Assignment #4

Green Tips for Everyone

http://greencampus.winserve.org/greencampus/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19&Itemid=40

1. Use Energy Star Products.
2. Replace Incandescent light bulbs with Compact Flourescent Lamps (CFL's).
3. Turn lights off when you're not in the room/classroom.

- Naturally you should turn it off because no one is using the room for it would just consume and waste energy.

4. Use half the lights when possible
5. Use natural light when possible.
6. Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
7. Turn off computer's during the night.
8. Use your computers "Stand-by" mode instead of screen savers.
9. Plug Appliances that have phantom loads (anything that basically needs a remote or needs charging) into a surge protector and switch it off when appliances are not in use.
10. Unplug Cell Phone Chargers when you're not charging your cell phone.
11. Reduce the number of refrigerators in use by sharing refrigerators.
12. Avoid leaving the refrigerator or freezer doors open.
13. Remember to turn off the oven and stove tops
14. Turn off curling and straightening irons and unplug hair dryers.
15. Do laundry during off peak hours (after about 6 pm).

These tips could be use and can be adopted by the university. Some maybe but not all because this talk also have tips to be made at home which cannot be adopted in the university.

Campus Computing Goes Green to Save Money

By JOSH KELLER

http://chronicle.com/free/2009/01/10296n.htm

Relocate a college's server computers next to a solar-power generator. Replace AC power with DC power. Cool the servers only where they get the hottest. Put the servers in the ocean and power them with waves.

Those were a few of the ideas discussed last week at a conference, "Greening the Internet Economy," that was designed to address the problem of the soaring financial and environmental costs of information technology. The event, held by the University of California at San Diego, offered a sampling of a new generation of technologies that promise to help colleges make their IT departments both more efficient and more sustainable.

Many of the participants emphasized the importance of systems that could more intelligently measure energy use on the campus. In recent years, colleges have been hurt by the rising costs of powering and cooling their data centers, in part because those costs are difficult to measure and poorly understood (The Chronicle, January 9).

At San Diego, researchers have started work on hardware to help colleges and other organizations understand how to make their servers more efficient. The device, called the GreenLight Instrument, will deploy sensors and software to measure the energy use, humidity, and other variables in various parts of a Sun Modular Data Center, a popular, self-contained complex of servers.

The goal is to encourage engineers to try different computing strategies to reduce electricity consumption, said Thomas A. DeFanti, principal investigator on the project and a senior research strategist at the university's California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology.

"Right now there isn't enough information for somebody to make a definitive decision: Where do I save my money? Do I eliminate disks in my computers, or do I stop them? Do I use more RAM or less RAM?" said Mr. DeFanti. "Nobody has detailed information on this."

Aiming for Precision

Intelligent measuring systems like Greenlight should be extended to allow engineers to more precisely determine how to use energy, said Gary L. Baldwin, director of special projects at the University of California's Citris program. For example, he said, operators at a data center could direct cool air only where the facility is generating the most heat.

Another idea that shows promise, participants said, is to supply computers directly with local DC power. Computers generally use direct current, but the public electricity grid typically supplies alternating current, and 30 percent of the electricity can be lost in the conversion of one form to the other.

Some colleges have started projects to power their computers directly from solar cells or other sources of DC power on the campus, avoiding the energy loss altogether. At San Diego, administrators hope to build a "power ring" that will supply computers across the campus with DC power, said Mr. DeFanti.

The rethinking of how to supply campus power is part of a broader effort to "divorce ourselves from the electrical grid," said Bill St. Arnaud, chief research officer at Canarie Inc., a Canadian computer-networking organization. Power-transmission lines lose a significant amount of energy over long distances, he said, which means that supplying a campus with energy from faraway power plant can be inefficient.

A better strategy, Mr. St. Arnaud said, is to build campus data centers next to a renewable source of power, like a solar plant. High-speed optical transmission lines, he said, would ensure that the computers would seem "as close as next door."

As far as I am seeing, the university has solar panels at the rooftop but I just don’t know if it’s still functioning. If it is, it can be used for us or the university to refrain from using electricity and paying lots of money for it. We could also adopt cooling servers only where they get the hottest.

