Students Of Success

What?
Contributor License Agreements — or CLA’s — are a fairly new phenomenon in the Open Source world. IANAL, but I am going to make an attempt to explain what a CLA is, and why it is necessary today, where it previously was not.

The most commonly used CLA is that of the Apache Software Foundation (ASF), and the purpose appears right at the top of the agreement:
“In order to clarify the intellectual property license granted with Contributions from any person or entity, the Foundation must have a Contributor License Agreement (”CLA”) on file that has been signed by each Contributor, indicating agreement to the license terms below.”

The agreement continues to in great detail explain that the person signing the document must both be the author (or hold rights or permission by the author), and be the copyright owner of the contributions they are planning on making to the project in question. It is clarified that the rights to use the contributions will always and forever remain with the contributor, and that the CLA simply extends this right to the project as well.

In other words, if you submit stolen code, you are breaking the CLA, but if you refrain from such follery, nothing’s changed. You’re still the copyright owner of your submissions, but you grant the other party these rights as well. Simple enough.

In the past, this has been a presumed agreement between the involved parties. If I help you out and patch up your code to make it run better, or submit documentation that makes your code more useful, or whatever, you and I both presume that I didn’t steal the code from someplace and handed it to you in evil. This presumption is no longer enough, for good or worse.

Why?
CLA’s became necessary as a direct effect of the SCO vs. Linux court case(s), which, summarized, are about: “SCO claims a bunch of contributors to the Linux source code stole that code without permission from SCO, and that thus, SCO is now the owner of Linux and may at their whim request that all users of Linux pay a royalty fee.” Pretty scary, huh? Be that as it may, the court negotiations are as of this writing ongoing, but things are looking bad for SCO (for what it’s worth).
But regardless, SCO’s claim was a bucket of cold water in the face of the many maintainers of and contributors to various Open Source projects out there, as a legal matter was suddenly making things a tad more complicated. What if someone helps you out and gives you a bunch of really good, professional code, and what if that code is ripped out of some commercial, copyrighted very-much-not-open-sourced product somewhere? How would you know? How could you possibly know?

A quick Google search on “contributor license agreement” shows 1.6 million hits. Obviously, a great deal of Open Source maintainers and organizations do care, and CLA’s are obviously the answer to this legal matter.
In the end, I think the majority of those who’ve followed the SCO vs Linux court case agree that it is exclusively a matter of halting the progress of the rapidly evolving Open Source world. Microsoft, the father of FUD, assuredly caught onto the dick-grip SCO had on Linux in particular and Open Source in general, and decided to sponsor SCO by handing $12 million dollars to SCO, “to purchase UNIX-type licenses so Microsoft customers can run UNIX-type applications” (this was in the year of 2005, and was reported by Business Week). In the end, though, did SCO win? Have they hampered the development of Open Source software?

In my opinion, yeah. They have won. They have won a fraction of what they aimed for, but yes, I believe SCO got if not the whole cake, they got a taste of it. But I also believe that what they won, the Open Source movement will ultimately benefit from. Ultimately. Eventually.
From personal experience, I know what a CLA can do to the quantity of contributors. A lot of people feel that they want to help a project out, but when they’re handed a big, scary paper which may be interpreted as giving up the rights to something you give away for free, they hesitate. And rightly so. Everyone should hesitate when prompted to sign legally binding documents; everyone should read the fine print and ensure they know what they’re getting into. But this, naturally, proffers a wholly different stage than the good old “Wanna help out? Just chuck yer code at me and I’ll eyeball it and if it looks good I’ll plop it into the svn tree, mate!” type of development.

In the long run, though, Linux and Open Source have been children until now, and it’s time to grow up and face the big crowd, and the big crowd usually wields lawyers like children wield wooden swords, and the difference is that more than a few bruises and tears are at stake. That SCO will ultimately lose to Linux I have no doubts of. And in a way, I am grateful that the world will get to see Linux prevail in court over the devil, and I believe companies worldwide will see this as a trigger to examine Open Source alternatives closer, au contraire to the belief that companies will shy away from it, due to its “run-ins with the law.”

