Crystal Reports For Microsoft Navision - Overview For Programmer/IT Specialist

Let us give you - developer some hints in the report creation.

• C/SIDE database - use C/ODBC to create the connection for your Crystal Report. You have to make all the links inside the report. The drawback of this approach - report becomes inflexible if you would like to change database mapping (re-link from work to historical tables for example) - it is probably easier to redo report from scratch. You can use something like Crystal Query - which is still very restricted in its functionality.
• Microsoft SQL Server - you are better positioned to create Crystal Reports. You can deploy MS SQL Server views. View will allow you to unionize work and historical info, pull the data from several databases to name a few nice features. Also the option to use stored procedures (or stored procs) enables you to create temp tables for data manipulation before sending the final result set. You can also have parameters (name of the company/database, dates restrictions) - this gives you additional advantage versus SQL View
• Reports on geterogeneus databases - imagine creation of Linked Server in your Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Manager. If Navision sits in MS SQL - you create linked server to the third party database (Oracle, DB2, Unidata, Ingress, Sybase, Pervasive, Ctree, MS Access). If you are on C/SIDE DB - you create linked server to it via C/ODBC, then you create additional linked servers to your legacy DBs. Now you are ready to create geterogeneus SQL View to link all your databases and have the data shown in one Crystal Report. You should probably familiarize yourself with OPENROWSET statement in Transaction SQL

Good luck in reports design and if you have issues or concerns – we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

Robert Horowitz is Certified Navision Specialist in Microsoft Business Solutions Partner Alba Spectrum Technologies – USA nationwide Navision, Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, based in Chicago, California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, New York, Georgia, Washington, Colorado, Canada, UK, Australia and having locations in multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com).

You can contact Robert: welcome@albaspectrum.com

Free PDF Publishing Software

In a previous article, I wrote about OpenOffice which an excellent suite of Free Office software which is in the Public Domain.

What I did not know is that the Writer (word processing) program creates PDF files too.

I have uninstalled MS Word because OpenOffice opens all my old Word Documents and I like OpenOffice better than MS Word.

How To Create a PDF File for Free

After OpenOffice is installed, open any Word document or create a new document with the OpenOffice Word processor.

Now simply click the PDf creator button located on the Function Bar.

Another way to do this is to select Export As pdf from the File Menu.

That’s all there is to it.

Generate PDF for Free or pay $95

The created PDF document is a regular PDF file except it has no bells and whistles. This is a bare bones PDF Creator.

For example, hyperlinks do not work within the PDF file and I have not figured out how to create the handy navigation menu. For this you will need to buy the full version PDF Writer from Adobe.

But what the hell, I have seen DOC to PDF converters selling for as much as $95 and they too have the same limitations as OpenOffice.

In my opinion, OpenOffice has the best Office software and now with this latest version, the best Free PDF creation software too.

Ed Zivkovic operates Home Business Webmaster Tips and loves to visit http://www.gold-coast-beaches.com

Outsourcing - Watch Your budget!

Outsourcing could be seen as a contemporary product of the network economy where an organization should focus on its strengths and leave its weaknesses to others. This is only possible as long the productivity is not at danger.

The term ‘productivity’ does not only origin from (self) ‘production’ but also depends on three other economic functions; supply (by others), exchange (with third parties) and sales (to customers). This pattern is both present on a country level and within companies (and even on a personal level – imagine yourself what productive element you excel in). Companies are dependent of some main supplies by others (main infrastructural support), they purchase (raw) materials from third parties with which they produce their own product they finally sell to customers.

If we examine the productivity of a company that is in the process of outsourcing (or in-sourcing in which the same applies) the distribution and the internal balance between these four main business functions will alter. Where you give up a part of the self-production, you will receive a new exchange-process in return. This is what managers sometimes forget.

First you need to know how your business productivity will increase. This will only be the case when the new situation is more profitable than the old one; where the third-party-production (that part of the production that is outsourced) added with the new exchange function is more economical than the old situation where you where the only producer.

Companies that have no experience in outsourcing will have difficulties in mastering the exchange-part. They must all of a sudden manage others that are also outside their own company and that requires new skills. Where in the old situation the communication was merely implicit, in the new situation you must make all the communication explicit. That is when you realize how complex the process is. To untangle that specific part from you business and pass it to a third party is not easy. Less is the management of this disentanglement process and the management of the new situation. All at once.

