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 padmabaliga@bbyb.sdc.int or padmabaliga@bbyb.com

Editorial                                                                                                                    (top)


Temperatures are zooming in Bangalore along with mounting work pressures and it is definitely time for a holiday. The stress buster at Amblee is going to be a welcome break, with the right mix of attractions – water, avian wildlife, good food and great company.

      The month of May also brings us International Labour Day. While companies, banks and other institutions acknowledge the achievements of the working class and the labour movement and celebrate it with a holiday, the real “labourers”, domestic workers, construction workers, vegetable vendors and others continue to work that day and every other day, too. Maybe we should make a difference by doing something for them - give them a holiday, a treat, a gift or anything else we can think of.

      We wrap up May with World No-Tobacco Day on May 31st and a reminder that one out of every two smokers who start at a young age and continue smoking throughout their lives will ultimately be killed by a tobacco-related illness. Interestingly, China, with 350 million smokers, will host a "non-smoking" Olympic Games next year. Smoking will be banned at all hospitals, public transport and public buildings that will be used specifically for the Games by the end of 2007.

       So, here’s to a smoke-free, stress-free, exploitation-free world!

Padma

From The Management                                                                                       (top)
Dear All,  

         This month StaffRoster which is our first totally .NET based product should be going live at client sites. The experience of developing totally object oriented projects in .NET has been absolutely fantastic. Once this project settles down a bit, we should start using the experience gained in this project to look at improvements in other projects.
        
         I am going to the UK next week to kick start a new project – StaffBank. We are proposing to re-write this product in .NET, totally web based and using a totally new paradigm of 'Push'. This means that the product will 'push' tasks to the operators based on preset priorities.
        
         The next Stress buster is now just days away!

Regards,
Raghu

Projects News

StaffBank                                                                                                            (top)

I guess we can't call ourselves the StaffBank team as most of us have spent more time on StaffRoster this month than on StaffBank – so for a start, we rename ourselves the StaffBank/StaffRoster Team!

Chaitanya, Sreedhar and Raghu have been busy on getting StaffRoster ready for the Guy's pilot which is going to start soon. I have really enjoyed this month as I have started working in StaffRoster and find the .NET environment both challenging and fascinating. Both Arun and I will be spending more time on StaffRoster in the months to come.

Arun started the month with StaffRoster changes and later got busy working on many large modules of StaffBank – Integration of Auto-email for Non-NHSP clients, ESR and integration of the phone dialer into StaffBank for NHSP. Dilna and Deepak did most of the coding for ESR under Arun's guidance.

Deepak did the live update module for StaffRoster which is now being run as a Windows service to avoid permission issues under Win XP. He is currently working on a large CC from NHSP on StaffBank on Web under Sreedhar's guidance. For this CC, I am developing a DLL that allows Web to access Client Server functionality.

Jomon has been involved in Helpdesk project and is currently busy in fixing internal bugs reported by testing just before making a release to BHP.

Prathibha and Yogita were working on a large CC from NHSP at the beginning of the month. Yogita also worked on Agency booking Confirmation changes. Prathibha was also busy fixing the P2 errors reported by our clients and handling day to day issues. She also worked on creating scripts for audits and data analysis queries for BaumHart. Om Prakash worked on the script changes for Southport and ESR, along with Cambridge (Mesals) data prep work.

Jayashree was involved with testing ESR Import, Auto-email for Non-NHSP clients and the NHSP141 – Ward Clerk login. Poornima was involved with testing ESR, NHSP 141 – Senior Admin login, Southport update scripts and Agency Confirmation changes. Vasudev was involved in testing Staff Roster and Helpdesk projects.

Usha for StaffBank/StaffRoster

MESaLS                                                                                                                  (top)

It has been a very busy month for the MESaLS team.  We are planning to release a beta version to BHP on 4th of May 2007 with a new set of features primarily including New Stock Count feature and multiple activity completion among other things.  A User Group meeting is being held in the first week of May and BHP team is planning to demo this version during the User Group proceedings.  A newer version of Pocket MESaLS is being developed, which will move away from current working to wizard type working during the completion of the activities.  A prototype will be developed during May and June which will be demonstrated during NAEP conference that is going to be held in UK in June 2007.  Check in again next month to see how we have progressed!

