Month: September 2018

Oracle Hyperion for better Corporate Performance Management, financial planning and business intell

Corporate Performance Management (CPM) have become key factors in deciding whether an organization is able to achieve its business objectives and targeted revenue. As the name suggests, Corporate Performance Management, an important aspect of business intelligence (BI), deals with performance of an organization based on certain factors such as return on investment (ROI), operational and maintenance costs, expenses, profits, and overhead. These factors are also referred as key performance indicators (KPI).

For tracking and to enhance Corporate Performance Management, many organizations make use of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. When ERP solutions are used in conjunction with Oracle Hyperion, a vast amount of valuable and key information of an organization’s performance and financial growth can be dug out. To elaborate, with the information gathered by Oracle Hyperion, it is possible to find out the loopholes in the different phases of a project, lack of technologies that are affecting a project, and factors that may help to figure out better and new financial growth.

What is Oracle Hyperion?

Oracle Hyperion is an appropriate solution for managing different aspects of finance, forecasting, preparing financial report and budget, managing database, analytics, planning and revenue management. Hyperion includes different solutions for various purposes:

1.Hyperion Enterprise 2.Hyperion Business Modelling 3.Hyperion Master Data Management 4.Hyperion EPM Workspace 5.Hyperion Intelligence and SQR Production Reporting 6.Hyperion Strategic Finance 7.Essbase 8.Hyperion Performance Scorecard 9.Hyperion Financial Management 10.Hyperion Financial Data Quality Management (Also known as FDM) 11.Hyperion SmartView 12.Hyperion System 9 BI+ 13.Hyperion Web Analysis 14.Hyperion Financial Reporting 15.Hyperion Planning

Explaining each product of Oracle Hyperion is beyond the scope of this article. However each product may be explained in detail in succeeding articles.

Oracle Hyperion training

With Oracle Hyperion offering a vast array of solutions for corporate project management, financial and business intelligence purposes, it has gained popularity tremendously among organizations. With its usefulness, organizations are adopting it at a fast pace. Not surprisingly, many professionals are enrolling for Oracle Hyperion training and certification programs as they have realized that how Oracle Hyperion can change the dynamics of revenue generation, business management and the way it can help to better their career path. There are many institutes and organizations that offer Oracle Hyperion training for professionals and corporate training in Oracle Hyperion. Corporate training in Oracle Hyperion is for organizations who want to conduct training to their employees in their own organization. Among all training programs on Hyperion products, Hyperion Essbase training or Oracle Hyperion Essbase certification is the most popular training program. The reason being Oracle Hyperion Essbase certification training focuses on largely on building multi-dimensional database management platform which plays a big role in deciding how information is disseminated and exchanged across the organization and how it can be stored and accessed.

Thus with loads of advantages that Orcale Hyperion provides in managing information and to make business intelligence decisions, getting training on any Oracle Hyperion products as per the business requirements can help professionals to achieve quick growth in an organization.

Personal Development Plan Template 5-Step Personal Action Plan

A good personal development plan template includes five steps that guide you to take action. When included, these five steps can make your personal action plan simple, yet effective.

In fact, keeping your personal development strategy simple is important when seeking a good template. Why is this important? Because when learning how to write a personal development plan (also referred to as a PD Plan), it is easy to get “analysis paralysis” if your example personal development plan is too complicated.

If you aren’t familiar with the term, “analysis paralysis,” it’s where you are so caught up in your head, that you just keep spinning thoughts around inside without taking any action.

What we want to do here is to identify the five key components to making a simple personal growth plan. These five steps, while they may seem overly simplified, are the core to any plan, whether it is a personal leadership development plan, personal professional development plan or a personal action plan.

So, when you are looking for a good template, the simpler you make it, the faster you can “get down to business” and take action.

So, what are these five key parts your PD planning?

1. Identify goals

2. Prioritize goals

3. Action steps

4. Time line for first action

5. What if I do nothing?

IDENTIFY GOALS: When you start your personal growth plan, of course you’ll want to identify what you want to accomplish. However, here’s where many people make their first mistake by not identifying goals that are truly what they desire or are realistic enough to achieve. Be sure that your goals are what you truly desire at a deep, core level of your being.

PRIORITIZE GOALS: Once you find goals that are “what you want” and not “want someone else wants for you,” and these goals are realistic, there are certain steps to prioritizing these goals using something called, “reverse goal setting.” This is exactly what it sounds like where you take your “end goal” and work backwards writing down each step it took to get there. Like you are walking your goal backwards.

ACTION STEPS: Once you’ve done your reverse goal setting and have a step-by-step map for your personal development strategy, an important part of your PD planning is to find a way to turn these “bread crumbs” you’ve identified as a sequence of goals into a personal action plan. To do this, simply ask yourself, “What can I do today on ‘bread crumb number 1’ to take action?”