It also requires a new culture. One element of self-producing companies is the ‘not-invented-here’-rule. This rules conflicts with a new approach where you make yourself highly dependent of others. Management of this cultural change takes time and coincides with the moment when you experience new issues.

One of these issues is that what you have been (self) producing will never be the same when the job will be done by others. The part that will be outsourced is to be done market-conform. This means that the supplier (the in-sourcing company) of the process will determine the standard of the output. This must be done otherwise both companies will lose productivity. The in-sourcing company will provide a service that is based on what they provide to the market. As long as the in-sourcing is in conformity with this standard they can increase their scale. If the outsourcing company will demand changes, this economies-of-scale will not be achieved because of this tailor-made approach and the process will be more expensive than before.

The interaction between the two companies will also experience cultural challenges in the beginning. Both parties have there own culture. The in-sourcer is normally focused on efficiency rather than on flexibility and the outsourcing company does not only require efficiency but also time-to-market for new developments.

An intermediary step before the current situation and outsourcing could be to start treating the organization that is subject to outsourcing as such (an island within your company).

More important, I think, is that a feasibility study (focused on outsourcing) should be preceded by a thorough strategic analysis. In this analysis and the implementation plan the budget rule should be presented. You should ask yourself whether the budget you spend on outsourcing could not spend better otherwise. This is where the outsourcing discussion started. If you address a part of the budget to the relatively weaker parts (and decide to outsource) you should also address a significant amount to the relatively stronger parts. If these two elements are not known you are dealing with an unbalanced situation. Outsourcing will not help you other than it cumulates the focus problems you are dealing with. Solve them first.

© 2005 Hans Bool / Astor White

Hans Bool (The Netherlands) is the founder of Astor White a consulting company dedicated to (the human side of) management consulting and e-advice. He has many years of experience in (project) management, consulting and business architecture. He studied economics and has recently published the book: “How to manage your organizational portfolio – just stick to your rules”.
http://www.astorwhite.com

Outsourcing Problem Analysis

As an HR professional, you have responsibilities in several broad areas that have a significant impact on your company’s bottom line, directly contributing to the corporate return on investment. The outsourcing choices you make are critical decision points that affect both your employer and the HR community at large. We recognize that you want and need to make informed choices, and we can help.

The following problem analysis explores emerging strategies in human resources.

Increased workloads resulting from governmental requirements, budgetary cutbacks, profitability margins and operational necessity require that HR professionals do more with diminishing resources. In approaching this challenge, we analyze a range of choices. Depending on your company’s culture, you may consider any or all of the following:

• working nights and weekends

• creating and hiring a new position

• outsourcing a function or large project

• directly contracting with an independent professional colleague: Outsourced professional employee

Problem Analysis

Many times each day you reach a decision point and choose which priorities get your time and attention. Accepting added accountability in your HR department and thriving with your ever-growing workload require detailed analysis of your decision points.

Working nights and weekends

Every HR professional worth his or her paycheck is pressed for time. Workweeks ranging from 55 to 60 hours are commonplace. You’ve determined that you’re already working smart and hard to keep current with the business’s needs. Your human resource career has transitioned from a hands-on tactical position to holding down a strategic role in the HR department. As the competition for capital intensifies, how will your decision to outsource translate to your company’s bottom line?

Creating and hiring a new position

G & A cutbacks mean that there’s no budget for new hires this year. The term hiring freeze has made a comeback after nearly a decade in hibernation. You no longer fill vacancies as they occur, and this trend may continue for the near future. In fact, you quite possibly severed someone with whom you worked closely. How will you provide greater results with less?

Outsourcing a function or large project

Speak to ten companies, and ten HR managers will define outsourcing differently. Small- or medium-size firms frequently use single-source outsourcing for operations such as payroll or benefits. Fortune 500 firms have moved toward outsourcing all transactional and tactical practices. Seven-, eight- and nine-figure contracts in the form of comprehensive solutions have increased dramatically over recent years. Once set into motion, Fortune 500 outsourcing agreements often have a shelf life of five or more years. The definitions employers use to quantify successful outsourcing depend on the goals and objectives outlined at the onset of each engagement—and they vary widely. How will you determine if and when outsourcing meets your needs?

