Musikero

SAD - Assignment #4

2010-09-02T21:19:00.002-07:00

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

The pre registration form that I have seen since I first enrolled in this university. The pre registration form contains the name of the student, the home address, contact number, course, the subject code, subject description, schedule, id number, gender and other related information. When I first encountered or used the pre registration form I was a bit confused with its format or should I say interface. I honestly tell you that it is a bit confusing when you happen to use it the first time. I happened to have mistakenly written information in the pre registration form. However, on the second time I have already got used to what to put in the fields.

Going on to the side of the enrolment system interface, it contains fields the same as what could be found in the pre registration form. However, the fields that could be found in the system interface are not the same as what could be found in the pre registration form. To put it simply, the interface of the pre registration form is not the same as the interface of the enrolment system. I mean it is completely different. I have a sample or a screen shot of the enrolment system interface below however I do not have a sample of the pre registration form but I think any student of the University of Southeastern Philippines is completely aware of what could be found in the pre registration form.

As for me, there is an issue of inconsistency of the interfaces used in both the pre registration form and the enrolment system interface. If the pre registration form serves as the input form for or to the enrolment system then the format of the pre registration form should be a mirror image of the system interface so as to minimize or eliminate confusion to the user of the system. Why did I point out confusion? It is because that sometimes problems occur during the registration of the student and the encoding of the subjects. The problem could either be wrong information input, wrong subject code input, missing subject, wrong gender input, typo error and the like. These errors could be thought of as minor problems but honestly it is a major problem especially to the part of the student. It is because the student has to go through the encoding again, considering that he or she should be in line again or that he or she should go through adding and dropping of subjects also not to mention the possibility that the information could not be edited right away because there are no personnel around to edit the data.

I have personally encountered having to have been encoded and then found out that the subjects in my COR (certificate of registration) are not complete. I returned to the personnel in charge at that time but unfortunately the system is locked and the personnel in charge cannot edit the data at the time. Obviously I had to go through the process of adding and dropping. I went to the cashier to pay the adding fee and then went to the registrar to finalize the adding of the subject only to find out that the subject, Arts, I enrolled is not purely the essence of art. It was all merely history of the artists and no art at all. I was expecting drawing and sadly there was none.

This problems stress the importance that the interfaces of both the pre registration form and the enrolment system interface should be consistent. This way, the users of the system can minimize problems such as those stated above. I am not an expert on how interfaces should be done but I think the interface of the enrolment system is not well made. I mean the format is not conducive for the eyes to easily see and trace information. They could have placed each data in rows. That way it can be easily seen. I am not stressing that is not a good interface. I am suggesting that it is not conducive for the eyes. I do not know what programming language or application was used to develop the enrolment system but basing from its interface I first thought that it is developed using foxpro. I think that the icons used in interface are too big although it is good because it does not add up to factor of confusion because the icons suggest or implies its function. Anyway it is just a suggestion.

Going back to the fields that are present in the system interface and the pre registration form, I have seen that there are fields like religion, desired career, parents, etc. If these fields are not present in the pre registration form then how can the users get the information from the students to be able to input it in the system? What is its use in the system if these fields are empty? Then again this implies that there should be a change in the interface.

Consistency or coherence, from the definition in Encarta, means reasonable or logical harmony between parts. If there is harmony between parts then there is no problem between them. Consistency has been one of the issues being tackled upon in our system analysis and design subject especially in our system projects. It has been always stressed that consistency in the design of the system and the design of the interfaces should be consistent. Consistent in a way that what could be seen in one of the sub system should reflect what could be seen in the other sub systems. I there is no consistency then what is the point of integrating the systems? The sub systems must be consistent so that they would look and act as one.

Going back to the discussion of the interfaces of the pre registration form and the enrolment system, the pre registration form serves as the input to the enrolment system then it suggests that the two entities are interrelated. Thus, it suggests that the entities are integrated. Then and then what is the use of integration if there is no consistency?

SAD - Assignment #3

2010-09-02T21:19:00.001-07:00

SAD - Assignment #2

2010-07-22T05:37:00.000-07:00

Assignment #2

Relative to the answer that I have posted in my assignment one in system analysis and design, my take on the design of the current enrollment system of the University of Southeastern Philippines is that, of course it was thought of before being materialized. However, as what we have been discussing since management information system one subject is that the enrollment system which was shifted from outsource to in house has been hastened upon without adequate study. By saying adequate we mean months or even years of study regarding the enrollment system of the university. The design of the enrollment system started from the paying of fees, advising of subjects, encoding of subjects, paying of fees at the cashier and then ending at the registrar’s office. At first we said why not make it start at the advising of the subjects and then encoding it. Then after the encoding it will just continue its progress until the end of the enrollment process. However I also thought that although it was a good idea it was not feasible at the time. After years of development I am relieved that the process has been better.

SAD2 Assingment #1

2010-07-08T03:01:00.000-07:00

Assignment #1

Enrollment is one the most important process or procedure that one or a student has to undergo after passing the entrance exam of a certain school. I for one have experienced the most patience testing procedure and that’s the enrollment procedure in the University of Southeastern Philippines. Compared to what I have experienced in high school, the enrollment in this university is way too tiresome. When I first enrolled in this university the first thing that I observed is that the school lack solid information regarding the enrolment procedure. Yes the school provides diagrams and or tarps where they show the flow of the enrolment but I tell those things that they post on the walls of the school are somewhat ambiguous. Ambiguous in a way that the diagrams are not clearly illustrated. I mean, you cannot understand it by just simply looking at it. I do not have a sample of the diagram that was used during my first to second year in this university however I do know that many other students would attest that I am telling the right thing. I also observed that the procedure in the diagram was not really strictly followed or implied.

Another thing that I have observed is that the people involved in the procedure do not follow the schedule intended for the enrollment. People meaning the ones administering the enrollment and of course the ones that are enrolling. This of course cause delays on the enrollment procedure. However when I was already in my third year in the university changes to the enrollment system has been made. I mean it has improved compared to what it used to be. The current enrollment procedures are as follows based on my experience:

1. Payment of fees (Headlight, OCSC, Local Council, etc.)

2. Advising (Signing of the pre registration form)

3. Encoding

4. Cashier’s Office (Payment to the cashier for non scholars / Submission of scholarship card to the student records)

5. Registrar’s Office (official enrollment)

6. Library (validation of library card)

These steps however are not the only steps that are being followed by the first year students. There are additional steps like enrolling in the NSTP offices (CTWS/ROTC). However changes are made to the enrollment system and it has improved it does still have loopholes or shall I say factors that are not really part of the system that cause problems.

1. Ambiguous Diagrams

The diagrams are not properly made and that I am surprised to know that it was made from someone in the institute of computing. Were supposed to be good at this and were supposed to give solutions not make one. I observed that the diagram somewhat disorganized or messy. Also the lines are not properly connected or pointed to the next procedure which greatly affects the procedure. It is somehow ok for those who have undergone the enrolment but we should think about the first timers. They will be the one who will suffer because of that diagram.

To aid this, there must be a properly made diagram or process flow of the enrollment. The characters involved in the procedure must also be properly made (not to mention that I heard that the boy character in the diagram becomes or transforms into a tall person from being small on the end part of the procedure). The lines should also be taken care of. Point the lines on the right direction and make it clear.

2. Limited & Idle Windows

This is one of the factors that cause delays in the enrollment process. Literally the lines on the cashier and registrar’s office are so long like WOWOWEE and there are only two windows for the cashier. And sometimes only one window is operational so obviously there would be much traffic. This case is also the same in the registrar’s office although they have many operating windows however the delays or problems that occur in this office is different which will be tackled on item number three (3).

3. Different Implementation of Rules.

The offices have different implementation of the rules which leaves the students in the middle who take most of the headache. Why? Because they need to go back from this office because this office said things about this something and it turns out that this office says that this office is doing wrong and that this something is right so you better get back to that office and this and that. It is so frustrating to be passed along like a ball and no doing any progress at all. These offices should make a general rule or set of rules regarding the issues in the enrollment especially the requirements. One recent example is the receipt for the local council of the institute of computing. One my classmates complained that the personnel in the registrar’s office did not accept her documents because she lacked the ICLC receipt where in fact that we do not have ICLC fee because we did not have new set of officers. It made her pissed off because our other classmates have already enrolled and that they weren’t asked about the receipt. Clearly there was a misunderstanding in the situation. It is ok if the personnel involved is willing to listen to the explanation but what if the personnel is one old person who has attitude problems and does not listen to your explanation then you will really be pissed off. In this case there was no proper dissemination of information. I know that the personnel were just following standard operating procedure but the ones that are taking the heat are the ones enrolling. They should realize that there is an additional fee if we get to enroll late.

4. First Come First Serve Policy & Its Implementation

It do not really know if everyone has experienced this but in my case I have seen that the first come first serve policy is not properly implemented. One thing is in the encoding procedure. Sometimes you submit your pre registration form early enough but instead those who passed it late are the ones who get to be encoded first. It’s very frustrating, really. Another thing is about the lines. Some people who think that they are doing a kind thing by letting their classmates or schoolmates slip in line in order not to get caught in the long line but they are actually doing it wrong. They are not thinking fair. Well you can’t blame those people who are just trying to be kind. This issue really should be taken care of by the security guards. This thing is not really involved in the system but it is involved in the procedure.

So far these are the things that I have noticed. These things are not necessarily part of the system itself but it is part of the procedure. These things are the factors that should be looked upon and given solution to further improve the system. There are also ideas that I want to share. I don’t really think that this is easy to do but what the hell. The thing that I was thinking about is the idea that the payments of the tuition fees are to be automated. My idea is that the students are able to enroll without actually being there. The procedure is to be automated starting from the advising of subjects. Naturally the students still need to comply with the requirements but after that it is automated. Automated in the sense that the advising procedure will be based on the grade reports of the teachers and then so on and so forth. Even the payment is to be automated. All the student needs to do is to deposit money in a certain bank and then the payment is made from there. Basically that is my idea and I know that I might have been thought up by other people as well.

MIS 2 - Assignment #3

2010-04-06T19:00:00.000-07:00

Assignment #3 (December 6, 2009)

What are the two most frequently experienced causes of frustration of IS professionals and users while working on an IS plan? (3000)

The company or organization that me and my group mates in Management Information System 2 subject was the Davao Light and Power Corporation, Bajada, Davao City. There we were able to meet students from the Institute of Computing who were graduate students and some of them were undergraduates. However the main person who was our interviewee in the company was their head of the Information Technology Information Systems department. I honestly forgot the name of our interviewee, I do not know why but I just forgot his name but if happen to see his face I can recognize him, but I was able to remember the things the he told us that day. We were not actually just there to interview about the frustrations of Information Systems professionals and users while working on the Information Systems plan. We were also there for other interview reasons. Obviously all of it was for academic purpose.

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

To the individual experiencing frustration, the emotion is usually attributed to external factors which are beyond their control. Although mild frustration due to internal factors (e.g. laziness, lack of effort) is often a positive force (inspiring motivation), it is more often than not a perceived uncontrolled problem that instigates more severe, and perhaps pathological, frustration. An individual suffering from pathological frustration will often feel powerless to change the situation they are in, leading to frustration and, if left uncontrolled, further anger.

And next is to define what an information system is. Information systems are the software and hardware systems that support data-intensive applications. The journal Information Systems publishes articles concerning the design and implementation of languages, data models, process models, algorithms, software and hardware for information systems.

Subject areas include data management issues as presented in the principal international database conferences (e.g. ACM SIGMOD, ACM PODS, VLDB, ICDE and ICDT/EDBT) as well as data-related issues from the fields of data mining, information retrieval, internet and cloud data management, web semantics, visual and audio information systems, scientific computing, and organizational behavior. Implementation papers having to do with massively parallel data management, fault tolerance in practice, and special purpose hardware for data-intensive systems are also welcome.

All papers should motivate the problems they address with compelling examples from real or potential applications. Systems papers must be serious about experimentation either on real systems or simulations based on traces from real systems. Papers from industrial organizations are welcome. Theoretical papers should have a clear motivation from applications. They should either break significant new ground or unify and extend existing algorithms. Such papers should clearly state which ideas have potentially wide applicability. In addition to publishing submitted articles, the Editors-in-Chief will invite retrospective articles that describe significant projects by the principal architects of those projects. Authors of such articles should write in the first person, tracing the social as well as technical history of their projects, describing the evolution of ideas, mistakes made, and reality tests. Technical results should be explained in a uniform notation with the emphasis on clarity and on ideas that may have applications outside of the environment of that research. Particularly complex details may be summarized with references to previously published papers.

During our interview we asked our interviewee about the cause of frustrations that their department usually encounter when planning for an information system. The first cause of frustration the he stated to us in the lack of support from the company. He said that there are many big companies that are flourishing and growing but not all of them are completely knowledgeable and or aware of the current trends of information system. No matter how good the information technology or the information systems department is but as long as the company or the organization does not support the views and beliefs of the department. If this is so then the department would become useless. Our interviewee said that in their company they encounter less support and yet a lot of resistance especially from their old workers, especially the workers who happen to be working in the company for many years. Now their group has been developing solutions to the problems of the company so they have been developing solutions to ease, hasten and optimize their business flows but not all of these developed systems are accepted because there is what they call the legacy systems. Newly developed systems, even a hundred percent effective, are not completely accepted because the people who get to use or interact with the system are not at ease towards the new system because they have already adapted to the so called legacy system or what I call traditional system. Resistance is the reason why some people, especially the old ones (I am not completely criticizing old people inside companies however I am just basing my inferences on observations and facts), neglect or reject new changes in their environment or work flows and it poses a big threat to the department who are developing new systems and doing their best to solve problems inside a company.

What is resistance? Resistance or Resistance to change is the action taken by individuals and groups when they perceive that a change that is occurring as a threat to them. Key words here are 'perceive' and 'threat'. The threat need not be real or large for resistance to occur. In its usual description it refers to change within organizations, although it also is found elsewhere in other forms. Resistance is the equivalent of objections in sales and disagreement in general discussions. Resistance may take many forms, including active or passive, overt or covert, individual or organized, aggressive or timid. As a personal view I do not want to criticize old people in my post or view but it is just an observation. Old people tend to neglect new things and continue to use what they have been doing in a very long time or traditional way because they think that they could not learn like young people do. Some people think that they could not learn it and they think that it would just cost them their time and money. Or some just think it would be troublesome. I find this kind of attitude troublesome because it degrades the attitude of the Filipino people. We are supposed the working class. We were always the ones who are hard working, willing to change for the better even if it means adapting to things that are outside of their comfort zone. One scenario in our history that supports this is the time when we Filipinos were invaded and colonized by two different cultures.

One other reason why people tend to neglect new technology is because of their lack of confidence and or confidence for the new technologies. They do not believe the way as other people believe in technology. One other reason that I can think of is that when their company or organization adapts a certain technology, an information system for example, they become threatened or become afraid that they might be replaced by these new technology and or might lose their job. I also found top ten reasons why people resist to change and these are the following:

1. THE RISK OF CHANGE IS SEEN AS GREATER THAN THE RISK OF STANDING STILL

Making a change requires a kind of leap of faith: you decide to move in the direction of the unknown on the promise that something will be better for you. But you have no proof. Taking that leap of faith is risky, and people will only take active steps toward the unknown if they genuinely believe – and perhaps more importantly, feel – that the risks of standing still are greater than those of moving forward in a new direction. Making a change is all about managing risk. If you are making the case for change, be sure to set out in stark, truthful terms why you believe the risk situation favors change. Use numbers whenever you can, because we in the West pay attention to numbers. At the very least, they get our attention, and then when the rational mind is engaged, the emotional mind (which is typically most decisive) can begin to grapple with the prospect of change. But if you only sell your idea of change based on idealistic, unseen promises of reward, you won’t be nearly as effective in moving people to action. The power of the human fight-or-flight response can be activated to fight for change, but that begins with the perception of risk.

2. PEOPLE FEEL CONNECTED TO OTHER PEOPLE WHO ARE IDENTIFIED WITH THE OLD WAY

We are a social species. We become and like to remains connected to those we know, those who have taught us, those with whom we are familiar – even at times to our own detriment. Loyalty certainly helped our ancestors hunt antelope and defend against the aggressions of hostile tribes, and so we are hard wired, I believe, to form emotional bonds of loyalty, generally speaking. If you ask people in an organization to do things in a new way, as rational as that new way may seem to you, you will be setting yourself up against all that hard wiring, all those emotional connections to those who taught your audience the old way - and that’s not trivial. At the very least, as you craft your change message, you should make statements that honor the work and contributions of those who brought such success to the organization in the past, because on a very human but seldom articulated level, your audience will feel asked to betray their former mentors (whether those people remain in the organization or not). A little good diplomacy at the outset can stave off a lot of resistance.

3. PEOPLE HAVE NO ROLE MODELS FOR THE NEW ACTIVITY

Never underestimate the power of observational learning. If you see yourself as a change agent, you probably are something of a dreamer, someone who uses the imagination to create new possibilities that do not currently exist. Well, most people don’t operate that way. It’s great to be a visionary, but communicating a vision is not enough. Get some people on board with your idea, so that you or they can demonstrate how the new way can work. Operationally, this can mean setting up effective pilot programs that model a change and work out the kinks before taking your innovation “on the road.” For most people, seeing is believing. Less rhetoric and more demonstration can go a long way toward overcoming resistance, changing people’s objections from the “It can’t be done!” variety to the “How can we get it done?” category.

4. PEOPLE FEAR THEY LACK THE COMPETENCE TO CHANGE

This is a fear people will seldom admit. But sometimes, change in organizations necessitates changes in skills, and some people will feel that they won’t be able to make the transition very well. They don’t think they, as individuals, can do it. The hard part is that some of them may be right. But in many cases, their fears will be unfounded, and that’s why part of moving people toward change requires you to be an effective motivator. Even more, a successful change campaign includes effective new training programs, typically staged from the broad to the specific. By this I mean that initial events should be town-hall type information events, presenting the rationale and plan for change, specifying the next steps, outlining future communications channels for questions, etc., and specifying how people will learn the specifics of what will be required of them, from whom, and when. Then, training programs must be implemented and evaluated over time. In this way, you can minimize the initial fear of a lack of personal competence for change by showing how people will be brought to competence throughout the change process. Then you have to deliver.

5. PEOPLE FEEL OVERLOADED AND OVERWHELMED

Fatigue can really kill a change effort, for an individual or for an organization. If, for example, you believe you should quit smoking, but you’ve got ten projects going and four kids to keep up with, it can be easy to put off your personal health improvement project (until your first heart attack or cancer scare, when suddenly the risks of standing still seem greater than the risks of change!). When you’re introducing a change effort, be aware of fatigue as a factor in keeping people from moving forward, even if they are telling you they believe in the wisdom of your idea. If an organization has been through a lot of upheaval, people may resist change just because they are tired and overwhelmed, perhaps at precisely the time when more radical change is most needed! That’s when you need to do two things: re-emphasize the risk scenario that forms the rationale for change (as in my cancer scare example), and also be very generous and continuously attentive with praise, and with understanding for people’s complaints, throughout the change process. When you reemphasize the risk scenario, you’re activating people’s fears, the basic fight-or-flight response we all possess. But that’s not enough, and fear can produce its own fatigue. You’ve got to motivate and praise accomplishments as well, and be patient enough to let people vent (without getting too caught up in attending to unproductive negativity).

