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• TDD and management

  - by Pierreten

  My manager is starting to get pretty pissed off that I'm devoting time to designing tests (he sees testing as something you do after the software is written.). His do I convince him otherwise?

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• Chaining animations and memory management

  - by bryan1967

  Hey Everyone, Got a question. I have a subclassed UIView that is acting as my background where I am scrolling the ground. The code is working really nice and according to the Instrumentation, I am not leaking nor is my created and still living Object allocation growing. I have discovered else where in my application that adding an animation to a UIImageView that is owned by my subclassed UIView seems to bump up my retain count and removing all animations when I am done drops it back down. My question is this, when you add an animation to a layer with a key, I am assuming that if there is already a used animation in that entry position in the backing dictionary that it is released and goes into the autorelease pool? For example: - (void)animationDidStop:(CAAnimation *)theAnimation finished:(BOOL)flag { NSString *keyValue = [theAnimation valueForKey:@"name"]; if ( [keyValue isEqual:@"step1"] && flag ) { groundImageView2.layer.position = endPos; CABasicAnimation *position = [CABasicAnimation animationWithKeyPath:@"position"]; position.timingFunction = [CAMediaTimingFunction functionWithName:kCAMediaTimingFunctionLinear]; position.toValue = [NSValue valueWithCGPoint:midEndPos]; position.duration = (kGroundSpeed/3.8); position.fillMode = kCAFillModeForwards; [position setDelegate:self]; [position setRemovedOnCompletion:NO]; [position setValue:@"step2-1" forKey:@"name"]; [groundImageView2.layer addAnimation:position forKey:@"positionAnimation"]; groundImageView1.layer.position = startPos; position = [CABasicAnimation animationWithKeyPath:@"position"]; position.timingFunction = [CAMediaTimingFunction functionWithName:kCAMediaTimingFunctionLinear]; position.toValue = [NSValue valueWithCGPoint:midStartPos]; position.duration = (kGroundSpeed/3.8); position.fillMode = kCAFillModeForwards; [position setDelegate:self]; [position setRemovedOnCompletion:NO]; [position setValue:@"step2-2" forKey:@"name"]; [groundImageView1.layer addAnimation:position forKey:@"positionAnimation"]; } else if ( [keyValue isEqual:@"step2-2"] && flag ) { groundImageView1.layer.position = midStartPos; CABasicAnimation *position = [CABasicAnimation animationWithKeyPath:@"position"]; position.timingFunction = [CAMediaTimingFunction functionWithName:kCAMediaTimingFunctionLinear]; position.toValue = [NSValue valueWithCGPoint:endPos]; position.duration = 12; position.fillMode = kCAFillModeForwards; [position setDelegate:self]; [position setRemovedOnCompletion:NO]; [position setValue:@"step1" forKey:@"name"]; [groundImageView1.layer addAnimation:position forKey:@"positionAnimation"]; } } This chains animations infinitely, and as I said one it is running the created and living object allocation doesn't change. I am assuming everytime I add an animation the one that exists in that key position is released. Just wondering I am correct. Also, I am relatively new to Core Animation. I tried to play around with re-using the animations but got a little impatient. Is it possible to reuse animations? Thanks! Bryan

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• Optimizing processing and management of large Java data arrays

  - by mikera

  I'm writing some pretty CPU-intensive, concurrent numerical code that will process large amounts of data stored in Java arrays (e.g. lots of double[100000]s). Some of the algorithms might run millions of times over several days so getting maximum steady-state performance is a high priority. In essence, each algorithm is a Java object that has an method API something like: public double[] runMyAlgorithm(double[] inputData); or alternatively a reference could be passed to the array to store the output data: public runMyAlgorithm(double[] inputData, double[] outputData); Given this requirement, I'm trying to determine the optimal strategy for allocating / managing array space. Frequently the algorithms will need large amounts of temporary storage space. They will also take large arrays as input and create large arrays as output. Among the options I am considering are: Always allocate new arrays as local variables whenever they are needed (e.g. new double[100000]). Probably the simplest approach, but will produce a lot of garbage. Pre-allocate temporary arrays and store them as final fields in the algorithm object - big downside would be that this would mean that only one thread could run the algorithm at any one time. Keep pre-allocated temporary arrays in ThreadLocal storage, so that a thread can use a fixed amount of temporary array space whenever it needs it. ThreadLocal would be required since multiple threads will be running the same algorithm simultaneously. Pass around lots of arrays as parameters (including the temporary arrays for the algorithm to use). Not good since it will make the algorithm API extremely ugly if the caller has to be responsible for providing temporary array space.... Allocate extremely large arrays (e.g. double[10000000]) but also provide the algorithm with offsets into the array so that different threads will use a different area of the array independently. Will obviously require some code to manage the offsets and allocation of the array ranges. Any thoughts on which approach would be best (and why)?

