COMDDAP Learnings

               Last July 2-4, 2009, the Computer Manufacturers, Distributors and Dealers Association of the Philippines or basically called COMDDAP had conducted an exhibit at the Apo View Hotel, Davao City. The said event was open to public and has free admission.

               Actually, by the first time I saw the tarpaulin outside the Hotel of Apo View about this COMDDAP event, I don’t have the idea on what it was all about. I did not even give care to read more about this on the tarpaulin being displayed. Until, our facilitator in Management Information System subject had instructed us to attend the one of a kind happening that by chance had conducted free seminars with the latest innovation in the market.

               We were advised to registered online for us be able to attend the free seminar that will be administered by the NEXUS Group. A link was provided for our benefit and ease of registration. The registration took only 2-3 minutes to accomplish. When I was registering to the site of the NEXUS Group, I was attracted to the seminar they are offering because it was very parallel in our field of study. I decided to take the entire seminar they are offering for me to update and to gain knowledge on the latest technology on the market.

               Honestly, it was my first time to participate in that kind of exhibit, thanks to our facilitator for instructing us to attend that said event.

               July 2, 2009 was the date of our visit in the event. Accompanied by my classmate on the same subject, we enjoyed watching the latest technology being displayed. After taking the sticker outside the function room of the hotel for recognition, we hurriedly went inside to see what was going to stun us. As I went in the room, it was like a magical store to me way back to my childhood because of the gadgets that attracted me. Latest cameras were displayed in the corners. Laptops were on the other side. Internet service providers were attracting people by giving freebies. LCD monitors are tangling the eyes because of its fine display.

               As far as I could remember, the crowd was mostly occupied by students which I think the course of study is related in either Information Technology or Computer Science from different schools. There was also a number of professional, I think, who watched the exhibit. The people participated in the free demos and free testing of their product. Of course, we, the USEPians, won’t let ourselves be left behind in doing the same thing as the people are performing.

               After taking our time exploring flaunt of technology, we went to our main reason of going to the hotel, the free seminar of the NEXUS Group. The demonstrations were located at the back of the function room. Due to the small capacity of room for demonstration, the sits are limited.

               It was already pass 1:00 pm when we reach the room. The demonstration about the ERIC Dealer Management System had started. The said demonstration was handled by the Jupiter Systems, Inc of the Nexus Group.

               The ERIC Dealer Management System (DMS) is an end-to-end software solution for the automotive dealer operation. ERIC DMS’s range of solutions covers Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Vehicle Sales and Administration (VSA), and Service Management (SVM). It is also supported by a robust back-end system on the parts and supplies inventory, over the counter sales, purchasing and requisite financial modules for financial accounting and reporting. It shows how the implementation of ERIC DMS could help in dealership to have a full visibility of over-all operations.

               The presentation ended by 2:10 pm then another presenter had come to change the stage. The next presenter showed us a technology that I had encountered for the first time – the HP thin client.

               The thin clients are computing devices that function as an access device on a network. It is a client computer or client software in client-server architecture networks which depends primarily on the central server for processing activities, and mainly focuses on conveying input and output between the user and the remote server. In a thin client/server system, the only software that is installed on the thin client is the user interface, certain frequently used applications, and a networked operating system. This software can be loaded from a local drive, the server at boot, or as needed. By simplifying the load on the thin client, it can be a very small, low-powered device giving lower costs to purchase and to operate per seat. The server, or a cluster of servers, has the full weight of all the applications, services, and data. By keeping a few servers busy and many thin clients lightly loaded, users can expect easier system management and lower costs, as well as all the advantages of networked computing: central storage/backup and easier security.

               Moreover, the demonstration had captured our attention because of its prepared prizes for a surprise question. If I were right, all ears had been given to the demonstrator just to win the prizes for the certain questions. Overall, the participants of the HP thin client demonstration had fun while gaining information because of the Answer my Questions portion.

               Next presenter had tackled about the Retail Management System Overview. They are trying to show how to remedy the existing dilemma of enterprises through their product. According to the presenter, the Philippine retail industry continues to thrive despite the global financial crisis. Retailers challenged with multi-branch servicing cost need a scalable solution to bring sales to its branches, promote interbrand stock sharing and send sales information to the head office seamlessly. They wanted to show how to have enterprise-class tools to analyze data a fraction of the cost. The need for timely business information will help to improve the bottomline, restore order to multi-branch stores and meet geographical challenges.

               After the presentation of the Retail Management System Overview, Open Source for Business Applications followed. To them, as companies cut IT spending by up to 10 percent, its income generating prospects need not suffer. Open Source development of business applications has proven to lower acquisition costs, and decrease vendor lock-in reliance and obsolescence rate so that even commercial software giants have acknowledged the rise of this technology by allowing interoperability. They aim us to discover how the use of Internet-based Open Source platforms is a viable alternative for developing systems such as corporate, e-commerce, CRM, employment, publishing and collaborative sites.