Directly contracting with an independent professional colleague: Outsourced professional employee

Today’s economy challenges HR professionals to demonstrate their advocacy of responsible stewardship. Historically, the personnel agency evolved as the American franchise economy grew from the 1950s. By the 1970s, franchise usage expanded—from food to cars to personnel. The decade of the 1990s required the franchise and boutique staffing agencies to invest heavily in technology or sink in the mud.

The novel Ivanhoe characterized soldiers who offered their lances to any king as free lances. Today’s e-commerce and growing media technologies, wireless Internet with DSL, and effective corporate Web sites with e-mail together provide the daily tools used by the modern entrepreneur. A solution with both strategic and visionary applications is to identify and formulate direct relationships with independent HR professionals. How can you partner and leverage these tools immediately?

With research, you can determine the outsourced professional employee who is a solution in search of problems. A July 2003 survey by Consultive Source asked human resource professionals to rank the importance of the following three vision & values competencies held by HR vendors:

• MEASURABLE RESULTS — Delivery of solutions by the alignment of HR mission, vision and strategy

• CONSULTIVE — Solving problems with hands-on industry experience, creating a strategic alliance significantly stronger than a typical vendor/supplier relationship

• HUMAN RESOURCE LEADERSHIP — The blending of business savvy, leadership, facilitation/coaching, strategic perspective, conceptual thinking, internal consulting and the tangible perspective of human resources within the organization

The survey listed MEASURABLE RESULTS at the top, with 77 percent of the vote. CONSULTIVE SKILLS and HUMAN RESOURCE LEADERSHIP tied for second place.

Any freelance outsourced professional employee may prescribe to this and should prioritize their skill set accordingly. Concerns about the outsourced professional employee’s abilities, stability and results can resolve themselves by taking a “test drive.”

Similar to your auto mechanic and electrician, you expect consistent service from those you know and trust. The traits exhibited by every outsourced professional employee must include high quality service, fair prices and deadlines met as needed to name just a few.

The right outsourced professional employee at a fair and competitive rate will provide innovation in education, strategy, technical resources and skills. Choosing to outsource and manage this partnership and process successfully will enable you to protect corporate capitol and shareholder value. Which technology applications or transactional differences describe your vendors as a strategic partner of choice?

John T. Mooney 2003 All Rights Reserved

About The Author

Focused exclusively on EMPLOYEE RELATIONS, HR COMMUNICATIONS and RECRUITMENT PROJECTS contact John Mooney at (972) 355-7481 or email JMooney@ConsultiveSource.com or the company website www.ConsultiveSource.com.

I utilize extensive hands-on industry competencies to solve your HR challenges. Supporting small, medium or large human resource projects with 20 years of human resource and operating experience, John Mooney has a results-oriented, focused approach to the human resource needs.

The Benefits of Outsourcing Your Telemarketing and Lead Generation Programs

Let’s talk about benefits of outsourcing your telemarketing and lead generation programs and the different options that are available to you if you’re considering doing this. Many companies in the past have looked to outsourcing companies to handle lead generations for them and in doing so they’ve lost part of their key strategic advantage, which is to build a telesales and tele-lead generation lead function in their house that becomes repeatable, sustainable, and actually integrated with your overall selling model. It’s no secret that the best in class companies, whether they be in software, hardware, technology, healthcare, manufacturing or business services, are using telesales and telemarketing for business-to-business lead generation and complete sales. Many companies pooh pooh the idea of using inside sales or telesales or telemarketing for the sale of professional goods and services but many companies are using this very, very successfully. As a matter of fact, most companies - names like Motorola, IBM, Intel, Simantec - some of the best in class companies in just about every sector of the economy, are using telesales as a part of their sales and marketing mix in order to improve their sales efficiency and productivity and drive better results to the bottom line in shorter periods of time. It’s a key component of the sales acceleration effort.

In the past, many companies have looked to complete outsourcing of this lead generation or telesales function to call center companies. But the cost of doing this is very high in relationship to the efficiency and what you end up doing is paying a very, very high price for each lead and not generating nearly the results that you can by taking that activity inside. We advocate that if you’re considering lead generation using an outsourced telemarketing firm that you reconsider and seriously give consideration to building a telesales or lead generation function inside your company.

