Weare one of the leading companies that has made a name for itself as a leading agency in offering strategy, integration, and enablement services that accelerate digital initiatives leveraging Quality control charts that depict measures of quality for processes or for products. They show the deviation, if any, from the set, ideal standards or specifications for a product or a process. We serve enterprise customers across verticals and enable the quality Production Channel. We pride ourselves on our competitive advantage which lies in our unmatched Quality Control System.
Challenges the Customer Faced
Company X is a company that over time had faced many challenges. The main challenge, for instance, is that for a Company that sells bottled beverages, some of the caps affixed by the machines, were affixed in such a way that they were impossible and hard for the Customer to remove the cap. This is a common problem in the uneven quality which negatively impacted the company’s sales. They wanted to set rigorous specification standards for both manufacturing processes and for the finished products that they produce but didn’t know where to begin.
There was also a problem in trying to reveal how much deviation exists from the specification standards for a product. The specifications had requirements that wanted examining either a single variable or multiple variables related to the desired quality of a product or process.
Services we offer to address the challenges
The company had sought out our help to give a solution to their challenge as we have a track record of helping businesses to achieve operational excellence. After evaluating the specifications and quality needs and desired outcomes, we presented several possible solutions for the customer with detailed pro’s and con’s, outlining the limitations of several set-ups, and highlighting our best recommendation.
After customers agree with our best recommendation, we provided them a technical delivery roadmap for them to execute which was guided by our quality control system. The functionality of our system is one of the best in quality control examination of samples and the chart usually include upper and lower quality control lines that represent acceptable, relatively insignificant levels of deviation from the desired specification. Plotted on the chart mainly are the results of random samples drawn for the quality control study (Mitra, 2012).
Positive results from our services
We were able to be in control since we produced the desired level of uniform quality and increased production by a stunning 25% over a short period of time. We dedicated multiple full-time engineering and quality control resources to augment and kickstart the initiative. Our technical staff was able to operate and deliver on the agreed roadmap over the course of 18-months.
Benefits achieved
The benefits for the use of our quality control system includes;
Immediate Damage / Defect Acknowledgement According to Mitra, 2016 “A defect is associated with a quality characteristic that does not meet certain standard.” The quality chart can integrate with lot device alarm and scanner, so that the input is almost live, and the alarm is also live. And notifications are immediately sent to the smartphone.
Quality checking before delivery to customer Quality chart is useful for quality checking / assurance department to do the checking before the product is ready to ship to customer.
History track log You can keep track the part number, supplier number, lot number, and date time especially in a vehicle. As long as we are using the computer system to store the data, which is permanent and the system can retrieve the data by just clicking and selecting.
Citations
Mitra, A. (2016). Fundamentals of quality control and improvement. John Wiley & Sons.
Mitra, A. (2012). Fundamentals of Quality Control and Improvement.
Company X is a company that over the past few years had faced many challenges. The company had very few documented processes and procedures and it became evident that their existing information system was not adequately supporting their growth strategy. The organization’s, communication was poor and the inventory accuracy was less than 70%. As we all know, communication is always the key for a successful business. It was inevitable that management finally made the decision to incur the expense and implement a new Intranet system.
Another challenge the Company faced is that they had over 1000 employees from different countries and as their daily activities revolved around accessing files, business would be impaired every time there was a miscommunication or downtime. Ensuring the proper permissions and content migration is one of the things that the company should strive to achieve.
All this was as a result of the high turnover, communication error across divisions and departments, hiring of unskilled labor, employee skills did not match what was required of them. There was no robust way of training new and existing employees and there was no performance feedback throughout the organization hence the production rate was very low. Generally, the company lacked a clear and consistent information system.
The services we offered to address the challenges
The company sought us out to help them plan, develop, and implement a new and efficient information system as we have a track record of helping businesses to achieve operational excellence. Partnering with us was a sure guarantee for the company’s improved results. We used our intranet system to implement an operational driven culture in the organization with a standardized and visualized performance in all the departments. We improved the communication and the interaction between all the teams. “Once employees perceive that the intranet is simple to use, they may search it for timely information that facilitates better decisions and allows them to be more productive in accomplishing their tasks (Hussein et al., 2008)”
Using our system, we were able help the customer transition from the existing unreliable system to a new intranet system which immensely helped to put all the company information, department introduction, and policy in a centralized platform. Through our system, we were able to train critical processes as well as bringing the departments to work together as a team and develop best practices across all levels of the organization. We also came up with a better content management and exemplary workflow governance.
Our system process and functionality
Our system’s functionality is unique and geared to achieve the following: setting the control access for over 1000 employees; introduction of social chatting and functionality which aims at increasing employee interaction among divisions and fellow employees; accessing the history gallery which is aimed at helping the new employees to walk through the gallery of the past and understand more about the company; security by encrypting all the confidential information of the employees; compatibility for mobile, desktop, and tablet for all employees to enjoy their work in their preferred devices.
Positive results from our services
Through our services, the company has become a success as we have saved up to 5.8 million dollars of cost reduction in 6 months. The company saw a tremendous reduction of communication errors in 5 months which amounts to a 69% reduction. Another great outcome was in the improvement in production rates reaching up to 40%.
All the employees across all the departments are now happy and motivated as we standardized dynamically documented processes as well as developing training videos. We have the best services and we help companies achieve operational excellence. We specialize in developing and implementing a foundation of communication, standard operating procedures, and employee engagement to drive a culture that is sustainable for improvements as in the case of Company X which was a success.
