Jul

30

Consumers Demand Control Through Human Machine Interface Technology

July 30, 2010 | Tagged Consumers, Control, Demand, Interface, Machine, technology, Through | Leave a Comment

“Human-Inter-what?” clipped Simon, peeking over his morning paper with a loud crinkle. A favorite farmer of seventy-eight years at my local coffee shop, Simon never failed to give me the truth precisely as he saw it. I had asked him what he thought of Human Machine Interface Technology. “Sounds like science fiction to me. Don’t we already interact – interface, whatever – with machines? How else are we supposed to run the things?”

I laughed, but in a down-to-earth, back-to-common-sense way, Simon was right on. One encyclopedia explains Human-Machine Interface (HMI) technology, also known as user interface technology as the whole means by which human users interact with a particular system, such as a device, computer program or machine. HMI provides a mechanism by which users can input or manipulate a system, and provides the system a way to output or produce the effects of the users’ manipulation.

It’s not really so complicated. HMI is a broad term describing the “layer” between a person interacting with the machine and the machine itself. Applications are varied – from medical prostheses, such as cochlear implants, to computer-human interactions to the operation of vehicular Global Positioning System (GPS) devices.

For example, Web-based user interfaces accept input and provide output by generating Web pages transmitted via the Internet, which are then viewed by users through Web browser programs. Different implementations are utilized to provide real-time control in a separate program, effectively abolishing the need to refresh a traditional HTML-based Web browser.

The more exciting technologies include touch interfaces, which serve as excellent examples of the public’s increasing demand to be in control of their environment and their machines. Touch interfaces are graphical user interfaces using a touch-screen display as a device for both input and output.

This insistence is becoming apparent in the automotive industry, where consumers are demanding to be well-connected and in control. Most vehicular GPS devices, for example, are touch interfaces. Steering wheel controls can also use HMI technology to keep drivers connected through different wireless and electronic apparatuses. Certain corporations are even releasing vehicles in which much of the cockpit is run by HMI technology, such as reconfigurable instrument clusters, reconfigurable head-up displays (HUD), warning systems and multifunctional controls.

The trend seems to be in fewer gauges – reducing six-gauge systems, for example, to fewer with reconfigurable displays. There may be more use of a center cockpit, touch screens and reconfigurable thin film transistor (TFT) displays in the future, as well.

A report about HMI technologies stated the importance for designers to understand that HMI determines an operator’s perception about a machine. Designers are of vital importance, it went on to say, because operators need to be able to trust the apparatus – and trust their interactions with it – in order to make the technology successful. How skillful and mindful HMI designers are in their work will, in large part, determine that. HMI empowerment will come through ease-of-use features, ease of programmability, easy understanding and clear information displays.

According to that study, a portion of the designer population still considers HMI just a tool, but many technologies with vital benefits are poised to make HMI the central command station for monitoring and control operations. This technology has the power to transform equipment into better interactive instruments.

Focus will increasingly be on the integration of hardware and software across horizontal and vertical lines, as well as on security issues associated with HMI software, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. Escalating complexity and the high volume of connections requires this to be of current and future concern. Likewise, agility and portability are proving to be important trends in human-machine interaction and user experience research.

My Links : high speed data acquisition

Jul

29

The HRIS Implementation Project

July 29, 2010 | Tagged Implementation, Project | Leave a Comment

CONTENTS

Introduction

a) The Project Manager

b) The Project Team

c) The Project Plan

d) Project Plan Elements:

1) Cleanse Data

2) Create Test Environment for Application

3) Employee Numbers

4) Configure Organisational Structure

5) Configure Posts (Jobs)

6) Configuring Shift Patterns

7) Configure Employee Details

Configure Users’ Access Security

9) Configure HR and Pay Rules

10) Configure Reports

11) Configure Triggers

12) History Carried Forward

13) Populating the New Application

14) Parallel Running

15) Migrate Test Data onto Live Evironment

16) Old Data

16) De-commissioning

THE PROJECT

Introduction

This is a rather more detailed look at the HRIS implementation. This has been done with the intention of giving a sense of scope and scale to the professional contemplating the acquisition and implementation of a new or replacement HRIS, and is not exhaustive, nor constitutes the ultimate Project Plan.

Most of this article deals with HR and Payroll applications, but a lot of the actions are generic to Time & Attendance systems. We shall update and expand this article from time to time to build on our visitors’ knowledge base.

Your selected Vendor will have a wealth of experience in the management of Projects such as yours, but it is useful for you to have your own appreciation of what is involved.

A lot of this material is based on real-life experience (or scar tissue!) acquired by our Team over the course of years, and we mean it to be presented in understandable language and easily-followed format.

a) The Project Manager

If there’s one message to get across here it’s DO get your own Project Manager; do NOT rely on the Vendor to project manage on your behalf as they will ultimately fail to meet everyone’s expectations, no matter how hard they work. They will always have difficulty balancing priorities that will occasionally be in conflict. You wouldn’t expect a lawyer to act as both prosecutor and defender at the same time!

Importantly, having your own person will give more ownership, and that the introduction of your new HRIS isn’t just something remote “happening to” your organisation

Let’s get this in context right away:

i) the Project Manager is unlikely to be able to combine the PM role with another day job.

ii) The Project Manager must have experience in interpreting the Vendor’s plan, marshalling (and cajoling) resources, meeting deadlines and liaising with the Vendor. It’s not a job for the amateur.

It’s very tempting for, say, an HR Manager to assume the role, but it is inadvisable unless they have the above-mentioned experience. Really – trust me on this one.

