to see? It's annoying, right? Well, this can also happen in the data collection process. If you only use the ideas voiced by the first (or loudest, or boldest) person you talk to, then you may not get the information you need to build a suitable database.

Interview Rule Number 4: Make sure you understand what the client wants. Making sure you know exactly what the client wants is important. If you don't, you may leave the interview with completely the wrong idea of their expectations. Make sure you thoroughly understand what they tell you. If in doubt, ask for clarification. And reiterate the important points with the client in your own words, to make sure you've grasped what they're talking about.

Interview Rule Number 5: Record what the client is looking for and any important data they provide. If understanding what the client wants is critical, recording this information is a necessity. Write down all the important points covered by the client. You might even go so far as to record or even video the interview, for a complete and more in-depth set of notes.

Interview Questions

As I mentioned above, it's imperative that you ask the right questions of your client. To me, identifying the right questions was one of the hardest things to do. So here are the questions I always ask -- make sure the client answers these fully, and be sure to include relevant questions tailored to your specific project as well:

Who will generally use the data?
In answering this question, the client might inform you of other people that you may need to discuss the project with. It will also tell you whether the database is to be used in-house or publicly.

How will the data be used?
Is your data simply to be used on the company intranet? Or will the same data need to be available in a different format on the public Website as well? Obviously the options will depend on the job -- make sure you ask!

Where is your data now?
Never in my work experience has a client handed me one database or one source that contained all the data. As you seek out data from the client, it will be handed to you in all kinds or formats! Spreadsheets, mainframe data, desktop databases, paper brochures and filling cabinets are just a few.

How much is the data worth?
It's important that the client knows the value of their data. Just because it's available doesn't automatically mean that it should be used. The client should always be informed of the value estimate for all the data available. This means that the client is able to make decisions that may save funds, and make your life easier!

What rules do you want to apply to the data?
Rules can be important for maintaining data integrity. Your client may want contact information in the database to include an email address, a valid street address or the contact's name, so that the information can be split into separate categories. This is something you must find out in advance, so that you can build the system to your client's requirements.

Rules

Like just about everything else, most businesses use rules to govern their data. Ever filled in a form that said it needed your email address? Or wanted your phone number broken into three? These are data rules, and they govern how the data should be formatted, what type of data it should be, etc. If the client says they want a first name, middle name and a last name for their contact database, then we consider this a rule. Rules are designed to maintain data integrity, and trust me, if you make them up instead of developing them in lone with the client's needs, you're asking for trouble!

Getting Rules
Ask your client what rules they have for their data and they generally look at you with a confused expression. It's never that easy! You're going to have to search for the rules yourself. Here are a couple of places I'd look:

1. Request for Quote or Request for Proposal
These two documents can be a goldmine for data -- they're generally used as a basis for determining the price of the project in, so they're usually packed with data
2. Old Systems
Having access to an older database system can be both a blessing and a curse. The information you gather from the old database can give you a good idea about what kind of data you can expect to find. However, unless the job simply involves tweaking this old system, then only use it as a reference point. It's often easy to think that simply editing the existing database and accommodating new code will finish the job. In a very small number of cases, this may be true, but usually it isn't.
3. Reports, Spreadsheets, Forms and Filing Cabinets
Just about every company can lay claim to asking customers to fill in forms, having tons of data in spreadsheets, and stacks of information in filing cabinets. It's guaranteed that the data will be scattered all over the place - but if it's needed to meet the project's objectives, then you must find it.

Finishing Up
Collecting data so you can develop an accurate schema and, eventually, a successful database that achieves your client's goals and meets their needs is no mean feat. It's an intense and often difficult task. But now you know how to interview the client and look for data rules -- often the toughest steps in the process. Good luck, and could the schema be with you!

Step 2: Create the mission model

Missions and mission descriptions are represented through hierarchically composed text. They are natural and are devoid of the effects from organizational structure stylistic effects. Missions from enterprises from the same “line of business” are very similar. In contrast, their function models may be quite different because of effects imposed by management styles and organizational structures. Simply stated, mission descriptions are goal and objective oriented and are best seen as characterizations of the idealized end-results, without any regard for “who and how.” It is important to distinguish between missions and functions. At first, missions and functions look very much alike. However they are not. The following table illustrates their key differences.

Missions are descriptions of the characteristics of the end result. Missions are noun-based sentences.
Functions are descriptions of how to accomplish an end result. Functions are verb-based sentences.

Missions are a-political. They are devoid of “who and how.” There should only be ONE mission description for a mission.
Function hierarchies are commonly tainted by organizations and styles. There can be any number of equivalent versions of a given function.

Databases and Business Information Systems are based on missions.
“Human” activities and organizations are based on business functions.
When you “Business Process Re-engineering (BPR)” functions you still have the same business.
When you “BPR” mission you have a different business.

Mission descriptions are strategic and long range.
Functions are tactical to operational, and medium to short range, and are organizationally sensitive
Building an information systems plan on the basis of functions is a 100% guarantee of failure.

Step 3: Build the High Level Data Model

The high level data model is created in two steps: building database domains, and creating database objects. It is critical to state that the objective of this step is the high-level data model. The goal is
NOT to create a low level or fully attributed data model. The reasons that only a high-level data model is needed are straight forward:

· No database projects are being accomplished; hence no detailed data modeling is required!
· The goal of the ISP is to identify and resource allocate projects including database projects and for that goal, entity identification, naming and brief definitions is all that is required for estimating.

The message is simple: any money or resources expended in developing a detailed data model is wasted.

Step 3.1 Create Database Domains

Database domains are created from the “bottom” leaves of the mission description texts. There are two cases to consider. First, if the mission description’s bottom leaves are very detailed, they can be considered as having being transformed into database domains. That is they will consist of lists of nouns within simple sentences. The other case is that the mission descriptions have been defined to only a few levels, and the lists of nouns that would result from the development of database domains have yet to be uncovered. The example on the next page presents the database domain for accounts payable.
Whenever a database domain describes complex sets of data, multiple levels of the database domain description may be required. These sub domains are expressed as additional paragraphs. A review of these paragraphs clearly shows that the text is “noun-intensive.” The “who and how” is clearly missing. That is the way it should be. If the “who and how” were contained in the database domains then they would not be independent of either process or organization. A series of diagramming techniques created especially for data and the relationships among data is called entity-relationship (ER) diagramming. Within one style of this technique, the entities are drawn as rectangles and the relationships are drawn as diamonds. The name of the relationship is inside the diamond. Another style of ER modeling is to just have named lines between the entities. In this methodology, since the domain of the diagram is data, it is called the database domain diagram.

Step 3.2 Define Database Objects

In today's parlance, a lucid policy-procedure pair is called a business object. When the policy- procedure pair are completely defined within the language constructs of ANSI/SQL and is stored, retrieved, and maintained in an ANSI/SQL database through a sequence of well-defined states, the business object is a database object. The goal of database object analysis is to enable the definition of both the data structure and the data structure transformations that:

Installs a new database object in the database
Transforms a database object from one coherent state to another
Removes a database object from the database
Database objects are found by researching business policies and procedures. Database objects are however much more than just collections of policy-homogeneous entities. In fact database objects consist of four main parts:

Data Structure: the set of data structures that map onto the different value sets for real world database objects such as an auto accident, vehicle and emergency medicine incident.

Process: the set of database object processes that enforce the integrity of data structure fields, references between database objects and actions among contained data structure segments, the proper computer-based rules governing data structure segment insertion, modification, and deletion. An example is the proper and complete storage of an auto accident.

Information System: the set of specifications that control, sequence, and iterate the execution of various database object processes that cause changes in database object states to achieve specific value-based states in conformance to the requirements of business policies. An example is the reception and database posting of data from business information system activities (screens, data edits, storage, interim reports, etc.) that accomplish entry of the auto accident information.

State: The value states of a database object that represent the after-state of the successful accomplishment of one or more recognizable business events. Examples of business events are auto accident initiation, involved vehicle entry, involved person entry, and auto accident DUI (driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs) involvement. Database object state changes are initiated through named business events that are contained in business functions. The business function, auto accident investigation includes the business event, auto-accident- incident initiation, which in turn causes the incident initiation database object information system to execute, which in turn causes several database object processes to cause the auto accident incident to be materialized in the database.
A database object is specified to the SQL DBMS through the SQL definition language (DDL).
All four components of a database object operate within the “firewall” of the DBMS. This ensures that database objects are protected from improper access or manipulation by 3GLs, or 4GLs. A DBMS that only defines, instantiates, and manipulates two dimensional data structures. The database objects are mapped in a many-to-many fashion within the metabase to missions. This provides the ability to know which databases support which missions and vice versa.

Step 4: Create Resources and the Resource Life Cycles (RLC)

As a short review, missions are the idealized characterizations of end results of the visionary state of the operating enterprise. Database objects, founded squarely on missions are the high- level declarations of the data required to reflect the achievement of the mission’s vision.
Resources and their life cycles are the names, descriptions, and life cycles of the critical assets of the enterprise, which when exercised achieve one or more aspects of the missions. Each life cycle is composed of RLC nodes. A mission might be human resource management, where in, the best and most cost effective staff is determined, acquired and managed. A database object squarely based on human resources would be employee. Within the database object, employee, are all the data structures,

Step 4.1
Determine the Resources
The enterprise’s product and/or service resources are defined; they may be either concrete or
Abstract. Ron Ross provides two guidelines to assist in resource identification:

· Define the product or service that constitutes the enterprise’s resources from the customer perspective.
· Define the resource as it is managed between the enterprise and its customers.
· The resource must be monitored and forecasted. By the time the resource is required, it is too late to be produced.
· The resource must be optimized. The resource is of such a cost that an unlimited supply is not possible.
· The resource must be controlled and allocated. The resource is desirable and necessary, and must be shared among functions of the enterprise.
· The resource must be tracked. Each stage of the resource is important to the enterprise, including its demise.

Step 4.2 Determine the Resource Life Cycles
The second step is to determine a life cycle for each resource. Each node in the life cycle represents a major state change in the resource. The state change is accomplished by business information systems and is reflected through the enterprise’s database objects (conformed into databases). The three figures below, developed in support of an enterprise database project for a state-wide court information system, shows the resource life cycles for Document, Case, and for Court’s Personnel.

Step 5: Allocate Precedence Vectors among RLC Nodes

After the resources and life cycles are complete, precedence vectors are established. There are actually two types of presidencies: Within the value chain and between resources. Presidencies within the value chain are established during the life cycle analysis. These are the lines that connect one node to the next. Precedence between resources is created when a resource life cycle state, that is, a specific life cycle node, cannot be effective or correctly done unless the preceding resource life cycle state has been established or completed. A precedence arrow, renamed precedence vector, is drawn from the enabling resource life cycle state to the enabled resource life cycle state. The most difficult problem in establishing the precedence is the mind set of the analyst. The life cycle is not viewed in operational order, but in enablement order: that is, what resource life cycle state must exist before the next resource life cycle state is able to occur. This is a difficult mind set to acquire, as there is a natural tendency to view the life cycle in operational order. The test of precedence becomes: what enables what and what is it enabled by what? For example, project establishment precedes the award of a contract. This does not seem natural, since a project would not operationally begin until after a contract is awarded. However, there must be an established infrastructure to create the project and to perform the work prior to the contract award. A workforce must be in place to perform work along with the ability to assign work to the employee on the contract, and the ability to bill the customer. Therefore, the project enables the contract.

Step 6: Allocate Business Information Systems and Databases to the RLC Nodes

Once the resource life cycle network has been created, it is stored into the metabase. Once there, its lattice can be employed to attach the databases and business information systems. Databases and their business information systems exist within a data architecture framework. The five distinct classes of databases are:

· Original data capture (ODC)
· Transaction data staging area (TDSA)
· Subject area databases (SDB)
· Data warehouses (wholesale and retail (a.k.a. data marts))
· Reference data

Step 6.1 Allocate Existing (As-is) Databases or Files to Resource Life Cycle Nodes

Within the class of existing databases or files, there are three prototypical examples:

· A file for every distinct process or purpose
· A single database for all reasons
· Multi-data architecture database classes

Step 6.2 Allocate Existing (As-Is) Business Information System to Resource Life Cycle Node

Within the class of existing business information systems, there are three prototypical examples:

· Monolithic mainframe with manual subsystems for workflow
· LAN-based, workflow and client/server systems architecture
· Commercial Off-the-shelf software (COTS)

Step 6.3 Allocate Future (To-Be) Databases to Resource Life Cycle Node
Within the class of existing databases or files, there are three prototypical examples:

· A file for every distinct process or purpose transformed to a single database for all reasons
· A single database for all reasons transformed to multiple databases fitting within the five database architecture classes
· A file for every distinct process or purpose transformed to multiple databases fitting within the five database architecture classes

Step 6.4 Allocate Future (To-Be) Business Information System to Resource Life Cycle Node

Any of these alternatives could be enhanced by either Internet or Intranet access. This type of access, if the proper software development environment is employed, is a paradigm shift only if the system is batch. If the system is intended to be on-line through terminals, PCs, or is client/server, the Internet or Intranet should only be a presentation layer shift. In any case, the high level metadata for the three components that comprise the future business information system must be collected and stored in the metabase. The first set of metadata should already be in the metabase as a consequence of Step 5.2. In addition, all future business information systems should be cast in terms of future databases.

