Preparing your Middle and Database Tier for Hyperion EPM System Fusion Edition Installation

If you're planning to install and create a testing development for Planning, consider using a virtual machine for your Middle and Database Tier. It maybe easy for some to install the Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management Fusion Edition, but for other, installation is taking forever. So, to help lessen your burden and to help you prevent from reformatting your personal computers over and over again, i suggest you use either VMWare or Microsoft's Virtual PC to host your Middle and Database Tier.

Below is a list of what I did to successfully install Hyperion on my Web Application and Database Server:
1. I created my virtual machine to host my Middle and Database Tier.
2. I then installed it with Windows 2003 with SP2 and IIS.
3. And then I installed it with MS SQL 2005. This will serve as my RDBMS.
4. I made sure that cookies and javascripting is enable on my IIS.
5. I made sure that .Net Framework 2.0 is installed on my PC.
6. I checked and made sure that .Net Framework 2.0 is an allowed web service extension on IIS. To do/check this option, go to your IIS Manager, click on the Web Service Extensions folder, select .Net Framework 2.0 Web Service Extension on the right side, and click on the Allow button if it's not yet clicked.
7. Login to MS SQL 2005 and create a new database and a new user with the system admin role.
8. Install the latest version of Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management Fusion Edition. The version I installed was version 11.1.1.0.307
9. And configure each of the components by going to Foundation Services and clicking the EPM System Configuration icon. The wizard will easily help you configure all the Hyperion Fusion Edition tools and applications.

I will discuss about setting up the Hyperion Planning Client Tier on my next post

My first Oracle Hyperion Training

I just attended my first Oracle Hyperion Sales and Pre-Sales Training at the Oracle Philippines office here in Makati City last Aug 11 and 12. Thanks to Sean, Julia, Chris, and Anne for sharing their thoughts and selling skills!

Just to share, here's a list of what i saw or have found out about Hyperion:
1. I've learned that the BI Foundation is composed of the EssBase and the OBIEE tools
2. I've learned that thru the EssBase, Hyperion is able to produce information that answer's the How? and the What if's?.
3. I've learned that the BI Applications sits on top of the BI Foundation.
4. I've learned that all the BI Applications are pre-built and are ready to install hot pluggins. This means that these are not templates that need to be configured. But if you have an existing datastorage built from oracle, sap, peoplesoft, or siebel, then it can easily use those datastorage.
5. I've learned that the EPM applications such as the Planning, Financial Manager, Performance Scorecard, and Data Quality Management all sits on top of the BI Foundation.
6. I've learned that the Workforce Planning and CapEx Planning have a different license.
7. I've learned that there are still a lot more that i want and need to learn about datawarehousing.
8. And best of all, with these kinds of new BI applications, I've learned that anyone withought IT education can easily create their own applications!

What's the difference between OLTP and OLAP?

This two words which both starts with the letters OL, both ends with the letter P, and both consists of four letters are very much different IT/BI(Business Intelligence) jargons.

How are they different?
By Definition :
OLTP which stands for Online Transaction Processing or simply transaction processing is a class of systems that facilitates and manages transaction-related applications and provide real time accesses to its data which is being updated by other transactions. It is also used to refer to a processing wherein the system can quickly respond to user requests/transactions.

OLAP which stands for Online Analytical Processing refers to an approach to quickly provide answers to analytical queries that are multi-dimensional in nature. Through the use of what they call Aggregations, some have claimed that for complex queries, OLAP cubes can produce an answer in around 0.1% of the time for the same query on OLTP relational data.

An Inside look on some of the New Features of Hyperion Planning Fusion Version 11.1.1.0.0 : The Enterprise Performance Management Architect

The EPMA(Enterprise Performace Management Architect):
- You can now organize your applications into folders
- With this, you can now organize your application library the way you organize your shell library. Also, it helps you easily find the application you're looking for.
- There have been improvements in the simplification of import process. Now you can directly import in the application. In the past, this has to be done on the Shell library first.
- Grid Editor. You can now make bulk updates to multiple members at the same time. This now also allows you to see, create, and delete multiple members of the same dimensions without having to go back in the dimension library.
- There is now an Application Creation Wizard which is a tool that walks you thru the creation of an application or planning application in the EPMA.
- New EPMA Batch Clients which allows running EPMA tasks in the batch log thru scripting or using a cover line interface.
- Planning Classic Parity Items now supports DTS(Dynamic Time Series)

Terminologies in EPMA
- Master View = Libraries of shared dimensions
- Application View = Application (Now made up of shared and local dimensions and not considered as a view on the main dimension catalog.)
- Shared Dimensions = Dimensions that can be used by multiple applications and that are stored in the Shared Library.
- Local Dimension = Detached, independent dimensions that exists only in one application.