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• How to handle management trying to interfere with the project (including architecture decision)

  - by Zwei Steinen

  I feel this is not a very good question to post on SO, but I need some advice from experienced developers... (I'm a second year developer) I guess this is a problem to many, many projects, but in our case, it is getting intense. There were so much interference from people that don't know a bit about software development, that our development came to an almost complete stop. We had to literary escape to another location to get any useful job done. Now we were happily producing results, but then I get a request for a "meeting" and it's them again. I have a friendly relationship with them, but I feel very daunted at the thought of talking about non-sense all over again. Should I be firm and tell them to shut up and wait for our results? Or should I be diplomatic and create an illusion they are making a positive contribution or something?? My current urge is to be unfriendly and murmur some stuff so they will give up or something. What would you do if you were in this situation?

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• WordPress 2.9.2 VS WordPress 3.0 Release Candidate

  - by metal-gear-solid

  I'm going to do a new install of Wordpress. new 3.0 version is coming. current stable version is "WordPress 2.9.2" and "WordPress 3.0 Release Candidate" the last release before final version 3. So for now i should setup 2.9.2 or 3.0 Release Candidate? will i have to replace all files to RC upon final release? What are cons to use Release Candidate version?

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• Project management and bundling dependencies

  - by Joshua

  I've been looking for ways to learn about the right way to manage a software project, and I've stumbled upon the following blog post. I've learned some of the things mentioned the hard way, others make sense, and yet others are still unclear to me. To sum up, the author lists a bunch of features of a project and how much those features contribute to a project's 'suckiness' for a lack of a better term. You can find the full article here: http://spot.livejournal.com/308370.html In particular, I don't understand the author's stance on bundling dependencies with your project. These are: == Bundling == Your source only comes with other code projects that it depends on [ +20 points of FAIL ] Why is this a problem, (especially given the last point)? If your source code cannot be built without first building the bundled code bits [ +10 points of FAIL ] Doesn't this necessarily have to be the case for software built against 3rd party libs? Your code needs that other code to be compiled into its library before the linker can work? If you have modified those other bundled code bits [ +40 points of FAIL ] If this is necessary for your project, then it naturally follows that you've bundled said code with yours. If you want to customize a build of some lib,say WxWidgets, you'll have to edit that projects build scripts to bulid the library that you want. Subsequently, you'll have to publish those changes to people who wish to build your code, so why not use a high level make script with the params already written in, and distribute that? Furthermore, (especially in a windows env) if your code base is dependent on a particular version of a lib (that you also need to custom compile for your project) wouldn't it be easier to give the user the code yourself (because in this case, it is unlikely that the user will already have the correct version installed)? So how would you respond to these comments, and what points may I be failing to take into consideration? Would you agree or disagree with the author's take (or mine), and why?

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• How can I stop cruise control re-building after a failed build?

  - by RodeoClown

  I got back from the weekend to discover that somebody *ahem* had missed a file commit last thing Friday afternoon... Cruise control has been having fun, and tried to re-build every five minutes since then despite no further commits. This means that my colleagues and I have received approximately six hojillion emails from cruise control. A single fail email would be more than enough to notify us. Is there any way to stop cruise control building on failure, at least until a new commit occurs?

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• MVC-3 User-Image Management - Best Practices

  - by Rob

  Hello Experts, Developing using MVC-3, Razor, C# Been searching around and cannot find advice I'm looking for. My site will contain user-uploaded images (possibly a high number). What is the best practice for managing these pictures (placement, breakdown into sub-folders, etc...)? Where do I place them that will prevent them from getting accidentally blown away if I republish my site periodically? If there are any good articles or blog posts, that would be helpful. Also, any advice/tips anyone wants to add would be great. Thanks for your time! Rob EDIT Also would like to know what people do to prevent hot linking.

