Monthly Archives: April 2011

What to Expect at PMP Boot Camp

Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is considered as one of the most
sought after certifications in the field of construction, engineering, automotive, IT,
software and many more. Getting a PMP certification is a wise investment on a
professional’s credential. In addition to that, it will also boost a practitioner’s resume.
This will definitely help in getting a head start in the different processes and procedures
in project management. Enrolling on PMP boot camp is one of the options in getting
good training in project management. This will absolutely help students and project
managers to effectively apply the processes in PMP.

The PMP certification exam requires having an intensive training and hands on
experience. This 5 day PMP boot camp is a comprehensive training course that uses
supports PMI’s Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) guide. PMP boot
camp will help candidates and project managers to focus on the intensive training of
experts in project management. This training will assist professionals in gaining the
processes and knowledge areas in project management. Aside from that, PMP boot camp
enables practitioners to successfully implement PMP projects.

The PMP boot camp allows students to have a solid foundation in project management.
In this training, best practices, concepts and principles of project management are given
emphasis. Aside from that, this course is established to provide the required skills needed
in PMP planning, PMP tracking concepts and focus on strategic approach on managing
people in the team. This training alternative is one of the best ways to enhance the skills
of professionals in project management.

The Capabilities and Challenges of Distributed Information Systems

Information systems auditor is a hit to many companies due to the increasing demand for professionals who can analyze IT problems and create solutions to them. That is why many are now willing to take courses on Information Systems and Management to answer this big demand. However, aside from taking this famous course, it is also valuable for companies and different individuals aiming for this career to be a Certified Information Systems Auditor.

A Certified Information Systems Auditor is a professional auditor that was already certified for the field. There are a lot of benefits being a Certified Information Systems Auditor and among these is being a real professional in the field and acquiring better opportunities and higher salary. However, before being a Certified Information Systems Auditor, one should first pass an examination for the certification which includes the six Context Areas. These are the IS Audit Process, which covers 10 percent of the entire examination; IT Governance, 15 percent; Systems and Infrastructure Lifecycle Management, 16 percent; IT Service Delivery and Support, 14 percent; Protection of Information Assets, 31 percent; and Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery, 14 percent.

There are also requirements needed before taking the exam to become a Certified Information Systems Auditor. The candidate should have at most one year experience in information systems or financial/operational auditing. If he or she has completed at least 60 to 120 college semester credit hours on related field, this can also be substituted to the one-year experience required. A two-year experience as a full-time university instruction in computer science, information systems auditing, accounting, and other related fields can also substitute the one-year experience needed.

These prerequisites are the stepping stones for anyone dreaming to have a better career in being a Certified Information Systems Auditor.

Procedures, people, and technologies can be collectively called as the Information System. This single group is highly essential for many organizations in order to create, maintain, and manage a vast number of information. This process is called the Management Information System. If the Information System is only a plain group of people, hardware, and software, then the Management Information System is a concept or discipline that aims in managing them all to achieve a certain goal. Among the many Management Information Systems available now are the Distributed Information Systems.

Distributed Information Systems involve the process of distributing or sharing the Information Systems in a certain network in order to achieve a common goal. These systems are split up into many parts. Each part should have the ability to run simultaneously using multiple computers that are communicating over a single network. This network can be as small as a local area network or it can also be as vast as the wide area network.

Although various parts are equally distributed to different computers using the Distributed Information Systems, these processes often involve the use of different environments, varying network links, and unpredictable network failure. With this kind of system, one part of the Distributed Information Systems may be working well in one computer while other parts are not working well on some computers.

The Distributed Information Systems can be designed depending on the organization’s needs and the real challenge of professionals is to achieve their specific goal using the best of the Distributed Information Systems capabilities. But the common goal of many professionals working with these systems is to connect resources and users in an open, transparent, and very scalable manner. When this is done, one can say that he has overcome the real challenge of Distributed Information Systems.

MCP Assistance In Sarbanes-Oxley Requirements

Because of the very controversial Enron scandal and other unethical business practices, many businesses today are being affected by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) or more commonly known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002.  This means that when a business becomes a publicly traded company, the act imposes strict reporting, documentation, controls and other requirements.  It also had a major impact on the IT industry because with computerized accounting and audit systems, this meant that many will have to comply with the general requirements and therefore supporting documents may be required of them. 

Implementing Sarbanes-Oxley in any business will be costly and will require resources, time, and funding.  But there may be a solution provided by Microsoft with its partner ecosystem, accounting professionals and MCP.  With applications that are designed to extend IT investments in order to meet compliance requirements, documentation and general controls, Sections 302, 404, and 409 of the Act can be integrated into the Microsoft Dynamics software.  A qualified MCP can create a seamless integration of the application to the audit and accounting system of the company.

Microsoft solutions with the help of accounting professionals and MCPs, will all be supporting the Sarbanes-Oxley requirements.  Because companies are investing on IT systems to manage their financial requirements, the law requires that certain controls will have to be imposed in order for the systems to be audited.  Section 404 takes special attention because it regulates IT controls including Change Management, Backup, Security, Documentation, General Supporting and Remediation.

 

On Demand SaaS: A Brief Backgrounder

On demand SaaS is no different from software service, hosted application, and software on demand.  These are all business models offering software as a service.  This kind of service uses modern Internet technology to deploy a wide array of computer application to customers.  There is a global market for this service because the application, using web protocols, can be accessed anywhere as long as the customer has Internet connection.

The history of SaaS is a bumpy one.  It experienced set back because the software market did not received it well.  In the last decade, SaaS technology was on its infancy and customers expected more from the service.  Market expectations could not be met by the service providers and it resulted to failures and closures of early SaaS companies. 

With the advent of new technologies and increasing sophistication of software development, SaaS providers experienced a rebound and this time the market has responded positively.  The synergy between software vendors and IT infrastructure providers has led to the development of more reliable IT environments and cutting-edge software.  Expectations were met and growth of this particular sector has been increasing ever since it returned to the market.

Today, businesses are taking advantage of the benefits of SaaS.  It significantly lowered the operational expenses of companies and provided perfect software solution for their computing requirements.  More companies now have been migrating to SaaS enablement from the traditional in-premise software deployment.  The trend is going towards further growth and it is expected that service providers will refine their solutions as the sector develops.

ITIL Filetype pdf

ITIL® Filetype pdf

Internet is a vast source of information on ITIL®, especially when you are preparing for the ITIL® certification exams. There are a number of website dedicated to ITIL® where you can download ITIL® filetype pdf format whitepapers, practice papers, and much more.

You can also download ebooks on ITIL® in filetype pdf for easy reference and browsing. ITIL® filetype pdf download from the Internet is the best way to hone your ITIL® skills and thus achieve better efficiency and competence as an IT professional.

The Art of Service provides a complete toolkit ITIL® filetype pdf. It includes an ITIL® Guide, ITIL® Management Presentation, ITIL® Fact Sheets, ITIL® Compliance Assessment Kit and ITIL® Presentation Template.