Search Results

Search found 3352 results on 135 pages for 'adobe director'.

Page 116/135 | < Previous Page | 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123  | Next Page >

• Challenges and Opportunities to Drive Change in the Healthcare System Explored at America’s Health Insurance Plans Exchange Conference and Institute 2013

  - by elaine blog

  The program theme at the June America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Exchange Conference and AHIP’s Institute 2013 was Transforming Our Health Care System: Navigating and Succeeding in the New Marketplace.  Topics included care delivery transformation, innovation for a new healthcare eco system, Health Insurance Exchanges, the nexus of consumerism, retail and healthcare, driving value through improved operations and leveraging technology, data and innovation to transform care. Oracle participated as a sponsor of both conferences, signaling the significant investment and activity Oracle continues to make in helping health plans, providers and government agencies become more efficient and more relevant in the healthcare market place. AHIP is a national trade association representing the health insurance industry. AHIP’s members provide health and supplemental benefits to more than 200 million Americans through employer-sponsored coverage, the individual insurance market and public programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.   AHIP advocates for public policies that expand access to affordable health care. Health plans are focusing on the Health Insurance Exchanges and the opportunities they offer to provide better access and higher quality healthcare.  With the opportunities come operational challenges to implementation and innovative technology solutions to consider.   At the Exchange Conference, Oracle hosted a breakfast symposium on “Strategies for Success:  Driving Business Transformation in the Growing Health Insurance Exchange Market”. With Health Insurance Exchanges as catalysts for change, attendees learned about how to achieve integration within an Exchange and deploy new business strategies to support health reform initiatives. Discussion covered steps and processes to successfully establish and implement enrollment systems, quote to card activities, program pricing, claims billing, automated claims processing and new customer service tools. Piyush Pushkar, COO of Benefitalign, an Oracle partner that provides solutions to adopt innovative business models for retail, HIX, consumer-centric health plan and benefits administration, spoke on the state of the Exchanges in the U.S. and the activities health plans are engaged in to support individuals entering the healthcare system, including sales automation, member enrollment automation/portals and integration strategies with the Exchanges. The Oracle and Benefitalign partnership allows seamless integration between a health plan enrollment solution with the HIX individual market and allows for the health plan to customize and characterize the offerings available to the HIX that may or may not be available through other channels.  This approach can benefit the health plan through separation of interests, but also because some state-run HIXs require such separation. Janice W. Young, Program Director, Payer IT Strategies, IDC Health Insights, reviewed a survey of health plans on their investment priorities for this last year as well as this year.  She also identified the 2013-2015 strategies of go/get to market with front end and compliance investments; leveraging existing business processes and internal technologies; and establishing best practices.  Of key interest to the audience was a reform era payer solutions platform overview mapping technologies to support the business operations. David Bonham of the Oracle Health Insurance organization moderated the panel and spoke on Oracle’s presence in healthcare and products for payers to help them drive efficiencies and gain a competitive advantage in an ever changing market. Oracle serves healthcare stakeholders with applications such as billing, rating and underwriting, analytics, CRM, enrollment, and products for processing of health insurance claims including pricing and benefits administration, as well as payment of providers through alternative, non-fee for service reimbursement methods. Oracle in Healthcare….Did you know? More than 80 healthcare payers run Oracle applications. More than 300 leading healthcare providers run Oracle applications. 10 out of the top 12 fortune Global 500 healthcare organizations run Oracle applications. For more information on Oracle solutions for healthcare payers, please visit oracle.com/insurance or these individual solution pages: Oracle Health Insurance Components Oracle Insurance Insbridge Rating and Underwriting Oracle Insurance Revenue Management and Billing Oracle Documaker Oracle Healthcare Oracle CRM Related Resources Webcast On Demand: Strategies for Success: Driving Business Transformation in the Growing Health Insurance Exchange Market Strategy Brief: Executing on the Individual Mandate: Opportunities and Challenges for Healthcare Payers White Paper: White paper: Navigating Alternative Provider Reimbursement Models of the Future Strategy Brief: Enterprise Rating Agility Improves Payer Response to Healthcare Reform Podcast: Technology Implications of Healthcare Reform Don’t forget to keep up with us year-round: Facebook: www.facebook.com/oracleinsurance Twitter: www.twitter.com/oracleinsurance YouTube: www.youtube.com/oracleinsurance

  Read the article

• Who should ‘own’ the Enterprise Architecture?

  - by Michael Glas

  I recently had a discussion around who should own an organization’s Enterprise Architecture. It was spawned by an article titled “Busting CIO Myths” in CIO magazine1 where the author interviewed Jeanne Ross, director of MIT's Center for Information Systems Research and co-author of books on enterprise architecture, governance and IT value.In the article Jeanne states that companies need to acknowledge that "architecture says everything about how the company is going to function, operate, and grow; the only person who can own that is the CEO". "If the CEO doesn't accept that role, there really can be no architecture."The first question that came up when talking about ownership was whether you are talking about a person, role, or organization (there are pros and cons to each, but in general, I like to assign accountability to as few people as possible). After much thought and discussion, I came to the conclusion that we were answering the wrong question. Instead of talking about ownership we were talking about responsibility and accountability, and the answer varies depending on the particular role of the organization’s Enterprise Architecture and the activities of the enterprise architect(s).Instead of looking at just who owns the architecture, think about what the person/role/organization should do. This is one possible scenario (thanks to Bob Covington): The CEO should own the Enterprise Strategy which guides the business architecture. The Business units should own the business processes and information which guide the business, application and information architectures. The CIO should own the technology, IT Governance and the management of the application and information architectures/implementations. The EA Governance Team owns the EA process.  If EA is done well, the governance team consists of both IT and the business. While there are many more roles and responsibilities than listed here, it starts to provide a clearer understanding of ‘ownership’. Now back to Jeanne’s statement that the CEO should own the architecture. If you agree with the statement about what the architecture is (and I do agree), then ultimately the CEO does need to own it. However, what we ended up with was not really ownership, but more statements around roles and responsibilities tied to aspects of the enterprise architecture. You can debate the semantics of ownership vs. responsibility and accountability, but in the end the important thing is to come to a clearer understanding that is easily communicated (and hopefully measured) around the question “Who owns the Enterprise Architecture”.The next logical step . . . create a RACI matrix that details the findings . . . but that is a step that each organization needs to do on their own as it will vary based on current EA maturity, company culture, and a variety of other factors. Who ‘owns’ the Enterprise Architecture in your organization? 1 CIO Magazine Article (Busting CIO Myths): http://www.cio.com/article/704943/Busting_CIO_Myths Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

  Read the article

• Creating fillable, saveable PDF in OpenOffice.org results in garbage

  - by Ubuntourist

  I've been creating beautiful fillable PDFs using OOo Writer under Ubuntu for a few years. However, I've recently been asked to make them saveable rather than just printable. So, I go to my colleague's Windows computer which has Adobe Acrobat Professional 8, and following directions outlined in Save filled form in PDF file in Ubuntu. I end up with an unreadable, unfillable document. Acrobat Reader opens it, but it's garbage. It looks like it might be a character encoding issue. The document was created using Arial under Ubuntu. I installed OOo on the Windows box and changed the font to Tahoma. But with either font, the resulting file is a jumble of boxes and oddly placed random characters. Given that it fails with a fairly ubiquitous font, and a Microsoft specific font, I'm guessing it's not a font issue. Until I enable the rights, the PDF is readable both with Acrobat Reader and Acrobat Pro. Anyone else encounter the problem? If so, did you solve it? Thanks.