6. PEOPLE HAVE A HEALTHY SKEPTICISM AND WANT TO BE SURE NEW IDEAS ARE SOUND

It’s important to remember that few worthwhile changes are conceived in their final, best form at the outset. Healthy skeptics perform an important social function: to vet the change idea or process so that it can be improved upon along the road to becoming reality. So listen to your skeptics, and pay attention, because some percentage of what they have to say will prompt genuine improvements to your change idea (even if some of the criticism you will hear will be based more on fear and anger than substance).

7. PEOPLE FEAR HIDDEN AGENDAS AMONG WOULD-BE REFORMERS

Let’s face it; reformers can be a motley lot. Not all are to be trusted. Perhaps even more frightening, some of the worst atrocities modern history has known were begun by earnest people who really believed they knew what was best for everyone else. Reformers, as a group, share a blemished past . . . And so, you can hardly blame those you might seek to move toward change for mistrusting your motives, or for thinking you have another agenda to follow shortly. If you seek to promote change in an organization, not only can you expect to encounter resentment for upsetting the established order and for thinking you know better than everyone else, but you may also be suspected of wanted to increase your own power, or even eliminate potential opposition through later stages of change.

I saw this in a recent change management project for which I consulted, when management faced a lingering and inextinguishable suspicion in some quarters that the whole affair was a prelude to far-reaching layoffs. It was not the case, but no amount of reason or reassurance sufficed to quell the fears of some people. What’s the solution? Well, you’d better be interested in change for the right reasons, and not for personal or factional advantage, if you want to minimize and overcome resistance. And you’d better be as open with information and communication as you possibly can be, without reacting unduly to accusations and provocations, in order to show your good faith, and your genuine interest in the greater good of the organization. And if your change project will imply reductions in workforce, then be open about that and create an orderly process for outplacement and in-house retraining. Avoid the drip-drip-drip of bad news coming out in stages, or through indirect communication or rumor. Get as much information out there as fast as you can and create a process to allow everyone to move on and stay focused on the change effort.

8. PEOPLE FEEL THE PROPOSED CHANGE THREATENS THEIR NOTIONS OF THEMSELVES

Sometimes change on the job gets right to a person’s sense of identity. When a factory worker begins to do less with her hands and more with the monitoring of automated instruments, she may lose her sense of herself as a craftsperson, and may genuinely feel that the very things that attracted her to the work in the first place have been lost. I saw this among many medical people and psychologists during my graduate training, as the structures of medical reimbursement in this country changed in favor of the insurance companies, HMO’s and managed care organizations. Medical professionals felt they had less say in the treatment of their patients, and felt answerable to less well trained people in the insurance companies to approve treatments the doctors felt were necessary. And so, the doctors felt they had lost control of their profession, and lost the ability to do what they thought best for patients.

My point is not to take sides in that argument, but to point out how change can get right to a person’s sense of identity, the sense of self as a professional. As a result, people may feel that the intrinsic rewards that brought them to a particular line of work will be lost with the change. And in some cases, they may be absolutely right. The only answer is to help people see and understand the new rewards that may come with a new work process, or to see how their own underlying sense of mission and values can still be realized under the new way of operating. When resistance springs from these identity-related roots, it is deep and powerful, and to minimize its force, change leaders must be able to understand it and then address it, acknowledging that change does have costs, but also, (hopefully) larger benefits.

9. PEOPLE ANTICIPATE A LOSS OF STATUS OR QUALITY OF LIFE

Real change reshuffles the deck a bit. Reshuffling the deck can bring winners . . . and losers. Some people, most likely, will gain in status, job security, quality of life, etc. with the proposed change, and some will likely lose a bit. Change does not have to be a zero sum game, and change can (and should) bring more advantage to more people than disadvantage. But we all live in the real world, and let’s face it – if there were no obstacles (read: people and their interests) aligned against change, then special efforts to promote change would be unnecessary.

Some people will, in part, be aligned against change because they will clearly, and in some cases correctly, view the change as being contrary to their interests. There are various strategies for minimizing this, and for dealing with steadfast obstacles to change in the form of people and their interests, but the short answer for dealing with this problem is to do what you can to present the inevitability of the change given the risk landscape, and offer to help people to adjust. Having said that, I’ve never seen a real organizational change effort that did not result in some people choosing to leave the organization, and sometimes that’s best for all concerned. When the organization changes, it won’t be to everyone’s liking, and in that case, it’s best for everyone to be adult about it and move on.

10. PEOPLE GENUINELY BELIEVE THAT THE PROPOSED CHANGE IS A BAD IDEA

I’ll never forget what a supervisor of mine said to be, during the year after I had graduated from college, secure as I was in the knowledge of my well earned, pedigreed wisdom at age twenty-two. We were in a meeting, and I made the comment, in response to some piece of information, “Oh, I didn’t know that!” Ricky, my boss, looked at me sideways, and commented dryly, “Things you don’t know . . . fill libraries.” The truth is, sometimes someone’s (even – gasp! – my) idea of change is just not a good idea. Sometimes people are not being recalcitrant, or afraid, or muddle-headed, or nasty, or foolish when they resist. They just see that we’re wrong. And even if we’re not all wrong, but only half wrong, or even if we’re right, it’s important not to ignore when people have genuine, rational reservations or objections.

Not all resistance is about emotion, in spite of this list I’ve assembled here. To win people’s commitment for change, you must engage them on both a rational level and an emotional level. I’ve emphasized the emotional side of the equation for this list because I find, in my experience, that this is the area would-be change agents understand least well. But I’m also mindful that a failure to listen to and respond to people’s rational objections and beliefs is ultimately disrespectful to them, and to assume arrogantly that we innovative, change agent types really do know best. A word to the wise: we’re just as fallible as anyone. The reasons stated above the individual sources of resistance. However there is also what we call organizational resistance.

Factor built in the organizational system also lead to resistance to change. It has been observed that organizations are conservative and are therefore slow to change. 1. Inertia of a structure: A number of built-in mechanisms provide stability to organizations. Every organization has got its own systems, processes, policies, and procedures, which ought to be followed for uniformity and formalization of the process. Consequently any change in the structural aspects has cascading effect on other related systems and processes. This creates a hurdle in introducing organizational change. In organizations where structural changes are introduced, it takes long for people to accept and assimilate the structural change. 2. Threat to power dynamics: Structural change with ensuing changes in decision-making pattern can destabilize power relationships established over a period of time. Changes in decision-making process from centralize decision making process to participative or democratic decision-making process form centralized decision-making can threaten managers affected by it. 3. Group pressure: Group norms evolved by an organization over the years become a bottleneck in bringing about change. It is common observation that a single member of a group accepts change suggested by management willingly. However, his group affiliation with a union does not allow him to do so. Therefore, he is likely to resists change. 4. Blinkered view of change: Any organization consists of four elements namely task, structure, technology, and people. Focus on any one of the elements of the organization will bring about corresponding change in other elements as well. Therefore, change cannot have lopsided and limited perspective.

Resistance inside a company or an organization is inevitable. Companies do not seldom encounter this because there is resistance everywhere. Now if the company does not find solutions in countering this resistance the company or the organization will never prosper or grow according the views, vision and the mission of the company. A company can never stay as it is. Change is constant and that if you do not ride with the flow you will be left behind.

MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES TO OVER COME THE RESISTANCE:

1. Counseling: counseling has been found to be very effective in reducing individual resistance. Individual resistance occurs because of anxieties and fears and by letting people talk through their problems and anxieties can help them come to terms with change. This techniques is used on one-to-one and also in formal communication system with the whole team.

2. Force-field analysis : this technique provides an assessment of any change situation and presents a balance between the driving forces and the resisting forces. The participants are advised by the change agent to identify these forces. While identifying the restraining forces the group develops insight about ways of handling them. In a number of organizations this technique is used effectively to create a shared change processes for thinking through specific changes.

3. Commitment Charting : in any change there will be people who gain and others who lose. Therefore, in order to get the commitment of the people who are likely to loose, it is important to handle them with care, as they will be sensitive to any action. For a change to succeed it is important to have a critical mass and also to minimize the pain it causes to the affected. In order to do that a chart is prepared listing the names of key players and their commitment level to the change. The chart indicates the status of the people who have commitment at present and whose commitment needs to be ensured for change to be successful. Also the people who have no commitment need to be focused for gaining commitment.

In this regard our organization follows the ways as suggested by Watson (1969) to reduce the resistance. These relate to ownership of change, nature of change and the process of changing.

Ownership: resistance is likely to be low if the change is perceived as being the need of and suggested (sense of belongingness ) by those affected by it. And when it has the top management support. Nature of Change : Resistance is reduced by joint and agreed diagnosis of the problems and burdens, conforming to the core values of the group, offering new and interesting experience to the group, and does not threaten autonomy and security.

Change process : Resistance is reduced by joint and agreed diagnosis of the problem, consensus on the board design of change, listening to “objections’(and learning from them), periodical review and feedback, development of high interpersonal trust and cohesive teams and openness to revision.

I can also think of another reason why people tend to resist changing and this other reason is the attitude of skepticism. Skepticism is the Western philosophical tradition that maintains that human beings can never arrive at any kind of certain knowledge. Originating in Greece in the middle of the fourth century BC, skepticism and its derivatives are based on the following principles: There is no such thing as certainty in human knowledge and all human knowledge is only probably true, that is, true most of the time, or not true. Skeptics or some other people call unbelievers are those people who lack faith in some things, in this case the lack of faith to new technology. Most skeptics think that these new technologies are nothing compared to the traditional ways. However I think it is the other way around. These new technologies are derived from the traditional processes and if people tell that the new technology is irrelevant or not reliable then why should the traditional systems be any different? I mean, technologies were derived from these traditional systems. They were made to enhance the traditional systems, not make them even more useless.

Other factors include communication gap. What is communication? Communication is the exchange of information between individuals, for example, by means of speaking, writing, or using a common system of signs or behavior. Communication is essential especially in the planning process. No proper communication within the company especially the persons in charge of the planning will likely end up in a bad plan. Part of an Information Planning is the communication; it is often define as a process of transferring information from one entity to another. Communication processes are sign-mediated interactions between at least two agents which share a repertoire of signs and semiotic rules. Communication is commonly defined as "the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs". All forms of communication require a sender, a message, and a receiver. Communication requires that all parties have an area of communicative commonality. Now let’s define Communication gap; it is define as a state that occurs when what is being said is not been communicated to the addressee properly and completely. There can be many causes of communication gap depending on where it exists. Actually Communication gap is the biggest hurdle in achieving the organizational goal and does not help at all in achievement of organizational goal. Communication gap in an organization means that the goals and objectives that are set by the top management are either not communicated to the employees of the organization at all levels or if communicated they are not been understood properly by the employees. This can be because of improper communication channels, unrealistic goals, inappropriate language etc.

We already discussed what resistance is an the other causes of frustrations in the information systems plan process. So far the two causes stated by our interviewee. The two causes are lack of support and the resistance that the workers of the company exert towards technology. These two cause frustrations. I read about frustration and I also happened to read about how to deal on frustrations. So how do we deal with frustrations? Well, perhaps the first and most immediate thing I do is to stop and take my mind off the things that frustrate me. I conserve whatever energy is left in me and use it to recharge myself. I do what my favorite poem tells me, “Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.” I shut down everything temporarily and go inside my sanctuary – armed with music and my favorite comfort foods; I drive around the city without a destination. Yes, this routine has been very therapeutic for me for the past years. I would spend a couple of hours without worries inside my car and let all my troubles settle at the back of my mind. Other than driving, I’ve also managed to come up with other things to do whenever I’m feeling depressed and frustrated. Some of which are spending time and talking with friends, writing my frustrations down and then burning the paper (I know, how dramatic) and sometimes, I simply jog inside our village. I guess the key here is to release the frustrations in a non-aggressive way. Of course, your problems won’t get solved by simply doing that. Chances are, it will still be in the same state when you come back from taking a break. However, what I hope to be different this time is my enthusiasm to tackle the difficulties once again. Moreover, with revitalized energy, I am now more capable to think and act towards succeeding this time. Upon my return, I take stock of everything at hand and systematically analyze the situation by asking myself such questions: Furthermore, I always keep in mind that frustration may lead to aggression and procrastination. Remembering so helps me act consciously without negativity and delay. When your goals seems to be so near yet so far, take positivity from the small accomplishments you’ve already attained and learn to also reward your efforts, not just your results. In the end, when you finally achieve, you’ll find yourself stronger in character and more ready to face greater challenges. Dealing with your finances can be frustrating at times, especially when you’ve been working so hard to save and invest and then a financial emergency would come and ruin your plans. As a blogger, I’ve also become familiar with common frustrations in having a website such as spending long hours optimizing for income and traffic only to get less than expected results. How about in your case? What has been your frustration lately and how are you dealing with it? Kindly share them below and continue the conversation

We are all likely to encounter frustration while pursuing our goals. But how do you usually deal with it? Do you vent your frustration through aggression in the form of physical or verbal abuse? Or do you walk on the path of persistence by working through each obstacle? The first sign of trouble usually results in people giving up. So what can you do to smooth the journey of perseverance and attaining eventual reward?

1. Desire. From the beginning, if you wish strongly for something, you will likely sacrifice time, money and effort to achieve it. Those who are intent on satisfying their fondest desire are often the ones who have the strongest motivation and desire to do so. On the same note, if your heart is not into what you do, it will translate into equivalent non-action through mind and body.

2. Self-confidence. Naturally, the more confident you are of your abilities, the more willing you would be to continue working through sticking points. But confidence can be a fragile state of mind. Difficult to build, easily shattered. A good way is to break your goals into smaller and achievable targets. Each positive result will contribute to a greater realization that you are heading in the right direction. Note that self-realizing prophecies cannot be more apparent in these situations - the more negativity you allow yourself to be in, the closer you will sink to greater depths. Practice the art of succeeding instead.

3. Magnitude. Just as well you should break a goal into smaller targets to build confidence; it also changes a much larger problem into bit-sized issues that you can have greater control and success over. Remember how you decided to skip an exam question when it seemed insurmountable given the time and pressure you were under? If the question had been broken down into several parts instead, it would have been tackled without a second thought. Chop your frustration to pieces by making problems smaller in magnitude.

4. Proximity. Another reason why breaking down your problems into bite-sized chunks would lessen your frustrations and channel it towards positive action - solutions and closure become that much closer and bring you nearer the ultimate satisfaction. Having sub goals or milestones will have the added benefit of seeing success progressively, providing assurance and lessening frustration.

5. Ability and Options. By understanding your own abilities, it can allow assessment of each situation in better light, rather than be weighed down by frustration. You can decide whether an obstacle is worth the effort to persevere or there could be a need to adjust goals accordingly. Note that changing goals do not necessarily preclude giving up - other options might have opened up in the realization, and they could very well lead to brighter futures.

These 5 factors are keys to how you can handle frustration and lessen it in the long run. It is natural to feel the stakes are stacked against you from time to time, but remember that it is what you do to face it that will remove that feeling, not wallowing in self-pity or frustration. What are some of the methods that you have personally used to manage frustration to build and achieve your own goals?

In conclusion we should know how to face and handle frustrations because we do not know when we might encounter it. If we do not know how to handle frustrations then we might end up sulking in a corner because we feel rejected. Frustrations can cause downfall and sometimes complete failure on a man, an organization or a company.

References:

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Schuler Solutions, Inc .A. J. Schuler, Psy. D. 6300 Stevenson Avenue, Suite 916 Alexandria, Virginia 22304

MIS 2 - Assignment #2

2010-04-06T18:53:00.000-07:00

Assignment #2 (November 28, 2009)

What should be the nature of the relationship between the business plan and the IS plan?

Planning is one thing that is very essential in a person or an organization. It puts essential things, things that need to be done or accomplished, in perfect order so as to be achieved with repose. Encarta defines plan or planning as a system for achieving an objective. Planning is a method of doing something or lay-outing as in making a blueprint of what is needed to be done in order to achieve something. The topic that is being discussed in this post is to what should be the nature of the relationship between the BP or the business plan and the ISP or the information systems plan. The topic is discussed in the following paragraphs.

What is a business? A business, also called a company, enterprise or firm, is a legally recognized organization designed to provide goods and/or services to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, most beingprivately 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 financial returns in exchange for work and acceptance of risk. Notable exceptions include cooperative enterprises and state-owned enterprises. Businesses can also be formed not-for-profit or be state-owned.

The etymology of "business" relates to the state of being busy either as an individual or society as a whole, doing commercially viable and profitable work. The term "business" has at least three usages, depending on the scope, the singular usage (stated earlier) to mean a particular company or corporation, the generalized usage to refer to a particular market sector, such as "the music business" and compound forms such as agribusiness, or the broadest meaning to include all activity by the community of suppliers of goods and services. However, the exact definition of business, like much else in the philosophy of business, is a matter of debate and complexity of meanings. There other forms of business ownership. Sole proprietorship is one of the most basic forms of business ownership. Sole proprietorship means or is a business owned by one person. The owner may operate on his or her own or may employ others. The owner of the business has personal liability of the debts incurred by the business. One other form of ownership is partnership. Partnership is a form of business in which two or more people operate for the common goal which is often making profit. In most forms of partnerships, each partner has personal liability of the debts incurred by the business. There are three typical classifications of partnerships: general partnerships, limited partnerships, and limited liability partnerships. Next form is called Corporation. A corporation is either a limited or unlimited liability entity that has a separate personality from its members. A corporation can be organized for-profit or not-for-profit. A corporation is owned by multiple shareholders and is overseen by a board of directors, which hires the business's managerial staff. In addition to privately-owned corporate models, there are state-owned corporate models. And the last basic form of business ownership is Cooperative. Cooperative is often referred to as a "co-op", a cooperative is a limited liability entity that can organize for-profit or not-for-profit. A cooperative differs from a corporation in that it has members, as opposed to shareholders, who share decision-making authority. Cooperatives are typically classified as either consumer cooperatives or worker cooperatives. Cooperatives are fundamental to the ideology of economic democracy.

Before pointing out the nature of the relationship between the business plan and the information system plan I’ll lay down or rather site the definitions of the terms included in the question. What is a business plan? A business plan is a formal statement where the business goals of a certain company or organization are set, the reason why they are said to be reachable and the plan for reaching these goals. In any organization planning is a basic tool for achieving its objectives and purposes and to be able to achieve this and to be able to achieve an organization’s objectives an organization must have an effective business plan to be carried out.

