Sent from my iPad
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Centered polygonal number - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centered_polygonal_number
Reverse social security number lookup from 027-29-4000 to 027-29-6000
Reverse social security number lookup from 027-29-4000 to 027-29-6000
sweet. China publishes US social security numbers on the web. nice.
sweet. China publishes US social security numbers on the web. nice.
Goodfellow
Goodfellow
Metals & Materials for Research & Industry
Goodfellow supplies pure metals, alloys, ceramics, polymers and composites as discs, sheets, foils, films, lump, powder, rods, wires, tubes, etc. to the research (R&D) and industrial markets. We serve the research, development and prototyping markets by offering small quantities of material from a stock of over 70,000 catalogue items which are available for shipping worldwide in under 48 hours. We also offer larger quantities of material to the industrial production market. In both cases we can also supply materials to your individual specification.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
Which cloud computing platform to learn? AWS,Microsoft Azure,Google App Engine,Eucalyptus,Open stack? or something else? - Programmers - Stack Exchange
UrSpace - PARENTS
UrSpace - PARENTS
Respectfully,
Mr. U
The Jigsaw Method
WebQuests
Blogging
Concept Mapping
Visit Classroom 2.0
In addition to the syllabus you signed and returned with your student, I would like to provide you with some more in depth information regarding the techniques and content of the course. Please feel free to visit the websites below if you wish to learn more about the teaching techniques I use in the classroom and why I use them. I have been teaching for nearly ten years and I have found these techniques to be extremely effective and engaging. I am however, a lifelong learner, and I am constantly investigating ways to make the class even more effective, engaging and fun. I truly believe it is the responsibility of the teacher to evolve with the content and technology. This approach will prepare your student for the world he/she will live and work in, where utilizing technology is an everyday occurrence and the ability to navigate a sea of information a necessity.
Respectfully,
Mr. U
The Jigsaw Method
WebQuests
Blogging
Concept Mapping
Visit Classroom 2.0
Thursday, November 25, 2010
CNN - Shooting video at a TSA checkpoint?
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Sent from the CNN App for iPhone
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Sent from the CNN App for iPhone
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Hey, check this out from CNN:
Shooting video at a TSA checkpoint? http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/11/25/shooting.video.tsa/index.html?iphoneemail
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
A True Guide to Making Money with Your Blog | GROWMAP.COM
A True Guide to Making Money with Your Blog | GROWMAP.COM
A True Guide to Making Money with Your Blog
This is a guest post by Stephanie Suesan Smith.
I am relatively new to blogging, having started seriously this spring. However, I have all ready been inundated with get rich quick schemes, all of which were rip-offs. Fortunately, I had mentors such as Gail from Growmap.com to steer me away from those people. She gives her expertise away for free.
This is why when she recommended the Income Blogging Guide Course by Andrew Rondeau and Joel Williams, I took notice. This is a 26 week course that starts with picking a host site for your blog and continues through all the things you need to do to make money. You get one lesson a week, so you do not get overwhelmed.
I had to think hard before signing up for this course. It is $97 a month for six months. That is a lot of money to me. I didn’t have anything to sell, and wasn’t sure I could really make money blogging about gardening. Besides, I had a blog, so thought this might be too elementary for me.
Well, the lessons are very clearly explained. However, the first lesson on how to tune the plugins on your blog was worth the $97 for the month. It made that much difference in how my blog worked. I would never have figured out all those check boxes and settings on my own.
I am on lesson 10 and have found something useful in every lesson. They are getting harder now because they deal with marketing, developing products and autoresponders — things I have little experience with. Still, things are clearly explained and I am not getting overwhelmed. Busy, but not overwhelmed.
If you would like to see part of what the course teaches, head over to my vegetable gardening blog and take a look. If you sign up for my mailing list, you can download my book, Preparing a Vegetable Garden From the Ground Up for free. If you are averse to mailing lists, the book is for sale for $2.99.
‘Up in the air’ and humanizing businesses : BatesHook
‘Up in the air’ and humanizing businesses : BatesHook
‘Up in the air’ premiered at an inflection point in the history of corporations. The brightest minds in academia and in the business world have caused terrible suffering in the last two years (and beyond), destabilized the economy and the whole world and sped up the demise of the capitalism as we know it. I don’t believe businesses and their executives had any evil intentions but the fact is that most corporations and big institutions are deeply mistrusted, yes, even despised by most people. If this is not a failure, I don’t know anymore what counts as a failure.
Watching ‘Up in the air’ almost felt like an obituary, remembering the worst excesses of corporate dehumanizing strategies. For people that didn’t see the movie: George Clooney works for an agency that helps corporations fire their employees, and escape the messy situation of having to do it themselves. His job keeps him on the road, rather “up in the air” for more than 90% of the year. The agency hires a recent Cornell grad that proposes the money saving, highly efficient, zero travel requiring idea of firing people over the Internet. Making one of the most humiliating and dehumanizing moments in a person’s life even more dehumanizing.
According to the 2009 Financial Trust Index, only 10% of Americans trust large corporations. In the mid-50s this numbers was around 80%. Corporations now stand for cutting costs, outsourcing, off-shoring, downsizing. It’s pretty obvious that corporations need to salvage what’s valuable in their business practices and models and focus all their energies into a new model: New foundation, new rules, new game:
1) Change your perspective:
Businesses used to look at the world from their perspective: How does it benefit me? How does it benefit the shareholders? How does it benefit the overall organization? Corporate darwinism at its best. And people followed along, slaving away to increase shareholder value. Not anymore. Now, it’s about the needs and desires of individuals. Who can help people to solve their problems, help them with their challenges? Organizations that stay behind the corporate wall will fail. Organizations that step outside, connecting with real people trying to help them will prosper.
