Introduction to Information Rights Management

Information Rights management

There is only one technology that fully secures access to the data regardless of where it travels. The solution is to build the classification metadata, the access controls, and the information about which rights are allowed to individual users’ right in to the data itself. This solution is known as Information Rights Management (IRM). The software development companies use this as a solution to protect the data. 

IRM is essentially a combination of encryption and access controls that are built into document creation and viewing software applications, so that encrypted content can be decrypted and viewed based on access rights.We examine the history of rights management technologies that began with the digital entertainment industry and led to today’s IRM solutions that apply similar controls to any unstructured data.

IRM shrinks the security perimeter to the information itself. With IRM, you are not protecting the location where the information lives, nor the network it lives on. Instead, you are applying access control, encryption, and auditing to the information itself. That way, regardless of which disk the information resides on, which networks it travels across, or which database it may be resident in, IRM is able to provide a persistent level of security to the information wherever it goes.

IRM provides security protections not only for data at rest and data in transit, but also for data in use—which, is hard to accomplish. IRM technologies are able to prevent things like data being copied to a clipboard and pasted into another application. IRM can allow authorized users to open content while also limiting their ability to edit that content or make printed copies of it. With this level of control for data in use also comes auditing of all access to the information, even after it has left the perimeters of your network. These controls are basically impossible to implement with any other technology. 

With its fine-grained data-in-use features, the most valuable thing that IRM brings to the security landscape is the ability to control access to information, every time it is accessed, from any place it is copied to, and for every single copy, anywhere—along with the ability to revoke that access at any time. Imagine the scenario where your custom software development company has shared millions of e-mails, images, spreadsheets, documents, presentations, and so on with your business partners, customers, potential acquisitions, and employees (both current and long gone). Now imagine being able to revoke access to all that information and ensure that, as your business relationships and trusts change, you can maintain appropriate access to information even when it has long left the confines of your file servers, content management systems, and networks. The security of the data is persistent. Unlike nearly every other data security technology, the information is never given to the application or end user in an uncontrolled manner.

IRM technology extends the reach of information access control to well beyond places where you can typically deploy identity and access control technology. However, as with any technology, IRM has pros and cons.

Thus, every software development organization take into account IRM for data protection. IRM is not a replacement for existing security solutions, but it is an excellent tool to complement them. IRM represents a powerful tool for reducing risk of data loss.

Author Signature - Venu Majumdar

Industrial Safety Products

Security is among the very most typical goals of a business. This expands not only to software  development companies but to workers and patrons too. This resulted in the creation of industrial security merchandises to be used by various sectors. Under these kinds of industrial goods, distinct classes might even be discovered.

The general types for industrial security products are chemicals, arc flash protection and janitorial supply, cutlery, emergency response, facility upkeep, fall protection, female care goods, flooring, fire fighting and carpet attention and heat stress supplies. Equipment for hand, head, eyes and hearing protection is, in addition, discovered on the list. To develop a fuller comprehension of all of these matters, learn about special kinds below the general classes.

Hand, hearing and head protection

Head the hand and ears are widely used to be able to create a worker work readily. Hands are used in a number of the very most essential elements of creation while the head is likewise essential in managing some manufacturing procedures. Hearing is in taking up company directions also important. These motives are enough for firms to supply industrial products for protection of the hand, head and ears.

The most typical examples of hand protection are a wide range of hand gloves, glove accessories and glove dispensers. Hand gloves contain chemical resistant gloves, cotton gloves, inspector gloves and finger cots. In regards to head protection, goods including speciality hard hats, warm weather and cold protection, hard hat replacing and suspensions are accessible. For hearing protection functions, earplugs, earmuffs and accompanying accessories are likewise being offered in a record of industrial security products.

Description of the several equipments is as follows :

Eye protection

Eye protection is now a crucial variable in regards to the topic of industrial security. With 21% of the absolute variety of workplace injuries per year associated with the eyes, the requirement for protective eye wear is now a sensitive issue for a lot of the individuals belonging to the sectors that are involved.

Head safety

Industrial safety helmets are extremely critical in such surroundings where an employee is exposed to some kind of risk. When they are useful :-

• Shields head, your face, neck, and shoulders against splashes, spills, and drips.
• Safety Helmets shield against impacts from debris or falling items, electrical shocks and burns, penetration and flammability
• The stiff shell of the safety helmet deflect and will resist an impact to the head.
• The suspension system will absorb shock which is found in the helmet.
• The suspension should suspend the shell 1 1/4″ for shock absorption and breathing

Industry safety gates

Industrial security gates are utilized in factories where there are lots of workers, or different individuals, doing lots of distinct jobs through the day; they’re additionally used in huge loading docks. There are several distinct occupations being done in factories, meaning there are plenty of folks running around and on buildings sites. This is why you may find many distinct, and why security is the most essential matter on sites of the nature, brilliantly coloured industrial security gates installed where they’re needed.

