...my little messed up pink world...

Why do we need to study technology?

2010-12-10T10:56:00.000-08:00

Why do we need to study technology?

Every day of our lives we use different technologies. From the simplest task to the very hard task and we can not deny the fact that we are already dependent to it.

What is the first thing we do in the morning? Checking the time, it is technology. When we need something to eat, we cook, it is technology. When taking a bath, it is technology. Brushing your teeth, it is technology. Technology is everywhere and it is a part of everything we do. That is how important technology in our lives. We need to study the technologies from the past up to the present to know what we can develop, what we could do more for the future needs of the human. The study of technology is for the good of the humans.

_________________

-=♥yhang♥=-

2009-12-22T22:42:00.000-08:00

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

The most general conception of change is simply difference or nonidentity. Change is so persistent in our lives that it almost defeats description and analysis. One can think of it in a very general way as alteration. But alteration in a thing raises subtle problems. One of the most perplexing is the problem of the consistency of change: how can one thing have incompatible properties and yet remain the same thing? Some have held that change is a consistent process, and rendered so by the existence of time. Others have held that the only way to make sense of change is as an inconsistency.

Seven phases of change:
Shock and Surprise - confrontation with unexpected situations. This can happen ‘by accident’ (e.g. losses in particular business units) or planned events (e.g. workshops for personal development and team performance improvement). These situations make people realize that their own patterns of doing things are not suitable for new conditions any more. Thus, their perceived own competence decreases.

Denial and Refusal - people activate values as support for their conviction that change is not necessary. Hence, they believe there is no need for change; their perceived competency increases again.

Rational Understanding - people realize the need for change. According to this insight, their perceived competence decreases again. People focus on finding short term solutions, thus they only cure symptoms. There is no willingness to change own patterns of behavior.

Emotional Acceptance - this phase, which is also called ‘crisis’ is the most important one. Only if management succeeds to create a willingness for changing values, beliefs, and behaviors, the organization will be able to exploit their real potentials. In the worst case, however, change processes will be stopped or slowed down here.

Exercising and Learning - the new acceptance of change creates a new willingness for learning. People start to try new behaviors and processes. They will experience success and failure during this phase. It is the change managers task to create some early wins (e.g. by starting with easier projects). This will lead to an increase in peoples perceived own competence.
Realization - people gather more information by learning and exercising. This knowledge has a feedback-effect. People understand which behavior is effective in which situation. This, in turn, opens up their minds for new experiences. These extended patterns of behavior increase organizational flexibility. Perceived competency has reached a higher level than prior to change.
Integration - people totally integrate their newly acquired patterns of thinking and acting. The new behaviors become routine.

Organization change is in regard to organizational-wide change, from smaller changes to big changes. Some called organizational change as organizational transformation, often this term designates a fundamental and radical reorientation in the way the organization operates. Organizational change occurs when a company makes a transition from its current state to some desired future state. Managing organizational change is the process of planning and implementing change in organizations in such a way as to minimize employee resistance and cost to the organization while simultaneously maximizing the effectiveness of the change effort. Organizational change initiatives often arise out of problems faced by a company. In some cases, however, companies change under the impetus of enlightened leaders who first recognize and then exploit new potentials dormant in the organization or its circumstances. Some observers, more soberly, label this a "performance gap" which able management is inspired to close. A manager trying to implement a change, no matter how small, should expect to encounter some resistance from within the organization. Resistance to change is normal; people cling to habits and to the status quo. To be sure, managerial actions can minimize or arouse resistance. People must be motivated to shake off old habits. This must take place in stages rather than abruptly so that "managed change" takes on the character of "natural change." In addition to normal inertia, organization change introduces anxieties about the future. If the future after the change comes to be perceived positively, resistance will be less. The world is rapidly changing into something too hard to easily predict, with a hundred opportunities and pitfalls passing by every moment. To add to this confusion, there are hundreds, if not thousands of techniques, solutions and methods that claim to help business improve productivity, quality and customer satisfaction. They are like new shoppers in a giant grocery store: They are hungry, but there are so many brands, sizes and varieties you don’t know what to buy.

Automation (Speeding up performance)
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. 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. The most common forms of organizational change are automation and rationalization. These relatively slow-moving and slow-changing strategies present modest returns but little risk. Faster and more comprehensive change—such as reengineering and paradigm shifts—carries high rewards but offers substantial chances of failure. The most common form of IT-enabled organizational change is automation. The first applications of information technology involved assisting employees with performing their tasks more efficiently and effectively. Calculating paychecks and payroll registers, giving bank tellers instant access to customer deposit records, and developing a nationwide network of airline reservation terminals for airline reservation agents are all examples of early automation.

Rationalization (Streamlining of operating procedures)
A deeper form of organizational change—one that follows quickly from early automation—is rationalization of procedures. Automation frequently reveals new bottlenecks in production and makes the existing arrangement of procedures and structures painfully cumbersome. Rationalization of procedures is the streamlining of standard operating procedures. For example, the Victoria Country Fire Authority’s new emergency management system described in the chapter-opening case is effective not only because it uses computer technology but also because its design enables the organization to operate more efficiently. The procedures of the Victoria Country Fire Authority (CFA), or any organization, must be rationally structured to achieve this result. CFA had to have standard identification codes for emergency equipment, fire brigades, and localities and standard rules for routing brigades and equipment to the appropriate emergency location. Without a certain amount of rationalization in the CFA’s organization, its computer technology would have been useless.

Reengineering (Radical design of business processes)
A more powerful type of organizational change is business process reengineering, in which business processes are analyzed, simplified, and redesigned. Using information technology, organizations can rethink and streamline their business processes to improve speed, service, and quality. Business reengineering reorganizes work flows, combining steps to cut waste and eliminating repetitive, paper-intensive tasks (sometimes the new design eliminates jobs as well). It is much more ambitious than rationalization of procedures, requiring a new vision of how the process is to be organized. A widely cited example of business reengineering is Ford Motor Company’s invoiceless processing, which reduced headcount in Ford’s North American Accounts Payable organization of 500 people by 75 percent. Accounts payable clerks used to spend most of their time resolving discrepancies between purchase orders, receiving documents, and invoices. Ford reengineered its accounts payable process so that the purchasing department enters a purchase order into an online database that can be checked by the receiving department when the ordered items arrive. If the received goods match the purchase order, the system automatically generates a check for accounts payable to send to the vendor. There is no need for vendors to send invoices (Hammer and Champy, 1993). Rationalizing procedures and redesigning business processes are limited to specific parts of a business. New information systems can ultimately affect the design of the entire organization by transforming how the organization carries out its business or even the nature of the business. For instance, the long-haul trucking and transportation firm Schneider National used new information systems to change its business model. Schneider created a new business managing the logistics for other companies. Baxter International’s stockless inventory system transformed Baxter into a working partner with hospitals and into a manager of its customers’ supplies. This more radical form of business change is called a paradigm shift. A paradigm shift involves rethinking the nature of the business and the nature of the organization. Reengineering is a fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in cost, quality, speed, and service. BPR combines a strategy of promoting business innovation with a strategy of making major improvements to business processes so that a company can become a much stronger and more successful competitor in the marketplace. Re-engineering is the basis for many recent developments in management. The cross-functional team, for example, has become popular because of the desire to re-engineer separate functional tasks into complete cross-functional processes. Also, many recent management information systems developments aim to integrate a wide number of business functions. Enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, knowledge management systems, groupware and collaborative systems, Human Resource Management Systems and customer relationship management systems all owe a debt to re-engineering theory. Business process reengineering (BPR) began as a private sector technique to help organizations fundamentally rethink how they do their work in order to dramatically improve customer service, cut operational costs, and become world-class competitors. A key stimulus for reengineering has been the continuing development and deployment of sophisticated information systems and networks. Leading organizations are becoming bolder in using this technology to support innovative business processes, rather than refining current ways of doing work Business process reengineering is one approach for redesigning the way work is done to better support the organization's mission and reduce costs. Reengineering starts with a high-level assessment of the organization's mission, strategic goals, and customer needs.

Paradigm Shift (Radical reconceptualization)
Paradigm shifts and reengineering often fail because extensive organizational change is so difficult to orchestrate. Why, then, do so many corporations contemplate such radical change? Because the rewards are equally high. In many instances firms seeking paradigm shifts and pursuing reengineering strategies achieve stunning, order-of-magnitude increases in their returns on investment. Some of these success stories, and some failure stories, are included throughout this book.

Managing change effectively requires moving the organization from its current state to a future desired state at minimal cost to the organization. Key steps in that process are:
1. Understanding the current state of the organization. This involves identifying problems the company faces, assigning a level of importance to each one, and assessing the kinds of changes needed to solve the problems.
2. Competently envisioning and laying out the desired future state of the organization. This involves picturing the ideal situation for the company after the change is implemented, conveying this vision clearly to everyone involved in the change effort, and designing a means of transition to the new state. An important part of the transition should be maintaining some sort of stability; some things—such as the company's overall mission or key personnel—should remain constant in the midst of turmoil to help reduce people's anxiety.
3. Implementing the change in an orderly manner. This involves managing the transition effectively. It might be helpful to draw up a plan, allocate resources, and appoint a key person to take charge of the change process. The company's leaders should try to generate enthusiasm for the change by sharing their goals and vision and acting as role models. In some cases, it may be useful to try for small victories first in order to pave the way for later successes.
Change is natural, of course. Proactive management of change to optimize future adaptability is invariably a more creative way of dealing with the dynamisms of industrial transformation than letting them happen willy-nilly. That process will succeed better with the help of the the company's human resources than without.

Changes are inevitable. Changes can be fearsome, but you will have to deal with it sooner or later. But why wait sooner when you can deal it now. Go out with your comfort zones, explore new things before it will overrun you and caught you off guard.

“It's not that some people have willpower and some don't. It's that some people are ready to change and others are not.” James Gordon, M.D.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/change/
http://definitions.uslegal.com/m/managing-organizational-change/
http://www.themanager.org/strategy/change_phases.htm
http://www.organizedchange.com/decide.htm
http://managementhelp.org/mgmnt/orgchnge.htm
http://www.ebusinessclassonline.com/management%20information%20systems/ch14/chpt14-1fulltext.htm

_________________

-=♥yhang♥=-

2009-12-22T22:35:00.000-08:00

“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.”

First let us define the important terms mentioned above...

Information is the result of processing, manipulating and organizing data in a way that adds to the knowledge of the person receiving it.
System originates from the Greek term systema, which means to “place together.” It is a group of interdependent items that interact regularly to perform a task. A set of interacting or interdependent entities forming an integrated whole. The concept of an integrated whole can also be stated in terms of a system embodying a set of relationships which are differentiated from relationships of the set to other elements, and from relationships between an element of the set and elements not a part of the relational regime.
A plan is typically any procedure used to achieve an objective. It is a set of intended actions, through which one expects to achieve a goal. Planning helps assure that an organization remains relevant and responsive to the needs of its community, and contributes to organizational stability and growth. It provides a basis for monitoring progress, and for assessing results and impact. It facilitates new program development. It enables an organization to look into the future in an orderly and systematic way. From a governance perspective, it enables the Board to set policies and goals to guide the organization, and provides a clear focus to the Executive Director and staff for program implementation and agency management. Planning is designed to help an organization define its vision for the future and then determine systematically how it will get there, understanding obstacles and figuring out ways to overcome them. It is very difficult to plan in a crisis, and unrealistic to look five years ahead unless an organization has some confidence that it will exist next year, and that most of its key staff and its Board leadership will continue to be affiliated with the organization. Board and staff also need the time to plan, which means that they must not be using every minute to carry out functions required for survival. Moreover, while planning provides increased organizational definition, a sound base for planning is consensus concerning a well-defined mission statement and/or organizational goals – these must often be developed as a foundation for longer-term planning. It is also difficult to plan if the organization is so young or its leadership so new that they do not have a good sense of the community and of the broader external environment. Most new organizations, or groups which have undergone major institutional difficulties or change, find that they do best by first attempting to reach consensus on an organizational mission statement and then doing shorter-range planning, usually for a single year. Learning from that experience, they can begin a longer-term planning process. There may need to be a formal community needs assessment as input to planning. This is extremely valuable, but also demanding. Moreover, planning is not a one-time effort; any plan needs to be reviewed, monitored, and updated. The benefits to an organization can be significant -- a clear focus, a sense of joint purpose and agreed-upon priorities, consensus on strategies, and a basis for measuring progress and impact.

What is information system?
Information systems help to control the performance of business processes. An information system is a work system whose activities are devoted to processing (capturing, transmitting, storing, retrieving, manipulating and displaying) information. 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. Critical to most information systems are information technologies, which are typically designed to enable humans to perform tasks for which the human brain is not well suited, such as: handling large amounts of information, performing complex calculations, and controlling many simultaneous processes.