2) Stop competing, start collaborating
Yes, C-level executives, you better start talking and co-creating with your competitors or you will fail. New networks will arise that will be more powerful than just one corporate entity. The power of networks will severely diminish the power of corporate organizations. Start building networks with partners that share your vision, values and valuation of transparency and trust. Individuals don’t care about your corporation, they care about their problems.
3) Employees are not resources. They are humans.
While companies should focus on the new consumer, the best way to start is with your own employees. In most industries, they are really all you have. They make or break your company. Cherish them by listening to them. Don’t just buy another piece of social technology because everybody is talking about Enterprise 2.0. Listen to their needs. How can we help them not giving in to Email bankruptcy? How can we make their work life more valuable, exciting and energizing?
The last few years have been tough for many people and businesses. And I’m not diminishing the effect the Great Recession had on so many lives. In order to move forward, we need to experience this inflection point as the biggest opportunity companies ever had. We’re in unchartered territory. No GPS, no Org-Chart will guide us through this messy new world. But, we all feel the current strategies and rules don’t apply anymore. Let’s build this new GPS together. And one day the idea of outsourcing the termination of your own employees will feel like the Berlin Wall: What were we thinking?
‘Up in the air’ premiered at an inflection point in the history of corporations. The brightest minds in academia and in the business world have caused terrible suffering in the last two years (and beyond), destabilized the economy and the whole world and sped up the demise of the capitalism as we know it. I don’t believe businesses and their executives had any evil intentions but the fact is that most corporations and big institutions are deeply mistrusted, yes, even despised by most people. If this is not a failure, I don’t know anymore what counts as a failure.
Watching ‘Up in the air’ almost felt like an obituary, remembering the worst excesses of corporate dehumanizing strategies. For people that didn’t see the movie: George Clooney works for an agency that helps corporations fire their employees, and escape the messy situation of having to do it themselves. His job keeps him on the road, rather “up in the air” for more than 90% of the year. The agency hires a recent Cornell grad that proposes the money saving, highly efficient, zero travel requiring idea of firing people over the Internet. Making one of the most humiliating and dehumanizing moments in a person’s life even more dehumanizing.
According to the 2009 Financial Trust Index, only 10% of Americans trust large corporations. In the mid-50s this numbers was around 80%. Corporations now stand for cutting costs, outsourcing, off-shoring, downsizing. It’s pretty obvious that corporations need to salvage what’s valuable in their business practices and models and focus all their energies into a new model: New foundation, new rules, new game:
1) Change your perspective:
Businesses used to look at the world from their perspective: How does it benefit me? How does it benefit the shareholders? How does it benefit the overall organization? Corporate darwinism at its best. And people followed along, slaving away to increase shareholder value. Not anymore. Now, it’s about the needs and desires of individuals. Who can help people to solve their problems, help them with their challenges? Organizations that stay behind the corporate wall will fail. Organizations that step outside, connecting with real people trying to help them will prosper.
2) Stop competing, start collaborating
Yes, C-level executives, you better start talking and co-creating with your competitors or you will fail. New networks will arise that will be more powerful than just one corporate entity. The power of networks will severely diminish the power of corporate organizations. Start building networks with partners that share your vision, values and valuation of transparency and trust. Individuals don’t care about your corporation, they care about their problems.
3) Employees are not resources. They are humans.
While companies should focus on the new consumer, the best way to start is with your own employees. In most industries, they are really all you have. They make or break your company. Cherish them by listening to them. Don’t just buy another piece of social technology because everybody is talking about Enterprise 2.0. Listen to their needs. How can we help them not giving in to Email bankruptcy? How can we make their work life more valuable, exciting and energizing?
The last few years have been tough for many people and businesses. And I’m not diminishing the effect the Great Recession had on so many lives. In order to move forward, we need to experience this inflection point as the biggest opportunity companies ever had. We’re in unchartered territory. No GPS, no Org-Chart will guide us through this messy new world. But, we all feel the current strategies and rules don’t apply anymore. Let’s build this new GPS together. And one day the idea of outsourcing the termination of your own employees will feel like the Berlin Wall: What were we thinking?
‘Up in the air’ and humanizing businesses : BatesHook
‘Up in the air’ and humanizing businesses : BatesHook
‘Up in the air’ premiered at an inflection point in the history of corporations. The brightest minds in academia and in the business world have caused terrible suffering in the last two years (and beyond), destabilized the economy and the whole world and sped up the demise of the capitalism as we know it. I don’t believe businesses and their executives had any evil intentions but the fact is that most corporations and big institutions are deeply mistrusted, yes, even despised by most people. If this is not a failure, I don’t know anymore what counts as a failure.
Watching ‘Up in the air’ almost felt like an obituary, remembering the worst excesses of corporate dehumanizing strategies. For people that didn’t see the movie: George Clooney works for an agency that helps corporations fire their employees, and escape the messy situation of having to do it themselves. His job keeps him on the road, rather “up in the air” for more than 90% of the year. The agency hires a recent Cornell grad that proposes the money saving, highly efficient, zero travel requiring idea of firing people over the Internet. Making one of the most humiliating and dehumanizing moments in a person’s life even more dehumanizing.
According to the 2009 Financial Trust Index, only 10% of Americans trust large corporations. In the mid-50s this numbers was around 80%. Corporations now stand for cutting costs, outsourcing, off-shoring, downsizing. It’s pretty obvious that corporations need to salvage what’s valuable in their business practices and models and focus all their energies into a new model: New foundation, new rules, new game:
1) Change your perspective:
Businesses used to look at the world from their perspective: How does it benefit me? How does it benefit the shareholders? How does it benefit the overall organization? Corporate darwinism at its best. And people followed along, slaving away to increase shareholder value. Not anymore. Now, it’s about the needs and desires of individuals. Who can help people to solve their problems, help them with their challenges? Organizations that stay behind the corporate wall will fail. Organizations that step outside, connecting with real people trying to help them will prosper.
