Participant roles and purposes Essay Example for Free

Participant roles and purposes Essay In talking about social situations and participants, Goffman suggests that situations move forward in accomplishing Ð ° goal or purpose because the participants come to Ð ° working consensus about the nature of the situation: Together the participants contribute to Ð ° single overall definition of the situation which involves not so much Ð ° real agreement as to what exists but rather Ð ° real agreement as to whose claims concerning what issues will be temporarily honored (1959: 9-1o). The working consensus of most teacher-student meetings is realized through the expectations and obligations of the role of teacher and student. These roles have mirroring expectations (the actions others can insist we perform) and obligations (the actions we can insist others perform) (Goffman 1967: 126). For example, the obligations of the student roleto read, to take exams, to attend classesare expectations of the teacher role. The expectations of the student roleto receive information, to be given fair exams, to be graded on the basis of meritare the obligations of the professor role. Thus these roles become interdependent; the expectations and obligations are complementary and in service to each other. In their interviews, both the Professor and the Student focus on the expectations and obligations of their respective roles as teacher and student, They both articulated the role of the Student as checking on an assignment (getting information) and making sure the Student had Ð ° clear understanding of the Professors expectations (giving information). The Professor: My view of the meeting was that І was there to answer [the Students] questions, not that І was there to tell him anything. І think thats why І started the meeting by looking expectantly at him. The Student explained his purpose: My purpose was to make sure І understood the assignment correctly and was going in the right direction. The paper was supposed to be handed in during class, and І held it back because І wanted her to check it first. If she approved, then fine, І would hand it in. І knew the ASL would be hard to understand, so І wanted to ask if І should go ahead with the ASL story or follow the English interpretation. When asked if they thought the meeting was successful, that expectations and obligations were met, both responded affirmatively. They explain in their own words. The Professor: The meeting was successful. Nobody yelled at anybody. [The Student] came to get information and he got it. The laughter, І think the laughter is my signal that everything is going well. І felt [the Student] knew what he was supposed to do. The Student: She read my story and seemed satisfied with it. І knew she wanted me to improve it and bring it back with thirty copies. Yes, the meeting was successful. Although the Professor comments on the interactional success, nobody yelled at anybody as well, both speakers are attentive to the primary purpose, and their ensuing obligations, of Ð ° teacher-student meeting. As the next chapter demonstrates, many of the Professors and the Students motivations for speaking or taking Ð ° turn center on their expectations or obligations of their social roles, their roles define their purpose for meeting and constitute how they will interact and how their meanings are represented in talk. The Interpreters role is to interpret. In general, the role of an interpreter is to make possible communication between people who do not speak the same language. The Interpreter defined his role, what he says it always is, as working to have effective communication, for people to communicate. However, when asked if he thought the meeting went well, he offered Ð ° perspective that was not centered on whether or not the participants had effective communication: Yes, because І think [the Students] goals were achieved, in getting some ideas across and talking about some issues. That he understood where she was coming from and she understood where he was coming from Although this response is vague and unfortunately not further clarified; there are some indications as to what the Interpreter is referring. When the Interpreter mentions [the Students] goals were achieved, it appears that the Interpreter assumes goals other than getting an assignment reviewed. He continues by adding getting ideas across and talking about some issues, but the only issue mentioned previously by the Interpreter is connected to people communicating. The Interpreter never mentioned checking the assignment or the Student getting information on how to analyze the narrative, nor did he mention the Professors obligations she might have for meeting with students. Because both primary participants are involved with the study of language and because the study of ASL as Ð ° natural language was still Ð ° relatively new idea, many conversations with linguists who study spoken languages come around to the topic of the differences between Ð ° signed language and Ð ° spoken language. At the time, the status of ASL as Ð ° language in the larger world community was not firmly established, nor was the status of