               After giving the whole content about Open Source, their came a discussion about which is reliable software to be used in the election system on 2010. Two parties, Open Source developer and the Commercial software developer, are showing their sides and opinions about which should be used. While in the heat of discussion, one party decided to stop the discussion since they are running out of time and what they are opposing is will always depend on the result of the election on 2010.

Opinion of an IT Student Regarding Automated Poll Election

            I couldn’t really remember when was the first time I heard that the upcoming election on 2010 will be automated here in the Philippines. As far as I could recall, I learned it through the words of mouth by the people around me until such time that it had become official and had been broadcast to the public.

            To be honest, when I first heard about automating the election process on May 2010, I became glad because at long last the government favored technology. I could even consider it as a pace forward towards the dream of becoming a developed country from its long status as a developing country which belongs in third world countries. I was also happy because I could now apply the knowledge I have acquired in my course so far which is “Bachelor of Science in Information Technology” and participate, if given a change, to the activities in upcoming election as one of the watchers in achieving a clean election as possible.

            As what as I am expecting, the upcoming Automated Poll Election had been imbued with intrigues and criticisms. From the news that I had heard, from the articles that I had read, from the discussions that I had joined with, even from the people around me including my family and friends, people had their own opinions about the change in voting system.Some agreed while other condemn, some review it while others trash it, some thinks it good while others thinks it was just demagogue’s way of cheating in the upcoming election.

            Having been heard about the different views of the people regarding the new system to be implemented, I decided to take a little excursion about what are the proposals on how the Automated Poll Election will take place.

            I had researched in different types of medium just to get the information about information I needed. To be transparent to my results, I researched again and compared it from my previous searches. I found out that the Comelec (Commission on Election) are selecting two prototypes: the Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) Technology and the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) Technology.

             In Direct Recording Technology, touch-screen machines will be used in voting. The running candidates will be displayed in the screen. The voters will just point his preferred candidate and confirm the selection. No traditional paper ballots will be used in this technology except for the confirmation paper that will be printed out after voting. This confirmation paper includes the list of the person that the voter had chosen and it will serve as an evidence for the voter’s transaction. For security and safety purposes, this confirmation paper will not be given away to the voter but should be kept by the Comelec officers.

             On the other hand, Optical Mark Reader Technology will still be using paper ballots unlike the DRE Technology but not the traditional one. Here, a special paper ballot will be provided to the voters where the lists of running candidate’s name are printed. Beside the every name, a circle or oblong figure is provided which serves as the option of the voter. That figure will be shaded will special marker provided if the voter will choose the certain candidate. The voter should make sure that the shaded portions are correct so the vote that should be intended to candidate A will not go to candidate B just because of shading the wrong figure. After choosing the entire desired candidate, the voter will feed the special paper ballot to the machine that will scan the paper to encode its choices. It is still not clear if the machine will still print a confirmation sheet or the confirmation will just be posted by the machine’s Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) after feeding the special paper ballot. The fed paper ballot will serves as the evidence that election had took place.

             After every transaction of a voter in the machines will readily count the votes and will be saved to the database of the machine. After the election, the votes gathered by the machines will be transmitted to the head office to congregate the data and see the final result of whoever candidate had won.

If and only if no disruptions will occur to manipulate the data that had been gathered, an accurate result will come out to the public which had addressed the election problems in the past.

            That was just an overview about what Automated Poll Election can do. It sounds as an advantage if it will be performed correctly and honestly. Moreover, I cannot hide the reality that still there is a possibility that the results will be manipulated. I am not only talking as a concern voter here but also as an IT student who’s also aware of these malicious things.

             For those who are tyros in Information Technology, one of the record manipulation techniques of the virtuosos in the field of IT is cracking. It is a way of changing the real record into a new one by intruding a not thoroughly secured system. I could even say, based on my research, that a much secured system can still be attacked by intruders who wanted to manipulate the record if they want and if they can. Furthermore, if you have heard a word hacking, it is merely different from cracking but still it is an intrusion. In hacking, the record will just be illegally viewed but it will not going to be altered, just for viewing purposes. But, let’s not tackle more about this because it will be out of the topic.

             I do understand why people critique the change in election system because it’s a part of change. According to my instructor way back then, whenever a change is introduced, resistance will always be present. Actually, I could say that criticizing this new system is good because people are being vigilant in what are the things that are happening around them. As far as I could see, many organizations are emerging to promote clean election system not only in 2010 election but also for the upcoming future election.

             What I wanted to show is the advantage and disadvantage of both parties that may occur. Even if you choose the traditional or the new electronic system, still, advantages and disadvantages take place. What is the most important here is the essence of unity. People are uniting for one goal of having a clean election as much as possible. If we just look through, there is no problem in the machines; it was just a piece of crap. The dilemma is on the people; doing harmful thing, performing the prohibited ones, destroying valuable items, and so on. I am not trying to be clean here, if you have say so, but why not try to be clean for ourselves first. Why not follow the famous saying,” Don’t ask what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country”. Is it really that difficult to be humane? Let’s remember, we are the one that controls our life so as that machines that we have discussed. So, if the result of having the election automated is good or not, the choice was all in our hands.

