Euthopian Dream (Flying without wings)

Reflections of the movies below :)

2011-03-01T11:38:00.000-08:00

Future Technology
“Technology cannot save all our problems, and even if it could, there is some intrinsic value in doing a little hard work yourself.” when you aim this high, you can beat all the competition even if you fail to set a new world record”.

1.Wall-E movie
Reflection:
As I watch the movie it’s sweet, clever, funny, and visually stunning and the story seems interesting, besides this movie which is “Wall-E,” creates a revolution by inspiring a reflection on the defense of life and hope for humanity. It promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E, is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. The story follows a robot named WALL-E, who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future. He eventually falls in love with another robot named EVE, and follows her into outer space on an adventure that changes the destiny of both his kind and humanity. WALL-E is quite simply, a wonderful animated film that teeters on the edge of greatness but stumbles ever so slightly toward being merely very good. The movie is at its best and most innovative during its first third, which plays like visionary piece of science fiction gene-spliced with a silent movie romantic comedy. As horrible as that hybrid might sound, it is actually a potent combination. Vast cityscapes, beautifully rendered with computer-generated imagery, dazzle the as much as any live-action special effects movie, while the quirky little love story engages your heart without insulting your head. This amazing section of the film is a triumph of animated pantomime. Although the two robots exchange a few words (basically, their names), the storytelling rests on the visuals, which succeed magnificently at overcoming the most obvious hurdle built into the plot: How can we identify with the romantic yearnings of an inhuman mechanical droid – especially when he can never tell us what is in his heart?
I love the characters of the movie one of this is the new woman, Eve, is not only beautiful and perfect but also has time to fall in love, save the world and restore the life of her boyfriend: an absolute revolution in Hollywood’s imaginary cinematography, and the male character in the movie is left with the task of finding a place for poetry and beauty in a world “without life, covered in trash and awaiting the return of humans who wander in a giant spaceship to again repopulate the earth, Piersanti wrote. “The robotic Adam and Eve have the task of restoring to man the place that awaits him”. The script of this movie does not say that humans are part of the problem but part of the solution. The real problem is disengaging from the world, relying on machines to do the work that people should do. The idea that people are preferable to machines is neither radical nor liberal; if anything it’s profoundly conservative. Only someone looking for a place to grind his ax could find fault with the movie’s message, which is nothing more outrageous than,

2.Surrogates
Reflection:
This movie Surrogates is one of those movies that makes like the Ghost of Christmas Yet to come in that it takes place in a not-too-distant future. It’s a warning of sorts or, at the very least, a heads up. Just about everyone has a robot self, a surrogate, that exists in the public world. We humans are relegated to languishing in our homes, being all unattractive and such. But these surrogates are the model of perfection, at least in the looks department. At least, that was the gist that I got. Surrogate Bruce Willis’ hair looked like it belonged on a teenaged Donald Trump.
Surrogates questions the direction of disconnect in which we could be headed. With technology we can be more connected than ever, but it’s replacing the important person-to-person interactions. Rather than chatting with the people we’re standing in line with, we’re engaging in text conversations with people on the other side of town. Instead of taking a short walk down the hall to see if a co-worker wants to grab a bite to eat, we’re often sending them an email. It’s an act of removal and the creation of real surrogates would be the ultimate embodiment of this.
Ironically, Surrogates raises a lot of big and relevant questions, something integral to great science fiction. Although answers don’t always have to be provided, I never fully got the sense that the movie did little more than scratch the surface of possibilities. And because of that, it created the very same vacuum of disconnect it appeared to be investigating.

3.Eagles Eye
Reflection:
The movie “Eagle Eye” is a totally derivative, unoriginal techno-thriller, cribbing scenes and ideas from films as diverse as “North by Northwest,” “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “War Games.” But it’s also thoroughly entertaining, with a fun cast and a plot that moves quickly from crisis to crisis, action scene to action scene. The movie kicks off deep within the Pentagon. It seems that a high-value terrorist target might be on the move, and Secretary of Defense Callister (Michael Chiklis) has been called in to pull the trigger. With just a 51 percent likelihood of an identity match — determined from video/voice info culled from cell phones and satellite imagery — Callister (and the computer running the command center) suggest terminating the mission. The president pushes ahead; however, firing on what might be a funeral and sparking international backlash. This movie fails to explore the admittedly justified suspicions that it arouses with any seriousness. D.J. Caruso delivers a competent thriller, substituting explosions and outrageous notions for personal style and thoughtful storytelling. DreamWorks' 2-disc DVD set will probably satisfy fans of the film, but the movie hardly warrants the special edition treatment.

4.Irobot
Reflection:
The movie doesn't really make clear what a different world it would be if intelligent robots were everywhere. There is brief mention of people losing their jobs to robots, which would certainly happen. But think about the effect on the economy if the cost of labor was effectively zero. Every product imaginable would become dirt cheap, effectively making us all millionaires. And the fast pace of scientific discovery we have now would seem glacial compared to an era when smart machines are designing even smarter machines. Some people call this rapidly approaching moment The Singularity, because once it happens knowledge expands so fast that it's impossible for us to imagine what it would be like. It's apparent fairly early on that this I, Robot won't detain itself with questions about AI ethics or philosophy. It starts as a whodunit, with Spooner as the bitter cop with a murder theory, which no one believes because he has an Issue with Robots. We're meant to side with him, because the robots' defense team includes dry-ice programmer Bridget Moynihan and corporate honcho Bruce Greenwood, who I expected to be addressed by a concerned robot: "You are in serious danger of being typecast as a callous Stupid White Man. For the safety of your career, please proceed in a calm fashion to the nearest Atom Egoyan casting call." It's almost touchingly naïve; who has more time for creative endeavors,

5.Pirates of the Silicon Valley
Reflection:
This is the story of the growth of the personal computer industry. The movie while based on historical fact did alter things a bit for dramatic reasons. The Movie begins with IBM in the early 1980's, the big brother in the computer world that everyone else feared. Everyone dressed alike at IBM, company songs and jingles filled the air, and men in suits were everywhere. In the movie Steve Jobs split his company, Apple into two camps. One the old Apple computer camp and the other the new Macintosh development camp. After seeing this effect on the company, Steve Jobs is forced to leave his position at Apple. Years later the movie picks up with Steve Jobs back in command of Apple who now has partnered with Microsoft and Bill Gates This was a made for TV movie by Turner but it was an excellent movie.
The film dutifully details the skyrocketing of Apple from a manufacturer of the first cookie cutter color PCs (the Apple II that didn't leave your high school until well after you did) to one of the biggest personal computer companies to the giant taken down by the people that helped build it up (don't you know, Microsoft helped make the original Macintosh operating system).

The movie also showcases the big sneaky moves of the business. It shows how Apple grabbed the idea of the GUI from Xerox, how Microsoft got the first DOS from someone else, and how Microsoft started making its own interfaces. Pirates of Silicon Valley also paints an anecdotal picture of the insanity of Jobs and Gates -- Jobs incites cross product team food fights, Gates drives a bulldozer on the grounds of the Redmond campus.

The primary problem with Pirates of Silicon Valley is that it paints every person and event in it like Central Park caricatures. Wyle tries too hard at being the brilliant asshole. Anthony Michael Hall plays Bill Gates like the unpopular kid trying to take over the clubhouse. It also plays lip gloss to a lot of the real reasons for the popularity of Windows (hardware interoperability, business computing needs, supply chain distribution, and developer friendliness).

Why do we need study technology?

2010-12-10T11:48:00.001-08:00

Nowadays technology is really indispensable in a community. Mostly people depend on the technology it has become necessary to understand the importance of technology so that we can keep up with the racing time. Technology has become important in the fast life of today. We can't deny the fact that with the use of technology we can do things easier.
It is very essential to study technology because it allows people to utilize tools that allow overcoming of mental and physical boundaries. There are many discoveries that really help people to do a thing. Example the internet made it possible for this information to reach far and wide, the students can make their research and assignment easily and comfortable because the information they needed is already in the internet. Another discovery is the Radio communication has made it possible to broadcast programs that can reach to radios in the remotest households. Besides people aware of the happenings of the world and the latest news. After the discovery of electricity, technology was employed to bring electricity to households in every corner of the world. The world could light up in the dark, thanks to the effective generation and distribution of electricity. People use technology in everyday life, such as farming, and things like that. So if we didn't have technology it would be a way slow process with a bunch of unhappy people that want things now. There are so many examples of technology and why people need it. Thanks to technology, many of the critical and time-consuming processes have been automated. Technology has the potential of changing the face of the world. In addition With the developments in technology, we may be able to enjoy all the pricey luxuries but miss out on the little priceless joys of life.

Assingnment 4 (SAD)

2010-10-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

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

SRIS from Joan Dandoy of the University Enrollment System

PRF it is a form which the students needs it during enrollment.It contains the basic requirement for the enrollment process.
SRIS it is an automated system that will arrange the information.

Assingnment 3 (SAD2)

2010-10-15T12:37:00.000-07:00

Interview your university network specialist. Ask how various parts of the system communicates with each other throughout the university. (Q) Given the chance to redesign the existing setup, enumerate and discuss your keypoints for an effective and efficient network environment ideal for the university.
(at least 3000 words)
Here are the questions being asked to a network specialist in university:

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

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

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

Answer: I am not in the right position to discuss the details of the software components used as there are other assigned personnel for such job. However, talking about hardware component and technology used, basically I, assigned as the network administrator, is entrusted to maintain our different servers to run 24/7. Currently, we have our Web Server hosted here in our University in our HP ProLiant ML350 Server. Its an old but stable server set-up here in our Networks Office and has been active since Engr. Val A. Quimno , not yet a dean, was appointed as the Network Administrator. The said server has the following specification:
• Intel Xeon 3.0 GHz, 3.2 GHz, or 3.4 GHz processors (dual processor capability) with 1MB level 2 cache standard. Processors include support for Hyper-Threading and Extended Memory 64 Technology (EM64T)
• Intel® E7520 chipset
• 800-MHz Front Side Bus
• Integrated Dual Channel Ultra320 SCSI Adapter
• Smart Array 641 Controller (standard in Array Models only)
• NC7761 PCI Gigabit NIC (embedded)
• Up to 1 GB of PC2700 DDR SDRAM with Advanced ECC capabilities (Expandable to 8 GB)
• Six expansion slots: one 64-bit/133-MHz PCI-X, two 64-bit/100-MHz PCI-X, one 64-bit/66-MHz PCI-X, one x4 PCI-Express, and one x8 PCI-Express
• New HP Power Regulator for ProLiant delivering server level, policy based power management with industry leading energy efficiency and savings on system power and cooling costs
• Three USB ports: 1 front, 1 internal, 1 rear
• Support for Ultra320 SCSI hard drives (six hot plug or four non-hot plug drives supported standard, model dependent)
• Internalstorage capacity of up to 1.8TB; 2.4TB with optional 2-bay hot plug SCSI drive
• 725W Hot-Plug Power Supply (standard, most models); optional 725W Hot-Pluggable Redundant Power Supply (1+1) available. Non hot plug SCSI models include a 460W non-hot plug power supply.
• Tool-free chassis entry and component access
• Support for ROM based setup utility (RBSU) and redundant ROM
• Systems Insight Manager, SmartStart, and Automatic Server Recovery 2 (ASR-2) included
• Protected by HP Services and a worldwide network of resellers and service providers. Three-year Next Business Day, on-site limited global warranty. Certain restrictions and exclusions apply. Pre-Failure Notification on processors, memory, and SCSI hard drives.
Aside from it, our mail server running under Compaq Proliant ML330 Server, our oldest server, is also hosted here in our Networks Office. Together with other Servers, such as Proxy and Enrollment Servers, both proxy and our enrollment servers are running in a microcomputer/personal computers but with higher specifications to act as servers.

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

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

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

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

6. Does the system follow a specific standard? Explain Please.
 As I was appointed as the Network Administrator, everything was already in place except for some minor changes. Basically, different networking standards was already observed such as cabling standards, TIA/EIA 568A-B, different IEEE standards as discussed in your Computer Networks Subject, etc.

7. How is the security of the system? Are there any vulnerabilities? Risks? Corresponding mitigation techniques? Access control?
 As I have mentioned, we have implemented both software and hardware based filtering/firewall. Basically, Risks or vulnerabilities and different mitigation techniques were considered to increase security in our network. Aside from filtering/firewall, constant monitoring on networks activity also increases the security of the system.

8. Are there any interference? During what (most) times do these occur? Explain their effects especially with regards to the business of the university?
 Major Interferences are normally encountered as an effect of unforeseen and beyond our control events such as black outs, and the like. The said interference would of course affect University’s day-to-day businesses for obviously this will paralyze all our activities that rely on electricity and further this might cause damage on our network devices, etc. that may later be the reason for longer downtime. Problems encountered by our providers such as connection to the National/International Gateway also affect University’s business such as correlating to University’s Business Partners outside and within the country.

Assingnment 2 (SAD2)

2010-10-15T12:31:00.000-07:00

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

As a student of a state university it is a burden for us during enrollment time as we observe it has many process to be considered in order for us to enroll, and we can help to lessen the burden of the students in this university during enrollment days.

As what i've noticed on the design of the enrollment system it is good but we need to develop it more just like lessen the steps of enrollment process so that the students can do their other concerns.

Laughing

Assingnment 1 (SAD2)

2010-10-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

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

I think the new enrollment system may have numerous advantages technically but for me as a student, I think that the new system’s procedure has a very slight difference compared from the old enrollment system. In my own opinion, I believed that more than anything else, the admin should find ways to help lessen the burden of the students in this university. I suggest that it would be better if they will also find ways to simplify the procedure and not just change the software system alone. Although it is too early to judge the new system, I believed that they should consider these factors. I believed that the newly implemented system will still undergo several revisions because the developers were only given a very limited period of time to implement the said system.

Assignment 11 (SAD 1)

2010-06-09T04:55:00.000-07:00

You were tasked by the IC-dean to evaluate the enrollment system of the university, list and briefly describe the characteristics that an anlayst(you) examines when choosing or defining deployment environment. (at least 500 words)

You were tasked by the IC-dean to evaluate the enrollment system of the university, list and briefly describe the characteristics that an analysts (you) examines when choosing or defining deployment environment. (At least 500 words)

It is very important to consider the deployment environment in developing a system because it helps also IT people enhance their skills.
Let me define deployment environment. As I have my research, I found out that deployment environment or application deployment environment comprises the computer hardware (specifically computer platforms), operating systems, system software, and networks that will hold up the application program.

In evaluating the enrollment system of our university there are some characteristics on the analyst in choosing the deployment environment for the particular system one of this is that

The system requirements may refer to the functional and non-functional requirements of a system that will be deployed. Conducting an analysis on system requirements would be beneficial to the future system or application that will be deployed, hardware and software interfaces and also to human involvement in the system. That is because determining the compatibility with system requirements would show whether what is needed to be given and to be done in order to run the application.

Consider the topology. As a system analyst, you have to select the best networking topologies suited for the system.

The location or area to be deploy on the system. It is essential to consider the location because this place where the developers/ analyst deploying the system. It’s clear that most of the locations in deploying the system are located in the MIS offices, server rooms, network and system’s office and sometimes the control room.

Compatibility among hardware and system software. Of course, compatibility of the application, hardware and system component must be considered. This would check whether your application has reached the minimum and/or maximum requirements on the hardware interfaces.

As an analyst, I should oversee the development, deployment, and direction of complex programs and processes as part of the tactical execution. Good communication skill is also required. Analyst must communicate clearly and concisely both on verbal and written.

Reference:

http://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=2&ved=0CA0QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhercules.gcsu.edu%2F~adahanay%2Fcbis3210%2FChapter%25208-reviewQ.doc&rct=j&q=characteristics+that+an+anlayst+examines+when+choosing+or+defining+deployment+environment.&ei=7FaOS7mdBorsswOTm7HbCA&usg=AFQjCNEjAujz6gbFma0-N7KpwUDhwRvsbw

Assignment 10 (SAD 1)

2010-06-09T04:52:00.000-07:00

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

Before going through the characteristics that an analyst must have in order to properly evaluate a DFD, let us first define what Data Flow Diagram is and how to create it. After showing the basics of a DFD, I will enumerate and briefly explain the characteristic as based on the previous assignments.

What is a DFD?
A data-flow diagram (DFD) is a graphical representation of the "flow" of data through an information system. DFDs can also be used for the visualization of data processing (structured design). A DFD provides no information about the timing of processes, or about whether processes will operate in sequence or in parallel. It is therefore quite different from a flowchart, which shows the flow of control through an algorithm, allowing a reader to determine what operations will be performed, in what order, and under what circumstances, but not what kinds of data will be input to and output from the system, nor where the data will come from and go to, nor where the data will be stored (all of which are shown on a DFD).

The data flow diagram has a purpose and it provide a semantic semantic bridge between users and systems developers. And it diagrams are first graphical, eliminating thousands of words; second is logical representations, modeling WHAT a system does, rather than physical models showing HOW it does it; third is hierarchical, showing systems at any level of detail; and last jargonless, allowing user understanding and reviewing

One of the characteristic for the evaluation of the DFD quality: Completeness. DFDs offer a way to check the completeness of the process model, particularly with regards to the understanding of the data that would be required by an information system (e.g., is all the data that would be needed for input actually available? Does each processing step produce data that could be used by subsequent steps? Is all data generated usable by an information system where necessary?). DFDs can provide a fast way to generate further questions that need to be asked about the process.
All diagrams must have a basic DFD symbol present for the system.
Here are examples of symbol of a DFD using Gane and Sarson notation.
*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.

Data flow Diagram symbols:

Reference:
http://www.agilemodeling.com/artifacts/dataFlowDiagram.htm

Assignment 9 (SAD 1)

2010-06-09T04:49:00.000-07:00

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

Assignment 8 (SAD 1)

2010-06-09T04:47:00.000-07:00

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

Activity diagrams are graphical representations of workflows of stepwise activities and actions with support for choice, iteration and concurrency

Assignment 7 (SAD 1)

2010-06-09T04:45:00.000-07:00

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

Assignment 6 (SAD 1)

2010-06-09T04:42:00.000-07:00

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?
On the conversation of Juan and Pedro It is very important in planning a system to listen the both sides, Juan and Pedro and then decide what is the best for the system they have been discuss. As IT professional, he must examine the old system that company wants to do. Since, the manager has planned to develop a new system which previously ended was the modified version of old system. It professionals are mostly depend on the requirements of the client. And he ask his client to identify the possible scenarios based on the old system set by the client. As a clienthe must know the whole scenario set by the old system and he must find a best strategy and adding new requirements in order to establish the new system. Also, he experienced his past scenarios and ended up a modified version of the said system. And he ended up unsatisfied.
On creating a system there are a lot of methods would be useful to the development. There are a lot of process models which can be functional, but they should choose which can be more fitted on creating their system.
I would like to propose a Software Life Cycle Model
A software life cycle model is either a descriptive or prescriptive characterization of how
software is or should be developed. A descriptive model describes the history of how a particular
software system was developed. Descriptive models may be used as the basis for understandingand improving software development processes, or for building empirically grounded prescriptive models (Curtis, Krasner, Iscoe, 1988). A prescriptive model prescribes how a new software system should be developed. Prescriptive models are used as guidelines or frameworksto organize and structure how software development activities should be performed, and in what order. Typically, it is easier and more common to articulate a prescriptive life cycle model for how software systems should be developed. This is possible since most such models are intuitive or well reasoned. This means that many idiosyncratic details that describe how a software systems is built in practice can be ignored, generalized, or deferred for later consideration. This, of course, should raise concern for the relative validity and robustness of such life cycle models when developing different kinds of application systems, in different kinds of development settings, using different programming languages, with differentially skilled staff, etc. However,prescriptive models are also used to package the development tasks and techniques for using a given set of software engineering tools or environment during a development project. On Tactical processes help in the achievement of a plan are more concerned with the tactics to be adopted for actual plan achievement than with the development of a plan of achievement. Lastly, Implementation processes are the lowest level processes are directly concerned with the details of the what an how of plan implementation.
One of the System life cycle model

Reference:
http://www.ics.uci.edu/~wscacchi/Papers/SE-Encyc/Process-Models-SE-Encyc.pdf

Assignment 5 (SAD 1)

2010-06-09T04:40:00.000-07:00

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? at least 500 words ..
In assignment 5 it tends to discuss how life cycle was develop and how do we know that it meets our needs. It’s an honor for me to be part and one of the student of the University of Southeastern Philippines. In developing the life cycle of the university it takes time and as what I have observe Our university requires a big real time system that could be adaptive to any changes that may occur from time to time. The vital parts of the system are the data, records or accounts, the system governance flow, and the management which must be taken care of seriously. Since it caters educational related professions, it is expected to last for a long period of time be it in a number of decades or century. An exclusive system for the university itself must be able to support the university needs and that would last up to the university’s existence. Yes It meets our needs.
We should discuss what is a system life cycle development:

Systems Development Life Cycle
According to the free encyclopedia the wikipedia "The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC), or Software Development Life Cycle in systems engineering and software engineering, is the process of creating or altering systems, and the models and methodologies that people use to develop these systems”.
Organizations should review and complete user, operator, and maintenance manuals during the testing phase. Additionally, they should finalize conversion, implementation, and training plans. In System Development Life Cycle methodology there are steps that an IT people or the organization should follow first If there is an existing system, its deficiencies are identified. This is accomplished by interviewing users and consulting with support personnel.Second The new system requirements are defined including addressing any deficiencies in the existing system with specific proposals for improvement. Third The proposed system is designed. Plans are created detailing the hardware, operating systems, programming, and security issues. Forth The new system is developed. The new components and programs must be obtained and installed. Users of the system must be trained in its use, and all aspects of performance must be tested. If necessary, adjustments must be made at this stage.Fifth The system is put into use. This can be done in various ways. The new system can phased in, according to application or location, and the old system gradually replaced. In some cases, it may be more cost-effective to shut down the old system and implement the new system all at once. And lastly Once the new system is up and running for a while, it should be exhaustively evaluated. Maintenance must be kept up rigorously at all times. Users of the system should be kept up-to-date concerning the latest modifications and procedures. It is very important to for us students to be aware of what the university being developed and how to implement and most especially follow the steps of SDLC.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_Development_Life_Cycle

Assignment 4 (SAD 1)

2010-06-09T04:38:00.000-07:00

Identify and discuss at least 3 systems development models .. discuss each phases ... (at least 500 words/model).
There are many systems development models that can help IT people and having these models there are strategies what should be done for the system and help create the algorithm of the program.
Before any software is made there is a process to go through to make it work. It passes through phases to make it as faultless as possible for the users. It might go through planning, coding, developing and other steps before one can create a software system work. This now relates to process model. If I were to define it from the word itself it is a flow of steps to organize the building or engineering of a software system. For a better understanding and for a more concrete definition, here follows the definition of process model from Wikipedia.
“Process models are processes of the same nature that are classified together into a model. Thus, a process model is a description of a process at the type level. Since the process model is at the type level, a process is an instantiation of it. The same process model is used repeatedly for the development of many applications and thus, has many instantiations. One possible use of a process model is to prescribe how things must/should/could be done in contrast to the process itself which is really what happens. A process model is roughly an anticipation of what the process will look like. What the process shall be will be determined during actual system development.”
According to Kerem Kosaner (2008), Process models are processes of the same nature that are classified together into a model. Thus, a process model is a description of a process at the type level. Since the process model is at the type level, a process is an instantiation of it. The same process model is used repeatedly for the development of many applications and thus, has many instantiations. One possible use of a process model is to prescribe how things must/should/could is done in contrast to the process itself which is really what happens. A process model is roughly an anticipation of what the process will look like. What the process shall be will be determined during actual system development. Here are some Process models:

Waterfall Model
It is one of a process model, by definition waterfall model is a popular version of the systems development life cycle model for software engineering. Often considered the classic approach to the systems development life cycle, the waterfall model describes a development method that is linear and sequential. Waterfall development has distinct goals for each phase of development. Imagine a waterfall on the cliff of a steep mountain. Once the water has flowed over the edge of the cliff and has begun its journey down the side of the mountain, it cannot turn back. It is the same with waterfall development. Once a phase of development is completed, the development proceeds to the next phase and there is no turning back. There are phases of Waterfall model here are the following :
Phase 1: 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 the interactions the users will have with the software. Use cases are also known as functional requirements. In addition to use cases, the SRS also contains non-functional (or supplementary) requirements. Non-functional requirements are requirements which impose constraints on the design or implementation (such as performance engineering requirements, quality standards, or design constraints).
Phase 2: Software design is a process of problem-solving and planning for a software solution. After the purpose and specifications of software are determined, software developers will design or employ designers to develop a plan for a solution. It includes low-level component and algorithm implementation issues as well as the architectural view.
Phase 3: Implementation is a realization of a technical specification or algorithm as a program, software component, or other computer system. Many implementations may exist for a given specification or standard. For example, web browsers contain implementations of World Wide Web Consortium-recommended specifications, and software development tools contain implementations of programming languages.
In the IT Industry, implementation refers to post-sales process of guiding a client from purchase to use of the software or hardware that was purchased. This includes Requirements Analysis, Scope Analysis, Customizations, Systems Integrations, User Policies, User Training and Delivery. These steps are often overseen by a Project Manager using Project Management Methodologies set forth in the Project Management Body of Knowledge. Software Implementations involve several professionals that are relatively new to the knowledge based economy such as Business Analysts, Technical Analysts, Solutions Architect, and Project Managers.
Phase 4: Verification is a methodical process of finding and reducing the number of bugs, or defects, in a computer program or a piece of electronic hardware thus making it behave as expected. Debugging tends to be harder when various subsystems are tightly coupled, as changes in one may cause bugs to emerge in another.
Phase 5: Software maintenance in software engineering is the modification of a software product after delivery to correct faults, to improve performance or other attributes, or to adapt the product to a modified environment.