2) Stop competing, start collaborating
Yes, C-level executives, you better start talking and co-creating with your competitors or you will fail. New networks will arise that will be more powerful than just one corporate entity. The power of networks will severely diminish the power of corporate organizations. Start building networks with partners that share your vision, values and valuation of transparency and trust. Individuals don’t care about your corporation, they care about their problems.
3) Employees are not resources. They are humans.
While companies should focus on the new consumer, the best way to start is with your own employees. In most industries, they are really all you have. They make or break your company. Cherish them by listening to them. Don’t just buy another piece of social technology because everybody is talking about Enterprise 2.0. Listen to their needs. How can we help them not giving in to Email bankruptcy? How can we make their work life more valuable, exciting and energizing?
The last few years have been tough for many people and businesses. And I’m not diminishing the effect the Great Recession had on so many lives. In order to move forward, we need to experience this inflection point as the biggest opportunity companies ever had. We’re in unchartered territory. No GPS, no Org-Chart will guide us through this messy new world. But, we all feel the current strategies and rules don’t apply anymore. Let’s build this new GPS together. And one day the idea of outsourcing the termination of your own employees will feel like the Berlin Wall: What were we thinking?
‘Up in the air’ premiered at an inflection point in the history of corporations. The brightest minds in academia and in the business world have caused terrible suffering in the last two years (and beyond), destabilized the economy and the whole world and sped up the demise of the capitalism as we know it. I don’t believe businesses and their executives had any evil intentions but the fact is that most corporations and big institutions are deeply mistrusted, yes, even despised by most people. If this is not a failure, I don’t know anymore what counts as a failure.
Watching ‘Up in the air’ almost felt like an obituary, remembering the worst excesses of corporate dehumanizing strategies. For people that didn’t see the movie: George Clooney works for an agency that helps corporations fire their employees, and escape the messy situation of having to do it themselves. His job keeps him on the road, rather “up in the air” for more than 90% of the year. The agency hires a recent Cornell grad that proposes the money saving, highly efficient, zero travel requiring idea of firing people over the Internet. Making one of the most humiliating and dehumanizing moments in a person’s life even more dehumanizing.
According to the 2009 Financial Trust Index, only 10% of Americans trust large corporations. In the mid-50s this numbers was around 80%. Corporations now stand for cutting costs, outsourcing, off-shoring, downsizing. It’s pretty obvious that corporations need to salvage what’s valuable in their business practices and models and focus all their energies into a new model: New foundation, new rules, new game:
1) Change your perspective:
Businesses used to look at the world from their perspective: How does it benefit me? How does it benefit the shareholders? How does it benefit the overall organization? Corporate darwinism at its best. And people followed along, slaving away to increase shareholder value. Not anymore. Now, it’s about the needs and desires of individuals. Who can help people to solve their problems, help them with their challenges? Organizations that stay behind the corporate wall will fail. Organizations that step outside, connecting with real people trying to help them will prosper.
2) Stop competing, start collaborating
Yes, C-level executives, you better start talking and co-creating with your competitors or you will fail. New networks will arise that will be more powerful than just one corporate entity. The power of networks will severely diminish the power of corporate organizations. Start building networks with partners that share your vision, values and valuation of transparency and trust. Individuals don’t care about your corporation, they care about their problems.
3) Employees are not resources. They are humans.
While companies should focus on the new consumer, the best way to start is with your own employees. In most industries, they are really all you have. They make or break your company. Cherish them by listening to them. Don’t just buy another piece of social technology because everybody is talking about Enterprise 2.0. Listen to their needs. How can we help them not giving in to Email bankruptcy? How can we make their work life more valuable, exciting and energizing?
The last few years have been tough for many people and businesses. And I’m not diminishing the effect the Great Recession had on so many lives. In order to move forward, we need to experience this inflection point as the biggest opportunity companies ever had. We’re in unchartered territory. No GPS, no Org-Chart will guide us through this messy new world. But, we all feel the current strategies and rules don’t apply anymore. Let’s build this new GPS together. And one day the idea of outsourcing the termination of your own employees will feel like the Berlin Wall: What were we thinking?
‘Up in the air’ and humanizing businesses : BatesHook
‘Up in the air’ and humanizing businesses : BatesHook
Image by Hugh McLeod, the most influential Web 2.0 artist (Not sure if he likes that characterization.)
‘Up in the air’ premiered at an inflection point in the history of corporations. The brightest minds in academia and in the business world have caused terrible suffering in the last two years (and beyond), destabilized the economy and the whole world and sped up the demise of the capitalism as we know it. I don’t believe businesses and their executives had any evil intentions but the fact is that most corporations and big institutions are deeply mistrusted, yes, even despised by most people. If this is not a failure, I don’t know anymore what counts as a failure.
Watching ‘Up in the air’ almost felt like an obituary, remembering the worst excesses of corporate dehumanizing strategies. For people that didn’t see the movie: George Clooney works for an agency that helps corporations fire their employees, and escape the messy situation of having to do it themselves. His job keeps him on the road, rather “up in the air” for more than 90% of the year. The agency hires a recent Cornell grad that proposes the money saving, highly efficient, zero travel requiring idea of firing people over the Internet. Making one of the most humiliating and dehumanizing moments in a person’s life even more dehumanizing.