A business plan is essential to a company or an organization based on the following reasons: first to test the feasibility of the business. Writing a business plan is the best way to test whether or not an idea for starting a business is feasible, other than going out and doing it. The business plan is a business safety net. Writing a business plan can save a great deal of time and money, if working through the business plan reveals that your business idea is unsustainable. With this you can test if having your idea business is feasible, and if not this help freeing you to move on to a new and better idea.

To give your new business the best possible chance of success, it is vital to the success of the business. Writing a business plan will ensure that you pay attention to both the broad operational and financial objectives of your new business and the details, such as budgeting and market planning. Taking the time to work through the process of writing a business plan will make for a smoother startup period and fewer unforeseen problems as your business becomes established. The next reason is to secure funding. Why? To start a business, it needs to have both operating and startup capital. Some business has their capital from financial institutions such as banks in which they expect that business has a developed business plan. And established businesses usually need money for their business operations. With this, the role of having a business plan will at least gives you an assurance and chance to keep the business operating or maybe an expansion.

To make business planning manageable and effective. A business plan is essential if you're thinking of starting a business, but it's also an important tool for established businesses. The company's original business plan needs to be revised as new goals are set, to adopt the changes in business industry. Reviewing the business plan can also help a company or corporation see what goals have been accomplished, what changes need to be made, or what new directions to a company's growth should take. And the other reason is to attract investors. Having a solid business plan, this is a plus factor to the company in which investors pull towards the company to invest. A company business plan will be the basis of the investor to do some background checks to the company.

The nature of the business plan is to look ahead, allocate resources, focus on key points, and prepare for certain risks, problems and opportunities. I reckon almost all business establishments have their own business plan. Business plans are determined or as I might say it is categorized for a profit or non-profit organization or company. A profit organization or company’s business plan focuses typically on financial goals such as profit creation while a non-profit organization or company’s business plan tend to focus on the mission of the organization which is the main reason for their status which is non-profit. A business plan is essential to an organization whether profit driven or not because it gives them a backbone or a guide. It makes an organization move into a systemic and orderly way. No business will be able to have a clear perspective of what is needed to be done if there is no plan or else they would be lingering towards nowhere and would unlikely achieve their goals.

There are ways of plotting or preparing a business plan for a company. This I know I found in the web and I honestly forgot who the author was. I just happened to save the web page. Steps in preparing the Business Plan. The process of preparing and developing a business plan is an interactive one that involves every functional area of a company. Successful business plans are usually the result of team effort, in which all employees provide input based on their special areas of expertise and technical skill. Business owners and managers provide overall support for the planning process as well as general guidelines and feedback on the plan as it is being developed. Once the planning process has been fully organized, participants can begin the process of assessment. Internal evaluations include identification of strengths and weaknesses of all areas of the business. In addition, it is generally useful to assess and evaluate such external factors as the general economy, competition, relevant technologies, trends, and other circumstances outside the control of the company that can affect its performance or fundamental health. Setting goals and defining strategies are the next key steps in the planning process. Using the assessment and evaluation of internal and external factors, fundamental goals for the business are developed. Pertinent areas to be studied include the company's competitive philosophy, its market focus, and its customer service philosophy. Specific performance and operational strategies are then established, based on these goals. After strategies and goals have been defined, they are translated into specific plans and programs. These plans and programs determine how a company's resources will be managed in order to implement its strategies and achieve its goals. Specific areas that require their own plans and programs include the overall organization of the company, sales and marketing, products and production, and finance. Finally, these specific plans are assembled into the completed business plan.

Also related in this account are the factors or the elements that can be found in a business plan of company or an organization. This I also found in the web. Business plans must include authoritative, factual data, usually obtained from a wide range of sources. The plans must be written in a consistent and realistic manner. Contradictions or inconsistencies within a business plan create doubts in the minds of its readers. Problems and risks associated with the business should be described rather than avoided, then used as the basis for presenting thoughtful solutions and contingency plans. Business plans can be tailored to the needs and interests of specific audiences by emphasizing or presenting differently certain categories of information in different versions of the plan. Business plans contain a number of specific elements as well as certain general characteristics. These include a general description of the company and its products or services, an executive summary, management and organizational charts, sales and marketing plans, financial plans, and production plans. They describe the general direction of a company in terms of its underlying philosophy, goals, and objectives. Business plans explain specific steps and actions that will be taken as well as their rationale. That is, they not only tell how a company will achieve its strategic objectives, they also tell why specific decisions have been made. Anticipated problems and the company's response to them are usually included. In effect, business plans are a set of management decisions about how the company will proceed along a specified course of action, with justifications for those decisions. Listed below are brief descriptions of the major elements found in business plans.

Include the same information on the title page. If you have a logo, you can use it, too. A table of contents follows the executive summary or statement of purpose, so that readers can quickly find the information or financial data they need.

The first is the EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. This is usually a two-to five-page summary of the entire business plan. It is an important part of the plan, in that it is designed to capture the reader's attention and create an interest in the company. It usually includes the company's mission statement and summarizes its competitive advantages, sales and profit projections, financial requirements, plans to repay lenders or investors, and the amount of financing requested. Next is the DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS. The business description includes not only a profile of the company, but also a picture of the industry in which the company operates. Every business operates within a specific context that affects its growth potential. The description of a company's operating environment may cover new products and developments in the industry, trends and outlook for the industry, and overall economic trends. The intent of the company profile, meanwhile, is to provide readers with a description of unique features that give the company an edge in the environment in which it competes. A brief company history reveals how specific products and services were developed, while descriptions of pertinent contracts and agreements should also be mentioned (information on contracts and legal agreements may also be included in an appendix to the business plan). Other topics covered include operational procedures and research and development.

Third element of the business plan is the DESCRIPTION OF PRODUCTS AND/OR SERVICES. The goal of this section is to differentiate a company's products or services from those of the competition. It describes specific customer needs that are uniquely met by the firm's products or services. Product features are translated into customer benefits. Product life cycles and their effects on sales and marketing can be described. The company's plans for a new generation of products or services may also be included in this section. Next is the DESCRIPTION OF MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE. The quality of a company's management team can be the most important aspect of a business plan. This section presents the strengths of the company's management team by highlighting relevant experience, achievements, and past performance. Key areas include management's ability to provide planning, organizational skills, and leadership. This section also contains information about the company's ownership and work force. It may present an existing or planned organizational structure that will accomplish the goals set forth in the business plan. Specific management and control systems are often described as well.

The fifth element is the MARKET ANALYSIS. A thorough market analysis serves as the basis for a company's sales and marketing plans. The analysis generally covers the company's competition, customers, products, and market acceptance. The competitive analysis details the competition's strengths and weaknesses, providing a basis for discovering market opportunities. A customer analysis provides a picture of who buys and uses the company's products or services. This section of the business plan highlights how the company's products or services satisfy previously unfulfilled market needs. It also includes evidence of market acceptance of the company's unique products or services. Next is SALES AND MARKETING PLAN. The marketing plan delineates the methods and activities that will be employed to reach the company's revenue goals. This section describes the company's customer base, products or services, and marketing and sales programs. The latter is supported by conclusions drawn from the market analysis. Different revenue outcomes may be presented to allow for contingency planning in the areas of finance and production.

The seventh element is the PRODUCTION PLAN. A production plan is usually included if the business is involved in manufacturing a product. Based on the sales and marketing plan, the production plan covers production options that are available to produce a desired mix of products. The production plan contains information that allows for budgeting for such costs as labor and materials. In non-manufacturing companies, this section would cover new service development. Next is the FINANCIAL PLAN. This section covers the financing and cash flow requirements implicit in other areas of the business plan. It contains projections of income, expenses, and cash flow, as well as descriptions of budgeting and financial controls. Financial projections must be supported by verifiable facts, such as sales figures or market research. Monthly figures are generally given for the first two years, followed by annual figures for the next three to eight years. If the business plan is written for investors or lenders, the amount of financing required may be included here or in a separate section.

the ninth element of the business plan is the IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE. This section provides key dates pertaining to finance, marketing, and production. It indicates when specific financing is needed, when specific aspects of a particular marketing campaign will take place, and delivery dates based on production schedules. And the last element is the CONTINGENCYPLANS. This section defines problems and challenges that the company may face and outlines contingency plans for overcoming obstacles that might arise. Specific topics that may be explored are competitive responses, areas of weakness or vulnerability, legal constraints, staffing, and continuity of leadership. Most business plans include a table of contents and a cover sheet containing basic information about the company. An appendix may include a variety of documentation that supports different sections of the business plan. Among the items that may be found in an appendix are footnotes from the main plan, biographies, graphs and charts, copies of contracts and agreements, and references.

In addition to publishing submitted articles, the Editors-in-Chief will invite retrospective articles that describe significant projects by the principal architects of those projects. Authors of such articles should write in the first person, tracing the social as well as technical history of their projects, describing the evolution of ideas, mistakes made, and reality tests. Technical results should be explained in a uniform notation with the emphasis on clarity and on ideas that may have applications outside of the environment of that research. Particularly complex details may be summarized with references to previously published papers. We will make every effort to allow authors the right to republish papers appearing in Information Systems in their own books and monographs.

We have already portrayed what a business plan is. Information Systems plan on the other hand is the searching of strategies for information systems in order for the company to gain competitive advantages. What really are Information systems? Information systems are the software and hardware systems that support data-intensive applications. The journal Information Systems publishes articles concerning the design and implementation of languages, data models, process models, algorithms, software and hardware for information systems. Subject areas include data management issues as presented in the principal international database conferences (e.g. ACM SIGMOD, ACM PODS, VLDB, ICDE and ICDT/EDBT) as well as data-related issues from the fields of data mining, information retrieval, internet and cloud data management, web semantics, visual and audio information systems, scientific computing, and organizational behavior. Implementation papers having to do with massively parallel data management, fault tolerance in practice, and special purpose hardware for data-intensive systems are also welcome. All papers should motivate the problems they address with compelling examples from real or potential applications. Systems papers must be serious about experimentation either on real systems or simulations based on traces from real systems. Papers from industrial organizations are welcome. Theoretical papers should have a clear motivation from applications. They should either break significant new ground or unify and extend existing algorithms. Such papers should clearly state which ideas have potentially wide applicability.

Most likely companies do this by assessing the current environment and the organization’s objectives and strategies. Improving the processes, performance and operations has been the top priorities of companies or organizations and also, improving the planning process of information systems has long been one of the top concerns of information systems department management. To achieve this, the information system plan must be aligned with the business plan or the business strategy of an organization or a company. We, together with my group mates happen to have interviewed one the system analyst in the Davao Light and Power Company. I remember him saying that the IT department serves as the support group or should I say the prop that supports the organization in attaining organizational goals. He also said that their department supports the company by enhancing organizational processes and by making them easier and more accurate. That is why information systems plan must be aligned with the business plan of an organization so that the IT (information technology) unit and other organizational personnel are working on the same goals, using their respective competencies. Thus, the relationship of the business plan and the information systems plan should be parallel or analogous to each other.

I have also seen in the web some qualities of a good information systems plan. Characteristics of a good information systems plan include being timely. Timely as such that the information systems plan must be created when it is needed. An information system plan created long after it is needed is considered to be useless. In almost all cases, it makes no sense to take longer to plan work than to perform the work planned. Next would be useable. An information systems plan should be useable for all projects. Meaning it can be utilized anywhere it is needed. Maintainable, new business opportunities, new computers, new business mergers, and etc. all affect the information systems plan so it must be able to adopt and change quickly to the estimates technology employed and possibly to the fundamental project sequences. Quality and reproducible, the information systems plan should be as is and should not vary to staff that is using the system.

Integration of the business plan and the information systems plan is undoubtedly very essential because of the reason that one benefits the other. An information system helps an organization with its processes and optimization of work flows and also eases their work and at the same time a business plan helps an organization manage their tasks in order to achieve their goals. The two should be well made and integrated to the point of having harmonious relations with each other in order for a company or an organization to grow and prosper. Unwell made business plan affects the information systems plan and the same goes to the business plan is the information systems plan is not well plotted.

There is however other kinds of planning that used in some companies and I just want to put it here in my post. Tactical Planning is the process of taking the strategic plan and breaking it down into specific, short term actions and plans. The relative length of the planning horizon will vary from one market to another but typically the strategic plan will cover a period greater than three years while the tactical plan covers the period from today through to the end of year three. The content of any business plan will depend on why the plan is being produced. Some plans are for internal use only and act as a common reference during the preparation of budgets and appraisals. Some plans are basically sales documents aimed at persuading banks to provide loans and investors to provide equity. The process of producing a useable tactical plan is not easy as some flexibility is required to allow response to unplanned events. There are a large variety of strategic planning models and organizations that provide strategic planning consulting. Some of these are useful and can be used a check lists to ensure completeness and as facilitators to ask the awkward questions that people would prefer to leave unanswered. It is important that the tactical plan should be checked to ensure it is aligned with the strategic plan and that all activities are aimed at moving closer to the goals defined in the strategic plan. It is very easy for the tactical plan to diverge at a tangent because of someone's interests or disagreement with the strategic plan.

In all the things we do, planning is a part of activities for it guides every step that can give satisfaction to our work. And we can't deny the fact that planning is so difficult. Here comes now the relationship between business plans and IS plan. It's because business goals and systems plans need to align. Strategic systems plans need to align with business goals and support those objectives. It will be difficult if CIO is not part of senior management. Technologies are rapidly changing. And continuous planning based on monitoring and experimenting new technologies. Certain companies need portfolios rather than projects. It is for the evaluation on more than their individual merit. On how they fit into other projects and how they balance the portfolio of projects. In planning, infrastructure is included in which the infrastructure development is difficult to fund. It is often done under the auspices of a large application project. One of the challenges for this is to develop improved applications and improve infrastructure over time. Systems planning has become business planning, not just a technology issue. Responsibility needs to be joint. It is better done by a full partnership of C-level officers. Other planning issue is planning culture in which the systems planning must fit.

This relationship, I think, is observed by companies and organizations. However, despite the importance of the alignment of the business plan and the information systems plan, some companies still come up or demonstrate limited or awry on the alignment of the plans. This happens because of some factors, factors like resistance, lack of knowledge, negative or neutral view of the ability of IT. However there are many companies especially the IT companies who are knowledgeable of the current trends and are currently employing information systems plan into their systems. These companies have properly integrated their business plan with their information systems plan and these companies have achieved their goals so far (at least that is what I think)

SAD1 Assignment 2

2010-01-29T22:02:00.000-08:00

Last December 11, 2009 we had our interview with the head system analyst working in the Davao Light and Power Company Bajada branch. When we got there we were welcomed warm fully. They accommodated us and gave very comfortable seats. Our interviewee was very kind enough to answer all of our questions because we did not ask him only for a certain topics but various topics according to the other assignments in this subject. We gave him a questionnaire to serve as a basis for the question. Well actually my group mates made the questionnaire and we were assigned to take notes. However, just recently my cell phone got lost and sad to say that all of my jotted down notes were stored or saved in my cell phone. Now the last option for me is to base my answers on my memory and on the notes of my group mates who also took notes from the interview. As what I have remembered our head system analyst interviewee said that a system analyst, based on his experience, must have good communication skills, must have good technical skills, must know how to model process and must know the process within the company or the organization. He/she must also know the business flows and every operation of the company or the organization. Their team is actually composed of system analyst, not to mention that one of his subordinate or assistant analyst is a student from the University of Southeastern Philippines and their counterpart or should I say their partner is the development team or the team that are composed of the programmers that develop a certain system for the organization.

As what is defined in the previous assignment in System Analysis and Design 1 a definition from Wikipedia states that a systems analyst is responsible for researching, planning, coordinating and recommending software and system choices to meet an organization's business requirements. The systems analyst plays a vital role in the systems development process. A successful systems analyst must acquire four skills: analytical, technical, managerial, and interpersonal. Skills enable systems analysts to understand the organization and its functions, which helps him/her to identify opportunities and to analyze and solve problems. Technical skills help systems analysts understand the potential and the limitations of information technology. The systems analyst must be able to work with various programming languages, operating systems, and computer hardware platforms. Management skills help systems analysts manage projects, resources, risk, and change. Interpersonal skills help systems analysts work with end users as well as with analysts, programmers, and other systems professionals. Because they must write user requests into technical specifications, the systems analysts are the liaisons between vendors and the IT professionals of the organization they represent. They may be responsible for developing cost analysis, design considerations, and implementation time-lines. They may also be responsible for feasibility studies of a system before making recommendations to senior management. A system analyst interacts with the customers to their requirements, interact with designers to convey the possible interface of the software, interact or guide the coders or developers to keep track of the system development, perform system testing with sample/live data with the help of testers, implement the new system and prepare high quality documentation. However, the skill and characteristics I will be stating are those characteristics and skills that our interviewee answered us.

Good communication skills. Why does a system analyst need this? A system analyst must know how to deal with people, his co-workers, and people with high positions in the organization, the clients, and the user. It is important for a system analyst to have good communication skill to better deal with the people around him to because he acts as a bridge between the coders or the developers and the clients. Good communication skills make it better for the both sides to understand each other thus providing a harmonious environment between the two sides. By saying that a system analyst acts as a bridge between the coders and the clients it means that the system analyst servers as a liaison or much better identified as an interpreter between the coder side and the client side. Why is this so? Because the system analyst is responsible for gathering the necessary data that the client needs or want in the system and then he/she relays it to the coders but this time he relays it on the technical side. Understandably, the clients are not aware or do not have any knowledge about the technical side so it is the system analyst’s job or responsibility to make the technical side understandable by the clients. Knowing the requirements and the needs of the clients makes the planning and the modeling of the system better and more effective. Thus, it eliminates the possibility of doing the planning and modeling all over again if they encounter mismatching or laps in the requirements. It also eliminates the possibility of over pricing or exceeding the allotted amount of budget for the development.

Good technical skills. Technical skills are knowledge and proficiencies required in the accomplishment of engineering, scientific, or any specific task. A system analyst must know all about the system of the company. It includes system application, administrative work, business functions, and lastly technical functions. Most importantly a system analyst must know everything about the company or the organization. Its operations and business flows. As what our interviewee said, their department acts as a support group of the company. By saying this, it means that they do everything to make the processes of the company or organization even better and easier for the user to use. In the modeling process it is highly important, as I might say that a system analyst is knowledgeable or has good technical skills. I may not have experienced modeling, well I mean real modeling, but I know that it sure takes a lot of knowledge on the technical side to come up with an effective system model. Our interviewee also happens to say that it is not necessary that the system analyst is really good at programming or coding. What is important is that he/she knows how to model or come up with an effective model for the system. System analysts, back in the day, were not graduates of any computer related courses. Most of them are from business related courses, some were accountancy students. It means that a system analyst must really know how to model. Knowledge on programming is just an edge that you can have against other system analyst. Why is this? Because there is already a programming department or development team thus a system analyst can leave the coding or programming job to the developers.

