Corporate Intranet

Since its first implementation in 1995, Java has gone from strength to strength and now leads the way in both online and offline application. If you're new to Java, or considering specialising in Java, the chances are that you've already been introduced to it. As a language powering online applications, you will no doubt have used a Java driven application whilst chatting, playing games, or conducting online banking to name just a few implementations. It has become an integral part of intranet applications and many other e-business solutions that are the main foundation of corporate computing in the 21st century.

Java itself was designed to be easy to use and simple, making it straightforward to write, compile, debug and learn than any other programming languages. The Java runtime automatically assigns memory usage, and recovers memory when objects are no longer referred to or in use. This makes Java a much easier language to use than something like C or C++ which requires the programmer to manage memory allocation within the program itself.

Over the years Java has been tested, refined and extended over the years and has been proven by a dedicated community. Currently there are more than 6.5 million developers. Java has become invaluable to developers because it allows them to write software on one platform and run it virtually on any other platform due to a deliberately high degree of portability across systems and hardware.

There are many pieces of hardware, from computers and mobile phones through to parking meters which you will no doubt use on a daily basis and which are driven by Java applications. The range of uses to which Java has been put is truly staggering, and it is this breadth of implementation that has put Java developers in such high regard and in such high demand.

The average salary of a Java developer in 2009 has reached 47,500 a year, with approximately 90% of employers offering salaries of more than 30,000, and 10% of employers offering up to 80,000 a year for experienced Java developers.

The demand for Java developers was hit by the recent recession. There is a large demand for Java specialists in the financial sector, especially within banking, and it is likely to be this sector that was mostly responsible for the decline in available Java developer jobs. The demand for high calibre Java developers has since recovered very quickly and continues to grow at a rate not seen since 2006. Salaries have also fared well through the recession, and average salaries are now back to their pre-recession levels.

For computer science professionals, or programmers with experience in C or C++, pursuing a career in Java will be a rewarding move, as well as a challenging one. As people spend more time online and conduct a wider array of activities in the digital environment, the online application side of Java will continue to grow at a high rate. The variety of industries and sectors open to developers means that with a career in Java there is something for everyone.

Certainly, proper accounting is essential for non-trading institutions. These concerns maintain, generally, a cash book and later they prepare a summary of cash transactions appearing in the cash book. This summary takes the form of an account known as receipts and payments account.

Such concerns also prepare 'income and expenditure account' (which is more or less on the lines of profit and loss account) and the Balance Sheet.

The day-to-day accounting consists of maintaining.

(i) Cash book for recording receipts and payments, and

(ii) Ledger for classification of transactions under proper heads.

Receipts and payments account

It is a summary of cash book for a given period, but the Receipts and Payments account shows the totals of cash transactions under different heads. All the receipts, be cheque or cash are entered on the debit (receipts) side (as in cash book) whereas all the payments (both by cheque or cash) are shown on the credit (payments) side. Following features of the receipts and payments account will help to identify its nature clearly :

1. It is a summary of cash book, like a cash book, receipts are shown on the debit side and
payments on the credit side.

2. Cash and bank items are merged in one column. That means receipts in cash as-well-as by , cheque are entered in one column on debit and payments in cash as-well-as by cheque are entered in one column on credit side. Contra entries between cash and bank get eliminated.

3. It is not a part of double entry book-keeping. It is just a summary of cash book which is a , part of double entry system.

4. Just like cash book, it starts with the opening balance of cash and bank and closes with the closing balance of cash and bank.

5. Both revenue and capital receipts and payments are recorded in this account. For example, ...An organization that is exclusively set up to carryon with the object of carrying out social service or promo & organization of social activities, is a non-trading enterprise. payment for rent and payment for building and machinery both are recorded on its payments side. Similarly, receipts on account of subscription and machinery are shown on the receipts side.

6. Usually, it shows a debit balance which represents cash in hand and at bank. However, in case of bank overdraft, which is larger than cash in hand, the account will show a credit balance.

7. Receipts and payments account fails to disclose gain or loss made by the concern during the period because (a) it is prepared on actual receipt basis i.e. it records all receipts-irrespective of the period to which it relates (previous year, current year or future), (b) it also ignores the nature of the receipts and payments (whether capital or revenue). I

8. Accounting concept of gain or loss is based on "accrual concept" which by its very nature "receipts and payments account" is not capable of considering. Therefore, fails to disclose gain or loss (earned or suffered by the concern) during the period. For example, this account ignores: !

(i) Decrease or increase i.e. depreciation or appreciation in the value of assets;

(ii) Increase or decrease in the value of stock;

(iii) Provision for expenses incurred but payments not made-outstanding expenses.

(iv) Accounting for payment in advance for the services to be utilized in the next accounting period-prepaid expenses.
It also fails to distinguish between:

(v) Capital and revenue payments-whether expenditure or purchase of an asset, and

(vi) Business charge and appropriation- whether business expenditure or drawings.

Limitations of receipts and payments account

Receipts and payments account suffers from following limitations :

(a) It does not show expenses and incomes on accrual basis.

(b) It does not show whether the club or society is able to meet its day-to-day expenses out of its incomes.

(c) It does not show expenses on account of depreciation of assets.

(d) It does not explain the details about many expenses and incomes. In order to explain such questions, treasurer of the club prepares 'Income and expenditure account' and balance sheet.

Income and expenditure account

This account is prepared by non-trading concerns who want to know if during the financial year their income has been more than their expenditure i.e. profit or vice versa ( i.e. loss). Since the object of these concerns is not primarily to' earn profit, therefore, they feel shy in giving it the name of profit and loss account. Because the word 'profit' is a taboo which any society 'looks down upon'. Of course, it discloses whether the concerned institution earned or lost.

It is equivalent to and serves the purpose of 'profit and loss account'.

It is prepared on "accrual basis" (not on receipt basis) meaning thereby that all incomes are to be included which have been earned in the relevant period (whether actually received or not). Similarly, it includes all expenses incurred in the relevant period (whether actually paid or not). This account serves exactly the purpose which 'profit and loss account' serves in a trading concern. On the pattern of 'profit and loss account' income is shown on the credit side and expenditure on the debit side. It also distinguishes between 'capital & revenue' items i.e. it does not take into consideration capital items {both receipts and payments). It follows double entry principles faithfully.

Balance Sheet

The balance sheet of a non-trading concern is on usual lines. Liabilities on left hand side and assets on right hand side. In trading concerns, excess of assets over liabilities is called 'capital'. Here, in non-trading concerns, excess of assets over liabilities is called 'capital fund'. The capital fund is built up out of surplus from income and expenditure account.

Distinction between "receipts and payments account" and "Income and expenditure account" :

Receipts and Payments Account

1. It is a real account.

2. It need not be accompanied by a balance sheet.

3. It is like a cash book.

4. Closing balance is carried forward to the next period.

5. Debit side is for receipts and credit side is for payments.

6. Closing balance represents cash in hand and at bank.

7. It includes both capital and revenue items.

8. It usually shows a debit balance.

9. It ignores outstanding items.

10. It ignores credit sales and purchases.

11. It includes prepaid items.

12. It begins with a balance.

13. It includes items relating to past, present or future periods.

14. It is not a part of double entry system.

15. It ignores non-cash items like depreciation, bad debts etc.

Income and Expenditure Account

1. It is a nominal account.

2. Must be accompanied by a balance sheet.

3. It is like a profit & loss account.

4. Closing balance is merged into capital fund.

5. Debit side is for expenses and credit side for incomes.

6. Closing balance represents either surplus or deficiency.

7. It includes only revenue items.

8. It may show a debit or credit balance.

9. It records outstanding items.

10. It records credit sales and purchases.

11. It excludes prepaid items.

12. It does not begin with a balance.

13. It includes items relating to current period only.

14. It is a part of double entry system.

15. It records non-cash items like depreciation, bad debts etc.

Peculiar items of non-trading concern's

Generally, in the exercises, the instructions are given as to the treatment of special items. Such instructions are based on the rules of the concern. These should be followed while solving the question. In cases, where no specific instructions are given, the following guidelines may be considered:

1. Legacy

It is the amount received by the concern as per the 'will' of the 'donor'. It appears
on the receipts side of receipts and payments account. It should not be considered as income but should be treated as capital receipt i.e. credited to capital fund account.

2. Subscriptions

The members of the associations, as per rules, are, generally, required to make
annual subscription to enable it to serve the purpose for which it was created. It appears on the receipts side of the receipts and payments account and is, usually, credited to income. Care must be exercised to take credit for only those subscriptions which are relevant.

3. Life membership fees

Generally, the members are required to make the payment in a lump sum only once which enables them to become the members for whole of the life. Life members are not required to pay the annual membership fees. As 'life membership fees' is a substitute for 'annual membership fees', therefore, it is desirable that life membership fees should be credited to a separate fund and fair proportion be credited to income in subsequent years. In the
examination question, if there is no instruction as to what proportion be treated as income then whole of it should be treated as capital.