  Read the article

• Laptop choice for development: MacBook Pro 17 vs Dell Studio XPS 16 vs HP Envy 15

  - by Shalan

  Hey! First things first - let me state that I am not intending to play games on this - I have narrowed down to these 3 purely based on specs and its individual brand reliability in the market. I intend to primarily use: Visual Studio 2008 Pro a lot (develop and deploy on Windows platforms) SQL Server 2005 Oracle 10g Adobe Photoshop CS4 Microsoft Expression Studio Google Sketchup I currently use a desktop PC (Core2Duo 2.66Ghz with 3GB DDRII memory) running Vista Business 32-bit - and I have to admit that, especially for Visual Studio, its quite sluggish to a point where it affects productivity. Furthermore, I intend to only use the notebook on a table - with a cooled surface, like granite :) - so I would appreciate people's input with regard to heat issues. Im aware that the Dell's primary exhaust gets blocked by the lid when open, but some reviews don't seem to place extraordinary emphasis on heat issues resulting from this. My options for the Dell/Alienware: Core i7 720QM 4GB DDRIII memory ATI mobility 3670 (512) 128GB Solid State Drive 16-inch Full HD RGB-LED LCD display (1080p) 3-year next-business-day support My configuration for the Apple MBP: Core2Duo 2.8Ghz (Im assuming the T9600) 4GB DDRIII memory 128GB Solid State Drive standard 1 year support The one advantage I think of with the MBP is that I can have the addition of OSX (though Im unsure what I would use it for, but purely to play around with a much-boasted-about OS) What are your thoughts on this, especially regarding build-quality, heat, performance and battery-life? Much thanks! ~shalan

  Read the article

• Hardware Requirements & Tuning - Flash Media Server 3.5 Interactive

  - by Anthony Kanago

  I am trying to spec out a server to purchase (physically, not rented from someone like softlayer.com) to run an intranet instace of Flash Media Server 3.5 Interactive. In general, the server will likely be fielding somewhere on the order of 400 connections at a time at the upper limit. Of course, should this increase, we don't want to be stuck. While the decision is not final, we will likely be running the server on Red Hat rather than Windows. The server will be run on gigabit ethernet. I have two related questions: What sort of hardware would I need realistically to support this? What advice can you offer for settings in tuning FMS/the OS to be performant to this level? We are looking for a bare minimum that will run this effectively to save on costs. Realistically, the average number of connections will be fairly low (50-150) by comparison with that upper limit estimate. To reiterate: we just want to be cautious in not getting caught when we need more power, but we also need a low-cost solution (doesn't everyone?) and that may take priority. Windows and RedHat are the two officially supported operating systems. Since FMS is stated to be 32-bit only, I'm sticking with a 32-bit OS. The hardware requirements listed by Adobe on their website are: 3.2GHz Intel® Pentium® 4 processor (dual Intel Xeon® or faster recommended) 2GB of RAM (4GB recommended) 1Gb Ethernet card So what realistically do I need for those sorts of connection numbers, and what can I due to tune things up to get more out of less hardware? Thanks!

  Read the article

• Mystery undeletable file

  - by Hugh Allen

  I can't delete C:\Config.Msi\75ce84f.rbf. it's not readonly, system or hidden it's not in use by another process (according to Process Explorer) the NT security permissions aren't the problem either - I am the owner and have Full Control ; as a double-check, the Effective Permissions tab shows that I have permission to delete. Yet trying to delete the file gives "Access is Denied" from both Explorer and cmd. I can however rename it or move it to another folder on the same drive. I can also read it and Virustotal says it's clean which is what I would expect (it's just a Windows Installer temp file - a copy of some DLL I think). The relevant line from Process Monitor is: 6:52:14.3726983 PM 112 Explorer.EXE SetDispositionInformationFile C:\Config.Msi\75ce84f.rbf CANNOT DELETE Delete: True Write 1232 Background: I'm using XP SP2. I recently repaired my Adobe Reader installation to make it the default browser plugin again instead of Foxit. (there seems to be no UI to do it otherwise?) So the installer did its thing and then asked to reboot. As is my habit when rebooting is inconvenient I declined the offer and ran pendmoves to find out what files the installer had scheduled to move / delete. It wanted to delete two files with .rbf extension (rollback files) located in C:\Config.msi\. (this applies to both even though I've been speaking about one). So I tried to delete them manually and couldn't. Does anyone have any ideas what could be preventing deletion? (and I don't think it's malware even though I'm not running AV at the moment)

  Read the article

• Windows Terminal Server: occasional memory violation for applications

  - by syneticon-dj

  On a virtualized (ESXi 4.1) Windows Server 2008 SP2 32-bit machine which is used as a terminal server, I occasionally (approximately 1-3 event log entries a day) see applications fail with an 0xc0000005 error - apparently a memory access violation. The problem seems quite random and only badly reproducable - applications may run for hours, fail with 0xc0000005 and restart quite fine or just throw the access violation at startup and start flawlessly at the second attempt. The names of executables, modules and offset addresses vary, although a single executable tends to fail with same modules and the same memory offset addresses (like "OUTLOOK.EXE" repeatedly failing on module "olmapi32.dll" with the offset "0x00044b7a") - even across multiple user's logons and with several days passing without a single failure inbetween. The offset addresses seem to change across reboots, however. Only selective executables seem affected by the problem, although I may simply not be seeing a sufficient number of application runs from the other ones. I first suspected a possible problem with the physical machine's RAM, but ruled this out as a rather unlikely cause - the memory comes with ECC and I've already moved the virtual machine across several times, without any perceptable change. I've seen that DEP was enabled in "OptOut" mode on this machine: C:\Users\administrator>wmic OS Get DataExecutionPrevention_SupportPolicy DataExecutionPrevention_SupportPolicy 3 and tried changing the policy to OptIn via startup options: bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx OptIn but have yet to see any effect - I also would expect Outlook 12 or Adobe Reader 9 (both affected applications) to play well with DEP. Any other ideas why the apps may be failing?

