Blossoms Apr 2006

CMM Level 5

The Quarterly Newsletter of HTC Global Services

Issue : April 2006 From the Editor’s Desk Dear Colleagues, Indian sportsmen and women put up a reasonably good show, winning 50 medals in the just concluded 18th Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne. Samaresh Jung of India won us 3 team gold, 3 team silver and 1 individual bronze medals. He was deservedly declared the Outstanding Athlete of the 18th Commonwealth Games. Of course, Australia the host country, bagged over 200 medals and topped the medals tally. At HTC, we had our Annual Games 2006. Watch out for a report on “Great Encounters in Cricket” in the next issue of Blossoms. - Editorial Committee

Bouquet 3, Blossom 1

Director’s Message Dear Friends, I would like to take this opportunity to appreciate all of you for all the hard work that you are putting in.

We are growing and as a result work is expanding.

Our project teams are formed from various groups from multiple locations. This imposes on us a greater need for effective communication, persuasiveness, tolerance and uncompromising attitude towards commitments and quality. Let us be mindful of this in our interactions, promote mutual respect and work towards the common goal of customer satisfaction. - Chary Mudumby

Biz Lounge

- Padmakumar A, Marketing

Third Party Evaluators Third Party Evaluators (or TPEs) are a new breed o f a n a l y s ts , w h o h e l p

Editorial Committee Mullai Manavalan Ravindra Kumar

customers choose vendors for offshore out-sourcing deals.

They get involved

fairly early in an out-sourcing

Padmakumar A

process and help customers

Rangachary M C

build objective models

Editorial Coordinators

for

Arun Srinivasan R

process.

Arvind Murari

Their primary role is to provide oversight of the out-sourcing process by

Balaji D

validating the customer's strategy and direction, draft the RFI and RFP

Deepalakshmi J

documents, evaluate response from qualifying vendors, compare vendor

Dhanasekar V T

offers, short-list vendors, who present the best value proposition, and assist the

Geetha Mohandass

customer in negotiating the contract with the final chosen vendor.

the

Illustration: Balakrishnan K

assessment

Gaurav Gupta

Dealing with a TPE has its pluses and its minuses.

Krishna Kumar K

technically qualified people on their staff and are able to appreciate technical

Satish Natarajan

nuances, some

Thomas Komban

to

play

to

the

gallery

with

these

skills.

There

is also the legal aspect that some TPEs tend to overplay, particularly if their

Venkatesh M R

tend

While many TPEs have

skill

sets

and

customer

mandate

include

the

contract

negotiation

phase.

Articles and feedback for the newsletter are welcome. Please mail your inputs to [email protected]

Selling our capabilities to a TPE is definitely more challenging.

It calls for a

different approach, than selling to an end-user of our services, and takes more of our resources to do; but, it is time and resource well invested, since returns can span over more than one prospective customer.

Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark - Rabindranath Tagore

Management Article

- Balaji Desikan, Projects

Allow me… In a certain high-technology institution, the scientists had the habit of working nearly 12 to 18 hours a day. There were about seventy such scientists working on a very important assignment. All of them were really stressed out due to the high work pressure and the demands of their boss, but everyone was loyal to him and never felt dissatisfied with their work. One day, one of the scientists came up to his boss and said, “Sir, I have promised my children that I will take them to the children's exhibition in our town. So I would like to leave the office early, at 5 pm today. His boss replied “Ok… Go ahead”. Illustration: Geetha Mohandass The scientist went back to his work. He was working on a crucial aspect of the assignment. He got so involved in his work that he didn't realize how much time had passed. Finally, when he looked at his watch, he saw that it was already 8.30 pm. He suddenly recalled his promise to his children about returning home early and taking them to the exhibition. He felt utterly miserable that he had not kept his promise. He looked for his boss. The boss had already left. He did not know how he would explain to his children and make them understand.

Reluctantly, he left for home. With great trepidation, he rang the doorbell. His wife opened the door. He peeped in; he could not see his children in the living room. He had not the courage to ask his wife whether the children were upset. He tiptoed to their room; the lights were off. He thought they had cried themselves to sleep. He switched on the night lamp, so that he wouldn't disturb the sleeping children. The beds were empty. He heard his wife say, “Would you like some coffee or shall I serve you dinner?” blurted out… “Where are the children?”

Unable to contain himself anymore, he

“Oh, you didn't know ? Your boss came at 5.15 pm and took the children to the exhibition”. He found out later, what had really happened. The boss had seen him deeply engrossed in work at 5 pm, with no sign of closing for the day. So he decided to keep up the promise by taking the children to the exhibition! Loyalty from his subordinates was never an issue for this boss.

Health Tips !!

- Jansi Rani, Training

Water, water everywhere... But not a drop to drink ! Water is not only a valuable resource for our daily needs, but also a low cost medicine. Water, a solvent as you know, has the power of dissolving water-soluble fats in our body. Medical science says that it is good to start your day by drinking two glasses of water on an empty stomach. It flushes out the waste from your system and cleans your renal system. You could also add a few drops of lime in the water (without salt and sugar).

Techies Corner User Experience We all hear a lot about “user friendliness”, when we buy a cell phone, washing machine or any gadget, for that matter. What exactly is a “user friendly” system ? In all Windows applications and most other applications, we press Ctrl+S to save a working file; imagine an application in which pressing Ctrl+S closes a window. Can we call such a system user friendly ?

What is Usability ? Usability is a measure of the quality of a user's experience when interacting with a product or system. It addresses the 'ease of use' of a product or system, which can be easily learnt, understood and used efficiently and effectively. Ease of learning - How fast can a novice user learn to use the user interface well enough to accomplish basic tasks ? Efficiency of use - How fast can an experienced user accomplish tasks using the application ?

