Archives March 2017

Outsourcing is a process, such as manufacturing anything or product design, to a third-party company. Outsourcing often results lowering cost or making better use of time and energy costs.

Offshore software development outsourcing has led to dramatic industry growth around the world.

There are some few but most important factors that led big companies to outsource their software application development to offshore companies.

These factors are like better management at small cost, good quality products in very low cost etc.

Eastern countries like India etc are the good market places and number one choice due to cheaper human capital, very skilled professional, rich resources and low processes cost etc. Due to these factors India and some other Eastern countries are the first choice of big companies.

Around 40% of the Fortune 500 companies including Lucent, Microsoft, Oracle, and Motorola etc are leveraging the outsourcing model.

Companies are outsourced and hire consultants in order to maintain a flexible workforce.

If we will analyze overall strategy like failure and success we will find overall the offshore outsourcing effort is a successful idea.

The main Objective of Outsourcing is to maximize the ROI (Return on Investment)

There are some points that are very important while doing offshore software outsourcing.

You should remember while doing offshore software project outsourcing:

• Proper synchronization between onshore and offshore team.
• Better time management.
• Quality of the end product.
• Better growth opportunities. etc.

Eastern Software Systems A SEI CMM, Level 5, ISO 9001: 2000 Certified Company is a Low Cost Outsourcing Company, Offshore IT Outsourcing Company.

Source by Hem Singh

Choosing the best printer for your application goes hand in hand with selecting the correct software.  Start by determining which versions work with your machine and whether or not you should spring for an upgrade to the latest package with all the bells and whistles.  All three of the options reviewed below can be used with several different printer brands. Remember to talk with a knowledgeable customer service representative before finalizing your purchase.  Software is almost always a non-returnable commodity so a little advance research really pays off.  Most of today’s ID formatting options are user friendly and integrate with products such as Microsoft Access for easy data management.  You generally have the option of purchasing your digital camera separately if you wish.  Just take a moment to ensure compatibility by locating the TWAIN compliant specifications on the box. 

Datacard Truphoto Solution with ID Works

This is a great starter kit at a very affordable price.  If your company is launching a brand new ID badge protocol on a small scale, trying this product gives you the opportunity to familiarize yourself with the basics before adding more complex modules.  The drivers and software come together in this setup so you are ready to install without a lot of hassle.  Templates are also included so you don’t have to build your own card formats from scratch, and the user interface is easy to navigate.

The Truphoto Solution package brings you a camera that is specifically programmed to give you increased controllability and image quality when used in tandem with your PC.  Special features such as auto-capturing/cropping photos make the ID creation process a snap.  Exposure and focus are also automated and advanced enhancement features can deal with common problems like red-eye to ensure a sharp finished product.  You receive a tripod and backdrop with your purchase to get you up and running in no time.

EPI Suite Classic

Mid-size clients often select the EPI Suite Classic as their preferred ID badge solution.  This program comes standard with a variety of card designs to choose from and allows users to create custom designs for any application.  Batch printing is made simple with this system giving organizations the ability to reissue and update cards efficiently for mass enrollment processes.  There is no limit to the number of records you can store, so this product will continue to serve you well even as your company grows.  If you buy a new printer, the software can automatically reformat all of your existing designs to fit the new equipment – potentially saving you hours of work.Password protection, multiple user accounts, and special printing effects make this an excellent choice for secure ID creation.  Bar coding and mag stripe encoding options come as plug-ins for this package so you can upgrade easily if you want to add these features.  A face-finding camera tool and one click image transfer speed up the entire production process.  You can even add additional images such as fingerprints and digital signatures to take your identification strategy to the next level.  Finally, the report printing features make auditing your current database swift and accurate.

Asure ID Enterprise

This top-of-the-line, user friendly software groups the options you use most often into readily available tool bars to increase the efficiency of your system.  The program also features fly-out menus and floating windows that can be easily dismissed once you are through with them – keeping your monitor free of clutter.  Clickable tabs mean your various screens are within easy reach at all times making navigation intuitive. 