Spiral Model
The spiral model, also known as the spiral lifecycle model, is a systems development method (SDM) used in information technology (IT). This model of development combines the features of the prototyping model and the waterfall model. The spiral model is intended for large, expensive, and complicated projects.
This is the phase of the spiral model wherein we determine the objectives, alternatives and constraints.
Objectives: functionality, performance, hardware/software interface, critical success factors, etc.
Alternatives: build, reuse, buy, sub-contract, etc.
Constraints: cost, schedule, interface, etc.
The Spiral Model has its strengths as a process model and these are as follows:
• Provides early indication of insurmountable risks, without much cost
• Users see the system early because of rapid prototyping tools
• Critical high-risk functions are developed first
• The design does not have to be perfect
• Users can be closely tied to all lifecycle steps
• Early and frequent feedback from users
• Cumulative costs assessed frequently

If the Spiral Model has its strengths, it also has weakness as a process model. These are as follows:

• Time spent for evaluating risks too large for small or low-risk projects
• Time spent planning, resetting objectives, doing risk analysis and prototyping may be excessive
• The model is complex
• Risk assessment expertise is required
• Spiral may continue indefinitely
• Developers must be reassigned during non-development phase activities
• May be hard to define objective, verifiable milestones that indicate readiness to proceed through the next iteration

V-Model
One of the process model , by definition The V-model is a software development process which can be presumed to be the extension of the waterfall model. Instead of moving down in a linear way, the process steps are bent upwards after the coding phase, to form the typical V shape. The V-Model demonstrates the relationships between each phase of the development life cycle and its associated phase of testing.
The V-model deploys a well-structured method in which each phase can be implemented by the detailed documentation of the previous phase. Testing activities like test designing start at the beginning of the project well before coding and therefore saves a huge amount of the project time.
The V-model has a two major phases it is the Verification Phases and Validation Phases. In the verification phases it discuss the Requirements analysis, System Design, Architecture Design and Module Design and in the validation phases it discuss Unit Testing, Integration Testing, System Testing and User Acceptance Testing.

References:

http://www.acmesoffware.com/acme/default.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability_Maturity_Model
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-Model_

Assignment 3 (SAD 1)

2010-06-09T04:34:00.000-07:00

Discuss the role of a systems analyst as a project manager. (at least one thousand words) .... you need to interview an analyst/project manager ..
The third assignment also related in assignment 2 which discuss the role of a system analyst as project manager. Same in Assignment 2 we visited the Rhine Marketing for an interview regarding for our assignment. During our interview, we have been given a chance to ask some question. To answer that question, we approached Mr. Chris Abella of Rhine Marketing. Concerning our interview it is about systems analyst, but regarding the role of a project manager Mr. Chris give us few information yet is also the same in role of system analyst. He has also touched the some discussions in which some of our assignments are answered prior to its post. That’s why, we are able to answer our assignments and tackle about our discussion. That made me think that we are lucky and should I say thankful enough to interview IT people.
It is very important to have a Project Manager / Business System Analyst because project manager will be responsible for the project planning, execution, and implementation of technology-enabled solutions to an internal business unit which provides revenue generating services for the district. In addition to the project management responsibilities, this position requires demonstrated abilities to partner, collaborate and manage the relationship of a customer –focused and excellence driven team. The right candidate will have extensive organizational, strong leadership and relationship management skills in a multifaceted matrix organization. As the Project Manager / Business System Analyst you will be a full partner with the business unit in setting the strategic vision for future growth and expansion.

Assignment 2(SAD1)

2010-04-30T07:44:00.000-07:00

Interview a Systems Analyst and ask what skills and characteristics must a systems analyst develop in order to be more effective in any design modeling process [include in your answer evidences (pix, ltrs, etc)]? At least 1000 words excluding your evidences.

Assignment 2 tends to discuss what skills and characteristics must a system analyst develop in order to be more effective in any design modeling process. Recently we have interviewed Sir Chris of Rhine Marketing. He is a system analyst and According to him as a system analyst it is not only a programming language and it is very essential to consider the time limit of the system being favor by the client, he said also that good communication and socialization to your team mate is a very effective way on developing a good system. But of course he said that in order to become an analyst you should have enough knowledge or at least finished a degree course related to this job. According to him also as a system analyst it should well-verse in the procedure in making a system so that it is easy to resolve the problem being experience of the system also consistent in hardware, update the information from time to time because of the rapid changes of technology, and adapt changes as time goes by.
Sir Chris also discuss us that the worst thing he experienced is that from manual to computerization because as we all know nowadays it is very important to be more knowledgeable in new technology being developed by the IT people. Also consider in designing program it is essential to know the procedure and application of the system in order to easily implement by the user that it is advantage to the user.
The other question that we ask to him is "What are the qualities or Characteristics should a system analyst have?" I summarized his answers in order to become a system analyst; you should have finished a computer science degree course or information technology degree course. An analyst should have knowledge on computer programs for different purposes. Skills are the most effective way to become a better system analyst, skill such as effective conveying information to other people, can appropriately communicate with other people for documenting data, logic and reasoning skills for identifying the strength and weaknesses of alternative solutions or approach to the problem. Can understand the needs of other people. In Skills As what the system analyst being shares to us it very important to adapt the new technology

Technical Understanding Skills:
•Possesses understanding in the areas of application programming, database and system design.
•Understands Internet, Intranet, Extranet and client/server architectures.
•Understands how legacy and web-based systems interface with each other.
•Architect technical web solutions in support of corporate IT/business objectives.
•Review technical designs & specifications and identify website or system deficiencies, and thereby recommending appropriate solutions.
•Support and maintain the existing corporate website and functionalities, including documentation of functional and systems specifications.
•To undertake research and investigation for all development related technologies, techniques, best-practices and forums.

What is the importance of SDLC?
The importance of using software development lifecycle is that it helps systems analyst to develop an information system in an organized way for, it has phases -- including requirements, validation, training, and user ownership through investigation, analysis, design, implementation, and maintenance. In developing project using SDLC you cannot jump into the next phase if the current phase you are working is not yet done for, in most cases the output of the first phase happened to be the input of the succeeding phase. That’s why for the documenter to feel at ease in documenting the project he/she must set timelines and work breakdown structures to manage each phases of the cycle effectively.
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Assingment1(SAD!)

2010-04-27T06:37:00.001-07:00

Assignment 1
Based on your learning’s of chapter 1 identify and discuss some characteristics you have as a good system analyst. At least 1000 words.

In chapter 1 I learned that as a system analyst it is not only about programming yet it has other responsibilities that really help in making a project. During the time that the reporters discuss the first chapter which is the “The World of the Information System Analyst”. I realized that As a system analyst its an advantage to have a good skills in programming because as we all know system analyst design a system therefore before they can expand their idea for the particular system to become a good and reliable system he must know the feasibility of each phase of the model that are going to use to develop the system and one of those phase is implementation phase which is dealing with programming. I learned also that in this chapter it explain the key role of a systems analyst in business, describe the various types of systems an analyst might work on, explain the importance of technical, people, and business skills for an analyst, explain why ethical behavior is crucial for a system analyst’s career, describe various job titles and places of employment where analysis and design work is done and discuss the analyst role in a system development project.

As a System Analyst it is very important that he/she understand how people Think, Learn, React to change, Communicate, motivating people, obtaining information, getting cooperation, interpersonal and communication skills also crucial and understanding the complexity and workings of an organization in order to provide necessary support.
Here are some characteristics as a good system analyst:

People Oriented- is one of the factors that should be consider to become an effective analyst is to establish good interpersonal relationship with his/her team so they can work effectively as they share their ideas and skills with each other. I always establish good relationship with other people. I believe that acknowledging their strength is one way of making them realize what makes them important and how will they become the best that they could be. In which it maybe leads them to be more competitive not only to others but to them selves. So they can be more effective in their career as individuals. Also, I have learned in life that you should not criticized vocally because it will be treated against you, instead let them realized their mistakes as it will give them the impact enough for them to realize and become a better person.

Communication Skills - Communication is best achieved through simple planning and control. Most conversations sort of drift along; in business, this is wasteful; as a manager, you seek communication rather than chatter. To ensure an efficient and effective conversation, there are three considerations: you must make your message understood, you must receive/understand the intended message sent to you, and you should exert some control over the flow of the communication .The analyst must be a good listener and be able to react to what people say. The system analyst must be able to communicate in writing and orally. I believe that I can communicate well in both written and oral. As with most personal skills oral communication cannot be taught. Instructors can only point the way. So as always, practice is essential, both to improve my skills generally and also to make the best of each individual presentation I make.

Has Time Management – As good systems analyst must be a time conscious and must manage his/her time. Why? Some of the consultation and project design proposals requires strict deadlines. Also, he/she must be able to cope up with the deadlines and project durations. Be sure that your task will be done on-time and accurately because a single mistake wastes much time and effort for the particular project or a module. If you’re assigned to two or more modules which will end from a day or more, he/she must make a strategy in order to finish it within the deadline. He also thinks that time will be the valuable for this project. Why? A waste of time could also be waste of money and resources and you will end up in a risk for project failures.

Competitive in some aspect - As an analyst he/she must foresee things to be better. Being competitive is one of the characteristic an analyst should posses so that he/she will persistently aim for improvement. As a human I am competitive enough because I am surviving in life.. Also, dealing with problems in life and the risk we encounter are some factors that mold us to be more competitive.

Patience -This is the most important characteristics of becoming systems analyst. Why? To become a good systems analyst, you must have to be patient in terms of the factors that ended up in project failures. You have to control your temper and mood when you’re interacting with stakeholders, programmers, business analyst and more. You have to endure your mind for possible big projects.

Problem Solver- a System Analyst solves business problems using information system technology. Problem Solving means looking into business problem in great detail, completely understanding problem, and choosing best solution. It is very essential role of a system analyst because it helps to solve the problem being experienced of the people involve in the project and also the system being implemented. As a problem solver it has computer technology knowledge and programming expertise, understands business problems, uses logical methods for solving problems, has fundamental curiosity, wants to make things better and is more of a business problem solver than a technical programmer. A great skill to have is the ability to solve problems effectively. Not only that, it's also a great skill to teach students. There are a few key requirements to solve problems effectively. In and out of the classroom, we're often confronted with problems and effective problem solvers often employ a few key remedies.

Reference:
www.itk.ilstu.edu/.../Chapter%201%20-%20System%20Analyst.ppt

Assignment 7(MIS2)

2010-03-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

oogle 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?

The challenge, and how Google AdWords fits in

Acquiring business and recognition in a highly competitive market was the key initial challenge that PurelyGadgets faced. Initially PurelyGadgets toyed with the idea of taking a hands-off approach to their advertising, by hiring a company who would take care of it for them. This approach wasn’t successful however, as Lim explains. “We believed that we could do this better [than an outside company] because we know our products and services.” Instead, PurelyGadgets turned to Google AdWords to assist them in creating an online presence. “I actually learned about online advertising from Google,” admits Lim. “We find Google very easy to use. The main reason is that we can control the budget so easily. We were a very new start-up company then and we were very concerned with costs and Google let us see…results within twenty-four hours.”
Advancing with AdWords

Having begun trading from home in 2004, as a company of four to five employees, PurelyGadgets now employs over 40 people in their London based offices. “We grew about 700% over the past two years,” declares Lim. “Without using Google we would not grow this fast.”

Expanding further on this point, Lim says “Google initially put us on a par with other big brands…I think Google is a trusted brand…the demographic feels more confident buying from us…because they see us from Google…If you’re looking at increasing market share, branding…and also customer acquisition… Google is a much better choice because it has a much bigger audience.”
Google tools

Given the competitiveness of the market in which PurelyGadgets operates it is necessary for them to be both extremely dynamic and make full use of all AdWords features available to them. This is something which they do to excellent effect, as Lim explains. “We eliminate a lot of unqualified leads with negative keywords…Although it’s a very simple functionality, I find negative keywords extremely useful.”

“We use Google Analytics which is fabulous,” he further comments. “AdWords Editor is very good as well…we change our prices every day…only Google allow us to have that sort of flexibility.”
Future Plans

Not content with entering into new territories from a retail perspective, PurelyGadgets intend to do so geographically as well. At present due to a lack of viable payment platforms, PurelyGadgets restrict their activities to the UK market. However, Lim is enthusiastic and optimistic about the imminent launch of the Google payment platform, Google Checkout. “I think that once the Google Checkout has been launched [we will] have a payment platform all across the world. I think that will open up our market totally’.

Speaking of future plans to continue growing with Google AdWords, Lim states “It feels like you do have somebody working for you in Google…I can’t find anything better.”

Google's Unique Advantage:

The fact can't be denied. Google have achieved a massive success and almost every developer wants to work for. Google is best known for search and for ads associated with search, that was obvious. This is in essence Google’s one true product. It is the one feature Google developed for the outside world. When Google developed search it was no different from a small company. It is what Google has done since then that makes Google different. Google doesn’t answer to any external power. They don’t have anyone they have to deliver a product to. There is no contract with a deadline. Due to not having any external dependencies, Google can continuously iterate over a product until it reaches a state of near perfection. It can stay in internal testing as long as Google wants and no one is going to care. See Gmail, Google Maps, etc. This then allows Google to use the perfect form of the agile process. Continuous iterations and testing and development, continues improvement. Then as Google sees fit, release the products. As they get better and better, more people use them and more money from ads come in. And that's undeniably beautiful! Another thing is that Google hit on the formula for ads before anyone else. They now have such a commanding lead in that arena that to compete with them you need deep pockets of money of your own. That makes it difficult to launch a company and follow Google’s lead of avoiding external dependencies and having the near perfect product development process. Google does have external contracts, especially for serving up ads on other sites. But notice that Google’s contracts are different from most companies’ contracts. Google isn’t developing a product for these companies. All they are doing is giving them an existing product that Google has already completed and released. Development on that product might still be happening, but it happens within Google, not within the realms of the contract. Google is still free to develop how ever they want (Mark Mzyk | March 17, 2008). And i agree to this point that Google has its unique advantage.

>
GOOGLE APPS
Reference:
https://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/adwords/select/success/purelygadgets.htmlhttp://www.programmersparadox.com/2008/03/17/googles-unique-advantage/
http://www.atlassian.com/software/crowd/images/features/google_apps_diagram.png

Assignment 9(MIS2)

2010-03-17T14:57:00.000-07:00

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)

It's hard to believe in advances that are poised to change the world when everyone's just trying to survive. But these tireless innovators are developing technologies that are making the future worth looking forward to again. After the Internet bubble burst, people stopped thinking about the transforming powers of technology. And technology companies were forced to stop crowing about how they were set to change the world. Instead, they ate crow -- and concentrated on staying alive.But technology didn't stop evolving and maturing, no matter what the Nasdaq did. Imaginative researchers and engineers, by their nature, aren't very good at throttling back to a conservative idle. Day by day, we see new technologies springing up, taking shape and literally transforming our entire world. Discoveries are made on a daily basis in all areas of Technology. Our passion is to share these new developments with you. Technology is such an integral part of our lives these days that it is not only much of the time taken for granted, but often it seems we can't even keep up with the latest advances and developments. We regularly feature stories on the latest technologies, and we do so with the viewpont that a single breakthrough in some area of technology may have an impact on our lives in a totally different dimension.Because technology is becoming more 'inter-twined', one area often affects another. On our site, we try to give you a glimpse of how various technologies are developing and impacting our lives

Assuming that I have my my own crystal ball, I assume that three (3) years from now the University would likely develop and will have so much changes involving information technology. therefore, it would give more impact to the school services offered by the University.
[img]http://www.buzzle.com/img/articleImages/275188-968-10.jpg[/img]
[b] Wireless fidelity (WI-Fi)[/b]
- A communication technology that uses the 'Direct-sequence spread spectrum radio technology' and the 'Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing radio technology', Wi-Fi is the trademark used by a trade group known as Wi-fi Alliance. The essence of the Wi-Fi technology is that, it acts as a bridge between wireless devices that operate on different technologies. So what does Wi-Fi stand for? The term Wi-Fi is used for wireless fidelity. Although the word, Wi-Fi is used as a substitute for 'wireless LAN', every single LAN (Local Area Network) is not necessarily certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance.
How Does Wi-Fi Work
Radio waves are used for the working of Wi-Fi technology. The wireless adapter of the computer and the wireless router play an important role in its working. The adapter receives data from the computer in digital form. This data, after its conversion in radio waves is sent to the router by means of an antenna. The router decodes the signal and sends it to the Internet. The process is reversed when information is sent from the Internet to a computer.

The difference between the radio waves sent by Wi-Fi and those sent by walkie-talkies and cell phones is that Wi-Fi uses high frequency waves of 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz. The Wi-Fi technology operates on the platform of IEEE 802.11 networking standards. Implemented by the IEEE LAN/MAN Standard Committee, the 802.11 networking standards have different forms such as 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n.
[b] Library Integrated Systems [/b]
- An integrated library system (ILS), also known as a library management system (LMS),[1][2] is an enterprise resource planning system for a library, used to track items owned, orders made, bills paid, and patrons who have borrowed.
An ILS usually comprises a relational database, software to interact with that database, and two graphical user interfaces (one for patrons, one for staff). Most ILSes separate software functions into discrete programs called modules, each of them integrated with a unified interface. Examples of modules might include:
- acquisitions (ordering, receiving, and invoicing materials)
- cataloging (classifying and indexing materials)
- circulation (lending materials to patrons and receiving them back)
- serials (tracking magazine and newspaper holdings)
- the OPAC (public interface for users)
[b] Online Examination Systems and internet based online examination .[/b]
- The first step in stream-lining the examination system is to computerise everything. The examinations are defined as computer files (ideally in some standardised format). The examinations are taken by the students with each student on one computer. The answers entered by the student are then retained on the computer, later processed by computer, and finally distributed by computer.
[b] RFID (New Student’s ID)[/b]

- RFID or Radio Frequency Identification is currently being used around the world. Philippines tried to implement a system with Radio Frequency Identification as their tool but unfortunately it’s implementation is being suspended (As Far As I know ) because some motorist in our country are complaining on the extra cost of installing a RFID on their vehicle and some people are concerned of privacy issues. RFID works like an identification card where every RFID is distinct and unique from each other. A gadget is pointed towards the RFID sticker and then data would be retrieved from the said RFID stickers. This is a big help to the authorities as they can know the driver of the vehicle even though they are far away from the field.

So how does this technology be useful to our school? It is simple. Give RFID cards to students instead of the normal plastic cards. This may sound useless but think of the relief that it could give to the authorities of the school. The security of the school would be improved if this technology would be utilized by the university. How could I say that the security may improve? Imagine a gadget similar to a close circuit television camera that could read RFID would be installed on the gate for example and a live feed of the entrance of the gate is being displayed on the guards monitor. If you have an RFID card clipped on your uniform, a mark would be put onto you by the system saying that you are a student of the university and people without marks could be easily identified as outsiders. Breach of security on the university would be minimized. Another possible use of this technology is could be a database of information for a specific student. Flashing your card to a gadget would easily retrieve your unique information and perform processes that a system may provide. For example, instead of lining up on the student’s account section of the finance division and asking how much your balance is but instead you may just flash your card on the gadget and after that a slip would be printed with all your liabilities to the school. This process could really hasten the process as you don’t have to wait for the personnel to check, compute and write your liabilities. (This could take up time especially if there is a long queue).

I foresee that processes around the school would be hastened with the help of RFID. It may replace all Identification Card being used inside the school such as our school identification card, library card, scholarship card and other cards that are being used inside the university. RFID cards are useful because it could serve as your walking database of school information.

my blog:

Reference:
http://bigdatamatters.com/bigdatamatters/2009/10/need-for-infrastructure-change.html
http://www.new-technology-world.com/newtechnology/2co-subscribe-1.htm?gclid=CN-bnsvcwKACFcFR6wodXDSX7g
http://www.1729.com/blog/InternetBasedExamSystem.html

Assignment 8 (MIS2)

2010-03-17T14:16:00.001-07:00

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

Develop a list of questions you would ask the officers of the company and give an explanation and justification for each question. (1000 words).

Strategic Information Systems Planning

Strategic information systems planning (SISP) has been defined as the process of identifying a portfolio of computer-based applications that will assist an organization in executing its business plans and realizing its business goals. SISP is an important activity for helping information executives and top management identify strategic applications and align IT with business needs. Previous researchers and practitioner observers have identified measures of successful SISP and have recommended many prescriptions for achieving success.

In this research, the SISP experiences of 105 planners contribute a new perspective on these prescriptions and the success of SISP. Planners extensively follow the prescriptions that promote the efficient management of the SISP study. Although they also extensively follow those prescriptions that lead to their own greater satisfaction, they do not so rigorously follow those that meet SISP objectives. However, the fit between information technology capabilities and the needs of the organization is important to them. Furthermore, plan implementation remains critical to meeting SISP objectives.

Combined, these generalizations suggest the central contribution of this research-planner's paradox: The planner must complete the SISP study rapidly to facilitate its implementation but in doing so risks compromising its fit to the organization and therefore reduces its chances of implementation. The planner must thus plan rapidly enough to produce the plan quickly but carefully enough to produce a relevant one.

Ten Reasons Why You Need a Strong Business Plan

A business plan is the cornerstone of starting a business as well as a significant tool for monitoring the progress and growth of your company. Below are 10 key reasons why you should have a business plan.

1. To Attract Investors. Before investors can decide whether or not to back your business financially, they will need to know as much as possible about how the business will operate and how their investment will be spent.
2. To See If Your Business Ideas Will Work. By writing a business plan and outlining each aspect of your business, you can determine if your idea is actually viable.

3. To Outline Each Area of the Business. A business plan will provide an overview of all aspects of the business. You will be able to detail the who, what, where, when, and why of your day-to-day business operations, costs, and projected profitability.

4. To Set Up Milestones. By forecasting where your business will be in six months, one year, or five years, you are not only letting potential investors know your plans, but also setting up realistic milestones for yourself and your employees.

5. To Learn About the Market. Researching, analyzing, and writing about the market not only provides you with an overview for the business plan, but gives you greater insight into the overall market.

6. To Secure Additional Funding or Loans. Your business plan can demonstrate that you have met goals and illustrate the company’s growth and need for additional funding.

7. To Determine Your Financial Needs. The process of writing your business plan will force you to analyze your financial picture.

8. To Attract Top-Level People. Your business plan will give talented people an overview of your business.

9. To Monitor Your Business. A business plan should serve as an ongoing business tool that you can use to monitor your progress.

10. To Devise Contingency Plans. While business plans often include some contingency plans, by virtue of having the document available, you can see how and where you can make such changes relatively quickly if, and when, necessary.

Here are the following questions that I may discuss in the said meeting:
What is the company’s business plan?

The Strategic information systems plan must be inline or linked to the company’s business plan. Because the strategic information systems plan that will be developed will support the organization’s overall business plan.
― What is the scope and limitation of the Strategic Information Systems plan?
It is important to know the scope and limitation of the strategic information systems plan that I will develop so that I will not go overboard beyond the company’s needs. And it can also help prevent miss understanding between me and the company.

Does your organization ready for Strategic Planning?

-Planning for information systems, as for any other system, begins with the identification of
needs. In order to be effective, development of any type of computer-based system should be a
response to need--whether at the transaction processing level or at the more complex information and
support systems levels. The plan must be specific enough to enable understanding of each application and to know where it stands in the order of development. Also the plan should be flexible so that priorities can be
adjusted if necessary.
What are the company’s objectives and goals?

-This question is mostly asked by many interviewers, knowing that every company should possess an ideal success to the business. In making a business proper, the company should provide an objective and goal, because these two main words denote the achievement and success of the business. It would help give a direction and organize strategy to the business.