Shashi for MESaLS

pFACT                                                                                                                   (top)

Hi All,

The releases for the month of April for pFACT are 2.01.d, 2.01.d.1 in SQL and 2.01.e, 2.01.e.1 in Oracle. Sumathy, Pravitha and myself have been working on bug fixes for the releases and also on Recalculate Exe, which needs to be sent to the client in the coming week. The rest of the pFACT team is working on the integrated system of pFACT. The pFACT team has also started work on the next major release 2.02. All the work is rushing in together, and yet is being done smoothly with immense help from our PM. The Testing team is doing a great job and is also writing test cases. 27th April was the last working day for Manu, pFACT test engineer. I wish him all the best on behalf of the pFACT team.

Sukanya for pFACT

Sepia                                                                                                                   (top)

April has been a bit quiet as far as Sepia is concerned.  All the internal issues logged were being looked into and fixed accordingly.  The Help manuals are nearing completion.  It has been a Herculean task to redo these Manuals especially for Padma who had to juggle this work with other projects/HR duties.  BHP has sent some more enhancements and a few bugs in the existing versions, which the development team is currently looking into.  We plan to fix these and send the versions/patches soon. 

Check in next month to see what transpired in the month of May!

Shashi for Sepia

Other News                                                                                                        (top)

Sri. R. B. Shenoy – An Obituary

Sri. R. B. Shenoy, father of our MD, Raghu, passed away at his residence on April 4, 2007. He died as he lived, in quiet grace and dignity.

Born on October 29, 1932 in Virajpet, Coorg, he completed his schooling in Coorg, his B.A. (Hons.) from Vivekananda College, Madras and later joined State Bank of India in the mid-1950s. He retired as Deputy General Manager in 1992.

Sri. R. B. Shenoy took a keen interest in reading, music (both Carnatic and Hindustani) and philosophy. He had a phenomenal memory and could quote at length from myriad texts. He was one of those rare individuals who lent elegance to a gathering and adorned it.

BbyBers who will always remember him as “Uncle”, recollect the affection he showed towards all of us. He’d wish us on our birthdays, ask after our families, and always have a ready smile and a moment to spare whenever we needed his help. On a lighter note, BbyBers will also never forget the delicious Mishti Dahi he treated us to regularly.

Stress buster

It’s time to Chill Out!!!. As you all know the next 'stress buster' has already been planned and we will be going to Amblee Resorts (http://www.ambleeresort.com) at Srirangapatna from May 5th to 7th . So join us and have great fun!!

Farewell to Manu

We bid farewell to Manu R. this month on the 27th. Manu had been part of the pFACT Testing team ever since he joined BbyB on May 23rd 2005. Pleasant and friendly by nature, he made lots of friends here, all of whom will miss him. Manu will be joining ANZ Grindlays as Senior Testing Engineer and we wish him all the best.

Holidays                                                                                                                 (top)

May 1st - Labour Day, commemorates the historic struggle of working people throughout the world, and is recognized in every country. At BbyB, we will observe this day with a holiday on May 7th. As May 1st falls on Tuesday, the holiday has been shifted to May 7th, a Monday, for a long weekend. This is also in accordance with U.K. calendar.

Training and Education                                                                                        (top)

Abu, Jaya and Smitha, our Trainee Programmers, were trained in Visual Basic by Shashidhar S.

Saksha, Sushma and Jyothsna, our Trainee Testers, were trained in Testing by Shashidhar, Manu, Sunita and Vasudev Shenoy.

Sunitha, our new Technical Writer, was trained in Technical Writing by Padma.

