I think I got to express my opinion in relation to libya. I will do this by mere questions. Here we go:
What is the reaal issue at stake right now in Libya?
Where are the so called African Union Leaders?
What is their take on the issue in Libya?
Are the security council, NATO, and the so called allied forces oblivious of what is happening in Ivory Coast?
Can African countries form an aliance to invade any country in Europe and the States?
I am not judging anyone but just asking questions and the answers to these I believe will be your opinion as well.
If I manage to find out the answers to these my next questions will give me a clue.
Issues in Libya? They are people's opinions. As it is said, opinions are like noses and people have their unique ones.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
LIBYA AND THE AFRICAN LEADERSHIP
The past couple of weeks have seen some of us totally shocked. Why, you may ask. And my reply, why not? A whole continent stood silent while one of its member States (which was probably the most peaceful, promising and progressive) is being laid siege to by hounds from the West under the guise of wanting peace in that country. Admitted, Col. Gathafi may have overstepped the bounds of leadership when he started killing demonstrators. But the question to be asked is “How soon can a band of peaceful and spontaneous demonstrators become a hardened gang of Rebels, wielding tanks and other sophisticated weapons?”
In recent times, a wave of demonstrations has spread through some Northern African States, most of which have turned violent. The commonest reason by the demonstrators irrespective of their origin has been the fact that leadership in their respective countries was either insensitive to their needs or had been in power too long. Often times, these demonstrators have succeeded in getting their way prompting a change in leadership, usually with very little violence. However, Libya appears to be an exception. Gathafi appears to have played directly into the hands of some unseen conspirator(s).
Gathafi has always not been the best friend of some Western States, especially the most powerful ones. He has always advocated for a United Africa, just like Dr. Kwame Nkrumah dreamed of. The obvious conclusion can only be drawn from the way the West handled/is handling these two.
Let’s take a moment to look at what USA did to Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah. He was the target of a series of assassination attempts which gradually pushed him to become paranoid and ended up making certain political decisions which later came to haunt him. First, he instituted the law that made it possible for a person to be arrested and held indefinitely without trial. Secondly, and sadly so, he made Ghana a one-party State. These same reasons were what his detractors cited as the reason for his overthrow. However, it is now common knowledge among Ghanaians that USA aided the coup makers to overthrow Nkrumah thereby overthrowing the dreams of Ghana becoming an industrialized Nation. Ghana has still not recovered, thanks to the puppet strings controlling most of her political leaders and the false promise of a better world anywhere in the world apart from Ghana, which the young and enterprising youth have been made to believe.
Gathafi has also been led to make the same mistake. He sought to use force to stamp out people who were portrayed by the media as “Demonstrators” but whom he saw as “Rebels”. The use of force was subsequently reported by these media thus winning international sympathy for the Demonstrators/Rebels. Now, Gathafi is made out to be the bad person. As is to be expected, USA has gotten UN to grant her permission to enforce a no-fly in Libya where only US and French, and now NATO fighters can fly and bomb Libyan targets at will (when anti-aircraft missiles could have been used to prevent Gathafi’s planes from flying and thus avoid the indiscriminate bombing of innocents).
If you ask me, this trick is as old as the vanishing coin act.
a. Plant people within the area you wish to destabilize, preferably co-opted, corrupted or disgruntled members of that same society.
b. As they infiltrate, give them the means to cause little, isolated acts which will only serve to incite established authority to action.
c. Make sure the media is readied to capture the reaction of authority, with a slant in favour of the inciters, who are to be portrayed as the disadvantaged minority.
d. The UN will be forced to take action. Guess who volunteers to help the UN (you got that right)…ALMIGHTY AMERICA, THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD.
If by this time African leaders have not grown the clout to deal with African problems, then I dare say we are still colonies and have no right to celebrate independence days across Africa. Why is it that America, France, NATO and indeed UN have not attached the same sense of urgency with which they are dealing with Libya? African leaders, be smart.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
OUR GREAT KINDERGARTEN
Remember when years gone by when what mattered most in the world was to hurry to school in order to sing the alphabets as if they were songs and then hurry up home to play a game of crown-cocks? At that time, nothing else mattered except the things that friends said which got you agitated enough to take away your plastic ball before the football match was over; "m'agye me ball" .