Is the company willing to provide risk involving budget?
-To know if in what way the company use money for implementing project.This would identify if the company is worthy in hiring to develop their Strategic
information system plan .Having a good budget SISP would be more success.

References:

http://www.jmis-web.org/articles/v13_n1_p35/index.html
http://www.allbusiness.com/business-planning-structures/business-plans/1716-1.htm

Assignment 1(MIS2)

2010-03-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

Think about yourself worthy to be called as IT professional, how you see yourself 10 years from now, what are your strategies to get there? At least 3000 words.

Its is very important to set our goals in order to achieve what we want in the future. We can't deny the fact that each of us can encounter trials but it is part of our life to face this kind of a thing. Ten years from now for my own view as a student of Bachelor of Science in Information Technology my future job of course is related of this course either i will be a successful one or not, the position i want is Being an IT consultant. It is not easy to work as a career person but i know if a person has a determination to his/her work he/she can manage it and become a sucessful one. Why 10 years from now i want to be IT consultant? It is because an IT consultant works in partnership with clients, advising them how to use information technology in order to meet their business objectives or overcome problems. Consultants work to improve the structure and efficiency and of an organization's IT systems.

IT consultants may be involved in a variety of activities, including marketing, project management, client relationship management and systems development.

They may also be responsible for user training and feedback. In many companies, these tasks will be carried out by an IT project team. IT consultants are increasingly involved in sales and business development, as well as technical duties.
Typical work activities

Task typically involve:

* meeting with clients to determine requirements;
* working with clients to define the scope of a project;
* planning timescales and the resources needed;
* clarifying a client's system specifications, understanding their work practices and the nature of their business;
* travelling to customer sites;
* liaising with staff at all levels of a client organisation;
* defining software, hardware and network requirements;
* analysing IT requirements within companies and giving independent and objective advice on the use of IT;
* developing agreed solutions and implementing new systems;
* presenting solutions in written or oral reports;
* helping clients with change-management activities;
* project managing the design and implementation of preferred solutions;
* purchasing systems where appropriate;
* designing, testing, installing and monitoring new systems;
* preparing documentation and presenting progress reports to customers;
* organising training for users and other consultants;
* being involved in sales and support and, where appropriate, maintaining contact with client organisations;
* identifying potential clients and building and maintaining contacts.

What is An IT profession?
it is refer to a disciplined group of individuals who adhere to high ethical standards and are accepted by the public as possessing special knowledge and skills in a widely recognised, organized body of learning derived from specialized education and training. Inherent in this definition is the idea that the responsibility for the welfare, health and safety of the community takes precedence over personal considerations.

There are strategic planning that can give us an idea to have a good output.It is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. Various business analysis techniques can be used in strategic planning, including SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats ), PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological), STEER analysis (Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors).

In today's highly competitive business environment, budget-oriented planning or forecast-based planning methods are insufficient for a large corporation to survive and prosper. The firm must engage in strategic planning that clearly defines objectives and assesses both the internal and external situation to formulate strategy, implement the strategy, evaluate the progress, and make adjustments as necessary to stay on track.

Strategic planning is the PROCESS by which the GUIDING MEMBERS of an organization ENVISION its future and develop the necessary PROCEDURES AND OPERATIONS to achieve that future.
The planning process can be viewed as a somewhat circular flow of topics and action steps, where the results from one step initiate study and action in the next step. However, the process does not necessarily always flow in one direction. Issues that arise in a particular step may cause the planning team to go back to an earlier step to do additional work. If desired, the order of the steps can even be altered to suit the particular needs of the planning team. The implementation step also does not end the planning process. Analysis of results could easily result in additional analysis or a change in strategic direction. Also, it is recommended that the plan be reviewed on an annual basis to verify that all the base assumptions are still valid and that the implementation plan is progressing according to expectations.
Steps of the Strategic Planning Process:
 Role of the Planning Consultant
- Initiating a strategic planning process can be very scary with many new activities that can trigger internal cultural and political hot spots. It is for this reason that many companies hire a planning consultant to lead the organization through the process, not only the first time, but in succeeding annual reviews. The role the consultant plays can range from being an outside expert on planning to being actively involved with the planning results. The critical point is that the role be clearly defined up-front so as not to cause any organizational confusion during the planning period. If necessary, the role can shift as different needs arise during the planning process. Ideally, the outside consultant can team with someone inside the organization to guide the planning team through the process together. The possible roles of the Planning Consultant are:
1. Trainer - Explain the process.
2. Facilitator - Provide assistance in moving through difficult phases.
3. Coach - Provide active direction throughout the process.
4. Strategist - Actively help set strategy.
5. Advocate - Actively pursue certain ideas.
6. Stakeholder - vested interest in results.
 Planning to Plan
- emember that the process of development is much important than the final product, which is just a plan on paper.
Planning to plan includes the work that must be accomplished before the formal start of the strategic planning process.
Determine whether the organisation is ready for strategic planning. Key people in the organisation should be aware that:
• Planning needs expenditure and resources;
• Strategic planning is planning for change.
Typical questions to ask before starting a strategic plan include:
• How much commitment is there to a planning process?
• Who should be involved?
• How can we involve stakeholders who are not participating now?
• How does the planning process fit into the financial year and other organisational planning?
• How long will planning take?
• What information do we need to plan successfully?
• Who will collect and develop the data?
In assessing wether an organisation or team is ready to start the process of strategic planning we should be aware of:
• The organisation's (or team’s) fiscal viability;
• The vitality of product and services;
• The organisational culture;
• How resources are spread now;
• The commitment of the CEO;
• The risk that commitment will change.
Commitment, especially from the organisation's CEO (or the person with executive responsibility over the project), is needed for successful planning.
• The CEO can simply abort the planning process.
• A CEO may see danger in a planning process that is not under his/her direct control.
• A CEO may verbally commit to planning, but not follow through, or be too busy to get involved.
Reluctant to support may due to a CEO:
• Seeing planning as imposing a discipline on themselves which are not comfortable with;
• Being reluctant to share power and information;
• Having a different vision to that guiding planning;
• Lack of faith in the planning process or planning team;
• Prior involvement for an unfortunate planning experience.
Form a Planning Team
The size of the team will depend on many factors. Effective team for large projects have no fewer than 5 and no more than 12 members. Experience shows planning teams of 7 to 9 often work best. Teams of more than 12 have a tendency to break down into sub-groups, which can then generate conflict.
Pay attention to group process and group dynamics in forming the team. How will the members work together? Are there members who will facilitate group processes? Aim for a mixture of people with skills in the strategic planning, and people without previous experience.
Educate the entire organisation, especially the planning team, about the process of strategic planning,
• Find ways to involve the team members in the planning process
• Tasks should be given as an 'opportunity' not as obligation
• Be explicit about how the team members are selected and what is expected of them.
 Values Scan
- Evaluation of Business Culture is Critical
• Personal values of the Planning team
- not to change, but to understand each other
• Values of Organization as a whole
- profit vs. growth
- to what extent is this to be a value added organization
- importance of being a good "corporate citizen"
- importance of being a "good" place to work
• Company's operating philosophy
- How work is done
- How conflict is managed
- Accounting procedures
• Impact of and on other stakeholders

simplified view of the strategic planning process is shown by the following diagram:

The Strategic Planning Process

1.Mission &
Objectives

2.Environmental
Scanning

3.Strategy
Formulation

4.Strategy
Implementation

5.Evaluation
& Control

Mission and Objectives

The mission statement describes the company's business vision, including the unchanging values and purpose of the firm and forward-looking visionary goals that guide the pursuit of future opportunities.

Guided by the business vision, the firm's leaders can define measurable financial and strategic objectives. Financial objectives involve measures such as sales targets and earnings growth. Strategic objectives are related to the firm's business position, and may include measures such as market share and reputation.

Environmental Scan

The environmental scan includes the following components:

* Internal analysis of the firm
* Analysis of the firm's industry (task environment)
* External macroenvironment (PEST analysis)

The internal analysis can identify the firm's strengths and weaknesses and the external analysis reveals opportunities and threats. A profile of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is generated by means of a SWOT analysis

An industry analysis can be performed using a framework developed by Michael Porter known as Porter's five forces. This framework evaluates entry barriers, suppliers, customers, substitute products, and industry rivalry.

Strategy Formulation

Given the information from the environmental scan, the firm should match its strengths to the opportunities that it has identified, while addressing its weaknesses and external threats.

To attain superior profitability, the firm seeks to develop a competitive advantage over its rivals. A competitive advantage can be based on cost or differentiation. Michael Porter identified three industry-independent generic strategies from which the firm can choose.

Strategy Implementation

The selected strategy is implemented by means of programs, budgets, and procedures. Implementation involves organization of the firm's resources and motivation of the staff to achieve objectives.

The way in which the strategy is implemented can have a significant impact on whether it will be successful. In a large company, those who implement the strategy likely will be different people from those who formulated it. For this reason, care must be taken to communicate the strategy and the reasoning behind it. Otherwise, the implementation might not succeed if the strategy is misunderstood or if lower-level managers resist its implementation because they do not understand why the particular strategy was selected.

Evaluation & Control

The implementation of the strategy must be monitored and adjustments made as needed.

Evaluation and control consists of the following steps:

1. Define parameters to be measured
2. Define target values for those parameters
3. Perform measurements
4. Compare measured results to the pre-defined standard
5. Make necessary changes

In order for me to reach what i want 10 years from now i will strive hard and study hard so that i will be able to help my family and besides i can pursue my desire to have this job.

Reference:
http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/strategic-planning/
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/p/types_of_job/it_consultant_job_description.jsp

Assignment 6 (MIS2)

2010-03-17T14:10:00.000-07:00

Identify and discuss the steps for "critical success factors" approach?
(at least 1,500 words)
Critical Success Factor (CSF) is the term for an element that is necessary for an organization or project to achieve its mission. It is a critical factor or activity required for ensuring the success of your business. The term was initially used in the world of data analysis, and business analysis. For example, a CSF for a successful Information Technology (IT) project is user involvement. An element of organizational activity which is central to its future success. Critical success factors may change over time, and may include items such as product quality, employee attitudes, manufacturing flexibility, and brand awareness. This can enable analysis. Any of the aspects of a business that are identified as vital for successful targets to be reached and maintained. Critical success factors are normally identified in such areas as production processes, employee and organization skills, functions, techniques, and technologies. The identification and strengthening of such factors may be similar. ..
How are they important to your business?
Identifying CSF's is important as it allows firms to focus their efforts on building their capabilities to meet the CSF's, or even allow firms to decide if they have the capability to build the requirements necessary to meet Critical Success Factors (CSF's).

A plan should be implemented that considers a platform for growth and profits as well as takes into consideration the following critical success factors:
• Money: positive cash flow, revenue growth, and profit margins.
• Your future: Acquiring new customers and/or distributors.
• Customer satisfaction: How happy they are.
• Quality: How good is your product and service?
• Product or service development: What's new that will increase business with existing customers and attract new ones?
• Intellectual capital: Increasing what you know is profitable.
• Strategic relationships: New sources of business, products and outside revenue.
• Employee attraction and retention: Your ability to extend your reach.
• Sustainability: Your personal ability to keep it all going.

Management factors
Key success factors generally include exceptional management of several of the following:
• Product design
• Market segmentation
• Distribution and promotion
• Pricing
• Financing
• Securing of key personnel
• Research and development
• Production
• Servicing
• Maintenance of quality/value
• Securing key suppliers
• New product development
• Good distribution
• Effective advertising
• Innovative response to customer needs
• Consumer loyalty
• Linkage of technology to market demand
• Link marketing to production
• Investment in growth markets
• Unique positioning advantage
• Strong brand image and awareness
• Prevention of price wars
• High product quality
• Patent protection
• Low product cost
• Large marketing resource budget
• Marketing research quality
• Information system power
• Analytic support capability
• Develop human resources
• Attract the best personnel
• Managerial ability and experience
• Quick decision and action capability
• Organizational effectiveness
• Learning systematically from past strategies

Five key sources of Critical Success Factors
MAIN ASPECTS OF Critical Success Factors and their use in analysis
CSF's are tailored to a firm's or manager's particular situation as different situations (e.g. industry, division, individual) lead to different critical success factors. Rockart and Bullen presented five key sources of CSF's:
1. The industry,
2. Competitive strategy and industry position,
3. Environmental factors,
4. Temporal factors, and
5. Managerial position (if considered from an individual's point of view). Each of these factors is explained in greater detail below.

 The Industry
Industry: There are some CSF's common to all companies operating within the same industry. Different industries will have unique, industry-specific CSF's
An industry's set of characteristics define its own CSF's Different industries will thus have different CSF's, for example research into the CSF's for the Call centre, manufacturing, retail, business services, health care and education sectors showed each to be different after starting with a hypothesis of all sectors having their CSF's as market orientation, learning orientation, entrepreneurial management style and organizational flexibility.
In reality each organization has its own unique goals so while thee may be some industry standard - not all firms in one industry will have identical CSF's.
Some trade associations offer benchmarking across possible common CSF's.

 Competitive strategy and industry position
Competitive position or strategy: The nature of position in the marketplace or the adopted strategy to gain market share gives rise to CSF's Differing strategies and positions have different CSF's

Not all firms in an industry will have the same CSF's in a particular industry. A firm's current position in the industry (where it is relative to other competitors in the industry and also the market leader), its strategy, and its resources and capabilities will define its CSF's
The values of an organization, its target market etc will all impact the CSF's that are appropriate for it at a given point in time.
 Environmental Factors
Environmental changes: Economic, regulatory, political, and demographic changes create CSF's for an organization.
These relate to environmental factors that are not in the control of the organization but which an organization must consider in developing CSF's Examples for these are the industry regulation, political development and economic performance of a country, and population trends.
An example of environmental factors affecting an organization could be a de-merger

 Temporal Factors
Temporal factors: These relate to short-term situations, often crises. These CSF's may be important, but are usually short-lived.
Temporal factors are temporary or one-off CSF's resulting from a specific event necessitating their inclusion.
Theoretically these would include a firm which "lost executives as a result of a plane crash requiring a critical success factor of rebuilding the executive group".
Practically, with the evolution and integration of markets globally, one could argue that temporal factors are not temporal anymore as they could exist regularly in organizations.
For example, a firm aggressively building its business internationally would have a need for a core group of executives in its new markets. Thus, it would have the CSF of "building the executive group in a specific market" and it could have this every year for different markets.
 Managerial Position
Managerial role: An individual role may generate CSF's as performance in a specific manager's area of responsibility may be deemed critical to the success of an organization.
Managerial position. This is important if CSF's are considered from an individual's point of view.
For example, manufacturing managers who would typically have the following CSF's: product quality, inventory control and cash control.
In organizations with departments focused on customer relationships, a CSF for managers in these departments may be customer relationship management.

Finding information for writing Critical Success Factors (CSF's)
• For the organization following the CSF method, the foundation for writing good CSF's is a good understanding of the environment, the industry and the organization In order to do so, this requires the use of information that is readily available in the public domain. Externally, industry information can be sourced from industry associations, news articles, trade associations, prospectuses of competitors, and equity/analyst reports to name some sources. These would all be helpful in building knowledge of the environment, the industry and competitors. Internally, there should be enough sources available to management from which to build on their knowledge of the organization. In most cases, these won't even have to be anything published as managers are expected to have a good understanding of their organization Together, the external and internal information already provides the basis from which discussion on CSF's could begin.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_success_factor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_success_factor
http://rapidbi.com/created/criticalsuccessfactors.html#top

Assignment 5(MIS2)

2010-03-17T13:14:00.001-07:00

In the spectrum of organizational change, which is the most radical type of change: automation, rationalization of procedures, business reengineering, or paradigm shifts? (You are expected to read an article about this question)... at least 3000 words)

There are several phrases regarding organizational change and development that look and sound a lot alike, but have different meanings. As a result of the prominence of the topic, there seems to be increasingly different interpretations of some of these phrases, while others are used interchangeably. Without at least some sense of the differences between these phrases, communications about organizational change and development can be increasingly vague, confusing and frustrating.

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

Change should not be done for the sake of change -- it's a strategy to accomplish some overall goal. Example is the Organizational Performance Management. We're used to thinking of ongoing performance management for employees, for example, setting goals, monitoring the employee's achievement of those goals, sharing feedback with the employee, evaluating the employee's performance, rewarding performance or firing the employee. Performance management applies to organizations, too, and includes recurring activities to establish organizational goals, monitor progress toward the goals, and make adjustments to achieve those goals more effectively and efficiently. Those recurring activities are much of what leaders and managers inherently do in their organizations -- some do them far better than others. Usually organizational change is provoked by some major outside driving force, e.g., substantial cuts in funding, address major new markets/clients, need for dramatic increases in productivity/services, etc. Typically, organizations must undertake organization-wide change to evolve to a different level in their life cycle, e.g., going from a highly reactive, entrepreneurial organization to more stable and planned development. Transition to a new chief executive can provoke organization-wide change when his or her new and unique personality pervades the entire organization.

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

Drivers Of Organizational Change

Organizational change management is becoming increasingly important to the business community. The intensification of competition from manufacturers in emerging economies who can produce superior goods at cheaper prices, the introduction of new technology and changing consumer preferences and tastes can result in companies having to redefine their business goals and objectives. The following factors are some of the primary drivers of organizational change.

Inadequate Financial Performance: Companies that fail to achieve financial benchmarks are forced to evaluate their business objectives and processes. This is one of the most important drivers of organizational change. If a new competitor enters the market with cheaper labor or a superior technology, companies that formally enjoyed prosperity can suddenly find a cannibalization of their market share. A failure to maintain a competitive presence in the market place can stress company resources and force a rethink of the opportunity cost of capital and resource redeployment.

Change In strategic Objectives: If a company shifts its focus form a product centric to a customer centric orientation, new processes are required to facilitate this re-orientation. This can result in redundancy to existing staff or manufacturing processes. Company restructuring from this is a primary driver of organizational change as the old is replaced with the new.

End of the Product Development Life Cycle: A product can reach the end of its product life cycle and companies are forced to cut production and operating costs or exit the market. At this stage some companies sell out or merge with existing competitors. This results in structural changes to a companies business processes to either maintain profitability or refocus on new opportunities.

New technology: New technology can be a significant driver of organizational change. Consider the effect the internet is having on old style media and print companies. As internet access levels increase on a worldwide scale, companies are forced to adapt their existing operations to shifting consumer preferences. Companies that neglect rising trends face a diminishing market share to competitors who better understand and address the demands of their customers.

Mergers and Acquisitions: When companies merge or consolidate operations, significant costs cutting and a re-engineering takes place. Redundancy and restructure to align with management objectives drives organizational change. The integration of two companies creates significant challenges to streamline operations and integrate existing IT operations into a centralized structure. Consider the implications of merging two independent billing systems which use different platforms and infrastructure. The careful dedicated planning required to bring this to fruition is part of the change management process.

As business and markets evolve, so too do business processes. The above represents some of the pertinent drivers of organizational change.

Causes of Organizational Changes

Companies are required to modify productive processes or strategic goals and aims in response to an external influence, change in consumer behavior or a shift in the industry landscape. This necessitates a reorientation of capital, resources, employees and corporate systems. Below are some of the common causes of organizational change:

Exit Strategy at The End of the product Life Cycle: As the market for a companies product reaches maturity, market growth and profits begin to diminish. Despite the fact that cost cutting occurs and marketing budgets are reduced, when the opportunity cost of deploying capital and resources to another more favorable opportunity presents, companies either sell off existing operations or cease production altogether. This can be in response to a new superior product release, a change in consumer purchasing habits or the introduction of a new technology. Irrespective of the cause, capital and labor are redeployed to new more promising business activities. The exit strategy is a common cause of organizational change.

Change in Government: Employees that work for government departments can find existing initiatives get discontinued when a change in government takes place. The subsequent refocus of priorities that takes place as a result of the new governments mandate can create redundancies or a radical change in the way the department conducts its affairs.

Mergers and Acquisitions: When two competitors merge the existing business operations of both companies get centralized and streamlined. This can result in the merging of departments and processes, cost cutting and a redeployment of existing resources. Mergers and acquisitions are one of the most frequent causes of organizational change.

Strategic Refocus: When the company changes its business processes to adopt a new paradigm organizational change ensues. Consider the plight of a company that shifts its focus form a product centric to a customer centric platform. New manufacturing specifications, new marketing and a change in logistical operations create a change reaction for change throughout the organization.

Structural Change: When new administrative processes get introduced, organizational change results. Consider the ramifications of centralizing an archiving process using computer technology. Old redundant processes get replaced by new software and hardware and staff members are required to retrain to operate the new systems.

Process Oriented: When a company redefines its manufacturing operations by changing its manufacturing process to a JIT operation, infrastructure, warehousing and logistical operations are required to be redesigned and deployed. This structural shift in the way a product is created has a domino effect on organizational change.

Terminologies of Radical Type of change

1.Automation is the use of control systems (such as numerical controlprogrammable logic control, and other industrial control systems), in concert with other applications of information technology (such as computer-aided technologies [CAD, CAM, CAx]), to control industrial machinery and processes, reducing the need for human intervention. In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization. Whereas mechanization provided human operators with machinery to assist them with the muscular requirements of work, automation greatly reduces the need for human sensory and mental requirements as well. Processes and systems can also be automated.
Automation plays an increasingly important role in the global economy and in daily experience. Engineers strive to combine automated devices with mathematical and organizational tools to create complex systems for a rapidly expanding range of applications and human activities.
Many roles for humans in industrial processes presently lie beyond the scope of automation. Human-level pattern recognition, language recognition, and language production ability are well beyond the capabilities of modern mechanical and computer systems. Tasks requiring subjective assessment or synthesis of complex sensory data, such as scents and sounds, as well as high-level tasks such as strategic planning, currently require human expertise. In many cases, the use of humans is more cost-effective than mechanical approaches even where automation of industrial tasks is possible.
Specialized hardened computers, referred to as programmable logic controllers (PLCs), are frequently used to synchronize the flow of inputs from (physical) sensors and events with the flow of outputs to actuators and events. This leads to precisely controlled actions that permit a tight control of almost any industrial process.
Human-machine interfaces (HMI) or computer human interfaces (CHI), formerly known as man-machine interfaces, are usually employed to communicate with PLCs and other computers, such as entering and monitoring temperatures or pressures for further automated control or emergency response. Service personnel who monitor and control these interfaces are often referred to as stationary engineers.

2.Paradigm shifts
Paradigm shift (or revolutionary science) is the term first used by Thomas Kuhn in his influential book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) to describe a change in basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science. It is in contrast to his idea of normal science.The term paradigm shift, as a change in a fundamental model of events, has since become widely applied to many other realms of human experience as well, even though Kuhn himself restricted the use of the term to the hard sciences. According to Kuhn, "A paradigm is what members of a scientific community, and they alone, share." (The Essential Tension, 1977). Unlike a normal scientist, Kuhn held, "a student in the humanities has constantly before him a number of competing and incommensurable solutions to these problems, solutions that he must ultimately examine for himself." (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions). Once a paradigm shift is complete, a scientist cannot, for example, posit the possibility that miasma causes disease or that ether carries light. In contrast, a critic in the Humanities can choose to adopt a 19th-century theory of poetics, for instance.Since the 1960s, the term has been found useful to thinkers in numerous non-scientific contexts. Compare as a structured form of Zeitgeist.

3. Business Process Re-engineering (BPR): The radical redesign of business processes, combining steps to cut waste and eliminating repetitive, paper-intensive tasks to improve cost, quality, and service and to maximize the benefits of information technology
• Involves radical rethinking
• Can change the way an organization conducts its business
• IT allowed Baxter to be a manager of its customer’s supplies
• Strikes fear, its expensive, its very risky and its extremely difficult to carry out and manage
• Develop the business vision and process objective
• Identify the processes to be redesigned (core and highest payback)
• Understand and measure the performance of existing processes
• Identify the opportunities for applying information technology
• Build a prototype of the new process

Refenrences:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm_shift
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automation
http://managementhelp.org/org_chng/org_chng.htm
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Assignment 4(MIS2)

2010-03-17T12:49:00.000-07:00

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.

Assuming that i am invited by the university president to prepare a IS plan. So it is very important to be prepared. So it needs to gather informations of what is the content of ISplan.

Information has emerged as an agent of integration and the enabler of new competitiveness for
today’s enterprise in the global marketplace. However, has the paradigm of strategic planning
changed sufficiently to support the new role of information systems and technology? We reviewed
the literature for commonly used or representative information planning methodologies and found
that a new approach is needed. There are six methodologies reviewed in this paper. They all tend to
regard planning as a separate stage which does not connect structurally and directly to the
information systems development. An integration of planning with development and management
through enterprise information resources - which capture and characterize the enterprise - will
shorten the response cycle and even allow for economic evaluation of information system
investment.