Step 6.5 Configure ISP Projects

Configuring ISP projects consists of determining the full set of requirements and then selecting the first cut preferred alternative for carrying out the transformation from the “as-is” environment to the “to-be” environment. The considerations that must be reviewed and addressed are distinct for databases and for business information systems. The figures on the next two pages provide the three prototypical alternatives for each and then the assessment areas that must be addressed.
The final outcome is a full understanding of the proposed future project. This full understanding is then employed in the next step, Allocating Standard Work Breakdown Structures to Each Database and Business Information System Project. Thereafter, each proposed project is input to a project management system and scheduled.

Step 7: Allocate Standard Work Break down Structures (WBS) to Each Business Information Systems and Database Project

The key reason for having a well engineered check list for identifying the types of work involved in either a database or business information system project is the ability to then used canned work breakdown structures (WBS). When these WBSs are coupled with experience-honed metrics that are embedded in a project management system that “self-learns” from on-going projects, accurate, reliable and repeatable project plans result. The figure below presents a very high level view of how project management and the projects associated with RLC nodes are interrelated. There are five distinct classes of projects are:

· Administration and management
· Specification
· Implementation
· Operation and maintenance
· Multiple category

Step 8: Load Resources into Each Project

Once the WBS is selected, the WBS list and associated deliverables and metrics are automatically brought into the project. When the quantities for each deliverable type are computed, then the overall gross hours estimate for the project is created.
The gross hours estimate is then finalized (either upwards or downwards) by the selection of work environment factors (e.g., nobody even knows who the users are (that’s a bad work environment factor)), and also by the specific persons assigned who have varying levels of capabilities in certain experience levels (e.g., someone is assigned to create the data model who doesn’t yet even know the meaning of the term, “ER diagram”). That’s a bad staffing factor.
The value in having highly engineered work environment and staffing experience factors that adjust the gross hours is that project managers can then relay back to management the exact reasons why a project will cost more or less than another project of even the same construct and size.

Step 9: Schedule through a Project Management Package

Project management systems like Microsoft Project, Welcom’s Open Plan Professional, or
Primavera’s P3e all require PERT (activity network charts) to effectively schedule an entire RLC network of RLC node assigned projects. When WBSs are brought into a project management system, they are treated as self- contained subprojects within the overall set of RLC node network of projects. The figure below shows a RLC network. The resource life cycles are depicted from their first to last node in a top- down fashion. The precedence vectors are shows from one node of a RLC to another node of a different RLC. Multiple precedence vectors do not exist between resource life cycles. When this
RLC network is turned on its side, as shown on the next page, it resembles a PERT chart. The chart naturally contains parallel sets of nodes that intersect. From this diagram it is easy to see that the network of RLC nodes can be traditionally scheduled.

Step 10: Produce and Review the ISP
When the resource loaded network of projects is scheduled through a project management system, normal results are produced. That is, the enterprise is faced with the requirement for:

· Infinite resources
· Infinite time
· Infinite computer capacity and speed, and
· Zero time allocated by “management” to accomplish all the work

Step 11: Execute and Adjust the ISP through Time

Enterprises, once they evolve beyond their first round of information systems, find themselves transformed from a project and package mentality to a release mentality. The diagram on the next page illustrates this new continuous flow environment. It is characterized by:

· Multiple, concurrent, but differently scheduled projects against the same subject area database or warehouse database
· Single-database projects that affect multiple subject area and data warehouse databases
· Projects that develop completely new capabilities, that can assess required changes to existing capabilities, and that can accommodate a variety of systems generation alternatives (COTS, package, and custom programming)

The continuous flow environment contains four major sets of activities. The user/client is represented at the top in the small rectangular box. Each of the ellipses represents an activity list to accomplish a specific need. The four basic needs are essentially:

· Need Identification
· Need Assessment
· Design
· Deployment

So basically, these are the steps that I would suggest to the university president in order for the implementation of IS plan in the university will expedite. The important thing is gather data, analyze the data, and solve the problem with all the data gathered.

References:
Google.com
http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/gathering-data-made/2

System Analyst

2009-12-13T23:49:00.002+08:00

The question was “Interview a Systems Analyst and ask what skills and characteristics must a systems analyst develop in order to be more effective in any design modeling process?” so what are the skills and characteristics must a systems analyst develop in order to be more effective in any design modeling process? So before I give my comment to that I would give you some introductions or a short overview of what is a system analyst and what are those things that a system analyst do. So first I will give you the definition of a system analyst.

Systems analysts solve computer problems and apply computer technology to meet the individual needs of an organization. They help an organization to realize the maximum benefit from its investment in equipment, personnel, and business processes. Systems analysts may plan and develop new computer systems or devise ways to apply existing systems' resources to additional operations. They may design new systems, including both hardware and software, or add a new software application to harness more of the computer's power. Most systems analysts work with specific types of systems—for example, business, accounting, or financial systems, or scientific and engineering systems—that vary with the kind of organization. Some systems analysts also are known as systems developers or systems architects. For systems analyst, programmer-analyst, and database administrator positions, many employers seek applicants who have a bachelor's degree in computer science, information science, or management information systems (MIS). MIS programs usually are part of the business school or college and differ considerably from computer science programs, emphasizing business and management-oriented course work and business computing courses. The level of education and type of training that employers require depend on their needs. One factor affecting these needs is changes in technology. Employers often scramble to find workers capable of implementing “hot” new technologies. Those workers with formal education or experience in information security, for example, are in demand because of the growing need for their skills and services. As technology becomes more sophisticated and complex, employers demand a higher level of skill and expertise from their employees. Individuals with an advanced degree in computer science or computer engineering or with an MBA with a concentration in information systems should enjoy highly favorable employment prospects. College graduates with a bachelor's degree in computer science, computer engineering, information science, or MIS also should enjoy favorable prospects for employment, particularly if they have supplemented their formal education with practical experience. Because employers continue to seek computer specialists who can combine strong technical skills with good interpersonal and business skills, graduates with non-computer-science degrees, but who have had courses in computer programming, systems analysis, and other information technology areas, also should continue to find jobs in these computer fields. In fact, individuals with the right experience and training can work in these computer occupations regardless of their college major or level of formal education. So enough for the introduction let’s go to the definition.

A System Analyst is responsible for researching, planning, coordinating and recommending software and system choices to meet an organization's business requirements. The systems analyst plays a vital role in the systems development process. A successful systems analyst must acquire four skills: analytical, technical, managerial, and interpersonal. Analytical skills enable systems analysts to understand the organization and its functions, which helps him/her to identify opportunities and to analyze and solve problems. Technical skills help systems analysts understand the potential and the limitations of information technology. The systems analyst must be able to work with various programming languages, operating systems, and computer hardware platforms. Management skills help systems analysts manage projects, resources, risk, and change. Interpersonal skills help systems analysts work with end users as well as with analysts, programmers, and other systems professionals. This was the definition that a Wikipedia.org gave to me as I researched it on the web. But for me, I think the definition of a system analyst is planning, analyzing, coordinating and recommending software and systems to the top management in order to meet the organization’s business goals.

So enough for the definition and functions of a system analyst, let’s go to the question of what skills that are needed for a systems analyst to develop in order to be more effective in designing any modeling process? And try to answer what are those skills that are needed to develop. There are four skills that a system analyst must develop in order to be more effective in designing any modeling process. These are the analytical skills, technical skills, management skills, and the communication skills. So, let us define each of them in order to explain why a system analyst must develop these types of skills.

First is the analytical skills, so what is an analytical skill? Analytical skill is the ability to see things as systems, identify, analyze, and solve problems in an optimal way for a specific organization. So from what is stated above, the ability to see things as a system, the ability to identify, the ability to analyze, and the ability to solve problems are the main concerns of a system analyst in the analytical aspect of a systems analyst. So a system analyst must develop these types of skills. As we all know that we can have all these skills but a system analyst must really develop in order to be more effective in designing any modeling process. So, enough for the analytical skill and lets go to the next one which is the technical skills.

The second one is the technical skills, so what is a technical skill? Technical skill is the ability to understand how computers, data networks, databases, operating systems, etc. work together, as well as their potentials and limitations. So from what is stated above, the ability to understand how computers, data networks, databases, operating systems, and etc. work together is the main concerns of a system analyst in the technical aspect of a system analyst. So a system analyst must develop these types of skills in order to be more effective in designing any modeling process. I think for me this very important that a system analyst must really develop in order to be more effective.

Technical skills needed by systems analysts include but are not limited to:
1. Computers (PCs, mini, mainframes, etc.)
2. Computer networks (LAN, WAN, VPNs, administration, security, etc.)
3. Operating systems (UNIX, Mac/OS, Windows)
4. Data Exchange Protocols (ftp, http, etc.)
5. Programming languages (C++, Java, XML, etc.)
6. Software applications (Office, project managements, etc.)
7. Information systems (databases, MISs, decision support systems)
8. System development tools and environments (such as report generators, office automation tools, etc.)

The third one is the management skills, so let me define what a management skill is all about. So what is a management skill? Management skill includes organization’s recourse management, project management (people and money), risk management, and change management. So to elaborate more it is just management skills help systems analysts manage projects, resources, risk, and change. So a system analyst must develop these types of skills in order to be more effective in designing any modeling process. They should be able to manage all the things that are needed to be manage in an organization such as resources, be able to properly disseminate all workforce in a project and properly manage it, be able to know the risk that are involve, and able to anticipate changes in the environment.

Managerial skills needed by systems analysts include but are not limited to:
1. Resource management - effectively managing the project’s resources, including time, equipment, hardware, software, people, money, etc.,
2. Project management - determining the tasks and resources needed for a project and how they are related to each other,
3. Risk management - identifying and minimizing risks,
4. Change management - managing the system’s (organization's) transition from one state to another

The last skill that a system analyst must develop is the communication skill. So let me define what communication skill is all about. So what is communication skill? Communication skill includes effective interpersonal communication (written, verbal, visual, electronic, face-to-face conversations, presentations in front of groups), listening, and group facilitation skills. To elaborate, communication skills are very important to develop in order for the system analyst and clients understand each other. Having good communication with client’s makes things go smoothly and properly. Poor communication leads to mismanagement and even resulting to a project failures, and etc.

Communication skills needed by systems analysts include:
1. Clear and effective interpersonal communication, whether written, verbal, or visual, from writing reports to face–to–face conversations, to presentations in front of groups;
2. Listening (accepting opinions and ideas from other project team members),
3. Group facilitation or formal technical reviews (FTR) skills:
· setting an agenda,
· leading discussions,
· involving all parties in the discussion,
· summarizing ideas,
· keeping discussions on the agenda, etc.

So these are the skills that a system analyst must develop in order to be more effective in designing any modeling process. A system analyst must develop the four skills that I listed in order to be more effective. All the four skills that I stated must be developed so that the goals on an organization can be attained. Because in an organization information is very crucial, so in order for the system analyst attain the goals of an organization and in order for the organization to prosper a system analyst must develop the analytical skill, technical skill, management skill, and the communication skill.

Skills

1. Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
2. Writing computer programs for various purposes.
3. Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
4. Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
5. Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
6. Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
7. Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
8. Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
9. Talking to others to convey information effectively.
10. Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.

Knowledge

1. Circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
2. Structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
3. Principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
4. Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
5. Principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

Abilities

1. Read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
2. Communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
3. Choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
4. Listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
5. Apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
6. See details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
7. Communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
8. Come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
9. Tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
10. Combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

Tasks

1. Analyze information processing or computation needs and plan and design computer systems, using techniques such as structured analysis, data modeling and information engineering.
2. Assess the usefulness of pre-developed application packages and adapt them to a user environment.
3. Confer with clients regarding the nature of the information processing or computation needs a computer program is to address.
4. Define the goals of the system and devise flow charts and diagrams describing logical operational steps of programs.
5. Determine computer software or hardware needed to set up or alter system.
6. Develop, document and revise system design procedures, test procedures, and quality standards.
7. Expand or modify system to serve new purposes or improve work flow.
8. Interview or survey workers, observe job performance and/or perform the job in order to determine what information is processed and how it is processed.
9. Provide staff and users with assistance solving computer related problems, such as malfunctions and program problems.
10. Recommend new equipment or software packages.