Ideally, you should use someone with the relevant experience from elsewhere within the organisation who can look at the picture dispassionately and impartially. Doing it this way, the experience stays in the organisation. Failing this, hire a professional Project Manager; it won’t be cheap, but having committed yourself to the solution you are not improving your chances of success by skimping on the essentials.

An option to reduce external costs can be to appoint a Programme Manager to oversee your Project Manager if their overall experience is not comprehensive. The Programme Manager brief will involve taking a broad view of the project, and review – probably on a weekly basis – with the Project Manager. In this way, the contractor expenditure is minimised, and the Programme Manager can provide a mentoring role.

Whoever lands the Project Manager position MUST have discretion to take decisions (within budget and other agreed limits) and have priority access to resources when required with causing unnecessary interruption to normal activities. It is essential that all affected departments are consulted during the planning of the project on all matters that affect their people and resources.

b) The Project Team

Keep the team small. Only people who have direct influence on the Project should be in the core team. Others can be co-opted for various stages of the Plan that relate to them.

A good number for the core team is 3. Beyond that, you have a committee, which will make consensus difficult and may slow matters when team members are unable to make the meetings. The more members, the more unlikely you can get everyone together on a regular basis.

c) The Project Plan

It is usual for the Vendor to draw up a project plan detailing the actions required to load, configure, implement and test the application up to purchaser acceptance and sign-off.

As the client, you will need to draw up a shadow plan to meet the case that will comprise all the steps to be taken from your side, the persons responsible for resourcing those steps and the timelines for those steps to accord with the Vendor plan.

If you do not have the (expensive) Project planning software tools for this, you can draw up your chart in Gantt format using MS Excel.

d) Project Plan elements

Below is an illustration of some typical actions in the client plan that respond to a required action in the master plan.

1. Cleanse data

Either circulate a blank form and ask employees to complete it, or print out what you have on them and ask them to correct or add information. I actually favour the former course, as it starts the data up from a zero base and means the employees have to make the effort to get it right.

2. Create Test Environment for Application

This will be your IT /ICT department that sets this up, generally by allocating a server and loading a copy of the application on to it, ready for data entry. At a later point, they will set up a Live Environment which will be the permanent home for your application.

3. Employee Numbers

Ensure that the new application can carry the sequences that you use. If you have a historical set of employee numbers, it can be a good opportunity to start from scratch

4. Configure Organisational Structure

My recommended action here is to replicate the organisation structure on the basis of the Chart of Accounts used by the Finance Department. Not only does it make the reporting understandable across the organisation, but it facilitates the smooth export of information to other applications.

Departments can be configured to carry an alpha description and the numeric Chart number as well.

Example:

And so on…

Tip No 4.1

When setting up the structure, remember to have the organisation itself at the top of the “pyramid” otherwise you will not be able to transit people between departments.

5. Configure Posts (Jobs)

A Post (Job) can be considered as the empty “suit” for a job that exists before anyone actually fills the job.

Attached to the Post will be a range of conditions:

Hours:

If standard organisational hours are 40 per week, and the Post in question, e.g. Payroll Manager, is a 40 hpw job, then it will be considered to be 1 FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) If the Post was only 30 hours per week, then it would be expressed on a headcount report as 0.75 FTE.

Grade:

Most posts will be allocated within an agreed grade. Certain benefits or conditions may automatically accrue from grades, and will need to be added to the Post accordingly.

Reports to:

This will be the immediate report in the organisational hierarchy. This has additional importance when Triggered Actions are set up, to ensure, for instance, that all employees reporting to a certain manager are advised of impending Appraisal meetings or Training Events.

The issue is a little clouded when an employee in fact holds two Posts – both perhaps part-time – and reports to more than one Manager. Some software applications cannot handle this without having two different accounts set up for the person, which is highly unsatisfactory, especially when it then impacts on the Payroll. If you have what are known as Multi-Posts in your organisation, you will have to look very carefully at your vendor specification. As a rough guide, most vendors who sell into the Public Sector will have this feature, by necessity.

Benefits:

Either dependent upon grade or perhaps as a standard feature of employment, benefits may be attached to Jobs. Theses can include Life Assurance, Permanent Health Insurance (Salary Continuation), Holidays and other Contractual provisions.

Property:

Some positions automatically require corporate property, such as Mobile Telephones, Laptops and Company Cars.

6. Configuring Shift Patterns

Most organisations will have differing shift patterns for their employees, and can range from weekly through to rotations that repeat every 12 weeks or more. Check that you have every available current shift pattern defined, and then configure them on the T&A system. After this, you will tie each employee to a shift.

Some workers are defined as “floaters” as they have no fixed patter, but you can establish a no-shift category, and the Shift Supervisors can manually add them to shifts as required.

Good quality T&A systems make setting up and editing shifts very easy indeed. A further refinement on some applications is analysis of specific work activities within shifts.

Tip No. 6.1

Sourcing a new Time & Attendance system is the right time to re-evaluate your clock-in points. The clocks represent an investment of around couple of thousand pounds each, and so you really don’t want too many of them. Study the dynamics of your operation; are your clocking points too far away from the actual work stations?

7. Configure Employee Details

Apart from routine employee information such as Name and Address, there may be a requirement to add organisation-specific fields, or to configure existing fields.

In the former group could be Fire Officers, First Aiders or Appointed Persons; in the latter will be the organisation’s required fields for categories such as Equal Opportunity Monitoring.

8. Configure Users’ Access Security

Defines who can access the application/s and to what level of information or action that they have access.

Access policies differ from organisation to organisation, but one rule should be constant: employees must not be able to change their own records (except allowed fields in Self Service environments) although they should be able to see them (Read Only) and have them included in reporting.