TIME LINE FOR ACTION: Any example personal development plan will tell you that you must set out a time line for action. What you want to do is to create daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals for yourself so you stay on track. Be sure with this part of your personal development strategy to keep it realistic with everything else you spend time on in your life.

WHAT IF I DO NOTHING? When you want to develop a personal development plan, it’s easy to be very motivated in the beginning. Your enthusiasm is ample to help you learn how to write a personal development plan and about the various parts of PD planning. After awhile, however, it is easy to set your personal action plan or personal growth plan aside, so one question you’ll want to keep in front of you for motivation is, “What if I do nothing?” This one question can keep you going through the myriad of tasks of putting your template into action.

While finding a good personal development plan template or personal development plan sample isn’t easy at first, using these five steps in learning how to write a personal development plan can get you started. Then you can turn your personal action plan into action, rather than spinning thoughts around and around “thinking” about taking action because your plan is too complicated.

Compliance with the GCSx Code of Connection (GCSx CoCo) – What an IT Professional needs to know

The UK Government’s initiative to prescribe a security standard to any organization accessing the Government Connect Secure Extranet is a move designed to keep government organisations one step ahead of the inexorable increase in security threats. There have been too many high profile data thefts and losses by Government organizations, highlighting both the risk to, and the importance of, ICT Security and the governance of citizens’ data.

The result is the Government Connect Secure Extranet (GCSx). HM Government has mandated the way in which public authorities and government departments can securely transfer data between each other.

So, for example, how does a local authority needing Housing Benefits data access the Department for Works and Pensions (DWP) database? Via the GCSx of course! Similarly, Job Centre Plus communications with local authorities will only accept communications via the GCSx, and likewise, communications with the Police and the NHS will only be provided through this connection.

The concept is a “community of trust” and the GCSx is one of a number of secure Government extranets, including GSx, GSi and GCJx. See our Glossary of Terms at the end for details of these other networks.

So how does a district council access the GCSx? Via a secure connection, the security of which is governed by the Code of Connection, or ‘CoCo’.

The GCSx CoCo

In England and Wales it is referred to as the GCSX Code of Connection (CoCo). In Scotland it is referred to as the GSX Code of Connection (CoCo). Through GCSx, local authorities can connect to the Government Secure Extranet (GSX) and Intranet(GSI), the National Health Service (NHS), Criminal Justice Extranet (CJX), and the Police National Network (PNN). The Code of Connection takes into consideration how best to protect the “community of trust” taking into account all potential threats, including Attack from the GCSx itself Attack from the Internet Mobile data theft and loss Attack from the internal user

Code of Connection (CoCo) for the Government Secure Intranet (GSI) and GCSx, Memorandum Number 22. According to CESG Infosec Memorandum Number 22, protective monitoring has traditionally been the most underrated and least effectively used security measure. The scope of the GCSx Code of Connection can be summarised as follows Physical Security and Access Control, restrict and control access to the GCSx, including use of Firewalls, Intrusion Protection technology and with particular focus on Mobile/Remote Worker security Policies and Procedures, in particular Change Management Processes, approvals and documentation. Configuration ‘hardening’, to ensure that known threats and vulnerabilities are eliminated from all systems, with a zealous patch management process combined with anti-virus technology, regularly tested and verified as secure. Strong Monitoring for security incidents and events, with all event logs being retained for 6 months

The Secret to Happy Retail Employees

Money Is No Longer Buying Happiness
Let’s face it. Today, building an effective team of retail employees is more challenging than ever. We all agree that the key to an effective retail operation are high performing and productive employees. Furthermore, in spite of a great location or a superior line of goods or services the behavior of every single team member well have a dramatic affect on the overall success of the operation. Every time the employee steps out onto the sales floor and interacts with a customer a change in brand equity is realized. In other words, the behavior and interaction of your employee with your customer will have an ongoing affect on brand identity and brand equity within the competitive marketplace.

Understandably great customer experiences create gains in brand equity while disappointing performance by your team members will create a deterioration in your brand equity. Exactly what is the secret to ensuring that each and every one-on-one customer experience in your store consistently increases brand equity in the eyes of the community? In other words, what makes a team member consistently delight and dazzle your customers so that long-term customer relationships with ongoing repeat business are realized?

The secret is a team of engaged employees. Why is employee engagement so critical in today’s retail landscape? In earlier times employee expectations were quite simple. Employees were happy to come to work and do as they’re told, collect their paycheck and go home at the end of the day. In contrast todays employee is far more sophisticated, educated and connected than ever before. Not surprisingly, the Internet has been instrumental in increasing knowledge levels and subsequently employee aspirations and expectations in the workplace. Unlike earlier times, countless surveys have demonstrated that compensation itself is not enough to satisfy employees over the long-term. In fact, in a ranking of 10 critical elements in one recent survey compensation for employees was rated 6/10!

