Month: May 2010

If you were to ask any avid gamer what he would imagine to be the perfect job, he’d undoubtedly come up with something video game related, more than likely it would be becoming a game tester. Some gamers have the impression that testing games is simply having fun and getting paid for it. It might surprise them, if they get such a job, about how much hard work is involved testing games.

If you want to be a game tester, you’ll be testing games that you like some of the time, and testing games that you can’t stand at other times. You’ll be working in a very competitive industry. Other gamers will envy you and would love to get your job the minute that you drop the ball. They see being a video game tester as a great way to break into a dream industry.

True gamers love to spend their free time playing their favorite video games. They get hooked on some games so much, that they become obsessed with playing them to the highest level. Imagine how great it would be for these gamers to be able to play the latest game releases on the market; better yet to play them before they come onto the market, and to be paid well for doing so. This can easily happen to a gamer who is lucky enough to become a professional game tester.

There are no special skills or training required for becoming a game tester. All that is really needed is the set of basic game playing skills that you acquire from simply playing the games over time. If you enjoy playing games, can pay attention to detail, and concentrate upon playing a game repeatedly to find bugs, you are eminently qualified to do this sort of work.

There are quite a few experienced game testers around who are most probably looking for assignments as you read this. The competition for jobs is fierce, even among the experts. Even if you meet the above conditions, you’re not likely to end up being a game tester simply by emailing the game development company. You’re going to do whatever is necessary to cause the company to want your skills. You’re going to find it necessary to get your name well known to others in the industry to fulfill your wish of becoming a game tester.

Many game testers embedded themselves in the game testing culture by joining online blogs, registering on game tester association websites, and joining local clubs or associations that are formed to support professionals in the industry. Game development companies are aware of these different associations and organizations. Many of their employees are members. Companies often turn to these groups to find a new talent that is committed to becoming a video game tester.

The more you personally know about games and the game testing process, the better will be your chances of getting a foot in the door of a game manufacturing company. There are a number of website that can provide you with training, strategies, and tactics employed in game testing. One such website is Game Testing Ground.

The Game Testing Ground website is actually a site that offers software that provides all of the information, support, and associations that you would require to get into the game testing industry, and to do so in the shortest possible time. You’ll have access to certain unreleased games and offered a wide range of game testing assignments. Consider the game copies as an added bonus to a great job.

The program itself, is a trove of important helpful information that can help you to get and hold a responsible game testing position. You’ll find the type of insider information about actual testing situations and strategies; things that you could never find out on your own, without actually having a position and years of experience. Most people who have used this program feel confident within a week or so, that they are ready and equipped to begin actually playing and testing video games for pay!

It takes a little effort, a little time, and a little patience to get yourself up to speed, but the potential rewards of a lucrative and exciting game testing career, make all your invested time in becoming a game tester, money well spent.

Microsoft Dynamics GP is open to ecommerce programmer via eConnect SDK, as well as Microsoft SQL Server programmability tools (typically Stored Procedures and Views).  Before you dive into technical project of eConnect programming, please, review Great Plains Integration Manager module and its customization options: VBA scripting of Before Document Commit (as very common modification point) event; you can schedule IM integration with Windows Macro or deploy free and ready for purchase applications, extending basic Windows Macro with additional functionalities.  Dynamics GP Integration Manager based (for version 10.0 and future versions 11.0 and up) on eConnect technology (in addition to supporting old OLE Server integrations), meaning that IM integration should be able to achieve the same goal with less efforts.  And as you should expect the same limitations for eConnect as you have for Integration Manager – most often manifesting limitation is eConnect and Integration Manager Batch Posting inability.  Now straight to the Great Plains ecommerce Developing topic:

1. eConnect is Software Development Kit, written in SQL Stored Procedures (encrypted), it allows you to program GP master records (Customer, Vendor, Employee, GL Account, Inventory Item, Address, Project, Budget, etc.) and so-called Work Transactions: SOP Quote, Order and Invoice, POP Purchase Order, GL Transaction, Employee Paycheck, Inventory Adjustment and Transfer, to give the idea.  eConnect is friendly and requires very short learning curve for Microsoft Visual Studio .Net C#, VB and other .Net compliant languages programmers.  Additional pluses if you have XML, SQL Scripting skills

