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 contribution to the newsletter in the form of technical articles, or items of general interest, are welcome. Please send them to Vatsala@bbyb.com

Editorial                                                                                                                    (top)

May 2005 held in store some great moments for BbyB – Sai Ramesh became the first employee to go on paternity leave! Let us all wish Sai Ramesh and his family a happy and prosperous future. Shashi finally decided to leave his bachelor days behind and got engaged to Kavitha who is a project manager with Siemens. They still haven’t decided on a date for the wedding – so watch this space.

Work wise things have been extremely busy on most projects but some project still found the time to do something together other than work – the StaffBank team went to see ‘KAAL’ at the Gold Class theatre and the pFACT team went to see ‘WAQT’. As part of the StaffBank team, I went to the movie and I think I enjoyed the Gold Class experience more than the actual movie… The StaffBank team is also going out this weekend to the Jungle Lodge fishing camp at Bheemeshwari as it is the only major team which has not spent a weekend out together – MESaLS, Sepia, pFACT have all had their weekends out along with John Hart and Chris Reed.

We finally got the possession certificate from KIADB for our industrial land in the Bommasandra - Jigani Link area. Things are finally falling into place and actual construction should be starting soon. We have asked the engineers to provide us with some 3D views of our proposed building and I will put this up on our website as soon as we have them. This will give you a better idea about the facilities that we propose to have there.

From this month we are recognizing the services of some of the new comers who have made a big difference to the working of BbyB. These are employees who in a very short span of time made huge contributions to their projects in particular and BbyB in general. The first in line is Arun Kumar, our SQL Server Guru, whose SQL Server skills are absolutely fantastic and who has single handedly has raised the level of SQL Server scripting within BbyB.

Raghu.

Projects News


StaffBank                                                                                                              (top)

Hello friends,
As all of you must be aware, BByB is planning to post the activities of project teams every month in the newsletter. Over the years with StaffBank, I have prepared quite a few write ups (Design Docs / Implementations Docs / Help Docs etc). This, however, is one of the most difficult write ups to do.

We were quite busy in the first week of May, as a major version was slotted for release the following week. The version was released as planned, with four of our largest clients upgrading to this version on the same day, at the same time!! This was a very significant upgrade, since the release consisted of a number of changes and bug fixes. Of course, the fact that this version was already undergoing a smooth testing phase at the client’s test environment helped!!

Like most folks, we in the StaffBank team are not always happy about being ridiculously busy at work (Hey we don’t go miserable all the time, we have good days too!!!). But the second week of May was really, really hectic, as the upgrades had caused 3-4 P1s (Priority 1 errors). As usual the team responded brilliantly and the P1s were resolved within the mandated time limit.

Once our clients settled down with the new release, we decided to treat ourselves to a good movie. We got to see movie ‘Kaal’ in ‘Gold Class’ in PVR Cinemas! Gold class, with its Advertisement ‘We treat you like a star!’, was a nice experience for all of us, much better than the movie ever was!!!

Finally we have entered last week of May, where things have gone a bit quiet. With just a few P2s coming our way, the work atmosphere seems quite relaxed. At the end of this week, there is this trip that all of us are looking forward to – the StaffBank team is taking a day off (Saturday!!!) and chilling out at Bheemeshwari, a fishing camp about 100 KM from Bangalore. With our emails quite and one more holiday in June (with entire office), it's looking like a great holiday season!

Usha on behalf of StaffBank Team.
27-May-2005

MESaLS in May 2005                                                                                            (top)

It has been rather a hectic month for MESaLS. The first release of MESaLS Version 4 will be going live on 13th June at Solihull. Soon after that, British Red Cross (BRC) and Wigan are scheduled to follow suit. Naveen will be present during the Solihull installation and most likely during BRC installation too.

With the new version of MESaLS, we will also be using the Handheld versions developed completely by BbyB. This will include both Windows Netpad and Pocket PC versions. Solihull will be going live with Windows Netpad devices where as Wigan is expected to go with the Pocket PC based devices. The work is underway to include the Stock Input/Modifications functionalities for imminent release.

The first release of Version 4 will be showcased in NAEP Conference to be held from 28th – 30th June 2005 in Blackpool.

We are expecting a very busy and challenging next few months with MESaLS V4 growing in features and functionalities.

pFACT                                                                                                                   (top)

pFACT had a hectic schedule in May as usual.
There was a lot for the PFACTian to cheer about and feel proud.

We could get out the oracle version two months before beating the deadline and also a later version (1.09) of SQL and Oracle on the same day and on time!

We also enjoyed an outing with a Movie and dinner at Pizza Hut on 24th May 2005 to celebrate the release of 1.09 on time.

Some feedback from our Client’s clients…

I know there have been issues regarding the pFACT system but please be assured that the feedback from the pilot testing over the last week or so has been excellent.

Please keep up the good work

Thanks

Hamish McCardie
Management Accountant
University of York

Other News                                                                                                           (top)

Farewell to,

Santhosh I P, a Software Engineer who resigned on 18th May.

Prakash k Rotti, a Testing Engineer who resigned on 20th May.

Let us wish them all the best in their future endeavor.

Parties:
A Farewell party was thrown on 18th May to Santhosh I P and Prakash K Rotti.

The pFACT team took a stress buster half-day off on 24th May and enjoyed watching Waqt at PVR.

News From Abroad                                                                      

Raghu Shenoy, our Managing Director had been to U.K as NHSP-North Payroll went live on 28th April.

Raghu

New Recruits                                                                                                         (top)


One more member have joined the BbyB family this month.

R Manu, M.C.A in Information Systems has been recruited as the Testing Engineer.

Birthdays                                                                                                             (top)

Four members of Bit by Bit are celebrating their birthdays in the month of May.
Vatsala N, 2-June

Here's wishing all of them a very Happy Birthday.