Knowing the company and its processes. Our interviewee said that it is most important that a system analyst is aware of all the processes, flows and operations of the company. Thus, this is where a system analyst’s analytical skills come into play. If he/she knows every process and operation of the company then he/she can identify its strengths and weaknesses thus he/she can devise a way of improving its strengths and reinforce their weaknesses by putting up means of helping their processes, a software for example. If he/she knows every flow then he/she can immediately identify problems within the company or the organization and if he/she can identify problems fast then he/she can devise a solution for that problem also as fast. (This post will be updated)

Announcement

2009-12-16T21:54:00.000-08:00

There will be a new set of posts that will be posted in this blog for System Analysis and Design 1 subject. In order not to confuse those who might want to view the posts I will set the font color System Analysis and Design 1 posts to pink and the posts of the Management Information System 2 will still be light blue.

SAD1 Assignment 1

2009-12-16T00:10:00.000-08:00

Based on my learnings I have realized some characteristics that are very essential and these characteristics are the characteristics that a good system analyst must have. But before that I will site some definitions of a system analyst. In the definition from Wikipedia, a system analyst is responsible for researching, planning, coordinating and recommending software and system choices to meet an organization’s business requirements. The system analyst plays a vital role in the systems development process. A successful systems analyst must acquire four skills: analytical, technical, managerial, and interpersonal. Analytical skills enable systems analysts to understand the organization and its functions, which helps him/her to identify opportunities and to analyze and solve problems. Technical skills help systems analysts understand the potential and the limitations of information technology. The systems analyst must be able to work with various programming languages, operating systems, and computer hardware platforms. Management skills help systems analysts manage projects, resources, risk, and change. Interpersonal skills help systems analysts work with end users as well as with analysts, programmers, and other systems professionals. Systems analysts, as motivated and talented IT professionals, solve computer problems and apply computer technology, to meet the individual needs of an organization, realize the maximum benefit from investment in equipment, personnel, and business processes, plan and develop new computer systems, or devise ways to apply existing systems’ resources to additional operations. However, I have heard from an anonymous person that system analysts need not to be an IT professional nor a software developer, these factors are just added value or what I call an edge to other system analyst, what is important is that a system analyst must know how to manage and analyze business processes to be able to come up with a device that could bring an organization to meet their goals. System analysts on the early years were not information technology professionals because these courses were not yet widely spread or I might say not yet know to everyone. System analysts on the early years were most likely people from business related courses, some of them are accountants like the one that the reporter or the people who shared about chapter one. However, there are essential characteristics or skills to be able to a competent system analyst.

THE SKILLS AND CHARATERISTICS OF A GOOD SYSTEM ANALYST (Some are from the sharing and some are from my insights)

A system analyst must be a problem solver. A system analyst must know and be aware of all the business processes and business flows of the company or organization. This characteristic is particularly essential because a system analyst must know how to solve problems within an organization. He/she must be able to identify problems and must also be able to find and device solutions for these problems. Being able to identify problems whenever a system analyst sees one is important because the sooner he/she sees a problem the sooner he/she can find a solution to that problem. What happens if a system analyst is incapable of identifying a problem? Then the company or the organization that the system analyst is working is at risk. A system analyst must also know how to use logical methods to be able to come up with a solution to a problem. To become a problem solver, a system analyst must have the utmost desire to make things better within a company or an organization. Commitment and passion to perform a system analyst’s duty is one that can help him/her become a good problem solver. A system analyst must be a problem solver especially when he/she is an IT professional because IT professional are solution providers and problem solver (as what is stated in the Philippine Society of Information Technology Students Shirt Design)

Technical skills are also skills that a system analyst must have. He/she must have knowledge on computer and peripheral devices, computer and communication networks, project planning, system analysis and design and the like. Why does a system analyst need to have technical knowledge or skills? Because if a system analyst is the one that analyses business processes and flows, problem solver, and the bridge between the developers and the clients, then he/she must have knowledge that is needed to be able to perform the tasks of a system analyst.

People skills and interpersonal and communication skills these skills are the ones that I think is most important other than having technical skills and being a problem solver. People skills is the characteristic, skill or the ability to deal with people, the ability to deal with people and get along with them, for example, because of being sensitive and diplomatic. Being able to understand the people around you especially the ones that you are working with and successfully communicating with other people are essential and important talents or skills that a system analyst must possess. Developing interpersonal communication skills is vitally important in today’s workplace. Even though you are an individual contributor in the workplace, you still need to communicate effectively with your boss as well as customers. Almost all kinds of work require communicating. Most people have colleagues with whom they need to communicate in order to be successful at their job. Having a good charisma also counts to the advantage. Why are these characteristics and skills important to a system analyst? Because when you are in a business scenario having to work properly and harmoniously with your co workers is really important. For example when a company or organization is in a project development phase, a system analyst must be able to work with his/her colleague harmoniously because having a harmonious environment can bring about the advantage or should I say the device that could help the organization do their task properly and possibly increase performance level. A system analyst must also know how to motivate another person, in a business scenario, his/her co-workers. Harmony within organizations especially to the team that is responsible for the development of the softwares most likely the devices that could solve problems within an organization can speed up the process of the development. It can lessen the possibilities of having a development failure. A system analyst is also the bridge that connects the top ranking persons, Chief Executive Officer, or the manger to the programmers or the software developers. The system analyst carefully acquires the necessary information and analyzes it to come up with a proper and effective design for the software and then passes it on to the programmers and developers so that they will know what to do, the necessary features and the important details.

Part of these skills and characteristics, I think that a system analyst might need to have knowledge like being able to understand and speak other languages. I have read a testimony of a system analyst and his experiences being a system analyst. A system analyst acts as the middle man assessing the needs of the end user and translating them into programming or tuning over the programming responsibility to the development department. The scenario was he is sitting in a meeting, the one on his left speaks French and the one his right speaks English and both individual needs to speak with each other. How are they suppose to interact and understand each other if you don’t even understand what they are saying? I’m saying that being able to understand and speak different languages is an edge in becoming a good system analyst.

Determination is also one of the characteristic that a system analyst must possess. Determination is decision on course of action: decision-making on, or the establishment of, a course of action. A good system analyst must have the guts and the determination to achieve a goal. It is the drive that pushes a team or an organization to work hard and finish what they have started.

Another characteristic that a good system analyst must possess is patience. Patience, according to the definition in Wikipedia, is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast. Why patience? Because you will be working with people that are different from you, different in working styles, different in perspective and sometimes different in personality. One must possess great patience if one wants the course of the development be continuous. What happens if the system analyst is impatient? Then everything will be in chaos. It would create a troublesome environment which can bring about failure in the development of a certain project. This I think is also one of the characteristics that I must possess even if I am not a system analyst. Patience cannot be only utilized in work but also in different aspects like mingling with other people and in relationships.

There are many more characteristics that a system analyst must possess but I think that the ones that I have stated above are the ones that I possess. It may not be my strong side but the said characteristics are the characteristics that I somehow possess. The first is the problem solver. Typically person who engage in the area of information technology are problem solvers. Basically they are the solution providers to those problems that other people cannot solve. As a student I know that I am a problem solver although the things that I consider problems are not problems but challenges and barriers that block me from achieving my goals as a student. When teachers give us assignments usually students treat this as problems rather than challenges. In a math problem you need to find solutions to be able to come up with the write answer. That is what I think of a student as a problem solver. The next is the problem solver as a person living within a community. We find many problems in our community this may be personal, problems in a relationship, family problems, financial problems, political problems and the like. As a person living in a community I find solutions to the problems that I encounter. The usual problems that I encounter based on my experience are the problems encountered in a relationship and financial problems. In finding solution to these problems I usually analyze the situation and then evaluate. In a relationship I usually make amends to patch up what is wrong in the relationship. It is similar in the working scenario. In finding solutions to my financial problems I usually find means of acquiring money. The usual means that I think is doing services like reformatting, burning data, fixing things that are related to computers and the other means that I usually think about is by playing music in places like bars and restaurants.

The next characteristics that I know that I have are determination and patience. Determination as a student because I know that I am determined to do and finish the things that I have come to start. (Why did I come to this school in the first place?) As a student I am determined to finish my course, Bachelor of Arts in Information Technology. It is the course that I have chosen. I was fortunate that my parents let me choose the course that I want and let me pursue what I really want. I am happy that my parents continually support me even if I am not going to graduate in this course in four years. Determination is the one thing that drives to me push thru and work hard to achieve my goals and never stop no matter what barriers are set in front of me. The next thing is patience. This characteristic is the characteristic that I know I truly possess. I have a long patience especially to those people that are not like me or should I say people who have characteristics different from me. (However, this long patience is always disregarded when I encounter stupid jeep drivers. And I do not know why they bug me all the time.) For me patience is important because in life we will surely encounter unfortunate events (not to mention that I just lost my cell phone this afternoon and it is so frustrating) and annoying people. If you have no patience then I will guarantee that you will have a bad trip all the time and I know that when you are in bad mood your days are always not good. As what my music teacher said “Life is a journey. Don’t get a bad trip.”

As for the people skills and interpersonal and communication skills, I do have these characteristics. After all I am a part of a group, a circle of friends we call alien eye. I am also a member of a band and part member of a dance troupe and all of these peers I have good relationship with. People skills and interpersonal and communication skills are important because we need these to better mingle with other people. These characteristics are also important to a leader. Without these characteristics it is hard to communicate and dwell with other people. It is an advantage to have these traits because you can gain more bearing and often time people who have these characteristics perform well in the jobs because they have no restrictions. I mean they can freely dwell and mingle with the people around them especially those they work with. This is also important because we need to establish good relationship with our co workers and when you are in a team let us say the development team of an organization or a company it is very important to have good people skills and to have good relationship with your co-workers because this can bring about harmony thus making the work continuous and without delay. Talking about the technical skill that I have stated above I believe that I have these skills however it is not yet my strong part. I have still much to learn about the technical field. I mean that I do have knowledge but it is not enough yet. That is why I am continually learning so that it becomes a strong part of me.

There are still many characteristics that a good system developer must have like being time bounded, meticulous and the like which could help him/her become a far better system analyst. I know that I have yet to develop my characteristics and skill to be competent enough. Competent enough to battle it out against those people that will become will competition when I graduate. Finding a job is not an easy task to do and I know that I’ll need all the advantages and the edge that I could possibly conjure to become globally competent.

MIS 2 - Introduction

2009-11-16T00:31:00.000-08:00

(Short Personal Introduction) Hello once again, my name is Jan Neil Enanoria Gador a student of the Institute of Computing currently enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Information Technology course. The subject is Management Information System 2 and I am expecting that I could learn more from this subject and I aslo expect that it would be more challenging than the previous subject. Above all I expect it would be fun and enjoyable (as always). I hope that all will go smoothly and that if there are obstacles regarding this subject I hope that we can conquer it.

MIS 2 - Assignment #1

2009-11-13T21:49:00.000-08:00

THE GOAL / DREAM

Before I start telling what I think myself worthy to be called as an IT professional 10 years from, I am going to share my dreams when I was just a kid and how it came that I pursued Information Technology as a career and as a profession. When I was young, well when I was younger, I used to see myself just like my father. My father is a civil engineer and I can honestly tell that I was one of those kids who dreamed about following their father’s footsteps even though I did not know what a civil engineer is. Honestly I did not even know what an engineer was. As a kid I had many dreams in life. I wanted to become anything I want to be, anything that I can come to think of. When I was in primary school my dream of becoming a civil engineer faded. I wanted to become an architect instead of being an engineer. Still I did not fully know what an architect is and what an architect does. I just had a plain perception that an architect draws and designs buildings and during that time I was also hooked into drawing. Anyway during that time I was like an unguided missile, ready to launch but has no definite target.

When I got to secondary school my dream of becoming an architect remained as it is up until I got to third year high school. During this stage of my high school days I became addicted to music and at the same time an enthusiast of computer games. When I say computer games, I was not only in it for the game but I was in it because I admired the graphics. (The graphics at that time was not yet sophisticated and complex compared to now.) It was at that time when I realized that I wanted to integrate art with technology. I use to watch movies that use animation and frankly I had a green eye to those people who can actually make pictures move like it is real. Now from becoming a civil engineer to architect to becoming an animator or rather a graphic artist. By the time I got to the fourth year of my high school days my father already asked me of what course do I want to pursue when I go to college. I said I wanted to be a graphic artist, and then we started scouting for schools that offer this kind of course but sadly at that time there was none. After a few days of searching my father found a school but it is not located here in Davao City but in Manila. The University of Santo Tomas (UST) offers Fine Arts course major in Graphics. I finally found the school so during the fourth quarter of the school year I went to Manila to take the entrance exam. Fortunately I passed the exam and I was fit to enroll but guess what? My father decided that I needed to have a backup plan so he told me to take the entrance exam in The University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP). So enrolling in The University of Southeastern Philippines was really not my first choice but thanks to that backup plan I gained my bearing. My father withdrew in sending me to The University of Santo Tomas because there was no doubt that we could save a lot of money if I enroll in The University of Southeastern Philippines.

During that time my perception of pursuing Information Technology was not that clear. I was not knowledgeable of the future that I will have if I pursue this kind of career. Although I still did not lose my dream of becoming a graphic artist I learned from the presentation that Sir RSG gave to us during the freshmen orientation that Information Technology encompasses a large field and that the possibilities are endless. I could become many things as long as it is covered by Information Technology and by talking Information Technology it pretty much includes almost everything. I know now that I am not only limited in a single task when I finish this course but I am pretty much capable of many things.

Now getting to the main topic of what do I think of myself worthy to be called as an IT professional 10 years from now. When I was undergoing Human Resource Management I remember that one of the jobs that I wanted to have was to become a Graphic Artist, Web Designer, Database Administrator or a part of the team that leads the MIS of a big company. I have still got my dream in me but this time it has become specific and has a purpose. Ten years from now I would picture myself doing one of these jobs but I honestly cannot say that his goal is final because a lot of things can happen in a span of 10 years. Maybe 4 to 6 years from now Information Technology will have new possibilities to come up. I mean, technology is evolving faster than we can imagine. Who knows what could happen in a span of 4 to 6 years or maybe 10 years from now. However I do know that a part of me says that I want to become like Mr. RSG. I am saying that Mr. RSG is one IT professional that an Information Technology student can look up to. I mean I could not become what Mr. RSG exactly is but I do hope that I could follow some of his ways.

REALIZATION

During our second meeting on Management Information System 2 last November 16, 2009 our facilitator, Mr. RSG, asked us (well not all of us) about our dreams or rather what we answered in this assignment. Many of my classmates answered what jobs they wanted to have when they graduate and some answered that they wanted to graduate. Then our facilitator told us that we don't need an IT education to be able to land those jobs that we want and he told us we have to dream and set higher goals, one that is useful, life altering and one that could benefit a lot of people. Then I realized that I was not aiming that high or setting goals that could benefit a lot of people. I also realized that dreams are in fact "Free" and "Unlimited" but I know that a man does not have many dreams. If a man has a dream every other week then he or she does not know what a dream is. I heard this line from one of the Diamonds in Amway. A dream is a thing that you hold on to. You feel the urge to achieve that goal and you feel like doing every possible thing to get it. So now I came to visualize my self as an owner of a company somewhat like those companies who make technologies that could better the lives of people. A company that promotes green computing to better the lives of people but not at the expense of nature itself. As IT professionals we should be solution providers. Green Computing according to Wikipedia refers to the environmentally sustainable computing or IT. It is "the study and practice of designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers, servers, and associated subsystems—such as monitors, printers, storage devices, and networking and communications systems—efficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact on the environment. Green IT also strives to achieve economic viability and improved system performance and use, while abiding by our social and ethical responsibilities. Thus, green IT includes the dimensions of environmental sustainability, the economics of energy efficiency, and the total cost of ownership, which includes the cost of disposal and recycling. It is the study and practice of using computing resources efficiently." Our school promotes Green Campus Computing and as a student from this school I have to follow the things that my school has started. This is what I have visualized my self worthy to be called an IT professional ten years from now. This goal serves as my target and I hope that in the future I could reach it, besides dreams are free.

Moving away from discussion (I just want to share it), I also want to become a music teacher. I want to teach music to students who want to increase their knowledge in music. Of course I still need to study more about music so that I would be worthy to teach and someday when I actually become a music teacher focusing on bass guitar I could apply my IT profession so that teaching would be made easy. The reason why I want to teach music to other people because I learned from some show that I watched in the television (I cannot even remember) that music could stimulate the brain and there were also studies that found that students who are in to music are those who perform well and excel in class compared to those who have not. I am not saying that only those who are into music are the only ones who excel in class, it’s just that it helps.

STRATEGIES TO REACH THE GOAL / DREAM

I would not be enumerating the strategies but rather I will just write it as it pops out of mind. Well the first step of getting to that goal is to graduate. The first strategy would be to identify my priorities. Well if I am going to graduate from this course and university I will surely need to identify my priorities. There are many things that I could do while studying and it also means that there are many factors that could possibly retract me from my focus and distract me and if I lose my focus I would lose my bearing and delay me from reaching my goals. Enter only those opportunities that are essential and related to your chosen career and enter only those that can help you build your career. Discard unimportant matters because as what my parents use to say “Study now, play later”. It means that you could do everything you want after you graduate.

Study and be updated. That’s another strategy that I have in mind. This type of profession or career is not static. It could change anytime (that is why we need to have a strategy or a plan) just like what organizations or companies do at the end of a year. Organizations or companies have a strategic planning at the end of each year, it is where they evaluate their performance, identify strengths and weaknesses, and identify solutions to their problem(s). Be updated of the current trend or latest technology so as to be aware of the changes in the industry. In this career or profession being not updated is just like being uncompetitive. Right now I am doing my best to be more aware and be updated as to the latest trend being used in the Information Technology industry. I lack the funds to buy or purchase the latest equipments and gadgets but that does not stop me from learning about these new things and how to use them. Internet can also be a source of knowledge. The internet can be a powerful source of information if you know how to us it. Other than that, seminars and forums could also keep you updated with the latest trends and it costs less than paying someone who will teach. There are other ways of learning aside from paying or purchasing we just need to more resourceful.

Identifying strengths and weaknesses, by identifying my strengths and weaknesses I will have a better lookout on where I should give more focus to compensate my weaknesses and to even strengthen my strong points. I still need to learn a lot considering that right now there are many sophisticated and complex technologies in the market and considering that technology constantly changes and upgrades. Right now I starting to learn more about using other ways to make web based programs aside from using PHP. I got my fascination in PHP and CSS when I enrolled or rather took a crash course in PHP and CSS during the summer of 2008 to 2009 together with John David de Peralta, Roy Laurentino Cuevas, Jalil Paniambaan and Jan Ray Suriba at Amigoas (Come to think of it, our certificates are still in Joda’s hands). Taking that crash course gave me an advantage on our previous subject, Database Analysis and Design 3, which focused on PHP and MySql. I noticed that I lack the knowledge to make this kind of programs so I decided to join the group.