Deaf persons as member’s of Ð ° linguistic and ethnic minority. That these issues particularly affect interpreters can be demonstrated by reading newsletters and journals published at the time in the interpreting field, as well as by attendance at meetings and conferences. These debates and discussions are often referred to with phrases such as getting ideas across and talking about issues, so І can suggest the possibility that the interpreter is referring to these potentially explosive arguments about the acceptance of American Sign Language as Ð ° natural language. Fortunately, this is not an issue with the Professor, as the Interpreter acknowledges: Shes obviously educated [about Deaf people] in that shes familiar with deafness and Deaf people because she explained the outgoing message on the answering machine, things that are very hearing culture and so І think that in some regards she took care of all that. Although he acknowledges that the Professor is familiar with deafness and Deaf people, it is also his focus on her adaptations to the Student that remain primary in his reflection on the interpreted event. The answering machine was Ð ° few seconds of small talk before the more important discussion of the Students narrative and transcript. The Interpreters focus on getting ideas across and taking care of cultural differences reflects what is Ð ° central concern of interpreters in their role, the notions of equality and justice. It seems that the Interpreter feels that it is incumbent on him in his role to create an understanding and Ð ° balance between these speakers moreover, the Interpreter never commented on the discussion around the assignment for either participant. To see how far the Interpreters thinking was from the thinking of the primary participants, here is what the Professor said about the answering machine talk: [І was] trying to be polite and make everyone comfortable, telling him about the answering machine and the knocking at the door and then І realized [there was] no reason to tell him. The Interpreter has attributed the meaning of the talk to the Professors awareness of Deaf people when, in fact, she was focused on the nature of starting to talk and the often necessary small talk that is Ð ° prelude to official business. Because interpreters are primarily concerned with communication, of language and also of cultural nuances, much of an interpreters concern is for differences in language and culture. But speakers themselves are typically concerned with the central task of the meeting, carrying out their obligations and responsibilities necessary to accomplish their goals. We will see in the next chapter that an interpreters role is more than to just translate or just interpret. What the role is and how to manifest that role to others, while appearing neutral or impartial, is not an easy task. If an interpreters role expectations and obligations were as easily defined as the teacher or student role, then there would not be the problems, concerns, and issues that arise around the discussions about an interpreters role.

Bill Gates and I Have the Same Property Essay Example for Free

Bill Gates and I Have the Same Property Essay The government does not have the freedom to interfere into the property of an owner and the owner’s right to exercise power on the property. This statement may be evaluated with the following example. An anti-trust action was passed against Microsoft Corporation by the Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department who challenged that the company cannot make it mandatory on customers to install the internet browser of Microsoft while installing the Microsoft 95 operating system. The Government also upheld the notion that it is not necessary for consumers to use one product of a company simultaneously when another product is installed. The court ordered the separation of Microsoft 95 and Internet explorer. In continuation to this verdict, the Assistant Attorney General further demanded the unusual freedom to scrutinise all future products of Microsoft Corporation to check their marketing strategy. Microsoft retaliated that if additional facilities in the computer indicate unfair trade practice, the manufacture of computer itself would be like posing threat to the manufacturers of products like calculator, typewriter and the like. Though the Assistant Attorney General justified that the anti trust motion is aimed to stimulate innovation and competition there were several obstacles to substantiate its stand to stop Microsoft from gaining market control (Labaton, 1997). According to Bill Gates, the separation of the operating system and the browser would mean producing products with lesser value and reducing the demand for the operating system in the market despite enhancing the quality (Thibodeau, 2008). In the Second Treatise of Government, John Locke justifies that man can have a right on property based on the amount of work he has done to transform the resources provided by God. The amount of work done by a person enables him to partition the common resources provided by God and own a part of it by himself. Thus private ownership of property is related