2. Sales Order Processing and Inventory Control modules and tables.  These two are the most popular in ecommerce integrations.  SOP tables have SOP prefix (famous SOP10100 transaction header and SOP10200 lines), and Inventory INV (INV00101 – item master and INV00102 Quantity master) respectively.  Sometimes, especially in old Great Plains ecommerce legacy integrations you find Invoicing module (IV prefix)

3. Posting problem.  In ecommerce application you often want to do all the way transaction processing: Sales Invoice creation and modification, applying credit card payment deposit, allocating merchandise, approving and posting Sales Order Processing batch (or individual transaction).  Here, you will hit the wall and realize that Posting functionality is not included in eConnect or Great Plains Integration Manager.  There is no shortcut here (we assume that you are Not Dynamics GP Dexterity software developer with tons of programming experience, including Dexterity Source Code Programming), you will need to purchase Dynamics GP Add-On, we recommend Dynamics GP Posting Server, also known as Autopost

4. Dynamics GP eCommerce SQL Scripting.  If you have the opinion that your ecommerce integration routine is very simple and eConnect is too cumbersome and heavy in being considered for deployment, you can always rescue to SQL direct insertion statement.  Please review GP table structure: Dynamics GP -> Settings -> Resource Description -> Tables.  Or, simply install GP Software Development Kit from CD #2.  Dynamics GP Business Logic might be too complex for intuitive programming, so if you will get the buggy situation, consider creating test transaction in GP user interface and review the records in GP tables.  If you prefer proven set of stored procedures – we offer them as Order Connector, feeding data into SOP tables

5. Feel free to call us on Microsoft Dynamics GP eCommerce integrations concerns: 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

If you run a contact centre, you will be aware that the success or failure of your business relies on how well your customer service agents perform and whether they follow their schedule correctly. If your agents stick to the schedules they have been given, they will be much more productive and therefore you do not need to keep hiring new staff.

The TotalView Adherence Suite from IEX Corporation offers you the chance to monitor agent progress and activity without any real effort. You will be able to plan your schedules a lot better as well as cut costs and improve customer service.

There are many advanced features with this programme, but the most popular and the most useful is the real-time adherence function. This feature actually compares an agent’s activity to all current activity so you can actually make sure that all of your agents are following their schedules at any time during the day.

There is nothing complicated about the system. Once you have logged on, if anyone is not on schedule, that person’s name will be highlighted so that you are aware. It is up to your how you deal with it, but at any time of day you can log on and check. You will be able to view an overall summary of each agent’s performance levels and with all of the information in front of you; you have access to all areas of your agents’ work levels at a glance.

You will quickly be able to see which agents are not performing as they should be as well as those who require more training. It is not uncommon for agents to think that by avoiding becoming available they will not have to spend time receiving new contracts. You will be able to pick out the lazy agents immediately and take the appropriate action.

This Adherence suite also allows you to find out which agents are consistently late for work or take longer breaks than they should. It will divide the hard workers from those who survive on the back of everyone else. You will be able to perform all of the above actions from one single screen which lets you compare the agent’s schedule with their actual performance.

You can set your own customised preferences which can be sorted by a number of criteria including scheduled activity and agent name allowing you to display the most important information first. If you have agents who require extra monitoring, you can tag them so that their stats are always displayed first.

There is an historical adherence feature which enables you to print a report of for the previous few days comparing performance indicators and activity. You can quickly see which department is working the hardest and which needs to work a lot harder. Both the

Real-time and historical adherence tools will help you to improve you business and of course you profits, while at the same time improving levels of customer satisfaction.

You are able to hold each individual agent responsible for their own actions so no longer will they be able to hide under the cover of their team.

Unfortunately in today’s business world, it is only a matter of time before your company is sued by someone or investigated by some governmental agency. However, you can lesson the odds by understanding and identifying the most common legal problems that could come your way and protecting your company against them.

1. Criminal Investigation

State and federal law enforcement and governmental agencies proliferate with each passing day. Depending on your industry, you could be regulated by as many as ten agencies, not counting the normal and customary policing departments. The power of government agencies is blinding. Recently, a trend has emerged targeting more and more businesses, executives and owners for investigation and prosecution. It has become so prevalent that all companies should focus considerable effort toward insulating their owners, employees and operations from risk.