According to the 2009 Financial Trust Index, only 10% of Americans trust large corporations. In the mid-50s this numbers was around 80%. Corporations now stand for cutting costs, outsourcing, off-shoring, downsizing. It’s pretty obvious that corporations need to salvage what’s valuable in their business practices and models and focus all their energies into a new model: New foundation, new rules, new game:
1) Change your perspective:
Businesses used to look at the world from their perspective: How does it benefit me? How does it benefit the shareholders? How does it benefit the overall organization? Corporate darwinism at its best. And people followed along, slaving away to increase shareholder value. Not anymore. Now, it’s about the needs and desires of individuals. Who can help people to solve their problems, help them with their challenges? Organizations that stay behind the corporate wall will fail. Organizations that step outside, connecting with real people trying to help them will prosper.
2) Stop competing, start collaborating
Yes, C-level executives, you better start talking and co-creating with your competitors or you will fail. New networks will arise that will be more powerful than just one corporate entity. The power of networks will severely diminish the power of corporate organizations. Start building networks with partners that share your vision, values and valuation of transparency and trust. Individuals don’t care about your corporation, they care about their problems.
3) Employees are not resources. They are humans.
While companies should focus on the new consumer, the best way to start is with your own employees. In most industries, they are really all you have. They make or break your company. Cherish them by listening to them. Don’t just buy another piece of social technology because everybody is talking about Enterprise 2.0. Listen to their needs. How can we help them not giving in to Email bankruptcy? How can we make their work life more valuable, exciting and energizing?
The last few years have been tough for many people and businesses. And I’m not diminishing the effect the Great Recession had on so many lives. In order to move forward, we need to experience this inflection point as the biggest opportunity companies ever had. We’re in unchartered territory. No GPS, no Org-Chart will guide us through this messy new world. But, we all feel the current strategies and rules don’t apply anymore. Let’s build this new GPS together. And one day the idea of outsourcing the termination of your own employees will feel like the Berlin Wall: What were we thinking?
Category: Organizational change, Uncategorized, social business movement
Tags: Corporate Strategies, Corporations, Human Business Design, Inflection Point, Organizational change, Up in the Air
Comments (2)
Monday, November 22, 2010
Technologically Savvy Account Manager at Crowd Fusion ~ Authentic Jobs
Technologically Savvy Account Manager at Crowd Fusion ~ Authentic Jobs
Technologically Savvy Account Manager
Crowd Fusion
Full-time New York, NY, Los Angeles, CA, Telecommute
Crowd Fusion is seeking a technologically savvy individual with great organizational skills to join us on our Account Management team. Ideal candidate has superb communication skills and can discern specific client requirements and requests from disparate conversations in chatrooms, email, IM and on the phone. Desire to be part of a rapidly growing startup company providing an enterprise level content management platform to popular brands at large companies is a must. The product of your work will be seen by millions of people daily.
Knowledge of Content Management Systems and experience with Customer Service or Account Management is a plus. Individuals who can quickly learn new technology systems and use that understanding to train others will have an advantage.
Crowd Fusion is an exciting virtual company, made up of people who love what they do; we rely heavily on strong communication skills and interactive tools like Basecamp, Campfire, Skype and email. Full time candidates must have a history of working successfully in a virtual environment.
Bay Area Consulting Group - CIO Dashboard
Bay Area Consulting Group - CIO Dashboard
Creating the CIO’s Dashboard of Performance Measures"What gets measured, gets managed." | ||
Today’s uncertain business environment has made traditional formulas for success obsolete. To be competitive, organizations, and functions within organizations, must improve process performance, emphasize efficiency and demonstrate value to stakeholders.
A Business-driven Approach to IT Management: A formalized CIO Dashboard Performance Management Program offers a business-driven approach to the Management of IT. It demonstrates the value of technology to the business by capturing and presenting performance levels agreed to in advance. It begins by articulating business goals and translating those goals into a set of key metrics surrounding the integration and delivery of technology to the business. To be effective, we have observed that the approach must:
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CIO Dashboard Benefits: CIO Dashboard benefits accrue to the business, the IT function and individual IT processes, and include:
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Bay Area Consulting Group - Finding that New Application System
Bay Area Consulting Group - Finding that New Application System
Finding that New Application System
Ten Keys to Effective System Selection
As companies grow and evolve, they often find that the processes that have served them well in the past are no longer as effective as desired, and do not provide a sound foundation for working toward the company’s strategic vision. In today’s world, when business processes are no longer effective, it almost certainly means that the time has also come to replace the systems supporting those processes.
As the commercial, off-the-shelf software market has grown and matured, it has become increasingly unusual for a company to decide that its needs are so unique that it must embark on the custom development of a new system. In virtually all cases, it makes more sense to look for packaged software systems that can be acquired and implemented. One good rule of thumb is that if a commercial system can meet at least 85% of the requirements – and all of the most essential ones – then a packaged solution is probably the more effective approach.
Selecting new application software is a critically important part of improving process effectiveness, and an effective effort will have a major positive impact on the performance of your organization for years to come. Some of the key elements of effective software selection are described below.
* Clearly defined project objectives – At the outset, it is critically important to clearly define the project’s goals and objectives. By defining project “success,” they will provide guidance and direction for the project team throughout the effort to select and install a new system. Most importantly, the project objectives must have the clear endorsement of the sponsoring executives.
* Executive sponsorship and a representative project team – Executive sponsorship is a key part of the foundation that will support a successful project. The executive sponsor must ensure that required business decisions are made on a timely basis and that the project has the resources it needs to be successful. The last part of the foundation is the project team itself. It should include both business and technical participants, who should bring to the project an awareness of both the strategic importance of the system as well as an understanding of the business practices being addressed.
