Don’t Let the Economic Slowdown Stall Your IT Projects

Right now, the primary issue on everyone’s mind is the slowdown of the global economy. Corporations of all sizes are estimating its short-term and long-term effects on the health of businesses, and organizational spending — especially IT spending — is coming under heightened scrutiny.

However, because IT is a critical enabler of business, Companies cannot simply eliminate IT spending. Instead, they are re-evaluating and redefining their strategies and IT investments, looking to demonstrate improvement in efficiency and to achieve tangible results. CIOs are now asking, “How can IT deliver more with less? And what will put us on a fast track during this slowdown?”

Accomplishing these goals rests on the basics of outsourcing — that is, creating a long-term IT Optimization strategy and picking the right partner to help execute this strategy. For example, one international bank was able to enhance the quality of its customer interactions while increasing operational efficiency and lowering costs. And it was the bank’s partnership with Hexaware that helped it reach its optimization goals.

A Beneficial Partnership in Action

The bank in our example wanted to accomplish seamless integration and communication with the accounts payable system of both its corporate and retail customers. To do so, the bank selected SAP NetWeaver Exchange Infrastructure (SAP NetWeaver XI) as the platform of choice to address business challenges and create a robust application roadmap. The key features of SAP NetWeaver XI include:

• Synchronous, real-time transmission of data with immediate message delivery notices
• The ability to “push” messages at delivery time or at a scheduled interval, from customer to bank or vice versa

And with SAP’s solid partner ecosystem, the bank had many options for finding a partner that would be able to implement this solution for it. In this case, what the bank sought specifically was an SAP-certified outsourcing partner to:

• Provide a holistic virtual integration between the bank and its customers
• Provide a seamless link from customers’ ERP systems to its own
• Enforce strong security at the communication, transport, and data levels, in accordance with accepted industry standards
• Ease the implementation, while minimizing disruption
• Integrate message channels and formats to further secure communication channels

The bank chose Hexaware for its implementation expertise and its ability to create optimization strategies. Hexaware is also a premier SAP gold partner that has helped with more than 500 implementation, upgrade, and support engagements.

Following Hexaware’s nearshore-offshore model, the bank was able to achieve 30% cost savings. Hexaware’s implementation of SAP NetWeaver XI was seamless and efficient, and it demonstrated tangible business results, including an improved customer approval rating. In addition, the implementation was successful on both the IT and business levels, reaping continuous solution benefits for the bank.

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Hexaware provides global rollout, implementation, upgrade, testing, and support services to industries worldwide. Our SAP-specialized teams ensure service delivery excellence and deliver innovative strategies for clients. Hexaware also generates value through a range of solution accelerators and tools.

Virtual Reality and Marketing

Its interesting how (and how fast) certain things get adapted.

There have been these virtual reality worlds – SecondLife being the most prominent – that have caught on recently. They mostly serve the purpose of entertainment. Some “gurus” talk about how such virtual worlds will become a more intrinsic part of every person’s life.

So while that evolution is going on and all attention is focused on SecondLife and similar avatars (pun intended ), there is this tangential development that happens in, of all the places, in B2B marketing! Now you can host and attend virtual events, virtual tradeshows!

Fascinating, but will it really stick? This is the question I had when I saw the first versions of these virtual event platforms come out a couple of years ago. Well it seems it has. There seems to be quite some activity in this space. And especially in these cost-conscious, budget-slaugthering times, attending a virtual tradeshow seems like a great idea!

There are a few platforms that are fast gaining pace. And at Hexaware, we are participating in our first virtual tradeshow

SAP HR 2009 Virtual Conference (a virtual version of the real-life SAP HR 2009 conference that we took part in earlier this year). There is a registration fee (similar to the fee you would pay for the live conference, but there are no travel costs and hassles!).

See you at the conference! Link here -> http://www.hr2009.com/homepage.cfm?s=

Read More about Virtual Marketing

Some great conferences coming up!

Hexaware is participating in some really great conferences in May. May 4th to 6th we are at the Gartner Outsourcing and Vendor Management Summit in Las Vegas and May 3rd to 8th we are at the TDWI Global Conference in Chicago. While the Gartner conference is the definitive conference for the Outsourcing space, the TDWI conference is THE conference for Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence/Analytics. Should be an exciting week.