In relation to what I have interviewed, he is a systems analyst of the Davao Light and Power Company. I won’t tell you the name for security purposes. He told us that based on what he had experienced as a system analyst, he stated that what a system analyst really need to develop in order to be more effective is communication, technical skills, how to model data, how to model processes, and administrative work. For communication, he stated that you must know hot to point something to the clients. You should know all the systems in an organization, develop and program systems, knows business functions and processes. So basically, these were the words that he stated during our interview regarding what are the skills and characteristics that a system analyst must develop.

Appendixes:

References:
Wikipedia.org
Google.com
http://jobs.virginia.gov/careerguides/computersystemsanalyst.htm

Assignment 1

2009-11-27T23:17:00.000+08:00

What will I be 10 years from now?

Just thinking about it is hard, and thinking about it in the future is very stressful. But if you think of it thoroughly it’s your future at stake. Would you be having a very bright future or your life would be the same as what it is right now? There is one thing that I’m sure 10 years from now that I will be a graduate of my own University which is the University of Southeastern Philippines with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Information Technology. After making sure that I am already a college graduate, maybe 10 years from now I would have my own family. Maybe I have my own children to rise. Or maybe I would be very successful 10 years from now; we don’t know what will our future up ahead. We can’t tell what will our future will be but one thing for sure I think we can do something about it.

10 years from now, I want to be a successful and what they call “worthy” IT professional. I would be the boss for myself. Or a boss of my own company, IT company. These are only some of my dreams in life to be the boss for myself or a boss of an IT company. Talking about dreams, I will share some of my childhood experiences. To start, when I was a boy I really dream about someday I would be rich. That was really the first dream I wanted in my life to be very rich. But that was a dream so everyone can dream to be rich. As years goes by and I am getting older and having thoughts of my own from one dream it became dreams because my dreams multiplied or shall we say “added” from wanting to be rich and to become the computer master. That was the next dream I want to be when I grow up. I really don’t know why I thought of a thing in my mind that I want to be the master of computers. Maybe I thought of that because of the many influence by that time, such as temptations such as computer gaming. This was the time when online gaming was on the rise. Everyday I spend much time playing online games. After class I play online games or sometimes because of temptations I cut class just to play online games. By that time I also heard of the word IT or Information Technology. That word stuck in my mind as I finish my high school days. I thought that the course Information Technology is some related to computer gaming or just having knowledge about how to use a computer. By that time my mind had made a decision and the decision is to take up IT or Information Technology when I reach college. So these were initially why I wanted to take up IT or Information Technology. It was initially the reason why I took up Information Technology. But these things changed when I reach the college level. It was all shock from what I expected when I was in my high school days. I came unprepared to take up college with the course of Information Technology because of the initial thought about the word Information Technology. After able to adjust about the life on an Information Technology student and what is really the main description or shall we say the main role of Information Technology in reality. I soon realized that this is really what I want to become, to become an IT professional someday not just IT professional but a worthy IT professional. So in order to attain my goal of becoming a successful yet worthy IT professional these are the things that is needed to be done.

To graduate

In order to become a successful and worthy IT professional I really need to graduate to the course that I took up which is Bachelor of Science in Information Technology. We all know that we don’t need to graduate in order for us to be successful but I think from the word being “worthy” having a diploma is giving you a proof of being a “worthy” professional because it gives you a plus in all aspects and giving a proof that you have done all the required things in the Information Technology field. So it’s really a plus on your part if you can graduate from a course, not just IT but all other degrees. But what are the required things that you need to do in order to graduate? These are the things that you mind to list in your mind. First, is you need to study, study hard, and study well. You don’t need just study and you also don’t need just to study hard but you need all these aspects in order to have a good foundation. Just studying doesn’t count as worthy but you all need those aspects. Next is being a positive thinker. You study hard but you lack of motivations still you cant bare a good fruit from it so when you study you also need to be a positive thinker. It gives you a boost emotionally that you need when you are loosing hope in studying. So you need to be study but partner it with being a positive thinker. After securing it, the next thing you should do is what will be your forte or priorities?

Priorities

What will you are focusing at when you graduate and go to the real world? These are some things that you could be when you graduate in Information Technology.

· IT Consultant
· Software Engineer
· Programmer
· System Analysts
· Database Administrator
· Web Developer

These are some forte that you can choose from in setting up priorities. But I’m not saying that you only focus on one forte but what I really mean is that you identify your own strength. Are you good at programming, or are you a good web developer, and etc., these are just some way of identifying your strengths. So after identifying it, you can also identify where are your weaknesses are so by that you could work on your weakness in order to make it as a strength. So what I really mean is being flexible in all aspects. That can be considering a “worthy” IT professional. But all of these won’t work if you have a bad personality. If you don’t know how to collaborate with others even your good at something still you can’t be called worthy because you lack in Good Moral and Right Conduct. Having a good personality in this field is also important in being a worthy IT professional.

So I would explain more about them one by one from IT consultant until Web Developer.

IT Consultant - An IT consultant works in partnership with clients, advising them how to use information technology in order to meet their business objectives or overcome problems. Consultants work to improve the structure and efficiency and of an organization's IT systems. IT consultants may be involved in a variety of activities, including marketing, project management, client relationship management and systems development. They may also be responsible for user training and feedback. In many companies, these tasks will be carried out by an IT project team. IT consultants are increasingly involved in sales and business development, as well as technical duties.

Software Engineer - A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to the design, development, testing, and evaluation of the software and systems that make computers or anything containing software, such as chips, work. Typically these are some of the work activities of a software engineer:

· researching, designing and writing new software programs;
· testing new programs and fault finding;
· developing existing programs by analyzing and identifying areas for modification;
· ‘bolting together’ existing software products and getting incompatible platforms to work together;
· investigating new technologies;
· creating technical specifications and test plans;
· working with computer coding languages;
· writing operational documentation with technical authors;
· maintaining systems by monitoring and correcting software defects;
· working closely with other staff, such as project managers, graphic artists, systems analysts, and sales and marketing professionals;
· consulting clients/colleagues concerning the maintenance and performance of software systems and asking questions to obtain information, clarify details and implement information;
· constantly updating technical knowledge and skills by attending in-house and/or external courses, reading manuals and accessing new applications;
· Problem-solving and thinking laterally as part of a team, or individually, to meet the needs of the project.

Programmer - A programmer is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to programming may also be known as a programmer analyst. A programmer's primary computer language (Lisp, Java, Delphi, C++, etc.) is often prefixed to the above titles, and those who work in a web environment often prefix their titles with web. The term programmer can be used to refer to a software developer, software engineer, computer scientist, or software analyst. However, members of these professions typically possess other software engineering skills, beyond programming; for this reason, the term programmer is sometimes considered an insulting or derogatory oversimplification of these other professions. This has sparked much debate amongst developers, analysts, computer scientists, programmers, and outsiders who continue to be puzzled at the subtle differences in these occupations.

System Analysts - A systems analyst is responsible for researching, planning, coordinating and recommending software and system choices to meet an organization's business requirements. The systems analyst plays a vital role in the systems development process. A successful systems analyst must acquire four skills: analytical, technical, managerial, and interpersonal. Analytical skills enable systems analysts to understand the organization and its functions, which helps him/her to identify opportunities and to analyze and solve problems. Technical skills help systems analysts understand the potential and the limitations of information technology. The systems analyst must be able to work with various programming languages, operating systems, and computer hardware platforms. Management skills help systems analysts manage projects, resources, risk, and change. Interpersonal skills help systems analysts work with end users as well as with analysts, programmers, and other systems professionals.
Because they must write user requests into technical specifications, the systems analysts are the liaisons between vendors and the IT professionals of the organization they represent. They may be responsible for developing cost analysis, design considerations, and implementation time-lines. They may also be responsible for feasibility studies of a computer system before making recommendations to senior management.

A systems analyst performs the following tasks:
· Interact with the customers to know their requirements
· Interact with designers to convey the possible interface of the software
· Interact/guide the coders/developers to keep track of system development
· Perform system testing with sample/live data with the help of testers
· Implement the new system
· Prepare High quality Documentation

Database Administrator - A database administrator (DBA) is a person responsible for the design, implementation, maintenance and repair of an organization's database. They are also known by the titles Database Coordinator or Database Programmer, and are closely related to the Database Analyst, Database Modeler, Programmer Analyst, and Systems Manager. The role includes the development and design of database strategies, monitoring and improving database performance and capacity, and planning for future expansion requirements. They may also plan, co-ordinate and implement security measures to safeguard the database. Employing organizations may require that a database administrator have a certification or degree for database systems (for example, the Microsoft Certified Database Administrator). The duties of a database administrator vary depending on job description, corporate and Information Technology (IT) policies and the technical features and capabilities of the DBMS being administered. They include disaster recovery (backups and testing of backups), performance analysis and tuning, data dictionary maintenance, and database design.

Web Developer - A web developer is a software developer or software engineer who is specifically engaged in the development of World Wide Web applications, or distributed network applications that are run over the HTTP protocol from a web server to a web browser. Web developers can be found working in all types of organizations, including large corporations and governments, small and medium sized companies, or alone as freelancers. Some web developers work for one organization as a permanent full-time employee, while others may work as independent consultants, or as contractors for an employment agency. Modern web applications often contain three or more tiers, and depending on the size of the team a developer works on, he or she may specialize in one or more of these tiers - or may take a more interdisciplinary role. For example, in a two person team, one developer may focus on the technologies sent to the client such as HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and on the server-side frameworks (such as Perl, Python, Ruby, PHP, Java, .NET) used to deliver content and scripts to the client. Meanwhile the other developer might focus on the interaction between server-side frameworks, the web server, and a database system. Further, depending on the size of their organization, the aforementioned developers might work closely with a web designer, web producer, project manager, software architect, or database administrator - or they may be responsible for such tasks as web design, project management, and database administration themselves.

So these are some description or definition of different forte that you can work in becoming a worthy IT professional. By focusing first on one forte and after mastering at it focus on your weaknesses. And that doesn’t end there you need to read and try to learn new technologies that are available in the market. Because we all know that the world is changing fast and it will become faster in the future so adapt to it and try to fit in so that you won’t be left behind in the ever fast changing environment.

So after attaining all of it the next thing to do is work hard in order to reach your goal. Seek help from the Lord and guidance. If you want to be rich be good at what you’re doing and save money.

So 10 years from now I would become a successful and worthy enough to be called “worthy” IT professional. I’m not sure what will be my future but my focus is to finish my schooling after that we will see.

Expectations on MIS 2..

2009-11-14T13:56:00.001+08:00

Hi..

I'm back once again..

My name is Franz Cie B. Suico, a 4th year BSIT student..

My expectations in the subject MIS 2 or Management Information System 2 is to gain more knowledge about the subject ad to apply or implement it in the near future. I also expect more blogging and assignments.

I expect that our instructor would guide us in all of the lessons that we are going to partake. I expect that all of us in the end of the semester, that we will learn the entire MIS subject.

Until next time..

2nd Semester..

2009-11-14T13:44:00.002+08:00

It's the start of the 2nd semester and i expect more hardship and sleepless nights. But i know i can make it until the end. And i hope we can all make it until the end.

First day of school, was expected in MIS class because we started our class during the first day of school. Our instructor gave us an overview about the subject and what are we gonna expect in our class. Our instructor discuss and asked us some question that is still base on the subject. So again it's school boy i will chat to u soon.

GOB BLESS!!

AJA!!

Tentative Grade

2009-10-19T11:49:00.002+08:00

Hi Guys,

It's been a while since i haven't wrote anything in my blog but today I'm gonna share something that is related to MIS (Management Information System). What I'm gonna share is about the post that our instructor posted in the white board outside the faculty room which is our "tentative grade".

The story goes like this.

When i arrived in my school i encountered a classmate of mine and told me that the grades are posted in the white board outside the faculty room. After hearing what he said, I immediately went to the faculty room and see if i failed the class. But luckily i didn't get an INC grade or an Incomplete grade instead i got a grade of 88% in my MIS class. And after knowing it i was really happy and that completes my day.

weeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Thanks for listening, till next time....

I'm Buzzing Out..........

Typhoon Pepeng

2009-10-04T18:17:00.002+08:00

Less than a week after tropical storm "Ondoy" (Ketsana) devastated Metro Manila and some provinces in the Central Luzon and Calabarzon regions and leaving over 200 people dead and thousands more homeless , a powerful new cyclone entered Philippine territory Wednesday afternoon.