4. Entrance fees

This is also an item to be found on the receipts side of receipts and payments account. There are arguments that it should be treated as capital receipt because entrance fees is to be paid by every member only once (i.e. when enrolled as memer, hence it is nonrecurring in nature. But another argument is that since members to be enrolled every year and receipt of entrance fees is a regular item, therefore, it should -be credited to income. In the absence of the instructions anyone of the above treatment may be followed but students should append a note justifying their treatment.

5. Sale of newspapers, periodicals, etc.

As the old newspapers, magazines, and periodicals etc. are to be disposed of every year, the receipts on account of such sale should be treated as income, and therefore, to be credited to income and expenditure account.

6. Sale of sports material.

Sale of sports material (used) is also a regular feature of the clubs. Sale proceeds should be treated as income, and therefore, to be credited to income and expenditure account.

7. Honorarium

Persons may be invited to deliver lectures or artists may be invited to give their performance by a club (for its members). Any money, paid to invitees, is termed as honorarium and not salary. Such honorarium represents expenditure and will be debited to income and expenditure account.

8. Special fund

Legacies and donations may be received for specified purposes. As discussed above, these should be credited to special fund all expenses related to such fund are shown by way of deduction from the respective fund and not as expenditure in income and expenditure account.

9. Sale of old asset

It is a non-recurring item. It cannot be taken to income and expenditure account. It leads to reduction in asset. Therefore, it is shown by way of deduction from the concerned asset. It is important to note that it is the "book value" that is to be deducted from asset. Profit or loss in such a case is taken to income and expenditure account. Where the book value of asset is nil, the entire proceeds of sale be treated as income.

10. Specific Donations

These are received for specific purpose. For example: Donation for building; Donation for prizes; Donation for pavilion etc. These are capital receipts and shown on liabilities side. It is worthy to note that such donations should not be treated as income because if they are taken to income and expenditure account, it will increase income. The increased income may be utilized for any other purpose. Thus, the purpose of donation will not be served. Such donations appear on the liability side because they create a long term obligation (liability) on the institution. For example a donor may wish that prizes may be awarded year after year out of the income earned on his donations. Such a donation account can't be closed within a year by transferring to income and expenditure account.

11. General donations

These donations are not for any specific purpose and being a recurring income they are to be treated as income and are shown on the income side of income and expenditure account.

12. Endowment fund

It represents donation for a specific purpose. Here, the object of the donor is to provide a source of permanent income to the institution. Thus, it is shown in the liability side of balance sheet. Any income earned during the year in such fund is added to it and any expenditure incurred during the year is deducted from it.

13. Proceeds of concerts, lectures and dramas or cultural shows

A concert is a program of musical entertainment. Concerts and lectures of eminent personalities are arranged in aid of charitable Accounts of Non-Trading institutions. Amount in the income side of institutions. Amount collected from such shows by sale of tickets is an income of institution and shown in the income side of income and expenditure account.

14. Govt. grants. These grants are of two types :

(i) Maintenance grants; and

(ii) Development grants.

The maintenance grants are for meeting recurring expenses. These are treated as income and shown in the income side of income and expenditure account. The development grant is for acquiring assets. A development grant is a liability.

15. Accumulated (Capital) Fund

All entities, profit seeking on non-profit seeking require money for carrying out their activities. In business organization such money is called capital while in case of non-profit organizations it is known by various names such as Capital fund or Accumulated fund.

It represents the surplus of assets over outside liabilities of the organization. It is usually made up by special donations; legacies; capitalization of admission fee ; life membership fee etc. It is increased (or decreased) by any surplus (or deficit) on the Income and Expenditure account. Some of the lesser known names given to this item are General fund or Surplus account.

So you survived it all..... you emerged with your business intact, but your balance sheet has been savaged, and your workforce traumatized?? You battled through this "perfect storm", and consider yourself amongst the fortunate ones. Did your executives pat themselves on the back "if we can survive that, we can survive anything"?

Q4 - TIME TO RE-THINK

In this brief article we argue however; that this is not a time for navel gazing and vivisection of our how we survived and what we learned. We argue instead that; if any time in the economic cycle is perfect for aggressive planning, and even more aggressive action, it is now.

Q4 2009 - strategic planning time... and time to get really creative! Consider these suggestions - they may be painful, and they may not be for you.... BUT.....

GET BLUE OCEAN

In 2009, did Revenue growth take a back seat.....why? Were you in 'survival mode"? Were there no opportunities for acquisitions, or new product lines, no openings in emerging markets?

Survival strategies are not success strategies.

Now is the perfect time to get BLUE OCEAN in your thinking:

· seek out the un-served market segments,

· search for pioneering technologies,

· challenge your supply line model and break the value - cost trade-off;

· challenge existing market boundaries, and create uncontested market space.

Example

Tata built the NANO, focusing on an un-served market segment in India of potential car owners who can only afford $2500 - building modest unit level profits, but enormous market presence. Tata applied Blue Ocean thinking to its supply line.; building partnerships with a limited number of suppliers and putting everyone in the same room to work through problems and innovate- thereby delivering a unique value proposition, which makes the NANO viable.

RE-ALIGN

Did the recession require you to combine business units, realign teams, and divest layers of management? Or did you simply tighten your belt?

How do you ensure that you remain competitive? How do you structure your organization so it is most effective and manage resources so the company' most profitable? Winning companies will take this planning opportunity to realign their structures by consolidating, merging, acquiring and investing now in capabilities that will best differentiate them from their competitors.

Successful companies in every industry need to make portfolio decisions that:

a. Build on the distinctive competencies they already have;

b. Acquire businesses that complement or extend those competencies, and

c. Divest businesses that require inconsistent competencies, driving down costs in the process.

DIVEST

What's has been clear from our experiences in 2009, is that there is the potential for discontinuous change in the structure of most industries. Rapid growth experienced up to mid 2008 provides no assurance of future survival. Your, success hinges on your ability to adapt immediately and continually to structural changes, and seize strategic opportunities. These opportunities are likely to be present in front of you now.

Senior Executives need to ask:

· Is this business core to your company's future value?

· Can you envision it as the basis for a sustaining stream of growth opportunities?

· Does it offer a path to building financial performance that is greater than what investors can earn elsewhere in their equity portfolios?

Instinctively, we react cautiously to any surgery in the portfolio fearing the loss of a revenue stream now, which cannot ever be recovered. More likely however, the disappearance of poorly performing assets, will mean an opportunity to focus on growing more promising lines of business, or facilities at a faster rate.

GET NEW BLOOD

Did you have contingencies ready in 2008? Did you respond quickly enough to market decline? Did you divest uncompetitive activities? Did you right size effectively? or did you opt for the 15% across the board slash and burn strategy?

If you answer to most of these in 'no', then who was responsible? Who was in charge? Who had failed to recession proof the portfolio (are we dreaming here?), Who failed to dump the underperforming lines of business? Who failed to cut the high costing underperforming managers, while cutting the hard working front-line staff (sound familiar?)?

· Anyone willing to put their hands up? "Global melt down' is a humdinger of an excuse for failure!

· So... time for new blood... the talent pool is rich, the time is now.

TWEAK YOUR CULTURE

Fear permeated all workforces in 2009. Fear crushes motivation and energy. Creativity and innovation are inextricably linked to energy, and motivation. The creative spirit is essential to drive your organization out of the current economic and emotional malaise.

The conventional focus of organizational behavior therapists argue we need to extract more value from de-motivated and detached workers through the latest fashionable techniques of "motivation", "engagement", engendering "discretionary effort" etc.

Reality however is often painful: you will need to rebuild goodwill in your workforce, particularly if engaging in any aggressive re-alignment, and asset divestment (human or other).

First - understand your culture....is it cohesive, is it participative? Does you workforce feel aligned with your values and your vision? (Affiliation). Or is it overtly performance focused? Failure to deliver bites hard in times of downturn. Performance - focused cultures feel this pain the most.

We suggest you SURVEY your CULTURE to learn what you have, and know what you need. Then align organizational development initiatives with your strategic growth priorities.
Invest in your Leadership

Your talented high performers will probably be very skeptical of simplistic approaches to "cultural engineering". Indeed, it is our contention that high performers are often turned off by bureaucratic process, by internal politics, by smoothing over the 'crack's with statements of "shared cultural values", and - above all -, they will be disenchanted by inadequate leadership.

Ineffective leadership is immensely costly - we only have to look around the global business landscape today to see the remnants of companies which were once dominant. Much of the blame for their demise lies squarely in complacent, short-termist and poorly educated and trained leadership.

The conventional wisdom has it, that in uncertain times the role of the leader is to provide certainty. But smart people know that certainly in business is illusory - it is in the ability to adapt, and to cope with constant change that true leadership emerges.

Adaptability, managing change, thinking strategically are learned competencies - they are not simple attributes. Invest in DEVELOPING your LEADERS as a matter of priority.

EMBRACE WEB 2 - REALLY!

Web2 - not just having a web site. or an intranet. How much is your ERP costing you? How much is your CRM system costing?... what is the real ROI? what is the true cost of ownership - did it cost 5 times the original price of the software (the normal projected Total Cost of Ownership)?