to the amount of work done by man. The spoilage proviso limits the amount of resources a man can reserve when the resource is wasted and the sufficiency proviso limits the amount of resources to be owned and the balance to be left with the nature for others. And when there are no more resources available, people are required to work on the available resources for sustenance. According to Locke, when individuals own resources or land, they take better care of it rather than when the land is not owned by anyone. When land is owned the productivity is estimated a ten times its actual value and it will pave way for the betterment of life. Here labor is given more importance than on resources. When a person works on a resource it is automatically transformed into the workers property. It is the duty of the government to protect the right of a person towards a property (Meinhardt, 2007). James Madison has defined the ownership and rights to use a property. He has stated that when a person has a right to property, it is equal to having a property in his own rights. Hence the government’s interference into the affairs of a property or business owned by an individual when the business is meant for public use is not fair. Therefore the government should make it clear that the property owned by a person or corporate may be put into full use according to the wish of the owner if the use of the property adds values and the deletion of certain facilities reduce the value of the property. When certain use of a property is taken away by legal and governmental restrictions, the owner cannot exercise his fundamental freedom to exercise his right on the property (Pilon, 1995). In conclusion, governments do not have the authority to interfere into the rights of a property owner if the owner is a multi billionaire or a common person. Reference Labaton, S. December 22, 1997. Bill Gates, Meet Your Adversary, the Antitrust Chief. Available: http://query. nytimes. com/gst/fullpage. html? res=9D04E7DF143EF931A15751C1A961958260sec=spon=pagewanted=1. Accessed on September 8, 2008 Meinhardt, E. F. May 22, 2007. Critical Analysis of John Locke’s theory on Property Rights. Available http://www. scribd. com/doc/93360/John-Locke-on-Property-Rights. Accessed on September 8, 2008. Pilon, R. February 10, 1995. Protecting Private Property Rights from Regulatory Takings. Breathe New Life Into the Takings Clause. Available: http://www. cato. org/testimony/ct-pi210. html. Accessed on September 8, 2008. Thibodeau, P. June 30, 2008. For Bill Gates, antitrust fight was a personal crucible. http://www. thestandard. com/news/2008/06/30/bill-gates-antitrust-fight-was-personal-crucible? page=0%2C1. Accessed on September 8, 2008.

Proposal Of Setting Up A Telemarketing Company Marketing Essay

Proposal Of Setting Up A Telemarketing Company Marketing Essay A business plan proposal of setting up a telemarketing company Contents Introduction The telemarketing at the moment is a growing industry with most companies having an annual growth between 8% and 10% (Anything research, 2013). This is due to the fact that the  businesses are  becoming increasingly aware of the need for market information on ongoing basis and the desire to reduce customer turnover rates in the current hard hit economy. It is the mission of  JH Marketing to provide broad  telemarketing consultation which will help companies increase sales volume and provide customer services to our clients in the Ireland at reduced prices. Thus, helping clients to increase revenue and offering them substantial amount of savings on the operational costs of their telemarketing and customer services functions. JH marketing will be based in Karachi, Pakistan where the company will have access to high skilled labour at lower costs. Idea Selection Process As the recession has hit the profits of the businesses more and more companies have been forced to cut down the operational costs and to make the most out of the resources they have. Many big and small companies look to outsource their telemarketing and customer services operations to emerging markets where they can get skilled labour for lower costs and that is the rationale behind selection of the venture. Ideas such as setting up a PR company and advertising agency were considered as well but costs, skilled labour and the competition were the factors of not going ahead with the mentioned options. The other rationale behind selection of this business is the lower start up cost as well, the costs only include office space, computers and the internet connection and the staff with higher English speaking capabilities to handle the queries of the clients from Ireland. Service Description JH Marketing will be adapting low cost strategy for its venture by setting up its operations in Pakistan to minimise its costs and the clients will be given higher level of service as the company will be focusing on low cost, efficiency and innovation as their core strategic competitive advantages (Lawson, 2003). JH Marketing  offers complete and customized telemarketing campaigns and customer services operations. The most common telemarketing campaigns embarked on are for following