Nathaniel Cruz, weather bureau chief of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said typhoon Pepeng (international name: Parma) may even intensify into a super typhoon.

"Pumasok na sa area of responsibility (ang) bagyong papangalanan nating 'Pepeng.' Pumasok siya mga 2 p.m. (The cyclone named Pepeng entered our area of responsibility at 2 p.m.)," Cruz said in an interview on dzRH radio.

Cruz said Pepeng is packing maximum winds of 120 kph and may pass Northern Luzon on its way to Taiwan. "Kung tuloy tuloy at di magbabago ang direction tatama sa dulo ng Northern Luzon hanggang Taiwan (If it does not change direction it is likely to hit the Northern Luzon-Taiwan area)," he said.

In its 5 p.m. advisory, Pagasa said that as of 4 p.m., Pepeng was 940 kms east of Surigao City. It is moving west-northwest at 22 kph and is expected to be 630 kms east-northeast of Borongan, Eastern Samar by Thursday afternoon.
He said that even if Pepeng would not make landfall, it would enhance the southwest monsoon and bring rains to parts of the country either on Friday or Saturday.

"By Friday afternoon it is expected to be 430 kms northeast of Borongan, Samar. By Saturday afternoon it is expected to be 290 kms north-northeast of Virac, Catanduanes or 330 kms east of Casiguran, Aurora, the advisory said.

"This disturbance is still too far to affect any part of the country within the next 24-36 hours," it added.

Cruz said Pepeng may still intensify into a super typhoon, as it is expected to remain at sea for the next two to three days. "Puwede po, babantayan natin yan (It can intensify into a super typhoon. We are monitoring it)," he said.

He urged the public to be ready for the typhoon. "Maging handa na tayo kahit wala diyan (We must be ready for it even if it has not made landfall)," he said.

Pepeng entered Philippine territory less than a week after Ondoy left at least 246 people dead. The government had said it is ready for Pepeng and has readied plans for forced evacuation of people living near areas at risk.

Lets us help and pary to those victims of these "Acts of God". Pray and Donate. Act Now.

BANGON PINAS!

Bagyong Ondoy..

2009-10-03T14:48:00.003+08:00

MANILA, Philippines – As typhoon Ondoy continues to hit Luzon, Metro Manila and nearby areas are currently flooded, the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) reported.

Based on NDCC’s latest situation report, areas in the National Capital Region that are not passable include Malabon (C4 Letre, M.H. Del Pilar, Panghulo Road, Catmon and Dampalit); E. Rodriguez cor. Araneta Avenue in Quezon City; Palasan in Valenzuela; Brgys. 180, 185, 187 in Pasay; Brgy. Santolan in Pasig; Barangay Malanday in Marikina; Brgy. Tunasan in Muntinlupa; and Brgys. Banaba, Sta. Ana, and San Mateo in Rizal.

According to the recent weather bulletin from Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) signal no. 2 remains in Aurora, Quirino, Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Zambales, Pampanga, Bulacan, Rizal, Northern Quezon, and Polilo Island. While Isabela, Mountain Province, Ifugai, Benguet, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, Mindoro provinces, Lubang Island, Marinduque, Camarines Norte, Bataan, Metro Manila and the rest of Quezon are under signal no. 1.

PAGASA added, typhoon Ondoy continues to move with a maximum sustained winds of 85 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 100 kph. and is expected to leave the country’s area of responsibility by Monday morning.

The death toll from tropical storm “Ondoy” (international name Ketsana) rose to 86 as of early Monday morning, but may go much higher as authorities verify reports of more deaths caused by the cyclone.

As of 6 a.m., the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) also shifted the focus of its efforts from search-and-rescue to relief work.

“Right now we will concentrate really on providing food and other necessities,” NDCC chairman and Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said at the NDCC’s 6 a.m. briefing.

Teodoro said that as of 6 a.m. Monday, NDCC figures showed “Ondoy” had affected 86,313 families or 435,646 people. Of these, 23,126 families or 115,890 people were brought to 204 evacuation centers.

Ondoy struck Luzon on Saturday, bringing epic proportions of floodwater in Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon. [See: Epic flood in Metro Manila caused by record rainfall]

The death toll rose to at least 86, including seven in Metro Manila, 22 in Central Luzon, and 56 in Southern Luzon. Of the fatalities, five were military personnel trying to rescue residents affected by a landslide in Laguna province.

But Teodoro the 86 does not include 12 reported deaths in Antipolo City, 29 in Quezon City, and 58 in Marikina City. At least 32 people remained missing, he added.

Damage to property was initially reported at P60 million, including P41.1 million in damage to infrastructure, P19.2 million in damage to schools, and P212,000 in damage to agriculture.

Blue alert

Meanwhile, dzBB reported the Department of Health placed all public hospitals placed on blue alert, meaning all medical personnel are to be on duty 24 hours a day.

Also, the DOH had medical personnel prepare anti-tetanus shots.

On the other hand, the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines (PHAP) said at least 50 of its members in Metro Manila and Luzon were affected in Tanay and the cities of Marikina, Muntinlupa, Las Piñas and Parañaque.

“Baka mag-advance sila ng payment sa future claims namin para makabawi… para makaserbisyo (We hope PhilHealth can advance payments for our future claims so we can continue operating),” PHAP president Rustico Jimenez said on dzBB radio.

Also in Manila, the US Embassy said some of its units would be closed for Monday, including those for visa appointment.

In Pasig City, vendors at the Mutya ng Pasig market had to move their stalls to the nearby church, according to a report by dzBB’s Manny Vargas.

How to donate?

Living outside the Philippines and want a safe and convenient way to send online donations for the victims of typhoon Ondoy? Here’s one way to do it:

The Ateneo Alumni Northeast, Inc. (AANI) in New York, the official Ateneo alumni group in the U.S. Tri-State Region, is now accepting online donations for the victims of tropical storm Ondoy in the Philippines. All donations (minus PayPal fees) will go to Ateneo Task Force Ondoy, the relief efforts at the Ateneo de Manila University, which is now an open shelter for evacuees.

Over 27 provinces in 7 regions, as well as in the National Capital Region (NCR), are now under a state of calamity. Your help is urgently needed.

Donating Relief Goods:

Donation in the form of relief goods may be turned over at the following SMART Wireless Centers:

SM Muntinlupa
SM Bicutan
SM Sucat
Festival Mall,
Ali Mall
Gateway Mall
SM Fairview
SM North Annex
ATC South Mall
SM Megamall

Selected PLDT business offices (locations to be announced) will also be accepting donated relief goods.

Donating to the Red Cross:
SMART subscribers may help victims of typhoon Ondoy by donating to the Philippine National Red Cross via text.

Text RED <10,> to 4483.

For Example: To donate P100, text RED 100 to 4483.

Only the donated amount will be deducted from your current load. No other charges will be applied.

Donate Via SMART Money:

SMART Money account holders can help victims of typhoon Ondoy by donating to the PLDT Smart Foundation Inc. (PSF) Ondoy-Smart Money account.

Text ONDOY to 270.

Or go to your Smart Money menu > purchase > mpay > store code (ONDOY) > pay from > choose card > amount > confirmation (OK) > enter W-Pin.

There are many ways on helping the victims through prayer. Let us donate and pray for the bagyong ondoy victims.

At last

2009-10-01T13:41:00.001+08:00

Hi Guys,

It’s me again sharing another story in my school life. Today was a tough day for because luckily I was able to take my laboratory exercise in Database III. I was late but fortunately Mr. Roy Cuevas listed me in the list of students who can be able to take the laboratory exercise. Sad to say I didn’t get the exercise right.

After we are done in our laboratory exercise, my group mates and I automatically went to our facilitator’s office to submit our final assessment in our Management Information System subject. It went well and fine. Our facilitator gave us still a temporary grade of 2.25. WEEEEEE!!!!

At LAST........................

So that’s it. That’s all I’m going to share to you guys. Thanks for listening.

GOD BLESS!!

AJA!

Family Day but still School Day

2009-09-30T22:34:00.003+08:00

Wew...

Today was a tough day for me. Me and my group mates went to to school to try to pass our Information System Needs Assessment or our Major Paper to our facilitator Mr. Randy S. Gamboa.

But before going to Sir Randy's office for us to try to consult whether our major paper was OK for book binding. I waited for my group mates for about an hour. After we are all set we got inside and then presented our paper. It went fine and gave us a 2.5 grade but that was a temporary grade our facilitator needs to check the forums and our blogs to look if it updated.

So that's it, Thanks to all who was part of the paper. Our facilitator, my group mates, our adopted company, the IT personnel who we interviewed, and of course my family and GOD...

GOB BLESS!!

AJA!!

Information Environment that i want

2009-09-29T22:14:00.001+08:00

Technology, nowadays, it has come to have rapidly developed and expanded through time. It has brought forth to the civilization the significant and convenient applications and innovations to our modern world. It has provided the world with ease and comfort particularly on communications and transportations and etc., with regard to management of information, automation of manual systems has been made. And so there is what we called IS (Information System).

What is an Information Environment?

According to what I have read in the internet, they define information environment as the aggregate of individuals, organizations, and systems that collect, process, disseminate, or act on information. The actors include leaders, decision makers, individuals, and organizations. Resources include the materials and systems employed to collect, analyze, apply, or disseminate information. In addition, the information environment is where humans and automated systems observe, orient, decide, and act upon information given, and is therefore the principal environment of decision making. Also, I have read that the information environment is made up of three interrelated dimensions: physical, informational, and cognitive.

There is now a critical mass of digital information resources that can be used to support researchers, learners, teachers and administrators in their work and study. The production of information is on the increase and ways to deal with this effectively are required. There is the need to ensure that quality information isn't lost amongst the masses of digital data created everyday. If we can continue to improve the management, interrogation and serving of 'quality' information, there is huge potential to enhance knowledge creation across learning and research communities. The aim of the Information Environment is to help provide convenient access to resources for research and learning through the use of resource discovery and resource management tools and the development of better services and practice. The Information Environment aims to allow discovery, access and use of resources for research and learning irrespective of their location.

There are programs in which they include developing and providing innovative and sustainable ICT infrastructure, services and practice that support institutions in meeting their mission. This can be summarized as the development, provision and use of an e-Infrastructure (Information Environment) for education and research. Alongside this there is the aim to promote the development, uptake and effective use of ICT to support learners and teachers and to support researchers.

Aims & objectives

The aim of information environment is to improve the capacity of the sector to manage, discover and use information resources.

· Enhanced capacity, knowledge and skills to enable positive and informed change in the sector (through piloting new technologies and approaches)
· Guidance to the sector on 'best practice' models for using technology that can be used at departmental, institutional, regional or national levels
· Strategic leadership to the sector and other bodies in specialist areas and to influence national and international agendas
· Knowledge and experience as a basis for future funding decisions
· New or enhanced services, infrastructure, standards or applications that may be used at departmental, institutional, regional or national levels

So what environment would I choose?

For me I really dreamed to be in the broadcasting industry. From the news and current affairs, to entertainment, and etc., I really dreamed that someday I will be part of it. But I really would love to be serving my fellow country men in an honest and just way of newscasting. For me as an Information Technology student and knowing that information and time is essential in broadcasting/newscasting, in my own way I can help them at the same time fulfilling what I’ve always dreamed of. To start with, if given the chance to choose an information environment for me to show my expertise in IT, I’d choose to be in line with the multimedia industry.

But before that let me elaborate more about what is Multimedia Industry.

According to the council of the INFO2000 program, the definition of Multimedia is 'combinations of data, text, sound, graphics, animations, still & moving images, stored in digital form & interactively accessible'. Multimedia to me is the utilization of electronic technology to make all those things. People are exposed to the effects of the multimedia industry everyday, probably without even realizing. Brochures, CD-ROM's, DVD's, web pages, playstation games are all part of the multi industry. There are so many jobs in the multimedia industry, ranging from animators, graphic designers, programmers, website designers, photographers, producers, creative directors, researchers, sound designers to videographers. Jobs within the multimedia industry can be in a range of fields, from covering the development of software, to advertising or entertainment production. The growth in the industry is becoming wider.
Ever since several kinds of broadcast methods started, multimedia industry has also become a part of the big picture. I mean, what would be the broadcasting’s art without it? Broadcasting itself is already multimedia. Never will multimedia survive without being supplied with the latest in information technology. In this vast and fast progression of information in our generation, updates in multimedia are a big demand. In order to be competitive enough in this industry, it is a must that you’ll be the frontier in the latest update in information today.

