Software System Development – a Proposal and Concept for better Development by Effective Requirement Engineering

Software System Development – A Proposal

This article analyzes a company’s existing Software System and proposes a concept to develop a better Software System.

I worked for a company where my job responsibility was to develop a new software system based on an existing software system. Based on my experience, I have discussed some methodology, procedures and examined some concept to develop a better software system. I am open to constructive suggestions and useful advice regarding the concept that I have discussed in this article.

1. Foundation:

The company has an existing Sales and Distribution System which is being used by the department. When the system was developed, there was not any proper documentation and Software Engineering process was not followed properly. And as a result design was poor and the solution is slow. The data model was not so effective. And the developers who developed the existing system are out of company and as a result the maintenance is difficult since lack of documents. Along with the design problems, the solution is developed in old technologies and technique like heavy weight data structure was used in the application layer. The information domain that was designed by the former developers do not meets the acceptance criteria of the users. As a result, many tables in the database are out of data. A user of the system is asking for a new user friendly Sales and Distribution System which they can use without any prior training. From the experience of the existing system, the developers have decided to set a development goal for their future Sales Operation.

2. Development Goal:

The goal is to develop a brand new, reliable, maintainable, reusable cost effective Sales and Distribution module to optimize the sales process where the basis will be analyzing the existing sales & Distribution module. The development goal is to emphasize in the Requirement elicitation, Analysis, Model, Specification and validation.

3. Development Objectives:

The objectives of the proposed software development are:

To make the sales process fast and efficient by developing a Model Sales and Distribution module where the system will meet all the features and functionality being performed in the company’s Sales and Distribution process.
To add new features to make the process more effective.
To make extreme User involvement in the Development Life Cycle.
To ensure quality control. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) should be used to elicit requirements. “House of Quality” and “Voice of Customer” methods should be established.
To ensure that the Analyst, Developer and User s meet regularly.
To track the requirements properly.
To emphasize the Security requirements.
To document functionality, Information and behavior of the system prior to development.
To make the Data Architecture faster at data processing.
To make the User Interface simpler by making the decomposition of the existing Interfaces means by breaking the functionality of one Interface into multiple ones where Navigation between interfaces must be user friendly by using Evolutionary Prototype.
To use latest technologies and methods.

 

4. Concept to fulfill the Development Objectives:

If we consider the Sales and Distribution System as a product, we need to follow the concept of Product Engineering. Here the goal of Product Engineering will be to develop a working product that will meet all the Customer needs and the customer’s desire will be focused in the Product. The world view of the Product Engineering will be achieved by Requirement Engineering. The world view means the capability of the working Product. The System Engineer will do the System Requirement Engineering and will develop the System Requirement Specification. In Product Engineering there are four System Components. They are Software, Hardware, Data and People. When the System Requirement Specification is made, the job of the System Engineer is to assign necessary function and behavior to the specific System Component. When the allocation is finished, then the individual Component Engineering starts. So, Software Engineering will be done for the System Component ‘Software’. In this article we will focus on the Concepts of Requirement Eliciting, Analysis, Model, Specification and validation which is the elements of Software Requirement Engineering in the Software Engineering Discipline.

In the case of my company, the System Engineering has been done but not properly documented at the time of previous System development. Based on that System role has been allocated to the System Components. My discussion topic is in the role of Software and the concept that I will focus is in the Software Requirement Engineering phase of the Software Engineering. Here I will say what concept should be followed to develop an effective Software Requirement Specification.

4.1. Requirement Elicitation:

Before the Requirements can be analyzed, modeled and specified, the requirements should be gathered by the elicitation process. In the Requirement Elicitation step, we should follow a plan. Since there is an existing system working, we should analyze the existing system. So, one source of requirements can be the existing system’s Software User Interface. Existing System’s Informational domain by examining the Database can be a source of requirements. We should also gather requirements by the behavior of the existing system. We should find out the security requirements or constrains by reviewing the existing system. So, from the existing system we can get a rough idea on the requirements and the developers and analysts can have a basic knowledge base on the System that is going to be built.