What is information system planning?
Planning is a process that is frequently done, but rarely done well. Planning helps assure that an organization remains relevant and responsive to the needs of its community, and contributes to organizational stability and growth. It provides a basis for monitoring progress, and for assessing results and impact. It facilitates new program development. It enables an organization to look into the future in an orderly and systematic way.
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.
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 process by which leaders of an organization determine what it intends to be in the future and how it will get there. To put it another way, they develop a vision for the organization's future and determine the necessary priorities, procedures, and operations (strategies) to achieve that vision. Included are measurable goals which are realistic and attainable, but also challenging; emphasis is on long-term goals and strategies, rather than short-term (such as annual) objectives. Strategic planning assumes that certain aspects of the future can be created or influenced by the organization. Strategic planning is ongoing; it is "the process of self-examination, the confrontation of difficult choices, and the establishment of priorities" (Pfeiffer et al., Understanding Applied Strategic Planning: A Manager's Guide). Strategic planning involves "charting a course that you believe is wise, then adjusting that course as you gain more information and experience" (Wilder Foundation, Strategic Planning Workbook).
Rather than having centralized, long-range planning and management activities that address these problems, today's business units are using readily available tools to design and build ad hoc stop-gap solutions. These ad hoc systems not only do not interconnect, support common semantics, or provide synchronized views of critical corporate policy, they are soon to form the almost impossible to comprehend confusion of systems and data from which systems order and semantic harmony must spring. Not only has the computing landscape become profoundly different and more difficult to comprehend, the need for just the right--and correct--information at just the right time is escalating. Late or wrong information is worse than no information. Information systems managers need a model of their information systems environment. A model that is malleable. As new requirements are discovered, budgets modified, new hardware/software introduced, this model must be such that it can reconstitute the information systems plan in a timely and efficient manner.

Steps in information system plan:

Analyse the current situation “Where are we now?”
An internal analysis that encompasses assessing company strengths and weaknesses, financial performance, people, operational limitations, corporate culture, current positioning in the market(s), the overall characterization of the condition of the company and critical issues facing the organization.
An external analysis that focuses on analyzing competitors, assessing market opportunities and threats, evaluating changing technology that could impact the organization, analyzing regulatory or legislative concerns, changes and trends in the market(s) the company operates in and other potential outside influences on the organization.
Summarizing the current situation based on the information gathered and evaluated. This step is important to the process because it brings together relevant and critical data and information and allows members of the planning team to more easily get a feel for what opportunities and obstacles lie ahead.

Assess current responses “What have we been doing to make a difference?”
This is called a response analysis and the information can be collected and assessed from key informants or reports, such as the impact assessment.

Describe the future scenario “Where will we be in (3, 5 or 10) years if we continue doing what we are doing now?”
Again the information from the impact assessment will enable this to be answered.

Vision, mission, goal and objectives “Where do we want to be in (3, 5 or 10) years?”
This step is important perhaps more because of the process that the team will go through to develop it than the words that eventually end up on paper. In this step, the team is starting the process of focusing the organization and its people on what the organization is all about and what is important to the organization.
Vision is an activity of forming an idealized image of the company's future position. It is the driving force in guiding the company's progress towards goals. A strategic vision is usually thought to be solely future oriented. A vision provides an organization a forward looking, idealized image of itself.
• Moves outside the usual assumptions.
• Concentrates on the end goal, not the means to reach the goal.
• Followers gain ownership by developing the means (action plan).
• Vision is not a destination, but an intangible structure that surrounds us and guides our daily activities. From this perspective, a shared vision is a form of self-identity.

The mission is the ultimate purpose for why the organization exists. It is a brief description about the purpose of an organization's existence. It explains the company's services or products, the segmentation of the market, the distribution strategy. Every organization needs goals. Focus is a critical element in the success of any business. This step may be the most important of all of the strategic planning steps because it establishes the framework and basis for the development of the other key elements of the plan. A goal is a broad statement of intent. It should be phrased as an impact statement in the present tense. Objectives are statements of what needs to be done to achieve a goal. Objectives are more specific in nature and are supportive of the goal. They bring into even greater focus the goals of the organization.

Define strategies and activities “How do we get where we want to be?”
Strategies are the means to reach the objective (advocacy, education, care, etc.). Activities are discrete, specifications or sets of actions that need to be taken to reach an objective.

Select priorities, define target groups and sequence activities “Which are the most important activities that will make the greatest impact for whom?”
Use the following criteria against which to test each activity and discard or amend those that fail this test:
• Impact;
• Acceptability (by leaders, staff , partners and clients/beneficiaries);
• Feasibility (can it be done?); and
• Affordability and cost efficiency.
From the situation and response analysis there should be a sense of who the target groups should be, and these can be confirmed now in light of the prioritised activities. Finally, for the activities that remain after this process, agree on the optimal sequence and attach time frames to each.

Allocate roles and responsibilities “Who will lead and who will partner?”
For each activity identify the lead person or portfolio or unit, as well as the partners who can assist with the activity.

• 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

Numerous internal, cultural factors determine the approach an organization will take to the planning process and how the resulting plan will be implemented across the organization. Some corporate soul searching will be required:
• Willingness to seriously engage in the strategic planning process
• Ability to confront itself in the performance audit and gap analysis phases
• Assumptions about the corporate mission
• Assumptions about communicating the strategic plan

Set targets and indicators of progress and success “How will we know we are making progress?”
The targets and indicators should be realistic and linked to specific activities or objectives. Make sure that, for each indicator, there are ways to obtain the necessary information with a reasonable level of effort and cost.

Find the resources “What inputs are needed to make the activity happen?”
The inputs may be human, financial, material or technical and these need to be identified for each activity, as well as the sources.

Put it all together

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.

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 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.

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.

Whenever a proposal for the development of an ISP is created it must be assessed against these five characteristics. If any fail or not addressed in an optimum way, the entire set of funds for the development of an ISP is risked.

The steps listed above are just one approach to developing and implementing an information system plan. Planning process needs communication with the people involve in the organization, without proper communication the plan would be worthless. There should be staff to focus on the action plan and a Board session to review and approve the plan. According to what I’ve research the key planning sessions often work best when facilitated by an outsider knowledgeable about the organization or about community-based organizations generally. A facilitator should be someone skilled in group processes and experienced in strategic planning who is non-directive, committed to assuring full discussion of issues but also task-oriented and able to move the process forward. Put in mind that planning is not a one-time effort; any plan needs to be reviewed, monitored, and updated.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_system
http://www.answers.com/topic/management-information-system
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/system.html
http://www.amicaall.org/publications/toolkit/Tool%2011.pdf
http://www.entarga.com/stratplan/plngsteps.htm
http://www.clarionmag.com/cmag/v3/informationsystemsplanning.pdf
http://www.strategicbusinessplanning.net/strategic_planning_steps.html

_________________

-=♥yhang♥=-

introduction

2009-11-16T09:05:00.000-08:00

Good day sir... good day fellas...
i'm here again... introducing my self... hehehe ...
I'm Leah Ana F. Saavedra BSIT-IV... but still in third year standing... wahahahaha...
I expect this subject to be fun and fun and fun ... and uhmmmm i'll do better this time hehehe...
and to our teacher, when i met him he was everything i expected ... as always... (superlative!!!)
the end...amping mo pirme...

_________________
-=♥yhang♥=-

2009-10-13T12:25:00.000-07:00

COMDDAP (Computer Manufacturers Distributors and Dealers Association of the Philippines) Davao Expo 2009 held at Apo View Hotel, Davao City on July 2-4, 2009.

What is COMDDAP?

COMDDAP is an association of the country's top information technology businesses. Its primary objective is to promote the sustainable development of the of the country's information technology industry through voluntary collaboration of its member companies. It is the goal of COMDDAP to be able to provide its members general views and updates from different sectors - private and government, and highly regarded individuals to further uplift the morale and knowledge of its organization.

The vision of promoting and elevating the standards of Information technology (IT) in the Philippines fueled a group of prominent computer companies to form the Computer Distributors and Dealers Association of the Philippines or COMDDAP. Its initial member-companies represent the world's leading makers and providers of computer products, solutions and peripherals.

In 1997, the manufacturing sector - represented by industry leaders Hewlett Packard, Epson and Compaq, among others - was integrated into the COMDDAP membership, making the association a more diverse representation of the IT sector and thus the new name, COMPUTER MANUFACTURERS, DISTRIBUTORS AND DEALERS ASSOCIATION OF THE PHILIPPINES.

Experience:

Last July2-4, me and my classmates went to Apo view Hotel to witness the IT exhibits and Technology Update Seminars.

We arrived at the area at 1:30 pm and we were given stickers at the entrance that labelled STUDENT which we attached to our IDs. Then we enter the Grand Ballroom area. I don’t know about my colleagues but I was definitely amazed with the whole bunch of computer and technology products displayed there. We were actually supposed to get there early by 1pm to attend the first part of the seminar held inside the conference area of the Main Ballroom of the hotel in which we are scheduled to attend. We were sorry we got late but we were still lucky we can still join the second part of the seminar which would start at 2pm.

The first seminar was about ERIC DMS (Dealer Management System). We arrived late so we didn’t witnessed it.

The second seminar was about HP Thin Client.

Mr. Leonard Zapa was the presenter or speaker in the seminar. He is the Market Developer Manager of the company. About the product THIN CLIENTS is a computing device without a hard drive which displays data and applications from remotely located servers, blade PC's, or Virtual Desktops.

THIN CLIENTS OS (Operating Systems):

- Linux

- windowsCE

- WindowsXPe

There were also challenges for Information Technology (IT) Professionals:

- Provide Information Security

- Deployment and Maintenance

- Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Advantages of the THIN CLIENTS:

- Enhanced Security

- Easy Manageability

- High Reliability

- Environment Friendly

- Lower-Overall Costs

After the presentation they gave several questions regarding to their presentation. If someone answers the question they gave some tokens like T-Shirt, Flash drive (5 pieces of 2G USB and 1 piece of 8G USB) and 1 piece of mouse in the computer. We're very excited to answer the question for the tokens. After the seminars, we left the room because we want to continue our viewing in the exhibit. We continue collecting flyers or magazines for us to have a references. Because of this event I had gathered some information regarding the technology and other things which is related in our course.

_________________
-=♥yhang♥=-

information environment

2009-10-01T12:41:00.001-07:00

When i was browsing the internet, i encountered many information environment. But digital libraries caught my attention. So i decided to choose this information environment.

History of digital libraries

The idea of easy, finger-tip access to information-what we conceptualize as digital libraries today-began with Vannenar Bush's Memex machine (Bush, 1945) and has continued to evolve with each advance in information technology. With the arrival of computers, the concept centered on large bibliographic databases, the now familiar online retrieval and public access systems that are part of any contemporary library. When computers were connected into large networks

forming the Internet, the concept evolved again, and research turned to creating libraries of digital information that could be accessed by anyone from anywhere in the world. Phrases like "virtual library," "electronic library," "library without walls" and, most recently, "digital library," all have been used interchangeably to describe this broad concept.

What is a digital library?

There is much confusion surrounding this phrase, stemming from three factors. First, the library community has used several different phrases over the years to denote this concept-electronic library, virtual library, library without walls-and it

never was quite clear what each of these different phrases meant. "Digital library" is simply the most current and most widely accepted term and is now used almost exclusively at conferences, online, and in the literature.

One thing digital libraries will not be is a single, completely digital system that provides instant access to all information, for all sectors of society, from anywhere in the world. This is simply unrealistic. This concept comes from the early days

when people were unaware of the complexities of building digital libraries. Instead, they will most likely be a collection of disparate resources and disparate systems, catering to specific communities and user groups, created for specific purposes. They also will include, perhaps indefinitely, paper-based collections. Further, interoperability across digital libraries-of technical architectures, metadata, and document formats-will also only likely be possible within relatively bounded systems developed for those specific purposes and communities.

For librarians, this definition of a digital library, and these characteristics, are the most logical because it expands and extends the traditional library, preserves the valuable work that they do, while integrating new technologies, new processes, and new media.

To start with, let us first know some related information that will help me identify my role in the environment.

There is now a critical mass of digital information resources that can be used to support researchers, learners, teachers and administrators in their work and study. The production of information is on the increase and ways to deal with this

effectively are required. There is the need to ensure that quality information isn’t lost amongst the masses of digital data created everyday. If we can continue to improve the management, interrogation and serving of ‘quality’ information there is huge potential to enhance knowledge creation across learning and research

communities.

Nowadays, it is so important to maximize your time since you have many work to do and you have limited time per day. It is also important to be at ease while doing your tasks. Since technology is growing fast, digital library was created to

help those people who have busy schedules like us, students or teachers and other employees.

The aim of the Information Environment is to help provide convenient access to resources for research and learning through the use of resource discovery and resource management tools and the development of better services and practice. The Information Environment aims to allow discovery, access and use of resources for research and learning irrespective of their location.

My role in this kind of environment is to dessiminate reliable and sufficient information since many rely on digital libraries for their research. And if the information given was wrong, insufficient or hoax, that would give our subcribers

another problem. Since our goal is to provide fast and easy access to information, we should not give the people another problem.

The digital library community seems to face a dilemma at this point. Through its pursuit of design goals of flexibility, extensibility, modularity and abstraction, and its promulgation of those goals as common practice through its implementation of XML metadata standards, it has managed to substantially impede progress towards another commonly held goal, interoperability of digital library content across a range of systems.

