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Introduction
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 announcements
of important events like training programmes, Management Review
Meetings, etc.
Contact Information
Any contributions to the newsletter in the form of technical articles, or items
of general interest, are welcome. Please send them to Vatsala@bbyb.com or
padmabaliga@bbyb.com.
Editorial (top)
Fun Facts!
Each month of the year was named so for a special reason.
July, for instance, was named after the greatest of the
Romans, Julius Caesar, and August after his nephew, the
Roman emperor, Augustus Caesar. September and October were,
however, called so, only because they were the seventh and eighth months in
the calendar. Yes, you read that right. Although September is the ninth month
in the year, its name means ‘seventh month’. October comes from
the Greek word ‘octo’ for ‘eight’ and for a long time,
October was the eighth and not the tenth month in the Roman calendar. So, in
a rather confused sort of way, September and October are very special months.
And, hey, what’s to prevent us from finding special days in October that
lies ahead? Here’s a start, carry on and have fun discovering new facts.
Interestingly, October begins
on the same day of the week as January in common years, but
no other month begins on the same day of the week as October
in leap years.
On October 1,
1869, Austria issued the world's first postcards.
October 2 is
the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. It is remarkable for another
reason, for in 1950 on that day, the Peanuts comic strip was
first published, to the everlasting happiness of fans of Charlie
Brown and Snoopy.
October 3 is
Techies Day as well as Virus Appreciation Day (I don’t
know whether to appreciate that however.)
On October 4, 1957,
the world’s first space vehicle, Sputnik I was launched.
This year, Ramzan, the holy month of fasting, spiritual reflection,
community and family bonds begins at sundown on October 4 (depending,
of course, on the sighting of the moon). This year, Navarathri,
the festival of dance and joy, also begins on this day.
October 5 is
the birthday of Big Mac, Ray Kroc, the founder of Macdonald’s.
(Mmmmm)
So go ahead and Google!
Padma
From the Management (top)
Dear All,
I
would like to re-emphasize the role of the testing team
in the success of any project. I have been painfully made
aware of the chaos caused by programmers who make releases
without having the testing team certify them. The embarrassment
that I had to go through on site when I applied a new untested
script is something that I would never want to undergo
again. I am not going to name names as they know who they
are but this is a point I would like to raise with all
staff. There is nothing more damaging to our reputation
than a release that makes it quite obvious to the client
that we haven’t done any testing on it.
We
are trying to come out with a format of a Quality Assurance
Certificate which will now have to accompany all releases – doesn’t
matter how small – scripts, a few ASP pages, an Exe… anything!
This certificate will bear the signature of the testing team
member and will include a list of tests that have been conducted
and also the files which are part of this install. BHP will
be instructed to ignore any releases which don’t carry
this certificate.
Construction of the new
offices is now in full flow. There are some pictures of the
construction site in this news letter.
Regards,
Raghu
Projects
News
StaffBank (top)
Hi Guys,
Firstly,
let’s all join
to congratulate Chaitanya, for choosing his life partner, Yogita.
OCR is shortly going live.
Making that a priority, Raghu Shenoy, Sreedhar, Arun Kumar
and Arun B are busy working towards taking it live successfully.
Raghu Shenoy was also busy working on PUSH, .NET libraries
required for Requests and Bookings and other tasks. More information
on Raghu’s and Sreedhar’s
visit to the client’s site will be available on News from Abroad section.
Usha was working with Agency Invoicing tool and handling the most important
day to day issues.
Three
Maidstone Trusts have moved out of NHSP and two Dartford
Trusts are planning to move out of NHSP. Arun B was busy
in setting up new databases for them and extracting Dartford
Trusts data, restructuring the University Hospitals of Leicester
NHS Trust, OCR mapping of grades for Timesheets and also
day to day issues. Guys & St
Thomas Trust has accepted version release with LAP3 changes.
Maidstone Trusts have gone live on 20800 version.
Chaitanya
was occupied with Push technology and after his week’s
holidiay, has been busy working on design docs for Scot Invoice
Enhancements, Maidstone Reports, Reason for Requests/Bookings
Modification. Prathibha was busy working with data prepping
for three Maidstone Trusts, two Dartford Trusts and University
Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.
