incident management

‘Benefits of having Project Management Professional Credential’ a scenario based hypothesis

The scenarios are worked out with the following assumptions;

1. The PM is handling a project of this nature(size, complexity, distribution) for the first time

2. The project is critical

3. No special training on professional project management is provided to the project manager

4. The organization do not have documented project guidelines for the project manager to refer to

Scenario 1 – project initiation

You are selected as the project manager for a prestigious project. It is your dream job, and you have never handled a project of this size and nature. You are chosen to manage this project, because you have a successful track record as a project manager , which were smaller than this and the management believes that you can handle this. You want to be successful at any cost and at the same time, do not know where to start, due to the geographical spread of the team and the large number of project stakeholders, it seems very complex. There are multiple ways to execute the same project. Which one to choose? Whom all should I consult? What should be the team hierarchy? These kind of questions plagues you and you are not confident?

If you are a non Project Management Professional , the chances for failure in the initial phases itself is very high. If the organization do not have a documented process / guideline for managing such projects do not exist (and that is the case, when the projects are first of it’s kind in the organization), you will be in a most un-enviable position. The chances of you projecting yourself as in adequate or in experienced is very high. Can you afford to take such a big risk?. Once the credibility is lost at this stage, it is very difficult to recover. Project Management Professional credential will give you enough knowledge on the tasks (best practices from industry), to be performed during the project starting (project initiation) and they are;

• Conduct Project Selection Methods

• Define Scope

• Document Project Risks, Assumptions, and Constraints

• Identify and Perform Stakeholder Analysis

• Develop Project Charter

• Obtain Project Charter Approval

Scenario-2 - project planning

You are planning for the project. You came out with a good schedule which is done to the best of your ability. With this schedule you go to meet the project sponsor. During the discussion the project sponsor asked for details such as;

• What are the major tasks on the critical path?

• What are the major risks and how you are going to manage them?

• What is the planned tracking mechanism of cost, scope, schedule?

• What are the billing milestones

• Month wise resource requirement

All you have is a schedule. You feel miserable.

A Project Management Professional is equipped with enough knowledge to get these right and knows upfront that the following tasks are required to be performed during the project planning stage.

Planning the Project

Tasks

• Define and Record Requirements, Constraints and Assumptions

• Identify Project Team and Define Roles and Responsibilities

• Create the WBS

• Develop Change Management Plan

• Identify Risks and Define Risk Strategies

• Obtain Plan Approval

• Conduct Kick-off Meeting

this not only helps to do the project plans professionally but provides enough knowledge to provide guidance and suggestions to senior management on critical project planning aspects.

Scenario – 3 – project execution

You are in thick of project execution. In one of the team meetings you realized that, the team is doing certain activities, which are not in the project schedule and at the same time some other critical activities are not performed. When you asked them, why this is so? the answer was ‘ the divisional manager asked for it’. Divisional manager is your boss’s boss. You did not know how to handle the situation. This really upsets you. How to tackle this scenario? Ultimately towards the end of the project, all the stakeholders of the project should be happy. How to achieve this?

The pressure mounts on you. As a project manager, you are accountable and if you do not have control over the project activities, how are you going to achieve it….. You already started feeling that, this project is going to be a failure……….

If you are not a Project Management Professional , its quite likely that, you will end up straining your relationship with your own team. But a trained project manager will know exactly what need to be done. Project Management Professional credential Armour you with knowledge on;

Executing the Project

• Execute Tasks Defined in Project Plan

• Ensure Common Understanding and Set Expectations

• Implement the Procurement of Project Resources

• Manage Resource Allocation

• Implement Quality Management Plan

• Implement Approved Changes

• Implement Approved Actions and Workarounds

• Improve Team Performance

Scenario-4 – monitoring and control

Of late you and the team started to think that the project review meetings are a waste of time. Very often it turns out to be a stock taking meeting, with a very ad hoc focus on the issues and concerns. The decisions are very short sighted. If you had the foresight and knowledge about what is required you would have planned for it and unfortunately that is not the case. Due to all these, you are not very confident on the current project status, the real issues and concerns and whether the speed of execution is sufficient to meet the deadline. Everybody is busy executing the project and work very hard, but you, the project manager is under tremendous pressure and is not very sure……

