PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES

 Profession: A paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged

training and a formal qualification.

 Professional: A professional is a member of a profession or any person who

earns their living from a specified professional activity. The term also
describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of
the profession with the particular knowledge and skills necessary to perform
their specific role within that profession.
Professional Responsibilities:

 With reference to Information Technology, Computer Science or Software

Engineering, the responsibilities of working professionals in this area include
network administration, software development and installation, and the
planning and management of an organization's technology life cycle, by which
hardware and software is maintained, upgraded and replaced.

 But these are not ENOUGH.

Requirement for becoming an IT Professional

Must acquire specialized knowledge about:

 Discrete Algorithms
 Relational database theory,
 Computer language theory,
 Computer Architecture
 Digital Electronics
 Artificial intelligence
 Web Technologies
 Computer Networks
 Human Computer Interaction
 Software development techniques
 Digital system design. Etc.
 The knowledge base for IT expands through research in IT related disciplines
conducted in universities and in industrial and government laboratories.

Requirements most common for IT careers:

 1. First degree

The minimum degree that most IT jobs require is a bachelor's degree. Areas of
study for this field include computer science, information technology, information
technology management and computer engineering. Common courses of study
include:

 Information technology system analysis

 Information security
 Data networking
 Information technology system risk assessment
 Computer administration

Some students may continue their education to earn a master's degree. This is
useful to get senior-level positions in IT, such as director of information technology.

2. Certifications

The certification you need to earn depends on the career you want. Most
certifications require on-the-job experience before you are able to qualify to take
an examination to become certified. It can be helpful to get an entry-level job in
order to gain experience for certifications which can help advance your career and
qualify for senior-level jobs. Here are common certifications for IT:

 Certified data professional (CDP): Applicant takes two exams to prove

competency working with core information systems and data management.
With this certification, applicants can also take an additional exam in order to
further specialize in data management, such as business analytics, database
administration, data integration or data modeling.
 Certified information systems security professional (CISSP): Before taking the
exam for this certification, applicants must have a minimum of five years of
experience. Then they must pass an exam that covers security and risk
management, architecture and engineering security, communication and
network security, software development security and identity and access
management.
 Certified information systems auditor (CISA): This is the standard certification
for IT professionals working in auditing or security. The exam covers topics,
such as auditing information systems, management of IT, information
systems acquisitions and developments, and operations of information
systems.
 Project management professional: This exam tests applicants on the
methodologies of project management such as Scrum, flowcharts and other
 task management programs. Earning this certification helps to qualify for
management roles in IT.

3. Skills

Here are some skills that help IT professionals perform job tasks successfully:

 Communication: It is important for IT professionals to have excellent

communication skills because they often collaborate with members of the IT
department and of the organization to assess and address issues with
information technology systems.
 Analytical: Many IT careers require the identification and assessment of
computer systems and technology. Critical thinking and analytical skills help
find and resolve issues.
 Problem-solving: A role of many IT careers is to troubleshoot problems in the
operation of information technology systems, such as the company database.
 Computer literacy: The ability to operate basic computer functions is
essential because all IT careers focus on computer systems and working with
computer software in some capacity.
 Application development: Knowledge of how to develop software applications
is helpful for IT specialists who either design applications, analyze code or
monitor computer systems. Understanding how applications work can help
perform career-related tasks.
 Coding: Many IT professionals need the ability to write or read code. This
helps them develop software, improve applications and analyze systems
because computer code is the foundation for all applications and websites.
 Time management: The ability to prioritize tasks, complete projects and
adhere to deadlines is important for IT professionals who often have time-
sensitive tasks such as enhancing security for databases.

Engineering Council states that other than professional Knowledge, an

Engineer must know:

 Technical decision making and its commercial and economic implementation;

…knowledge of government legislation affecting work, e.g. safety, health,
environmental requirements; an understanding of the principles of
management and industrial relations; some knowledge of trade unions and
their organization; an understanding of the engineer’s responsibility to the
profession, to the community and to the environment

The Professionalism:
  A profession isn’t just what you do, it’s who you are.

 Professionalism is a way of thinking and living rather than an accumulation of

learning.

Traits of a Profession:

Four Traits of Profession

1. Varied activities requiring special skills

2. Society-centric motivation

3. Personal standards of excellence

4. Giving back to society

A professional behaves ethically:

 Ethics means something more than ‘law’ and ‘morals’.

 It carries an additional connotation of ‘rightness’.

 Breaking the law: can earn a fine or jail time

 Breaking a moral: can ruin your reputation

 Breaking an ethic: can ruin your conscience

It’s possible to break all three, simultaneousl

LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES IN IT PRACTICE

Ethics: is the moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of
an activity.

Morals: are concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the
goodness or badness of human character.

Law: is the system of rules that a particular country or community recognizes as

regulating the actions of its members and may enforce by the imposition of
penalties.

If you are ethical you can abide by the law. If you are Moral you can be ethical.
Also, if you are moral you can abide by the law. But you can never be all three
together.
Morality governs private, personal interactions. Ethics governs professional
interactions. Law governs society as a whole, often dealing with interactions
between total strangers.

Some people talk about their personal ethics, others talk about a set of morals, and
everyone in a society is governed by the same set of laws. If the law conflicts with
our personal values or a moral system, we have to act – but to do so we need to
be able to tell the difference between them.