Today, SaaS (Software as a Service) offers vastly lower Total cost of ownership, and delivers much, if not all the functionally of conventional locally hosted software - at a fraction of the price. (Salesforce.com etc).

How web 2 are your communications systems? Do you still fly managers from field operations, or offshore locations in for QPRs - why... how much does it cost? Does your organization embrace interconnectivity? Do your employees collaborate virtually? Are there forums for them to do so? How much value can be generated through enhanced collaboration?

Web 2 also enables you to offshore numerous tasks which would have been unmanageable 5 years ago... where is your drawing office or your design facility located?

Not to mention - Marketing with twitter, facebook, squidoo to name a few.

Make 2010 your Year - Live Long and Prosper!

Explanation of Certain items of Profit and Loss Account

1. Salaries

Salaries are paid for the services of employees and are debited to profit and loss ac- count being indirect expense. If any salary has been paid to proprietor or partners, it should be shown separately because it requires special treatment at the time of income tax assessment.

2. Salaries and Wages

When wages account is included with salaries it treated is as indirect expense and is taken into profit and loss account.

3. Rent

Rent of the office shop showroom or godown is an indirect expense and so is debited to profit & loss account. However, rent of factory is debited to trading account. When a part of the building has been sublet the rent received should be shown on the credit side of profit and loss account as a separate item.

4. Rates and Taxes

These are levied by the local authorities to meet public expenditure. It being an indirect expenditure is shown on the debit side of profit and loss account.

5. Interest

Interest on loan, overdraft or overdue debts is payable by the firm. It is an indirect expense; so debited to profit and loss account. Interest on loan advanced by the firm on depositor investments is an income of the firm and so is credited to the profit and loss account.

If business has paid any interest on capital to its proprietor or partners it should also be debited in the profit and loss account but separately because this item needs special treatment at the time of income-tax assessment.

6. Commission

In business sometimes agents are appointed to effect sales, who are paid commission as their remuneration. So this being a selling expenses is shown on the debit side of profit and loss account. Sometimes commission is also paid on purchases of goods, such 'as expense should be debited in the trading account. Sometimes the firm can also act as an agent to the other business houses and in such cases it receives commission from them. Commission so received is shown on the credit side of profit and loss account.

7. Trade Expenses

They are also termed as 'sundry expenses'. Trade expenses represent expenses of such a nature for which it is not worthwhile to open separate accounts. Trade expenses are not taken to trading account.

8. Repairs

Repairs to the plant, machinery, building are indirect expenses are treated expense and are debited to profit and loss account..

9. Traveling Expenses

Unless mentioned otherwise, traveling expenses are treated as indirect expenses and are debited to profit and loss account.

10. Horse & stable Expenses

Expenses incurred for the fodder of horses and wages paid for looking after stable are treated as indirect expenses and debited to profit and loss account.

11. Apprentice Premium

This is the amount charged from persons to whom training is imparted by the business. It is an income and is credited to profit and loss account. In case apprentice premium is charged in advance for two or three years, then the amount is distributed over number of years and each year's profit and loss account is credited with its share of income.

12. Bad debts

It is the amount which could not be recovered by the trader on account of credit sales. It is a business loss, so is debited in the profit and loss account.

13. Life Insurance Premium

If the premium is paid on the life policy of the proprietor of the business; it is treated as his drawings and is shown by way of deduction from the capital account. It should not be taken to profit and loss account.

14. Insurance Premium

If insurance premium account appears in the trial balance, it stands for the insurance of the business. This is taken to profit and loss account. Insurance premium on goods purchased, factory building, factory machines are treated as direct expense and are taken to trading account.

15. Income Tax

In the case of merchant income-tax paid is treated as a personal expense and is shown by way of deduction from capital account. Income-tax in case of companies is treated differently.

16. Discount allowed and Received

Discount is a reward for prompt payment. It is belief to show discount received and discount allowed separately on the credit and debit side of profit and loss account respectively instead of showing the net balance of this account.

17. Depreciation

Depreciation is a loss incurred on account of use of fixed assets in the business. Generally, it is charged from profit and loss account at a fixed percentage. The students should exercise great care as regards the rate of depreciation. If rate is without words 'per annum', then the rate will be taken irrespective of the period of accounts. This is very important when the period of accounts is less than one year. On the other hand, if the rate of depreciation is 'per annum' the depreciation should be calculated on the assets with due consideration to the period for which the asset has been used in business during the year. In case of additions to assets during the year, it is advisable to ignore depreciation on additions if the date of additions is not given. Same rule shall hold good for the sale of assets during the year.

18. Stock at the end appearing in the trial balance.

It is important to emphasize the rule that balance appearing in the trial balance is taken to one and only one place. It may either be trading account or profit and loss account or balance sheet. Since stock at the end is an asset, it will betaken to balance sheet. On the other hand, so long as there is stock in trade, account for that must be kept open and thus be taken to the assets side of balance sheet.

Application Security risk assessment and risk management are vital tasks for IT managers. Corporations face increased levels of Application Security risk from hackers and cyber crooks seeking intellectual property and customer information. A comprehensive application security risk assessment is a modern day corporate necessity.

Application security risk management provides the optimal protection within the constraints of budget, law, ethics, and safety. Performing an overall Application Security risk assessment enables organizations to make wise decisions.

Web Servers - Application Security

Web Servers are One of the most critical sources of Application Security risk to organizations. Performing an application security assessment and implementing security risk management is critical. Here are core points that pose a major security risk to Application Security:

Default configuration - Application Security

Web server default configurations that may not be secure leave unnecessary samples, templates, administrative tools, etc. open to attacks. Poor application security risk management leaves security breaches for hackers to take complete control over the Web server.

Databases - Application Security

Web sites and applications must be interactive to be useful and there lies the risk... Web applications without sufficient application security allow hackers to attack their databases. Invalid input scripts leads to many of the worst database attacks. Comprehensive risk assessment may reveal steps to ensure application security.

Encryption - Application Security

Encryption reduces application security risks and losses when Web servers are breached. Even though a company's Intranet server has greater vulnerability to attacks, encryption creates a lower relative risk.

India with the dawn of the millennium is facing an IT explosion where the IT industry is growing leaps & bounds and expanding multi-dimensionally. Presently India has more than 3000 IT service providers and the sector is projected to grow at a rate of 35% in the year 2007. In the year 2006, the 12 largest Indian IT companies generated a revenue of 11 billion USD. This growth is not only peculiar to metros but has trickled down to tier II & tier III cities as well. Today one can witness a boom in cities like Pune, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Mysore, kochi, Vishakhapatnam and Ahmedabad.

This growth has also spawn the need for hiring more and more IT resources to sustain and drive the growth rate further. Hence, a need to hire skilled professionals has emerged among all streams of the IT sector such as: IT education & training, Computer programming, Software development, Software Engineering, Database Administrator, Network Systems & Data Communication Analysts, Technical writing, Content Development, Technical support, Hardware Design, System Administration, Web development, Quality Assurance, Call center support, Internet/Intranet development, E-commerce, Help desk/end user support.

The present situation is very meaty for any IT professional, as there are openings generating for all be it a fresher, project manager or team leader, hence, giving a job seeker several career options. But at the same time with so many IT courses available and lakhs of IT graduates entering the job market every year, competition is also getting fierce. So, for you to beat the competition and stay ahead of the crowd here are some tips from the team of Naukri.com, India’s number 1 job site.

1. Understand your skill set -

Analyze what combination of skills and qualifications you have and then make a list of companies that would want to hire resources having a skill set similar to yours. This way you are streamlining your job hunt instead of blindly applying to all IT companies which could be completely different from your profile.

2. What benefit do you offer? -

A company is more interested to know the benefits it can reap from a candidate’s skills. The skills mentioned in your resume should sound beneficial to the recruiter efficiency & productivity wise.

3. Put keywords in your resume -

These days recruiters search for resumes mostly on job sites. So your resume should include terms or keywords that a recruiter would use while searching for an IT candidate. For example, JAVA, LAMP, C++, MIS, SQL, MCA, B tech. and so on. This will make your resume searchable i.e., whenever a recruiter searches for these keywords, your resume gets displayed in the search results.

4. Top it with a summary -

Recruiters often avoid lengthy resumes and they tend to overlook important skills when they have to scan a huge pile of resumes. So, to avoid this, begin your resume with a summary of skills, where you can just mention briefly about your skill set, years of experience and number of projects you have worked on. This will hold the recruiter’s interest and provoke him to read your resume further. For example: your summary could be ‘MCA with 4 years of experience in QA & Testing’

5. Proofreading is a must -

Check your resume thoroughly for incorrect terminologies and grammatical errors. No matter how qualified you are or how much experience you have, a small mistake in your resume can hinder you from getting a call from a company of high standards. So, proofread your resume and rectify all errors before sending it out. For example: Some people may write ‘data warehousing’ as ‘dataware housing’ or even ‘data warehousing’… these kind of mistakes can’t be ignored, specially in the IT field. You can also seek help of your friends and seniors while proofreading your resume.