New Recruits                                                                                                      (top)

Abu Mathew   Abu Mathew, a Programming Trainee, is an M.C.A from Anna University and graduated in 2006. His hobbies include watching and playing cricket. He chills out with his friends.
Jaya R.J. Jaya, a Programming Trainee, is a B.Tech from Calicut University and graduated in 2006. Her hobbies include painting, writing and making good friends.
Jyothsna Y.   Jyothsna Yerneni, a Testing Trainee, is an M.Sc. (Organic Chemistry) from Andhra University and graduated in 2005. Her hobbies include reading, writing, chatting and making good friends.
Saksha Hegde Saksha Hegde, a Testing Trainee, is a B.E (Electronics) from Visweswarayya Technological University and graduated in 2006. His interests include cricket, music, watching movies, chatting with friends and, of course, sleeping.
Smitha K.P.   Smitha, a Programming Trainee, is a B.Tech from Calicut University and graduated in 2006. Her hobbies include reading, writing and travelling.
Sunitha Rao Sunitha Rama Rao, a Technical Writer, is an M.Sc.(Statistics) from University of Mysore and graduated in 1999. Her hobbies include music, playing chess and table tennis.
Sushma Nayak Sushma Nayak, a Testing Trainee, is a B.E (Electrical and Electronics Engineering) from Visweswarayya Technological University and graduated in 2006. Her hobbies include music, reading novels, playing badminton and volleyball.

Weekend Jaunts                                                                                                  (top)

HOTFOOT IT TO HAMPI
"If dreams were made out of stone, it would be Hampi"

Hampi, the capital of the ancient Vijayanagara empire which stretched over at least three states - Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh, is 350 kms from Bangalore. While you cannot cover it in one day, a long weekend would be ideal and will offer enough time to savour its beauty. You can catch a bus to Hospet, make it your base and take a local bus to Hampi. Strewn over a large area (about nine square miles) the ruins at Hampi offers to the tourist a vision of its unique accomplishments before it was destroyed by invaders.

Ages before the Vijayanagara Empire was born, Hampi had an epical history as the capital city of Kishkindha, the monkey kingdom during the period of Ramayana

Most of the ruins are along the road leading from Kamalapura to Hampi. Three kms down the road, on a commanding site, stands the temple of Malyavanta Raghunathaswamy, built in the Dravidian style with strange-looking fish and marine monsters carved along its outer walls.

Malyavanta Raghunathaswamy Temple

The Hampi Bazaar, 35 yards wide and nearly 800 yards long was known to be a "very beautiful street with very beautiful houses". The Virupaksha Temple rises majestically at the western end of the famous Hampi Bazaar. The temple has a 120 feet tall tower on its eastern entrance. Parts of this temple are older than the Vijayanagar kingdom itself. The work of this style dates back to the 11th or 12th century.



                 

                                 Virupaksha Temple

Nearby is the 6.7m tall monolith of Ugra Narasimha. An inscription states that it was hewn from a single boulder in 1528.

                   

                                       Ugra Narasimha

The most splendid monument of Hampi is undoubtedly the Vithala Temple Complex with its 56 musical pillars and the famous Stone Chariot with stone wheels that actually revolve.

        

                           Hazara Ramaswami Temple

Hampi also has other surprising sights like the King's Balance where kings were weighed against grain, gold or money which was then distributed to the poor; the Queen's Bath, a swimming pool, 50 ft.long and 6 ft.deep, with its arched corridors, projecting balconies and lotus-shaped fountains that once sprouted perfumed water; and the Lotus Mahal, shaped like a lotus flower from top, which served as an air-cooled summer palace of the queen.

It is advisable not to visit Hampi in the summer with its intense heat. Instead, plan your visit for the months of October to March. Plenty of good and reasonably priced hotels (including KSTDC offerings) make sure that your pocket is not hit too hard. Also make sure you engage the services of a qualified guide and watch out for cheats who will try and lure you into buying antiques from them.

                             
                    
                                   Kadalekalu Ganesha

                                                                                     
Birthdays                                                                                                             (top)

The Beacon wishes Sephali, Pravitha, Rejith, Sabin and Rajendra a very happy and cheerful birthday and lots of fun and frolic on that very special day.