Ethics and morals relate to “right” and “wrong” conduct. While they are
sometimes used interchangeably, they are different: ethics refer to rules provided
by an external source, e.g., codes of conduct in workplaces or principles in
religions. Morals refer to an individual's own principles regarding right and wrong.

Morals and Law differs because the law demands an absolute subjection to its
rules and commands. Law has enforcing authority derived from the state. It is
heteronymous (being imposed upon men upon the outer life of men). Law
regulates men’s relations with others and with society.

A promissory note is in force for three years. It is the debtor’s duty to repay the
loan. It is the legal duty. The creditor can enforce legal action against the debtor
within three years from the date of execution of a promissory note before the court
of law. The legal duty involves a corresponding right. The state provides organized
machinery for the enforcement of the law. Legal disputes admit to the principle of
alteration by legislation. Legal disputes can only be settled by an appropriate court
of law. Law is narrower than morality. It extends to a great number of such acts.
The law applies to all the citizens whether they want or not. Law cannot be
changed into morals.

Morality demands that men should act from a sense of ethical duty. Morality has no
such enforcing authority from the state. It is autonomous (coming from the inner
life of men). It governs the inner life of men. If the promissory note is time-barred,
then the legal duty of the debtor turns into moral duty. Of course, moral duty is not
enforceable before the court of law. It is also accompanied by a corresponding
right. But right is not enforceable before the court of law. There is no such
organization for the enforcement of morals. Moral rules do not admit even in
principle admit of change by legislation. Moral disputes can be solved by the
mediation of caste elders, village elders, etc. Morality applies to every human act.

Morality also applies to all persons. But it depends from person to person, from
religion to religion, society to society. It is his/her pleasure to follow or not. But
morals sometimes can be converted into law. Example: a donation to a charity
institution is a moral principle. The income-tax recognized and exempts a certain
percentage of income-tax towards donation from the total income.

Ethics and Law - Ethics are rules of conduct. Laws are rules developed by
governments in order to provide balance in society and protection to its citizens.
Ethics comes from people’s awareness of what is right and wrong. Laws are
enforced by governments to their people. Ethics are moral codes that every person
must conform to. Laws are codifications of ethics meant to regulate society. Ethics
does not carry any punishment to anyone who violates it. The law will punish
anyone who happens to violate it. Ethics comes from within a person’s moral
values. Laws are made with ethics as a guiding principle.

It is clear that one cannot be Ethical, Moral, and follow the law. In today's society
following the law affects the morality of people. Being ethical makes you look like
you are against someone or something. What do you do? It is not to please anyone
but make sure you are ok with what you will follow. Choose wisely because only
two go side by side.

Principles of IT Ethics & Codes

1. IT professional’s obligations to clients, employers, other professionals, and

the public are explicitly stated in the profession’s Ethics & codes or code of
professional conduct.
2. IT professional Ethics and codes of conduct have been formulated by the
following Councils and Associations for their members:

 Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria (CPN)

 Nigeria Computer Society (NCS)
 Association of Computing Machinery (ACM)
 British Computer Society (BCS)
 Association of Information Technology Professional (AITP)
 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and Computer Society (IEEE-
CS)
 Australia Computer Society (ACS)

PROFESSIONAL CODE OF ETHICS

A professional code of ethics offers a set of guidelines teams or organizations can

use to make good decisions in the workplace. It allows you to set a baseline
expectation for what is socially acceptable and how to approach problems. A
professional code of ethics can help employees work honestly and with integrity,
which can help create a healthier work environment.
A professional code of ethics is a set of principles designed to help a business
govern its decision-making and distinguish right from wrong. Often referred to as
an ethical code, these principles outline the mission and values of an organization,
how the professionals within the organization are supposed to approach problems
and the standards to which employees are held.

Important of code ethics

A professional code of ethics is designed to ensure employees are behaving in a

manner that is socially acceptable and respectful of one another. It establishes the
rules for behavior and sends a message to every employee that universal
compliance is expected. It also provides the groundwork for a preemptive warning
if employees break the code. A code of ethics can be valuable not just internally as
a professional guide but also externally as a statement of a company’s values and
commitments.

Traits of a Professional:

 Being a professional means that they are certain traits which are expected from
you.

 We will go through Each of them

Trait No 1 of a professional: Seriousness

 Serious about job

 The job is only a job. A means to an end

Trait No 2 of a professional: Wanting to do better:

 Exhibit a never-ending quest to improve their performance in every variable,

every project, every relationship, and every detail.
Trait No 3 of a professional: Dealing with the Unexpected

 Stuff happens, things change, and the true professional rises to the occasion
Trait No 4 of a professional: Communication Skills:

 Clear

 Concise

 Confident
Trait No 5 of a professional: Enthusiasm:

 Attitude is everything. Those who exhibit enthusiasm for what they do and greet
each day with a positive attitude inevitably become a leader
Trait No 6 of a professional: Helpfulness:

 Understand that real success in the workplace requires teamwork

  Always ready to lend a hand

 Make a suggestion

 Offer a compliment when it’s deserved

Trait No 7 of a professional: Taking the Initiative:

 Takes the initiative to get things done

Trait No 8 of a professional: Cool under Pressure:

 Level headed and calm

 Cheerful demeanor-even under stressful times

Trait No 9 of a professional: Remains Focused:

 Stay focused on the task at hand and the goal ahead

 Navigate through obstacles or setbacks but never lose sight of where they headed

Trait No 10 of a professional: Don’t Follow, Lead:

 True Professionals aren’t faint of heart

 Analyze the situation and willing to take new paths and try new solutions

 That’s why they call it LEADERSHIP!