Gaining proper and sufficient experience is also part the steps to get me to my goal. As others say, experience is the best teacher. I have heard from numerous persons that what you learn from school is not always the thing that is applied when you land a job. Hearing from them gave me an idea that I should take or experience applying the theories that I have learned from school because when you practice applying what you have learned and you happen to master it, it is just like breathing. Experience is a vital part of gaining bearing, finding a job and becoming a worthy IT professional. By saying “gaining experience” it also means learning the proper and necessary knowledge to become competitive because whether you accept it or not there will be a lot of competition in this trade. It can also be your edge against your competitors in landing a job because employers would rather choose or prefer employing those people with experience rather than those who still have not.

Start building connections and building people skills. When I say building connections I am pertaining to building good relationships with people are “In” to Information Technology particularly IT professionals. Why do we need to build these connections? In time you will find that the people that you have known over the years have knowledge that you or I do not possess and connections that you or I have not established. These people can bridge us to other people not necessarily IT professionals, it can be businessmen, managers, CEO’s and the like who are pretty much in need of people who are knowledgeable in IT. In time that I graduate at least I already have some options. Anyway you will not lose anything. Its either you learn from them or work for them it is pretty much up to you and either of the two you have already gained a friend. It is giving without losing. Building people skills is very important in this field of work because there are jobs that you will not be working alone by yourself. There are jobs that you do as a team. For example, in a company that manufactures or makes programs, generic or customized, to their clients, making or developing the program cannot be accomplished singlehandedly. Maybe it can be accomplished but not in time. In developing programs or systems there is always a time frame. It can never be without a time frame otherwise it would be like a farmer waiting for rain, you do not know the exact time and date. Similarly, in the school scenario just like in the Institute of Computing, the teachers give projects and they give deadlines for the projects to be submitted. Of course the students should follow that deadline because otherwise their project would be rejected and they end up getting a failing grade. My point is that as early as now we need to build our people skills so that we could work harmoniously with the team. Just like Ms. Enriquez said about “Swapang Na Programmer” they never get the job done in time, then it is a software failure.

Control and Save. In time when you do actually get a job and you earn money from it, the next difficult part other than earning for a living is actually to maintain and control that money and keep it for the dry seasons or the rainy days or emergencies perhaps. I have seen people not in the IT profession who have acquired good jobs and a reasonable salary spend their money like there is no tomorrow because they have a big salary. You will never know if the job you have today is the job that you will actually retire in, that is why saving your money for the rainy days is very helpful. Anyway this is my opinion.

Pray for guidance and help. I do not know for the others but I consider praying as a good strategy. It never fails me. I mean if you possess great intellect and you happen to acquire a great job with a great salary but you do not have good relations with your religion that still isn’t enough. I am catholic, I pray to God for guidance and help and I always feel safe whenever I ask for guidance. As other say, money is a universal provider but not happiness. I believe that one our very goal is to become happy in life. You cannot be truly happy unless you put your religion as a part of your life.

(This post has been updated. I will still be updating this post)

Management Information System II

2009-11-12T01:35:00.001-08:00

Last November 9, 2009 we had our first meeting in our subject, Management Information System 2, which is facilitated by Mr. Randy S. Gamboa. As expected, we had fun and at the same time we learned things. This semester marks the arrival of new subjects and one of those is MIS 2. I am expecting that this subject will be more challenging than Management Information System 1 (MIS1) yet I also expect that it would be fun. In this subject we will be focusing on our school, University of Southeastern Philippines, which is a macro industry. I hope that we will be in good condition to surpass this subject and I certainly do hope that the personel in the different offices of the university will be kind and accomodating to us.

Closing Time

2009-10-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

The first semester of school year 2009 - 2010 has gone. Semestral break has started but I honestly can not feel it. Why? because it's already our enrollment and I feel like there is no break at all. I'm just happy that my first semester during this school year turned out quite well and now I wonder what's in stock for the second semester. Well I hope its all good and I hope I can still cope up. Note: This blog will now be used for subjects for the second semester particularly Management Information System 2.

Assignment 1: Companies

2009-10-08T21:28:00.000-07:00

(What was I thinking? I forgot to put this post in my blog. I hope it's not too late.)

Here are the organizations/companies that I have searched in the internet and some of the organizations/companies that I will identify here are the ones I saw personally.

LBC

ATM Bilis Padala

One of LBC's IT practices is their ATM Bilis Padala, it is the first and the fastest money delivery by LBC. ATM Bilis Padala can be used to withdraw from over 7000 ATM's all over the country and can be used as retail outlets nationwide such as SM, Makro etc. By using ATM Bilis Padala, money is directly transmitted to the recipient's ATM card, allowing them to withdraw remitted funds in just 15 seconds from the time it was sent. LBC has integrate new technology in their line of business. What used to take a long time to process in delivering money to other persons in far places now takes 15 seconds. The set-up takes about one to three days. The pin number will be mailed to the sender within one to three days if the application is accepted online. If application is done at the branch, pin number will be given at the branch on the same day when application was recieved. Another practice of LBC which is simillar to ATM Bilis Padala is their Instant Peso Padala, where you can send money to your loved ones to any place in the Philippines.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT)

Online Recruitment and Service Application
PLDT also widen their assets by hiring and accepting future manpower assets through their website. Through this, the company can widen its scope in finding interested applicants to apply in their company without using a lot of company resources. This strategy is practical because it does not only provide applicants quick access in applying to the company it also gives applicants the luxury of applying for a position without even going the company in person. Also, interested customers can also process an application for the services that PLDT provides which is also convenient to interested customers.

PLDT Telepresence (Virtual Meetings Made Real)

PLDT has made a solution for a face to face, in person conferencing experience by developing a collaborative high definition video and audio communication. PLDT Telepresence is a collaborative high-definition video and audio communication and immersive room solution for a face to face, in person conferencing experience that offers enhanced business productivity and enables quick-to-market opportunities, with rapid decision making and reduced travel cost. Unlike collaboration thru travel, video conferencing and other conference solutions, it brings a life-like conferencing without the pains and costs of conventional business travel.

BIR

Online Service Appliaction

The Bureau of Internal Revenue have expanded their walls in their business to optimize transactions in their respective business. Now, companies and other organizations are able to access and download forms from the BIR which was originally only acquired by going to their office. This provides people with easy access to documents instead of acquiring it by going to office. You could also submit records of documents like anual inventory list to their website and email and you could also remit through their website. Recently they have developed a program that is integrated with IT in which records are stored and saved properly through a database. Companies nowadays would send their records in the AlphaList file type which were usually saved in an excel file. This could provide security to the records of the companies and organizations that the BIR has transactions with.

Sources:

Bureau of Internal Revenue Website: http://www.bir.gov.ph
PLDT: http://www.mypad.net/jobsdb_classified.aspx

Assignment 9: Information Environment Essay

2009-10-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

When I read the assignment in Sir RSG’s forum I actually thought that I was going to compose an essay about environment, environmental issues and the like. I was really confused and decided not to compose anything yet. So before I wrote anything I took time to ask other people about the assignment and thanks to them I was enlightened. The assignment was to write an essay about an information environment, and then the thing that popped out of my mind is a place where people could acquire and share information. There were two things that I thought about when I thought about information environment it was the school where I spend most of my time aside being home and the World Wide Web. These two environments are both environments where people could acquire and share information with other people who are also in these environments.

SCHOOL

Let’s talk about the first environment that I thought about which is the school. Almost all people like me acquire information and learning from school. The school is a place that is conducive to learning. It the second home of a child one he or she gets out of his/her house. Education is very important especially in a person’s growth, without it a man is empty. Although the school is not only place where we can learn but it is the most basic next to our home.

WORLD WIDE WEB

The World Wide Web is the network of all networks. Here you can find various and lots of information that you want to find. Almost all people have already encountered the World Wide Web especially those people who are constantly in touch with social networking web sites such as face book, friendster, twitter and the like. The internet is one of the strong medium for sharing and acquiring information and it is widely used as of today by people who want to share information or acquire information. School and the World Wide Web, the two environments are the two things that popped in mind but what really is an information environment?

INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT

What is an information environment? An information environment is a physical environment in general like a school. It can also mean or specifically mean our natural resources like lakes, streams, land and the like. There are also environment that contribute or has specific purpose such as a sports complex or a gym where you can do stuffs such as playing. An environment may also political aside from being physical or is not a physical environment. However in this case, the kind of environment that is being pointed out in this topic is the kind of environment that is both physical and political at the same time. It is an environment where ‘we’ the people in this environment can learn through acquiring information and the information that we get greatly impacts our lives.

I also got to get information about information environment from someone in school. An anonymous tipster told me that an information environment is an environment or an area where people like us or should I say IT professionals use and apply managements system and technology in a certain organization. An information environment represents an entire environment in which information systems are employed.

When I heard the definition of information environment I was really curious about it. Although I know in my mind that one day I will be able to be in an environment such as an information environment. To be honest this is the first time that I heard the term “Information Environment” and I am curious about it because I did not know that this kind of environment exists in an organization. If it really does then I want to see it.

As an Information Technology (IT) student the things that I could get involved at that are related to my course is being a programmer in a company, I could be a web administrator or a database administrator, a web developer, etc. all of these things come into my mind when I think about graduating and having a job, although I am currently influenced by music and I have to say that I am very, sophisticatedly and undoubtedly into it, I know someday I will still be able to utilize and make use of my knowledge in information technology. I have many interests pertaining to my course and there many possibilities that are available if I focus and get to it (hard and fast.)

My role in this environment is (I think) crucial because I hold or have the capacity to shift and make the information right or wrong or use it for good or bad. Although there is nothing to worry because I am a good hearted person and I would certainly use my knowledge for good and not use it to cause trouble or destroy anything. Information is important especially to those who would need it. I think my role or should “our” role because I am not the only information technology student being talked about here, is very important as to give the right information. Not just give the right information but also real information. The reason why I think that my role in this kind of environment is important is because I give or share the wrong information then the people who will acquire the information that I shared will surely get the wrong information. Would it be good if the people get the wrong information? I’m sure it is not.

We, the people who are responsible for giving the right information should be able organize information for the community. There should also be tools designed to support the organization or the community of knowledge. Providing a network which will facilitate an efficient access of information and documents is also one of the things that we must do. Knowledge really needs to be organized for a certain organization or else there will be chaos. Just imagine people who will be needing information for their task happen to get the wrong information or the inappropriate one I am sure there will be trouble. False and misleading information pose great threat to a company.

In coming up with this task we would surely encounter problems and challenges along the way. Challenges and problems are the axiom in performing a task. Challenges like maintaining the integrity of the information so that the information that will be shared is reliable and true. Another thing is the confidentiality of information. These challenges need to be addressed. As a person bearing the responsibility to address these challenges I will begin with my self. I will discipline my self to keep the information true and keep it confidential whenever it is needed. Starting from one’s self can be a determining act that could make a change. There will always be people who will try to mess up things and there will always be people who would do everything to fix it. This post will be cut short, this topic is really new to me and there are still a lot of things to be learned. I will update this post in the near future if I find something interesting and related to this topic.

Major Paper Update

2009-10-01T05:34:00.001-07:00

WhOooOoo! We have already submitted our major paper. I hope the grade increases though and I hope that our hard work really pays off. Good Evening

2009-10-01T05:20:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, if I were invited by the Dean of the Institute of Computing to attend a seminar – workshop on information systems planning together with some of the faculty of the Institute of Computing I would consider it as a big privilege and I would do my best to give my evaluation regarding the current information system of the school which was once outsourced and now shifted to in-house.

(Before I start I would like to define the terms involved in this post so that the ones who do not know may also know)

IN-SOURCE OR IN-SOURCING

From what I’ve posted in my personal blog in-house or in-sourcing refers to the business practice of using a company’s or organization’s own personnel, staff, funds and resources to produce a commodity or service for the company or the organization. This is in contrast to the production being outsourced or contracted out to another company. Organizations involved in production usually opt for in-sourcing in order to cut down the cost of labor and taxes because they would not to hire workers or outside service providers. This trend has increased since the year two thousand six (2006). Some organizations that shift or employ in-source are usually those who have been to outsource and was not satisfied with it. Some also think that through in-source they can have better people support and better control over the work outsourced by in-sourcing their work rather than outsourcing it.

OUTSOURCE OR OUTSOURCING

Outsourcing on the other hand is the agreement between two companies in which one company would provide its services to the other company that has usually provided in-house. Outsourcing has become a trend that is common in Information Technology and other industries wherein in some cases the entire information management of a company is outsourced. Organizations that choose outsourcing think that they could acquire a lot of advantages from it. Some organizations choose outsourcing because they get high reliability, less costs and high-quality services.

(Going on to my stand, by the way I choose In-sourcing for the university.)

Looking at the present situation of the information system of the school which has been shifted from outsource to in-source it would imply that the school was not contented of the outsourced system or the outsourced information system did not meet the needs of the school or maybe the outsourced information system was too expensive to maintain. Anyway, after reflecting about the current issue and after the sessions and sharing we had during our previous meetings in Management Information System 1 subject, I will take the position of in-sourcing. I have posted something about in-sourcing and outsourcing in my personal blog and I remember writing there that the decision of school to shift to in-sourced information system was not a good decision because they decided to shift abruptly. However, this time I would take my stand in in-sourcing the information system of the University of Southeastern Philippines. Why? Because this time we have time to evaluate the current information system of the university and since the current trend of the school is in-source. My decision to choose the side of in-sourcing is not solely because the current trend of the university but because this is a time to rethink. What if this is the first time that the school would acquire an information system, would it be in-sourced or outsourced?

I choose the side of in-sourcing considering the current situation of the school plus it gives a lot advantages like confidentiality of data, less cost, etc. However, I would like to imply that information systems planning takes time and I mean a long time to conjure something complex like an information system considering that there are steps or procedures that needs to be taken into account to be able to come up with an effective information system.
Why in-source? Let us first take into account the current situation of the university (University of Southeastern Philippines). The university lacks the budget to maintain funding an outsourced information system which was the trend of the university before. The university also has in-house staff, capable in-house staff that can be tapped to plan and create the information system of the school. Plus they already know the school’s system which makes them more adept. In-source or outsource has advantages and disadvantages and it matters on the situation of the organization or the company.

ADVANTAGES OF INSOURCING

I have identified advantages of in-sourcing, some of it came from me and some were searched through the internet.

Lessen Cost

I think that one of the big reasons why the university shifted to in-source is to be able to lessen the cost. Lessen the cost of hiring new personnel to administer the new information system. If the information system is in-sourced the people that would administer the information system are those who made the system. Plus the university would need to hire people who will train the personnel who will be in touch with the information system or the ones who will be using the information system because the staff that will create the system is already acquainted with it and he/she can also be utilized to train the other personnel without involving a big deal of money. Compared to outsourcing an information system you will need to hire a resource person who will train your personnel if ever the information system that you will be outsourcing is new to them, meaning they are not yet acquainted with the system. If it was in the case of a company or organization that is involved in producing certain products, in-sourcing will be a great advantage because these kind of business needs a big workforce and if they have the workforce they wouldn’t need to hire laborers from other companies and the like.

Better People Support and Control

In-house staff could train the personnel to be acquainted with the information system so there would be no need to hire a resource person who will be training the personnel in the university. On the time that the system will be implemented and deployed there will be times that the personnel using the information system will encounter problems that have not been encountered before. In this case in-house staff can quickly look into the information system to find out what is wrong and can also possibly fix it pronto. By this there will less time that the information system will be in idle state if ever it encounters problems compared to relying on the support from outsource companies which may not have a twenty-four hour available support for their information system if it encounters problems. Again this could also lessen cost of hiring someone who will check and maintain the functionality of the system and lessen the cost of maintenance. Control is one of the advantages of in-sourcing an information system because the ones who created the system will know how fix any problem that will be encountered in the information system. It is very important because without the ability to control, a lot of things will be affected including the performance and work of the personnel in the university. In the case of a business oriented organization or company the inability to control their own information system will greatly affect their business considering that their business relies on their system. If it so happened that they will encounter problems in their information system they would not know how to remedy it leaving the company idle and thus affecting their income too.

Confidentiality of Data

Because in-house staffs will be tapped to make the information system of the university there is a great reliability that the information or the data that will be used or involved in the system are kept within the school and maintained confidential. There may be a risk on the confidentiality of the data when you choose to outsource a certain information system because you may need to hand the data to them so they can transfer the data into the system that you or an organization purchased from the outsourcing company. In the case of a business oriented company or organization the confidentiality of data is a very important factor. Their data is considered as a vital element in their information system and if it falls in the wrong hands it could be the downfall of their company.

Promotes Direct Management

Most organizations would prefer direct management because they want to have hands-on control over their development in all aspects on their business. It is important because you compared to any other person or company is the one who really understands the business and flows within you company. It is much better compared to relinquishing or I may say hand over the control to an outsourcing company or firm who does not fully understand your business. In-sourcing allows you or the company to direct themselves and let their knowledge and direction guide the company to a more effective impact development process.

Timeliness

If you’re working on a tight schedule and you want you work to be done, you could just call your staff and have meeting regarding an urgent matter, a project perhaps. Then you could discuss timelines and because they are your employees they will surely abide the timeline. Plus you have an overview or update on the task that is being done and you will know what is happening, what is lacking and what is needed to be done. There are many scenarios where timeliness is involved.

There are many advantages and disadvantages in in-sourcing and even in outsourcing. My stand is based on the current situation of the university. This issue of in-sourcing and outsourcing has become a hot topic is forums and blogs. There had been many debates about this issue though it has been said that the choice between in-source and outsource depends on the current situation of a company or organization. I have a post similar to this one in my personal blog. The link to my personal blog can be found below. This post is open for criticism and I’m looking forward to add more information in this post.

Mus' Box: http://mus08.blogspot.com/2009/08/in-house-or-outsource-which-is-better.html

Assignment 6: Improvement of the Internet Connectivity in University of Southeastern Philippines

2009-10-01T02:51:00.000-07:00

Supposing that I am an IT (Information Technology) consultant or let’s say that I am already an IT consultant and I am hired by the university president to give my insights, idea, or suggestions to improve the internet connectivity of the school first, I would remind them of the importance of the internet, not only to the students but to the teachers and staffs as well. The internet has become a very strong medium of information and undoubtedly it has helped people, especially students, in increasing their knowledge. You can find all kinds of stuffs in the internet searching the world wide web, some say that the internet is pure truth compared to what people read in the newspapers and televisions because the news is manipulated by corporate guys to keep people living in fear (I actually got this from a couple of movies, a part of me tells me this is true and another part tells me it is not). Anyway, I just wanted to point out how important the internet is.

Before giving my suggestions on how to improve the internet connectivity of the school the first thing I would like to point out is that the internet would be made available and accessible in the whole school campus. What I mean is that the whole school campus would be provided internet connection through wifi. I do know that at the event when I give this suggestion the first thing that would pop out is the money issue or the budget. Setting a wifi connection in the whole campus would mean money, but considering the fact that there are many wifi connections strewn across the school campus, and I mean many, and these are not made available to everyone, especially the students of the school. What is the purpose of putting wireless networks scattered across the school campus but locking it by setting access codes so that the students couldn’t use it? Why not make it available to everyone where everyone can benefit from it because I do not think that the cost would increase by just removing the access codes.