Kalle Alm is an open source developer located in Sweden, currently working on SynchroEdit for Alacrity Management Corporation, since about a year ago. He has been using Open Source software (linux in particular) for nearly a decade. He’s blogging about this and a variety of other things at http://kallewoof.com/

In recent times, initiatives such as the Sarbannes Oxley Act in the US have dramatically raised the profile of compliance within the corporate world. As a key element of any corporate compliance policy, expense management has shared some of the limelight. As a result, corporate expense management software is now critical to any business concerned with corporate compliance. But what is corporate expense management software? Does your company need it? And where do you find a good corporate expense management software solution? Just as importantly, how do you successfully implement and integrate corporate expense management software into your corporate environment. This article sheds some light on these issues.

What is corporate expense management software?

Corporate expense management software is a software program that processes:

1. transaction records received from a credit card issuer (detailing employee use of corporate credit cards0; and
2. cash reimbursement claims originated by an employee.

In practice the target application is Travel and Entertainment expenditure. A robust corporate expense management software solution will also support procurement (pCard) activities as part of a broader strategy of effectively managing lower value, high volume business-to-business transactions.

The three core steps of any expense management process are:

1. the acceptance/input of validated source data;
2. the application of predetermined rules of handling expense records; and
3. the posting of transactions to a corporate repository such as an ERP system.

What is the purpose of corporate expense management software?

The objectives of corporate expense management software implementation should include the following:

1. to automate the preparation, submission, approval, and auditing of travel & entertainment claims, thus improving the productivity of account holders and reducing the time and cost of accounts staff;
2. to support the implementation of a standardized best practice method of managing high volume expenses through the use of corporate credit cards; and
3. to increase the transparency and enhance the governance of financial transactions conducted on behalf of the enterprise.

Sources of corporate expense management software

Australian and international organizations now have access to a range of quality corporate expense management software solutions which are well suited to driving down administration cost whilst meeting corporate compliance requirements. There are essentially three sources of “corporate expense management solutions”:

1. ERP systems;
2. systems offered by card issuers; and
3. best-of-breed solutions.

Each will have their own merits and will suit organizations in different circumstances.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems
ERP sourced expense management has the attraction of being fully integrated within the financial suite of software, therefore offering a standard look and feel to all users of the ERP. With ERP sourced expense management functionality, the ERP supplies the core software, and the enterprise needs to customize and configure the system to reflect its own structures and rules regarding the management of staff expenses. If you’re considering the option of using their ERP for expense management, you need to be conscious of a number of factors, including:

• the actual functionality available within their specific installed ERP system;
• the backlog of work on the ERP system accumulated for the IT department; and
• the deployment time and the cost of the project (which will usually be substantial).

License costs can be an issue if an enterprise if your company has not paid a license fee that will cover all card account holders and cash claimants.

Card Issuer Systems
Some card issuers promote “expense management” solutions which can range from a computer generated report through to an online system with some embedded workflow concepts. The attraction of card issuer expense management solutions is that they are offered as part of a card deal, sometimes (apparently) for free. If you’re considering a card issuer expense management solution, you need to know:

• will you be ‘locked in’ to the card issuer?; and
• will you be able to configure the expense management solution to adequately reflect internal requirements?

Best-of-Breed Solutions
Best-of-breed expense management solutions from specialist providers can be relatively seamlessly interfaced to an organization’s internal systems such as HR and ERP, but will not present a common look and feel to the ERP system. You would usually choose a best-of-breed expense management solution if you want:

1. your company to be independent of a particular card issuer;
2. to achieve a fast implementation; and/or
3. to configure the solution to its own unique rules and policies of expense administration.

Best-of-breed expense management solutions are typically deployed as either an ASP (Application Service Provider) or self hosted solution. Although exceptions are common, small to medium enterprises tend to appreciate the lower up-front cost of an ASP expense management solution, and larger enterprises are attracted to the control available through a self-hosted corporate expense management software solution. ASP expense management solutions are typically paid for on a per statement per month basis, and self-hosted corporate expense management software solutions have a range of options available from up-front license fees to monthly license rentals.

Overcoming the cultural resistance to corporate expense management software

Some Finance Directors still have an aversion to corporate credit cards. It’s not uncommon to hear a finance director say “if I give everyone a card, they’ll spend us broke!”