Campus computing comes up green

Center works to safely dispose of e-waste

By Arthur Raymond, Jarad Reddekopp

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

Lcal freelance artist Bruce English searches for a new computer monitor for his work. Used electronics are recycled and resold on campus at the Surplus and Salvage Building Local freelance artist Bruce English searches for a new computer monitor for his work. Used electronics are recycled and resold on campus at the Surplus and Salvage Building near the Residence Halls.

Although students enjoy the stylish new Macs and PCs in computing labs across campus, some might stop to ponder the fate of that dusty, old machine with the sticky keys they loved to hate in last year's class.

The U's Green Computing Resource Center helps ensure that electronic dinosaurs, now known as e-waste, stay out of the landfill, and is addressing a host of other environmental issues created by the vast array of technological hardware and processes at the U.

Andrew Reich, an IT architect at the U, explained that the center is addressing issues "across a broad spectrum of environmental concerns."

Some solutions are simple and can be addressed immediately by anyone who uses a computer on campus, Reich said. Using a thumb-drive in place of burning a CD, utilizing network connections for data transfer instead of other media and simply turning off a machine or monitor when you're done with it are all steps that save energy and resources.

In the bigger view, Reich and others involved with the group are looking at where equipment comes from. A new way of evaluating sustainability in products is the so-called "cradle-to-cradle" design scheme, which determines how easily and efficiently a product can be re-utilized and/or recycled before it's made. These design considerations optimize the ability to deal with the product responsibly when its "useful" life is over.

Currently, e-waste generated at the U is processed via the university surplus and salvage department. This department separates anything that still has "utility" from true waste. Usable items are resold, while waste is handled by Guaranteed Recycling Xperts, a company that contracts with the state and local schools to process this e-waste in an environmentally responsible manner.

The Recycling Coalition of Utah, a non-profit group that advocates and provides information on recycling issues, notes the toxicity of components in used equipment. These components include lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium and brominated flame retardants. All are hazardous and can create long-term issues if not handled properly. GRX deconstructs the outdated machinery at their processing facility in Clearfield and isolates anything containing hazardous materials. Some components are re-utilized and some are recycled. Their stated goal is to return 100 percent of the material to the manufacturing process.

Eric Anderson, a GRX regional manager, said their Clearfield facility is processing about 200,000 lbs. of e-waste every month. This includes what he estimated to be seven to eight pallets of material from the U, collected every three weeks.

In addition to tracking the responsible handling of e-waste, the resource center is looking for ways to reduce systems power consumption, efficiently cool the heat generated by equipment like server-centers and centralizing data operations, with a possible campus data center on the horizon.

Reich hopes the center, which he described as "still in its infancy," can develop into a dynamic resource for evaluating and addressing information technology "green" issues campus-wide. Plans are in the works for coordination with the U's Office of Sustainability.

The university could adopt the e-waste management idea by putting e-waste bins in the school to ensure proper disposal of such wastes and could let it stay-out in landfills.

Assignment #3

Automated Elections?.. First that came into my mind the moment I heard of it was “Wow!..Sosyal!..Pagxure lang ana..”. Techie as you might imagine. ‘Cool!’, you can even say that but is that what we really need nowadays?.. In this time?.. Repression in the United States and years long of economic crisis here in the Philippines.. Is automated elections practical?.. I have few points why I oppose this. First, it is really not practical this time?. Second, does it really assure clean and honest election?. I have points too why I approve this. First, if not now, when?. Second, it would be incredibly fast than the manual one. Sounds confusing right?.. Where do I really stand?..

Actually, there are many pros and cons regarding this matter. The ones I stated above are included there. I could not say that I really oppose neither approve it. Today, we Filipinos are still facing economic crisis. Billions of pesos would be spent on those machines. But come to think of it, those billions of pesos if we would put it into something more reasonable could cause uplifting from the poverty line of our fellow Filipinos. I think that it is not the time to launch such.

Some say that it would really welcome fraud to be done and some said it is difficult now to cheat. I have read an article in a newspaper, the Daily Inquirer stating the cons about the said automation and the rebuttals of the COMELEC about it.

