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Introduction (top)
The BbyB
Beacon is an electronic publication to keep the members of
Bit by Bit informed about the current affairs of the company.
It contains announcement of important events like training
programmes, Management Review Meetings, etc.
We have christened
our newsletter – from this issue onwards, it is going
to be called ‘The BbyB Beacon’.
Contact
Information
Any contribution to the newsletter
in the form of technical articles, or items of general
interest, are welcome. Please send them to pratima@bbyb.com or sreedhar@bbyb.com
From
the Management
Let
me congratulate all of you and thank you all for the efforts
that went into getting the ISO 9001 certification. I would
like to repeat the words of one of the auditors who said, “This
is just the beginning…” the actual hard work
is to keep improving the ISO 9001 systems to improve BbyB.
Special thanks go to the project leaders of the projects
put forth for ISO audits - Guru, Sreedhar, Usha and Devaki,
who put in extra effort to make sure their projects were
compliant to our ISO procedures. I also thank Pratima who
kept the ISO documentation up to date and to our MR Jayaraj
without whose efforts this certification would have been
impossible.
Once
the procedures required by ISO 9001 become second nature
to all of us, BbyB is planning to go in for other software
specific certifications like SEI CMM.
The
stress buster holiday at Amblee was very enjoyable. The fact
that we had 2 days this time meant that we had more time
to relax. It was very nice that Anil could join us for the
first time and what was appreciable was the way in which
he integrated himself into our group. I think it is time
to start planning for the next stress buster holiday in Dec
2003. Is it going to be Khalsa this time????
-Raghu.
From The Editor
Openness, Transparency and
Inclusiveness in an Organisation
Transparency
in all aspects of a business reduces the possibility of
misunderstanding. Openness can mean two things: one is
transparency and the other is inclusiveness. Transparency
is the extent to which the organisation is willing to disclose
its information. Inclusiveness is the extent to which the
employees can participate in the organisational activities.
Communicating organisational visions, values, goals and
rules of behaviour frequently helps the employees to clearly
understand what the organisation stands for, what kind
of behaviour is encouraged, and what kind of behaviour
won't be tolerated. The organisational vision, goals and
values should be communicated at employee meetings, posted
on notice boards, etc. Excusing important members in the
organisation from following the rules will mean sacrificing
the credibility of the rules. Organisations, which have
a high employee retention rate, use a combination of methods
to retain the employees. Creating an environment where
everyone feels that he or she makes an important contribution
to the organisation goes a long way in retaining its employees.
Trying to make employees feel that all the tasks are extremely
important also goes a long way. Some of the jobs are easier
to learn and perhaps require fewer skills, but they're
equally important Creating an atmosphere where employees
feel they make a difference and are contributing members
of a team helps in motivating them. Team chemistry is vital.
Management should actively show respect for employees and
let them know that they value their work.
Inclusion is another key aspect in employee retention.
At monthly staff meetings and through a company intranet,
management keeps employees abreast of what is going on
with the company and gives employees a financial report.
Encouraging all employees to participate in the whole process
helps send the message that employees working in all aspects
of the business are valued and appreciated. Listening to
and accommodating employees' family needs goes a long way
toward retaining employees. When employees are dealing
with family problems, they know they can talk to their
employer. This builds up emotional security in the employee.
Providing the employees a reasonable amount of flexibility
as far as their working hours are concerned gives the employees
an opportunity to get a long break from work. For instance,
before Dasara holidays, employees can work extra hours
so that they can have more time off when the holidays come
around Openness is important. Listening to the employees'
opinions and concerns, and talking with employees to help
them find the right place in the company. At Bit by Bit,
the overall professional environment that has been created
by the organisation has spilled over to the social arena,
creating a family-like atmosphere. The organisation hosts
TGIFs and it even has its own cricket and snooker team.
Employee retention is achieved through more tangible items,
such as incentives, rewards and recreational activities.
Bit by Bit organises trips for the entire BbyB family.
There will be annual appraisals. The management has been
more than generous with the increments. Bit by Bit has
had employees leave and come back. This is because the
management provides a pleasant atmosphere, compassion for
the employees when they have problems and gives them time
that they need. "The best weapon of a dictatorship
is secrecy,
but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness." – Niels
Bohr
Bit by Bit believes that to get the best out of relationships with the employees,
they must be reasonable, open and honest in all of their dealings. Any relationship
must be based on mutual trust and this is something they are keen to earn with
all their employees. - Pratima, Editor - The BbyB Beacon The
method used by the management elicited an effective feedback on a number of
dimensions. The management analysed the results of the feedback and then met
the members of Bit by Bit to discuss ways in which it could further increase
its effectiveness. I found the process to be both enlightening and constructive.