Funny enough, that is what the whole political life is gradually becoming. We spend a lot of money and other resources bantering about the possible meaning of what someone said some days ago to some group of people, or possibly psycho-analyzing him/her in order to read meanings hitherto unintended when some speech was made. After all, we have a more than willing gossip crew who in the name of investigative journalism become serious threats to our national security without even knowing their error.
Nowadays, it is almost as if a current journalist is one who succeeds in getting a politician or his/her allies to lock horns in a never ending give and take of what some political figure did to cause the under-development of this nation and where the nation would have been had he/she not done what he/she already did. While it is good to get different sides of a story, journalists should understand that they owe it to the masses, most of whom depend on them for information, to report accurately what was said without adding their own flavors and seasoning to the facts. The whole issue of analysis should be left to experts who are expected to be impartial and unbiased. But it appears in Ghana, politicians and journalists have become experts in all areas of national life; from religion, through education, economics, medicine, and the list goes on.
What is achieved at the end of the day is that we have a lot of wrong versions of true facts out there that the listener is left totally confused. To make matters worse, radio and TV panelists are made up of representatives from political parties instead of analysts who are believed to be experts in their chosen and respective fields. Only in so doing can we achieve any value from the national political discourse. At the very least, when faced with facts, expert analysts agree unlike party faithfuls who would rather defend the indefensible. After all, who would ever want to be accused with pointing the left hand to his/her father's house?
Current events have saddened me to the extent that were I with super-human powers, I would immediately cause some serious discomfort to all responsible for completely diverting national attention from more important issues to banter about trivialities, such as the level of remorse the president had when he apologized to former President Kuffour and the Chief Justice, or what Akuffo Addo meant by "all die be die" and for that matter, which category of people make up Akans according to Akuffo Addo. As a people, is it not just plainly reckless to leave such issues as how to block the revenue leakages at the ports, improve education, energy, transportation, employment, etc. in order to talk about comments passed by one person or the other which, in the long run, would not be valid contributions to the main issues of national development?
We have become a nation of toddlers who have failed to see the necessity of keeping our country clean, respect our elders and leaders, think of making rather than consuming products, solve problems rather than cause them, show good initiative rather than thwart existing ones, and the most disheartening of all, allowing ourselves to be led astray by a few favor-seeking, fame-thirsty and power-hungry individuals who would do any and everything to see that they are the center of attention and none other.
If we are not able to change, then election periods will always become volatile moments when any little thing would plunge the entire country into chaos or worse still, war. The youth should know that they are better than they are made out to be by some unscrupulous politicians. They have what it takes to make it in life without tying in their lot with politicians to curry political favor. The Journalists whose careers are built on sensationalizing every bit of news item should be aware that the instability the court will affect them as well in the event that the nation bursts into flames. As for the few bad nuts within the political parties, the question is at what point is the state more important than personal interests?
Funny enough, that is what the whole political life is gradually becoming. We spend a lot of money and other resources bantering about the possible meaning of what someone said some days ago to some group of people, or possibly psycho-analyzing him/her in order to read meanings hitherto unintended when some speech was made. After all, we have a more than willing gossip crew who in the name of investigative journalism become serious threats to our national security without even knowing their error.
Nowadays, it is almost as if a current journalist is one who succeeds in getting a politician or his/her allies to lock horns in a never ending give and take of what some political figure did to cause the under-development of this nation and where the nation would have been had he/she not done what he/she already did. While it is good to get different sides of a story, journalists should understand that they owe it to the masses, most of whom depend on them for information, to report accurately what was said without adding their own flavors and seasoning to the facts. The whole issue of analysis should be left to experts who are expected to be impartial and unbiased. But it appears in Ghana, politicians and journalists have become experts in all areas of national life; from religion, through education, economics, medicine, and the list goes on.