Fire protection

Fire is a serious threat to the physical safety and security of any workplace. Fire protection comes in many forms, from rescue and escape equipment to fire extinguishers and fire-fighter gear. The fire protection needs of your company will depend on the size and type of business you have, as well as the type of emergency response plan you employ.

Thus, all the organizations including the software development companies should consider the Industry safety standard and use of the safety equipments. 

Author Signature - Venu Majmudar

Comparison between CRM Softwares

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems enable companies, including software development companies to track and manage all customer interactions across the customer lifecycle from lead to order to support in one master system of record.

CRM software suites typically provides:

1. Sales Force Automation (SFA) including contact, account, and opportunity management,
2. Marketing Automation features such as lead and campaign management,
3. Customer support features such as support case and knowledge management, and
4. a unifying database and platform for companies to manage all customer data and customer-facing applications.

Different CRM softwares are explained as follows :

1. Aplicor

Technology – Microsoft.Net,Sql server

Company – Private

Pros:-

• Workflow automation capabilities stand alone
• Strong Business Intelligence (BI) & analysis reporting
• Strong feature sets and functionality
• Private assembly model a unique alternative
• Excellent customer support and client satisfaction

Cons :-

• Company imposes 10 user minimum
• No modular pricing
• Slightly higher pricing than competitors
• Only supports MS IE browser
• Company needs to become more analyst friendly    

2. SAP

Technology :-HTML-5 , Webservices,  Sap mobile platform

Pros :-

• Backing by the largest application software vendor in the world backing by the largest application software vendor in the world
• Isolated tenancy hosted delivery model is a welcome change from most other hosted CRM vendors Isolated tenancy hosted delivery model is a welcome change from most other hosted CRM vendors

Cons :-

• The product is new, shallow and comparatively weak when compared to other hosted CRM vendors; however, offers much broader and powerful ERP capabilities.

3. Oracle OnDemand

Technology :- Java, Linux

Company :- Oracle

Pros :-

• CRM integrates to Oracle Financials
• Nice dashboard
• Good data warehousing (lacks flexibility, but good presentation)
• Strong sales force automation (SFA)

Cons :-

• Not as strong marketing automation or customer service
• Lacks deep functionality offered by some other hosted vendors
• Offline version is pretty bad
• Allegedly poor customer service and turnover

4. MS dynamics CRM

Technology :- .Net

Company :- Microsoft Corporation

Pros :-

• Good integration with Microsoft Office products
• Reasonable sales force automation (SFA)
• Strong technology foundation and architecture
• Strong partner delivery network

Cons :-

• Heavy browser architecture - fat client
• Not taken seriously in the SaaS market place
• Titan is Microsoft's first attempt at hosted CRM
• Weak marketing and customer support

5. NetSuit

Pros :-

• CRM integrates to back office accounting
• Good service level agreement
• Accounting is mature (company's original name was NetLedger reflecting it's accounting heritage)

Cons :- 

• Good accounting, not as strong CRM
• Primarily a small business system
• Signs of a lot of client turnover
• Allegedly poor customer support

The best CRM Software products are determined by customer satisfaction (based on user reviews) and scale (based on market share, vendor size, and social impact). Thus, the custom software development companies use all the above CRM software to satisfy customer and maintain the good relationship with the customers and thereby adding a value to an IT organization.

Industry safety standards and its implications : Part-2

In most of the countries, standards can be regarded as voluntary whereas regulations are legally mandatory. However standards are usually used as the practical interpretation of the regulations. Therefore the worlds of standards and regulations are closely interlinked.

ISO (International Organization for Standardization)

ISO is a non-governmental organization comprised of the national standards bodies of most of the countries of the world (157 countries at the time of this printing). A Central Secretariat, located in Geneva, Switzerland, coordinates the system.

ISO standards can be identified by the three letters ISO.

The ISO machine standards are organized in the same fashion as the EN standards, three levels: Type A, B and C (see the later section on EN Harmonized European Standards).

IEC (International Electro technical Commission)

The IEC prepares and publishes international standards for electrical, electronic and related technologies. Through its members, the IEC promotes international cooperation on all questions of electro technical standardization and related matters, such as the assessment of conformity to electro technical standards.

EN Harmonized European Standards

These standards are common to all EEA countries and are produced by the European Standardization Organizations CEN and CENELEC. Their use is voluntary but designing and manufacturing equipment to them is the most direct way of demonstrating compliance with the EHSRs of the Machinery Directive.

They are divided into 3 types: A, B and C standards. 

Type A. STANDARDS: Cover aspects applicable to all types of machines. 