Challenges

Creating “effective” digital libraries poses serious challenges for existing and future technologies. The integration of digital media into traditional collections will not be straightforward, like previous new media (e.g., video audio tapes), because of the unique nature of digital information it is less fixed, easily copied, and remotely accessible by multiple users simultaneously. Traditional library processes such as collection development and reference, though forming a potential basis for "digital library" work, will have to be revised and enhanced to accommodate these differences. Taking what we know about libraries as a starting point, we can begin to examine in more detail what the specific challenges might be.

Metadata

Metadata is another issue central to the development of digital libraries. Metadata is the data the describes the content and attributes of any particular item in a digital library. It is a concept familiar to librarians because it is one of the primary

things that librarians do--they create cataloguing records that describe documents. Metadata is important in digital libraries because it is the key to resource discovery and use of any document. Anyone who has used Alta Vista, Excite, or any of the other search engines on the Internet knows that simple full-text searches don't scale in a large network. One can get thousands of hits, but most of them will be irrelevant. While there are formal library standards for metadata, namely AACR, such records are very time-consuming to create and require specially trained personnel. Human cataloguing, though superior, is just too labour extensive for the already large and rapidly expanding information environment. Thus, simpler schemes for metadata are being proposed as solutions.

While they are still in their infancy, a number of schemes have emerged, the most prominent of which is the Dublin Core, an effort to try and determine the "core" elements needed to describe materials. The first workshop took place at OCLC

headquarters in Dublin, Ohio, hence the name "Dublin Core." The Dublin Core workshops defined a set of fifteen metadata elements--much simpler than those used in traditional library cataloguing. They were designed to be simple enough to

be used authors, but at the same time, descriptive enough to be useful in resource discovery.

The lack of common metadata standards-ideally, defined for use in some specified context-is yet another a barrier to information access and use in a digital library, or in a coordinated digital library scheme.

Naming, identifiers, and persistence

The fifth issue is related to metadata. It is the problem of naming in a digital library. Names are strings that uniquely identify digital objects and are part of any document's metadata. Names are as important in a digital library as an ISBN

number is in a traditional library.

Any system of naming that is developed must be permanent, lasting indefinitely. This means, among other things, that the name can't be bound up with a specific location. The unique name and its location must be separate. This is very much

unlike URLs, the current method for identifying objects on the Internet. URL's confound in one string several items that should be separate. They include the method by which a document is accessed (e.g., HTTP), a machine name and

document path (its location), and a document file name which may or may not be unique (e.g., how many index.html files do you have on your Web site?). URLs are very bad names because whenever a file is moved, the document is often lost

entirely.

Copyright has been called the "single most vexing barrier to digital library development" (Chepesuik, 1997:49). The current paper-based concept of copyright breaks down in the digital environment because the control of copies is

lost. Digital objects are less fixed, easily copied, and remotely accessible by multiple users simultaneously. The problem for libraries is that, unlike private businesses or publishers that own their information, libraries are, for the most part,

simply caretakers of information--they don't own the copyright of the material they hold. It is unlikely that libraries will ever be able to freely digitize and provide access to the copyrighted materials in their collections. Instead, they will have to develop mechanisms for managing copyright, mechanisms that allow them to provide information without violating copyright, called rights management.

Preservation

Another important issue is preservation--keeping digital information available in perpetuity. In the preservation of digital materials, the real issue is technical obsolescence. Technical obsolescence in the digital age is like the deterioration of

paper in the paper age. Libraries in the pre-digital era had to worry about climate control and the de-acidification of books, but the preservation of digital information will mean constantly coming up with new technical solutions.

The purpose of preservation is to ensure protection of information of enduring value for access by present and future generations (Conway, 1990: 206). Libraries and archives have served as the central institutional focus for preservation, and both types of institutions include preservation as one of their core functions. In recent decades, many major libraries and archives have established formal preservation programs for traditional materials which include regular allocation of resources for preservation, preventive measures to arrest deterioration of materials, remedial measures to restore the usability of selected materials, and the incorporation of preservation needs and requirements into overall program planning.

Preservationists within the library and archival community have been instrumental in developing an array of tools and methodologies to reduce the decay of traditional materials and to restore books and documents that have deteriorated to such an extent that their longevity and usability are threatened. Provisions for fire protection and adequate environmental controls frequently are incorporated into new library and archival facilities. Rehousing of acid-based paper materials is a common task in many repositories and microfilming is used extensively and cost effectively to preserve endangered materials. Undertakings such as the brittle books initiative, the American Newspapers Project, and the NEH-funded microfilming program have saved millions of unique and imperiled items (Preserving the Intellectual Heritage). Many libraries and archives have curbed their voracious appetites for acquisition and collecting in an effort to balance the breadth and depth of their holdings against long-term stewardship responsibilities. The change over from acid to alkaline paper in publishing and much desktop printing counts as a significant victory for preservation.

Libraries around the world have been working on this daunting set of challenges for several years now. They have created many digital library initiatives and projects, and have formed various national schemes for jointly exploring key issues. With several years accumulated experience, the initial enthusiasm surrounding the development of the digital library has been replaced by sober second thought. Librarians have discovered that, with a few exceptions, making a business case for digitization and investments in digital technology is more difficult than first envisioned, especially given the technical and legal constraints that must first be overcome. As with most other technical developments in libraries over the years,

we will have to move forward in small, manageable, evolutionary steps, rather than in an rapid revolutionary manner.

As information professionals, we live in very interesting times. Effective search and discovery over open and hidden digital resources on the Internet remains a problematic and challenging task. The difficulties are exacerbated by today's

greatly distributed scholarly information landscape. This distributed information environment is populated by silos of: full-text repositories maintained by commercial and professional society publishers; preprint servers and Open Archive

Initiative (OAI) provider sites; specialized Abstracting and Indexing (A & I) services; publisher and vendor vertical portals; local, regional, and national online catalogs; Web search and metasearch engines; local e-resource registries and

digital content databases; campus institutional repository systems; and learning

management systems.

All the information i have gathered were based on my research. If i am part of the digital library institute i would like to address those problem and give better solutions to it. Since I too, rely on digital libraries on my research.

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

_________________

-=♥yhang♥=-

outsource

2009-10-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

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

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 offshoring 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). 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.

Due to the complexity of work definition, codifying requirements, pricing, and legal terms and conditions, clients often utilize the advisory services of outsourcing consultants (see sourcing advisory) or outsourcing intermediaries to assist in scoping, decision making, and vendor evaluation.

Reasons for outsourcing

Organizations that outsource are seeking to realize benefits or address the following issues:

• Cost savings. The lowering of the overall cost of the service to the business. This will involve reducing the scope, defining quality levels, re-pricing, re-negotiation, cost re-structuring. Access to lower cost economies through offshoring called "labor arbitrage" generated by the wage gap between industrialized and developing nations.

• Focus on Core Business. Resources (for example investment, people, infrastructure) are focused on developing the core business. For example often organizations outsource their IT support to specilaised IT services companies.

• Cost restructuring. Operating leverage is a measure that compares fixed costs to variable costs. Outsourcing changes the balance of this ratio by offering a move from fixed to variable cost and also by making variable costs more predictable.

• Improve quality. Achieve a step change in quality through contracting out the service with a new service level agreement.

• Knowledge. Access to intellectual property and wider experience and knowledge.

• Contract. Services will be provided to a legally binding contract with financial penalties and legal redress. This is not the case with internal services.

• Operational expertise. Access to operational best practice that would be too difficult or time consuming to develop in-house.

• Access to talent. Access to a larger talent pool and a sustainable source of skills, in particular in science and engineering.

• Capacity management. An improved method of capacity management of services and technology where the risk in providing the excess capacity is borne by the supplier.

• Catalyst for change. An organization can use an outsourcing agreement as a catalyst for major step change that cannot be achieved alone. The outsourcer becomes a Change agent in the process.

• Enhance capacity for innovation. Companies increasingly use external knowledge service providers to supplement limited in-house capacity for product innovation.

• Reduce time to market. The acceleration of the development or production of a product through the additional capability brought by the supplier.

• Commodification. The trend of standardizing business processes, IT Services and application services enabling businesses to intelligently buy at the right price. Allows a wide range of businesses access to services previously only available to large corporations.

• Risk management. An approach to risk management for some types of risks is to partner with an outsourcer who is better able to provide the mitigation.

• Venture Capital. Some countries match government funds venture capital with private venture capital for startups that start businesses in their country.

• Tax Benefit. Countries offer tax incentives to move manufacturing operations to counter high corporate taxes within another country.

Criticisms of outsourcing

Quality Risks

Quality Risk is the propensity for a product or service to be defective, due to operations-related issues. Quality risk in outsourcing is driven by a list of factors. One such factor is opportunism by suppliers due to misaligned incentives between buyer and supplier, information asymmetry, high asset specificity, or high supplier switching costs. Other factors contributing to quality risk in outsourcing are poor buyer-supplier communication, lack of supplier capabilities/resources/capacity, or buyer-supplier contract enforceability. Two main concepts must be considered when considering observability as it related to quality risks in outsourcing: the concepts of testability and criticality.

Quality fade is the deliberate and secretive reduction in the quality of labor in order to widen profit margins. The downward changes in human capital are subtle but progressive, and usually unnoticeable by the out sourcer/customer. The initial interview meets requirements, however, with subsequent support, more and more of the support team are replaced with novice or less experienced workers. India IT shops will continue to reduce the quality of human capital under the pressure of drying up labor supply and upward trend of salary, pushing the quality limits. Such practices are hard to detect, as customers may just simply give up seeking help from the help desk. However, the overall customer satisfaction will be reduced greatly over time. Unless the company constantly conducts customer satisfaction surveys, they may eventually be caught in a surprise of customer churn, and when they find out the root cause, it could be too late. In such cases, it can be hard to dispute the legal contract with the India outsourcing company, as their staff are now trained in the process and the original staff made redundant. In the end, the company that outsources is worse off than before it outsourced its workforce to India.

Public opinion

There is a strong public opinion regarding outsourcing (especially when combined with offshoring) that outsourcing damages a local labor market. Outsourcing is the transfer of the delivery of services which affects both jobs and individuals. It is difficult to dispute that outsourcing has a detrimental effect on individuals who face job disruption and employment insecurity; however, its supporters believe that outsourcing should bring down prices, providing greater economic benefit to all. There are legal protections in the European Union regulations called the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment). Labor laws in the United States are not as protective as those in the European Union. On June 26 2009, Jeff Immelt, the CEO of General Electric, called for the United States to increase its manufacturing base employment to 20% of the workforce commenting that the U.S. has outsourced too much and can no longer rely on consumer spending to drive demand.

Language skills

In the area of call centers end-user-experience is deemed to be of lower quality when a service is outsourced. This is exacerbated when outsourcing is combined with off-shoring to regions where the first language and culture are different. The questionable quality is particularly evident when call centers that service the public are outsourced and offshored.

The public generally find linguistic features such as accents, word use and phraseology different which may make call center agents difficult to understand. The visual clues that are present in face-to-face encounters are missing from the call center interactions and this also may lead to misunderstandings and difficulties.

In addition to language and accent differences, a lack of local social and geographic knowledge is often present, leading to misunderstandings or mis-communications.

Social responsibility

Outsourcing sends jobs to the lower-income areas where work is being outsourced to, which provides jobs in these areas and has a net equalizing effect on the overall distribution of wealth. Some argue that the outsourcing of jobs (particularly off-shore) exploits the lower paid workers. A contrary view is that more people are employed and benefit from paid work. Despite this argument, domestic workers displaced by such equalization are proportionately unable to outsource their own costs of housing, food and transportation.

On the issue of high-skilled labor, such as computer programming, some argue that it is unfair to both the local and off-shore programmers to outsource the work simply because the foreign pay rate is lower. On the other hand, one can argue that paying the higher-rate for local programmers is wasteful, or charity, or simply overpayment. If the end goal of buyers is to pay less for what they buy, and for sellers it is to get a higher price for what they sell, there is nothing automatically unethical about choosing the cheaper of two products, services, or employees.

Social responsibility is also reflected in the costs of benefits provided to workers. Companies outsourcing jobs effectively transfer the cost of retirement and medical benefits to the countries where the services are outsourced. This represents a significant reduction in total cost of labor for the outsourcing company. A side effect of this trend is the reduction in salaries and benefits at home in the occupations most directly impacted by outsourcing.

Insourcing is the opposite of outsourcing; that is insourcing (or contracting in) is often defined as the delegation of operations or jobs from production within a business to an internal (but 'stand-alone') entity that specializes in that operation. Insourcing is a business decision that is often made to maintain control of critical production or competencies. An alternate use of the term implies transferring jobs to within the country where the term is used, either by hiring local subcontractors or building a facility.

Insourcing is widely used in an area such as production to reduce costs of taxes, labor (e.g., American labor is often cheaper than European labor), transportation, etc.

Insourcing at United Parcel Service (UPS) was described in the bestselling book The World Is Flat, by Thomas Friedman.

According to PR Web, insourcing was becoming more common by 2006 as businesses had less than satisfactory experiences with outsourcing (including customer support). Many outsourcing proponents responded to a negative consumer opinion backlash resulting from outsourcing their communications management to vendors who rely on overseas operations.