What is achieved at the end of the day is that we have a lot of wrong versions of true facts out there that the listener is left totally confused. To make matters worse, radio and TV panelists are made up of representatives from political parties instead of analysts who are believed to be experts in their chosen and respective fields. Only in so doing can we achieve any value from the national political discourse. At the very least, when faced with facts, expert analysts agree unlike party faithfuls who would rather defend the indefensible. After all, who would ever want to be accused with pointing the left hand to his/her father's house?
Current events have saddened me to the extent that were I with super-human powers, I would immediately cause some serious discomfort to all responsible for completely diverting national attention from more important issues to banter about trivialities, such as the level of remorse the president had when he apologized to former President Kuffour and the Chief Justice, or what Akuffo Addo meant by "all die be die" and for that matter, which category of people make up Akans according to Akuffo Addo. As a people, is it not just plainly reckless to leave such issues as how to block the revenue leakages at the ports, improve education, energy, transportation, employment, etc. in order to talk about comments passed by one person or the other which, in the long run, would not be valid contributions to the main issues of national development?
We have become a nation of toddlers who have failed to see the necessity of keeping our country clean, respect our elders and leaders, think of making rather than consuming products, solve problems rather than cause them, show good initiative rather than thwart existing ones, and the most disheartening of all, allowing ourselves to be led astray by a few favor-seeking, fame-thirsty and power-hungry individuals who would do any and everything to see that they are the center of attention and none other.
If we are not able to change, then election periods will always become volatile moments when any little thing would plunge the entire country into chaos or worse still, war. The youth should know that they are better than they are made out to be by some unscrupulous politicians. They have what it takes to make it in life without tying in their lot with politicians to curry political favor. The Journalists whose careers are built on sensationalizing every bit of news item should be aware that the instability the court will affect them as well in the event that the nation bursts into flames. As for the few bad nuts within the political parties, the question is at what point is the state more important than personal interests?
Thursday, December 9, 2010
UML
SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
QUESTION 1
The University is considering a new system to speed up the student registration process. As a systems analyst, you are asked to develop a plan for fact finding.
(a) List all the information gathering techniques that all systems analysts must be able to use.
(b) Explain any three of the techniques listed.
(c) Explain the criteria for selecting a given technique.
Solution
(a) Interviews
Questionnaires
Observation
JAD (joint application design)
Document Analysis
(b) (i)Questionnaires
This is the mode of gathering data from sampled participants in order to understand an existing system or know the expectations of a new one. The researcher sets off by firstly carefully designing the questions which would best reveal the desired information he so desires.
He, then, goes ahead to administer these questionnaires to his sampled participants and makes sure that they answer them. This is done through follow-ups. But care should be taken that the one administering the questionnaires has good inter-personal skills in order to have a successful survey of opinions.
(ii) Interviews
This technique also involves gathering information from people though in this sense, one would have to talk to his interviewees and ask them relevant and well-crafted questions in order to receive relevant answers. The interviewer is to be able to respectfully steer the conversation/interview to areas of his interest while sifting through all that the interviewee would say.
To engage in a successful interview, the interviewer must first select his interviewees (people he thinks are in a position to know what he needs to know). He can then proceed to formulate concise and relevant questions which he would use to both prepare and conduct the actual interview. It is necessary that after the interview, there be a follow-up by the interviewer in a bid to re-gather vital information interviewees might have forgotten to share, and also probably give them feed-back on the previous interviews.
(iii) Observation
Because people cannot always remember everything they do and the fact that they tend to act differently from their usual selves when they know they are being watched, there is need to independently verify information gotten from them through different methods. Observation is that technique of gathering information without the involved parties becoming aware of it. The Observer should make sure to be discrete, unpredictable and attentive to everything that happens regarding his subjects so that he can read trends which can be compared with information gathered through other sources.
(c) When choosing an information gathering technique, one should take into consideration
1. What type of information is being sought?
2. What is the gravity of the information being sought?
3. What is the scope of the information being sought?
4. Which technique can give corroborated information?
5. Is there need for users to be involved or they can circumvented?
6. What is the comparative cost in getting relevant information through the use of any given technique?
QUESTION 2
(a) What is UML?
It is the abbreviation for Unified Modelling Language. Since a model abstracts the essential details of the underlying problem from its usually complicated real world, it is necessary that there be a standard set of tools which can be used to organize/develop these models so as to allow many categories of people understand them.