The Feedback process can go a long way towards helping everyone at Bit by Bit
improve communication, teamwork, and effectiveness. Now that all the members
of Bit by Bit are well informed about the Feedback process, I am sure that
there will be a whole-hearted participation.
News
From Abroad (top)
R.
Dev Anand
“I am happy to be a part
of the BbyB team and join hands with the organization
to achieve its aims and goals.” Sai
Ramesh P V
“A
place to stay” Masood
Imran “ I
have worked in a big organisation and then in a small one,
and now that I am into a medium sized organization, I am
comfortable here, this place has provided me with an opportunity
to work and play at the same time. I have an option to
work on different technologies.” Uma
M.“I
am finding it comfortable here and feeling great about
being a part of this organisation. I will try my best to
assist the company in achieving its goals and objectives” Usha
Y H “It’s
been three weeks now and it feels great in the company.
It is really nice to work in such a healthy and friendly
environment. Everyone’s been nice and friendly in
my project team – StaffBank, especially Usha, who
has been helping me in familiarising myself with StaffBank.
I hope that I live up to their expectations.”
Let’s wish them all
the success News From Abroad
Shashi's Trip to U.K.
Shashi was in England from the
4th of June to the 27th of June. He
was successful in generating an ad hoc system for Huntleigh Financial Datacube.
He was instrumental in stabilisation of the MESaLS system at Swindon, Derbyshire
and Aylesbury. It wasn’t a case of ‘All Work & No Play’,
though...
He had been to a ‘Mid Summer’s Night’ party at London with
some of his Swedish friends with whom he played Croquet.
He drove to Chris Lee’s house and stayed with them on a weekend.
Achievements (top)
Congratulations
to Bit by Bit for they are now an ISO certified company!
The credit mainly goes to the MR (Management Representative), Jayaraj C N,
whose diligence has produced this desirable result.
This would not have been possible without the encouragement by the MD-Raghu
Shenoy. Every member of Bit by Bit has contributed to this achievement by enthusiastically
co-operating with the management in implementing the procedures. This is the
beginning of something big... All the members of Bit by Bit have to work hard
for continual improvement. I am sure that everyone at Bit by Bit will work
at it with the same exuberance as they have done earlier.
StaffBank
The
records in the StaffBank database reached a mind-boggling figure
of 1 Million records at NHSP London on 10-Jun-2003.
The application is functioning just as it was when the NHSP people started
using it, in spite of the database holding over a million records.
Sepia
“some great news.....
Milton Keynes have at last decided we are preferred supplier....
I am going there today to open contract negotiations....
Big thanks to the whole team!!!”
-John Hart, Senior Partner, Baum Hart & Partners
MESaLS
“MESaLS awarded contract as nationally recognised IT system for Community
Equipment Services” MESaLS is now one of a recommended list of IT systems
available to Community Equipment Services, having passed the qualifications set
by the NHS Purchasing and Supplies Agency (PASA) in conjunction with the ICES
(Integrating Community Equipment Services) organisation. The framework allows
Community Equipment Services to purchase an IT system in the knowledge that the
system provides a minimum functionality set, devised by a national organisation
which has formulated its output based specification based upon detailed research
into the needs of Community Equipment Services across the country.
With over 30 sites now using the software, including private sector ‘fully
managed’ services, making MESaLS the largest externally provided system
in the country by some distance, MESaLS now has an official endorsement to
what has already been common knowledge. With our user group growing, we also
have the largest pool of input to direct the development of the software, ensuring
that all enhancements are user driven while all remain covered by a single,
very competitive annual maintenance charge, in accordance with standard Baum
Hart & Partners policy. MESaLS takes hold in epidemic
proportions at Rotherham
Rotherham Community Health Equipment and Wheelchair Services which provides
joint services to Health and Social Services throughout Rotherham have just
purchased our complete suite of software designed to deal with all aspects
of scheduling, issuing and recovering equipment and stores. More than this,
the separate modules cover client assessments, needs, waiting lists and ensure
items are delivered to the right people in the right quantities at the right
time, using the very latest in web-based and scanner technology. Says Chris
Reed, Partner in charge,
"Its great to see the separate modules working in concert to provide
a fully-comprehensive and integrated service. Harnessing the information
held in the separate modules into a common report generator is the key to
seeing the full picture. That's what management information is all about
- a single, all-embracing view of clients' needs and how these impact on
service provision and consequently, on stock management."