However, the benefits of corporate expense management software are apparent as soon as the Finance Director considers the difficulties of controlling the expenditure behavior of thousands of employees using a manual system of reimbursements which is largely based around a set of uncoordinated spreadsheets. Basic activities such as enforcing travel policies, calculating tax implications, reconciling, posting to a chart of accounts at a detailed level and auditing, are so difficult as to be more honored in the breach than the observance…

Viewed from a different perspective, a company with revenues of $700m $50m in EBITDA, and $20m in annual employee business expenses, can make a dramatic impact on its bottom line using corporate expense management software without increasing revenue. If automation reduces these expenses by only five per cent in the first year, the savings alone have the same impact on the bottom line as $14m in new revenue. It isn’t surprising that the return on investment of corporate expense management software is often achieved within its first 12 months of operation.

Corporate expense management softwares also play a vital role in Fraud Control. “Fraud” in this context takes many guises, not all of which are the sort that land perpetrators in court. Information taken from our own customer experience and from publications of the USA Association of Certified Fraud Examiners identify the top four categories of fraud:

1. Mischaracterized expenses
2. Overstated (exaggerated) payments
3. Fictitious expenses
4. Multiple reimbursements

Research in the USA has pointed to as much as 1% of company revenues being lost to employee expense mismanagement. Corporate expense management software will not, in its own right, eliminate this but it is a vital tool in creating an environment that drives down the level of mismanagement.

Conclusion

Over the past 18 months, our company has observed a change in motivation for corporate expense management projects. Whereas formerly corporate expense management software solutions were an exercise solely in the reduction of administration costs, now governance is equally a driver to implement technology based controls around high volume expenditure. The Sarbannes Oxley (SOX) act in the USA has captured the attention of any enterprise active in the USA. However, inside or outside the USA, the senior executives must warrant that their company has implemented adequate financial controls that prevent fraud and give a true and correct record of the enterprise’s financial activities. As a result, the Corporate Travel Manager who pitches a proposal on expense management to the senior executive team currently finds a willing audience.

Peter Granger is CEO of Inlogik Pty Ltd. Inlogik owns and distributes ProMaster, a corporate expense management software solution used by over 250 corporations in 40 countries. See http://www.inlogik.com.

Microsoft PowerPoint has dramatically changed the way in which academic and business presentations are made. This article outlines few tips on making more effective and attractive PowerPoint presentations.

THE TEXT

• Keep the wording clear and simple. Use active, visual language. Cut unnecessary words - a good rule of thumb is to cut paragraphs down to sentences, sentences into phrases, and phrases into key words.
• Limit the number of words and lines per slide. Try the Rule of Five - five words per line, five lines per slide. If too much text appears on one slide, use the AutoFit feature to split it between two slides. Click within the placeholder to display the AutoFit Options button (its symbol is two horizontal lines with arrows above and below), then click on the button and choose Split Text Between Two Slides from the submenu.
• Font size for titles should be at least 36 to 40, while the text body should not be smaller than 24.
• Use only two font styles per slide - one for the title and the other for the text. Choose two fonts that visually contrast with each other. Garamond Medium Condensed and Impact are good for titles, while Garamond or Tempus Sans can be used for the text body.
• Embed the fonts in your presentation, if you are not sure whether the fonts used in the presentation are present in the computer that will be used for the presentation. To embed the fonts: (1) On the File menu, click Save As. (2) On the toolbar, click Tools, click Save Options, select the Embed TrueType Fonts check box, and then select Embed characters in use only.
• Use colors sparingly; two to three at most. You may use one color for all the titles and another for the text body. Be consistent from slide to slide. Choose a font color that contrasts well with the background.
• Capitalizing the first letter of each word is good for the title of slides and suggests a more formal situation than having just the first letter of the first word capitalized. In bullet point lines, capitalize the first word and no other words unless they normally appear capped. Upper and lower case lettering is more readable than all capital letters. Moreover, current styles indicate that using all capital letters means you are shouting. If you have text that is in the wrong case, select the text, and then click Shift+F3 until it changes to the case style that you like. Clicking Shift+F3 toggles the text case between ALL CAPS, lower case, and Initial Capital styles.
• Use bold or italic typeface for emphasis. Avoid underlining, it clutters up the presentation.
• Don’t center bulleted lists or text. It is confusing to read. Left align unless you have a good reason not to.
• Run “spell check” on your show when finished.