purposes: Lead Generation Setting appointments Market research Surveys (Political surveys and statistical analysis etc) Subscriptions Business development or Sales Product promotion In order to create greater effect for the clients JH Marketing provide a comprehensive program for them that may include, but not limited to, some of the following services: Classification of Program Objectives and potential. Creation of tailored lists of leads for sales Market research and analysis Training and development of telemarketing agents Script writing for campaigns Conception of follow-up programs for successful calls. The list above is only a partial list of our services as each campaign and project is customised to the needs of the clients and is different and unique in terms of scope, length, customer reach, depth and costs. Competition in the Market The telemarketing and customer services industry is rather fragmented with companies that vary greatly in size, reach, services offered, and market share. Most of the companies are advertising agencies who offer telemarketing services along with other consultative services. Moreover, there are many companies who do not realise the potential of outsourcing, thus, set up their own telemarketing departments. The direct competitors of JH Marketing include all advertising and telemarketing companies and the call centres across Ireland. Whereas, the indirect competitors are all those companies, big or small, who have developed in-house telemarketing departments to handle their operations. JH Marketing, practically, has great threat from big nationwide consulting companies and the large and well established telemarketing agencies in Ireland such as Capita, Intercall and Conduit who hold significant market share. The industry itself is extensively fragmented, where huge numbers of small companies mainly provide services to small and medium sized firms and there are big companies who tend to seek large and extended contracts with the large companies which make this industry highly intense. With our strategy of greater service at lower cost and having office set up in Pakistan we will be able to offer lower costs to the companies and through our low cost strategy (Greater service at lower cost) we intend to avoid such  a debilitating market competition as price and scope are important reasons for accepting contracts, especially if the company is small or new. Industry Analysis JH Marketing Professionals business strategy is to  offer greater service at lower cost but our company does not intend to be a call centre only,  nor will it  ever become one as we are a consulting firm which will design the marketing and telesales campaigns for its clients and will also execute them to provide the cost advantage to the clients. These services  are  where we can offer a higher standard of quality to our clients. This will allow us minimise the costs, thus higher profit. Rivalry among different telemarketing agencies as stated before is greater and the market is fragmented but the industry as a  whole is  mature with long-term moderate growth with higher number of established companies. The fact that there are so many diverse or general telemarketing agencies; it makes this an aggressive industry. The threat of clients backwardly integrating so as to have their sales and customer services done in-house is one of the major factors used by buyers to indirectly control price in this industry, and increase competition. This must always be foremost in the minds of JH Marketing management when offering services and setting prices. The key advantage for JH Marketing is that they will have access to staff at low costs as compared to their competition which will help them to offer low prices than their competition as the difference between wage in Pakistan and Ireland is huge i.e Average wage per annum in Ireland is à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬35k (Central statics off ice, 2013) whereas, in Pakistan is à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬7k a year (Payscale, 2013). Human Resource Management Plan The company will have two officers: CEO Mr. Jihad Habib and Director, who will be highly skilled with many industry relations to help the company attract clients. We will also hire  an office manager, and 5 staff to do cold calls. The company plans to hire additional consultants and administrative personnel as we begin to get large numbers of contracts. To start off with JH Marketing will need 5 staff to do cold calls to the business in Ireland. As the business does not require highly skilled labour so the recruitment and selection of the staff will depend on the proficiency in English speaking and understanding and some background in sales and marketing. However, people with no sales experience could also be recruited and trained as per the campaign requirement, provided that they have grasp over the language. Operations Plan The CEO, Mr. Jihad Habib will personally schedule meetings and presentations with the perspective clients to sale them the idea of outsourcing their telesales and customer service operations. As per the clients requirement the staff will be taken