The Live Link option allows you to print cards with data freshly uploaded from your external HR or security databases to ensure that your information is always current.  An internal database is also included if you wish to create a self contained process, or you can mix and match your sources.  iDIRECTOR  is available for smart card applications so you can streamline this advanced data storage and communication technology into your workplace.  Memory management and encoding application jobs are dealt with in a single pass using this deployment module.

This premier software is packed with advanced options that are compatible with several high volume printer brands, but this is truly the ideal vehicle for creating IDs with Fargo systems.  It is designed to be integrated with the OnQueue decentralized printing platform which can interface with up to 20 printers at once.  This allows you to add new equipment to your fleet without having a separate PC dedicated to each printer.  It also tracks when and where each badge was created to promote accountability and security.

Source by Daisy Mccarty

Trying to convert xml files to pdf properly can be quite frustrating as there are many solutions out there that not always fulfill what they promise. You probably already know that pdf is considered the industry standard – it enables you to cross-platform document exchange, for example, word processors files, graphic based files, and many other file types. Want to get the most out of this unique technology? Follow this quick report and i’ll show you how this can be done at minimal effort.

Basically, this popular portable document format technology enables you to ‘print’ any file you choose into a universal virtual ‘electronic paper’, so you can distribute your files to anyone and they would always look identical no matter where they are being opened. We can clearly find various advantages with this process, suppose you’ve just finished writing an ebook by using your favorite word processor and by using a specific font – it’ll attach all fonts that you’ve used, no matter what fonts are installed (or not) on the other systems of your viewers.

Being able to convert xml files to pdf requires you to find a professional software – you must verify that it enables you to generate standard PDFs. When searching the internet you’ll be amazed with how many solutions there are in this field, there is one thing you need to do – that is ‘filtering’ out those that do not provide you with several basic and important features. Before you install anything on your computer verify the following: it should enable you to ‘Print’ any file from its original application via a printer driver to PDF format, and it must be compatible with Adobe Acrobat’s most updated version.

The best way to check if a tool can properly enable you to convert xml files to pdf is to carefully see if they offer free trials without any further commitments. See that you can easily contact the manufacturer for any questions or support. There is one other thing, you need to see that the solution you choose suggests security updates, this way it keeps you immediately updated whenever there are any changes with adobe’s pdf format.

Source by Tim Danenberg

Quickbooks EDI Integration with E-commence shopping Cart with QuickBooks , Where your online solution which may be Amazon, Ebay, your customized shopping cart with Quickbooks. EDI solution for QB, helps businesses automate their 832 Price/Sales Catalog Often used to transmit UPC’s to the retailer or 3rd party catalog, with description and sometimes MSRP. 846 Inventory Inquiry/Advice Used to notify a trading partner of on hand inventory. 850 Purchase Order 852 Product Activity Data Provides point of sale information. 855 Purchase Order Acknowledgment PO Acknowledgment or Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) Order. 856 Ship Notice/Manifest Notifies retailer of shipment and it’s contents. 860 Purchase Order Change Request 864 Text Message Sometimes used to transmit EDI errors, can be used for general information 867 Product Transfer and Resale Report 869 Order Status Inquiry 870 Order Status Report. Powerful software designed for QuickBooks with extensive inventory control, warehouse management, CRM, purchasing, eCommerce, sales order management, EDI, barcode, route sales, field service and more. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) solution. Channel Integration allows fast processing of large groups of EDI orders through QuickBooks. Our solution connects with retailers & transfers of EDI documents. Channel Integration’s Advance Shipping Notification (ASN) Wizard is a simple and customized solution for collecting additional data required for ASNs. Automatically generate invoices in the QuickBooks System when Electronic Invoices are created. If you’re one of the millions of small businesses using QuickBooks and running an online store, you’ve come to the right place. Automate your business processes with Channel Integration’s Quickbooks Integration solution for use with QuickBooks.