One thing we should keep in mind that the early the requirement problem is found, it is easier to fix. So we should find the requirement problems at the time of documenting in the Requirement Engineering Process. Since the existing System is the primary source of requirements, we should keep ourselves busy in finding the existing requirement problems.

Secondly, we should gather requirements from the business experts and users of the existing System. Firstly we should make a list of all Stakeholders of the Desired System. The main source of the stake holders are the Developers, Users and the Customer. Here the users are the end users of the System and the Customers are the management stuff who has asked for the Software for their department. We should make an extreme user involvement in the development process. We should go to the right person to gather requirements means the right stakeholders should be identified. In, the Requirement Eliciting meeting the Customers will say what they ‘want’ and what they ‘need’. From this point the developers will be confident that they are solving the right problem. Since the basic requirements are identified from the existing system, the negotiation should be to the refinement of the existing Requirements and the problems of the System. In the Requirement Elicitation Process no single user has the complete view of requirements rather they have own requirements in a particular situations. So, user involvement is necessary in the Elicitation Process. Effective Communication process should be established in the negotiation phase. It should be noted that User participation is the determinant of System Success.

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a formal technique used at the time of elicitation which helps to develop the specification. Researchers have found that this technique provides a better customer satisfaction. QFD aims to listen carefully the customer needs and provide a useful solution to the customer. According to Herzwurm [5] QFD “bridges a gap in the software development process to the customer. This is done using a systematic procedure for teamwork and the ability to prioritize all information concerning product development in a justified way”.

“House of Quality” is a tool, used in QFD links the “voice of customer” with the design decisions. This means the tools make a list of customer “what’s” in one column vertically and in the next column specifies the tasks how the customer what will be implemented. At the roof of “House of Quality” is the discussion in the meeting to assist feasibility and changes that need to be done in the specification document.

Let me discuss some tips which should follow in the Requirement Engineering process. They are that the requirements should be structured; the requirements should be testable, reusable requirements should be identified, source of the requirements should be maintained, along with functional requirements, all non functional requirements or the constraints should be identified.

4.2. Requirement Analysis, Modeling and Validation:

Requirement Analysis will provide the bridge between the System Level Engineering and the Software Design. This means Requirement Analysis will provide the detail “what” of the software that will be built. Software Engineer will design the software by getting information from Specification that the Requirement Engineer will provide at the time of Software Requirement Analysis. Roger Pressman states that,

“Requirements analysis provides the software designer with a representation of information, function, and behavior that can be translated to data, architectural, interface, and component-level designs.”

Once the Software Requirement Specification has been made at the time of Requirement Analysis, the Specification will be used to asses for quality when the Software is built.

In case of my Company, the elicited requirements should be analyzed at this stage. By examining the existing Informational domain and the new elicited information domain, we can get a picture of the functionality of the Software. All the observable data objects should be listed. We should find out the flow of the information or content of the data objects and the behavior of the System that is the processing that happens by external or internal events. All analysis methods are related by a set of operational principles [1]:

The information domain of a problem must be represented and understood.
The functions that the software is to perform must be defined.
The behavior of the software (as a consequence of external events) must be Represented.
The models that depict information, function, and behavior must be partitioned In a manner that uncovers detail in a layered (or hierarchical) fashion.
The analysis process should move from essential information toward implementation Detail.

At the beginning of the Analysis phase, the process starts at Step one by creating an analysis team where the team member’s skills are assessed, project environment is created. In the second step of the analysis phase is to determine the business requirements and find out the functional requirements. This step is done by techniques like JAD sessions, Interviewing, Storyboarding, Use case diagramming, Data flow diagramming, Prototyping; Walk through, Problem recognition, Structured English, Pseudo coding etc.

In the third step of the analysis process, we have to determine the process model. The techniques used are creating the Work flow diagram, Flow chat diagramming, Use case diagramming, Decision trees, Customer Events diagramming, Prototyping etc. The process model is developed at this stage. In the forth step Logical Data Model is developed. The techniques used are ER Diagramming, Data Normalization, and Denormalization etc.

