..mindblogging..™

Cityscape and building destruction using 3ds max

2011-03-01T20:56:00.000-08:00

my first ever 3d animation..hehe

The future of technology and me

2011-01-05T00:23:00.000-08:00

It is said that knowledge is useless unless it is applied to improve our community. When we go out in the real world and work as professionals, it is expected for us to apply everything that we learned from college. College is just a training ground where we are acquire specialized skills according our field of expertise which in our case – in the field of Information Technology. Since technology plays a major part in my course, it is somehow become my moral obligation as an IT enthusiast to contribute for its advancement to make our community better.

The following will be my possible contributions for the development of technology in the future:

- Create innovative systems that would redefine technological experience.

In college, our professors have always encouraged us to think creatively. Formulating system proposals have always been a challenge because they always remind us that it should be unique and useful. They always encourage us to think out of the box and formulate creative ideas. It is said that great things comes from a great idea turned to reality. From those creative ideas, we are currently and continue to create systems that would help our school and our community. This kind of training would help us to create unique and innovative systems that would not only help the community but can possibly become a major technological trend in the future.

- Encourage and support creative ideas from the next generation.

As future leaders and future IT mentors, it will become our responsibility to mold and guide the future generation of IT professionals. In the future, it will be our job to encourage the future generation to create innovative ideas and support them in turning their ideas to reality.

In our field, being in college is not solely about trying to learn a specific programming language but instead we are being molded to become Expert Learners. Being an expert learner means that we could learn just about anything on our own. This kind of training in college will enable us to learn and create new things through technology that would help improve our community in the future.

Important Note:
This is a response to our Case study # 2 in the subject Future Technology

As a future IT professional, what do you think will be your contributions for the development of technology based on what you learned from college? Define each and state its implications towards our IT society and industry.

Future Technology Case Study 1

2010-12-23T18:48:00.000-08:00

In today’s modern age, where technology has become a lot more accessible compared to a few decades before, the reasons for using technology hasn’t really changed that much. Technology is being used and is constantly evolving primarily to make our lives easier. For the most part, technology has provided us with better convenience in our lifestyle. Take communication technology for instance. Using a mobile phone is far more convenient because of its portability and convenience compared to using wired telephone which is bulky and static. It has become a trend for most gadgets nowadays to become smaller but with jam-packed functionalities just like its other bigger counterpart. E-commerce technology is another example that also brought convenience to improve our shopping experience.

Aside from convenience, technology has also allowed us to save important resources such as time and money. Efficiency is also another reason why we use technology. Convenience and efficiency generally go hand-in-hand that’s why most people patronize technology. From using snail mail that would take months before it arrive, technology advancement like E-mail has made messaging a lot faster and more interactive. Technology is used to automate activities to use time and resources more efficiently.

Due to the influence of popular media such as television programs, movies and the internet, the use of technology has reached a new perspective in the modern age. Aside from convenience and efficiency, the use of the latest technology has also become a new status symbol in our community. People with money have more opportunity to acquire technology, which enables them to acquire even more wealth. The trendiness of using technology has also emerged to be one of the reasons why we use technology.

The technological trends and changes are brought about by the demand of the people themselves. In my opinion, technological change is brought about by the following factors:
1.) The human need to improve the current state and;
2.) The human passion to create something desirable.
The constant need for improvement and the nature of discontentment of humans are the primary reasons why their is technological advancement. These are the core driving force for technology advancement and future innovation.

Technology has indeed brought many benefits to our community. It has changed our lifestyles into something more convenient, efficient and trendy. It is up to us to use it to our advantage and make the world we live in a better place than it is before.

Helvetica

2010-12-14T04:37:00.000-08:00

Simple. Clean. Modern. Those were the words that stuck in my head after I watched the documentary about the typeface Helvetica. During the narration on how Helvetica came to be, it just amazed me on how intricate the making of a simple typeface is. Helvetica was born during the time where computers were not yet accessible for everyone which makes the creation of the typeface more difficult before than it is today. The documentary made me realize that typography is a complicated art even if the typeface itself looks simple.

The documentary featured two opposing views about Helvetica which I found very thought-provoking. The first one believes that Helvetica is a legible and intelligible kind of typeface that can be use for almost everything. It is has the very essence of modernism and gives an impression of cleanliness, neutralism and transparency that’s why most corporation and government agencies are using it. Some also mentioned that precise design and spacing of letters somehow makes Helvetica outstanding from other typefaces. According to Wim Crouwel, “the meaning should be on the content of the text and not the typeface”. That’s the very reason why he loves Helvetica because it doesn’t have a meaning itself.

Although there are people who admire Helvetica, there are also some people who don’t like it. Some of them argue that the simplicity and cleanliness of Helvetica makes it downright boring. And because Helvetica is used by almost everyone, it is somehow overrated and not artistic. Some people in the documentary also believe that a typeface should have their own personality and should portray some form of expression which Helvetica doesn’t have because it’s plain and simple. Some even argue that Helvetica is the reason why there is war on some countries like Vietnam which I find very absurd. I believe that the reason behind a war is far more serious and complicated than because of a simple typeface such as Helvetica.

I find the different views about the Helvetica interesting because it somehow gives me a glimpse of how a designer’s mind works. It just goes to show that every single person has their own personal view of what is beautiful for them. After all, beauty is said to be in the eye of the beholder. There are people who like it organized and clean while there are also people who find the organized as boring and not artistic.

At the end of the documentary I realized how much topography has evolved and has influenced the modern design culture. I generally liked how the documentary featured the use of Helvetica from different countries and on different print media and places like streets and billboards.
In general, I loved the documentary because it made me aware of the very intricate world of typography and contrast of ideas in visual design that also made me appreciate typefaces around me – Helvetica or not.

In the next three years..

2010-04-29T06:45:00.000-07:00

Over the years, information technology has changed overwhelmingly making the lives of people easier compared to previous years. Information technology has changed the way people handle information and now can access it in an organized and faster way. In addition, information technology has been a very useful tool in providing a faster and organized way of communicating ideas and information for learning particularly in the field of education. IT has provided services ranging from offline to online services that changed the lifestyle of people in a positive way - making it better. Some schools even use information technology strategically to make learning and access to school services easier and effective for the school’s resident’s benefit. Usually, one of the reasons that forces schools to improve IT is for strategic competence over other universities.

Change has always been a must especially when we’re dealing with information technology. I remembered that one of my classmates asked if the current information system of a certain organization is already satisfying and working, is there still a need for a change of strategy? At first, I thought that the answer to that question would be no. At that time, I thought that if your information system is already producing good results for the company then the best move would be to keep it. However, our professor thought otherwise. He said that even though the information system of a company is already working for now.. but what about in the next years to come? It is basically a rule in nature that a certain company will try to surpass or improve strategically to have a huge advantage over their competitors. This concept can also apply to your company’s competitors. From this point of view, if your company will stick to your current strategy and will try not to formulate strategic changes and options then the possibility that your competitors will surpass you in the next years to come will be higher. From that discussion, I understood that a company should not be satisfied with their current strategy. Our environment is so fast changing that new technologies come up almost every day. In this case, change is definitely necessary in order to cope up. And just like any organization, I believe that our university must be also compelled to change as well. Change is always good as long it’s for the better. I believe that a change in the university’s information technology contributes in achieving the vision of the university which is “to become a premier university in the ASEAN region”. As a state university, I can’t really blame the school for having obsolete and overused IT components. Budget and approval for IT improvements play a major role in pursuing improvements in information technology for our university and for now they tend to be insufficient. In addition to this, I also think that the university does not consider investments in information technology as one of their top priorities which really saddens me. But three years from now, I can see that there could be some significant improvements in information technology that can happen in our university.

Significant improvements in Hardware components

In the next three years, I expect that there would be some improvements in the information technology components of the university. According to the definition by Encarta 2008 Dictionary, Information technology means the use of technologies from computing, electronics, and telecommunications to process and distribute information in digital and other forms. Information technology includes two distinct components. These components are the hardware and software components of a computer system. Since information technology covers two components, I will cite the improvements in those two areas that I can see slowly being enacted in the next three years. In terms of hardware components, I can see improvements in the computers being used in the university. There will be improvement not only on the outside appearance of the computer but also in its inner components. I could see that higher RAM components and hard disk capacity will be provided for faster processing. In addition, I can also see that the computer components that will be bought will promote green computing. With the energy shortage that the country is experiencing right now and the abnormal fluctuations of the earth’s temperature, more and more people are already aware of the significance of protecting our environment and conserving energy. Because of this, I believe that the university will consider the environmental effects of the hardware components that will be bought in the future.

ENHANCE THE POWER OF SCHOOL ID SYSTEM USING BARCODES

As I have observed, most universities in Davao already adapted the technology of using the school id system to facilitate and improve their services. It is unfortunate that up until now, the university hasn’t taken the advantage of using our school ids to improve student services. Three years from now, I can see that there is a significant improvement in the school services through the use of embedded bar codes in our school ids.
Through bar codes, student ID cards can act as a "portable database" where we can store digital photographs, signatures, schedule data, emergency contact information and even biometric data in a single code the size of a magnetic stripe - all at virtually no extra cost.
According to the article by Vasishta, S. and Dhanda M.(2010), barcode technology is most accurate and least expensive way to identify and get data into the computer. The extent of achievement in the library after introduction of barcode technology is quite high. The following are the benefits of the barcode technology:
Improved operational efficiency: Manual charging/ discharging of documents is very cumbersome. Operational efficiency has improved a lot after using the barcode technology as barcodes permit faster recording of information.
Accuracy: In the manual system, the writing of accession number and member code may result in charging/discharging a wrong book to a wrong member. But barcode scans accession number and member code at the time of charging/discharging to ensure the accuracy in transactions. It leads to an error free data entry.
With the help of barcode issue/return of documents can be done faster, which helps in saving the time of both the user as well as library staff.
Barcode helps reducing in cost of preparing duplicate borrowers card.
Barcode technology is fast and user-friendly.
Barcode will help in stock verification expeditiously and easily.
Barcode will help in maintaining duplicate borrowers’ card, which were occupying more space on the issue counter.
Issuing of no dues certificate will become easy; it was very cumbersome to verify from a manual system.
It will facilitate preparation of reminders and fine lists for overdue books.
It provides reliable statistics.
It adds to elegance and aesthetics of the front office and its activities.

Free WIFI access within the university

Recently, I have been noticing that more and more students are now using portable computers like laptops and notebooks even those students whose courses are not even computer related. This is now quite evident maybe because of the fact that laptops nowadays are more affordable compared to laptops before. How much more in the future? With the increasing population of students that are using laptops, it is a shame that up to now there is still no free wifi access in the university for the students. I can still notice some students with laptops are sneaking near offices and faculty rooms within the university just to have free wifi access. To make it worse, there are security restrictions which prevent the student from accessing the wifi connection.

The university admin may say that there is no need for a free wifi access because the university already has a virtual laboratory to suffice the internet needs of the students. This may be true for those students who don’t have personal computers. But what about those students who literally use their laptops as personal notebooks that they even use during classes. And let’s all face it, the computers provided by the computer laboratories are not that satisfactory when it comes to data processing and the computer laboratory cannot accommodate all the students because of the scarcity of computers. The least the university can do is provide a free wifi service in which the students who has laptops can access free internet by just staying inside the campus. I believe that this kind of change will be a “substantial change for the good” because I believe that it will really help the students in particular to stay inside the campus than go outside just to access the internet.

Continuous improvement and user acceptance of UniiSys

For the benefit of those who are not aware of what UniiSys is, here are some information about it:
UniiSys stands for University Integrated Information System. It is a collection of online systems made by IC students from the University of Southeastern Philippines Obrero Campus. It generally aims to improve the current systems in the university.

Three years from now, I can see that UniiSys will have a huge impact on the aspect of school services if properly implemented and supported by the students. With the increasing number of students going online and using the internet, I think UniiSys can be very useful and a huge hit. Three years from now, I believe that the internet will still play a significant role in the lifestyle of people world wide. Because of this, online systems are still relevant and have a huge possibility of user acceptance. UniiSys provides a venue for students to create and integrate unique and useful systems for the benefit of the university in general.

The following are my reasons why I think UniiSys is beneficial for the university:

1. It will improve student services from the effort of students
2. It will help showcase student skills to the world through the World Wide Web
3. It will promote system development for the benefit of the university
4. It will help in pioneering the creation of unique and relevant online systems

Reference:
Vasishta, S. and Dhanda M.(January, 2010).Transforming a Traditional Library to Modern Library using Barcode Technology: An Experience of Central Library, PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh. DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 44-48

http://www.officezone.com/school-id.htm

Note:
This is a response to MIS 2 Subject Assignment # 9.

Assignment # 9
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. (1500 words)

Questions to ask if you're the Information System Planner

2010-04-29T05:35:00.001-07:00

With the wide acceptance of information system as a valuable organizational resource that can potentially give back a huge amount of return of investment, strategic planning of information system has been considered to be a crucial part of the business plan of most companies nowadays. By definition, strategic information systems planning, also known as simply SISP, is the process whereby an organization establishes a long-range plan of computer-based applications in order to achieve its goals. With the huge potential benefits of an effective information system, it is very important for an IS consultant to know the right questions to ask to the company officers not only to fully assess the information system needs of the company but also develop an effective strategic information system plan.
If I were hired to develop a strategic information system plan for a company, I would develop the questions to be asked to the company officers based on the three phase methodology of strategic information system planning.

Phase 1 Preliminary Assessment

1. What are the present capabilities of the IS department of your company (if there is one)?
2. Describe the readiness of the company to use IS.
3. What is the status of the customers and the industry with respect to your company?

Phase 2 Business Strategy Analysis

1. What are the current management strategies of your company with respect to IS?

( ex. Bleeding edge, leading edge, lagging edge, single vendor strategy, outsourcing)
2. How effective are your current IS strategies?
3. What are the problems that your company encountered with your current IS strategy?

Phase 3 Strategic IS planning
1. What do you want to achieve in the future? ( Setting Goals)

The answer to this question will help me assess the goals of the company of acquiring an information system strategy. This would enable me to generally set the goals of the SISP that I will develop for the company.

2. What are your measurable targets? ( Setting Objectives )

The answer to this question will help me assess the effectiveness of the steps and strategies that I have chosen as the SISP of the company. The answer to this question generally sets the objectives of the company’s SISP. The objectives of the SISP should be measurable in order to measure the effectiveness of the strategy and
An example of a measurable target would be the return of investment over a specific period time.

3. What are your company policies when it comes to acquisition of an information system?

During one of our MIS discussions, I learned that the one of the qualities of a good strategic information system plan is that it should align with the company goals and vision. It is important to take the company policies into consideration in order for me to develop a scope and limitation with the development of the information system plan. Usually, this question addresses the policies for funding and allocation an information system plan. This should be discussed in order to assess the limitations and follow the company's rule when it comes to acquisition.

Note:
This is a response to MIS 2 Subject Assignment # 8.

Assignment # 8
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.

Develop a list of questions you would ask the officers of the company and give an explanation and justification for each question.

Frustrations of Information System Professionals

2010-04-29T05:01:00.000-07:00

Last semester, my group was tasked to make an Information System Needs Assessment (ISNA) for a certain company as part of our requirement for the subject MIS 1. We assessed our adopted company’s current information system by conducting SWOT and STEEP analysis and provided some recommendation for their needs based on our assessment. From that experience, I concluded that establishing an information system plan is a very tedious and crucial job. It is tedious because the IS professional in-charge have to take a lot of things into considerations before making any changes in the information system infrastructure of that organization. It is a crucial job because the information system implementation would normally involve certain vital resources such as money and properties that are critical resources and should be allocated well. Basically, I can say that the information system of a company will serve as a vital investment. Just like any investment, there is always a possibility of failure especially if not planned well which will cause the organization to waste important resources and would normally mean lose financial resources. Because of this, it is expected that most IS professionals usually develop some frustrations from developing an information system plan because of the problems that they encounter.

Based on our previous discussions concerning the importance of Planning, I already learned that planning is a very crucial part of developing any kind of system. Planning is also an important part in the business process because it will describe the organization’s direction and the steps that the organization would take in order to get there. Just as what I discussed on my previous entries in my blog, an information system plan (ISP) is basically a plan concentrated on aligning the information systems of an organization to its business plan as a whole. An information system is comprised of the hardware, software and peopleware of an organization. Usually, the term information system is related to using technology as a crucial part of an organization. The term is also used to identify the computer-based system that an organization is using. In addition, an IS plan is just a part of the overall business plan of an organization. The IS plan of the organization must align with the business plan and must conform to the overall vision of an organization.

Since I’m still a student and my experience in developing an IS plan is still rudimentary, an expert opinion would help in the enlightenment of this topic. An information system professional is someone who is considered an expert and should have the experience in developing an information system plan for an organization that range from simple to complicated systems. Together with my classmates, we interviewed the MIS supervisor of Samulco for this assignment.

Based on the interview that we had with the MIS supervisor of Samulco, he identified the two most frequently experienced causes of frustration of IS professional like him and the end users while working on an IS plan.
In terms of Information System planning, there are some common problems that IS professionals encounter while working on an IS plan. Based on our interview with the MIS supervisor of Samulco last Monday (December 7) , he identified two of the most frequently experienced causes of frustrations of IS professionals like him. The first cause of frustration in IS planning that he mentioned is Budget Constraint. He said because of budget constraint, many problems arise from that problem alone. Because of budget constraint he said, there would be lack of manpower and lack of support. He cited a scenario where if the company wants a specific kind of system, but they don’t want to buy the necessary hardware for the job. This kind of problem would normally become a source of frustration of the Information System Planner. The IS planner should find a way to get what the client wants but in lesser price which in reality is a very frustrating thing to do. Another scenario that he cited is if you as a supervisor need at least three programmers but the company could only provide you with two because of budget constraint again, then that could also be a problem because it would be very hard to finish the necessary project in the allotted time if there is less manpower available for the job.

For most businesses, the requirements on the computing side at least should include:

* Hardware; the actual computers and servers.
* Software; programs and operating systems.
* Phone lines.
* Internet systems.
* Computing consumables and peripherals.
*Information Technology Support.
* Computer training, if needed, for staff.

The amount of technological requirements needed by a business will again depend on the size and type of business. This is by no means an extensive list and all companies will be different, but this does represent at least the basic technology requirements. The budget may increase or decrease depending on the sophistication of the equipment and the software needed.

Another issue that concerns budgetary factor is the decision whether to lease or buy technology. In the long run it may seem like buying is the less expensive option, but leasing is usually the cheaper option when repairs and upgrading technology are factored in. Most small businesses should take the leasing option in order to save on the capital outlay that comes with buying, and upgrading new technology.

Marc Berthiaume cited some important considerations that a company should put in mind when planning for an IT budget.
According to Berthiaume’s article, the following are some step-by-step guidelines to follow when planning your IT budget:

1. Calculate your technology costs from the previous year. Unless you are planning major changes in your IT strategy, this will give you a range to work with.

2. Most companies plan for moderate growth. These companies should set up a category for IT maintenance/support and one for new technology expenditures. (Companies should first calculate maintenance/support of existing equipment, since this number will remain approximately the same as the previous year.)

3. If you plan to purchase new systems or services, you should calculate the cost of the technology and then budget for installation and maintenance_ Depending on complexity, you also may want to budget for testing and downtime. Get estimates and make sure to pad this cost in case things take longer to install than originally expected.

4. Once you've calculated standard IT purchases and maintenance costs for the year, create a separate budget line for technology development--this is for longer-term IT planning, including new IT projects or major system upgrades.

5. Err on the conservative side and consider the possibility of leasing and outsourcing when faced with costly technology expenditures.

From those tips that I have cited from authors above, I can say that budgeting itself for an Information system (which already includes IT) is such a tedious task. Aside from the tips mentioned by article writers above, the IS planner could also develop his or her own standards on planning for the Information system based on the budget that he or she is given.

In my opinion, I do believe that budget constraint can be a real source of frustration from the IS planner’s part while working on an IS plan. The “budget” in a plan is the main means of resource to keep the system going. Without the necessary budget, it would be hard if not impossible to make the necessary activities/steps or improvements to implement the planning process as well as the implementation of the plan itself. If the necessary budget is not supplied, then it is expected that the project would require a longer time to be implemented or the output of the project itself would be not satisfying or worse would turn out to be a failure. As I mentioned above, one of the after effect of having a budget constraint is lack of manpower. From this problem alone, another problem can arise which is the extension of deadline. This problem usually arises because of the lack of manpower that would support the whole information system plan. The limited number of manpower will require a lot more time to finish a certain project compared to having more manpower to work on a certain project. If there is an extension of the deadline, another set of budget is now required to suffice the resources needed in finishing the project thus making the development of a project more costly than what was previously planned. This problem is one of the possibilities that an information system planner usually encounter that came from the budget constraint. The MIS supervisor also mentioned that budget constraint can also produce lack of support. The way I understand it, the lack of support that he means is the lack of support for the product by the top management because of the higher cost of purchasing the necessary requirements for an information system. This kind of problem could frustrate the IS planner because he or she will be restricted on the kind of information system that he wants to implement for the company.

Budget constraint is considered a frustration because of the fact that IS planners can’t do anything to make the budget bigger than what an organization can offer. It is a top management decision on how much is allocated on putting up an information system plan for their company. All the information system planner can do is make the most of what he is given and make the best plan out of the budget that was allocated for a project despite the constraint. Making a realistic technology budget will involve time and research. A long term technology budget is essential for the smooth running of any kind of business that gives importance and emphasis to technology.

The second cause of frustration among IS Planners would be the user’s resistance to a new system. He said that when you develop a system, then when it comes to the actual implementation, the end users tend to resist in using the system that you created. When we asked him, how do they solve or manage the user resistance of their system, he said that they don’t do anything at all. He said that you cannot really force someone to like your system. He said that if the user fervently denies using your system, then you could do nothing unless some big guy from the upper level would force them to use the system that you created. He also agreed when one of my co-interviewer told him (based from one of our discussions on Software Engineering), that user resistance is considered a failure of project. He added that you committed the mistake during the analysis phase when you didn’t anticipate what the end users’ reaction would be. This could happen if you didn’t planned/analyze thoroughly what the users really need and wanted the system to be. Obviously, when it comes to the user’s point of view, this could be also a source of frustration when the users are not inclined or comfortable on using the new system that the developers created.

According to the research paper made by Shari Shang and Tim Su entitled “Managing User Resistance in Enterprise Systems Implementation”, user resistance indicates a gap between change initiators and employees who try to maintain their status quo with undesirable behaviors toward change (Coch and French, 1948; Davison, 1994). Such undesirable behaviors of workers are a response to management-imposed changes in job and work methods (Piderit, 2000). Many researchers (Ginzberg, 1975; Jiang, 2000, Joshi, 1991; Keen, 1981; Kotter and Schlesinger, 1979; Markus, 1983) have identified reasons for user resistance. These reasons include loss of power, increased work, low tolerance, lack of trust and so forth. Similar circumstances can also be found with wide-scoped ES implementation. Many strategies have been suggested to manage user resistance; these strategies range from user participation, job redefinition, to some forceful actions. However, the most common mistake managers can make would be to follow only one approach or a limited set of strategies regardless of the situation.

