Software Maintenance Implications on Cost and Schedule Abstract The dictionary defines maintenance as, "The work of keeping something in proper order." However, this definition does not necessarily fit for software. Software maintenance is different from hardware maintenance because software doesn't physically wear out, but often gets less useful with age. Software is typically delivered with undiscovered flaws. Therefore, software maintenance is: "The process of modifying existing operational software while leaving its primary functions intact." Maintenance typically exceeds fifty percent of the systems' life cycle cost . While software maintenance can be treated as a level of effort activity, there are consequences on quality, functionality, reliability, cost and schedule that can be mitigated through the use of parametric estimation techniques. 1. INTRODUCTION One of the greatest challenges facing software engineers is the management of change control. It has been estimated that the cost of change control can be between 40% and 70% of the life cycle costs . Software engineers have hoped that new languages and new process would greatly reduce these numbers; however this has not been the case. Fundamentally this is because software is still delivered with a significant number of defects. Capers Jones estimates that there are about 5 bugs per Function Point created during Development . Watts Humphrey found "... even experienced software engineers normally inject 100 or more defects per KSLOC . Capers Jones says, "A series of studies the defect density of software ranges from 49.5 to 94.5 errors per thousand lines of code ." The purpose of this article is to first review the fundamentals of software maintenance and to present alternative approaches to estimating software maintenance. A key element to note is that development and management decisions made during the development process can significantly affect the developmental cost and the resulting maintenance costs. 2. SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE Maintenance activities include all work carried out post-delivery and should be distinguished from block modifications which represent significant design and development effort and supersede a previously released software package. These maintenance activities can be quite diverse, and it helps to identify exactly what post-delivery activities are to be included in an estimate of maintenance effort. Maintenance activities, once defined, may be evaluated in a quite different light than when called simply "maintenance". Software maintenance is different from hardware maintenance because software doesn't physically wear out, but software often gets less useful with age and it may be delivered with undiscovered flaws. In addition to the undiscovered flaws, it is common that some number of known defects pass from the development organization to the maintenance group. Accurate estimation of the effort required to maintain delivered software is aided by the decomposition of the overall effort into the various activities that make up the whole process. 3. APPROACHING THE MAINTENANCE ISSUE Maintenance is a complicated and structured process. In his textbook, Estimating Software Intensive Systems, Richard Stuzke outlines the typical software maintenance process. It is apparent that the process is more than just writing new code. The following checklist can be used to explore the realism and accuracy of maintenance requirements. o Which pieces of software will be maintained? o How long will the system need to be maintained? o Are you estimating the entire maintenance problem, or just incremental maintenance? o What level of maintenance is required? o Is that which is being called maintenance in fact a new development project? o Who will do the maintenance? Will it be done organically by the original developer? Will there be a separate team? Will there be a separate organization? o Will maintainers be using the same tools used during development? Are any proprietary tools required for maintenance? o How much Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) is there? How tightly coupled are the interfaces? o Some follow-on development may be disguised as maintenance. This will either inflate maintenance figures, or else cause shortfalls if basic maintenance gets pushed aside. These questions will help you ask whether maintenance is being honestly represented. o Is the activity really an incremental improvement? o Are healthy chunks of the original code being rewritten or changed? o Will additional staff be brought in to perform the upgrade? o Is the maintenance effort schedule regular and fairly flat, or does it contain staffing humps that look like new development? 4. SANITY CHECKS Although sanity checks should be sought on a year-by-year basis, they should not be attempted for overall development. The reason for this is that maintenance activities can be carried on indefinitely, rendering any life-cycle rules useless. As an example, consider Grady (p. 17): We spend about 2 to 3 times as much effort maintaining and enhancing software as we spend creating new software. This and similar observations apply at an organizational level and higher, but not for a specific project. Any development group with a history will be embroiled in the long tail ends of their many delivered projects, still needing indefinite attention. Here are a few quick sanity checks: o One maintainer can handle about 10,000 lines per year. o Overall life-cycle effort is typically 40% development and 60% maintenance. o Maintenance costs on average are one-sixth of yearly development costs. o Successful systems are usually maintained for 10 to 20 years. Finally, as in development, the amount of code that is new versus modified makes a difference. The effective size, that is, the equivalent effort if all the work were new code, is still the key input for both development and maintenance cost estimation. 5. FIVE ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES All software estimation techniques must be able to model the theory and the likely real world result. The real world scenario is that over time, the overlay of changes upon changes makes software increasingly difficult to maintain and thus less useful. Maintenance effort estimation techniques range from the simplistic level of effort method, through more thoughtful analysis and development practice modifications, to the use of parametric models in order to use historical data to project future needs. 