THE BACKGROUND

• Keep the background consistent.
  Simple, light textured backgrounds work well. Complicated textures make the content hard to read.
• If you are planning to use many clips in your slides, select a white background. If the venue of your presentation is not adequately light-proof, select a dark-colored background and use any light color for text.
• Minimize the use of “bells and whistles” such as sound effects, “flying words” and multiple transitions.
• Don’t use red in any fonts or backgrounds. It is an emotionally overwhelming color that is difficult to see and read.
• Many free templates are available for download at http://www.brainybetty.com/MENUPowerPoint.htm and http://www.soniacoleman.com/templates.htm .

THE CLIPS

• Animations are best used subtly; too much flash and motion can distract and annoy viewers.
• Do not rely too heavily on those images that were originally loaded on your computer with the rest of Office. You can easily find appropriate clips on any topic through Google Images. While searching for images, do not use long search phrases as is usually done while searching the web - use specific words.
• When importing pictures, make sure that they are smaller than two megabytes and are in a .jpg format. Larger files can slow down your show.
• Keep graphs, charts and diagrams simple, if possible.
• Use bar graphs and pie charts instead of tables of data. The audience can then immediately pick up the relationships.

THE PRESENTATION

• If you want your presentation to directly open in the slide show view, save it as a slide show file using the following steps.
  1. Open the presentation you want to save as a slide show.
  2. On the File menu, click Save As.
  3. In the Save as type list, click PowerPoint Show. Your slide show file will be saved with a .pps file extension.

  When you double-click on this file, it will automatically start your presentation in slide show view. When you’re done, PowerPoint automatically closes and you return to the desktop. If you want to edit the slide show file, you can always open it from PowerPoint by clicking Open on the File menu.

• Look at the audience, not at the slides, whenever possible.
• If using a laser pointer, don’t move it too fast. For example, if circling a number on the slide, do it slowly. Never point the laser at the audience.
• Black out the screen (use “B” on the keyboard) after the point has been made, to put the focus on you. Press the key again to continue your presentation.
• You can use the shortcut command [Ctrl]P to access the Pen tool during a slide show. Click with your mouse and drag to use the Pen tool to draw during your slide show. To erase everything you’ve drawn, press the E key. To turn off the Pen tool, press [Esc] once.

MISCELLANEOUS

Master Slide Set-Up:
The “master slide” will allow you to make changes that are reflected on every slide in your presentation. You can change fonts, colors, backgrounds, headers, and footers at the “master slide” level.

1. First, go to the “View” menu.
2. Pull down the “Master” menu.
3. Select the “slide master” menu.

You may now make changes at this level that meet your presentation needs.

Preparing the Handout:

In PowerPoint, choose File | Send To | Microsoft Word. In the Send To Microsoft Word dialog box, choose Outline only to create a text-only document, and click on OK. Minor modifications on this document will give you a handout that can be distributed to the audience.

Create visually appealing slides by adhering to these tips, to ensure that the audience is not distracted from the points you have to make.

Dr. Shahul Ameen, M.D. is a Psychiatrist based in Ranchi, India. He edits a portal with information on mental health and Psychiatry, and a directory of Indian websites on mental health.

Microsoft Excel is still a powerful tool on the market because of its versatility. Almost any type of project can be built whether you are a beginner or an Excel wizard.

Whether it is a simple calendar or a call forecasting model for a customer service company, Excel provides every time.

Excel has a huge market; there is always someone out there who requires a product of some type or description.

Now my question to you

How often do you click on that little green X in your program files?

I’m sure I know the answer from most of you proficient users, but what about everyone else.

If you have never really taken to using Excel in your business or home, now is the time to shake of those virtual mothballs and learn. Within a short time you should start to gain confidence and realize how such a simple program can make some of your more difficult, time-consuming processes very easy.

Some of you may feel uncomfortable about taking up the challenge of learning something new. My suggestion is to look on the Internet or buy a book on Excel that includes little projects on building spreadsheets. This way you can be safe knowing you have a guide to help you through your learning experience.

This article was written by Guy Marlow, a professional in business tool creation. You can view his webpage at http://viralmarketinguk.com.