What you’ll gain in benefit is multifold. First of all, you will be able to tightly control the process as it relates to call approach, target, message and how to actually gain traction with potential prospects over the phone and through continuous improvement. By having that function close to your company you’ll actually gain critical knowledge over time that will allow you to greatly improve your telesales and lead generation effectiveness. Second of all, you’ll gain continuity in your operations. If you ever decide to fire or terminate a relationship with an outsourced telemarketing and lead generation contractor you’ll lose all of the body of knowledge that was gained by the individual working for that company the day that you switch off working for them. Third of all, you’ll actually be able to drive improved efficiency into your sales operation because you’ll actually be able to reduce the number of field sales people that you have and increase your mix towards inside sales people who are doing early stage lead qualification and development and then passing qualified leads out to your field sales people. This can dramatically drive up your sales efficiency and greatly reduce your total cost of customer acquisition. Why? Telesales people work more efficiently in a highly controlled, repetitious, high volume calling environment and second on all, they cost less than field sales people do; as a matter of fact, typically, about a third of the cost of a fully loaded sales person. So it makes a lot of sense for you to consider building this kind of operation inside as opposed to outsourcing it.

If you are considering outsourcing, consider a third option: bringing in a qualified telesales pipeline development consultant to actually build out the process for you at your company. That includes actually doing the sales process development program document, determining the target customer, the call approach, building your phone script, and actually hiring and recruiting your telesales personnel, training them to the process and then managing them until they are producing the results that you’re looking for. Many companies find that this in very advantageous. We’ve had several customers that have produced several hundred percent increases in their lead generation and effectiveness by deploying this strategy, using outside consultant to come in and build their telesales function. This is something that you might want to consider. We call it telesales insourcing and Cube Management does a great job at this with great results for many different customers.

About Cube Management:
Cube Management provides sales acceleration services to emerging growth and mid-market companies in the technology, manufacturing, healthcare and business service sectors. The experts at Cube Management work across the entire spectrum of marketing, sales and business development to provide customized solutions that drive revenue and profit growth. Cube Management combines Strategy, Process & People to produce winning results.

Constructionalist Parsing - Deciphering Natural Language

The research in the field of Natural Language Processing usually assumes the existence of a syntactic “Generative Engine” that combines words and word-like elements into syntactic structures, and then sometimes displaces them by “syntactic movement”. A Linguistic Parser must “undo” all the effects of syntactic movement, which results in a structure where the relations between the words are represented more directly.

In recent years, a new theoretical framework was introduced, in which the syntactic combinatorial system does not stop at the level of the words. Instead, the same “Generative Engine” continues all-the-way-down into morphology. The various parts of the same word correspond to the different areas of the syntactic tree, and then are brought together by multiple applications of movement.

Within this Constructionalist Framework, the syntactic is not a tree of words - it is a tree made of sub-lexical elements like roots, prefixes, suffixes, etc. The components of a single verb are spread all over the parse tree.

Correspondingly, the function of a Linguistic Parser is different. The goal of the parsing is to “reconstruct” every such sub-lexical element into its original place in the syntactic tree.

By undoing the effects of syntactic movement, “Constructionalist Parsing” produces the syntactic trees where atomic constituents of every word are distributed through such a “reconstructed” syntactic tree. Every constituent is restored into its appropriate location in the tree, where the context for its semantic contribution is found in immediately adjacent locations.
Deep Parsing makes it possible for all the relations between the elements in the tree to be strictly local.

The primary distinctive property of “Constructionalist Parsing” is the fact that the meaning of all the elements of a syntactic tree is determined locally.

The argument structures of all the verbs are represent by a small number of “functional elements”. These “functional elements” introduce arguments and determine the semantic roles of the immediately adjacent Noun Phrases.

The state-of-art algorithms of “pattern matching” generally fail to produce good results on natural language text, before or after parsing. But when text undergoes “Constructionalist Parsing”,
the output is more accessible to standard “pattern matching” methods and analysis, because an appropriate representation of text is generated that is in the domain of real Computer Science.

Sasson Margaliot is the founder of Linguistic Agents Ltd,
a provider of advanced Linguistic Parsing technology for natural language applications.

Groupware: What Works the Way Businesses Do?

Groupware

The internet is full of 1.5 million to 7 million indexed pages of groupware packages available on the market today. Every business needs groupware to control, manage, or track documents.

Groupware is similar to other systems that enable document management, often using a centralized system to work through business collaboration processes to create budgets, market reports, presentations, contracts, and countless other documents necessary to run a business.