You may wish to allow the Training department to see employee records relating to Job and Training History, without having access to personal and salary data or in-house Recruiters to see Job detail only.

With Time & Attendance, the most common security set-up is to allow Shift Supervisors to edit their own shift workers’ absence records. Non attendance is edited in arrears when the cause for absence is known, and can then be shown as Unpaid, Sickness, Compassionate or made up later on the shift, etc.

Access issues will also arise in Time & Attendance, where the system is used for Access Control to a building or parts of a building as well as a Time Recording device.

Self Service presents a much more complex task, as you will need to organise security levels for the majority of your workforce (those who have easy access to online access). This will involve setting parameters for the fields that can be changed by all employees (address, bank details, absence and holidays), their managers and supervisors (approvals and training recommendations) and senior management (e.g. headcount, budgets and corporate communications).

9. Configure HR and Pay Rules

There are two sets of Rules: Statutory and those set by the organisation.

Statutory rules are set by Government and standard across every organisation. These will include categories such as Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Sick Pay, Minimum Wage and Basic Holidays.

Organisational rules are particular to that organisation and may affect Occupational provisions such as Sick Pay, Long Service Entitlements, Pay Grades and Organisational hierarchy.

As with Data Cleansing, it is never too early too early to start collecting these rules together and tabulate them. Be sure to contact the vendor for a matrix of rules that will be required so that you have a guide. Running round looking for information of this type while the vendor’s consultant has the meter running is a wasteful way to work!

10. Configure Reports

You will have to think about the variety of reports to which you will need access from the outset, what fields should appear, how they are to be filtered and if there are any time or departmental parameters. These can be used in the Report writing Training sessions, as there is no substitute in learning as doing these things for yourself!

Some examples of the most commonly used reports are:

Headcount:

Employee Number, Employee Name, Cost Centre, Full-Time Equivalent

Salaries:

Employee Number, Employee Name, Cost Centre, Annual Salary

Long Service:

Employee Number, Employee Name, Date Joined, Years’ Service (run from date of report)

Employee Turnover:

No. of employees (within given period) x 100 divided by Average Number of Employees

Stability (example shown for annual figure)

No. of employees with 1 year’s service x 100 divided by Number of Employees employed 1 year ago.

Some reports use the same building blocks and only needed to be modified, perhaps for data between two dates. You can set up two blank dates in your report (start and finish), so that when you run the report you can insert the required dates at that time. This is known in some reporting suites as Runtime Prompt.

11. Configure Triggers

Set out on paper a list of the actions of which you want notification, what triggers them, to whom notifications should be sent, and when.

For example, all new employees are on a 12 week probation period, and you want to ensure that the probation interview is carried out in a timely fashion. You configure the trigger by ensuring that the Probation rule for this employee is 3 months. You can then set the trigger to forward a formatted and mail merged email reminder to the Line Manager, the employee (and HR department, if necessary) at start date + 10 weeks.

Example:

Trigger: New Employee

Field: Probation

Condition: Start Date + 12 weeks – 2 weeks (or +10 weeks)

Action: Email

Message: “Please note that (employee name) is due for Probation review on Date (derived from the Start Date + 12 weeks). Please ensure that this review is completed by the due date.”

This is simplistic, but gives an indication of how these Triggers are constructed.

12. History Carried Forward

Payroll history is easy to manage, as only the current tax year is held live and previous data is held as an archive. These must be accessible for not less than seven years by statute, so you will need to have arrangements in place for this to comply (see Old Data).

Time and Attendance records, too, are not usually carried forward from previous holiday years. It is advisable to retain a reasonable amount of this data, perhaps 3 years, as it may be relevant to possible disciplinary action, or litigation in respect of Sickness Absence and Industrial injury.

HR records are rather more difficult to decide upon. It’s probably fair to say that the longer an employee is with an organisation, the thinner the file! The tendency is to gather more and more information about newer employees, and the trend is escalating.

Factors that should affect the amount of employee history will include:

How often do you actually refer to records more than a year old?

Does anyone ever look back at career progression over the past 10 years?

Just how accurate – and detailed – is the history?

The more history you bring forward, the more costly it becomes. Every historical post going back in time must be created, populated, and then depopulated as the employee moves on, even though the jobs, and occasionally departments, may have passed out of living memory. You are in fact reconstructing the past, and, as previously mentioned, this history may be inaccurate enough as to be of dubious worth.

An effective way of resolving this would be to agree a point in time, say 2/3 years previous to the current migration time, and import this into the new application. Earlier data can then be retained in a form of History file (see Old Data Item 15)

13. Populating the new application

Many applications are populated by uploading a series of related spreadsheets (usually.csv derived from Excel) by way of a data importer.

You can assist this process by requesting the spreadsheet templates from the vendor, and populate them from your newly-cleansed data sources. Although this is time-consuming, it is a very good sense check on the data that you have, and gives you at least a bit more ownership and control over it; you will find at times during a project that there are times that it seems like something happening elsewhere!

14. Parallel Running

It goes without saying that the most “mission critical” application is the Payroll. Whether you are moving from one application to another, or to your first computerised HRIS you will need to parallel run – that is, run it alongside your current arrangement, for a period, mainly for testing purposes to compare and validate output as well as to discover any running problems before going live.

Payroll and, to a lesser extent, Time & Attendance run more in “real time” than HR, and therefore should be prioritised.

One of the most frequent questions we are asked is “how many parallel runs should we do?” There is no hard and fast answer, and it will all depend on your resources, but we would recommend a minimum of two, and probably no more than three. If you are still encountering significant discrepancies after two parallel runs, you must quickly establish where the faults lie and correct them, otherwise your project will come unstuck.