Type B. STANDARDS: Subdivided into 2 groups.

Type B1 STANDARDS: Cover particular safety and ergonomic aspects of machinery. 

Type B2 STANDARDS: Cover safety components and protective devices. 

Type C. STANDARDS: Cover specific types or groups of machines. 

It is important to note that complying with a C Standard gives automatic presumption of conformity with the EHSRs. In the absence of a suitable C Standard, A and B Standards can be used as part or full proof of EHSR conformity by pointing to compliance with relevant sections. 

ISO and EN Standards (Type A)

EN ISO 12100

Safety of machinery. Basic concepts, general principles for design. Pts 1 & 2

This is an A standard which outlines all the basic principles including risk assessment, guarding, interlocking, emergency stops, trip devices, safety distances, etc. It references to other standards that provide greater levels of detail. 

In the near future it is likely that EN ISO 12100 and EN ISO 14121 will be combined into one standard.

EN ISO 14121

Principles for risk assessment.

This principle outlines the fundamentals of assessing the risks during the life of the machinery. It summarizes methods for hazard analysis and risk estimation.

An ISO Technical Report: ISO/TR 14121-2 is also available. It gives practical guidance and examples of methods for risk assessment.

ISO and EN Standards (Type B)

EN ISO 11161

Safety of Integrated Manufacturing Systems — Basic Requirements.

This standard was published in its revised form in 2007. It was significantly updated making it very useful for contemporary integrated machinery.

EN ISO 13849-1:2008 

Safety related parts of control systems—Pt 1: General principles for design

This standard is the result of the significant revision of the old EN 954-1 (which is due for withdrawal at the end of 2011). It introduced many new aspects for Functional Safety of control systems. The term “PL” (Performance Level) is used to describe the level of integrity of a system or a subsystem. 

It is available as an alternative to IEC/EN 62061 (see later). Note that EN ISO 13849-1 covers all technologies of control system whereas IEC/EN 62061 only covers electrical technology. 

EN ISO 13849-2

Safety related parts of control systems—Pt 2: Validation

This standard provides details for validation of safety related parts of control systems. It has annexes that give details safety components, principles and fault exclusion.

EN ISO 13850

Emergency Stop devices, functional aspects—Principles for design.

Provides design principles and requirements.

ISO 13851 (EN 574)

Two-hand control devices—Functional aspects—Principles for design.

Provides requirements and guidance on the design and selection of two-hand control devices, including the prevention of defeat and the avoidance of faults. There are various standards which are followed in the software development companies like ISO, PCI DSS, various outsourcing policies, network security standards.

Author Signature - Venu Majmudar

Industry Safety Standards and its Implications : Part-1

General safety goals for industry

• Provide workers with a safe work environment.
• Conduct routine/regular workplace inspections.
• Provide Personal Protective Equipment. 
• Develop and implement safe work procedures and rules.
• Provide on-going safety training 
• Enforce safety rules and appropriate discipline.
• Provide on-going property conservation practices.

Safety Rules For industry

• All injuries must be reported as soon as possible.
• No horseplay, alcohol, or drugs allowed on premises. 
• No alcohol usage allowed during lunch break. 
• PPE must be worn as prescribed by management. 
• All tools/equipment must be maintained in good condition.
• Only appropriate tools shall be used for specific jobs. 
• All guards must be kept in place. 
• No spliced electrical cords/wiring allowed. 
• Only authorized personnel can operate forklift vehicles.
• Smoking allowed only in lunch room. 
• Seat belt use required of all drivers/passengers

Here is a list of some of the typical international and national standards that are relevant to industry safety including software development companies.This section should be read in conjunction with the Regulation section.

Most of the countries are working towards global harmonization of standards. This is especially evident in the area of machine safety. Global safety standards are governed by two organizations: ISO and IEC. Regional and country standards are still in existence and continue to support local requirements but in many countries there has been a move toward using the international standards produced by ISO and IEC. 

For example, the EN (European Norm) standards are used throughout the EEA countries. All new EN standards are aligned with, and in most cases have identical text with ISO and IEC standards.

IEC covers electro technical issues and ISO covers all other issues. Most industrialized countries are members of IEC and ISO. Machinery safety standards are written by working groups comprised of experts from many of the world’s industrialized counties. 

Author Signature - Venu Majmudar

Automated Software Testing and related Tools

Software testing is major part of software development life cycle in all the software development companies. There are so many methods for software testing. One method is automated software testing. The objective of automated testing is to simplify testing using minimum scripts. It uses automated software tools to run tests based on predetermined algorithms to compare the developing program’s expected outcome with the actual outcome. If both the outcomes are aligned the program is running properly otherwise there is need for improvement. If two programs are not aligned with each other you have to do changes in the code and test it again until the outcomes align.