5.1 Level of Effort As is sometimes the case in the development environment, software maintenance can be modeled as a level of effort activity. Given the repair category activities and the great variance that they show, this approach clearly has deficiencies. In this approach, a level of effort to maintain software is based on size and type. 5.2 Level of Effort Plus Stuzke proposed that software maintenance starts with basic level of effort (minimum people needed to have a core competency and then that that basic core staff must be modified by assessing three additional factors; configuration management, quality assurance, and project management. His process addressed some of the additional factors affecting software maintenance. 5.3 Maintenance Change Factor Software Cost Estimation with COCOMO II (Boehm 2000) proposes a deceivingly simple, but also quite useful methodology for determining annual maintenance. Maintenance is one of the menu selections in the menu bar. In COCOMO II Maintenance encompasses the process of modifying existing operational software while leaving its primary functions intact. This process excludes: o Major re-design and re-development (more than 50% new code) of a new software product performing substantially the same functions. o Design and development of a sizeable (more than 20% of the source instructions comprising the existing product) interfacing software package which requires relatively little redesigning of the existing product. o Data processing system operations, data entry, and modification of values in the database. The maintenance calculations are heavily based upon the Maintenance Change Factor (MCF) and the Maintenance Adjustment Factor (MAF). The MCF is similar to the Annual change Traffic in COCOMO81, except that maintenance periods other than a year can be used. The resulting maintenance effort estimation formula is the same as the COCOMO II Post Architecture development model. As stated previously, three cost drivers for maintenance differ from development. Those cost drivers are software reliability, modern programming practices, and schedule. COCOMO II assumes that increased investment in software reliability and use of modern programming practices during software development has a strong positive effect upon the maintenance stage. Annual Maintenance Effort = (Annual Change Traffic) * (Original Software Development Effort) The quantity Original Software Development Effort refers to the total effort (person-months or other unit of measure) expended throughout development, even if a multi-year project. The multiplier Annual Change Traffic is the proportion of the overall software to be modified during the year. This is relatively easy to obtain from engineering estimates. Developers often maintain change lists, or have a sense of proportional change to be required even before development is complete. 5.4 Managing Software Maintenance Costs by Developmental Techniques and Management Decisions During Development When it comes to maintenance, "a penny spent is a pound saved." Better development practices (even if more expensive) can significantly reduce maintenance effort, and reduce overall life cycle cost. The more effort put into development, the less required in maintenance. As an example, the software development cost and schedule can be significantly impacted (reduced) by letting the number of defects delivered grow. This cost and schedule reduction is more than offset by the increase in maintenance cost. The following discussion is an example of how management decision can significantly affect/reduce software maintenance costs. Lloyd Huff and George Novak of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in their paper "Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Performance Based Software Sustainment for the F-35 Lightning II" propose a series of development and management decision designed to impact and reduce software maintenance costs. They propose an eight step process to estimate and control software maintenance . Their proposed steps are: 1. Strive for Commonality 2. Apply Industrial Engineering Practices to Software 3. Engage 4. Adopt a Holistic Approach to Sustainment 5. Develop Highly Maintainable Systems and Software 6. Manage the Off-the-Shelf Software 7. Plan for the Unexpected 8. Analyze and Refine the Software Sustainment Business Case (use Parametric software sustainment cost estimates) 5.5 A Parametric Assessment of Software Maintenance Parametric models like SEER for Software allow maintenance to be modeled in either of two ways: Estimating maintenance as a part of the total lifecycle cost. Choosing the appropriate Maintenance category parameters will include an estimate of maintenance effort with the development estimate for the individual software program. Several reports and charts show breakdowns of development vs. maintenance effort. This method is best used to evaluate life cycle costs for each individual software program. Estimating maintenance as a separate activity. Using the appropriate maintenance parameters for the software to be maintained you can model the maintenance effort as a separate activity. This method will allow you to fine tune your maintenance estimate by adjusting parameters. Maintenance size should be the same as development size, but should be entered as all pre-existing code. This method can also be useful in breaking out total project maintenance costs from project development costs. A good parametric estimate for maintenance includes a wide range of information. Critical information for completing a software maintenance estimate is the size or amount of software that will be maintained, the quality of that software, the quality and availability of the documentation, and the type or amount of maintenance that will be done. Many organizations don't actually estimate maintenance costs; they simply have a budget for software maintenance. In this case, a parametric model should be used to compute how much maintenance can actually be performed with the given budget. Estimating and planning for maintenance are critical activities if the software is required to function properly throughout its expected life. Even with a limited budget, a plan can be made to use the resources available in the most efficient, productive manner. Looking at the diagram above, you can see that not only are the multiple inputs that impact the maintenance, but there are several key outputs that provide the information necessary to plan a successful maintenance effort. 