* Thoroughly understood and documented requirements – With a sound foundation for the project established, the most critical step in the selection process is the development of the business requirements that the new system must meet. This specification of requirements will provide the criteria for assessing whether or not candidate systems meet the business needs of the organization – the most critical test they must pass. They should also form the basis for the acceptance testing of the new system near the end of the project, prior to implementation, to confirm that the needs of the user community have been met. These business requirements are central to the entire project.
Individual requirements should be assigned a priority. Typically, these are
o Essential – those requirements that a new system must meet in order to be a potential candidate.
o Imprtant – those requirements that will make a difference in how well tImportanthe system performs
o “Nice to have” – Those requirements that will enhance the usefulness or convenience of the system, but will not have a significant effect on achieving its fundamental objectives.
Normally, your emphasis in defining requirements should correspond to these priorities, but you should also include those requirements that you suspect may enable you to differentiate between competing systems.
* List of viable vendors – A successful selection project requires that you identify the vendors whose products are the most competitive and responsive products to your needs. This can be a bit of a challenge. Some effective techniques include:
o Survey your employees to learn if they have experience with candidate systems at other jobs or from their contacts in other organizations
o Query peer organizations, i.e., those that need the same kind of software products that you do
o Review the literature and trade publications
o Internet research. Often, you can get some good ideas directly from “googling” the appropriate key phrases. In fact, you may even find papers and literature that compare the software you are interested in.
Finally, as you begin to identify candidate vendors, you may be able to determine what systems they most often compete with, as you probe for strengths and weaknesses and their qualifications to meet your needs. You should seek to identify 4-6 vendors to receive the RFP.
* Thorough RFP – One of your objectives should be to enable the potential vendors to compete on an equal basis, so that your decision is ultimately based on comparable information. A comprehensive Request for Proposal (RFP) promotes this. The RFP must of course communicate the requirements that the new system has to meet, but it should also include other important information:
o Background about your organization, its business, and your systems and technical environment.
o Information about your IT organization and the resources available to support the new application system. In particular, describe other systems that the new system will have to integrate with.
o Description of the functional process that the new system will serve, including such information as the number of employees, their organization, activity/volume statistics and the like.
o The overall system selection process, including major activities such as receiving the proposal, system demos, vendor reference checking, and final decision making; it is helpful to lay out the timeframes you expect these activities to require.
o Evaluation and decision criteria – it is also helpful to communicate to the vendors exactly how you will make the decision and who the decision makers will be. You should determine the weighting you will give to key project components, such as 1) meeting requirements, 2) vendor stability, 3) implementation approach, 4) on-going system support and upgrades, and 5) costs (software, hardware, implementation and on-going maintenance).
When the RFP is issued to prospective vendors, you should know how the rest of the selection process will play out, who the participants will be and the expected timeframes.
* Organized approach to proposal evaluation; selection of finalists – The key first step in the evaluation process is to effectively perform a preliminary evaluation of the proposals, with the objective of winnowing the number of vendors down to 2-3, from whom you will receive live presentations and system demonstrations. It is recommended that you prepare structured evaluation packages that enable each reviewer to grade and comment on each aspect of the proposal, in accordance with the evaluation criteria that have been developed. The evaluation should include both subjective comments and a quantitative score. Suggested scoring might be on a scale of 1 – 10, with reference phrases provided; e.g., 10) Meets all requirements; 7) Meets “essential” and “important” requirements; 4) Meets “essential” requirements; 0) does not meet requirements. The quantitative component of the evaluation should not be permitted to overshadow the subjective, but it does introduce a measure of objectivity that is helpful in assessing the overall results.
* Scripted system demonstrations – As with the proposals themselves, the objective with system presentations and demonstrations is to enable you make an effective comparison of the competing systems. The best way to do this is to prepare a script that each vendor must follow in presenting the demonstration. This prevents the vendor from focusing on the “neat” features that his system may have, unless they are central to your meeting your business objectives. The script should incorporate the key processes that are required to meet your functional requirements, and enable you to not only see what the system can do, but how it does it. The user interaction with a system is of major importance in modern systems; you only learn how the system works by seeing the demo.
Your process for evaluating the demos should be organized in the same manner as the proposal evaluation, with structured evaluation forms that follow the demo script, including both quantitative and subjective comments. It is also helpful, after each demo, to gather from the evaluators the key strengths and weaknesses they observed. These can later be reviewed and compared when trying to make a final determination. At the conclusion of the demos, you should be able to narrow down your choices to a single winner or two finalists.
* Structured reference checks – Reference checks provide you the opportunity to talk with other users of the systems regarding their experience with the systems themselves, and, as importantly, with the vendor, both during implementation and later with respect to system support and system upgrades. Once again, it is desirable to prepare a structured questionnaire, so that you develop comparable information from each reference. You should place particular emphasis on those considerations of importance to your organization, and any questions that lingered following the demos.
* Selection workshop – The critical decision step is where you will finalize your selection of the successful vendor and system. A good technique is to assemble your evaluation team, in order to review all the information you have developed, including the proposals, demonstrations and vendor references. You can use the quantified proposal and demo results to provide a baseline, but then you should also review the subjective comments and conclusions of strengths and weaknesses. Costs should also be considered, remembering that software acquisition costs are frequently only a relatively small portion of the life-cycle cost of purchasing, implementing, operating, and maintaining a new application system.
* Vendor contract negotiation and project planning – The final step in the selection project is the transition to actually implementing the new system. You need to develop a contract with the vendor to acquire a license to use the software and any related hardware. The contract should also cover any services that the vendor will provide during the implementation, which means you will need at least a high-level project plan as a basis for the contractual agreement, before the detailed project plan is developed as the first task in the implementation process. Finally, you must contract for ongoing system support and software maintenance and upgrades, following systems implementation.