If you are a Project Management Professional , you will have sufficient knowledge on

Monitoring and Controlling

• Measure Project Performance

• Verify and Manage Changes to the Project

• Ensure Project Deliverables Conform to Quality Standards

• Monitor all Risks

This knowledge will help you do your job better.

Scenario – 5 - Project close out

The delivered the product of the project. Customer is happy and has given the acceptance letter. The team celebrates. Every body thinks that the project is over. After five days, the project sponsor forwards you a supplier complaint regarding the delay in his final payment. The sponsor is very upset about it, because this incident is going to hit the supplier satisfaction score negatively. You have put in all the hard work to make the delivery on time, the team and the customer is happy….but at the last moment, to your utmost surprise this happens. You feel terrible…..

If you are a Project Management Professional , you will be aware that, during the project closing phase, you need to take care of;

Closing the Project

• Obtain Final Acceptance for the Project

• Obtain Financial, Legal, and Administrative Closure

• Release Project Resources

• Identify, Document and Communicate Lessons Learned

• Create and Distribute Final Project Report

• Archive and Retain Project Records

• Measure Customer Satisfaction

and this knowledge will help you to be more proactive, which is the essence of successful project management.

Scenario – 5 - professional responsibility

Your company is subcontracting a part of the work, related to your project. One of the potential sub contractors is your friend’s friend. One day, he calls you for a party and offers you a small packet containing a gift. Your company policies do not allow you to take any gift of value more than $100, from the subcontractors of the company. In this case, he is only a potential sub contractor and the value of the gift is not known, at the time of receipt of the gift. You are in a dilemma. What is the right action?

A Project Management Professional will definitely know, how to handle such situations professionally and ethically. The Project Management Professional examination focuses on the professional responsibility of project managers.

These are the reasons why Project Management Professional credential is widely acclaimed world wide. Project management is becoming more and more complex due to;

1. Distributed developmental work

2. Cultural issues

3. Time zone issues

4. Legal issues

5. Copy rights

6. Environmental issues

7. Pressure to reduce cycle time

All these calls for expert project managers. A search in http://www.monster.com gives me more than 150 opportunities for project managers, where Project Management Professional credential is specifically mentioned as a criteria for selection. You are better with Project Management Professional , than without it.

About the author of this article

Abrachan is a coach, practitioner and student of  software engineering, project management and quality management.He has around two decades of experience in software development, quality management and project management. He started his career as a computer programmer and subsequently played the roles of systems analyst, senior consultant, project manager, senior project manager, head – QA,  manager – Process Engineering and profit center head. He worked for organizations such as  HCL, FEC Singapore, OTE Muscat, Think Business Networks, Novell. At Novell, he spear headed  Pragati, project management tool under GPL. At present he works for his own company Prologic Systems (p) Limited , which he founded. At prologic, he architected the PMPdistilled three phase Project Management Professional preparatory program.

More information at  www.abrachan.org

He can be contacted by email: Abrachan’s home page (at) gmail (dot) com

Incident Management

This is a very comon question asked by many PM aspirants. Techies want to become project managers fast, mostly becuase that is the only career path defined for them in most organizations. If some one asked me, about some thing I miss in my professional life very badly is ‘technical skills’. When I was in my early thirties, I was doing very well technically and suddenly in one of the performance appraisals this question was asked to me by my then boss ‘ Do you want to tread the managerial path or the technical path? ‘. I was very much quick in choosing the managerial path. I dont regret it and at the same time, I wish I were more technical now (after 15 years of making that vital choice). Still, I am technical enough to design a data base….