In the fifth step of the Analysis process is to review the documents of the previous steps. All the derived requirements are assessed at this stage. One thing we have to remember that the requirements that are derived at this stage must be testable. That is we should specify the requirements in structured English like specifying “The system will perform …..” or “The User will be notified by the System ……” I mean that the functional requirements must be validated by the User by some Validation Criteria when the System is built.

At the end of fifth step is to document the Software Requirement Specification. In the document the functional Specification’s logic is expressed by pseudo code, structured English and object oriented logic. Let me give a list of contents that a model Software Requirement Specification will contain.

List of Contents and their Descriptions for Software Requirement Specification

Content Name: Goal and Objective

Reference Document: Software Scope in the Planning Document

Description: Something more than Scope is documented.

Content Name: Information Description

Reference Document: Documents of Step 4

Description: Information Content, Flow and Structure are documented.

Content Name: Functional Description

Reference Document: Documents of Step2 and Step 3

Description: A processing narrative is provided for each function, design constraints are stated and justified, performance characteristics are stated, and one or more diagrams are included to graphically represent the overall structure of the software and interplay among software functions and other system elements. Everything is documented.

Content Name: Behavioral Description

Reference Document: Documents of Step 4

Description: The operation of the software

As a consequence of external events and internally generated control characteristics are documented.

Content Name: Validation Criteria

Reference Document: Documents of Step 5

Description: Validation Criteria must be documented for assessing Quality. Function, Performance and Constrains must be validated.

Content Name: Bibliography and Appendix

Reference Document: Supporting Documents of all Steps

Description: The bibliography Contains references to all documents that relate to the software. These include other Software engineering documentation, technical references, vendor literature, and standards.

5. Recommendations:

In some cases it is possible that operational principles can be applied using the Analysis process discussed above and build a Software Model and then move to the Design Phase of the Software Development Life Cycle using the Software Model’s Work product which is the Software Requirement Specification. Again in other situations it is possible to use QFD for requirement Elicitation, then operational analysis principles are applied and a model of software called Prototype is build for customer and developer assessment and then move to construction of the production Software.

In case of the Company of this article, they are using an existing Sales and Distribution System. They are using the System for five years but for the lacking of proper documentation in the Software Requirement Engineering, High Level Design, Low Level Design the Software is hard for maintenance. Since proper Software Engineering Process was not followed, results a poor design. But the software is running live and the department’s basic objective is fulfilled with performance lack. My recommendation is that, we can get all the basic and expected requirements from the existing System and find out the exciting requirements by QFD. Then apply the operational analysis principles and develop a software model called Prototyping and move to the design phase.

References:

1. Software Engineering,FIFTH EDITION, Roger S. Pressman, Ph.D.

2. Global Knowledge, Expert Reference Series of White Papers, Richard Frederick, PMP, MCP, MSF Practitioner, IT Portfolio Manager, 1-800-COURSES, www.globalknowledge.com

3. USERS’ INVOLVEMENT IN THE REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING PROCESS, Daniela Elena Herlea
Knowledge Science Institute ,University of Calgary ,Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4, danah@cpsc.ucalgary.ca

4. Domain focused requirements engineering: A case study of successful requirements engineering in a market-oriented automotive software development company, Irene Caulfield, Norah Power Lero, University of Limerick, Ireland, E-mail: irene.caulfield@lero.ie, norah.power@lero.ie

5. Herzwurm, G., S. Schockert, and P. Wolfram. QFD for Customer-Focused Requirements Engineering. In Proceedings of 11th International Requirements Engineering Conference. 2003: IEEE.

6. Ten steps to better requirements management. Dominic Tavassoli, IBM

7. Section III:2 System Requirements Analysis NYS Project Management Guidebook

Finding IT Jobs – Effective Information Technology Job Search

This article discusses some best practice job search strategies for the information technology sector. According to a recent survey that studied the best practices for prospective employees obtaining employment with a company, these were the best practices in order of effectiveness:

 • Social Networking With Company Employees Is Most Effective

 • Submitting Your Resume Directly To The Company Web Site

 • Submitting Your Resume With Staffing And Service Companies

The following strategies employ all those practices of social networking, submitting your resume directly to the company web site and leveraging the contacts and relationships recruiters have with company employees. The networking tools such as Linkedin and other such tools are key in your establishing contacts with employees of prospective companies.