According to new report, first time, UK has become leading market for outsourcing. The UK has overtaken US to become the top national market for new outsourcing contracts. According to TPI, UK represented 37% of the market for major outsourcing contracts awarded worldwide in this year. UK is followed by US - 25% and Asia-Pacific with 4%. However, it is understood that, UK will not continue its leading position as majority of the outsourcing chunk is because of deals by Reuters and BT. Even in this quarter, without Reuters and BT, UK would have been second largest national market.

However, Europe still dominates market and accounted for over 50% of the new contracts worldwide. According to Duncan Aitcheson, Tip’s Managing Director, International:

“While some may argue that Europe’s 2.4 billion mega deal - the Reuters/BT contract - skews the results for this first quarter, Europe still accounted for well over half (57%) of new contracts worldwide - a high point for European outsourcing.”

Also, so-called big six suppliers in the outsourcing market which are - Accenture, ACS, CSC, EDS, HP and IBM have seen their combined market share to fall by 57% in the first quarter of 2005. 60% of the senior management in UK companies are looking at big Indian outsourcing providers who are providing outsourcing services like their western counterparts but at low cost. This growing confidence in Indian outsourcing companies will further allow increase in their market share and decrease in the market share of big six and other western consulting companies. This also gives a wider choice for clients.

Sojitra Chetan (IT Expert),
http://www.tatvasoft.com

Outsourcing is generally associated with large corporations, massive layoffs and cost cutting. However, the outsourcing game has recently become even more interesting now that the domestic and offshore outsourcing industries are beginning to provide outsourcing services to small and mid-sized companies.

What is Outsourcing?

Outsourcing is the practice of hiring a third party outside contractor to perform some portion of a company’s business activities. Outsourcing should be seriously considered when:

o an outside contractor can provide similar or better services at a better price than can be provided internally and

o those services are not generally not central and critical to a company’s main business (Core Business).

By using outsourcing, a company focuses more of its resources on its Core Business while taking advantage of low cost providers who do non-essential functions better and cheaper.

Common Types of Outsourcing.

The two most common forms of outsourcing are called Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO). These outsourcing services are offered by companies inside the United States (Domestic Outsourcing) and outside of the United States (Offshore Outsourcing).

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).

Business Process Outsourcing grew popular in the late 1990s when cutting costs and managing quality became a paramount goal to large corporations competing in the worldwide marketplace. When a company outsources part or all of its Non-Core Business they are typically engaged in BPO. Some common areas to look for BPO opportunities are:

Human Resources, Sales, Marketing, Finance, Accounting, Customer Service, Procurement and Business Administration.

Small and mid-sized companies have often utilized BPO for payroll processing through ADP or one of their competitors.

Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO).

ITO was one of the first types of Business Process Outsourcing. Its origins began in the late 1960s when service bureaus provided excess computer time and ran applications on large main frame computers for large corporations. As computers grew less expensive than people, ITO companies focused on developing custom software for corporations or providing other value added services. IT Outsourcing has become so widespread and specialized that it evolved into its own separate category of outsourcing. Some common areas to look for ITO opportunities are:

Infrastructure, eCommerce, Data Processing, Network Management, Application Service Providers, Telecommunications, Data Security and Software Development.

Firms specializing in BPO and ITO may be located inside of the United States (Domestic Outsourcing) or in India, the Philippines, China, Eastern Europe and Russia (Offshore Outsourcing). India is the leading offshore outsourcing location for companies located in the United States as it is an English speaking country and turns out over 300,000 college graduates each year. In addition, many Indian nationals have been trained in developing and maintaining systems in the United States and have been trained to be world class IT professionals.

Robert Newman is an attorney at the Business & Technology Group @ Jones Garneau LLP. Mr. Newman helps executives in the technology and biotechnology industries successfully raise money and purchase other companies by providing practical legal advice about securities, M&A and technology law. Prior to becoming an attorney, he served for over ten years as an IT consultant and executive at various major banks and financial institutions.

He may be reached at:
RNewman@jonesgarneau.com or at 1-800-989-8260.

Everyone is now affected by the information age, and the extensive benefits seen through internet, cell phone, and other communication usage. Connectivity has allowed business to span the globe at an unprecidented rate. It has become increasingly easy for people to connect with one another on a whim. The connection is the easy part; why should language be a barrier?

Communicating with others that speak another language can be very cumbersome, unproductive, and increasingly frustrating. Although you may have information to share, or business to conduct, you are unable to clearly communicate.