“Because of the automation of elections tallying would not be visible among people except those score sheets produced by the machines. Whether the votes where counted accurately, we will not know. Fraud can take place and the voters and watchers at the precinct will not know if fraud has taken place. COMELEC claims that the said system could not be hacked and its source code would be open to computer experts for inspection. Yes, it could not be hacked but are we assured that there will be no inside job?, that the cheating would not be made by those who know the means and ways of the system?. Looking at the source code is practically useless. OMR machines are used in schools for scoring tests and in survey companies for tabulating survey results. Members of the administrative staff in schools and survey companies do not change the source code. They provide a scoring or tabulating table to modify how the OMR machine scores a test or tabulates a survey. By changing this table, fraud is easily committed. In order to cheat on the OMR counting machines, all that is needed is to download a new counting table that changes for whom a shaded circle is counted. In areas where the candidates that want to cheat are weak, the table can be modified so that votes will be switched. At the end of counting, the original table can be reloaded so that any tests would indicate that the machines are counting correctly and honestly. It could also be possible for someone that seems to be authorized to quickly insert a USB memory stick that would load the fraudulent table. One could change the statement of votes of some municipalities. These changes would be reflected on the provincial COC.

In order to prevent automated election fraud, certain safeguards have to be instituted. These include:

1. The OMR machines should not have any network connection. The election results should be copied to USB memory sticks, which can subsequently be loaded to a separate PC that will transmit the results to the Comelec canvassing system at the municipality and to the dominant majority and minority parties, as well as to the citizens arms such as PPCRV and Namfrel.

2. The above parties should be provided with their own PCs to be able to produce their own COCs. If the Comelec COC does not match the COCs produced by other parties, a careful review should be done prior to transmission to the provincial level.

3. The verified municipal COC should then be transmitted to the multiple groups defined above. Again, the Comelec COC should be compared with the other COCs and the reason for discrepancies should be determined.

4. The verified Provincial COC should again be transmitted to multiple parties.

The Comelec and Congressional Canvass should again be compared to the parallel canvasses to assure that fraud is minimized as much as possible.

5. Each of the concerned groups should make their results available on their websites for the public to access.

If these proposed measures are followed, there will be true transparency and automated fraud will be minimized.

”

Yes, there could be many flaws in using the AES (Automated Election System). But is also have pros. And also, it could be prevented as what has been stated above. One pro of the said election is that it could provide us fast and hassle free election. The big sum of money is just for the initial or for the launching of the said project according to my dad and he also said that in the long run the expenses would eventually decrease and be lower that the expense of the manual election. Another thing is that if not now, when? if the technology’s price have really have sky rocketed?

Well, actually I’m confused on where to stand. I just laid some facts regarding the pros and cons of both stand. I myself don’t oppose the launching or the usage of the automated system in the coming 2010 elections. As an IT student, I really know what great benefits automation brings. Instructors have lectured it since I was in first year. It is really nice that it would be pursued but I would really like to recommend that the UP students’ team would have the honors to program the said system rather that who won the bidding for I think that the government could minimize the expenses if they were to choose the bright and young UP students’ team.

-Reference

Automated election fraud

By Manuel A. Alcuaz Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Assignment #2

According to the one we have interviewed at the Jollibee Food Corps., he said that the risks that the organization will face during business and IT/IS changes are the time to acquaint the employees/users with the new business or IT/IS, time to make/develop/implement the new IS/IT, costs that the new IT/IS would bring, time for planning for the new business, costs if the company needs new employees for the change, the risks in failing because of the change and also lay-offing employees for they are not needed anymore. Certain changes really need time before it is embraced by the employees.

First that he mentioned of the risks to face during IT/IS change is the time to acquaint the users for it is new to them and they need enough time to be familiar with it. Patience is also needed during this time for maybe every other hour the ITs or technicians are to be called for help in using the said system. Also, if the company changes its business specially when they have shifted to a totally different business is the time to teach, seminar, and train the employees about it for them to be effective in the said new business.