An Inside look on some of the New Features of Hyperion Planning Fusion Version 11.1.1.0.0 : Calculation Manager

3.Calculation Manager
- This will be used for Hyperion Planning and Hyperion Financial Manager.
-Will ease the maintenance of business rules since it allows you to create and share complete rules which you can also organize using folders and rule sets. This has predesigned templates which you can use to build your own rules. This is categorized as one of the next generation of Hyperion Business Rule.

An Inside look on some of the New Features of Hyperion Planning Fussion Version 11.1.1.0.0: Smart View

2.Smart View for Planning
- On Adhoc Queries and Analysis
-You can now write data back to the database
-Provides a smooth integration between the Planning web and the Smart View - no need to relogin to excel.
-You can view attached docs on the cells

- Connection Manager is improved
- You get a tree view of each product and from each of these products you can browse to different servers and different applications
- You can also drill from the web form level

- Will allow you to perform modelization of cubed slices thru the use of Smart Slice.
- Report is now created using one or more Smart Slice/s that can come from different sources.
- Your Power Point presentations can now be dynamically linked to the data sources.
- There is a Function Grid that links a cell in Excel to a data from a data source that now makes it a more flexible formatting report.

Benifits of Smart View on Planning 11.1.1:
a. There is a tight integration in Planning web since you can now simply go back and forth from the Excel file to your web UI.
b. You can now dynamically link your office presentation such as Power Point or Word to your EPM sources withought doing other manual steps such as copying and pasting tables or graphs.
c. You can now create interactive reports from all your EPM sources

An Inside look on some of the New Features of Hyperion Planning: Core Planning

1. Core Planning
- With the enhancement, you will now be able to work with data forms and perform the following actions:
- Attachment of excel documents on data forms
- Select dates automatically using the calendar
- Show member formulas from data form
- Hide and show rows with no data on data form
- Launch SmartView from data form through a simple click w/o the need to reconnect.
- Drill through the Financial Data Quality Management (FDM)

On the user interface:
- You may now choose to display the aliases when using copy versions
- You will now be able to cleanup annotations using the clear data option

Others
- You can create folder securities. will this feature, all the forms under this folder will inherit the assigned security on the folder. And if a form under the folder still has a unique security other that the security created on the folder, you may still opt to override the folder security for this particular form.
- Job Status

An Inside look on some of the New Features included on Hyperion Planning Fusion Version 11.1.1.0.0 : About Local and Shared Dimensions

This is still a continuation of post I started re: Oracle Hyperion's latest fusion version..

More about Local and Shared Dimensions:
Note that an application can now be made into local dimensions.

With Local Dimensions you can now do the following:
- copy dimensions to shared library or to an application
- synchronize between dimensions in the shared library and dimensions in the application.
- share dimensions so that you can change a local dimension to a shared dimension which can be used by other applications.

With Shared Dimensions, you can detach the dimension.

What you can do with Life Cycle Management(LCM)?
Below are some major features that you can do with LCM:
1. Move artifacts or entire applications between development, test, and production.
2. Export or import artifacts to the file system for the disconnected environments, or utilize direct migration for connected environments.
3. and Execute LCM functionality within Shared Services.
** The new version already has an available Shared Services Migration Wizard to help you easily set up and run migrations. With the wizard tool, you can:
a. Migrate individual or multiple applications,
b. Select one, many, or all artifacts,
c. Migrate logical applications (this includes User Provisioning, Planning, EPMA and Calculation Manager, Essbase, and Financial Report.),
d. and Migrate dependent artifact

Also,
- With LCM you can work with both the disconnected and connected environments. Disconnected Environment here means that the development, test, and production environments are completely isolated.

When you decide to install LCM you have to ensure that the following components are installed and properly configured:
1. Shared Services
2. Planning
3. EPMA (Enterprise Performance Management Architecture)
4. Calculation Manager
5. and Essbase

Latest Update on Hyperion Planning! Version 11.1.1 now available

What amazes me in this Business Intelligence software is the number of dedicated developers that they have who continuously upgrade and maintain the Oracle Hyperion Products.