When the parallel running and other testing is completed satisfactorily, the purchaser will then sign off an End User Testing Acceptance document. The data is then ready to be loaded in to the Live Environment.

15. Migrate Test Data onto Live Environment

This will be carried out by the IT/ICT function, and will involve decanting the validated data into the live application Environment, ready for live use.

On web-hosted applications, this will be done by the host on their own location, and the purchaser merely points their browser to the new live address.

16. Old Data

Often overlooked. As well as establishing how much history you bring forward into the new application, you still have a decision to make on where to store historical data.

Payroll is required to be accessible for no less than seven years, and HR is an ongoing record. The main options are:

Maintaining an environment version of the previous application, where records can be accessed and read;

Data converted into a contemporary format such as Excel where it can be used at will;

The old-fashioned giant pile of printout.

The first two have a cost attached; a) is usually an ongoing rental charge and b) is a one-time charge. Neither is particularly cheap. The last option is not as impractical as it might sound; people generally overestimate the amount of access they need to historical data. Providing the history reports are produced in a range of sorts (Surname, Employee Number, National Insurance Number, Operating Division) then look-ups are not time-consuming.

17. De-commissioning

Remember if you are phasing out a previous application then you will need to study the terms under which you give it up, with special regard to notice periods and financial considerations attached to them.

Existing systems should be maintained until complete cut-over to the new application is complete, and then they can be cleared down and withdrawn from the operating platform. Ensure that all master disks are accounted for are returned to the original vendor, or disposed of in line with their wishes.

Tags : analog data acquisition usb data acquisition card

Jul

29

Performance Management – Is Your Organization Doing it Right?

July 29, 2010 | Tagged Management, Organization, performance, Right | Leave a Comment

When running a business, one of the key things you need to know is how well your employees are carrying out their duties. Unlike the old days when people worked on assembly lines and their work could be measured by the number of units they produced, evaluation in modern organizations is far more complex.

Performance appraisals have been a feature of most organizations for years but these have often just been administrative exercises. The modern business world demands much more and now the focus is on aligning the systems and processes with organizational strategy and goals

You need to assess such factors as overall competence with the task at hand, the extent to which the employee’s skills and experience is being effectively applied, the worker’s potential to gain new skills and progress, and leadership and communication skills, to mention but a few. This is no easy task.

Nevertheless, any effective operation requires a system to evaluate performance to ensure that goals are consistently being met in an effective and efficient manner, and that all work is aligned with corporate goals and strategies. If you want the corporate success that having a satisfied workforce brings, this is something you have to take seriously.

Thorough and effective performance management brings many benefits to your organization. For one thing, it creates transparency and boosts employee engagement by showing staff how their actions contribute to success.

This allows the development of incentive plans to allow high achievers to earn more. In any organization, you need to make sure that your top performers remain motivated, engaged in their work and are adequately compensated.

What’s more, it assists in employee career development. By clearly understanding their current level of performance, staff can determine what they need to do to advance in the organization.

Another benefit is that you can create professional development programs that are better aligned to organizational goals. Programs can be tailored to areas where performance is not optimal to correct any deficiencies.

Performance management is complex and demanding, but fortunately technology has provided a rich array of tools in the form of employee performance management software. Other than producing results that engage and empower employees, this software also works to reduce administrative costs by automating the performance management process.

Using integrated software can deliver a significant return on investment when compared with standard methods. Another plus is that it ensures legal compliance by standardizing performance management processes.

Nowadays, leading firms offer performance management solutions that integrate performance management, compensation management, career development, goal alignment and succession planning into one seamless whole covering the entire employee lifecycle. Taking advantage of this system allows you to fully utilize data and make strategic decisions based on a holistic view of your workforce.

Utilizing one of these solutions offers benefits other than just with existing staff; it can also help with effective candidate sourcing. By assessing those who are the best in their role, recruiters can identify applicants with the same qualities for new positions.

The process, known as creative sourcing allows specialized firms to carry out top performer research and analyze the job market to find ideal candidates. Part of this procedure is also to gain an understanding of organizational culture to determine the best way to approach prospective new staff.

Performance management is a complex task in today’s organizations. Real Performance Evaluation requires a way of determining real performance not just procedures. It requires sophisticated qualitative assessment and it also needs to cover the whole employee life cycle from hiring to leaving.

In today’s competitive environment you need more than just quality staff; you also need to manage their performance to unlock maximum value. You can use the services of professional firms specializing in performance; these firms can offer modern systems and measurement compensation management tools thus allowing your organization to real achieve valid performance evaluation.

Performance management is not an event or a function; it is a process that works as a continuous cycle with the objective of corporate excellence. To bring effective performance management to your organization, take a look at the web sites of leading firms with long experience and latest methods. You can choose the right program for your operation and bring in the professionals to take charge.

My Links : real time data acquisition

Jul

28

Garmin Nuvi 205 205W Review

July 28, 2010 | Tagged Change, Garmin, Review | Leave a Comment

Image : http://www.flickr.com

One of the more popular models from Garmin is the Nuvi 205 / 205w. It is a compact and reasonably priced GPS navigation system. It hit the market in mid 2008 and has been an incredible success for Garmin. The 205 / 205W offers a built in MSN Direct receiver for on the go traffic updates.

Features:

The 205 series GPS is quite compact – boasting an LCD crystal clear display in a housing that is less than an inch in thickness. As with most Garmin GPS navigation units it offers fast satellite acquisition and performs with fast and accurate real time navigation without the sluggish “Lag”. This is due, in most part, to the integrated flash memory and the swift speed of the built in microprocessor. Most all Garmin users never have a reason to complain about the performance of their GPS unit’s performance, and we don’t expect anyone to do so with the 205 series either.