Now, what are some of the common multimedia representation that is in us? Examples are advertisement, animations, graphics, audio, website, and even other applications in some common gadgets. Animation, what comes in your mind when you her anime? For sure you’ll think of cartoons. How about animation? Maybe how cartoons are made. Well that could be accepted. But see, animation has been playing a big role in commerce. It has shown a big impact from young ones until adults. Simple animations can generate your pocket with more money. Television commercials are made through animations that attract consumers. Also in movie industry, animation plays a big role. This has also become a part of the information environment.

Graphics has also become a part of this multimedia industry that also gave a big impact. I’m so much inclined in creating graphics. It’s not just about making images. Graphical multimedia also includes several stuffs that involve graphics. Like me, I’m also fund of creating shirt designs. But then again, it’s another good source of income. As early as now I could gain profit from my designs that is why I also am more into this kind of information environment.

Audio multimedia has also now become a trend. But not just speaking of being trendy, it also is a part of this information era. You just don’t create sounds or whatever. You also have to learn it. It doesn’t always have to be made by artists. Remember that software used by recording companies is made by computer wizards. Singers don’t make it. This still includes us techie guys as one of the people group who can work on several areas. There’s just got to be some sort of specialization. Animation and audio industry as a link to the information environment is more likely to be understood as some sort of industry where information is needed. It doesn’t mean you have to be an artist or whatever it needs to be. I’m citing the fact that as information technology specialist, we could participate in these areas through establishing specializations in creating some sort of software that could help enhance the certain industries.

Websites, web developing, or other web thingy. These play a big part in the world of information. Everywhere you go, as long as internet is accessible, the World Wide Web is just at the tips of your fingers. Information can be shared in and is at the reach of every mankind. Now what’s interesting in engaging yourself into the world of internet? Though some are not totally beneficial, if you know what I mean, being a part of its world can give you more than what you want, more than what you need. But still it is not a god. Businesses, lifestyle, communication, I mean everything is in store for you. Internet has changed the lives of several people. This is one reason why others even me myself would want to be in this kind of trend. You could even change something through the web. Earning money is more than just a piece of cake. Since when did clicking make money? When internet began, almost all of the things to make life easy came to reality. Communication became more intimate; selling has now reached the overseas.
Even as a programming major or networking major, the information environment of multimedia still fits the job. In all these aspects, the expertise can be applied. It’s not merely engaging in this industry just to be one of those who are good in using, but making use of the profession as ones who will enhance the innovation of existing technology. This wide range of opportunity will enable people under the information industry participate in major economical issues. Through this, information industry can dominate the economy.

Below is some additional random excerpts about Multimedia Industry from papers.

DVD's are created using multimedia procedures and programs. It's not just the entertainment industry that uses multimedia, the automotive industry use it & engineering principals can be applied through it leading to reductions in costs and time for those companies. The Multimedia Industry is a huge, fast moving industry that involves almost everything we see and use in our today world. Many things have driven the growth in the multi industry, but in particular the huge growth in the use of the Internet. I think education will be an area that multimedia will influence a great deal more over the next 5-10 years, through more online learning programs and there are more opportunities for the long distance learner. Engineers are using interactive programs to work with circuits and architects are creating 3D presentations of houses before they are built all because of multimedia. The home use of the Internet has also grown with there being a greater acceptance of online services such as e-commerce and the drop in prices of technology. Multimedia will continue to make life easier for everyone and influence the way we live (if you're not a hippy). The Multimedia Industry has changed the way people live and will continue to do so through he means of jobs, education, recreation and economy. nces in technology mean people in the industry constantly need to improve training and qualifications to be on top. Although I don't think the Internet as such will ever totally take over the role of a teacher, multimedia developments and programs will continue to influence they way things are taught and learnt. Businesses are using it to advertise, to sell online and to transfer money. We have a whole range of games for computers, PS2 and X-box created within the multimedia industry. People who work in this industry need to be flexible and creative. We've seen animations done by Pixar in movies like Finding Nemo and Toy Story.

Components of the multimedia industry cluster

Markets:
· Education
· Entertainment
· Healthcare
· Communication, Advertising
End Products
· Distance Learning, Instruction
· Home entertainment, Movies/TV, Virtual Reality, Animation
· Medical Imagign
· Teleradiology
· Video Conference, Training, Presentations
Content Providers
· Information Providers
· Publishers/news organizations
· Producers: film, tv, video
Multimedia Developers
· Artists, writers, animators, graphic designers
· Original content developers
· Programmers, interface designers
Technology providers
· Manufacturers of computers and electronics
· Suppliers of chips and components
· Digital carriers
· Software developers
Infrastructure
· Telephone and cable lines
· Trade organizations, events, publications
· Professional services
· Education and training institutions
· Research and development laboratories

These are some example of what multimedia industry can offer to us. So for me as being one of them I really want to share my talent in servicing my fellow country men in newscasting.

What should be my role in this environment?

I believe that in broadcasting/newscasting, information gathering is one of the most important parts in broadcasting news to the public. Information operations are vital in giving honest and just broadcasting of news to the public. But not only in broadcasting that Information Technology is applied. In TV, radio, internet and etc., as we all know that we are all in an internet world. All information can be acquired by the use on internet. Through all these technologies that are available to us it is just a proof that Information Technology is being the most important in all aspects of the world. Without information technology we would still be all rubbing stones just to create fire. So my role in this environment is to be able to do my job successfully, even not perfect but at least with the best ability that I can give.

So how can the principles of information organization and representation help me in performing this role?

Since putting I’m looking forward for myself in taking this step for my status or even now that I am slowly making it happen, the principles will help me establish my goal, whether to pursue or change my mind. As I mold myself as a being participating in such environment, considering the principles would be helpful enough to look forward for plans, and young as I am, I can establish visions and goals I have to achieve the moment I put myself into it. I should consider the place I will be participating, that all those things I am planning to pursue under the environment will be enough to support it. Looking forward to a positive outcome is always our aim, how could someone think of a plan without merely reflecting. Making a pre-step in my plans will enable me to push through the plans that I have. In this information environment of multimedia, considering the principles is a must, looking at it to see if the principles may be applied in my zone. As early as now, I do have to decide where I will be working for that plan, and the principles will help guide me through the destination of my work responsibility.

What are the challenges that I will take in stepping through this plan? Or what are those barriers that I should consider?

Well this is what makes it hard; the competition between people participating in multimedia is very strong. As if the traffic of vehicles are heavy. As I heard some experiences, being recognized or being on top you have to go through several sacrifices. You see, even elementary got the know-how on computers. I could consider them as challenge. Can you imagine even those kids could bring down ideas of elders. How could you pursue if at the first place your initial rivals are kids? That is one good challenge for me. But as for the experience and status, if a student really finishes studies and got some bonus skill plus patience, there is nothing impossible in reaching goals.

Another thing that I could take as a serious challenge is the real world of multimedia, you see, if you apply to a company that is inclined to multimedia it’s either of the two, you get the job or you find another job. But I don’t. The very hard thing is being a freelancer. But as a graduate, why would you go freelancing if you could manage to give it your shot for companies?

So sum up all, I would want to be part of the multimedia industry, in order to be able to practice all the knowledge that I gained during my school days. Being part of it is an honor for me, for the reason that I believe serving the people is also serving the lord. It is still up to you if you want to pursue this industry. Just strive hard and aim for the best.

References:
www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/inf11.aspx
www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/21893.html
www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home/reps/nameri/vusa/cgla/latrad/lamume.html

MIS MAJOR PAPER deadline..

2009-09-29T19:24:00.002+08:00

October 1, 2009 is the deadline for the MAJOR PAPER. But luckily we did finish it a while ago. Sadly, i didn't came on time for the checking due to i had a schedule to visit my doctor. Well we are hoping that we can finish it tomorrow. We are going to wait for our instructor in order to check our submitted assessment. GOOD LUCK to us! AJA!

Outsource vs. In-source

2009-09-01T22:19:00.000+08:00

As a student, you were invited by the Dean of the Institute of Computing to attend a seminar-workshop on information systems planning with some of the faculty members. In one of the sessions, a discussion of outsourcing came up. You have been asked to present your evaluation about outsourcing the information systems functions of the school.

Required:

You are to take a position- outsource or in-source and justify your position. (3000words)

Before anything else let me differentiate Outsourcing to Insourcing. And I will site advantages and disadvantages of both type of sourcing.

First, according to Wikipedia.org the definition of outsourcing is defined below.

Outsourcing is subcontracting a process, such as product design or manufacturing, to a third-party company. The decision to outsource is often made in the interest of lowering cost or making better use of time and energy costs, redirecting or conserving energy directed at the competencies of a particular business, or to make more efficient use of land, labor, capital, (information) technology and resources. Outsourcing became part of the business lexicon during the 1980s. It is essentially a division of labor. Out sourcing in the information technology field has two meanings. One is to commission the development of an application to another organization, usually a company that specializes in the development of this type of application. The other is to hire the services of another company to manage all or parts of the services that otherwise would be rendered by an IT unit of the organization. The latter concept might not include development of new applications.

There are many reasons that companies outsource various jobs, but the most prominent advantage seems to be the fact that it often saves money. Many of the companies that provide outsourcing services are able to do the work for considerably less money, as they don't have to provide benefits to their workers and have fewer overhead expenses to worry about.

Outsourcing also allows companies to focus on other business issues while having the details taken care of by outside experts. This means that a large amount of resources and attention, which might fall on the shoulders of management professionals, can be used for more important, broader issues within the company. The specialized company that handles the outsourced work is often streamlined, and often has world-class capabilities and access to new technology that a company couldn't afford to buy on their own. Plus, if a company is looking to expand, outsourcing is a cost-effective way to start building foundations in other countries.

There are some disadvantages to outsourcing as well. One of these is that outsourcing often eliminates direct communication between a company and its clients. This prevents a company from building solid relationships with their customers, and often leads to dissatisfaction on one or both sides. There is also the danger of not being able to control some aspects of the company, as outsourcing may lead to delayed communications and project implementation. Any sensitive information is more vulnerable, and a company may become very dependent upon its outsource providers, which could lead to problems should the outsource provider back out on their contract suddenly.

While outsourcing may prove highly beneficial for many companies, it also has many drawbacks. It is important that each individual company accurately assess their needs to determine if outsourcing is a viable option.

Advantages of Outsourcing

1. Focus on Core Activities
In rapid growth periods, the back-office operations of a company will expand also. This expansion may start to consume resources (human and financial) at the expense of the core activities that have made your company successful. Outsourcing those activities will allow refocusing on those business activities that are important without sacrificing quality or service in the back-office.
Example: A company lands a large contract that will significantly increase the volume of purchasing in a very short period of time; Outsource purchasing.

2. Cost And Efficiency Savings
Back-office functions that are complicated in nature, but the size of your company is preventing you from performing it at a consistent and reasonable cost, is another advantage of outsourcing.
Example: A small doctor’s office that wants to accept a variety of insurance plans. One part-time person could not keep up with all the different providers and rules. Outsource to a firm specializing in medical billing.

Economies of scale save money when unit costs go down as volumes increase. External service providers can achieve economies of scale unavailable to individual firms when they combine the volumes of multiple companies.

In manufacturing, for example, an external vendor may have a shop that specializes in a certain type of machining. The machinery represents a significant capital investment. If larger machines are more efficient, and if they can be used to produce any sort of parts for any customer, then this vendor may very well produce parts at a lower cost than a firm could by setting up such a shop internally.

Economies of scale are not limited to physical processes. Other precious assets -- including money, relationships, and people -- may be shared.

The pharmaceuticals industry can be used to illustrate economies of scale in relationships. Clinical trials of experimental drugs require just the right patients -- healthy in most all respects but the one indication being treated, and willing to submit themselves to experimentation. It takes a significant investment of time and money to develop relationships with the hospitals and clinicians (and the triage nurses in their emergency rooms) that supply patients for the trials.

Clinical trials also require just the right medical investigators -- doctors and medical researchers who are well respected in their industries. Again, it takes size to attract the best investigators. The most sought-after investigators look for organizations that can supply them with interesting and publishable research projects and with support services (such as data collection and well-managed processes) that make their jobs easier and their results more reliable.

To be specific, there are three conditions that must be met before outsourcing saves money:

1. Economies of scale must exist. That is, there must be some economic advantage to larger size or greater numbers before outsourcing can pay off; for example, unit costs must drop as volumes increase.

2. The economies must be accessible across corporate boundaries. That is, savings only occur if outsourcers can combine the volumes of multiple clients.

For example, it's easy for many companies to share the huge fixed costs of a telecommunications infrastructure owned by long-distance carriers. Laying one's own fiber or leasing a private satellite channel is unlikely to be economic, so outsourcing is an obvious choice.

However, outsourcing an IT computer center may not work as well, since hardware may not offer significant economies of scale and many software licenses are corporation-specific.
There are many cases where inter-organizational sharing is possible, but each case must be examined carefully.