The most effective tool in communication is language, and those able to speak to others in their native tongue are at a huge advantage. The amount of information that can be shared by people speaking the same language, and with communication tools at their disposal, is staggering.

Many individuals perceive learning a new language as a major task, but this belief is somewhat unfounded. With the correct tools, structure, and guidance learning a new language can be fun and rewarding.

Turbo Language LLC. has conquered the challenges presented when teaching a new language. After extensive testing, the method preferred by Turbo Language is a flashcard based learning style focusing primarily on vocabulary and phrase building. The unproductive and distracting animations and games associated with most language programs are a thing of the past.

For individuals or groups interested in enriching their lives and increasing their business worth, Turbo language is essential. The product benefits are many, including ease of use, concise teaching, portability, and affordability. Language software ranges from $30.00 to over $700.00, and Turbo Language being priced at $49.95 provides anyone interested in bettering themselves an opportunity impossible to ignore.

Having been in the industry for some time now, I am very impressed by this product’s ability to teach anyone interested in investing approximately 2 hours per week. Do yourself a favor, and visit Turbo Language to download your copy today!

Product download, free trial download, additional information and benefits can be found on: http://www.turbolanguage.com

Jeremy Brinker - Foriegn Language Specialist

Why outsource your payroll?

There was a time that a business payroll was handing out cash at the end of the day. That time is long gone. Payroll, payroll record keeping, payroll tax reporting has become both complex and full of traps for the unwary or uneducated. The process can be very time consuming and expensive. By outsourcing your payroll processing you are avoiding risks and taking advantage of all the advances in technology to save time and money.

Save Time

Using a payroll outsourcing provider will save you time. Particularly an internet payroll service providing a paperless payroll solution. How will they do that?

You will be able to input time anywhere and anytime from any Internet connected computer.

Your payroll outsourcing provider will process the entire payroll and if you use a paperless payroll solution all net pays will be distributed electronically. No longer will you have to waste time and money distributing checks and payroll payment vouchers Your unbanked employees will no longer have to pay exorbitant fees just to cash their paycheck. No longer will employees have to run to the bank to deposit or cash their paycheck and get stuck in long lines. No longer will you feel obligated to cash checks for your employees. No longer will you have to reissue checks that are lost or run through the washing machine.

Your payroll outsourcing provider will make all your payroll tax deposits for you. Your payroll outsourcing provider will complete and file all payroll tax forms with all government entities you have to report to. Not only will your payroll outsourcing provider do all this they will guarantee that it is done correctly.

Your payroll outsourcing provider solution will provide all employees with payroll payment vouchers and yearend Form W-2’s via the internet. Not longer will you have keep track of terminated employees to provide them with Form W-2’s.

Your payroll outsourcing provider utilizing a paperless payroll will be able to provide you with all your reports via email or the internet. They are encrypted and secure from prying eyes. No longer will you have stacks of old reports to lockup and ultimately pay to be destroyed.

Save Money

Some business owners don’t realize the true cost of doing payroll in house. They don’t add up all the hours that are spent on various aspects of payroll and related activities that a payroll outsourcing provider would take care of. Some of the saving in money takes place because of the following:

Your payroll outsourcing provider guarantees accuracy on calculating and filing your payroll tax reports and payroll tax deposits and will pay any penalties or interest charged to you through his error.

You will never have to pay for a software upgrade or for new tax tables your payroll outsourcing provider should provides all of that as part of his payroll services

Your payroll outsourcing provider will draft your company bank account for a single draft item eliminating the cost of payroll checks and the cost of reconciling of payroll checks. In addition this eliminates your payroll checks being used for fraud by check scam criminals.

You will never have to pay to get a Form W-2 reprinted for an employee who lost or did not receive their Form W-2 because your payroll outsourcing provider posts them on a secured and password protected server for your employees to view and print them.

Your payroll outsourcing provider utilizing a paperless payroll solution will distribute all net pays to every employee electronically. No lost checks to replace. No cost of delivery of checks or payroll payment vouchers. No shipping checks to employees in other locales.

Your payroll outsourcing provider utilizing a paperless payroll solution will send you all reports electronically, no delivery fees. No storage costs for old reports or costs to finally destroy them.

There are numerous other places, some of which you probably have already thought of, where time and money can be saved by outsourcing. Why doesn’t every one outsource payroll then? Here are a few reasons why people don’t outsource payroll and answers to their concerns.