Now, they have already released version 11.1.1 which they call Oracle Hyperion Planning, Fussion Edition Version 11.1.1.0.0.

It's important and key new feature includes the following:
1. Improvement on the Core Planning product
2. Smart View enhancements
3. Functionality enhancements on the EPM architect
4. Calculation Manager - dedicated to the design and maintenance of Business Rules, and
5. Lifecycle Management - which will allow you to migrate your applications between different environments.

Hyperion Planning Overview

Hyperion Planning is a Web-based, multitiered planning and forecasting application that maximizes the power of Essbase.

There are three separate logical tiers in any Planning configuration:
1. A Database Tier
-The database tier contains the database servers, a relational database, and an Essbase database. The database tier includes the following components:
❍ Essbase
❍ A relational database server (either Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, or IBM DB2).

2.Application/Web server tier (also referred to as the middle tier)
-The application/Web server tier, or middle tier, contains the Planning Windows-based server, the Web server and Web Application server. Multiple application servers can be created on additional hardware for scalability. The application / Web server tier includes these components:
❍ A Planning Windows-based server
❍ A Planning Java application server
❍ A Essbase® Administration Services Java application server
❍ A Web server (optional)

The middle tier application server complies with the J2EE standard and supports popular Java application servers such as WebLogic, WebSphere, and Tomcat. Because the middle tier is a true application tier and no data resides in that tier, scalability and availability is greatly enhanced.

3.Client Tier
-The client tier contains the administrator client and Web client that communicate with the application tier. You use the client tier to enter data, perform process management, manage metadata, manage users and security, launch business rules, copy versions, develop data forms, and perform other administrative tasks. The client tier consists of the following components:
❍ The Planning Windows client
❍ The Planning Web client
❍ The Smart View client

Planning uses a thin Web-client architecture so that common users only need a supported browser on the client computer. There is no processing on the client workstation. The actual data is stored and calculated using Essbase on the database tier along with a relational database repository for storing the application framework, metadata, and textual data.

Planning provides complete functionality for the Web user, including reporting and analysis, process management, and form design.

Additional Components that you can use together with Planning:
1.Business Rules
- Business Rules is an underlying component of Planning that is installed automatically with Essbase® Administration Services. This is a graphical tool that guides users through the creation, maintenance, customization, documentation, and execution of sophisticated calculations and business models. With this you can do a variety of analytic applications, such as product and customer profitability, budgeting and planning, financial management, and customer relationship management.

2.ESSBase
- Planning runs on top of Hyperion® Essbase® – System 9 and enhances its analytic and calculation capabilities, security filters, APIs, pre-built financial intelligence, calculation functions, and multicube application support. Planning capitalizes on OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) and data warehouse technologies

**OLAP stands for Online Analytical Processing. It is a software tool that provides analysis of data stored on the database. It's tools help the users to analyze different dimensions of multidimensional data. OLAP is most often used for data mining.

**Data Mining is a class of database applications that look for hidden patterns in group of data that can be used to predict future behavior. This tool helps users discover previously unknown relationships among the data.

**Data Warehouse is a repository of an organization's electronically stored data. Data warehouses are designed to facilitate reporting and analysis.

3.Financial Reporting
-Hyperion® Financial Reporting – System 9 creates reports that combine grids of data and text, charts, graphs, and images. Aside from providing complete control over layouts, formatting, fonts, and colors, it also provides business analytics, such as conditional suppression and automatic calculations that can be used to focus and filter reports.

4.Data Integration Management
-Data Integration Management Adapter for Planning enables you to define target tables for loading data and metadata into Planning and use the target tables in workflows.

5.Hyperion Application Link
-Hyperion Application Link is a suite of application integration services that integrates external source with Hyperion’s business analysis software. You can use it to load data accounts, entities, and custom dimensions from flat files, ODBC compliant databases, or an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system into Planning.
-This is purchased separeately

** Enterprise Resource Planning is the planning of how business resources (materials, employees, customers etc.) are acquired and moved from one state to another.

** Enterprise Resource Planning System is a business support system that maintains in a single database the data needed for a variety of business functions such as Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management, Financials, Projects, Human Resources and Customer Relationship Management.