  Read the article

• Memory leak in Google Chrome

  - by jasondavis

  As a developer it is very common for me to have 2-3 different IDE's open, 10-15 google chrome windows which can hold up to 200 open tabs (I know I get out of hand some times), Photoshop, couple twitter bots for promo, and a few other programs but my system still runs fast and smooth. I have an i7 processor with 12gb ram. Now with all my usual stuff running my Physical memory is usually running around 50-60% however over the course of the day or much less even, I will gradually grow to 98% The highest Memory usage processes will be from Google Chrome, if I sort in the task manager by highest memory usage and end the 1 highest process which will be a google chrome one, my memory usage will jump back down to about 60%. Also by ending that 1 process, all my Chrome windows will remain open and in use, so it doesn't affect me at all by ending that process. Based on this research I am assuming that that 1 runaway process is likely the Adobe Flash as I also can say that it gets up to the 98% much faster when I am using flash items like video or music player. But even without using any of them it will still climb up to that high number eventually. Has anyone else experienced similar results?

  Read the article

• OOW 2013 Summary for Fusion Middleware Architects & Administrators by Simon Haslam

  - by JuergenKress

  OOW 2013 Summary for Fusion Middleware Architects & Administrators by Simon Haslam This September during Oracle OpenWorld 2013 the weather in San Francisco, as you see can from the photo, was exceptionally sunny. The dramatic final few days of the Americas Cup sailing competition, being held every day in the bay, coincided with the conference and meant that there was almost a holiday feel to the whole event. Here's my annual round-up of what I think was most interesting at OpenWorld 2013 for Fusion Middleware architects and administrators; I hope you find it useful and if you think I've missed something please add a comment! WebLogic and Cloud Application Foundation (CAF) The big WebLogic release of the year has already happened a few months ago with 12.1.2 so I won't duplicate that here. Will Lyons discussed the WebLogic and Coherence roadmap which essentially is that 12.1.3 will probably be released to coincide with SOA 12c next year and that 12.1.4, the next feature-rich WebLogic release, is more likely to be in 2015. This latter release will probably include full Java EE 7 support, have enhancements for multi-tenancy and further auto-scaling features to support increased density (i.e. more WebLogic usage for the same amount of hardware). There's a new Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder (OVAB) out already and an Oracle Traffic Director (OTD) 12c release round the corner too. Also of relevance to administrators is that Oracle has increased the support lifetime for Fusion Middleware 11g (e.g. WebLogic 10.3.6) so that Premier Support will now run to the end of 2018 and Extended Support until 2021 - this should remove any Oracle-driven pressure to upgrade at least. Java Mission Control Java Mission Control (JMC) is the HotSpot Java 7 version of JRockit 6 Mission Control, a very nice performance monitoring tool from Oracle's BEA acquisition. Flight Recorder is a feature built into the JVM which records diagnostic events into, typically, a circular buffer which can then be used for historical analysis, particularly in the case of a JVM crash or hang. It's been available separately for WebLogic only for perhaps a year now but, more significantly, it now includes JVM events and was bundled in with JDK7 Update 40 a few weeks ago. I attended a couple of interesting Java One sessions on JMC/Flight Recorder and have to say it's looking really good - it has all the previous JRMC features except for memory leak detector, plus some enhancements around operative sets and ECID filtering I think. Marcus also showed how you could add your own events into flight recorder by building your own event class - they are then available for graphing alongside all the other events in JMC. This uses a currently an unsupported/undocumented API, but it's also the same one that WebLogic uses for WLDF events so I imagine it is stable. I'm not sure quite whether this would be useful to custom applications, as opposed to infrastructure services or ISV packaged applications, but it was a very nice demonstration. I've been testing JMC / FR enabling on several environments recently and my confidence is growing - it feels robust and I think could very soon be part of my standard builds. Read the full article here. WebLogic Partner Community For regular information become a member in the WebLogic Partner Community please visit: http://www.oracle.com/partners/goto/wls-emea ( OPN account required). If you need support with your account please contact the Oracle Partner Business Center. Blog Twitter LinkedIn Mix Forum Wiki Technorati Tags: OOW,Simon Haslam,Oracle OpenWorld,WebLogic,WebLogic Community,Oracle,OPN,Jürgen Kress

  Read the article

• Digital Asset Management, iPhoto / Aperture server... alternative

  - by Sisyphus

  Afternoon, Clients, 10 : All Apples running either Leopard or Snow Leopard Server : Snow Leopard server, (and I have a old Dell Poweredge 650 at home running Gentoo 2.6, if anybody as a Linux solution). The situation: I work in small design company with 8 people, at present we are looking to consolidate all our image files onto one location, at present we each use our preferred single user DAM solution, be it, Adobe Bridge, iPhoto/Aperture (some don't bother at all) The filetypes commonly used are .psd, .pdf, .eps, .tiff, .jpg and RAW image files. Ideally what is needed: Centralised on one server, but allows us to search via spotlight (not essential, but would be nice) Include searchable metadata information such as date, location, title Open-source or as low cost as possibly Allow simultaneous users to import files So far, I have looked at a few open source DAM, systems, such as Razuna, Gallery (not strictly DAM), ResourceSpace, Notre-DAM, while these are brilliant and open-source, they don't integrate as smoothly with the Desktop as iPhoto and aperture. For iPhoto and aperture, I have tried creating a Shared library on the server (a tad laggy), and also using a drive with no permissions, put a library and letting each client read from it, however if they want to put images onto the library only, it's only supports one user at a time writing to the library... Any ideas what could fulfill our needs? Or is it time to bite the bullet for FinalCut Server? Thanks in advance.

  Read the article

• Flash Media Server won't run on RHEL 6.2 EC2 instance - _defaultRoot__edge1 experienced 1 failure

  - by edoloughlin

  I've got a fresh Redhat Enterprise 6.2 64-bit instance on EC2. I've turned off the firewall and have installed an FMS 4.5 dev server. The FMS install failed, complaining about a missing libcap.so until I installed the libcap.i686 package. The following libcap packages are now installed: libcap.i686 2.16-5.5.el6 @rhui-us-east-1-rhel-server-releases libcap.x86_64 2.16-5.5.el6 @koji-override-0/$releasever libcap-ng.x86_64 0.6.4-3.el6_0.1 @koji-override-0/$releasever libpcap.x86_64 14:1.0.0-6.20091201git117cb5.el6 In the logs directory I have admin and master logs (only). The admin logs look ok: #Fields: date time x-pid x-status x-ctx x-comment 2012-02-29 09:24:26 1144 (i)2581173 FMS detected IPv6 protocol stack! - 2012-02-29 09:24:26 1144 (i)2581173 FMS config <NetworkingIPv6 enable=false> - 2012-02-29 09:24:26 1144 (i)2581173 FMS running in IPv4 protocol stack mode! - 2012-02-29 09:24:26 1144 (i)2581173 Host: ip-10-204-143-55 IPv4: 10.204.143.55 - 2012-02-29 09:24:26 1144 (i)2571011 Server starting... - 2012-02-29 09:24:26 1144 (i)2631174 Listener started ( FCSAdminIpcProtocol ) : localhost:11110/v4 - 2012-02-29 09:24:27 1144 (i)2631174 Listener started ( FCSAdminAdaptor ) : 1111/v4 - 2012-02-29 09:24:28 1144 (i)2571111 Server started (./conf/Server.xml). - I can't connect an RTMP client to the FMS. The master logs contain these lines, repeating every 5 seconds: 2012-02-29 10:43:17 1076 (i)2581226 Edge (2790) is no longer active. - 2012-02-29 10:43:17 1076 (w)2581255 Edge (2790) _defaultRoot__edge1 experienced 1 failure[s]! - 2012-02-29 10:43:17 1076 (i)2581224 Edge (2793) started, arguments : -edgeports ":1935,80" -coreports "localhost:19350" -conf "/opt/adobe/fms/conf/Server.xml" -adaptor "_defaultRoot_" -name "_defaultRoot__edge1" -edgename "edge1". -