on board and trained to make outbound calls and handle the inbound customer service calls. As discussed earlier in the plan companies who are new to the market find it hard to attract the clients and to give them the confidence to outsource, for this reason JH Marketing will need the help from an experienced professional (Director JH Marketing) who have experience of convincing the clients to outsource and has great industry connections as well. As per the requirements of the clients and volume of the business the staff will be recruited and trained to start off operating from the Karachi office. As discussed earlier, for the operations the company will need an office space, computers and the VOIP (Voice over internet phone) Software to start calling the customers in Ireland to sell the clients products and services. Marketing plan In order to attract clients, JH Marketing will begin to contact promising organizations and offer free initial consultations, and initial contracts at reduced  prices. These promotions will allow us to begin to make our reputation within the market. In addition, Mr. Jihad Habib and the Director will be travelling to different parts of Ireland during the first year of operations where we will have booths to advertise our services. Finally we will be setting up cold calls to potential companies and have half- and full-page advertisements in various  publications catering to  local businesses and organizations. JH Marketing will be focusing on cost leadership strategy to win the contracts and will be paying greater attentions to quality of the services as well to reiterate the mission of the company, Greater quality at lower prices. Mr. Jihad has been actively seeking to acquire a large contract with Resource International Consulting Ireland over the past 2 months. This company is the largest recruitment and tax solution company which deals with UK freelance contractors and provides them tax advice and recruitment services over the telephone and internet. JH Marketing believes that its chances  of acquiring this contract are excellent. Location Plan JH Marketing will have its office situated at Karachi, Pakistan for the sole reason of having access to quality labour at cheaper prices to main the low cost strategy of greater service at lower prices. As all the transactions will take place over the phone so location in itself does not have any advantages or disadvantages associated to it for the clients but it will play a vital role for the growth of JH Marketing.

Language :: essays research papers

Language is an abstract concept which is acquired early in life by the vast majority of children through an intricate process. There are many different theories concerning the acquisition of language that have been considered, and these are constantly being refined, along with the technology which enables researchers to further investigate the process. Bilingualism has also been a complex area of interest which has elicited various theoretical viewpoints. There are various aspects which are true to every language. These include: phonology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. The phonology of a language includes a set of phonemes: the different sounds, and the rules governing the combination of these sounds which can be found within the language. The semantics involved in a language deals with the meanings of the sentences, words, and grammatical markers (morphemes) in the language. The syntax concerns the rules about organizing the morphemes into sentences, and pragmatics are the communication skills involved in the use of the language (Shaffer, 1999, p.352-353). These are merely the basics required for language acquisition. Knowledge of the nature of communication, in addition to the fashion in which the language is acquired are also integral. The acquisition of a language has instigated a controversy regarding the process through which it is acquired. The empiricist perspective, inspired by B. F. Skinner in 1957, states that children learn language by imitating caregivers who model and reinforce their speech (Shaffer, 1999, p.355). Also during the 1950's, Noam Chomsky hypothesized that languages are too complex to be learned by imitation (Shaffer, 1999, p.356 & Brownlee, 1998, p.48). Therefore, humans are born with a "language acquisition device" (Shaffer, 1999, p.356 & Brownlee, 1998, p.53) and a "universal grammar" (Brownlee, 1998, p.48) which predisposes them to the ability to learn languages and apply the grammatical rules to the languages which they hear. The large interest in the area of language has been elicited as a result of the intricacy of the acquisition process of a language, and the fact that all children appear to have the ability to acquire and understand such an abstract concept. The study of language, as the study of any subject, is an ongoing process, as illustrated by various researchers over the years. These studies have evolved form mere theoretical statements about language to involved studies which have caused the previous hypotheses to be rejected. This is largely due to the evolution of related technology which has facilitated research in the area.