You can post orders into QuickBooks with a single mouse-click! Better yet, use Channel Integration to synchronize your online store inventory with QuickBooks. Channel Integration integrates with QuickBooks Merchant Service, Authorize.net and PayPal so you can process payments. Channel Integration also helps you generate shipping labels with USPS, UPS WorldShip, Endicia Dazzle or Stamps.com.

Channel Integration’s Quickbooks EDI Integration Solution is a state of the art hosted EDI solution

Source by Sarab Singh

What is AVI?

AVI is an abbreviation for Audio Video Interleave. AVI file is a container of audio and video data that allows synchronous audiovisual playback. It is the oldest video format. There are a lot of AVI codec is created by both vendors and individuals. So now there are hundreds of AVI files that look similar but are completely different inside.

What are AVI advantages?

1.      Excellent fidelity of the audio.

2.      High compatibility with VirtualDub and Windows Media Player.

3.      Advanced DV-AVI standard is compressed to conform with DV standard.

4.      Choice of codecs allows experience with different results.

5.      Plays in mainstream media players such as Windows Media Player.

6.      Can be used as a starting point to create playable DVDs.

7.      Does not require any special hardware or software.

8.      Widely used in business such as advertisement and promo videos.

AVI drawbacks

1.      The codec used to create your movie is required in order to view it.

2.      Often produces larger file sizes than other file formats.

3.      Some codecs take a long time to create your AVI movie.

4.      Some codecs produce reduced visual quality.

Where AVI can be applied?

AVI files is supported by different platforms: Windows (Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player, VLC Media Player, Winamp), Mac OS or Linux (VLC Media Player, Xine Multimedia Player).

Well, AVI has both advantages and disadvantages, choose it or not all depends on your purpose. And if you have videos in video formats other than AVI format and still want to convert them to AVI, then you need an AVI converter software to do the whole job for you. Here I recommend a qualified one for you: Leawo AVI Converter. It is a totally clean and handy AVI converter which can convert all the available videos to AVI with multiple practical features.

And you can go facebook to have some information about Halloween promotion

Source by zengkerry

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DQ Global launch innovative platform for complete Data Management

Fareham, United Kingdom – December 1st 2008: DQ Global, the experts in data quality improvement, announced today the introduction of its highly anticipated DQ360; the new dynamic data management application framework for delivering data you can trust.

Launching globally in January 2009, the DQ 360, unlike present-day stand alone data quality tools, is centred around an easy to use and intuitive interface to which task related snap-in components are introduced. Each snap-in is capable of interoperating with the DQ360 framework and any other snap-ins, allowing users to have complete control of their data flows and tasks throughout all processes.

Developed in the latest Microsoft.NET, WPF and Silverlight technologies for performance, flexibility and future proofing; the DQ 360 provides an unrivalled platform for linking multiple disparate data sources to deliver Single Customer View (SCV) and Master Data Management (MDM) capabilities without having to port data to a single database or data warehouse.

“The DQ360 is an exciting addition to the data quality marketplace and I believe it’s a paradigm shift in the way our clients will all go about their Enterprise data management tasks,” said Martin Doyle, DQ Global CEO. “Furthermore, our 200+ active Match software customers will be upgraded for free to the new framework. This has been a long time coming but I can assure them it will be well worth the wait.”

The DQ360 infrastructure incorporates all the familiar data cleansing tasks: de-duplication, address correction and verification, formatting and standardisation, suppression and enhancement along with a host of advanced data management capabilities including: Data Profiling, 3rd Party data validation, active master data management, customer data integration, dynamic single customer view, data monitoring and KPI reporting.

DQ Global will be holding free web events to introduce DQ360 to customers and the data quality marketplace throughout January and February of 2009.

