Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Assignment 2(MIS2)

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/

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Assignment 9(MIS)

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)

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
» HR Outsourcing Company » HR Outsourcing Services
» Human Resource Outsourcing » Information Technology Outsourcing
» IT Services Outsourcing » IT outsourcing solution
» Offshore Outsourcing » Outsourcing Computer Hardware
» Outsourcing Jobs India » Outsourcing Problem
» Outsourcing Statistics » Offshore Outsourcing Consultant
» Telemarketing Outsourcing » Offshore Outsourcing Strategy
» Outsourcing » Strategic Outsourcing
» Outsourcing Business Services » Outsourcing Research
» Job Outsourcing » Outsourcing Fulfillment
» Oasis Outsourcing » Logistics Outsourcing
» Medical Transcription Outsourcing » Offshore Outsourcing Call Center
» International Outsourcing » Human Resource Outsourcing Services
» Accounting Outsourcing » Legal Outsourcing
» Business Process Outsourcing » IT Outsourcing
» Outsourcing American Jobs » Knowledge Process Outsourcing
» Contact Center Outsourcing » Outsourcing in India
» Definition of Outsourcing » Outsourcing Services
» History of Outsourcing » Offshore Outsourcing Research
» Offshore Outsourcing India » Outsourcing to a foreign country
» BPO Business Process Outsourcing » Finance and accounting outsourcing
» Offshore Business Process Outsourcing » Comprehensive Human Resource Outsourcing
» Outsourcing Software Development » Outsourcing American Jobs To Foreign
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)

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)

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)

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)


===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.

Razz

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/
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