Even now, that is even after 15 years of my decision to me managerial, I still see many techies, taking that hypocritical decision of moving into managerial line (I say it as hypocritical, becuase they are not doing justice to their heart’s call, they are doing it to get the power or the fringe benefits associated with the mangerial position) at the cost of a great technical genious.

Recently I had a chat with a guy who is technically brilliant, but made the call to become a PM and lost both. I was continuously cautioning him about his decision, and he was his argumant was that ‘ he wants the title of a manager first and then decide whether it is technical or managerial’ and towards the end he missed both.

What is the message?

In the present day scenario, to manage high tech projects, one need to be technical. I will rather say techno managerial.

All managerial positions in the software industry do not call for the same degree of techno awareness. It goes like this.

Director - development - techno - strategic - should be able to view the building blocks of the techno strategy

Project manager - Project management - high , technical medium

Product manager - project management - medium , technical - high

Engineering manager / development manager - project management - high , technology high

As we can see, there are different management positions in the software engineering projects, and the need for technology awareness vary from role to role…

If you are technologically good, build the PM capabilities…..and if you are good in PM, improve technology skills, if you are good in both, improve them further……

Both are mutually complementing. It is not one at the cost of the other. To be successful one need both

As per PMBOK - the project manager should have enough technical knowledge to guide the proceedings of the projects, as well as participate meaningfully in the project discussons.

more…

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Google Inc. pulled away from Yahoo Inc. in search
engine usage during November in a major way, according to comScore Networks Inc.

Google nabbed almost 40% of all searches in the U.S.,
a commanding lead of more than 10 percentage points over Yahoo, which took
second place, comScore said.

Google also increased its share of searches by 5.2%
compared with November 2004, while Yahoo saw its share shrink by 2.5% in that
same time frame, the market research company said.

Incident Management

Job descriptions contained within the Internet and
Information Technology Position Descriptions HandiGuide were
just updated.  The Job Description HandiGuide contains 635 pages; including
sample organization charts, a job progression matrix, over 202 job
descriptions.   The book also addresses Fair Labor Standards and the
ADA, and is in a new easier to read format.  Each job description meets ADA
standards and the position description is delivered in electronic format - word
which is editable and PDF which is printed.  more…

Incident Management

The preliminary results of Janco’s January 2006 IT
Salary Survey shows that 93% of IT Professionals have some form of company paid
health insurance. Download a copy of the study summary at http://www.e-janco.com/SalaryBenefits.htm. more…

Incident Management

China surpasses U.S. in global IT sales, report says

size=2>China sold more IT and communications gear than the U.S. in
2004

China surpassed the U.S. to become the
world’s No. 1 exporter of IT goods in 2004, according to a report released today
by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD).

China exported $180 billion worth
of information and communications technology (ICT) goods last year, including
mobile phones, laptops and digital cameras, up from $123 billion in 2003. ICT
exports from the U.S. grew at a slower rate, rising from $137 billion in 2003 to
$149 billion in 2004, the OECD said.

The
data also showed that the U.S. imports more ICT goods from China than from any
other source. China supplied 27% of ICT imports to the U.S. in 2004, up from 10%
in 2000.

Total U.S. worldwide trade,
including imports and exports, remained higher than that of China. U.S. world
trade reached $375 billion in 2004, compared with $301 billion in 2003. China’s
imports and exports were worth $329 billion in 2004, compared with $234 billion
the previous year.

Incident Management

Approximately 2.3 million domain names have been
registered with obviously false information, such as (999) 999-999 for a
telephone number or “XXXXX” for a postal zip code, and another 1.6 million were
registered with incomplete information, according to a report released yesterday
by the U.S. Government Accountability Office size=2>(download PDF).

The GAO said
individuals or organizations registering the names of their Web sites may have
provided inaccurate information to domain name registrars to hide their
identities or prevent the public from contacting them. The 3.9 million wrong or
incomplete registrations represents 8.6% of the 44.9 million the agency was
asked to check by Congress. more…

Incident Management

Build Your Disaster Recovery Plan Before
Disaster Strikes.  Hurricane season is still with us and earthquakes happen
at un-predictable times.