About DQ Global

With over 10 years’ experience in data quality improvement, DQ Global specialises in easy to use, database-independent, data cleansing software which saves money and provides a platform for better informed decisions. Solutions range from simple desktop, through larger departmental databases to complex enterprise-wide single customer view and master data management initiatives. Head Quartered in Fareham, Hampshire, UK; DQ Global also has regional offices in North America and South Africa serving over 500 clients worldwide, including: Toshiba, Harvey Nichols, Standard Charter Bank, Pfizer and Siemens. www.dqglobal.com

For more information about the launch of DQ360 and the upcoming free webinars, please contact Michelle Soper-Dyer

Tel: +44 (0)23 9298 8305

Email: michelle.soperdyer@dqglobal.com

Source by DQ Global

Microsoft Dynamics GP, or former name Great Plains Software Dynamics/eEnterprise is currently available on MS SQL Server platform only. In the past this ERP application was available on Pervasive SQL and Ctree, including version for Mac (server was typically hosted in Windows hardware with Ctree/Faircom database). If your GP was successfully implemented for your company, then from time to time you should expect help in data recovery and other scenarios. Let’s review the most typical cases:

1. Batch Recovery. When user posts batch in GP, she or he should be patient and do not interrupt the process, as posting has several phases and it travels from originating module all the way to and through General Ledger. If you are not deploying Posting Server, then posting process is controlled by GP user workstation with partial control transfer to SQL Server (however it typically gets control back as the work is finished in the current module). This probably explains why if your computer suddenly stalls due to internet surfing or other activity, and posting is not finished, then you will receive locked batch, which crashed in the middle of the way. GP interface has batch recovery mechanism, but as you could expect – not every batch can be recovered by it, especially if posting was completed in original module and then interrupted on the way to GL.

2. Batch table: SY00500. This table in company database if where you as SQL programmer begin the recovery process. The first step is to unlock the batch by changing to zero posting status. Then you are typically trying to repost this batch again and if you are lucky then this is the end of the story, however if batch fails again, the easiest way is to unlock it again and then delete. When you delete the batch you should reenter transactions and post new batch as you would normally do

3. Complicated posting interruption. If above recommendation doesn’t work, you should rescue to professional GP technical consultant help, or restore database from backup if business conditions permit

4. Security and modified reports. This is the second in row of popular tech support cases. Here is what is going on: GP Dexterity allows you to modify existing report, something like SOP blank invoice form, where you can add your company logo, change fields positions, etc. If you do it on one workstation without changing default REPORTS.DIC path in Dynamics.set file, then if you would try your user login on another GP workstation, your modified report will not be found, as at another workstation default path to the above dictionary will be considered as local. And now if you try to print invoice – you will get error message report not found

5. Pervasive SQL and Ctree data repair techniques. If you are on MS SQL, then you use query analyzer to fix your records. In the case of old DB platforms relatively simple way of doing data recovery is by deploying Microsoft Access and creating linked tables there.

Source by Andrew Karasev

Introduction

An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system covers the techniques and concepts employed for the integrated management of businesses as a whole from the viewpoint of effective use of management resources, to improve the efficiency of an enterprise. They have many advantages both direct and indirect. The direct advantages include improved efficiency, information integration for better decision making, faster response time to customer queries etc. The indirect benefits include better corporate image, improved customer goodwill, customer satisfaction, and so on.

Many organizations and businesses in the world today as part of their strategic development plan, advocate for ERP solutions which would help to re-engineer their business processes in order to accomplish their long-term goals.

The ERP market is very competitive and fast growing market, which is attributed to three primary factors:

a) ERP vendors are continuing to expand market presence by offering new applications such as supply chain management (SCM), sales force automation, customer relationship management (CRM) and human resource.

b) To sustain their rapid growth, ERP vendors sell more licenses into their installed base.

c) While ERP originated in the manufacturing market, ERP usage has spread to nearly every type of enterprise including retail, utilities, the public sector and healthcare organizations.