Today, a retail employee is not just motivated by compensation. Above everything else there is a need to belong to the organization and have a sense of ownership. Ownership can be realized through employee empowerment. Trusting your employees and empowering them to make decisions close to the customer creates personal long-term relationships between your team members and your clients. Empowering your employees creates a climate of ownership and belonging for your team members and generates a great level of loyalty to the company.

Building a team of engaged employees that generates powerful long-term customer relationships takes a long time to build. However once realized the organization will enjoy greater productivity per individual employee, higher morale, lower internal and external theft rates and most importantly, lower employee turnover.

How does an organization that has traditionally operated through a regimented model began to create a more productive and loyal team of engaged employees?

1] Make sure that all employees are kept informed of new and relevant developments in the company. They should hear them first and they should hear them from their organization directly. There is nothing more demoralizing than hearing about new organizational developments last or hearing them from an outside source that was aware of the development before your team was.

2] Give staff increased responsibility and trust. Expand their decision-making powers even if you impose some limitations. Empower staff to make decisions close to the customer and give them the necessary support and Training to enable them to make good win-win decisions for all stakeholders.

3] Encourage staff to make decisions close to the customer and even when on occasion a bad decision is made, offer supportive training and refrain from chastising or punishing the employee.

4] Ensure that a structured process is in place to recognize exemplary customer service on a regular basis. Recognize and reward engaged employees who go above and beyond the call of duty to create a memorable customer experience. To keep momentum going, this strategy is most effective during weekly meetings where peer recognition is realized and small rewards are given to stellar employees. Rewards do not need to be extravagant. The recognition and appreciation is the key to effective leadership of engaged employees.

5] Create a formal and informal system that enables engaged employees to voice their opinions and help steer the future direction of the organization. Empower them to voice their opinions on a regular basis and contribute their ideas in a positive way that will make the company more effective and more efficient. Successfully implemented ideas also merit some form of recognition and a reward.

Building a team of engaged employees is the key to future survival and prosperity in every retail organization. Although this can be complex and protracted in time, the key to success is a change in leadership style that supports a greater level of empowerment, involvement and ownership of today’s retail employee. Start now and create the culture that generates higher morale, higher productivity and lower turnover. Rise above the competition in small steps today, and soar to being number one tomorrow!

International Business Management – A Global Education

There is no way for a business to survive, much less thrive, today if

International Business Management isnt at the forefront. Thats why foreign investment and risk analysts, foreign trade consultants, commercial bank officers, international marketing representatives and international development assistants are so in demand. Centennial Colleges International Business Management program trains students for these careers in a three-semester study period geared towards mature learners.

Because this International Business Management is so fast-paced, applicants must have completed a college diploma or university degree in any discipline. The offering will also consider applicants with partial post-secondary and relevant work experience (transcript and resume review is required). Lastly, as far as admission requirements are concerned, students may be required to show proof of English proficiency.

All three semesters of this International Business Management program contain a mixture of foundational and specialized, industry-valued courses. Additionally, all of the classes employ case studies, simulations and project-based learning, with the intention of helping students to enhance project management, teamwork, report writing and communication and presentation skills round. The use of computer and Internet technology in performing international business functions is also included.

Here is a look at some of the International Business Managements essential courses.

Comparative Geopolitical Systems: This class explores world systems and how global and regional systems have changed and been changed by relationships between people and places. It provides students with an organized study of historical, geographical, social and cultural factors in world regions.

Global Business Strategy: This International Business Management course addresses professional cross-cultural negotiation and strategy formulation. The increasing globalization of industries has seen an increase in strategic alliances, hence intercultural negotiations. Meanwhile, strategy formulation is emphasized via a strong conceptual foundation outlining the steps involved in successful international business planning to developing an analytical decision-making framework and finally getting a hands-on experience in making decisions in cross functional teams.

International Banking and Finance: Students get an overview of international money markets, the elements of risk management, the role of financial institutions and a case study approach as to why companies merge or interest rates fluctuate and why stock markets fluctuate.

International Business Law: In this International Business Management course, students obtain a base in the legal aspects of global trade, with a focus on both public and private international law. Public international law includes international organizations, such as the WTO, and its corresponding agreements. Private international law, applicable to international business activity, such as the law of international sales, is analyzed and a case study method utilized. Students also gain insight into the basis for government regulation of international business, as well as the role of politics and economics in it.

International Entrepreneurship: This intensive hands-on practical course provides International Business Management students with the basic, practical procedures and tools that are required when strategically planning to enter international markets. Emphasis is on entrepreneurial activities, including sourcing, purchasing from Canadian sources and placing products in strategic international markets.

International Business Management grads may enter the industry or pursue further knowledge via one of the offerings university partners, which include: Centenary College, University of Western Sydney and Griffith University.