Comparing the Role of Women in Indian Camp and Shiloh Essay -- compari

Role of Women in Indian Camp and Shiloh  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   The women of "Indian Camp" experience a life much different from the woman in "Shiloh." Ernest Hemingway wrote "Indian Camp" giving the women a definite role in their families while Bobbi Ann Mason wrote "Shiloh" leaving the woman’s definite family role ambiguous. Because they are responsible for the birth of the babies, the Native American women of the preceding story are the nurturers as opposed to the men. The women accept their roles and partake in their duties without any protest. On the other hand, Norma Jean’s role is not as traditional compared to the other women’s since she and Leroy have no children, she basically lives alone, and she maintains a job. While the Native American women and Norma Jean live different lives, they share the same problem of enduring the men’s ignorance to their needs. However, as the story progresses, Norma Jean realizes she wants to move on in her life, so she does not accept her situation. The Native Ameri can women continue their lifestyle not because they choose to be submissive, but because they know no other way. The women of the two stories lead totally different lives in that the Native American women accept their situation, assume submissive behavior, and endure the ignorance of men, while Norma Jean does not accept her situation, assumes assertive behavior, and does not put up with the ignorance of her husband. Not being exposed to Norma Jean’s independent way of life, the Native American women accept their lives of nurturing and care taking. The doctor’s visit to the Indian camp shows only women helping with the delivery of the baby. As they help the doctor, the men sit up the road away from all the commotion. No signs of resent... ...ver the period of his absence, Norma Jean develops into a stronger person from being on her own. Having Leroy home makes her realize she needs to move on and employs her assertiveness to get out of the situation. Although they remain loyal to their duties through all of the drudgery, the Native American women are strong because they lead a very important role in the family. Norma Jean also proves herself to be strong as she leaves her husband to move on to achieve more in her life. The women share different experiences, but they all exhibit strength in being the way they want to be. Works Cited Hemingway, Ernest. "Indian Camp." In Out Time. New York, Scribner’s, 1955. 16,17. Mason, Bobbi Ann. "Shiloh." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Sixth edition. Eds. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York: Harper Collins, 1995. 495, 496, 500. Comparing the Role of Women in Indian Camp and Shiloh Essay -- compari Role of Women in Indian Camp and Shiloh  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   The women of "Indian Camp" experience a life much different from the woman in "Shiloh." Ernest Hemingway wrote "Indian Camp" giving the women a definite role in their families while Bobbi Ann Mason wrote "Shiloh" leaving the woman’s definite family role ambiguous. Because they are responsible for the birth of the babies, the Native American women of the preceding story are the nurturers as opposed to the men. The women accept their roles and partake in their duties without any protest. On the other hand, Norma Jean’s role is not as traditional compared to the other women’s since she and Leroy have no children, she basically lives alone, and she maintains a job. While the Native American women and Norma Jean live different lives, they share the same problem of enduring the men’s ignorance to their needs. However, as the story progresses, Norma Jean realizes she wants to move on in her life, so she does not accept her situation. The Native Ameri can women continue their lifestyle not because they choose to be submissive, but because they know no other way. The women of the two stories lead totally different lives in that the Native American women accept their situation, assume submissive behavior, and endure the ignorance of men, while Norma Jean does not accept her situation, assumes assertive behavior, and does not put up with the ignorance of her husband. Not being exposed to Norma Jean’s independent way of life, the Native American women accept their lives of nurturing and care taking. The doctor’s visit to the Indian camp shows only women helping with the delivery of the baby. As they help the doctor, the men sit up the road away from all the commotion. No signs of resent... ...ver the period of his absence, Norma Jean develops into a stronger person from being on her own. Having Leroy home makes her realize she needs to move on and employs her assertiveness to get out of the situation. Although they remain loyal to their duties through all of the drudgery, the Native American women are strong because they lead a very important role in the family. Norma Jean also proves herself to be strong as she leaves her husband to move on to achieve more in her life. The women share different experiences, but they all exhibit strength in being the way they want to be. Works Cited Hemingway, Ernest. "Indian Camp." In Out Time. New York, Scribner’s, 1955. 16,17. Mason, Bobbi Ann. "Shiloh." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Sixth edition. Eds. X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York: Harper Collins, 1995. 495, 496, 500.