  Read the article

• iOS 6 in-app email does not send from within any app that supports it

  - by Joe Termine

  A strange problem -- Last night I upgraded to the final release of iOS 6 on my iPhone 4S and my iPad 2. When I open an app that allows you to send emails from within the app (e.g. adobe Reader, TurboScan, etc.) -- doesn't matter which one -- I am prompted with the email dialog from within the app, I can compose the message, but when I go to send one of two things will happen: either the email sending sound will "swoosh" and the dialog will close (leading me to think it worked) or some apps with good error handling will say there is an "error sending email." The error logs on my device are not reporting errors. It's just that the email doesn't really send. I have two Exchange mail boxes on these devices. One connects to a corporate network hosting on-premise exchange 2007 and the other connects to Gmail over the exchange interface. Have attempted to delete and re-pair these accounts (one at a time) without any change. I'm wondering if others are experiencing this problem, or whether I should just wipe the devices and chalk it up to (another) failed upgrade. Thoughts much appreciated. Joe

  Read the article

• Q&A: Oracle's Paul Needham on How to Defend Against Insider Attacks

  - by Troy Kitch

  Source: Database Insider Newsletter: The threat from insider attacks continues to grow. In fact, just since January 1, 2014, insider breaches have been reported by a major consumer bank, a major healthcare organization, and a range of state and local agencies, according to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.  We asked Paul Needham, Oracle senior director, product management, to shed light on the nature of these pernicious risks—and how organizations can best defend themselves against the threat from insider risks. Q. First, can you please define the term "insider" in this context? A. According to the CERT Insider Threat Center, a malicious insider is a current or former employee, contractor, or business partner who "has or had authorized access to an organization's network, system, or data and intentionally exceeded or misused that access in a manner that negatively affected the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of the organization's information or information systems."  Q. What has changed with regard to insider risks? A. We are actually seeing the risk of privileged insiders growing. In the latest Independent Oracle Users Group Data Security Survey, the number of organizations that had not taken steps to prevent privileged user access to sensitive information had grown from 37 percent to 42 percent. Additionally, 63 percent of respondents say that insider attacks represent a medium-to-high risk—higher than any other category except human error (by an insider, I might add). Q. What are the dangers of this type of risk? A. Insiders tend to have special insight and access into the kinds of data that are especially sensitive. Breaches can result in long-term legal issues and financial penalties. They can also damage an organization's brand in a way that directly impacts its bottom line. Finally, there is the potential loss of intellectual property, which can have serious long-term consequences because of the loss of market advantage.  Q. How can organizations protect themselves against abuse of privileged access? A. Every organization has privileged users and that will always be the case. The questions are how much access should those users have to application data stored in the database, and how can that default access be controlled? Oracle Database Vault (See image) was designed specifically for this purpose and helps protect application data against unauthorized access.  Oracle Database Vault can be used to block default privileged user access from inside the database, as well as increase security controls on the application itself. Attacks can and do come from inside the organization, and they are just as likely to come from outside as attempts to exploit a privileged account.  Using Oracle Database Vault protection, boundaries can be placed around database schemas, objects, and roles, preventing privileged account access from being exploited by hackers and insiders.  A new Oracle Database Vault capability called privilege analysis identifies privileges and roles used at runtime, which can then be audited or revoked by the security administrators to reduce the attack surface and increase the security of applications overall.  For a more comprehensive look at controlling data access and restricting privileged data in Oracle Database, download Needham's new e-book, Securing Oracle Database 12c: A Technical Primer. 

  Read the article

• Sector bancario, un reto de transformación tecnológica

  - by Fabian Gradolph

  El sector financiero se encuentra en un momento clave. No sólo por la coyuntura económica actual, sino también por cuestiones estructurales y normativas que obligan a las entidades bancarias -normalmente a la cabeza de la innovación tecnológica, por cierto- a seguir dando pasos hacia el futuro, manteniendo la tecnología en el corazón de su estrategia de negocio. Así se ha puesto de manifiesto en el encuentro que se ha celebrado hoy en Madrid: Oracle in Banking, donde expertos de Oracle, clientes de la compañía y analistas han puesto sobre la mesa algunos de los desafíos a los que se enfrenta el sector e ideas para aprovechar al máximo la tecnología en la resolución de estos desafíos. El evento ha sido todo un éxito, con asistencia masiva de clientes y partners. En la imagen que ilustra este artículo pueden verse, por este orden: una panorámica de la sala, Modesto Villajos, Regional Sales Manager de Oracle, quien ejerció de maestro de ceremonias. Leopoldo Boado, Country Manager de Oracle España, quien realizó la introducción, Alex Kwiatkowski, de IDC, quien expuso los prinicipales desafíos a los que se enfrenta la banca, y Máximo Díez, Senior Director Financial Services de Oracle, que planteó las diferentes estrategias de transformación que pueden emprender los bancos. El evento se completó con intervenciones de clientes de Oracle (Banco Espírito Santo -BES- de Portugal; y BBVA, de España), y presentaciones y demostraciones técnicas.  De particular interés fue la intervención de Alex Kwiatkowski. De acuerdo con su punto de vista hay cuatro áreas esenciales a las que se enfrenta el sector. La primera de ellas es el marco regulatorio. El sector financiero está sometido a una constante presión normativa (probablemente acrecentada en estos tiempos de incertidumbre), no sólo a nivel nacional, sino también a nivel europeo y global. El cumplimiento exquisito de todas estas normas es esencial para el buen funcionamiento del sistema. La segunda área crítica es la necesidad de ofrecer una experiencia de usuario multicanal satisfactoria, de forma que se potencie la retención de clientes. A veces es difícil darnos cuenta, pero hoy en día nuestras interacciones con el banco han alcanzado una gran diversidad de canales (sucursal, ATM, Internet, banca telefónica, banca móvil...). Esto supone un permanente desafío tecnológico y de procesos para las entidades financieras. El tercer elemento crítico es el del incremento de la eficiencia de las operaciones, manteniendo los costes bajo control o incluso reduciéndolos aún más. Por último, las entidades bancarias tienen ante sí el reto de encontrar nuevas fuentes de ingresos, de forma que el foco deje de estar únicamente en la reducción de costes y la minimización de riesgos. Lo cierto es que en la actualidad, la atención principal se centra en estos dos puntos, pero como mencionó Alex Kwiatkowski "los CIO`s de los bancos se van a plantar en la mesa del CEO con la necesidad de realizar renovaciones completas de los sistemas de core banking y la necesidad de invertir en el desarrollo de nuevos canales". Máximo Díez también enfatizó esta necesidad en su presentación. Los bancos tienen la obligación de econtrar nuevas fórmulas para impulsar el crecimiento, pero la implementación de estrategias en este sentido presenta fuertes desafíos a causa de las limitaciones de los sistemas IT existentes. No hay duda de que se presenta un futuro muy interesante en el ámbito tecnológico para el sector financiero. Lo que Oracle puede hacer y ofrece a las entidades financieras puede encontrarse en este enlace: Financial Services.