Now you can apply industry recognized best
practices without spending thousands on consultants.  The Disaster
Recovery Planning Template has everything that you need.

Go to size=2>http://www.e-janco.com/drp.htm

Incident Management

Microsoft is breaking from its traditional testing
practices in an effort to create more stability and security for its Vista
operating system than for previous versions of Windows. The company will include
all of the planned features in versions that will go to testers early next year,
giving developers more time to offer feedback. This effectively shifts the focus
from adding features to fixing bugs in existing ones. Microsoft is sticking to
its planned release date of the second half of 2006 for the much-delayed
Vista. more…

Incident Management

Recent research by the Economist
Intelligence Unit revealed a few unsettling security trends in the corporate
world. First, it seems that the growth in network security spending is set to
level off. According to the director of global technology research at the EIU,
that means companies have finished playing catch-up on security and are
comfortable with their current security levels. The survey, which queried 236
global CEOs and CIOs, also revealed companies are confident they can handle
worms and viruses, though they are concerned about new, financially-motivated
threats. It’s also interesting to note, as this title suggests, that two-thirds
of executives are worried about IP network security. And yet, two-thirds of
those surveyed said they plan to deploy IP networks
anyway. more…

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s cyber
division has won $20 million from Senate lawmakers for the fiscal 2006 budget.
The Senate authorized the funding, calling cyber investigations a top priority,
after learning that the FBI decreased its funding for the program. The cyber
division investigates hundreds of cases involving digital and electronic
evidence and develops special tools to carry them out. The Senate had originally
ordered the FBI to reinstate the full $35 million taken from the division since
2000, but settled on $20 million after negotiations with the House of
Representatives. more…

Incident Management

The target=_blank>Convention on
Cybercrime will endanger Americans’ privacy
and civil liberties–and place the FBI’s massive surveillance apparatus at the
disposal of nations with much less respect for individual liberties.

For instance, if the U.S. and Russia href="http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5805561.html?tag=nl"> color=#003399 size=2>ratify it, President
Vladimir Putin would be able to invoke the treaty’s powers to unmask anonymous
critics on U.S.-based Web sites and perhaps even snoop on their e-mail
correspondence. This is no theoretical quibble: The onetime KGB apparatchik has
squelched freedom of speech inside Russia and regularly target=_blank>muzzles journalists and critics.

Incident Management

Cyberinsurance is increasingly being offered to
cover an enterprise’s digital assets. Conventional business insurance covers
only physical assets. First-party cyberinsurance covers losses of data owned by
the insured. Third-party insurance covers losses by outsiders who claim harm
from a cyber incident suffered by the insured party. Companies that can
demonstrate compliance with information security regulations get breaks on their
cyberinsurance premiums. Demonstrated compliance with regulations like HIPAA and
Gramm-Leach-Bliley help insurance companies evaluate cyberinsurance underwriting
risk. more…

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The multimillion-dollar cost of complying with the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act is diverting spending away from protecting against other
security threats, according to a new report.

The Information Security Forum, an international security association, said
Monday that it calculates that many of its members expect to spend more than $10
million on information security controls to comply with regulations laid down by
href="http://news.com.com/Sarbanes-Oxley+cheat+sheet/2030-7349_3-5465172.html?tag=nl">Sarbanes-Oxley.

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The search giant href="http://news.com.com/Google+to+offer+free+analytics+service/2100-1032_3-5947581.html?tag=nl">launched a free Web analytics service  that lets companies see exactly how visitors interact
with their Web site and how advertising campaigns are faring. The hosted service
relies on technology from San Diego-based Urchin, which Google acquired in
March. The Urchin product had formerly been priced at $200 a month.

A number of users were left with no data in the first
few days.  Google did not comment on the specific situation but did
acknowledge there were problems with the transition.  They said the demand
for Google Analytics was much higher than was expected…. No customer
reporting data was lost.