Applying Professionalism in Real Life:

Scenario No1

 You are the owner of a software engineering company. Your employees

(engineers) want you to pay for them to attend training.

 How would you respond in a way that is legal, moral, and ethical?
Scenario No2:

 You are the owner of a software engineering company. Your employees

(engineers) want you to let them do pro bono work for a local non-profit
organization on company time.

 How would you respond in a way that is legal, moral, and ethical?
Scenario No3:

 You are a software engineer at a company where management routinely

encourages you and your colleagues to use pirated software.

 How would you respond in a way that is legal, moral, and ethical?
PROFESSIONAL ETHICS & CODE OF ETHICS
 Law:

Rules that mandate or prohibit certain behavior in society.

 Moral Values:

The fixed moral attitudes or customs of a particular group

 Ethics:

Define socially acceptable behaviors.

Code of Ethics:

 Established by various professional organizations

 Produce a positive effect on judgment.

 Establishes responsibility of professionals to act ethically according to

the policies and procedures of their employers, professional
organizations, and laws of society.

 Organizations assume responsibility to develop, disseminate, and enforce

policies.
Code of Ethics’ Goals:

Provides an aid to individual decision making, presentation addresses nine different

cases (with some overlap).

 Intellectual property

 Privacy

 Confidentiality

 Professional quality

 Fairness or discrimination

 Liability

 Software risks

 Conflicts of interest
 Unauthorized access to computer systems

IEEE Code of Ethics:

 IEEE Code of Ethics: Actions

1. PUBLIC - Software engineers shall act consistently with the public interest.

2.CLIENT AND EMPLOYER - Software engineers shall act in a manner that is in the
best interests of their client and employer consistent with the public interest.
  IEEE Code of Ethics: Products

3. PRODUCT - Software engineers shall ensure that their products and related
modifications meet the highest professional standards.
 IEEE Code of Ethics: Hierarchy

4. JUDGMENT - Software engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in

their professional judgment.

5.MANAGEMENT - Software engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to

and promote an ethical approach to the management of software development
and maintenance.

 IEEE Code of Ethics: Peers

6.PROFESSION - Software engineers shall advance the integrity and reputation

of the profession consistent with the public interest.

7.COLLEAGUES - Software engineers shall be fair to and supportive of their

colleagues.

 IEEE Code of Ethics: Self

8.SELF - Software engineers shall participate in lifelong learning regarding the

practice of their profession and shall promote an ethical approach to the
practice of the profession.
Principles of IEEE Code of Ethics:

 Act in public interest

 Act in interest of clients and employers

 Produce quality products

 Maintain independent judgment

 Manage ethically

 Protect integrity of profession

 Support colleagues
 Pursue lifelong learning

ACM Code of Ethics:

General moral imperatives: “As an ACM member I will…”

 Contribute to society and human well-being.

 Avoid harm to others.

 Be honest and trustworthy.

 Be fair and take action not to discriminate.

  Honor property rights including copyrights and patents.

 Give proper credit for intellectual property.

 Respect the privacy of others.

 Honor confidentiality.
Specific professional responsibilities: “As an ACM computing professional I
will”:

 Strive to achieve the highest quality, effectiveness and dignity in both the
process and products of professional work.

 Acquire and maintain professional competence.

 Know and respect existing laws pertaining to professional work.

 Accept and provide appropriate professional review.

 Give comprehensive and thorough evaluations of computer system and their

impacts, including analysis of possible risks.

 Honor contracts, agreements, and assigned responsibilities.

 Improve public understanding of computing and its consequences.

 Access computing and communication resources only when authorized to do so.

Organization leadership imperatives: “As an ACM member and an
organizational leader, I will:”

 Articulate social responsibilities of members of an organizational unit and

encourage full acceptance of those responsibilities.

 Manage personnel and resources to design and build information systems

that enhance the quality of working life.

 Acknowledge and support proper and authorized uses of an organization’s

computing and communication resources.

 Ensure that users and those who will be affected by a design have their needs
clearly articulated during the assessment and design of requirements; later the
system must be validated to meet requirements.

 Articulate and support policies that protect the dignity of users and others
affected by a computing system.

 Create opportunities for members of the organization to learn the principles

and limitations of computer systems.
Compliance with the Code: “As an ACM member, I will:”

 Uphold and promote the principles of this Code.

 Treat violations of this code as inconsistent with membership in the ACM.

Ethical decision making: Case 1:

 Ali is a database programmer

Large statistical program needed by his company.

Company programmers are encouraged to publicize their work

 Ali has found himself stuck on a problem

He has persisted at this for several months.

His manager does not recognize complexity of

problem. She insists job be completed in the
few days.
 Ali remembers:

Co-worker had given him source listings of their current work.

He also has an early version of commercial software developed at another
company

 Ali studies these programs

Sees two areas of code which could be directly incorporated into his
own program He uses segments of code both from his coworker and
from the commercial software
 He does not tell anyone or mention it in the documentation.

 He completes the project and turns it in a day ahead of time.

 How does the Code of Ethics help us understand this case?