  Read the article

• The Oracle Retail Week Awards - most exciting awards yet?

  - by sarah.taylor(at)oracle.com

  Last night's annual Oracle Retail Week Awards saw the UK's top retailers come together to celebrate the very best of our industry over the last year.  The Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane in London was the setting for an exciting ceremony which this year marked several significant milestones in British - and global - retail.  Check out our videos about the event at our Oracle Retail YouTube channel, and see if you were snapped by our photographer on our Oracle Retail Facebook page. There were some extremely hot contests for many of this year's awards - and all very deserving winners.  The entries have demonstrated beyond doubt that retailers have striven to push their standards up yet again in all areas over the past year.  The judging panel includes some of the most prestigious names in the retail industry - to impress the panel enough to win an award is a substantial achievement.  This year the panel included the likes of Andy Clarke - Chief Executive of ASDA Group; Mark Newton Jones - CEO of Shop Direct Group; Richard Pennycook - the finance director at Morrisons; Rob Templeman - Chief Executive of Debenhams; and Stephen Sunnucks - the president of Gap Europe.  These are retail veterans  who have each helped to shape the British High Street over the last decade.  It was great to chat with many of them in the Oracle VIP area last night.  For me, last night's highlight was honouring both Sir Stuart Rose and Sir Terry Leahy for their contributions to the retail industry.  Both have set the standards in retailing over the last twenty years and taken their respective businesses from strength to strength, demonstrating that there is always a need for innovation even in larger businesses, and that a business has to adapt quickly to new technology in order to stay competitive.  Sir Terry Leahy's retirement this year marks the end of an era of global expansion for the Tesco group and a milestone in the progression of British retail.  Sir Terry has helped steer Tesco through nearly 20 years of change, with 14 years as Chief Executive.  During this time he led the drive for international expansion and an aggressive campaign to increase market share.  He has led the way for High Street retailers in adapting to the rise of internet retailing and nurtured a very successful home delivery service.  More recently he has pioneered the notion of cross-channel retailing with the introduction of Tesco apps for the iPhone and Android mobile phones allowing customers to scan barcodes of items to add to a shopping list which they can then either refer to in store or order for delivery.  John Lewis Partnership was a very deserving winner of The Oracle Retailer of the Year award for their overall dedication to excellent retailing practices.  The business was also named the American Express Marketing/Advertising Campaign of the Year award for their memorable 'Never Knowingly Undersold' advert series, which included a very successful viral video and radio campaign with Fyfe Dangerfield's cover of Billy Joel's 'She's Always a Woman' used for the adverts.  Store Design of the Year was another exciting category with Topshop taking the accolade for its flagship Oxford Street store in London, which combines boutique concession-style stalls with high fashion displays and exclusive collections from leading designers.  The store even has its own hairdressers and food hall, making it a truly all-inclusive fashion retail experience and a global landmark for any self-respecting international fashion shopper. Over the next few weeks we'll be exploring some of the winning entries in more detail here on the blog, so keep an eye out for some unique insights into how the winning retailers have made such remarkable achievements. 

  Read the article

• Software for handling camera RAW-files

  - by Eikern

  I use a digital SLR as most other photographers do today and have quickly realised that capturing images using camera-RAW files is the way to go. Personally I use Adobe Lightroom to handle my photo library, but I know there are other software available like Apple Aperture. These applications are quite hard to use for a novice, and are quite expensive too. I've often recommended other photographers to switch to camera-raw, but they won't do it because Windows can't handle it natively. Are there any free or cheaper applications out there that can do simple file handling and adjustments? Preferably so simple that my mom can do it. I know Nikon offers a codec that allows you to view NEF-files natively inside Windows, but still limits the uses of the file and slows the system down if the file is big. Does anybody know of a drag-and-drop application that converts camera-raw to JPG on-the-fly? In case I or someone would need to upload an image to the web or use it inside a word-document. Thanks.

  Read the article

• Welcome to the Oracle EMEA Partner Community for Exadata!

  - by javier.puerta(at)oracle.com

    The EMEA Partner Community for Exadata is the place where partners in Europe, Middle East and Africa can share experiences and best practices about selling and implementing Exadata projects. You will also receive first-hand information from Oracle on products, training and tools that can help you better market, sell and implement your Exadata-based projects and services    Who should join the Community? Community membership is for individuals. If you are working for a company that is an Oracle partner and your job is selling, implementing or supporting Exadata projects in EMEA then this community is for you.    How is this different from the Oracle Exadata Knowledge Zone? The Oracle Exadata Knowledge Zone is the fundamental source of information from Oracle for partners interested in specializing on Exadata. It is higly recommended that you get access to the Knowledge Zones related to the product areas of your interest. To get access to any of the Knowledge Zones an application must be completed by the Partner Program Administrator for your company. The Exadata Partner Community complements the Knowledge Zone by providing partners with information which is specific for the EMEA market (market, references, training, events,..) and it is also a mechanism to share experiences and best practices among partners in marketing, selling, implementing and supporting Exadata projects.   How to join?  For you to be able to register as an individual, your company must be member of the Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) and should be working towards becoming OPN Specialized in Exadata. If this is the case then Join the EMEA Exadata Partner Community Now! If your company is not an OPN member yet, then Join Oracle PartnerNetwork first.   How do you get access to the information for the community members? We use two mechanisms to provide and share information: The EMEA Exadata Partner Community blog. This is a public blog and we use it to provide  quick and easy communication to the community members. For detailed or restricted material we will point you to a restricted area. The EMEA Exadata Partner Community Collaborative Workspace. This is an area with restricted access that only community members can access. It contains materials from community events, sales kits, implementation experiences,... reserved to community members. It also allows for partners to share content and collaborate with other community members. You will get access to this restricted area when you register as a member of the EMEA Exadata Partner Community     Need help? I hope that you will find useful the resources and the experience exchange provided by the community. If you need help or any further clarification, don't hesitate to contact me!  Javier Puerta ([email protected])Director Core Technology Partner ProgramsAlliances & Channels EMEAPhone: +34916312141 Mobile: +34609062373   