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The best security advice for people using Bluetooth,
the writer says, is to stay at least 30 feet away from everybody. The good news
is that businesses appear to be awakening to the dangers posed by Bluetooth.
Along with the awareness is the emergence of tools.

See the
Security Template for policies to implement

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 It seemed a reasonable approach at the time.
Whenever a server went down, the IT operations people tried to figure out why.
They did root-cause analysis in order to discover the origin of the problem and
fix it. Then they brought the server back up.

Trouble was, users had to cool their heels in the
meantime, losing e-mail service or reporting capabilities for as long as an
hour. But now, thanks to guidance from the Information Technology Infrastructure
Library (ITIL), with IT Service Management as a focus companies
now reboot servers immediately and restores service within minutes. The
root-cause analysis follows, out of view of users.

Incident Management

The Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) can be used as a
template for any enterprise.   Download instructions for the DRP are
sent to you via e-mail. Janco also offers an update service to help enterprises
keep track of the latest DRP Developments.

Before Katrina one Janco client used the plan
activation process which said that if a category 5 storm was approaching -
activate the plan.  The client activatated the plan and moved his truck
fleet out our the storms path. 

The template and supporting material have been
updated to be Sarbanes-Oxley compliant.  The complete package
includes:

• Disaster Recovery Plan Template
• Business and IT Impact Analysis Questionnaire
  
• Work
  Plan

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Blog Policy, Procedure and Guidleine
Template was released.  It is 8 pages long and covers everything
needed by any size enterprise to manage the eveloution of its blogs.  Go
to:

size=2>http://www.itproductivity.org/blog.htm

Incident Management

The new Janco RSS to HTML program (Php2Html) was
tested by Softpedia labs on October 27, 2005 and found to be clean of malware
including spyware, trojans and backdoors.

See award

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Federal guidance, which replaces the FFIECA
Authentication in an Electronic Banking Environment issued in 2001,
does not endorse any particular technology. This guidance specifically addresses
the need for risk-based assessment, customer awareness, and financial
institutions implementation of appropriate risk mitigation strategies including
security measures to reliably authenticate customers accessing their financial
institutions Internet-based services.

The guidance is divided into two
parts. The main portion of the guidance provides financial institutions with
guidance on authentication and discusses appropriate risk assessments, customer
authentication, verification of new customers, and monitoring and reporting. An
appendix provides more detail about various authentication technologies.

Get a PDF version of the full
report here

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The IT w:st="on">Productivity laceType
w:st="on">Center has just released its 3rd quarter
Browser Market Share White Paper.  The major findings include that Firefox
maintained its number 2 browser position but has lost momentum.  Netscape
version 8 flops as it continues to lose market share and dropped from
5^th place to 7^th place.  New in this white paper are
recommendations on which browsers to use and not use.  A summary
of the browser market share data can be found on the IT Productivity Center
(ITPC) web site ( size=2>http://www.itproductivity.org/browser.htm size=2>).  more…

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Sarbanes
Oxley compliance efforts are eating up CIO time and budgets as they assume a
posture of delivering tactical solutions. 
CFOs are using SOX to get control of IT back.  See article at http://www.cio.com/archive/070104/sarbox.html. more…

Incident Management

IT departments should not be calling the shots on
security, according to a GAO Report. Instead, companies need to take a
business-oriented, risk management approach.

Get a free copy of the General Accounting Office
Social Security Number Use report 

Go to http://www.itproductivity.org/Security.htm

Incident Management

Janco has just released another in
its series of Sarbanes-Oxley Tools, the Sensitive Information Policy.  This
new tool is a detailed 15 page policy that directly addresses the protection of
personal data, confidential data and enterprise sensitive information.  A
full description can be found on the Information Technology Productivity Center
(ITPC) web site ( href="http://www.itproductivity.org/sensitive.htm">http://www.itproductivity.org/sensitive.htm). 