The Garmin Nuvi 205 series comes with Garmin’s City Navigator map database which offers specialed detailed map data for the area in which you live. Available in the US, the Garmin 205 series will also be offered for sale in most European countries such as UK, France, Ireland, and more. The navigation map display offers users the choice of 2D or 3D perspective and includes turn by turn voice prompts to get you to your destination safely. The Nuvi 205 series does not offer text to speech, but is easy to use and works as effectively as higher end units.

The Nuvi 205 does offer an MSN direct receiver that gives it’s user the ability to gather relevant real time data such as weather, movie times, and even gas prices. The MSN Direct service is free. It also has information on nearby emergency services such as fire, hospitals, and police. As with all new Garmin products, users can download their own map symbols and avatars for use on the navigation screen. This, of course, isn’t a requirement, but it adds an element of fun to your navigation experience.

The Garmin Nuvi 205 Series does not offer music or video playback, but it does have a picture viewer feature.

If you’re looking for a compact navigation unit that you can rely on then this is one to consider. It weighs a modest 5 ounces and has a powerful lithium ion battery that can last up to four hours. Software/firmware updates are a piece of cake with it’s built in USB port. As with Garmin’s other units it automatically adjusts screen colors/brightness for day/night use and adjustable volume levels. Some other useful tools found in the menu are currency converter, clock, and a mathematical calculator. Above all this is the ability to receive FM-based traffic information which can really come in handy on your morning commute.

Friends Link : real time wave data high speed daq seismic data acquisition

Jul

26

Prying Eyes

July 26, 2010 | Tagged Prying | Leave a Comment

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Nothing has aroused more controversy than it does now the subject of privacy on the Internet. Everyone seems to have something to say – be it the companies or their clients. Even legislators are struggling to regulate this thing; year already entered a number of bills.

On the one hand, we have customers – who have become true experts in information. Claim increased restrictions on the use of their personal data and accountability of companies that collect them. Some even refusing to resort to shopping online, fearing the acquisition of personal data to other companies and government agencies.

On the other side – the entrepreneurs are somewhere in the thin line between the need to collect information needed for a better relationship with potential clients and to their expulsion. Hardest task is to assure clients that their data are needed, the process is really for their benefit and that intimacy will never be raped.

“Growing concerns of consumers, technological development and pressures companies to make policy on the protection of privacy on the Internet one of the hottest topics in the coming years,” said Jay Stanley, an analyst at Forrester Research.

Meanwhile, legislators continue efforts to establish stringent requirements on online services. Congress passed the Law on protecting children’s privacy on the Internet, which puts children at the shelter data collection techniques and aggressive marketing. Experts and adoption expected in May later legislation this year, especially considering the many privacy issues that are on the list for discussion.

But their compliance will not be easy. According to a study conducted by the Joint Center for Regulatory Studies American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institution and guaranteed by the Association for Competitive Technology, adherence to new legislation on Internet privacy up could cost companies between $ 9 and $ 36 billion.

The secret for companies is to find the perfect balance. “Modern technology, and especially the Internet, has made data collection process easier, faster and more rigorous,” said Walter O ‘Brian, executive director of the Private Leadership Initiative, a partnership CEO of large corporations and trade associations New York. “And this worries many. We have a deficit of alarming proportions and confidence that keep buyers in expectation. For any company, bet the loss of so many consumers’ circumspect but online is enormous. “

Friends Link : high speed data acquisition

Jul

26

5 Steps in Acquiring Power Lift Chairs Through Medicare

July 26, 2010 | Tagged Acquiring, Chairs, Medicare, Through | Leave a Comment

Power lift chairs are special chairs designed for those who have mobility issues such as painful joints, weak bones, arthritis, leg injuries, and those who have had leg operations. With mobility issues, often the common problem is that there is a difficulty in standing, sitting down or even trying to lie down or get up due to the pain that is felt however with the use of power lift chairs these types of motion are easily done at the push of a button.

Power lift chairs run on electricity and they are sometimes referred to as electric lift chairs. These products aid mobility challenged users by slowly and steadily raising the seat until the user is at an almost standing position at the push of a button.

Since they are not your everyday chair, these electric lift chairs tend to be expensive and the more features there are the more expensive they’ll become. However if you have Medicare you’re in good hands because they do cover the acquisition of recliner lift chairs as long your paper work is correct and that you fit their criteria.

CRITERIA

For Medicare to reimburse the purchase of recliner lift chairs, you must first consult your doctor to see what sort of problem you have that affects your mobility. Medicare will only reimburse those who have any of the following: severe hip and/or knee arthritis and severe neuromuscular diseases.

This usually means that you cannot stand up using regular chairs or recliners without someone to help you do it, a loved one or your caregiver perhaps however you can move around without assistance once you’re not in a sitting position. Lastly, you should have “doctor’s orders” or prescription stating that the use of electric lift chairs as a mobility aid and to prevent your condition from worsening.

Step 01: FILLING UP THE FORMS SECTION A

To be able to fill up the correct form, you should go to the Medicare website and download the form called: Medicare form CMS-849 or Certificate of Medical Necessity for Seat Life Mechanisms. You will be required to put in all necessary personal data such as your name and address.

You will also be required to put in your health insurance claim number, some basic information about your doctor and his or her National Plan Identification (NPI) number as well as the coding system number of the type of chair that is covered. It’s also required that you put in and exactly where the recliner lift chairs will be used: your home or the nursing home where you live.

In filling up forms, be sure that all information is correct because wrong information or false claims will affect your eligibility.