  Read the article

• Can't find disk usage in one directory

  - by Xster

  Similar questions are asked frequently but no suggested answers solved my issue. I have some disk space usage that I can't find as well. In df Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on /dev/sda1 144183992 136857180 2652 100% / udev 2013316 4 2013312 1% /dev tmpfs 808848 876 807972 1% /run none 5120 0 5120 0% /run/lock none 2022116 76 2022040 1% /run/shm overflow 1024 0 1024 0% /tmp I checked the inodes, I checked lsof for +L1 or deleted files, I rebooted, I checked for files hidden behind mounts but none of them were the issue. It grows periodically and I'm running out of things to delete to feed the beast. It's all in the home directory of the only user I have. In du in ~ du -h --max-depth=1 192K ./.nv 2.1M ./.gconf 12K ./Pictures 1.6M ./.launchpadlib 12K ./Public 24K ./.TemporaryItems 8.9M ./.cache 12K ./Network Trash Folder 28K ./.vnc 11M ./.AppleDB 48K ./.subversion 1.9G ./.xbmc 8.0K ./.AppleDesktop 12K ./.dbus 81M ./.mozilla 12K ./Music 160K ./.gnome2 44K ./Downloads 692K ./.zsh 236K ./.AppleDouble 64K ./.pulse 4.0K ./.gvfs 1.4M ./.adobe 44K ./.pki 44K ./.compiz-1 168K ./.config 1.4M ./.thumbnails 12K ./Templates 912K ./.gstreamer-0.10 8.0K ./.emacs.d 92K ./Desktop 1.3M ./.local 12K ./Ubuntu One 12K ./Documents 296K ./.fontconfig 12K ./.qt 12K ./.gnome2_private 20K ./.ssh 20K ./.mission-control 12K ./Videos 12K ./Temporary Items 640K ./.macromedia 124G . I can't find a way to figure out how it got to that 124G in that directory. There are no mount points in home.

  Read the article

• Centralized Windows/Mac Patch Management that is easy to use

  - by BiggsTRC

  I'm looking for advice on what patch management solutions you would recommend based upon your experience. I'm also looking for which ones you would not recommend based upon your experience. We have a mixed network of Windows and Mac clients. Our central servers are all Windows servers, although I have considered putting in a Mac server to better handle our Mac clients. The issue we are facing currently is that we need to maintain the patches on all of our third-party applications. Right now we use WSUS, which handles with patching of Windows and some Microsoft products but that is about it. I need something to cover the other applications, specifically things like Adobe products (Reader, Flash, Dreamweaver, etc.) Our network isn't that big (maybe 200 clients) and I don't have a person to dedicate just to patching and maintaining a patch management solution. Thus very large and complicated solutions like System Center are most likely out. I have recently been looking at Dell's Kace K1000 solution (http://www.kace.com/products/systems-management-appliance/). It seems simple and it provides a lot of tools in one package that I would like/need as well. I like the fact that it is self-contained in an appliance and that it is designed for solutions like mine. However, I'm not sure if this is the best solution. I've also looked some at Shavlik's Netchk solution (http://www.shavlik.com/netchk-protect.aspx) but I don't need an anti-virus product. However, it looks like they might have a very good patch database. My question is this: What are your thoughts on these to products? Are there better products out there? Are there issues that I'm not considering? I want something that is very good at patching a broad range of products, that is simple to use, that takes a minimal amount of management (like WSUS), and that (hopefully) works with Mac and Windows.

  Read the article

• STOP PRESS: FY15 Q1 Oracle ZS3 Contest for Partners

  - by Cinzia Mascanzoni

  04 JUNE 2014 Oracle EMEA Partners Stop Press Stay Connected Oracle Media Network   OPN on PartnerCast   STOP PRESS: FY15 Q1 Oracle ZS3 Contest for PartnersShare an unforgettable experience at the Teatro Alla Scala in Milan Dear valued Partner, We are pleased to launch a partner contest exclusive to our partners dedicated to promoting and selling Oracle Systems! You are essential to the success of Oracle and we want to recognize your contribution and effort in driving Oracle Storage to the market. To show our appreciation we are delighted to announce a contest, giving the winners the opportunity to attend a roundtable chaired by Senior Oracle Executives and spend an unforgettable evening at the magnificent Teatro Alla Scala in Milan, followed by a stay at the Grand Hotel et de Milan, courtesy of Oracle. Recognition will be given to 12 partner companies (10 VARs & 2 VADs) who will be recognized for their ZFS storage booking achievement in the broad market between June 1st and July 18th 2014. Criteria of Eligibility A minimum deal value of $30k is required for qualification Partners who are wholly or partially owned by a public sector organization are not eligible for participation Winners The winning VARs will be: The highest ZS3 or ZBA bookings achievers by COB on July 18th, 2014 in each Oracle EMEA region (1) The highest Oracle on Oracle (2) ZS3 or ZBA bookings achievers by COB on July 18th, 2014 in each Oracle EMEA region The winning VADs (3) will be: The highest ZS3 or ZBA bookings achiever by COB on July 18th 2014 in EMEA The highest Oracle on Oracle (2) ZS3 or ZBA bookings achiever by COB on July 18th 2014 in EMEA (1) Two VAR winners for each EMEA region – Eastern Europe & CIS, Middle East & Africa, South Europe, North Europe, UK/Ireland & Israel - as per the criteria outlined above(2) Oracle on Oracle, in this instance, means ZS3 or ZBA storage attached to DB or DB options, Engineered Systems or Sparc servers sold to the same customer by the same partner within the contest timelines.(3) Two VAD winners, one for each of the criteria outlined above, will be selected from across EMEA. Oracle shall be the final arbiter in selecting the winners. All winners will be notified via their Oracle account manager. Full details about the contest, expenses covered by Oracle and timetable of events can be found on the Oracle EMEA Hardware (Servers & Storage) Partner Community workspace (FY15 Q1 ZFS Partner Contest). Access to the community workspace requires membership. If you are not a member please register here. The Prize Winners will be invited to participate to a roundtable chaired by Oracle on Monday September 8th 2014 in Milan and to be guests of Oracle in the evening of September 8th, 2014 at the Teatro Alla Scala. The evening will comprise of a private tour of the Scala museum, cocktail reception at the elegant museum rooms and attending the performance by the renowned Soprano, Maria Agresta. Our guests will then retire for the evening to the Grand Hotel et de Milan, courtesy of Oracle. Good Luck!! For more information, please contact Sasan Moaveni. Regards, Olivier TordoSenior Director - Systems Business DevelopmentOracle EMEA Alliances & Channels Resources EMEA Hardware Partner Community EMEA Oracle Partner Days Find Partner Events EMEA Partner News Blog EMEA Partner Enablement Blog Oracle PartnerNetwork Copyright © 2014, Oracle and/or its affiliates.All rights reserved. Contact Us | Legal Notices and Terms of Use | Privacy Statement