Social Networking Sites

LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are becoming key with any job search strategy. LinkedIn is a social networking site with 35 million that focus on promoting contacts among business people, job seekers and those with common interests.

IT Staffing Companies

Staffing and service firms business model includes both contract, contract – permanent, and direct opportunities. The clients include fortune 1000 companies in North America across all industries. It is an excellent opportunity for the candidate to work with the company for a defined contract period while gaining industry standard experience and leverage that with new opportunities. A lot of the companies have some health insurance plan that is partial or fully funded. In addition there are training resources, 401K plans, and a multitude of other employee benefits. Submit your resume online with there companies and search current opportunities. Keywords are very important with resumes and any search process keeping that in mind.

Microsoft Partner Search

It takes some effort to do a search on Microsoft partners however do a search from the microsoft solution finder web page and go to the career sites. 

Cisco 10,000 Partner Network

This is a new venture Cisco has started linking skilled engineers with their 10,000 partner companies. These companies employ Cisco, Microsoft Engineers, Developers, Sales and Project Managers. The official name is cisco partner talent network.

Top 500 VAR Companies 

This list of fastest growing technology companies is published each year based on revenues from sales and professional services. They hire network engineers, sales, project managers, administrative personnel, and developers.

See network job solutions for additional job solutions to help with your job search process including the Job Finder eBook.

Shaun Hummel is an author of various technical books and has a web site focused on information technology job search solutions and certifications.

http://www.networkjobsolutions.com

Effective Planning and Implementation of Computer Technology in Schools

In today’s world, the workplace has been transformed.  Computer technology is present to one degree or another in virtually every job or profession.  To prepare students adequately for the workplace we must recognize that integrating computer technology into the classroom is essential.  To execute this integration properly, careful planning must precede implementation.  We must be prepared to explore different means of implementation inasmuch as there is no perfect system or a “one size fits all” software program.  Each institution must decide to what degree they will implement technology and how quickly they will do so.  It is also important to appeal to educational leaders for support as well as gathering preferences from both teachers and students.

In his article, “Investing in Digital Resources” David McArthur explored the notion that the decision regarding whether or not to use technology as an educational medium has already been made.  What must be done is plan carefully to ensure that the long-range goals of technology integration are properly served.

The leaders in higher education must “plan for and invest in e-learning.”  (McArthur, 2004, p3)  E-learning has become an accepted method of education just as the “Web” has been accepted in business and at home.  Integrating the newer technologies to supplement existing learning has become imperative.  When planning is performed correctly, the educational environment should be able to use technologies to increase teacher/student communication, enhance faculty morale by use of an “on-line resource center,” (McArthur, 2004, p2) use web-based programs to enhance recruitment, and better prepare students for the workplace.

There are potential problems that must be overcome when planning for technological integration.  First, the technological options are myriad and only a few will be appropriate for a given school or college.  Second, while many institutions become accustomed to the idea of augmenting their educational system via e-learning, it can be troublesome and radical.

Some key issues in the potential success in the adoption of e-learning can include (but is not limited to) the school or college’s present computer network capacity, the willingness of the school’s leaders to support change, current or probable resources, the potential accessibility of the e-learning services by the students.

In looking at a comprehensive long-range plan, there are a number of options available.  One is “Staged Implementation.”  (McArthur, 2004, p4)  While the critical planning should be virtually complete, not all components of the final plan need be in place at the outset.  A planned multi-year plan of implementation can be used.  Not only does this allow for the development of resources, it is possible to troubleshoot elements as each stage progresses.  Another is “Appropriate Outsourcing.”  (McArthur, 2004, p4)  Not every educational institution has the in-house resources (personnel, tools, equipment) to implement even a staged plan.  Outsourcing can be both cost and time saving.  While it may be difficult to convince some leaders of the potential advantage in outsourcing, especially since this type of expertise “is regarded as an educational core asset” (McArthur, 2004, p6), drawing comparisons to the business world may help to demonstrate the benefits.