6. Stick to what you are actually good at -

Mentioning skills in your resume which you are not well versed with may land you up in a trouble. If the interviewer asks you questions regarding these skills, then you may not be able to justify them with an answer.

7. Your innovations -

During the interview quantify situations where you have helped your team save both in terms of time and finances by implementing some changes or a new work procedure. By talking about these incidents in an interview you will be promoting yourself as it is immensely important to market yourself during an interview.

8. Your accomplishments -

Describe your Key Responsibility Area, the projects you have handled for the organization or during your course (mention course projects only if you are fresher), challenges faced by you and what steps did you take to overcome those challenges. But be crisp and don’t go on and on.

9. It’s okay if you don’t know something -

If the employer asks you something you are not aware of then simply admit it, instead of pretending to know it. It’s not possible for any developer or programmer to know everything and the recruiter would surely understand if you are not trained in a particular skill.

10. Do your homework -

Lastly, know the organization you are applying to or appearing for an interview. You must know about the industry they are into and try finding out the software and programming languages used by them. So, the interviewer will be impressed seeing your interest in the company and would consider you as a sincere candidate.

Getting a job these days is not a big deal, but what kind of a job you are securing is what matters the most. We wish that these tips help you land in the right job with a promising and a successful career.

In this article we will also discuss:

Revenue

Expenditure

The use of goods and services in order to earn revenue is the expense.

Hendriksen opines, "expenses are the using or consuming of goods and services in the process of obtaining revenues".

American Accounting Association, Committee on concepts and standards, defines as under:

"Expense is the expired cost, directly or indirectly related to given fiscal period, of the flow of goods or services into the market and of related operations."

(a) Expenditure incurred during the fiscal period and related to same accounting period becomes an expense i.e. expired cost of that period.

(b) Expenditure incurred during the previous accounting period but related to current accounting period becomes an expense i.e. expired cost of the current accounting period e.g. prepaid expenses.

(c) Expenditure related to the current accounting period but not paid becomes outstanding expenses.

Expenditure is usually of two types:

(a) Capital expenditure; and

(b) Revenue expenditure.

Capital Expenditure

Capital expenditure consists of expenditure, the benefit of which is not fully enjoyed in one accounting period but spread over several accounting periods. It includes assets acquired for the purpose of earning income or increasing the earning capacity of the business or effecting economy in the operation of an asset. These are not meant for sale. Expenditure incurred for improving assets and extending an existing asset is also capital expenditure.

The sum of invoice price, freight and insurance charges, installation and erection cost and custom duty etc. will be capitalized in the books of a firm. These capital items appear on the assets side of Balance Sheet.

Examples:

(a) Interest on capital paid during the period of construction of Company (u/s 208 of Indian Companies Act)

(b) Expenditure in connection with or incidental to the purchase or installation of an asset.

(c) Acquisition of new assets.

(d) Expenditure incurred for putting the old asset purchased, into working condition.

(e) Additions and extensions to existing assets.

(f) Interest and financing charges paid, brokerage and commission paid.

(g) Betterment of fixed assets or improvement of an asset to produce more, to improve its earning capacity or to reduce its operating expenses or to increase the life of asset.

The cost of assets will be written off by way of depreciation over a period of its life. The amount of depreciation is a revenue expenditure and is debited to profit and loss account. The reason for charging depreciation to revenue i.e. profit and loss account is that the asset is used for earning revenue. Hence the depreciation is charged to profit and loss account. Thus, the benefit of capital expenditure does not exhaust in one year but extends over a number of years of its use or life of the asset.

Revenue Expenditure

Revenue expenditure consists of expenditure incurred in one period of the accounting, the full benefit of which is enjoyed in that period only. This does not increase the earning capacity of the business but it is incurred in order to maintain the existing earning capacity of the business. It includes all expenses which arise in normal course of business. The benefit of such expenditure is for a short period, say, one year only and it is not to be carried forward to the next year. The expenditure is of a recurring nature i.e. incurred every year.

Examples:

(a) Purchase of raw materials for conversion into finished goods.

(b) Selling and distribution expenses incurred for sale of finished goods e.g. sales office expenses, delivery expenses, advertisement charges, et(%

(c) Establishment expenses like salaries, wages, rent, rates, taxes, insurance, depreciation on office equipment.

(d) Depreciation of plant, machinery and equipment.

(e) Expenses incurred in order to maintain the existing fixed assets in an efficient and workable state such' as repairs to building, repairs to plant, white-washing and painting of building.

All these items appear on the debit side of trading and profit and loss account, in case of trading concerns or income and expenditure account, in case of non-trading concerns.

Deferred Revenue Expenditure (DRE)

Deferred Revenue Expenditure is a revenue expenditure which has been incurred during one accounting year which is applicable either wholly or in part to further accounting years. According to Prof. A.W. Johnson, "Deferred Revenue Expenditure includes those non-recurring expenses, which are expected to be of financial nature, distributed to several accounting periods of indeterminate total length. These are of revenue nature but are deferred or postponed. It is of quasi- capital nature."

In simpler words, we can say that Deferred Revenue Expenses are those expenses, the benefit of which may be extended to a number of years, say, 3 to 5 years. These are to be charged to profit and loss account, over a period of 3 to 5 years depending upon the benefit accrued.

Sometimes losses may be suffered of an exceptional nature e.g. loss of an asset (uninsured) due to accident or fire; confiscation of property in a foreign country etc. It is worth noting that the amount which has not been debited to the profit and loss account of the current year is shown in the balance sheet on the assets side and it is known as fictitious asset.

Development expenditure

In certain units like mines, plantations and housing colonies initially heavy expenditure has to be incurred and it is only after sometime, say three to five years, that the earnings will follow. Such heavy and initial expenditure is known as 'development expenditure' and treated as capital expenditure.

Purpose of Distinction

Profit and Loss Account is debited with revenue expenditure and credited with revenue income (i.e. sales income and from other sources). If the revenue income is higher than revenue expenditure, it will be a profit and if it is less than revenue expenditure, it will be a loss. Capital expenditure is shown on the assets side of Balance Sheet. Capital and liabilities are shown on the liabilities side of Balance Sheet. The purpose of distinction is to give "True and fair" view of the accounts and financial position of the firm.

This alphabet lists 26 key benefits and best practices of using a real estate blog. Not all of these entries will apply to every individual blogging scenario, but they all apply to real estate blogs in general. So you are bound to find something useful here that you've never considered before.

Here you have them, real estate blog benefits and best practices ... from A to Z.

Authoritative

Everyone knows you have to understand a subject well in order to write about it or explain it to others. When agents blog about the real estate scene in their cities or towns, they position themselves as authorities on the subject. In this way, a real estate blog can be a useful tool for positioning, branding and differentiation.

Believable

If used properly, a real estate blog can make the agent (or company) behind it more believable. And let's face it ... in the post-Enron, low-trust world of corporate skepticism, a little believability can go a long way. Use your real estate blog to communicate openly and honestly with your audience. Lose the fluff and the jargon. Be candid and sincere. And speaking of being candid...

Candid

It's a mistake to treat your real estate blog as "Website, Part 2." Blogs are easy to publish, so you can publish to them more frequently. In this way, a real estate blog can become an ongoing dialogue between you and your audience (potential clients). To get the most out of this dialogue, and to achieve the believability mentioned above, a real estate blog should take on the candid, heartfelt voice of the author.

Direct

Real estate blogs are direct-to-reader / direct-to-consumer. You simply type your message, click the "Publish" button, and your message becomes instantly viewable online. Unlike other forms of business communication, there are no journalists or editors to put their own spin on things. Your message goes from you, directly onto your blog, and directly to your audience.

Enthusiastic

In a perfect world, only the truly enthusiastic bloggers would publish real estate blogs. But this is not the case, and as a result there's a lot of "half-hearted" blogs online today. Half-hearted commentary stands out like a purple elephant in the blogosphere. This kind of blogging actually does more harm than good. On the other hand, enthusiasm comes across in blog posts -- but enthusiasm is both positive and contagious.

Flexible

The number of ways you can use your real estate blog is limited only by your imagination and energy. Maybe your blog will be a source for local real estate news. You can do that. Or maybe your blog will cater to a certain niche, such as condo buyers or home sellers. You can do that too. With the versatile publishing capabilities of most blogging programs, you can set up your blog to support any business, marketing or communication objective.

Google-friendly

A real estate blog can help you increase your online visibility in several ways. For one thing, a blog can help you expand your website with new content, easily and efficiently. Blog daily for a year, and you'll have 365 new pages of content. And search engines love topical content. A real estate blog is also more "social" than a regular website, so with time and effort your blog can acquire links from other blogs. This "link popularity," as it's known, can do wonders for search engine ranking.

Happening

Generally speaking, real estate blogs are much more "happening" than their website counterparts. Blogs are easier to update than regular websites, which is important in the ever-changing world of real estate, interest rates, etc. When you update your blog often with quality content, it becomes an active resource that people are more inclined to read, revisit and recommend.