Explain the use of the following diagrams:
(i) Use Case diagram:
They are UML diagrams that describe what a system does from the stand-point of an external observer. This is gotten from the fact that a use case, per se, is a summary of all the scenarios for a single task. It is made up of an actor (the user of the system), a use case (what the actor uses the system for) and an association (the actor’s relation to the use case). Thus a use case diagram is a collection of actors, use cases and their relative associations.
They are useful in that they, primarily, help in determining system requirements since new cases may elicit new system requirements as the diagram takes shape. They also aid communication between system developers and clients through the use of relatively simplified diagrammatic notation. Finally, they are useful in generating test cases in that the associated scenarios give a perfect collection of test cases for the system.
(ii) Class Diagrams:
A class diagram gives an overview of a system by showing its classes and the relationships among them. Class diagrams are static in that they display what interacts but not what happens when they do interact. This is from the background that a class is a template for merging attributes and behaviours into a single distinct entity, an object.
QUESTION 1
The University is considering a new system to speed up the student registration process. As a systems analyst, you are asked to develop a plan for fact finding.
(a) List all the information gathering techniques that all systems analysts must be able to use.
(b) Explain any three of the techniques listed.
(c) Explain the criteria for selecting a given technique.
Solution
(a) Interviews
Questionnaires
Observation
JAD (joint application design)
Document Analysis
(b) (i)Questionnaires
This is the mode of gathering data from sampled participants in order to understand an existing system or know the expectations of a new one. The researcher sets off by firstly carefully designing the questions which would best reveal the desired information he so desires.
He, then, goes ahead to administer these questionnaires to his sampled participants and makes sure that they answer them. This is done through follow-ups. But care should be taken that the one administering the questionnaires has good inter-personal skills in order to have a successful survey of opinions.
(ii) Interviews
This technique also involves gathering information from people though in this sense, one would have to talk to his interviewees and ask them relevant and well-crafted questions in order to receive relevant answers. The interviewer is to be able to respectfully steer the conversation/interview to areas of his interest while sifting through all that the interviewee would say.
To engage in a successful interview, the interviewer must first select his interviewees (people he thinks are in a position to know what he needs to know). He can then proceed to formulate concise and relevant questions which he would use to both prepare and conduct the actual interview. It is necessary that after the interview, there be a follow-up by the interviewer in a bid to re-gather vital information interviewees might have forgotten to share, and also probably give them feed-back on the previous interviews.
(iii) Observation
Because people cannot always remember everything they do and the fact that they tend to act differently from their usual selves when they know they are being watched, there is need to independently verify information gotten from them through different methods. Observation is that technique of gathering information without the involved parties becoming aware of it. The Observer should make sure to be discrete, unpredictable and attentive to everything that happens regarding his subjects so that he can read trends which can be compared with information gathered through other sources.
(c) When choosing an information gathering technique, one should take into consideration
1. What type of information is being sought?
2. What is the gravity of the information being sought?
3. What is the scope of the information being sought?
4. Which technique can give corroborated information?
5. Is there need for users to be involved or they can circumvented?
6. What is the comparative cost in getting relevant information through the use of any given technique?
QUESTION 2
(a) What is UML?
It is the abbreviation for Unified Modelling Language. Since a model abstracts the essential details of the underlying problem from its usually complicated real world, it is necessary that there be a standard set of tools which can be used to organize/develop these models so as to allow many categories of people understand them.
Explain the use of the following diagrams:
(i) Use Case diagram:
They are UML diagrams that describe what a system does from the stand-point of an external observer. This is gotten from the fact that a use case, per se, is a summary of all the scenarios for a single task. It is made up of an actor (the user of the system), a use case (what the actor uses the system for) and an association (the actor’s relation to the use case). Thus a use case diagram is a collection of actors, use cases and their relative associations.
They are useful in that they, primarily, help in determining system requirements since new cases may elicit new system requirements as the diagram takes shape. They also aid communication between system developers and clients through the use of relatively simplified diagrammatic notation. Finally, they are useful in generating test cases in that the associated scenarios give a perfect collection of test cases for the system.
