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

From the Management                                                                                         (top)

Dear All,

We have managed to get all reviews completed this month. Again I found that practically no one had given any negative feedback on the feedback form. I find it extremely hard to believe that things at BbyB are perfect. The only way we can improve as a company is if we get truthful feedback – both positive and negative. I really request everyone to please give us your honest opinions on the feedback forms.

With Padma having left, we are now without a HR Manager. I believe having someone like Padma was essential for the company as she was someone that the staff could speak to and voice their problems, concerns, fears .... We will try and find a replacement for her as soon as possible.

We have finished a year since our last ISO audit and we will be audited by TUV soon. Our MR Jayaraj will intimate you about the exact dates and the projects that will be audited.

Regards,
Raghu

Projects News

StaffBank                                                                                                               (top)

Month of February was quite busy for the entire StaffBank team since we had a series of releases of both Web and Client Server versions for NHSP. There have also been a number of releases to ESR as NHSP went through its second round of scheduled testing of ESR. NHSP will go live with ESR in the middle of March. Raghu will be in UK during this period to ensure that the ESR implementation goes through smoothly.

We have also implemented a new method of reusing code and hence avoid duplication of UI for web and client server versions. Now most of the new modules would be developed on the web (ASP and VB.NET) and the VB Client will use the web by embedding a browser on the VB form. The current release to NHSP includes this feature and it looks like it has gone down quite well with the users.

There has also been lot of work on the StaffRoster as there is a scheduled release for Guys in early March.

Until Next Time,
Usha

MESaLS                                                                                                                  (top)

This month, the entire Mesals team was busy working towards the release of version 4.04, for which the beta version is scheduled for end of March. The major feature of this version will be the Modified Requisition Wizard developed in .Net. In the first week of February, Norfolk upgraded to Mesals 4. Middlesbrough has started the dry run for upgrading to Mesals 4, and Lyncare, a new client of Mesals, has started using Mesals 4 on a trial basis.

Rajendra

pFACT

During February, we had five Beta releases (2.02.43, 2.02.44, 2.02.45, 2.02.46, 2.02.47) for pFACT, where some changes and bugs that were reported earlier were covered.

The whole team was also quite busy with SAPPS, and with the helping hands of Chaithanya for the project, and Sreedhar’s suggestions to improve the look-and-feel of SAPPS, we were cruising along smoothly.

Lakshman, Phani and Naveen  have finished the Setup Classes for SAPPS and now all are working on Setup Forms under Jayaraj's guidance. Sumathy and Preetha were busy working with SAPPS reports, and from last week I have started writing Test Cases for SAPPS, and also testing other changes made in pFACT.

Rejith

New from Abroad                                                                                                  (top)

Raghu and I were in the UK from 28th Jan to 13th Feb to assist NHSP in the second round of ESR testing. During this period we had a couple of weekends free. The first weekend we went to St. Alban's cathedral which is just a few miles away from Watford where we were based. St. Alban's cathedral is the oldest cathedral in the UK and has been a place of worship right from the Roman's times. The cathedral is an interesting mixture of old Roman, Norman and Gothic styles of architecture. Below are some of the pictures:

Next weekend we went to Birmingham which is half way between Watford and the Wirral office where we meeting Chris and Paul the following Monday. The city centre of Birmingham has undergone a lot of development recently with huge new shopping malls and lot of things to see and do. The canals of Birmingham were also very beautiful. Below are some of the pictures of Birmingham:

Until next time,
Usha

Other News                                                                                                          (top)

Three new Trainee Programmers join BbyB.

Badgujar Rakesh Vijay is a BE (Computer Science) from North Maharashtra University, graduated in 2007. His hobbies include reading books and playing cricket.

Souvik Mitra is a BE (Computer Science & Engg. ) from Anna University, graduated in 2005. His hobbies include listening music, playing cricket, solving sudoku puzzles and traveling.

Vineeth K. Murali is a BE (Computer Science & Engg. ) from Kannur University, graduated in 2006. His hobbies include watching movies, listening music, photography and driving.

Farewell:

BbyB bid farewell to Padma, Rajendra and Manu Gupta during this month.