Among the reasons for resistance that have been observed in various enterprise systems cases in the said study is the parochial self-interest which is the resistance to change to prevent losing something of value. Its contents include losing power and status; reduced scope for advancement or job security and loss of autonomy and control or specific skills. Another reason is misunderstanding and lack of trust or the misconceptions about the implications and insufficient information of the benefit and gains. Examples of this are misunderstanding the implementation of change and insufficient knowledge in using the new systems. Another reason for user resistance would be the different assessment where employees see more cost that benefits and those initiating the change see the reverse as true. Examples of this reason are disagreeing that the benefits will come with new system; and systems cannot provide real experience for decision making. Low tolerance for change is also considered to be one of the reasons for user resistance. Low tolerance for change is the fear of not sufficiently developing the skills and behavior required. Some of the practical examples of this are fear of losing certain aspects of current situation; role conflict and ambiguity within the organization; relationship alteration and bringing higher skill levels to the job. Another significant reason for user resistance is increased efforts or additional efforts or abilities are needed for the job. It includes more effort in performing tasks in view of increased monitoring and need to spend more time for work.

Indeed, the user’s resistance to a proposed information system can be a real headache for the IS planner. Trying to make people like or at least agree to change from what they’re already used to can be a real challenge for the IS planners. I also agree that user resistance can be a source of frustration for IS planners because of the fact that it is the users who will generally use the information system being planned. If the end users will not use the information system being implemented, then it would really cause the company to waste a significant amount of resources. The first instinct that an IS planner is to try to make the users appreciate the information system by letting them know how the IS plan could significantly help them and the company in the long run. If they’re still unconvinced to use the system, then this is the time to put it to the top management’s hand and let them handle those users who oppose with your plan. Of course this would be different if the ones using AND opposing the information system plan is the top management itself. If that is the case, then this is the time for the IS planner to rethink of a better strategy to convince them or go to the last resort which is to change the whole IS plan according to the top management’s preference. This could be frustrating especially when the IS planner thinks that the IS plan that he formulated is for the company’s best interest but unfortunately, the top management thinks otherwise.

During one of our Software Engineering discussions, our professor told us that she experienced having problems with communicating with the other key personnel for the system development. She said that when you are developing a certain system, (especially when it is a big or mission critical system projects like train route system which involves a very big budget with higher risks) developers needs to have a meeting with all the key person for the project. Most of the time, these key person came from different fields of expertise. They could be different kinds of engineers like CE, ECE , SE, or even EE. They could also be physicist, chemist, accountants, business managers and a lot more. Because of different expertise, problems with communication arise. The electrical engineer will have a different language compared to IT professional therefore having the problem with understanding the requirements needed for developing the project. She mentioned that you generally common ground and meet half way to successfully develop a system.

From that SE discussion, I can say that miscommunication can also be a source of frustration when developing an IS plan. This kind of frustration usually happens when the type of language that the IS planner is using to relay about the IS plan does not make sense to the management or end users. This could be a problem when the management does not appreciate the level of technicality when dealing with the IS plan. This could be a source of frustration on the side of the IS planners because he should make the extra effort to make the non-technical people to understand the technical terms which is usually learned from years in college.

When I asked the MIS supervisor of Samulco if he ever experienced having problems concerning miscommunication with the other key person in the development of the system the he created, he answered that so far in his stay in Samulco he didn’t experienced these kind of problems but he did experience it while working with one of the big companies where he worked before. I asked him on how he solved that problem, he said that he didn’t. He added that generally (according to him) Filipinos don’t argue so much specially with IT people. He said that usually when an IT person said that ‘This is the best thing that we should do for the system’ the other person would usually agree with him.

In conclusion, developing an IS plan can be a critical job for most companies and can produce possible source of frustrations on the IS planner’s part. These frustrations can be different from IS planner to another but they all provide a venue for the IS planner to think of ways to mitigate them. It is important to take note of important source of frustrations from planning an information system and develop a plan first in order to avoid them or lessen their impact on the actual planning and implementation itself. I may not be an IS planner now but from what I learned from the interviews and researches that I conducted I can generally say that the key move here is to think ahead, consider even the smallest details and consider the end users of the information system a significant part of the plan itself.

References:

Shang,S. and Su,T.(2004).Managing User Resistance in Enterprise Systems Implementation.

Berthiaume, M. (March 13, 2009). Planning an IT budget: important considerations. New Hampshire Business Review. Date Retrieved: March 04, 2010.

Note:

Assignment 3

What are the two most frequently experienced causes of frustration of IS professionals and users while working on an IS plan? note: you are required to interview an IS professional/s for your answer ...(at least 3000 words)

Things to consider in choosing a deployment environment

2010-03-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

Let’s pretend that I am a systems analyst that was tasked by the Dean of our college to evaluate the enrollment system of our university. In order to evaluate the enrollment system, I should be able to identify first the characteristics of the deployment environment that I should take into consideration.

By definition, an application deployment environment involves the computer hardware, systems software, and networks in which new system will operate. It basically determines constraints imposed on system development alternatives. As said by the definition, I should be able to identify the characteristics of computer hardware or platforms and operating systems that are used in the enrollment system of the university.

The following will serve as my checklist of the characteristics that I will consider on choosing the most appropriate deployment environment for the enrollment system of the university.

• Compatibility with system requirements
• Compatibility among hardware and system software
• Required interfaces to external systems
• Conformity with IT strategic plan and architecture plans
• Cost and schedule

Compatibility with system requirements

The first characteristic of a deployment environment that I would consider is the compatibility with the system requirements. The level of compatibility with the system requirements will determine the functional usability of the system itself. If the deployment environment does not conform to the requirements of the system, the deployment will most likely be ineffective which virtually means a project failure. Of course, every organization wants a system that would meet the all their needs right? This also applies for our university.

As an analyst, it is my responsibility to make sure that the deployment environment must satisfy all the functional and nonfunctional requirements for the enrollment system of the university.

Since we are dealing with some confidential and vital information that must be properly protected during the enrollment process, security is also one of the system requirements that must be satisfied. The deployment environment to be chosen must provide all the necessary precautionary and security measures as well as backup and recovery plans to protect the data being processed during the enrollment.

Compatibility among hardware and system software

The deployment environment should also conform to the hardware and software being used for the system. As an analyst, I should also consider the current hardware and software of being used in the enrollment system of the university. Higher compatibility of the deployment environment with the current hardware and software of the system will lessen the configuration and installation time thus speeding up the operational usage of the deployment environment. The sooner it is to be operational, the better.

Required interfaces to external systems

There are times when systems may also require external interfaces in its deployment environment. These external interfaces may include different platform or interfaces such a mobile interfaces. The deployment environment that I will be choosing should also be compatible with these interfaces.

Conformity with IT strategic plan and architecture plans

Based on our previous class discussions, I have learned that it is very important for the systems to align with the vision and mission of an organization in order for the organization to achieve its purpose and satisfy its constituents. In connection to this, the deployment environment to be used for the enrollment system should also coincide with the IT strategic plan of the university.

Cost

The cost of the deployment environment is also a very important factor that should also be considered. Obviously, we always want to get what we paid for. As an analyst, it will be my responsibility to weigh out if the price is worth the quality and performance from the vast choices of deployment environment in the market. I should carefully consider if the university can afford the most appropriate deployment environment for the enrollment system. Aside from the cost of procurement, I should also consider the maintenance cost of the deployment environment. As an analyst, I should put in mind that the procurement price of a deployment environment will not determine its performance over time. It doesn’t mean that if a deployment environment is cheaper, then it is the best choice. Sometimes, I also have to consider its cost of maintenance and then weigh out if it will truly save up resources for the organization.

Schedule

Another important characteristic is the schedule. Time is a very important factor that must be also considered. Questions like How long will it take to set up the deployment environment? And How long is the average operational life span of the deployment environment? will be vital in choosing the deployment environment. The longer it takes for a deployment environment to be operational, the more costly it will be for the university that’s why the schedule must be also considered.

Another factor that must be considered that is related with the schedule is the operational lifetime of the deployment environment. The deployment environment should satisfy the operational time frame for the system. In our case, I have to make sure that the deployment environment can live up to the expected performance and life expectancy as stated in the contract.

To sum it up, an analyst must define a deployment environment that would match the system requirements; organization’s strategic application plans and organization’s technology architecture plans.

Note: This post is a response to the subject SAD 1 assignment #11

Assignment # 11

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.

Evaluating DFDs

2010-02-26T11:00:00.001-08:00

Data flow diagram (DFD) is a picture of the movement of data between external entities and the processes and data stores within a system.

There are four types of symbol for a DFD:

Squares representing external entities, which are sources or destinations of data.

Rounded rectangles representing processes, which take data as input, do something to it, and output it.

Arrows representing the data flows, which can either be electronic data or physical items.

Open-ended rectangles representing data stores, including electronic stores such as databases or XML files and physical stores such as or filing cabinets or stacks of paper.

According to Craig Borysowich, the following are the steps in developing a data flow diagram.
• Start from the context diagram. Identify the parent process and the external entities with their net inputs and outputs.
• Place the external entities on the diagram. Draw the boundary.
• Identify the data flows needed to generate the net inputs and outputs to the external entities.
• Identify the business processes to perform the work needed to generate the input and output data flows.
• Connect the data flows from the external entities to the processes.
• Identify the data stores.
• Connect the processes and data stores with data flows.
• Apply the Process Model Paradigm to verify that the diagram addresses the processing needs of all external entities.
• Apply the External Control Paradigm to further validate that the flows to the external entities are correct.
• Continue to decompose to the nth level DFD. Draw all DFDs at one level before moving to the next level of decomposing detail. You should decompose horizontally first to a sufficient nth level to ensure that the processes are partitioned correctly; then you can begin to decompose vertically.

According to THIS website, the following are some guidelines in constructing effective Data Flow diagrams:

Choose meaningful names for processes, flows, stores, and terminators

The names chosen for the process names (as well as flow names and terminator names) should come from a vocabulary that is meaningful to the user. This will happen quite naturally if the DFD is drawn as a result of a series of interviews with the users and if the systems analyst has some minimal understanding of the underlying subject matter of the application. But two cautions must be kept in mind:

1. There is a natural tendency for users to use the specific abbreviation and acronyms that they are familiar with; this is true for both the processes and the flows that they describe. Unfortunately, this usually results in a DFD that is very heavily oriented to the way things happen to be done now. Thus, the user might say, “Well, we get a copy of Form 107 — it’s the pink copy, you know — and we send it over to Joe where it gets frogulated.” A good way to avoid such excessively idiosyncratic terms is to choose verbs (like “frogulate”) and objects (like “Form 107”) that would be meaningful to someone in the same industry or application, but working in a different company or organization. If you’re building a banking system, the process names and flow names should, ideally, be understandable to someone in a different bank.

2. If the DFD is being drawn by someone with a programming background, there will be a tendency to use such programming-oriented terminology as “ROUTINE,” “PROCEDURE,” “SUBSYSTEM,” and “FUNCTION,” even though such terms may be utterly meaningless in the user’s world. Unless you hear the users using these words in their own conversation, avoid them in your DFD.

Number the processes

As a convenient way of referencing the processes in a DFD, most systems analysts number each bubble. It doesn’t matter very much how you go about doing this — left to right, top to bottom, or any other convenient pattern will do -- as long as you are consistent in how you apply the numbers.

The only thing that you must keep in mind is that the numbering scheme will imply, to some casual readers of your DFD, a certain sequence of execution. That is, when you show the DFD to a user, he may ask, “Oh, does this mean that bubble 1 is performed first, and then bubble 2, and then bubble 3?” Indeed, you may get the same question from other systems analysts and programmers; anyone who is familiar with a flowchart may make the mistake of assuming that numbers attached to bubbles imply a sequence.

This is not the case at all. The DFD model is a network of communicating, asynchronous processes, which is, in fact, an accurate representation of the way most systems actually operate. Some sequence may be implied by the presence or absence of data (e.g., it may turn out that bubble 2 cannot carry out its function until it receives data from bubble 1), but the numbering scheme has nothing to do with this.

So why do we number the bubbles at all? Partly, as indicated above, as a convenient way of referring to the processes; it’s much easier in a lively discussion about a DFD to say “bubble 1” rather than “EDIT TRANSACTION AND REPORT ERRORS.”

Avoid Overly Complex DFDs

The purpose of a DFD is to accurately model the functions that a system has to carry out and the interactions between those functions. But another purpose of the DFD is to be read and understood, not only by the systems analyst who constructed the model, but by the users who are the experts in the subject matter. This means that the DFD should be readily understood, easily absorbed, and pleasing to the eye.

We will discuss a number of esthetic guidelines in the next subsection, but there is one overriding guideline to keep in mind: don’t create a DFD with too many processes, flows, stores, and terminators. In most cases, this means that you shouldn’t have more than half a dozen processes and related stores, flows, and terminators on a single diagram. Another way of saying this is that the DFD should fit comfortably onto a standard 8.5- by 11-inch sheet of paper.

Redraw the DFD As Many Times As Necessary

In a real-world systems analysis project, the DFD that we have discussed in this chapter will have to be drawn, redrawn, and redrawn again, often as many as ten times or more, before it is (1) technically correct, (2) acceptable to the user, and (3) neatly enough drawn that you wouldn’t be embarrassed to show it to the board of directors in your organization. This may seem like a lot of work, but it is well worth the effort to develop an accurate, consistent, esthetically pleasing model of the requirements of your system. The same is true of any other engineering discipline: would you want to fly in an airplane designed by engineers who got bored with their engineering drawings after the second iteration?

What makes a dataflow diagram esthetically pleasing? This is obviously a matter of personal taste and opinion, and it may be determined by standards set by your organization or by the idiosyncratic features of any automated workstation-based diagramming package that you use. And the user’s opinion may be somewhat different from yours; within reason, whatever the user finds esthetically pleasing should determine the way you draw your diagram. Some of the issues that will typically come up for discussion in this area are the following:

• Size and shape of bubbles. Some organizations draw dataflow diagrams with rectangles or ovals instead of circles; this is obviously a matter of esthetics. Also, some users become quite upset if the bubbles in the DFD are not all the same size: they think that if one bubble is bigger than another, it means that that part of the system is more important or is different in some other significant way. (In fact, it usually happens only because the bubble’s name was so long that the systems analyst had to draw a larger bubble just to encompass the name!)

• Curved dataflows versus straight dataflows. To illustrate this issue, consider the DFDs in Figure 9.16(a) and (b). Which one is more esthetically pleasing? Many observers will shrug their shoulders and say, “They’re really both the same.” But others — and this is the point! — will choose one and violently reject the other. It’s obviously a good idea to know in advance which choice will be accepted and which will be rejected. In roughly the same category is the issue of crossed arrows; are they allowed or not allowed?

• Hand-drawn diagrams versus machine-generated diagrams. There is hardly any excuse for hand-drawn diagrams today, since the typical systems analyst is almost certain to have access to a PC with reasonable drawing tools. The issue here, though, is the user’s reaction to these diagrams: some have a strong preference for the machine-generated diagrams because they’re “neater,” while others prefer hand drawn pictures because it gives them the feeling that the diagram hasn’t been finalized or “frozen” yet, and that they can still make changes.

Make Sure That Your DFD Is Logically Consistent

A number of rules and guidelines that help ensure the dataflow diagram is consistent with the other system models -- the entity-relationship diagram, the state-transition diagram, the data dictionary, and the process specification. However, there are some guidelines that we use now to ensure that the DFD itself is consistent. The major consistency guidelines are these:

• Avoid infinite sinks, bubbles that have inputs but no outputs. These are also known by systems analysts as “black holes,” in an analogy to stars whose gravitational field is so strong that not even light can escape.

• Avoid spontaneous generation bubbles; bubbles that have outputs but no inputs are suspicious, and generally incorrect. One plausible example of an output-only bubble is a random-number generator, but it is hard to imagine any other reasonable example.

• Beware of unlabeled flows and unlabeled processes. This is usually an indication of sloppiness, but it may mask an even deeper error: sometimes the systems analyst neglects to label a flow or a process because he or she simply cannot think of a reasonable name. In the case of an unlabeled flow, it may mean that several unrelated elementary data items have been arbitrarily packaged together; in the case of an unlabeled process, it may mean that the systems analyst was so confused that he or she drew a disguised flowchart instead of a dataflow diagram.

• Beware of read-only or write-only stores. This guideline is analogous to the guideline about input-only and output-only processes; a typical store should have both inputs and outputs. The only exception to this guideline is the external store, a store that serves as an interface between the system and some external terminator.

The following are some of the several common modeling rules that I followed when creating DFDs:
1. All processes must have at least one data flow in and one data flow out.
2. All processes should modify the incoming data, producing new forms of outgoing data.
3. Each data store must be involved with at least one data flow.
4. Each external entity must be involved with at least one data flow.
5. A data flow must be attached to at least one process.

With reference to my assignments 8 and 9 regarding the construction of Data flow diagrams for the Pre-enrollment system, I examined the following characteristics in order to evaluate the quality of my DFDs.

According to Satzinger in his book Systems Analysis and Design in a Changing World,

An analyst must know how to minimize complexity. People have a limited ability to manipulate complex information. If too much information is presented at once, people experience a phenomenon called information overload. When information overload occurs, a person has difficulty in understanding. The key to avoiding information overload is to divide information into small and relatively independent subsets. Each subset should contain a comprehensible amount of information that people can examine and understand in isolation. A layered set of DFDs is an example of dividing a large set of information into small independent subsets. Each subset can be examined in isolation. The reader can find additional detail about a specific process by moving down to the next level or find information about how a DFD relates to other DFDs by examining the next-higher level of DFD.

An analyst can avoid information overload within any single DFD by following two simple rules of DFD construction: the 7 + 2 and interface minimization. The rule of 7 + 2 also known as Miller’s Number derives from psychology research which shows that the number of information ‘chunks’ that a person can remember and manipulate at one time varies between five and nine. A larger number of chunks causes information overload. Information chunks can be many things including names, words in a list, digits or components of a picture. Some application of the rule of 7 + 2 to DFDs includes the following: that a single DFD should have no more than 7 + 2 processes, no more than 7 + 2 data flow should enter or leave a process, data store or data element of a single DFD. These rules are general guidelines not unbreakable laws, DFDs that violate these rule may still be readable but violations should be considered a warning of potential problems.

Minimization of interfaces is directly related to 7 + 2. An interface is a connection to some other part of a problem or description. As with information chunks, the number of connections that a person can remember and manipulate is limited, so the number of connections should be kept to a minimum. Processes on DFD represent chunks of business or processing logic. They are related to other processes, entities and data stores by data flows. A single process with a large number of interfaces maybe too complex to understand. This complexity may show up directly on aprocess decomposition as a violation of the rule 7 + 2. An analyst can usually correct the problem by dividing the process into two or more subprocesses, each of which should have fewer interfaces.

Pairs or groups of processes with a large number of data flows between them are another violation of the interface minimization rule. Such a condition usually indicates a poor partitioning of processing tasks among the processes. The way to fix the problem is to reallocate the processing tasks so that fewer interfaces are required. The best division of work among processes is the simplest and the simplest division is one that requires the fewest interfaces among processes.

An analyst can detect errors and emissions in a set of DFDs by looking for specific types of inconsistency. Three common and easily identifiable consistency errors as follows; differences in data flow content between a process and its process decomposition, data outflows w/o corresponding data inflows, data inflows w/o corresponding outflows. A process of decomposition shows the internal details of a higher level process in a more detailed form. In most cases, the data content of flows to and from a process at one DFD level should be equivalent to the content of data flows to and from all processes in decomposition. The equivalency is called balancing and the higher level DFD and the process decomposition DFD are said to be in balance. Data flow names can vary among levels for a number of reasons including decomposition of one combined data flow into several smaller flows. Thus, the analyst must be careful to look at the components of data flows, not just data flow names. For this reason, detailed analysis of balancing should not be undertaken until data flows have been fully defined. Unbalance DFDs may be acceptable when the imbalance is due to data flows that were ignored at the higher levels. For example, diagram 0 for a large system usually ignores details of error handling such as when an item is ordered but it is later determined to be out of stock and discontinued by its manufacturer.

Another type of DFD inconsistency can occur between data inflows and outflows of a single process or data store. By definition, a process transforms data inflows and data outflows. Analysts sometimes can spot black holes and miracles simply by examining the DFD in other cases, close examination of data dictionary or process descriptions is required.
In a logical DFD, data should not be needlessly passed into process. The following consistency rules can be derived from these facts: that all data flows into a process must flow out of the process or be used to generate data that flows out the process, all data that flows out process must have flowed into the process or have been generated from data that flowed into process.

References:

Systems Analysis and Design in a Changing World By John W. Satzinger
http://www.agilemodeling.com/artifacts/dataFlowDiagram.htm
http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/enterprise-solutions/data-flow-diagrams-dfds-14573
http://yourdon.com/strucanalysis/wiki/index.php?title=Chapter_9

USEP Pre-enrollment DFDs

2010-02-19T11:00:00.000-08:00

USEP Pre-enrollment system Context Diagram

USEP Pre-enrollment system Current Logical Data Flow Diagram

USEP Pre-enrollment system Current Physical Data Flow Diagram

Note: This post is a response to the subject SAD 1 assignment #9.
Assignment # 9
Create at least 3 different types of Data flow diagram of USEP's pre-enrollment system.

USEP Pre-enrollment Activity Diagrams

2010-02-12T11:00:00.000-08:00

USEP Pre-enrollment System Activity Diagram for incoming Freshmen

USEP Pre-enrollment System Activity Diagram for 1st yr (second sem) & 2nd yr- 5th yr (1st sem & 2nd sem)

Note: This post is in response to SAD 1 assignment # 8.
Using the same narrative as refelcted in your assignment 4, develop an activity diagram and a

fully developed description for a use case.

USEP Pre-enrollment system

2010-02-05T06:13:00.000-08:00

Assignment # 7
Consider USEP's pre-enrollment system, develop a use case diagram and write a brief use case description.

Figure 1 - Use Case Diagram: USEP Obrero Campus First Semester Pre-enrollment System for First Year students

Actors: Student, UGTO in-charge, Cashier, Attending Nurse/Doctor

Brief Description of Use Cases:

• Secure USEPAT application form – This use case describes the student acquiring and filling up the application for USEPAT exam.
• Pay USEPAT examination fee – This use case describes the payment of the USEPAT examination fee by the student to the cashier
• Confirm USEPAT Schedule – This use case describes the confirmation of schedule for the USEPAT examination of the student by the UGTO personnel in-charge.
• Issues Receipt for USEPAT – this use case describes the issuance of receipt for the USEPAT examination fee by the cashier.
• Take USEPAT – this use case describes the student taking the USEPAT examination
• Verify USEPAT result – this use case describes the student verification of the result of the USEPAT examination by the UGTO personnel in-charge.
• Take English Proficiency Exam – The student is required to take the English Proficiency Exam
• Pay English Bridge Program fee – This use case describes the payment of the English Bridge Program fee if the student failed the English Proficiency Exam
• Issues Receipt for English Bridge – this use case describes the issuance of receipt for the English Bridge program fee by the cashier.
• Undergo English Bridge Program – This use case describes the actual participation of the student to the English Bridge Program
• Undergo Medical Examination – This use case describes the mandatory medical examination of the student by the attending nurse/doctor of the university.