Memorability - If a user has used the application earlier, can he or she remember enough to use it effectively the next time, or does the user have to start over again, learning everything ? Subjective satisfaction - How much does the user like using the system? Let's see another example. Don't read the words shown below, but say what color the word is written in.

Black Blue Red Green Orange Purple Yellow Green Blue Pink Green Was it easy ? No. The reason is, we are accustomed to thinking in a certain way, and our mindset doesn't allow us to think otherwise; the same goes for the users of software applications. When you design software, you must not make users think and figure out things. You must design in such a way that users can easily learn to use the application.

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong - Mahatma Gandhi

Wedding Bells Sushma J S wed Joshua Daniel on January 5, 2006

In my opinion, an IT organization of today should provide a suitable canvas for an employee to portray his talents for a cause that is beneficial to the organization, its customers, and most importantly, the employee himself.

Anupama wed Satya Prakash J on January 25, 2006 Srimathi S wed V Balaji on January 25, 2006 Deepa P wed Gopi A on February 3, 2006

HTC has done precisely that for me, in my three and a half years of association with it. I sincerely feel that I have contributed enough to HTC and its customers, in return for my gains.

Daisy Mary L wed Theodore Wilson M on February 3, 2006 Suvitha wed Sankar on February 3, 2006

The grass is always green, as long as it is attached to its roots. To me, the grass will always be green in HTC, because it is well connected to its roots. By roots, I mean the basic human values.

Prasannakumari K wed Nandakumar P on February 8, 2006 Vanmathi wed Arulmurugan Subramanian on February 10, 2006

- Bharath Devanathan, Projects

Geetha R wed Ramesh E on February 12, 2006 Gayatri M wed Manimaran V on February 12, 2006

Eureka Factor

Radhika wed Rajukannu on February 17, 2006

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Kamatchi K wed Sundaresan R on March 2, 2006 Annapoorani V wed Logesh D on March 2, 2006 Gayathri R wed Manimaran C on March 9, 2006

The man who sold it did not want it. The man who bought it did not need it. The man who used it did not know it. What is it ?

Buds

l

Pramod Kumar Sahu blessed with a baby girl ‘Sonali Sahu’ on January 1, 2006

What is the product of the following series: (x-a), (x-b), (x-c),... (x-z) ?

Do you have an answer for these puzzles? Send it to [email protected] or submit it to anyone of the Blossoms committee members. Interesting answers will be published in the Blossoms intranet site.

Meenakshi K H blessed with a baby girl ‘Swaroopa Mangal’ on February 20, 2006 Padmapriya blessed with a baby girl on March 3, 2006

Stumped ? The answers to these puzzles will be available in the “Blossoms” website / your notice board on April 25, 2006.

Raj M S blessed with a baby boy on March 21, 2006

- Muthukumar, RAD

Keep users in mind while designing, because, in most cases, users are not technical persons. They may not understand a short form, or terminology that we techies, use.

The factors affecting usability are : l

Users - Who is using the product ? Are they highly trained and experienced users, or novices ?

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Users' Goals - What are the users trying to do with the product ? Are they able to accomplish the desired tasks with the product ?

Why usability ? l

Easy- to- use products compete better in the market place

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Usability cuts costs for both producers and users

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Focus on usability, during early life cycle of the development, reduces the need for expensive re-design work later

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Enhancing usability improves the quality of the product and reduces the demand for support and training

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Users will efficiently use the interface, without wasting much time

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Enhanced usability provides satisfaction to both users and producers

Tips to achieve user-friendliness in an application l

Maintain consistency of design features (colors, fonts, layout, images).

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Ensure that all aspects of an interface behave consistently at all times.

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Ensure that the commands, terms, and icons used in the application are consistent across all its windows or features.

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Navigation within the application must be unambiguous. For example, an action button must be clearly distinguished from a hyperlink.

The season of failure is the best time for sowing the seeds of success - Paramahansa Yogananda

Rallying together... after the volleys

CROSSWORD

This Quarter in Pics

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Bonding together... through games

- Sowmya G, Testing

Across 1. British colony, restored after 150 years, to China (4, 4) 4. Chinese Currency, or Ilayaraja’s son? (4) 5. Eaten with ChopSticks, and takes just 2 minutes ! (6) 7. Puncture or picture the body? (6) Paying tribute... to great cricketing

8. 12 signs that hold the key to your future and fortune (6) 11. First bank from India to open a branch in China (3) 12. Ancient Chinese Calculator, now a maths coaching program for kids (6) 13. Is mobile, has just flown in from China (4) 14. Explosive invention that led to a good shot (3, 6)

Down Delivering results...in ITES and cricket

2. Only man-made structure visible from the moon (5, 4) 3. Vaasthu Shastra for us... (4, 4) 4. If you were to color Huang Ho River, you would color it... (6) 6. Great Chinese philosopher, thought not very clear (9) 7. Plant leaves hot drink and good taste for guests (3) 9. Chinese Kitchen, now generic term for type of food (7) 10. Longest Chinese Dynasty; may have lent prefix to this marvel city (5)

Familiarizing parents... on the work we do

2. Great Wall 3. Feng Shui 4. Yellow 6. Confucius 7. Tea 9. Cuisine 10. Shang Down: 1. Hong Kong 4. Yuan 5. Noodles 7. Tattoo 8. Zodiac 11. SBI 12. Abacus 13. Bird 14. Gun Powder Across: Answers for the crossword

Helping Madras University... in e-Governance

HTC Global Services SDF II, Phase II, MEPZ, Tambaram, Chennai - 600 045. India Phone: (044) 2262 3522 Fax: (044) 2262 7713

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