To those who are concerned that nations may be losing a net amount of jobs due to outsourcing, some point out that insourcing also occurs. According to a study by Mary Amiti and Shang-Jin Wei, in the United States, the United Kingdom, and many other industrialized countries more jobs are insourced than outsourced. They found that out of all the countries in the world they studied, the U.S. and the U.K. actually have the largest net trade surpluses in business services. Countries with a net deficit in business services include Indonesia, Germany and Ireland.

Insourcing is loosely referred in call centers who are doing the work of the outsourcing companies. Companies that outsource include Dell, Hewlett Packard, Symantec, and Linksys. The callcenters and technicians that are contracted to handle the outsourced work are usually over-seas. Customers may refer to these countries as "India" technical support if they are hard to understand over telecommunications. These insourcing companies were a great way to save money for the outsourcing of work, but quality varies, and poor performance has sometimes harmed the reputations of companies who provide 24/7 customer/technical support.

The Organization for International Investment, a Washington D.C. trade association, uses the term to describe the creation of jobs through foreign direct investment within the United States.

Outsourcing began in the early eighties when organizations started delegating their non-core functions to an external organization that was specialized in providing a particular service, function or product. In outsourcing, the external organization would take on the management of the outsourced function.

Most organizations choose outsourcing because outsourcing offers a lot of advantages. When organizations outsource to countries like India, they benefit from lower costs and high-quality services. Moreover organizations can concentrate more on core functions once they outsource their non-core functions. Outsourcing can also help organizations make better use of their resources, time and infrastructure.

In outsourcing, the outsourcer and the outsourcing partner have a greater relationship when compared to the relationship between a buyer and a seller. In outsourcing, the outsourcer trusts the outsourcing partner with vital information. Outsourcing is no longer confined to the outsourcing of IT services. Outsourcers in the US and UK now outsource financial services, engineering services, creative services, data entry services and much more.

Most organizations are opting to outsource because outsourcing enables organizations to access intellectual capital, focus on core competencies, shorten the delivery cycle time and reduce costs significantly. Organizations feel outsourcing is an effective business strategy to help improve their business.

The opposite of outsourcing can be defined as insourcing. When an organization delegates its work to another entity, which is internal yet not a part of the organization, it is termed as insourcing. The internal entity will usually have a specialized team who will be proficient in the providing the required services. Organizations sometimes opt for insourcing because it enables them to maintain a better control of what they outsource. Insourcing has also come to be defined as transferring work from one organization to another organization which is located within the same country. Insourcing can also mean an organization building a new business centre or facility which would specialize in a particular service or product.

Organizations involved in production usually opt for insourcing in order to cut down the cost of labor and taxes amongst others. The trend towards insourcing has increased since the year 2006. Organizations who have been dissatisfied with outsourcing have moved towards insourcing. Some organizations feel that they can have better customer support and better control over the work outsourced by insourcing their work rather than outsourcing it. According to recent studies, there is more wok insourced than outsourced in the U.S and U.K. These countries are currently the largest outsourcers in the world. The U.S and U.K outsource and insource work equally.

What is best for your organization?

If your organization has a number of non-core processes which are taking plenty of time, effort and resources to perform in-house, it would be wise to outsource these non-core functions. Outsourcing in this case, would help you save on time, effort, manpower and would also aid you in making quicker deliveries to your customers.

If you require expertise services in areas which do not fall under your core competency, then outsourcing will be a good option as you can get access to expertise services. For reducing costs and making faster deliverables, outsourcing is again a good option.

If your work involves production, then it would be more ideal for your organization to opt for insourcing, as you can save on transportation costs and exercise a better control over your project.

It is not necessary to choose outsourcing over insourcing or vice versa. Your organization can outsource and insource at the same time. By outsourcing and insourcing simultaneously, you can have the best of what both offers and your business can get a competitive advantage!

My stand:

Outsourcing is no longer the permanent cure for an expensive IT or business process ailment.

Having spent the past few years handing over control of troublesome processes to service providers, increasing number of technology leaders are choosing to bring control of problematic systems back in-house.

Analyst Gartner predicts the outsourcing market will grow by just five per cent per annum over the next few years, a figure far lower than the double-digit highs of a few years ago.

What's more, the analyst says four in every five outsourcing relationships will be renegotiated over the duration of a contract.

And some 64 per cent of firms have already brought an outsourced service back in-house, according to consultant Deloitte.

So what's gone wrong? Why are companies reconsidering big external service contracts for in-house provision?

Over a sustained period of time, Computing has investigated the issues and spoken to the companies involved in an attempt to understand whether UK plc is swinging towards outsourcing or insourcing.

Insourcing is a business practice in which work that would otherwise have been contracted out is performed in house.

Insourcing often involves bringing in specialists to fill temporary needs or training existing personnel to perform tasks that would otherwise have been outsourced. An example is the use of in-house engineers to write technical manuals for equipment they have designed, rather than sending the work to an outside technical writing firm. In this example, the engineers might have to take technical writing courses at a local college, university, or trade school before being able to complete the task successfully. Other challenges of insourcing include the possible purchase of additional hardware and/or software that is scalable and energy-efficient enough to deliver an adequate return on investment (ROI).

Insourcing can be viewed as outsourcing as seen from the opposite side. For example, a company based in Japan might open a plant in the United States for the purpose of employing American workers to manufacture Japanese products. From the Japanese perspective this is outsourcing, but from the American perspective it is insourcing. Nissan, a Japanese automobile manufacturer, has in fact done this.

In short, I suggest INSOURCING because I think its benefits and long term advantages outweighs those in outsourcing.. ^_^

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

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

_________________

-=♥yhang♥=-

SONA

2009-10-01T12:29:00.000-07:00

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

This area helps every Filipino financially since the issue speaks about lost subscriber’s load. Though not all Filipinos own a phone, it is important to get a fair service of what you are paying.

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

This area improves our lives by providing employment to many Filipinos and contributing to our country’s income which in turn, will be used to fund some infrastructures needed to improve our daily lives.

“Let us have a Department of ICT.”

This area brings hope especially to us since having an ICT department brings more jobs and answers problems regarding information and communication.

_________________

-=♥yhang♥=-

internet connectivity

2009-10-01T12:25:00.000-07:00

Type of connection:

Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just broadband, is a high data rate Internet access—typically contrasted with dial-up access using a 56k modem.
Dial-up modems are limited to a bitrate of less than 56 kbit/s (kilobits per second) and require the full use of a telephone line—whereas broadband technologies supply more than double this rate and generally without disrupting telephone use.
Although various minimum bandwidths have been used in definitions of broadband, ranging up from 64 kbit/s up to 2.0 Mbit/s, the 2006 OECD report is typical by defining broadband as having download data transfer rates equal to or faster than 256 kbit/s, while the United States (US) Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as of 2009, defines "Basic Broadband" as data transmission speeds exceeding 768 kilobits per second (Kbps), or 768,000 bits per second, in at least one direction: downstream (from the Internet to the user’s computer) or upstream (from the user’s computer to the Internet). The trend is to raise the threshold of the broadband definition as the marketplace rolls out faster services.
Data rates are defined in terms of maximum download because several common consumer broadband technologies such as ADSL are "asymmetric"—supporting much slower maximum upload data rate than download.
Broadband is often called "high-speed" Internet, because it usually has a high rate of data transmission. In general, any connection to the customer of 256 kbit/s (0.256 Mbit/s) or greater is more concisely considered broadband Internet. The International Telecommunication Union Standardization Sector (ITU-T) recommendation I.113 has defined broadband as a transmission capacity that is faster than primary rate ISDN, at 1.5 to 2 Mbit/s. The FCC definition of broadband is 768 kbit/s (0.8 Mbit/s). The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has defined broadband as 256 kbit/s in at least one direction and this bit rate is the most common baseline that is marketed as "broadband" around the world. There is no specific bitrate defined by the industry, however, and "broadband" can mean lower-bitrate transmission methods. Some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) use this to their advantage in marketing lower-bitrate connections as broadband.

In practice, the advertised bandwidth is not always reliably available to the customer; ISPs often allow a greater number of subscribers than their backbone connection or neighborhood access network can handle, under the assumption that most users will not be using their full connection capacity very frequently. This aggregation strategy works more often than not, so users can typically burst to their full bandwidth most of the time; however, peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing systems, often requiring extended durations of high bandwidth, stress these assumptions, and can cause major problems for ISPs who have excessively overbooked their capacity. For more on this topic, see traffic shaping. As takeup for these introductory products increases, telcos are starting to offer higher bit rate services. For existing connections, this most of the time simply involves reconfiguring the existing equipment at each end of the connection.
As the bandwidth delivered to end users increases, the market expects that video on demand services streamed over the Internet will become more popular, though at the present time such services generally require specialized networks. The data rates on most broadband services still do not suffice to provide good quality video, as MPEG-2 video requires about 6 Mbit/s for good results. Adequate video for some purposes becomes possible at lower data rates, with rates of 768 kbit/s and 384 kbit/s used for some video conferencing applications, and rates as low as 100 kbit/s used for videophones using H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. The MPEG-4 format delivers high-quality video at 2 Mbit/s, at the low end of cable modem and ADSL performance.
In telecommunications and signal processing, baseband is an adjective that describes signals and systems whose range of frequencies is measured from zero to a maximum bandwidth or highest signal frequency; it is sometimes used as a noun for a band of frequencies starting at zero. It can often be considered as synonym to lowpass, and antonym to passband, bandpass or radio frequency (RF) signal.
A signal at baseband is often used to modulate a higher frequency carrier wave in order that it may be transmitted via radio. Modulation results in shifting the signal up to much higher frequencies (radio frequencies, or RF) than it originally spanned. A key consequence of the usual double-sideband amplitude modulation (AM) is that, usually, the range of frequencies the signal spans (its spectral bandwidth) is doubled. Thus, the RF bandwidth of a signal (measured from the lowest frequency as opposed to 0 Hz) is usually twice its baseband bandwidth. Steps may be taken to reduce this effect, such as single-sideband modulation; the highest frequency of such signals greatly exceeds the baseband bandwidth.
Some signals can be treated as baseband or not, depending on the situation. For example, a switched analog connection in the telephone network has energy below 300 Hz and above 3400 Hz removed by bandpass filtering; since the signal has no energy very close to zero frequency, it may not be considered a baseband signal, but in the telephone systems frequency-division multiplexing hierarchy, it is usually treated as a baseband signal, by comparison with the modulated signals used for long-distance transmission. The 300 Hz lower band edge in this case is treated as "near zero", being a small fraction of the upper band edge.

Baseband vs. Broadband

Data signals can be sent over a network cable in one of two ways: broadband or baseband. One good example of broadband signaling would be how you view different channels through your cable box and a signal coaxial cable carrying multiple signals in cable television.

Whereas, baseband signaling only sends a single signal over the cable. This type of signaling is typically used in Ethernet networks, with the exception of 10Broad3 standard (rarely used). Baseband uses very simple transceiver devices that send and receive signals on a cable. The simplicity behind baseband signaling is that only three states need to be distinquished: one, zero and idle. Broadband transceivers are much more complex because they must be able to distinquish those same states, but on multiple channels within the same cable. Because of its simplicity, baseband signaling is used on most Ethernet networks.

Type of topology:
Network topology is the physical interconnections of the elements (links, nodes, etc.) of a computer network. A local area network (LAN) is one example of a network that exhibits both a physical topology and a logical topology. Any given node in the LAN has one or more links to one or more other nodes in the network and the mapping of these links and nodes in a graph results in a geometrical shape that may be used to describe the physical topology of the network. Likewise, the mapping of the data flows between the nodes in the network determines the logical topology of the network. The physical and logical topologies may or may not be identical in any particular network.
Any particular network topology is determined only by the graphical mapping of the configuration of physical and/or logical connections between nodes. The study of network topology uses graph theory. Distances between nodes, physical interconnections, transmission rates, and/or signal types may differ in two networks and yet their topologies may be identical.

There are also three basic categories of network topologies:
• physical topologies
• signal topologies
• logical topologies

The terms signal topology and logical topology are often used interchangeably, though there is a subtle difference between the two.

Physical topologies
The mapping of the nodes of a network and the physical connections between them – i.e., the layout of wiring, cables, the locations of nodes, and the interconnections between the nodes and the cabling or wiring system.

Classification of physical topologies

Point-to-point

The simplest topology is a permanent link between two endpoints (the line in the illustration above). Switched point-to-point topologies are the basic model of conventional telephony. The value of a permanent point-to-point network is the value of guaranteed, or nearly so, communications between the two endpoints. The value of an on-demand point-to-point connection is proportional to the number of potential pairs of subscribers, and has been expressed as Metcalfe's Law.

Permanent (dedicated)

Easiest to understand, of the variations of point-to-point topology, is a point-to-point communications channel that appears, to the user, to be permanently associated with the two endpoints. Children's "tin-can telephone" is one example, with a microphone to a single public address speaker is another. These are examples of physical dedicated channels.
Within many switched telecommunications systems, it is possible to establish a permanent circuit. One example might be a telephone in the lobby of a public building, which is programmed to ring only the number of a telephone dispatcher. "Nailing down" a switched connection saves the cost of running a physical circuit between the two points. The resources in such a connection can be released when no longer needed, for example, a television circuit from a parade route back to the studio.