Applying the code: Case 1:

 This case highlights issues involving intellectual property

 Ali violated professional ethics in two areas:

1. Failure to give credit for another’s work

2. Using code from a commercial package that was copyrighted

 If Ali only “looked” at co-worker’s source code:

Could he then write his own program and still have an obligation to give credit?

 Yes: He should have acknowledged credit in documentation.

 Use of commercial software code was also not appropriate:

Ali should have checked to determine whether or not company was authorized
to use source code before using it.
  In general:

Desirable to share and exchange intellectual

materials But using software is definitely a
violation of code.
Ethical decision making: Case 2:

 Aisha’s company has been hired by a client to build a security system. Because
of cost overruns, client has decided to opt for a less secure system.

 Aisha believes information they will store is extremely sensitive.

 With weak security:

Employees on workstations could figure out how to

access this data. Online intruders would also have access
 Aisha feels strongly that system should be much more secure.

 She has tried to explain the risk.

 What should Aisha so? Should she refuse to build the system as they
request?

Applying the Code: Case 2:

 This case highlights issues involving privacy.

 Company officials:

Have an obligation to protect privacy of their employees. Therefore they should

not accept inadequate security.

 Aisha’s first obligation:

Attempt to educate company officials

If that fails, she needs to consider her contractual obligations in honoring

assigned responsibilities.

 We don’t have Aisha’s contract, but she may have to choose

between her contract and her obligation to honor privacy and
security.
Ethical decision making: Case 3:

 A contractor is determining requirements for an employment agency.

 Client describes what is needed when displaying applications whose

qualifications appear to match those for a particular job

 Client also further states that names of white applicants are to be

displayed ahead of nonwhites

 If client answers that they plan to use information to favor white males,
 then: Computer professional should refuse to build the system as proposed.
Ethical decision making: Case 4:

 A software development company has just produced a new software

package.

 It incorporates new tax laws and prepares both individual and small business tax
returns

 The president of the company knows that the program has a number of
bugs

 He also believes the first firm to put this kind of software on the market is
likely to capture the largest market share.

 The company widely advertises the package.

 When the product is shipped, it includes a disclaimer of responsibility for errors

resulting from the use of the program.

 The company expects it will receive a number of complaints, queries, and

suggestions for modification. The company plans to use these to make
changes and eventually issue updated, improved and debugged versions. The
president argues that this is general industry policy:

 “Anyone who buys version 1.0 of a program knows this and will take proper
precautions.”

 Because of bugs, a number of users filed incorrect tax returns and were
penalized by Rev Canada.

Applying the Code: Case 4:

 This case highlights issues involving legal liability for unreliable code. Software
Company (and president in particular) violated several principles in the ACM
code of ethics. Since he was aware of bugs in the product, he did not strive to
achieve the highest quality.

 By failing to inform consumers about bugs to system, principle 2.5 was

violated. Here the risks to users are so great they have to pay penalties for
mistakes which result from the program.

 By law companies can make disclaimers only when they are in “good
conscience” (Disclaimer does not meet legal test, violated principle 2.3)

THE STRUCTURE OF ORGANIZATIONS

Organization:

 Impossible to live in a civilized society without close contact with many large
organizations
  Like schools, universities, public utilities, government and local government
departments, the Health Service, commercial and industrial companies, and so
on.

 In many ways, these organizations resemble each other.

Legal Form of An organization:

 Law recognizes individuals

 Enter into contracts

 Tried for crimes

 Sued

 Act of Parliament impose duties on the individual etc

 Incorporation

 Making into a body (Corpus)

Organization should be given a legal existence, through a process known as

Incorporation.
Incorporated Organizations:

 Incorporated

 Royal Charters – IET, BCS, IMechE, RAeS

 Acts of Parliament – Ceredigion County Council

 Public or Private Companies (Companies Act 1985 and 1989)

Types of Commercial Organizations:

1. Sole Trader
Local Shop, Plumber

1. Partnership
Doctors, Lawyers, Accountants

1. Limited Company

Private or Public
Sole Trader:

 Individual

 Sole person responsible for all debts

 All assets including “private” at risk

 Does NOT have to be the only employee

Partnership:

 Two or More People

 All at Risk. Similar to sole trader but >1 person

 Normally professionals

 Doctors

 Lawyers

 Accountants

 Inflexible in Normal Commercial World

 Movement of key Personnel

 Too risky
Companies:

 Public or Private Companies

 Public – Public Limited Company (PLC)

 Trades shares to public

 Private – Company Limited (Co Ltd)

 Cannot sell shares to Public

 Can sell shares privately

 Limited by Shares

 Commercial Companies

 Limited by Guarantee

 Charities, Professional Bodies

 (Unlimited Companies)

 Independent Existence

 Divided

 Shareholders

 Or Members of the Company

 Normally > 1 shareholder

 1992 Act allows single member

Company Constitution:

1. Share Capital

2. Company Constitution

3. Directors responsibilities

1. Share Capital:

 Shareholders (Subscribers) own Company

 At start of Company

 Authorised share capital

 Number & Nominal (par) Value

 Say 100 shares @ N 1

 If debts > assets Shareholder lose shares
2. Company Constitution:

a. Memorandum of Association

a. Controls External Relations

b. Articles of Association

a. Control Internal Relations

c. Shareholders Agreement
a. Memorandum of Association:

 Company Name

 Restrictions

 Country of Registration

 England & Wales, Wales, Scotland

 Objects of Company

 Companies Act 1989 allow general commercial company

 A Liability Clause

 Liability of members is limited

 Authorized Share value

 Nominal Share Value and Number

b. Articles of Association:

 Rules of Share capital

 Transfer of Shares

 Meetings of Members

 Rules Governing Directors’ Appointments

 Power of Directors

 Dividends and Reserves

3. Directors Responsibilities:

 Directors Elected by Shareholders

 Act In best Interest of Company

 Honest

 Declare Interests
  Aware of Company’s Trading Position

 Executive & Non-Executive Directors

 Company Secretary

 Could be Director
Functional Units of an Organization:

Five groups of functions exist in almost any organization:

1. Production: Activities that directly contribute to creating the products or

services that the company sells.

2. Quality management: Quality activities necessary to ensure that quality of

the products and services produced is maintained at the agreed level.

3. Sales and Marketing: Sales is concerned directly with selling the product, while
marketing is concerned with establishing the environment in which the product
is sold (e.g. through advertising) and with deciding how the range of products
sold by the company should develop.

4. Finance and Administration: To pay bills, to look after its funds, all central
services.
5. Research and development:
How can the company do better the things that it already
Does and what other things might it profitably be
doing?

Geographical organization:
An organization operates in more than one country.

The most obvious examples are in the field of food and drink.
Centralization v. decentralization:

 In a centralized organization, the detailed operational decisions are taken at the

centre.

 In a decentralized organization, as many details as possible are settled at local

level.
Management:

 Mangers of organization can project manager, production manager,

general manager & Corporate manager.

 The goal of project managers is to produce systems which meet the users’
needs, on time and within budget.

 Their main concerns are therefore planning, progress monitoring, acquisition

and allocation of resources, and quality control.
  The tools of their trade are bar charts, activity networks, critical path analysis, and
so on.

 Production Manager: Production management is concerned with productivity,

efficiency and maintenance of quality.

 General Manager: General or corporate management deals with the

management of the organization as a whole.

 Corporate Manager:
Corporate managers are responsible for the long-term strategy of the organization.

Monitor the overall performance of the organization and be prepared to handle serious
problems which arise anywhere in the organization.
Anatomy of Software House
Introduction (The Company):

 A Hypothetical company

 Syniad Software Ltd was founded some ten years ago by four friends.

 All four are members of the Board of Directors, along with two others who were
recruited later.

 The company specializes in the production of bespoke software for clients who
demand work of high quality.

 Syniad’s head office is in London. Other offices are in Man-chester, Delft,

Netherland.
Company Structure:
Operations Director:

 The Operations Director is responsible for all the revenue earning operations of
the company.

 It is his job to ensure that all projects are completed satisfactorily

 And resources are available to carry out the projects that the company wins;

 The personnel reports to him.

Technical Director:

The Technical Director is responsible for:

 Quality management;

 Research and development;

 Marketing at a technical level (e.g. arranging for staff to give papers at

conferences)

 Technical training (as opposed to training in, say, project management or

presentational skills, which are the responsibility of the personnel function).
Syniad’s Organizational Structure Type:

 Shows elements of all three of the types of organizational structure.

1. Functional division of responsibilities

2. Geographical element (represented by the director responsible for overseas

operations)

3. Centralization and decentralization has little meaning (Centralized policies and

procedures are widely used but they have usually been developed within one
part of the company and have been adopted by general consent.
Centralized vs. Decentralized:

 In theory, staff have a sense of belonging to a group and regard their group
manager as the manager who is permanently responsible for their career in
the company.

 In practice, because projects often require expertise from more than one group,
staff often find themselves working on projects for groups other than the one to
which they belong.

 In a company of the size of Syniad, the distinction between centralization and

decentralization has little meaning. Centralized policies and procedures are
widely used but they have usually been developed within one part of the
company and have been adopted by general consent.

Management of staff:

 New employees vs. Old employees…. OUTSIDER

Staff Appraisals:

 Employees’ achievements and contributions to the company were properly

recorded;

 Staff knew what was expected of them and what they needed to achieve
in order to gain promotion;

 Proper plans for training and career development were made and regularly
reviewed;

 Employees were aware of the company’s opinion of their performance.

Producing the Budget:

 Staff in the company are broadly divided into

1. Technical or Revenue earning staff and

2. Nonrevenue earning staff

 Both require different capital to work.

Monitoring Financial Performance:

 Monitoring Syniad’s performance against the budget should, in principle, be

straightforward.

 Each month, the income and expenditure under the various heads are
compared and, if significant deviations are observed, corrective action is
taken.

 In practice, this simple procedure presents many difficulties.

 To monitor financial performance, company focuses on;

 1. Cost & Revenue

2. Project Costing

3. Sales
1. Costs and revenue:
 A major problem is caused by random fluctuations, themselves the
product of many individual factors, for example:
1. Annual Budget n Staff hiring
2. Large projects cause deviation in Budget
3. Fixed Price Project Estimation
2. Project costing:
 Because of these difficulties in monitoring the overall performance of the
company, Syniad also tries to monitor the financial performance of
individual projects, through a project costing system.
 The costs and revenue of each project are calculated each month and
the cumulative gross margin (i.e. the difference between total costs
and total revenue to date on the project) calculated as a percentage of
the total revenue.
 In practice, this system does not work well.
3. Sales:
 The budgeted increase in revenue derives partly from increased
charge rates, partly from better staff utilization and partly from an
increased number of staff.
 All these factors are influenced by the forward sales position, that is by
the staff required and the rates earned on the work to which the
company is committed in the coming months.
 Two reports are used for assessing and monitoring the sales position.