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• Custom UIButton Memory Management in dealloc

  - by ddawber

  I am hoping to clarify the processes going on here. I have created a subclass of UIButton whose init method looks like this: - (id)initWithTitle:(NSString *)title frame:(CGRect)btnFrame { self = [UIButton buttonWithType:UIButtonTypeCustom]; [self setTitle:title forState:UIControlStateNormal]; self.frame = btnFrame; return self; } In my view controller I am creating one of these buttons and adding it as a subview: myButton = [[CustomButton alloc] initWithTitle:@"Title" frame:someFrame]; [self.view addSubview:myButton]; In the view controller's dealloc method I log the retain count of my button: - (void)dealloc { NSLog(@"RC: %d", [myButton retainCount]); //RC = 2 [super dealloc]; NSLog(@"RC: %d", [myButton retainCount]); //RC = 1 } The way I understand it, myButton is not actually retained, even though I invoked it using alloc, because in my subclass I created an autorelease button (using buttonWithType:). In dealloc, does this mean that, when dealloc is called the superview releases the button and its retain count goes down to 1? The button has not yet been autoreleased? Or do I need to get that retain count down to zero after calling [super dealloc]? Cheers.

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• PPM - Project Portfolio Management

  - by Bruno Lopes

  Hello, What is your company solution for PPM (managing projects, demands, timesheets, etc)? And what is your experience with it? I'm trying to know about the tool prespective and not your company's particular business process. Regards for you all!

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• Why is memory management so visible in Java?

  - by Emil

  I'm playing around with writing some simple Spring-based web apps and deploying them to Tomcat. Almost immediately, I run into the need to customize the Tomcat's JVM settings with -XX:MaxPermSize (and -Xmx and -Xms); without this, the server easily runs out of PermGen space. Why is this such an issue for Java compared to other garbage collected languages? Comparing counts of "tune X memory usage" for X in Java, Ruby, Perl and Python, shows that Java has easily an order of magnitude more hits in Google than the other languages combined.

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• How to convince management to unblock stackoverflow.com?

  - by Abe Miessler

  The place I'm working at restricts a lot of sites (including SO). They have a company experts-exchange account that most of the people I work with are happy using. I told my manager that I prefer SO and asked him to unblock it but he just told me to use experts-exchange. Any suggestions on how to convince my corporate overlords that my time is better spent here?

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• How to ensure project management questions get answered

  - by Chuck Vose

  Background: On a new project I've found myself 3 levels removed from my actual source of information. I report to my PM, who reports to our contractor, who reports to the actual client. Getting answers to questions has become something of a problem and I'm curious to know what people recommend. Needs: I'm trying to find a technology or disciplined strategy that will assist me in ensuring that the questions I'm asking are getting answered: Correctly without much modification of the original question Quickly so the original context isn't lost Completely so that if a question is deferred I don't forget about it. Does anyone know of a software suite that assists in this matter or do you have any personal discipline strategies that worked for you? Thank you for the guidance

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• Objective C memory management question with NSArray

  - by Robert

  I am loading an array with floats like this: NSArray *arr= [NSArray arrayWithObjects: [NSNumber numberWithFloat:1.9], [NSNumber numberWithFloat:1.7], [NSNumber numberWithFloat:1.6], [NSNumber numberWithFloat:1.9],nil]; Now I know this is the correct way of doing it, however I am confused by the retail counts. Each Object is created by the [NSNumber numberWithFloat:] method. This gives the object a retain count of 1 dosnt it? - otherwise the object would be reclaimed The arrayWithObjects: method sends a retain message to each object. This means each object has a retain cont of 2. When the array is de-allocated each object is released leaving them with a retain count of 1. What have I missed?

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• Question about c++ memory management

  - by me

  Instead of int *i = new int; ... delete i; could I just do this? int i; ... delete &i;

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• Sql Server Management Studio Express (2005 or 2008) - Save Password Doesn't work

  - by hamlin11

  I always click "Remember Password" when connecting to a database server. Sometimes when I come back into SSMS, it has it remembered, sometimes not. More often it does not. I regularly connect to about 4 different servers, it's fairly random when it works for which servers. How can I get this to work all the time?