The selection of a new application system is a major event for most organizations. You should expect to be using the new system for a minimum of five years, and often much longer. During that period, the new system will have a fundamental impact on the way your organization functions. Ensure that you give each system selection project the leadership, emphasis and resources that it therefore warrants.
Return to articles page
Finding that New Application System
Ten Keys to Effective System Selection
As companies grow and evolve, they often find that the processes that have served them well in the past are no longer as effective as desired, and do not provide a sound foundation for working toward the company’s strategic vision. In today’s world, when business processes are no longer effective, it almost certainly means that the time has also come to replace the systems supporting those processes.
As the commercial, off-the-shelf software market has grown and matured, it has become increasingly unusual for a company to decide that its needs are so unique that it must embark on the custom development of a new system. In virtually all cases, it makes more sense to look for packaged software systems that can be acquired and implemented. One good rule of thumb is that if a commercial system can meet at least 85% of the requirements – and all of the most essential ones – then a packaged solution is probably the more effective approach.
Selecting new application software is a critically important part of improving process effectiveness, and an effective effort will have a major positive impact on the performance of your organization for years to come. Some of the key elements of effective software selection are described below.
* Clearly defined project objectives – At the outset, it is critically important to clearly define the project’s goals and objectives. By defining project “success,” they will provide guidance and direction for the project team throughout the effort to select and install a new system. Most importantly, the project objectives must have the clear endorsement of the sponsoring executives.
* Executive sponsorship and a representative project team – Executive sponsorship is a key part of the foundation that will support a successful project. The executive sponsor must ensure that required business decisions are made on a timely basis and that the project has the resources it needs to be successful. The last part of the foundation is the project team itself. It should include both business and technical participants, who should bring to the project an awareness of both the strategic importance of the system as well as an understanding of the business practices being addressed.
* Thoroughly understood and documented requirements – With a sound foundation for the project established, the most critical step in the selection process is the development of the business requirements that the new system must meet. This specification of requirements will provide the criteria for assessing whether or not candidate systems meet the business needs of the organization – the most critical test they must pass. They should also form the basis for the acceptance testing of the new system near the end of the project, prior to implementation, to confirm that the needs of the user community have been met. These business requirements are central to the entire project.
Individual requirements should be assigned a priority. Typically, these are
o Essential – those requirements that a new system must meet in order to be a potential candidate.
o Imprtant – those requirements that will make a difference in how well tImportanthe system performs
o “Nice to have” – Those requirements that will enhance the usefulness or convenience of the system, but will not have a significant effect on achieving its fundamental objectives.
Normally, your emphasis in defining requirements should correspond to these priorities, but you should also include those requirements that you suspect may enable you to differentiate between competing systems.
* List of viable vendors – A successful selection project requires that you identify the vendors whose products are the most competitive and responsive products to your needs. This can be a bit of a challenge. Some effective techniques include:
o Survey your employees to learn if they have experience with candidate systems at other jobs or from their contacts in other organizations
o Query peer organizations, i.e., those that need the same kind of software products that you do
o Review the literature and trade publications
o Internet research. Often, you can get some good ideas directly from “googling” the appropriate key phrases. In fact, you may even find papers and literature that compare the software you are interested in.
Finally, as you begin to identify candidate vendors, you may be able to determine what systems they most often compete with, as you probe for strengths and weaknesses and their qualifications to meet your needs. You should seek to identify 4-6 vendors to receive the RFP.
* Thorough RFP – One of your objectives should be to enable the potential vendors to compete on an equal basis, so that your decision is ultimately based on comparable information. A comprehensive Request for Proposal (RFP) promotes this. The RFP must of course communicate the requirements that the new system has to meet, but it should also include other important information:
o Background about your organization, its business, and your systems and technical environment.
o Information about your IT organization and the resources available to support the new application system. In particular, describe other systems that the new system will have to integrate with.
o Description of the functional process that the new system will serve, including such information as the number of employees, their organization, activity/volume statistics and the like.
o The overall system selection process, including major activities such as receiving the proposal, system demos, vendor reference checking, and final decision making; it is helpful to lay out the timeframes you expect these activities to require.
o Evaluation and decision criteria – it is also helpful to communicate to the vendors exactly how you will make the decision and who the decision makers will be. You should determine the weighting you will give to key project components, such as 1) meeting requirements, 2) vendor stability, 3) implementation approach, 4) on-going system support and upgrades, and 5) costs (software, hardware, implementation and on-going maintenance).
When the RFP is issued to prospective vendors, you should know how the rest of the selection process will play out, who the participants will be and the expected timeframes.
* Organized approach to proposal evaluation; selection of finalists – The key first step in the evaluation process is to effectively perform a preliminary evaluation of the proposals, with the objective of winnowing the number of vendors down to 2-3, from whom you will receive live presentations and system demonstrations. It is recommended that you prepare structured evaluation packages that enable each reviewer to grade and comment on each aspect of the proposal, in accordance with the evaluation criteria that have been developed. The evaluation should include both subjective comments and a quantitative score. Suggested scoring might be on a scale of 1 – 10, with reference phrases provided; e.g., 10) Meets all requirements; 7) Meets “essential” and “important” requirements; 4) Meets “essential” requirements; 0) does not meet requirements. The quantitative component of the evaluation should not be permitted to overshadow the subjective, but it does introduce a measure of objectivity that is helpful in assessing the overall results.