(ii) Class Diagrams:
A class diagram gives an overview of a system by showing its classes and the relationships among them. Class diagrams are static in that they display what interacts but not what happens when they do interact. This is from the background that a class is a template for merging attributes and behaviours into a single distinct entity, an object.
Friday, May 7, 2010
How IT can give your company competitive advantage
QUESTION
As an IT manager, advise your company on some of the top security issues and prepare a document to advise them on the benefits which can be achieved with the introduction of IT to create competitive advantage. Pick a case study area and base everything on it. Indicate the company and state what they do.
COMPANY PROFILE
PJEF Company Limited is a magazine printing and publishing company headquartered in Accra, with branches in Kumasi, Sunyani and Tamale. It has an online presence on the internet through their website where their publications can be perused and bought. This aspect is handled by the publishing and IT departments. It has a centralised authority structure. Though quite relatively modern, PJEF Co. Ltd uses off-the-shelf software, and an open internet system to network the different branches. Some very important documents are still kept on paper while the company puts no clear restriction on data access, especially within the proof reading department which happens to have developed a sort of departmental database which is at times utilised by the other departments. The Management board recently has tasked the IT department to identify some of the issues which adversely affect the efficient operation of the company. As the manager of the tasked department, the following are my findings
SECURITY RISKS AT PJEF CO. LTD.
As per the mandate of the Management Board, in my capacity as the IT manager of this company, I have carried out the authorised assessment of the operational IT risks of this company and the following form some of my major findings.
a. The use of only off-the-shelf software: As a printing and publishing company, PJEF cannot continue to rely on only off-the-shelf software to run its operations. So doing exposes the company to a lot of disadvantages such as making it easier for thieves to steal and pirate printing material. Again the absence of customised software such design software which is specifically written to suit the needs and operations of this company makes it very tedious for the design, typesetting and desktop publishing department to create a style which sets PJEF apart from other publishing houses.
b. Use of Open internet connectivity: Being a fast growing and quickly spreading company, PJEF cannot continue to use the open insecure internet as the means of networking its branches. The tendency for data loss/theft and corruption, not to mention the possibility of malicious attacks on PJEF corporate systems are real threats to the very operation of the company. Also, as a commercial entity which prides itself in quality work, it becomes a matter of competitive disadvantage while it does not speak well of the company to have in place no mechanism to protect the hard work of its valued clients, namely the signed authors.
c. On-site back-up: As a matter of great operational risk is the issue of on-site back-up. Currently, the IT department has no means of directly and simultaneously backing up all company data files off-site. The current system where data is backed up on site and later manually transferred to an off site location has a number of disadvantages such as the possibility of loss of limited but critical data and the possibility that due to human error may cause data not to be backed up at all, as indeed happened in the near fatal incident involving the PJEF and the author of a textbook. The current method of backing up leaves the company open to viral attack and data corruption since data transfer is manually handled.
d. Documentation of Important material on paper: The practice whereby the company still keeps important material on paper without making electronic copies could be very costly should there be a fire outbreak or even pest attack. While the practice of keeping such documents in a combination safe is quite laudable for keeping burglars at bay, it is quite insufficient to keep fire and other hazards out.
e. Poor database management: The Company has no database which makes it quite cumbersome when managing data inflow and access. The departmental database instituted by one of the departments is full of redundant data. The absence of an up-to-date database impedes managerial decision making, gives no clear picture of company performance and virtually creates a barrier between related departments.
f. Easy Access to Company Data: Going round with respect to finding out some of the security risks facing the company, I stumbled upon one very important issue, namely the easy nature in which data is accessed in this company. There appears to be no access restriction on some data, making such data easily accessible to almost everyone and thus vulnerable to theft, change or deletion. The practice whereby people can easily insert their personal external storage devices into the company computer system without having them scanned for viruses and then issued with clearances to use such secondary storage media could cause complete system failure should a very dangerous virus find its way into the company system.
The above are by no means the end of the list but they form the core of the security threats which the company faces. I will now go on to recommend ways in which the company can solve the problems enumerated above and thus increase its competitive advantage by introducing IT.