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• SQL SERVER – Configure Management Data Collection in Quick Steps – T-SQL Tuesday #005

  - by pinaldave

  This article was written as a response to T-SQL Tuesday #005 – Reporting. The three most important components of any computer and server are the CPU, Memory, and Hard disk specification. This post talks about  how to get more details about these three most important components using the Management Data Collection. Management Data Collection generates the reports for the three said components by default. Configuring Data Collection is a very easy task and can be done very quickly. Please note: There are many different ways to get reports generated for CPU, Memory and IO. You can use DMVs, Extended Events as well Perfmon to trace the data. Keeping the T-SQL Tuesday subject of reporting this post is created to give visual tutorial to quickly configure Data Collection and generate Reports. From Book On-Line: The data collector is a core component of the Data Collection platform for SQL Server 2008 and the tools that are provided by SQL Server. The data collector provides one central point for data collection across your database servers and applications. This collection point can obtain data from a variety of sources and is not limited to performance data, unlike SQL Trace. Let us go over the visual tutorial on how quickly Data Collection can be configured. Expand the management node under the main server node and follow the direction in the pictures. This reports can be exported to PDF as well Excel by writing clicking on reports. Now let us see more additional screenshots of the reports. The reports are very self-explanatory  but can be drilled down to get further details. Click on the image to make it larger. Well, as we can see, it is very easy to configure and utilize this tool. Do you use this tool in your organization? Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Performance, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology Tagged: SQL Reporting, SQL Reports

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• Excel-based Performance Reviews transformed into Web Application for Performance Management

  - by Webgui

  HR TMS provides enterprise talent management solutions for healthcare, retail and corporate customers, focusing on performance management, compensation management and succession planning. As the competency of nurses and other healthcare workers is critical, the government, via the Joint Commission (JCAHO), tightly monitors their performances. On a regular basis, accredited healthcare organizations are required to review employee performance using a complex set of position dependent job descriptions and competencies. Middlesex Hospital managed their performance reviews for 2500 employees manually with Excel spreadsheets. This was a labor intensive process that proved to be error prone and difficult to manage. Reviews were not always where they belonged and the job descriptions and competencies for healthcare workers were difficult to keep accurate and up to date. As a result, when the Joint Commission visited and requested to see specific review documentation, there was intense stress. Middlesex Hospital needed to automate their review process, pull in the position information from those spreadsheets and be able to deliver reviews online. Users needed to have online access to those reviews from a standard browser. Although the manual system had its issues, it did have the advantage of being very comprehensive and familiar to users. The decision was made to provide a web-based solution that leveraged the look and feel of those spreadsheets in order to insure user acceptance of the system and minimize the training needed. Read the full article here >

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• PeopleSoft 9.2 Financial Management Training – Now Available

  - by Di Seghposs

  A guest post from Oracle University.... Whether you’re part of a project team implementing PeopleSoft 9.2 Financials for your company or a partner implementing for your customer, you should attend some of the new training courses.  Everyone knows project team training is critical at the start of a new implementation, including configuration training on the core application modules being implemented. Oracle offers these courses to help customers and partners understand the functionality most relevant to complete end-to-end business processes, to identify any additional development work that may be necessary to customize applications, and to ensure integration between different modules within the overall business process. Training will provide you with the skills and knowledge needed to ensure a smooth, rapid and successful implementation of your PeopleSoft applications in support of your organization’s financial management processes - including step-by-step instruction for implementing, using, and maintaining your applications. It will also help you understand the application and configuration options to make the right implementation decisions. Courses vary based on your role in the implementation and on-going use of the application, and should be a part of every implementation plan, whether it is for an upgrade or a new rollout. Here’s some of the roles that should consider training: · Configuration or functional implementers · Implementation Consultants (Oracle partners) · Super Users · Business Analysts · Financial Reporting Specialists · Administrators PeopleSoft Financial Management Courses: New Features Course: · PeopleSoft Financial Solutions Rel 9.2 New Features Functional Training: · PeopleSoft General Ledger Rel 9.2 · PeopleSoft Payables Rel 9.2 · PeopleSoft Receivables Rel 9.2 · PeopleSoft Asset Management Rel 9.2 · Expenses Rel 9.2 · PeopleSoft Project Costing Rel 9.2 · PeopleSoft Billing Rel 9.2 · PeopleSoft PS / nVision for General Ledger Rel 9.2 Accelerated Courses (include content from two courses for more experienced team members): · PeopleSoft General Ledger Foundation Accelerated Rel 9.2 · PeopleSoft Billing / Receivables Accelerated Rel 9.2 · PeopleSoft Purchasing / Payable Accelerated Rel 9.2 View PeopleSoft Training Overview Video

