Phone FraudWritten by Gianfranco Fracassi
Please be aware of this, as I have had these calls from switch board – if you receive one hang up IMMEDITELY!!! Phone Fraud – Warning from Police 11 May 2005 we have been advised of a telephone fraud currently in operation, this applies to home and work telephone, landlines and mobile phones. If you receive one of these calls, upon answering telephone you will hear a recorded message congratulating you on winning and all expenses trips to an exotic location. You will then be asked to press 9 to hear further details. If you press 9 you will be connected to a premium rate line that cost approximately £20 per minute. Even if you disconnect immediately, it will remain connected for a minimum of 5 minutes costing around £100. The final part of call involves you being asked to key in postcode and house number, which has other serous consequences.
| | Project Management BasicsWritten by Michele Webb
If you have ever had responsibility for managing a project, regardless of how little or how big, you will understand many nuances and special considerations that have to be taken into account behind-the-scenes. Project management success stories rarely show struggles, problems or weaknesses of project or team to public. One author, Herbert Lovelace, likened this to kitchen, which “…tends to be cleaned up before it is shown to guests! “Understanding how projects should be managed or “by book” methodology is a good reference guide and tool for everyone. But, in order to succeed project manager must understand myriad of people, their needs, and potential problems and issues that need to be tackled before project can be called successful. In my own experience, project management is a culmination of all experiences and knowledge I have gained on past projects and is modified based on circumstance. There are, however, some very broad guidelines that can be implemented to help ensure project stays on track. 1.Identification: make sure problem, or project purpose, is clearly identified before starting. This is best done by putting purpose into writing and having entire team review text. Next, solicit team’s agreement to purpose in a roundtable meeting. This will also help to identify customer’s concerns and issues that need to be addressed throughout project and help to stratify resources and potential conflicts team may encounter. 2.Preparation: is all about figuring out what to do and how to do it. Although most of us can handle mechanics of preparation fairly well on an independent basis, it may be more difficult to ensure that all project team members are in agreement. It is advisable to have everyone sign off on what is to be done and his/her role in project as part of preparation. People are far more likely to support something that they understand and have had a role in developing. In our organization we use a document, called a Scope of Work agreement, as part of contracts and negotiation process that details work to be done on project. By using this document we can clearly set project tasks, milestones and timeline before contracts are finalized. Here’s one tidbit, if you are trying to implement systems, and you can’t explain it easily, don’t implement it!
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