Ad Hoc Collaboration

Often times, however, businesses do not, or cannot, follow an outlined document collaboration process. Deadlines near, clients change their minds, management changes their minds, information changes, and needs change. In searching for groupware that enables businesses to track collaborative documents, even in an ad hoc environment, businesses need to find groupware that works the way businesses do.

Tracking

In an ad hoc business environment, tracking your document versions can be a chaos. To meet deadlines, many documents are created. But, work is often hurried through, multiple drafts are saved on multiple drives, emails are shot back and forth, and changes are continually made. But when the deadline arrives, the document may barely be missing key parts because drafts and changes were difficult to track, drafts may be missing, nobody knows the draft order, and nobody knows who made the suggested changes. Businesses need groupware that can handle ad hoc collaboration.

Businesses often have to put documents together ad hoc, but the end result doesn’t have to be a mess. In searching through the groupware available, there are technologies to keep an eye out for which enable document tracking during hectic, ad hoc, document collaboration.

Digital Thread Technology

Groupware with Digital Thread Technology strings a digital thread through each draft of a document as it changes hands, even through email. An informational tag is inserted into the meta data of the electronic document which acts as a genetic tracker for the document. Digital Thread works in conjunction with Digital Signature and Version History to display the who, what, when, where, and how of a document.

Digital Signature

Digital Signatures provide basic version information every time a tracked document is attached to a Microsoft Outlook e-mail. A link is provided that allows users to see in real time if they still have the latest version of a document.

Version History

In addition to a signature that provides basic version information, groupware with a Version History feature enables a display of the document genealogy or family tree. Version History is a flow chart or visual display of the who, what, when, where, and how of the document.

Merging

After utilizing these groupware technologies, merging the changes is very simple. With just three clicks, you can compare different versions of a document. All of the changes are recorded and tracked, and all of the options are at your finger tips when deciding how the information will be presented in its final format. The ad hoc mess has essentially been cleaned up behind you and presented to you in an organized system to allow the final document to be complete, as well as having a helpful version trail to refer to in case other changes are necessary in the future.

Installation

This is often the most costly part of collaboration software. In sifting through the millions of groupware packages indexed online, the most cost efficient groupware will not require new IT infrastructure. Groupware which can be downloaded is quicker, more efficient, and more budget-sensitive.

The market knows that businesses need services to track and manage documents, especially in an ad hoc environment. Use these tips to make an effective search for a groupware that works the way businesses do.

Joe Miller is a specialist in online advertising. Groupware information is available at NextPage.com.

Scrap Booking Online: Word Perfect or Corel Graphics Suite?

Scrapbooks are very popular these days. I think that almost everyone wanted to capture family histories and stories in any which way they can. And with the onset of digital technology, scrap booking has even extended to newsletters and journals with photos and illustrations online and in the email. They’ve become so popular that it’s not surprising to receive an entire scrapbook from your relatives and friends and loved ones even across the globe.

With the advanced technology, people have been using graphic design and desktop publishing software to help them create wonderful and creative scrapbooks. Two of this well-known software is CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12 and WordPerfect Office Suite 12.

Each of the software has their own endearing qualities. Both applications are used to create newsletters as far as I know. But what software to choose? It all depends on what you want to create.

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12

For graphically-rich family history newsletter or time capsule, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12 would be the ideal software as it is the easiest graphics suite available in the market today.

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite is a vector editing program. This software is definitely for illustration, page layout, and vector drawing. It has the Corel Photo-Paint for bitmap editing of photos and images for that professional digital imaging look. It has hundreds of clip art photos and images to choose from, which you can overlay your own family photos on top. It also has Corel R.A.V.E. 3 for motion-graphics creation.

With the software’s features and vast collection of photos, clipart and fonts, you can create and design a professional-looking newsletter or a family history time capsule, and even a memorable album where you and your family will find the highlights of your life in wonderful and elegant designs made by you.

Corel’s WordPerfect Office 12

And if you’re the simple type, and you don’t want too much clutter, you can use Corel’s WordPerfect Office 12 to create a no-visual and text-based newsletter. The software has an array of newsletter templates you can use to help you start right away with your newsletter. This so far, is the best alternative to Microsoft Office.

