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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.
We apologise for the delay
in bringing out the newsletter this time.
Editorial (top)
New Year Resolutions
As
the New Year dawns, we are starting off the New Year with
New Hope and aspirations. To make the 1st Editorial of the
New Year more interesting and interactive, we conducted a
survey to know everybody’s
resolutions for the coming year. Here are some interesting
resolutions.
Nisha
our Graphic Designer, who is more of a fitness freak, didn’t keep well last
year. So this year she has decided give more importance to
her health and fitness. Let us wish her a happy “hospitaless” new
year.
Ajmal who is from Kerala has
a long list of resolutions and he prioritizes them this way.
To Lose weight
Get up early in the morning and go to a Gym
Cutting short the mobile bills
Avoid calling more gals on phone (psst: He actually wants them to call him
up)
To learn Kannada
To watch only one film a month
Sticking to so many resolutions
is quite a challenge.
Manu wants to enjoy life to
the fullest.
Jayashree wants to avoid procrastinating.
Rejeen, the man with a radiant
smile plans to come out of his bachelorhood.
Muthu,
a very sincere and a selfless guy wants to fight for a noble
cause. He plans to offer monetary help for poor children’s
education and victims of natural calamities. He also wants
to fight against corruption and work towards an Eco friendly
atmosphere.
On the contrary, Naveen and
Aruna have different ideas. They both feel that resolutions
are meant to be broken. So their New Year resolution is to
spend lots of money, become quiet and stop-watching movies,
hoping everything turns false.
This smart couple is playing safe.
Sreedhar
has some bizarre ideas of going on a crash diet of “PIZZAS”.
He strongly believes that pizzas can reduce weight and he
is all set to prove it in 2006.
Hmm… Sounds interesting. For more details please contact
Sreedhar.
Usha plans to stick to her
regular exercise routine.
Well, these are some interesting
resolutions for the coming year. Most of them are planning
to shed those extra kilos and are trying different ways and
means to achieve the same and some of them are looking forward
to work in our new office as soon as possible. Whatever the
resolutions are, no matter how ever tough they are to achieve,
party hard and have a blast on the last day of 2005. So we
are bidding farewell to 2005 and looking forward for a great
and a prosperous New Year.
“Wish
you all a very very Happy New Year”
Vatsala
From the Management (top)
BbyB
completed 14 years of existence this December. When the company
started in 1991, I was its only employee and the next BbyB
employee came nearly one year later! From there to today,
has been a marvelous journey, made even more interesting
by you – its employees. Each one of
you has added your own imprints on this canvas and helped in
its growth. For that I thank you – the employees of BbyB,
both past and present.
We have just come back from our Stress Buster
at Yercaud. As usual it was really fun filled and a way for
all of us to relax. The next Stress Buster holiday is most
likely either going to be at Jungle Lodge Kabini or Taj Garden
Retreat Chikmagalur.
I would also like to wish all you a very happy
and prosperous new year.
Raghu
Projects
News
StaffBank (top)
December started with many change
controls being signed off in Staffbank.
On the Client Server front three new trusts Basildon PCT, Billericay
Bentwood & Wickford
and Thurrock PCT had their first payroll rolled out. Raghu handled the payroll
implementation using the general payroll tool. After the initial general payroll
tool installation hiccups the implementation was a success, proving once more
the utility of general payroll tool.
One of the major mile stones
for Staffbank in December has been the Go live of Auto email
functionality . Extensive testing phase (at clients) threw
up some surprises which was handled by Arun and Raghu .
Work on OCR Continued into
December with Arun and Raghu looking into its various issues
Like XML Parser Scripts and Trust alias mapping with data prep
support by Prathiba.
NHSP North had a release (by
Arun ) with Autoemail functionality along with the mailing
service setup and North Payments report modifications via General
Payroll tool handled by Usha and tested by me. Newer enhancements
on personal details handled by Sachin waiting for release.
Staffbank 20800 saw two releases with bug fixes and Post number
enhancement both handled by Chaitanya. Enhancements on Personal
details for NHSP
Staff roaster underwent few
enhancements followed by a release which kept Chaitanya busy
through the first week
Sajayan was working on Release
bug fix and Enhancement on Staffbank help desk.
December also saw revival
of one of the older projects Lingua bank , an application similar
to Staffbank catering to temporary staffing of Interpreters
in Hospitals. Uma and Usha released the new version with some
major enhancements and bug fixes while Saraswati being involved
in its testing.