6. Conclusion The conclusions of this article are: o Software maintenance can be modeled using a simplistic method like Level of Effort Staffing, but this technique has significant drawbacks. o Software maintenance costs can be significantly affected by management decisions during the developmental process. o Software maintenance can be accurately estimated using parametric processes. o Software maintenance is best modeled when development and management decisions are coupled with parametric cost estimation techniques. REFERENCES [1] Software Maintenance Concepts and Practices (second Edition) by Penny Grubb and Armstrong Takang, World Scientific, 2005. [2] Estimating Software Intensive Systems; Richard Stuzke, 2005, Addison-Wesley. [3] Lloyd Huff, George Novak; Lockheed Martin Aeronautics; Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Performance Based Software Sustainment for the F-35 Lightning II. [4] G. Edward Bryan, "CP-6: Quality and Productivity Measures in the 15-Year Life Cycle of an Operating System," Software Quality Journal 2, 129-144, June 1993. [5] Software Sizing, Estimation, and Risk Management; Daniel D. Galorath, Michael W. Evans, 2006, Auerbach Publications. Bob Hunt is Vice President for Services of Galorath Incorporated - http://www.galorath.com - providing project management estimating software for complex projects. Mr. Hunt is responsible for the management and technical direction of the services staff and the quality of the services products. Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Bob_Hunt/246372 Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1328928

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Finding The Best Small Business Scheduling Software If you operate a business where you schedule appointments, class attendance, consultations, seminars, workshops, or any other type of event from which you earn revenue, it is critical that you use easy-to-use, yet powerful and interactive small business scheduling software. I also encourage, if it's possible with your business, to look for scheduling software that enables your customers to schedule themselves. This not only makes your life easier, but is an outstanding website conversion tool. What I mean by this is new customers to your website can instantly book themselves for your service. No phone calls or any other obstacles that might lose the sale. Ask Yourself: When you book a customer, how much time does it take? Yeah, scheduling customers and clients takes time - yours and/or your staff's time. How about the time you spend playing phone tag just to book an appointment? That's why if you can set up software where your customers can book their own appointments, you'll free up a great deal of your time. You'll also be offering a very worthwhile customer service (and impress them). Even if only 1/3 of your bookings do it themselves, you'll be way ahead - and probably book more clients than otherwise. The fact is in today's fast-paced world, customers want immediate gratification. If your phone line is busy or you have to put customers on hold, you could lose that booking. Why not eliminate those losses and poor customer service with implementing online scheduling? How Does Online Scheduling Work? It's simple, and you don't have to worry about giving up control of your schedule with the right business scheduling software. There are different uses of scheduling software - it depends on your business 1. Simple Schedule Viewable Online Some businesses, such as yoga studios, dance studios, martial arts schools, and health clubs may simply wish to display class schedules on their website(s). The key is getting scheduling software that makes it incredibly easy for you to change the schedule in one central location - which changes then appear on your website(s). Let's face it, class times, instructors, etc. change regularly. Instead of displaying your schedule in a fixed table on different pages in your website(s), which is inconvenient to change, use a central schedule dashboard where you can easily make changes. Have you ever forgotten to change the schedule on your website? When you maintain separate schedules, it's very easy to forget to update your schedule on your website(s). I don't have to tell you how customers feel about being misinformed and relying on an out-dated schedule. Solve this problem by using scheduling software you manage in one easy-to-access location - which updates all your schedules wherever posted. Moreover, look for scheduling software that let's you present pop-up descriptions of your classes and perhaps brief bios of the instructor teaching particular classes. The more information you place where it's easy to find for your customers, the better service you're providing. 2. Self-Booking Capability Other businesses require customers to schedule appointments or reserve rooms/facilities. Examples of these types of businesses include hair salons, spas, tattoo parlours, massage therapists, physical therapists, etc. Take yourself as much as possible out of the booking process by getting scheduling software that enables your customers to book their own appointments. The process is simple with the right software. Your customers register and you provide them log-in information to your online scheduling system. Once logged in, your customers see only availability and then book in available time-slots. Moreover, you then add a contact to your database. Online booking puts the scheduling power into your customers' hands. If they need to change an appointment, they can easily do so without taking up your time. What Other Features to Look for With Business Scheduling Software? 