Step 02: FILLING UP THE FORMS SECTION B

This section is for your doctor to fill in therefore you should go and see him again because all questions that he or she will answer here is about your medical condition, how long you should be using electric lift chairs, and some diagnostic codes that describe your condition.

Step 03: FILLING UP THE FORMS SECTION C

This part of the form should be answered by the store where you’re planning to buy power lift chairs from. Ask them to describe in detail the type of chair your doctor has ordered for you and the extra accessories for better functionality.

Step 04: FILLING UP THE FORMS SECTION D

Back again to your physician, who will review the form and determine that all information is true and correct to the best of his knowledge and then signs the said section.

Step 05: FILING THE FORMS

Always remember that all information that all parties involved will enter should be true and correct otherwise the chances of being approved will be slim. You can also ask your power lift chairs supplier or your doctor to file the form on your behalf as this method is better received by Medicare.

There are also those who purchase the chair first and then file for reimbursement later and if this is you, keep your documentation intact because this is your proof of purchase. The last detail that you should know is that Medicare will only cover the lifting mechanism of the chair in the amount of $300.

Jul

25

Tips on Writing an Effective Social Media Marketing Request For Proposal (RFP)

July 25, 2010 | Tagged effective, marketing, Proposal, Request, Social, Writing | Leave a Comment

About a year ago, I wrote an article with guidelines on writing a website design and development Request for Proposal (RFP), which received a great response. Now I think it’s high time to do the same thing for those wishing to engage an agency for Social Media Marketing and other Online Marketing and Advertising consultation and implementation.

Below are my suggestions of how to prepare an RFP for social media projects, retainers and campaigns. I also suggest doing research online and viewing other Request for Proposals to see what works best for your organization. Keep in mind that whatever format you choose will determine not only how long the responses are, but also what type of focus you are looking for from the respondents. Each section of the RFP is outlined below, along with some explanation and suggested questions. Have fun!

Information about your organization and project

Introduction

The purpose of this section is to give a brief overview of the company issuing the RFP and the social media project or desired work relationship between the company and the vendor. Provide as much information as you feel is necessary to allow vendors to prepare an accurate proposal. If you feel that there is certain proprietary or other information that you do not wish to make public, require a Non Disclosure Agreement be signed before receiving that information. This may limit the participation of vendors, but it is oftentimes necessary to protect private information.

1. Company Overview

Organizational history
Your business objectives
Your company’s history using social media or reasons why your organization intends to begin to participate in social media

2. Overview of Project

State the project objectives and how they relate to the business objectives stated above. Explain the type of vendor relationship desired i.e. Project-based, Agency of Record, etc. Explain the current involvement your organization has with social media channels and how they relate to both your organization’s primary presence and any related campaigns
Explain the social media channels you wish the campaign to involve, unless you are looking for suggestions of which to use, then please specify that to the vendors
Explain how the project fits into your overall marketing strategy (online and offline) and if there is another vendor involved in other aspects of your Advertising and Marketing initiatives
Explain the measurable outcomes you would like to see
Explain the duration of the work – is it a temporary campaign, or an ongoing organizational marketing platform?

3. Overview of Audiences and Stakeholders

List primary audiences for the company, i.e. demographics, psychographics, etc
List primary information needs of each audience group
Identify if any market or audience research will be necessary in the execution of the campaign

4. Overview of Response

Make it clear the type of response you are looking for:
Are you looking for a hypothetical approach, or an explanation of the vendor’s process of how they will come to create your campaign. Many times a hypothetical approach is not the best way to approach an RFP process simply because a vendor will be missing several key pieces of information that might negatively affect their ability to propose a specific solution. We suggest looking for more general responses and weighing the effectiveness of past client work heavily

Guidelines for Proposal Preparation

In order to give all qualified vendors a level playing field, it’s important to set up an easy to follow schedule for both when your RFP is issued, when and to whom questions are allowed, and when and in what format responses are required
Specify the date the RFP was issued (Month, Day, Year). If your RFP is publicly listed, it will help those searching for RFPs on Google or by other methods to find relevant Request for Proposals
An optional requirement is to specify that all interested vendors register their intent to submit a proposal by a certain date – usually within 1-2 weeks of the RFP issue. This is a good way to limit the potential number of vendors who respond if you anticipate a large volume of proposals and would rather receive a smaller amount
We recommend allowing a question and answer period that ends at least 1 week before the proposal is due. It is up to you whether to allow questions by email, conference call or individual phone calls. We do recommend that you share all the questions (and answers) with all interested vendors in order to keep things as equal as possible. Always specify which format -phone call, email, and to whom these questions should be addressed. We recommend identifying a single person in your organization to be the point of contact. Just make sure vacation schedules, etc don’t interfere with this process, and if there is any other reason why the primary point of contact might need to be out of town during the process, specify a secondary point of contact
Responses from issuer to be sent by 20XX in the following formats (specify whether electronic submissions, hard copies or both must be either emailed, mailed or hand-delivered)
On the basis of the replies to the RFP document, a short list of potential vendors will be selected and this group will be asked to present demonstrations of their capabilities and vision for the project. These meetings will be completed by XXth, 20XX
Awarding of the contract to selected Vendor by XXth, 20XX
Work to commence by 20XX and to last until (if applicable)

Vendor Questions and Qualifications

The following is a series of questions that, if applicable, we suggest you ask the vendors submitting proposals. Some may not apply, but it is a great idea to get as much of an idea of the vendor’s approach and philosophy on social media as possible. Compare the responses both among each other, and to the research and reading that you have done to make sure that the vendor is up to date with the latest thinking and best practices.