The policy
contains a definition of standards and actions to implement them for secure
networks.  In addition it has guidelines for monitoring and testing
networks and business record retention including email.  Victor Janulaitis,
Janco CEO said, Almost every day there is a story in the media about how
personal data or business sensitive information is lost, improperly disclosed,
or stolen. The Sensitive Information Policy is something that gives every
enterprise a set of rules that are easy to implement and follow.  In
adding he said, The Sensitive Information Policy addresses all of the
Sarbanes-Oxley and California Personal Data requirements.  This policy
applies to the entire enterprise, its vendors, its suppliers (including
outsourcers) and co-location providers and facilities regardless of the methods
used to store and retrieve sensitive information (e.g. online processing,
outsourced to a third party, Internet, Intranet or swipe
terminals).

Incident Management

Median Compensation for IT Executives
in large enterprises is reported at $140,760 in the Janco 2005 mid-year IT
Salary Survey.  The survey was released on the Information Technology
Productivity Center (ITPC) web site ( href="http://www.itproductivity.org/">http://www.itproductivity.org ). 

 The study reports that the
median compensation for enterprises with revenues over $500 million for IT
middle managers is $76,981 and for technical staff members is $64,247.  For
enterprises with revenues of $100 to $500 million total compensation for IT
executives is $124,472, middle managers is $75,194 and for technical staff
members is $59,574.  The study was conducted in the second quarter of 2005
and more information is available at href="http://www.itproductivity.org/Salary.htm">http://www.itproductivity.org/Salary.htm. 
In addition the ITPC provides a free summary copy of the study which can be
viewed via the Internet

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The IT Hiring Resource Kit
combines the 2005 Salary Survey and detail jobdescriptions as a bundle that
every Information Technology and Human Resource function need to
have. 

Each of the job descriptions is at least 3 pages
long and has been updated to meet the requirements of HIPPA and Sarbanes Oxley.
The kit comes in three versions.  Detail infmation can be found at information
page.

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Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 requires that:

• Enterprises have an enterprise wide security
  policy;
• Enterprises have enterprise wide classification of
  data for security, risk, and business impact;
• Enterprises have security related standards and
  procedures;
• Enterprises have formal security based
  documentation, auditing, and testing in place;
• Enterprise enforce separation of duties;
  and
• Enterprises have policies and procedures in place
  for Change Management, Help Desk, Service Requests, and changes to
  applications, policies, and procedures.

To meet these needs the Sarbanes Oxley Compliance
Resource Kit, which comes in four editions (Standard, Silver, Gold, and
Platinum) contains:

• Security Policies (all editions);
• Threat & Vulnerability Assessment Tool (all
  editions);
• Business & IT Impact Questionnaire Risk
  Assessment Tool (all editions);
• Safety Program Template (all editions);
• Disaster Recovery Template (all editions);
• Outsourcing guide update to reflect what you
  vendors need to do (all editions);
• Software tool to monitor key data files (all
  editions);
• Internet and IT Job Descriptions (Silver, Gold,
  and Platinum Editions) and;
• IT Service Management Template (Platinum
  Edition).

size=2>http://www.e-janco.com/session/catalog_items.aspx?detail=1&catalog=991

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This Security Manual for the Internet and Information
Technology is 178  pages in length. All versions of the Security Manual
template include both the Business & IT Impact Questionnaire and the Threat
& Vulnerability Assessment Tool (both were redesigned to address Sarbanes
Oxley compliance).   In the premium edition the template contains 15
detail job descriptions that apply specifically to security and Sarbanes Oxley.

Clients can also subscribe to Janco’s Security Manual
update service and receive all updates to the Security Manual Template for 18
months* from the date of purchase. 