Figure 2.USEP Oberero Campus Pre-enrollment System for 1st year students ( 2nd Semester)
and 2nd year and above ( 1st Semester and 2nd Semester )

Actors: Student, Professor, Class Mayor, Librarian, College Governor, OCSC President, OSS Director, Bookkeeper, Laboratory Custodian, Registrar, Organization Head, CCO Personnel, ROTC/CWTS personnel, Class Adviser, College Dean

Brief Description of Use Cases:

• Complete Passbook Grades – This use case describes the completion of grades as given by the professor of the student.
• Complete Clearance Form – This use case describes the completion of the Clearance Form as signed by the rest of the actors in the system except for the professor.

Google's business model

2010-01-30T19:33:00.000-08:00

I think most people would agree that Google has somehow changed the way people use the internet as a source of information. The Google Company has always been famous because of its search engine web tool where you can search for any information you want in the internet and it will return numerous relevant entries in a second or even less. The technology was so revolutionary that even the word ‘google’ is now somehow synonymous to the word ‘search’ that’s why some people would often say ‘google it’ instead of ‘search for it in the internet’.

But Google is not only famous for being the top web search engine used in the world. They also offer key products that have generated huge revenues for their company such as Google AdWords and Google AdSense which also created an impact on internet world when it comes to web advertising.

Aside from those products and services that I mentioned, among the latest innovations of Google according to THIS website are the following:

1. Google Chrome

Chromium is the open source web browser project from which Google Chrome draws its source code.The Google-authored portion of it is released under the BSD license,with other parts being subject to a variety of different permissive open-source licenses, including the MIT License, the LGPL, the Ms-PL, and an MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-license.It implements the same feature set as Google Chrome, but has a slightly different logo. Versions of Mac and Linux Google Chrome based on Chromium were released to the development channel for Google Chrome on 4 June 2009. According to the developer documentation, "'Chromium' is the name of the project, not the product, and should never appear in code in variable names, API names etc.
One of the major aims of the project is for Chrome to be a tabbed window manager, or shell for the web, as opposed to it being a traditional browser application. The idea is for the application to be minimalist in the same way Windows Explorer or Mac OS X's Finder are minimalist. The developers state that it "should feel lightweight (cognitively and physically) and fast".

2. Google Wave

Google Wave is an online software application product from Google, described as a "personal communication and collaboration tool".[cite this quote] It was first announced at the Google I/O conference on May 27, 2009. It is a web-based service, computing platform, and communications protocol designed to merge e-mail, instant messaging, wikis, and social networking. It has a strong collaborative and real-time focus supported by extensions that can provide, for example, spelling/grammar checking, automated translation among 40 languages, and numerous other extensions. Initially released only to developers, a preview release of Google Wave was extended to 100,000 users in September 2009, each allowed to invite additional users. On the 29th of November 2009, Google accepted most requests submitted soon after the extended release of the technical preview in September 2009.

3. Google Voice

Google Voice is a telecommunications service by Google launched on March 11, 2009. The service is provided to a U.S. phone number, chosen by the user from available numbers in selected area codes, free of charge to each user account. Inbound calls to this number are forwarded to other phone numbers of the subscriber. Outbound calls may be placed to domestic and international destinations by dialing the Google Voice number or from a web-based application. Inbound and outbound calls to U.S. (including Alaska and Hawaii) and Canada are free of charge. International calls are billed according to a schedule posted on the Google Voice website.

The service is configured and maintained by the user in a web-based application, styled after Google's e-mail service, Gmail. Users must have an established U.S. telephone service to activate Google Voice. Users must configure this and optionally, additional phone numbers that ring simultaneously when the Google Voice number receives a call. The user may answer and receive the call on any of the ringing phones. Google Voice provides additional features such as voicemail, call history, conference calling, call screening, blocking of unwanted calls, and voice transcription to text of voicemail messages. Received calls may be moved between configured telephones during a call.

4. Google Powermeter

Google PowerMeter is a software application being developed by Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org to help consumers track their home electricity usage. The development of the software is part of an effort by Google to invest in renewable energy, electricity grid upgrades and other measures that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The software will be able to record the user's electricity usage in near real-time. Users would be able to track their electricity and gas use through a chart, and access that information from a widget on their iGoogle home page. It is hoped that this tool will raise the home-owner's awareness of how much energy they use and make users more energy efficient. According to the company, if half of America's homes' energy use was cut by ten percent, it would equal taking eight million cars off the road.
PowerMeter depends on the use of a smart meter which is able to track electricity usage much more accurately than standard electric meters. According to Google, there are approximately 40 million smart meters in use worldwide.

5. Chromium OS Open Source Project

Chromium OS is the open source development version of Google's Chrome OS. Chrome OS's source code was released on November 19, 2009 under the BSD license as Chromium OS. The alpha release includes an applications page, launched by a button in the upper-left corner of the screen. The page links to Google web applications, including Gmail, Google Apps, and YouTube, as well as other applications, such as Yahoo mail, Pandora, Hulu, Facebook, and Twitter. Chromium currently also provides a calculator, clock, battery indicator, and network status indicator. The function key F12 brings up a multi-window view, with the option to open additional browser windows and switch between them. The F8 key toggles a keyboard overlay that shows the function of all the shortcut keys, including task and memory managers comparable to those found on the Chrome browser, and a command-line interface that accepts common Linux commands.

6. Google Public DNS

Google Public DNS is a free DNS (Domain Name System) service announced on 3 December 2009, as part of Google's effort to make the web faster.
The service is still experimental. It does not use third party DNS management software such as BIND, instead relying on a homegrown implementation, with limited IPv6 support, which conforms to the DNS standards set forth by the IETF

7. Google Nexus

The Nexus One is a smartphone from Google that uses the Android open source mobile operating system. The device is manufactured by Taiwan's HTC Corporation, and became available on January 5, 2010. Features of the phone include the ability to transcribe voice to text, noise canceling dual microphones, and GPS guided turn-by-turn voice directions to drivers.

Just like any companies, Google also has started from small beginnings. From being a simple research project, it has somehow made its way to be one of the top competitors of famous companies like Microsoft and Yahoo! Inc. Compared to its top competitors, Google has an unorthodox philosophy and culture in their company.

Although Google has able to establish a strong throne in the internet community, this could also happen to Google’s top competitors.
The following are Google’s top competitors for the year 2010 according to THIS website:

1. Apple

Being from partners to rivals, Apple is one of the toughest opponents for Google in the year 2010. Today, Apple and Google have been locking their horns in the field of Smartphone, Mobile App Store, OS, Mobile Ad, and Online Music and so on. Likewise, Apple is more than up to the task of battling Google in these areas as well as browsers, where Google Chrome competes against Apple Safari. But battle between will intensify, as the market for the digital music and SmartPhones is all set for growth in 2010. Google’s music search along with its partner MySpace and Pandora are looking to compete with Apple’s iTunes, which was the No 1 music retailer in United States in 2009. Further, Google’s Android will have tough time as Apple’s iPhones continues to grab hold of the market all round the globe.

2. Microsoft

Microsoft has one of the most dominant impact in the IT industry. So without a doubt it is Google’s biggest adversary in 2010 and these two giants will be locking their horns for market supremacy in areas such as search, collaboration tools and browsers. Talking of these two giants, Google has reigned as leaders in search, but with release of BING in May 2009, Microsoft has raised few questions amongst in Google’s management team. With features such as ranking search results based on relevancy to other users, Microsoft has linked Bing-related deals with Twitter, Facebook and Yahoo.
Microsoft have enhanced Bing, adding image search and mapping. But in response Google have unveiled real time search. In December, Google also added a photo search capability, a dictionary and a translator that finds relevant content in 40 languages. Entering 2010, Google still dominates search, with more than 70% of the market. Apart from search, the battle is likely to focus on cloud based collaboration tool.
Google Apps is designed to undercut sales of Microsoft products, including Exchange and SharePoint. Microsoft has responded with Office Web Apps, free Web-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote that are due out in 2010. Last but not the least; the browser war between these two is giants are likely to heat up in 2010. So 2010 awaits the answer if ever so popular Microsoft’s premier browser’s market share could be brought down by Google’s Chrome.

3. Amazon

In 2009, Google’s effort of scanning millions of out-of-print books and incorporating them in online search did gain up some momentum and helped themselves to publish over 500000 digital books for free to customers of Sony Reader and Barnes & Noble Nook, which is due in January. Further, there claims of opening up Google Editions, an e-book store, has opened up new rivalry with Amazon.
Amazon with its Kindle e-book reader is one of the leaders in e-book reader’s market. The other area where Google is taking on Amazon is in cloud computing. Google’s Apps Engine, a newbie cloud computing platform that allows developers to create their own Web applications and run them on Google’s infrastructure will be competing with Amazon’s Elastic Computing Cloud (EC2) which has already grab hold of market with its several upgrade after its release in 2006. So it will be a great battle to watch when these two giants fight for market supremacy on Cloud computing and E-book readership.

4. Facebook

Facebook, probably the most popular stuff in the internet right now, has attracted 350 million active users in just six years and is subject of interest for the guys at Google too. In 2010, Google and Facebook rivalry is likely to heat up based on question that about the way people will find their information in future. With ever increasing use of social networking and the rise of Facebook, Google’s worry seems to be a viable one.
Orkut offers Google Friend Connect, a tool for Web publishers to add social networking content to their sites, in direct competition with similarly named Facebook Connect. Meanwhile, Facebook has sought out relationships with several arch-enemies of Google, including Microsoft and Yahoo. So its for sure that this battle is worth taking a note off in 2010.

No doubt if Facebook is in rise, than it’s no difference with Twitter. If social networking is the way to go, then Google will certainly find Twitter in its way. Twitter, a micro-blogging site, has in a way revolutionized the way we communicate these days.
So, Google’s Friend Connect will face tough competitions for Twitter’s Connect in 2010 as Twitter looks to move up the rank in the areas of Social Networking. Other areas where these two find themselves competing are Real time search. Google’s real time search and Twitter’s will be trying to outperform each other in 2010. So, this battle will be a good one to watch for in 2010.

6. Mozilla

With release of Google Chrome, Google has stepped into ever so popular browse battle. Mozilla has been in the markets for years and now this step from Google is likely to create the conflict of interest between these two.
Of late, the war between the two has heated up even more. The battle has now gone to the default search. Mozilla now has shown intent to kick Google out from its default search engine status. The latest rumours on the internet show that Mozilla is now eyeing to get a deal with Microsoft to make Bing as its default search engine in Firefox.
This may not impact Google immediately but eventually this move, if comes true, is likely to decrease Google’s share of the search market. Hence, Google now has Mozilla on a double war zone; first the obvious browser war and now the war over default searches.

7. Yahoo

When it comes to search, one of Google’s biggest competitors besides Microsoft is Yahoo. Yahoo has been in the market with variety of products in areas of email, Messenger, News, Search and Analytics services. So without doubt it will be a fearsome competitor for Google. In 2009, Yahoo made some improvements by integrating search with its rich content. Users can watch videos or stream music straight from the Yahoo search results page.
Yahoo also helps users find travel deals and compare product prices. Further, Yahoo has recently added Twitter to its search Page and if a joint search and advertising deal between Yahoo and Microsoft is approved by federal regulators, this could prove costly to Google. So the 2010 is the year to watch as other competitor look to outperform Google in the market with different joint forces being formed by their rivals.

8. Cisco

Google definitely has a tough challenge against Cisco. With years of experience on web based collaborative platfomr, WebEx, and superior VOIP service, Cisco poses a threat to Google’s Wave and Voice. In addition to this, Cisco also is looking to enhance its video conferencing quality by focusing on collaboration through intenret video, desktop video and consumer Telepresence.

In addition to this, Cisco’s presence in Cloud is another leading edge it has over Google. As Google is looking to take everything to the web, it certainly will face a good competition from Cisco on this front.
Moreover, according to Networkworld, Cisco is looking to enter into Smartphone market in the very near future (actually by mid-2010). Its recent acquisition of Pure Digital and Flip shows Cisco’s intent to take video to the mobile phone. Thus, we might see Cisco giving a hard time to Google’s Nexus One in the coming days.

9. IBM

By now it’s quite crystal clear that 2010 will the year where big internet giants will be trying to gain whole lot of market share that will be up for grab in areas of collaboration tools. So, 2010 is likely to reopen Google’s rivalry with IBM with the release of new collaboration tools such as Google Wave. Google has stepped into the battle field with its low cost hosted collaboration tools such as Google Apps. Google will compete against IBM’s Lotus Lives, which has attracted more than 2 million businesses in the last two years.

10. Nokia

Today, Nokia has had grab hold of the mobile phone market with 4 out of 10 mobiles sold. With increase in the use of smart phones, the IT giants Google will be in rivalry with Nokia in periphery of operating systems for Smartphones. Symbian Open source operating system will be competing with Google’s Android. Nokia with recent deals with Microsoft is all set to bring Office Mobile to Symbian devices. With claim of releasing improved version of Symbian in 2010 means Google Android will have to face tough battle. But, Google’s Android is poised for major developments in 2010 and with commitments from Acer, Sony Ericcson, HTC and Motorola, this will be a worthwhile battle to watch in 2010 and years to come.

Just like any companies, Google also has started from small beginnings. From being a simple research project, it has somehow made its way to be one of the top competitors of famous companies like Microsoft and Yahoo! Inc. Compared to its top competitors, Google has an unorthodox philosophy and culture in their company.

Just like any companies, Google also has started from small beginnings. From being a simple research project, it has somehow made its way to be one of the top competitors of famous companies like Microsoft and Yahoo! Inc. Compared to its top competitors, Google has an unorthodox philosophy and culture in their company.

Philosophy of Google

• Focus on the user and all else will follow.

• It's best to do one thing, and do it well.

• Fast is better than slow.

• Democracy on the web works.

• You don't need to be at your desk to need an answer.

• You can make money without doing evil.

• There's always more information out there.

• The need for information crosses all borders.

• You can be serious without a suit.

• Great just isn't good enough.

Google’s Culture

• Heart of Small Company

• Hand’s on contribution to the Products by each employee

• Flat Hierarchy

• Each employee having several responsibilities in different departments

• Hiring Policy

– Non Discriminatory

– Preference of ability over experience

• Multilingual company environment

• Multidomestic culture

• Recreation along with work

• Common café for all employees

In order to understand how Google has come a long way and achieve this level of success, we must take a look at their business model.

According to David Pollard’s website, Figure 1 is the business model of Google.

Figure 1

Google has reached this level of success because their competitive advantage comes from its core competencies in computer hardware and software engineering which is IT. Google's great IT advantage among its competitors is its ability to build high-performance systems that are cost efficient and that scale to massive workloads. They have achieved this because of their unique philosophy and culture that their employees gladly embrace. They are focused on their mission which is making information “universally accessible and useful” while conforming their vision and ambition. According to IT consultant Stephen Arnold, Google's programmers are 50% to 100% more productive than their peers at other Web companies, a result of the custom libraries Google developed to support programming of massively parallel systems. He estimates the company's competitors have to spend four times as much to keep up.

Behind the seeming simplicity of Google is a mash-up of internally developed software, made-to-order hardware, artificial intelligence, obsession with performance, and an unorthodox approach to people management.

Reference:

http://tusharvickkie.blogspot.com/2010/01/top-10-google-inventions-of-2009.html
http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2005/10/16.html
http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/linux/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=192300292
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromium_OS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Public_DNS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Voice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Wave
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromium_(web_browser)
http://technology.globalthoughtz.com/index.php/10-toughest-competitors-of-google-in-2010/

Note:

This is a response to MIS 2 Subject Assignment # 7.

Assignment # 7

Google is a highly successful Internet business. Recently they have broadened their scope with a multitude of new tools. Research Google’s business model and answer the following questions below. You may add additional information not included in these questions.

Questions :
Explain Google’s business model.
1. Who are their competitors?
2. How have they used information technology to their advantage?
3. How competitive are they in the market?
4. What new services do they offer?
5. What makes them so unique?

Mangers VS. System Developers on Requirements Analysis

2010-01-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

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? Why?

As a system professional, John Juan’s stand on the first method of acquiring system requirements is mainly through observation so that they could have a thorough understanding of the system. He believes that by observing and understanding the old system, he can get the main requirements needed by the end users who are the workers themselves and not the manager. On his point of view, it is much better to gather requirements on the ‘field of action’ (as I would say) so that he can determine what the significant requirements are and which are not.

As a manager, Peter Pedro’s stand on the first method of acquiring system requirements is giving the system professional the list of requirements and from there make a system out of it. Obviously, he wants a new system that is somehow different from the old one that they are using but still addresses their needs. According to him, their company already encountered a scenario wherein a project was made as a modified version of the old system and not a new one as what has been promised to them. Because of that, he wanted to change the way their company gives system requirements hoping to acquire the ‘new system’ that he really want for their company.

In this scenario, it is clear that both parties have points that they would like to be addressed by the other party. But the question is, who’s position would I sympathize more.

Before I declare whose side I’m on, it is important to know the basics about requirement analysis.

According to THIS website

Requirements Analysis is the process of understanding the customer needs and expectations from a proposed system or application and is a well-defined stage in the Software Development Life Cycle model.

Requirements are a description of how a system should behave or a description of system properties or attributes. It can alternatively be a statement of ‘what’ an application is expected to do.

Given the multiple levels of interaction between users, business processes and devices in global corporations today, there are simultaneous and complex requirements from a single application, from various levels within an organization and outside it as well.

The Software Requirements Analysis Process covers the complex task of eliciting and documenting the requirements of all these users, modeling and analyzing these requirements and documenting them as a basis for system design.
A dedicated and specialized Requirements Analyst is best equipped to handle the job. The Requirements Analysis function may also fall under the scope of Project Manager, Program Manager or Business Analyst, depending on the organizational hierarchy.

Software Requirements Analysis and Documentation Processes are critical to software project success. Requirements Engineering is an emerging field which deals with the systematic handling of requirements.

Why is Requirements Analysis necessary?

Studies reveal that inadequate attention to Software Requirements Analysis at the beginning of a project is the most common cause for critically vulnerable projects that often do not deliver even on the basic tasks for which they were designed. There are instances of corporations that have spent huge amounts on software projects where the end application eventually does not perform the tasks it was intended for.

Software companies are now investing time and resources into effective and streamlined Software Requirements Analysis Processes as a prerequisite to successful projects that align with the client’s business goals and meet the project’s requirement specifications.

Steps in the Requirements Analysis Process

I. Fix system boundaries
This initial step helps in identifying how the new application integrates with the business processes, how it fits into the larger picture and what its scope and limitations will be.

II. Identify the customer
In more recent times there has been a focus on identifying who the ‘users’ or ‘customers’ of an application are. Referred to broadly as the ‘stake holders’, these indicate the group or groups of people who will be directly or indirectly impacted by the new application.
By defining in concrete terms who the intended user is, the Requirements Analyst knows in advance where he has to look for answers. The Requirements Elicitation Process should focus on the wish-list of this defined group to arrive at a valid requirements list.

III. Requirements elicitation
Information is gathered from the multiple stakeholders identified. The Requirements Analyst draws out from each of these groups what their requirements from the application are and what they expect the application to accomplish.
Considering the multiple stakeholders involved, the list of requirements gathered in this manner could run into pages. The level of detail of the requirements list is based on the number and size of user groups, the degree of complexity of business processes and the size of the application.

a) Problems faced in Requirements Elicitation

• Ambiguous understanding of processes
• Inconsistency within a single process by multiple users
• Insufficient input from stakeholders
• Conflicting stakeholder interests
• Changes in requirements after project has begun

A Requirements Analyst has to interact closely with multiple work-groups, often with conflicting goals, to arrive at a bona fide requirements list. Strong communication and people skills along with sound programming knowledge are prerequisites for an expert Requirements Analyst.

b) Tools used in Requirements Elicitation

Traditional methods of Requirements Elicitation included stakeholder interviews and focus group studies. Other methods like flowcharting of business processes and the use of existing documentation like user manuals, organizational charts, process models and systems or process specifications, on-site analysis, interviews with end-users, market research and competitor analysis were also used extensively in Requirements Elicitation.
However current research in Software Requirements Analysis Process has thrown up modern tools that are better equipped to handle the complex and multilayered process of Requirements Elicitation. Some of the current Requirements Elicitation tools in use are:
• Prototypes
• Use cases
• Data flow diagrams
• Transition process diagrams
• User interfaces

IV. Requirements Analysis Process
Once all stakeholder requirements have been gathered, a structured analysis of these can be done after modeling the requirements. Some of the Software Requirements Analysis techniques used are requirements animation, automated reasoning, knowledge-based critiquing, consistency checking, analogical and case-based reasoning.

V. Requirements Specification
Requirements, once elicited, modeled and analyzed should be documented in clear, unambiguous terms. A written requirements document is critical so that its circulation is possible among all stakeholders including the client, user-groups, the development and testing teams. Current requirements engineering practices reveal that a well-designed, clearly documented Requirements Specification is vital and serves as a:
• Base for validating the stated requirements and resolving stakeholder conflicts, if any
• Contract between the client and development team
• Basis for systems design for the development team
• Bench-mark for project managers for planning project development lifecycle and goals
• Source for formulating test plans for QA and testing teams
• Resource for requirements management and requirements tracing
• Basis for evolving requirements over the project life span

Software requirements specification involves scoping the requirements so that it meets the customer’s vision. It is the result of collaboration between the end-user who is often not a technical expert, and a Technical/Systems Analyst, who is likely to approach the situation in technical terms.

The software requirements specification is a document that lists out stakeholders’ needs and communicates these to the technical community that will design and build the system. The challenge of a well-written requirements specification is to clearly communicate to both these groups and all the sub-groups within.

To overcome this, Requirements Specifications may be documented separately as
• User Requirements - written in clear, precise language with plain text and use cases, for the benefit of the customer and end-user
• System Requirements - expressed as a programming or mathematical model, addressing the Application Development Team and QA and Testing Team.

Requirements Specification serves as a starting point for software, hardware and database design. It describes the function (Functional and Non-Functional specifications) of the system, performance of the system and the operational and user-interface constraints that will govern system development.

VI. Requirements Management
Requirements Management is the comprehensive process that includes all aspects of software requirements analysis and additionally ensures verification, validation and traceability of requirements. Effective requirements management practices guarantee that all system requirements are stated unambiguously, that omissions and errors are corrected and that evolving specifications can be incorporated later in the project lifecycle.

According to THIS website, system requirements can be obtained through the following methods:

Stakeholder identification

Stakeholder are persons or organizations (legal entities such as companies, standards bodies) which have a valid interest in the system. They may be affected by it either directly or indirectly. A major new emphasis in the 1990s was a focus on the identification of stakeholders. It is increasingly recognized that stakeholders are not limited to the organization employing the analyst. Other stakeholders will include:
• anyone who operates the system (normal and maintenance operators)
• anyone who benefits from the system (functional, political, financial and social beneficiaries)
• anyone involved in purchasing or procuring the system. In a mass-market product organization, product management, marketing and sometimes sales act as surrogate consumers (mass-market customers) to guide development of the product
• organizations which regulate aspects of the system (financial, safety, and other regulators)
• people or organizations opposed to the system (negative stakeholders;)
• organizations responsible for systems which interface with the system under design
• those organizations who integrate horizontally with the organization for whom the analyst is designing the system

Stakeholder interviews

Stakeholder interviews are a common technique used in requirement analysis. These interviews may reveal requirements not previously envisaged as being within the scope of the project, and requirements may be contradictory. However, each stakeholder will have an idea of their expectation or will have visualized their requirements.