Am looking forward to attending some insightful sessions at the Gartner Conference. And meeting Fran Karamouzis, Allie Young, Partha Iyenger – key Gartner analysts in this space. Will also attempt to tweet while at the conference.

And then the third week is again tradeshow time. We are participating at the LOMA/ACORD Insurance Systems Forum May 17- 19 in Orlando, Florida and at Eye For Travel’s Travel Distribution Summit, May 19 – 20 in London, UK. Another exciting week. I plan to tweet from the LOMA/ACORD conference too.

Follow Hexaware on Twitter here -> http://twitter.com/hxmktg

Read More about Great Conferences

Blogging on IT Marketing

I should have done this before. Long back. Long long back. There’s so much fun stuff in IT marketing to talk about that I should’ve started blogging about it long ago! Now I have a lot of catching up to do.

I want to discuss B2B marketing, IT marketing and Services Marketing. And there is so much to talk about there – Brand development and growth, web marketing, social marketing, field marketing, importance of content in technology and services marketing, and so much more. And maybe we’ll also discuss some fun things that have nothing to do marketing! (Nah! Who am I kidding – this is going to be an out and out marketing blog).

And in between, when there arent tomes to write about marketing, I’ll be tweeting here and there. Well, mostly here -> https://twitter.com/hxmktg

So, I’ll see you guys back here soon. Ciao!Read More about  IT marketing

Informatica and Oracle hints in SQL overrides

HINTS used in a SQL statement helps in sending instructions to the Oracle optimizer which would quicken the query processing time involved. Can we make use of these hints in SQL overrides within our Informatica mappings so as to improve a query performance?

On a general note any Informatica help material would suggest: you can enter any valid SQL statement supported by the source database in a SQL override of a Source qualifier or a Lookup transformation or at the session properties level.

While using them as part of Source Qualifier has no complications, using them in a Lookup SQL override gets a bit tricky. Use of forward slash followed by an asterix (“/*”) in lookup SQL Override [generally used for commenting purpose in SQL and at times as Oracle hints.] would result in session failure with an error like:

TE_7017 : Failed to Initialize Server Transformation lkp_transaction

2009-02-19 12:00:56 : DEBUG : (18785 | MAPPING) : (IS | Integration_Service_xxxx) : node01_UAT-xxxx : DBG_21263 : Invalid lookup override

SELECT SALES. SALESSEQ as SalesId, SALES.OrderID as ORDERID, SALES.OrderDATE as ORDERDATE FROM SALES, AC_SALES WHERE AC_SALES. OrderSeq >= (Select /*+ FULL(AC_Sales) PARALLEL(AC_Sales,12) */ min(OrderSeq) From AC_Sales)

This is because Informatica’s parser fails to recognize this special character when used in a Lookup override. There has been a parameter made available starting with PowerCenter 7.1.3 release, which enables the use of forward slash or hints.

§ Infa 7.x

1. Using a text editor open the PowerCenter server configuration file (pmserver.cfg).

2. Add the following entry at the end of the file:

LookupOverrideParsingSetting=1

3. Re-start the PowerCenter server (pmserver).

§ Infa 8.x

1. Connect to the Administration Console.

2. Stop the Integration Service.

3. Select the Integration Service.

4. Under the Properties tab, click Edit in the Custom Properties section.

5. Under Name enter LookupOverrideParsingSetting

6. Under Value enter 1.

7. Click OK.

8. And start the Integration Service.

§ Starting with PowerCenter 8.5, this change could be done at the session task itself as follows:

1. Edit the session.

2. Select Config Object tab.

3. Under Custom Properties add the attribute LookupOverrideParsingSetting and set the Value to 1.

4. Save the session.

Thanks for reading this blog.To know more about Informatica

SAP EcoHub – Connecting for Success

SAP Ecosystem is an example for how SAP position itself as complete solution provider. Not very long ago SAP wanted to be everything for everyone. SAP wanted to put forth a solution which would solve all the problems. To say, ‘SAP achieved this objective 100%’ is not a fair statement. Now, SAP comes up with the approach ‘We can do this together’. SAP wants to make use of the knowledge and skill available out side of the SAP world. SAP wants to provide collaborative solution. The company absolutely realizes that it can not possibly meets all the customer demands by being the lone warrior. Now SAP is building an army to take care of its objective.