A Look into the Secrets Behind Advertising Essay -- Advertisements Med

A Look into the Secrets behind Advertising Did you know that in the course of an average day you are bombarded by over three thousand advertisements? (Faigley 93) From bus stations and newspapers, to e-mails, television, and music videos, today's marketers are finding innovative ways to make their advertisements sophisticated and appealing so that they can lure consumers to their products. How has this phenomena occurred? This â€Å"strategic advertising† is not as complicated as it sounds. In fact, businesses use a formula-like approach when creating such advertisements. In order to be a savvy consumer, I recommend that you be aware of these techniques. To create an ad, businesses research consumer trends. One steadily growing trend in America is the â€Å"on-the-go† fast food industry . . . and it seems as if Americans can not get enough of those juicy cheeseburgers and greasy fries! In order to encourage healthier habits, marketers focus on weight loss and fitness, using strategic advertising to sell their product. An excellent example of strategic advertising is found in the January 2004 issue of People Magazine . This ad, sponsored by Life Time Fitness, promotes Lean Source weight supplement pills. The ad pictures a beautiful, healthy model standing on the beach during a cloudy day. Her arms are wide open, directing us to read the words written below. In the corner of the ad sits a bright bottle of Lean Source weight loss pills and a â€Å"stamp† of approval for the product. This advertisement illustrates how a company uses strategic advertising to sell its product to consumers like us by displaying its supposed credibility, emotional and sexual appeal, and effective visual design. ... ...Life Time Fitness's ad utilizes marketing strategies by making the ad believable, emotionally and sexually attractive, and visually pleasing. Congratulations! You are now an official savvy consumer, so the next time you see an ad that â€Å"catches your eye†, be sure to take a second glance at it. You will be thankful that you did. Works Cited Faigley , Lester, and Jack Selzer . Good Reasons with Contemporary Arguments . 2nd ed . New York : Pearson bbbbbbLongman, 2004. Meadows, Michelle. â€Å"Public Health Officials Caution Against Ephedra Use† FDA Consumer Magazine June 2003:1-3. 2003. U.S . Food and Drug Administration. 26 Jan. 2004 . Zarefsky , David. Public Speaking: Strategies for Success, Penn State Version . 2003-2004 ed . New York : Pearson Printing, 2003.

Credentialing System Implementation Essay

The previous two parts of this three-part assignment, the systems analysis and application architecture and process design aspect of the credentialing software project at TPI Health Systems (TPI) was explored. This last paper will explore the implementation stage of the systems development life cycle (SDLC) as it related to the credentialing project at TPI. There are six major steps to the implementation phase of the SDLC: (1) coding, (2) testing, (3) installation, (4) documentation, (5) training and (6) support. The text actually details five steps and breaks-out the last step, support, into its own phase (Satzinger, Jackson, & Burd, 2004, p. 626). The first phase, coding, is done in any of three development styles: (1) input, process, output, (2) top-down, (3) bottom up. The input, process, output (IPO) method is defined by first doing the activities that require external input followed by elements that process the input and concluded by programs that produce output (Zachman, 1987, p. 279). The IPO is effective in developing user interface first and simplifies testing. It does have a disadvantage of late output modules (Satzinger et al. p. 629). The top-down and bottom up methods produce the needed top or bottom modules, respectively. Top-down coding has the advantage of having a working version of the program. Poor utilization of programming personnel in the beginning of the project is disadvantage of the top-down development method. The bottom-up method puts programming personnel to work immediate, utilizing resources effectively. Unfortunately, this method also requires additional programming to test the modules, as well as an overall delay of testing by waiting for the top modules to be developed. The credentialing project at TPI used a weak IPO method of coding. The major attention was placed on converting the data in the existing Visual Fox format to Microsoft SQL 2000 compatible data. The company, SyMed, made no provision for any user interface changes. The process of how a credentialing application flowed through the TPI credentialing process was observed in the analysis phase of the project and the project team had wanted some user interface changes to accommodate TPI processes. These changes did not fit into the SyMed project plan, so the TPI process was changed to accommodate the pre-written user interface of the SyMed system. Testing is the next phase of the implementation phase. A comprehensive testing program includes a stepwise process starting with unit testing, followed by testing of group components called integration testing and concluded with entire systems test (Satzinger et al. , 2004, p. 640). Individual units or modules are tested prior to integration with more advanced modules, using driver modules. Once a set of modules are put together, integration testing can take place. These test include checking for interface compatibility, run-time