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• SQL SERVER – A Cool Trick – Restoring the Default SQL Server Management Studio – SSMS

  - by pinaldave

  “I do not know where my windows went!” “I just closed my object explorer and now I cannot find it.” “How do I get my original windows layout back in SQL Server Management Studio?” “How do I get the window which was there in left side back again?” Since last 2-3 years, every single day I receive more than 5 emails on SSMS and its layout. For the beginners it is very common to get confused when they attempt to change SQL Server Management Studio’s windows layout. They often change the layout and are not able to get the original layout back. Often people do not change the layout whole of their life, leading to uncomfortable feeling when they go to another’s computer where the windows are differently placed. Today’s blog post is dedicated all the beginners in SQL Server. It is extremely simple to reset the SSMS layout to default layout. The default layout involves 2 major things 1) Object Explorer on left side 2) Query Windows on right side (80% screen estate). Personally I am so used to this as well that if there is any other changes in the same, I do not enjoy working on the environment. Well, the solution to rest the SSMS layout is very simple. One can do it in split seconds.  To restore the default configuration, on the Window menu, click Reset Window Layout. Have you ever used this feature? Do you feel uncomfortable when SSMS layout is not in default state? How do you address this situation? Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Server Management Studio, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• Drive project success & financial performance with business critical Enterprise Project Portfolio Management

  - by Sylvie MacKenzie, PMP

  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:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} Oracle Primavera invites you to the first in a series of three webcasts linking Enterprise Project Portfolio Management with enhanced operational performance and better financial results. Few organizations fully understand the impact projects have on their business. Consistently delivering successful projects is vital to the financial success of an asset intensive organization. Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM) is not a new concept yet for many organizations it is not considered "business critical". Webcast 1: Plan – Aligning project selection and prioritization with corporate objectives This webcast will look at 2 key questions: Are you aligning portfolio decisions with strategic objectives? How do you effectively measure the success of your portfolio decisions? Hear from Accenture who'll present a compelling case for why asset intensive organizations should consider EPPM as business critical. They'll explore: How technology is being used to enhance project delivery How collaboration enhances delivery performance The major challenges associated with the planning phase of a project Next hear from Geoff Roberts, Industry Strategist from Oracle Primavera. With over 30 years experience in project management/project controls in the construction, utilities and oil & gas sectors, Geoff will investigate how EPPM is a best practice and can support an organization through project selection and prioritization ensuring that decisions are aligned with corporate objectives. Don’t miss out, register today!

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• Oracle Brings Analytics to Project Management

  - by Sylvie MacKenzie, PMP

  Excerpt from PROFIT - ORACLE - by Alison Weiss  Nonprofit and for-profit organizations have many differences, but there is one way they are alike—managers struggle with huge amounts of data generated every day. Project data by itself has limited use—but any organization that can gain insight to make accurate predictions or to use resources more effectively can gain an operational advantage. Oracle’s Primavera P6 Analytics 2.0 business intelligence solution enables organizations using Oracle’s Primavera P6 Professional Project Management to do just that: identify critical issues and uncover trends in stores of project data. Primavera P6 Analytics provides management with the ability to look at not only how a single effort is progressing, but also how the entire organization is doing from a project perspective. The latest release includes new features that make it even easier to gather and analyze critical information. For example, the addition of geocoding gives Primavera P6 Analytics users the ability to track resources geographically on longitude and latitude and use a map to get an overall view of how projects, programs, and activities are deployed. “A nonprofit with relief projects in Vietnam, for example, can drill down to the project and get a world view and a regional view,” says Yasser Mahmud, vice president of product strategy and industry marketing in Oracle’s Primavera Global Business Unit. “Then they can drill down further to show statistics; key performance indicators; and how that program, portfolio, or project work is actually getting done.” The addition of new mobile capabilities to Primavera P6 Analytics puts deep-dive analysis into project managers’ hands with compatibility with major tablet operating systems. Now, nonprofits or for-profits working in remote locations can provide real-time visibility into projects to alert management if issues are occurring that need to be addressed immediately. “Primavera P6 Analytics generates information that can help organizations improve their utilization and trim down overall operating costs,” says Mahmud. “But more importantly, it gives organizations improved visibility.”