Arun Kumar, after his work
on OCR and issues with auto email, had taken leave. Sajayan
is now concentrating on StaffBank web project, after his work
on HelpDesk reports which is now available on the server. I
was working on modules like Availability Setup, Add Request/Booking
and also on LAP3 script and a few issues.
Let’s
wait and see the changes in StaffBank.
Till then,
Uma for StaffBank
MESaLS (top)
We
had some unexpected problems at Sunderland. They were supposed
to go live on 12th September. However, their DNS Server
had a crash and they were off the network for almost a
week. To compound this, there were some administrative
issues regarding the Crystal Reports. It was bit disappointing
as we had put in a lot of effort migrating their MS Access
Data to SQL Server. However, this has been addressed by
them and they are getting a new dedicated server for MESaLS
V4 and are expected to go live on 24th October. Keeping
our fingers crossed on that!
The highlight of the month was obviously the visit of Chris
Reed, one of the partners in BHP. The agenda during the
visit was primarily to look at Pocket MESaLS-2, enhancements
to the work in progress, review of the versions released
till now, Assessment Module, few interfaces to other systems like Carefirst etc.,
Bobbie Accredition, JAWS Interface (light weight system for physically and visually
challenged). He mentioned that the feedback on the system by users so far has
been very good. He has lined up several demos and dry runs in October for new
and existing clients. There will also be a User Group meeting in the first week
of November and we have a big list to complete by then. So as usual we are anticipating
a busy October!
Shashi
pFACT (top)
After
our major release of pFACT 1.10 last month, the Pfact team
had a relaxing month with a few patch releases in both SQL
and Oracle versions. This month we had time to do our work
with less pressure and could go home early!
Esha for pFACT
Sepia (top)
This month Sepia released
a general version 3.07.00 to NELMHT and five beta versions
3.07.00.4, 3.07.00.5, 3.07.00.6, 3.07.00.7 and 3.07.00.8
to BHP. In 3.07.00 a new functionality for merging two clients
has been added. Apart from that some modifications have been
done in Clinic Session. Reports and a help file have also
been prepeared for the release.
Manoj for Sepia
New
Office (top)
Work
has begun on our new office and is going on at a brisk pace.
As you can see in the photographs, the pillars are in place
and soon, the walls will be coming up. There’s a cool
green lake in the neighbourhood, too!
Here are some pictures taken at the construction
site of our new office.
Other
News (top)
Cheers!
Newcastle Praises pFACT
As
the client list of pFACT increases, applause pours
in too. Newcastle University is very happy with the
wonderful support they have received from us. This
is what Alan Bates (Senior Consultant, HE Sector at
Baum-Hart who heads the pFACT project) wrote on September
6th:
I'm
visiting Newcastle University on Thursday and was
talking to Rachel Watson their project manager on
the telephone this morning.
During the conversation, Rachel informed me that
the staff involved in pFACT at Newcastle had praised
Baum Hart & Partners (and therefore BbyB too)
for the support received to date as they deploy pFACT. Well done to all for
that especially as I know there have been issues, indeed still are some outstanding
issues, at Newcastle.
Let's all maintain the standards where we know we are confident and performing
well and endeavour to improve in any areas where we individually or collectively
feel under strength.
Good stuff
Alan
Great
going, pFACTers! Keep the BbyB pennant flying high!
Raghul
Leaves
This
month, Raghul C.P. from our Testing Team resigned from
BbyB to join the Testing Team at INTEC Systems. We
will all miss Raghul with his lounging gait, his laid-back
manner and his ready repartee.
This
is what Raghul has to say:
“My
tenure at Bbyb has been most enjoyable and productive.
Almost all my professional knowledge has been garnered
during this period. I was lucky enough to be part of
a wonderful team of quality people. Working on projects
like Mesals, StaffBank, pFACT etc. has given me rich
experience and has helped me mature both on the professional
as well as personal fronts.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Raghu
for having given me this wonderful opportunity. A special “THANK YOU” to
the handful of people who have always guided me and
pulled me out of tight corners. I would also like to
thank all BbyBers for their co-operation and help.
I will surely miss you all.”
Chaitanya’s
Engagement
Chaitanya
has taken the first step towards matrimony with
his engagement to Yogita Badgujar of Shirpur,
Maharashtra. A vivacious and friendly person,
she is currently working as a lecturer in R.