Informative

When you keep people in your area informed about the local real estate scene, you increase the usefulness of your real estate blog. You also increase the likelihood of future business from those readers, not to mention the likelihood they will recommend your blog to others. Blogging is a simple but effective way to keep people informed. Before you publish a new post, get in the habit of asking yourself, "How will this blog post help my readers?" If you can answer that, publish a way. If you can't answer it, rethink the topic.

Jargon-free

In general, blogs are not the place for corporate speak or "fluff" content. This applies to the real estate blog as well. Write your blog in your own voice. Don't try to impress people with your vocabulary. The best blogs convey quality information in a conversational style. This will increase your readership, the level of dialogue, and (ultimately) the blog's profitability as a client-acquisition tool.

Knowledgeable

Dr. John Tuccillo, former Chief Economist for the NAR, recently said: "With the expansion of the number of Realtors, the level of competence has fallen to its lowest point ever." If this general perception spreads to the public in general, it could cause real problems for real estate professionals. This is another area where a real estate blog can benefit you. Use your blog to show readers how knowledgeable you are on your subject. Just remember, some of your readers will know as much about the subject as you do. So check your facts before posting!

Lead-producing

You stand to gain a lot from the interaction and trust mentioned previously in this list. When you interact with your blog readers in a positive way, you have a much greater chance of turning them into clients. You can also configure your blog to allow reader comments, which is another way to generate leads and start a dialogue.

Manageable

Blogging programs simplify the web-publishing process to such a degree that anyone can do it, regardless of their web experience. In fact, a single individual could easily manage a large web presence if it were built on blogging technology. This is ideal for real estate agents who operate independently, without the benefit of an I.T. department.

Non-invasive

A well-written real estate blog will "pull" readers into the message, as opposed to pushing the message on the reader (like magazine ads). People can sign up for your blog in total privacy, either by using the blog's RSS feed or an email subscription option (if you provide one). The readers come to the blog -- it is not thrust upon them. As long as blogs in general adhere to this non-invasive, respectful approach, they will be held in higher esteem than other communication channels like email.

Operational

A real estate blog is more than a simple communication tool. It can serve operational roles as well. This could include internal collaboration (like an intranet) or outward instruction (like a home buying seminar online).

Purposeful

Before you publish your first blog post, you should determine the purpose of your real estate blog. Sure, you can always dive right in and figure out your purpose as you go. But your blog will be more effective (and easier to produce) if you have a purpose and plan ahead of time. Ask yourself, "What do I want to accomplish with my blog? Who is my ideal audience? What information would they find useful?"

Qualitative and Quantitative

When real estate blogging is done well, it has both a quantitative and qualitative affect. The quantity of content will increase your website's usefulness and search engine visibility. The quality of content helps you position yourself as an expert and differentiate yourself from other agents in your area (see entry for "Knowledgeable" above).

Recyclable

Blog content can be reused for many purposes. For example, you could expand your blog posts into article-length and publish them online for additional exposure and web traffic.

Straight-shooting

This point is somewhat repetitive of 'C' for candid. Guilty as charged. But it's worth repeating, so I'm repeating it. The most popular real estate blogs got to where they are partly by being straightforward. In this context, straightforward refers to both the design and the content of the blog. Real estate blogs that are "overly designed" tend to look more like websites than blogs. I truly believe this reduces their candidness and authenticity. The same goes for the blog's content. Blog postings that are straightforward and candid will generate more interaction and "buzz" among readers.

Thoughtful

The best real estate blogs are thoughtful. I don't mean thoughtful in the sense of "kind" -- although kindness does go a long way on the Web -- but thoughtful as in "full of thought." Each time you publish a blog post, put some thought into the content. Make sure it (A) supports your overall blogging goals, (B) gives your readers useful information, and (C) reflects well upon you as a real estate professional.

Usable

When you first set up your blog, it will be straightforward and easy to use. The default settings of most blogging programs are designed this way for a reason. But some people feel the need to clutter up their blogs with all kind of nonsense, reducing the blog's usability and readership in one swoop. Avoid this. Keep you blog clean and easy to read. Web readers and researches are skilled at hopping from site to site. They don't need much of a reason to bail out on you, and they'll do just that if your blog is hard to navigate.

Voluntary

You should blog because you want to, not because you think you have to. If you start a real estate blog just because everyone else is doing it, it will lack the heartfelt enthusiasm that's a trademark of popular blogs. (See "E' for enthusiastic above.)

Wise

Your real estate blog is the ideal place to share your wisdom about the industry. This will help you position yourself as an authority in your field (letter 'A' above) and foster the trust mentioned under the letter 'T' above. A "tip of the day" series is a prime example of this. It's a great way to share your real estate wisdom, and it's the kind of thing that will keep people coming back to your blog and recommending it to others.

Xstensible

Yes, I cheated with this letter. But real estate blogs are truly extensible (and you try to produce an adjective starting with 'X'). Your blog can grow as your audience grows, or as your company grows. You can add additional authors, perhaps a colleague in the mortgage industry. You can add sections to cover additional topics. You can expand a blog however you need to support your objectives. And it doesn't require an I.T. department to get it done. Blogging programs are designed to be extensible.

Yours

A real estate blog can have one author or several authors. I've seen popular blogs published by individual agents, as well as some published by teams of writers. But the blog has to belong to somebody. It should be yours, or his and hers, or all of yours. Somebody needs to own the blog. Otherwise, nobody will trust what it has to say.

Zippy

The dictionary defines zippy as "lively and full of energy." These are great traits for a real estate blog. If you are passionate in the way you publish your blog, it will eventually connect with readers who are equally passionate about the subject matter. These are the kind of people who will promote your blog without being asked to do so! It goes something like this: "Hey, Barbara, you have to check out this real estate blog I've been reading lately. Let me send you the link..."

* You may republish this article online if you retain the author's byline and the ACTIVE hyperlinks below. Copyright 2007, Brandon Cornett.

Technology & HR-Leverage one for the other: "Technology and HR are enablers of business. Integration of the two would mean not only harmonious co-existence but also leveraging one for the other. Leveraging of technology for HR would mean digitizing the mundane HR activities and automating the back office and transactional activities related to recruitment, performance management, career planning, and succession planning, training and knowledge management. Leveraging HR for technology implies managing change associated with technology by way of communication, training, hiring, retraining, stakeholder analysis and conscious keeping. Thus they can play complementary roles."

Technology and HR both have one thing common i.e., both these are enablers of business.

In recent times, technology has become synonymous with information technology, as hardly any other technological development of the past would have impacted all spectrum of business as information technology has impacted. Irrespective of the kind of business you are in i.e., services or goods, commodity or branded, trading or manufacturing, contemporary or traditional deployment of information technology in one form or the other is a foregone conclusion. To manage and deploy technology in an effective way, all business Organizations would need knowledge workers. Managing of these knowledge workers is the responsibility of HR function. Hence the integration of technology and HR is an absolute must.

Having understood technology and HR in the present context we must understand integration in this context. Integration would not only mean harmonious co-existing but would also mean one enhancing and complementing the other i.e., technology is used to enhance effectiveness of HR and HR functions helps in adopting and managing change which technology deployment brings in.

Leveraging technology for HR

HR management as a function is responsible for deliverables like business strategy execution, administrative efficiency, employee contribution and capacity for change. All these are accomplished through what HR people do i.e., staffing, development, compensation, benefits, communicate organization design, high performing teams and so on. In majority of these areas technology is being deployed.

e-Recruitment

Recruitment is one area where all the companies worth their name leverage IT. There are two different models of e-recruitment, which are in vogue. One is recruitment through company's own sites and the other is hosting your requirement on the other sites e.g., monster .com, jobsdb.com, jobsahead.com, naukri.com, and jobstreet.com and so on so forth. The first models is more popular with the larger companies who have a brand pull for potential employees e.g., G.E., IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, HCL, ICICI, Reliance, Mindtree consulting etc. Other companies prefer to go to the job sites. Some are adopting both.

E-recruitment has gone a long way since its start. Now these sites have gone global. Sites like jobsahead.com and monster.com have established global network, which encompasses separate sites for jobs in Australia, Denmark, Belgium, and Canada etc. Job seekers are able to search job by region or country and employers target potential employees in specific countries. For example, 3 Com recently posted a company profile on the Ireland site that highlights the contributions of 3 com's Irish design team in its global projects.

In the early days e-recruitment was plagued with flooding the employers with low-quality bio-data's. Again technology has come as a savior. Now pre-employment testing like the one introduced by Capital One, a US based financial company, help in filtering the applicants. These tools test online e.g., applicants for call centers. 'Profile International' a Texas based provider of employment assessments, has developed tools that allow instant translation of assessment tests between languages. Further developments like video- conference specialized sites, online executives recruitments and combining online and offline methods are leading to more and more companies adopting e-recruitment at least as a secondary recruitment method. Arena Knights Bridge, a US based IT company conducts video based interview of its prospective employees and only short listed employees are met in person. Even Cisco was to launch the same.