3. The savings must be sufficient to outweigh the additional cost of paying other shareholders a profit. Some executives have said that at least a 20% savings (after vendor profit margins) is necessary to compensate the firm for the legal costs and the risks of long-term dependence on people you can’t control.

3. Reduced Overhead
Overhead costs of performing a particular back-office function are extremely high. Consider outsourcing those functions which can be moved easily.
Example: Growth has resulted in an increased need for office space. The current location is very expensive and there is no room to expand. Outsource some simple operations in order to reduce the need for office space for example, outbound telemarketing or data entry.

4. Operational Control
Operations whose costs are running out of control must be considered for outsourcing. Departments that may have evolved over time into uncontrolled and poorly managed areas are prime motivators for outsourcing. In addition, an outsourcing company can bring better management skills to your company than what would otherwise be available.
Example: An information technology department that has too many projects, not enough people and a budget that far exceeds their contribution to the organization. A contracted outsourcing agreement will force management to prioritize their requests and bring control back to that area.

5. Staffing Flexibility
Outsourcing will allow operations that have seasonal or cyclical demands to bring in additional resources when you need them and release them when you’re done.
Example: An accounting department that is short-handed during tax season and auditing periods. Outsourcing these functions can provide the additional resources for a fixed period of time at a consistent cost.

6. Continuity & Risk Management
Periods of high employee turnover will add uncertainty and inconsistency to the operations. Outsourcing will provided a level of continuity to the company while reducing the risk that a substandard level of operation would bring to the company.
Example: The human resource manager is on an extended medical leave and the two administrative assistants leave for new jobs in a very short period of time. Outsourcing the human resource function would reduce the risk and allow the company to keep operating.

Another type of synergy that can cross corporate boundaries is the sharing of risk. In financial circles, this is called the "portfolio effect."

In investing, it's best to diversify your portfolio rather than put all your money in one stock. By spreading your risk, you reduce your total risk.

Why does diversification reduce risk? If the whole market goes down, you'll lose, no matter what you do. But if the market goes up while one company makes some serious mistakes, the rest of your portfolio may still do well, and you are not as vulnerable as you would have been had you put all your money into a single stock.

In business investments, the same is generally true. Outsourcing may permit multiple companies to share risk.

To continue with manufacturing as an example, if all your work is done in one plant, an outage or a labor dispute could put you out of business. If you spread your workload across a number of plants, a labor dispute in one country may not affect the operations of other plants. Thus, you reduce your risk.
In a very large operation, it may be that the company can afford multiple plants. But in smaller companies or in the production of small-run specialty parts -- it may be cheaper to spread the work across a number of existing vendor plants via outsourcing than it is to build a number of small plants yourself.

The biotechnology industry demonstrates the concept of risk-sharing. Investors are reluctant to fund small biotechnology companies to build manufacturing plants for drugs which haven’t yet been approved. But manufacturing is required to produce experimental drugs for clinical trials in order to gain approval.
Bio-tech firms often outsource manufacturing during the clinical-trials phase of development. This demonstrates both economies of scale and risk sharing: The vendor's large plant, shared across a dozen firms at a time, is more efficient than a dozen small plants. Secondly, the risk of building infrastructure that may not be used is shared across many small pharmaceutical firms.

7. Develop Internal Staff
A large project needs to be undertaken that requires skills that your staff does not possess. On-site outsourcing of the project will bring people with the skills you need into your company. Your people can work alongside of them to acquire the new skill set.

Example: A company needs to embark on a replacement/upgrade project on a variety of custom built equipment. Your engineers do not have the skills required to design new and upgraded equipment. Outsourcing this project and requiring the outsourced engineers to work on-site will allow your engineers to acquire a new skill set.

Well-managed outsourcing can enhance the development of employees. Two strategies can accomplish this:

1. Contractors can be used to off-load less interesting "commodity" or end-of-life work, or to handle peak loads. This leaves staff free to pursue new, developmental opportunities. On the other hand, contractors should never be used to perform new, growth-oriented activities while internal staff is left with obsolescent work. This would deny staff learning opportunities, while building dependence on the vendor. Perhaps worse, it sends a message to staff that the company is not willing to invest in their professional growth.

2. Consultants and vendors can be used to bring in new ideas and to train internal staff. It might be useful to distinguish two terms: External "consultants" transfer their skills and methods to improve employees' effectiveness; they teach staff, often while working together on real projects. Consultants may be used by anyone whenever justifiable, since the benefits are lasting.

By contrast, "contractors" simply do work in place of employees. This is sometimes called “staff augmentation.” They should be limited to the commodity work described in point 1.

There are many cases that meet these four criteria where outsourcing pays off. But each case must be examined carefully to make sure the fundamentals are there. Remember: Paying other shareholders a profit margin makes outsourcing inherently more expensive. It's only worthwhile if these other benefits compensate the firm for its added costs

Disadvantages of Outsourcing

• At times, it is more cost-effective to conduct a particular business process, rather than outsourcing it
• While outsourcing services such as payroll processing services and tax preparation services, your outsourcing provider will be able to see your company’s confidential information and hence there is a threat to security and confidentiality in outsourcing
• When you begin to outsource your business processes, you might find it difficult to manage the offshore provider when compared to managing processes within your organization
• outsourcing can create potential redundancies for your organization
• In case, your offshore service provider becomes bankrupt or goes out of business, your organization will have to immediately move your business processes in-house or find another outsourcing provider
• The employees in your organization might not like the idea of you outsourcing your processes and they might express lack of interest or lack of quality at work
• Your outsourcing provider might not be only providing services for your organization. Since your provider might be catering to the needs of several companies, there might be not be complete devotion to you and your company
• By outsourcing, you might forget to cater to the needs of your valuable customers as your focus will be on the business process that is outsourced
• In outsourcing, you may lose your control over the process that is outsourced
• Outsourcing, though cost-effective, might have hidden costs, such as the legal costs incurred while signing a contract between companies. You might also have to spend a lot of time and effort in getting the contract signed
• With outsourcing, your organization might suffer from a lack of customer focus
• There can be several disadvantages in outsourcing, such as, renewing contracts, misunderstanding of the contract, lack of communication, poor quality and delayed services amongst others.

The disadvantages of outsourcing give organizations an opportunity to think about what they are stepping into. However the disadvantages of outsourcing are less than the advantages of offshore outsourcing. When outsourcing, you might not experience any of these disadvantages of outsourcing, if you find a reliable outsourcing partner. Before outsourcing take the interests of your customers and employees into consideration and then make an informed decision. If your organization is genuinely interested in outsourcing, let not the disadvantages of outsourcing stop you.

1. Loss of Managerial Control. Whether you sign a contract to have another company perform the function of an entire department or single task, you are turning the management and control of that function over to another company. True, you will have a contract, but the managerial control will belong to another company. Your outsourcing company will not be driven by the same standards and mission that drives your company. They will be driven to make a profit from the services that they are providing to you and other businesses like yours.

2. Hidden Costs
You will sign a contract with the outsourcing company that will cover the details of the service that they will be providing. Any thing not covered in the contract will be the basis for you to pay additional charges. Additionally, you will experience legal fees to retain a lawyer to review the contacts you will sign. Remember, this is the outsourcing company's business. They have done this before and they are the ones that write the contract. Therefore, you will be at a disadvantage when negotiations start.

3. Threat to Security and Confidentiality
The life-blood of any business is the information that keeps it running. If you have payroll, medical records or any other confidential information that will be transmitted to the outsourcing company, there is a risk that the confidentiality may be compromised. If the outsourced function involves sharing proprietary company data or knowledge (e.g. product drawings, formulas, etc.), this must be taken into account. Evaluate the outsourcing company carefully to make sure your data is protected and the contract has a penalty clause if an incident occurs.

4. Quality Problems
The outsourcing company will be motivated by profit. Since the contract will fix the price, the only way for them to increase profit will be to decrease expenses. As long as they meet the conditions of the contract, you will pay. In addition, you will lose the ability to rapidly respond to changes in the business environment. The contract will be very specific and you will pay extra for changes.

5. Tied to the financial well-Being of another Company
Since you will be turning over part of the operations of your business to another company, you will now be tied to the financial well-being of that company. It wouldn't be the first time that an outsourcing company could go bankrupt and leave you holding-the-bag.

6. Bad Publicity and Ill-Will
The word "outsourcing" brings to mind different things to different people. If you live in a community that has an outsourcing company and they employ your friends and neighbors, outsourcing is good. If your friends and neighbors lost their jobs because they were shipped across the state, across the country or across the world, outsourcing will bring bad publicity. If you outsource part of your operations, morale may suffer in the remaining work force.

The next is Insourcing,

Insourcing is the opposite of outsourcing; that is insourcing (or contracting in) is often defined as the delegation of operations or jobs from production within a business to an internal (but 'stand-alone') entity that specializes in that operation. Insourcing is a business decision that is often made to maintain control of critical production or competencies. An alternate use of the term implies transferring jobs to within the country where the term is used, either by hiring local subcontractors or building a facility.
Insourcing is widely used in an area such as production to reduce costs of taxes, labor (e.g., American labor is often cheaper than European labor), transportation, etc.
Insourcing is a business practice in which work that would otherwise have been contracted out is performed in house.
Insourcing often involves bringing in specialists to fill temporary needs or training existing personnel to perform tasks that would otherwise have been outsourced. An example is the use of in-house engineers to write technical manuals for equipment they have designed, rather than sending the work to an outside technical writing firm. In this example, the engineers might have to take technical writing courses at a local college, university, or trade school before being able to complete the task successfully. Other challenges of insourcing include the possible purchase of additional hardware and/or software that is scalable and energy-efficient enough to deliver an adequate return on investment (ROI).
Insourcing can be viewed as outsourcing as seen from the opposite side. For example, a company based in Japan might open a plant in the United States for the purpose of employing American workers to manufacture Japanese products. From the Japanese perspective this is outsourcing, but from the American perspective it is insourcing. Nissan, a Japanese automobile manufacturer, has in fact done this.

Advantages
• High degree of control.
• Ability to oversee the entire process.
• Economies of scale and/or scope.

Disadvantages
• Reduces strategic flexibility.
• Requires high investment.
• Potential suppliers may offer superior products and services.

The Verdict

For me it’s hard to say if we go for outsourcing or insourcing. But there are factors involve, what does the university really wanted in the issue. Do they want cheaper cost? Or do they want a high degree of control over its operations? These are only some questions that need to be considered. If the university wants cheaper cost then maybe they will go for outsourcing. Or if the university wants control over there operations then they will go for insourcing. But, regarding to the last issue when the last system that was used by the university was outsourced, the university protested because of the cost of the outsourced product. Now, the university changed to insourcing which is a good move on the part of the university. So maybe for me if we talked about insourcing or outsourcing the system of the university maybe for me I’ll stand with insourcing.

References:
wisegeek.com
en.wikipedia.org
sourcingmag.com
operationstech.about.com

SONA

2009-08-27T10:28:00.000+08:00

On the assumption that you heard/read the SONA of the President last month, (July 2000), identify at least 3 areas related to ICT and identify how these areas can improve our quality of life.

These are some issues that President Gloria Arroyo once said in her last State of the Nation Address in relation with ICT.

First one is:

“Sa telecommunications naman, inatasan ko ang Telecommunications Commission na kumilos na tungkol sa mga sumbong na dropped calls at mga nawawalang load sa cellphone. We need to amend the Commonwealth-era Public Service Law. And we need to do it now.”

This statement talks about vanishing cellphone loads in telecommunication companies. We all know that cellphone now a days are very essential in our daily needs especially the way we communicate. Using cellphones is the best and faster way in communicating. Me as a cellphone user it is essential for me to have a load in order for me to have contact with my family, friends, and etc., so having these issues such as vanishing of loads and dropped calls is a problem that needs to be solved.

The second one is:

“Kung noong nakaraan, lumakas ang electronics, today we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient. With earnings of $6 billion and employment of 600,000, the BPO phenomenon speaks eloquently of our competitiveness and productivity. Let us have a Department of ICT.”

Having a Department of ICT is a great move in the part of our economy, because it can help us in boosting our economic growth using all the technology in hand despite being a third-world country. And also Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) which help our fellow Filipino workers in having jobs abroad aiding the unemployed ones.

The third one is:

“In technical education and skills training, we have invested three times that of three previous administrations combined. Narito si Jennifer Silbor, isa sa sampung milyong trainee. Natuto siya ng medical transcription. Now, as an independent contractor and lecturer for transcriptions in Davao, kumikita siya ng P18,000 bawat buwan. Good job.”