Secondly, the change could take up time in making, developing, implementing, and altering the new IT/IS. For me, as an IT student, our instructor have told us that it is not easy to make a system not to mention the time in developing and altering it and also in implementing it. In making a system, you have to collect necessary data first them making an algorithm, design, and code. For these alone, it would take up so much time. Not days or weeks, but could be couple of months and evens years! Second, you have to develop it well and alter it to fully respond to what the company needs. Again, it would time as well. Implementing it also costs a lot of time. For these, it would be a great risk not only the time it would consume but also the energy and effort that it would consume.

Third, that the company should consider is the cost that it would bring along. For changing the IT/IS, we could say that it would really cost a big sum of money for its programmers not to mention advisers and etc. If there is really a need to have change, you must been preparing the expenses it would cost, and that you have enough resources to support the change. Cost not only for the programmers during IT/IS change but also cost for added employees during business change for every business there are people who specializes in those. You need these people to really have the success you’re aiming for. The people who will guide you along the way and help you ascend your business. They could be really costly too. During business change, it is necessary to change IT/IS for the old IT/IS would not respond fully or anymore to your new business (paradigm shift) but not in an IT/IS change you need also to change business. For IT/IS change I believe happens for the system to fully respond to what the company needs.

Time for planning the new business is also the risk you need to put in mind. Before venturing into a new business, you need to know the means and ways of it. You need to think of it and plan for it for you will eventually fail if you don’t. Planning needs a lot of time, you need not to rush things if you really want to be successful. You have to know what are the things that are related to the business for they would be useful in nurturing it. Planning is one of the best weapons you could use to assure success. Planning could also be your shield in times of troubles for you will know what to do because you know what would come because you thought it over and you planned for it.

Another risk you need to face in times of change IT/IS or business is the failing of/on it. It is not always that you could assure success. The risks you need to face during failure are the energy, effort and money that you have put into waste. Failure on these could bring you in bankruptcy. This is the scariest risk of them all. That is why you need to carefully plan things to avoid this one. If you really don’t have to change, or even venture into something, you don’t have to for you will just be bringing yourself a headache. LOL. Change must be properly thought of for it could bring many implications.

Retrenchment of labor is also a risk for you will be sending employees into an unemployed state. The risk of protest or even picketing outside your building during streamlining must be on mind. These employees’ skills are not qualified anymore in the new business. This could tarnish your reputation that also could lead into series of fights and legal demands that also make your company bankrupt for some people don’t patronize companies with tarnished names.

All of the risks that I have explained have a lot in common. You can trim it down into two little words: TIME and COSTS. These little words really play a vital role in making and breaking your business. They come hand in hand. Time costs money. For every time you are consuming, you are spending money on it. Maybe in your employees, the system itself and other matters. Money costs time. Money cost time for you need time to get money, to get it from resources for you can’t just do magic to have money. You can’t have it in a jiffy. As what I could say regarding this topic, one must think things over to secure success. You need not to rush things for I believe that rushed success could never be that long. Patience is would always be a virtue they say. *.*

Assignment #1

• JOLLIBEE FOOD CORPORATION

- Company Background

- Best IT/IS Practices

For this organization they have four practices that I could say their best practices.

One is their automated time-in/time-out system that is located outside their office that launched in a personal computer. It is used for the logging in and logging out of the employees of the said company. It used to determine the number of days that the employee has worked for, their absences, overtimes, and under times. It also used as reference in their salaries. I have asked the in charge that it could be easily manipulated for although it is automated, the users have to manually encode the username and password making it easily to manipulate. The in charge said that they knew everyone in the office and it is impossible to be manipulated for they could know if the person is really present or absent. He also shared that they might be using biometrics (using fingerprints for logging in) soon but has been waiting for their big bosses to send the go signal for purchasing the following machine for it could not be purchased immediately for the machine itself is very costly and another system is to be used.

Second best practice of the company is that they have used automated payroll for the auditing, remittances, generating reports and other matters regarding accounting. The company has been using a said accounting system made by their resident programmers that made the accounting matters of the company maybe not that much easier but made it easier. They said that the system that the company is currently using is still at the improvement or modification stage for they are still debugging it for they have been hearing comments and remarks from its users. It is still on process for it to be better.