RECOMMENDATIONS
• The company should consider diversifying its operations by incorporating custom built and customised software into its computer systems. As a printing and publishing company which publishes both for the physical and online market, it gives the company some competitive edge when it does everything possible to produce products which are different from what everyone else in the business is producing. Since customised software is practically written to suit the preferred taste and operations of the one who orders it, unlike commercialised ones, it gives the company a very important tool to produce products which cannot be made anywhere else apart from PJEF.
• Though the company publishes on its internet website, it should consider using the many social network sites such as facebook, twitter, hi5, tagged, badoo, perfspot, myspace, etc. to increase awareness of its products and thus increase its customer base. When people on these sites are able to appreciate the good work which this company produces, the stage is set for us to take care of big printing orders which would arrive from almost every corner of the world. To add, the IT department should be resourced to help the relevant departments create a formidable online presence through serious online advertising campaigns.
But this should not draw away from the fact that the company needs to develop a better internal network purposely for coordination between the different branches. If this is done, data flow and sharing will be faster, safer and more reliable.
• As a matter of urgency, it is my recommendation that the company proceeds to make provisions for automated off-site back up of its data. This will forestall the loss, possible delays or corruption of company data. This will make the company appear more reliable to potential clients who would rest assured that their work will be finished on time any catastrophe notwithstanding.
• The company needs to immediately begin the process of converting into electronic format all important company documents. With current technology, documents which come in electronic formats are easier to store protect and transfer than their hardcopy counterparts. Watermarks can also be embedded within such documents as a seal of authenticity while they can be copy protected, write protected or even set to track changes made to it at what time. These attributes of the electronic file help the company to better protect its documents from corporate rivals.
• There needs to be an up-to-date database put in place with its requisite data access protocol. With the introduction of a regularly updated database, different departments within the company can have access to relevant data and hence increase efficiency and productivity, cutting down the time used to search for some particular data. Sensitive data will also be protected from unauthorised access leading to a generally confident working environment.
• Finally, the company should make it a policy not to allow personal secondary devices to be used on company computers except they have been scanned for any malicious software and after they have been used on the company computer if any company documents have been copied. In this quest, the system administrator should be vigilant in his work and flag any potential unauthorised system access and usage.
As an IT manager, advise your company on some of the top security issues and prepare a document to advise them on the benefits which can be achieved with the introduction of IT to create competitive advantage. Pick a case study area and base everything on it. Indicate the company and state what they do.
COMPANY PROFILE
PJEF Company Limited is a magazine printing and publishing company headquartered in Accra, with branches in Kumasi, Sunyani and Tamale. It has an online presence on the internet through their website where their publications can be perused and bought. This aspect is handled by the publishing and IT departments. It has a centralised authority structure. Though quite relatively modern, PJEF Co. Ltd uses off-the-shelf software, and an open internet system to network the different branches. Some very important documents are still kept on paper while the company puts no clear restriction on data access, especially within the proof reading department which happens to have developed a sort of departmental database which is at times utilised by the other departments. The Management board recently has tasked the IT department to identify some of the issues which adversely affect the efficient operation of the company. As the manager of the tasked department, the following are my findings
SECURITY RISKS AT PJEF CO. LTD.
As per the mandate of the Management Board, in my capacity as the IT manager of this company, I have carried out the authorised assessment of the operational IT risks of this company and the following form some of my major findings.
a. The use of only off-the-shelf software: As a printing and publishing company, PJEF cannot continue to rely on only off-the-shelf software to run its operations. So doing exposes the company to a lot of disadvantages such as making it easier for thieves to steal and pirate printing material. Again the absence of customised software such design software which is specifically written to suit the needs and operations of this company makes it very tedious for the design, typesetting and desktop publishing department to create a style which sets PJEF apart from other publishing houses.
b. Use of Open internet connectivity: Being a fast growing and quickly spreading company, PJEF cannot continue to use the open insecure internet as the means of networking its branches. The tendency for data loss/theft and corruption, not to mention the possibility of malicious attacks on PJEF corporate systems are real threats to the very operation of the company. Also, as a commercial entity which prides itself in quality work, it becomes a matter of competitive disadvantage while it does not speak well of the company to have in place no mechanism to protect the hard work of its valued clients, namely the signed authors.