6.Smart View
-Smart View provides integration with Microsoft Office for Planning, Hyperion® Financial Management – System 9, Financial Reporting, and Hyperion® Web Analysis – System 9

7.Shared Services (formerly called Hyperion Hub)
-Shared Services provides User provisioning, external authentication definition, metadata synchronization, and data synchronization

Planning Architecture
There are many possible architecture for Planning (depending on your configured environment).

Configuration for Planning on Windows is available for all Planning components.

UNIX configuration for Planning is available for Relational database, Essbase Server, web application server, Essbase Administration Server, and Shared Services server. In addition, most Financial Reporting components can be configured on UNIX.

Diagram below is a sample of a Oracle recommended distributed configuration.



Another possible configuration, as shown below, if you’re combining the application/web server and the database server is to use the single-server configuration. This is recommended only for a development environment or for clients with very minimal users.



Deployment on Multi Servers
Figure below illustrated the recommended configuration if you are deploying multi servers for each application.


Planning Application Modules:
1.Oracle Hyperion Workforce Planning is a special-purpose planning module that makes head count, salary, and compensation planning efficient across the enterprise. It allows you to accurately assess the business impact of workforce decisions on your overall expense plans in real time.

2.Oracle Integrated Operational Planning links financial plans and metrics to operational plans from manufacturing, sales, marketing and other functions to create an integrated business planning framework that enables fact-based decision-making. It addresses a range of high-value planning processes typically solved with offline spreadsheets today—such as integrated revenue and profit planning, cost of goods sold (COGS) modeling, product allocation, and stock keeping unit (SKU) rationalization.


3.Oracle Hyperion Capital Asset Planning allows you to accurately assess the impact of capital decisions on overall expense plans.

With Oracle Hyperion Capital Asset Planning, you can:
a.Make Accurate and Predictable Forecasts
b.Simplify Implementation and Reduce Maintenance Burdens
c.Address All Planning Requirements with Customization Capabilities
d.Manage Expenses with Prebuilt Functionality and Best Practices
e.Assess the Financial Impact of Capital Asset Expenses in Real Time
f.Improve Plan Accuracy, Predictability, and Accountability
g.Automate the Planning Process
h.Gain Dependable Security over Data, Calculations, and Global Settings


There are still a lot about Hyperion Planning that were not included here. Please do send your comments and let me know if you find something wrong in this post. Like what i mentioned on my previous post, I'm still new in this area so your comments are most appreciated=)

Hyperion Planning Research. Harder than I thougt it would be..

I've finally started with my research on Hyperion Planning. Yesterday, I told myself that I would be installing the Hyperion Planning application so I can have a look and feel of it. But when i tried to install it, my attempt failed. I don't know what caused the error so right now I'm reading the installation guide.

At the course of my read, I am starting to see new BI jargons that I have never encountered in .Net. Words such as OLAP, Data Mining, Data Warehouse, Multicube are all new to me. Though I am researching the terms while doing my research, I am not sure as to how many more new words I might be encountering in my future reads.

I hope this new terminologies I am seeing will be discussed on our Data Warehousing training with one of our senior leads on Monday so that I can be assured that what I have understood from my research is right.

New to Business Intelligence. From .Net to Oracle Hyperion

As you can see from the list I have on the right side of this blog, one of the tools that I am currently learning is Oracle Hyperion. This is my newest task and biggest task for the third quarter of this year.

From a .Net developers view, I feel a bit lost. Oracle Hyperion looks sooo big that it kinda scares me to try it out. But awhile ago after our ceo gave us a glimpse of what this tool is and how big this tool is, I am starting to feel the challenge.

My task for this week is to research on Hyperion Planning - System 9. To start, I had to register at the OPN (Oracle Partner Network). If you're new to this, you have to have an OPN PIN first to do this. Done with that. Now, I'm downloading the application. Ofcourse there is no better way to understand something new than to see the tool and play around with it. While I'm downloading, I am also searching and downloading documents related to Hyperion Planning so I can have more time read at home. I might not be in the office tomorrow afternoon so I really have to download the documents!

So I guess that's all for today. I plan to scribble some research I've done here so I can also share with you some ideas about this new Business Inteligence tool from Oracle.

By the way, don't forget to read about the installation guide prior to your installation.

What is Disintermediation?