Switched:

Using circuit-switching or packet-switching technologies, a point-to-point circuit can be set up dynamically, and dropped when no longer needed. This is the basic mode of conventional telephony.

Bus network topology

In local area networks where bus technology is used, each machine is connected to a single cable. Each computer or server is connected to the single bus cable through some kind of connector. A terminator is required at each end of the bus cable to prevent the signal from bouncing back and forth on the bus cable. A signal from the source travels in both directions to all machines connected on the bus cable until it finds the MAC address or IP address on the network that is the intended recipient. If the machine address does not match the intended address for the data, the machine ignores the data. Alternatively, if the data does match the machine address, the data is accepted. Since the bus topology consists of only one wire, it is rather inexpensive to implement when compared to other topologies. However, the low cost of implementing the technology is offset by the high cost of managing the network. Additionally, since only one cable is utilized, it can be the single point of failure. If the network cable breaks, the entire network will be down, since there is only one cable. Since there is one cable, the transfer speeds between the computers on the network is faster.

Linear bus

The type of network topology in which all of the nodes of the network are connected to a common transmission medium which has exactly two endpoints (this is the 'bus', which is also commonly referred to as the backbone, or trunk) – all data that is transmitted between nodes in the network is transmitted over this common transmission medium and is able to be received by all nodes in the network virtually simultaneously (disregarding propagation delays).
Note: The two endpoints of the common transmission medium are normally terminated with a device called a terminator that exhibits the characteristic impedance of the transmission medium and which dissipates or absorbs the energy that remains in the signal to prevent the signal from being reflected or propagated back onto the transmission medium in the opposite direction, which would cause interference with and degradation of the signals on the transmission medium (See Electrical termination).
Distributed bus
The type of network topology in which all of the nodes of the network are connected to a common transmission medium which has more than two endpoints that are created by adding branches to the main section of the transmission medium – the physical distributed bus topology functions in exactly the same fashion as the physical linear bus topology (i.e., all nodes share a common transmission medium).

Notes:
1.) All of the endpoints of the common transmission medium are normally terminated with a device called a 'terminator' (see the note under linear bus).
2.) The physical linear bus topology is sometimes considered to be a special case of the physical distributed bus topology – i.e., a distributed bus with no branching segments.
3.) The physical distributed bus topology is sometimes incorrectly referred to as a physical tree topology – however, although the physical distributed bus topology resembles the physical tree topology, it differs from the physical tree topology in that there is no central node to which any other nodes are connected, since this hierarchical functionality is replaced by the common bus.

Star network topology

In local area networks where the star topology is used, each machine is connected to a central hub. In contrast to the bus topology, the star topology allows each machine on the network to have a point to point connection to the central hub. All of the traffic which transverses the network passes through the central hub. The hub acts as a signal booster or repeater which in turn allows the signal to travel greater distances. As a result of each machine connecting directly to the hub, the star topology is considered the easiest topology to design and implement. An advantage of the star topology is the simplicity of adding other machines. The primary disadvantage of the star topology is the hub is a single point of failure. If the hub were to fail the entire network would fail as a result of the hub being connected to every machine on the network.

Notes:
1.) A point-to-point link (described above) is sometimes categorized as a special instance of the physical star topology – therefore, the simplest type of network that is based upon the physical star topology would consist of one node with a single point-to-point link to a second node, the choice of which node is the 'hub' and which node is the 'spoke' being arbitrary.
2.) After the special case of the point-to-point link, as in note 1.) above, the next simplest type of network that is based upon the physical star topology would consist of one central node – the 'hub' – with two separate point-to-point links to two peripheral nodes – the 'spokes'.
3.) Although most networks that are based upon the physical star topology are commonly implemented using a special device such as a hub or switch as the central node (i.e., the 'hub' of the star), it is also possible to implement a network that is based upon the physical star topology using a computer or even a simple common connection point as the 'hub' or central node – however, since many illustrations of the physical star network topology depict the central node as one of these special devices, some confusion is possible, since this practice may lead to the misconception that a physical star network requires the central node to be one of these special devices, which is not true because a simple network consisting of three computers connected as in note 2.) above also has the topology of the physical star.
4.) Star networks may also be described as either broadcast multi-access or nonbroadcast multi-access (NBMA), depending on whether the technology of the network either automatically propagates a signal at the hub to all spokes, or only addresses individual spokes with each communication.

Extended star

A type of network topology in which a network that is based upon the physical star topology has one or more repeaters between the central node (the 'hub' of the star) and the peripheral or 'spoke' nodes, the repeaters being used to extend the maximum transmission distance of the point-to-point links between the central node and the peripheral nodes beyond that which is supported by the transmitter power of the central node or beyond that which is supported by the standard upon which the physical layer of the physical star network is based.

Note: If the repeaters in a network that is based upon the physical extended star topology are replaced with hubs or switches, then a hybrid network topology is created that is referred to as a physical hierarchical star topology, although some texts make no distinction between the two topologies.

Distributed Star

A type of network topology that is composed of individual networks that are based upon the physical star topology connected together in a linear fashion – i.e., 'daisy-chained' – with no central or top level connection point (e.g., two or more 'stacked' hubs, along with their associated star connected nodes or 'spokes').

Ring network topology

In local area networks where the ring topology is used, each computer is connected to the network in a closed loop or ring. Each machine or computer has a unique address that is used for identification purposes. The signal passes through each machine or computer connected to the ring in one direction. Ring topologies typically utilize a token passing scheme, used to control access to the network. By utilizing this scheme, only one machine can transmit on the network at a time. The machines or computers connected to the ring act as signal boosters or repeaters which strengthen the signals that transverse the network. The primary disadvantage of ring topology is the failure of one machine will cause the entire network to fail.

Mesh

The value of fully meshed networks is proportional to the exponent of the number of subscribers, assuming that communicating groups of any two endpoints, up to and including all the endpoints, is approximated by Reed's Law.

Fully connected mesh topology

The type of network topology in which each of the nodes of the network is connected to each of the other nodes in the network with a point-to-point link – this makes it possible for data to be simultaneously transmitted from any single node to all of the other nodes.
Note: The physical fully connected mesh topology is generally too costly and complex for practical networks, although the topology is used when there are only a small number of nodes to be interconnected.

Partially connected mesh topology

The type of network topology in which some of the nodes of the network are connected to more than one other node in the network with a point-to-point link – this makes it possible to take advantage of some of the redundancy that is provided by a physical fully connected mesh topology without the expense and complexity required for a connection between every node in the network.

Tree network topology

Also known as a hierarchical network. The type of network topology in which a central 'root' node (the top level of the hierarchy) is connected to one or more other nodes that are one level lower in the hierarchy (i.e., the second level) with a point-to-point link between each of the second level nodes and the top level central 'root' node, while each of the second level nodes that are connected to the top level central 'root' node will also have one or more other nodes that are one level lower in the hierarchy (i.e., the third level) connected to it, also with a point-to-point link, the top level central 'root' node being the only node that has no other node above it in the hierarchy (The hierarchy of the tree is symmetrical.) Each node in the network having a specific fixed number, of nodes connected to it at the next lower level in the hierarchy, the number, being referred to as the 'branching factor' of the hierarchical tree.

The list above shows what are the appropriate type of connection needed in our school and what kind of topology is best. As to what kind of mediums are better, i suggest we use low cost cables like coax or STP and UTP. Fiber optics are good but considering the financial status of our school, the three types above are more suited.

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

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

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

_________________

-=♥yhang♥=-

barriers in their IS/IT implementation

2009-10-01T11:50:00.000-07:00

Implementing or introducing a new system can be done in two ways:

• Direct Implementation

• Parallel Running

With this method of implementation the users stop using the manual system and start using the computer system from a given date.

The advantage of this method is that it is less costly in effort and time than any other method of implementation. The disadvantage of this method is that if problems occur the users do not have any alternative apart from returning to a manual system which may prove difficult if it has been discontinued.

With parallel running, the new system is introduced alongside the existing system. With parallel running both systems (manual and computer, or old computer and new computer system) will be in operation at the same time. This has the advantage that the results from the new system can be compared with those of the old system.

However, it has the major disadvantage that each job is done twice and therefore it means a lot of extra work for the users.

Information Technology (IT) employed today has many inherent problems that many expensive solutions have never been able to solve:

• Information technology is managed as technology, rather than as capital preventing integration with the business

• Information technology employs large monolithic information systems that are laid over the business, instead of information processing solutions that are utilized by the business

• Information Technology defines different architectures to define and align the business, systems, hardware and networks, and data and information, rather than integrating each with the business

• Different categories of information capital are mixed in many systems using different entity names and definitions producing information complexity and preventing proper information capital management

• Since the business is not organized, information systems manage information related to structures laid over the business and do not capture, process, or report actual business data or report actual business management information

• Information Technology is difficult to manage because it mixes business, facility, and management capital that require diverse management and operating capabilities

• It is difficult to manage return on IT investments since the investments are lumped together and do not produce direct measured business improvements

• Information Technology has grown into a large expensive empire that involves much unnecessary processing, extensive overheads, and unsolvable problems

These problems can never be solved with 20th century management that tries to improve the enterprise by laying new or improved structures over the business.

The only way to eliminate the Information Technology problems is by organizing the business with to enable 21st century business management. Information technology must be integrated in the business as capital defined as specific solutions utilized to produce specific business results. Business management enables the following measures to eliminate the unsolvable Information Technology problem:

• The actual business is organized as specific capital solutions, including IT solutions, utilized in performance to produce specific business results

• Information system solutions are defined and integrated with the business process as modules to produce a specific result or a chain of results

• Information systems focus on managing actual business data in result value and quality, performance cost and effectiveness, capital worth, and return on capital investments that is not processed today

• Information Technology is defined and organized as capital, with other capital of the same category, for proper capital management by those with the professional capability

• Information capital is defined and managed as business data, human knowledge, facility records, and management intelligence to produce information solutions needed by the business

• Enterprise information is integrated by capital solution utilized, result produced, supplier, customer, time period, business transaction, etc in an enterprise Business Information Base for one set of complete and accurate business information

• Information systems and processing devoted to managing arbitrary structures laid over the business and special systems to address problems in data reconciliation, information integration and extraction, and management reporting are discontinued, if not directly needed by the business

• New information system implementation integrates business and information processing with other capital solutions to produce specific output results needed by the business

• The business is organized for a new generation of 21st century business management systems and business-information process modules, to process the actual business result by result, and provide one set of consistently-defined management information

Managing information technology as capital utilized by the actual business eliminates the unsolvable IT problems in business alignment, information complexity, data reconciliation, unknown costs and value, unknown capital worth and returns, CIO and IT management capabilities, data integration and control, and on and on.

Since the business is not organized, different management structures must by laid over the business to manage the enterprise. Information systems are another set of overlaid structures that process and report the system structure, plus data captured by overlaid organization, business process, account, administrative, cost, quality, performance, and other structures. Each enterprise structure defines the enterprise with a different set of data entities, producing the information and business complexity problems. Information systems do not directly manage the business to capture actual business data and report one consistent set of complete and accurate business management information.

Enterprise information systems include material control, production control and manufacturing resource planning systems, supply chain and customer relationship management systems, cost and quality management, operational management information, and other systems that support revenue result management. Capital result management systems include human resource management, financial management, general ledger, accounts payable and receivable, asset management, IT architecture management, inventory, purchasing, strategic planning, executive information, and other administration systems. Investment result management systems include investment analysis and planning, project management, portfolio management, shareholder management, etc. Each system is laid over the business, rather that being utilized as a solution by the business to produce the managed revenue, capital, or investment results.

Each of the systems defines the enterprise with different data entities creating a large information cross-referencing and integration problem. Systems manage such enterprise entities as department, center, station, responsibility, unit, function, process, object, activity, etc, instead of specific business results. The enterprise is left with a large problem to sort out the information, integrate like information, and relate information to the business. The problem is addressed to some degree by implementing an enterprise application architecture from a single vendor. Most enterprises still must make additional investments in information integration and data reconciliation systems for performance management, management and executive reporting, and strategic enterprise management. Even with all this such actual business data as result value and quality, performance costs and effectiveness, capital worth and utilization, investment utilization and return, etc cannot be captured and processed.

Business process re-engineering tended to create a gap between business processing and information processing. Instead of integrating the processing, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems were laid over the business process. The selling point was that best practices incorporated in the ERP system would automatically solve the problem. But this proved difficult to do in practice, since best practices need to integrate all the solutions utilized in the complete business.

Since the business is not managed, it is difficult for the enterprise to identify how to gain specific benefit from information systems. Most enterprise information systems are sold by vendors who promise many benefits. Few enterprises really understand how to gain from the system. Enterprise system implementation is a large undertaking. Invariably, system implementation is restricted to putting the system into operation as a monolithic structure laid over the existing business. Even if the objective of system acquisition was business improvement, the objective usually gets redefined to “implement the system”. The enterprise is left on its own to make changes to gain benefits from the system.