1. Look Only For Cloud Computing Scheduling Software Without a doubt, the most important feature to look for with business scheduling software is that it's cloud-based. This means the software you use is hosted with the service provider. A classic example of cloud-based software is Google Docs. You simply log in to your Google account and use their fleet of document-producing software (word processing, spreadsheets, etc.). I've used desk-top scheduling software and like most desk-top software, it costs much more in the long run, and is very difficult to add new users (i.e. adding computers to the network). The bulk of the long-term cost with desk-top software is paying a tech consultant to network the software among your computers. Moreover, your scheduling software is not available anywhere - only on computers on which it's installed. Don't even think about the cost when you upgrade computers or if you use a server. Cloud computing solves all these problems because all you need is an Internet connection in order to access your software dashboard. You don't have to pay for networking, installation, and/or have a server. Instead, most cloud-computing software services simply require a monthly payment for access. It's easy to scale up - you simply add new users to your account. Your cost only increases as your business grows. 2. Get E-Commerce and Credit Card Payment Processing Integration Wouldn't it be fantastic if you could have customers pay upon self-booking their appointments? This frees up you and your staff from two time-consuming activities - booking appointments and taking payment. Moreover, you can book appointments if you're busy, thus reducing lost appointments. Often saving one booking will pay for an entire month's software cost. Not to mention gain you another potentially loyal customer. If you're looking to get top-of-the line scheduling software, look for software that can process payments automatically upon a booking. 3. E-Mail and Text Messaging Reminders and Notices Do you and your staff send out appointment reminders via e-mail and/or text messaging? This too is time-consuming. Maybe you don't do this because you're too busy - but wish you had the time or resources to send out reminders to reduce no-shows. When deciding on scheduling software, be sure to opt for the capability for automated reminders. Yes, this is available. Once you have a customer's contact information in your system, and a customer books an appointment, you can set up the software to automatically send e-mail reminders and text messaging reminders about upcoming appointments. This serves three very important functions: You'll provide a great service reminding your customers about their upcoming appointment; You'll reduce no-shows; and If a customer realizes they can't make an appointment, they can re-schedule. This frees up appointment space which you can fill from your wait-list. Speaking of wait-lists - with the right software, you can configure it so that once an appointment slot becomes available, e-mail notices are sent to your wait-list giving them an opportunity to take up that time - all done automatically. 4. Additional Sale Opportunities Recurring Bookings: Most small businesses earn the bulk of their revenues from loyal, repeat customers (especially service-based businesses that book appointments). With the right software, you can make it extremely easy for customers to book recurring appointments. Perhaps they like to visit your business on the same day of each month. Instead of having to enter in their booking information manually for each month, use software to automate recurring bookings. Better yet, with self-scheduling, make it easy for your customers to book their own recurring appointments. Packages: Many small businesses that are appointment-based offer a variety of services. If you do, make it easy for your customers to create customized booking packages or you can create pre-arranged packages they can easily choose and book. This is a powerful up-selling option to earn more revenues per customer. Gift Cards: Gift cards are a very powerful sales tool. Not only do you make sales, but it's a way to attract new customers. If you're looking for powerful scheduling software, look for the ability to sell gift cards within the system. Referral Tracking: Do you offer referral incentives to your existing customers? If not, you're missing out on using an extremely powerful sales tool. If you don't, it's probably because it's a hassle to track referrals. You can automate referral tracking with some business scheduling software. When a customer makes a referral, the software tracks that referral and credits the referring customer with whatever incentive you offer (i.e. discounts, free services, gift cards, etc.). Online Point-of-Purchase Opportunities: If you get scheduling software that has e-commerce capabilities, you automatically have a shopping cart available with which your customers can access while booking an appointment. Point-of-purchase works both in-store and online. Why not increase sales by making it easy for your customers to buy your services and products online while they're already in your system booking an appointment? 5. User-Friendly If your customers can't figure out how to book their appointments online or read your class/event schedule, then you've wasted your money. Sure, automated scheduling software will save you time - but the main goal is serving your customers. Look for a user interface that is extremely easy to use and pleasing to the eye. 6. Centralized Contact Database Integrating your scheduling software with your contact database is absolutely crucial in order to get the most out of your scheduling software. Why? Because you can then use that contact database to manage your operations, financials, and of course leverage it for marketing. When a new customer signs up with your business, you want scheduling software that automatically adds their data and profile to your contact database. Once in your database, you can leverage that information throughout your entire business' operations from client management, report generation (to track your sales, attendance, etc.) to your marketing campaigns. Impress Your Customers with Your Scheduling Software If you offer self-booking capability and/or extremely informative up-to-date schedules on your website, you'll impress new and existing customers. When they get reminders, they'll