Disintermediation in the business sense is a popular buzzword used to describe many Internet -based businesses that use the World Wide Web to sell products directly to customers rather than going through traditional retail channels.
Based from the example stated by the author and the definition mentioned above, i understand disintermediation as removing all third parties involved in the process of achieving something. In the e-commerce sense, that means taking away everything involved in buying stuffs from the grocery or the mall.
For example, traditionally you would have to do the following to be able to purchase a perfume from the mall:

1. Take a bath and dress up,
2. Use your car and drive to the mall,
3. Go to the perfumes department,
4 Look for your favorite perfume, if you can't find your favorite scent, do no. 5, if not do 6.
5. Go to another mall and look for your favorite perfume
6. Go to the cashier counter; join the queue of buyers, and pay.
7. Use your car and drive back to your home.

But through the use of e-commerce site, you will only do the following to be able to purchase a perfume from the internet:

1. Search for e-commerce sites that sell your favorite perfume.
2. Click for the item you want.
3. Purchase the item using your credit card.
4. Wait for the delivery.

In e-learning, disintermediation takes place in the sense that the usual process of student learning which comes from the following:

1. Discussion given by the professor through a face-to-face session,
2. References, assignments, activities, and projects being provided,
3. School library, and the like, are already eliminated by the internet through the use of websites, and web-based application that provide the same and much more information.

As a teacher, i consider disintermediation as a liberating force since i see it more as an advantage to both the teacher and the students than a disadvantage.
Because of the internet, the amount of information that both teachers and students can share with now becomes endless. Now, references used in school will not only rely on the books they have on their libraries but from the world, through the help of the World Wide Web.

Online Teaching

Online Teaching is one of the courses I took in the Master of Information Systems program I took at UPOU. I enjoyed this subject a lot coz we were given the opportunity to pretend to be an online instructor.

But if i am given the opportunity to teach online, i would surely enjoy it since I would be able to teach and share my knowledge to students from different places and diverse culture. I would definitely find teaching a little more exciting and fulfilling because i know that I would be communicating with people who I know I might never have the chance to meet.

In our country though there are a lot of personal or societal factors that are barriers to online teaching and learning. Some of the them are listed below:

1. Only a small amount of our population have access to the internet. Based from the InternetWorldStat, only about 6% of our total population use the Internet.

2. A lot of people still do not know and appreciate the use and benefits of Information Technology in education.

3. And, since more than half of our country's population are part of the growing Class C family, many are deprived of the opportunity to IT education.

How can we therefore overcome the factors that prevent increased use of information and communication technologies in education?

Based from the barriers stated above, below are some suggestions I can give so that we can overcome these barriers, hence, increase the use of information and communications technology in education.

1. For factor 1, the major reason for this would be rooted to our economic situation. If incase internet access costs cheaper, say PhP5.00 / hour ( which can only happen if electricity and/or IT cost lessen.), then maybe more Filipinos will have access to the internet and therefore will be given the chance to know more and appreciate Information Technology.

2. For factor 2, this could probably be solved by advertising the use and benefits of ICT through the help of media such as television, radio, or newspaper.

3. And for facor 3, this is again connected to our economic situation and also to poverty. I guess the only thing I can suggest here is for universities or college institutes to lower their tuition fees for IT-related courses. Or better yet request government or private sectors to give more scholarships to less fortunate but deserving students.

Create your own Electronic Organizer

I'm pretty sure a lot of us here are using google almost everyday. But have you checked out some of it's latest feautures lately? I just did and i created my own version of google website. Though i could say it pretty acts more than that..

This iGoogle can contain almost anything! I created My Email tab and from that page i am now able to view all my emails! Other than my Gmails, i can also view my Yahoo and Hotmails. Sweet huh..=) By the way, it also has a Google Notebook which i think is really helpfull for those who have the habit of taking down notes of their To dos for the day.

There's a lot of widgets that can be added. From your photos, to your documents, to your caledar schedule.. this is really great! I'm still amazed=)

Here's a view of my iGoogle using the Dolce&Gabana theme.

Authentication vs Authorization

These are two of the most common misused or misunderstood jargons in IT. These two mechanisms are normally performed by the same physical hardware and, at times, also with the same software. But how does one differ from the other?

Authentication is the mechanism that allows system to securely identify its users. This is related to questions such as :

- Who is the user?, and
- Is the user really who he says he is?

Authorization on the other hand is the mechanism whereby system identify to what access level a particular authenticated and logged user should have. This mechanism ensures that sytem users are given access rights and limitations based on their assigned roles on the system. This mechanism is related to questions such as :

- Is this user authorized to access this resource?
- Is this user authorized to perform this operation? and
- Is this user authorized to perform this operation on this resource?