Most implementation consultants employ a methodology that allows them to implement systems with staff that do not need to understand the enterprise business. The emphasis is on “doing what the customer wants” and satisfying “user requirements”, which is difficult to argue against. The administrative department is defined as the user, rather than revenue result users, who use the system to produce results or face the customer. Usually, the main requirement of the administrative department is “no change”. These users often benefit from existing methods, and cannot visualize advanced ways to utilize systems to benefit other users. To minimize problems and delays in implementation, methodologies convert existing practices and utilities convert existing data. Utilization to achieve benefit is “up to the users” meaning revenue result users. Training covers system operation rather than using the system for business benefit.

Information systems are managed by Information Technology that does not take responsibility for business benefit

Many enterprises view system business performance as a responsibility of Information Technology. But, IT will take responsibility only for the internal operational performance of the system as it is set up. Problems exist because neither IT, nor anyone else, was ever made responsible for the business benefit provided by the system. Enterprises often try to solve the lack-of-business-benefit problem with new more-complicated systems, rather than solving the IT and business problems and improving the utilization of existing systems.

Most information system implementations are cost projects that provide marginal benefit

Most enterprise system implementations are “cost projects”. Implementation itself provides little benefit to the real users and limited return on the investment. Enterprise performance problems are converted to the new system, in effect casting the problems in concrete, making change much more difficult, and escalating the cost of future performance improvement. IT investments are lumped, rather than defining and implementing the specific business, human, facility, and management solutions that must be utilized by the business to provide the return. The business that utilizes IT is not defined to enable measurement of the value added to the business by IT investments.

Information systems, hardware, and strategy are managed as technology rather than capital to be utilized for benefit

These problems are topped off by the problems of managing information as technology rather than as capital. This keeps information processing and business data separate from the business organization and processing. Data, knowledge, records, and intelligence are not managed by the proper human capability, and are not integrated to deliver solutions to be utilized by the business. IT facilities are operated separate from other facility equipment capital such as telephone networks, and the enterprise equipment infrastructure. IT strategies are planned and managed separate from other enterprise strategies creating future alignment problems.

The Information Technology Solution

Manage information technology as business, facility, and management capital

Investment in enterprise systems and technology must be to enable significant result and performance improvement and not be an end in itself. Information system utilization is a result management responsibility to utilize the system to achieve business result value-added. Information system performance is the responsibility of specific capital management to provide the IT infrastructure and deliver accurate data, knowledge, records, and intelligence solutions to support achieving results at an acceptable cost. The analysis, processing, and data parts of IT are business capital and is managed with other business capital. The enterprise service architecture, hardware, software, and networks are facilities that must be managed with other facility capital. IT strategies are integrated with other capital development and management strategies to produce strategic results as management strategy capital. Other information capital must be managed as human knowledge, facility records, and management intelligence.

The solution to information system investment is through a managed business to understand and plan significant result and performance improvements using the system as the enabling technology. Result value-added provides the justification and payback for enterprise systems. The results the enterprise must achieve utilizing the system are described and the future result value is planned. Performance problems are analyzed to make beneficial business changes that maximize the value-quality of results produced, improve the functionality of the system, and create an integrated Business Information Base. Application systems are not addressed as isolated capital investments, but as components of business process solutions. The application is first integrated into each business process utilized to produce business output results. The improved business process is then integrated with other needed solutions and implemented to produce higher value-quality results, result by result. Business management consultants use the 21st Century Management Consulting Model and 21st century management conventions, definitions, and standards to help the enterprise integrate and implement the full set of solutions needed to produce high value-quality results across the scope of a system.

http://www.mywhatever.com/cifwriter/content/22/4481.html

http://www.konsult.leeds.ac.uk/public/level1/sec10/index.htm

_________________

-=♥yhang♥=-

green campus computing

2009-10-01T11:40:00.001-07:00

1. http://www.campuscomputing.net/page/kenneth-c-green-director

KENNETH C. GREEN is the founding director of The Campus Computing Project, the largest continuing study of the role of information technology in American colleges and universities. The project is widely cited by both campus officials and corporate executives as a definitive source for data, information, and insight about information technology planning and policy issues affecting American higher education.

Green is the author/co-author or editor of a dozen books and published research reports and more than 80 articles and commentaries that have appeared in academic journals and professional publications. He is often quoted on higher education, information technology, and labor market issues in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Education, and other print and broadcast media.

An invited speaker at some two dozen academic conferences and professional meetings each year, Green was also the co-executive producer and on-air host of the award-winning Ready2Net programs, a series of satellite broadcasts and Webcasts, sponsored by the California State University-Monterey Bay and focused on the challenges and opportunities that information technology presents to American higher education.

In October 2002, Green received the first EDUCAUSE Award for Leadership in Public Policy and Practice. The award cites his work in creating The Campus Computing Project and recognizes his "prominence in the arena of national and international technology agendas, and the linking of higher education to those agendas."

2.http://ssi.ucsd.edu/esiportal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=228&Itemid=101

UC San Diego Campus Computing Goes Green- January 28, 2009

The Chronicle of Higher Education

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

By Josh Keller

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

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

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

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

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

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

3. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1228261991.html

Hawaii Pacific University issued the following news release: Hawai'i Pacific University will kick off its Green Campus Project 6-10 p.m., March 9, on upper Fort Street Mall. HPU's Proud to Be Pinoy Club will pioneer the project with its recycling program. The event will be followed at 8 p.m. by a Movie on the Mall - "An Inconvenient Truth" - presented by HPU in collaboration with the Honolulu Culture and Arts District, Fort Street Business Improvement District, and Paradise Cinema.

The Green Campus Project event will start with entertainment from 6-8 p.m., a preface for the club's initiative to provide and maintain HI-5 recycling bins in campus buildings.

Schools are deploying green-technology techniques to help conserve energy and otherwise preserve natural resources. Such strategies run the gamut from automated thermostats and “smart” lighting to virtual servers and computer-part recycling. In some cases, those efforts do more than just shrink a school’s environmental footprint—they can also generate financial benefits that can last years.

In our school, I suggest that the administrators should conduct a meeting as to what action they should take in order to implement green campus computing. After discussing the plan with the faculty, it will be disseminated on the students through constant reminders and posters that would remind the students on what they should do in order to help implement the said action.

_________________

-=♥yhang♥=-

risks associated with business and IS/IT

2009-10-01T11:10:00.000-07:00

In a broad sense, the term 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.

The Information System consists of five parts which include: people, procedures, software, hardware, and data. There are various types of information systems, for example: transaction processing systems, office systems, decision support systems, knowledge management systems, database management systems, and office information systems. Critical to most information systems are information technologies, which are typically designed to enable humans to perform tasks for which the human brain is not well suited, such as: handling large amounts of information, performing complex calculations, and controlling many simultaneous processes.

The process industry has always had to deal with changes to plant and equipment. More recently people and organisational changes have become critical (e.g. staffing levels, supervision, control room arrangements, shift patterns). Identifying and managing the potential risks has been a challenge.

As a consequence of the competitive operating environment, enterprises need to implement change to develop and maintain their competitive advantage. This requires changing the behavior of people in organizations by changing attitudes about what can and should happen at work. The need for change could originate from multiple business interventions- Strategic changes (changes in corporate/ functional direction), Organizational changes (structures / roles & responsibilities / performance assessment and compensation mechanisms), Process Changes (redefined and redesigned processes) or IT Interventions (change in work methods / tools / techniques)

Charting and managing the road map for change transformation is the single most important element of the process. While change is fairly common, it is very difficult to implement successfully. Success hinges on being able to convince groups and individuals to change the way they work, possible only if people are ready to think differently about their jobs.

Any change needs to be managed. Process changes or changes consequent to the implementation of an IT solution are no exception. In case changes are not managed effectively, the success of the change implementation gets at risk.

Change management is the process of motivating and equipping people to a level of competency that facilitates their migration along the path of change.

Our consultants touch upon the crucial elements that are expected to be affected by the process change – organization and people requirements. We help manage change through a three step process:

• Assessment of change readiness and identification of risks

• Definition of the change management road map

• Facilitation of the execution of the change management plan through appropriate change communication, change sensitization and the definition of governance structures and revised roles

The other aspect that needs to be managed is risk. Our consultants bring to the table extensive hands on experience in managing PLM implementations and that experience enables them to identify up-front factors that could potentially cause risk to projects. Using industry standard program management techniques, our consultants identify risks and monitor their probability of occurrence and potential impact. They plan for mitigation of risks and execute those plans to ensure that risks do not get realized. They put in place back up plans and plans for scenarios that assume that risks do get realized. Systematic risk management ensures project success and predictability on project metrics.

A business (also called a firm, or enterprise) is a legally recognized organization designed to provide goods and/or services to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, most being privately owned and formed to earn profit that will increase the wealth of its owners and grow the business itself. The owners and operators of a business have as one of their main objectives the receipt or generation of a financial return in exchange for work and acceptance of risk. Notable exceptions include cooperative enterprises and state-owned enterprises. Socialist systems involve either government agencies, public ownership, state-ownership or direct worker ownership of enterprises and assets that would be run as businesses in a capitalist economy. The distinction between these institutions and a business is that socialist institutions often have alternative or additional goals aside from maximizing or turning a profit.

Business/IT alignment is a desired state in which a business organization is able to use information technology (IT) effectively to achieve business objectives - typically improved financial performance or marketplace competitiveness. Some definitions focus more on outcomes (the ability of IT to produce business value) than means (the harmony between IT and business decision-makers within the organizations); for example,

alignment is the capacity to demonstrate a positive relationship between information technologies and the accepted financial measures of performance.

This alignment is in contrast to what is often experienced in organizations: IT and business professionals unable to bridge the gap between themselves because of differences in objectives, culture, and incentives and a mutual ignorance for the other group's body of knowledge. This rift generally results in expensive IT systems that do not provide adequate return on investment. For this reason, the search for Business / IT Alignment is closely associated with attempts to improve the business value of IT investments.

It is not unusual for business and IT professionals within an organization to experience conflict and in-fighting as lack of mutual understanding and the failure to produce desired results leads to blaming and mistrust. The search for B/I alignment often includes efforts to establish trust between these two groups and a mechanism for consensus decision-making.

Information Technology Management is concerned with exploring and understanding Information Technology as a corporate resource that determines both the strategic and operational capabilities of the firm in designing and developing products and services for maximum customer satisfaction, corporate productivity, profitability and competitiveness.

IT Management is a different subject from Management Information Systems. Management Information Systems refer to information management methods tied to the automation or support of human decision making. IT Management, as stated in the above definition, refers to the IT related management activities in organizations. MIS as it is refered to is focus mainly on the business aspect with a strong input into the technology phase of the business/organisation.

http://plm.geometricglobal.com/PLM+Services+Portfolio/Business+Process+Consulting/Organizational+Change+Management+and+Program+Risk+Management/index.aspx

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-=♥yhang♥=-

automated election system

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

Many had hoped that this coming 2010 election no more cheating will be done and as this new automated election

system exist many had questioned its capability and security. The main problem here in our country is not the

delayed of the result but the “dagdag bawas” of the votes. So the result of the election is more important than

how fast it is to be tallied. Can the automated election system provide us more honest result than the

old ways of casting our votes? The answer lies in the hand of the candidates, if they will try to

cheat or not. In short it’s a matter of self discipline.

What is automated election system really is?
According to REPUBLIC ACT No. 8436, Automated Election System (AES) is a system using

appropriate technology for voting and electronic devices to count votes and canvass/consolidate

results. And according to what I’ve research, two voting technologies will be used; the

Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) and the Optical Mark Reader (OMR).
In a Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) system, the voter is presented with a screen showing

all the names of the candidates. To cast his vote, the voter has to touch the name of the

candidate of his choice on the screen, or on a separate electronic ballot to be attached

to the voting machine, and his vote automatically gets counted. Once the voter has

confirmed his vote, the machine will print out a copy of his vote, which

the voter will deposit in the ballot box. In an Optical Mark Reader (OMR) system

they will use Automated Counting Machine (ACM) to count the votes in the ballots.

(The Mindanao Current) As an IT student, the technology mentioned above is not impossible to

falsify or tamper. In Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) there is a program that

let the voters choose who to vote. If the program record there votes properly

they will not know. And in Optical Mark Reader (OMR) voters will feed the

ballot into the machine the next thing they will see is the printed election return.

Whether their votes were properly counted they will not know.
Is the automation of the election process will be the answer to the problems

we have always encountered during every election period? Maybe, we

will not know it unless we try. If we will just rely on the theories

about the automated election system nothing will happen to us

and the old ways of casting our votes will remain same as the old ways of cheating.

The automation of the election process means that the old ways of voting,

and tallying the votes will be replaced. Instead of manual process,

computers will be used. Paper ballots and ball pens are not needed.

You just need to press the button in the machine for your candidate and

the machine will automatically register your vote. The counting and

tallying of votes are also will be done by the machines. So there’s no

need for the old version of tallying were the votes are written

and been tallied on blackboards.
This will be a greater help for our teachers that are always the

one who are in charge in the elections. And because of the

automation, for sure the election time will be lessen.

The results will be release much sooner than before so the work

of the teachers will be lessened. And because the machines will

do the works, there’s no need for many workers. Even the

problems that occur about cheating candidates will be lessening too. Because

there is no need for ballot and ballot boxes, the common

problem of losing the boxes will not be a problem anymore.