SAP Ecosystem is a novel approach for SAP, customers, partners and individuals to come together with single objective to innovate collaborative solution for market need. Customers find qualified expertise, insights, answers, and connections that are right for their business. Working within the SAP Ecosystem is fast and effective – whether engaging a new partner or co-innovating using complementary technology, customers can access broader knowledge quickly to make more informed decisions.

SAP created a portal to give a face to the Ecosystem, It is called SAP EcoHub. EcoHub fosters an ideal environment for ongoing innovation and value creation, It represents the unique convergence of easy access to knowledge about SAP partner offerings as well as rich community powered context. It provides the intelligence that the customers find value in their investment decisions. SAP EcoHub is the community powered online portal created by SAP which provides information on various partner solutions. This is a trusted source from SAP to provide information to customers who are looking to easily discover and evaluate SAP partner solutions relevant to their industry and their own unique IT environment. SAP EcoHub offers the opportunity for the customers to learn about SAP certified solutions and leverage the wisdom of the communities – peers, partners, business process experts and consultants – to procure the solution that best fits their requirements.

Eventually, all groups of SAP Ecosystem will be represented in SAP EcoHub – relevant, trusted solution partners, services partners, technology partners, hosting partners, and content partner services and offerings will all have a place on SAP EcoHub. Currently solution partners are the only one showcasing their products. There are about 230 solutions have been showcased. For example, there are about 14 HR specific solutions 36 Aerospace and defense solutions listed in EcoHub. EcoHub also works as a marketplace, you can discover, evaluate and buy any of the trusted products from the portal. If you want to earn your name as SAP company you need to have presence in EcoHub.

As a guest you can access most of the features You can use your SDN id to login to this portal also to get full access. While you are there you can watch videos from people like Narayana Murthy Infosys and Anand Mahindra among others talking about EcoHub and the significance of it.

Agile – Take off to cost reduction

The word ‘Agile’ has been around for a while and has created a buzz in Software Development. The history of agile programming can be dated back to the 70’s.

‘Agile Programming and Practices’ introduces the concept of producing small units of output that are thoroughly Software developed and tested at a constant period of time (usually referred to as ‘sprints’). It emphasizes on delivering the smallest workable unit that best delivers the business ideas while constantly improving the product by adding functionalities to it over a period of time. The underlying fact of agile programming is that it is ‘iterative and incremental’.

Agile practices introduce small self organized teams that are highly interactive. Better collaboration is one of the primary outcomes of agile programming while little emphasis is given for formal planning and documentation. The agile concepts emphasize eliminating waste through’ Lean Programming’ techniques. It provides a means to rectify the flaws at an early stage, thereby reducing the rework costs to a greater extent. Above all the greatest advantage lies in the fact that the agile programming model ensures that the project proceeds in the right direction.

Agile practices provide an ‘adaptability to change’. Agile practices are best suited for object oriented software projects where individual objects (or modules) are developed and tested for their integrity and defects before being actually integrated into the final product and tested.

There are different agile methodologies that have been framed over the due course of time. Some of the noteworthy are ‘Agile Modeling’, ‘Agile Unified Process’, ‘Extreme Programming’, ‘Agile Data method’, ‘Scrum’, ‘Open Unified Process’ etc. Some of the noteworthy agile practices followed in the industry are Test Driven Development, Behavior Driven Development, Pair Programming, and Continuous Integration etc…

Let us examine the feasibility of applying a test driven development approach to a check in activity for an airline departure control solution. The prime aim of the check in activity is to ensure that the passenger has been successfully checked in, a seat allocated and a boarding pass printed and each of these is independent by their nature. A test driven approach to this always asserts that the end point is fulfilled as the functionality materializes. This would greatly reduce the rework overheads which otherwise would have increased if the whole system was designed to be tested in the end.