What Constitues a Computer Crime?

What constitutes a computer crime?

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has defined computer crime as "any violation of criminal law that involved the knowledge of computer technology for its perpetration, investigation, or prosecution." Others define computer crime as the deliberate action to steal, damage, or destroy computer data without any authorization, and which also includes accessing a computer system and/or account without authorization.

Based on my opion, a computer crime constitutes any of the following acts:

-The action is done to do harm to others
-The action results to personal/group/corporate damage
-The action is done without the victim's knowledge or consent
-The action is done for personal reasons
-The actor of the crime knows that he is not authorized to do so, but still knowingly accesses or causes any computer system to be accessed without authorization

Check out some example of real world computer crimes:

A former employee of Viewsonic was sentenced to one year for hacking into his company's computer, destroying data
A man previously employed at the Walnut office of the Viewsonic Corporation was sentenced last February 23, 2004 to one year in prison for hacking into the company's computer system and wiping out critical data. the lost files rendered the server inoperative, and Viewsonic's Taiwan office was unable to access important data for several days.

A Louisiana man got arrested for releasing the 911 worm to WebTV users
FBI agents arrested a Louisiana man last February 18, 2004 for sending an e-mail to certain users of a WebTV service that, once opened, reprogrammed their computers to dial "9-1-1" instead of a local Internet access telephone number. The 9-1-1 calls caused by the e-mail resulted in the dispatch of police in locations from New York to California.

Mr. Heckenkamp's pleads guilty to gaining unauthorized access and recklessly damaging computers of several high-technology companies including eBay and Qualcomm from his graduate school dorm room
The United States Attorney's Offices for the Northern and Southern Districts of California announced that Jerome T. Heckenkamp of Los Angeles, pled guilty last January 29, 2004 in federal court in San Jose to gaining unauthorized access and recklessly damaging computer systems of several high-technology companies, including eBay in San Jose and Qualcomm in San Diego.
Mr. Heckenkamp admitted that he gained unauthorized access to eBay computers during February and March 1999. Through this unauthorized access, he admitted that he defaced an eBay Web page using the name "MagicFX," and installed "trojan" computer programs on the eBay computers so that it secretly captures usernames and passwords that he later used to gain unauthorized access into other eBay computers.

Is working abroad worth it?

I'm still working in our country. My reason: I feel that i still have a lot to learn and i want to equip myself with the latest technologies in IT before I start applying and working somewhere else. But just out of curiosity... is it a good choice to work out of the country? And why did you say so? Let me here your voices guys!

Definition of Privacy in the field on Information Technology

Here are my own definitions of some of the many privacy issues that we have in the field of Information Technology:


Database privacy
This involves keeping the computer user's database resources secured or hidden from unauthorized persons.

This means that if you happen to have an access to secured or confidential databases such as database that holds the pins of phone cards or active credit card numbers then, your action of securing or hidding these resources you have access to from other individuals or institution is good or moral, and therefore makes the act ethical. But if you decide to share, or worst sell, this data to unauthorized individuals, then that will make the act unethical.

Email privacy
I would define this as the right of any individual to keep his/her own mails from being opened and/or read by others.

Sneaking on someone else's email is definitely intrusive of their rights to privacy. I guess we can say that the right of anyone to privacy can be considered as a universal law. And since everyone is given a right to privacy, snooping on other's email is still a violation of that universal law. Because doing such is just like opening his/her files hidden on his personal cabinet or reading his/her snail mails or even a diary. If we try to analyze and relate this scenario to ordinary situations, this act looks similar to listening on other individual's conversation without their consent. This act therefore becomes unethical because doing so deprives the owner of the email of his/her right to privacy.

Privacy on the web
I consider this as the right of any individual to restrict any kind of access to keep track of his/her moves or actions on the web without his/her consent.

Privacy on the web is one of the major problems that we have today. As of this writing, there are still no rules or laws that prohibits computer users from checking or keeping track of other computer user's information. But this should be also concern because there doing such act is an intrusion of their right to privacy. No body should be given the right to check on all your activities. I remember the movie "The Truman's Show" which stars Jim Carey, where in his whole life from birth was being controlled and watched on tv. He only found out that his whole life was just a big drama when he already got old. That story where Mr. Truman's right to privacy was taken away from him is also similar to privacy on the web.