Maybe “dagdag bawas”, a common method use by the candidates

who are desperate to win will not be done in the automated process.

It will be hard for them to manipulate the votes because it is now listed in machines.

And regarding about the safety of the votes, maybe the automation will be a help to

secure all the votes in safe.
But there is a little problem about the automation. Not all the

voters are familiar about the process of voting using machines

so they needed assistance now for them to be able to cast their

vote with no problem. And this automated election system is more costly than the old one.
So the automated process of the election is much better

than the old process. There are things that are easily

done in the automation. The result is the most important of

all and because the machines are the one who to the counting, it will not take months or even weeks, we will already know who are the new elected people that will serve our country.
But in every change, there is always a problem. So the success of the election, automated or not, will always start on us…

............................................................................................................................................................................................................

SMARTMATIC…
Smarmatic International Corp. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Smart¬matic International Holdings, BV of The Netherlands. The firm was founded more than a decade ago as a research and development group specializing in systems integration. Smartmatic has organized elections in several regions around the world, including South America, the Car¬ribean, the United States and Asia. Smartmatic was also the system provider for the 2007 Autonomous Region in Muslim Minda¬nao elections. Of the seven consortia, only Smartmatic/TIM was declared by the committee as qualified in terms of financial and technical requirements and eligibility.

TIM…
Total Information Management (TIM), on the other hand, is a Filipino-owned information technology company that operates nationwide and offers various information-technology (IT) services and products. According to its website, TIM was founded in 1985 as a supplier for re¬certified and refurbished IBM mainframes and peripheral equipment. Since then, it has grown to be the country’s leading technology Services Company.
MAJOR CHANGES FROM THE MANUAL SYSTEM
No writing of names - All candidates' names are pre-printed on the ballot. The entire voter would have to do to indicate his vote is to shade the oval corresponding to the name of the candidate of his choice.
Ballots are not counted in the polling place - After the closing of the polls, the ballots will be brought to the centralized counting center to be counted by the machines.
There are added security features at different levels - Aside from the usual built-in securities in the current manual system, there would be additional security features in the following levels: printing of ballots, shipment, counting and canvassing
Minimum human intervention - Human intervention is limited to telling the machine to: start and stop counting the ballots, start saving the results in a diskette (or any data storage device), and start printing the results. And appreciation of ballots is entirely done by the machine.

_________________
-=♥yhang♥=-

best practises in IT/IS

2009-07-10T06:06:00.000-07:00

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

Last June 25, 2009 my classmates and I decided to visit a company for our first assignment in Management Information System. Our first choice was Call Box since it is the nearest call center from our school which has a Management Information System. So we prepared a letter to make it formal and serve as evidence that we really interviewed the MIS Staff or MIS Head of the said company via signature or by photos.

The Call Box Company is located at 9th floor of LandCo building along JP. Laurel Ave. here in Davao City. When we arrived at their office we found the front desk empty. So we waited until someone called the in-charge in the front desk. Then she asked us “Are you applicants?” We got speechless and we didn’t know how to react to her question as if it’s so difficult to answer. Then she answered her own question when she saw our IDs. Then she asked our purpose of visiting their office. We gave her the letter asking their permission to conduct an interview about their Management Information System. Afterwards, she called someone from their MIS department to entertain us. They did entertain us but unfortunately they are so busy that they cannot answer our questions on that moment. They decided to send us the questions through e-mail later on that day.

We waited, but no e-mails came until the next morning.

Evidences:

On the next day, we decided to look for another company. The next on the list was Global Connect e-Solutions, located along J.P. Laurel Avenue, Bajada, Davao City. Like what we did at the Callbox, we also prepared a letter stating a permission to conduct an interview at their company and as evidence that we really interviewed them. When we arrived at their office, their MIS Head was busy at that time because they were currently having their meeting with the superiors in the company. But he still told us personally to just leave the questions for him to answer when their meeting adjourns.

This time we really need to make sure that we can find someone to interview about our assignment because we are already late for the deadline. The third on the list was Concentrix, but before that, I will discuss first some of the best practices in IT/IS in Global Connect e-Solutions since they help us with our assignment. (Thanks to their MIS Head.)

The best practice in their company is the belief that there is a technique, method, process, activity, incentive as reward that is more effective at delivering a particular outcome than other techniques. He also added that shared knowledge and group performance are their best practise.

We also asked him to define Management Information System and its function in their company. Management Information System for them is a subset of the overall internal control of a business covering the application of people, documents, technologies and procedures by management accountants for solving business problems. Management Information System can include software that helps in decision making, data resources such as databases, the hardware resources of a system, decision support system, people management and project management applications and any computerized processes that enable the department to run efficiently.

Evidences:
The last on the list was Concentrix which is located in Damosa IT Park, Lanang, Davao City. We went there because we thought the Global Connect e-Solutions will not help us. When we arrive there we just stayed outside while one of our classmates, one of the agents on the said company asked the attendant if we could conduct some interview on there MIS Staff/MIS Head. Lucky for us we found our friend Mr. Leo Lubag, also working on that said company. He helped our classmate to approach the MIS Supervisor. Fortunately, he agreed and entertained us. Here are the answers of the MIS Supervisor in Concentrix to our queries and his discussion about the Management Information System of their company.

• Helpdesk – the one assigned in repairing, installing and troubleshooting networking problems. Also with configuration username, accessing, restricting from sites.
• Networking Specialist – assigned in deeper aspects of troubleshooting and the mentor.
• Senior Network Specialist – responsible for configuration on of servers telephones management access.
• Management Information System Supervisor – decision maker for the changes recommendation for all accounts.

As his final words, he stated that the best IT/IS practices in their company is teamwork and it is constantly evolving and for that they are open for changes and upgrades for the improvement of their company.

Evidences:

The experience of visiting those companies was so fun yet so disappointing when you get rejected. We have learned so many things in this assignment and the lessons that we got from it will be kept in our minds for the rest of the semester or shall I say for the rest of our lives…(lolz)

So this journey doesn’t end here, for we will still budge companies’ doors.

See you all again!!!

_________________
-=♥yhang♥=-

dumb girl

2009-07-05T01:34:00.000-07:00

He broke my heart today
I don't know what to say
I can't feel a thing at all
I did not see it comin'
Now you just a man that got away
I look at the ground
And give the sky the middle finger
Something inside said
"Here's a day you should remember
So mark it on a wall"

I never believed it could happen to me
Something like this only happens to dumb girls
Taking themselves too seriously
I was so damn smart
I was the one girl
Who never believed it could happen to me
Something like this only happens to somebody else

I miss you so much
Can't stand it
You bring out the blonde in me
'Cause I'm still hanging on
Even though you done me wrong.
And I got the heart to forgive this
But I'd never let you know.
What kind of girl would put herself
In that postition?
To think that I could ever fight the system
And I got fooled again

I never believed it could happen to me
Something like this only happens to dumb girls
Taking themselves too seriously
I was so damn smart
I was the one girl
Who never believed it could happen to me
Something like this only happens to somebody else

I thought I was strong
But I was just dreamin'
I can't believe it
That nothing was wrong
I thought I knew what was goin' on
But love was deceiving me
Now I'm just a dumb girl
A dumb girl
That's what I am

I can't believe that it happened to me
Something like this only happens to dumb girls
Taking themselves too seriously
I was so damn smart, yeah
I was the one girl
Who never believed it could happen to me
Something like this only happens to somebody else

________________
-=♥yhang♥=-

reflection in MIS

2009-06-30T00:41:00.000-07:00

Reflection… reflection… reflection…
This is the thing you need to do after the introduction…
On our first day of class several were late that’s why Sir Gamboa asked them to show their talents, or shall I say, there forced talents. If you cannot sing and dance, well you have to, you don’t have a choice, because Sir Gamboa will not just let you sit and relax.

First, Sir Gamboa asked what does MIS stands for and what is management. I really don’t have an idea about the subject, except the fact that it stands for Management Information System. That’s why when Sir Gamboa asked the class about it some answered it’s the act of managing…obviously. Though his smiling he still looks scary especially to those first timers in his class. We’ve learned about PDOC: planning, directing, organizing and consulting which he said were the four keys of management. We also had a short discussion about Information System. As what he told us it is composed of hardware, software and peopleware.

Afterwards he gave us assignments and told us to update our blogs.

So this is it. Good luck to all of us. Welcome newbies. God bless.

_________________
-=♥yhang♥=-

RSG

2009-06-30T00:40:00.000-07:00

Gud day sir... gud day fellas...
I'm Leah Ana F. Saavedra BSIT-IV... peru third year standing pa wahahahaha...
I expect this subject to be fun and fun and fun... mao lang...
and to our teacher, when i met him he was everything i expected... as always... (superlative!!!)
the end...amping mo pirme...

_________________
-=♥yhang♥=-

if i were a boy

2008-12-02T02:42:00.000-08:00

If I were a boy
Even just for a day
I’d roll outta bed in the morning
And throw on what I wanted then go
Drink beer with the guys
And chase after girls
I’d kick it with who I wanted
And I’d never get confronted for it.
Cause they’d stick up for me.

If I were a boy
I think I could understand
How it feels to love a girl
I swear I’d be a better man.
I’d listen to her
Cause I know how it hurts
When you lose the one you wanted
Cause he’s taken you for granted
And everything you had got destroyed

If I were a boy
I could turn off my phone
Tell everyone it’s broken
So they’d think that I was sleepin’ alone
I’d put myself first
And make the rules as I go
Cause I know that she’d be faithful
Waitin’ for me to come home (to come home)

It’s a little too late for you to come back
Say its just a mistake
Think I’d forgive you like that
If you thought I would wait for you
You thought wrong

But you’re just a boy
You don’t understand
Yeah you don’t understand
How it feels to love a girl someday
You wish you were a better man
You don’t listen to her
You don’t care how it hurts
Until you lose the one you wanted
Cause you’ve taken her for granted
And everything you have got destroyed
But you’re just a boy

_________________
-=♥yhang♥=-

Your Song"

2008-10-11T07:20:00.000-07:00

"Your Song"
It took
one look
and forever lay out in front of me

One smile
then I died
only to be revived by you

There I was
thought I had everything
figured out
goes to show just how much I know
bout the way life plays out

i take one step away
and I find myself coming back
to you
my one and only
one and only
you..

Now I know
that I know not a thing at all
except the fact that I am yours
and that you are mine

Oh,
if you told me that it wouldn't be easy
and Oh,
I'm not one to complain

_________________
-=♥yhang♥=-

2008-10-02T20:13:00.001-07:00

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

Human Resource management is based in the efficient utilization of employees in achieving two main goals within a corporation or other type of organization. The first goal is to effectively make use of the talents and abilities of employees to achieve the operational objectives that are the ultimate aim of the organization. Along with realizing the goals of the organization, Human Resource management also seeks to ensure that the individual employee is satisfied with both the working environment and the compensation and benefits that he or she receives.

www.wisegeek.com

In this definition, it was clearly stated here that the employee’s compensation and benefits are to be ensured in order to achieve the operational objectives of the organization, but they must not forget that training and motivation of the employee is also important for the employee to give the quality service to the organization.

The Human Resources Management (HRM) function includes a variety of activities, and 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.

www.managementhelp.org

This definition only seeks for the best employee without stating the benefits and compensations the employee could get in working with the organization.

In any organization, there has to be someone concerned with the welfare and performance of persons who are a part of the operation. When an individual or a team of individuals takes on this task of seeing to programs and setting policies that impact everyone associated with the company, they are engaged in the process of personnel management, sometimes referred to as human resources management.

www.wisegeek.com

This definition also lacks benefits for the employee for its only concerned in the performance of the employee with in the organization.

The Human Resources (HR) function provides significant support and advice to line management. The attraction, preservation and development of high caliber people are a source of competitive advantage for our business, and are the responsibility of HR.

www.management-hub.com

This definition states the significance of the HRM in the organization. It also focused in the quality service the employee could give in the organization.

Administrative discipline of hiring and developing employees so that they become more valuable to the organization. It includes (1) conducting job analyses, (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.

www.businessdictionary.com

This definition is much more complete than the others because it stated here what the employee could give in the organization and what the organization could give in the employee in return.

_________________
-=♥yhang♥=-

assignment # 8

2008-09-25T23:55:00.002-07:00

Our group decided to interview the Human Resource Manager of the PAG-IBIG Fund, Mrs. Laarni A. Lobo regarding with our assignment #8, which is “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.” At first she could not find any words to say as we surprise her with our assignment, because all she knew was we are there to have a counter sign of our HRIS proposal. But then as we rephrase the question she then pause for a while and think for an answer. Mrs. Lobo then emphasize that human resource is the “vital factor” of the company. She also added that the role of the HRM is to professionalize the employee for the quality service that they can offer to their clients.

After I heard her answer, I then realize that what she have said was true. In order to have a quality service, it should start with the employee.

angeL-deviL

2008-09-25T07:25:00.000-07:00

all my LIFE…

I’ve always wanted to have an ANGEL

who will LOVE and take good care of me…

but when I MET you…

that’s when I KNEW

even DEVILS know how

to love and CARE…

YOU’RE the only devil

I would like to have FOREVER!!!