  Read the article

• Logitech webcam device only recognised by one software, without drivers

  - by Ben Franchuk

  A couple weeks ago I purchased a Logitech webcam at a garage sale; It did not come with any driver DVDs or anything like that. I plugged it in, turned on my computer, and continued work as usual. I did not at the time (and still have not) gotten any drivers for the device. Recently, though, I started up an audio software named as Cubase, only to find that it was picking up audio reads off of... something. I checked my sound card, and everything else plugged into my computer, but couldn't find where in the world this audio was being picked up from. There were no microphones listed in the device managers, and no "unknown devices" or whatever. Everything seemed as it always was. Running out of ideas, i blew an air-horn directly into the general area of the webcam, located directly in front of me. Sure enough, the audio peaked, indicating that the microphone was definitely in the webcam and that Cubase was somehow picking up this audio, even without drivers. The software lists the device as a "Universal USB Microphone". Adobe Audition, Soundbooth, and other audio applications cannot find the device either. Why is it that this one software (Cubase) can use this device without a driver, while every other piece of software on the computer can't? Not even the operating system can recognize it. Windows 7 Professional x64 bit

  Read the article

• Evaluating Solutions to Manage Product Compliance? Don’t Wait Much Longer

  - by Evelyn Neumayr

  By Kerrie Foy, Director PLM Product Marketing, Oracle Depending on severity, product compliance issues can cause various problems from run-away budgets to business closures. But effective policies and safeguards can create a strong foundation for innovation, productivity, market penetration and competitive advantage. If you’ve been putting off a systematic approach to product compliance, it is time to reconsider that decision. Why now?  No matter what industry, companies face a litany of worldwide and regional regulations that require proof of product compliance and environmental friendliness for market access.  For example, Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS), a regulation that restricts the use of six dangerous materials used in the manufacture of electronic and electrical equipment, was originally adopted by the European Union in 2003 for implementation in 2006 and has evolved over time through various regional versions for North America, China, Japan, Korea, Norway and Turkey. In addition, the RoHS directive allowed for material exemptions used in Medical Devices, but that exemption ends in 2014. Additional regulations worth watching are the Battery Directive, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), and Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) directives. Additional regulations are expected from organizations such as the Food and Drug Administration in the US and similar organizations elsewhere. Meeting compliance requirements and also successfully investing in eco-friendly designs can be a major challenge. It may involve transforming business models, go-to-market strategies, supply networks, quality assurance policies and compliance processes.  Without a single source of truth for product data and without proper processes in place, ensuring product compliance burgeons into a crushing task that is cost-prohibitive and overwhelming.  However, the risk to consumer goodwill and satisfaction, revenue, business continuity, and market potential is too great not to solve the compliance challenge. Companies are beginning to adapt and thrive by implementing systematic approaches to product compliance that are more than functional bandages, they are revenue-generating engines. Consider working with Oracle to help you address your compliance needs. Many of the world’s most innovative leaders and pioneers are leveraging Oracle’s Agile Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) portfolio of enterprise applications to manage the product value chain, centralize product data, automate processes, and launch more eco-friendly products to market faster.   Particularly, the Agile Product Governance & Compliance (PG&C) solution provides out-of-the-box functionality to integrate actionable regulatory information into the enterprise product record from the ideation to the disposal/recycling phase.  Agile PG&C is a comprehensive solution that makes product compliance per corporate initiatives and regulations more reliable and efficient. Throughout product lifecycles, use the solution to support full material disclosures, gain rapid visibility into non-compliance issues, efficiently manage declarations with your suppliers, feed compliance data into a corrective action if a product must be changed, and swiftly satisfy audits by showing all due diligence tracked in one solution. Given the compounding regulation and consumer focus on urgent environmental issues, now is the time to act. Implementing an enterprise-wide systematic approach to product compliance is a competitive investment. From the start, Agile PG&C enables companies to confidently design for compliance and sustainability, reduce the cost of compliance, minimize the risk of business interruption, deliver responsible products, and inspire new innovation.  Don’t wait any longer! To find out more about Agile Product Governance & Compliance download the data sheet, contact your sales representative, or call Oracle at 1-800-633-0738.

  Read the article

• Partner Webcast: Innovation in Products - October 1st, 2012 at 04:00 PM CET (03:00 PM GMT) Program

  - by Richard Lefebvre

  I am pleased to invite you to join the Innovations in Products – webcast. Innovations in Products will present Oracle Product's new functions and features including sales positioning. The key objectives of these webcasts are to inspire System Integrator's implementation personnel to conduct successful after sales in their Customer projects. Innovations in Products will be presented on the 1st Monday of each quarter after the billable day (4:00 to 5:00 PM CET). The webcast is intended for System Integrator's Implementation Certified Specialists but Innovations in Products is open for other system Integrator's personnel as well. At first, two Oracle representatives will discuss Oracle's contribution to partners. Then you will see product breakout session followed by Q&A with Oracle Experts. Each session will last for maximum 1 hour. A Q&A document covering all questions and answers will be made available after the webcast. What are the Benefits for partners? Find out how Innovations in Products helps you to improve your after sales Discover new functions and features so you can enrich your Customers's solution Learn more about Oracle products, especially sales positioning Hear crucial questions raised by colleague alike, learn from their interest Engage and present your questions to subject experts Be inspired of the richness of Oracle's product portfolio – for your and your customer's benefit. Note: Should you already be familiar with a specific Product, then choose another one. Doing so you would expand your knowledge of the overall product portfolio. Some presentations contain product demonstration, although these presentations are not intended to be extremely detailed technical presentations. Product breakout sessions available on October 1st:   Topics Speaker To Register Fusion HCM Social Capabilities, Enterprise social capabilities embedded in how you run your business Anca Dumitru, HCM Presales Consultant, EMEA Presales Center CLICK HERE Oracle Fusion Applications Security Concepts, Overview Alexandra Dan, Applications Technology Presales Consultant, EMEA Presales Centre CLICK HERE Fusion Financials Overview - Focus on Fusion Payables, Meeting the Payables' Challenges Elena Nita, Senior ERP Sales Consultant, EMEA Presales Center CLICK HERE Introduction to Oracle RightNow CX, Empowering companies to engage directly with their customers through great Social, Web, Chat and Contact Center experiences. Cais Champsi, Presales Consultant, EMEA Presales Centre CLICK HERE Oracle Endeca Information Discovery, Product Overview Emma Palii, BI Sales Consultant, EMEA Presales Center CLICK HERE To access previously presented 23 Applications Products presentations and 6 Public Sector Value Proposition presentations, please click here. You might want to bookmark the overall registration page Innovations in Products October 1st and the global event calendar page events.oracle.com. Delivery Format Innovations in Products – program is a series of FREE prerecorded Oracle product presentations followed by Q&A. It will be delivered over the Web. Participants have the opportunity to submit questions during the web cast via chat and subject matter experts will provide verbal answers live. Innovations in Products consists of several parallel prerecorded product breakout sessions, each lasting for max. 1 hour. At first, two Oracle representatives will discuss Oracle's contribution to Partners. Then you'll see the product breakout sessions followed by Q&A with Oracle Experts. A Q&A document covering all questions and answers will be made available after the webcast. You can also see Innovations in Products afterwards as its content will be available online for the next 6-12 months. The next Innovations in Products web casts will be presented as follows: October 1st 2012 January 14th 2013 April 8th 2013. Note: Depending on local network bandwidth please allow some seconds time the presentations to download. You might want to refresh your screen by pressing F5. Duration: Maximum 1 hour For further information please contact me Markku Rouhiainen. Best regards Markku Rouhiainen Director, Applications Partner Enablement EMEA