1. The confirmed sales report shows, for each grade, the number of staff in
that grade who are committed to contracts in each of the following twelve
months and the total expected revenue from that grade in each month.

2. The sales prospects report shows, for each sales prospect, the potential
value of the sale, its likelihood and the likely start date.

Long Term Planning:

 Strategic Planning for future

 The ability to plan strategically and to achieve strategic objectives is the

hallmark of well run, successful companies.

 Strategic planning in Syniad has two related aspects.

1. The first is to identify appropriate long-term goals

2. Second is to identify and formulate plans to overcome those problems which

 are inhibiting it from attaining these goals.

 Expansion Plans

 Company Image

 Product mix (Fee based revenue vs. Package Software)

 Finance (under-capitalization)

Conclusions:

 Syniad, despite its problems, is a successful and well-managed company,

however, they need to go multinational.

 Do directors have the expertise to manage this transition or to run

the resulting company?(agreements for collaboration with
comparable companies)

 Syniad has now reached a point where it can no longer thrive as a private
company and its future must, inevitably, be very different from its past.

ORGANIZATIONAL FINANCIAL PRACTICES

Introduction:

 However good the quality of its products or services, no organization can be

successful for any length of time unless its finances are soundly managed.

 Many young software engineers are attracted by the idea of starting their own
company.

Need of Capital:

 A group of new or recent graduates in computing decide to set up their

own company to provide software services and their intention is typically
to offer contract hire services

 A client is unlikely to pay an invoice within less than one month of receiving
it. Some large companies are notorious for not paying invoices for as much
as six or even twelve months.

 There will be a need to have some money with which to start the venture.

 The group needs enough cash in hand to be able to live for at least three
months. Additional money will be needed for the expenses of starting the
company

 For large projects or packages, a much larger sum of money is likely to be

needed while they are being developed because there will be no revenue coming
into the company.
  For starting period cash will be needed for:

 Salaries

 rent rates, heating and lighting of the premises used

 equipment and consumables

 costs of advertising and marketing the products

 miscellaneous expenses, ranging from company stationery to travelling

expenses

 How does one set about raising this money? The first step is to produce a
business plan.

 It typically contains:

 a description of what the company will be doing, together with

information to show that it is technically feasible and that founders of the
company have the necessary expertise

 an assessment of the size of the market and the competition

 a prediction of the financial performance of the company

Sources of funds:

 They can be grouped into:

 Grants

 Loans

 Sale of Equity
Grants:

 A grant is a sum of money given to the company; while the company is obliged
to demonstrate that it has been used for the purposes for which it was intended,
it is not intended that the grant should ever be paid back to the organization
which gave it

 The availability of grants and other help for new companies depends very
much on where the company is located, how many people it expects to
employ, and on government policy at the time.
Loans:

 A loan is a sum of money lent to the company; interest is payable on it, at a

rate that may be fixed or variable, and the loan is usually for a fixed period

 The company is liable to pay back the loan and, if the company goes into
liquidation, the lender is entitled to recover the loan from the sale of the assets
of the company.
  In most cases, security is required for the loan.

Sale of Equity:

 Equity capital is money paid to the company in exchange for a share in the
ownership of the company

 Shareholders are at a much greater risk of getting a poor return on their capital
or even losing it completely than are lenders but, in compensation for this, they
stand to make a greater profit than lenders if all goes well

Budgeting & Monitoring:

 A budget is a prediction of the future financial position of an organization

covering , usually, the current or the next financial year

 The ordinary manager in a company is, however, much more concerned

with budgeting for income and expenditure

 Budgeting is an iterative process

 The first version of the budget is likely to show expenditure exceeding income,
since the operating managers will want to expand their operations while the
sales and marketing department will not wish to give hostages to fortune by
being over-optimistic about the volume of sales it can generate. Adjustments will
have to be made repeatedly until a situation is reached in which budgeted sales
exceed budgeted expenditure with a reasonable profit margin; the operational
managers are happy that they can service the predicted volume of sales with the
budgeted staff levels; and the salesmen are confident that they can produce
the predicted sales
Working Capital & Cash Flow:

 It is perfectly possible for a company to be consistently profitable and yet be

unable to pay its bills

 Accounting normally operates on an accrual basis

 The value of work in progress

 It is usual to negotiate stage payments rather than leaving all payment

until the work is completed.

 Cash has therefore to be found to cover the gap between what a company
has to pay out in cash and what it receives in cash—working capital

 A document “cash flow prediction” is the amount of cash expected to be

received and disbursed in each of the next twelve months

 The bank specifies the maximum that can be borrowed on an overdraft but
interest is only payable on the amount actually owed
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Introduction:

 It is a function in organizations designed to maximize employee performance

in service of an employer's strategic objectives

 Management of people, staff training and development with a strategic

approach suggest that human resource management is particularly appropriate
for software work
A model of human resource management:

 A corresponding commitment to the organization is expected from

employees. They are therefore autonomous in the sense of, to some
degree, managing them.