Employee Self Service

Employee self-service is perhaps one utility of IT, which has relieved HR of most of mundane tasks and helped it to improve employee satisfaction. Employee self services is a plethora of small activities, which were earlier carried out by employee through administration wing of HR. These are travel bookings, travel rules information, travel bills, leave rules, leave administration, perk administration, etc. Earlier all these rules and information were in the custody of HR. Every user employee was expected to reach out to HR and get it done. Now with deployment of ESS in most of the companies, employee can request for travel related booking online, fill his/her T.E. bills, apply for leave, log time sheet and see his perks value disbursed and due etc. E.g., in Ballarpur Industries Ltd. leave administration is completely digitized in its corporate office. It is working towards digitizing travel related activities, perks and even compensation management and performance management administration. 'Digitize or outsource all the mundane and routine focus only on core and value add' - Vineet Chhabra V.P. –PDC BILT.

Communication

Communication which is most talked about management tool has always been a gray area in HR management. In large companies with vast geographical spread communicating with all employees had really posed formidable challenge to HR professionals. Technology has again come for rescue. Starting with telephones, faxes, e-mails and maturing into video conferencing, net cast, web cast etc. communication is one area of HR, which has been greatly benefited by technology. Mouse & click companies like Oracle, IBM has an intranet which caters to most of the information needs of its employees. Brick & Morter companies like BILT also have made a foray into deploying intranet for internal communication, which has corporate notice board, media coverage, and knowledge corners.

Knowledge Management

Another area of HR, which is leveraging technology, is employee development. Programmed learning (PL) i.e. learning at its own pace is one of the most effective ways of adult learning. Use of technology for this purpose can't be over emphasized. Aptech Online University and 'The Manage mentor' are some of the Indian sites, which are in this business knowledge management, which is an integral part of any learning organization, which cannot become a reality without technology. Companies can harness the knowledge of its employees by cataloging and hosting it on the intranet. Talk to 'Big-5' or not 'so big' consulting companies you will find that main stay of their business is the knowledge repository. Technology has enabled them to retrieve it swiftly. In the competitive environment where speed is the name of game technology driven Knowledge Management constantly provides a strategic advantage.

If you look at HR module of ERP solutions like people soft, SAP, Oracle and Ramco they provide you with a comprehensive package which helps in man-power planning, recruitment, performance management, training and development, career planning, succession planning, separation and grievance handling. A transaction happening in all these areas are digitized and form a closed loop ensuring employee database is always updated. E.g. a joining letter of a new employee is system generated. It will be printed only when all mandatory fields of information are entered. Similarly a transfer order or a separation letter is issued from the system only if that transaction has been carried out in the system.

For career planning, success planning, skill and competencies matrix methods are used by most of these systems. They search an employee with the required skills first in the in-house database of employees. Once put in practice in letter & spirit, this system not only enhances business results by matching the right candidate for right job but also improves retention of employees.

Processing payroll, churning out time office reports, providing HR-MIS are some other routine activities of HR which have been off-loaded to technology.

Leveraging HR for Technology

All HR professionals, preaching or practicing, learning or experimenting, teaching or studying have experienced leveraging technology for HR. But most of us come across a situation where we need to leverage HR for technology. Let us understand what do we mean by this.

Whenever technology is deployed afresh or upgraded it involves a change. The change may be at the activity level e.g., applying for leave through the intranet or at the mental model level e.g., digitizing the process succession planning which have been HR professionals forte. The people have always registered adopting change. This is one area where HR professionals are to deliver i.e., become change agents and lead the process of technology and change adoption. The resistance to change is directly proportional to speed of change. Now speed of change has increased and hence resistance.

Just to take an example, most of ERP implementation in the world have not been able to deliver all the expectations. Some of these have failed to deliver at all. While analyzing the cause of failure it has been observed that 96% of failures are because of people related issues and only 4% are because of technology.

It is the people who make the difference; hence HR should exploit its expertise to facilitate the adoption of technology. I would like to put together some of the thoughts on what HR should do for this.

At the time of recruitment, stop hiring for skills rather hire for attitude and a learning mind. Skills of today are no longer valid tomorrow. Managing ever changing change is the only criteria for success.

Functional or technical skills can be acquired during the job. Hence recruitment in the technology era needs to undergo a paradigm shift i.e., from a skill/competency based it needs to be attitude and learning mind/ ability based interview. That would translate into hiring for skills for future. In IBM every employee has to fill in his/her individual development plan where the employee commits its learning one/two new skills every year thus remaining competitive every time.

If we look at the chemistry of resistance to change it is either a skill issue or a will issue. To address the will issue we need to work at a comprehensive solution starting from recruitment (as discussed earlier), reward, compensation and leading to organization culture which promotes change. A living example is 3M, a US based company, where innovation is way of life, where 10% of revenue must come from new products every year. For them change becomes way of life.

To address the will issue further organization need to prepare a communication strategy which creates a 'pull' for the technology. For example, in Ranbaxy, when they went for SAP implementation they anticipated resistance. To address this they started a house journal, which was aimed at educating the employees on the benefits, which will result from adoption of ERP, SAP. This created a need rather a potential need or a latent need was brought out. Adoption of ERP did not become much of a problem.

At times adoption of technologies is perceived as a threat by the employees e.g., automation leading to reduction in workers, office automation leading to retrenchment of clerks etc. HR needs to be associated with the technical adoption right from the beginning till the end. At the selection of technical stage if HR is associated, it can map the skills required and create a pull during implementation and adoption. Post adoption it can release the excess non-re-allocatable employees.

To understand this process more clearly we can take example of ERP implementation. ERP is taken as an example as this is one technology adoption which effects employees across the org. irrespective of function and position. Any other automation may have affected only a segment of organisation. ERP implementation in any organization goes through the following stages.

1. Selection of package

2. Business analysis

3. Solution design

4. Configuration and customization

5. Conference room piloting (CRP)

6. Go-live and production

At each stage HR has to play a role, which will help in mitigating resistance to change.

During selection process, the change agent can understand the business benefit ERP would bring. This would help him to draw a comprehensive communication plant aimed at creating a 'pull' for the change. The communication plan may use its various weapons from the armory. The obvious examples are Newsletters, Newsflash. In-house journal, addressing by the top management, web cast, open house sessions, meetings formal and informal.

During the business analysis phase implementation team is supposed to analyse the existing business processes. At times this leads to surfacing of some data which is not very desirable by the process owners, leading to resistance at this stage, HR has to be again proactive and carry out a detailed stake-holder analysis. Such an analysis should give a lead to potential areas of problem and potential champions of change.

Solution design involves defining 'To-be processes' i.e., the way business would be carried out in future. At this stage HR has to play the role of catalyst to turn the heat on. The idea is to ensure to make maximum out of an opportunity of package enabled business transformation. HR can play a role by arranging to educate and train the right people on best business practices, just before this phase.

During the configuration and customization HR has to keep on beating the drum, the customization of a standard package is a big no-no. Similarly, during the conference room plotting (CRP) it should help in identifying the right persons to be involved in CRP. A thorough testing at this stage would result in lesser pain at the time of going live. This is also time to focus on training of end users, the employees who are going to use the system once implemented. Training- retraining –training to ensure all the prospective users are comfortable with usage of software before the system goes live.

During the go-live stage HR has to work over time to keep the motivation levels high. This is the time when management starts loosing patience as one glitch after the other keeps appearing and virtually bringing the business to halt. At this stage, HR has to play 'conscious keeper' for the top management once into product relocating the surplus is a challenge for which it has to be prepared before it.

This examples makes it clear that involvement of HR during the entire life cycle of technology is valuable. ERP is not an isolated case. It is true for any other technology adoption only finer details may vary. Hence HR must play a proactive role rather than being just a silent spectator or mere executers of the wishes of business or chief technology officer in case of technological changes.

Having set the case in different perspective, it seems only logical to leverage technology for HR and vice-versa.

Part One

Knowledge Management, an overview

This chapter describes knowledge management (KM in short), types of KM, its strategies and tools. It will be presented what kind of strategy is suitable for your firm.A part of the company's information in this paper is fictive.

Knowledge is the most important factor for an organization to succeed. Knowledge management helps a company to act intelligently, be fruitful and earn great results with high productivity and quality through using the best relevant strategy ever.

To manage knowledge in an organization helps your firm to work effectively, spare time, increase your productivity, acknowledge your staff to new technology, easiest the use of your system, increases economic benefits, reduces risks by risk analysing method, simplifies the communication technology among your staff and finally help you to reach your goal.

A company needs to set their vision, gaol, risk analyses and use a relevant strategy. Many companies pursue different strategies which suit them best.

What kind of strategy should be used for managing knowledge in your company? One should understand that knowledge management needs lot of resources and every strategy can not be suitable for every enterprise. There have been projects which ended up to failure because of not having an exact strategic recipe or using a particular strategy while at the same time another firm uses the same strategy and succeed in their goal. The point is where to begin and what kind of knowledge process and tools must be used.