Contract-style requirement lists

One traditional way of documenting requirements has been contract style requirement lists. In a complex system such requirements lists can run to hundreds of pages.
An appropriate metaphor would be an extremely long shopping list. Such lists are very much out of favour in modern analysis; as they have proved spectacularly unsuccessful at achieving their aims; but they are still seen to this day.

Strengths
• Provides a checklist of requirements.
• Provide a contract between the project sponsor(s) and developers.
• For a large system can provide a high level description.

Weaknesses
• Such lists can run to hundreds of pages. It is virtually impossible to read such documents as a whole and have a coherent understanding of the system.
• Such requirements lists abstract all the requirements and so there is little context
• This abstraction makes it impossible to see how the requirements fit together.
• This abstraction makes it difficult to identify which are the most important requirements.
• This abstraction means that the more people who read such requirements the more different visions of the system you get.
• This abstraction means that it's extremely difficult to be sure that you have the majority of the requirements. Necessarily, these documents speak in generality; but the devil as they say is in the details.
• These lists create a false sense of mutual understanding between the stakeholders and developers.
• These contract style lists give the stakeholders a false sense of security that the developers must achieve certain things. However, due to the nature of these lists, they inevitably miss out crucial requirements which are identified later in the process. Developers can use these discovered requirements to renegotiate the terms and conditions in their favour.
• These requirements lists are no help in system design, since they do not lend themselves to application.

Measurable goals

Best practices take the composed list of requirements merely as clues and repeatedly ask "why?" until the actual business purposes are discovered. Stakeholders and developers can then devise tests to measure what level of each goal has been achieved thus far. Such goals change more slowly than the long list of specific but unmeasured requirements. Once a small set of critical, measured goals has been established, rapid prototyping and short iterative development phases may proceed to deliver actual stakeholder value long before the project is half over.

Prototypes

In the mid-1980s, prototyping was seen as the solution to the requirements analysis problem. Prototypes are Mockups of an application. Mockups allow users to visualize an application that hasn't yet been constructed. Prototypes help users get an idea of what the system will look like, and make it easier for users to make design decisions without waiting for the system to be built. Major improvements in communication between users and developers were often seen with the introduction of prototypes. Early views of applications led to fewer changes later and hence reduced overall costs considerably.

However, over the next decade, while proving a useful technique, prototyping did not solve the requirements problem:
• Managers, once they see a prototype, may have a hard time understanding that the finished design will not be produced for some time.
• Designers often feel compelled to use patched together prototype code in the real system, because they are afraid to 'waste time' starting again.
• Prototypes principally help with design decisions and user interface design. However, they can not tell you what the requirements originally were.
• Designers and end users can focus too much on user interface design and too little on producing a system that serves the business process.
• Prototypes work well for user interfaces, screen layout and screen flow but are not so useful for batch or asynchronous processes which may involve complex database updates and/or calculations.

Prototypes can be flat diagrams (often referred to as Wireframes) or working applications using synthesized functionality. Wireframes are made in a variety of graphic design documents, and often remove all color from the design (i.e. use a greyscale color palette) in instances where the final software is expected to have graphic design applied to it. This helps to prevent confusion over the final visual look and feel of the application.

Use cases

A use case is a technique for documenting the potential requirements of a new system or software change. Each use case provides one or more scenarios that convey how the system should interact with the end user or another system to achieve a specific business goal. Use cases typically avoid technical jargon, preferring instead the language of the end user or domain expert. Use cases are often co-authored by requirements engineers and stakeholders.
Use cases are deceptively simple tools for describing the behavior of software or systems. A use case contains a textual description of all of the ways which the intended users could work with the software or system. Use cases do not describe any internal workings of the system, nor do they explain how that system will be implemented. They simply show the steps that a user follows to perform a task. All the ways that users interact with a system can be described in this manner.

Software requirements specification

A software requirements specification (SRS) is a complete description of the behavior of the system to be developed. It includes a set of use cases that describe all of the interactions that the users will have with the software. Use cases are also known as functional requirements. In addition to use cases, the SRS also contains nonfunctional (or supplementary) requirements. Non-functional requirements are requirements which impose constraints on the design or implementation (such as performance requirements, quality standards, or design constraints).
Recommended approaches for the specification of software requirements are described by IEEE 830-1998. This standard describes possible structures, desirable contents, and qualities of a software requirements specification.

Now, here are my answers…

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.

From the scenario above, I sympathize more on Peter Pedro for the following reasons:

First, the fact that Pedro’s company has been through projects that have been unsatisfying because of the undelivered requirements makes the method proposed by Juan to be ineffective for them. Although Juan thinks that his methods on requirements analysis is effective, if the customer already testified its unproductiveness based on the previous projects, why do it again?

Second, Pedro clearly specified that they want a NEW system. Therefore, Juan’s team should concentrate on creating a new system instead of concentrating on the old one.

Third, customers should get what they want instead on getting what the system professionals want for them. Juan should understand that they are paid to satisfy the need of their clients and not satisfy what they think is the need of the client.

b. What method would you propose they take? Why?

The first step that both parties should take is to formulate an SRS or Software requirements specification for the system as a requirement analysis method for the development. Since the SRS document contains the complete description of the behavior of the system, it will enable Pedro to list down all the functional and non-functional requirements that they need for the system and the document will also serve as a complete reference guide for Juan and his team.

In terms of development methodology, I think that they should use AGILE methodology because I believe that it is a very flexible and effective methodology for developing systems. But the methodology to be used will still depend on some details and constraints of the development which are not mentioned in the scenario.

Reference:
http://www.outsource2india.com/software/RequirementAnalysis.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requirements_analysis

Note: This post is a response to SAD 1 assignment # 6

The Life cycle and the University

2010-01-02T19:58:00.000-08:00

Assignment # 5 - SAD 1
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?

A “life cycle” can be defined differently in various fields of discipline but generally speaking, a life cycle is the complete process of change and development during somebody's lifetime or during the useful life of something such as an organization, institution, or manufactured product.

Since this subject is entitled Systems Analysis and Design, I will assume that the life cycle that we talk about here is the life cycle that a system undergoes while on development also known as the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

But before I convey my opinion whether the life cycle coincides with the university or not, I should first elaborate on the process of the development life cycle that a system undergoes.

According to teach-ict.com, here is the general system life cycle.
Based on the figure above, the following are the phases that a system should undergo during development:

The initial phase of the IS life cycle is the Feasibility study.
Generally, this is the phase where we define the problem and establish a high-level view of the intended project and determines its goals and objectives.
Specifically, we should be able to define the necessary feasibility studies such as the technical, economic, legal, operational, and schedule feasibility in order to assess the achievability of the project.

The next phase is what we call as the Requirement Analysis phase.
This is the stage where we literally analyze the requirements needed by the users for the system. Generally, this is the phase where we refine the project goals into defined functions and operation of the intended application. The gathering of data for this stage can be performed in many ways. One method is by interviewing the staff from different levels – from end users to senior management. Another method that can be used in this phase is examining the current business and systems documents and output. The documents and outputs may include current order documents, computer systems procedures and reports used by operations and senior management. Observation of current procedures can be also done as a method in generating requirements for the system because through observation, bottlenecks of the system can be detected.

After the Requirements Analysis is done, the System Design phase is next.
This is the phase where we describe the desired features and operations in detail, including screen layouts, business rules, process diagrams, and other documentation.
The details needed for this phase can include the hardware platform, software, outputs, user interface, modular design, test plan, conversion plan or the documentation.

Next is the Programming phase. This is where the actual system code is written.

After the Programming phase is done, we now proceed to the Integration and Testing:
This is the stage where we bring the various modules together into a testing environment to check for functionality, errors, bugs, and interoperability.

After Integration and testing, we now proceed to the Implementation phase. This is where the software is put into production and executes actual business processes. The actual installation of the hardware and software; training of personnel; and conversion of master files to new system are some of the processes done in this phase.

When the initial system development is done, Maintenance is next. This is where changes, correction, additions are done if there are still errors undetected during the whole process of development.

How do you know that the life cycle was developed specifically for the university?

If you would ask me if the life cycle that I showed above is specifically for the university, I can say that it is. Why? Because every system developed for the university should generally undergo feasibility study; requirements analysis; system design; programming; integration and testing; implementation and maintenance and then back to feasibility study if ever a new problem in the system comes up.

Does the general SDLC meet our needs for the university?

Yes. Why do I say so?
It is because every system in the university should undergo the phases that I mentioned one way or another. Every system should undergo those phases at some point in time during development in order to proceed with the proper and organize way and to avoid project failure.
The type of system development model can be different among developers but all the phases that I mentioned are inherent in all models. Those phases may overlap or maybe repeated on some models but what’s important is that those phases exist and should be properly performed to ensure success.

References:
information_systems_lifecycle.ppt
www.teach-ict.com/as_a2/topics/system_life_cycle/information_systems_lifecycle.ppt

Critical Success Factor Steps

2009-12-29T19:09:00.000-08:00

MIS 2 - Assignment # 6
Identify and discuss the steps for "critical success factors" approach?

Any organization inherently possesses a mission which states why it exists and a vision which states where it is headed. In order to achieve the mission of an organization, all of the members of that particular organization should participate and contribute for the achievement of the goals and objectives of the organization as a whole. As our professor once said, every member should embrace the “one and only game plan” of the organization or else the organization will find it hard if not impossible to succeed. In addition, the organization must consistently concentrate on the key areas to achieve the mission. These key areas can be different from each organization depending on the type of organization and the type of industry that they are in. These key areas are what we call as the organization’s critical success factors.

Based on his study regarding CSFs, Rockhart provides a useful summary of similar but distinct definitions:

• key areas of activity in which favorable results are absolutely necessary to reach goals
• key areas where things must go right for the business to flourish
• “factors” that are “critical” to the “success” of the organization
• key areas of activities that should receive constant and careful attention from management
• a relatively small number of truly important matters on which a manager should focus attention

Based on the definitions stated above, I can comprehend that the CSF approach is a method used in order to identify the important elements or the “key areas” for the organization to achieve its mission.

According to Dr. John T. Drea, a professor of Marketing in Western Illinois University, here are the steps of the Critical Success Factors methods:

Step 1: Identify the relevant attributes for assessing industry attractiveness.

This is where the attributes that are relevant or necessary for the assessment of the industry where the organization belongs to is performed.
Some of the examples of relevant attributes that an organization can identify are: market size, profit margin, growth, vulnerability to business cycles and threats from new competitors/substitute products. In general, these are the factors which would determine the relative attractiveness of one industry compared to others.

Step 2: Assign weights for the importance of each attribute.

An example of this is the following (All weights should total to 1):

.20 Market size
.30 Profit margin
.20 Growth
.15 Vulnerability to business cycle
.15 Threats from new competitors/substitute products

These are the weights you would assign to each of the factors to determine the attractiveness of one industry compared to others.
Basically, this is the phase where you would weigh the level of importance of each attribute identified in step 1.

Step 3: Assign a rating (1-5) for each industry attribute, indicating the performance of the industry on the attribute (compared to others)

Step 4: Multiply the weight times the rating to get an overall industry value.

The step 3 and 4 covers the computation of the overall rating of each attribute of the organization in the industry.

Drea illustrated the step 3 and 4 with this figure as an example.

Step 5: Next, using the same factors and weights, evaluate the competitors along using a 1-5 scale

Step 6: Multiply the weight times the business attribute rating for each competitor.

Competitors in the same industry will be in a vertical line, but you can change weights to reflect different segments of an overall market.

The step 5 and 6 covers the computation of the attribute rating of each competitor in order to compare it with the organization being assessed. This comparison will enable the people concerned to evaluate the position of the organization based on the competitors in their corresponding industry.

To illustrate, here is an example:

Step 7: Plot the resulting point on a 2D grid

Step number 7 will provide a visual representation of the assessment of the critical factors of the organization for better understanding and comprehension.

Here is an example:

You can plot different competitors in different Industries on the same grid.

References:

Rockhart, John F. & Bullen, Christine V. A Primer on Critical Success Factors.
Cambridge, MA: Center for Information Systems Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1981.

Caralli, Richard A. (2004, July).The Critical Success Factor Method: Establishing a Foundation for Enterprise Security Management. Date Retrieved:

Drea, John T. Competitive Intelligence: Ideas for Analysis.Western Illinois University. Date Retrieved: December 27, 2009. Retrieved from:

Systems Analyst as Project Managers

2009-12-24T19:53:00.000-08:00

In the world of systems analysis, a system analyst can have a wide range of roles and responsibilities that he or she is going to have when developing any kind of system. One of the roles that a system analyst may play is being a project manager. In general, a project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. From that definition alone I can say that developing a system is also considered developing a project.

If you would ask me what’s its like to be a project manager, frankly I can’t tell you. It is because I’m not one yet as of now. I’m just a plain old student who’s ambition is to be a project manager in the near future. However, although I may not have the benefit of experience to explain what are the things that project managers do and their roles, I can share to you some of the things that I searched and the learnings that were shared to me by the MIS supervisor of Samulco regarding being a systems analyst and being a project manager.

During our interview with the MIS supervisor of Samulco, he told us that if you are a systems analyst of a company, usually you will handle a team to develop a system.
The systems analyst systematically assesses how users interact with technology and businesses function by examining the inputting and processing of data and the out- putting of information with the intent of improving organizational processes.He added that the systems analyst is responsible for the assessment and concept planning of the system however they will not do the specific tasks such as programming of the system. They will have a team to do it for them.

According to THIS website,

Quote:

“
..This does not mean that the project manager must do all this work themselves. There may be an entire team of people helping to create the Project Charter and schedule. However, if something does not go right, the project manager is accountable.
”

From the context of handling a team to finish a project and the accountability, I can safely say that a systems analyst also act as project manager in developing a system.

But before I discuss the roles of a project manager, I should first define what is project management. Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements.

According to Carr (2007), the project manager leads the team and helps negotiate the multiple relationships within any project—whether with clients, team members, firm principals or any variety of partners (such as freelancers, contractors or even civic committees)—and functions as the hub of a project.
If a systems analyst can also assume the role of being a project manager in developing a system, what are the specific roles and responsibilities of the project manager that a systems analyst should assume?

According to Bista(2006), project managers must satisfy these sets of needs as a role:

Task Needs + Team Needs + Individual Needs

As a project manager he/she should be able to meet the "Task Needs" as follows;

1. Attaining team objectives
2. Planning work
3. Allocating resources
4. Defining tasks
5. Assigning responsibility
6. Controlling and monitoring quality
7. Scrutinizing progress
8. Checking performance

Since a project manager will be handling a team to finish a project, then he/she must also meet the “Team Needs” as follows:

1. Appointing secondary leaders
2. Building and upholding team spirit
3. Setting standards and maintaining regulation
4. Training the team
5. Setting up systems to facilitate communication with the team
6. Developing work methods to craft team function cohesiveness

The project manager role; he/she should also meet his "Individual Needs" as follows:

1. Developing the individual
2. Balancing team needs and task needs
3. Balancing team needs and individual needs
4. Performance appreciation and rewards
5. Helping with other team members personal problems

According to Carr(2007), different firms will require different types of project managers, but some skills are inherent. These are:

• Have a sense of ownership/leadership. When it comes down to it, the project manager is the person most responsible for the project’s success or failure. It can be a weighty burden to shoulder, but it is important for this sense of ownership to occur in order for the project to have direction. With multi-faceted, compartmentalized teams and/or skill sets, the project manager needs to be the one person to bring everything together and take responsibility for the work’s success. This also requires tenacity, determination and confidence—all essential traits in a project manager.

• Work collaboratively. Because the project manager needs to bring together complex, often multidisciplinary teams, he or she needs to be able to facilitate a collaborative work environment. Project managers are responsible for fusing the work skills and styles of individuals into a team focused on project tasks and goals, rather than their individual role in the project’s success.

• Use both sides of the brain. Because the project manager needs to balance the details and the big picture, he or she needs to have creative problem-solving skills as well as a head for numbers and schedules. The best project managers usually have hands-on creative experience—either as writers or designers—and understand how to work through project challenges based on past experiences. When faced with difficulties, the project manager needs to guide the team to make adjustments or changes with all of the pieces in perspective. Be creative, analytical and tactical.

• Have writing and design skills (and a technical understanding). The project manager does not need to be an award-winning writer or designer, nor does one need to be a programmer, signage fabricator or printing press operator. But he or she needs to have a strong understanding of all of the roles in the process, particularly those most related to the skills of the core team. And it helps to have direct experience in these areas, even if it is minimal. If the project manager does not have a strong design sensibility or is unable to communicate, he or she will not be able to judge the success of the project in meeting its objectives.

• Be able to facilitate. Facilitation is an entire discipline in itself, but project managers should have some training in this area. Skills developed in facilitation include leading meetings, negotiating conflicts, building teams and group dynamics, and enabling creative thought processes—all of which are necessary for a strong project manager and team leader. And a strong team leader and facilitator can also train other project team members in this discipline, increasing opportunities for leadership throughout your firm.

The MIS supervisor that we interviewed said that as a systems analyst - you have to be a little bit of everybody in you team. As an example, he said that you have to be 10% programmer, 10% documentation; 10% quality assurance..etc.. He added that as a systems analyst, you need to have at least the basic knowledge in the field of expertise of your team members in order for you to assess their needs and anticipate the problems they might encounter in their accomplishing their specific tasks. He also added that you don’t need to be an excellent programmer to be a good systems analyst but it’s a plus.

If a systems analyst act as a project manager in developing a project the he/she is the one responsible for the overall success of a project. He/she is the person ‘responsible’ and ‘accountable’ from the inception up to the completion of a project. They can be called Project coordinators or Team leaders in a company but all of them have one thing in common. They handle a team of people and follow systematic and documented phases in order to complete a project successfully.

Evidence of Interview:

References:

Bista, B. (2006, October 15). Project Manager: Roles and Skills. Date: Retrieved December 24, 2009, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Project-Manager:-Roles-and-Skills&id=329085

Carr, E. (2007) .Why a project manager?. Date Retrieved: December 24, 2009. Retrieved from: http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/why-a-project-manager

http://www.lifecyclestep.com/open/407.1TheRoleoftheProjectManager.htm

http://www.prenhall.com/behindthebook/0132240858/pdf/Kendall_Feature1_Why_We_Wrote_This_Book.pdf

PMI, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK® Guide) (2004), p. 5.

Paradigm Shift as the Most Radical Structural Change

2009-12-22T19:33:00.000-08:00

MIS 2 - Assignment # 5

In the spectrum of organizational change, which is the most radical type of change: automation, rationalization of procedures, business reengineering, or paradigm shifts?

During one of our discussions in the MIS subject, I have learned that formulating a strategic plan on a regular basis is still necessary for any organization even though their current strategic plan is already effective. Why is that so? Because there is a big possibility that a few years from now, their strategic plan will be not as effective as it is today. We have to remember that we are in a fast-changing environment and what happens tomorrow can be very different from today. From that context alone, changes in an organization can be considered inevitable. Even the slightest changes can make a huge difference for the organization. Therefore, the type of radical change for the organization should be properly weighed according to the level of risk as well as the return of investment for the organization.

But what is an organizational change?

Organizational change is any action or set of actions resulting in a shift in direction or process that affects the way an organization works. Change can be deliberate and planned by leaders within the organization (i.e., shift from inpatient hospital focus to outpatient primary care model), or change can originate outside the organization (i.e., budget cut by Congress) and be beyond its control. Change may affect the strategies an organization uses to carry out its mission, the processes for implementing those strategies, the tasks and functions performed by the people in the organization, and the relationships between those people. Naturally, some changes are relatively small, while others are sweeping in scope, amounting to an organizational transformation. Change is a fact of organizational life, just as it is in human life (Flowers Bloom: organizational change -most radical type of change, 2009).

The organizational change can be brought about by the fast changing environment or acts as a strategic move in order to adapt in the current situation or get ahead with the competition. Either way, the organizational change that can occur in an organization can be defined into four kinds of structural organizational changes that is brought about by information technology. These are: automation, rationalization of procedures, business reengineering, or paradigm shifts.

Figure 1

The first one is Automation.

In plain definition, automation is a system of manufacture designed to extend the capacity of machines to perform certain tasks formerly done by humans, and to control sequences of operations without human intervention. The term automation has also been used to describe non-manufacturing systems in which programmed or automatic devices can operate independently or nearly independently of human control. In the fields of communications, aviation, and astronautics, for example, such devices as automatic telephone switching equipment, automatic pilots, and automated guidance and control systems are used to perform various operations much faster or better than could be accomplished by humans (Besel, 2008).

In a correlation to being a radical change in an organization, automation is the type of change that uses technology to the tasks in an organization more efficiently and effectively. Basically the goal of automation is the increased efficiency of the operations in an organization. Calculating paychecks and payroll registers, giving bank tellers instant access to customers deposit records this are all examples of automation.

Based on Figure 1, we can already deduce that compared to the other three types of structural changes, automation have the lowest risk but also the lowest return of investment or reward for an organization. It just means that among the four types of structural changes that can occur in an organization, automation is the least radical change because of the low risk as well as the low reward that an organization can get. If you compare it with the three, automation has the least impact for an organization.

During automation, new bottlenecks in production are frequently revealed and make the existing arrangement of procedures and structures painfully cumbersome (Solo,2009). This is where a deeper form of structural change called the Rationalization of Procedures can be adapted.

Basically, the rationalization of procedures is streamlining of procedures and eliminating obvious bottlenecks that are revealed by automation for enhanced efficiency of operations (Malhorta, 2000).

Compared to automation, the rationalization of procedures provides higher risks but at the same time higher chance of return of investment for the organization.

A more powerful type of organizational change is what we call as Business Process Reengineering.

In plain definition, business process reengineering is the reorganization of way business is run. It is a management approach that examines aspects of a business and their interaction and attempts to improve the efficiency of the underlying processes (“Business process reengineering”, 2008).

It is in business process reengineering in which business processes are analyzed, simplified and redesigned. Using information technology, organizations can rethink and streamline their business processes to improve speed, service and quality. Business reengineering reorganizes work flows, combining steps to cut waste and eliminating repetitive, paper intensive tasks. Its usually much more ambitious thank rationalization of procedures, requiring a new vision of how the process is to be organized (Solo,2009).

Reengineering is the radical redesign of business processes that depends upon information technology intensive radical redesign of workflows and work processes (Malhorta, 2000).

Compared to automation and rationalization of procedures, business process reengineering change conquers higher risk however it also covers the possibility of higher rewards for the organization.

Rationalizing procedures and redesigning business processes are limited to specific parts of a business. New information systems can ultimately affect the design of the entire organization by transforming how the organization carries out its business or even the nature of the business (Solo,2009).