My definition of Ethics

1. Ethics is intertwined with customs and traditions believed in or adopted by a particular community.

In this concept, the definition of ethics would depend on the custom or tradition of a particular country or state. For example, in an Islam country such as Saudi Arabia, Saudi women are obliged to wear a black cloak and veil ( abaya ) when they leave the house, to protect their modesty. Therefore, taking-off their abaya would be unethical in their culture. I was shocked when i discovered how strict they were with regards to this policy. There was actualy one incident when Saudi Arabia's religious police stopped schoolgirls from leaving a blazing building because they were not wearing correct Islamic dress. One witness said he saw three policemen "beating young girls to prevent them from leaving the school because they were not wearing the abaya".

2. Ethics is the study of the morality of human actions.

In this context,it is said that ethics concerns human actions which are judged as ethical or unethical based on certain starndards accepted by a particular community. This means that what is ethical to a Class A family might not be ethical to "some" Class C family. Allow me to site some examples here. Eating at the dinning table while talking or singing is unethical for a Class A family but not to "some" Class C family. Shouting and uttering foul words is considered unethical to a Class A family, but for "some" Class C family it might not be unethical because it's already part of their culture and it is also accepted by their community.

3. Ethics is the study and philosophy of human conduct with emphasis on the determination of right and wrong.

It is said that ethics involves the study of the standards and judgments that people create. In this context, ethics can involve questions such as:
What does it mean to be good?
How can I differentiate good from evil?
Are morals objective or subjective?

I will site a scenario to better explain this definition. Juan is a business man selling RTWs in one of the stalls in Robinson's Galleria. The materials of his clothes is made in the Philippines and it is where his products are manufactured as well. But he decides to mark the labels of his RTWs as made in Europe because he knows that Filipinos enjoy buying foreign products.And since his products are labeled as made in Europe, he decides to double the prices of his products. Based from the third definition of ethics, i can say that there are a lot of reasons why Juan is unethical in the scenario stated above. For one, Juan should've marked the labels of his product as made in the Philippines. And even if he, actually we, all know that Filipinos enjoy buying foreign products, the best approach for his RTWs to sell like hotcakes is for him to insure that his clothes are competent in the foreign market. He can do this my always keeping abreast with the latest trends in fashion, so that Filipinos can also enjoy and be proud of their own products.

Online Education

The internet has changed our lives and our society drastically. Now, it's like everything is within our reach! I'm pretty sure you've tried Online Banking, or Online Payment, or Online Shopping, or Online Market, or Online Education. These are just some of the many things we can do right from the corners of our home. Sweet huh?:)

I myself am enrolled in an online educational system . And thru this, i am able to take up a Masteral course even while on an 9am-6pm working schedule.

Here are some major benefits i'm enjoying while studying online :

1. I get to meet people from anywhere since your classmates can come from any part of the world. Isn't that sweet?
2. I'm able to study and work at the same time.
3. I learned to disipline myself to study and read a lot so I can answer my professor's questions and do my projects.
   
   

Making your Gridview sort in Ascending and Descending Order

Two days ago, our QA tester posted an improvement request for our project on the issue log tracking tool. She wanted a more flexible sorting feature on the gridview.

I initially didn't bother to do it at first coz it was just an improvement and i was still focusing on fixing my bugs. Also, i thought it was easily and can be done in an hour. But when i started doing progress on this issue i realized that it was not as easy as i though i would be.

I'm almost done but i'm encountering a slight problem on one of my classes..

Here's the code:

//Here's the code on my Data Access Layer class:

//********************************

public cls_SqlDataSource(CommandType _CmdType, string _CmdText)
{
this.connectionString = EMS.Configuration.EMSConfiguration.Instance.ConnectionString;
cmd.CommandType = _CmdType;
cmd.CommandText = _CmdText;
}

public SqlDataReader ExecuteReader()
{
SqlConnection Conn = new SqlConnection(this.connectionString);
cmd.Connection = Conn;
SqlDataReader objReader;

try
{
Conn.Open();

objReader = cmd.ExecuteReader();
return objReader;
}
catch (SqlException ex)
{
throw new Exception(ex.Message);
}
finally
{
Conn.Close();
Conn = null;
cmd = null;
objReader = null;
}
}