Better yet, why not use both software to help you create your scrap book? One freelance newsletter designer who specializes in genealogy utilizes both software because the combination makes him complete his design tasks twice as fast. “I can create graphics in CorelDRAW 12 and quickly pop them into all my text-based WordPerfect 12 office documents because switching between files is very easy,” he relates. This is made possible by the tools in both the software that reduce the number of steps required to finish his jobs.

He adds that what makes it more worthwhile is that aside from saving time, finger movements on the mouth is also reduced, thereby reducing cramps and strains from the fingers to the wrist.

For comments and suggestions regarding this article please contact webmaster@ucreative.com or visit http://www.ucreative.com

Outsourcing: Guidelines For Success

Many business executives believe “offshoring” to be the destiny of any company that wants to remain competitive. Labor costs can be reduced by 25-30% or more, and companies across the country are doing it. How can responsible corporate officers not consider the offshoring option for their companies? But what are the real benefits and the pitfalls of offshoring? When does it make sense to pursue outsourcing, and how can you safely take advantage of lower cost resources in other countries without risk or loss of quality?

Background:

Moving jobs to cheaper work forces is nothing new. Even as recently as a few decades ago, significant segments of the manufacturing sector were transferred to locations such as Mexico, where labor was cheaper. Although the transfer caused some social turmoil, it was regarded as a growing pain on the way to a more sophisticated economy. Workers were retrained in new skills and assimilated into the “new” economy, based largely upon free trade and emerging technologies. It was reluctantly acknowledged that those jobs were gone forever, and that in the end both the workers and the economy would be better off.

A new variation on this familiar story occurred in the late 1990’s. As the technology boom reached its peak, demand for skilled IT workers was far exceeding supply, driving labor costs to unsustainable levels and leaving companies without personnel for new projects. With the Y2K crisis putting additional pressure on technology, companies began to look to other locations to fill some of the excess demand for IT workers.

India and other countries had a wealth of highly skilled workers willing to work for dramatically less than was demanded by comparably skilled American workers.

With the Y2K crisis, the current wave of IT and other white collar job sector offshoring was initiated.

“The new telecommunications technologies are now making possible this pitting of domestic workforces against foreign workforces just as for centuries before domestic products have been pitted against foreign products.”

Current State:

It is estimated by Goldman Sachs that since 2000 U.S. companies have sent 400,000 service jobs overseas, and the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) believes that during the same period 104,000 technology jobs have moved overseas. Everyone agrees that this number will grow dramatically over the next five years. Some have estimated that as many as one million jobs may be sent to India alone by the end of the year, and that a million jobs a year may be lost to overseas locations for the next several years. But who is offshoring, what kinds of jobs are being transferred, and how is it working?

Forty percent of the Fortune 1000 firms have begun to offshore, according to Forrester Research, Inc., though 25 to 30 percent of these are offshoring on a limited basis, for small projects, spending no more than 5 percent of their IT budgets on offshore work. Only 5 to 10 percent are using offshoring for complex projects and mission-critical operations. However, this is likely to change.

Sixty-four percent of finance executives polled recently responded that they planned to do more offshoring in the next two years. A great portion of recently offshored jobs paid $50,000 or more before being transferred overseas. Although much of the offshoring has been in the information technology area, call centers, finance functions, data entry, and human resource operations have also been outsourced.

Benefits:

There is no doubt that the primary benefit of offshoring is the cost savings. The ITAA estimates that outsourcing currently saves U.S. companies about $7 billion and that by 2008 the number will climb to $20 billion. The savings from offshoring varies. In the same survey cited above, over forty percent surveyed said they were saving as much as twenty percent or more. Nearly the same number are saving from ten to twenty percent.

Hazards:

The savings do not tell the whole story, however. Offshoring does have hazards which companies considering the option must weigh.

· Finding Skilled Labor: Before investing in a region, you must be sure there will continue to be an adequate supply of labor skilled in your areas of need. Look at the rates of graduation and the demand for the skills in the country.

· Geography Gap: Inherent in offshoring is the distance obstacle. Since work is being done in a different country, it is often more difficult to ensure that companies are getting what they are paying for until it is too late. Rework and quality control are problems.

Distances also mean travel and other communication costs.

· Cultural Gap: Cultural gaps may be a problem for some types of work, such as call centers and business analysis. For example, different cultures may have differing standards of customer service, and business analysis often requires a good understanding of American business practices. Cultural differences may be the source of some disconcerting surprises.