Among the industry players include SAP (Systeme Anwendungen Produkte), Oracle, QAD, SSA, Jenzabar, Datatel, Peoplesoft, Baan, JD Edwards, Scala, Navision, Sungard just to mention but a few. Even within themselves they categorise each other into High-end and low-end range. In Kenya a cross section of companies are indeed on the warpath of undertaking or planning to invest in an ERP business solution. The future will see fierce battle for market share resorting to mergers and acquisition for strategic and competitive advantage.

There is much hype when the vendors are out to move their products, and will always sell and tell you about their success stories and how you will leapfrog into your vision. They never tell you of any failures of such ERP projects, and there seems to be no attention paid to lessons learnt from the famous FoxMeyer Corporation scenario, which lead to its bankruptcy and the lengthy legal battles in the courtrooms with their consultants thereafter. “My basic principle is that you don’t make decisions because they are easy, you don’t make them because they are cheap, you don’t make them because they are popular but you make them because they are right”- Theordore Hesburgh.

If not properly planned for, the investment may drive you out of business. The epicenter for the problems that rock the corporate world as far as ERP or in general IT project failure is concerned has remained the same over the years.

The following examples are typical of the projects that failed from statistics available from The Standish group CHAOS database

· The Hershey foods ERP system implementation failure lead to massive distribution problems and loss of 27% market

· The FoxMeyer drug ERP system implementation failure lead to the collapse of the entire company

· The IRS project on taxpayer compliance took over a decade to complete and cost the country unanticipated $50 billion

· The Oregon Department of Motor Vehicle conversion to new software took eight years to complete and public outcry eventually killed the entire project

· State of Florida welfare system was plagued with numerous computational errors and $260 million in overpayments

· AMR Corp, Budget Rent A Car, Hiltons Corporation, Marriott ” confirm” project crumbled having spend over $125 million over four years

· Snap-On Inc project to convert to a new order-entry costed the tools company $50 million in lost sales for the first half of 1998

· Greyhound Lines Inc. “Trips” reservation and bus-dispatch system” failed having spent $6 million

· Norfolk Southern Corp. “Systems integration with merger target Consolidated Rail Corp”. failed having lost more than $113 million in business

· Oxford Health Plans Inc. “New billing and claims-processing system based on Unix International and Oracle Corp. databases” resulted in hordes of doctors and patients angry about payment delays and errors.

· Universal Oil Products Project ” Software for estimating project costs and figuring engineering specifications” resulted in unusable systems

IT projects regularly fall short – and quite few are abandoned entirely. Many IT failures have to do with perceptions and expectations rather than absolute bankruptcy of purpose. Most of the so called failures are better classified as “discouraging successes” events wherein the major purpose is accomplished, but not without a good deal of frustration and inefficiency – and a sour taste in the mouth of many users.

Project risks

The FoxMeyer Corporation Delta III project had the following project risks

i) Environmental- the management had little or no control. They depended 100% on consultants and vendors who obscured them from gaining control. The focus of the project dramatically changed prompting the projects costs to escalate

ii) Execution- the project lacked skilled and knowledgeable personnel. FoxMeyer did not have the necessary skills in-house and was relying on Andersen consulting to implement SAP R/3 and integrate it with an automated warehouse system from Pinnacle. Over 50 consultants were inexperienced and their turnover was high.

iii) Scope- FoxMeyer was an early adopter of SAP R/3. After the project began, FoxMeyer signed a large contract to supply university health system consortium (UHC). This event exacerbated the need for the unprecedented volume of transactions on their HP servers which they could not cope

iv) Customer mandate – the commitment from the top management and users. This was not the case for some of the senior management. There was a morale problem among some of its warehouse workers. The pinnacle warehouse automation integrated with SAP R/3 threatened their jobs. With the closing of the three warehouses, the transition to the first automated warehouse was a disaster. Disgruntled workers damaged inventory, and orders were not filled, and mistakes occurred as the new system struggled with volumes of transactions