be delighted. When you send them notices for openings, they'll think the world of you and your business. Even if you're a small business, the right software doesn't need to break your bank in order to appear and offer a level of service large, resource-rich companies offer. When you deliver a high level of customer service, you'll build trust and make dealing with your business a pleasure. Look for scheduling software that makes it extremely easy for your customers to use your services - and you'll not only get more customers, but you'll get regularly attending customers. How Much Should You Pay for Business Scheduling Software? This will depend on the size of your business and how many users you'll need. Most cloud computing software pricing is based on the number of users. If you're looking for some or all of the capabilities set out above, expect to pay at least $40 per month for a starter package. I know getting desk-top software, which usually is a one-time payment, seems more attractive cost-wise. However, you'll give up features, and in my experience, the cost for maintaining and upgrading desk-top scheduling software costs much more than the initial purchase cost. I know, because I've used desk-top scheduling software and the cost alone for my tech consultant over the years is staggering. Think of your "on-the-cloud" scheduling software as an investment. Better yet, if your software, because of its automation in booking and sending out reminders saves you one sale, that sale likely pays for your entire month's cost of the cloud-computing solution. As you can tell by reading much of the other content on this site, I'm in-tune with a great deal of software applications available for small businesses. I'm a small business owner and am always looking for ways to improve my customer service with technology (and automate processes to save me time). I've used many business scheduling software applications, including Google's online calendar. The problem with many scheduling software services is they are limited in features. Sure, you might be able to integrate it with other software applications you have, but the ideal software is one that has all the features you're looking for built-in the system itself. Integration sounds great on paper, but can be a real nightmare in practice. Discover a fantastic small business scheduling software platform [http://www.websitetemplatereviews.com/mindbodyonline-features] that does all this and more. You can also check out an in-depth scheduling software review [http://www.websitetemplatereviews.com/in-depth-mindbodyonline-review-small-business-management-software] to learn more. Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Peter_Lawlor/511898 Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5492265
Finding Time-Saving Yoga Studio Management Software Running and building up a yoga studio requires coordinating scheduling, marketing, accounting, class registration, class attendance, sales and credit card processing, inventory, payroll, staff management, documents, and so much more. When you started teaching yoga, you wanted to teach yoga. Sure, you knew running a yoga studio or teaching classes involved administration, but perhaps running your yoga business is taking over your life. Ask yourself: How many software applications are you running to keep it all together? Are you using a fleet of spreadsheets? The fact is there is some pretty cool software options available specifically designed for yoga studios that take care of all your yoga studio administration needs in a central, online location. 3 Fundamental Elements of A Great Yoga Studio Software Service: Cloud computing capability (web-based software); and Comprehensive, all-in-one yoga software that centralizes all your yoga studio administration operations. Automation - the more the better. Typically this is easier with comprehensive, all-in-one software. 1. Cloud Computing Yoga Studio Management Software is Where It's At Cloud computing is web-based software. You simply log-in to your account and manage your entire yoga studio on the Web. Stop with the downloads, installations, networking, and upgrades that plague desk-top software applications. Seriously consider putting your entire yoga studio software management needs on the cloud. 2. Centralizing Your Yoga Studio Software Integrating separate pieces of software is a never-ending headache. When one application is upgraded, it then doesn't sync with other applications. What you get is a mish-mash of software that more often than not malfunctions. Instead of saving you time, you burn up time trying to get it all working together. If you can, get yoga studio software that is comprehensive and meets all, or as much of your computing needs as possible. 3. Automation The more you automate, the more time you save which lets you teach more or take more time off. The fact is, running a yoga studio is managing a large number of variables - students, staff, teachers, schedules, inventory, sales, etc. The goal is full classes and regular students. Automation helps you take care of the menial tasks so you can put your mind and time to activities you enjoy and that let you build your yoga business (and take a vacation). Yoga Business Software Features to Look For Not all yoga studios have the same needs. The remainder of this article sets out yoga studio software management features available. Go through them and see what it is you need. 1. Yoga Class Scheduling Online class scheduling - this is an extremely customer-service friendly feature for your students. Consider the following functions you might want: Wait-lists: let your students add their name to a waitlist. With software, save yourself the time of managing these lists. Let the software do the heaving lifting. Student self check-in: spare your students standing in line waiting for you. Let your students scan their ID card and get to class. You also get time to set up and prepare for class. Printable sign-in sheets: maybe you prefer physical sign-in sheets. Get software that offers a print option with sign-in templates. You can load the data later... or not. Equipment and room rental scheduling: do you rent out rooms and/or equipment? Why not automate the process and make it easy for your yoga clientele to book your rooms and equipment themselves. Recurring bookings: nothing builds a business like recurring customers. Make it easy for yoga students to book multiple classes and commit to your classes. Class attendance statistics: You only know how your business is going if you can measure results. Software that produces easy-to-read reports on class attendance statistics gives you tools at your finger-tips to assess your money-making classes and classes that may not be worth having. 