A more radical form of business change is called Paradigm Shift. Paradigm shift involves rethinking the nature of the business and the nature of the organization. In many instances firms seeking paradigm shift and pursuing reengineering strategies achieve stunning, order or magnitude increases in their returns on investment (Solo,2009).

Figure 2

Based on Figure 2, from the term “re-everything”,I can deduce that a paradigm shift is the overall change of the organization. I consider it as the most extreme type change that an organization would do. It is like the combination of all the changes made by the first three types of structural changes. This type of change is considered to be the hugest gamble that an organization might decide to do. Why? Because based on Figure 1, it has the highest possible risk as well as the highest possible return of investment in a company.

From figure 1 alone, we can already observe that the paradigm shift covers highest risks compared to other types of change. However, it also covers higher rewards for the organization. I can deduce that based on the degree of risk and reward that a paradigm shift in an organization can give, therefore a paradigm shift can be considered the most radical change that an organization can adapt compared to automation, rationalization of procedures and business re-engineering.

Some business model innovations like Barnes and Noble and Toys R Us represent ‘paradigm shifts’ that characterize not transformation at the level of business processes and process workflows, but radical rethinking of the business as well as the dividing lines between organizations and industries (Malhorta, 2000).

Such rethinking of the nature of the business and the nature of the organization itself characterizes paradigm shifts as the hallmark of business model innovation (Malhorta, 2000).

References:

Besel, Michael N. "Automation." Microsoft® Student 2008 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft
Corporation, 2007.

Business process reengineering. (2008). Microsoft Student 2008 [DVD]. Redmond, WA:
Microsoft Corporation.
Flowers Bloom: organizational change (most radical type of change). (2009). Date Retrieved:
December 22, 2009 Retrieved from: http://marketing-automation-software.net/

Malhorta, Y., (2000) .Knowledge Management & New Organization Forms: A Framework for
Business Model Innovation. Date Retrieved: December 22, 2009. Retrieved from: http://www.brint.org/KMNewOrg.pdf
Solo, A.O. Management Information System. Atlantic International University. Date retrieved:
December 22, 2009 Retrieved from: http://aiu.edu/applications/DocumentLibraryManager/upload/Management%20Information%20Systems.pdf

Expedite Information System Plan

2009-12-16T20:34:00.000-08:00

MIS 2 - Assignment # 4

You were invited by the university president to prepare an IS plan for the university, discuss what are the steps in order to expedite the implementation of the IS Plan.

The first time I saw the minimum words required for this assignment, I was stunned. I can barely make 3000 words and now I have to make 5000 words?
But during contemplation, I realized that this is maybe because our professor would like us to be detailed enough on relaying our ideas to help expedite the implementation of the IS Plan for the university. If this is one way for me to return the favor to the university that honed me, then I would gladly help. Anything to help the university. hehe

This kind of activity is actually part of my 6th step which is to inform and involve the students for us to be aware and potentially help out for the implementation of the IS Plan. After all, the people that would majorly benefit from the success of the implementation of the IS Plan would be us - the students. Right?

In making this assignment, I tried my best to deliver the steps on how to expedite the IS plan of the university according to my own perspective. I based it from the learnings from previous discussions and also from the insights given to me by the IT people that I interviewed.

In order to expedite the implementation of the Information System Plan for the university, here are the steps that I thought that should be taken:

1. Expedite the gathering of the necessary baseline information

This is the part where we gather the necessary data and evidences to support the IS plan. This will also serve as the basis on what problems should be solved and what are the requirements needed for the expected output of the plan. The cooperation of the different offices in the university is also crucial because they have some of the necessary documents to support the ISP. If the needed documents are properly provided, then it would hasten the process of assessment needed in making the IS plan.

2. Sharpen up the IS action plan

Based on our previous discussions, we already know that planning is very important in developing any kind of system. The Information System Plan is very crucial for implementation because this will serve as guide for the whole implementation process. The ISP will answer the following questions such as:

How much is going where?
Who is doing what?
And when is it going to happen?

Those are the critical questions that need to be answered and supported with proper documentations and evidences provided by the first step which is the gathering of the necessary baseline information. According to Michael Gorman, no information system plan is perfect the first time it is made. There can be loop holes that are missed that can be very troublesome if not addressed.

According also to Michael Gorman, there are certain characteristics of an information systems plan that are desirable to produce in order to achieve optimal performance. These are the following: Timely, Usable, Maintainable, Quality, and Reproducible. He added that the ISP must be timely. An ISP that is created long after it is needed is useless. In almost all cases, it makes no sense to take longer to plan work than to perform the work planned. The ISP must be useable. It must be so for all the projects as well as for each project. The ISP should exist in sections that once adopted can be parceled out to project managers and immediately started. The ISP must be maintainable. New business opportunities, new computers, business mergers, etc. all affect the ISP. The ISP must support quick changes to the estimates, technologies employed, and possibly even to the fundamental project sequences. While the ISP must be a quality product, no ISP is ever perfect on the first try. As the ISP is executed, the metrics employed to derive the individual project estimates become refined as a consequence of new hardware technologies, code generators, techniques, or faster working staff. The ISP must be reproducible. That is, when its development activities are performed by any other staff, the ISP produced should essentially be the same.
Technical and information architecture, technology standards, and organizational vision are critical to long-term success and stability of information systems. Therefore, they should be well defined and supported in the IS plan itself.

3. Secure administration commitment

Once the Information System Plan has been polished, then it is time to present it to the top level administration of the university. One of difficulties in information system planning is getting the top management to understand the strategic role of information systems. This could be a challenge because the admin will look at it differently compared to the primary clients on the lower level. Without the approval of the top-level management, the proposed plan will be in vain. If the top-level management will not see the significance of the ISP, then it would be impossible to get the implementation started.

4. Secure financial sources

According to one of the systems analyst that I interviewed, he mentioned that in any information system plan or development of a system - budget is everything. He added that without the necessary budget, there can be no action that can be done to support any plan or development. The budget serves as the fuel that keeps the development going. However, if there is a budget but is insufficient then there is a big possibility of a snail-paced of the planning as well as the actual implementation or worse failure of the project. Financial resources can be obtained from the university fund itself, government agencies, NGOs and other funding institutions. I know that financial support can be difficult to secure but as long as there is commitment and cooperation with the university members – anything is possible.

5. Secure institutional commitment: Faculty and Staff Engagement

Once there is top level commitment with the proposed IS plan, the institutional commitment should be also secured. The key person in charge for the implementation of the Information System Plan would be the faculty and staff so it is also important to secure their commitment. Without their commitment, then the IS Plan will not be properly implemented and therefore will result to failure. During one of our discussions in the subject MIS, we learned that it is important for all the members of an organization to ‘embrace’ the game plan. If there is one member not committed, it would affect the whole plan negatively.

6. Involve and inform the students

It is also important to involve and inform the students to make them appreciate the whole process of the IS plan and the implementation itself. The students can be involved by relaying suggestions concerning the improvement of our Information System through their student leaders or through discussion forums. Students can provide inputs or insights that are overlooked by the IS planners. Their ideas can potentially contribute to the improvement of IS plan of the university.

In conclusion, the main keyword to expedite the IS plan for the university is COMMITMENT. If everyone is committed to change the existing condition of our university for the better then it shall be done. Anything is possible as long as there is determination, proper planning and proper action to change.

Characteristics of a Systems Analyst

2009-12-15T20:11:00.000-08:00

SAD 1 - Assignment # 1

Being a system analyst is virtually one of the possible jobs that we IT students would land if we decided to go to the corporate world. But being a systems analyst requires specific qualities in order to be proficient in the job. It is a fact that being a systems analyst is not only exclusive for IT people. There are some cases where their job title is not a systems analyst but they act like one in their company. Nevertheless, there are certain qualities that can be commonly displayed or portrayed by systems analyst.

But before I discuss the qualities that a system analyst normally posses, I will first define what does system analysis mean.

According to Encarta dictionary (2008), the definition of systems analysis is the analysis of data-processing requirements: the determination of the data-processing requirements of a company, project, procedure, or task, and the designing of computer systems to fulfill them.

From that definition alone, we can already derive what is the job of a system analyst. The job of the system analyst is to perform systems analysis.

But what specifically does a systems analyst do?

According to wikipedia, a systems analyst is responsible for researching, planning, coordinating and recommending software and system choices to meet an organization's business requirements.

If you would ask me what a systems analyst do, my personal view of would be someone who understands and solves business problems through the usage of logical methods and by using his knowledge of technology and business management.

Based on the presentation of Group 1 entitled the “The World of the Modern Systems Analyst”, they discussed that in order for a person to become a good systems analyst, they should have the necessary skills and knowledge of Technology, Business and People.

A systems analyst should have technological skills and knowledge

When it comes to the technological aspect of being a system analyst, I guess it is given that I possess this skill. The most obvious reason would be because I belong to the Information Technology field therefore I am expected to have the necessary skills and knowledge concerning the latest trend in technology. Having the technology skills and knowledge is important on being a systems analyst because an organization needs to cope up with the technological trends. It is a fact that newer technology arises almost everyday which contributes to the rapid changing of our environment and lifestyle. In order to cope up, an organization must adapt to those changes in order to compete or get ahead with the rest of their competitors. As a systems analyst, you should have the skills to anticipate the changes that can happen in a few years while making a plan for the development of your system. With the proper analysis, the developed system can be able to initiate changes based on the technological advances specifically changes concerning Information System in order to make their business processes more efficient.

A systems analyst should have business skills and knowledge

In order to make a good system for an organization or a company, it is given that a systems analyst should have the thorough knowledge of processes of the organization that he or she is working with. Specifically, a systems analyst should have the basic knowledge of the business functions that the organization is performing; the organizational structure; organizational management techniques and functional work processes within the organization. Generally, a system analyst should have a basic knowledge of business management.

The question would be do I have the business skills and knowledge to be good system analyst?

In terms of experience, I can say that I have been under subjects that are related to business. I have already studied the basic concepts of accounting through one of my accounting subjects and currently learning about financial management process through the subject with the same name.

I may not have the deeper knowledge when it comes to business compared to accounting students but at least I already know the basic concepts in business, particularly in accounting. I also considered Human Resource Management as one of the business related subjects that I already taken up. In HRM, I learned a lot in terms of the people as part of a business and their value for any organization.

A systems analyst should have people knowledge and skills

When making a certain system, a systems analyst generally deals with people. In developing any kind of system, communication with the key persons involved is crucial for the success of the project itself. According to our professor, the systems analyst serves as a bridge that connects the managers or the end users with the programmers. The managers will first relay the needs or problems of their organization with the systems analyst. The systems analyst will then assess and analyze what is the best possible way to solve those problems and provide the needed requirements for the system and then relay it to the programmers so that they could develop the actual system. In this scenario, the system analysts perform a crucial role by being the “interpreter” so that programmer will understand what the end user or the manager needs for the system and vice versa.

Interpersonal skills deal with relationships and the interface of the analyst with people in business. It also include following : Communication, understanding (identifying problems) , teaching (educating people) , Selling (ideas and promoting innovations)

According to THIS website,

Quote:

“..The systems analyst is the middleman, assessing the needs of the end-user and translating them into programming or turning over the programming responsibility to the development department. ”

This just goes to show that being a systems analyst requires the skill in communication with other people.

In general, the interpersonal communication skill is also very important on being a system analyst because of a lot of reasons. The main reason would be because good communication skill is crucial for obtaining and understanding information. It is important that a system analyst will get the necessary information that he needs so that he can produce a satisfactory output for the end user.

Another reason would be for motivating people and getting cooperation. A system analyst is not only working on himself to create a project. He will be dealing with people who will work under him. These people will most likely include programmers. If his subordinates are not motivated enough, there is a possibility that a failure may occur such as missed deadlines a like. Another reason why it is crucial for a system analyst to have a good communication skill is that to be able to understand the complexity and workings of an organization in order to provide necessary support
In terms of interpersonal and communication skills, I believe I have the necessary skills in oral and written communication. If you would look at my track record on subjects with descriptions referring to communication skills, I can tell you that they are decent if not exceptional. But still, I believe that there is always room for improvement and that I can harness it more with constant practice. After all, learning is an unending process.

A systems analyst should be Trustworthy

During our one of our discussions in the subject Systems Analysis and Design, our professor mentioned that the systems analysts are the “most” trusted employee in a company. Why is that so? This is because System analysts often make systems based on confidential data such as salary, planned projects, security systems, etc. With the access of those confidential data, a system analyst must have the integrity and ethical conduct to keep those data a secret. Any kind of misconduct can ruin a systems analyst’s reputation. Because of this, most system analyst plans security in systems that they make in order to protect the information that they are entrusted with. I therefore can say that one of the characteristics of being a good system analyst is being trustworthy. In terms of integrity, I can’t speak for myself that I’m trustworthy person because only the people around me can vouch for that. But one thing is for sure, I can say that I am a person who value secrecy and trust. I try my best to keep the things that is needed to be kept secret because I also want other people to do that if I entrusted them with a secret. I do believe that trust is a very crucial thing that once gone, it is very difficult if not impossible to gain back.

According to THIS pdf file,

Quote:

“..a system analyst is a problem solver. He or she is a person who views the analysis of problems as a challenge and who enjoys devising workable solutions.
..They also need to possess strong personal and professional ethics to help them shape their client relationships.
..The systems analyst must be a self-disciplined, self-motivated individual who is able to manage and coordinate other people, as well as innumerable project
Resources. “

Based on the three years that I have been learning programming, I’ve really enjoyed most parts of it. There was a point when I found joy on challenging myself and obsessing myself with machines problems. I have enjoyed the challenge and finding the possible ways in order to come up with the desired output. Of course there were points that I became frustrated but I always try my best to inculcate motivating thoughts in order to achieve what I want. From that point of view alone, I can say that I am a problem solver. I do analyze the problems that come my ways and find the best way possible to come up with the best solution to the problem.

As a closing statement from the things that I’ve learned from chapter 1, here is an excerpt from this article from THIS website,

Quote:

“..The best analysts I’ve come across came from backgrounds in theater, art, and filmmaking. But they were all able to see and grasp big-picture concepts very quickly, and break them down into subcomponents. People who have a computer science or math background tend to be very technical, and sometimes that can be a hindrance.” Systems analysts need to be independent thinkers-people who can “think out of the box” by grasping concepts quickly and seeing the big picture as opposed to the small details.”

This just goes to show that it doesn’t really necessary that you have to have to come from the IT field to be a system analyst. Sometimes it takes more than technological skills and knowledge to be worthy to be called as a systems analyst. Yes, there could be an advantage but not entirely sufficient enough if not thoroughly supported by other important skills.

Our professor once told us that a system analyst is made not born. Anyone could virtually learn the necessary skills and knowledge to be a systems analyst. It doesn’t really mean that if we are from the IT field we are good system analysts compared to people on the accounting field. He said that being in IT is an edge because we are more inclined with the technology aspect of a company which is more of the trend these days. However, the accounting people have the also advantage when it comes to the business side of an organization because they have more business subjects compared to us. The bottom line is that there is no particular field that makes you a better systems analyst than the other. It really goes down to how effective are your personal methods and goals as an individual in bringing positive improvements for the organization and how efficient are you as a professional in implementing it.

References:

Encarta Dictionary Copyright 2008
http://www.princetonreview.com/Careers.aspx?cid=210
http://www.prenhall.com/behindthebook/0132240858/pdf/Kendall_Feature1_Why_We_Wrote_This_Book.pdf
http://www.princetonreview.com/Careers.aspx?cid=210
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_analyst

MIS 2 - Company visit

2009-12-15T03:50:00.001-08:00

Here are pictures of our interview with Mr. Mark Butawan of Wilcon Builder's Supply Davao Branch

From left to right: Edsa Fe Esio, Jealou Azucena, Karen Palero, Mr. Mark Butawan, Jethro Querubin, Athina Alorro (Me), Leah Saavedra and Michelle Adlawan

And more pictures...

On behalf of Group 2, I would like to thank Mr. Mark Butawan for allowing us to interview him for our report. We really appreciate it. (^_^)

Business Plan and IS plan

2009-11-29T10:00:00.000-08:00

In any kind of activity or process, planning has been a crucial part that should be addressed carefully in order to make the end result a success. This is also true for business processes. A business plan and an information system plan are some of the concepts that are usually encountered (and usually used interchangeably) when dealing with business processes. But what is the difference between the two concepts and what is there relationship with each other?

In establishing any kind of relationship between two concepts, it is important that there must be a thorough definition and comparison of each concept first and then find a common ground which the two ideas can relate to each other. That's why in order to describe the relationship between the business plan and the IS plan, I will define first each concept, differentiate them from each other and then iterate the relationship between them.

If you would ask me what a business plan is, I would define it as a set of goals and future strategic plans that a business entity must achieve in order to reach a certain vision. In a layman’s point of view, a business plan is basically a plan that will clearly define where your company will be in a certain period of time [usually 3 to 5 years] and how do you plan on getting there. A business plan will put a direction to where your company will go and define standards of success for the business as a whole.

According to Michael Russell, a business plan is a detailed description of a new or existing business, including the company's product or service, marketing plan, financial statements and projections and management principles, require a plan to be implemented. It is a document that spells out a company's expected course of action for a specified period usually includes a detailed listing and analysis of risks and uncertainties. For the small business, it should examine the proposed products, the market, the industry, the management policies, the marketing policies, production needs and financial needs. Frequently, it is used as a prospectus for potential investors and lenders.

According to wikipedia.com, 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. Business plans may be internally or externally focused. Externally focused plans target goals that are important to external stakeholders, particularly financial stakeholders. They typically have detailed information about the organization or team attempting to reach the goals. With for-profit entities, external stakeholders include investors and customers. External stake-holders of non-profits include donors and the clients of the non-profit's services. For government agencies, external stakeholders include tax-payers, higher-level government agencies, and international lending bodies such as the IMF, the World Bank, various economic agencies of the UN, and development banks. Internally focused business plans target intermediate goals required to reach the external goals. They may cover the development of a new product, a new service, a new IT system, a restructuring of finance, the refurbishing of a factory or a restructuring of the organization. An internal business plan is often developed in conjunction with a balanced scorecard or a list of critical success factors. This allows success of the plan to be measured using non-financial measures. Business plans that identify and target internal goals, but provide only general guidance on how they will be met are called strategic plans. Operational plans describe the goals of an internal organization, working group or department. Project plans, sometimes known as project frameworks, describe the goals of a particular project. They may also address the project's place within the organization's larger strategic goals. Business plans are decision-making tools. There is no fixed content for a business plan. Rather the content and format of the business plan is determined by the goals and audience. A business plan should contain whatever information is needed to decide whether or not to pursue a goal. For example, a business plan for a non-profit might discuss the fit between the business plan and the organization’s mission. Banks are quite concerned about defaults, so a business plan for a bank loan will build a convincing case for the organization’s ability to repay the loan. Venture capitalists are primarily concerned about initial investment, feasibility, and exit valuation. A business plan for a project requiring equity financing will need to explain why current resources, upcoming growth opportunities, and sustainable competitive advantage will lead to a high exit valuation.

Preparing a business plan draws on a wide range of knowledge from many different business disciplines: finance, human resource management, intellectual property management, supply chain management, operations management, and marketing, among others. It can be helpful to view the business plan as a collection of sub-plans, one for each of the main business disciplines.

"... a good business plan can help to make a good business credible, understandable, and attractive to someone who is unfamiliar with the business. Writing a good business plan can’t guarantee success, but it can go a long way toward reducing the odds of failure."

As you can notice, my definition and the website wikipedia’s definition are somewhat the same. The main keywords there are goals and plan. The business entity should have one major game plan that should be embraced by all its constituents in order to attain a certain vision. To put it simply, the business plan of a company is just as important as the blueprint of a house. Without a clear and well defined business plan, it would be impossible if not difficult to sustain the business in the next few years of its operations. Because every organization or company has different goals and objectives, the purpose of a business plan may also vary. One company might be looking for funding from investors. Another company might be looking for a loan from a bank. But whatever the case, basically every business needs a business plan.

An Information System Plan or ISP, on the other hand, is basically a plan concentrated on aligning the information systems of an organization to its business plan as a whole. An information system is comprised of the hardware, software and peopleware of an organization. Usually, the term information system is related to using technology as a crucial part of an organization. The term is also used to identify the computer-based system that an organization is using.

According to Michael M. Gorman, the information systems plan project determines the sequence for implementing specific information systems. The goal of the strategy is to deliver the most valuable business information at the earliest time possible in the most cost-effective manner. The end product of the information systems project is an information systems plan (ISP). Once deployed, the information systems department can implement the plan with confidence that they are doing the correct information systems project at the right time and in the right sequence. The focus of the ISP is not one information system but the entire suite of information systems for the enterprise. Once developed, each identified information system is seen in context with all other information systems within the enterprise. Gorman has also identified some of the characteristics that an ISP should have and these are the following:

An ISP should be timely. An ISP that is created long after it is needed is useless. In almost all cases, it makes no sense to take longer to plan work than to perform the work planned.

The ISP must be useable. It must be so for all the projects as well as for each project. The ISP should exist in sections that once adopted can be parceled out to project managers and immediately started.

The ISP must be maintainable. New business opportunities, new computers, business mergers, etc. all affect the ISP. The ISP must support quick changes to the estimates, technologies employed, and possibly even to the fundamental project sequences. Once these changes are accomplished, the new ISP should be just a few computer program executions away.

While the ISP must be a quality product, no ISP is ever perfect on the first try. As the ISP is executed, the metrics employed to derive the individual project estimates become refined as a consequence of new hardware technologies, code generators, techniques, or faster working staff. As these changes occur, their effects should be installable into the data that supports ISP computation. In short, the ISP is a living document. It should be updated with every technology event, and certainly no less often than quarterly.

The ISP must be reproducible. That is, when its development activities are performed by any other staff, the ISP produced should essentially be the same. The ISP should not significantly vary by staff assigned.

As I understand the definition of Gorman, an information system plan is basically is a systematic approach on planning the information system implementation of an organization as a whole. He emphasized on doing it at the right time and sequence and finishing it at a certain period.

Last semester on our MIS I subject, we were tasked to provide an Information system needs assessment of a certain company and provide recommendations for the needs that we identified. The task concentrated on the information system and the potential changes that we could recommend for improvement. From that experience, my colleagues and I got a glimpse of the process being gone through in proposing and making implementation plans. Our adopted company for that project had already established information system even from the beginning. But it’s not the case for all. There were times in the past where information system was just a vague concept on the business sector. Most have none and if they had one, they were not explicitly defined as a department or a sector in the company. There were just mere objects that exist in the company. However, with the advent and rapid shift of technology, information system slowly became recognized and identified as a crucial and high potential investment for most businesses. From that point on, information system became a crucial part in the planning process in companies.

Since I have clearly defined what a business plan and an information system plan is, it is now time to iterate their difference and relationship with each other.

The main difference of information system plan with business plan is that an ISP is just a part of the business plan. One of the best strategies in making a business plan is developing a plan on how to effectively and efficiently use IS to its highest potential for the benefit of the organization as a whole. This is where information system planning comes in. An information system plan is developed in order to effectively manage the IS resources without compromising the business plan of an organization.