Third best practice that I could say that the company is applying is their online system that is used to send information/data from the branches to its main office. The said data are the expenses, profit, and other related data that is sent to the main database for accounting purposes. They have been practicing it for it is very tedious from 14 branches to send the data in person. The tedious job that I can say that could occur is that for every branch the company has placed a desktop computer, every time that the said pcs crashes media crash or not, the technicians or even the resident programmers in the main office were sent to the branches to fix the problems.

Fourth and maybe the best of it all (for me cause I find it cool), is that all they have been using (the systems I have mentioned earlier) is that it is in source. It is programmed, developed and implemented by their resident technicians. One of the grounds that I sometimes prefer in source than outsource you could easily alter it if their would be troubles for you had made it yourself and could easily responds to what your company needed because it is designed for it but well according to the report of my classmate that I could only bloat the company’s expenses for you have to hire ITs or even make an ICT Department for its maintenance unlike outsourcing the company made the system could extend their help if their could be any trouble.

Some of the practices that the company has been observing maybe not be that great but for a company who has been automated for just quite some years, it has a big help and impact in their company need to say their employees. Maybe though they could not afford to make use of super hi-tech systems for their bosses are Chinese (JOKE LANG..PEACE OUT..).

• DAVAO DOCTORS HOSPITAL

- Company Background

- Best IT/IS Practices

As for the next company that I will introduce, the Davao Doctors Hospital, I would rather say that it is quite better that the other company I have mentioned. The said company uses three Information Systems that could be said the best practices the company has been applying.

One of the three systems is the Hospital Information Systems that the company uses is their Hospital Information System. It is used in the billing, checking-out, admittance, and gathering of patients and customers information such as first name, last name, medical histories and other related data.

The second one is the Laboratory Information Systems. The said Information System is used during laboratory transactions such as stool exams, urinary exams, sputum exams and other related transactions.

The last but not the least system that they use is the SAP. I forgot the meaning but it is an accounting system. They used it to audit all the transactions that have been made, for salary reference purposes, remittance and etc.

The company has been practicing outsourcing even though they have resident programmers. The use of their resident programmers is to troubleshoot and debug the programs in case of trouble. Also, is to enhance the systems the company has been using to respond to what the said company needs in a system. They practice outsourcing for it would take time to develop the said systems not to mention implementation time, designing, and alterations. I could say that they are better than the other company because their systems are more accurate and responds far more better to what the company needs not to mention it is outsourced.

The Canadian academic, Henry Mintzberg who had trained as a mechanical engineer, wrote his PhD thesis at the MIT Sloan School of Management analysing the actual work habits and time management of chief executive officers. In 1973, Mintzberg's thesis on the nature of managerial work was adopted as a study and published for a wider audience.Mintzberg's empirical research involved observing and analysing the activities of the CEOs of five private and semi-public organisations.

Previous management behaviour studies had concentrated on team and subordinate behaviour or organisational structure rather than on the day-to-day reality of managerial behaviour.

Mintzberg then identified ten separate roles in managerial work, each role defined as an organised collection of behaviours belonging to an identifiable function or position. He separated these roles into three subcategories: interpersonal contact , information processing and decision making .

Mintzberg's 10 Managerial Roles

• INTERPERSONAL
  Figurehead
  Performs ceremonial and symbolic duties such as greeting visitors, signing legal documents
  Leader
  Direct and motivate subordinates, training, counseling, and communicating with subordinates
  Liaison
  Maintain information links both inside and outside organizaion; use mail, phone calls, meetings

• INFORMATIONAL
  Monitor
  Seek and receive information, scan periodicals and reports, maintain personal contacts
  Disseminator
  Forward information to other organization members; send memos and reports, make phone calls
  Spokesperson
  Transmit information to outsiders through speeches, reports, memos

• DECISIONAL
  Entrepreneur
  Initiate improvement projects, identify new ideas, delegate idea responsibility to others
  Disturbance Handler
  Take corrective action during disputes or crises; resolve conflicts among subordinates; adapt to environmental crises
  Resource Allocator
  Decide who gets resources, scheduling, budgeting, setting priorities
  Negotiator
  Represent department during negotiation of union contracts, sales, purchases, budgets; represent departmental interests

According to Petter Gottschalk, Information systems (IS) / Information technology (IT) leadership has undergone fundamental changes over the past decade. Despite increased interest in recent years little empirical research on IS leadership has been conducted. Recommendations in the literature on how to succeed as an IT/IS manager typically lack empirical evidence.