COMPANY DETAILS

Company name and parent company name
Ownership structure
Years in operation
Mailing address (headquarters)
Other office location(s)
Primary phone
Fax number
Website and blog URL
Primary point of contact (name, title, phone and email address)
Total number of employees
Number of vendor employees whose primary function is social media
Current client list with those engaged in social media work identified
Percentage of total revenue that is social-media related
Three references for social media work including; company name, primary client name, contact details and brief explanation of services provided
Any potential conflicts with existing vendor client base and this RFP
Senior social media staff bios and links to social media profiles where applicable
Please provide a complete list of relevant social media platform and technology partners
References from clients currently engaged in social media work with the vendor

CAPABILITIES & EXPERIENCE

List all social media and online marketing capabilities
Do you have any proprietary tools or products related to social media?
Please list any experience you have with integrating social, paid and/or earned media
Is there a specific industry or type of work your firm specializes in?
Please list and provide links to primary social media communication channels for your company (i.e.company blog,Twitter account, Facebook group, blogs authored by principals, etc.)

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGY

Please outline your social media strategy process
Which stakeholder groups do you typically include in a strategy engagement?
Describe the final deliverable of a strategy engagement
What is your approach to risk management in social media?
How do you incorporate existing applications, websites, microsites and newsletter programs into your overall social media strategy?
How do you ensure compliance with client legal requirements?
Please describe your approach to integrating across client marketing, customer service and corporate communications departments. Please provide an example of your work in this area
How do you approach adapting a traditional brand into a two-way dialogue?
Please provide a case study of your strategy work that resulted in a social media initiative and the business results achieved

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT & SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING

What is your brand/reputation monitoring process (i.e. proprietary tools used, methodology, etc)?
What is your opinion on automated sentiment analysis?
What technology do you use to assist in online monitoring?
How long (on average) between a potential issue being posted online and being flagged to the client?
What volume of mentions has your organization handled in the past (e.g. 2,500 mentions per week)?
What is your quality assurance process to ensure that the large volumes of data gathered in the monitoring process are handled efficiently and representative of the overall online conversation?
Please detail your methodology for handling online crises
What services do you provide in support of online crisis management?
Please describe the structure of your crisis management team, including bios and relevant experience
How do you assess which mentions require immediate responses and which do not?
Please outline your general approach to sourcing and responding to comments
Please provide a case study detailing your work for the purposes of managing reputation or online crisis management, including outcomes and lessons learned
Please include a sample of your monitoring report format and/or a link to appropriate dashboards (specifics should be removed)

METRICS, MEASUREMENT & REPORTING

What methodology do you use for measuring the success of your social media programs for clients?
Please provide specific examples based on past work
Have you developed any proprietary metrics? How have you applied these for clients?
How have you defined Return on Investment (ROI) from a social media perspective in the past?
How do you take data points generated from various social media channels and measurement tools and combine to give an objective/comprehensive view?
What is your approach to server analytics and community analytics for program measurement?
Do you have the capability to measure cost per lead or cost per acquisition? Please provide an example of a project on which you have done so
What platforms are you unable to measure accurately, or able to provide only limited measurements from?
Please provide a sample of a measurement document or final report (specifics should be removed)
What percentage of the budget do you recommend be dedicated to metrics and measurement?

CLIENT EDUCATION & TRAINING

Do you offer social media training services for clients? If yes, what formats are they available in?
What internal processes do you have in place to ensure that your staff is kept current on social media innovations and best practices?
How do you measure progress and evaluate training effectiveness?
How do you recommend that clients keep up to date on the latest social media innovations and best practices?

SOCIAL MEDIA AND OTHER DIGITAL CHANNELS

What are your design, creative and community management capabilities?
What percentage of your staff is dedicated to building and deploying social media solutions versus management and consulting?
Please describe your experience with the following platforms and tactics:

- YouTube or similar video sharing sites

- Blogs, Podcasts, Vodcasts, Forums

- Content Management System (CMS)

- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

- E-mail Marketing

- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing(SEM)

- Facebook Pages, Apps, API integration

- Mobile application development

- Twitter

- News sharing sites (i.e. Digg, Reddit, etc.)

- Virtual Worlds and Augmented reality

- Photo sharing (i.e. Flickr) and other content sharing sites (i.e. Scribd, Slideshare, Delicious, etc.)

- Social Media press releases(SMPRs)

- Crowdsourcing or Wikis

- Real world events organized via social media (e.g. Tweetups)

- Ratings/Customer service sites (i.e. Yelp, ePinions, etc.)

Please provide examples of social media channel development work completed within the last two years

COMMUNITY AND INFLUENCER OUTREACH (SOCIAL PR)

What is your process for identifying influencers within various social media channels?
How do you determine and define “influence?”
What is your outreach process for communicating with identified online influencers?
What tools and approaches do you use for Influencer Relationship Management? (Third-party, proprietary,etc.)
How have you integrated Influencer Outreach with traditional communications and/or marketing campaigns?
How do you approach seeding conversations within stakeholder groups?
What is your exit strategy with influencers once the initiative is completed?
How do you ensure authenticity and transparency when conducting outreach on behalf of a client?
Please provide a case study of an online community outreach project

CLIENT SERVICES & PROJECT MANAGEMENT

How is a typical client engagement with your firm structured?
How do you structure your account teams?
Please outline your internal communication structure. If your account staff is separate from your project management staff, please detail how these teams work together
If you are selected to provide social media services, who will be assigned to our business (please provide names, titles and short biographical notes)
What percentage of senior staff involvement is structured in to your projects? What role do they play?
How are your projects priced? Using an hourly rate? Blended agency rate? If the former, please provide a rate card
What change management practices does your agency employ?
What reports will be provided to the client in order to communicate project milestones and overall project health?
What is the frequency of these reports?
What is your process for gathering business requirements?