 Human resource management is the

responsibility of all managers

 Maximum utilization of human resources

available to the enterprise.
1- Long-term, strategic and proactive in style:

 The problems associated with personnel in an information technology

environment require a disciplined approach to establishing numbers of staff; the
utilization of personnel; the development and education of employees, together
with the construction of comprehensive human resource management policies
that are not only responsive to immediate needs but also are building blocks for
the medium- and long-term corporate requirements
2- Commitment to the organization:

 The real challenge is to shift employee attitudes from mere compliance with
rules at work to commitment and self-motivation

 This signifies a commitment to staff development as part of

the “learning organization” and firm-specific skills that are less transferable
between firms. Skills include attendance, flexibility, responsibility, discipline,
identification with the company and, crucially, work-rate.
3- Unitary perspective:

 The entire enterprise is regarded as analogous to a

team with one focus of loyalty and one focus of
authority

 A crucial part of keeping effective workers content is a system where they

can be promoted without having to become managers

 At Microsoft a talented software developer can stay just that and yet rise to the
top tier of elite “architects”. These architects are not company directors despite
their seniority.
4- Maximum utilization of human resources:
  It’s a difficult task especially in information technology environment.

 It is the possibility of computer surveillance of work rate that allows decision

makers to look more critically now than ever before at work output in offices

 Management gets the impression that the project is going well and has no idea
what’s actually happening at the grass roots level. By the time they find out,
it’s too late
Training and human resource management:

 Despite universities establishing more IT and computing courses and applications

rising strongly, the industry continues to generate more vacancies than capable
recruits

 Computing companies find that IT graduates often lack transferable or “people-

handling” skills, such as communications and a broader knowledge of how
businesses work.

 Dr. Neil Barrett, senior fellow at Bull, reckoned that “from an industry point of
view, we are often better placed to take people with good generalist degrees
and turn them into engineers”

 Computer scientists are people who understand the finer details of software
programming but cannot program. We have to start again and teach them the
methods and tricks we work with.
Health and Safety at Work:

 Health and safety at work usually only hits the headlines when there is a major
disaster

 In many high risk areas, the safety systems themselves are often computer
controlled

Around 200 employees each year still die as a result of accidents at work

Health and Safety Act 1974:

 1. Premises, i.e. factory, office etc.

 1. Employment is the only necessary criterion.

 2. Specific requirements

 2. General (and far-reaching) requirements

 3. No requirements on manufacturers or suppliers

 3. Creates comprehensive new duties for manufacturers and

suppliers of articles and substances for use at work

 4. Regulations for specific industries and processes: rigorous but difficult to

keep up to date in the face of rapidly changing technology.
  4. Specific regulations but couched in general terms and
supplemented by approved codes of practice that are more easily
updated.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Introduction:

 Intellectual property rights are often the most valuable assets owned, used and
developed by a software house.

 Intellectual property rights include:

 Confidential information

 Patents

 trade marks

 Designs

 Copyrights protecting computer programs

 They protect information stored by electronic means and all of the paperwork
which accompanies a program, such as the user manual, plus any multimedia
packages and most items on the Web.

 Great care should be taken to protect, exploit and enforce intellectual property

 The name under which a product is sold may be registered as a trade mark

 the hardware or a process used in its manufacture may be protected by a patent

 the look of the product may be registered in the Designs Registry

 software can be protected by copyright

 the know-how which goes into the development of the product may be
protected as confidential information

 Unauthorized use of intellectual property can be stopped by injunction and

damages may be sought for infringement of these rights

 The law is constantly changing with technological advance

 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) concerned the protection

of intellectual property rights in the face of widespread piracy of software
products

Confidential Information:

 Information “which is not public property and public knowledge”

 Any category of information, from personal confidences, to trade secrets and

 sensitive government information, any or all of which a computer scientist
might handle in the course of his or her work, or all or any of which a firm may
want to protect against unauthorized use or disclosure by others

 Information will be protected only if it is confidential. Non-confidential

information, unless protected, e.g. by copyright or a patent is deemed to be in
the public domain and can be used by anyone.

 Three conditions must be satisfied before an action for breach of confidence can
succeed:

 the information must be confidential

 the information must have been disclosed in circumstances which

give rise to an obligation of confidence

 there must be an actual or anticipated unauthorized use or disclosure of the

information

Patents:

 A government authority conferring a right or title for a set period, especially

the sole right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention

 A patent gives to an inventor a monopoly in an invention. This means that the

inventor is given the exclusive right to use or exploit the invention for a defined
period

 The monopoly granted by patent law is so strong, that the owner of a patent
may even exclude independent inventors from the market

 The better the patent and the more commercially desirable the breakthrough,
the more likely it is to be challenged. For example, if competitors can produce a
similar product or process, which is not covered by the patent, they will be free
to market it and to erode the commercial advantage of the patentee. If they can
prove that the subject matter of the patent has been used or disclosed before,
they can invalidate the patent

 Patent Act merely sets out a number of criteria which must be satisfied before
an invention can be patented

 a patent may only be granted if:

 the invention is new

 it involves an inventive step

 it is capable of industrial application

 the subject matter of the invention does not fall within an excluded class
 It is possible to patent something which is more than just a program—
something which can be called, for simplicity, a “program plus”
  A computer program is not excluded from patentability if it produced, or is
capable of producing, a further technical effect beyond the normal physical
interaction between software and hardware, i.e. it is potentially patentable if it
makes something else do something.
Copyright:

 The exclusive legal right, given to an originator or an assignee to print,

publish, perform material, and to authorize others to do the same

 Copyright protects more items generated by businesses or by individuals than

any other aspect of intellectual property law

 It can protect business letters, manuals, diagrams, computer programs

 Copyright owners face the specter of unlimited

piracy through uncontrolled copying with the advent
of internet

 What we will probably see over the next few years are stronger
laws, more rights for copyright owners, widespread licensing schemes and
greater use of technical anti-piracy or copy-monitoring devices and electronic
rights management systems

 Copyright law gives six exclusive rights to the owner of copyright:

 copy the work

 issue copies to the public

 rent or lend the work to the public

 perform, play or show the work in public

 broadcast the work or include it in a cable programmed service

 make an adaptation of the work or to do any of the above with an

adaptation

 The rights apply equally to published and to unpublished works

Acts permitted in relation to copyright:

 Some acts are permitted under the 1988 Act, even though they would
otherwise amount to breach of copyright.

 Fair dealing

 Making back-up copies of computer programs

 Transfers of works in electronic form

 De-compilation for the purpose of interoperability

 Error correction
  Databases

Remedies for breach of copyright:

 A copyright owner has all the usual civil remedies of search, injunction,
damages and an action for an account of profits made in breach of copyright

 If it is shown that at the time of the infringement of copyright the defendant

did not know and had no reason to believe that
copyright subsisted in the work, then the plaintiff is not entitled to
damages against the defendant

 A copyright owner is also given an important power to enter premises without

using force in order to seize infringing copies, or articles specifically designed
or adapted for making copies

Plagiarism:

 The practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's
own.

 All of the following are considered plagiarism:

 turning in someone else's work as your own

 copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit

 failing to put a quotation in quotation marks

 giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation

 changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without

giving credit

 for a computer program changing variable names only, or not changing

the structure or flow of a program
COMPUTER CONTRACTS
Introduction:

 An agreement between two or more parties for the doing or not doing of
something specified

 Contracts serve the following purpose:

 Set out the agreement between the parties

 Set out the aims of the parties

 Provide for matter arising while the contract is running

 Ways of terminating the contract and the consequences

 If the contracts are too harsh or unfair causing any issue between parties to be
unresolved, it is the responsibility of contract laws to contemplate according to
 the rules

 There are almost never disputes over contracts which run perfectly. Example
marriage.

 Example of a ship carrying a cargo.

 In order to avoid disputes and future difficulties it is better to draft a document

which sets out:

 The terms on which both parties is to work

 Methods of payments

 Appropriate ways to terminate the contract-notice required

 Contract should be clear, concise and consistent. There should be no ambiguity

and the parties to the agreement should be left in no doubt as to their rights
and duties. Ambiguity and doubts can lead to performance which is viewed as
unsatisfactory. This can lead to disagreement and the expenditure of time,
effort and therefore money, in resolving the matter.
Contracts for the supply of custom-built software at a fixed price:

 Software suppliers try to use what are known as standard form contracts,
which are used or intended to be used many times over.

 Such a contract might consist of:

 a short introductory section

 a set of standard terms and conditions

 a set of appendices or annexes

Introductory Section:

 It states that it is an agreement between the parties whose names and

registered addresses are given.

 It is dated and signed by authorized representatives of the parties.

 It often begins with a set of definitions of terms used in the

course of the agreement, set out either in alphabetical order, like a dictionary, or
in the order in which they appear in the rest of the contract –The Company, The
Client
Other parts:

 Terms and conditions

 Annexes must include any document stated like SRS. This is to avoid, for
example, the situation in which statements made by an over-enthusiastic
salesman while trying to win the business are claimed by the client to constitute
 part of the contract
Issues dealt with Standard Terms & Conditions:

 What is to be produced?

 What is to be delivered?

 Ownership of rights

 Payment terms

 Calculating payments for delays and changes

 Penalty clauses

 Obligations of the client

 Standards and methods of working

 Progress meetings

 Project Managers

 Acceptance procedure

 Warranty and maintenance

 Termination of the contract

Other types of software services contract:

 There are four types of contractual arrangement which are widely used in
connection with the provision of software services:

 fixed price

 contract hire

 time and materials

 consultancy

Contract Hire:

 The supplier agrees to provide the services of one or more staff to work for the
client

 The staff work under the direction of the client

 Supplier’s responsibility is limited to provide suitable competent people and

replacing them if they become unavailable or said unsuitable by the client

 Payment is on the basis of a fixed rate for each man day worked

 Issues such as delay payments, acceptance tests and many others simply do not
 arise
Time and Materials:

 It is somewhere between a contract hire agreement and a fixed price contract.

 The supplier agrees to undertake the development of the software in much the
same way as in a fixed price contract but payment is made on the basis of the
costs incurred, with labor charged in the same way as for contract hire

 The supplier is not committed to completing the work for a fixed price,
although a maximum payment may be fixed beyond which the project may
be reviewed

Consultancy contracts:

 Consultants are typically used to assess some aspect of an organization and to

make proposals for improvements.

 The end product of a consultancy project is therefore usually a report or other

document.

 Consultancy projects are usually undertaken for a fixed price but the form of
contract is very much simpler