Automated testing is best to use when you’re working on a large project, and when there are many system users. Advantages of automated testing, for the custom software development companies, are its relative quickness and effectiveness. You have to set up initial test then it’s an easy process to repeat tests, continuously fill out the same information and everything is done for you automatically.

Many open source automation testing tools are available for almost all types of testing such as functional, Web, UAT, regression, performance etc. There are several criteria’s based on which a custom software development company can select tool for doing automated testing. Those are:-

• Target Testing Team
• Application & Platform support
• Testing Types
• Programming ability
• Application Technology
• Test Data Sources
• Testing Tools Outputs
• Technical Support
• Pricing Policy

Some of the tools that can be used for doing the automated testing are:

1. Silenium

Selenium is the best option for automated testing of Websites today. It is becoming popular and it is the first choice of automation testers as well as custom software development organizations for automating the testing of Web-based applications for both the GUI as well as the functionality. It  can also be used as a unit testing tool for JavaScript. Silenium  is package of various test components.  Selenium has following three modes for executing the test cases and test suites: Record-Playback mode (Selenium IDE)‏, Selenium Remote Control (RC) Mode, Test Runner Mode.

2. Watir

Watir is a set of Ruby libraries for automating web browsers. It  allows to write tests that are easy to read and maintain. It drives browsers the same way people do and also checks results such as whether expected text appears on the page. It is open source.

3. Windmill

Windmill is web application testing tool.  It supports cross-browser test recorder, JavaScript integration and an interactive shell to automate web browsers. It is open source.

4. SoapUI

SoapUI is a tool for automation of web application testing. SoapUI is available as a free open source edition as well as a commercial Pro edition.

5. Tellurium

Tellurium is a web automation tool that allows you to design and write your automated tests using plain English without any scripting or programming experience. It has a full library of “Plain English” commands – plus the ability to create your own – Tellurium’s natural language makes it easy for everyone to read and write advanced automated tests. No programming experience is required.

6. QTP

HP QTP uses Visual Basic Scripting  for automating the applications. Scripting Engine is available as a part of the Windows OS thus it is not installed exclusively.

Thus, for doing automated testing, a custom software development company have to analyse each tool in detail and as per requirement you have to choose best tool which fulfils all the criteria.

            

 Author Signature - Venu Majmudar

Importance of Project Management in Software Development Companies

In software development companies, Project Management is the art and science of planning and controlling the software projects. Project management helps you control scope, time, quality, cost, human resource related all the detail plan. It streamlines the process of developing any project and provides effective way to conduct the implementation. Project management helps in setting the goals, the actions needed to achieve those goals, plans how these goals are achieved.

Projects are completed by teams of people who are specially chosen because of their skills, potential and knowledge to contribute to the final output. Unless there is a structured and scientific approach to the managing projects, custom software development company in India would find themselves not familiarize and hence would be unable to meet the challenges that the modern era throws at them.

Major reasons for project failure are lack of communication between stack holders, failure to establish control over requirements and scope, lack of risk management, poor quality implementation, schedule slippage, poor plan, under estimation of the complexity, changing requirements, etc. Denver airport baggage system Originally billed as the most advanced system in the world, the baggage handling system  become one of the biggest examples of project failure. Originally planned to automate the handling of baggage through the entire airport, the system proved to be so much complex than some had original believed. Implemented system never functioned properly and  the system was scrapped.  The $2M monthly cost to maintain the system was outweighing the value the remaining parts of the system offered and using a manual system actually cut costs. Major Issues were Underestimation of project complexity, schedule and budget, Dismissal of advice from experts ,Changes in requirements, Complex architecture  Failure to build in backup or recovery process to handle situations in which part of the system failed is major reason for project failure .If they had develop proper project management plan this situation could have been avoided.

There are so many examples of project success in the custom software development company in India due to proper project management. An example of project success due to project management, Hotel management system for Wahda master development located in Abu dhabi city in UAE. They implemented project using this method and ensured that project management and cost consultancy to the development of software involved in every element from the master planning of the development to the concept development and management of all the details related to hotel. EC Harris developed detailed and systematic procedures through a project management gateway approach, which involved design verification checks, employer sign-off at various phases, value engineering workshops, and risk management. They worked step by step according to the plan for making user friendly and employee friendly hotel management site using proper project management and they succeeded.

Thus, project management is about creating the structure and managing  project commitments and proper delivery. By using the methods of project management, custom software development company can seek to achieve control over the project environment and they ensure that the project deliverables are being managed. Thus in this competing environment every software development company should ensure that they make proper project management plan to implement projects successfully. Without using Project Management, the managers and organizations face an unpredictable situations on which they have little or no control. Thus, Project Management is both necessary and essential to the success of the project and the software development companies.

Author Signature

Venu Majmudar