[b] The Perspective of Strategic Information Systems Planning[/b]
In order to put the planning for strategic information systems in perspective, the evolution of
information systems according to the three-era model of John Ward, et al.(1990) is pertinent.
According to this model there are three distinct, albeit overlapping, eras of information systems,
dating back to the 60’s. The relationship over time of the three eras of information systems.

Some characteristics of strategic IS planning are:
• Main task: strategic/competitive advantage, linkage to business strategy.
• Key objective: pursuing opportunities, integrating IS and business strategies
• Direction from: executives/senior management and users, coalition of users/management and
information systems.
• Main approach: entrepreneurial (user innovation), multiple (bottom-up development, top down
analysis, etc.) at the same time.
Strategic Information Systems Planning in the present SIS era is not an easy task because
such a process is deeply embedded in business processes. These systems need to cater to the
strategic demands of organizations, i.e., serving the business goals and creating competitive
advantage as well as meeting their data processing and MIS needs. The key point here is that
organizations have to plan for information systems not merely as tools for cutting costs but as means
to adding value. The magnitude of this change in perspective of IS/IT’s role in organizations is
highlighted in a Business Week article, ‘The Technology Payoff’ (Business Week, June 14, 1993).
According to this article, throughout the 1980s US businesses invested a staggering $1 trillion in the
information technology. This huge investment did not result in a commensurate productivity gain -
overall national productivity rose at a 1% annual rate compared with nearly 5% in Japan. Using the
information technology merely to automate routine tasks without altering the business processes is
identified as the cause of the above productivity paradox. As IT is used to support breakthrough
ideas in business processes, essentially supporting direct value adding activities instead of merely
cost saving, it has resulted in major productivity gains. In 1992, productivity rose nearly 3% and
the corporate profits went up sharply. According to an MIT study quoted in the above article, the
return on investment in information systems averaged 54% for manufacturing and 68% for all
businesses surveyed. This impact of information technology on re-defining, re-engineering
businesses is likely to continue and it is expected that information technology will play increasingly
important roles in future. For example, Pant, et al. (1994) point out that the emerging vision of
virtual corporations will become a reality only if it is rooted in new visionary information
technology. It is information technology alone which will carve multiple ‘virtual corporations’
simultaneously out of the same physical resources and adapt them without having to change the
actual organizations. Thus, it is obvious that information technology has indeed come a long way in
the SIS era, offering unprecedented possibilities, which, if not cashed on, would turn into
4
unprecedented risks. As Keen (1993) has morbidly but realistically pointed out that organizations
not planning for strategic information systems may fail to spot the business implications of
competitors’ use of information technology until it is too late for them to react. In situations like
this, when information technology changes the basics of competition in an industry, 50% of the
companies in that industry disappear within ten years.
3. Strategic Information Systems Planning Methodologies
The task of strategic information systems planning is difficult and often time organizations
do not know how to do it. Strategic information systems planning is a major change for
organizations, from planning for information systems based on users’ demands to those based on
business strategy. Also strategic information systems planning changes the planning characteristics
in major ways. For example, the time horizon for planning changes from 1 year to 3 years or more
and development plans are driven by current and future business needs rather than incremental user
needs. Increase in the time horizon is a factor which results in poor response from the top
management to the strategic information systems planning process as it is difficult to hold their
attention for such a long period. Other questions associated with strategic information systems
planning are related to the scope of the planning study, the focus of the planning exercise - corporate
organization vs. strategic business unit, number of studies and their sequence, choosing a strategic
information systems planning methodology or developing one if none is suitable, targets of planning
process and deliverables. Because of the complexity of the strategic information systems planning
process and uniqueness of each organization, there is no one best way to tackle it. Vitale, et al.
(1986) classify SISP methodologies into two categories: impact and alignment. Impact
methodologies help create and justify new uses of IT, while the methodologies in the “alignment”
category align IS objectives with organizational goals.

Reference:
http://viu.eng.rpi.edu/publications/strpaper.pdf

Assignment 3 (MIS2)

2010-03-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

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)

The adopted company we have been interviewed is the Rhine Marketing. During the interview our group discover that the RMC-CD branch in Davao City has adopted an in-house programmer. The Rhine System, (name of their IS) was developed by their self-employed personnel. We interviewed Mr. Cris, the MIS head of RMC-CD and fortunately he gives us information about their company and the causes of frustration of the IS professional.
Rhine - A Filipino Success Story

People from all walks of life have associated Rhine Marketing Corporation with sewing machines. Rhine started its operation in Cebu by selling sewing machines on the installment plans. Today, there are more than 64,000 homes in the country with a Rhine sewing machine. Rhine, known for its low cost appliance installment schemes, has been improving the quality of life for thousands of Filipinos by making available all types of appliances, computers and small industrial equipment: sewing machines, TV's, refrigerators, pianos, sing-along systems, stereos, VCD & DVD players and components, electric fans, furniture, spring beds, gas ranges, washing machines, and many more consumer items, on affordable terms.

PROGRESSIVE

Rhine has been actively involved in various socio-economic and civic projects of such institution as the Boy Scouts of the Philippines and the Philippine Business for Social Progress. Personal involvement of the Chairman of the Board Mrs. Isabel Caro Wilson and Mr. Hernando Streegan ensure the company's support and active participation in worthwhile community undertakings.

In 1980 Rhine started granting college scholarships under the Claude M. Wilson Scholarship Program. An average of eight deserving students is selected per year. At present, there are now 80 students who have fully availed of the program.

Internally, Rhine's close to 1,000 employees throughout the country enjoy substantial social benefits: a company retirement plan, group hospitalization, plan emergency loan plan, group life insurance and employees discount/terms on appliance purchases.

For 39 years, the company has served more than 700,000 families by granting them credit through installment sales of more than 1.1 billion pesos. Rhine also gives P30,000.00 death cash benefit to the beneficiary of any Rhine customer who at the time of death due to an accident still has an up to date account of Rhine Marketing Corporation. Consequently, the remaining balance shall be waived and the unit purchased by the deceased customer shall be considered fully paid.

Rhine Marketing Corporation also honors the people who for a number of years have rendered their loyal and faithful service to the company. The company believes that to these individuals, recognition for their hardwork is what they all truly deserve. Every year, service awards are given to its employees who have reached five, ten, fifteen, twenty and twenty five years in the company. Awardees are distinctively awarded with plaques and cash incentives for their respective number of years.

STRATEGIES

Inspite of adversities faced by the appliance retailing industry in the form of stiff competition and government regulations. Rhine has devised innovative schemes and incentive programs to boost the company's installment sales and capture a large segment of the market.

These efforts have resulted in high efficiency ratings, and improved net earnings vis-a-vis owner's equity. The company's credit lines, while available, are used minimally, a good standard achievement since Rhine finances its installment sales.

SALES TOOL

Through the years, Rhine has consistently identified itself with low installment plans. White other appliance firms accept installment sales, few concentrate on it as much as Rhine, which gears its entire marketing stategy to the cultivation of long-term customers who are possible sources of repeat sales. Supporting this strategy are carefully calibrated ranges of installment terms among which a customer is sure to find one perfectly suited for his earning power and budget priorities. Other companies treat installments as subsidiary sales mechanisms: for Rhine, it is a major sales tool.

Rhine is a self-financing installment house. Unlike other appliance outlets, Rhine does not channel receivables to independent finance companies whose collectors and agents deal directly with the customer. At Rhine, the company maintains and trains in-house personnel to adequately service a customer's account. This set up is advantageous to the customer as well as to the company since it helps establish rapport and trust which consequently improves collections and after-sales service.

Before i’ve been tackle the different frustration of the said company i will define first what is Frustration???
PROVIDING CUSTOMER SUPPORT
• On-Site Servicing. Rhine professionalism is extended to help you maintain your computer system right in your home of office. This process gets rid of the hassles of bringing your PC's to service centers.

• Repair and Maintenance Center. Apart from the warehouse that promises ready inventory, the RMA team at the Plant Site caters to PC problems that may not be solved at the Service Center level. Thus, this fully guarantees customers a continued servicing of their PCs.

• Nationwide Network of Sales and Service Center. To provide you with utmost service satisfaction, Rhine has extended its reach and set up a total of 19 Branches and Sub-branches nationwide, making it one of the largest distributor of computer products and peripherals.

• Business Areas. Personal Computer manufacturing * Systems Integration (provides local area networking) * PC consultancy and business solutions * Service and Maintenance.

 Frustration

Frustration is a common emotional response to opposition. Related to anger and disappointment, it arises from the perceived resistance to the fulfillment of individual will. The greater the obstruction, and the greater the will, the more the frustration is likely to be. Causes of frustration may be internal or external. In people, internal frustration may arise from challenges in fulfilling personal goals and desires, instinctual drives and needs, or dealing with perceived deficiencies, such as a lack of confidence or fear of social situations. Conflict can also be an internal source of frustration; when one has competing goals that interfere with one another, it can create cognitive dissonance. External causes of frustration involve conditions outside an individual, such as a blocked road or a difficult task. While coping with frustration, some individuals may engage in passive-aggressive behavior, making it difficult to identify the original cause(s) of their frustration, as the responses are indirect. A more direct, and common response, is a propensity towards aggression.

Different frustrations that he encountered in working with the Information System Plan:

1. Cost – see to that the system costing would depend on the quality of a project. Making a system is impossible without financial support. From the hardware to software, all of this has a cost. That's the reason why a company must have good financial capacity to cater expense of systems.

2. Mood- it refers to the behavioral condition of a programmer. Moods might influence the quality and performance of programmers while programming. It is evident from literature that positive and negative moods influence divergent thinking, quantity/quality of ideas and creative problem solving. The programmers' performance and the quality of their work could be affected by their moods when they develop or test an application.

3 Limitation (restriction) – it refers to the time allocated for the system to be finished.

4. System flow or manual procedure- see to it that whatever the customer wants, it is pertinent that he/she must prepare the important things or data needed in a particular project. For an instance, customer wishes for a quality and easy system, it is important to consider the following like manual procedure had been set, there is legal contract between you (programmer) and customer and finalize first the data and reports needed.

A process for developing a strategy and plans for aligning information systems with the
business strategies of an organization.

Characteristics:
-*Timely. 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.

-*Useable. 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.
-*Maintainable. The ISP should 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.
-*Quality. While the ISP must be a quality product, no ISP is ever perfect on the first

References:
http://www.rhine.com.ph/about-us/rhine-computer-division.html
Wikipedia.com

Assignment 2(MIS2)

2010-03-17T11:44:00.000-07:00

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

Organizations find some strategies that will help building the name of the company and achieve a competitive advantage as technology is concern. The trend of technology nowadays is fast changing. It would be better if organizations will adapt into these changes and eventually embrace the new technology offered for the businesses to progress. Since business and IT works hand on hand, there relationship will provide a great means in achieving the goals set in for the organization. The business will not just bloom by itself but also those people using the technology as a resource. A business plan and IS plan has a relationship specially nowadays information technology involves more than just computer literacy;

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

The business goals may be defined for for-profit or for non-profit organizations. For-profit business plans typically focus on financial goals, such as profit or creation of wealth. Non-profit and government agency business plans tend to focus on organizational mission which is the basis for their governmental status or their non-profit, tax-exempt status, respectively—although non-profits may also focus on optimizing revenue. In non-profit organizations, creative tensions may develop in the effort to balance mission with "margin" (or revenue). Business plans may also target changes in perception and branding by the customer, client, tax-payer, or larger community. A business plan having changes in perception and branding as its primary goals is called a marketing plan.
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."
Presentation formats
The format of a business plan depends on its presentation context. It is not uncommon for businesses, especially start-ups to have three or four formats for the same business plan:
• an "elevator pitch" - a three minute summary of the business plan's executive summary. This is often used as a teaser to awaken the interest of potential funders, customers, or strategic partners.
• an oral presentation - a hopefully entertaining slide show and oral narrative that is meant to trigger discussion and interest potential investors in reading the written presentation. The content of the presentation is usually limited to the executive summary and a few key graphs showing financial trends and key decision making benchmarks. If a new product is being proposed and time permits, a demonstration of the product may also be included.
• a written presentation for external stakeholders - a detailed, well written, and pleasingly formatted plan targeted at external stakeholders.
• an internal operational plan - a detailed plan describing planning details that are needed by management but may not be of interest to external stakeholders. Such plans have a somewhat higher degree of candor and informality than the version targeted at external stakeholders.
Typical structure for a business plan for a start up venture[8]
• cover page and table of contents
• executive summary
• business description
• business environment analysis
• industry background
• competitive analysis
• market analysis
• marketing plan
• operations plan
• management summary
• financial plan
• attachments and milestones
Revisiting the business plan
Cost overruns and revenue shortfalls
Cost and revenue estimates are central to any business plan for deciding the viability of the planned venture. But costs are often underestimated and revenues overestimated resulting in later cost overruns, revenue shortfalls, and possibly non-viability. During the dot-com bubble 1997-2001 this was a problem for many technology start-ups. However, the problem is not limited to technology or the private sector; public works projects also routinely suffer from cost overruns and/or revenue shortfalls. The main causes of cost overruns and revenue shortfalls are optimism bias and strategic misrepresentation.[9][10] Reference class forecasting has been developed to reduce the risks of cost overruns and revenue shortfalls.
Uses of Business Plan
Venture capital
• Business plan contests - provides a way for venture capitals to find promising projects
Public offerings
• In a public offering, potential investors can evaluate perspectives of issuing company
Within corporations
Fundraising
Fundraising is the primary purpose for many business plans, since they are related to the inherent probable success/failure of the company risk.
Total quality management
Total quality management (TQM) is a business management strategy aimed at embedding awareness of quality in all organizational processes. TQM has been widely used in manufacturing, education, call centers, government, and service industries, as well as NASA space and science programs.
Management by objective
Management by objectives (MBO) is a process of agreeing upon objectives within an organization so that management and employees agree to the objectives and understand what they are in the organization.
Strategic planning
Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. Various business analysis techniques can be used in strategic planning, including SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats ) and PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological analysis) or STEER analysis involving Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors and EPISTELS (Environment, Political, Informative, Social, Technological, Economic, Legal and Spiritual)
Education
K-12
Business plans are used in some primary and secondary programs to teach economic principles. Wikiversity has a Lunar Boom Town project where students of all ages can collaborate with designing and revising business models and practice evaluating them to learn practical business planning techniques and methodology.

What is an IS plan

 Information Systems (IS) refers to the interaction between processes and technology. This interaction can occur within or across organizational boundaries. An information system is not only the technology an organization uses, but also the way in which the organizations interact with the technology and the way in which the technology works with the organization’s business processes. Information systems are distinct from information technology in that an information system has an information technology component that interacts with the processes components.

Strategic Information Systems Planning Methodologies
The task of strategic information systems planning is difficult and often time organizations
do not know how to do it. Strategic information systems planning is a major change for
organizations, from planning for information systems based on users’ demands to those based on
business strategy. Also strategic information systems planning changes the planning characteristics
in major ways. For example, the time horizon for planning changes from 1 year to 3 years or more
and development plans are driven by current and future business needs rather than incremental user
needs. Increase in the time horizon is a factor which results in poor response from the top
management to the strategic information systems planning process as it is difficult to hold their
attention for such a long period. Other questions associated with strategic information systems
planning are related to the scope of the planning study, the focus of the planning exercise - corporate
organization vs. strategic business unit, number of studies and their sequence, choosing a strategic
information systems planning methodology or developing one if none is suitable, targets of planning
process and deliverables. Because of the complexity of the strategic information systems planning
process and uniqueness of each organization, there is no one best way to tackle it. Vitale, et al.
(1986) classify SISP methodologies into two categories: impact and alignment. Impact
methodologies help create and justify new uses of IT, while the methodologies in the “alignment”
category align IS objectives with organizational goals.

Characteristics of a Quality ISP

A quality ISP must exhibit five distinct characteristics before it is useful. These five are presented in the table that follows.

1. Timely - 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.
2. Useable - 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.
3. Maintainable - The ISP should 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.
4. Quality - 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.
5. Reproducible - 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.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_plan
http://www.business-plan-success.com/Articles/BusinessPlanDefinition/

Assignment 9(MIS)

2009-09-30T14:09:00.000-07:00

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

The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, is a
term that encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on
Earth or some region thereof.

The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished by components:

* Complete ecological units that function as natural systems without massive
human intervention, including all vegetation, animals, microorganisms, soil,
rocks, atmosphere and natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries.

* Universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear-cut
boundaries, such as air, water, and climate, as well as energy, radiation,
electric charge, and magnetism, not originating from human activity.

The role of environment in sustainable development and its relation with
development management

the desired object of national development and environment protection is nothing
but improvement of the homeland in order to prepare appropriate environmental
conditions for the flourishing of the intellectual and material potentials of
the society.

It is obvious that there is a possibility for the appearance of environmental
problems in the course of the developmental process.

Therefore, it has become necessary to employ engineering sciences for
environment protection and to decrease the reverse effects of the civil and
developmental projects on the environment to the minimum possible levels.

When the development plan aims at preparation of an appropriate basis for the
boom of the potential talent and capability of the society, and the increase of
the life quality on a national level, the process of making an environment plan
can be defined as the design of a suitable strategy for promotion of living
standards on a national level, relying on the national intellectual and capital
resources, with little reliance on non-native facilities.
Through this paper the factor “Environment” and its role in Sustainable
Development and its relation with Development Management and Planning has been
studied, with due consideration of the aspects concerned.

• What should be your role within this environment?

-First you need to understand that if you are not
actively helping to conserve the environment in some way then the environment
will continue to degrade. We as human
beings have grown accustomed to using up nonrenewable resources. I feel the
role of humans is to first acknowledge our mistakes and then go about changing
our behavior. This means trying to
recycle, use renewable energy, not littering, using public transportation,
buying products from green companies so that economically it is more profitable
to conserve than waste, calling our congressman, etc. In short we must accept
that we are wrong in thinking that it is someone else's problem. Look
up on the inter net how you can help and do it. Make good habits in
conservation, learn all you can and share with others what you have learned. You and I are the problem and unless we
change, our environment could reach a critical threshold that takes thousands of years to fix.

•How can the principles of information organization and representation help you in performing this role?
==Principles for creating good information representation== -
propose principles for good representation of information applicable to six
categories of communication: speeches, written texts, presentations, Web pages,
movies/videos, and source programs. For each of these categories, many tips
have been proposed for creating good information representation. The meaning of
good information representation can be interpreted in two ways: as attractive
or impressive, and effective in conveying facts and opinions. Although these
two ways cannot be said to be independent of each other, I focus here only the
latter. The need to establish explicit principles for good information
representation is urgent, because information must be transmitted accurately
(without loss of fidelity). Bad information representation is proliferating at
a rapid pace because of the Internet. information representation.

• What are the challenges facing you in performing the role? How will you address these challenges?
The condition of the environment is a worldwide issue. Air and water pollution do
not recognize borders; poor soil conditions in one nation may reduce another
country’s food supply. At the same time, different regions do face different
problems. One key distinction is between the environmental threats faced by
developed nations, such as the United
States and western European countries, and
developing nations. Most agree that these nations may have dissimilar crises,
but debate remains over whether the solutions to their problems are unique as well.

The environmental problems faced by
developed nations are largely the result of economic strength and higher
standards of living. Because of us human our environment facing a
challenge like a calamity so therefore there are ways in conserving and save the
environment.
The environmental crises faced by developing nations are the result of poverty. For example, Third
World countries often lack the resources and sanitation facilities
to provide the public with clean water. Tropical deforestation, caused by the
slash-and-burn techniques of poor farmers, is another dilemma. However, as Rice University
president Malcolm Gillis has observed, agriculture is not the only
manifestation of the effects of poverty on deforestation. In most, but not all,
poor nations, the role of poverty in deforestation is magnified by the
ever-more-desperate search for fuelwood by impoverished people.” This search
for wood is exacerbated by the key environmental problem in developing
nations—overpopulation. Third World nations may consume vastly less than America and Europe
but their population growth rates are much higher. These nations lack the
natural resources and social services that will be needed in order to provide
their burgeoning populations with adequate food, shelter, and employment in the
coming years. As developing nations move closer to First
World status, the accompanying growth in industry could also
affect the environment, especially through the emission of greenhouse gases.
The global warming agreement reached in Kyoto, Japan, in December
1997 exempted developing nations such as China,
India, and Mexico from
requirements to reduce their emissions. But according to the United Nations,
countries exempted from the agreement will create 76 percent of total
greenhouse gas emissions over the next 50 years.
 Clean or replace air filters on your air
conditioning unit at least once a month.

 If you have central air
conditioning, do not close vents in unused rooms.

 Lower the thermostat on
your water heater to 120.

 Wrap your water heater in
an insulated blanket.

 Turn down or shut off your
water heater when you will be away for extended periods.

 Turn off unneeded lights
even when leaving a room for a short time.

 Set your refrigerator
temperature at 36 to 38 and your freezer at 0 to 5 .

 when using an oven,
minimize door opening while it is in use; it reduces oven temperature by 25 to
30 every time you open the door.

 Clean the lint filter inyour dryer after every load so that it uses less energy.

 Unplug seldom used
appliances.

==Here’s an idea of what our activities look like on the ground:==

We educate farmers on sustainable farming methods such as rotating crops for soil fertility and re-cropping rather than clearing forest to make new fields
We promote the use of fuel-efficient stoves that reduce the need for fuel wood by two-thirds and are made from local materials – saving time, money and trees
We organize micro-credit programs that allow villagers – especially women – to obtain capital for small business ventures by pooling their own money seeded by JGI funds. The payback rate is impressive – over 85 percent.
We work with villages to improve health through training and infrastructure development, including spring protection, shallow and bore wells, and ventilated improved pit latrines
We place a special emphasis on girls’ education, providing scholarships that have help girls
in Tanzania complete secondary school and beyond.

Reference:
http://library.witpress.com/pages/PaperInfo.asp?PaperID=15544[/f[font=Arial] http://www2.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/doi/10.1109/IPCC.2009.5208725
http://www.enotes.com/conserving-environment-article
http://www.seql.org/100ways.cfm

Assignment 8(MIS)

2009-09-30T13:08:00.000-07:00

Assuming that i was able to attend a seminar-workshop on information systems planning with some of the faculty members. So first i should give the definition of Outsourcing based on the internet.

Outsourcing of information systems functions has become a frequently chosen
alternative of providing information systems services. This is true across many
industries and all firm sizes. Practitioners have developed a number of guidelines
relating to outsourcing. While many of these guidelines seem plausible their under
lying economic reasons are often not identified because they are not based on any
theory. We analyze outsourcing of information systems functions using the trans
action cost economics framework. The framework allows us to incorporate pro
duction as well as coordination costs in evaluating the outsourcing option.
IS outsourcing, organization economics, transaction cost, markets, hierarchies,
asset specificity.
Outsourcing involves the transfer of the management and/or day-to-day execution of an entire business function to an external service provider. The client organization and the supplier enter into a contractual agreement that defines the transferred services. Under the agreement the supplier acquires the means of production in the form of a transfer of people, assets and other resources from the client. The client agrees to procure the services from the supplier for the term of the contract. Business segments typically outsourced include information technology, human resources, facilities, real estate management, and accounting. Many companies also outsource customer support and call center functions like telemarketing, CAD drafting, customer service, market research, manufacturing, designing, web development, print-to-mail, content writing, ghostwriting and engineering. Offshoring is the type of outsourcing in which the buyer organization belongs to another country.

Outsourcing and off shoring are used interchangeably in public discourse despite important technical differences. Outsourcing involves contracting with a supplier, which may or may not involve some degree of offshoring. Offshoring is the transfer of an organizational function to another country, regardless of whether the work is outsourced or stays within the same corporation/company.

With increasing globalization of outsourcing companies, the distinction between outsourcing and offshoring will become less clear over time. This is evident in the increasing presence of Indian outsourcing companies in the United States and United Kingdom. The globalization of outsourcing operating models has resulted in new terms such as nearshoring, noshoring, and rightshoring that reflect the changing mix of locations. This is seen in the opening of offices and operations centers by Indian companies in the U.S. and UK. A major job that is being outsourced is accounting. They are able to complete tax returns across seas for people in America.

Multisourcing refers to large outsourcing agreements (predominantly IT).[9] Multisourcing is a framework to enable different parts of the client business to be sourced from different suppliers. This requires a governance model that communicates strategy, clearly defines responsibility and has end-to-end integration.

Strategic outsourcing is the organizing arrangement that emerges when firms rely on intermediate markets to provide specialized capabilities that supplement existing capabilities deployed along a firm’s value chain (see Holcomb & Hitt, 2007). Such an arrangement produces value within firms’ supply chains beyond those benefits achieved through cost economies. Intermediate markets that provide specialized capabilities emerge as different industry conditions intensify the partitioning of production. As a result of greater information standardization and simplified coordination, clear administrative demarcations emerge along a value chain. Partitioning of intermediate markets occurs as the coordination of production across a value chain is simplified and as information becomes standardized, making it easier to transfer activities across boundaries.