USING HIGH END COMPUTERS

On to my suggestions (by the way I do not have much knowledge about improving internet connectivity, what I will be saying are those that I know of and those that I heard and researched.) My first suggestion would be to use high-end computers which also have high processing speed because sometimes it’s not just because the internet connection is low but the processing is slow. No matter how fast or how large your internet bandwidth is, the performance will still be poor. This solution could help improve the performance of the computers and to fully benefit the internet connection in the university. However, this solution is not practical because purchasing high-end computers would mean spending a lot of money, considering that a computer set costs a lot, this solution is not practical for the university to be implemented because honestly the university lacks the budget to purchase new sets of computers or is saving its budget for a more important cause. I only suggested this solution because it can also be a solution for the improvement of the internet connectivity.

REMOVING THE FILTERS

I have not actually proven that this is true but I want to put it because it does have some point. I have read something in the internet that the filters or the blocking of URL’s or websites can slow or degrade the internet connectivity. You can see it in the site that I included below. The article states that enabling web blocking can degrade internet connectivity up to fifty percent (50%). This has been happening especially in internet cafes because some are mandated to put filters so that the customers or users can not access pornographic sites. However in our case, the university blocks not only pornographic sites but also including web sites like download sites or social networking sites. I know that the purpose of the computer laboratories like the Nodal in the Institute of Computing and the computer laboratory in the university library is dedicated for academic use but we must not forget that the students do pay to be able to use these computers and the internet service. I also think it would be unfair or rather foul because even sites that do not have explicit content are also blocked. If the goal of the university is to prevent students from accessing sites that contain explicit contents the university could very well utilize servers like in internet cafes. I saw this kind of server where the one operating or administering the server can detect if a certain user is accessing web sites which contain explicit content because the programs or web sites being accessed from a certain computer can be seen in the server. The university could use this which will improve the internet connectivity and at the same time prevent students from accessing prohibited web sites by denying them access of the computer if ever a user accesses one. By this the internet bandwidth can be properly utilized and will not be put to waste. This could be a solution to improve internet connectivity in the university without spending a lot of money.

REEVALUATE AND REDO

The third suggestion would be reevaluate all factors concerning “internet connectivity”. There are many factors that affect how fast or how slow an internet connection is. These factors can be the network topology, hardware and software used, threats, etc. Network topology is the physical interconnections of the elements of a computer network. I have first encountered the term network topology during our data communications subject and from it I learned that the topology of a certain computer network could also affect the internet connectivity. Determining the proper topology for a certain computer network could improve and utilize of its element’s capacity. By means of determining the best topology for the computer network of the university it could improve the internet connectivity of the school. Hardware and software are also determining factors that affect internet connectivity. I think the school is currently using UTP and fiber optic cables which I may say are the proper cables to be used because it reduces noise (I also learned this from our data communications subject by the way). On the software side, the university could also use softwares that could speed up internet connectivity like WEBROCKET and SpeedConnect Internet Accelerator which I think was just released in the internet. Using these kinds of softwares offers advantages and disadvantages. These software speeds up your internet connection by maximizing your connection to its maximum potential because it adapts your modem to its maximum potential. However its advantage is that it reduces or rather degrades the quality of the interface which in the case of the students is still a good choice because I think the students would rather prefer good internet connectivity rather than good interface. There are also programs or applications that when used could slow the processing of the computer because it eats up the memory of the computer and when most of the memory is being used the tendency is that when a certain user opens a web browser the processing is slow and so the performance is also slow. Threats, these factors greatly affect computer performance. Threats like viruses, worms and malwares, programs that are written and made to destroy or spread havoc in computers. Since I was in first year college, whenever I use the internet service in the nodal I always encounter viruses and I always get to bring home viruses, worms and malwares whenever I save something in the flash drive. Now I’m in my fourth year in this university although my standing is still three and half years, I still encounter viruses and the like. Well it seems that suppressing the entry of viruses into your computer cannot be helped especially when you have internet connection but as long as it can be controlled it would put your computer to a safer state. In the case of the university where the budget is limited, they could always resort to practical solution to these threats such as maintaining an updated antivirus which could block and destroy virus and the like. This way, the performance of the computers would not be affected and the internet connectivity would be utilized to its utmost potential.

INCREASING BANDWITH

I actually forgot the current bandwidth that the university is currently employing and I would not fully recommend this suggestion but because it can also improve the internet connectivity of the university this suggestion still has a “say”. Increasing bandwidth could really improve the internet connectivity but at the same time it also has a great deal of money. However, if the university manages to increase its bandwidth but is unable to manage to change its computers to a high-speed computer the internet connection would still not be used in its maximum potential. The laboratories in the Institute of Computing has been currently upgraded but still it encounters the same problems as before but at least the processing does not take as long as before.

CHANGING INTERNET PROVIDER

If all else fails I think the last solution would be to change the internet provider. In choosing a good internet provider you would need to consider some things. The first thing you would need to consider is the bandwidth and the cost because the bigger the bandwidth the bigger the price. Bandwidth is the amount of data that downloaded by you using the connection. You would also need to know the appropriate bandwidth needed for your computer network. Second is the download speed, you would also need to consider determining the download speed that you need because the download speed depends on the location of your computer network. Third thing you need to consider is the contracts, you should be aware of it. One thing to look for is the insurance or the money back guarantee because you may want to ask your money back if you are not contented with the internet service. The last thing to consider is the freebies I think this is the most important thing to be considered. Customers must read other customer reviews of the internet provider that you might want. Reading reviews will give you insights about the internet provider and always remember that reading one customer review will not be enough.

Reference:

Web Blocking/Filtering

Major Paper Update

2009-09-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

READY TO BIND! After months of visiting our adopted company and constantly communicating with our interviewee in The Paper Tree we were able to finish our major paper. Our major paper, together with Franz and Roy, is undoubtedly ready for binding although it still needs some revisions. We still need to add up the matrix of costs for our recommendations for the information system in our adopted company. Thank you very much to my group mates, to our interviewee, Sir Arvin Meralpis and to our facilitator in MIS1, Sir Randy S. Gamboa. This is the first time I have posted something about our major paper, I wanted to post the other updates that we have made before we had our major paper checked but I was not able to. Like I said, I was disconnected or rather I just didn't have time to log-in. Although the major paper is finished I still need to finish all of my assignments for the forum or else all of my efforts will put to waste. hehe. Good day!

Disconnected

2009-09-24T01:28:00.000-07:00

Whew sorry for not being able to post new entries for the MIS subject I was out for many reasons. I know I'm wrong, I'm sorry though. I would also like to say sorry to our instructor in MIS subject, Sir Randy. New posts for the assignments are on its way to be posted this week. Good day!

Assignment 7: ICT Related Ares In PGMA's SONA 2009

2009-08-24T23:32:00.000-07:00

I did not actually saw or heard President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address last July 27, 2009 so I downloaded the full text of the SONA in the internet. When I read the text I found some areas related to ICT. There were many parts of the President’s SONA that were somehow related to ICT. However, these were the ones that caught me: The Creation of Department of ICT, Telecommunications issues, Best Fit Educational System, Technologies to Anticipate Natural Calamities, and the Fully Automated Elections.

Creation of ICT Department

This one caught me because I have been wondering if our country has a department which focuses on the issues related to Information Technology and the like. I remember reading “Let us have a Department of ICT” in the text of the Presidents SONA, it really caught my eye and made me read the full text. Part of this area was the BPO or the Business Process Outsourcing which enables our people to acquire work here in the Philippines and in abroad. BPO is a form of outsourcing that involves contracting of operations and responsibilities to a third party service provider. We cannot deny that our country, as I may say, has been left behind in terms of technological advancements (I don’t mean to demean my own country) but it’s what I have noticed. Compared to other countries that are in the first world, we should not be contented to be in this state, we should push through advancements to be in league with the first world countries. Our people are competent but I think we cannot acquire our edge without the aid of technology. I’m glad that our country is embracing technology and that we do not limit ourselves with what we have now. I know that some people are still resilient in resisting technology and honestly I don’t see the real reason why. I can just think of one thing, some people are just afraid to embrace technology because they don’t know how it’s done and how to use it and with an ICT department we can remedy it. 

Telecommunications

Under this area was the issue of the telecommunications, especially the expiry of loads and the controversial loss of load even the expiring date has not yet occurred. I think this is related to ICT because of the fact that almost all of the people in the world have a cellular phone and cell phone devices has now become a necessity which was once considered as luxury (I think) we cannot deny that electronic devices such as phones which we use to communicate with whom we want to communicate with are important and essential. If we are in the business, we need these devices to communicate with our business partners or customers. If we are just normal people we need these devices to communicate with our loved ones. Whatever we are, rich or poor, communication devices are pretty much important to us. Now the issue at hand is the loss of load, this issue greatly affects the people, especially the customers of the telecommunications network that use their services. I do not know if the ones responsible for the loss of load are the telecommunications provider, it may be because of those spam messages and promos which we do not need but I have personally experienced losing my load even when I haven’t used all of it and I know that I’m not the only one who has experienced it. I’m also glad that the government has decided to take the matter in their hands and made an appropriate action for it. Now, the expiry dates have been extended but there are still cases of load loss, but I’m still glad the government made and action. 

Best Fit Educational System

“Our educational system should make the Filipino fit not just for whatever jobs happen to be in offer today, but also for whatever economic challenge life will throw in their way” this line sure caught me because I want the people in the Philippines to be globally competitive and ready for the upcoming challenges. People should not always stick with traditions and should also consider innovations. In the past years I have heard news that our educational system is degrading and frankly I have witnessed students who are studying in schools but the amount of knowledge that they acquire is infantismal. We should have a best fit educational system for the new era of people to be properly equipped with the proper knowledge to be able to be competitive not only in the Philippines but also in other countries.

Technologies to Anticipate Natural Calamities

The Philippines is one the countries who is frequently visited by typhoons, storms and the like and these natural calamities have brought trouble in country not only in our economy but also in the lives of the Filipino people. It is good to know that our country is doing its best to acquire technologies that can help our lives and in this case, technologies that can help us anticipate incoming calamities and make us ready for it, considering the current state which is climate change. We really need technologies that could help us track typhoons and storms. I hope in the future we will be able to come up with devices that could all kinds of calamites like tsunamis and earthquakes because the people, especially those who live in calamity prone areas, can greatly benefit from these kinds of devices. 

Automated Election

Many people fear the idea of automated elections. Just a day ago, I heard news related to this issue which was, the country could face great trouble if the first automated election would go awry. They say if the if the automation goes awry the country would not have a new set of leaders and there will be failure of elections. The companies that are going to administer the automated elections are not new to automated elections because they have already done this before and thus, they have already tested and proven it effective. I understand that the people are afraid of this idea because it is NEW and they fear the possible negative effects. Is it really the people? Or just the people who are in position? I think we should consider the automation to be in the benefit of the people of the Philippines. I think the companies involved in this automation would not decide to push through automated election if they think it is not effective. I mean, they wouldn’t just make a machine that will count all the votes. They must have tested and run simulations with it. These companies are not dumb to be trekking into something that is not fathomable. Automation can greatly ease the work of the people in terms of voting and in terms of counting the votes. Wouldn’t it be a lot easier and quicker if the one who will be counting the votes is a machine? Plus it could lessen the possibility of cheating.

Assignment 5: Barriers In Implementing IS/IT

2009-08-19T01:22:00.000-07:00

In every organization, company or business it always aims to grow and improve the operation of their business or trade by means of optimization or requiring the aid of technology like computers. Now, in every innovation or improvement there is always what we call “barriers”. Barriers by definition is something that obstructs or separates, in the business or rather corporate world, barriers are the hindrance to their business growth.

I did not actually go to my adopted company, Concentrix, and interviewed them about the barriers that they went through in implementing their information systems and the barriers that they are currently going through. I recalled what I posted about the risks associated with business and IS/IT change and started thinking about the barriers. If I was the one to say about barriers in a company I think it would be the money or budget, the people in the business (the personnel and staff), the processes and the management, and awareness.

When it comes to business innovation or improvement the issue of money or budget will always come to play. It is one of the very important factors to settle with. Take the example of our school, the University of Southeastern Philippines, it is evident that the school lacks the budget to fund the improvement on the infrastructure, technology, etc. because every transaction involves money. Also, in a company, when someone proposes to implement something that could improve their operations like an information system, it would be hard to implement something like that if the company or organization lacks the budget to fund it and because it would surely cost a lot of money to be able to implement it.

There are many factors that should be taken into account when it comes to implementing and innovation in a company. For instance, the creation of the system, if they want to tap in-house personnel to make their system, or turning to outsource if they want to purchase a system that is already running and tested (creation means money). Not only that, they would need to consider the installation, maintenance, repair, training of staff and simulation to check for anomalies and these factors really involves a lot of money to be able to come up with a system. Looking at my adopted company which is Concentrix, I think that they are stable enough to be able to implement there IS/IT because they have been in the business for a long time and considering that they do have networks and other companies that are linked into their company, Synnex for instance.

When it comes to implementing IS/IT, the people who are going to use it are the personnel and staff of the company or organization. To make them knowledgeable and accustomed to the system they need to be trained. Now the one of the barriers in the implementation of the IS/IT are the inept skills or inexperienced personnel and staff of the company, maybe because they lack the training and seminars. Training and seminars are needed to keep the knowledge of the staff updated. We all know that technology advances are so fast that we need to keep ourselves updated in order not to be left behind.

Inexperienced personnel and staff usually are not acquainted to the existing softwares and development process and sometimes they do not understand it at all. They should be made aware or given the necessary skill and given a thorough understanding of the process to be able to perform well because personnel and staff are the workforce of the company thus, they are the ones who are always working with the system.
Without these trainings and seminars the successful implementation of the new system could not be achieved because of the inexperienced staff of the company which becomes one of the barriers in the implementation process.

Trainings and seminars should be given importance and should be made part of the policy whenever there are new employees to be hired or there are seminars and trainings regarding new innovations. In my adopted company, Concentrix, they regularly train their staff and it is part of their hiring process to give trainings before they hire employees. They make sure that they have experienced personnel and staffs to make sure that their business are run by capable and not inept staff. Concentrix is known to give their customers the best customer support which also suggests that they do have experienced staff to do their business.

Another barrier or hindrance in the implementation is lack of awareness of the management about IS/IT programs. How could the management think or provide the best solution to the needs of the company if they do not know anything about IS/IT? It would surely give a feeling like you’re company are being managed by unaware people or people who has not yet encountered new technology.

There should be a need to make the people, especially the management to be aware of the IS/IT programs in order to fully understand IS/IT and to be able to provide the best fit solutions to the needs and problems that the company are facing. IS/IT implementation is the process of adopting new organizational practices to address the problems of the company and the fact that IS/IT is an expensive and long term approach in addressing problem in the company and it usually takes a long time to realize the benefits of it.

It would not be healthy to the company if the management is not aware of IS/IT because of the fact that the management are the ones who are in charge of giving the decisions or final verdicts regarding implementations. Another barrier that could be identified if the management is not aware of IS/IT is the lack of support of the management in the implementation of IS/IT. Because they are not aware of IS/IT, the effect is that the management would most likely undermine or neglect initiatives or proposals regarding IS/IT. They would rather think that it is expensive and would give that proposal a low priority and eventually replace that proposal with something that is not even good enough rather than looking at the other side of things which is the benefit or benefits of IS/IT. Come to think of it, if you are going to propose for an innovation and you know that the management in your company is not aware of IS/IT, there would be an infantismal chance that your proposal would be approved.

Unaware management would most likely resist change in an organization, especially in the field of technology (we tackled about this ‘resistance’ during one of our sharing in the subject) because they think that they are already not capable of learning and that they are accustomed to their traditional ways. Resistance can be considered as a barrier in the implementation of IS/IT. Not to be offensive but most people in the management that most likely resist technology are those management composed of old people, but take note that not all old people are like this, just most old people (I’m not being rude). People who resist change feel threatened about change because they feel that they are considered obsolete and they would be replaced by machines, they do not know that change in technology or adopting the aid of machines does not mean neglecting the capabilities of a human being.

Another issue linking to the issue of resistance which could also be considered as a barrier in the implementation of IS/IT is the divisions in the company. Divisions, meaning organizations, groups, peers, people with the same insights, etc. it does not simply imply divisions like accounting division, etc. Groups are usually composed of people having the same values, goals, insights and interests. Some people call it unions in a company. When there are divisions and eventually there are conflicts between these divisions, the effect would be that these divisions would most likely resist each other’s proposal to change because their ideas contradict each other. It is just like the saying “What is moral to you may not be moral to me” the ideas and goals of the other group may not fit into the ideas and goals of the other groups, this issue can be labeled, in my opinion, organizational politics.

In my adopted company I do not know if there are divisions or unions in their company but I think that their management is fully aware about IS/IT because their business is made up of it. I certainly would not think that their management is not aware and does not understand IS/IT to be thinking that their company is one of the top call centers and customer support company.

Lack of time, this is also example of a barrier in the implementation of IS/IT. Lack of time or in other words, time pressure, is the process of meeting projects, demands on time and getting something that would not exceed the allotted budget. If a company does not consider financing as a problem then they certainly would have encountered time problems. There are projects that do not meet the given deadline for it because of unforeseen circumstances or for instance, other barriers. Happenings do not always come as how you planned it, there will always be anomalies. That is why a company must have a good plan as to the pre implementation process because it is a vital part of the implementation process. There should be ample time for the staff to work on a project, time which is workable and that is humanly possible and that before establishing time frames it should be agreed by the management and the people working on the project. Another way of avoiding time pressures is providing correct and optimized procedures so that the one working on the project will have a basis or a guide on finishing the project.

There many factors in the business that can be considered as barriers which I am not yet aware of. Maybe attitudes of the personnel and staff can also be taken into account. I would update this post if I would find something that can be added to this.