  Read the article

• Cox Communications' Strategic Approach to Enterprise User Experience: How Change Management and Usab

  - by Applications User Experience

  Author: Anna Wichansky, Senior Director, Applications User Experience, and Chair, Oracle Usability Advisory Board As part of our work in the User Experience group, our teams often go to Customer events such as the Higher Education User Group (HEUG) conference, Alliance 2010. This year's event was held in San Antonio, Texas, and was attended by hundreds of higher education, government, and public sector users of Oracle applications. The User Assistance team used this opportunity to reach out to customers in the Educational and Government sectors to better understand how their organizations are currently approaching help, messages, and other forms of user assistance. What is User Assistance? For us, user assistance is more than the old books of users' manuals and documentation. User assistance is anything that helps users get their jobs done quickly and efficiently. Instead of expecting users to stop and look through a guide or manual, we have been developing solutions that are embedded within the interface. We know that when people are having difficulty with a task, they want to be able to search efficiently for solutions and collaborate with coworkers. We know that they want to find their answers right there, right then, so that they can get on with their work. In our interviews at Alliance, we wanted to learn what the participants could tell us about what was happening on their campuses and in their institutions. Figure 1. For Oracle User Assistance, it's not just about books any more. So what did we do? Off to Texas, we recruited 10 people from nine different government and education organizations to come to our Oracle User Experience Onsite Usability Labs. We conducted one-hour interviews with these folks and asked them all about User Assistance--what people are doing, what they would like to do, what technologies they are using, what they would like to use, and ultimately what should we as a company be planning for our future products. We used this as an opportunity also to show them some of our design concepts for Fusion User Assistance, our next generation of user assistance based on the best of our user assistance in other products. Figure 2. Interviewing a technical user at Alliance. What we learned... People are not using paper or online manuals anymore. They don't want to see a manual that is written for technical users and that doesn't make sense to the ordinary end user. They really don't want to have to flip through a manual trying to find an answer to their question. Even when the answer might be tailored to their organization, they don't want to dig through documentation. When they need an answer now, they don't have the patience to dig for something that might or might not be clearly written. What does it mean to an organization when users don't want to deal with documentation? In many cases, it means that frustrated users make phone calls to try to find the answers that they need immediately. Phone calls are expensive to an organization and frustrating to the technical support staff who have provided documentation that no one wants to read anymore. If they don't call, they email for help often, and many users are asking for the same information. The bottom line is that if they could get that help immediately in the interface, they wouldn't have to make those calls or send those emails -- and that saves time and money. Our Fusion User Assistance options to customize help and get help for the task immediately were seen as an opportunity by these technical users to build the solutions that their users need and want. Figure 3. Joyce Ohgi and Laurie Pattison of Applications UX. Chicken Fried Steak. That was huge. But then, this was Texas, where we discovered a lot of things come very big. Drinks are served in quart-size glasses and dishes like Chicken Fried Steaks are served on platters not plates. We saw three-pound cinnamon rolls that you down with tea sweet enough to curl your hair. Deep in the heart of Texas, we learned a lot, and we ate even more.

  Read the article

• Healthcare and Distributed Data Don't Mix

  - by [email protected]

  How many times have you heard the story?  Hard disk goes missing, USB thumb drive goes missing, laptop goes missing...Not a week goes by that we don't hear about our data going missing...  Healthcare data is a big one, but we hear about credit card data, pricing info, corporate intellectual property...  When I have spoken at Security and IT conferences part of my message is "Why do you give your users data to lose in the first place?"  I don't suggest they can't have access to it...in fact I work for the company that provides the premiere data security and desktop solutions that DO provide access.  Access isn't the issue.  'Keeping the data' is the issue.We are all human - we all make mistakes... I fault no one for having their car stolen or that they dropped a USB thumb drive. (well, except the thieves - I can certainly find some fault there)  Where I find fault is in policy (or lack thereof sometimes) that allows users to carry around private, and important, data with them.  Mr. Director of IT - It is your fault, not theirs.  Ms. CSO - Look in the mirror.It isn't like one can't find a network to access the data from.  You are on a network right now.  How many Wireless ones (wifi, mifi, cellular...) are there around you, right now?  Allowing employees to remove data from the confines of (wait for it... ) THE DATA CENTER is just plain indefensible when it isn't required.  The argument that the laptop had a password and the hard disk was encrypted is ridiculous.  An encrypted drive tells thieves that before they sell the stolen unit for $75, they should crack the encryption and ascertain what the REAL value of the laptop is... credit card info, Identity info, pricing lists, banking transactions... a veritable treasure trove of info people give away on an 'encrypted disk'.What started this latest rant on lack of data control was an article in Government Health IT that was forwarded to me by Denny Olson, an Oracle Principal Sales Consultant in Minnesota.  The full article is here, but the point was that a couple laptops went missing in a couple different cases, and.. well... no one knows where the data is, and yes - they were loaded with patient info.  What were you thinking?Obviously you can't steal data form a Sun Ray appliance... since it has no data, nor any storage to keep the data on, and Secure Global Desktop allows access from Macs, Linux and Windows client devices...  but in all cases, there is no keeping the data unless you explicitly allow for it in your policy.   Since you can get at the data securely from any network, why would you want to take personal responsibility for it?  Both Sun Rays and Secure Global Desktop are widely used in Healthcare... but clearly not widely enough.We need to do a better job of getting the message out -  Healthcare (or insert your business type here) and distributed data don't mix. Then add Hot Desking and 'follow me printing' and you have something that Clinicians (and CSOs) love.Thanks for putting up my blood pressure, Denny.

  Read the article

< Previous Page | 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123  | Next Page >