On Staffbank Web version side
Whittington accepted a release for Range request modification
enhancement and Reason for request display in Matron authorization
enhancement handled by Sajayan and Sreedhar. Enhancements on
Agency Web browser was signed off which had our new team mate
Sachin starting on Design document and implementation. CCS
also underwent few enhancements and bug fixes handled by Sreedhar
and tested by Saraswati, along with NMC updation into Both
North and South Trusts.
Leaving
all this behind we look forward to our winter stress buster
at Yercaud.
For Staffbank
Jayashree
MESaLS (top)
December has been quite
a busy month as far as MESaLS is concerned.
Newry, Cambridge and Enfield went live with MESaLS V4. Newry is a new site,
who are first time users of MESaLS. As they are still setting up the data and
coming to terms with the system, there has been not much of feedback from them.
Cambridge migration for was kind of ground breaking event as they were the
first site to be hosted at BHP server. The server farm is located in London.
This allows us unhindered access to resolve any data related issues, hot fixes,
version upgrades etc. Enfield went live on 19th and are waiting for feedback
from the users. As its holiday season, any news, good or bad is too few and
far in between. Come New year, we should be having our hands full.
I still cannot believe that 2005 is almost over (by the time you read it, it
will be!). When one is busy, its very difficult to notice how the time flies.
All and all, it has been very busy year for MESaLS (and difficult at times).
No other team saw the number of senior staff leaving the company than MESaLS.
The current team, ably led by Naveen has done admirably at the time of crises.
Thanks for each and everyone who have contributed to the Project and urging
them to continue in the same spirit.
On a happier note Chris Reed became a proud father of a baby girl Emily Brooke
Reed on 18th December.
Another event to look forward to in January is, the proposed visit by Chris
Reed for further discussions on MESaLS. More on that next month.
Till then, wishing every one a Very Happy and a Prosperous 2006.
Shashi for MESaLS
pFACT (top)
December, again a busy scheduled
month for pfactians as usual.
We have planned to release ver 1.11 in the first week of jan 2006.
Patches for ver 1.10, 1.10.i and 1.10.i.1 have been rolled out in the first
and second week of December along with the SQL version 1.09.e.6 for the Cambridge
University.
In the meantime, we were off
to Yercaud for three days, which refreshed our minds and filled
us with energy for the coming days.
This will be my last writeup
in the newsletter for pfaCT as I am leaving BbyB.
The Team pFACT is amazing. Wishing you all the best.
Thanks.
Rejeen for pFACT
Sepia (top)
In Sepia, currently
enhancements for Dorset is underway. They intend to go live
from next financial year. As such there are no releases planned
and since both John and Eirian are on holiday, there is nothing
to new write about (other than routine work). Other work
like data import from CPA, integrating their custom reports
and importing the existing reports from CPA is also being
undertaken simultaneously. Hema and Manoj have been coping
pretty well in Devaki's absence and I am sure this has given
both of them lot of confidence. Saneesh is the new addition
to the team and is currently getting to know the system.
He should be able to contribute productively from January.
We should have more in January 2006.
Wishing every one a
Happy and a Prosperous 2006.
Shashidhar for Sepia
New
Office (top)
The latest pictures of our
new office are shown below. Good news is that the casting for
the roof slab is over and this is a milestone indeed. Here
are the pictures of the casting taking place.
Other
News (top)
Yercaud
December
24th, 25th and 26th were the dates for the Company’s
half-yearly trip. This time, as we had done the last
year, we spent the Christmas at Yercaud. Yercaud,
at an altitude of 1,500 metres, stands in the Servaroyan
(Shevaroy) Hills above the city of Salem in Tamil
Nadu. The scenic beauty of Yercaud, along with the
abundance of accommodation in the Sterling Resort
where we had our bookings, was one of the most enticing
attributes that made us decide to go there again.
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The
scenic beauty of Yercaud |
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A six hour drive from Bangalore with
colleagues, munching on assorted goodies and sipping
cool soft drinks (and hard drinks for some!!) was just
the beginning of a memorable holiday. After reaching
the city of Salem, the uphill journey was one of the
events everyone was looking forward to, about 1 hour
of climbing up the winding roads, with breathtaking
views of the valleys below. This time, however, it
was mistier than it was the previous year. The resort
we were to be put up in was on the face of the hill
and could be viewed from below, as we climbed up. Upon
reaching it, familiar as most of us were with the place,
we immediately made our way to the reception area,
where we were assigned rooms. A quick refreshing wash
later, we strolled to the area where a hot buffet lunch
was waiting for us. Though our spirits were high, the
journey took a toll on us, as we were tired and looked
forward to a good afternoon nap.
The
resort management had arranged a party for the evening,
celebrating the eve of Christmas. The party was similar
to the one the year before, with our favorite MC
handling the proceedings as only he could. There
were competitions for couples, kids and teenagers
(which, judging by the people who landed up on the
stage, seemed to be interpreted as “bachelors”).