ISO
Overview (top)
M/s
TUV recommended us for ISO certification, after auditing
us on 23rd June 2003. Congratulations
to you all! Thanks
to all of BbyB team for their enthusiastic welcoming of
the procedures and the implementation of the same. Thanks
in particular to Raghu Shenoy, Sharada, Sreedhar and Usha
for undergoing the Audit. I appreciate the effort put in
by Guru, Devaki, Shubha, Chandrashekar and Nagendra. I
wish to thank Guru, Ismail, Raghu Shenoy, Pratima, Shashidhar
and Sreedhar for all the help provided along the way. Project
Info has evolved into a robust software. There were a few
gaps in our system like traceability (tracing of inter-links
between information held in our Project info Software).
Ismail is working on the same and should be through with
this enhancement by the first week of July. I hope Team
MESaLS will start the implementation at the earliest to
complete the initial circle. I am sure that everyone at
Bit by Bit will continue working at it with the same zest
and vigour that they have displayed during the implementation
phase, to make continual improvement a reality.
Jayaraj,
MR - BbyB.
Education & Training (top)
Data
Structures
P M Chandrashekar, a member of the VC
team, gave a seminar on Data Structures on 12-Jun-2003. The
session lasted for two hours. Santosh Patil and Guruprasad
also contributed to the discussion. They spoke about the applications
of B Trees and AVL Trees. The seminar was conducted in order
to ensure that all programmers at BbyB were aware of the definitions,
implementation and applications of Data Structures since they
are fundamental to Computer Science. Chandru referred them
to as the Building Blocks of Computer Science. Most of the
programmers at BbyB attended the seminar. It was very informative.
ASP Training for VB Programmers
Bit by Bit has
decided to re-train all VB programmers
to be ASP programmers as well. This would
give the team flexibility of being able
to deploy resources into whichever domain
that requires it. This can be noticed
in team MESaLS where all VB programmers
are ASP programmers and vice versa and
depending on workloads in the particular
domain, can work as either ASP or VB
programmers. The shortage of ASP programmers
is currently being felt in StaffBank
where we have 4 VB programmers (Usha,
Arun, Ismail and Shenoy) but are dependent
on Santhosh (who also works in MESaLS)
for StaffBank on Web. Resource deployment
would be much easier if all VB programmers
knew ASP as well. Santhosh has started
a programme for re-training VB programmers
to ASP. The first session was held on
Saturday, 21-Jun-2003 at 5 PM in the
training room (2nd Floor) and was for
2 hours.
Meetings & Events (top)
The
third Management Review Meeting was held
on the 19-Jun-2003 at 5 PM.
The participants were MD (Raghu Shenoy), MR (Jayaraj), Usha V K, Devaki A K,
Guruprasad Kini, Sreedhara Rao and Sharadha P N.
The agenda was to discuss the following issues:
1. Action on decisions taken during previous MRM
2. Customer Complaints / feedback
3. Non-conformance at Incoming, In-process and Finished stages
4. Non conformance raised during Internal or External Audits
5. Any other issue connected with Quality as per agenda
6. The effectiveness of the Quality System in achieving deployment of the Quality
Policy and Quality Objectives
7. Identification of Corrective/Preventive actions & status of corrective
and preventive action
8. Allocation of responsibilities and time schedule for implementing preventive/corrective
actions
9. Resource Requirements
10. Training Requirements
11. Recommendation for improvement
12. Any Chronic problems shall be given Special attention
13. Changes that could affect quality management system
14. Continuous Improvement
Vacation (top)
The
BbyB stress buster – June 2003 was a huge success.
Everyone had a lovely time. What made this holiday memorable
was the fact that Shenoy celebrated his birthday at Amblee
on Saturday, the 28th of June. The cake cutting took place
at the poolside. The party went on till 2 am. The Testing
team and a few others who visited Somnathpur, Talakadu and
Krishnarajasagar dam while the rest visited Ranganthittu.
Everyone was at the poolside in the evening. There were three
rounds of Housie. The highlight of the evening was Deepak’s
dancing. His exuberance was contagious; Guru, Chandru and
Dev joined him. There was a game of cards on Sunday morning.
Some of them spent the morning in the pool. We all headed
back home after a good lunch at Amblee.
Pictures
from the stress-buster
Somnathpura
Temple |
"Monkey
Dance" |
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Upcoming
Birthdays (top)
Many
Happy Returns of the Day
Chaitanya’s birthday falls
on the 2nd of July. Please join me in wishing him a happy
birthday.
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