* Scripted system demonstrations – As with the proposals themselves, the objective with system presentations and demonstrations is to enable you make an effective comparison of the competing systems. The best way to do this is to prepare a script that each vendor must follow in presenting the demonstration. This prevents the vendor from focusing on the “neat” features that his system may have, unless they are central to your meeting your business objectives. The script should incorporate the key processes that are required to meet your functional requirements, and enable you to not only see what the system can do, but how it does it. The user interaction with a system is of major importance in modern systems; you only learn how the system works by seeing the demo.
Your process for evaluating the demos should be organized in the same manner as the proposal evaluation, with structured evaluation forms that follow the demo script, including both quantitative and subjective comments. It is also helpful, after each demo, to gather from the evaluators the key strengths and weaknesses they observed. These can later be reviewed and compared when trying to make a final determination. At the conclusion of the demos, you should be able to narrow down your choices to a single winner or two finalists.
* Structured reference checks – Reference checks provide you the opportunity to talk with other users of the systems regarding their experience with the systems themselves, and, as importantly, with the vendor, both during implementation and later with respect to system support and system upgrades. Once again, it is desirable to prepare a structured questionnaire, so that you develop comparable information from each reference. You should place particular emphasis on those considerations of importance to your organization, and any questions that lingered following the demos.
* Selection workshop – The critical decision step is where you will finalize your selection of the successful vendor and system. A good technique is to assemble your evaluation team, in order to review all the information you have developed, including the proposals, demonstrations and vendor references. You can use the quantified proposal and demo results to provide a baseline, but then you should also review the subjective comments and conclusions of strengths and weaknesses. Costs should also be considered, remembering that software acquisition costs are frequently only a relatively small portion of the life-cycle cost of purchasing, implementing, operating, and maintaining a new application system.
* Vendor contract negotiation and project planning – The final step in the selection project is the transition to actually implementing the new system. You need to develop a contract with the vendor to acquire a license to use the software and any related hardware. The contract should also cover any services that the vendor will provide during the implementation, which means you will need at least a high-level project plan as a basis for the contractual agreement, before the detailed project plan is developed as the first task in the implementation process. Finally, you must contract for ongoing system support and software maintenance and upgrades, following systems implementation.
The selection of a new application system is a major event for most organizations. You should expect to be using the new system for a minimum of five years, and often much longer. During that period, the new system will have a fundamental impact on the way your organization functions. Ensure that you give each system selection project the leadership, emphasis and resources that it therefore warrants.
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Bay Area Consulting Group - An Information Technology Assessment
Bay Area Consulting Group - An Information Technology Assessment
An Information Technology AssessmentBuilding a Foundation for Improved IT Performance | ||
In today’s globally competitive, real-time business world, successful leaders know they don’t have time for failure – they know they need to get the job done quickly or someone else will. They also know that their competitors are literally a mouse click away and that optimizing their own use of people, processes and technologies is not just a desirable objective, but the key to survival. Improving business performance, growing bottom-line results and adding to shareholder value are increasingly dependent on using information technology (IT) more creatively and more effectively than the competition, while also controlling IT costs and growth. “World class” organizations don’t achieve that distinction by accident. They systematically strive for it by
Understanding where you are to set a path for where you want to be
Assessing your IT capabilities – Never more important than today What’s involved? How do I proceed? Step 2 – Understand the business context: Most IT Assessments fall into one of two categories, depending upon what it is that the organization’s IT activities are to be measured against.
Step 3 – Evaluate IT growth processes: Research has established that four key dimensions of IT drive its growth and evolution, and must be properly coordinated and balanced to realize IT’s potential to contribute to business success. These four dimensions, depicted in the following figure, provide us with a powerful framework for organizing both the assessment process itself, and the subsequent development of recommendations and action plans.
Step 4 – Develop conclusions, recommendations and an action plan: Observations resulting from the assessment process are reviewed and analyzed in order to generate conclusions about the current state of IT, recommendations for improvement, and action plans for proceeding. The action plan should classify steps to be taken into immediate quick-win solutions, mid-term corrective actions and long-term initiatives and programs to be pursued. | ||
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What results can be expected from performing an IT assessment?
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new technology assessment, definition, and due diligence trialling and testing
new technology assessment, definition, and due diligence trialling and testing
Flowmeter Could Diagnose Breathing Disorders | MDDI Magazine
Flowmeter Could Diagnose Breathing Disorders | MDDI Magazine
Published: September 2007
Flowmeter Could Diagnose Breathing Disorders
R&D DIGEST
Researchers have designed a disposable flowmeter to detect sleep-related breathing disorders, such as snoring and sleep apnea. The device could also be used to identify breathing problems in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other lung ailments. And it could improve the detection of sleep disorders in children.
The compact pneumotachograph measures ventilation during sleep or when in a sleep-like state. It can provide measurements in infants and others with smaller airways, and assess airflow in each nostril. Because the flowmeter is disposable, infections won't be transmitted between patients.
The concept for the flowmeter originated during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in China. It was developed to monitor patients in general wards and intensive-care units in hospitals.
According to device inventor Hartmut Schneider, MD, PhD, the high accuracy of the airflow meter will help doctors find disorders in situations where they previously went undetected. Schneider is an assistant professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
“The current standard in diagnosing breathing disorders during sleep is based on technologies from the late 1990s and, more importantly, it's based on the classification of recordings from the obese male population,” says Schneider. Doctors are now seeing many more women and children who have sleep-related breathing disorders. But the criteria aren't well defined. “An accurate measurement of airflow and ventilation would help us to detect a breathing disorder and define it with a higher accuracy.”
The current prototype consists of a recording unit and a disposable measurement unit. When a patient exhales, the air is expired to the disposable unit, which can be configured to be mounted in-line with ventilator tubes or masks. The recording unit has microelectromechanical pressure transducers that provide a sensitive and stable flow signal. The unit then calculates the difference between total and static pressures to determine the air velocity and flow rate.