In his article, “Herding Elephants: Coping with the Technological Revolution in our Schools” Scott Tunison addressed the issues of: 1. the extents to which schools need to visit computer technology and 2.  The tactics used to make the most of the potential advantages and diminish the potential pitfalls in the integration of the technology.

His reference regarding “Herding Elephants” is allegorical to managing the coming technology and learning to “integrate it into the educational framework” or moving aside and letting the “technological revolution” pass by.  (Tunison, 2004, p7)  Either way, educational technology is not to be ignored and it cannot be allowed to manage itself.

Fundamentally speaking, much of education is unchanged from long past.  The methods that have been used were for the most part appropriate for the subject at hand.  A perception might be that, if the concepts to be learned have not changed then a change in teaching method is not necessary.  However, even if some of the concepts have not changed, the application context as well as the learners’ context has.  While computers have entered the educational environment they often have been simple substitutes for other tools that already exist and are in place; tools such as blackboards, books, etc.  What this means is that the process of learning remains unchanged when new uses for the available technology are not fully utilized.

Educational reform is necessary if we are going to meet the needs of our students.  If our culture has developed electronic media, animation, etc. then that is the context through which we must reach our students.

The changes that must be made can make some educators uneasy.  The learning paradigm must shift from the teacher as dispenser of knowledge to the student as active learner.  Tunison cites Fullan (2001) in an identification of “three broad phases to the change process.”  The phases are identified as “initiation, implementation, and institutionalization”

Initiation involves some entity proposing directional change.  Sometimes students ask for change and sometimes groups of teachers, administrators, and parents form committees to begin a planning process for technological integration.

Institutionalization includes the perception of importance.  One might say this is the stage of “damage control.”  Clear policies, well trained teachers and administrators, and a supportive school board are crucial in this stage.  It is important in this stage to record relevant data regarding the program for analysis.  What was well planned and conceived may still have “bugs” to work out.  The analysis of the data can assist in the “tweaking” of the program.

Educators must be aware of the importance of technology in the educational environment and be prepared to integrate it.  Technology is extensive in our contemporary culture and reaching our students must involve meeting their needs in the world they know.  We may, in fact, reach more students and perhaps stem the tide of dropouts.

In her article, “What Students Want to Learn About Computers” Judith O’Donnell Dooling, has informed the reader that students, parents, and administrators have specific preferences with regard to computer technology.

Over time, the importance of computers and related technology has been realized.  However, while spending for computers has risen, some schools have not been as successful in identifying specific computer skills and its power as a tool of learning and teaching.

Student responses were varied.  Many reported that they began learning about computers at an early age, usually from a more experienced person.  Some students, especially in grades four through seven thought learning independently was the most enjoyable.

Interestingly, students of both genders reported that they had a reasonable confidence in their computer abilities, but some differences in perception were evident.  To a degree girls, but primarily boys, thought that computers were too technical for girls.

The experience students had prior to school, the teacher, and computer access had a significant effect on student computer learning.  Even if they, at home, had seen the computer more as a toy, they began to see them more as a tool in the school setting.  They recognized the importance and power of the computer as their exposure increased.

Perhaps unlike other subjects students learn in school, students exchanged computer tips, recommended hardware and software, and generally discussed the subject of computers during their lunchtime and recess.

The students also saw the importance of computer knowledge as it related to its use in the workplace after their school experiences.  They observed that, no matter where you work, you would be using computers to some degree.

The teachers expressed the concern that not all shared the same proficiency.  Many mentioned that often the students knew more than the teacher did.  Teachers also observed that, though the students had a great deal of computer knowledge, it was often limited to games and software.  Another observation was that computer curriculums vary greatly school to school.

Teachers expressed that computer knowledge needs to be relevant.  That is, it needs to be applied across the curriculum and used as an integral tool of learning.  All agreed that the role of teacher needs redefinition and adequate professional development provided to facilitate the needed change.

In conclusion, we have seen that computer technology in the educational setting is essential for learning in contemporary society.  Selecting, planning, and implementing must be done with great care to avoid waste and potential incompatibility with the goals of the educational institution.  School leaders must be convinced that paradigm shift is not an option; that teachers and students must assume new roles, and their support for new ideas is essential.