Also free training for our fellow Filipinos in order to have jobs for sustaining there own family. One example is technical education such as medical transcription which is using technology in converting voice-recorded reports as dictated by a healthcare professional, into text format. If more people are trained it can also help unemployed one plus gaining enough money for there needs.

And lastly,

“As the process of fundamental political reform begins, let us address the highest exercise of democracy…voting!
In 2001, I said we would finance fully automated elections. We got it, thanks to Congress.”

Having an automated election is a good way of preventing if not maybe lessens cheats in elections. As we all know cheating is part of Philippine politics so this is a good way of preventing at least. It can also make election process fast and easy having results faster. So let me give this one two-thumb up.

Reference:
pinayads.com/2009/07/transcript-of-gloria-macapagal-arroyo-last-sona-2009/

Assignment 6

2009-08-21T22:07:00.000+08:00

If you were hired by the university president as an IT consultant, what would you suggest (technology, infrastructure, innovations, steps, processes, etc) in order for the internet connectivity be improved? (3000words)

If the University of Southeastern Philippines president would hire me as an IT consultant, I would suggest technology, infrastructure, and innovations. But for me I will be focusing more on infrastructure.

TECHNOLOGY

First I will define each of the following. What is technology? According to Wikipedia.com, technology is a broad concept that deals with human as well as other animal species usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects a species ability to control and adapt to its environment. However, a strict definition is elusive; "technology" can refer to material objects of use to humanity, such as machines, hardware or utensils, but can also encompass broader themes, including systems, methods of organization, and techniques. The term can either be applied generally or to specific areas: examples include "construction technology", "medical technology", or "state-of-the-art technology". Technically speaking, technology is the process by which humans modify nature to meet their needs and wants. Most people, however, think of technology in terms of its artifacts: computers and software, aircraft, pesticides, water-treatment plants, birth-control pills, and microwave ovens, to name a few. But technology is more than these tangible products. Technology includes the entire infrastructure necessary for the design, manufacture, operation, and repair of technological artifacts, from corporate headquarters and engineering schools to manufacturing plants and maintenance facilities. The knowledge and processes used to create and to operate technological artifacts -- engineering know-how, manufacturing expertise, and various technical skills -- are equally important part of technology.

Technology is essential to improve the connectivity of internet in our university. Without a proper and good technology we can’t boost the use of the internet connectivity. Without good computers even if you have a good internet connection still you can’t use it to its maximum usage. Internet connection is dependable on your computer capability. You have a good connectivity but you have a slow computer still your loading time is slow making it slow. So a good computer unit can have a give an edge on your internet connectivity.

INFRASTRUCTURE
Second what is an infrastructure? According to Wikipedia.com, infrastructure can be defined as the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function. The term typically refers to the technical structures that support a society, such as roads, water supply, sewers, power grids, telecommunications, and so forth. In information technology and on the Internet, infrastructure is the physical hardware used to interconnect computers and users. Infrastructure includes the transmission media, including telephone lines, cable television lines, and satellites and antennas, and also the routers, aggregators, repeaters, and other devices that control transmission paths. Infrastructure also includes the software used to send, receive, and manage the signals that is transmitted. In some usages, infrastructure refers to interconnecting hardware and software and not to computers and other devices that are interconnected. However, to some information technology users, infrastructure is viewed as everything that supports the flow and processing of information.
Infrastructure companies play a significant part in evolving the Internet, both in terms of where the interconnections are placed and made accessible and in terms of how much information can be carried how quickly.
In the present world, which is dynamic and knowledge based, universities have a much wider role to play in creating, preserving, organizing, transmitting and applying knowledge. Modern educational technologies developed from information technology will certainly change in terms of access, interaction, curriculum and instruction etc. The physical locations and facilities will be less important in defining a college or a university due to the easy on-line access of the educational resources of a higher educational institution to the urban as well as rural public. This will provide opportunities to our high school graduated youths from rural areas as well as urban youths to access higher education without a need to forgo their working and earning opportunities to physically attend a college or a university. So universities need to adopt modern education technologies to provide increase access to knowledge resources.
Online technologies are going to make traditional class room teaching less important in many subjects except where it is absolutely necessary. Therefore interaction between teachers and students will have to play a vital role in imparting higher quality education. This means that more frequent and effective internal mechanism of interaction between university faculty and students need to be developed. This, in turn, causes an external relationship between universities and non-university communities. Such external relationship will necessitate universities to respond quickly to the changes in the outside world. Therefore a mechanism to increase both the internal and external interaction efficiencies has to be developed.

The curriculum and instruction are going to be changed greatly. Because the new technologies make the learning and teaching easier, the contents of some courses will be expanded, a considerable number of new courses will be generated, interdisciplinary courses and studies will be more possible. Students and faculties will contribute together to the development of curriculum.
Modern higher education technologies will also change present instructional methods to a more effective one. The faculties will have to adopt an instructional method best suited to the class of students whom they target or to develop new methods best suited for them based on their feedback. Video conferencing techniques, simulators and on-line access too many practical training kits will revolutionize instructional methods.

So in order to have good internet connectivity, we should have if not the best at least a good and efficient network infrastructure. In order to attain good infrastructure there should be a proper planning to it, analyze the plan with all the necessary data collection in order to attain the best infrastructure that we need to have better internet connectivity. From hardware, software, server, topology, and let’s include the people managing. All these points are essential in a creating a very good infrastructure.

INNOVATION

And lastly, what is innovation? According to Wikipedia.com, innovation refers to a new way of doing something. It may refer to incremental and emergent or radical and revolutionary changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations. A distinction is typically made between invention, an idea made manifest, and innovation, ideas applied successfully. (Mckeown 2008) In many fields, something new must be substantially different to be innovative, not an insignificant change, e.g., in the arts, economics, business and government policy. In economics the change must increase value, customer value, or producer value. The goal of innovation is positive change, to make someone or something better. Innovation leading to increased productivity is the fundamental source of increasing wealth in an economy.
Innovation is an important topic in the study of economics, business, design, technology, sociology, and engineering. Colloquially, the word "innovation" is often synonymous with the output of the process. However, economists tend to focus on the process itself, from the origination of an idea to its transformation into something useful, to its implementation; and on the system within which the process of innovation unfolds. Since innovation is also considered a major driver of the economy, especially when it leads to increasing productivity, the factors that lead to innovation are also considered to be critical to policy makers. In particular, followers of innovation economics stress using public policy to spur innovation and growth.
Those who are directly responsible for application of the innovation are often called pioneers in their field, whether they are individuals or organizations.

What is innovation in an organization? A convenient definition of innovation from an organizational perspective is given by Luecke and Katz (2003), who wrote:
"Innovation . . . is generally understood as the successful introduction of a new thing or method . . . Innovation is the embodiment, combination, or synthesis of knowledge in original, relevant, valued new products, processes, or services.
Innovation typically involves creativity, but is not identical to it: innovation involves acting on the creative ideas to make some specific and tangible difference in the domain in which the innovation occurs. For example, Amabile et al. (1996) propose:
"All innovation begins with creative ideas . . . We define innovation as the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization. In this view, creativity by individuals and teams is a starting point for innovation; the first is necessary but not sufficient condition for the second".
For innovation to occur, something more than the generation of a creative idea or insight is required: the insight must be put into action to make a genuine difference, resulting for example in new or altered business processes within the organization, or changes in the products and services provided. A further characterization of innovation is as an organizational or management process. For example, Davila et al. (2006), write:
"Innovation, like many business functions, is a management process that requires specific tools, rules, and discipline."
From this point of view the emphasis is moved from the introduction of specific novel and useful ideas to the general organizational processes and procedures for generating, considering, and acting on such insights leading to significant organizational improvements in terms of improved or new business products, services, or internal processes.
Through these varieties of viewpoints, creativity is typically seen as the basis for innovation, and innovation as the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization (c.f. Amabile et al. 1996 p.1155). From this point of view, creativity may be displayed by individuals, but innovation occurs in the organizational context only.
It should be noted, however, that the term 'innovation' is used by many authors rather interchangeably with the term 'creativity' when discussing individual and organizational creative activity. As Davila et al. (2006) comment,
"Often, in common parlance, the words creativity and innovation are used interchangeably. They shouldn't be, because while creativity implies coming up with ideas, it's the "bringing ideas to life" . . . that makes innovation the distinct undertaking it is."
The distinctions between creativity and innovation discussed above are by no means fixed or universal in the innovation literature. They are however observed by a considerable number of scholars in innovation studies.

So y I also recommend innovations? For me it is really important to include innovations, looking for new ways to solve current problems and issues, finding new ways/new techniques for better internet connectivity. As technology is on arising, we should also be innovative in order to be progressive. Having a good technology, plus a stable infrastructure with innovative mind can lead to a very good change for the better. So as an IT consultant these are my suggestions for better internet connectivity.

References:
mlsu.org/cc/itinf.htm
nae.edu/nae/techlithome.nsf/weblinks/KGRG-55A3ER
searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid80_gci212346,00.html
wikipedia.org

Assignment 5

2009-08-20T22:00:00.000+08:00

Based on your adopted organization(s), identify and discuss barriers in their IS/IT implementation ..(2000words)

First, I will just make an introduction in order for me to reach the 2000 words that our instructor required us to make. I only have few resources about the topic but I will do some research in order to attain my goal. And I am finding it hard to search some resources/article regarding barriers in IS/IT implementations. But I will try all my best in giving you all the information you need regarding with the topic.

To start, I will discuss what company we adopted and the company that we adopted is the Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC) located at Ponciano Reyes Street, Davao City. But before that let me discuss to you what a barrier is.

What is a barrier? Let me define first what is a barrier, a barrier is a natural formation or structure that prevents or hinders movement or action. If we relate it to the question, in connection to IS/IT implementations, it is simply to prevent or preventing a new program/system in implementing or to apply in the organization. In relation to my adopted company, I will identify and discuss these barriers in IS/IT implementations. But I will just discuss first about my adopted company which is the Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC).

As we all know Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC) is the main source of electrical power all over Davao City. It supplies electrical power to residence, companies, and all other infrastructures here in Davao City. And as the leading power corporation here in Davao City, we can say that there are barriers in IS/IT implementations. As an organization it is part in there daily company activities. Each company must find ways to make solutions to daily problems.

As what I have gathered during our interview, Davao Light and Company (DLPC) are also experiencing barriers during IS/IT implementations. And we can’t deny the fact that every new program that is being implemented in an organization there are factors that involves in every step they make; such as, adaptation/adjustment in the new program. Employees will be having a hard time trying to adjust or adopt the new system. There is lot of factors that involves in implementing new system/program within the organization. I will identity and discuss what are those barriers that prevents Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC) in implementing those new systems.

These are the following barriers:

1. Resources
2. Security
3. Workforce
4. Time

RESOURCES

So I will discuss each of these barriers. The first barrier in IS/IT implementation is the resources. Does the company have the resources to support the new system? Does the company knew about the risks associated in IS/IT implementations. Is the company ready in all the process in implementing a new system? Implementing would mean installation, maintenance and repair, and etcetera. So these are some of the question that needs to be answer if we talk about resources in an organization. Money is the most important factor in implementing an information system. Without this factor they could not run the new system. So it is very important in a company that you have the enough resources to support the new system. In relation to our company the Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC), in my opinion they have all the enough resources at hand to support the new system that is being implemented. Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC) also told us during our interview that if they really need to support the new system they spend enough money in order to support it, because they knew that they will still benefit from it. But why spend too much money in a new system if they really don’t need a new one, also stated by the IT personnel we interviewed.

SECURITY

Second is security. The main thing that focuses Davao Light and Power Company is their increasing number of data that is in stored. As the number of data being stored it also increases the chances of unwanted attacks, or being prone to viruses. The data is the most essential and important thing in a company. Without it, I don’t know what will happen to the company. Data collection for developing systems is the hardest and most complex part in the whole data collection process. It’s the most tiresome yet important part because it tells us what the system should be, and what is its range and limitations. Normally, databases are protected from external attacks by the use of firewalls and etcetera. But if it is networked already it is prone to malicious attacks. So traditional firewalling is not enough to protect the database from external attacks. But in connection to Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC) they are a big company, and when you are a big company you also have big data’s in stored. So it is in a networked connection thus it is prone to unwanted attacks from external connections. So they must find ways in order to have a very stable database. We can never have a perfect database or a system, all we can do is to minimize all the possible errors in the database. In the part of Davao Light and Power Company (DLPC) they still manage to maintain their system in good shape. From Clipper they changed to Oracle. I think in my opinion in the business world when we talk about databases of a company first thing that mostly IT professionals would take importance is SECURITY, why? For the reason it keep it from external attacks, for we all know they can benefit from doing such things as cracking systems. So security is one of the barriers of IT/IS implementations.