Personal Blog

2009-07-28T00:30:00.000-07:00

Just recently I made my personal blog. I made it because I wanted to separate my personal posts and use this blog for academic purposes, that way my teachers would not be confused by the entries that I will be posting in this blog. Please feel free to visit my personal blog: Mus' Box and leave comments if you like. Good day

Think Green Go Green

2009-07-14T23:18:00.000-07:00

These are some the URL’s that I browsed that talk about “Green Campus Computing”

http://www.dailyutahchronicle.com/news/campus-computing-comes-up-green-1.345643

This site talks about Center works to safety disposal of e-waste. E-wastes or Electronic wastes are those discarded, surplus, obsolete, broken, electrical or electronic devices. These waste cause great health and pollution problem because of the fact that these machines contain serious contaminants that could harm a persons health. In this site, it talks about how a certain organization can address this issue or situation. Andrew Reich, an IT architect was the one who explained the solution to this problem and said that the solutions are simple. In the bigger view, the solution is to have a group or a committee in an organization that will evaluate and check the sustainability of the electronic products in your organization, this way they can evaluate if a certain electronic devices that can still be salvaged and resold and the wastes shall be handled by guaranteed recycle experts so that the wastes can be managed properly, this design is called “Cradle-to-Cradle”. Our university can also adopt this design. The school could come up with a group or committee that would regularly check and evaluate the electronic devices of the school especially in the laboratories. If the devices in the laboratories can still meet the needs of the students then it does not need to be changed and if ever it needs to be replaced or upgraded then the group would know if the old machines can be resold or considered as e-wastes.

http://greencampus.winserve.org/greencampus/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=40

PUTTING YOUR COMPUTER TO SLEEP

Saving energy is one way of helping save the ecosystem and one way of saving energy is putting your computer to sleep when you’re not using your computer at the moment but you still working on something. This way the computer consumes less energy because it is in low power mode. When a computer is in low power mode the computer takes less time to wake up when you need to use it again compared to starting up from the “off” state. I believe this practice not hard to implement especially in laboratories in the university. In some cases, classes that are held in the computer laboratories are congested. For example, a class just finished their laboratory class and another class is about to use the laboratories just few minutes after the previous class so it is much better if the students will be asked to put the computers into sleep mode rather than turning it off, this way the university could save energy and lower the light bill.

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

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

This sight talks about sampling of new generations of technologies that promise to help colleges make their IT departments both more efficient and more sustainable, thus, addressing the problem of soaring financial and environmental costs of information technology. One of the devices that could address this problem is called the GreenLight Instrument. This instrument will deploy sensors and software that measure energy consumption, humidity, etc.

The goal is to encourage organizations to come up with strategies that can reduce electricity consumptions. For me, the university can apply strategies without risking costly equipments. It can be done through simple things like replacing AC to DC. One other way is putting schedules that would set the computers to off state when they will not be used so that it wouldn’t consume electricity. There are many ways to address the problem of soaring financial and environment costs. It all depends on how an organization handles it to come up with a solution to the problem.

COMDDAP Expo 2009

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

Last July 2 – 4, 2009, The COMDDAP (Computer Manufacturers and Dealers Association of the Philippines) Expo 2009 was held at the Grand Ballroom, Apo View Hotel, Davao City where some of the big computer companies showed their latest products and provide sessions or seminars for their viewers and clients. The event is open to all interested viewers especially to those who are interested in IT. However there was a bit of a snag because of limited seats so we had to register to be able to attend the sessions, our section registered on the sessions that took place in the afternoon of July 2, the first day of the exhibit. To be honest I was not able to register to all of the sessions on the first day so I ended up writing my name on a piece of paper just to attend the sessions.

The first session that we entered was about the ERIC DMS International System. ERIC stands for Enterprise Resource Information and Control and DMS stands for Dealers Management System. This system was developed by Jupiter Systems Inc., a 24 year old enterprise company which is a company that deals with automobiles. Mr. Celmer Santos was the one who presided the session and gave us an overview of their system. ERIC DMS is a system designed by Jupiter Systems to provide end to end solution for auto dealers. The system has a process flow composed of Pre Sales Features, Vehicle Sales, and After Sales. 

Some of the Pre Sales Features include Sales Lead Monitoring from Initial Inquiry to Actual Close. The system keeps track of leads, customers, from its initial inquiry until it buys a car. Sales Appointments, it is where the system keeps scheduled appointment of leads in the company, appointments include visiting the company and test driving a certain vehicle. Supervisor Review of Appointments, it is where a supervisor can retrieve or review appointments on its leads. Monitoring Sales Stages, the system also keeps data on a certain customer and the stages of its dealings and Keeping Call History. This feature of the system stores records on the call history of a certain customer. 

The second part of the process flow of the system is the vehicle sales. Some features of vehicle sales include Support of Sales of new and old vehicles which means a dealer can also sell second vehicles to his customer depending on the customer’s choice. Inventory Checking so that the dealer knows if a certain vehicle, part, or equipment is in stock if ever a lead orders something from the dealer. Vehicle Agreement Processing, keeping tabs of the dealer and customer agreement on the price, add-ons, etc. The system is also capable of processing receivables and payables from banks and insurance companies, whichever the client chooses.

The third part of the process flow is the After Sales. Features from this part are Customer Appointments, Operation Maintenance, Repair Orders, and Repair Estimates. The system is indeed an end-to-end solution for dealers. The system is also capable of monitor the performance of his or her technicians where the system allots time for a certain job to be done. For example, changing the engine of the vehicle would take two hours to finish, so system keeps track of the performance of a technician by means of checking in and checking out of the technician which is called job in and job out. The session took almost an hour and I noticed that my classmates were not so interested maybe because they couldn’t relate because they are not into cars. However, I also saw some of them who were into it not only because they are into cars but they saw the capability of the system and was amazed by it. 

I remember one the audience asked if they would adopt or use that kind of system, how they will transfer their data from their previous or traditional system to the new system. Will they do it manually? So Mr. Celmer said that the data would be inputted in an excel file to authenticate if the data are accurate and ready for migration and then it could now be transferred to the database. He did not explain it in detail but the questioner got his answer. 

The next session that we had was the introduction of the Hp Thin Client which was introduced by Mr. Leonard Zapa. I know many of the viewers liked this session because of the fact that freebies will given to those who can answer his questions. The first time I saw an Hp Thin Client I really thought it was a miniaturized central processing unit which is more powerful and compact. It was in this session that I realized that an Hp Thin Client is a computing device without a hard disk and cooling fan. I was pretty amazed by it. 

I was more amazed when the thin client features were shown to us. Hp thin client are reliable and easier to manage. They provide solutions to problems like loss of data, virus and malicious attacks that cripple the computer system and threat brought by natural disasters. These machines are reliable because it can used with a server or used like a desktop computer and when it is used with a server, it makes it more reliable because the machine acts as a front end for the end users but the programs a run from the server so if there would be natural threats like blackouts, your data will still be in tact because the data are in the server. It also provides many advantages which make it more interesting to use for corporate and non corporate people. Aside from its lockdown feature which makes it invulnerable to viruses is because when you reboot the system the changes that you made will be discarded and so does the viruses. It is also eco friendly and has low initial cost compared to desktop computers and not only that, it also has longer life expectancy than desktop computers. It only consumes 11 to 20 watts which is really low compared to desktops so it lowers the cost of paying the light bill. Thin clients are ideal for task based workers that only use two or more applications at a time. Basically the Thin Client poses many advantages for its users which make it ideal for business. 

After the discussion comes the most awaited part of the session, the question and answer portion. The questions were easy, if you listened, and all of the students who got the freebies came from USeP. I really didn’t thought that I was going to go out of that room with a freebie but I was lucky enough to be able to answer the last question which got me to given the 8gig USB. My listening and jotting notes really paid off. 

Here are pictures that I had during and after the event.

Voting Automation

2009-07-08T22:18:00.000-07:00

Election is a procedure that allows members of an organization or community to choose representatives who will hold positions of authority within it. Elections select local, state and national government leaders, this is a chance or an opportunity for the public to decide who will govern at these levels. To others, voting is a right but for me it is a privilege. This is a chance for the people to make choices about the policies, programs, and future directions of government action and at the same time, elections promote accountability although in our country, accountability has been an issue during elections.

Automation is a system of manufacturing designed to extend performance on certain tasks that is usually done by humans, and to control sequences of operations without human intervention. Automation is also used to describe nonmanufacturing systems in which programmed or automatic devices can operate independently or nearly independently of human control. An example of nonmanufacturing automation is in the field of aviation where autopilots and automatic guidance systems are used to perform various operations much faster and better than humans, but still, machines can’t replace humans.

Currently, in the Philippines, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) came up with an idea to automate the voting procedure of the 2010 elections to promote accountability and accuracy since accountability has been always the issue during elections. The Commission on election sought to seek the aid of automated systems so that the counting of the ballots will be done faster and more accurate than the usual and it could lessen the risk of cheating during the elections (at least they said so)

In order to achieve this goal, the Commission on Elections granted Smartmatic and its Philippine partner Total Information Management Inc. (TIM), the winning vote in their bid, to provide 80,000 vote counting machines at a cost of $152 Million. The group made a reasonable bid to be able to lease ample number of counting machines that would allow the Commission on Elections to finish the tally process in two days instead of the manual process which usually take weeks to finish. If the automation of the country’s national election pushes through, it would be the first in the Philippines and COMELEC officials hope it could promote reliability and eliminate cheating.

The automation of the election will be a big step for the Philippines to embrace IT or embrace contemporary ways of doing things by means of using technology instead of doing it in its usual manner. I personally have a positive outlook or point of view in this automation, not just because I am an IT student but because I want what’s best for my country. The Filipino people have been looking forward to a peaceful and honest election and I think that the automation could make that happen. This could be a turning point in the Philippine elections.

I personally support COMELEC’s campaign for automation because it poses many advantages. In the previous elections, voters write the names of their chosen candidates in a piece of paper and they are counted manually which is a system that is prone to cheating and often disfigured by violence. Even though after the counting of ballots have been done, winners were not known even a week after the balloting but in the new system the counting of ballots will be a lot quicker and more accurate.

However, critics/skeptics think that the automation might greatly degrade the accountability of the elections for the fact that it is a machine and it has an imbedded program so it is much easier to cheat by just tinkering the program of the machine. I think it is absurd to call such judgment because of the fact that calling such judgment greatly impacts the manufacturer of the machines and I think that no one can possibly tamper the program of the machines especially on the Election Day or prior to the election. The machines that will be used in the election is controlled by the manufacturer and COMELEC and that the only people that have access to the machines are those who are within their organizational scope or if they would have a specialist who will administer the machines. Thus, saying that if ever that the machines will be tampered those are the only people who will take the blame. I think that these people who initiated this campaign will not be the one who will break their code of ethics and try to tinker the machines for cheating. Also, this is not the first time of Smartmatic in terms of automation or electronic voting. Smartmatic has experienced administering electronic voting in other countries and 80 percent of the tally results were already available within or after six to five hours after the polls have been closed.

Smartmatic also has plans or emergency procedures in case of unwanted events. The company will be providing 40,000 technical staff nationwide that will help in administering the machines and they will be providing additional 2,200 machines to replace any of those machines in case any of the machines will be damaged or will have breakdowns. The machines will also be equipped with emergency power supply units in case there would be blackouts.

Recently, there was news about the automation being put to jeopardy because the Total Information Management Inc. which is the local partner of Smartmatic in the Philippines suddenly cut its ties with Smartmatic which gave the Filipino people and impression that the election will be done traditionally or it would be that we will go back to manual voting. There had been speculations that the government was behind the sudden withdrawal of TIM however, TIM denied this speculations and claimed that it was because of money issues. Now, TIM has reestablished their connections with Smartmatic and said that the automation of the 2010 elections will push through. Upon hearing the news about the withdrawal of TIM from Smartmatic it gave me an impression that the Filipino people would be denied of a chance to embrace the future and graze to the new era. I thought that those people who judge the automation badly are those people who have been swallowed by traditional ways and wish to stay traditional. I know that not all Filipino people are afraid to venture into the unknown and I know the people have been eager to evolve and grow and not linger into the past. Looking at the level or where the other countries are, we need to look at ourselves and think if we want to be left behind. I hope that the automation will push through and that there will be no problems that will stop it.

Risks Associated With Business and IT/IS Change

2009-07-06T23:38:00.000-07:00

To start with, honestly I wasn’t part of the group who made an ambush interview on Concentrix for our first assignment in this subject. Fortunately I was able to find my way into the group because one of my group mates was one of those who had the ambush interview and I asked and referred to his reflection or rather his assignment number one.

The adopted company, Concentrix, formerly Link2Support, is a call center operation in Davao which is a US – based Company located at Damosa I.T Park, Lanang, Davao City. Concentrix provides technical and customer support to clients. Their work force delivers knowledge based services that have one measure of success resulting in customer satisfaction. And from Concentrix.com, Concentrix maximizes the long-term value of our clients' customers with solutions that support the entire customer life cycle and provide a high return on investment. And, by delivering from our locations in Asia, Latin America, and the United States in 12 major languages, we give our clients the global reach essential for business success. Our results: satisfied clients, some with relationships of 12 years or more. My group mate told me that when they visited the company they only gave one questionnaire.

Moving on, when I referred to his blog, one of their question is “What is MIS in your company?” the interviewee told them that their MIS is the core of their company. It is the core because their business focuses or makes use of computers and their MIS is responsible for repairing, installing and troubleshooting their computers. Their MIS personnel are also skilled in networking and not only that, their MIS is also responsible for making their systems which does not only record data it also records voice. The next question would be the main topic for the assignment, “What do you think are the best practices in your department that you think contribute a lot to the success in the company?” I was not really expecting that the answer would be teamwork. I was rather expecting the answer would be their latest software or their method of doing the business. So the interviewee said that teamwork, constantly evolving, and the like are their best IT practices.

Teamwork, from the definition in Wikipedia, is a joint action by two or more people, in which each person contributes his or her individual interests and opinions to the unity and efficiency of the group in order to achieve common goals. Teamwork is one of the key to achieve success not just in business but in all fields such as sports and academics. Without teamwork it would be like playing basket ball five against one and it would be very hard to get the work done especially if that work needs to be done in a certain deadline. In Concentrix, their teamwork not only runs in their MIS department but throughout the whole system which makes them a company that has a system for success. I mean if there would be teamwork or if the people in the company work as a team, as one, then there would also be harmony in work and the tasks would be lighter compared to doing the task alone. The most successful or effective teamwork is produced when all the individuals involved harmonize their contributions and work towards a common goal. In the case of Concentrix, they all work for a certain goal and that is to deliver knowledge based services that have one measure of success resulting in customer satisfaction.

On to the second assignment which is “Based on the organization that you visited, what do you think are the risk associated with business and IT/IS change? (1000 words)” I think that if there would be a change or if a certain company like Concetrix would decide to make a change in their business and IT/IS, there would be good and bad effects of that change and considering the fact that they would be encountering a handful of risks in pursuing that change. An example of a change in is migrating from the current software to another one which is better or the latest software in the market. Many risks would arise in pursuing such change such as delaying the work of the personnel because of the reason that the personnel working in the company have already been accustomed to the current system or the current software and it would take time for the personnel to learn or adjust to the new software that they will be going to implement. Of course the new software that they are going to use is better than their current software so it would mean that the new software would have new features and commands that are not common to the personnel.

Also, the company would risk providing or investing resource for the training of the personnel to use the new software and they would have to pay other experts to train their personnel. It would cost the company money and it will also take time considering that they would have to migrate their data from the old software to the new one. They would also run tests and run error checking to their personnel’s performance before they could assure that their personnel have already adjusted to the new software. And if it would take time there would be a possible risk of losing profit but it all depends on how the company prepares for that change.
However, change in the business or IT/IS of a company does not only trigger risks and bad effects in the process it also has good effects. A certain company would not risk pursuing a change if they think that their system is perfect or stable. A company would always aim for the best and provide the best services that they could give to their clients. A change in a company and its effects would depend on the company on how they plan, manage and control it and if they really want that change.

http://concentrix.com/about.html
http://jmanlangit.blogspot.com

IS Leadership Roles

2009-06-23T23:12:00.000-07:00

IS Leadership Roles

Computer Science Corporation suggested six IS leadership roles which are required to execute IS's future agenda: chief architect, change leader, product developer, technology provocateur, coach and chief operating strategist.

Chief Architect

The chief architect designs future possibilities for the business.The chief architect's primary role is to design IT infrastructure to expand future possibilities for the business but they do not define the specific outcome. They design infrastructures that do not just provide todays technical services such as networking and databases but they also design the business components or objects.

Change Leader

The change leader is somewhat similar to the role of the resource allocator. They both allocate organizational resources but the difference between the two is that the change leader allocates or orchestrates the resources to be able to initiate and execute the change in the organization or the company. By its title itself 'change' its role is to initiate a change program that will be for the benefit of the organization for the future. Their roles include providing new IT tools and most importantly the change team who redefines or redesigns the roles, jobs, and workflow of the people to be able to bring about positive perception to its subordinates.

Product Developer

The product developer is the source of new ideas that could bring the organization closer to commercial success in emerging digital markets. A product developer recognizes the potential for performing key business processes. A product developer also acts as a negotiator, he/she must 'sell' the idea to a business partner and set up and evaluate business experiments together.

Technology Provocateur

The technology provocateur is the one who embeds IT into organizations business strategey. The technology provocateur works with the organizations business executives to bring IT and realities of the IT marketplace to bear on the formation of strategy for the business. A technology provocateur understands both business and IT to be able to integrate the two and they also understand at a fundamental level the capabilities of IT and how it impacts the business.

Coach

The coach serves as the teacher to acquire the skillset they will need for the future. The basic responsibilities of a coach is teaching people how to learn, so that they can become self-sufficient, and providing team leaders with staff able to do the IT-related work of the business. Coaches are solid practitioners of competence and they are responsible for the growth and development of the organization's subordinates

Chief Operating Strategist

the chief operating strategist is the top IS executive in the organization who is focused on the future agenda of the the IS of the organization. They have parallel responsibilities related to helping the business design the future and then delivering it.

Mintzberg's Managerial Roles

2009-06-22T18:21:00.000-07:00

Mintzberg’s Managerial Roles

Mintzberg’s thesis on nature of managerial roles involved observing and analyzing the activities of CEO’s of five private and semi public organizations. Mintzberg identified ten separate roles in managerial work and separated these roles into three subcategories: Interpersonal contact, Information processing and Decision making. The roles that fall into the category of interpersonal contact are the figurehead, leader and the liaison.

FIGURE HEAD

The figurehead, from the definition in Encarta, is somebody who appears to be the head of an organization or institution but has no real responsibility or authority. The role of the figurehead is the one who performs ceremonial and symbolic duties as head of the organization. The figurehead also performs social and legal duties which involve greeting visitors, signing legal documents, attending ribbon cutting ceremonies, hosting seminars, etc. (My perception) the role of the figurehead is crucial or important in an organization because he/she acts as a symbol of the organization which means that whatever the figurehead ‘possess’ reflects the image the organization.

LEADER

The leader is somebody whom people follow, somebody who guides or directs others by showing them the way or telling them how to behave. Its role is to foster a proper work atmosphere and motivate and develop its subordinates. The leader is also the one who chooses or selects employees that are to be trained. He/ she possess great respect from his/her subordinates which is the factor why people follow his/her lead.

LIAISON

The liaison, other may call them as coordinators, somebody who is responsible for maintaining communication between one group or office and another. A liaison develops and maintains a network of external contact to gather information which includes activities such as participating in meetings with representatives of other divisions or organizations. He/she acts as a channel of communication so that a certain organization maintains its relationship with other external organizations.

The other roles which fall into the information processing subcategory are the monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson. First in this category is the monitor.

MONITOR

The monitor is the one who gathers internal and external information relevant to the organization. He/she reads and scans trade presses, periodicals and reports. It also involves attending trainings and seminars and maintaining personal contact.