The template includes everything needed to customize
the Internet and Information Technology Security Manual to fit your specific
requirement.  The electronic document includes proven written text and
examples for the following major sections for your security
plan:
 

• Security Manual
  Introduction - scope, objectives, general policy, and
  responsibilities

• Risk Analysis -
  objectives, roles, responsibilities, program requirements, and practices
  program elements

• Staff Member Roles -
  policies, responsibilities and practices

• Physical
  Security  - area classifications, access controls, and access
  authority

• Facility Design,
  Construction and Operational Considerations - requirements for both
  central and remote access points

• Media and
  Documentation - requirements and responsibilities

• Data and Software
  Security - definitions, classification, rights, access control,
  INTERNET, INTRANET, logging, audit trails, compliance, and violation
  reporting and follow-up

• Network Security -
  vulnerabilities, exploitation techniques, resource protection,
  responsibilities, encryption, and contingency planning

• Internet and Information
  Technology contingency Planning - responsibilities and documentation
  requirements

• Insurance -
  objectives, responsibilities and requirements

• Outsourced Services -
  responsibilities for both the enterprise and the service providers

• Waiver Procedures -
  process to waive security guidelines and policies,

• Incident Reporting
  Procedures - process to follow when security violations occur

• Access Control
  Guidelines - responsibilities and how to issue and manage badges /
  passwords

• Glossary - over 300
  terms defined

• Sample Forms -
  Security Violation Reporting Form (8 pages) and Security Audit Form (3
  pages)

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The Practical Guide for IT Outsourcing is delivered
electronically in WORD and/or PDF format. size=2> Included is a 3 page Job Description for the Manager Outsourcing.
Sarbanes-Oxley issues addressed directly.

The guide is 113 packed pages and includes
everything needed to plan for, negotiate, and manage an outsourcing process
within an enterprise.  The electronic document includes:

• Outsourcing Management
  Standard Overview of outsourcing, Service Level Agreements and
  responsibilities.

• Outsourcing Policy
  Standard Policy that can be used to determine when outsourcing is an
  option.

• Outsourcing Approval
  Standard Process which can be used in approving an outsourcing
  agreement.  Includes a process flow chart on steps to a successful
  outsourcing agreement.

• Sample Service Level
  Agreement Includes a several sample service level agreements.

• Service Level Agreement
  Metrics Definition of over 150
  metrics presented in 18 tables that can be used to manage an outsourcing
  vendor.

• Outline for Contract
  Negotiation  Over 17 pages which issues to be addressed including
  service to be provided, service level requirements, term of the agreement,
  enterprise’s facilities, enterprise’s equipment (owned/leased), intellectual
  property, third party service providers, IT application project (current /
  future), responsibilities, training and conversion to mention a few.

• Base Case
  Development Detail listing of factors to
  include

• Mutual Non-Disclosure
  Template Template that can be used to
  create an enterprise’s own document for use with outsourcing vendors.

• Job Description for
  Manager Outsourcing (3 pages long)

• Business & IT
  Impact Questionnaire - Inventory and assess all
  application - addresses Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance issues.

Incident Management

The Information Technology Service Management Policy Template (IT service management) contains policies, standards,  procedures and metrics for Change Control, Help Desk and Service Request processing.  ITSM template also contains the Business and IT Impact Questionnaire, a Change Control Request Form and an Internet Use Approval Form. more…

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It is becoming increasing clear to me that while I love my career as a medical librarian I am at a dead-end career-wise. I’ll never make any money to be comfortable as a medical (hospital) librarian. Besides, the job market is so small that jobs rarely open up and even when they do the pay is no better than what I make now.. In addition, there are really only two career rungs on the hospital library ladder - librarian or director. I do NOT want a lateral move, I have too much invested in my current job to move even if I wanted to do so. The job market for hospital library directors in even slimmer than that of librarian and the pay, though better than my current position, isn’t anything to rave about.

So, here I am working at a job I love but a pay rate that I hate. There’s no real upward mobility. What is a gal to do? That is what I plan to spend the next month or so figuring out. My current plan of waiting for something better to happen or come along isn’t working. It’s time I took matters into my own hands. Wish me luck!