Q: Cost

A: The cost is a lot less than most people think, check out payroll pricing. It is a lower cost than the cost of people, software, hardware, security and systems, training, forms, accounting fees, penalties, answering IRS inquires, etc. necessary to do a professional job in-house.

Q: Loss of control

A: Actually your level of control increases. You have time to review. You have complete reports that are secure from prying eyes. You have payroll outsourcing professionals, sometimes CPA’s, to answer questions and help you avoid pitfalls you don’t even know exist.

Q: My payroll is unique

A: It may have unique aspects, some payrolls do. Payroll outsourcing providers are use to that and have very sophisticated software that can handle almost anything. In fact a payroll processor is more likely to have software to handle unique circumstances than the average small business.

Charles Read, CPA
President and Founder of Custom Payroll Associates, Inc., RMARK Financial Services Inc., Custom Financial Planning, Inc., and PayrollonaBudget.com
http://www.payrollonabudget.com
http://www.custompayroll.com

Historically, little thought has been given to creating or maintaining strategic architectures for business enterprises. As the competitive landscape continues to put pressure on organizations to be more efficient, the process of implementing unified Enterprise Architecture will become an essential part of any business. This paper covers the definition of Enterprise Architecture, provides a description of how it should be utilized to tightly couple business processes and goals to information systems, and how to create an architecture that is able to be supported.

Enterprise Architecture:

Enterprise Architecture is a tool that aids businesses by allowing managers to see and think about smaller functions within the whole of the business. A common phrase used to describe an Enterprise Architecture is a set of “living documents” that are short, simple, and easy to understand. Enterprise Architecture is a relationship between processes and goals that allow businesses to organize, assess, and implement changes based on a set of “blueprints.” These blueprints vary based on what is needed. For example, a company setting up an Enterprise Architecture could have three, four, or five different sets of blueprints for various reasons, such as one for product assessment, one for consumer reports, and so on. Not only is Enterprise Architecture a set of blueprints, it is the actual work behind those plans. Implementation is required for the architecture to be built and maintained, as all the plans and actions must be integrated so that proper managers can view needed material in its relationship to other factors.

After building upon the blueprints and integrating all the processes and goals, the proper questions may be asked. These questions are what bring about change that may improve and maintain a business.

An Architecture Cycle:

When establishing an Enterprise Architecture, all aspects need to be incorporated into one place. It is this assimilation that allows managers to begin questioning. Often, this process is a cycle with four phases. First, an architect receives input about new strategies, goals, and processes that may not be performing properly. Next, the architect must look at any further implications and connect those to the received input. Third, the architect makes alterations based on the input and wider implications. Lastly, the process starts all over again. Overall, this cycle gives the architect the opportunity to assess all areas of the business, including some that may have been overlooked, and make changes that will best suit the organization.

Organizing Business Processes and Informational Systems:

Once organized, an architect will assess the alignment of business processes to informational systems. Simply put, an architect translates the information that is transferring from process to applications and vice versa. The architect determines if the results are in-line with goals, and so on. Proper organization allows the architect to translate and even determine where translation is needed.

Creating an Enterprise Architecture:

Enterprise Architectures are not developed in a day, and in order to set up an Enterprise Architecture, an organization needs to establish a series of steps.

The specifics of the individual Enterprise Architecture will differ among businesses. However, listed below are six general steps for creating an Enterprise Architecture:

1. Assess Current State & Agree on Deficiency:

To create an Enterprise Architecture, it takes one or more persons to determine the need for such an architecture. The Enterprise Architect, usually the one who suggests the architecture and ultimately builds it, assesses the different variables that demonstrate a need for change.

2. Select a Framework, Platform and Methodology:

The selected framework should fit the individual needs of the business, the goals and desired results of the organization, as well as a course of action that suits both the architect and managers.

3. Select Tools:

Keeping track of the integration of the processes and documentations may require the utilization of various tools. Appropriate tools will store all the information in a repository that will allow managers to access the needed materials.

4. Organize, Organize,
Organize:

Whichever type of organization an architect chooses, it is important to remember that this is the most time-consuming and important step. One suggestion for a type of organization is Business Functional Domains & Sub Domains over a unified architecture. Another method for organization is to build the models of the existing system as they are improved

5. Utilize the Architecture:

Although the architecture may not be complete, the business should begin to use it. It is designed to fit the organization; therefore, the architect should make sure that the managers start to utilize its benefits as soon as possible.