The Webster's Universal Dictionary meaning of "Outsourcing" is: "A company or person that provides information; to find a supplier or service, to identify a source". It is very important to be clear about what is meant by outsourcing. Outsourcing essentially refers to how things are done rather than what is done. It describes how for example IT services are obtained; not what the services are.

Very simply outsourcing can be defined as a process in which a company delegates some of its in-house operations/processes to a third party. Thus outsourcing is a contracting transaction through which one company purchases services from another while keeping ownership and ultimate responsibility for the underlying processes. The clients inform their provider what they want and how they want the work performed. So the client can authorize the provider to operate as well as redesign basic processes in order to ensure even greater cost and efficiency benefits.

Although the above definition of outsourcing may seem very similar to contracting, it is to be said that contracting and outsourcing are in no way related. Generally in contracting the ownership or control of the operation or process being contracted is with the parent company, whereas in outsourcing the control of the process is with the third party instead of the parent company. So in other words, outsourcing can be defined as phenomena in which a company delegates a part of its in-house operations to a third party with the third party gaining full control over that operation/process.

One way of looking at it is that outsourcing is just a name for already existing practices. Services such as, bureau services, contract programming and project management have been outsourced for a long time. In its present meaning, however, outsourcing refers to a greater level of handing over ownership and/or managerial control than has before been the case.

Companies turn to resources outside their organizational structure usually to save money and/or make use of the skilled professionals. For instance, a company might outsource its IT management because it is cheaper to contract a third-party to do so than it would be to build its own in-house IT management team. Or a company could outsource all of its data storage needs because it is easier and cheaper than buying and maintaining its own data storage devices. A business might also outsource its human resource tasks to another enterprise instead of having its own dedicated human resources staff.

» Account Payable Outsourcing » Application Development Outsourcing
» Advantages of Outsourcing » Back Office Outsourcing
» Benefits of Outsourcing » Business Outsourcing
» Pro And Cons Of Outsourcing » China Outsourcing
» Customer Service Outsourcing » Data Entry Outsourcing
» Disadvantages of Outsourcing » Effects of Outsourcing
» Global Outsourcing » Graphic Design Outsourcing
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CountrY

Benefits of Outsourcing
Outsource and take advantage of the benefits of offshore outsourcing are the following:
1. Take advantage of the cost-advantages!

Outsourcing to countries such as India can give you access to cost-effective services. The same services with the same level of quality are offered in India for a much lower cost! This cost-advantage has increased the number of services that are being offered to India. Services such as call center services, teleradiology, medical billing, etc can help you save up to 60% of your total costs when outsourced! Getting access to high-quality services at a cost-effective price is the biggest benefit that you can get while outsourcing. Outsource and reap the benefits of outsourcing.
2. See an increase in your business

Another benefit of outsourcing is seeing a big increase in your profits, productivity, level of quality, business value, business performance and much more. Outsourcing can help you see an increase in almost every aspect of your business. Outsource and see your organization experience an increase in every aspect with these benefits of outsourcing.
3. Save Big!

One of the benefits of outsourcing is that you can save on every aspect of your business and increase your profits. When you outsource, you can save on time, effort, infrastructure and manpower. Since you don't have to invest in infrastructure, you can also save on making unnecessary fixed investments. Outsourcing removes the burden of changing or maintaining infrastructure. You can also save on capital expenditure. Outsourcing can also help you save on training costs, because you do not have to invest in manpower. These savings will help bring about an increase in your revenue. Your organization can also save on investing in expensive software and technologies.
4. Get access to specialized services

By outsourcing you can get expert and skilled services. This benefit of outsourcing has been the key reason why several outsourcers opt for outsourcing. The function that you outsource may not be your core competency but you can find an outsourcing partner who is specialized in that particular business process. Your outsourcing partner will be able to provide more proficient services. This is yet another benefit of outsourcing, because if you perform all your business processes in-house, you will not be able to provide specialized and skilled services. Outsourcing can give you this advantage.

Outsource2india is an organization that offers a wide range of specialized business process outsourcing solutions to global clients. Outsourcing business processes to us has enabled clients to cross-leverage our skills and expertise across industry verticals and technologies to achieve greater efficiency and quality levels in the outsourced process.

At Outsource2india, we have dedicated teams that offer outsourced services across a range of services which include Call center, Data Entry Servicesand Engineering Services, Healthcare Services, Financial Services, Software Development, Research and Analysis Services, Photo Editing Services, Creative Services and Web-analytics Services.

Outsource specific processes to our expert teams and increase your ROI. Contact O2I here.
5. Concentrate more on your core business

One of the benefits of outsourcing is that your organization will be free to concentrate on your core business. By outsourcing all your non-core functions, your employees can be put to better use and you will be able to see a huge growth in your core business.
6. Make faster deliveries to customers

Another benefit of outsourcing is that you can make quicker deliveries to customers. Your outsourcing partner will be able to provide faster deliverables and you in turn will be able to make quick deliveries to your customer. Faster deliveries can also help you save on time.
7. Improved customer satisfaction

With timely deliveries and high-quality services you can impress your customers. Outsourcing can help you benefit from increased customer satisfaction and your customers will remain loyal to your organization.
8. Benefit from time zone advantages

Outsourcing to countries such as India has a time zone advantage. Your night will be India's day. With this advantage, your outsourcing partner can complete critical work and send it to you the next day. Thus, your work is continued by your outsourcing partner even after your employees go home. This enables the work to be completed much faster and gives your business a competitive advantage. This is one of the benefits of offshore outsourcing.
9. Increased efficiency

Another benefit of outsourcing is increased efficiency. Your non-core business functions will be performed efficiently by your outsourcing partner, while your core functions can be efficiently carried out in-house. Thereby you can achieve overall efficiency and see an increase in your profits.
10. Give your business a competitive edge!

Outsourcing can help your organization gain a competitive edge in the market. You can also get access to specialized services for different business processes and thereby provide your customers with best-of breed services. Such strategic outsourcing can give your business a competitive edge among your peers. The benefits of outsourcing can give your organization a cutting-edge in the worldwide market. Outsource and take advantage of the benefits of outsourcing.
11. Outsourcing countries also benefit from outsourcing

Countries such as U.S, U.K, Norway and Australia amongst others can benefit by outsourcing. The economy of these countries has increased tremendously after outsourcing. In the U.S, after the outsourcing boom, the economy has increased, jobs have increased and the wages of American workers have increased.

Example of Outsourcing job
Call center outsourcing remains a popular and viable way to deliver high quality service while lowering operating costs in the call center. By outsourcing call center functions, companies can improve productivity, extend their service hours and place focus on their core competencies.

Services
For over a decade OUTSOURCE has provided Human Capital Resource Management Services to national corporations, local, state and federal government agencies. We deliver high quality Staff Augmentation, IT Consulting, Payroll Services, and Medical, Technical and Management Training Solutions to a diverse client base. OUTSOURCE professionals provide the missing piece to our client's resource puzzle.

Ingrained in every service we deliver, our first goal is to provide our clients with superior customer service, which starts with our quality processes. Whether we are providing human capital, managing a large consulting project, or delivering training solutions, our processes are tailored from start to finish. We ensure our clients receive the attention, quality, and ROI they deserve.

=Outsourcing Information Technology to Asia=
A combination of high overhead in the United States and strong cultural ties between the domestic and Asian information technology industries have led many companies to outsource labor-intensive software programming to Asia and Eastern Europe.

India has always been a major player in information technology (IT); they even make their own supercomputers for predicting monsoons. It wasn't until the Y2K bug emerged that the need for legions of cheap programmers really arose, however, and American companies began to see the potential for outsourcing overseas. After Y2K the IT service industry exploded, with American companies outsourcing everything from data entry to customer service to India and other Asian countries.

India was a natural choice for outsourcing. Many American technology companies were either created by or employ non-resident Indians (NRIs) or Indian-Americans who still have strong ties to family and friends in India. This cultural bridge combined with the vast pool of cheap, technically skilled, English-speaking engineering talent produced by India's engineering colleges creates the perfect environment for information technology.

Despite its distinct advantages for companies looking to outsource their IT services, India's volatile political climate and rampant corruption present problems. Some of the 185 Fortune 500 companies that outsource software to Asia are choosing places like Vietnam or China with more predictable politics and less corruption. Other companies that outsource their customer service are finding that their customers prefer the Americanized English of the Philippines to the British English that predominates in India, though all of these countries have their drawbacks, from censored Internet lines in China and Vietnam to Muslim militancy in the Philippines.

Despite the hiccups the IT service industry continues to grow as the software industry becomes more competitive and U.S. companies try to reduce overhead. The Asian IT service market is still in its infancy, but by 2008 industry think tank Nasscom-McKinsey predicts a $17 billion IT service industry in India alone.

Reference:
http://www.cyfuture.com/definition-of-outsourcing.htm
http://www.outsource2india.com/why_outsource/articles/benefit_outsourcing.asp

Assignment 7(MIS)

2009-09-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

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

1.Telecommunications
-:"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…."

he National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is the government agency created under Executive Order No. 546 promulgated on July 23, 1979, and conferred with regulatory and quasi-judicial functions taken over from the Board of Communications and the Telecommunications Control Bureau which were abolished in the same Order.

his Study has been published for those companies requiring an in-depth report describing the current state of the telecommunications industry in the Philippines.

The country’s telecom industry is rather unusual – for a developing country – for two reasons. First, its regulation is extremely liberal and, second, in some respects there is a surfeit of telecom infrastructure. The regulatory regime is weak to the point of being ineffectual, while the fixed line infrastructure is severely under-utilised and a great deal of investment is going to waste.

The country is renowned for its use of texting (i.e. short messaging services, or SMS), leading the world in the adoption of this particular technology. SMS services have driven the rapid growth of the country’s mobile sector over the past five years.

Other segments of the telecom industry have less dynamism. Use of the Internet, e-commerce and broadband services are still at an early stage. More advanced developments, such as 3G services, are only just being introduced.

The Philippines is one of the less developed telecom markets in the Asia-Pacific region. Having said that, and given the population size, opportunities for first-movers with appropriate products are considerable. If the country continues to develop economically, and political unrest is avoided, the Philippines could prove to be a rewarding country for long term investments.

2.CREATION OF DICT (DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY)
"Pres. Gloria Arroyo on Monday made a final push for the creation of DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) in her last State of the Nation Address (Sona). Let us have a Department of ICT. Philippines is now starting to create wealth with the development of the BPO industry as an engine of growth".

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a form of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of a specific business functions (or processes) to a third-party service provider. Originally, this was associated with manufacturing firms, such as Coca Cola that outsourced large segments of its supply chain.[1]. In the contemporary context, it is primarily used to refer to the outsourcing of services.

BPO is typically categorized into back office outsourcing - which includes internal business functions such as human resources or finance and accounting, and front office outsourcing - which includes customer-related services such as contact center services.

BPO that is contracted outside a company's country is called offshore outsourcing. BPO that is contracted to a company's neighboring (or nearby) country is called nearshore outsourcing.

3. Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector
-“In the past if the electronics sector grew, today we’re creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth,” Macapagal-Arroyo said. “Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall with the state of the world economy but BPO remains resilient.”

- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector is ushering the economy into a sustained growth as it is projected to employ close to one million and post 13 billion dollars revenue by next year.In an interview over CNBC’s Closing Bell program hosted by noted business anchor Maria Bartiromo, President Arroyo said that the BPO sector, among other industries, has exhibited a stunning performance and must have been helping enable the country to effectively manage the global financial crisis that has been hounding many countries.There are a number of industries that nobody ever thought before would become drivers of growth, for instance, the business process outsourcing industry.

VISION

To be the department of Excellence for e-Management
MISSION

To propagate and promote e-management for knowledge workers of RIM to enhance internal capacity and of Bhutanese organizations to institutionalize e-governance

BACKGROUND

This department was formally known as the Department for Information Technology (DICT) and focuses mainly on the design and delivery of IT training programs of the Institute. Besides offering a regular 2-Year Diploma course in Information Management Systems the department offers various IT/IS related courses at advanced level for in-service personnel, consultancy services and its expertise as and when required to different agency.

One of the major functions of the department is to plan and build IT capability of the Institute both in terms of human resources and infrastructure development. The department has been ardently involved in promoting and educating the Bhutanese in the field of computing and information technology. The programs of the department intervene at various levels of courses for Diploma Course for System developers and programmers, short tailor- made courses for in-service IT personnel, IT Awareness Workshops for executives as well as for mid-level managers from both Government and Private Sector. The department also facilitates, through certified instructors, the Cisco Networking Academy Program, which offers online curriculum and assessment for those interested in electronic networking. In addition to delivering joint IT courses with client organizations, the department plays crucial role in keeping in-house members informed and aware of new technologies and providing training sessions on their usage.

The DICT aims to equip the Institute with the state-of-the-art technology and be able to design and provide need-based IT training programs for the Bhutanese knowledge worker.

OBJECTIVES:

1. To strengthen the IT infrastructure and systems of RIM and its department
2. To provide IT training for public, private and civil society organizations at advanced level
3. Research and develop case study papers
4. To develop distance/online education capability through the use of reliable information technology and facilities.

Reference:
http://www.rim.edu.bt/Departments/dict.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_outsourcing

Assignment 6(MIS)

2009-09-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

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

First i will define what is an IT consultant?
• The Information Technology Consultant works with user groups to solve business problems with available technology including hardware,
software, databases, and peripherals. Services may include studying and analyzing systems needs; systems development; systems
process analysis, design, and re-engineering; feasibility studies; developing requests for proposals; evaluating vendor products and
making recommendations on selection. Enterprise support may require knowledge of business management, systems engineering operations research, and management engineering. Duties are performed at various levels within the defined category

• Probably focus your technical skills on predictable technologies: Microsoft server and desktop OSs, Microsoft Office software, e-mail platforms, and TCP/IP. Particularly ambitious IT consultants might add VoIP, Cisco, SonicWALL, and other network technologies to their plate, too.
But you may be missing a cash cow if you overlook Intuit products. The company recently reported a 9 percent increase in quarterly revenue vs. the third quarter 2008. With third quarter 2009 revenue of $1.4 billion, someone is buying Intuit products, and many of those people could be your clients.

• A consultant is a professional that provides expert advice in a particular domain or area of expertise such as accountancy, information technology, the law, human resources, marketing, medicine, finance or more esoteric areas of knowledge, for example engineering and scientific specialties such as materials science, instrumentation, avionics, and stress analysis. See related Certified Management Consultant and MBA.
• An expert in a specialized field brought in to provide independent professional advice to an organization on some aspect of its activities. A consultant may advise on the overall management of an organization or on a specific project, such as the introduction of a new computer system. Consultants are usually retained by a client for a set period of time, during which they will investigate the matter in hand and produce a report detailing their recommendations. Consultants may be established in business independently or be employed by a large consulting firm. Specific types of consultants include management consultants and internal consultants.

==I would suggest the following to improve the internet connectivity==

♥Technology♥

-Technology is helping to connect low-income residents with information, services, and
people in their communities. Technology can contribute to these efforts in significant
ways. Universities tend to play three general roles in the marriage of technology applications to
community development goals
• Consultant,
• Application Service Provider
• Catalyst.
Although these roles are not mutually exclusive, each offers a different set of benefits and
challenges for the specific technology project, and for the university-community partnership as a whole.
Technology can open the door to meaningful partnerships. Although the field of community development has yet to take full advantage of IT, the innovations at these six sites demonstrate that technology can play an important role in community development efforts. It is most effective when utilized as a means to impact community priorities, rather
than an end in itself. Using IT to achieve broad community goals can lead to sustainable, long-term collaboration between “town and gown.

♥Infrastructure♥
- Infrastructure can be defined as the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function. The term typically refers to the technical structures that support a society, such as roads, water supply, sewers, power grids, telecommunications, and so forth. Viewed functionally, infrastructure facilitates the production of goods and services; for example, roads enable the transport of raw materials to a factory, and also for the distribution of finished products to markets. In some contexts, the term may also include basic social services such as schools and hospitals. In military parlance, the term refers to the buildings and permanent installations necessary for the support, redeployment, and operation of military forces.

..Infrastructure consulting, integration services and solutions help you build a responsive IT infrastructure, including network, data centers, messaging systems to meet the critical needs of today's businesses. We have extensive methodologies for architecting, integrating and testing the infrastructure solutions. Our long-standing strategic alliances with different companies helps customers gain access to worldwide professional services of these technology leaders during architecture, design and implementation phases of projects. We also offer IT infrastructure assessment and audit services, which help you realign your IT infrastructure to meet growing and changing business requirements.
IT Infrastructure availability is critical to your business. Whenever a new application is scheduled to go online, or you are experiencing availability issues and can't determine the cause, our infrastructure assessment services would help you to align your IT infrastructure with your business objectives.
The basic physical systems of a country's or community's population, including roads, utilities, water, sewage, etc. These systems are considered essential for enabling productivity in the economy. Developing infrastructure often requires large initial investment, but the economies of scale tend to be significant.
-infrastructure is the physical hardware used to interconnect computers and users. Infrastructure includes the transmission media, including telephone lines, cable television lines, and satellites and antennas, and also the routers, aggregators, repeaters, and other devices that control transmission paths. Infrastructure also includes the software used to send, receive, and manage the signals that are transmitted.

In some usages, infrastructure refers to interconnecting hardware and software and not to computers and other devices that are interconnected. However, to some information technology users, infrastructure is viewed as everything that supports the flow and processing of information.

Infrastructure companies play a significant part in evolving the Internet, both in terms of where the interconnections are placed and made accessible and in terms of how much information can be carried how quickly.

♥Innovation♥
- refers to a new way of doing something. It may refer to incremental and emergent or radical and revolutionary changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations. A distinction is typically made between invention, an idea made manifest, and innovation, ideas applied successfully. (Mckeown 2008) In many fields, something new must be substantially different to be innovative, not an insignificant change, e.g., in the arts, economics, business and government policy. In economics the change must increase value, customer value, or producer value. The goal of innovation is positive change, to make someone or something better. Innovation leading to increased productivity is the fundamental source of increasing wealth in an economy.
Innovation is an important topic in the study of economics, business, design, technology, sociology, and engineering. Colloquially, the word "innovation" is often synonymous with the output of the process. However, economists tend to focus on the process itself, from the origination of an idea to its transformation into something useful, to its implementation; and on the system within which the process of innovation unfolds. Since innovation is also considered a major driver of the economy, especially when it leads to increasing productivity, the factors that lead to innovation are also considered to be critical to policy makers. In particular, followers of innovation economics stress using public policy to spur innovation and growth.
Those who are directly responsible for application of the innovation are often called pioneers in their field, whether they are individuals or organizations.
==Goals of innovation==
Programs of organizational innovation are typically tightly linked to organizational goals and objectives, to the business plan, and to market competitive positioning.
For example, one driver for innovation programs in corporations is to achieve growth objectives. As Davila et al. (2006) note,
"Companies cannot grow through cost reduction and reengineering alone . . . Innovation is the key element in providing aggressive top-line growth, and for increasing bottom-line results"
In general, business organizations spend a significant amount of their turnover on innovation i.e. making changes to their established products, processes and services. The amount of investment can vary from as low as a half a percent of turnover for organizations with a low rate of change to anything over twenty percent of turnover for organizations with a high rate of change.
The average investment across all types of organizations is four percent. For an organization with a turnover of say one billion currency units, this represents an investment of forty million units. This budget will typically be spread across various functions including marketing, product design, information systems, manufacturing systems and quality assurance.
==Failure of innovation==
Research findings vary, ranging from fifty to ninety percent of innovation projects judged to have made little or no contribution to organizational goals. One survey regarding product innovation quotes that out of three thousand ideas for new products, only one becomes a success in the marketplace. Failure is an inevitable part of the innovation process, and most successful organizations factor in an appropriate level of risk. Perhaps it is because all organizations experience failure that many choose not to monitor the level of failure very closely. The impact of failure goes beyond the simple loss of investment. Failure can also lead to loss of morale among employees, an increase in cynicism and even higher resistance to change in the future.
Innovations that fail are often potentially good ideas but have been rejected or postponed due to budgetary constraints, lack of skills or poor fit with current goals. Failures should be identified and screened out as early in the process as possible. Early screening avoids unsuitable ideas devouring scarce resources that are needed to progress more beneficial ones. Organizations can learn how to avoid failure when it is openly discussed and debated. The lessons learned from failure often reside longer in the organizational consciousness than lessons learned from success. While learning is important, high failure rates throughout the innovation process are wasteful and a threat to the organization’s future.
The causes of failure have been widely researched and can vary considerably. Some causes will be external to the organization and outside its influence of control. Others will be internal and ultimately within the control of the organization. Internal causes of failure can be divided into causes associated with the cultural infrastructure and causes associated with the innovation process itself. Failure in the cultural infrastructure varies between organizations but the following are common across all organizations at some stage in their life cycle (O'Sullivan, 2002):
1. Poor Leadership
2. Poor Organization
3. Poor Communication
4. Poor Empowerment
5. Poor Knowledge Management
Common causes of failure within the innovation process in most organisations can be distilled into five types:
1. Poor goal definition
2. Poor alignment of actions to goals
3. Poor participation in teams
4. Poor monitoring of results
5. Poor communication and access to information
Effective goal definition requires that organizations state explicitly what their goals are in terms understandable to everyone involved in the innovation process. This often involves stating goals in a number of ways. Effective alignment of actions to goals should link explicit actions such as ideas and projects to specific goals. It also implies effective management of action portfolios. Participation in teams refers to the behavior of individuals in and of teams, and each individual should have an explicitly allocated responsibility regarding their role in goals and actions and the payment and rewards systems that link them to goal attainment. Finally, effective monitoring of results requires the monitoring of all goals, actions and teams involved in the innovation process.
Innovation can fail if seen as an organizational process whose success stems from a mechanistic approach i.e. 'pull lever obtain result'. While 'driving' change has an emphasis on control, enforcement and structures it is only a partial truth in achieving innovation. Organizational gatekeepers frame the organizational environment that "Enables" innovation; however innovation is "Enacted" – recognized, developed, applied and adopted – through individuals.
Individuals are the 'atom' of the organization close to the minutiae of daily activities. Within individuals gritty appreciation of the small detail combines with a sense of desired organizational objectives to deliver (and innovate for) a product/service offer.
From this perspective innovation succeeds from strategic structures that engage the individual to the organization’s benefit. Innovation pivots on intrinsically motivated individuals, within a supportive culture, informed by a broad sense of the future.
Innovation, implies change, and can be counter to an organization’s orthodoxy. Space for fair hearing of innovative ideas is required to balance the potential autoimmune exclusion that quells an infant innovative culture.

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovation#Goals_of_innovation

Assignment 5(MIS)

2009-09-30T12:53:00.002-07:00

Based on your adopted organization(s), identify and discuss barriers in their IS/IT implementation.
On the Company we interviewed which is the Skycable their is a Barriers that occur in their IS/IT implementation.
In every organization, having these problems are obvious. People come from different background,cultures and etinity. A good organization manages all these problems properly and that helps in its developement.
These are the external problems. Problems in communication, information sharing and ownership are the internal problems which can be avoided by having a good management.
Barriers to innovation commonly occur where technology experts, or persons with an extensive research and publication record, are supervised by persons lacking in this type of background. In other words, innovation can be blocked where management assigns a technology expert with a supervisor who does not understand science, is not capable of understanding science, is resistant to understanding science, or who feels threatened by science. A growing number of companies in recent years have invested considerable resources to develop strategic planning skills. Companies obviously need to improve strategy implementation activities, but the pace of these activities and the implementation itself have many problems. Primary objectives are somehow forgotten as the strategy moves into implementation, and the initial momentum is lost before the company realizes the expected benefits. The cause isn't easy to explain, but it can be attributed to a variety of problems. Traditional strategy implementation concepts overemphasize structural aspects, reducing the whole effort to an organizational exercise. Ideally, an implementation effort is a "no boundaries" set of activities that doesn't concentrate on implications of only one component, such as the organizational structure. When implementing a new strategy, it's dangerous to ignore the other components because strategy implementation requires an integrative point of view. You need to consider not only the organizational structure, but the soft facts as well--the cultural aspects and human resources perspective. Taking into account both the soft and hard facts (like turnover, operating profit, profitability ratios) ensures that cultural aspects and human resources receive at least the same status as organizational aspects. Altogether, this integrative interpretation allows you to develop implementation activities that are realistic.
Barriers are important because a barrier is an obstacle which prevents a given policy instrument being implemented, or limits the way in which it can be implemented. In the extreme, such barriers may lead to certain policy instruments being overlooked, and the resulting strategies being much less effective. For example, demand management measures are likely to be important in larger cities as ways of controlling the growth of congestion and improving the environment. But at the same time they are often unpopular, and cities may be tempted to reject them simply because they will be unpopular. If that decision leads in turn to greater congestion and a worse environment, the strategy will be less successful. The emphasis should therefore be on how to overcome these barriers, rather than simply how to avoid them. ECOCITY provides a useful illustration of the ways in which such barriers arise, and of how obstacles have been overcome, in case study cities.