Adopting a policy that your company will cooperate in all government inquiries and investigations with the assistance and counsel of an experienced criminal law attorney is the best way to insulate you and your employees from waiving your rights or creating more risk. Educate yourself and your employees on your constitutional rights and what procedures to follow with the advice of a criminal law specialist or attorney familiar with this trend and danger.

2. Employee Lawsuit

Employment law is the new lottery for Plaintiffs’ lawyers who have watched tort reform narrow their playing fields. For every perceived harm – real or imagined, there is a creative lawsuit waiting to be filed. Sexual harassment, age discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, racial discrimination, gender discrimination, disability discrimination, wrongful termination, retaliation, and injuries, are only some of the fertile ground for disgruntled employees.

Clear and thorough employee rules and policies are the first area of defense against this kind of legal threat. Develop an employee manual and document employee files. Treat all employees with respect and with equality and consistency. Engage a business or employment lawyer to review your policies and rules.

3. Cyber Issues

With the move of all businesses toward more and more dependence on technology and the use of internet communications and resources, cyber legal issues grow exponentially every day in ways that are just beginning to be understood and anticipated.

Specific rules and policies regarding employee computer usage, privacy and access are critical in today’s business. Adopt, revise, review or amend your policies and rules as soon as possible. Neglecting this area of legal threat is just asking for trouble.

4. Marital and Divorce Issues

If you are married or if any of your fellow owners or partners are married, significant risk exists in the divorce arena should any marriage fail.

Contractual protections in your entity documents or business agreements should address these risks so that you can continue conducting business regardless of someone’s divorce claims and proceedings. Marital property agreements can also provide additional insulation from this threat.

5. Business Contract Lawsuits

Attorneys’ fees and expenses can wreck your bottom line and distract you and your employees from your core business operations. Your goal should be to utilize contractual provisions to minimize the chance of being sued or having to sue third parties with whom you do business.

With the appropriate contractual clauses, you can avoid being drug into a courtroom by requiring arbitration, choose the state in which you will be sued or in which the arbitration will be conducted, limit damages, and require that the loser pay the costs of dispute resolution. Many more advantages can be built into contracts in order to give you control over the legal process.

All business owners and executives have the obligation and duty to their employees, shareholders, partners and families to insulate and protect their companies and operations from the legal threats that haunt businesses. By understanding the threats and risks, and by taking proactive measures to prevent lawsuits and legal disasters, you can control your own legal destiny and win the advantage in any future legal battles.

Marjorie Jobe is a practicing attorney in El Paso, Texas and is the author of Business Law Battle Plan for Entrepreneurs: Protect Your Company from Lawyers, Lawsuits and Legal Disasters.

http://marjoriejobe.com/

http://businesslawbattleplan.com

Xbox 360 is a combination of hardware, software and services. It adds a punch through powerful technology. Coming in three versions, it is being updated regularly and has won many a hearts. This console has taken games to a new height. It skillfully uses the multimedia and takes the users to a different world of adventure and thrill.

Manufactured by Microsoft, it was made available in November 2005. It is the successor to the Xbox and is giving tough competition to the likes of Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii. It is seventh generation of video game console and has been a great hit since its release worldwide.

It is available in 3 versions :

The Xbox 360 Arcade includes wireless controller, 256 MB memory unit, composite AV cable, HDMI 1.2 output and 5 Xbox Live Arcade titles.
The Xbox 360 is commonly called Premium or Pro and includes all the features of Xbox 360 Core along with a hybrid composite and component cable with optical out. It comes with detachable 20GB Hard disc drive to store downloaded content, provide compatibility with original Xbox games and store game data. The July version has Zephyr motherboard which has HDMI 1.2 output and improved GPU heat sink. However the newest version is being produced with new Falcon motherboard. This mother board includes the new 65 nm CPU.
The Xbox 360 Elite with a 120GB hard drive comes with HDMI 1.2 cable, a controller and a headset.

Microsoft has produced some special editions of the console. They are custom- coloured models and are produced in limited numbers. Top selling game is the Halo 3. Other games include Boom Rocket, Feeding Frenzy, Uno, and Forza Motorsport 2 etc.

It has the provision of online game playing capabilities and a virtual market designed for the console to allow users to download purchased or promotional content. This makes it more appealing to the gamers. This console has made games extreme fun. The gaming freaks won’t want to miss it.