Sukanya was able to win a prize in the balloon-bursting
competition for teenage girls and Manu won a prize
in the bindi-sticking competition for teenage boys.
In the dance competition for couples, Jayaraj and Prathima
participated with great enthusiasm. The dance competition
for teenage boys and girls saw a lot of us on the stage.
This was followed by a gala dinner with a variety of
foods. A hearty meal later, we were back in party hall,
where Shando came out and gave everyone sweets. The
dance floor was filled with little kids, teenage boys
and girls, all dancing around Santa. The MC was shouting
out various instructions, with “Santa, you should
dance only with the little kids” being the most
hilarious instruction heard!! After a little more time,
the crowd started dispersing as the party was over.
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The usual
suspects enjoy a drink as Vinod hides his glass
so that no one sees him drinking in the newsletter |
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The next day was Christmas!! We had
a half day trip of Yercaud. We visited places like
the Pagoda Point, the summit of the hill, temples and
the Yercaud Lake, where we went boating. After the
pleasurable excursion, we headed back to the resort
for lunch. The evening we had a private bonfire planned
for us.
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A view through
the mist on our sight-seeing trip around Yercaud |
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As the sun set we all gathered around
the bonfire. The snacks and the drinks were making
their rounds as the spirits put quite a few of us in
high spirits. We had the final part of the induction
ceremony for newcomers, where they had to introduce
themselves to everyone. A welcome gift, in the form
of the “BbyB Sandwich”, was given to all
male newcomers. This was followed by a demonstration
of what happens when Chaitanya gets angry, wherein
an unfortunate victim was lifted up by a few of us
and Chaitanya proceeded to plant mule kicks in the
victim’s nether region. This happy event was
followed by the traditional half-yearly Antakshari
competition, which was as fun as always. In fact, with
some amazing singers like Sukanya, Rajkumar, Rajendra
and Vamsi, among others, this time, it was more fun
than before.
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The protagonist
in our evening bonfire |
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The call for dinner didn’t come
a moment too soon, as we proceeded to the dinner hall.
But not before an impromptu dance session, wherein
some of us let our hair down and danced away to the
music. After dinner, all of us called it a night and
made our way to our rooms. That was the last night
we had spent at Yercaud.
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A spirited dance |
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One of the most beautiful sights in
Yercaud is the city of Salem in the night, shimmering
below us. The city lights sparkle like stars in the
sky. Capturing this sight, along with the many other
wonderful views, on camera was one of the things I
was looking forward to the most. And it indeed does
look every bit as beautiful in the camera pictures
as it did when seeing it in person. My only regret
was the heavy mist, which prevented the sight of the
beautiful sunset that we had seen the last time we
were in Yercaud.
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The constellation
of Salem |
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The 26th was the last day of our trip.
After lunch, we boarded our bus back to Bangalore.
The long trip home was enjoyable, as we had impromptu
singing competitions. Finally, by night time, we were
back in Bangalore, tired, but happy. Another memorable
Company trip had come to an end.
Sreedhar
Snaps from Aruna and Naveen's
trip.
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Congratultions:
Hearty Congratulations
to Sajayan and his wife Subha who will be completing a year
of wedding bliss on 2nd Jan. We wish them many more years
of marital happiness.
Meetings
and Events (top)
The Annual Review Meeting
went on from 19th Dec to 30th Dec at Shenoy’s cabin
from 4.00p.m to 4.30 p.m. Thirteen employees had to meet
Shenoy on their respective dates and timings while the rest
met their concerned Project Managers.
The Induction Program was
given to 6 newcomers Jillee, Vamsy Krishna, Saraswati, Sunder
S, Sachin K and Saneesh on 9th Dec 2005 at the 1st floor in
our old office.
Shenoy spoke about the General Information about Bit by Bit.
Shashi spoke about the ISO Standards, Quality Objective, Billing, Leave Details
and other pertinent details.
Vinod H spoke about the setting up of AVG, Visual Source Safe, NAS and other
details.
Hema spoke gave an in-depth introduction to BbyB Info.
In addition to all these,
we had an overview of all the projects in our company.
1. Staffbank 02-Dec-2005 16:00 hours Shenoy
1. Pfact 12-Dec-2005 16:00 hours Jayaraj
2. Sepia 12-Dec-2005 16:30 hours Jayaraj
3. Mesals 16-Dec-2005 16:00 hours Naveen
Holidays (top)
26th
January, Thursday will be a holiday on account
of Republic day. The Festival of harvest “Makara
Sankranthi” is on 14th January, Saturday. Hope
the New Year brings all the cheer and prosperity in our
lives.