As the definitions I mention above suggest, a business plan is the overall plan of an organization. As a general plan, it can include subdivisions to clearly define the different parts of the overall plan. These subdivisions can be different for every company or organization depending on its type and applications. Some of these subdivisions can include a financial management plan, a marketing strategy plan or an information system plan. Although, each subdivision can be defined independently, they are strongly connected to each other because they are all part of the overall plan. As an example, you cannot define an information system plan without affecting the financial management plan and vice versa. They strongly relate to its other that any change in a certain plan can affect all the other subdivision plans for the organization as well.

In conclusion, although a business plan and information system plan of an organization may have different level of scope in an organization, they both exist in an organization for the same thing. They exist so that an organization can effectively and efficiently use all of its resources for success without compromising the established vision of the said organization.

References:

Gorman, Michael M. (September 1999). “Information System Plan”. Date Retrieved: February 17, 2010. Retrieved from: http://www.tdan.com/view-articles/5262

Russell, M. (2007, February 6). Business Plan - Purpose and Objectives. Retrieved February 17, 2010, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Business-Plan---Purpose-and-Objectives&id=445062

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_plan

This is my MIS 2 Assignment # 2

What should be the nature of the relationship between the business plan and the IS plan? (at least 2000 words)

The Vision

2009-11-14T08:16:00.000-08:00

Twenty nine. That’s what I will be ten years from now. By that time, I generally aim for one thing. I hope to achieve fulfillment in every aspect of my life. To be honest, I am not used to planning everything about my life. Sometimes I like to surprise myself. But I also believe that it’s also good to establish an aim that would serve as a guide in order to achieve success.

But before I would tell how I see myself ten years from now, it is important to know how I came up with my vision.

When I was in my fourth year in high school, I never really have thought of what I want to be in the future. Generation X as they would say. Generation of the unknown. I never really wanted anything in particular that I want to take in college. But even though I didn’t have any concrete path that I would like to take (professionally speaking), I never dream of just graduating in college. Of course, I wanted more than that. I agree with our professor’s statement that graduating in college should not be our major dream but should be one of the steps in succeeding in our profession. My mom was the one who suggested that I should take up Bachelor of Science in Information Technology at the University of Southeastern Philippines. I took up BSIT not because my mom forced me to do so. It’s not like that. It’s just that at that time, I didn’t really know what I want so I decided take a shot at it while I don’t know what I want yet. It turns out that being an IC student at USEP is not that easy.

It was in one of our HRM discussion that one of my professor ( ehem! And I know you know him..) once told us, his students, that we have to strive to be “the employer” and not just the employee of a certain company. Now let me clarify first that there’s nothing wrong with being an employee in a company. After all, not all of us can have the means and resources in order to put up their own company right after graduation right?..but his statement just struck me as an AHA moment (as Oprah would say) that made me realize that my standards were too low for myself as an IT professional at that time. To put it simply, I never thought of myself as an employer before. It never crossed my mind that I too I could put up my own IT company someday (lame right? But it’s the truth). Before, I just thought that after I graduate, I could apply for an IT job in one of the top IT companies in Davao. Gain as much experience and skills as possible and then slowly but surely climb in the corporate ladder to be one of the high ranking professionals in that company (and hopefully make more money.. hehe). That was it. That was mindset before.

But just recently, it all became clear to me. I’ve always wanted to make a difference in the world and I’ve always believed in the Filipino talent. So I came up with an aim. Ten years from now, I will be the CEO of an IT company that would create a software, a system, a website or an application that would revolutionize and change the world’s lifestyle and would change lives like what the famous companies like Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and even the websites Youtube and Facebook did. I want to be one of the people that will create something that will put the Filipino race in the pedestal of Information Technology in the world. I believe in the Filipino talent and I believe that Filipinos have what it takes to excel and be one of the best in the world in the field of Information Technology. And I want the world to know that.
Big isn’t it? But as the famous cliché would say, if you decided to dream, make sure to dream big. Because who knows? you might achieve it someday. But of course it’s not going to be easy and I know that it would require focus, hard work and extraordinary perseverance.

How do I plan to achieve my aim? Here are the steps that I would take in order to achieve it.

1. Keep Moving Forward.
This is the stage where I’m in right now.
In my ongoing college years, I must concentrate on making sure to have good grades. That is my goal. During the last 3 years of my college life, I may have some red marks here and there before but I should not dwell into them so much. Why cry over spilled milk right? All I can do right now is do my very best in order to make sure that it will never happen again. All I can do right now is keep moving forward and learn from my mistakes. But there’s no reason to pity me just because I failed. I may have failed but I learned important life lessons in life that I could never have learned if I never experienced failing. I believe that some of these lessons helped me to become a better student and in general - a better person.

“To never give up no matter how hopeless it may seem.”
This is one of the important lessons that I learned from one of my math subjects and applied it to my succeeding subjects. One of the main reasons why I failed that subject was because I gave up on it. After I failed, it was then that I realized that if I didn’t gave up, there was a slight chance for me to pass. But because I gave up, I have to accept the consequence. From that moment, I realized that I should never give up ever again and give it my best shot every time so that in the end I will never regret anything. Because there’s no worst feeling in this world than feeling that you failed because you gave up and you could have succeeded if you didn’t. In addition, I also learned not make excuses because I failed but instead use failure as a motivation to strive harder.

“Don’t bargain with your past successes”
This is what one of our math teachers once told us. It means that you should not dwell too much on your past successes and be overconfident because you achieve a certain amount of success. Aim for higher and work harder. Make yourself your own toughest competition and don’t be overwhelmed with your present success. Don’t take your subjects for granted just because you passed all of your subjects in the past.

Those are some of the inspirational quotations that I learned and now serve as my guidance in order to focus on my aim.

2. Hello Real World!
This is where the real challenge will begin. Entering the real world.
After I graduate, my goal is to gain as much credentials as possible. In order for me to compete with other IT graduates, I must pass as many professional licensure exams that would improve my credentials as an IT professional and would increase my chance to be hired in an IT company. Some of these licensure exams that I’m planning to take are Civil Service, Cisco Certification and PhilNits. I would dedicate time to review everything that I have learned in college especially in preparation for the exams that I am planning to take. Aside from self review I also plan on attending seminars that would increase my knowledge in the IT field. I also plan on socializing with other IT professionals during seminars and reviews and stay in contact with those people that have the same vision as mine and would help me build up my future company someday.

3. Work and Observe
Once I’m hired in an IT company, my goal is to gain as much experience and skills in the IT field and in management as well in preparation for my future plan. This is the stage where I will make the workplace as a training ground and not just a venue to gain money. I will do my best to be the best that I can be in the in terms of work ethics among my peer in order to slowly climb the corporate ladder.
At this stage, I could also do some freelance work in programming and IT consultations to gain as much financial resource and at the same time gather up my connections on people who can help and whom I could call to become possible stockholders in the company that I am planning to put up in the future. This will also harness my skills not only on technical field of IT but also in personal relation.

4. Establish and Formulate
When the time comes that I already have enough experience, skills and resources to put up my company, I will start establishing it. First, I will be gathering a team of people that have the skills, resources and have the same vision as mine to create a revolutionary system. In order to do this, I will first contact people who are interested in joining the company that I will put up from the connections that I gathered from my previous jobs and seminars attended. These people are composed of specialists in the IT field like programmers, consultants, software engineers and also investors/stockholders. The team will create the framework for the system and then develop it. From there, we will create history.

That is my aim. ^^,

Note:
This is a response to MIS 2 Subject Assignment # 1

Assignment # 1
Think about yourself worthy to be called as IT professional,
how do you see yourself 10 years from now, what are your strategies to get there?

MIS journal 17

2009-10-01T06:26:00.000-07:00

Yey! Submission day!
We just got 2.75 as our intial grade for our major paper because there are some parts of our recommendation that we were’nt able to defend properly (T-T)…
We still need to work on it… gud luck to us!
It’s not over till it’s over!

MIS journal 16

2009-09-30T06:25:00.000-07:00

Overnight mania…
At 10:00 am, we met at Jealou’s house today to finalize everything.
At aroung 5pm, we still haven’t finished the recommendation and implementation plan so we decided to stay overnight at Jealou’s house to finish everything.
At around 2am the paper was done!
I went home and got some sleep… zzzzz….

MIS journal 15

2009-09-29T06:24:00.000-07:00

We did some research for our major paper today. And we also finished some part in the documentation and observations.
The parts that we finished are:
• Flow diagram of the major business flow
• Matrix of the functionality of the IS

MIS journal 14

2009-09-27T06:23:00.000-07:00

We successfully finished some parts of our major paper today namely:
• The General Statement of Understanding
• Organizational Chart of the Adopted Company

MIS journal 13

2009-09-17T06:20:00.000-07:00

We divided our task and started organizing the information and data we gathered. Each one of us is assigned to start his/her designated topic.
We also did some research today.

MIS journal 12

2009-09-16T06:14:00.000-07:00

The interview today was focused on the conducting SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) and STEEP (Sociological, Technological, Economic, Environment and Political) analysis.

In addition, we also asked him to describe their organizational chart and major business flow.

pics..pics..pics...

MIS journal 11

2009-09-14T05:53:00.000-07:00

When we arrived in the Wilcon Builder’s Supply, we were directed to Mr. Mark Butawan, the MIS officer/Computer technician, to conduct our interview. Our main focus for today’s interview is to know the basic information about their company like their products, services and the current hardware and software components of their IS. We also asked about what kind of industry they are in and who their direct competitors are.

Evidences...

MIS journal 10

2009-09-08T06:56:00.000-07:00

The Wilcon Builder's Supply accepted our request today..yepee..
They scheduled us to conduct our interview on Monday at 9am.

SM city Davao told us that they will just text us if our request will be approved.

Information Environment

2009-09-07T17:52:00.000-07:00

Assignment # 9

Identify an information environment of your choice and write an essay to address the following questions: (3000 words)

• What should be your role within this environment?
• How can the principles of information organization and representation help you in performing this role?
• What are the challenges facing you in performing the role? How will you address these challenges?

-------------------------------------------------

If you would ask me how would I define an information environment, the first thought that come up to my mind is that an information environment is an environment where information is shared, exchanged and distributed to a certain audience. Aside from the internet, the other environment that came to my mind is Blogging.

So maybe you’re wondering why I chose Blogging as my information environment, well I chose blogging for one reason. The reason is that, this is the information environment that I’m already quite familiar with and I am now starting to explore for more possibilities thanks to the encouragement of our professor.

Before anything else I would first define what is Blogging.

According to this WEBSITE:

“ A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is “blogging” and someone who keeps a blog is a “blogger.” Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog. Postings on a blog are almost always arranged in chronological order with the most recent additions featured most prominently.”

Well its quite obvious what would be my role in the blogging environment. The automatic response would be of course a blogger. However, the role as a blogger in an environment circulating in the internet holds a deeper meaning and responsibility.

But what does being a blogger really mean? To deliberately specify what should be the role of a blogger here is an excerpt from this BLOG :

“ * I will try to offer up viewpoints that perhaps you hadn’t thought of in order to get people talking and open a conversation.
* I’ll do my best to be useful, creating resources worth your bookmarks. I’ll tie events together to create a story you perhaps didn’t see.
* I’ll take a polarizing stand if it’ll get you to think about things differently and question yourself for good, not just because I’m bored or because I can.
* I’ll craft posts in a tone most appropriate for the subject matter, even if it means I’ll be written off as “sensational” for my choice of language. I’ll use my language as a tool to open people up, not a weapon.
* I will never make links or fake debate my end goal.
* I’ll bring attention to causes, issues and news that I think are important or that will benefit you.
* And I’ll do it while being responsible and accountable for my words.”

In an organization of mass number of networked computers such as the internet, there is practically no concrete rules that govern what goes out for the public to see. In general, you can write everything you want and the judgment will be left in the reader’s side. This leniency and freedom would help in the overflow of ideas and inspiration to write more for your readers.

From the entries above, I can safely say that being a blogger is not as easy and should take a little effort and responsibility for your sake and the benefit of the whole community in general.

As bloggers, (especially beginner bloggers) there are some challenges that we may encounter along the way while we are in this environment. Here are some concerns that we could encounter:

What should you Blog About?

This question is probably one of the most mind boggling question that a blogger especially beginner bloggers could stumble upon. Questions like ‘would this topic interest someone?’ or ‘How big would be the impact of this topic to my community’ can pop in your head that can increase the pressure to write something interesting for the public to read. Just remember that our world is filled with interesting topics which you can get from simple activities, ordinary happenings or random experiences in your life that some people may relate with. Updating yourself with the latest news can also give you ideas to write about. Brainstorming can also be a tool in order for you to generate interesting topics from different points of view.

Finding Readers

This is the part that I find to be the most challenging in blogging. Well, you need audience for your blogs. And getting them is never an easy job with thousands of blogs being created every other day. With so many new blogs started every day it takes a lot of effort to build your readership. The very first thing you should do is make it easy for your readers to subscribe to your blog feed, so they keep coming back. Have both an email and an RSS version available. Not everyone knows about RSS even if they use it in their My Yahoo or other reader, so give them the options. Then get the word out. Comment on other blogs. Good comments, not just "Great post" as every blogger sees all too often. Many sites will just delete such comments, as they add nothing to the conversation. And the conversation is a big part of what makes a blog interesting.

Start building traffic to your blogs by link exchanges, directory submission etc. You can also try out social networking and bookmarking sites likes stumble upon friendster , twitter, myspace , face book etc to build targeted traffic to your blog. They are really very useful sources to generate traffic. But the most important is traffic from search engines called organic traffic. It is tough initially as there is heavy competition among all the bloggers to appear on the front page of search engines. You can try out Google adwords not advertise your site. You need to be very serious with this. Once your blog gets popular and as time passes by you can expect loads of traffic to your site.

Handling criticisms and negative feedback

Negative feedback will happen, no matter how good your posts are. It doesn't matter what you do, you cannot please everyone. And that's a key thing to remember.

There are also people who simply delight in saying horrible things to people online just because it can all be anonymous. It can be ridiculous, but there it is. Don't let yourself be drawn into heated exchanges with people. It's better to keep your temper and learn to dismiss the people who are only trying to make you angry.

Genuine criticism, on the other hand, can be quite useful. If someone catches you with incorrect information, thank them. Hopefully they will at the same time point you to a better resource for information.

How Often Do you have to Blog?

Well that’s another major area which some bloggers tend to neglect. You can not simply start a blog and do a few posts and then stop. Your readers also forget your blog soon after that. So you need to post regularly some unique, fresh and interesting content on your blog to keep your readers interested. The frequency may differ from blogs to blogs and niche specific too. For example news blogs need to update content on their blogs very often than any technology blog. Prepare your posts in advance and after that you can post as when you need them.

Search Engine Optimization: Do you really need it?

SEO or search engine optimization is the art and science of building and designing sites in such a fashion that they appear on search engines for a niche specific search by anyone. You cannot simply ignore the importance of SEO. It will bring lots of traffic to your blog on a constant basis. There are many SEO techniques which can be followed like on-page optimization and off-page optimization. You can slowly learn the fundamentals of SEO and then start applying them. You can even think of hiring an SEO expert and get the job done. A good frequency of posting along with SEO would do wonders for your blog in long run.

How Do you Monetize your Blog?

Many people start blogging to monetize them and earn from them. But that is not possible over night. First your blog needs to get popular and generate regular traffic. Only then you can think of monetizing your blog. There are many options like Google adsense, bidvertiser, Kontera ads, link selling, paid reviews, affiliate marketing etc which can be used on your blogs. Have a reasonable target in your mind, so that you don’t get upset later on. There are bloggers who make their living through blogs and blogging. Even you can too.

Finally sometimes you might you might not find enough time to blog. So you can plan things in advance and have some sort of back in place. It will avoid disappointing your regular readers of your blog. You can even think of outsourcing the content writing work to someone and get the job done by paying them. It might look a bit costly but is a good way of keeping your blog up when you don’t have sufficient time to take care of your blog. You can also constantly the look and feel of your blog to suit the contents of your blog keeping the readers interest in your mind.

MIS journal 9

2009-09-03T06:20:00.000-07:00

We submitted our request letter to our prospected companies today.
We went to SM city Davao and Wilcon Builder's Supply.
Both of the companies, told us that they will just contact us if ever our request will be approved..

Hopefully..by God's will..we will be approved..

MIS journal 8

2009-08-31T18:05:00.000-07:00

Our request to conduct a needs assessment for their IS in Macondray Plastics, Inc. was denied due to necessary renovation of their IT department. They said that they cannot accommodate us because their IT department will be very busy due to the said renovation.

It is very unfortunate because Macondray Plastics, Inc. was our best choice to conduct our ISNA for our major paper.

Maybe your wondering why we didn't proceed with Ford Davao as our adopted company for the major paper. It is because when we interviewed their IT supervisor, they told us that we cannot get much information we needed to conduct an ISNA because their company has a centralized system and their main office is in Manila and their company is just a branch. Their MIS department is composed of only two people and their main role in their company (he said) is as technical support for their computers and networks.

haiz...
Now we are back to square one...
the company hunting....
May God's will be done.

In-house or Outsourcing?

2009-08-28T23:00:00.000-07:00

Assignment # 8

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.

Before I would state where I stand between in-house and outsourcing, I will first define the term in-house and outsourcing for the information of those who are not familiar with the terms yet. So here it goes.

What is outsourcing?

According to this SITE:

"..Outsourcing refers to a company that contracts with another company to provide services that might otherwise be performed by in-house employees."

Here is another definition of outsourcing according to this white paper that can be accessed through this link :
http://www.aramarkhighered.com/pdfs/articles/IHEP%20Outsourcing%20White%20Paper%209-05.pdf

"..Outsourcing is a form of privatization that generally refers to a higher education institution’s decision to contract with an external organization to provide a traditional campus function or service. The contractor either takes over the task of compensating and managing the employees of the university, paying the group according to its standards, or replaces the university employees with its own staff."

What is in-sourcing?

In-sourcing (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.
from : wikipedia.com

Based on my opinion, I think it would be better for the university to apply in-house instead of outsource. why? the following are my reasons.

If we have the manpower, why not utilize it?

If in terms of skilled professionals, I believe that our university probably has some of the best IT professionals in Mindanao if not the whole Philippines. It's undeniable that all our faculty (especially in the IC department) are very competent and world class. We are not called a “university” for nothing. Most of our faculties are really good at their field of expertise. Since our faculties are competent enough, why not utilize those skills that we 'already' have in order to improve our system in our university?
I believe that tapping our "well equipped faculties" will definitely increase the morale of the faculties and the university in general for utilizing and recognizing the talents that we have. Tapping our faculties to make our systems will also serve as an inspiration and example to students to have an idea of what would be their role when they will go out in the real world. The students will have higher respect and admiration to the faculties knowing that they do not only teach pure theories but they can also apply it to the real world.

Outsourcing is cheaper. I beg to disagree.

During our interview with the MIS programmer of DOLE Philippines, when we asked her what are the advantage of having an in-house information system in a company, she said that in a long-run if you will compute the cost that will be generated...in-housing is much cheaper compared to outsourcing.

Most people think that outsourcing is cheaper compared to in-housing. Well, I beg to disagree. Yes, at first the university will pay more in the first few months in in-housing compared to outsourcing. But if you calculate how much is the university will be paying for let’s say five years in outsourcing, it’s definitely higher compared to what can the university can pay on in-housing. All the university have to do is to pay additional incentives for the faculty for the maintenance of the whole system which is way to cheaper compared to outsourcing the system.

To support this idea, here is an excerpt of the article entitled “Outsourced customer service operations can cost almost a third more than those retained in-house, according to a new study by Gartner.” by Alexa Bona which can be found on this SITE:

“...The research firm found that outsourced operations are 30 percent more expensive than the top quartile of in-house customer service operations.

Alexa Bona, research director at Gartner, said businesses often fail to take hidden costs, such as in-house backup support to the outsourced function, into account.

"The outsourced service is often more efficient, but then outsourcers need to make a profit too," she said.

Gartner also said 80 percent of organizations that outsource their customer management operations purely to cut costs will fail to do so, while 60 percent of those who outsource parts of the customer-facing process will have to deal with customer defections and hidden costs that outweigh any potential savings offered by outsourcing.

"If all you are trying to do is save money, you are not going to be successful," Bona said.”

This just goes to show that people tend to disregard the long term effects of outsourcing which is losing a considerable amount of money in the long run. I think we should also look on the positive benefits of in-house in the long run.

Security and data integrity

In comes to data security and integrity, it is safe to say data that is generated from in-house is much more secure and private compared to outsourcing. Since in-house system is generated from the mother institution, it is safe to say that because of loyalty and self preservation, data generally cannot get-out from the walls of the institution.There is also the danger of not being able to control some aspects of the institution, 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.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-outsourcing.htm

Easier access to support for better communication

Since the in-house personnel are already located within the institution itslef, the support for the system is much more accessible compared to outsourcing. All you have to do is call the faculty downstairs if there is any problem which can be solve right then and there. Compared to outsourcing where they have to travel from somewhere before they can go to the university and solve the problem.Lack of communication between the outsourcer and the company may also be a problem. This poor communication may result in the misunderstanding of the job to be done with unsatisfactory results. This is another disadvantage of outsourcing for a large organization such as our university because there is the difficulty in managing the relationship with the vendor/third party.
http://caribbeanresumes.com/career_tools/articles/outsource-or-not-outsource

Other issues of Outsourcing that discouraged me.

According to this SITE,
"..Outsourcing critics claim that private business practices are contrary to the established traditions of shared governance and to the academic profession, which require substantial professional autonomy, peer rather than hierarchical authority, and a less materialistic culture. Further, critics of outsourcing point out the human resources consequences, including lost jobs or decreased loyalty to the university."

To sum up,
According to an outsourcing white paper from this site:
http://www.aramarkhighered.com/pdfs/articles/IHEP%20Outsourcing%20White%20Paper%209-05.pdf

The apprehensions on choosing outsourcing are due to the following major concerns on educational institutions such as our university:
“..They are:
(1) loss of control and ability to manage the contractor,
(2) service quality and customer satisfaction inconsistency,
(3) employee displacement or morale, and
(4) impersonal nature, loss of identity, community, culture,and collegiality (Norris and Olson 2003).
The first three of these concerns are issues that would be found in any organization to some degree—whether public or private, small or large, business or university. It is the fourth concern—loss of identity, community, and collegiality—that is particularly unique to the academy. “

MIS journal 7

2009-08-27T04:24:00.000-07:00

First company visit at Ford Davao
an update on our first company visit..

When: August 26, 2009 ( Wednesday)
Where: FORD Davao J.P. Laurel Ave., Lanang Davao City
Who: We interviewed their IT supervisor

Evidences...

Me and Ford Davao's IT supervisor

Jealou and Ford Davao's IT supervisor

MIS journal 6

2009-08-25T05:44:00.000-07:00

We just called the IT supervisor of Ford Davao today. He told us that our request to interview with him was approved and we can meet him tomorrow. Yepee!

We also faxed our request letter today to the Macondray Plastics, Inc. just as they instructed us yesterday.