WORKFORCE

Third is workforce. This is the people that are working 8 hours a day for them to sustain their daily needs. We all know without the people working we cannot implement things. So also this is one of the barriers in IS/IT implementations. Why can we say that it is a barrier in IS/IT implementations? The reason is simple as stated a while ago that without the people who are working we cannot implement things. So without proper training within the employees in an organization they will find it hard to implement things. It also includes workstations, if you are a big company with a small workstation; it will take years before you can accomplish enough jobs to do. So this is also a barrier in IS/IT implementations to it delay works that needs to be accomplish in order to implement things. No proper training, not enough workforce, limited workstations. These are also some of the barriers in IS/IT implementations.

TIME

And lastly, time can also be considered as a barrier since it gives us limitations that we must follow. Such limitations can affect the developing process and the output. In a saying that is stated “Time is Gold”.

So to summarized things, there are many factors that affect in IS/IT implementations. I just stated some of it in relation to my adopted company. So in order to have a good profit every company should analyze and think what those barriers are and how to overcome these barriers. Every company know what are the risks involving those barriers. As we all know in every advantage there are also disadvantages. In relation to the topic every time you implement something in the company is ready with the risks that you will be sacrificing in order to achieve what you want.

Assignment 2

2009-07-16T15:32:00.004+08:00

Based on the organization(s) that you visited, what do you think are the risks associated with business and IT/IS change?

First thing first, the organization or company that I visited was the DAVAO LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY. And it is part of Aboitiz Group of Companies under Aboitiz Power Corporation (APC).

To start, I will just give you a little background about Davao Light and Power Company. Davao Light and Power Company is the third largest privately-owned electric utility in the Philippines. Davao Light It holds the franchise for distributing electric power to Davao City, the largest city in the world in terms of land area, as well as Panabo City and the municipalities of Carmen, Dujali, and Sto. Tomas in Davao del Norte.

Davao Light and Power Company started their Information System way back 1978. It was just called the Billing Department where it focuses on Billing. They were just using NCR Tower back then as there system. Their department way back was called EDP or Electronics Data Processing. EDP or EDP-Billing was breakdown into 4 sections which is Programmers section, the Operations section, the Data Controller section, and lastly the Key Punchers section. This was the IS department of Davao Light and Power Company way back 1978.

EDP-Billing - Programmers, Operations, Data Controller, Key Punchers

Later on, the EDP was modified by Davao Light and breakdown 2 sections to make it only 2 sections which is, the Systems section, and the Operations section. To graph it, it will look like this:

EDP - Systems, Operations

Way back before Davao Light and Power Company focus only in the Billing process which made some problems on the company’s part. During in paying customer bills it will take years before the transaction be finish due to the system. Its like 1 system for the cashier, and another system for the printing of receipts something like that, and that was the biggest problem. That’s why Davao Light and Power Company find ways to make their Information System better. As customer is on the rise their system also needs more upgrades or modifications. Davao Light and Power Company simulated a system to make the billing transaction simple and easy. They tried different methods. After they resolved the problem by simulating a new system, they tried it on the accounting department. And when the problem was solved they already applied it. In the year 1992 Davao Light and Power Company applied their first Accounting System.

From the year 1983-1994 Davao Light and Power Company changed their system with the use of IBM 4331/4361 Processor.

By the year 1994 they changed there department into ISD which stands for Information System Department, it has 2 sections which is, the Operations section, and Systems section. The Operations section which is handling the Billing/Collections part while the Systems section was in charge for the new developments.

In the year 1995 they changed there system from using mainframe to Clipper. They changed to Clipper because it has more memory capacity than the mainframe and a little bit faster than the mainframe. And also they added one section for the ISD department which is the Training section, which in charge of training staff and other incoming employees so they will be competitive in work.

By the year 1996 they also added another section for ISD making it into four sections. The new section was named into Hardware. The reason why they added hardware in ISD because they are finding ways to have a good software then also they find ways to have a good hardware. Hardware and software are partners. And we all know that now a day, these types of things are very important in a system because a company like Davao Light you really need have a very strong hardware to make systems more at its best performance.

In the year 2003 they also focuses on the Engineering department due to they forgot also how important these are so they changed the system into ISD/EID or Information System/Engineering Information Department.

From 2005 up to present, the system was changed into ISG or Information Services Group. In this system they changed from Clipper to Oracle. For now Oracle is the most powerful system to date. The Oracle’s features are faster than the Clipper and have a very high storage capacity. And Clipper is not robust than Oracle.

So to summaries it all, the Davao Light is finding ways to make their system simpler. As what have they said, the simpler the better. So from mainframe, to Clipper, and now the system that is still in use is the Oracle. As of now Davao Light has programs to make their systems easier. Some of these programs are Talent Management Program which is focusing on training employees to have the same level of knowledge about the company. For example if John is sick and there is a problem to be fixed then Paul is there for him. Or shall we even if they don’t have other employees they can get from the training employees in the program to assist when needed. Those are just some of there program that aim to improve there system. And also Davao Light is now using Biometrics as keeping track of employees.

For the question about the risks associated with business and IT/IS change?

In every business they are also changes that are happening. And when changes are happening they are also risks associated in these changes. As technology evolves risks also evolves. The main objective to do is how to contain these risks. One thing about changing system is that is makes the system more durable in the sense, when we change we also learn new things. So in order to have a good system we really need to change from time to time in order to keep on track. That’s why they change there system in order to reduce problems in order to have a better system. And lastly, systems should always be compatible with the process not the other way around.

Green Campus Computing

2009-07-13T11:47:00.009+08:00

Site 3 URL's that talk's about "Green Campus Computing" and suggest ways the university can adopt this concept.

First, let me define what is green computing. Green computing is the practice of using computing resources efficiently. The CIO portfolio has launched an initiative to begin 'greening' the IT infrastructure at the University in order to create a more sustainable provision of IT services that do not harm the environment or use unnecessary resources.

Now, let me site 3 URL that talk's about it and ways that they did for applying the "Green Campus Computing" concept.

The first one is from the site http://www.colby.edu/about_cs/campusinfo/eag/projects/pagcfm

Green Computing Personal Action Guide

Computers have fast become one of the largest consumers of electricity on college campuses across the country. The EPA has estimated that using the ‘sleep mode’ on equipped computers nationwide would reduce their energy use by 60% to 70%. This could save enough electricity each year to power Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, cut electric bills by $2 billion, and reduce CO2 emissions by the equivalent of 5 million cars. If the Colby community turned its printers and computers off overnight and on weekends, over $42,000 would be saved annually.
What Can You Do?

1. Turn off your computer! A modest amount of turning on and off will not harm the equipment. Leaving it on all night and all weekend wastes energy. If the computer will be idle for more than 16 minutes, it would consume less energy to turn it off and on again - this does not damage the computer or shorten its lifespan.
2. Group your computer activities and try to do them during one or two parts of the day, leaving the computer off at other times. Break the habit of switching the machine on every morning.
3. Turn the monitor off. Screen savers consume as much electricity as the monitor does when in active use.
4. Buy only “Energy Star” computers and accessories. What’s Energy Star? Visit -
www.energystar.gov/products
5. Set your computer to ‘sleep’ or ‘stand by’ when not in use for a certain period of time. Consult your control panel for setting options.
6. Don’t turn your printer on until you are ready to print. Printers consume energy even when idling.

Second, is the site from http://greencampus.winserve.org/greencampus/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23Itemid=40

PUTTING YOUR COMPUTER TO SLEEP

When you're not using your computer, you can save energy by putting it to "sleep." When your computer is in sleep, it's turned on but in a low power mode. It takes less time for a computer to wake up from sleep than it does for the computer to start up after being turned off.

You can put your computer to sleep right away by choosing Apple menu > Sleep. You can also choose to put the computer to sleep automatically when your computer has been inactive for a specified amount of time. You can also set only the display to sleep. If your computer is in the middle of a task that you want to let finish while you are away (for example, burning a DVD), you should set only the display to sleep.

Lastly, the site from http://chronicle.com/free/2009/01/10296n.htm

Campus Computing Goes Green to Save Money

Relocate a college's server computers next to a solar-power generator. Replace AC power with DC power. Cool the servers only where they get the hottest. Put the servers in the ocean and power them with waves.

Those were a few of the ideas discussed last week at a conference, "Greening the Internet Economy," that was designed to address the problem of the soaring financial and environmental costs of information technology. The event, held by the University of California at San Diego, offered a sampling of a new generation of technologies that promise to help colleges make their IT departments both more efficient and more sustainable.

Many of the participants emphasized the importance of systems that could more intelligently measure energy use on the campus. In recent years, colleges have been hurt by the rising costs of powering and cooling their data centers, in part because those costs are difficult to measure and poorly understood (The Chronicle, January 9).

At San Diego, researchers have started work on hardware to help colleges and other organizations understand how to make their servers more efficient. The device, called the GreenLight Instrument, will deploy sensors and software to measure the energy use, humidity, and other variables in various parts of a Sun Modular Data Center, a popular, self-contained complex of servers.

The goal is to encourage engineers to try different computing strategies to reduce electricity consumption, said Thomas A. DeFanti, principal investigator on the project and a senior research strategist at the university's California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology.

"Right now there isn't enough information for somebody to make a definitive decision: Where do I save my money? Do I eliminate disks in my computers, or do I stop them? Do I use more RAM or less RAM?" said Mr. DeFanti. "Nobody has detailed information on this."

Campus Computing Goes Green to Save Money

Relocate a college's server computers next to a solar-power generator. Replace AC power with DC power. Cool the servers only where they get the hottest. Put the servers in the ocean and power them with waves.

Those were a few of the ideas discussed last week at a conference, "Greening the Internet Economy," that was designed to address the problem of the soaring financial and environmental costs of information technology. The event, held by the University of California at San Diego, offered a sampling of a new generation of technologies that promise to help colleges make their IT departments both more efficient and more sustainable.

Many of the participants emphasized the importance of systems that could more intelligently measure energy use on the campus. In recent years, colleges have been hurt by the rising costs of powering and cooling their data centers, in part because those costs are difficult to measure and poorly understood (The Chronicle, January 9).

At San Diego, researchers have started work on hardware to help colleges and other organizations understand how to make their servers more efficient. The device, called the GreenLight Instrument, will deploy sensors and software to measure the energy use, humidity, and other variables in various parts of a Sun Modular Data Center, a popular, self-contained complex of servers.

The goal is to encourage engineers to try different computing strategies to reduce electricity consumption, said Thomas A. DeFanti, principal investigator on the project and a senior research strategist at the university's California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology.

"Right now there isn't enough information for somebody to make a definitive decision: Where do I save my money? Do I eliminate disks in my computers, or do I stop them? Do I use more RAM or less RAM?" said Mr. DeFanti. "Nobody has detailed information on this."

Aiming for Precision

Intelligent measuring systems like Greenlight should be extended to allow engineers to more precisely determine how to use energy, said Gary L. Baldwin, director of special projects at the University of California's Citris program. For example, he said, operators at a data center could direct cool air only where the facility is generating the most heat.

Another idea that shows promise, participants said, is to supply computers directly with local DC power. Computers generally use direct current, but the public electricity grid typically supplies alternating current, and 30 percent of the electricity can be lost in the conversion of one form to the other.

Some colleges have started projects to power their computers directly from solar cells or other sources of DC power on the campus, avoiding the energy loss altogether. At San Diego, administrators hope to build a "power ring" that will supply computers across the campus with DC power, said Mr. DeFanti.

The rethinking of how to supply campus power is part of a broader effort to "divorce ourselves from the electrical grid," said Bill St. Arnaud, chief research officer at Canarie Inc., a Canadian computer-networking organization. Power-transmission lines lose a significant amount of energy over long distances, he said, which means that supplying a campus with energy from faraway power plant can be inefficient.

A better strategy, Mr. St. Arnaud said, is to build campus data centers next to a renewable source of power, like a solar plant. High-speed optical transmission lines, he said, would ensure that the computers would seem "as close as next door."

For my suggestion on how the university can adopt this concept. Simply by analyzing the situation of the university. I think we all know that now a days the mother earth is campaigning in Global Warming that causes the ice in the antarctic to melt and loosing the only home of polar bears. Others are the smoke coming out in cars, factories, and etc., that causes pollution and a big factor in making the global warming worse. To simplify, the university need to simulate first in order for them to know what best way in implementing the concept. After they already simulated and gathered enough information on how they will implement it in the university then that's the time for the implementation. Some cases if you don't analyze the situation it's hard to implement these concept specially in a school/university. So in order to avoid conflicts they need to analyze, simulate, then implement if all things are reconsidered. For me, the university really needs to apply these concept in order to save energy, money, and helped the environment by means of conserving energy.