We must also be able to meet students where they are.  Our culture has created systems of technology to which students are accustomed.  To continue teaching in an antiquated fashion does our students a disservice, especially if we are to prepare them for the workforce following their education.  We must also be aware of teacher and student preferences if we are to expect them to fully utilize the new resources.

 

References

McArthur, D. (2004).  Investing in Digital Resources.  In J. Hirschbuhl & D. Bishop (Eds.), Computers in education (11th ed., pp. 2 – 6).  Guilford, CT: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin.  (Reprinted from Investing in Digital Resources.  New Directions for Higher Education, (2002), pp. 77 – 84).

Tunison, S. (2004) Herding Elephants: Coping with the Technological Revolution in our Schools.  In J. Hirschbuhl & D. Bishop (Eds.), Computers in education (11th ed., pp. 7 – 12).  Guilford, CT: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin.  (Reprinted from Herding Elephants: Coping with the Technological Revolution in our Schools.  Journal of Educational Thought, (2002), pp. 167 – 181).

Dooling, J.O. (2004) What Students Want to Learn About Computers.  In J. Hirschbuhl & D. Bishop (Eds.), Computers in education (11th ed., pp. 18 – 21).  Guilford, CT: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin.  (Reprinted from What Students Want to Learn About Computers.  Educational Leadership, (2000), pp. 20 – 24).

Fulan, M. (2001) The new meaning of educational change (3rd Ed.).  New York: Teachers College Press.

Effective Internet Marketing Tool Can Be Used By The Business!

Internet marketing is quickly growing in popularity. This is because people are beginning to realize the true potential of the internet for business. Competition is becoming stiffer by the moment. Because of this you need some sort of edge. People make use of internet marketing tools in order to get that edge. They make use of internet marketing tools in order to make sure that they remain on top of the competition. Different internet marketing tools are in use and yet it can be observed that only a few are actually quite effective. So what does make an effective internet marketing tool?1) Direction – An internet marketing tool should be able to pursue a certain goal. This means that an effective marketing tool needs to be targeted towards a certain direction in order to be truly effective. Let\’s take advertisements, for more details visit to www.marketers-traffic-course.com for example. The goal of an advertisement is to get people to do something. Now, the goal of this internet marketing tool should be tied to your goal as a company. Whatever the advertisement is trying to get people to do must bring the company closer to its goals. The direction that the tool has must be united with the goals of the company.2) Understandability – Potential customers must be able to grasp the message that an internet marketing tool is trying to convey. Although what the company is trying to convey can be hidden subtly within the internet marketing tool, it must be quite clear to the average observer. Some sites make use of articles as internet marketing tools. These articles may contain useful information regarding whatever topic that the person chooses but it should also contain subtle promotions of the product that the site is trying to sell. This might not be a blatant sales pitch, but the reader understands that the author also wants to convey the superiority of a certain product.3) Accessibility – A good internet marketing tool should be located where it can be easily accessed by people. No matter how good an advertisement is, if no one can see it, for more details visit to www.forum-marketing-videos.com then it is useless. It should be known that people are the target of internet marketing tools and that these people can have various interests. Thus, a company can choose to place its internet marketing tool where it receives the most attention by all people, or it can place the tool where it can attract the attention of the target market.4) Adaptability – An effective internet marketing tool should be adaptable to the various changes in life. It should take advantage of the various opportunities that can be found everywhere in business. It should be able to change like a chameleon and look natural in every new surroundings. Adaptability will ensure that the internet marketing tool will remain effective for a long time to come.As you have seen there are different factors that make an effective internet marketing tool. These factors, when combined can make sure that the business would remain at the top of the game. An effective internet marketing tool can be used by the business to reach it goals and capture its target market.That\’s not all, though. An effective internet marketing tool will ensure not only the success, but the survival of a company even after the tool is gone. When you cannot get a company\’s name out of your mind that\’s when an internet marketing tool would be called effective.