Project Factors

Factors that attribute to escalation of costs include but not restricted to

a) Project factors- there was a perception that continued investment could produce a large payoff. FoxMeyer expected a saving of $40 million annually.

b) Psychological factors- the consultants had prior history of success that encouraged them to continue the project. “we delivered an effective system, just as we have for thousands of other clients” (Computergram international 1998). This created the impression that the project would radically improve the company’s critical operations. FoxMeyer bit more that what it could chew but embarking on a fast track project with unskilled staff.

c) Social factors- the consulting company did not externally justify the project. De-escalating the project through abandonment would have meant bad publicity

d) Organization factors-The advocates for the project later were forced to resign because of the delays in realizing the projected savings. A change in management was needed in order to control the increasing costs – which was too late.

Recipe for failure

· When the management is not controlling the scope of the project especially when you expect the consultant to provide a magic bullet, is a recipe for failure.

· Changing the sails in midstream, by certain deliverables expected within a third of the documented times and volumes is a recipe for failure.

· By engaging in other corporate projects competing for the meager finances midway, is a recipe for failure

· By not having proper change management policies and procedures, is a recipe for failure

· By going for consultants without prior experience or ERP solutions in which you are the only company within your industry, could be a recipe for failure

· If you do not have a knowledge transfer inscribed in the consulting contract, is a recipe for failure

· If the vendor does not understand your business, is a recipe for failure

· If the project has no clear phases, deliverables and quality control components, is a recipe for failure

· If you have not re-engineered your business processes to be compatible with the capabilities of the technology, is a recipe for failure

· Having multiple vendors within the one project, is a recipe for failure

· Not having an external project audit committee, is a recipe for failure

· Not having a clear end-user training program to transfer skills to employees, is a recipe for failure

· Having the project run as a “one-man show”, is a recipe for failure

· Having the management over- committed (excessively ambitious, prompting unrealistic deadlines), is recipe for failure

· Team member not being accountable for actions, is recipe for failure

· Low morale within team, is recipe for failure

· Unclear statement of requirement, is a recipe for failure

· In no standard implementation methodology use, is a recipe for failure

· Inadequate requirements definition (current processes are not adequately

addressed), is a recipe for failure

· Poor ERP package selection (the package does not address the basic

business functions of the client), is a recipe for failure

· Inadequate resources employed by the client, is a recipe for failure

· Internal resistance to changing the ‘old’ processes, is a recipe for failure

· A poor fit between the software and users procedures, is a recipe for failure

· A bottom up approach is employed (the process is not viewed as a top

management priority), is a recipe for failure

· The client does not properly address and plan for the expenses involved, is a recipe for failure

· If any functional gaps have not been identified (GAP analysis), is a recipe for failure

· If the implementation does not take into account future technological convergence, is a recipe for failure

Conclusion

The lessons learnt from the failed ERP projects should be a wake-up call for corporations currently in ERP projects or contemplating to go that way. The lessons learnt can as well, serve as a harbinger for failure or bankruptcy by serving as the jetty for launching the rocket to propel you out of the business orbit. The experiences highlighted provide a litmus test on how to avoid ERP failure. There is one final aspect to be considered in any degree of project failure. All success is rooted in either luck or failure. If you begin with luck, you learn nothing but arrogance. However, if you begin with failure and learn to evaluate it, you also learn to succeed. Failure begets knowledge. Out of knowledge you gain wisdom, and it is with wisdom that you can become truly successful.

References

Alexis Leon, “ERP Demystified”, 2000

Judy E Scott, “The FoxMeyer Drugs Bankruptcy”, 2004

Kim watch “Future Watch”, 2000

Lloyd Rain ” IT Project Failures”, 2005

Computerworld “Top 10 Corporate Information Technology Failures”, 2000

Source by ernest madara