Principal Barriers
 Legal and institutional barriers -These include lack of legal powers to implement a particular instrument, and legal responsibilities which are split between agencies, limiting the ability of the city authority to implement the affected instrument (Section 3).
 Financial barriers- these include budget restrictions limiting the overall expenditure on the strategy, financial restrictions on specific instruments, and limitations on the flexibility with which revenues can be used to finance the full range of instruments.
 Political and cultural barriers- these involve lack of political or public acceptance of an instrument, restrictions imposed by pressure groups, and cultural attributes, such as attitudes to enforcement, which influence the effectiveness of instruments.
 Practical and technological barriers- while cities view legal, financial and political barriers as the most serious which they face in implementing land use and transport policy instruments, there may also be practical limitations. For land use and infrastructure these may well include land acquisition. For management and pricing, enforcement and administration are key issues.

Common Barriers

* Studying the problem too long without acting
* Trying to get everyone's agreement first
* Educating without changing structures or expectations
* Tackling everything at once
* Measuring nothing or everything
* Failing to build support for replication
* Assuming that the status quo is OK

More Barriers to Change

* Lack of such resources as time and commitment
* Resistance to change
* Lack of senior leadership support or physician champion
* Lack of cooperation from other agencies, providers, departments, and facilities
* Ineffective teams
* Burdensome data collection

Essential Elements for Change Effort

* Define the problem
* Define the target population
* Define effective treatment strategies and establish procedural guidelines
* Establish performance measures; set goals
* Define effective system changes and interventions
* Develop leadership and system change strategy

Overcoming problems and barriers

3 major benefits when overcoming identified barriers and problems.

 Prepared minds. The first benefit is to ensure that all participants of the planning process (e.g. senior managers, planners, decision makers) have a solid understanding of the business, its strategy as well as the assumptions behind that strategy. This understanding enables them to identify and to respond quickly to chances and challenges as they occur in real time.
 Innovation intensifier. The second benefit is to increase the innovativeness of the organization’s strategy. A strategic planning process cannot guarantee creative insight or excellent ideas in general; however the process can increase probability that they will occur by opening up participants to new thinking and challenging assumptions.
 Appropriate process. Overcoming selected problems and barriers enables the organization to consider own planning demands best and to focus on important issues of its organization, industry and environment. Hence organizations can create their customized strategic planning process, which offers the most benefits.

reference:
http://www.mywhatever.com/cifwriter/content/22/4481.html
http://www.themanager.org/strategy/Strategic-planning-problems-barriers.htm

Assignment 4(MIS)

2009-09-30T12:53:00.001-07:00

===Green Campus Computing==

The computer is the most important invention of the twentieth century. Computers are touching every part of our lives because of the rapidly decreasing cost of personal computers, the increasing dependence of large organization on large computer, and modern society’s need to make decisions quickly and accurately. The progress of the technological advances promoted the spread of computers into activities that were once the preserve of people- activities such as managing the collection and distribution of information in organizations. We are aware that the computers still continue to increase its influence on our lives throughout the foreseeable future. Even though computers give us a benefit especially to us students we should take good care. Mostly every university has a computer laboratory and each of us student has the right to use the computers because we use it for making an assignment and having research but we cant deny the fact that sometimes we, student s forget to follow the rules and regulations during and after using computer like turn off the computer after used. Here is the Green campus computing to explain the important of computer to our lives although the computer has a disadvantage and advantage. Green campus computing is the positive (or least negative) relationship between the physical computer and its impact to the environments in which it moves through during its journey from cradle to grave. In this context the computer’s impact to the various environments may be measured using any number of the following criteria;
From cradle: Materials from which components are manufactured (recycled or virgin
materials, materials which can be recycled, least toxic
materials); effluents/by products
produced in the manufacturing process (impact of effluents/by products on the
environment); assembly methods (ease the disassembly at end of life); packaging
materials used for components to facilitate storage and shipping (recycled or virgin
materials, materials which can be recycled).
Operational use: Power consumption of each component; interface with user; life cycle
(months/years before replacement is required); other consumables required to maintain.
End of use: Ability to reallocate if no longer required; supplier willing to take computer
components back under recycling program.
To grave: Effective recycling (ease of disassembly, recycle ability
of materials); CO2
travel points (number of miles travelled and fuel consumed to get all components to their
final destination); and responsible and safe disposal of toxic components.

Here are some ways to suggest ways how the university can adopt this concept .
*When you're not using your computer, you can save energy by putting it to "sleep." When your computer is in sleep, it's turned on but in a low power mode. It takes less time for a computer to wake up from sleep than it does for the computer to start up after being turned off. You can put your computer to sleep right away by choosing Apple menu > Sleep. You can also choose to put the computer to sleep automatically when your computer has been inactive for a specified amount of time. You can also set only the display to sleep. If your computer is in the middle of a task that you want to let finish while you are away (for example, burning a DVD), you should set only the display to sleep.
*Change the desktop background on ALL UF computers to a simple black screen, which uses less power
*Use less lighting when possible (many classrooms have a ridiculous amount of light, with some lighted tiles touching one another. In many cases, using half this light would still be sufficient, especially on sunny days). A special switch, either a dimmer or a "half on" switch could be used to control lighting used on brighter days.
*Practice the 4Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle and buy products with recycled content.
* Recycle your old cell phone to prevent hazardous substances from entering our environment. These substances include lead, arsenic, and cadmium, which have been linked with cancer, neurological disorders, and developmental abnormalities. Some helpful links: www.recyclewirelessphones.org and Wireless Foundation’s “Donate a Phone” program: www.wirelessfoundation.org.
* If it’s possible, download software from the web instead of purchasing a physical installation disc.
* Use email instead of faxes.

URL's
http://www.isc.uoguelph.ca/documents/061211GreenComputingFinalReport2006_000.pdf
http://greencampus.winserve.org/greencampus/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=7&Itemid=39
http://www.sustainable.ufl.edu/forum/archive/suggest-ways-to-reduce-energy-on-campus/

Assignment 3(MIS)

2009-09-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

Its my own perception regarding the automated election:
The advance technology has given a lot of influences that leads to many advantage, uses and convenient communication of human consumption but aside from it's positive inclination, technology is also a name of many conviction in crime but this kind of thing cannot be banish because of it's significant features uses. The article that i read is all about automation of election this year 2010 is an essential idea to pursue because of it's accuracy in counting and canvassing of the votes in every individual. "Every vote counts” as what they said but this can be discarded by the person who is a great opportunist who uses their power and position to manipulate votes that leads to its inaccurate counting, this problems we encounter is naturally occurring during election because of officials who is craving for their as aspired position that is why the automation for election is a good way for this coming election to manipulate the votes through technological usage particularly of SMARTMATIC and TIM of technical expertise on conducting electronic election for the sake of our nations prosperity by having a good leader to lead our nation the said automation for clean election shall use a new machine to prevent incorrect counting of votes, this agreements of both parties can be a great deal to have an effective , clean and unvias votation. Their combining technologies call be a source of information in all
aspects, its dual so we can expect service by their ability which they are capable of doing.Below of this will discuss the automated election which is the
Republic act no. 8436.
AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS TO USE AN AUTOMATED ELECTION SYSTEM IN THE MAY 11, 1998 NATIONAL OR LOCAL ELECTIONS AND IN SUBSEQUENT NATIONAL AND LOCAL ELECTORAL EXERCISES, PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

Section 1. Declaration of policy. — It is the policy of the State to ensure free, orderly, honest, peaceful and credible elections, and assure the secrecy and sanctity of the ballot in order that the results of elections, plebiscites, referenda, and other electoral exercises shall be fast, accurate and reflective of the genuine will of the people.

Sec. 2. Definition of terms. — As used in this Act, the following terms shall mean:

1. Automated election system — a system using appropriate technology for voting and electronic devices to count votes and canvass/consolidate results;

2. Counting machine — a machine that uses an optical scanning/mark—sense reading device or any similar advanced technology to count ballots;

3. Data storage device — a device used to electronically store counting and canvassing results, such as a memory pack or diskette;

4. Computer set — a set of equipment containing regular components, i.e., monitor, central processing unit or CPU, keyboard and printer;

5. National ballot — refers to the ballot to be used in the automated election system for the purpose of the May 11, 1998 elections. This shall contain the names of the candidates for president, vice-president, senators and parties, organizations or coalitions participating under the party-list system. This ballot shall be counted by the counting machine;

6. Local Ballot — refers to the ballot on which the voter will manually write the names of the candidates of his/her choice for member of the House of Representatives, governor, vice-governor, members of the provincial board, mayor, vice-mayor, and members of the city/municipal council. For the purpose of the May 11, 1998 elections, this ballot will be counted manually;

7. Board of Election Inspectors — there shall be a Board of Election Inspectors in every precinct composed of three (3) regular members who shall conduct the voting, counting and recording of votes in the polling place.

For the purpose of the May 11, 1998 elections, there shall be special members composed of a fourth member in each precinct and a COMELEC representative who is authorized to operate the counting machine. Both shall conduct the counting and recording of votes of the national ballots in the designated counting centers;

8. Election returns — a machine-generated document showing the date of the election, the province, municipality and the precinct in which it is held and the votes in figures for each candidate in a precinct directly produced by the counting machine;

9. Statement of votes — a machine-generated document containing the votes obtained by candidates in each precinct in a city/municipality;

10. City/municipal/district/provincial certificate of canvass of votes — a machine-generated document containing the total votes in figures obtained by each candidate in a city/municipality/district/ province as the case may be; and

11. Counting center — a public place designated by the Commission where counting of votes and canvassing/consolidation of results shall be conducted.

*Smartmatic Auditable Election System*
If your electoral agency seeks a fully-automated, electronic voting system that is completely secure, reliable and auditable, the Smartmatic Auditable Election System (SAES) is your solution. Proven under the rigorous scrutiny of independent international monitors in several national and regional elections, SAES has distinguished itself as the system beyond reproach.

The powerful combination of robust hardware, secure software and highly qualified personnel enables the SAES system to guarantee elections that voters can trust, in any part of the world. From its voting machines that feature a variety of vote input devices, customizable interfaces and printed voter receipts, to its secure data transmission networks, high-end tallying servers, immediate results tabulation and fully auditable paper trail, the SAES technological platform is the only end-to–end system available that ensures democracy rules, cost effectively.

Security

The impenetrable architecture of SAES is the result of a number of security mechanisms that we created by combining internationally recognized and standard-based security algorithms. You won’t have to worry about election tampering.

Immediacy

Not only do SAES voting machines allow voters to cast their choice more quickly, they allow the results to be known just minutes after the last polling place has closed.

Veracity

Smartmatic was the first company in the world to include printed receipts so every voter can verify that their on screen selections were recorded accurately. This not only establishes an auditable paper trail, but invites public trust and establishes the credibility of the election.

Economy

The digital voting process reduces the cost of holding an election because it requires greatly reduced human and economic resources. In addition, a thousand tons of paper can be saved because the need to print anything is eliminated almost entirely!

Auditing

A prerequisite of Smartmatic’s engagement is that a series of audits are undertaken before, during and after the election. SAES has been designed to make this a simple procedure, creating what we believe is the most transparent automated-voting process available in the world.

Flexibility

Your electorate has its own laws and conventions for tallying votes. That’s why SAES has been designed to make configuration for different tallying methods easy. Whether you use D’Hondt, simple majority, relative majority or other counting methods, you won’t incur costly reprogramming fees.

Accessibility

Voters with disabilities can be accommodated comfortably by SAES voting machines. Buttons with specific shapes and colors, sip-and-puff devices and special earphones are just some of the features our machines possess in order to guarantee equality and independence for all voters.

Versatility

Smartmatic recognizes the value of innovations that contribute to security so we engineered SAES in a way that lets it integrate readily with civil registration and voter identification systems. SAES makes it easier to build on the security platform you already have in place.

Autonomy

In those cases where an electoral agency requires operational control, Smartmatic provides licensing solutions. Structured as a turnkey agreement with ongoing support, the technology transfer can be achieved in the mid- to long- term, after training has been completed.

Reference:
http://www.smartmatic.com/solutions/automated-election-system/single-view/article/the-new-standard-of-modern-democracy/
http://www.chanrobles.com/republicactno8436.htm#REPUBLIC%20ACT%20NO.%208436

Assignment 2(MIS)

2009-09-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

==skycable===

For our second assignment, we were tasked to have another interview again to our recently visited company. We had visit Sky cable to determine there is/IT risk and change. To be consistent I would still be referring to that organization / company. Before that I would like to define what is Information System?

Information Systems (IS) refers to the interaction between people, processes, and technology. This interaction can occur within or across organizational boundaries. An information system is not only the technology an organization uses, but also the way in which the organization’s people interact with the technology and the way in which the technology works with the organization’s business processes. Information systems are distinct from information technology in that an information system has an information technology component that interacts with the people and processes components.

Company profile
SkyCable is a direct-to-home cable TV and subscription service, established by the Lopez Group of Companies and Central CATV Group Of Companies. It is one of several sister companies of ABS-CBN. SkyCable offers a range of analog and digital Cable Television services, and also offers high-speed Internet services and VOiP services.
SkyCable was established in January 1990. Commercial cable operations commenced on January 6, 1992. By the end of the year, 8,500 strand miles of cable were laid out, bringing in 20,000 subscribers by 1995.

Today, over 500,000 subscribers have made SkyCable the number one cable TV service provider in the Philippines. It has grown to feature the best and most varied cable programs for the whole family.

The success of SkyCable throughout the years enabled the business to expand and go beyond just providing postpaid cable TV service. In 2006, the first ever prepaid cable TV service inh the country was introduced, SkyCable Silver Prepaid. In 2008, SKYBROADBAND, the fastest residential broadband internet service in the land, and SKYVOICE, the lowest-prepaid IDD calling service, were launched.

This foray into innovative information and communication services created the need for the company to evolve its name into something much bigger.

== Here are the following risks associated on IS/IT change given by the IT personnel we had interviewed:==
*Security of data
- is the means of ensuring that data is kept safe from corruption and that access to it is suitably controlled. Thus data security helps to ensure privacy. It also helps in protecting personal data.

*Migrating/Changing of Operating System and New System
-Nowadays the most common OS that we have encountered in the Windows Operating System. Since most of the OS in Sky Cable are exercising Linux which is a full-fledged operating system, many of the employees find a hard time in manipulating the computer.

*Reliability and efficiency of the system
- The reliability of the system is not well tested. It will affect the business flows of the organization since it controls the information.

*Competition
- We can’t avoid competition in a business. According to the IT personnel of Sky Cable, when there is new system installed in the company the employees try there best to adopt immediately the last trend. The administration gives incentives to those whose can assimilate the system and it also might lead to the promotion of his/her position. On the other hand, the employees who cannot comprehend easily will be assigned to different manual works.
*Knowledge and Educational Background
-It is really important that the employees are well educated so that it is not hard for them to analyze the problems arise in a company.

*Cost
-It is really important to know the cost of the new technology being implemented in a company.

*Rejection to the staff
-The employees must be updated with the latest trend and they must know how to use it. We can’t deny the fact that not all employees are literate in computer so the company will hire a new one which has the knowledge of the existing technology. So, it is a threat to the employees especially to the IT personnel’s of the company.

*System Failure
- It is arise when there is a problem in hardware and it can cause the hardware to freeze, reboot, and/or stop functioning altogether.

*New technology, less employees

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_systems#Overview
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyCable
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-30/sp800-30.pdf
http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/s/systemfa.htm

Assignment 1(MIS)

2009-09-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

Sony Ericsson(wiltelcom)

Good day I rather chose the Sony Ericsson which is one of the branch of Wiltelcom and it is located at 3rd Level Gaisano Mall of Davao. Sony ericsson is a franchising type of company , and the owner is Banana Telecom Inc.
Sony Ericsson- is a joint venture established on October 3, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to make mobile phones. The stated reason for this venture is to combine Sony's consumer electronics expertise with Ericsson's technological leadership in the communications sector. Both companies have stopped making their own mobile phones.

Sony Ericsson is considers sustainable development and production to be one of the most important challenges for the future and one that demands immediate action from responsible manufacturers. Sony Ericsson is committed to continuously improving our impact on the environment and society, and striving to follow the holistic approach to business with the triple bottom line thinking* or the three dimensions of sustainability: economic, environmental and social aspects of the company. For more information, aims to exceed minimum industrial standards and has taken a leadership position in a number of areas. Our decision to lead the way in phasing out unwanted substances, our efforts to drive energy efficiency and our focus on recycling give us a very strong foundation to strive for a leadership position in the mobile phone industry

.

"Services offered by Sony Ericson are the following which is practices IT/IS"

Managed Services- Ericsson has the telecom industry's most comprehensive managed services offering. It ranges from designing, building, operating and managing day-to-day operations of a customer's network, including end-user services and business-support systems, to hosting service applications and content, as well as providing network coverage and capacity on demand. As the undisputed leader in managed services, Ericsson has officially announced more than 100 contracts for managed services with operators worldwide since 2002. In all current managed services contracts, excluding hosting, Ericsson is managing networks that together serve more than 225 million subscribers worldwide.

Support Services- Ericsson provides support to its customers to maximize network availability and secure long-term evolution. This includes both a preventative and corrective approach.

Ericsson’s offering for support services combines technology leadership with a mix of global and local resources.

The support portfolio covers everything from spare parts management to supporting customized software in order to:

* Securing the right network competence
* Managing network complexity
* Securing services evolution
* Managing multiple suppliers
* Optimizing spare parts handling.
Systems Integration

Education

Consulting

Ericsson covers strategy-, technology-, network-, operations- and competence consulting.

Ericsson identifies and addresses opportunities and challenges arising from market developments, technology shifts and efficiency demands.

Network Roll-out- Ericsson’s network roll-out services employ a mix of in-house capabilities, subcontractors and central resources to perform the task of making changes in live networks.

The service offering provides solutions for access, core and transport networks, as well as in-building solutions, irrespective of vendor.

Ericsson customizes service offerings include:
* Civil Works
* Data Migration
* Integration
* Integration Design
* Multi-Vendor Verification
* Network Design
* Site Acquisition
* Software Deployment Preparation

"mobi and mobile internet"

Ericsson was instrumental, as an official backer, in the launch of the .mobi top level domain created specifically for the mobile internet. Since the launch of .mobi in September 2006, Ericsson has launched Ericsson.mobi, its mobile portal, and SonyEricsson.mobi, the mobile portal of Sony Ericsson. Additionally, Ericsson hosts a developer program called Ericsson Developer Connection, designed to encourage fast development of applications and services. Ericsson also has an open innovation initiative for beta applications and beta API's & tools called Ericsson Labs.

Products and services

LM Ericsson offers end-to-end solutions for all major mobile communication standards, and has three main business units.

* Business Unit Networks focuses on networks for mobile and fixed line public telephone networks.
* Business Unit Global Services (BUGS) provides telecoms-related professional services, including for example taking responsibility for running an operators network and related business support systems.
* Business Unit Multimedia (BMUM) provides charging, provisioning, IPTV, mobile TV and other support and media systems, primarily for telecom operators.

In addition, there is a very substantial research and development element, and a range of central functions. Operations locally are coordinated through a structure of regions and Market Units, with some Global and Multi-Country Accounts for large customers.

Main Interest of Sony Ericsson are the following:

Sony Ericsson currently concentrates on the categories of: music, camera, business (web and email), design, all-rounder, and budget focused phones. Its five largest categories are:

* The Walkman-branded W series music phones, launched in 2005.
The Sony Ericsson W-series music phones are notable for being the first music-centric series mobile phones, prompting a whole new market for portable music that was developing at the time. Sony Ericsson's Walkman phones have previously been commercially endorsed by pop stars Christina Aguilera and Jason Kay across Europe.

* The Cyber-shot-branded line of phones, launched in 2006 in newer models of the K series phones.
This range of phones are focused on the quality of the camera included with the phone. Cyber-shot phones always include a flash, some with a xenon flash, and also include auto-focus cameras. Sony Ericsson kicked off its global marketing campaign for Cyber-shot phone with the launch of 'Never Miss a Shot'. The campaign featured top female tennis players Ana Ivanović and Daniela Hantuchová. On 10 February 2008, the series has been expanded with the announcement of C702 and C902 phones. And the whole new thing;Sony Ericsson C905.

* The BRAVIA-branded line of phones, launched in 2007 Japan market only.
Now, two mobile phones (FOMA SO903iTV and FOMA SO906i[7]) uses BRAVIA brand. BRAVIA branded phone are able to watch 1seg terrestrial television.

* The UIQ smartphone range of mobiles, introduced with the P series in 2003 with the introduction of P800.
They are notable for their touchscreens, QWERTY keypads (on most models), and use of the UIQ interface Platform from Symbian OS. This has since expanded into the M series and G series phones.

* The Xperia range of mobile phones, heralded by the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 on February 2008 at the Mobile World Congress (formerly 3GSM) held in Barcelona Spain , had opened the door for integration of Windows Mobile Operating System into Sony Ericsson powerhouse smartphones. XPERIA was the first trademark promoted by the Sony Ericsson as its own and is designated to provide technological convergence among its target user base.

http://www.wiltelcom.com/

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

www.sonyericsson.com

1. http://www.ericsson.com/ericsson/investors/financial_reports/2008/12month08-en.pdf. Retrieved on 2009-03-10.
2. ^ Ericsson to divest its enterprise PBX solutions to Aastra Technologies - Press Release
3. ^ Microsoft Word - WSI_DraftD9.v0.8.doc
4. ^ Ericsson - Board of Directors LM Ericsson
5. ^ dotMobi Investors | dotMobi
6. ^ Ericsson: About our developer pro

Assignment 10(HRM)

2009-09-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

Look for various definitions of personnel management and human resource management and their authors and sources (minimum of 5). Critique each.

**Personnel Management
-the part of management that is concerned with people and their relationships at work. Personnel management is the responsibility of all those who manage people, as well as a description of the work of specialists. Personnel managers advise on, formulate, and implement personnel policies such as recruitment, conditions of employment, performance appraisal, training, industrial relations, and health and safety. There are various models of personnel management, of which human resource management is the most recent.

source:http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/Personnel+Management.html

**Personnel Management
-Administrative discipline of hiring and developing employees so that they become more valuable to the organization. It includes (1) conducting job analysis, (2) planning personnel needs, and recruitment, (3) selecting the right people for the job, (4) orienting and training, (5) determining and managing wages and salaries, (6) providing benefits and incentives, (7) appraising performance, ( resolving disputes, (9) communicating with all employees at all levels.

source:http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/personnel-management.html

**Personnel Management
-Personnel management is concerned with the effective use of the skills of people. They may be salespeople in a store, clerks in an office, operators in a factory, or technicians in a research laboratory. In a business, personnel management starts with the recruiting and hiring of qualified people and continues with directing and encouraging their growth as they encounter problems and tensions that arise in working toward established goals.

Source. http://www.zeromillion.com/business/personnel/personnel-mangement.html#ixzz0QfaMPmTf

**Personnel Management
-“ Personnel Management is that phase of management which deals with the effective control and use of manpower as distinguished from other sources of power. The methods, tools and techniques designed and utilized to secure the enthusiastic participation of labour represent the subject matter in study of personnel administration”
Author: Dale Yoder

**Personnel Management
-Within organizations that employ people, this is the function with policy responsibility for the selection and recruitment of staff, training, performance assessment, career development, disciplinary proceedings, pre-retirement advisory work, equal opportunities policies, pay bargaining, and industrial relations. In small organizations these functions may be combined with other management responsibilities; in large organizations a substantial separate department may be involved in setting policy, its implementation, and in keeping up to date with developments in labor law. In recent years the newer alternative term 'human resource management' has come into use, reflecting the increased importance of this function in labour-intensive service-sector industries.

source:http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Definition_of_personnel_management

**Human Resources Management
-Human Resource Management is a model of personnel management that focuses on the individual rather than taking a collective approach. Responsibility for human resource management is often devolved to line management. It is characterized by an emphasis on strategic integration, employee commitment, workforce flexibility, and quality of goods and services.

Source: http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/human+resource+management.html

**Human Resources Management
-Human resource management (HRM) is the strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization's most valued assets - the people ...

source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_resource_management

**Human Resources Management
-Human Resource Management (HRM) is the function within an organization that focuses on recruitment of, management of, and providing direction for the people who work in the organization. Human Resource Management can also be performed by line managers.