C. Patel Institute of Technology, Shirpur. We
wish them all the best! |
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Onam
Onam was celebrated on September
15th and many of our colleagues journeyed home to Kerala
to join in the festivities. Here’s what they have
to say about Onam.
When
Maveli, our King, ruled the land,
All the people formed one casteless race.
And lived joyful and merry;
They were free from all harm.
There was neither theft nor deceit,
No one was false in speech either.
Measures and weights were right;
No one cheated or wronged the neighbor.
When Maveli, our King, ruled the land,
All the people formed one casteless race.
(The English version of a Malayalam folk-song.)
For
Keralites, Onam is a joyous annual reminiscence of
the golden rule of King Mahabali (Maveli), who ruled
Kerala a very long time ago. The celebration recalls
the sacrifice of the great king, his devotion to God,
his human pride and his ultimate redemption.
A flower carpet called 'Pookalam' is laid in front of every house to welcome
the vanquished king. Traditional rituals are performed followed by a lavish
feast called 'Sadhya', served on banana leaves. The women perform a simple
group dance, known as kaikottikali, which involves clapping each other's palms
while encircling the pookalam.
One of the main attractions of Onam, is the 'Vallamkali' or boat races in which
hundreds of oarsmen row traditional boats to the rhythm of drums and cymbals.
These long graceful Snake Boats called 'Chundans' are named after their exceedingly
long hulls and high sterns that resemble the raised hood of a cobra.
Onam is a secular festival and Hindus, Muslims and Christians, the wealthy
and the poor, all celebrate Onam with equal fervor.
Meetings
and Events
(top)
This
MRM the following was discussed:
1) Construction of our new building in Electronic City which is expected to finish
by April 2006
2) Having a Support team for StaffBank in Bangalore itself wherein the Support
team shall be a part of Testing team.
3) Once BbyB office comes up in Electronic City, we have planned to commute by
minibus.
4 ) BbyB is planning to go CMMI Level 3 by April 2006.
5) The Testing team which was facing problems in version release have asked for
better version control, which has been solved by providing version labelling.
The way of distinctly identifying the Application version for the internal testing
team is done by naming the folders incrementally. The entire application is to
be released for testing instead of providing only the modified pages in case
of Web Versions.
News
From Abroad (top)
I was in U.K. from the 01st of September to
the 21st of September. I worked from the BHP Wirral office,
which is located in West Kirby. It is much smaller than the
office at Cheltenham, with only Alan Cruikshanks, Brian Sharpe
and the office administration personnel, working there. Chris
Lee keeps dropping in to work frequently.
I primarily worked on the Clinical Classification
System (CCS), while also working on issues with the 1View System
and StaffBank on the Web. There was a meeting with Alyson Stainer
of the NHS Professionals, who is working with CCS at present.
The meeting was to generally take stock of the CCS situation,
regarding where we presently were and what the way forward
was. The System was located on the BHP servers from where Alyson
used to access it. It was decided in the meeting to move it
to the NHS Professionals servers.
The
weekends were generally enjoyable. Since I was put up at
Chris’ place for the duration of the
stay, I’d have dinner with Chris and Barbara on Sundays.
Barbara took me to Chester, which is a beautiful city, full
of historic buildings and a fort wall running around the city.
The best weekend, however, was my last weekend, when Raghu
took me to Manchester and we visited several places, such as
the Museum of Science and Industry and the Imperial War Museum,
which was an enjoyable experience. I got a lot of shopping
done when I was there. I stayed in Manchester overnight on
Saturday and returned to Chris’ place on Sunday evening.
All in all, it was a pretty enjoyable trip
and a nice experience
Regards,
Sreedhar
New Recruits (top)
Saraswati
Hebli
This month BbyB welcomes Saraswati Hebli to our Testing Team. Saraswathi
completed her B.E. in Electrical Engineering from SDM Engineering College,
Dharwad, and after trying out teaching and testing as possible professions,
decided that testing is her forte. Movies are her favourite distraction,
she says. |
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Holidays (top)
7th September, Wednesday will be a holiday
on account of Ganesha Chaturthy. Happy Ganesha Chaturthy to all
the employees of BbyB and may Lord Ganesha bring a lot of cheer
and prosperity to all of us.