2. Scheduling Ease Drag and drop functionality for booking is a real luxury. In fact, drag and drop anything is great. Make it easy for your clientele to book classes and appointments with you. On the Cloud (web-based): Not only does cloud computing save you networking costs, upgrade hassles, and installation nightmares, but you can access your entire yoga business anywhere. Multiple schedule views: daily, weekly, by name, service, gender and more. Birds-eye views of your schedule can be very handy when looking at the big picture. Color coding scheduling: sure, you must memorize the colors, but in time the colors will speed up your viewing of your schedules. 3. Yoga Studio Enrollment Options Perhaps you offer more than just yoga classes. If so, look for yoga studio management software that has the flexibility to schedule all types of events such as: Courses: still a popular yoga class structure - a series of classes building on concepts. Seminars / special events: do you ever have a speaker or teaching events? Make it easy for people to sign up and a breeze for you to manage the scheduling. Plus software that enables: Payment plan processing: yoga studios usually offer a variety of pricing packages. Make it easy to sell packages (without the hand-held calculator) by considering software that tabulates and accepts payment for yoga packages. Payment status information: every business has some customers who owe money. Yoga studios are no exception (generally). See at-a-glance who owes you money (and how much). 4. Payment Processing Credit card integration. Some yoga software includes credit card processing "on the cloud" sparing you the hardware to pay for and set up. Link payments with services. This way you can produce financial statements any time to see the financial status of your business. Membership cards (i.e. swipe cards for signing in) and ID tag capability: Lose the paper and look professional with swipe cards enabling self-check in and much faster client tracking. 5. Online Store for More Revenues If you sell retail, why not create an online store? It's simple to do with the right yoga studio software. There is software that includes e-commerce capabilities so that not only can you track your in-studio retail sales, but you can actually start selling off your website. In fact, you could consider partnering with yoga and health products suppliers to provide you products to sell on your online store. You can carry inventory or enter drop-shipping arrangements. The sky is the limit. Moreover, with e-commerce, you can sell gift cards, yoga class packages, event tickets, etc. 6. Yoga Gift Card Selling Option Gift cards are BIG business. Why not sell your own gift cards? You'll earn revenues and get more students in your yoga studio. Some yoga studio software has the capability to provide gift cards and program them with the software so that you can create them, sell them, and track usage. Other considerations when implementing gift cards for sale include: Prepaid gift card options. Able to track student account balances. Loading gift cards with flexible amounts of money. Selling your gift cards in your studio and online. 7. Email Marketing for Your Yoga Studio E-mail marketing can give your yoga business a huge boost. If you get yoga studio software, see if you can find a product that integrates with e-mail marketing software. This way you can leverage your yoga studio software contact database with your e-mail marketing rather than having separate databases. Trust me - when you can centralize, it's worth it. Not only can you use e-mail marketing to get more students or encourage regular attendance, but you promote sales, encourage referrals, sell products and yoga packages, promote events, send out class reminders, and more. When you centralize your yoga studio student database with e-mail marketing software, you can segment your students so that you send the most appropriate messages to each person. For example, if a student signs up online for a class, you can automate reminder class messages. This way you improve your class attendance, and in a worst case scenario, if the student can't attend, they'll be reminded to remove their name off the schedule opening up a spot for the wait list. Then your e-mail system will produce an e-mail to the wait list alerting them to the open spot. Imagine doing all this manually. Automation is key. 8. Yoga Studio Inventory Tracking If you sell retail, tracking inventory digitally can save you a lot of time. However, you need software that tracks the stocking and sale of items. Moreover, if you get software that includes inventory tracking, look for the capability to track in-store and online sales. Again, this goes toward centralizing your operation. By tracking inventory with your yoga studio management software, you'll integrate inventory with sales which lets you produce up-to-date financial reports... not to mention save you time syncing inventory with sales and re-ordering. 9. Yoga Student Account Management When you use cloud software, you can create accounts for all of your students - so both you and they can log-in to their accounts. This way you and your students can track purchases, their profile, class attendance, referrals, etc. This is very convenient for you and your students. Liability: What about the dreaded waivers. Necessary, but not a lot of fun. If you let students sign up online, be sure you offer an e-waiver for them to agree to. This too is available with some yoga studio software. 