c. On-site back-up: As a matter of great operational risk is the issue of on-site back-up. Currently, the IT department has no means of directly and simultaneously backing up all company data files off-site. The current system where data is backed up on site and later manually transferred to an off site location has a number of disadvantages such as the possibility of loss of limited but critical data and the possibility that due to human error may cause data not to be backed up at all, as indeed happened in the near fatal incident involving the PJEF and the author of a textbook. The current method of backing up leaves the company open to viral attack and data corruption since data transfer is manually handled.
d. Documentation of Important material on paper: The practice whereby the company still keeps important material on paper without making electronic copies could be very costly should there be a fire outbreak or even pest attack. While the practice of keeping such documents in a combination safe is quite laudable for keeping burglars at bay, it is quite insufficient to keep fire and other hazards out.
e. Poor database management: The Company has no database which makes it quite cumbersome when managing data inflow and access. The departmental database instituted by one of the departments is full of redundant data. The absence of an up-to-date database impedes managerial decision making, gives no clear picture of company performance and virtually creates a barrier between related departments.
f. Easy Access to Company Data: Going round with respect to finding out some of the security risks facing the company, I stumbled upon one very important issue, namely the easy nature in which data is accessed in this company. There appears to be no access restriction on some data, making such data easily accessible to almost everyone and thus vulnerable to theft, change or deletion. The practice whereby people can easily insert their personal external storage devices into the company computer system without having them scanned for viruses and then issued with clearances to use such secondary storage media could cause complete system failure should a very dangerous virus find its way into the company system.
The above are by no means the end of the list but they form the core of the security threats which the company faces. I will now go on to recommend ways in which the company can solve the problems enumerated above and thus increase its competitive advantage by introducing IT.
RECOMMENDATIONS
• The company should consider diversifying its operations by incorporating custom built and customised software into its computer systems. As a printing and publishing company which publishes both for the physical and online market, it gives the company some competitive edge when it does everything possible to produce products which are different from what everyone else in the business is producing. Since customised software is practically written to suit the preferred taste and operations of the one who orders it, unlike commercialised ones, it gives the company a very important tool to produce products which cannot be made anywhere else apart from PJEF.
• Though the company publishes on its internet website, it should consider using the many social network sites such as facebook, twitter, hi5, tagged, badoo, perfspot, myspace, etc. to increase awareness of its products and thus increase its customer base. When people on these sites are able to appreciate the good work which this company produces, the stage is set for us to take care of big printing orders which would arrive from almost every corner of the world. To add, the IT department should be resourced to help the relevant departments create a formidable online presence through serious online advertising campaigns.
But this should not draw away from the fact that the company needs to develop a better internal network purposely for coordination between the different branches. If this is done, data flow and sharing will be faster, safer and more reliable.
• As a matter of urgency, it is my recommendation that the company proceeds to make provisions for automated off-site back up of its data. This will forestall the loss, possible delays or corruption of company data. This will make the company appear more reliable to potential clients who would rest assured that their work will be finished on time any catastrophe notwithstanding.
• The company needs to immediately begin the process of converting into electronic format all important company documents. With current technology, documents which come in electronic formats are easier to store protect and transfer than their hardcopy counterparts. Watermarks can also be embedded within such documents as a seal of authenticity while they can be copy protected, write protected or even set to track changes made to it at what time. These attributes of the electronic file help the company to better protect its documents from corporate rivals.
• There needs to be an up-to-date database put in place with its requisite data access protocol. With the introduction of a regularly updated database, different departments within the company can have access to relevant data and hence increase efficiency and productivity, cutting down the time used to search for some particular data. Sensitive data will also be protected from unauthorised access leading to a generally confident working environment.
• Finally, the company should make it a policy not to allow personal secondary devices to be used on company computers except they have been scanned for any malicious software and after they have been used on the company computer if any company documents have been copied. In this quest, the system administrator should be vigilant in his work and flag any potential unauthorised system access and usage.
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