· Language: It may be obvious, but language differences can be a major stumbling block to getting the work product and the working relationship you expect. Even different dialects and accents can cause problems in areas involving direct customer contact.

· Infrastructure: The country’s telecommunications infrastructure may be inadequate for some types of IT work. Even poor roads and airports may cause major headaches.

· Security & Property Rights: Security and the status of intellectual property rights are often major considerations for those organizations dealing with sensitive data.

· Movement of Money & People: Some countries impose burdensome restrictions on the movement of money out of the country. And obtaining visas in short order may be impossible for residents of some countries.

· Politics: Finally, the political stability of the country must be considered, and the laws of the location must be carefully examined to avoid unforeseen consequences.

“ By following some basic guidelines and having a clear plan of execution, offshoring may be the right strategy for your company.”

Tips For Success:

· Scope the work: Carefully define and scope the work to be offshored. Know what you want to accomplish and how much it should cost you.

· Offshore non-critical functions: Maintain the integrity of your core competencies by offshoring only non-critical functions. And start small. Just as you wouldn’t jump in too deeply with a domestic company before gaining some history and confidence in the company, so should you be similarly cautious with offshoring partners.

· Know what to offshore: Software development, data entry, and transaction processing have been successful; customer service and voice interaction are more risky.

· Choose the right location: The type of work being outsourced will influence the location. India has gained a reputation for software development. Between 2003 and 2004 it has seen over a 30% growth in software and IT service exports, and by the year ending in March, 2004, Indian companies have earned $12.5 billion in technology exports. But India is not the only source of reliable but inexpensive labor. Countries such as China, the Philippines, Romania, Argentina, and even Ghana and Ireland are all centers for offshore operations of various kinds.

Matching an outsourcing effort with the appropriate labor force requires consideration of a whole host of factors.

· Measure performance: A plan for measuring performance and evaluating success must be in place. Companies must be able to measure the work. In order to measure the financial success of the offshore operation, current costs must be understood. Pay may be linked to performance benchmarks to safeguard against poor performance.

An overall savings of 20 to 30% is reasonable to expect as a bottom line measure of success.

· Monitor the work: Monitoring the work is critical if surprises are to be avoided. Personal interaction with the offshore site should be incorporated in some fashion. Placing one or more managers on-site is ideal, but at least some face-to-face contact should be planned. An on-site presence will also help to alleviate security concerns.

· Consult experts: Extra caution must be used when negotiating the deal. International specialists should be consulted and intellectual property rights retained.

· Exit strategy: An exit strategy should be place in case the operation does not work out.

Summary:

With large populations of educated workers in foreign lands willing to work for considerably less than similar workers in the U.S., the offshoring of strategic segments of work traditionally thought of as white collar work has begun. And this shift of work and work forces will continue as long as these conditions exist. Companies with operations ripe for offshoring must consider this option if they are to remain competitive.

About Ralph Dandrea:

Ralph Dandrea is the President of ITX Corp., and leads its Business Performance practice. He is experienced in business and information technology management and holds graduate degrees in business and law.

About ITX:

ITX Corp is a business consulting and technology solutions firm focused in eight practice areas including Business Performance, Internet Marketing, IT Staffing, IT Solution Strategies, IT Solutions 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.

Microsoft is Accused of Monitoring Computers with “Spyware”

Microsoft, the software giant that a lot of people love to hate, is now accused with placing “spyware” on machines using Windows XP operating system in order to make sure that there are no pirated copies out there.

Microsoft is doing this through the “Windows Genuine Advantage” (WGA) package that the users download as a part of the critical security updates that MS issues regularly. The users are asked to give their consent to a rather complicated “contract” that most users (of course) do not read in full or even when they do, they do not understand all the fine print legalese involved.

The critics claim that the WGA software, no matter what it is called by MS, is technically nothing more than a “spyware” since every time a user boots his/her machine it sends very detailed information about not only the operating system itself but even (allegedly) about the serial number of the user’s hard disk.

“Why should Microsoft verify my hard disk number every time I start my machine? Did they buy my hard disk? What if I want to change my hard disk? Should I get Microsoft’s permission in order not to jeopardize my XP’s legal status?” is a complaint heard on some of the blogs criticizing the Microsoft for the intrusive software.

There are a lot of MS users out there who do not like the fact that MS treats them “guilty until proven innocent” when it comes to Windows XP ownership.

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