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• NBC Sports Chooses Oracle for Social Relationship Management

  - by Pat Ma

  0 0 1 247 1411 involver 11 3 1655 14.0 Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE /* 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-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; } NBC Sports wanted to engage fans, grow their audience, and give their advertising customers more value. They wanted to use social media to accomplish this. NBC Sports recognized that sports in inherently social. When you watch a game at the stadium or at home, you’re chatting with the people around you, commenting on plays, and celebrating together after each score. NBC Sports wanted to deliver this same social experience via social media channels. NBC Sports used Oracle Social Relationship Management (SRM) to create an online sporting community on Facebook. Fans can watch sporting events live on NBC television while participating in fan commentary about the event on Facebook. The online fan community is extremely engaged – much like fans in a sporting stadium would be during a game. NBC Sports also pose sporting questions, provide sporting news, and tie-in special promotions with their advertisers to their fans via Facebook. Since implementing their social strategy, NBC Sports has seen their fans become more engaged, their television audience grow, and their advertisers happier with new social offerings. To see how Oracle Social Relationship Management can help create better customer experiences for your company, contact Oracle here. Watch NBC Sports Video: Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBC Sports Group, describes how Oracle Cloud’s SRM tools helped the broadcaster engage with their fans on social media channels. Watch Thomas Kurian Keynote: Thomas Kurian, Executive Vice President of Product Development, Oracle, describes Oracle’s Cloud platform and application strategy, how it is transforming business management, and delivering great customer experiences here.

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• Variant Management– Which Approach fits for my Product?