exceptions, parameter values and unexpected state interactions (Satzinger et al. , p. 644-645). Jeff Theobald suggests that an effort should be made to concentrate not on just errors in a single application or module, but also the system as a whole and between systems (Theobald, 2007). After these tests are completed, the project goes on to system testing. System testing often involves daily â€Å"build and smoke† tests, where the system is set to run and is observed for â€Å"smoke† or errors (McConnell, 1996). The TPI credentialing system was tested in this manner. The project made it through the first two testing phases (unit and integration), but never made it out of systems testing. It â€Å"smoked† and never stopped due to a basic inability of the data store to handle the TPI method of placing multiple doctors in multiple entities. The SyMed development team called in the architect of the system and a step back to the analysis phase was made. Their entire development team, along with the architect, made a trip from Nashville to Louisville to redo the initial analysis. The team went back to Nashville with the new data and called back to say they could not do the project. The end of the project consumed uncounted person-hours, 7 months on the calendar and about $25,000 dollars. The next part of the implementation phase is installation. This phase is accomplished by several methods. The first is direct installation. This is where the new system is installed and implemented and the old system is â€Å"turned off. † This is a simple but risky way for a new system to be deployed. The next possible method of installation is parallel. This method is demonstrated by keeping both systems going for an extended amount of time. This is a low risk but high cost implementation scenario. Phased installation is the last method and is characterized by multiple possible pathways to final installation. Phased installation is also low risk, but can become quite complex due to the multiple pathways (Satzinger et al. , 2004). The TPI credentialing system, had it made it to this phase, was to be a parallel installation. Documentation is the next phase of implementation and usually consists of user documentation and systems documentation. User documentation is descriptions to users on how to work together with the system. It is typically how to startup and shutdown the system, the keystrokes necessary to do specific tasks, functions necessary to perform a specific procedure and troubleshooting tips (Satzinger et al. , 2004). System documentation usually consists of information necessary to maintain and re-implement the system in the event of a disaster. System documentation includes maintenance and upgrade procedures, analysis methods and in some cases, the source code and testing data (Satzinger et al. ). The TPI credentialing program had available pre-printed manuals of SyMed’s existing user interface and command sequences. The SyMed systems documentation was never provided. The next phase of implementation is training. Training can consist of formalized classes or presentations; self paced learning or group training. This training should be hands-on and emphasize actual applications that the system was created to perform. Timing of training is important. Training can be performed too early in the implementation progress, leading to unnecessary training that may need to be un-learned. Training is often seen as a luxury by some companies and is sometime omitted. This can be a costly mistake (Satzinger et al. , 2004). The TPI credentialing system was scheduled to have two days of formalized onsite training. The final phase of the implementation phase is support. As mention earlier, this phase s sometimes broken-out as its own stage. It is also often rolled into the training phase. Support is usually considered some form of help desk for most software development, though some companies offer only online documentation and troubleshooting. For this premise to work, the documentation needs to be robust and thorough. The TPI credentialing system never got to this phases and was unable to utilize either system. The failure of the TPI credentialing system software project had many contributors. Poor analysis and implementation of the SDLC was paramount, as well as budgetary issues. To sum it up, the failure was mostly due to TPI not knowing exactly what they wanted and needing more abilities than they had resources for, coupled with SyMed’s inability to recognize their limitations. The failure outlined above could have been mitigated by the knowledge and utilization of the capability maturity module (CMM). The CMM is a matrix that defines an organizations maturity of software processes Anderson, 2001). CMM is a process identification whose goal is to use defined and repeatable processes in software development. TPI would have scored a one and SyMed may have scored a two. Figure 1 illustrates the five modules of the CMM. Figure 1. Capability maturity module. This tool can be utilized by both software clients and vendors to identify potential success in a given software project. Additionally, IBM has developed the Rational Unified Process (RUP) for the object-oriented approach of software development. RUP is designed to make designed and repeatable processes easier. There are individuals who disagree with contention of repeatability for both CMM and RUP, claiming that like movies, software development success is not always repeatable.