//********************************************


//And here's the calling class on the Business Layer side of the application

//********************************************

public static ArrayList arListGetEpmMain(int userID, int groupID)
{
SqlDataReader reader = null;

try
{
EMS.DataAccess.cls_SqlDataSource cmd = new cls_SqlDataSource(CommandType.StoredProcedure, "usp_myStoredProcedure");
cmd.AddParameter("@param1", SqlDbType.Int, 8, ParameterDirection.Input, param1);
cmd.AddParameter("@param2", SqlDbType.Int, 8, ParameterDirection.Input, param2);

reader = cmd.ExecuteReader();

if (reader.Read())
{
ArrayList aList = new ArrayList();

while (reader.Read())
{
EPMMain objEPMMain = new EPMMain();

// assign the database values to the object's properties

objEPMMain.IsRead = reader.GetBoolean(23);
objEPMMain.TimeStamp = reader.GetString(1);
objEPMMain.MyID = reader.GetString(0);
objEPMMain.Version = Convert.ToInt32(reader.GetDecimal(33));
objEPMMain.Project = reader.GetString(16);
objEPMMain.SDateTime = Convert.ToDateTime(reader.GetString(17));
objEPMMain.DateDue = Convert.ToDateTime(reader.GetString(28));
objEPMMain.CatName = reader.GetString(19);
objEPMMain.CusName = reader.GetString(20);
objEPMMain.UName = reader.GetString(21);
objEPMMain.IndName = reader.GetString(22);
objEPMMain.IsAlrt = Convert.ToInt32(reader.GetBoolean(12));
aList.Add(objEPMMain);
}

return aList;
}

return null;

}

catch (Exception ex)
{
throw ex;
}

finally
{
reader.Close();
}
}

//****************************************************



I'm using .Net Framework 2.0 and Windows XP OS. Any help will greatly be appreciated!

**THIS ISSUE IS ALSO POSTED ON THE MICROSOFT FORUMS.

About Me ..(Part 2)

After almost 2 years of stay with my first loved IT firm, i decided to move on. My reason that time was that i needed a change in my working environment and wanted training. Thru the help of jobstreet I was blessed to have found the right company.

From this company(where i still am presently working), I was able to enjoy the following Microsoft training for free:
1. Course 2071 Querying a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 with Transact - SQL
2. Course 2072 Administering a MS SQL Server 2000 Database
3. Course 2073 Programming SQL Server 2000 Database
4. Course 2541 Core Data Access with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005

I was also able to take a Microsoft Certification Exam for free for which i earned my Microsoft Certified Professional title. Ofcourse, there's nothing to boast about that. I do want to take other certification exams but i noticed that there are a lot of cheats online. So it doesn't really make sense earning a Microsoft title since you can easily cheat..

By the way, I have also learned and am focusing on these following technologies:
- .Net Framework 1.x and 2.0 still using both C# and VB for my PL,
- AJAX, and
- Microsoft SQL 2005 for the database

About Me

I am a mom of two lovely daughters. My dream man, best cook, and loving husband is now venturing into this same career. And happy that he is enjoying this career path.

I graduated in Baguio City with a Bachelors degree in Information Technology. So proud of my alma mater at it gave me a very good foundation.

My first career venture started way back 2001 when i taught computer courses to IT and Engineering students. Yes, that was my first job. As part of the academe, i had to take some MS degree so i went on and enrolled myself in my second found alma mater. I enjoyed being called madam / ma'am for a while but only stayed in the academe for about a year and a half. I very much wanted to apply what i have learned in my college days into practice that is why i pursued my profession and went to Makati City.

In 2003 i became a Junior Web Developer and was mmediately promoted to a Project Manager after 6 short months. I was blessed to have been offered the opportunity to take hold of a project left by a colleauge. From that company, i learned and used the following tools for developing windows and web-based application:

1. LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP)
2. ColdFusion
3. ASP Classic using VB and C for my PL (Programming Langauge)
4. ASP.Net using VB and C# for my PL
5. Microsoft SQL 2000
6. VB Script/Javascript for client side scripting
7. FTP scripting

The following were learned from my master's degree courses:
8. HTML
9. CSS




To be continued on my next post..

My First Blog

As the title says, this is my first blog. I have been blogging for over a year now. But i recently thought and decided to create another one that would specially focus on my career as an IT specialist.

My To do task for the day:
-give you a background about me as a mom, and me as an it professional
-change my template to make it look more a bit techy lookin
-find bloggers in my career
-find links and groups in my career

hope to finish all these tasks within two days!=)