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I would kill for a nap right now.

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Critter has a new favorite hobby - knitting. Not traditional knitting but Knifty Knitter knitting. Apparently this is all the rage in Prime Time (a.k.a. after-school) Care. After Thanksgiving Critter was as Michael’s with Mom and I and asked for a set of looms. He’s currently working on a hat for Mom. He is having a blast knitting, and we’ve even gotten Dad involved.

Along with knitting, Critter has become addicted to Knitty Gritty, a knitting show on DIY Network. He wants to be a Knitster Guy in the worst way and, though he won’t admit it, I think he has a crush on Vicki Howell. We watch a taped episode every day while eating dinner then we’ll knit after homework is finished. We are just so darned cute it’s not even funny. LOL.

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Tomorrow I go back to work after a 10-day vacation. While I love my job I really, really have enjoyed spending time at home. I really wouldn’t mind a few more days off but alas, the real world calls. This is the first time in a very LONG time that I haven’t been anxious to get back to work. I know that has to mean something but I’m not quite in the mood to figure out what.

I still have a few hours of “vacation”, I think I’m going to build a fire and do some knitting. Critter comes home from his dad’s in a few hours. I spoke with him this morning; he sounds like he had a good time. I wonder if he’s ready to go back to school tomorrow? Someohow I think he’s on the same wavelength as I and isn’t ready. I don’t blame him.

Well, I should really get working on Critter’s mittens. It would help I got them done before spring. LOL.

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I rang in the new year by knitting and watching Lord of the Rings - Fellowship of the Rings (the extended version). I am a bit introspective right now…2006 is going to be the year I will be completely true to myself. I will live my life as it was meant to be lived - with love and hope and fun and intention. I will accept the fact that some of my dreams can never come true but I will create new dreams, more realistic dreams. I will live in the present. I will enjoy life to it’s fullest.

Can we tell I’m hitting a milestone birthday this year?

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Technically, at least in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Christmas doesn’t exist. We celebrate the Nativity of Christ, which is so much more than just Chirstmas trees, presents and more baked goods than anyone should be allowed to eat in any lifetime. And, contrary to the impression given by the “Christmas season”, the Nativity is not even the most important Holy Day in the Church - Pascha (Easter) is. I realized this year that I’m subconsiously trying to reconcile what Christmas and the Nativity.

It recently struck me that while I love this time of year I’m enjoying different aspects than I normally do. In previous years Christmas revolved around my Christmas tree and decorating. Not so much this year. While fun, I didn’t really enjoy decorating the tree and have even forgot to turn it on some evenings. I did have a GREAT time making “gingerbread cookie” ornaments, purchased from Michael’s craft store, with Critter and my parents. It was one of the highlights of our holiday season. I enjoyed the Festival of Trees. I’m looking forward to Christmas Day, but while I’m looking forward to giving and receiving presents it’s not my main focus - My family is. And I’ll be attending Christmas Eve liturgy for the first time in a couple of years.

I feel as though society has stripped Christmas of it’s religious intent, to the point of not even being a Christian Holy Day anymore but a secular “event”. We stress ourselves out for what? The perfect Christmas dinner? To keep up with the Jones’? Christmas has become a public spectical when it should be a private celebration of the birth of our Lord (if you are Christian). At least that is how I feel, and that is how I’d like to celebrate from now on. I’d much rather have my son growing up thinking Christmas is about Jesus rather than Santa. I don’t mean to put down people who do enjoy the secular Christmas, I just realize that it’s no longer for me and my family.

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I’ve always had a nagging feeling that I watch, and allow my son to watch, too much television. I’ve been trying to cut that down. I don’t automatically turn on the TV when I first come home and when the TV is on and there is nothing I want to watch I’ll turn it off. That is what I did last night.

Critter was at his Dad’s for the weekend and when he came home the first words out of his mouth were “Mommy, why isn’t the TV on?”

I guess I do watch too much television.

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