Colleagues
Cognizant (top)
This
month onwards, we are starting a new feature, which will
hopefully help us to get to know each other better. We
sometimes get so lost in coding, debugging, testing and
so on that we forget to understand the person sitting next
to us. This month, we bring to you Ajmal Ziyad and Vinod
H. Read on…
Ajmal
Ajmal
joined BbyB on 21st of February 2005 and was recruited for
the MESaLS team. In a week’s time, he was moved to
pFACT where he worked for five months, and then was back
with MESaLS. He says that this helped him a lot to know more
about both the projects and the style of interaction and
development of both teams. The flip side was that he became
very close to all those working on the first floor.
Ajmal calls himself a “friendly guy” who values relationships very
much. “I am,” he says, “a good son to my parents, a good
friend to my friends, a good brother to my sister, and a good employee to the
employer. This is not self-praise but has been told to me by my parents, friends,
sister and employer.”
BbyB
Beacon had a brief chat with Ajmal and here are some excerpts
from the interview.
What
do you like most about BbyB?
The work culture, the cool environment, and of course my
colleagues and friends. The only thing I don’t look forward to is coming here on MY birthday,
but I enjoy others’ birthdays.
Who do you enjoy working with?
In Mesals, I can’t name just one person, because the way we interact
is unique - something I haven’t come across in any other company I have
worked for. But I must begin by thanking Aruna, who helped me, when I was new
to Mesals and when a lot of work was assigned to me. The list continues with
Muthu, Divya, Bijo, Rejeen, etc. and of course, Naveen. I am not flattering
when I say Naveen is a really good PL to work with.
How do you
spend your evenings?
In the best way - with friends
Your favourite song is..
It’s difficult to pick one that I prefer over others. I like soft rock
and melodies.
If you weren’t
a software engineer, you would
have been..?
Surely a good business man.
What are your strong and weak points?
1. I think before I ink.
2. I do have weak points but I won’t disclose anything - let others find
out [if they can] and let me know so that I can overcome it.
What’s your secret ambition?
To lose weight, ha, ha, ha! Let
that be a secret, don’t tell
any one.
Who is the
woman you admire the most? Why?
I have a long list for that. Surely the first one is my Mom, Safiya Begum.
She is really a Begum to me, all because she is the one responsible for what
I am now.
The plus points of being a bachelor
are …
Can go home late!
Can chat with any girl, any time and anywhere.
There are many others, but it’s going to take me too long.
The secret of your good humour is ----
That’s a secret formula!
Vinod
Vinod
H. joined Bit by Bit on 1st Dec 2003. As System Administrator,
his work includes administration and support of computers,
assisting users in accessing systems and software, implementation,
analysis, optimization, troubleshooting and documentation
of LAN/WAN network systems. He also takes a daily server
backup. Vinod is a native Bangalorean and a fun loving and
easy-going person who likes to make friends. “I am
the kind of person,” he says, “who believes in
living life king-size.”
BbyB Beacon had a brief chat with Vinod and here are some excerpts from the
interview.
What
do you like most about BbyB?
I like all my colleagues here and the work environment.
How do you spend your evenings?
With my friends at Coffee Day and at the movies.
The movie you last saw was –
Ramji Londonwaley
Your favourite song is -----
Dil ki jharoke main from the movie Brahmachari
If you weren’t a System Administrator, you would
have been ------
Maybe a DON
What are your strong and weak points?
1. I am always cheerful and smiling
2. I can’t keep secrets.
Wha’s your secret ambition?
That is a secret.
Who is the woman you admire the most? Why?
Sushmitha Sen, because she is beautiful and intelligent
Three plus points of being a bachelor are --
Freedom, no tensions and no commitments
Birthdays (top)
Five
of us will be celebrating our birthdays next month, including
a new member of the family, Jillee Yurembam who joins us
on October 1st. Sharada and Jayashree will
have a joint celebration on 15th October and Shashi will
cut the birthday cake on 25th October. Rejeen
and Jillee will ensure a continuation of the celebratory
spirit with their birthdays falling on October 26th.
Here’s wishing all of you a great year ahead! Everyone,
be sure to make a bee-line for the lunch table on those days
at 1:00 p.m.
Here’s
a glimpse of last month’s celebrations.
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