6. Maintain & Build Upon the Architecture:

Once the foundation for the architecture is done, the business should maintain and build upon the architecture, and in order to do so, a methodology should be selected. A methodology will allow managers and workers to function with the same goals in mind, improving results. In addition to maintaining results, the right methodology allows a business to expand the architecture’s uses to fit the organization’s needs.

Initiating and Supporting an Enterprise Architecture:

When initiating an Enterprise Architecture, one must survey the existing environment, talk to representative users, read existing documentation, and study current systems. It is critical to seek inherent problems the enterprise has in accomplishing the tasks it needs to perform in order to be successful. This is accomplished by boiling down the potentially large amounts data gathered and abstract the findings into the conceptual diagrams. One must aggregate important policies and standards into a cohesive and broadly applicable guidance document. Applying some well-known patterns and a few of the favorite concepts will evolve working documents into drafts and eventually into the proposed architecture. Educated and armed, one is able to lobby superiors, peers, and subordinates to aid in implementing the architecture.

To support an Enterprise Architecture, certain tools are relied upon that will aid in the integration and execution of the architecture. These tools should provide the opportunity to view all diagrams, documentations, and processes. Although analyzing and designing processes are still left to be done, assembling and tracking the various relationships will be managed by using a tool.

About Patrick A. Spencer:

Patrick A. Spencer is a Delivery Manager in the IT Solutions group at ITX Corp. Mr. Spencer plays a key role in the analysis, architecture, design and deployment of major applications for clients in a variety of industries.

About ITX Corp:

ITX Corp is a business consulting and technology solutions firm focused in nine practice areas including Business Performance, Internet Marketing, IT Staffing, IT Solution Strategies and Implementation, Technical Services, Internet Services, and Technology Research. To learn more about what ITX can do for you visit our website at http://www.itx.net or contact us at (800) 600-7785.

Now days you might have take notice of a threatening word “Spyware”. Spyware software is becoming annoyance for the companies. Spyware is likely to be verified as a great damager to the companies. It is not so noticeable like spam and virus assaults to the systems. Spyware could be destructive and cause financial losses.

Spyware, it is almost an invisible software programs that collects and transmits personal or company’s important data through the Internet without being noticed. The transferred data could be used for smashing up your company’s credit or might hard hit its profits. Spyware is also commonly acknowledged as Adware, Malware, Sneakware and Snoopware

Entrance ways: Spyware could enter your network by auto-download software that automatically downloaded to your network, even without user’s acknowledgement. It could also enter with software, which is downloaded by user that includes Spyware program. Most common entry of this software is pop-ups, which appears while opening any site. The pop-ups are very attractively designed to allure user to click it.

The Spyware software is not even blocked by firewall programs, as user itself allows it, of-course, due to unawareness. Similarly, the usual antivirus programs are also unable not block it, due to they don’t seem as wicked as viruses.

Safeguard against Spyware: User should completely read and understand the license agreement before downloading any software. Avoid downloading unknown and fallacious software from the internet. Keep away from clicking pop-up that put forward mouthwatering offers.

The constant use of anti-Spyware software: It could prevent entering such harmful programs to your network. The best precautious step is that, a user could apply to block Spyware access via gateway security solutions like the NetApp Internet access and security (IAS) solution, which stops admittance to Web sites offering Spyware.

There are several anti-spyware programs available out there. These programs search and eliminate Spyware and adware. They can detect and sweep off huge number of adware files and modules. Some of these programs also clean program and web-usage path from your network that is very helpful if the system is shared. There also some free downloadable software on authentic sites like www.download.com, www.mcafee.com, www.spywareinfo.com, www.all-internet-security.com, www.tucows.com etc or you can use keyword “free antiSpyware download” in search.
But make sure you do not download or buy any anti-Spyware program without checking its authenticity, at least now onwards.

Allen Brown is a freelance writer for http://www.1888SoftwareDownloads.com , the premier website to find Free Software Downloads including free anti-virus software, free spyware detection software, free toolbars, free chat software and more. He also freelances for http://www.1888FreeOnlineGames.com.