Writing a Request for Proposal (RFP) is a good first step when considering Online Marketing and Social Media work as it takes thoughtful planning to specify and construct an effective, integrated campaign. A well thought-out, quality RFP is essential to a successful endeavor because it helps you to focus on your goals and exactly how to achieve them.

Thanks To : nasa real time data

Jul

24

Tips on Writing an Effective Social Media Marketing Request For Proposal (RFP)

July 24, 2010 | Tagged effective, marketing, Proposal, Request, Social, Writing | Leave a Comment

Information about your organization and project

Introduction

1. Company Overview

Organizational history
Your business objectives
Your company’s history using social media or reasons why your organization intends to begin to participate in social media

2. Overview of Project

3. Overview of Audiences and Stakeholders

4. Overview of Response

Guidelines for Proposal Preparation

Vendor Questions and Qualifications

COMPANY DETAILS

CAPABILITIES & EXPERIENCE

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGY

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT & SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING

METRICS, MEASUREMENT & REPORTING

CLIENT EDUCATION & TRAINING

SOCIAL MEDIA AND OTHER DIGITAL CHANNELS

Please provide examples of social media channel development work completed within the last two years

COMMUNITY AND INFLUENCER OUTREACH (SOCIAL PR)

CLIENT SERVICES & PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Friends Link : abview data acquisition real time data acquisition data acquisition pci

Jul

24

Why Men Love Women From Indonesia

July 24, 2010 | Tagged Indonesia | Leave a Comment

Men often look to Asian countries to find mail order brides. Many women of Western countries are often curious about why a woman would ever be a part of a mail order bride. The truth is that Indonesian women are not really that safe in their natural culture. Women are not treated equally, although the constitution requires them to be. In fact there are hundreds of thousands of murders and rapes of women there each year.

With this in mind, men of the Western world also think that Indonesian women are also quite beautiful and attractive. They are often attracted to the ethnic look that Indonesian women provide. In addition, Indonesian women often take very good care of themselves. Their personal hygiene is excellent and their beauty is natural.

In addition to natural beauty and a willingness to take care of themselves, Indonesia women are often quite smart as well. They are trained by society to be able to hold great and intelligent conversations about many things. They are very interested in politics and other worldly issues and make perfect dinner companions.

All in all, men love Indonesian women because they are the total package. For a man to score a mail order bride from Indonesia, is a blessing. They will get a wife that is dedicated to them and will do their best to keep their husband happy. In addition they will have a partner they can discuss worldly issues with and create a lifetime of great memories with.

Friends Link : usb data acquisition

Jul

23

Tracking and Measuring Relative Humidity

July 23, 2010 | Tagged Humidity, Measuring, Relative, Tracking | Leave a Comment

In labs and other environments that require a very specific level of relative humidity (RH), careful precaution must be taken when regulating the environmental conditions. Biological incubation and pharmaceutical studies are examples of this type of environment. Even slight RH changes have a dramatic impact on the product or results.

When RH is critical to a process, it must be carefully tracked and measured. Even storage and shipping parts of the process must be monitored to ensure consistency. If not regulated properly, the productivity, quality and cost of a process can be negatively affected.

One way to keep track of RH is the use of humidity data loggers. These compact tools allow for the continuous measurement of RH during the entire production or research process. Humidity data loggers can help prevent costly mistakes, saving both time and money. From beginning to end, these valuable instruments can help you achieve precise conditions during a critical production process.

If you are considering humidity data logging equipment, there are a few important things to consider. The right data logger can make a big difference in improving your processes. A quality logger will also save you time and frustration.

Proper Certifications

First, any data logger you choose should come from a manufacturer that is properly certified and meets necessary standards for their products. There is peace of mind knowing that your data logging device will be safe and reliable in any environment it needs to be used.

Humidity data loggers should have ATEX certification for intrinsic safety. They should also be certified as an FCC Class B digital device. And perhaps most importantly, the software for any data logger should be FDA 21CFR Part 11 Compliant. If RH levels are critical in your production process, be sure your logger is of the highest quality and standards.

Ease of Use

For maximum efficiency and to get the most out of your humidity data logger, make sure all aspects require little training and are easy to use. The unit should be small in size and wire-free. This will allow you to place it as close to the product as possible, giving you the most accurate results.

The accompanying software should also be user-friendly. This will save you time and speed up the data gathering process. You may also want to consider a radio frequency data logger to help speed up data collection. This type of device will continually collect data, giving it to you in real time.

Flexible Application

Next, make sure your humidity data logging device can be used in the environments in which you will need it. High quality data loggers can be used in a wide range of temperature and environmental conditions. It should also be applicable to any number of processes in which you will need to use it.

To be even more flexible, you may want a humidity logger that is compatible with other types of data logging equipment. If your production process will require a number of loggers, it will be important that they are all compatible with a single software interface.

Tracking and measuring RH can be critical in a sensitive production or study process. When exact results are required, don’t take any chances. Implement a humidity data logger into your system and achieve the best possible results.

Recommend : data logging

WP Themes
- Activate
- Blindigo
- Blue Zinfandel
- Eye Candy
- Detour
- Frequency
- Gladiola
- Radiance
- Vertigo
- Vertigo Squared
- Wonderland

Jul

30

Jul

29

Jul

29

Jul

28

Jul

26

Jul

26

Jul

25

Jul

24

Jul

24

Jul

23

WP Themes