Colleagues
Cognizant (top)
As we have been interviewing all our colleagues
for this particular segment, we have noticed that they are
showing a lot of interest and have been very candid while admitting
their views. This month we are here with Aruna and Usha, 2
of our senior employees in this company, coming out in open
regarding their experiences in BbyB.
First up, we spoke to Aruna who is always
readily smiling and showed no inhibitions in declaring that
Naveen means a whole world to her. Secondly we spoke to Usha,
Here are the excerpts of the interview.
Aruna
When did you join BbyB?
01-Jun-2001
What do you enjoy the
most in BbyB?
Working on Mesals and Stress Buster
Holidays
You have been here from
the past 4 years, how does it feel being a senior to most
of us?
There is no much difference. In BbyB,
I don’t think there is any difference between seniors
and juniors. It’s just like a family.
Do you notice any change
in BbyB today compared to what it was when you joined?
There have been several changes. Even
though the core culture of the BbyB remains the same, there
is more professionalism at work.
Would you like to suggest
any changes regarding the work culture here?
I won’t suggest any changes,
as the changes may hamper the existing family-at-work sort
of culture.
Who are your best pals
here and whom do you enjoy working with?
Many. But the only stable guy till
now with whom I enjoy working is Naveen.
What are your strengths
and your weaknesses?
Common answer - Naveen.
How does it feel marrying
your colleague Naveen?
It has been a great experience in itself.
Has marriage brought
about any change in your life style?
Naturally, but I think there have been
more changes in Naveen’s life style than mine.
You
suggest marriage to everyone because…
Excuse me. I suggest marriage only
to those who are planning to marry a known colleague. Reason:
Safer and secure as you know the person better (that is from
my own experience)
How do you spend your
free time?
Watching movies in PVR Cinemas, Watching
serials on Star Plus and eating Naveen’s head.
Ok,
let us get philosophical. Life is…
Life is like a suspense thriller.
Accept it as it opens Bit by Bit.
Usha
When did you join BbyB?
I never thought I would be joining
BByB because I had another job offer in my hand when BByB
offered me a job. Luckily for Raghu, the .COM bust took place
and the other company postponed my joining date. As I couldn’t
wait for that long, I joined BByB on 20th Sep 2001 and the
rest is history…
What do you enjoy the
most in BbyB?
The people. It is really exciting to
work with such intelligent, hard-working and dedicated group
of people. I enjoy the constant challenges and vast opportunities
to learn and contribute.
Would you like to suggest
any changes regarding the work culture here?
Hmm…..Can’t think of anything
really.
You are known for your
good dress sense. Please comment.
Am I? Thanks!
Who are your best pals
here and whom do you enjoy working with?
Well, I can't possibly single out any
favourite people, everyone here is as friendly as you'd hope
them to be.
I enjoy my after
lunch walks with Sha...I enjoy the little chit chat with
my collegues during lunch break… And
I enjoy working with the StaffBank team, amazingly talented
and a good humored bunch of people.
What are your strengths
and your weaknesses?
Well, I guess my strength is that I
take StaffBank personally. This makes me work harder and
also enjoy the work I do. But there have been occasions where
this has also become my weakness, as I have refused to acknowledge
obvious faults within the system.
How does it feel marrying
your colleague Raghu Shenoy?
It’s been great so far…touch
wood. When we were thinking about getting married, I was
quite skeptical about working together…in the same
office…and on the same project. But thankfully none
of my fears came true! In fact, we can now manage our free
time better as we both know the work pressures / busy days
etc.
You
suggest marriage to everyone because………
Well, I don’t think I should
be suggesting anything to anybody in the first place…especially
marriage because I think it’s a personal decision.
Personally I am very happy that I am married as marriage
has brought significant and positive changes in my life.
Raghu has a very positive approach to life. Living with him
day in and day out has taught me to be positive. I think
I can handle my life better now. It’s helped me a lot,
more than I can ever express.
How do you spend your
free time?
Traveling. Luckily for me Raghu also
loves traveling. We travel quite a bit whenever we can.
Ok,
let us get philosophical. Life is……
Is too short to worry about trivial issues – Lead the life your way and
chill out!
Birthdays (top)
We celebrated 2 birthdays in the month of
December 2005 and now we are getting ready to celebrate birthdays
again as the New Year commences. Naveen will be in the lead
to cut the cake this year followed by Hema and Sajayan. Naveen will
be getting Birthday bumps on 8th Jan while Hema cuts
the cake on 18th Jan and Sajayan on 27th
Jan .
Here are the few snaps of birthdays celebrated
last month.
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