Human Resource Management is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training.

source:http://humanresources.about.com/od/glossaryh/f/hr_management.htm

**Human Resources Management
-Administrative activities associated with human resources planning, recruitment, selection, orientation, training, appraisal, motivation, remuneration, etc. HRM aims at developing people through work.

source:http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/human-resource-management-HRM.html

-a model of personnel management that focuses on the individual rather than taking a collective approach. Responsibility for human resource management is often devolved to line management. It is characterized by an emphasis on strategic integration, employee commitment, workforce flexibility, and quality of goods and services.

source:http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/human+resource+management.html

**Human Resources Management
-Human resource management is all about management of a resource that we call human beings. Human is a resource which is playing a vital role round the world. It is about the human who are working round the world. People have different areas of their choice. They may work for their own and their families as well. People are facing a lot of problems too. These problems are accountable of many troubles round the planet. We may observe the miseries of people due to their mismanagement.

All around the world, people have troubles due to mismanagement of human resource. If they are serious to resolve the issues and give all of them their correct value then they would be able to do their proper management. Management is easy to do in social, financial and educational terms but it is difficult to manage human resource as people have their priorities and they want to live their life in their way. So, it is a tough task to manage human resources.

source:http://www.blurtit.com/q682550.html

-

Assignment 9(HRM)

2009-09-30T10:58:00.003-07:00

Interview a personnel/human resource manager on his concept on the nature, scope and role of human resource management. Do you agree with him? Explain. Is his concept similar to that of the management of his organization? If not, ask him how the differences are settled. (1500 words).

Interview a personnel/human resource manager on his concept on the nature, scope and role of human resource management. Do you agree with him? Explain. Is his concept similar to that of the management of his organization? If not, ask him how the differences are settled. (1500 words)

Personnel Management
-The function of a personnel manager usually begins with the staffing process. The manager may be focused on screening and interviewing applicants, with an eye to placing individuals with the right skill sets in the right position within the company. Along with placement, the HR manager may also oversee, or at least be involved in, the creation of entry level training programs, as well as continuing education opportunities for existing employees.

Determining company policies and procedures as they relate to personnel is another important aspect of the personnel management process. HR functions often include drafting vacation, sick leave, and bereavement policies that apply to all employees. The personnel management team is also often responsible for managing any healthcare program provided to the employees as well.

One aspect of company organization that needs the input of effective personnel management is the drafting of a company handbook. Establishing operation policies and procedures, requirements for employment, commendation and disciplinary procedures, and even something as simple as a dress code has to be compared with state and federal guidelines before the handbook is ready for release to the company at large. Personnel managers and the HR staff are ideal for drafting and reviewing the company handbook.

Sometimes overlooked in the course of personnel management is the emotional welfare of the employees. Increasingly, more personnel managers understand that a well-adjusted employee is an asset to the company. To this end, many people in charge of personnel management try to provide opportunities for employees who are in need of counseling to receive support from the company.

This support often involves scheduling time during working hours for the counseling sessions, and perhaps picking up the cost if insurance does not cover counseling. As with continuing educational programs, counseling is seen as another way that the company invests in the future relationship between the employee and the employer. A good HR manager understands this and will strive to make sure this sort of support is available.

Human Resources Manager

The current business and legal climate have changed both the function and the status of the human resources manager in many organizations. Employers worry about frequent or expensive legal claims by employees, particularly in relation to discrimination and downsizing. At the same time, hiring, training, and keeping skilled employees has become a priority for businesses concerned about their competitiveness. As a result, the professional expertise required for the human resources function has increased.

The current business and legal climate have changed both the function and the status of the human resources manager in many organizations. Employers worry about frequent or expensive legal claims by employees, particularly in relation to discrimination and downsizing. At the same time, hiring, training, and keeping skilled employees has become a priority for businesses concerned about their competitiveness. As a result, the professional expertise required for the human resources function has increased.

Reference:
http://www.hrpolicyanswers.com/xstore/catalog/HUMAN-RESOURCES-MANAGER-Writing-and-Decision-Making-Kit-p-31.html

Assignment 8(HRM)

2009-09-30T10:58:00.002-07:00

On the assumption that you heard/read the SONA of the President last month (July 2009), identify at least 3 areas related to Human Resource Management and explain how these areas can improve our quality of life. (2000words)

*1.EDUCATION
"A good education is the ticket to a better life. Education is the great equalizer
that will allow every young Filipino a chance to realize their dreams".
==any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual. In its technical sense education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another.

-We built 95,000 classrooms, created 60,000 teaching jobs, and allocated P1.5
billion for teacher training, especially for 100,000f English teachers.
One of the most difficult Millennium Development Goal is Education for All by
2015, meaning, universal primary education. Almost no country will achieve
it. But we are still trying. We built schools in over a million villages where
there were none so that the children can save on transportation going to
school. We eliminated miscellaneous fees for primary school. School uniforms
are no longer required for public school.
In private high schools, we finance half of the students.

We have provided college and post-graduate education for over 600,000
Scholars. One of them, Mylene Amerol-Macumbal, finished Accounting at
MSU-IIT, went to law school, and placed second in the last bar exams - the
First Muslim woman bar topnotch. Congratulations!
In technical education and skills training, we have invested three times that of
Three previous administrations combined. Jennifer Silbor is here, one of 10
million trainees. She learned medical transcription. Now, as an independent
Contractor and lecturer for transcriptions in Davao, she earns P18,000 a
month. Good job, Jennifer.
The Presidential Task Force on Education headed by Jesuit educator Father
Bienvenido Nebres has come out with the Main Education Highway towards a
Knowledge-Based Economy. It envisions seamless education from basic
education to vocational school or college.
We must mainstream early childhood development in basic education. Our
children are our most cherished possession. In their early years we must
make sure they get a healthy start in life. They must receive the right food for
a healthy body, the right education for a bright and inquiring mind—and the
equality of opportunity for a meaningful job.
For college admission, the Task Force recommends mandatory Scholastic
Aptitude Tests. It also recommends that private and state higher education
institutions should be harmonized with each other, and that CHED should
oversee local universities and colleges. For professions seeking international
recognition—engineering, architecture, accountancy, pharmacy and physical
therapy—it recommends radical reform: 10 years of basic education and two
years of pre-university before three years of university.
Our educational system should make the Filipino fit not just for whatever jobs
happen to be on offer today, but also for whatever economic challenge life will
throw in their way.

*System of formal Education*

1.Primary education
-Primary (or elementary) education consists of the first 5-7 years of formal, structured education. In general, main education consists of six or eight years of schooling starting at the age of five or six, although this varies between, and sometimes within, countries. Globally, around 70% of primary-age children are enrolled in primary education, and this proportion is rising.[1] Under the Education for All programs driven by UNESCO, most countries have committed to achieving universal enrollment in primary education by 2015, and in many countries, it is compulsory for children to receive primary education. The division between primary and secondary education is somewhat arbitrary, but it generally occurs at about eleven or twelve years of age. Some education systems have separate middle schools, with the transition to the final stage of secondary education taking place at around the age of fourteen. Schools that provide primary education, are mostly referred to as primary schools. Primary schools in these countries are often subdivided into infant schools and junior schools.
2.Secondary education
-In most contemporary educational systems of the world, secondary education consists of the second years of formal education that occur during adolescence.[citation needed] It is characterized by transition from the typically compulsory, comprehensive primary education for minors, to the optional, selective tertiary, "post-secondary", or "higher" education (e.g., university, vocational school) for adults.[citation needed] Depending on the system, schools for this period, or a part of it, may be called secondary or high schools, gymnasiums, lyceums, middle schools, colleges, or vocational schools. The exact meaning of any of these terms varies from one system to another. The exact boundary between primary and secondary education also varies from country to country and even within them, but is generally around the seventh to the tenth year of schooling. Secondary education occurs mainly during the teenage years. In the United States and Canada primary and secondary education together are sometimes referred to as K-12 education, and in New Zealand Year 1-13 is used. The purpose of secondary education can be to give common knowledge, to prepare for higher education or to train directly in a profession.

The emergence of secondary education in the United States did not happen until 1910, caused by the rise in big businesses and technological advances in factories (i.e. emergence of electrification), that required skilled workers. In order to meet this new job demand, high schools were created and the curriculum focused on practical job skills that would better prepare students for white collar or skilled blue collar work. This proved to be beneficial for both the employer and the employee, because this improvement in human capital caused employees to become more efficient, which lowered costs for the employer, and skilled employees received a higher wage than employees with just primary educational attainment.

In Europe the grammar school or academy existed from as early as the 1500s, public schools or fee paying schools, or charitable educational foundations have an even longer history.
3.Higher education
-Higher education, also called tertiary, third stage, or post secondary education, is the non-compulsory educational level that follows the completion of a school providing a secondary education, such as a high school, secondary school. Tertiary education is normally taken to include undergraduate and postgraduate education, as well as vocational education and training. Colleges and universities are the main institutions that provide tertiary education. Collectively, these are sometimes known as tertiary institutions. Tertiary education generally results in the receipt of certificates, diplomas, or academic degrees.

Higher education includes teaching, research and social services activities of universities, and within the realm of teaching, it includes both the undergraduate level (sometimes referred to as tertiary education) and the graduate (or postgraduate) level (sometimes referred to as graduate school). Higher education in that country generally involves work towards a degree-level or foundation degree qualification. In most developed countries a high proportion of the population (up to 50%) now enter higher education at some time in their lives. Higher education is therefore very important to national economies, both as a significant industry in its own right, and as a source of trained and educated personnel for the rest of the economy.
4.Adult education
-Adult education has become common in many countries. It takes on many forms, ranging from formal class-based learning to self-directed learning and e-learning. A number of career specific courses such as veterinary, medical billing and coding, real estate license, bookkeeping and many more are now available to students through the Internet.
5.Alternative education
-also known as non-traditional education or educational alternative, is a broad term that may be used to refer to all forms of education outside of traditional education (for all age groups and levels of education). This may include not only forms of education designed for students with special needs (ranging from teenage pregnancy to intellectual disability), but also forms of education designed for a general audience and employing alternative educational philosophies and methods.

Alternatives of the latter type are often the result of education reform and are rooted in various philosophies that are commonly fundamentally different from those of traditional compulsory education. While some have strong political, scholarly, or philosophical orientations, others are more informal associations of teachers and students dissatisfied with certain aspects of traditional education[citation needed]. These alternatives, which include charter schools, alternative schools, independent schools, and home-based learning vary widely, but often emphasize the value of small class size, close relationships between students and teachers, and a sense of community.
6.Indigenous education
-Increasingly, the inclusion of indigenous models of education (methods and content) as an alternative within the scope of formal and non-formal education systems, has come to represent a significant factor contributing to the success of those members of indigenous communities who choose to access these systems, both as students/learners and as teachers/instructors.

As an educational method, the inclusion of indigenous ways of knowing, learning, instructing, teaching and training, has been viewed by many critical and postmodern scholars as important for ensuring that students/learners and teachers/instructors (whether indigenous or non-indigenous) are able to benefit from education in a culturally sensitive manner that draws upon, utilizes, promotes and enhances awareness of indigenous traditions.

For indigenous students or learners, and teachers or instructors, the inclusion of these methods often enhances educational effectiveness, success and learning outcomes by providing education that adheres to their own inherent perspectives, experiences and world view. For non-indigenous students and teachers, education using such methods often has the effect of raising awareness of the individual traditions and collective experience of surrounding indigenous communities and peoples, thereby promoting greater respect for and appreciation of the cultural realities of these communities and peoples.

In terms of educational content, the inclusion of indigenous knowledge, traditions, perspectives, worldviews and conceptions within curricula, instructional materials and textbooks and coursebooks have largely the same effects as the inclusion of indigenous methods in education. Indigenous students and teachers benefit from enhanced academic effectiveness, success and learning outcomes, while non-indigenous students/learners and teachers often have greater awareness, respect, and appreciation for indigenous communities and peoples in consequence of the content that is shared during the course of educational pursuits.

*2.OVERSEAS FILIPINO
-In good times and bad, overseas Filipinos keep our nation resilient. Their
remittances of $16 billion last year were a record.
-I know that this is not a sacrifice joyfully borne. This is work where it can be
found—in faraway places, among strangers with different cultures. It is lonely
work, it is hard work.
That is why we are working to create good paying jobs here at home, so that
overseas work will just be a career choice, not the only option for a hardworking
Filipino.
Meanwhile, we should make their sacrifices worthwhile. We should take
stronger measures to preserve and enhance the value of their hard earned
wages. That means stronger consumer protection for overseas Filipinos
investing in property and products back home. For them, I am activating an
Investors Protection Task Force.
I spare no effort to visit our people and their hosts across the globe – from
Japan to Brazil, from Europe and the Middle East to the American Midwest,
listening to their problems and needs, learning how our government can help
them – by working out better policies on migrant labor, or by saving lives and
restoring liberty.
When I visited Saudi Arabia, King Abdulla granted amnesty to 700 jailed
OFWs. A planeload of them came home with me.
Since I visited Spain, it has become our biggest European donor. And King
Juan Carlos has been interceding in other countries for our distressed OFWs.
Sheikh Khalifa, Prime Minister of Bahrain, is another advocate for our people.
When I visited Kuwait, Emir Al-Sabah commuted death sentences.
Our vigorous international engagement has helped bring in foreign
investment. Net foreign direct investments multiplied 15 times during our
administration. Together with our OFWs, they more than doubled our foreign
exchange reserves. They strengthened our peso and helped keep inflation
down. They upgraded our credit because while the reserves of our peers have
shrunk this past year, our reserves grew by $3 billion.
*3.MICROFINANCE
“Nakinabang ang pitong milyong entrepreneurs sa P165 billion na microfinance. Nakinabang ang 1,000 sa economic resiliency plan. Kasama natin ngayon ang isa sa kanila, si Gigi Gabiola. Dating household service worker sa Dubai, ngayon siya ay nagtatrabaho sa DOLE.”
-refers to the provision of financial services to low-income clients, including consumers and the self-employed.
P165 billion worth of microfinance has given benefits in almost 7 million entrepreneurs.
The Philippine Microfinance Industry:

• Made remarkable progress the past ten years
• Reached a large number of the poor
• Market has grown
• Large unmet demand for microfinance services among the poor
• At end 2002, 25% of 4.3 million poor households reached
• Mostly married women
• MF clients clustered around the poverty threshold, including the vulnerable non-poor
• Estimated leakage to non-poor clients was 20%
-Seven million entrepreneurs benefited from P165 billion in microfinance.
A hundred thousand benefited from the emergency employment of our
economic resiliency plan. We have one of them with us today, Gigi Gabiola.
Formerly a household service worker in Dubai, now she works at the
Department of Labor. Good luck, Gigi.
A million families have benefited from our housing and shelter program: from
Pag-Ibig, National Housing Corporation, community mortage programs,
certificates of lot awards, and loan condonation and restructuring.
Our average inflation is the lowest since 1966. Last June, it dropped to 1.5%.
How?
Proper policies lowered interest rates, which lowered costs to business and
consumers.
Because of our reforms, we were able to sell NFA rice at P18.25 per kilo even if
the market price went up from P17.50 to P30 due to the world shortage.
Meanwhile, for the first time, we were able to buy palay from the farmers at
P17, up from P11.
Because of our reforms, we were able to invest in food production—
anticipating an unexpected global food crisis. We were able to build thousands
of kilometers of farm-to-market roads and, together with the private sector,
irrigate two million hectares. Badjaos like Tarnati Dannawi were taught
modern mariculture. Her earnings in the past year have reached P180,000.
Congratulations, Tarnati. We will help more fisherfolk shift to fish farming
with P1 billion.
Reference:
http://rtvm.gov.ph/attachments/1506_SONA 2009 (Full English Version).pdf

Assignment 7(HRM)

2009-09-30T10:58:00.001-07:00

“Human beings are the most important potent and critical resource of any organization and yet the least understood and the worst managed of it resources.
It is important to understand what we are as human beings. The present state of knowledge of the human being is one which has been informed by the materialistic reductionist thinking of modern technological science. It is commonplace for people generally to think of the human body as being merely an elaborate machine, with all the non-material aspects of the human being- thinking, feeling, attitudes, emotions, mores, imagination, etc., etc, as being merely the result of the physico-chemical activities which take place in the physical body. However, the human organism is not a machine and does not operate under the aegis of chemical and physical laws. An important statement made by Rudolf Steiner in this context, given in a lecture series published as "Man as Symphony of the Creative Word", (Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1970, pp. 188-189) in 1923, eloquently illustrates the problem:

" Wouldst thou heal man, look into the world on every side, see on every side how the world evolves processes of healing. Wouldst thou know the secrets of the world in the processes of illness and healing, look into the depths of human nature. You can apply this to every aspect of man's being, but you must direct your gaze outwards to the great world of nature and see man in a living relationship to this great world.
People today have become accustomed to something different. They depart from nature as far as possible. They do something which shuts their own sight off from nature, for what they wish to examine they lay beneath a glass on a little stand - the eye does not look out into nature, but looks into the glass. Sight itself is cut off from nature. They call this the microscope. In certain connections it might as well be called a nulloscope, for it shuts one off from the great world of nature. People do not know, when something under a glass is magnified, that for spiritual knowledge it is exactly as though the same process were to take place in nature herself. For only think, when you take some minute particle from the human being for the purpose of observation under a microscope, what you then do with this minute fragment is the same as if were to stretch the man himself and tear him apart. You would be an even worse monster than Procrustes if you were to wrench man and tear him asunder in order to enlarge him as that minute particle is enlarged under the microscope. But do you believe that you would still have the person before you? This would naturally be out of the question. Just as little do you have the reality there under the microscope. The truth which has been magnified is no longer the truth; it is an illusory image. We must not depart from nature and imprison our own sight. For other purposes, this can of course be useful; but for a true knowledge of man it is immensely misleading.
Knowledge of man in the true sense must be sought in the way we have indicated. Starting from the processes of nutrition, it must be followed through the processes of healing to the processes of human and world education in the widest sense. Or we can put it thus: from nutrition, through healing, to civilization and culture."

This line of thinking leads to the logical conclusion that it is not possible to understand the human being by means of the scientific methodology employed today. Anytime we open up the human being by means of tissue samples, doing blood analysis, etc., we simply do not have any reality before us; what we have is an artifact abstracted from the context in which it naturally exists, and so whatever we find out about the artifact has no reality with regard to the living tissue itself in the context of its functioning within the human organism. This has necessarily lead to tremendous confusion and chaos in the world because it is based on ignorance about what we are as human beings. The following is a greatly simplified description of the constitution of the human being; for a more detailed description of the complexities of the human being I refer you to the book "Theosophy" by Rudolf Steiner,
(Anthroposophic Press).

Assignment 6(HRM)

2009-09-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

What do you think will the 21st -century corporations look like?

Technology can be a powerful lever for school reform, at the classroom, school, and district levels. However, too often technology is implemented poorly and then applied in ways that only buttress traditional practice and as what expected in the near future there will be more new technology develops that can influence students to adapt and used this hi-tech gadget.

Here are some new technology being develop during 21st century

Biometrics -for secure mobile connections, Biometric data has been used to tie the device to a person to prevent it from being used illegitimately. But the IST project Secure Phone is taking a new approach.
The world's first hands-free binoculars -HiStar, Inc. has introduced its line of hands-free binoculars.
Scientists discover Nanograss-Scientists discover new method to control liquid using silicon surfaces that resemble blades of grass.
Beyond - the Kitchen of the Future- Beyond Connected Products are coming to your kitchen: networked home products designed to make life simpler, more convenient and fun.
The worlds first hand-held printer- PrintDreams, the developer of the Random Movement Printing technology RMPT(tm), has announced the release of PrintBrush(tm), the world's smallest and only fully format-independent printer.
The Gauntlet- It's not Just Another Gadget, It's the one-size-fits-all Gauntlet - a wireless system that's set to become the next step in Wearable Communications.

“Corporations have long insisted that globalization delivers prosperity. But a report commissioned by the Financial Services Forum, an association of CEOs of 20 major financial firms, admits that most benefits have gone to a select few. International operations increasingly account for most sales and business conducted by multinational firms, writes David Wessel for the Wall Street Journal. But workers in developed nations have increasing job insecurity. If benefits bypass ordinary workers, resentment could prompt US legislators to restrict international trade. A huge income gap is unnecessary for the US: The report recommends higher taxes for those gaining the most from globalization, protecting the tax base in communities facing factory closures, and a guarantee of health care and training opportunities for all workers.
The association warns that growing inequality threatens overall US prosperity and released the report to candidates for the 2008 US presidential election. But the warning may be too late, with politicians chasing after votes and surveys reporting that more than two-thirds of Americans anticipate that their children’s lives will be worse off than their own. – YaleGlobal”
Corporation is the most common form of business organization, and one which is chartered by a state and given many legal rights as an entity separate from its owners. This form of business is characterized by the limited liability of its owners, the issuance of shares of easily transferable stock, and existence as a going concern. The process of becoming a corporation, call incorporation, gives the company separate legal standing from its owners and protects those owners from being personally liable in the event that the company is sued (a condition known as limited liability). Incorporation also provides companies with a more flexible way to manage their ownership structure. In addition, there are different tax implications for corporations, although these can be both advantageous and disadvantageous. In these respects, corporations differ from sole proprietorships and limited partnerships.

Many people, ranging from linguistic and academic experts to Internet bloggers, predict that the "twenty X" pronunciation method will eventually prevail, but a time frame as to when this change will occur often differs. The year 2010 "twenty ten" is suggested by many, with the "two thousand x" pronunciation reserved only for the "two thousands" decade of 2000s[5][6] and the Vancouver Olympics, taking place in 2010, is being officially referred to by Vancouver 2010 as "the twenty-ten olympics", while 2011 and 2013 are popular as well. The latest timeframes for change are usually placed at 2020.

id=9482 Corporation in the 21st century

 Innovation- is the number priority
 Foster individual creativity
 Coordinate rather than command
 Make innovation everybody’s business

id=9482 21st century manpower resources

The worldwide search for manpower parallels the increasing demands of socioeconomic growth and progress. This is true whether in developed or developing countries. The demand corresponds to actual and projected needs. And these needs are many and varied. It is meeting these requirements that make manpower recruitment and mobilization a vital activity, if often difficult. For the elements of competitive costs, selectiveness, reliability, timely delivery and such other vital consideration come into play.

id=9482 Higher education in the 21st Century: Perspectives on an emerging body of literature
This paper summarizes the major themes in the body of writing which purports to describe what higher education will look like in the 21st Century. Some reasons why change might be far more pervasive in the first decade of the 21st Century than in the last three decades of the 20th Century are the increasingly harsh economic environment of higher education, the increasing integration of higher education with the world of business and industry, and the widespread use of information technology. It is suggested that the only constituency from which there will be opposition to the scenarios depicted in the 21st Century higher education literature is faculty of colleges and universities.

Refereces:
http://www.21stcentury.co.uk/technology/
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V65-3V603XP-5&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1029973674&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=e41da817b008ba3854f61643efeda304

Assignment 5(HRM)

2009-09-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

Visit and identify a company website that has undergone HR downsizing. Identify the cause of downsizing and describe its processes.

Downsizing is an extremely relevant issue to organizations today in that it has become the most prevalent dilemma in recent years. The current tendency of organizations to restructure and ultimately to downsize has a major negative impact on the organizations themselves, on their
surviving and terminated employees, on the government, and on society as a whole. In fact, it is everyone's problem, and it seems to have become more the rule than the exception that it used to be in the not too distant past. The current adverse economic climate has been persistent and long-lasting. As a result, many organizations that were operating inefficiently have been driven out of business, and most of those that have survived were forced to restructure in order to streamline their operations and achieve operating cost savings that would ensure their continued competitiveness both on the local and global markets. More often than not, this meant downsizing the organization and, in many cases, the downsizing was conducted in multiple phases or on an on-going basis. The direct result on the organization was a marked drop in employee morale and productivity which prevented organizations from realizing their strategic objectives.
Beyond the organization, the overall effect of these cost-cutting measures has been the loss of a very significant number of jobs in the North American economy. Specifically, in Canada, unemployment rose in November, 1992 to 11.8%, with approximately 1.6 million Canadians unemployed.(1) In Ontario and Quebec, the numbers were 10.9% and 14.3% respectively.(2) These numbers do not include unemployed persons who: (1) have given up looking for jobs and have been transferred to the Welfare system, (2) have decided to pursue further education, or, (3) have simply decided to lower their standard of living and live on one income.

Background On Downsizing
-In the contemporary business era, where the emphasis is on cost-effectiveness and ‘lean' organizations, downsizing has emerged as a prominent activity of relieving employees from their jobs. There are several reasons due to which organizations follow the downsizing strategy.