Effective Way Of Internet Marketing

The internet and internet marketing has revolutionized the way people communicate, the way people interact and the way people do business. It is such a potent tool that millions of people surf and make use of the internet every day in order to maximize its potential. In fact, the internet can be used for different objectives and aims and can be utilized in many ways.To say that the internet changed the way people market products and services is an understatement. This type of marketing has ensured that owners of business and managers of businesses can reach their target markets without using the tried and tested routes that are familiar to them decades ago. For more details go to www.auto-hits-machine.com.There is no longer the need to face the customer in person in order to market their; what they need to do now is to make use of the internet infrastructure in order to target their respective markets. Doing this means slashing the cost of the distribution of product information. And the good thing as well about internet marketing thru the net’s infrastructure is that there is an automatic exchange of information and feedbacks. Thus, the internet is just the perfect medium for cost-effective type of marketing. And that’s what internet marketing is all about.What is referred to as internet marketing is actually a broad term that refers to a number of sub-marketing types. For example, there are these search engine marketing, marketing through blogs, affiliate marketing and a host of other types of marketing.For the un-initiated, perhaps what he understands about internet marketing is that a placement of one advertisement in one widely-read site will do the trick. This isn’t the case. A more cost-effective way of utilizing the internet doesn’t simply require the placement of ads in one notable site. The owner of the product and the service must make sure that a number of ways of advertisement should be used and it should be synergized in order to get the desired results. For example, if you own a car accessories shop online, then it is imperative that you take a look at the kind of products you have and the target market of these car accessories. For more details go to www.perpetual-traffic-generator.com.Then make sure that your ad campaign must target the niche market you are after by using the right tone of campaign. It also matters if you optimize the placement of these advertisements online. This is where search engine marketing, search engine optimization and other types of marketing comes in handy.Though it may look good on the surface, there are some things that may force business owners and managers to rethink internet marketing. Because the internet is anchored on new and expensive technologies, then this thing can be the one that can put back some participants. Another limitation of internet marketing is low speed internet. Not all homes are connected thru hi-speed internet and a great majority is even not connected to the internet. Also the issue of consumers not having the ability to immediately test the products and services they are after pose serious concerns. These problems are the ones that internet marketing managers must face and address, in order to fully utilize the potential of the internet.

What is the Best/cost Effective E-learning Technology?

E-learning technology has been evolving for quite some time now; it certainly has evolved through its slow but steady start. It is now growing in use and acceptance. The adaptation of e-learning in normal business training operations is increasing and more companies are experiencing the advantages of the technology. An ideal e-learning technology should start with these three basic components – Learning Management System (LMS), Learning Content Management System (LCMS) and Talent Management System (TMS). LMS technology is designed to manage the learners: from determining what one needs to learn to perform in a particular position or task, to what the employee needs to learn next to be more competent. On the other hand, LCMS technology manages the learning content, which works on how to create content to be delivered on different platforms. Lastly, the TMS technology manages the workforce: from finding the right candidates to how much an employee should be compensated. The interplay of these technologies is the key to a working and efficient e-learning system. The best e-learning technology is relative and varies in case-to-case basis. What works for company A may not work for company B, or vice versa. It is dependent on what goals have been established upon the implementation of the e-learning technology. It is equally important to consider the capability of a company and how much budget they can allocate in adopting a new kind of technology. Choosing and maintaining an e-learning system for a company falls heavily on the shoulders of the learning and development team. It demands a lot of skills and competencies as e-learning covers wide areas – from research, content or curriculum development, designers, learning specialists to online trainers. But then again, the success of an e-learning technology is largely dependent on the employee’s willingness to learn. User’s acceptance can be one of the barriers of e-learning.  A healthy culture of learning is prerequisite to the company’s adaptation of e-learning. The company should continuously motivate their employees to enjoy the change if they are to succeed. The advent of computers and the internet has tremendously changed the world and changed the ways of how people learn. E-learning technology is one big part of the helpful change.  E-learning empowers the employee by the self-paced learning system and helps strengthen their social skills through the corporate community that is created by the technology. Another beauty of e-learning is its adaptability to change with the businesses. Though e-learning is not isolated from pitfalls; as it can also lead an employee to live in an impersonal world, it far outweighs its risks as it is manageable for the adventurous and cautious businesses.