Changes in both information technology and competition continue to change the role of the information systems executive. Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC, 1996) has suggested
six new IS leadership roles that are required to execute IS’s future agenda: chief architect, change leader, product developer, technology provocateur, coach and chief operating
strategist. These roles are described in Table 1. Although the CSC consultancy firm produced these roles without using any scientific approach, they seem very well tailored for scientific
investigation into IS leadership roles. People who fill these roles do not necessarily head up new departments or processes, but they exert influence and provide leadership across the organizational structure.

These are the suggested new IS leadership roles:

1. Chief architect. The chief architect designs future possibilities for the business. The primary work of the chief architect is to design and evolve the IT infrastructure so that it will expand the range of future possibilities for the business, not define specific business outcomes. The infrastructure should provide not just today's technical services, such as networking, databases and desktop operating systems, but an increasing range of business-level services, such as workflow, portfolio management, scheduling, and specific business components or objects.

2. Change leader. The change leader orchestrates resources to achieve optimal implementation of the future. The essential role of the change leader is to orchestrate all those resources that will be needed to execute the change program. This includes providing new IT tools, but it also involves putting in place teams of people who can redesign roles, jobs and workflow, who can change beliefs about the company and the work people do, and who understand human nature and can develop incentive systems to coax people into new and different behaviours.

3. Product developer. The product developer helps define the company’s place in the emerging digital economy. For example, a product developer might recognise the potential for performing key business processes (perhaps order fulfilment, purchasing or delivering customer support) over electronic linkages such as the Internet. The product developer must "sell" the idea to a business partner, and together they can set up and evaluate business experiments, which are initially operated out of IS. Whether the new methods are adopted or not, the company will learn from the experiments and so move closer to commercial success in emerging digital markets.

4. Technology provocateur. The technology provocateur embeds IT into the business strategy. The technology provocateur works with senior business executives to bring IT and realities of the IT marketplace to bear on the formation of strategy for the business. The technology provocateur is a senior business executive who understands both the business and IT at a deep enough level to integrate the two perspectives in discussions about the future course of the business. Technology provocateurs have a wealth of experience in IS disciplines, so they understand at a fundamental level the capabilities of IT and how IT impacts the business.

5. Coach. The coach teaches people to acquire the skillsets they will need for the future. Coaches have two basic responsibilities: teaching people how to learn, so that they can become self-sufficient, and providing team leaders with staff able to do the IT-related work of the business. A mechanism that assists both is the centre of excellence - a small group of people with a particular competence or skill, with a coach responsible for their growth and development. Coaches are solid practitioners of the competence that they will be coaching, but need not be the best at it in the company.

6. Chief operating strategist. The chief operating strategist invents the future with senior management. The chief operating strategist is the top IS executive who is focused on the future agenda of the IS organisation. The strategist has parallel responsibilities related to helping the business design the future, and then delivering it. The most important, and least understood, parts of the role have to do with the interpretation of new technologies and the IT marketplace, and the bringing of this understanding into the development of the digital business strategy for the organisation.

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link:

http://inform.nu/Articles/Vol3/v3n2p31-39.pdf

ღ..reflection..ღ

first day of class..and guess what?..i was absent..but i was able to ask my classmates what was discussed that day..they said Sir Gamboa explained what was Management Information System all about..gave them ideas what the subject really is and what does it tackle and touches..and I, for being absent that day, researched what was Management Information System was..

according to wikipedia, MIS is a subset of the overall internal controls of a business covering the application of people, documents, technologies, and procedures by management accountants to solving business problems such as costing a product, service or a business-wide strategy and academically, the term is commonly used to refer to the group of information management methods tied to the automation or support of human decision making, e.g. Decision Support Systems, Expert systems, and Executive information systems.

by getting an idea from what i have read from wikipedia, i can say that this subject can really help us as ITs in the near future for decision making purposes.