Schneider thinks the flowmeter will evolve in the same way that diabetes glucose measurement devices have changed over time. He envisions its use by both patients in the home and clinicians in hospitals.
The finished device may be a small mask about the size of a clown's nose, and the electronic module may be as small as a USB key. The sensor and recording unit could be placed in the mask with thin wire connecting it to an external electrical power source. Production costs are anticipated to be low, so manufacturing a disposable device should be feasible.
The team is working to improve flow measurement accuracy and the signal-to-noise ratio. It also plans on developing an electronics module that attaches directly to the flow sensor. It's also possible that the device could have a wireless interface.
Other potential changes to the flowmeter include implementing a pulse oximeter that can be mounted on the nose or forehead to monitor oxygenation. The researchers are exploring the use of onboard software algorithms that measure upper-airway obstruction from a continuous airflow signal recorded during sleep.
Key Technologies Inc. (Baltimore), a development company, is a coinventor of the device.
Copyright ©2007 Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry
May 2006 - Sterilizer Manufacturing Executives Convicted of Fraud | MDDI Magazine
Sterilizer Manufacturing Executives Convicted of Fraud | MDDI Magazine
Published: May 2006
Sterilizer Manufacturing Executives Convicted of Fraud
Last month, following a nine-week trial in a Chicago federal court, two executives of a now-defunct medtech manufacturing company were convicted of fraudulently selling unapproved and unsafe surgical sterilizing devices. The faulty equipment caused 18 patients to lose vision in one eye, according to FDA.
At the time of their initial indictment in February 2003, Ross Caputo was president and CEO and Robert Riley was vice president of regulatory affairs for AbTox Inc. (Mundelein, IL). Both were found guilty of three counts of wire fraud, four counts of mail fraud, conspiracy to defraud FDA, and seven counts of selling an adulterated or misbranded human medical device. Two other defendants—Mark E. Schmitt, formerly director of marketing, and Marilyn M. Lynch, formerly director of clinical services—previously pleaded guilty.
In 1994, AbTox received FDA approval to market a small gas plasma sterilizer intended for use on only flat stainless-steel surgical instruments without tubes or hinges. However, the device was deemed unmarketable by company executives, who then began selling a much larger sterilizer, which they marketed to hospitals as suitable for a wide range of instruments, including those made of materials besides stainless steel.
According to the U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, AbTox told hospitals that they could use the sterilizer for complex instruments, including those designed for cataract surgery and other ophthalmic procedures. Many of these instruments featured brass joints, which reacted adversely to the sterilizing agent, leaving a blue-green toxic residue in the units.
AbTox was aware of the chemical reaction but failed to advise hospitals about any corrective action in cleaning the units, according to FDA. It was subsequently determined that the copper acetate residue also remained in the intricate tubes of instruments sterilized with the AbTox unit. This residue caused decomposition of the cornea and resulted in the reported incidents of blindness.
Some of the hospitals that bought the AbTox sterilizer told the company that they suspected the units might be a contributing factor in patient injuries.
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| Attorney Fitzgerald: Safeguarding through prosecution. |
AbTox continued to sell the unapproved sterilizers, but by 1998, faced with declining sales, the company filed for bankruptcy protection. It initiated a product recall at about the same time FDA issued a nationwide alert advising hospitals about the dangers associated with the units.
While on the market, AbTox reportedly sold 168 of the sterilizers, which generated more than $18 million in revenue. The units were sold nationwide, and customers included hospitals run by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and other government agencies.
The prosecution of the case was under the direction of Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations.
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| Glavin: In pursuit of dangerous manufacturers. |
“The Food and Drug Administration plays an enormously important role in safeguarding public health and ensuring that medical devices marketed to hospitals are both safe and effective for their intended use,” Fitzgerald said. “Companies that seek to evade federal law and deny hospitals and patients the protections those laws provide do so at the risk of prosecution and serious penalties.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gillum Ferguson said AbTox manufactured, promoted, and sold the instruments to hospitals in “bad faith.”
“These convictions are evidence of FDA's resolve to ensure the safety and efficacy of human medical devices,” said Margaret Glavin, FDA's associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. “Our criminal investigators aggressively pursue those that endanger the public health by manufacturing and selling unsafe products.”
Sentencing of the convicted executives is set for July 12. Significant penalties, including jail terms, fines, and restitution, are expected.
© 2006 Canon Communications LLC
User Interface Designer at The Wonderfactory ~ Authentic Jobs
User Interface Designer at The Wonderfactory ~ Authentic Jobs
Free snacks/coffee/fully stocked fridge
Swinging chairs
Rooftop pool
a room called Hell
User Interface Designer
The Wonderfactory
Contract New York
Contract or temp to perm role ON SITE for a talented UI designer to join our team. Must be able to translate requirements, feature concepts, use cases, and design challenges into site maps, user flows, user scenarios, wireframe schematics, prototypes, and functional specification documents.
- Ability to lead UI projects from start to finish.
- Has a core understanding of web-based design and implications of dynamic User Interface Design
- Creates highly usable and innovative web-based sites & applications.
- Builds and leads the client relationship by communicating and presenting work effectively
- Identifies, addresses and solves complex user interface design problems and help other members of the team solve them.
- Successfully leads & interprets user research and usability testing and effectively applies the findings to designs
- Collaborates with other disciplines to define the vision and requirements for a product or programming area.
Job Perks
A secret entrance wayFree snacks/coffee/fully stocked fridge
Swinging chairs
Rooftop pool
a room called Hell
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