  - by C. Chadwick

  Jürgen Kunz – Director Product Development – Oracle ORACLE Deutschland B.V. & Co. KG Introduction In a difficult economic environment, it is important for companies to understand the customer requirements in detail and to address them in their products. Customer specific products, however, usually cause increased costs. Variant management helps to find the best combination of standard components and custom components which balances customer’s product requirements and product costs. Depending on the type of product, different approaches to variant management will be applied. For example the automotive product “car” or electronic/high-tech products like a “computer”, with a pre-defined set of options to be combined in the individual configuration (so called “Assembled to Order” products), require a different approach to products in heavy machinery, which are (at least partially) engineered in a customer specific way (so-called “Engineered-to Order” products). This article discusses different approaches to variant management. Starting with the simple Bill of Material (BOM), this article presents three different approaches to variant management, which are provided by Agile PLM. Single level BOM and Variant BOM The single level BOM is the basic form of the BOM. The product structure is defined using assemblies and single parts. A particular product is thus represented by a fixed product structure. As soon as you have to manage product variants, the single level BOM is no longer sufficient. A variant BOM will be needed to manage product variants. The variant BOM is sometimes referred to as 150% BOM, since a variant BOM contains more parts and assemblies than actually needed to assemble the (final) product – just 150% of the parts You can evolve the variant BOM from the single level BOM by replacing single nodes with a placeholder node. The placeholder in this case represents the possible variants of a part or assembly. Product structure nodes, which are part of any product, are so-called “Must-Have” parts. “Optional” parts can be omitted in the final product. Additional attributes allow limiting the quantity of parts/assemblies which can be assigned at a certain position in the Variant BOM. Figure 1 shows the variant BOM of Agile PLM. Figure 1 Variant BOM in Agile PLM During the instantiation of the Variant BOM, the placeholders get replaced by specific variants of the parts and assemblies. The selection of the desired or appropriate variants is either done step by step by the user or by applying pre-defined configuration rules. As a result of the instantiation, an independent BOM will be created (Figure 2). Figure 2 Instantiated BOM in Agile PLM This kind of Variant BOM  can be used for „Assembled –To-Order“ type products as well as for „Engineered-to-Order“-type products. In case of “Assembled –To-Order” type products, typically the instantiation is done automatically with pre-defined configuration rules. For „Engineered- to-Order“-type products at least part of the product is selected manually to make use of customized parts/assemblies, that have been engineered according to the specific custom requirements. Template BOM The Template BOM is used for „Engineered-to-Order“-type products. It is another type of variant BOM. The engineer works in a flexible environment which allows him to build the most creative solutions. At the same time the engineer shall be guided to re-use existing solutions and it shall be assured that product variants of the same product family share the same base structure. The template BOM defines the basic structure of products belonging to the same product family. Let’s take a gearbox as an example. The customer specific configuration of the gearbox is influenced by several parameters (e.g. rpm range, transmitted torque), which are defined in the customer’s requirement document.  Figure 3 shows part of a Template BOM (yellow) and its relation to the product family hierarchy (blue).  Figure 3 Template BOM Every component of the Template BOM has links to the variants that have been engineeried so far for the component (depending on the level in the Template BOM, they are product variants, Assembly Variant or single part variants). This library of solutions, the so-called solution space, can be used by the engineers to build new product variants. In the best case, the engineer selects an existing solution variant, such as the gearbox shown in figure 3. When the existing variants do not fulfill the specific requirements, a new variant will be engineered. This new variant must be compliant with the given Template BOM. If we look at the gearbox in figure 3  it must consist of a transmission housing, a Connecting Plate, a set of Gears and a Planetary transmission – pre-assumed that all components are must have components. The new variant will enhance the solution space and is automatically available for re-use in future variants. The result of the instantiation of the Template BOM is a stand-alone BOM which represents the customer specific product variant. Modular BOM The concept of the modular BOM was invented in the automotive industry. Passenger cars are so-called „Assembled-to-Order“-products. The customer first selects the specific equipment of the car (so-called specifications) – for instance engine, audio equipment, rims, color. Based on this information the required parts will be determined and the customer specific car will be assembled. Certain combinations of specification are not available for the customer, because they are not feasible from technical perspective (e.g. a convertible with sun roof) or because the combination will not be offered for marketing reasons (e.g. steel rims with a sports line car). The modular BOM (yellow structure in figure 4) is defined in the context of a specific product family (in the sample it is product family „Speedstar“). It is the same modular BOM for the different types of cars of the product family (e.g. sedan, station wagon). The assembly or single parts of the car (blue nodes in figure 4) are assigned at the leaf level of the modular BOM. The assignment of assembly and parts to the modular BOM is enriched with a configuration rule (purple elements in figure 4). The configuration rule defines the conditions to use a specific assembly or single part. The configuration rule is valid in the context of a type of car (green elements in figure 4). Color specific parts are assigned to the color independent parts via additional configuration rules (grey elements in figure 4). The configuration rules use Boolean operators to connect the specifications. Additional consistency rules (constraints) may be used to define invalid combinations of specification (so-called exclusions). Furthermore consistency rules may be used to add specifications to the set of specifications. For instance it is important that a car with diesel engine always is build using the high capacity battery.  Figure 4 Modular BOM The calculation of the car configuration consists of several steps. First the consistency rules (constraints) are applied. Resulting from that specification might be added automatically. The second step will determine the assemblies and single parts for the complete structure of the modular BOM, by evaluating the configuration rules in the context of the current type of car. The evaluation of the rules for one component in the modular BOM might result in several rules being fulfilled. In this case the most specific rule (typically the longest rule) will win. Thanks to this approach, it is possible to add a specific variant to the modular BOM without the need to change any other configuration rules.  As a result the whole set of configuration rules is easy to maintain. Finally the color specific assemblies respective parts will be determined and the configuration is completed. Figure 5 Calculated Car Configuration The result of the car configuration is shown in figure 5. It shows the list of assemblies respective single parts (blue components in figure 5), which are required to build the customer specific car. Summary There are different approaches to variant management. Three different approaches have been presented in this article. At the end of the day, it is the type of the product which decides about the best approach.  For „Assembled to Order“-type products it is very likely that you can define the configuration rules and calculate the product variant automatically. Products of type „Engineered-to-Order“ ,however, need to be engineered. Nevertheless in the majority of cases, part of the product structure can be generated automatically in a similar way to „Assembled to Order“-tape products.  That said it is important first to analyze the product portfolio, in order to define the best approach to variant management.

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• .NET Dependency Management Systems

  - by StriplingWarrior

  I have some .NET projects that are starting to get large enough to merit looking into Dependency Management solutions, so we don't have to copy binaries from one project to another. Here's what I've found so far: NPanday is based on a port of Maven. I can't tell how recently it was worked on, but the last release was in May 2011. NuGet seems to be under active development, and it appears to have support directly from Microsoft. Some people complained that it "only addresses dependency resolution," but I don't know what else it should address, or whether it has added more features since that point. It does appear to have recently added the ability to import binaries as part of the build process so we don't have to commit them to our repositories. Refix appears to still be in Beta, after having received no attention since Sept 2011. Would somebody with recent experience using any of these dependency management tools (or any others that work well) share your experience? Is NuGet mature enough to use it for dependency management? If not, what does it lack?

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