Managing After Downsizing : A Manager's Guide to Coping With Layoffs
-Downsizing is a very personal and emotional experience for people caught up in the events. Some managers believe that those who are not dismissed will feel relieved, even grateful that they survived to keep their jobs. This might be true in some cases, where the cuts are few and widely...
*Layoff -dismissal, often temporarily, from work because a job ceases to exist or because of lack of work. Employees who are laid off may qualify for unemployment compensation.

Downsizing With Dignity
Most companies' resort to downsizing for achieving increased profitability. The organizations apply downsizing techniques by cutting down the expenses and increasing employee layoffs. However, experts suggest that an organization must recognize the real problem within the organization before going on a layoff spree. Moreover, even if an organization is determined

Top 10 Ways To Survive An HR Downsizing
In tough times, it’s not unusual for an HR downsizing to occur in many organizations. Cost pressures, lack of profitability, competitiveness issues, and organizations restructurings happen every single day and impacts thousands of people. And HR is not exempt from this ax.
Losing your job in an HR downsizing can be a traumatic experience. If the ax does drop on you, you’re likely to feel angry, discouraged and disoriented. And while these emotions are natural, it’s important that you don’t stay in that place for long.
Losing your job is just like any loss — your body and your emotions need some time to adjust to this new type of change that you’ve just experienced. It’s important that you take time to work through your thoughts and feeling and then get back on track quickly.
If you’ve lost your job or about to lose it, here’s what you can do right now, in order to get back on track quickly….
1. Realize that downsizing isn’t personal. There is a great possibility that the downsizing happened for reasons outside of your control If that’s the case then it’s important to understand that it’s not your fault or a reflection on you. You’re just getting caught in the middle of business fact of life that impacts just about everyone at some point in their career. There no one to blame.
2. Don’t take the victim mindset. Adopt the perspective that you are the same great HR person that you were before downsizing. It’s important that you take on the frame of mind that you as a person, are always bigger and more important than any job or career that you’ll ever have….and that your unique set of HR skills and experience are valuable.
3. Reach out and spend time with others in your organization, especially other HR folks, who have also been downsized. You’ll get job and career ideas from them if you stick together, network and support each other. Resist the urge to think that you’re in competition with each other. There is power in numbers.
4. Stay in touch with your HR colleagues who are still working at the company. Candidly, some may uncomfortable talking with you since you’re now moving on. However, don’t let them feel awkward and be sure to bury your own ego. The next job opening or career opportunity usually comes from someone you already know, not from an ad or a headhunter. If you’ve done a great job of building relationships and networking, don’t be surprised if you get a call from a former colleague or boss about a different opportunity.
5. Form your own Career Advisory Board of your 5-7 smartest friends and family members who know you well. Why not use this as an opportunity for getting input from people around you who care? Get together twice a week to toss around ideas for how to handle the current situation and let them challenge you to look beyond the problem and consider new possibilities. They may know you better than you do and may provide options you’ve not thought about.
6. If you need to, reduce your spending right away to give you extra time to sort things out. Don’t assume that you’ll land the right HR job immediately. Cut your personal expenses by at least 40-70%, if needed. Don’t be afraid to take brutal, even radical steps. Often, this type of self-imposed ‘jolt’ will encourage a different type of thinking, which is critical during this time for you. And, frankly, who needs the stress of worrying about money? You need to be thinking clearly at this time about your next career steps.
7. Start thinking about the kind of work that is personally rewarding to you. You may find out it’s not HR work. If you’re an HR generalist, do you want to stay a generalist? If you’re doing labor relations work, are you tired of wrestling with unions or do you want to chance your career direction entirely. Too many people are not in jobs or careers which fulfill or satisfy them. And life’s too short to suffer in silence. So, use this break as an excuse to get real selfish and discover what makes you the happiest. When you’re happy doing what you’re doing, the money will usually take care of itself.
8. Invest in strengthening your towering skills. No one else will. The HR job market is hungry for highly skilled individuals in any field – generalists, specialists, consultants, coaches, mentors, part-timers, or contractors. If you’ve got a specialized skill or natural aptitude, invest in expanding that skill and making it even stronger. The best skills take time to develop into a well-paid profession, career or business. It’s never too late to invest in your self.
9. Treat the downsizing experience like a treasure hunt where getting your next job is the prize. Get out paper and pen or jump on your laptop and begin creating a plan for yourself. Identify where you are. What resources and skills you have. Who you know who can help – consider doing anything you can do keep yourself motivated until you land the next job. Turn it into a game.
10. Get some coaching and counseling. Many firms who are downsizing provide outplacement counseling and resources. Take full advantage of this benefit.
Going through an HR downsizing can be a painful experience. However, following these ten steps can enable you to cope this trauma and quickly get your career back on track.

reference:
http://www.allbusiness.com/human-resources/workforce-management-hiring/417499-1.html
http://www.successinhr.com/human-resources-downsizing

Assignment 4(HRM)

2009-09-30T10:46:00.001-07:00

Good day...

All of us want to achieve our dreams...
honestly when I enter my college life in USEP it was really hard for me to adjust because during my high school days I did not felt a pressure at all and frankly speaking I am not studious person but when I came at this University all the hardships of being a student is all present in this University that’s why I learn to make things/assignments ahead of time ika nga “do not wait for the deadline” and it really helps me to be a responsible student. Besides this university which is University of Southeastern Philippines(USEP-obrero campus) a standard university teach me to be a good example of other students, I know only myself can help me to achieve what I want in the future but above all of this GOD is the center of all the success. I am lucky because I enroll at USEP although it is really hard to graduate in this university but I really learn a lot especially in this subject I learn to face a professional person and to have an interview in a certain company. The question being asks how the university helps me to achieve what I want to be in the future ahm... as an IT student it is very important to have a computer laboratory. It helps in making a research, an assignment and fortunately the university has given us a chance to use this equipment which is the computers, and it is one way that the university help us to achieve our dreams in the future and in this way we can enhance our ability and we can practice and study our lessons so that in the future we will be good in what job or career we choose.

Assignment 3(HRM)

2009-09-30T10:36:00.001-07:00

At first i never expect that i would take this course which is "Information Technology" but as time goes by i realize that this course is my interest although it would be very hard for me to adjust and hopefully if I had given a chance to graduate as An Information Technologist I would rather apply this kind of online jobs:..

1. Database Administrator
A database administrator (DBA) is a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database. The role of a database administrator has changed according to the technology of database management systems (DBMSs) as well as the needs of the owners of the databases. For example, although logical and physical database design are traditionally the duties of a database analyst or database designer, a DBA may be tasked to perform those duties.
Primary responsibilities include:
• Participate in design, development, implementation, and maintenance of database systems and projects;
• Support security functions and solutions; and
• Monitor and report on network and system performance metrics.
• Duties involve coordination/interface with government personnel, subcontractors, and consultants.
The duties of a database administrator vary and depend on the job description, corporate and Information Technology (IT) policies and the technical features and capabilities of the DBMS being administered. They nearly always include disaster recovery (backups and testing of backups), performance analysis and tuning, data dictionary maintenance, and some database design.
Some of the roles of the DBA may include:
• Installation of new software — It is primarily the job of the DBA to install new versions of DBMS software, application software, and other software related to DBMS administration. It is important that the DBA or other IS staff members test this new software before it is moved into a production environment.
• Configuration of hardware and software with the system administrator — In many cases the system software can only be accessed by the system administrator. In this case, the DBA must work closely with the system administrator to perform software installations, and to configure hardware and software so that it functions optimally with the DBMS.
• Security administration — One of the main duties of the DBA is to monitor and administer DBMS security. This involves adding and removing users, administering quotas, auditing, and checking for security problems.
• Data analysis — The DBA will frequently be called on to analyze the data stored in the database and to make recommendations relating to performance and efficiency of that data storage. This might relate to the more effective use of indexes, enabling "Parallel Query" execution, or other DBMS specific features.
• Database design (preliminary) — The DBA is often involved at the preliminary database-design stages. Through the involvement of the DBA, many problems that might occur can be eliminated. The DBA knows the DBMS and system, can point out potential problems, and can help the development team with special performance considerations.
• Data modeling and optimization — By modeling the data, it is possible to optimize the system layouts to take the most advantage of the I/O subsystem.
• Responsible for the administration of existing enterprise databases and the analysis, design, and creation of new databases.
o Data modeling, database optimization, understanding and implementation of schemas, and the ability to interpret and write complex Structured Query Language (SQL) queries
o Proactively monitor systems for optimum performance and capacity constraints
o Establish standards and best practices for SQL
o Interact with and coach developers in SQL scripting
2.IT Consultant
An IT consultant works in partnership with clients, advising them how to use information technology in order to meet their business objectives or overcome problems. Consultants work to improve the structure and efficiency and of an organization's IT systems.
IT consultants may be involved in a variety of activities, including marketing, project management, client relationship management and systems development.
They may also be responsible for user training and feedback. In many companies, these tasks will be carried out by an IT project team. IT consultants are increasingly involved in sales and business development, as well as technical duties.
Typical work activities
Task typically involve:
* meeting with clients to determine requirements;
* working with clients to define the scope of a project;
* planning timescales and the resources needed;
* clarifying a client's system specifications, understanding their work practices and the nature of their business;
* travelling to customer sites;
* liaising with staff at all levels of a client organisation;
* defining software, hardware and network requirements;
* analysing IT requirements within companies and giving independent and objective advice on the use of IT;
* developing agreed solutions and implementing new systems;
* presenting solutions in written or oral reports;
* helping clients with change-management activities;
* project managing the design and implementation of preferred solutions;
* purchasing systems where appropriate;
* designing, testing, installing and monitoring new systems;
* preparing documentation and presenting progress reports to customers;
* organising training for users and other consultants;
* being involved in sales and support and, where appropriate, maintaining contact with client organisations;
* identifying potential clients and building and maintaining contacts.
3.Software Developer
-Write, modify, and debug software for client applications. Use source debuggers and visual development environments. Write code to create single-threaded or user interface event driven applications, either stand-alone and those which access servers or services. Test and document software for client applications.

4.System Analyst
-Responsible for the operating system and associated subsystems. Provide system-level support of multi-user operating systems, hardware and software tools, including installation, configuration, maintenance, and support of these systems. Identify alternatives for optimizing computer resources.
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES
* Collect information to analyze and evaluate existing or proposed systems.
* Research, plan, install, configure, troubleshoot, maintain and upgrade operating systems.
* Research, plan, install, configure, troubleshoot, maintain and upgrade hardware and software interfaces with the operating system. Analyze and evaluate present or proposed business procedures or problems to define data processing needs.
* Prepare detailed flow charts and diagrams outlining systems capabilities and processes.
* Research and recommend hardware and software development, purchase, and use.
* Troubleshoot and resolve hardware, software, and connectivity problems, including user access and component configuration.
5.Web Designer
-responsible for day-to-day site design and creation, while webmasters are responsible for all technical aspects of a Web site, including performance issues such as speed of access, and for approving the content of the site.
Duties of Web Designer:
* Translating a client's marketing or informational content into a functional website.
* Mapping or outlining a website's structural content.
* Creating or editing images and graphics for website use.
* Determining all coding requirements for site creation including: e-commerce capability, forms and specialized scripts.
* Creating templates of approved website layout.
* Coding website using HTML, or GUI design software.
* Coordinating with programmers for specialized scripts.
* Creating verbal content for the website or using approved content from the client.
* Integrating verbal content with site design for final product.
* Posting completed site to internet server using FTP software.
* Making changes to the site directed by client.
* Submitting completed site to search engines.
Among the five online jobs the best job for me that i want in the future is that being an IT consultant because i like being advicer to other people especially when there is a problem in a company, as a consultant it tends to help to overcome the problem right?and as far as i know a consultant would come into a company to perform a particular job which the company could not, or would not, want to do with its own people and be able to identify those contracts which will be in your best interest. I hope i could be able to do what i want in the future.

http://www.nationjob.com/job/AMAH42
www.prospects.ac.uk/links/itconsult/

Assignment 2(HRM)

2009-09-30T10:36:00.000-07:00

This is one of the assignment that i really need to decide what would be my future job, well it is my own choice to choose a job. I like to be a an IT Analyst.
IT Analyst -it Assist with the planning and organize technical service projects and functions when required including internal networking, office computers, phones and other Ad Sales technical infrastructure; Maintain an understanding of the latest technology and how to apply it to our ad sales operations; Maintain a high level of understanding in the set up, deployment and maintenance of computer hardware, software, LAN and WAN. 20; Work with traffic and other software vendors to ensure maximum up times; Research and recommend solutions for technical projects and issues designed to grow Ad Sales revenue; Provide advanced troubleshooting and support of Citrix server, SQL server, phone systems and networking hardware; Utilize networking technology to provide connectivity and real-time sharing of data between sales offices; Back up for Tech Services Coordinator as required; Any other duties assigned by management.

*I/TA General Skills*

The following general skills are looked for in an I/TA:

* Moderate to extensive knowledge of the Internet and the World Wide Web

* STRONG organizational skills

* STRONG communication skills - this job requires communication with other students, faculty, staff, directors and other influential people both inside and outside the university

* Ability to work under pressure

* Ability to work independently or in a group with minimal direction (need to be able to work through all the details of broad minded projects, and know how and where to find the needed information to complete those projects)

* Knowledge of Rutgers University and know where to find the information for reference purposes

* Anticipation of the information needs of our users

* Innovativeness in organizing, displaying, and making useful information available to the Rutgers community

* Willingness to adapt and to learn new skills and new ways of doing things

* Creativity!

*Duties*

After suitable on-the-job training, an ITA is expected to be able to do the following:

* Web site creation and maintenance both for the university and Campus Information Services

* Installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting for our computer system and networks

* Information maintenance/data entry

* Development of information sources and acquiring information

* Creating and maintaining relational databases.

http://www.nationjob.com/job/TWCM194
http://www.ruinfo.rutgers.edu/jobpost/ita/itadescript.shtm

Assignment 1(HRM)

2009-09-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

==Best Practices in HR of San Pedro Hospital==

Gud day sir you have given us a task to choose a company which has a best practices in HR, actually our group proposed five companies and luckily you approve one of the five companies which is the San Pedro Hospital and we visited their HR department last Friday and as we conduct an interview during that time we learn many things about the HR department of San Pedro Hospital. Besides the HR director (Teresa Magno) that time is not around so we interviewed her Secretary Corazon Chio and she discuss to us what are the best practices of Human Resource of their Hospital and also she detailed about their management, their HR focus on their employees and they secure and protect their employee because without the services of employees it will not have a good management in Human Resources. Secretary of HR director share to us about their Vision, Mission and Core Values. We construct a four questions during the interview and these are the following:
1. What is the goal and function of San Pedro Hospital Human Resources' (SPHHR)?
2. What are the ways in recruiting or selecting an employees or applicants?
3. What are the services that would cater the employees?

**Goal and Function of San Pedro Hospital Human Resources' (SPHHR) is to provide responsive
service to the people who make the Hospital's best quality healthcare service possible.
• The Human Resources Department function includes a variety of activities, and the key among them is deciding what staffing needs you have and whether to use independent contractors or hire employees to fill these needs, recruiting and training the best employees, ensuring they are high performers, dealing with performance issues, and ensuring your personnel and management practices conform to various regulations.

• Activities also include managing your approach to employee benefits and compensation, employee records and personnel policies. However, they should always ensure that employees have -- and are aware of -- personnel policies which conform to current regulations. These policies are often in the form of Quality Procedure Manuals, which all department have for easy access to all employees.
"HR Department" as playing a major role in staffing, training and helping to
manage people so that people and the organization are performing at maximum capability in a highly fulfilling manner.

**Ways in recruiting or selecting an employees or applicants
Mission of Recruiting and Selection -is to ensure and promote fairness and
consistency in the recruitment, selection and retention of qualified applicants and provide service and guidance to upper management, employees and applicants.
She shows us an example of requirements and qualifications on how they will hire an applicant.

Steps in Pre-Employment / Pre-Service Training Program

1.Submission of all required documents at the Human Resource Office every Wednesday-Friday 2-4 PM only
2.Take written exam ( 100.00 examination fee )
-Schedule of exam c/o HR Assistant-You will be texted or called up for the date of examination
-List of names who passed and can join the PreService Training will be posted on the bulletin board outside the HR Office
-Only those who passed the written exam can join the PreService Training.

Pre-Service Training Duration
5 Weeks (1 week didactic lecture and 4 weeks clinical exposure)

Training Fee
1,500.00

Requirements:
1.Application Letter
2.Bio-data / Resume with 2x2 picture
3.Photocopy of the following
*Transcript of Records
*Summary of Related Learning Experience
*Diploma / Certificate
*Board Rating
*Board Certificate
*PRC ID
*IV License / Card (optional)
*Certificate of Previous Employment (optional)

Training Programs:
Private Duty Nursing

Qualifications:
Registered Nurse

Requirements:
1.Application Letter
2.Bio-data with picture
3.Diploma
4.Transcript of Records

All Application Letter for SPH should be addressed to:
Ms. Maria Teresa D. Magno, R.N.
Human Resource Director
San Pedro Hospital of Davao City
C. De Guzman St, Davao City

**The services that would cater the employees is comprised of the following program areas:

*Leaves/Records/Worker’s Compensation/Performance Evaluations

The Leaves/Records/Worker’s Compensation/Performance Evaluations program area assists employees with workers’ compensation; return to work program; family and medical leave; sick leave pool; leave without pay; leaves with pay; employee performance evaluations; management of employee files; request for release of employees information; benefits and services awards.

*Insurance/Retirement & Other Benefits

The Insurance/Retirement & Other Benefits program is responsible for assisting
employee with health, dental and insurance coverage (ECC); & retirement benefits.

*Human Resource Staff Development

Human Resource Staff Development is committed to enhancing the skills,
knowledge and professional development of SPH employees through quality training program and innovative training delivery techniques.

Our goal is to offer the best most effective, job related training possible with which
employees can continue tio improve the level; of service provided to our customers, both inside and outside the hospital. Our belief is in the value and potential of each individual we serve.

Company Profile:
San Pedro Hospital of Davao City Inc. is a Catholic non-stock, non-profit, training institution committed to the care of the sick and the poor, the education of health professionals and the delivery of quality health care to all. The San Pedro Hospital is owned and managed by the Dominican Sisters of the Trinity, Inc.

At present San Pedro Hospital has 295 bed capacity and 20
Bassinets. It is also accredited by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation and provides services to various Health Maintenance Organizations.

Vision
We, the San Pedro Hospital community envision persons experiencing the best
quality health care services in mercy and compassion.

Mission
We, the San Pedro Hospital community of health workers commit to:

1. Provide the best quality and compassionate health care services in satisfying all individuals with respect and reverence of their person;
2. Deliver quality satisfying services expected of a training health care institution; and
3. Witness as a community the mercy and compassion of a loving God in the performance of individual and communal responsibility.

Core Values
Quality Customer Service

* Follows systems and procedures
* Renders fast, timely and efficient service
* Listens and acts on patient’s/client’s complaints
* Provides patients with timely, complete, correct information regarding their current state and the hospital procedures that they will have to go through
* Serves with respect and wearing a ready smile to patients and colleagues
* Commits to continual improvement both in the formal and non-formal training, learning events.

I really learn and enjoy regarding this assignment. It was a challenge for me in facing the professional people and also it is an honored for me and besides it helps to develop our self-confident. I realize it was hard to look for a job nowadays and honestly it is very nervous to have an interview to a professional person especially the time we went to San Pedro Hospital, Secretary Chio taught us to be prepared all the time particularly in making a guidelines during interview and be serious in conducting an interview. I hope I will be a good interviewer.

==========God Bless……===========

Reflection IS Leadership Role

2009-06-20T22:33:00.000-07:00

Good day this is my second blog regarding the topic and it tried to share about the content of Information System Leadership Role which have undergone fundamental changes over the past decade. There are collected data s on general Leadership roles Technical Aspects and According to Henry Minztberg, managers undertake activities to achieve the objectives of the organization. Mintzberg's role typology described manager's job in terms of varoius roles such as:

*Informational Role- means that the executive or manager doesnt know all things but he able to know things that are relevant to his job or we may say that that he may not knoweverything but he typically knows its subordinate
* Decisional Role -it means managers gathered information doesnt end with it, those datas will be used in decision making in which the managers play a vital role
* Interpersonal Role -in this third component every manager are obliged to perform ceremoniel duties such as going to an business meeting as a representative of their enterprise or department. As a leader, a manager are responsible for the work of their people from their enterprise.
as well as on specific Information System Leadership roles such as
*chief architect-designs future possibilities for the business. His primary work is to design and evolve the IT infrastructure so that it will expand the range of future responsibilities for the business, not define specific business outcomes. The infrastructure should provvide not only 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 subjects.
*change leader- arranges resources to achieve optimal implementation of future. The essential role of the change leader is to arrange all those resources that will be needed to execute the change program.
*product developer-helps define the company's place in the emerging digital economy.
* technology provocateur-embeds IT into the business strategy. the technology provocateur workswith senior business executives to bring IT and realities of the IT marketplace to bear on the formation of strategy for the business.
*coach- teaches people to acquire the skillsets they will need for the future .
*chief operating strategist- Invents the future with the senior management.he focused on the future agenda of the IS organization.
When you think of Leadership in an organization, it is easy to think of management teamand anyone who has "lead" or "leader" in their job description example of people in leadership role includes senior executives, manager and technical professionals serving as project leaders representing their business function.
Effective leadership is a personal role that requires the blending of motivational, strategic and management skills to align focus, energy and drive whilst creating a culture that encourages individual thinking and attainment. Ultimately leadership is about pushing ideas and thoughts forwards, shouldering responsibility and unlocking hidden drivers and aspirations to bring out the confidence of others. Harnessing energy in a strategic way that inspires and unites a team towards achieving some common task. Although working practices have undergone dramatic change, the essential qualities of a good leader remain remarkably unchanged, the only point to note being that with the flattening of company structures and loss of middle-management, leaders are required to have greater project management and influencing skills than in the past.
Information system (IS) leadership is a critical area for many organizations because of their increasing dependence on ISs both for operational stability and for enablement of process innovation and business strategy. IS Leadership is distinctive from leadership in general because the Chief Information Officer (CIO) is expected to combine IS technical skills with an in-depth understanding of the organization across all functions from operational to strategic. Thus, unique leadership challenges arise due to the technology/business interface. The breadth of the IS Leadership role implies that IS Leadership research needs to cover a wide range of topics concerning the role and characteristics of the CIO, the CIO's interface with the top management team, and the CIO's organizational impact. This essay discusses the distinctive aspects of IS Leadership, identifies the dominant themes in prior IS Leadership research,and introduces five papers on IS Leadership in this issue.

Understanding of MIS(Reflection)

2009-06-19T21:38:00.000-07:00

Reflection:
Hello Sir Gamboa Good day. This blog intended to show what i understand about the subject matter which i am going to write and I want to share my own reflection about the subject or course description which is "Management Information System. First i need to define what is Management?
Management can also refer to the person or people who perform the act(s) of management, it implies that someone or somebody needs to be manage,in all business and human organization activity is simply the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives.
then the next thing to define is what is Infomation System? Information System is one of the component of Management Information System which is most loosely used in management in literature. It is a system of group of interrelated components working together towards a common goal by accepting inputs and producing outputs in an organized transformation process. In this system there are three basic components or functions are involved these are 1.)Input- it involves capturing and assembling elements that enter the system to be processed. Whatever the date after collection to enter into computing system for further processing it is input example of it are Raw Materials, Energy, Data and Human Efforts must be secured and organized for further processing. 2.)Processing and 3.)Output.
Management Information System is a subset of the overall internal controls of a business covering the application of people,documents,technologies and procedures by management accountants to solving business problems like costing a product. So when we say Management Information System it is refer of retrieving data and a group of Information Management methods tied to the support of human decision making. The word Management tells that the decision is made by people who act(s) as a manager where a management comprises Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Leading, Directing, and Controlling an organization which it is a group of one or more people or entities or purpose of accomplishing a goal.
A Management Information System is a planned System of the Collecting ,processing,storing and disseminating data in the form of information needed to carry out the functions of management. In a way it is a documented report of the activities those were planned and executed. According to Philip Kotler"A Marketing Information system consists of of people, equipment, and procedures to gather, sort, analyze,evaluate and distribute needed,timely and accurate information to marketing decision makers." The field of MIS can deliver a great many benefits to enterprises in every industry. Experts organizations such as the Institute of MIS quarterly continue to find and report new ways to use MIS to achieve business objectives.The MIS are Information Systems typically computer based, that are used within an organization. Wordnet described an information system as a system consisting of the network of all communication channels within used within an organization...components that collect, manipulate, and disseminate data or information.Therefore Better MIS system enable an enterprise to react more quickly to their environment, enabling them to push out ahead of the competition and produce a better service and a larger piece of pie.