Reference:

Article written by Rony V. Diaz
manilatimes.net
electionpeople.com
Article written by Lito Banayo
Article written by Carmela Fonbuena

The risks associated with Information System/Information Technology change

The company that we had visited was Concentrix, a call center that offers solution supports throughout the globe. The MIS supervisor of the said company had entertained us and had catered to answer our simple questions regarding on information system or information technology change.

According to the supervisor, Concentrix, like all other Business Processing Outsourcing Company, is constantly evolving to achieve the most efficient means of service. He said that before coming up to the conclusion of changing there IS/IT, they make sure that it is for the advantage to the company. A feasible study will be conducted to show the effects of the change and how will it affect the production of their company. This feasible study will be under a thorough analysis especially to the risks that will be undergone in the proposed change in the IS/IT.

We asked him what possible problem or things that might happen if the information system will be changed; he said that the most common factors that they do consider are the following: system failure, information system security, cost, design, and loss of data. He added that these common factors are very important to think about before taking an action because even a single problem that will happen to any of the mentioned factors will really make a mark on the company progress.

To fully understand what our interviewee had said regarding to the factors affecting their system, I researched some of the information about the factors he had shared.

According to the analysis of Ben Meadowcroft, the reasons why system failure occurs are the following:

1. Poor development practices.
2. Incorrect assumptions with regard to system requirements
3. Poor user interface.
4. Faulty hardware.
5. Inadequate user training or user error.
6. Poor fit between systems and organization.

As I look over the analysis of Mr. Ben Meadowcroft and comparing it to the answer of our interviewee, it seems that they are very much alike.

I roam around in the Internet to look for additional information about the factors that affects Information Technology change. As I was searching for the word “Information System Security”, I found out these following sites and their definitions about the latter.

Wikipedia (an online encyclopedia) defines Information Security as the means of protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification or destruction. Furthermore, the terms information security, computer security and information assurance are frequently incorrectly used interchangeably. These fields are interrelated often and share the common goals of protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information; however, there are some subtle differences between them.

Moreover, this site http://www.iso27001security.com/html/27002.html which is entitled as “ISO/IEC 27002 Code of Practice” had also their own definition of Information security. According to them, “Information security” is explicitly defined as the “preservation of confidentiality, integrity and availability of information”. For me, it is a brief and concise definition for sensitive and vulnerable issue. You can also visit the link I had provided to see the content of the “ISO/IEC 27002 Code of Practice”.

As I had observed, it is more than a must to focus in the security of information especially for the companies and organizations that possesses many rivalry in their field of business. Any record or a bit of information lick, if placed in the hands of sinister, will surely place your business or organization million miles below the earth.

It was just earlier, we had interviewed a business center that deals with the innovation of information technology/information systems. The business center that I was referring to is Digilution which is located in Jacinto St. (near Ateneo de Davao University), Davao City. The establishment that we had interviewed was a business center. They are offering desktop publishing, digital printing, computer rental and internet access. They also deals in web page design, multimedia presentation, website hosting, web application development and online marketing e-commerce. They are also catering innovation services such us networking, conversion of manual to automated business operation, installation of software and hardware and the like. The structure of their building is made of two floors. The lower portion was used as an internet café and the upper portion are the workplace of their employees. They allowed us to post our findings regarding to the topic that we had discussed during our interview session. The person we are concerned with in our convention in the said business center was the production manager of Digilution.

To begin with, we asked the manager what risks are associated with Information System of Information Management change. He said that changing the information system in a certain establishment was not as easy as a tick of our hand or as fast as a blink of an eye. Many things should be considered, he added. The first thing that should be considered according to him was the compatibility of the old and the new platform that will be going to implement. But, before he deemed with the platform, the major thing that should pass the compatibility issues in innovation are the compatibility of the data processing and data transformation was his point.

He explained that most company do not really risk in Information Technology change because the information is very vulnerable to be innovated. The companies that they are partnering with are 4 to 2 years late in technology because they are not more concern with the latest technology coming up but on how the existing technology could be develop. According to his experiences, the resistances to the latest technology are common episode in their deals and they mostly hear their clients saying, “If it works, then let’s not fix it”.

A photo taken outside the building of Digilutions.

Charmaine, "me", the Production Manager, Kate, Tanya

Based on both companies, it is rest assured that changing the information system or the information technology of a certain establishment or organization should undergo a deep and thorough analysis on how will it be beneficial in the increase of profit growth. In the first company, security and system failure was being focused by our interviewee while compatibility and vulnerability was the center of the discussion in our second interview. They had different considerations in the factors of changing the Information Technology or Information Management but still in the end of the day their main concern are the protection, confidentiality and availability of the information.


References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_security
http://www.benmeadowcroft.com/reports/systemfailure/
http://www.iso27001security.com/html/27002.html