DISSEMINATOR

The disseminator, or in other cases ‘The P.I.O’, is the one who relays or transmits factual and value based information to subordinates of the organization. It somehow acts as an internal liaison which maintains communication with its subordinates. He/she reports to subordinates on the current events and issues in the organization. This role also includes sending memos and reports, informing its staff and subordinates of the decisions implemented by higher ranking officials.

SPOKESPERSON

The spokesperson is the one responsible for communicating to the outside world on performance policies, communicating and transmitting information to others. By saying others, we mean other organizations or companies. The spokesperson serves as a representative of the organization. They pass on memos, reports and information materials, participate in conferences/meetings and report progress. And on other occasions, spokespersons are usually the one who faces the media and answers all the questions according to their organizations decisions.

ENTREPRENEUR

The entrepreneur or an entrepreneur in an organization is someone who sets up and finances new commercial enterprises to make profit. They identify, design and initiate changes in the organization. They are usually the ones who have creative imagination which are also in touch with reality. They can identify new ideas and initiate improvement projects. Entrepreneurs are the ones who implement innovations in an organization for it to prosper in the future.

DISTURBANCE HANDLER

The disturbance handler (I call it error handlers of an organization) they are the ones who deal with unexpected events and operational breakdowns. They primarily deal with the disputes or problems and the ones who take corrective actions to compensate it. Their roles involve settling conflicts between subordinates and choose alternatives to counterbalance it and overcome crisis situations.

RESOURCE ALLOCATOR

The resource allocator is similar to a treasurer only they do not hold the money but instead they are the ones who control and authorize the use of organizational resources. Resources may include organizational fund, products, etc. They are usually the ones who decide on where to apply their resources. Their responsibilities involve drafting, approving plans, schedules, budgets and they set priorities.

NEGOTIATOR

The negotiator in an organization are literally negotiators, they participate in negotiation activities with other organization or individuals. Negotiators are excellent talkers because the nature of their responsibility is important that they should be able to convince their clients or other negotiators to accept their terms and place the status quo in their organizations side.

Sources:
http://www.provenmodels.com/88/ten-managerial-roles/mintzberg
http://management.atwork-network.com

First Day Funk (MIS: Learnings)

2009-06-22T02:46:00.001-07:00

Well, the first day turned out fun (as always). Sir Randy always has that attitude to make you smile even if hes not up to it. I didn't know that my other classmates would attend the 10:00 - 11:30 schedule instead of the 1:00 - 2:30 schedule. So I didn't have any choice but to attend the original schedule. At the start of the class I knew it would be fun not just because of the learning but also the bloopers and the sing and dance numbers of the late comers (and the virgins as well.)

First, we tackled what is M.I.S which our current subject. Sir Randy then asked us to define what is management, many answers was given by our classmates. He then said that management implies that someone or something needs to be managed, he/she or it is not capable of being independent. Management involves planning, directing, organizing and controlling. But he also stressed that people can not be managed properly because of the reason that we have feelings and we are not robots. One concrete example he gave to us was, if a parent tries suppress his/her child's emotions or feelings, the tendency is that his/her child would go against him/her. He then said that only things, processes, procedures, etc. can be managed, people are not managed but led, thus leading us to the next question "What is I.S?" I.S is the combination of IT (Information Technology) and People Ware. After defining M.I.S, he then strike a followup question "Why is it called M.I.S? Who manages the people ware?"

When I was enrolled in H.R.M, I heard some of my classmates (who were also enrolled in M.I.S) arguing about something. It turned out that they were arguing about their subject which was M.I.S so I listened. They said that M.I.S should not be the subject name instead it should be L.M.I.S which is defined as Leadership Management Information System. The equation of M.I.S is 'Hardware + Software + People ware', if people could not be managed properly why was it called Management Information System? Then recently I heard from one my classmates that it was called M.I.S because "Walay subject na ing-ana ingon ang CHED."

In my own opinion it was called M.I.S because the word 'management' in the subject name did not literally mean managing or controlling the people. M.I.S systems provide many advantages in an organization. These information technology tools can assist executes and the general workforce in performing their tasks. These systems are useful in data processing, strategy support and production of reports which can be effectively used in decision making. So M.I.S does not directly mean managing the people ware instead it gives people important, factual and usual information which could help them performing their tasks. Well that is my opinion (whats yours?)

Overall, I enjoyed the first day of our class. I hope and certainly do expect that there would be a lot of these in the next meetings to come. Before I end this, I would like to apologize to Sir Randy for not being updated on your current position in your organization. Honestly, last time I heard Sir Randy was the president of the IT educators in Mindanao. It was only at that moment I realized that Sir Randy was already the president of the IT educators in the Philippines (sorry sir) -End

Beautiful Summer

2009-06-16T20:49:00.000-07:00

Summer has already gone and I must say it was so wonderful. I had many good memories this summer, I took up my Programming 3 subject under Sir Dan Ratilla and I'm happy to say that I finally got passed it. I was lucky our instructor decided to teach Mobile Programming which I was already acquainted (that's why I passed). Last May 15, 2009, Krizza's cousin, Te Hannah was married to Ya Boyong. The ceremony was held at Saint Paul and after that was at Sunny Point. On that same day was also the annniversary of C5 Torres so I wasnt able to finish the event and I rushed to C5 because me and my band (Strings on The Shed) had to perform there. On May 17 we went to Hagimit Falls with Krizza and the whole family. It was cloudy and raining that day but I didnt stop us from enjoying the outing. When we got there we went on the top most part of the falls, just a level below the water source. I really must say that It was so deep and the water is so cold and that I forgot that I was swimming in a falls and not on a beach I didnt realize that I wouldnt float. Now summer has ended and another school year is ahead of us. So long to waking up late and doing nothing. Back to waking up early in the morning and attending classes. I do hope that this would be good school year for me.

Assignment 9: Human Resource and Personnel Management

2008-10-02T20:21:00.001-07:00

Human resource management (HRM) is the strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization's most valued assets - the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the business. The terms "human resource management" and "human resources" (HR) have largely replaced the term "personnel management" as a description of the processes involved in managing people in organizations. Human Resource management is evolving rapidly. Human resource management is both an academic theory and a business practice that addresses the theoretical and practical techniques of managing a workforce.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Human Resource Management 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.

WiseGeek

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

About.com: Human Resource

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

Human Resource Management (HRM) is a management approach that enhances your organisation's performance by optimising your employee's opportunities to be effective and productive. HRM activities include: planning, recruitment and selection, training, performance appraisal and remuneration.

Queensland Government

The definitions given by the authors shown above are basically the same or they have their definitions of Human Resource Management are similar. For them,the purpose Human Resource Management concerned with the welfare of the employees. These include:Organization Development, Trainings, Employee Motivation, Evaluation, Compensation, etc. They are also the same in pointing that HRM is a management approach that enhances a organization's/company's performance by optimizing employees

benefits and helping them give their best potential.

Assignment 8: The Interview

2008-09-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, this assignment was one of the toughest. I call it one because it was a great challenge and for me to interview the head of the personnel department of our adopted organization, The Ateneo de Davao University, Mr. Esmeraldo Lampauog. But we were able to finish it on time, thanks to Mr. Lampauog.

As what he said, Human Resource depends on the nature of the company. It can either be HRM, Human Resource Management or HRD, Human Resource Development. It can also be the combination of the two which is the HRMD, Human Resource Management and Development. none the less, these two categories are the same when it comes to giving benefits to their employees. These include hiring/staffing, training and developing, coaching and compensating their employees. He also said that a good management, especially the head of the department must know everything about the company/organization so that he/she understands every process from the lower to the upper part of the ladder. And if the head understands all of this, he/she also understands the work of the employees. Thus, enabling the head to know if there is lacking or if there is something wrong. And tracking if their employees are still at their interest and if these employees need help and development.

I personally agree with him, because in order to have good relations with your constituents, it is far better if you have started from the lower part before jumping to high levels. Managing the employees surely gives them a good place to work and makes them to be more productive. And I think thats one thing that I do not have.

ICEAN Festival 2008

2008-09-15T00:28:00.000-07:00

Our college festival is finally over. Perhaps it was one of the busiest days of the first semester, not to mention that we had to finish our Gantt chart wich we had to pass during the second day of the festival. I have to admit that I have not given my full attention on the said event but I did what I could to make the event happen. Two days after the festival was my 19th birthday. It was the happiest birthday ever, not because I received many gifts, but because many people remembered my birthday and most of all, I celebrated it with my family and Mus, which made more special. Seven days after my birthday it was time for her to leave for the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC) culural competition which was held at the Philippine Normal University in Manila from the 15th to the 18th of September. Those four days I think was the dullest days I had and although it was just four days, it felt longer(sigh). But now shes back and were back to our studies. Were in the middle of finishing our major paper in our Human Resource Management subject. Goodluck to us.

Finally!

2008-08-02T00:52:00.001-07:00

After days of finding a company/organization that can help us in our research, we have finally found an organization that has an Human Resource Information System (HRIS). Our adopted organization is the Ateneo de Davao University. We were lucky because one of members is the grand daughter of the previous president of the university so we didn't have a hard time there. I would like to thank the personnels in their HR department for accommodating us and for letting us have a glimpse of their database (although it was not supposed to viewed by anyone). Anyway thanks to them we were able to relay the information that we have gathered to the class and it was very uplifting because our classmates were able to understand and enjoy our sharing. But our projects and assignments in HRM does not end there. We still have three months of assignments and projects ahead of us. Not to mention we still have our Major Paper and the HRIS prototype for our adopted organization. we can do this!! ♫

Assignment 7: State of the Nation Address 2008

2008-08-01T00:16:00.000-07:00

Last July 28, 2008 Monday, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo addressed her State of the Nation Address (SONA) that was aired on all stations. unfortunately I was missed it because I was at school or maybe I just didn't want to watch and hear her SONA. When I got home I was able to take a glimpse of her SONA because my father and I was watching the news. The things that I remembered in her SONA was about the VAT, Jobs for the Filipino people and that the text messages were brought down to 50 centavos per SMS. Then our instructor asked us about the SONA of the president and none of us were not able to answer. So I ended up reading an article in the internet about the SONA of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

"To address these global challenges, we must go on building and buttressing bridges to allies around the world: to bring in the rice to feed our people, investments to create jobs; and to keep the peace and maintain stability in our country and the rest of the world. Yet even as we reach out to those who need, and who may need us, we strive for greater self-reliance. " - Philippine Inquirer

This is one thing that I found interesting and I think that if the Filipino people will realize this it will or it can somehow improve our way of life. President Arroyo said that everyone seems to be a victim, rich countries and poor, though certainly some can take more punishment than others. We are not just the ones suffering from the price hikes of oil, high food prices and looming economic repression. She also said that "food self-sufficiency; less energy dependence; greater self-reliance in our attitude as a people and in our posture as a nation." We should not blame the government for our suffering but instead we turn to ourselves and become self-reliant. If the government succeeds in bringing in the needs to feed our people and investments to create jobs then many people will have the opportunity to have jobs, then they will be able to sustain themselves. Thus, improving their way of life, rather than blaming it all to the government.

Another thing is about the VAT. She said "Take VAT away and you and I abdicate our responsibility as leaders and pull the rug from under our present and future progress, which may be compromised by the global crisis." Because of the VAT, Investors have learned to trust us even more. She also implied that if the VAT will be taken off, it will lessen the trust of the investors and the prices will eventually rise again thus giving advantage those people who are in the upper class. If that is the positive effect of VAT, that it will lure investors in our country, it also means one thing. More jobs for the Filipino people.

One more thing that I found interesting in the presidents SONA is when she said "We have come too far and made too many sacrifices to turn back now on fiscal reforms. Leadership is not about doing the first easy thing that comes to mind; it is about doing what is necessary, however hard." I think this is one of thing that Filipinos must understand. I also think that it is related to Human Resource Management because in this field tough decisions are needed to be made. We should realize that the easy way out is not always the necessary thing to. We may find that there are things that are hard to do because it might affect the lives of the people who are around you but are necessary things to do for the benefit of all. And I think that if people will think this way it may also help them improve their way of life.

Reference:
  http://www.inquirer.net/specialreports/sona/2008.php
  http://www.inquirer.net/specialreports/sona/archive.php

Assignment 6: Make a reflection on this statement .. "Human beings are the most important, potent and critical, resource of any organization, and yet

2008-07-17T01:39:00.000-07:00

Yes human beings are the most vital element of any institution yet it is neglected and not given enough importance. Sad but true, (like in our school). I think other institutions give less attention to this matter because they feel that machines are more important than human beings, well its not true because humans are the ones who create and control machines, without humans machines are nothing. Human resource is a vital part of any institution, as what Mr. Jethro shared to us, "A company can not survive without its Human Resource". Human resource is the workforce of a company and it should be given importance. Institutions should prioritize their HR because this element is a factor that bring a company to success.

Assignment 5: Why do you think HRM is included in the BSCS/BSIT curriculum?

2008-07-17T01:38:00.000-07:00

The Human Resources Management 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. Activities also include managing your approach to employee benefits and compensation, employee records and personnel policies.

I think that Human Resource Management is included in the IT/CS curriculum because as students who are aiming to be professionals, we should be aware of the personnel policies which conform to current regulations. We should also be aware of our benefits and rights as a personnel working in a corporation or a company. I think this is included because in the future we will be working in companies and human resource is a vital element for a company to survive. And in order to globally competitive IT professional we ought to have knowledge about Human Resource.

Assignment 4: What do you think will the 21st -century corporations look like?

2008-07-17T01:36:00.000-07:00

A corporation, as defined in wikipedia, is a legal personality, usually used to conduct business. It exists as a product of corporate law, and their rules balance in the interests of the shareholders that invest their capital and the employees who contribute their labour.

As what I have observed, the modern corporations have given big importance to their human resource because it plays a vital role in a corporation or in a company. Corporations nowadays give priority to their hiring standards, they train, monitor and evaluate their personnels so that they would able to find and bring out the best in their personnels. As what the reporters said, "A modern company cannot stand without human resource." People work together in a corporation to produce. In modern times, corporations have become an increasingly dominant part of economic life. People relly on corporations, for their goods and services, for the value of the pensions, for economic growth and social development.

But as what I have observed in some movies, I think that in the future, companies or corporations would start to disregard their human resource and machines would start to take over. This is what some companies are trying to do. They replace their personnels with mahines because machines, although expensive, they are reliable, accurate and fast. While as to the personnels, you have to give them their monthly salary, sometimes they pose great threat to the corporation unlike machines. (Well this is only my idea).

Assignment 3: Downsizing

2008-07-17T01:35:00.000-07:00

In a business enterprise, downsizing is the reducing of the number of employees on the operating payroll.
Downsizing also distinguished from a layoff, where downsizing is the permanent downscaling of employees and
a layoff is the temporary downscaling of employees where they can be rehired.

An example of a company that has undergone downsizing is MCI. Last June of 2004, the company has eliminated
2,000 U.S. sales jobs as part of a cost-cutting effort in the face of increasing competition, declining revenue and greater
reliance by consumers on e-mail. After the latest series of job cuts, the MCI workforce has dropped to 40,000 from its
its 56,000 workforce.

The MCI spokesman Peter Lucht said that the layoffs were necessary because of "realities in the telecommunications
marketplace, including federal legislation that has resulted in 62 million people joining the 'Do Not Call' list . . .
and increasing use of e-mail."

MCI announced job cuts of 1,700 in January; 4,000 in March; and 7,500 in May. The company said in May that it lost $388
million during the first quarter of this year, compared with a profit of $52 million in the first quarter of 2003. MCI reported
revenue of $6.3 billion in the first quarter, compared with $7.2 billion in the first quarter last year, a 12.5 percent decline.

The cause of the downsizing was the increasing competition, declining revenue and greater reliance by consumers on e-mail.
The downsizing was also not surprising because other local phone companies are being very aggressive in taking significant
market share away from MCI and AT&T. - F. Drake Johnstone

online sources:

www.WhatIs.com
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci759501,00.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6672-2004Jun25.html

Assignment 2: Using the internet, examine five(5) different on-line job services and write a brief evaluation of the services and which do you like be

2008-07-17T01:33:00.000-07:00

Online Acquisition Marketing Coordinator

Assist in the maintenance and growth of various online marketing campaigns via numerous web channels
Participate in the development and implementation of new ideas to generate profitable enrolls via non-traditional partnerships and online media
Create and submit new project requests for online creative, site changes, new offers, etc

Online Sales Analyst

Monitor and track online (Sales, Advertisement, and Website) performance by formatting raw data from Sales Management, Web Analytics, and Advertising systems into recommended formats for analysis & clarity
Ensure integrity of data by validating data sources
Automate reports generation process by partnering with internal departments and developing standardized, repeatable processes

Online Community Manager

Serve as the primary point of contact for prospects
Serve as the primary point of contact with members for satisfaction and retention
Manage the day-to-day operations of the community in conjunction with marketing strategies and tactics
Timely and accurate communication and reporting to team
Timely and accurate web site updates

Senior Online Content Strategist

Analyze a project’s and/or our sites’ messaging needs and develop a strategy to meet those needs
Develop a content creation plan
Write edit, post and proof new and current web content
Develop a style guide and content maintenance plan

Online IT Specialist

provide customer and network administration services such as passwords, electronic mail accounts, security and troubleshooting

I really like best the Online IT specialist job because not only it was really the job really related to my course but i has also the job that i can earn a lot..

reference:
http://hotjobs.yahoo.com

Assignment 1: Job Description

2008-07-17T01:29:00.000-07:00

Job: Web Developer/Programmer

Web Developer  

A Web Developer is responsible for creation and design of clients’ websites according to specification.
Responsible for developing innovative, reusable Web-based tools for progressive 
online activism and community building.


Programmer 

Work with the user on development of the software specification. Ability to create and document a conceptual and detailed design 
and write a code based on a conceptual description of the business logic.

Duties and Responsibilities

    * To design and develop the corporate website ensuring strong functionality and optimisation
    * To design and develop relational database systems and their web interfaces.
    * Responsible for integrating the SQL Server database with the company website.
    * Responsible for the design of company web pages, including graphics, animation and functionality.
    * To develop web page infrastructure and application related to pages with more advanced graphics and features.
    * To monitor web server and site technical performance.
    * Convert raw images and layouts from a graphic designer into CSS/XHTML themes.

Required Skills

    * Graduate of BSIT/BSCS or a related field, or significant equivalent experience
    * Has experience with HTML/XHTML and CSS
    * Has  minimum Web programming experience, including PHP, ASP or JSP
 * Has experience working with relational database systems such as MySQL, MSSQL or Oracle and a good working knowledge of SQL
    * Development experience using extensible web authoring tools
    * Self-starter with strong self-management skills
    * Ability to organize and manage multiple priorities

Online References: 
  
  http://www.echoditto.com/node/1326
  http://www.cvscreen.co.uk/JobDescription/WebDeveloper.Html
  http://www.iqrc.com/ProgrammerJobDescription02nobenefits.htm