MIS journal 5

2009-08-24T05:43:00.000-07:00

We submitted our request letter at Ford Davao today.

Their receptionist gave us the number of their IT supervisor and told us to contact him tomorrow to confirm if our request is approved.

We also visited Macondray today to find out where did our request letter had gone. We asked the guard if our letter was really forwarded to the information department. The guard told us that there was no letter left in their custody because they always forward all the letters that is handed to them to the information department. It was contradicting to what the information operator had told us over the phone that they didn’t receive any letter concerning our request.

We called again the information operator concerning what the guard had told us. She suggested that we could fax the letter directly to their information department that to make sure that our request will be never be lost again.

Sona 2009 - ICT

2009-08-23T21:20:00.000-07:00

Assignment # 7
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.

ICT is an abbreviation for Information and Communications Technology.

Based on the full text transcript of the State of the Nation Address of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the year 2009 that I’ve read from this website, here are the three areas that the President mentioned that I think is related with the field of ICT.

“..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….”

In this part of the president’s speech, the positive impact for the people is quite obvious. By amending the Commonwealth-era Public Service Law, millions of consumers of telecom companies will benefit by being protected from anomalies concerning the disappearance of cellphone loads. Since cellphones play an important role in the lifestyle of most Filipinos nowadays it is safe to say that cellphone load is now being included as part of the budget of expenses for most Filipinos …and saving money from being stolen is always a good idea especially on time of crisis.

“..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….”

This is the part where the president talks about the BPO (Business P Outsourcing) sector and its contribution to our country by providing jobs for Filipinos thus increasing our competitiveness and productivity. I think that this part implies a better future for Filipinos by providing more jobs. The president also mentioned creating a department solely for ICT. This idea may improve our way of life because through the creation of a specialized department solely for ICT, there will be centralization of ways in addressing ICT issues in our country.

“..In 2001, I said we would finance fully automated elections. We got it, thanks to Congress….”

The full automation of the 2010 election is probably one of the major development in our country that is related to information technology that if materialized will put to end to the obsolete and laborious manual election. This development will improve our quality of life in a way by making the election much easier to conduct compared to the manual election system.

Suggestions for Improved internet connectivity

2009-08-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

Assignment # 6

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?

Improve hardware specifications

The internet speed, and the speed in which you load websites is primarily up to your internet connection. However, if the website requires third-party programs to be utilized (ex: Java, Flash Player, etc.) than the ease and speed in which those programs are initiated is dependent on the speed of your processor, as well as the amount of RAM memory you have available. Changing the hardware components of the components into let’s say from 256 MB RAM to 1 GB RAM can improve the internet connectivity by increasing higher processing and memory.

In addition to connection upgrade, campus units should upgrade existing network equipment. Specifically, this involves replacing old “network hubs” with the more modern “network switches” which will further improve network performance within university.
Proper bandwidth allocation

The initial solution to the slow speed internet access would be increasing bandwidth allocation for all the computers that shares internet connection ( pretty much all the computers in the virtual library and nodal ). However, if the bandwidth is not properly allocated, the increase in internet speed would still not be felt by the majority of users. Therefore, if there is an increase in bandwidth, there should also be proper allocation of the bandwidth equally to all the computers that is used for internet connectivity in the university.

Malware, Spyware and Viruses Problem

Sometimes the files students download from the Internet, can contain harmful software that can slow the Internet connection of the particular computer that the student is using. Viruses can be also coming from students themselves through their flash disks or create those viruses on the computer itself using applications that are already on the computers such as C and Visual Fox Pro.

This problem can be solve by enabling real-time protection, as well as automatic updates on all of your spyware and virus scanning programs, so a vast majority of these types of infections can be detected and removed immediately.

Use faster but safe internet browsers..
Since most internet browsers are freewares (meaning they can be downloaded and used for free) why not use the latest internet browser that offers faster browsing speed?

Here is an excerpt from this website SITE:

“ Using a resolution of 1920x1200 and no other applications open, the Peacemaker benchmark saw which was the fastest browser. After the dust settled, Apple's Safari 4.0 beta was clearly in the lead and was found to be over six times faster than the slowest browser, Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7.0. It should be pointed out that SeaMonkey 2.0 Alpha 3 did very well and offers significant improvements over SeaMonkey 1.1.14. Firefox 3.1 beta 3 was just released this afternoon and it offers better performance than the previous beta. Google Chrome and Opera were at the top of the performance list as well.”

Based on the review made by Peacemaker benchmark, I would suggest using Apples’s Safari 4.0 instead of using Internet Explorer or Firefox as internet browsers for the computers in our virtual library and nodal in order to speed up the internet connection.
It can be a little confusing to most students at first but once they would get the hang of it and noticed the faster internet connectivity speed then it would be a win win situation.

Use Proxy servers such as Wingate

What is a proxy server and how does it improved the internet connection?

In computer networks, a proxy server is a server (a computer system or an application program) that acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers. One of the functions of proxy servers is caching. A caching proxy server accelerates service requests by retrieving content saved from a previous request made by the same client or even other clients. Caching proxies keep local copies of frequently requested resources, allowing large organizations to significantly reduce their upstream bandwidth usage and cost, while significantly increasing performance.

Because of those benefits, I suggest using proxy servers such as WinGate in order to improve the internet connection of the school.

WinGate Proxy Server will share most types of Internet connection, allowing multiple users to simultaneously surf the web, retrieve their email, or use other internet programs, as if they were directly connected to the Internet. Whether it is a simple dialup modem or high speed fibre, WinGate Proxy Server can help to make the most out of the connection. WinGate Proxy Server supports a wide variety of Internet protocols, allowing applications such as Web browsers, messaging software, FTP and SSL. WinGate Proxy Server also supports DirectPlay Internet games and Real Time Streaming Audio/Video.

WinGate offers Control Internet Access. With WinGate Proxy Server's user database and policies, administrators can limit and control user access to the Internet. With logging, auditing, and a real time activity and history viewer, detailed records of user activities can be easily examined. This makes WinGate Proxy Server ideal for companies, schools, Internet cafes or any environment where Internet access needs to be monitored closely.
WinGate also offer Built-in Security. WinGate Proxy Server comes with a built-in packet-inspecting firewall. Your network safety can be further enhanced with optional plug-in components, available seperately, which will scan incoming data for viruses, or filter out inappropriate content in web traffic.

Use internet speed booster freeware such as Robust Internet Speed Booster 4.2.0.0

With the advent of freewares, why not use quality freewares such as the Robust Internet Speed Booster 4.2.0.0 in order to improve the internet connectivity. This kind of software are not that heavy on the memory of the computer itself (especially if the hardware and memory components are already upgraded..hehe) .Boost and optimize the speed of your Internet connection with this set of tools. Internet Speed Booster is a utility to help you keep your system healthy and responsive. This program is a package of 3 utilities, a network pinger - which prevents you from being disconnected by your ISP (Internet Service Provider) with. full control over the Ping interval, host, and sound. Internet Speed Booster - optimizes the way your Windows PC can send and receive information across the Internet in real time to prevent fragmentation of data transfers. Free Mem utility - allows you to free physical memory or RAM on your computer. Just select a target amount of free memory and click the Optimize button. You can also schedule it to automatically optimize RAM when it falls below a certain target level. While the actual maximum transfer speed of your Internet connection cannot be changed except by upgrading your hardware, Internet Speed Booster can increase the performance of your existing modem/network hardware by optimizing Windows modem/network settings to maximize the efficiency of your current hardware. By default, your Windows PC does not manage Internet connections as optimally as possible. Internet Speed Booster allows you to change certain Windows Registry settings that affect Internet connection speed through a simple, intuitive interface, boosting your Internet performance. It's the easiest, fastest way to boost your connection speed. Best of all...it' free!
Features:
1)Offers more than 200 Windows operating systems registry tweaks
2)Boost overall performance and data transfer rates up to 500%
3)You can choose manual or automatic configuration settings
4)All connection types are supported (Cable, LAN,DSL,ISDN,T1,T2,T3 Satellite and Dial-Up), as are all software and hardware adapters.
5)Easily restore your default Windows settings with the included back-up option 6)Comprehensive help file with definitions of various terms and settings is included.

Source:
http://legitreviews.com/article/929/1/
http://3d2f.com/programs/32-629-robust-internet-speed-booster-download.shtml
http://www.wingate.com/products/wingate/index.php

Barriers in IS/IT implementation

2009-08-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

Assignment # 5 - MIS

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

The first company that I took reference about this assignment was the DOLE Philippines where my group mates in the “sharing activity” interviewed one of their MIS programmers. Ford Davao was also one the companies that I considered as my reference where we interviewed their IT supervisor about this topic. I also interviewed the MIS officer of the Wilcon Builder’s Supply ( our adopted company for the major paper ) about this assignment.

According to Encarta dictionary, a barrier is something that obstructs or separates, often by emphasizing differences. Basically, as I understand it, the barriers in the implementation of IS/IT are factors that inhibit or causing the stoppage of the implementation process.

Based on all the interviews that I had with the companies that I visited, here are barriers in IS/IT implementation that I identified.

Insufficient Financial resource to support implementation

It is quite obvious why this barrier is common to all the answers that were given by the IT personnel of all the companies that I visited. In any organization, implementation cost is always one of the parameters that should be considered to identify whether the company can afford the implementation or not and as we all know, an IS/IT implementation can be very costly in most cases. Financial resource can be insufficient for a lot of reasons. One of the reasons can be because there are some other priorities that should be completed first rather than implementing IT/IS. Finances can be very difficult to produce especially if your company is just starting or your company is considered a small to medium enterprise that doesn’t have a good financial foundation. It is a fact that money is needed in order to implement any drastic change in a company whether it is on the IS/IT sector or others. Without the proper financial support, the needed resource/materials in the implementation of IS/IT will not be generated thus inhibiting the implementation of IS/IT in a company.

End User Resistance

One cliché tells us that the only constant thing in this world is change. But for some people, change can be very difficult if not frightening. Some people tend to be reluctant to go out of their comfort zones which would make them refuse to accept change. If there is an implementation of IS/IT, it should be expected that there can be resistance by some traditionalist who are not comfortable with the change. This resistance can be a problem especially if your company spends a considerable amount of financial resource for the implementation but the end users are not utilizing it making the implementation ineffective. In this case, the implementation of IT/IS will be considered a liability instead of an asset for the company.

This barrier can be avoided by proper planning, education and communication in order for end users to appreciate the new system.

Inadequate time for implementation

Time constriction is considered a barrier in IS implementation in cases where an information system takes considerably longer time to be planned and set up before it can be used for actual operation. Most of the proposed information system especially if it is made by an in-house department, would require a certain amount of time to be made and would consume ample time for rigorous testing to make sure that it is properly done and to lessen the margin of error as much as possible. If the system would be needed much earlier than expected, then time constriction would be a barrier for the implementation. The lack of enough time to make an information system would result in the failure of implementation and thus making it a barrier. It is safe to say, that time is also considered to be a factor in the implementation of IS/IT.

Green Campus Computing

2009-08-14T06:47:00.000-07:00

Assignment # 4 - MIS
Find three(3) URL's that talk's about "green campus computing" and suggest ways how the university can adopt this concept.

It is a fact that global warming has been a pretty disturbing issue that should be addressed by humans.The real issue in this problem is the extent of the human activities that are adding to the natural level of warming that contribute to the greenhouse effect, and gives potential bad implications for human society and life on earth.

We are aware that computers have evolved into something that is essential and has been a part of our lives.
Since computers play a vital role in our lives (especially in field of IT), we often forgot that computers also contribute to the degradation of the environment because it uses large amounts of electricity and some even adds to the growing e-wastes.

As one of the major computer users, we should at least be responsible and consider contributing to the preservation of our environment.

Since the assignment clearly specifies green “campus” computing and not green computing only, I will be featuring websites that features schools specifically universities that practice green computing.

Here are some of the websites that I found that features green campus computing.

1. http://www.energymanagement.umich.edu/utilities/energy_management/computing/
2. http://www.dailyutahchronicle.com/news/campus-computing-comes-up-green-1.345643
3 . http://esi.ucsd.edu/esiportal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=228&Itemid=101

Recommendation..

Just like the universities that I mentioned above, our university can also adopt their strategies in implementing green campus computing.

Based on the strategies from the site that I featured, here are some of my suggestions:

1. Create a specialized department in our university that separates anything that can be still utilized from true e-waste. Usable items are recycled or resold while the ones considered as waste should be handled or turned over to certified companies that process e-waste in an environmentally responsible manner. Aside from reducing waste, this kind of activity can generate financial resources for the university.

2. In order to reduce systems power consumption,

...Avoid using screen savers because it will still consume a certain amount of power even when the computer is idle. The best way is to automatically turn off the monitor after a reasonable period of inactivity.

...The University should also buy equipments that are Energy Star certified to ensure efficiency and will consume less energy compared to non-certified ones.

...In the future, the university should also have a centralize data operation to reduce systems power consumption by concentrating the power consumption on one campus data center instead of a decentralized one.

...And finally..the most obvious of all, make sure to turn off and unplug all power consuming devices when not in use.

On a positive note, I noticed that green campus computing is not a new concept to our university specifically to our College. Even before, I noticed that our college has been already using reused papers. There were also times where some of our professors also use reused papers as test papers during exams.

In addition, I would also like to commend our College for finally replacing some of our CRT monitors to LCD monitors which are more efficient because they can save more energy.

MIS journal 4

2009-08-03T05:43:00.000-07:00

We called the CSO manager concerning our request to conduct and ISNA because we still haven’t heard from them for weeks now. She told us that she hasn’t received any request yet and suggested that we call their information department to forward our request letter to her. We called the information department and asked them if our request letter that was addressed to the CSO manager was in their department. The operator told us that there was no letter forwarded to them concerning our request. We decided to go ask the guard personally where our letter went when we had the time to go there.
We also decided that we should submit a request letter to Ford Davao as our plan B if we ever we will be rejected at Macondray.

MIS journal 3

2009-07-28T05:42:00.000-07:00

Our gantt chart was approved and ready to be posted! Yepy!

MIS journal 2

2009-07-24T05:41:00.000-07:00

We submitted our request letter to Macondray Plastics, Inc. today enclosed with preliminary questions addressed to their CSO manager. The guard told us to leave the letter in their hands because they will be the one to give all the letters addressed to all of the employees of the company to the messenger that will be the one who will submit it to the information department.
During the succeeding weeks, we also started making our Gantt chart.

COMDDAP 2009 Learnings/Reflections

2009-07-10T23:12:00.000-07:00

July 2, 2009

We arrived at the Apo View Hotel at about 2:00 in the afternoon.

The venue was jam-packed with people coming from different sectors not only students. There were exhibits about different products all over the places.

When we went to the function room for the seminar, the attendance personnel told us that first seminar already started so we have to wait for the current seminar to end before we could
enter.

While waiting for the first seminar to end, my friends and I explored the exhibits and toured around the venue.

Particularly, I visited the Neo Manufacturing and Services booth where I tried using some of their notebooks and surf the net for free! Hehe..

Too bad I didn’t made calling cards so that I could join some of the raffle draws by other exhibitors.

The Seminar..

The HP Thin Client presented by Nexus Technologies, Inc.

According to the HP Thin ClientFamily Brochure

“ HP Thin Clients are computing consoles deployed as access device on a network. These solid-state devices are connected to a server where the bulk ofdata processing takes place. Designed with no hard drive. Thin Clients allow for more secure storage of data and applications on the server, better than standard PC. The absence of a hard drive or any other moving part ensures a much longer lifespan for Thin Clients, significantly reducing power consumption.

You can also benefit from lower maintenance cost as software application updates, virus scanning and patches are executed on the server.Deployment costs are also reduced as Thin Clients can be remotely configured,without any individual set-up.

HP Thin Client solutions provide greater security an efficiency in your work procedures to meet the most diverse computing requirements.”

They showed us that Thin Clients are already used by call centers and even universities in Thailand.

I can’t help but wonder..
When would our university adopt this kind of technology?

Retail Management System Overview by Nexus Professional Services and Solutions (NPSS)

This seminar discussed the key benefits of using Retail Management Systems particularly the Microsoft RMS in improving the efficiency of a business.

The speaker for this topic mentioned some key benefits such as streamline operations, improve profit margins and build customer loyalty to name a few.

As student at the moment, I admit that I didn’t really appreciate this kind of product as of now because I don’t have a business yet. But who knows? Maybe someday I might find this software quite handy…hehehe

Open Source for Business Applications by Spinweb Productions, Inc.

Of all the seminars that I attended during the COMDDAP Davao ’09, this is probably the most thought provoking.

The speaker referred their group as the “Black Sheep” of the Nexus Group because of the fact that they are the only company that campaign for open source technologies while their colleagues offer proprietary software.

According to the definition presented to us by the speaker, Open Source is an approach to the design, development, and distribution of software, offering practical accessibility to software’s source code.

The discussion started with the introduction of some Open Source Technologies that we already know and some that we were not familiar with up until that seminar. Some of the familiar ones are OpenOffice, Mozilla Firefox, GIMPshop, LimeWire, WordPress and VLC. The unfamiliar ones that they mentioned were Thunderbird, Pidgin, Transmission, Drupal , Joomla, Zen Cart and a whole lot more.

Free Software Vs. Open Source..

The speakers also discussed the issues concerning the conflict of definition between the Free Software and Open Source.

According to the Free Software Foundation, a software is considered a free software if it is allowed to be run for any purpose; modify the program for any purpose; copy program to help neighbor and improve program so that the whole community could benefit.

As far as I could remember the term “Free software” is an anti-commercial term while “Open Source” is not.

They also clarified that Open Source have licenses but most of their licenses are free contrary to the common belief that Open Source Technologies don’t have licenses.

On the Blue Corner: Open Source Technology

Using the assessment on the number of days that the web developers can make a website from scratch, the speaker showed us that using Open Source Technologies will really save time compared to proprietary ones. The web developers admitted that they can make a website based on the parameters used by the speaker in roughly 30 days. While in using Open Source the speaker showed that it will only take 16 days.

He explained the advantage of Open Source Technologies vs. the Proprietorship Software using what I call as the “Macbook Analogy” .

He asked us that if we were to buy a macbook from two stores who have the same features and price but the other store can give it to you a day earlier, which store would you likely choose to buy a macbook?

I thought, given that both stores have the same features and price..Of course I would definitely buy from the store that can give me my macbook earlier. It is obvious that my side at that time was on Open Source Technologies.

Aside from the point that using open source technologies can make some projects faster, they can be also be acquired for free. I mean, who doesn’t want free stuff? hehe

On the Red Corner: Proprietary Softwares

Just when almost everyone in the room was convinced that open source is a better choice compared to proprietary softwares, a gentleman raised his hand and asked a very interesting question to the speaker. As far as I could remember, this was his question…

“If you were given the chance to choose between using an open source technology and a proprietary system in a mission critical situation such as the automated 2010 election,which would you choose? “

The speaker answered that he cannot choose between the two because there are many variables that should be considered on a critical situation such as a nationwide election system.

The gentleman who asked the question was actually a representative from the Microsoft Company. Since no further questions was asked concerning the open source technologies, the gentleman asked the speaker if he could speak in front of us. The speaker agreed and let him talk to the audience.

The gentleman raised some interesting points that made me thought about the side of the proprietary softwares.

He clarified that he’s not entirely against open source technologies. He said that if he is a student and he needs a software for simple activity such as word processing, he would definitely use an open source for practicality.

But open source technology is not the only and best option on all situations particularly on mission critical situations.

He stressed that one of the important parameter to consider in choosing a software is the LEVEL OF LIABILITY that you need. If you will choose a proprietary system and if something goes wrong in your system at least you can sue someone. Unlike in open source where you can’t technically sue someone because you got it for free and it is up to you to develop it to your preferences. And if something goes wrong in your system and you are the top level programmer, it will be hard for you to find someone who can help you fix your system. And if you’re lucky to find a "stranger” who can fix it, it is likely that they may charge you more for it and may even request to have an in-depth look at your system which may compromise your system’s security.

He also used the the ‘Macbook Analogy’ ..

In his example, he asked the audience (which is us..) that if we were to choose between a macbook that is sold in a well respected retailer vs. a macbook sold by a stranger in a much cheaper price which would we choose?

He ended his speech with athought provoking quote.

“Remember that there no such thing as free in this world.Everything has its own consequences. In Microsoft, you may pay more nowbut rest assured that you’ll get free support later while in open source, you may get it for free now but there is a possibility that you‘may’ pay more later.”

And the crowd loved him. hehe

July 3, 2009

It was pretty noticeable that there were less people on the second day of the exhibit compared to yesterday.The main reason why I went on the exhibit was to drop some of my “calling cards” hoping to win some prizes.hehe

Windows Server 2008 by Edupro , Inc.

We learned all about the new features of Windows Server 2008 such as Read-Only
Domain Controller, Network Access, Hyper V to name a few.

I pretty much had an idea about this topic because we already discussed some Network Operating Systems such asthe Windows Server 2008 last semester in DataCom 2. hehe

Conclusion

Overall, I can say that attending the COMDDAP ’09 Davao was a wonderful learning experience.

I want to say thank you to Sir G. for giving us the opportunity to attend this amazing event. Hehe

Automated Election System in 2010

2009-07-09T22:06:00.000-07:00

Assignment number 3

Your thoughts on automated elections with reference to the current situation ...

My views will concentrate on the field which I can mostly relate to which is the IT issues concerning the automated election.

Let’s first define automation.
According to Microsoft Encarta 2008 dictionary, automation means the replacement of human workers or a system in which a workplace or process has been converted to one that replaces or minimizes human labor with mechanical or electronic equipment.

For the first time in the Philippine Electoral history, an automated election system will be implemented next year.
And If you would ask me, I think it’s about time.

Since the Smartmatic and Total Information Management Corporation (TIM) have resolved their differences, the focus now concentrated on the preparations for the incoming election.

In regards with the 2010 election, there have been a lot of issues that has emerged ever since the Smartmatic-TIM consortium has been chosen as the partner of COMELEC on the automation for the next year’s election.

With only less than a year to prepare, there have been issues that have been specifically addressed by the IT community that concerns about the automated election system and I will give my opinion on some of them.

Can the Automated Election System (AES) be hacked?

Well for me, anything is possible in the realm of possibilities. On the context of hacking, I think all of us are aware that before we could hack a certain system you should have some knowledge about the inner programs or workings of the system you want to hack. There has been a debate whether to expose the code used by the Smartmatic-TIM to the public for scrutiny and expose the vulnerabilities of the code to computer security experts .
In my opinion, exposing the code to the public is a very serious security mistake. We are all aware that the more exposed any system is the more vulnerable it is from hacking. In a layman’s point of view, the more people look at it, the more people will know how to cheat the system.

Machine Vulnerability

As I watched the Reporter’s Notebook episode last Tuesday about the 2010 automated election, they mentioned that one of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines that was tested emitted smoke during the standard machine testing evaluation. The Smartmatic claimed that the problem was not due to machine failure but rather a human error. They added that one of the people who tested the machine accidentally pulled out some wires that should not be pulled that caused the machine to emit smoke.
This notion appalled me because the concept that the machines may accidentally or intentionally be broken may cause to lose all the votes that have been casted on the machine. This could be a serious problem that should be addressed by the COMELEC and Smartmatic-TIM.