_________________

-=♥yhang♥=-

speech

2008-09-18T05:32:00.000-07:00

Religion: What good does it do?

I can be good without being religious! That is a common sentiment when somebody is asked about religion matters. There are many honest, compassionate, and responsible who are not attracted to religion. For example, few Western Europeans are churchgoers, although most say that they believe in God. Even in Latin America, only 15 to 20 percent of Catholics go to church regularly. Like many others, they feel that religion is irrelevant to a better life. Possibly, though, you are also aware that decades ago,in your grandparents' day, most people were much more religious than we are today. Now, how did religion lose its widespread appeal? What good does it do?

These are just few questions that lingers every individual's mind who are uncertain about religion. For centuries, most people in Christendom believed that God requires obedience. They went to church to gain God's favor, either through rites conducted by a priest or through guidance provided by a preacher. Of course, many were aware of the hypocrisy in religion. The role of religion in war was well-known too. Some clergymen used religion as their abused conduct. For some reasons, others like about its tradition, music, mass, and they'd like to believed that religion can save them from the threat of eternal damnation in hell, which was really never found in the scriptures. Then several development changed of how people viewed the churches. The theory of evolution became popular as ever. This theory convinces that life originated by accident, without God. In addition, as technology advanced, the achievements in medicine, transportation, and communication gave people the impression that any problem can be solved by science. Some were convinced with these theories. These conclusion affects the believers from turning off with their religion because during the reign of evolution, most religions also failed in their followers to provide evidence that God is the source of life.

This was the big reason why religion lose its widespread appeal despite of its propagation. In response, many churches crossed and changed their message. Priests and preachers gave up teaching that God requires obedience. Instead , many taught that each individual must decide for himself for what is right and what is wrong. Trying to gain popularity back, some religious leaders even claimed that God accepts you no matter how we live and what we believed.

But what does really a religion do good in our way of living in society? According to Bible, a persuasive explanation was provided that religion used for evil ends. In an instance of Satan, whose behind the misuse and corruption of religion. Despite of being a rebellious angel, he still keeps himself into an angel of light. He uses religion that makes a pretense of being Christian, moral, and enlightening in order to make people live by his standards rather than God's. Also clergymen today use religion to elevate themselves with high-sounding titles and to obtain money from their flocks. Governments have also used religion to persuade citizens to sacrifice themselves in war. To have religion is to have worship. This so called true worship is good for everybody to where it gives us higher purpose in life even how many times we fail and get disappoint. It helps us to become better persons. As we practice worship, we slowly cultivate a personality that leads to a happier relationships with others. You learn from God and from His Son about acting honestly, speaking kindly, and living responsibly. However, the true basis of a true relationship and worship with God comes not only with what religion we have but also how we apply good deeds we learned in church like the perpetual faith in God's glory............

the reporting...

2008-09-08T10:01:00.000-07:00

Note: July 15 was the original date for our report but it was rescheduled to July 22 it's because Sir Gamboa was out for seminar again.

July 22, 2008

Our class had started at exactly 11am, so we woke up early to prepare ourselves for our report. We went to school with our knees shaking. Minutes before my turn to share I felt like I was going to faint. I was really praying then, if only time could save me and indeed it happened, I was saved by the bell. After our class it was then I realized that it’s much better if I do the reporting on that day it’s because I let my self prolonged my agony…what a wish…

July 24, 2008

Again, I woke up early to prepare myself for my report. The report went on smoothly. I finished sharing for not more than 15 minutes…woooooooh…piece of cake…I’m just sweating cold. Not again that I will not practice my report :(

Noted…

_________________

-=♥yhang♥=-

the first visit...

2008-09-03T09:23:00.000-07:00

What a cloudy day… I was supposed to be in my bed right now, sleeping and snoring, but my group mates woke me up because we need to go to school and look for Sir Gamboa, just to ask him to sign the letter for our adopted company. Unfortunately we did not saw him, they say he’s out for some seminar.

The things that will happen after the signing of our letter was the things I will supposedly be writing right now, but I guess we were less favored by chance that we were not able to fulfill our plans for today.

Since I am running out of things to say let me just turn back time and tell you the things that had happen before and after we decided which company we will be going to adopt.

We were looking for a company that is managed by at least 50 employees, approachable, and as much as possible walking distance from our school, in short we don’t want to spend lots of money, we’re poor.

First in our list is the PAG – IBIG Fund. Since it’s just located in J.P. laurel Ave., Bajada, Davao City at the 2^nd Floor Pryce Tower Condominium.

We wrote a letter for our company and with the same process we need the signature of our teacher, it’s not just him, but also the signature of our DEAN and OSS Director which I think is not necessary at all, but what can we do, it’s a rule.

After all the signing we immediately pass the letter to the company we will be going to adopt. When we arrived there, the guard guided us to the secretary of the head of the company. The secretary told us that the head of the company was out of town, which will come back after four days. Our group decided to wait…but…we also decided to look for another company since we have no assurance that they will approve our request.

And this is the tiresome experience ever. We walk from Magsaysay Park to Acacia just to ask the names of the head of the HRM of the companies in our list. Many things happened, like we're nearly stock in the elevator because of my "katangahan" and etc. After that we called the PAG-IBIG Fund again and found out that they approved our letter and they scheduled as for the interview next week (Wednesday), the thing is our report was scheduled on that day also.

What we did was we called the HRM Head itself and beg her to interview us earlier that day, lucky for us she agreed. We interviewed her eight days before our scheduled report. Well, enough for us to prepare. The interview went smoothly but the problem was we did not brought any recording materials to record the interview. Febe did the little take note but most of the time we just put all the things she said in our mind and recall it as much as we can...see...that's the easiest thing to do for the "pabaya" group like us...lesson learned...hmmmmf...

_________________

-=♥yhang♥=-

SONA

2008-08-25T07:53:00.001-07:00

STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS OF
PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO
DURING THE 2ND REGULAR SESSION OF THE 14TH CONGRESS OF
THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES,
28 July 2008

...isang bilyon para college scholarship o pautang sa 70,000 na estudyanteng maralita;

...dapat dagdagan ng GSIS at buksan muli ng SSS ang pautang sa pabahay.

...our P 350 million training partnership with the private sector should qualify 60,000 for call centers, medical transcription, animation and software development, which have a projected demand of one million workers generating $13 billion by 2010.

...to meet the challenges of tomorrow, we must become more self-reliant, self-sufficient and independent, relying on ourselves more than on the world.

These areas can improve our quality of life because of the benefits we can get to these projects. The first on the list can help the students who are in need money to study and these students can help the country in the near future. And the last on the list is what i like most, because this could be the answer to our problems today and the days to come. Think about it.

We are three branches but one government. We have our disagreements; we each have hopes, and ambitions that drive and divide us, be they personal, ethnic, religious and cultural. But we are one nation with one fate.
----------------
President Gloria Macapagal-ARROYO

_________________
-=♥yhang♥=-

"Forget About Me"

2008-08-21T06:09:00.000-07:00

"Forget About Me"

You Said It Wasn't
Gonna Be Like It Was Before
Then It Happened Again
Pushing Me Back Out The Door
Thought It Would Be Forreal This Time
Love Me Forget About The Signs
So Now What Do I Do
Now, That I Know That We're Through

Wish That I Could Move On
Can't Let Go, It's Too Strong
Just Like That And Then You're Gone
Is This How You Wanted It To Be
Everything You Had To Say
Sent The Tears Right Down My Face
Now I'm Trying To Escape
The Misery
Why Don't You Love Me
The Way I Loved You
It Feels So Crazy
Cause I Dunno What I Did To You
If You're Gonna Hurt Me
Then Do It Quickly
Cause I'm Tired Of Cryin
If You Don't Wanna Stick Around
Then, Baby, Forget About Me

Too Late, Sorry
I Didn't Even Have The Chance
You Said You Were Happy
Baby, I Don't Understand
Gave You Everything You Asked For
And Was Ready To Give You A Lot More
I Would've Given The World
Right In The Palm Of Your Hand

Wish That I Could Move On
Can't Let Go, It's Too Strong
Just Like That And Then You're Gone
Is This How You Wanted It To Be
Everything You Had To Say
Sent The Tears Right Down My Face
Now I'm Trying To Escape
The Misery
Why Don't You Love Me
The Way I Loved You
It Feels So Crazy
Cause I Dunno What I Did To You
If You're Gonna Hurt Me
Then Do It Quickly
Cause I'm Tired Of Cryin
If You Don't Wanna Stick Around
Then, Baby, Forget About Me

Boy, My Heart Was True
And That You Can't Deny
Don't Be A Fool
And Walk Away From All The Lies
It's Up To You
Cause Heaven Knows I've Tried
Tell Me You're Still In Love
Yeahhhh Ohh

Why Don't You Love Me
The Way I Loved You
It Feels So Crazy
Cause I Dunno What I Did To You
If You're Gonna Hurt Me
Then Do It Quickly
Cause I'm Tired Of Cryin
If You Don't Wanna Stick Around
Then, Baby, Forget About Me
Forget About Me...

forgett about me..

_________________

-=♥yhang♥=-

2008-07-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

Yes its true that "Human beings are the most important, potent and critical, resource of any organization” since human beings are the very important for the company to succeed and because they all have the knowledge to put the company down, “and yet the least understood and the worst managed of its resources" because human beings are complex.

_________________

-=♥yhang♥=-

2008-07-16T08:03:00.000-07:00

Why do you think HRM is included in the BSCS/BSIT curriculum?

I think HRM or Human Resource Management is included in the BSIT/BSCS curriculum for us to be fully aware of our responsibilities and duties as we will become part of the HRM in the company we will work for.

_________________
-=♥yhang♥=-

company

2008-06-30T07:19:00.000-07:00

Teleperformance EDSA IT Center 2 in Mandaluyong City has downsized its work force and is transferring 300 employees to the other call center sites in the country.

The reason of this is the company was doing "staff adjustments" after they found out that its technical support accounts reported less calls than previously estimated, the other reason is that a client ditched the local unit of the Utah-based firm.

Teleperformance Philippines Managing Director David Rizzo guaranteed that Teleperformance EDSA employees would keep their jobs. People who are laid off are those who violated company policies and have performance issue.

The 200 employees will be transferred to the new 7,000-square-meter site in Sucat Road, Paranaque City and the remaining 100 agents have three other locations to choose from.

_________________
-=♥yhang♥=-

Online Jobs

2008-06-21T04:42:00.000-07:00

Call Center Agent
manage the incoming product support or information inquiries from consumers. They work in open workspace with work stations like computers, headset, telephones etc.
http://www.google.com/

Call Center Agent is one of the in demand jobs now a days since Call Centers are sprouting everywhere but this job requires good English grammar and must not have a speech defect.

Home-based Online English Teacher
teaches English online but must be good in English and doesn’t have speech defect. They usually work in the house.
http://ph.jobstreet.com/

Home-based Online English Teacher is what most of the Korean is looking for since they want to developed there grammar. Easy way to make money, as long as you’re good in English grammar.

Researcher / Blogger
home of the journalists in the virtual world. This maintained at least one blog in where they can post there article and research.
http://www.mixph.com/2007/12/more-online-content-writer-and-network-blogger-jobs-needed.html

Researcher / Blogger is good for the journalist because this is where they can express there selves and they can gain money just buy sharing there talents. No hustle, all they need to do is post their articles in the web. They can also make their blogs as there daily diary.

Web Designer
the one who conceptualizes, plans, designs, and executes of electronic media content delivery.
http://www.tsoknat.com/

Web Designing is one of the best ways to gain money, but it requires skills in computer.

Online Tutorial
take the form of a screen recording, a written document (either online or downloadable), or an audio file, where a person will give step by step instructions on how to do something.
http://www.e-tutor.com/tutor.php?gclid=CM_b3uOnhZQCFQ5aegodrz3yVg

Online Tutorial is also good especially for the children because it levels the playing field of the children and they can be engaged in technology since it is important to students' education and motivation to learn and academic performance improves.

With the said online jobs stated above, Web Designing is what I like most since it is in line in my course, but if my skills wont be enough in that said job I prefer Call Center Agent. I can say being an IT student is a plus factor for a call center agent because it is not all about selling products it has something to do with my course I am taking now.

_________________
-=♥yhang♥=-

I wanna be...

2008-06-19T02:10:00.000-07:00

I wanna be a Java Developer that design and implement the interactive web-based services that includes marketing sites, commerce storefronts, registration and account management applications, player and auction services and will be heavily involved in creating and maintaining Java code.

Skills:
BS degree in Information Technology
Knows Java ProgrammingExperience with Java Application Server and web UI development
Experience developing applications on Unix/Linux platformsDynamic,
high-load web development experience Programming experience with C/C++

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/

_________________
-=♥yhang♥=-

comment to teacher...

2008-06-16T04:01:00.000-07:00

Gud day sir, gud day fellas,
I'm Leah Ana F. Saavedra BSIT-III,
I expect this subject to be fun and challenging...
and to our teacher, when i met him he was everything i expected... (superlative!!!)

be safe always!!!

_________________
-=♥yhang♥=-