10. Yoga Studio Staff Management Whether you love managing staff or not, consider saving yourself time and the ability to manage your staff "on the cloud". Some yoga studio software enables you to do some or all of the following features: A staff dashboard portal where you can send instructions to staff and to-do items. Individual staff log-in accounts for each staff member. Permission levels to various portals of your software. Again, this is where centralization works for you big time. Staff scheduling - lose the monthly printouts and create staff schedules online where your entire staff can access it anytime from anywhere. Scheduling staff with software is much more convenient than on paper. Beside, how often does the schedule change in a month? Save yourself a few erasers. 11. Look for Payroll Management Do you know how much you're paying out in wages, commissions, fees, etc.? It's not so easy to track with a yoga studio business given the variety of remuneration options yoga teachers opt for. There's hourly, commissions, flat rates, and combinations of these payment options. Again, a quality yoga software product will track all your pay-rates for all your staff - no matter how complicated. It makes tallying the amount you owe easy. Take for example, a yoga teacher that earns a flat rate plus a per student rate after a class attendance threshold is met. Okay, one class with one teacher isn't too hard to track, but imagine 30 classes and 5 teachers. It gets complicated. Look for software that will track and tally all of this for you - all calculated with the swipe cards issued to your yoga students (if you opt for swipe cards - now you're starting to see how beneficial swipe cards can be). Another payroll feature to look for is a punch clock for hourly employees. I'm not talking about a wall-mounted contraption. I'm talking about staff being able to quickly log into the cloud software and entering start and stop times at the touch of a button. Finally, you want to be able to export all this payroll data into your accounting software saving you reconciliation hassles come tax time (and saving you lots of money in accounting fees). 12. Track and Measure - Look for Reporting Capability You won't know where your business is going if you don't know where it's been and where it's at. This boils down to the financials - but not just the usual income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. I'm talking about in-depth class attendance, payroll costs, number of students per yoga teacher, yoga student and employee retention rates, no shows, product returns, and sales figures (past, present and forecasts) - to name a few reporting capabilities to look for. 13. Scalability - Get Software that's Priced to Your Studio Size and Needs Okay, not every yoga studio wants to expand and build a huge business. That's why yoga software that scales is key. What I mean by this is yoga software that accommodates both small and huge yoga studios - and is priced according to need. Look for software that offers different pricing packages so you can get a software package that serves your business as is - but has the capability to accommodate your growth - if that's what you do with your studio. Where Do You Go From Here? I've covered a lot of ground. Sure, you may not want or need all that capability. That's fine - but you might need more functionality in the future. One thing is certain, you want to choose your yoga studio software carefully. Why? Because you'll spend a good amount of time implementing it and getting it going just right for your yoga studio. The time investment, with the right software, will certainly be worth it. Discover one yoga studio software [http://www.websitetemplatereviews.com/mindbodyonline-features] service that delivers all these features plus more. You can also check out an in-depth yoga studio software [http://www.websitetemplatereviews.com/in-depth-mindbodyonline-review-small-business-management-software] review to learn more. Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Peter_Lawlor/511898 Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5492350
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Software Engineering and the Intelligence Community - Setting Real Time Standards Software engineering is an essential discipline when designing and implementing high performance data enterprises. Although software engineers are not certified or sanctioned by any standards body, use of software engineers with experience in the Intelligence Community increases chances of success. Software Engineering Defined Software engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software. (Source Wikipedia) Knowledge of programming is the main pre-requisite to becoming a software engineer, but it is not sufficient. Many software engineers have degrees in Computer Science or mathematics and physics due to the lack of software engineering programs in higher education. An organized mind and an interest in problem solving are also prerequisites. However, as data networks become more complex and indispensable in large organizations higher education has started to change with the introduction of new software engineering degrees, especially in post-graduate education. Software Engineering as a Discipline Software engineering contains a number of separate yet interrelated disciplines. * Software requirements * Software design * Software development * Software testing * Software maintenance * Software configuration management * Software engineering management, see also project management * Software development process * Software engineering tools and Computer Aided Software Engineering * Software quality * Social Software Engineering Each sub discipline has its own performance requirements and processes for success. Jobs in Software Engineering - A Strong Market Because the field of software engineering is broad and growing more complex because of the introduction of new technologies and applications, the potential for job growth is significant even in a down economy. According to the Federal Government studies, the demand for qualified software engineers is significant and will continue to grow, Computer software engineers are one of the occupations projected to grow the fastest and add the most new jobs over the 2006-16 decade. Excellent job prospects are expected for applicants with at least bachelor's degree in computer engineering or computer science and with practical work experience. Computer software engineers must continually strive to acquire new skills in conjunction