You need tools to manage knowledge in your firm. They are either codified that make your knowledge available for the others, or knowledge transfer tools which minimise communications problems in your firm. Sometimes you need active or passive tools. By using active tools, you may illuminate and notify the users due to acknowledge and help them to earn information. Sometimes the users may seek the information without using any support system.

Managing the knowledge is like managing the business and KM helps operating the business smarter. The following chapter is a short presentation of your firm along with analysing your situation, suggesting a strategic choice and finding out the possible remedy for implementation of KM in your firm.

About Bull & co

Present situation:

It is relevant to present your firms current situation for analysing better and highlight the gap and vision in order to find a better strategic choice for implementing KM.
Bull & co is established in 1864 in Oslo, Norway. This is a leading Norwegian firm and has been practicing law since the date of establishment. The company has offices in Oslo, Trondheim, Bergen, Stavanger, Tromsø and one office in Washington DC in the USA. Bull & co organized in three categories: Partners, associates and administration

The type of knowledge that your company maintains comprises of data from past cases and tactful information that is used for future cases. Bull & co is not interested in maintaining the data that does not directly relate to their business. Hence the finance, market and other information are not stored or maintained. Presently the company store information in the database but does not involve the special skill data that a lawyer has. Those data are treated as non-sharable resources and not made available to anyone except the person himself. The lawyers have a know-how, insights and judgement knowledge which are person- to-person basis strategy. The firm does not have an Intranet which supports communication among offices. The database does not have good function and the current system is not stable enough which is frustrating for staff. That's why the server is busy most of the time and employees have communication problems. The experts don't share their knowledge with new employee which makes it difficult to be aware of present situation. There are just a few courses every year and not everyone is aware of what news they have across the country and abroad. The employees at the office in Washington DC/USA are not updated to project plans and strategy. Currently the competitors have been able to open more offices which are a great risk for Bull & co.
The firm needs a great head leadership for leading and following up the important factors for implementing of KM at Bull & co.

The firm's desired situation:

Bull & co wish for:

* Juridical expertise with the best quality of service
* A great leadership
* More development in industrial products, media/culture/entertainment, information technology, the service industry, real estate & enterprise, corporate finance & insurance and public services.
*Gaining a number of assignments both from Norway and the other countries
*Bringing in more benefits to company and improve their economic goals
* Being the best well-known and best company
*Having Happy clients
*Attracting more clients from both Norway and the other counties
*Implementing usable IT solutions
*Competing effectively with the competitors
*Acting smart in a reasonable time frame /spare time
* Less frustrations among employees

Goal:

* To be one of the best advocate companies in the world

* To gain more finances and attract more affiliates and sponsors due to improve their financial needs

* Having happy clients

* Attract more clients

* Better customer service

Vision:

To be one the best, knowledgeable, well informed international district attorneys and advocate companies in Europe and possibly to have more affiliates in the USA. Their vision is to establish some offices in the Europe and Australia and hire more expertise and young lawyers.

Critical success factors

It is necessary to make an effective IT strategy in order to find out the critical success factors. The questions are: where do we start and what must be done to be successful? It is mandatory that the involved members have understanding, knowledge and information of the system usage. It is compulsory that the system should be effectively organized with high quality. That's why it must be updated all the time due to establish a good client relation.

Critical success factors & information requirement

*Establish an effective IT strategy: What kind of requirements will IT cover?

*Good customer service: Customers/clients demand, need, their expectations and their experiences

*Make sure that the employees have knowledge of using the system: Organizing courses for employees and staff

*Great law experts, lawyers and district attorneys:Customers/clients demand, need and expectations beside their earlier experiences of using the Bull co's service

*Profitability: What could be at firm's disposal?

*Competitor and analyze SWOT: The firms strength and weakness, opportunities, threats and analyse Competitors situation

*Swift and fast response when it's necessary, less paper works: How long clients should wait?

*Happy employees ( giving reward and bonus to well done jobs) take care of staff's needs which is possible through a good leadership: What will be the productivity, work quality? How could we increase the service quality & staff's productivity?

*Great infrastructure system and information system: A high quality intern system for a better communication with staff across the country and oversea

Part Two

Technological support (resolution)

Your firm suits the best for knowledge management implementation due to your inherent data driven business. The KM with law firms has to be tackled in a different ways, as not each and every data that looks important needs to be shared or managed. Technology supports the KM in the law firms in many ways. To store and organize the data for the users and electronic libraries and databases back up the retrieval are some of those ways.

Intranets are simple private networks and allow the computer terminal across the organizations interactions. It also allows the terminals to connect with the Internet. The benefits of intranet other then previously mentioned are:

*Ease of access

*Simple design

*Security and authenticity

*Company wide policy

Realization of KM at Bull & co

To assert more pressure on the need of implementing KM at your firm, a virtual scenario is considered. Presently your top-level heads and lawyers have gained lot of knowledge from their experience. In many of the cases handled by the firm, the knowledge from these experts is used. Thus their knowledge is an asset for the firm. Now if a person retires or leaves the job then the knowledge he has will walk out along with him. This will not only create a void in the firms working pattern but also affect their business.

Maintaining the knowledge will ensure that in case of a person leaving the firm, their knowledge will still be retained and a situation like "re-inventing the wheel" won't arise.

Prior Analysis and implementation approach

For maximizing Bull & co's knowledge related effectiveness, there are four areas which KM should be realized.

(1) The management functions: Mange intellectual assets, implement incentives to motivate knowledge creation, sharing and use, pursue knowledge focused strategy & restructure operations & organization

(2) The staff functions: Focus on lessons learned so far, knowledge professional's resource pools & inventories, comprehend multi- path knowledge transfer development capability

(3) The operational functions: Discover & innovate constantly, educate & train, maintain knowledge basis, conduct research & development, transform & embed knowledge

(4) Realize the value of KM: Use best knowledge, share knowledge, collaborate and use appropriate knowledge, adopt best practices and offer great service with high quality (Four areas of KM, Karl Wigg 1997 p. 7 inspired me to do the analysis for implementing the KM at Bull & co)

Bull & co need to analyze their work environment prior to designing the KM structure.
The following steps will help you generate an idea about your working environment.

*Carry out a survey to find out the information about the company.

*Find the gaps / loopholes in the present working structure

*Explain people the advantage of organizing the information.

*Develop a pilot model to shift from legacy structure to KM based structure.

*Assign roles and rights.

*Arrange for seminars explaining the importance.

*Before and After implementation training for the users

*Combine your organizational and individual knowledge as a result you gain innovation knowledge creation which is possible by shared knowledge

Technology related analysis ( strategy: codification )

There are many technologies available that can be used to implement KM. In your case codification strategy is relevant. You need to provide a reliable with high quality codified knowledge. You should screen each technology side by side and compare the advantages and pit falls.

*Have a great leadership by taking care of staff's needs, following up the procedures such economy, productivity, quality and KM processes

*Train the people, design the layout and components and decide the technology to be used.

*Technology keeps changing so make sure that your design and setup is flexible to adjust to changing technologies with the other employees

* Carry through a Risk analyses for IT system in your firm as a result the data and information will be safer.

KM tools are needed such as: Web portal: For receiving internal and external information, Make a document management system: For storing, controlling, keeping and searching files and documents, Help- Desk application tool: It allows your firm to manage internal & external client support, Intranet & extranet should be considered for your firm.

This is important to give an assurance of creating knowledge as much as implementing KM at your company. You should develop explicit to explicit knowledge due to innovate and explore a new knowledge along with implementing KM which as a result will lead to a great success for Bull & co.

People to documents(strategy): developing an electronic document system that codifies, stores data for reusing knowledge.

Economics of reuse: Reuse the software products which have been paid for. It saves work and allows your firm to take on more projects.

*Maintain people: Hire postgraduate staff, train them to develop and change your information system.

*Let the firms experts come up with better solutions by giving then a reward

*Keep your clients happy by giving them good services

*Have a great policy to have a functional internal communication

*Arrange seminars, courses and encourage your experienced staff and attorneys to share their knowledge

In today's business world, change is inevitable. In order for organizations to be successful and stay competitive, they must be able to adjust to change, which is very difficult to do because of various barriers. The three main barriers to organizational change are lack of change readiness, poor leadership and poor communication. For the purpose of this article, we will be only discussing the barrier of poor communication.

In order to implement any kind of change there needs to be good communication. Communication needs to be collaborative among employees going every which way-up, down and across - every employee must be included. If employees don't feel like they have been communicated to properly, they will most likely not follow the change agent or leader. If leaders in fact want to lead, they need to communicate and include its followers in every step of the change process. Employees are more likely to get on-board with the change process if they participated and contributed to the plan.