The use of removable memory..

Here's an excerpt from an article from THIS website
“..Smartmatic’s “newer model” has similar features with this machine – with one crucial difference: the proprietary security and counting software would no longer be housed and secured inside the machine itself, but contained in a removable memory card that would be in the custody of members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI), according to Ramon Casiple, chairman of the Consortium on Electoral Reforms (CER) which is also a member of the CAC.”

In my opinion, having the proprietary security and counting software on a removable memory such as a flash drive or a memory disk is a very dangerous security risk. It is a risk in a sense that having the important software outside the machine itself will make more vulnerable for alterations compared when it is on the machine itself where it is much harder to modify.

Pricey Pens and Modems..

Here is an excerpt on an article from the THIS site..
“ .. Apart from ballot-counting machines, the package also comes with high-powered servers for storing and canvassing votes, laptop computers and workstations for monitoring the data, printers for the paper trail, digital security cards, modems for data transmission, and even pens for marking ballots.
.. The modems, which retail for less than P2,500 in the market, are listed by TIM-Smartmatic at two to three times that price. At more than 50,000 units, the discrepancy comes out to an apparent overpricing of more than P320 million.“

Other people may say that 7B budget for the election is just a small price to pay for the most anticipated automation for 2010 election but having a discrepancy of over 320 million for modems alone? Are you freaking kidding me?! It is definitely a lot of money just to be given to the pockets of Smartmatic-TIM. This is clearly a corruption that is in front of our faces. This amount of money can be used to other meaningful things such as payment for manpower. What really bothers me is what does the COMELEC say to this? How could they allow this such anomaly when they are using the money of the people? It is really a shame if they allowed this.

Comelec to tap 80,000 IT people for 2010 elections

Here’s an excerpt from an article from gmanews.tv

“..With the obstacles to poll automation for the 2010 elections almost all cleared, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is now looking for information technology (IT) people to handle the voting machines.
Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento on Thursday said at least 80,000 IT personnel are needed to assist board of elections inspectors (BEIs) in the forthcoming polls.

He explained that the Comelec is allowed to tap IT-capable persons to be present in each precinct during Election Day.
Only those accredited by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) would be tapped, he added. Sarmiento said the mechanics of tapping IT people will be up for discussion at the Comelec very soon.”( Source: gmanews.tv)

In my opinion, it is just right that Comelec should seek the help of IT people to help in handling the voting machines.
It is a fact that some of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) are not familiar with the new technology that will be used in the election and may have problems dealing with the machines to be used that can cause delay of the election process. But the question is can the government really provide those number of man power during the election? I sure hope so.

This is just one of the evidences that the IT field is a fast growing industry and is now playing a big role in our community.

Risks on IT/IS change

2009-07-07T20:38:00.000-07:00

Assignment # 2

Based on the orgnaization(s) that you visited, what do you think are the risks associated with business and IS/IT change? (1000 words)

The company hunting..

The company that my group mates visited for the first assignment is actually the same company that I will be featuring for assignment number 2 which is the DOLE Philippines.

Since sir Randy already approved DOLE as our adopted company for our module discussion, I already assume that he allow DOLE as our company to be featured in this assignment..Hehe ( I hope I’m right..)

Our interview was conducted mostly by using the vernacular language..therefore my answer to this assignment is largely the way I understand what our interviewee was trying to say. I mainly picked out the keywords that she mentioned and elaborated it according to my understanding.

Company background..

Here is a brief company profile of our adopted company for this assignment according to the official website of the DOLE Philippines(http://www.dole.com.ph/CompanyInfo.htm.)

Dole is the world's largest producer and marketer of high-quality fresh fruits, fresh vegetables and fresh cut flowers with a growing line of quality packaged foods. Dole’s dedication to quality is a commitment solidly backed by: comprehensive programs for food safety, scientific crop protection programs, stringent quality control measures, state-of-the-art production and transportation technologies, continuous improvement through research and innovation, and dedication to the safety of our employees, communities and the environment. Dole is committed to nutrition education to communicate to the public the health benefits of eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.

In the Philippines, Dole has introduced premium quality, healthy food products in fresh and packaged foods. Its focus on health and nutrition remains strong even as Dole continues to expand its healthy food products. Its product lines range from canned pineapple solids, canned mixed fruits, canned beverages, packaged fruit snacks to tomato sauce.

Risks on IS/IT change…

Here are the risks of IS/IT change that I picked out from our interview with the MIS programmer of DOLE.

The first thing that she mentioned as one of the primary risk involving a system change would be System Failure. This kind of risk usually happens when the system was not properly planned and well designed. She deliberately emphasized that the company should have a thorough, extensive and proper planning before making any change of system. She also said that it is important to asses first if there is really a need for a change of system or not. The IT personnel should determine if changing the system is the really the best option there are other alternatives such as system upgrade rather than whole system change. She also mentioned during the interview that the IT personnel should determine what specific component of the system must be changed. Is there a need to change the database or programming language used or is there a need to convert from desktop to web?

She also mentioned that one of the probable risks is financial. She didn’t expound much in this aspect maybe because the reason was too obvious. This kind of risk largely affects the financial aspect of any business. Just like any kind of project, investing on changing a new system will require money and resources that if (worst case scenario) the system will fail, will cause the company to lose certain amount of resources that could have been used on other projects and future undertakings.

On the organizational level, she mentioned that the risk involving a system change would primarily concentrate on the employees. If a system change would happen, there is a risk that employees who are accustomed with the old system may have a problem dealing with the new system and will therefore prefer to the use the old one and disregard the new one. That’s why it is very important for the company to deliberately involve the end users and make sure that they will have a proper support and training for them to use the new system effectively.

On the technical level, she also mentioned that one of the risks on making a system change would be the loss of data. Data is one of the important components of any IS or IT system. The loss of data can be crucial because data is considered as one if not the most important component in any information system. It is a possibility that during a system change such as an IT/IS change in a company, inaccuracy and incompleteness of data may occur. This kind of risk will boil down to loss of integrity of the data in general.

NOTE:
The interview is supported with a recorded evidence.

MIS journal 1

2009-07-07T05:37:00.000-07:00

Ford Davao and Macondray Platics, Inc. was approved today by Sir Gamboa to be our prospect companies for our major paper.

IS Leadership Roles

2009-06-27T18:34:00.000-07:00

According to this WEBSITE, the following are the six IS Leadership Roles:

1.Chief Architect – The chief architect designs future possibilities for the business. The primary work of the chief architect is to design and evolve the IT infrastructure so that it will expand the range of future possibilities for the business, not define specific business outcomes. The infrastructure should provide not just today’s technical services, such as networking , databases and desktop operating systems, but an increasing range of business-level services, such as workflow, portfolio management, scheduling and specific business components or objects.

2.Change Leader – the change leader orchestrates resources to achieve optimal implementation of the future. The essential role of the change leader is to orchestrate all those resources that will be needed to execute the change program. This includes providing new IT tools, but it also involves putting in place teams of people who can redesign roles, jobs, and workflow, who can change beliefs about the company and the work people do, and who understand human nature and can develop incentive systems to coax people into new and different behaviors.

3.Product Developer – The product developer helps define the company’s place in the emerging digital economy. For example, a product developer might recognize the potential for performing key business processes (perhaps order fulfillment, purchasing or delivering customer support) over electronic linkages such as the Internet. The product developer must “sell” the idea to a business partner and together they can set up and evaluate business experiments, which are initially operated out of IS. Whether the new methods are adopted or not, the company will learn from the experiments and so move closer to commercial success in emerging digital markets.

4.Technology Provocateur – The technology provocateur embeds IT into the business strategy. The technology provocateur works with senior business executives to bring IT and realities of the IT marketplace to bear on the formation of strategy for the business. The technology provocateur is a senior business executive who understands both the business and IT at a deep enough level to integrate the two perspectives in discussions about the future course of the business. Technology provocateurs have a wealth of experience in IS disciplines, so they understand at a fundamental level the capabilities of IT and how IT impacts the business.

5.Coach - The coach teaches people to acquire the skillsets they will need for the future. Coaches have two responsibilities: teaching people how to learn, so that they can become self-sufficient, and providing team leaders with staff able to do the IT-related work of the business. A mechanism that assists both is the center of excellence - a small group of people with a particular competence or skill, with a coach responsible for their growth and development. Coaches are solid practitioners of the competence that they will be coaching, but need not be the best at it in the company.

6.Chief operating strategist - The chief operating strategist invents the future with senior management. The chief operating strategist is the top IS executive who is focused on the future agenda of the IS organization. The strategist has parallel responsibilities related to helping the business design the future, and then delivering it. The most important, and least understood, parts of the role have to do with the interpretation of new technologies and the IT marketplace, and the bringing of this understanding into the development of the digital business strategy for the organization.

Managerial Roles according to Mintzberg

2009-06-26T18:20:00.000-07:00

Mintzberg then identified ten separate roles in managerial work, each role defined as an organized collection of behaviours belonging to an identifiable function or position. He separated these roles into three subcategories: interpersonal contact, information processing and decision making.

1. Informational

*Monitor - Seek and acquire work-related information

Ex. Scan/read trade press, periodicals, reports; attend seminars and
training; maintain personal contacts

* Disseminator - Communicate/ disseminate information to others within the organization

Ex. Send memos and reports; inform staffers and subordinates of decisions

* Spokesperson - Communicate/transmit information to outsiders

Ex. Pass on memos, reports and informational materials; participate in
conferences/meetings and report progress

2. Interpersonal

* Figurehead - Perform social and legal duties, act as symbolic leader

Ex. Greet visitors, sign legal documents, attend ribbon cutting ceremonies,
host receptions, etc.

* Leader - Direct and motivate subordinates, select and train employees

Ex. Includes almost all interactions with subordinates

* Liaison - Establish and maintain contacts within and outside the organization

Ex. Business correspondence, participation in meetings with representatives
of other divisions or organizations.

3 .Decisional

* Entrepreneur - Identify new ideas and initiate improvement projects

Ex. Implement innovations; Plan for the future

* Disturbance Handler - Deals with disputes or problems and takes corrective action.

Ex. Settle conflicts between subordinates; Choose strategic alternatives;
Overcome crisis situations

* Resource Allocator - Decide where to apply resources

Ex. Draft and approve of plans, schedules, budgets; Set priorities

* Negotiator - participates in negotiation activities with other organisations and individuals

In the real world, these roles overlap and a manager must learn to balance them in order to manage effectively. While a manager’s work can be analyzed by these individual roles, in practice they are intermixed and interdependent. According to Mintzberg:

“The manager who only communicates or only conceives never gets anything done, while the manager who only ‘does’ ends up doing it all alone.”

Mintzberg next analysed individual manager's use and mix of the ten roles according to the six work related characteristics. He identified four clusters of independent variables: external, function related, individual and situational. He concluded that eight role combinations were 'natural' configurations of the job:

1. contact manager -- figurehead and liaison
2. political manager -- spokesperson and negotiator
3. entrepreneur -- entrepreneur and negotiator
4. insider -- resource allocator
5. real-time manager -- disturbance handler
6. team manager -- leader
7. expert manager -- monitor and spokesperson
8. new manager -- liaison and monitor

Mintzberg's study on the 'nature of managerial work' exposed many managerial myths requiring change such as replacing the aura of reflective strategists carefully planning their firm's next move with one of fallible humans who are continuously interrupted. Indeed, half of the managerial activities studied lasted less than nine minutes. Mintzberg also found that although individual capabilities influence the implementation of a role, it is the organisation that determines the need for a particular role, addressing the common belief that it predominantly a manager's skill set that determines success. Effective managers develop protocols for action given their job description and personal preference, and match these with the situation at hand.

Pros:

The reality of management is that 'the pressures of the job drive the manager to take on too much work, encourage interruption, respond to every stimulus, seek the tangible and avoid the abstract, make decisions in small increments'. Mintzberg's key contribution was to highlight the importance of understanding CEOs' time management and tasks in order to be able to improve their work and develop their skills appropriately.

The most valued theoretical contribution was Mintzberg's role typology. Its validity was demonstrated in consecutive studies and thus created a common language. His contingency model linking management types to roles was less valuable.

Mintzberg's aim was to observe unbiased managerial behaviour and analyse it through empirical research. Before his research, the normative frameworks produced by Fayol's 'administrative management'and Gulick's POSDCORB were dominant. Mintzberg's role typology 'debunked' these normative systems.

Cons:

Mintzberg does not assume ex-ante what an (in)effective or (non)successful manager entails. He also neglects the relationship between managerial behaviour and organisational effectiveness.

Furthermore, he takes a 'neutral' position on the managerial role omitting influences such as ownership and power. Identified contingency factors explain differences in the make-up of managerial work.

The empirical study is based on five organisations in action. The small sample size means that the results should not be applied to all industry, organisations or management positions.

In his 1973 study, Mintzberg declared that the manager's position is always the starting point in organisational analysis. He also argued that managerial roles are sequential - a manager first makes interpersonal contact through his formal status which in turn allows information processing and leads to decision making. Mintzberg later rejected this relationship based on new empirical data.

References:

http://www.provenmodels.com/88/ten-managerial-roles/mintzberg

http://management.atwork-network.com/2008/04/15/mintzberg%E2%80%99s-10-managerial-roles/

Assignment #1 - Best Practices in IT/IS

2009-06-26T06:20:00.000-07:00

Assignment #1

Identify a local organization(s) and discuss some of their best practices in IT/IS ... this should be well-supported with any evidences.

Before I would discuss about the best practices in IT/IS of our adopted company, here is a brief company background of DOLE for this assignment.

DOLE Philippines
Company Background

Dole is the world's largest producer and marketer of high-quality fresh fruits, fresh vegetables and fresh cut flowers with a growing line of quality packaged foods. Dole’s dedication to quality is a commitment solidly backed by: comprehensive programs for food safety, scientific crop protection programs, stringent quality control measures, state-of-the-art production and transportation technologies, continuous improvement through research and innovation, and dedication to the safety of our employees, communities and the environment. Dole is committed to nutrition education to communicate to the public the health benefits of eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.

In the Philippines, Dole has introduced premium quality, healthy food products in fresh and packaged foods. Its focus on health and nutrition remains strong even as Dole continues to expand its healthy food products. Its product lines range from canned pineapple solids, canned mixed fruits, canned beverages, packaged fruit snacks to tomato sauce.

Source: http://www.dole.com.ph/CompanyInfo.htm

The Company hunting..

Honestly speaking, DOLE Philippines was not actually our first choice as the company to feature in our first assignment.

Last Wednesday, the original plan of our group was to interview the assistant of the IT manager of the AMA Computer College. He agreed to have an informal interview outside their school because outsiders were not allowed in their campus. But due to an unexpected circumstance he was not able to meet us and therefore will have to cancel our appointment.

The plan B was to interview one of the IT personnel of the Department of Social Welfare and Development or DSWD where one of our group mate works. The DSWD needed a formal letter signed by our instructor to accommodate us. Unfortunately, sir Randy did not approved our chosen organization and deliberately specified that if possible that we should adopt a private company to have a more meaningful learning experience.

And so the search goes on…

Fortunately, thanks to Anthony’s connection, one of the MIS programmer of the DOLE Philippines agreed to meet us at SJRDC Building, Lanang and answer our questions concerning our assignment. Hurray!

Based on our interview last Thursday with one of MIS programmer of DOLE Philippines, here are the best practices in IT/IS that I picked out..

1. Provide Backups and Recovery Plans in any system or project.

This is probably one of the most common and most important thing to consider when creating, implementing or on the process of maintaining a system. Backups and Recovery Plans allow the company to have an assurance that the data will not be lost in case the systems accidentally fail.

She mentioned that if you’re an IT personnel, it is practically a rule of thumb to backup everything that you are working on.

2. Annual Training for all IT personnel.

As far as I could remember during our HRM discussions last semester, Training is a must-do for human resource development.

Based on what I understood on what our interviewee said, training of human resources (especially IT personnel) will help refresh or update them with the necessary skills and technical development on their field. Their newly acquired learning and skills will help them make more effective systems in the future and therefore will make them a great asset for the company’s development in general.

3. Thorough System Analysis.

Before making any system for the company, thorough system analysis is very important because this is the stage of the system development where IT pipz answer crucial questions like What specific kind of system does the company need? Or Do we really need to make a new system or just an upgrade?

This is because improperly analyzed and poorly planned systems may result to inefficient and impractical systems which can be a liability instead of an asset for the company.

Included in this protocol is the extensive and thorough planning and budgeting for their system or project especially during a system change.

4. Testing of Systems.

One of their standard procedures after the development of a system is the methodical and meticulous testing of the system in order to (as much as possible) reduce the margin of error.

5. Having an internal IT personnel rather than outsourcing.

According to our interviewee, the DOLE Philippines does not outsource IT people but rather they have their own IT personnel who will make and maintain their systems.

In her opinion, the advantages o f having internal IT in a company are

First, if you would calculate the cost when it comes to hiring IT/IS personnel, having your own internal IT personnel is cheaper in the long run compared to outsourcing.

And second, it is more flexible in a sense that internal ITs can make systems according to their company’s need unlike when outsourcing where it is standardized based on the trend in the market.

PS.
Sir, our interview is supported with a recorded evidence. cheers.

the first day of class...

2009-06-25T07:57:00.000-07:00

The things that I realized during the first day in general..

* I really missed wearing my uniform.
* I'm very happy to see my friends again after the loooong vacation.
* We are less than 20 students in class..while the other MIS class is more than 30..(I think.)
* I'm excited to learn.

Learnings:
* There are four components in management namely: Planning, Directing, Organizing and Controlling. (in short PDOC)
* You can manage time, data, things, events..etc. but not people.
* People are not meant to be managed..but led.
* MIS = Software plus Hardware plus Peopleware

Under Construction

2009-06-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

Please be informed that this blog is under construction...

Now that you've asked..yes..

2009-02-01T23:39:00.000-08:00

1. Promise to be honest?
► sure, sure

2.Who was your last text from?
► jerusalem alvaira

3.When is the next time u’ll kiss some1?
► what am I, a fortune teller?

4.Last time u wer drunk?
► never been drunk.

5.r u hapy ryt now?
► yeah..

6.Wen is ur birthday?
► september 19

7.Do you think you’ll be married in 10 years?
► Pls refer to question # 3.

8.Did u have a good day?
►I think so..

9.R u happy with d way things r going now.
►yep. so far..

10.What are you supposed to be doing right now?
►..hahahahha!! I love this question..

11.How old are your sibling/s?
►19 and 16

12.Is your frndzter profile private?
►nope..

13.Do you believe in love?
►yez..

14.Do you think relationships are even worth it?
► ya.sure.

15.Do you trust him?
► Him? yeah!

16.Who did you last tell a secret to?
► It's not technically a secret if I told someone..

17. Will this weekend be a good one?
►YES!

18.Is there anybody u wish u could b spending time with right now?
► my friends..

19.Who was the first person you talked to today?
►mama

20.Is there someone on your mind that shouldn't be?
► hmm. now that you've asked.. yes.

21.Are u waiting 4 something?
► yep.

22.Who was the last person u hugged?
►ilyn!

23. Did u have a dream last night?
►I think so, but I don't remember it. nyahahha!

24.How many piercings do u have?
► as of now, none. (napikot eh..) hahaha!

25.Want someone back in ur life?
► YES!!!!

26.Are you good at giving directions?
► noooo..

27.Last time you cried really really hard?
► *recalling*... i don't remember.

28.What is your favorite thing to eat with peanut butter?
► loaf bread.

29.What body part(s) do you wash first in the shower?
► my hands.

30.Do you prefer hot or cold weather?
► COLD..

31.Have you ever made someone so mad that they broke something?
► YES! YES! hahahhaha!

32.What is ur favorite color?
► Chartreuse and pink

33.How do u feel when someone kisses u on the forehead?
►speacial.

34.Do u think your last ex deserves to die?
► i don't have one.. ^^.

35.Have you ever broken someone's heart?
► neh..

36.Has anyone ever told u they want to spend the rest of their life with you?
►a proposal?.. nooo..

37.Jealous?
► of what?

38.Will your next kiss be a mistake?
► pls refer to question # 3 again...but I hope not.

39.When was the last time you saw your grandpa?
► months and months ago..

40.Do you know anyone with cancer?
► yep. (T_T)

41.Who was the last person you talked to in person?
►my mom.

42.Have you lost friends in the past 3 years?
► hmm..

43.Have you ever talked to someone when they were high?
► kanang mura lang high.. hahahah!

44.Do you talk about your feelings or hide them?
► I prefer to hide them most of the time.

45.Where did you sleep last night?
► at my comfy bed.

46.Have you ever collapsed on the bathroom floor?
► never.

47.Are you afraid of falling in love?
►not afraid but more of..not ready yet.. hahahaha!

Spread the word people!

2009-01-30T20:42:00.000-08:00

This Should Keep Us All Thinking

Unless God moves you, You are to bloom where you're planted.

2009-01-30T03:51:00.000-08:00

1. in your group of friends, you are:
► the "ok-to-everything" girl

2. your dream home is where?:
► somewhere in Los Angeles,USA or Kyoto,Japan or Seoul, Korea(ambisyosa)
.`
3. totally on the spur of the moment you would dye your hair what color?:
►very very DARK brown near black

4. do you walk fast or slow?
► often fast..*because I'm LATE!!*

5. you are ticklish where?:
►Left palm *hopefully more money!*

6. in the past month, have you been dumped?
► who ME?!

7. would you date someone whose overweight?
► sure. my Rule of thumb is as long as he's harmless, it's ok.

8. if you could read ONE person's mind, who would you pick?
► Sir JAPHET! (because he's my professor in 2 major subjects, so reading his mind would be REALLY interesting. hahahahha!!!)

9. wish you were in what place?
► IN the outerspace!

10. what is your favorite name?
► Athina Margarette... hahahha!!

11. do you have a dog?
► yep.

12. have you ever been to korea?
► not YET!!! hopefully sooooon..

13. what is your favorite movie?
► FACING THE GIANTS!!!

14. have you ever been totally falling down drunk?
► Never.

15. did you ever sneak out of school?
► yep.

16. have you ever been to a fortune teller?
► yeah.

17. do you wear a watch?
► nope.

18. do you believe in reincarnation?
► no. I don't believe that God "recycle" souls..

19. do you own a CD burner?
► nope.

20. can you type without looking at the keys?
► yep.

21. are you smart at math?
► how I wish I was!
`
22. ever been on a cruise ship?
► never been..(-_-)

23. do you regret anything?
► yeah..and it sucks.

24. are you in love?
►YES! in love with my life!

25. what month were you born?
► September

26. if you had to say a saying at this moment what would it be?
► Unless God moves you, You are to bloom where you're planted.

27. would you swim with dolphins?
► SURE!

28. do you like the color of your eyes?
► yeah.. because it matches the color of my hair..

29. would you ever pierce your finger nail?
► nooo..`

30. grade school: do it again or glad its over?
► do it again! do it again!

31. what was more important to you, grades or popularity?
► I prefer grades..I hate being the center of attention.

32.were you involved in any extracurricular activities?
► yep. *in highschool* karon ala na..