with the rapid changes that occur in computer technology. Because computer networks and computing hardware and software are growing in power and complexity, the demand for qualified Software engineers is high. As the United States continues to be an information driven society new, high paying jobs with quality benefit packages are available in the economy. This is particularly true as the economy emerges from its depressed state. Employment of computer software engineers is projected to increase by 38 percent over the 2006 to 2016 period, which is much faster than the average for all occupations. This occupation will generate about 324,000 new jobs, over the projections decade, one of the largest employment increases of any occupation. Significant drivers of growth in the demand for software engineers include adoption of new technologies for information efficiency in a competitive environment. This is particularly true as information networks grow in sophistication and interconnect. In addition, information security concerns and cyber threats have given rise to new software requirements. Concerns over "cyber security" will result in businesses and government continuing to invest heavily in software that protects their networks and vital electronic infrastructure from attack. Cyber Security has become a major area of concern for the U,S, Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community. Very few organizations are willing to trust the security of their networks to low cost, offshore software engineering firms. Finally, in economic and competitive terms low cost offshore outsourcing is not a real threat because software engineering requires innovation and intense research and development expenditures. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics) One area with a tremendous appetite for software engineers is the Federal Government. The Federal Government continues to grow and, with the present trend in Government spending, greater demand for IT and Cyber Security engineering specialists will also generate job demand.. Ensuring Quality Standards - A Problem While there is tremendous demand for engineering professionals, the systems and networks designed and implemented by software engineers are often the heart of any large business of government enterprise. Quality and efficiency cannot be sacrificed by substandard performance. Many who call themselves "Software Engineer" are not fully qualified and often produce low quality work output. Many professions enforce quality standards through professional certification boards but professional certification of software engineers is confusing and, while many view it as a tool to improve professional practice, others consider it as an unnecessary encumbrance. In the United States, most certification programs in the IT industry are oriented toward specific technologies, and are managed by the vendors of these technologies. No matter which way the debate goes, full accreditation will not serve as a quality standard backstop for software engineers in the foreseeable future so other, on the job standards, must be used to ensure engineering quality. Documented past performance that is favorable or a history of software development in a demanding industry has now become a major factor to determine future success. Software Engineering and the Intelligence Community - Real Time Certification With the absence of any standard certification programs, employers and government service contractors must exercise great care when utilizing software engineers.to design or restore critical network or enterprise software. Because networks and the software that run them are becoming more critical to business operations and more complex, the chances of an inexperienced or unqualified software engineer irrevocably damaging all or part of the network has increased. One major error by an unqualified engineer could ruin an entire networking enterprise and bring down an organization. This is particularly true for large government.agencies tasked with the collection and processing of sensitive data. Of all Federal Government agencies, a case can be made that the Intelligence Community [http://www.intelligence.gov/1-members.shtml] is the most demanding and discriminating when it comes to software engineering. This level of excellence requirement is because of the size of the data networks involved and the mission requirements to ensure national security. In addition to the mission critical demands of each agency and its clients for real time data, continuous, massive amounts of sensitive data are collected on a 24x7 basis. This data must be processed, analyzed, protected and disseminated in an efficient way that protects national security interests. Data protection and cyber security are new challenges to the software engineer and place additional performance demands.. A design flaw in the architecture of a network could be fatal for the entire collection system and and the introduction of a virus or other cyber breach could crash the entire system. Because of the classified/sensitive nature of the data collected in the Intelligence Community high level security clearances are also required and this places further burdens on the integrity of the individual. Servicing the needs of the Intelligence Community is a demanding task but the experience will test the skills, work ethic and judgment of even the most seasoned software engineer. Thus engineers with IC experience command a premium wage and benefits based upon proving themselves capable, When a formal certification is not available, broad and extensive software engineering experience in the Intelligence Community on a job candidate's resume is often a valuable real time substitute. Jon M. Stout is Chief Executive Officer of Aspiration Software LLC. Aspiration Software LLC is an Information Technology/Cyber Security services provider focused on the Intelligence Community (IC). For more information about Software Engineering [http://www.aspirationsoftware.com/capabilites.html] and Cyber Security and Information Technology in the Intelligence Community go to http://aspirationsoftware.com. Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/John_M._Stout/489402 Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3397965