Communication also needs to be simple. Communication that is overly complex frustrates and confuses employees in the change effort. Employees are very likely to "tune-out" whatever is being said by the communicator. The change initiative should be communicated in manageable and achievable chunks. If change initiatives are too big, employees will feel over-loaded and not have the confidence that they will achieve the goal or objective. Or, for example if an organization adopts ten different change initiatives at the same time and runs in ten different directions, the employees may feel overwhelmed and confused. Nothing meaningful happens in these situations except that work feels chaotic and very disorganized.

Communication also needs to be communicated clearly so all employees understand what the change entails and the reason for the change. For example, an organization might decide to redesign jobs in a unit to foster job enrichment. Employees in this unit would receive many benefits by this job redesign, but if they are not told why they are making the changes, the employees may make false assumptions and resist the change! Communication can be done, for example, through town-hall meetings, company newsletters or the company's Intranet. Employees need to understand why the change is needed and how they benefit from it.

Communication also needs to be open and honest. Leaders need the reputation of being open and honest. Any information that is covered up will eventually get out. The more openly leaders speak about problems, the more trust the leader will earn from its followers.

Change is inevitable and organizations need to be able to adapt to the change in order to be successful and competitive. Organizations that have a good communication processes will communicate collaboratively, simply and honestly.

"Rubbish!" shouted the large, aggressive man in the red-striped shirt (we had to pay attention to him because he owned the company).

"The staff don't need to be told anything. When we've sorted out all the details and have the adverts ready to run, then we'll tell them. They don't need to know beforehand, it'll only stop them working" he went on to loudly proclaim.

It's hard to ignore the wishes of your client, especially when he's paying you so well and has browbeaten every other consultant, as well as his management team, into submission.

Yet my experience, again and again, is this:

If you don't tell them what's going on, they'll make it up anyway.

Employees not present at strategic planning offsite meetings aren't dumb; they're just not present. They know you're away (they think probably planning the future of the company, their jobs and their salary cuts), so they will gossip and rumour-monger to their heart's discontent while you are not 'minding the store'.

So planning your internal communication is an essential prerequisite to effective and committed implementation of any business strategy. It also goes a long way towards problem minimisation.

In order to minimise the internal and external risks of gossip and rumours, therefore, you should have it very firmly set in your mind that a communication outlining the outcome of the planning should arrive with all due speed, consistency and completeness.

The following guidelines have been tested by experience and found useful:

1. Design and agree

The communication strategy should be designed and agreed by all as part of the planning process, not an adjunct activity delegated to a junior manager who, in all probability, wasn't even at the planning meeting.

2. Tell everyone ASAP

Feedback to all those affected should take place at the earliest possible opportunity—preferably first thing next morning, before the rumour mill has had too much time to gear up. A useful strategy is to have planning meetings on weekends, with the staff briefing occuring first thing Monday morning.

3. One meeting to bind them all

Aim for one single briefing or feedback session, rather than multiple sessions where watering down or distortion of the original message might occur. Thankfully, technology largely allows such a single session to occur, even across multiple timezones. In such an instance, scripting of the communication would prove a valuable tool to consistency, especially where the text of the session will appear on a company intranet.

4. Follow up and re-purpose

A follow-up message (via audio, video or even simple written) to all from the CEO, emphasing the key points, is very useful. It too can be re-purposed to appear on the company intranet, or as a briefing to investors and the marketplace.

All of this might seem like overkill, a tremendous amount of effort for very little gain. But such a view must be evaluated against the fact that the long-term strategic plan will drive the company for anything from the next five to fifteen years.

Investing time at the beginning to 'get it right' will pay massive dividends over the longer term.

Internal communication is an effective tool for handling many problems at the workplace. It is also known to decrease absenteeism, alleviate grievances and reduce turnover of employees, thereby improving productivity and profitability of the company.

Designing an effective internal communication system depends on various factors, the most important being size of the organization. In a smaller set up, the head of the company could draft an internal communication strategy by himself or herself as most operations are under his or her direct control. When it comes to a big organization, other personnel like senior executives, managers and the HR department play a vital role. Another consideration is the flow and level at which internal communication must happen - should it be downward, upward or horizontal?

If you are struggling to communicate with employees, the following process will ease your problem.

Identify a common culture: Decide what type of culture you would like to adopt in the organization. Set forth the values, principles, procedures and behaviors that are considered desirable. This also has a great impact on the mission and vision of your company.

Use communication tools: Identify the means by which you can communicate with employees. The different communication tools at your disposal are:

• Paper-based tools like memos, newsletters, brochures, performance appraisal documents, slogans, pay packet enclosures, etc.
• Oral communication in the form of general meetings, division and branch meetings, team addresses, one-on-one manager to staff communication.
• Electronic tools like e-mail, website and intranet.
• Training sessions designed for teaching special skills, or team building activities.

Match tools with goals: You need to determine which tools are best suited to the goals of the company. For instance, a memo might work when a manager wishes to communicate specific work related instructions to a limited number of subordinates, but a newsletter is the thing to use when you want to talk to all the employees about the company's achievements.

Prepare yourself: The next step to ensuring effective internal communication is to know what to communicate and how to go about it. For example, criticism is best offered face to face, in private, while praise must be publicly proclaimed.

Think creatively: Like any tool, those of internal communication also wear off with time and overuse. Infuse creativity and change to keep the interest alive.

Now that you understand the process, let's look at the attributes of a good internal communication strategy:

Well-timed: Any communication or message from the company should be passed on to the employees before they get to hear it from outside sources.

Unambiguous: It should also say everything clearly - that means the message should be comprehensive and easily understood.

Crisp and informative: Remember to keep your message as short as possible. Also, the key message should be relevant to the reader.

Exciting: Keep the communication interesting if you'd like it to register. In a world of information overload, most of which is boring, the last thing you need is to add to the burden!

Remember that developing and implementing strategic internal communication can benefit your organization immensely. Books like "Effective internal communication starts at the top" and "Making the connections: Using internal communication to turn strategy into action" and "Effective internal communication" can help you get started.

While it would be nice to have the oratory skill of Tony Blair or to possess the ability to write like Jim Collins you don’t have to be a polished public speaker or a prolific writer to be an effective communicator. It can take years of training to master the art of weaving together great word pictures in either written or oral form. While I suggest to all my clients that they continually seek to improve their written and oral communication ability, this article will focus on 5 actionable steps that can be implemented immediately by senior executives to achieve an almost instantaneous improvement in communications productivity.

Much has been written about the art and science of external communication, but the importance of internal communication is often overlooked. It is just assumed that executives communicate well with management, management communicates well with staff and that peers communicate well with one another. Any business is only as effective as its ability to excel at managing its internal corporate communications.

I believe that 90+ percent of all problems in business can be avoided with excellent communication. Effective communication is motivating, unifying, efficient and absolutely essential to productivity and corporate success. Excellent communicators are contagious. Their ability to influence, motivate and to catalyze change is a well known fact. Examine any leading company and you’ll find an emphasis placed on effective communication from the C-suite down to the receptionist.

As a senior executive it is important to lead by example. Leaders must be great communicators. If your executive leadership promotes clear, open and honest communication the rest of the organization will follow suit. Begin by incorporating the following 5 items into your communications arsenal:

1. Walk the Floor: In every senior leadership position I have held I have made it a point when not traveling to get out of my office and tour the building each and every day. I make a point to stop and talk to as many people as possible even if the conversation is only a brief one. Too many executives hide out in the corner office to their own detriment. Walking the floor gives you perspective and insight into what is really happening in the trenches giving you a feel for the business that you would never have from solely from reading a management report.

2. Hit Conflict Head-on: Never stick your head in the sand. Problems don’t solve themselves and will only get worse if not attended to. Conflict is a reality of business and therefore conflict resolution is a skill set that must be honed to perfection. I have always made it a policy to aggressively seek out conflict and deal with it on my terms before conflict finds me and I have terms dictated to me.

3. Utilize Technology: There is only so much time in the day and while technology is certainly no substitute for direct personal communication, used properly it can nicely augment your efforts and increase your leverage. If you are not effectively utilizing your company intranet, instant messaging, e-mail, mobile communications, newsletters, Webinars, conference calls, etc. then you are not even coming close to communicating at an optimum level.

4. Maximize Meetings: While I often refer to meetings as a necessary evil, when my attendance is required you can bet that I will maximize the time spent in said meetings. Don’t have meetings just for the sake of having meetings and don’t call a meeting without a purpose that results in actionable items. All meetings should be managed according to an agenda and should start and end on time. If your employees know that meetings are productive they will come prepared to add value and get things done as opposed to resenting just another time suck being imposed upon them.

5. Make the Most of Lunches: While I typically prefer to work through lunch I have always made it a point to take an employee to lunch once each week. Don’t fall into the lunch bunch click of having casual “executive lunches” with the same group on a frequent basis. The lunch bunch mentality is rarely productive and can in fact become very non-productive. Much like “walking the floor” the employee lunch is a good chance to build relationships, gather information, mentor, coach and influence behavior.

There are very few areas of personal development that will produce the return on investment that improving your communications skills will provide. Work tirelessly in improving both your personal communications ability and the quality and consistency of your internal corporate communications and watch the value of both your personal stock and your company stock skyrocket.