Citation
Masrek, M. N., Karim, N. S. A., & Hussein, R. (2008). The effect of organizational and individual characteristics on corporate intranet utilizations. Information Management & Computer Security.
The web scraping, also called data scraping or simply Web scraping, is that the technological art of mining other company’s information so as to gather data. Business owners also can use it to collect information from social media sites and online publications. The data that’s collected are often used for nefarious purposes, but it also can be wont to help your own company during a number of the way. Explained below you’ll find how data scraping is performed, the kinds of knowledge which will be collected, a number of the advantages to your own company, and the way your company can ethically scrape for itself.
How it’s Done
Data scraping is completed through the utilisation of code, commonly called a scraper. It’s initially embedded then a question is performed, and within the world of technology this is often called a GET query. The code is shipped bent websites that the user defines and bounced back within the sort of an HTML document. The program then searches through this document for all the required information. Once the predetermined information has been found, it’s then organised and an overall document is generated within the final format that has been designated by the user.
Types of Information
All types of knowledge are often gathered through the method of data scraping; it just all depends on what you, the user, tell the code to seem for. Generally speaking, scraping is often done on any website that has not been secured with a block for scraping. The foremost common sorts of information which will be collected from a radical data scrape include videos, audio, text, pictures, products and descriptions, and private customer information. This information could include customer names, addresses, telephone numbers, and other sorts of personal information stored on the web site.
Benefits of Scraping
To get most benefits that scraping can benefit your company is lead generation. Instead of manually searching websites for key information regarding your audience, the scraper program or bot can peruse thousands of web sites all at just one occasion and gather this information in minutes rather than spending hours upon hours doing it yourself. Another advantage of using scraping is to know your customers, competition, and therefore the way customers are reacting within the market. Data scraping can assist you to determine things like price adjustments, products you ought to offer, and products that have the foremost regeneration, among other things. The web scraping just keeps you up so far during a quick way on how your customer base is responding to the competition, and aids you in being more competitive within the market. The last advantage of data scraping is potentially allowing you to seek out partners—companies selling or marketing products or services almost like your own or that pair well together with your own in order that you’ll generate more profit for each other.
Sources for Scraping
To benefit from data scraping, your company can start during a number of various ways. If you’ve got the advantage of a tech department, you’ll purchase a scraping program that does everything on its own. If your company doesn’t have a tech department, you’ll buy a program and find out how to code and use it yourself. The 3rd alternative is to outsource any scraping you propose to try to. This will be done through any number of freelance scrapers that publicize their services on the web. If you’re outsourcing, however, confirm you’re hiring someone who is reputable and you’ll depend upon to not use the knowledge collected for negative purposes. Even though data scraping have received a nasty reputation, it’s not illegal or unethical as some may need you think. It can be actually beneficial to companies, especially small startups. If you would like to create your business to achieve success and profitable, scraping is certainly a project you’ll want to think about.
How are marketers using data scraping?
As you’ll have gathered by now, data scraping can are available handy almost anywhere where information is employed. Here are some key samples of how the technology is getting used by marketers:
Gathering disparate data
One of the good advantages of knowledge scraping, says Marcin Rosinski, CEO of FeedOptimise, is that it can assist you gather different data into one place.,”scattered data from different sources and collect it in one place and make it structured,” says Marcin. “If you’ve got multiple websites which are controlled by different websites or entities, you’ll combine it all into one feed. “The spectrum of use cases for this is often infinite.” FeedOptimise offers a good sort of data scraping and data feed services, which you’ll determine about at their website.
Expediting research
The simplest use for data scraping is retrieving data from one source. If there’s an internet page that contains many data that would be useful to you, the simplest thanks to get that information onto your computer in an orderly format will probably be data scraping. Try finding an inventory or expenditure of useful contacts on Twitter, and import the info using data scraping. This may offer you a taste of how the method can fit into your everyday work.
Outputting an XML feed to 3rd party sites
When getting product data from your blog to Google Shopping and other third party sellers may be a key application of knowledge scraping for e-commerce. It allows you to automate the doubtless laborious process of updating your product details – which is crucial if your stock changes often.
“Web scraping or the Data scraping can output your XML feed for Google Shopping,” says Target Internet’s Marketing Director, Ciaran Rogers.“ I even have worked with variety of online retailers retailer who were continually adding new SKU’s to their site as products came into stock. If your E-commerce solution doesn’t output an appropriate XML feed that you simply can attach to your Google Merchant Centre so you’ll advertise your best products which will be a problem. Often your latest products are potentially the simplest sellers, so you would like to urge them advertised as soon as they are going live. I’ve used data scraping to supply up-to-date listings to feed into Google Merchant Centre. It’s an excellent solution, and truly, there’s such a lot you’ll do with the info once you’ve got it. Using the feed, you’ll tag the simplest converting products on a day to day so you’ll share that information with Google AdWords and make sure you bid more competitively on those products. When you all set it up its all quite automated. The pliability an honest feed you’ve got control of during this way is great, and it can cause some very definite improvements in those campaigns which clients love.”
Here’s how it’s done:
How to found out a knowledge feed to Google Merchant Centre Using one among the techniques or tools described previously, creates a file that uses a dynamic website query to import the small print of products listed on your site. This file should automatically update at regular intervals.
The details should be beginning as specified here.
• Upload this file to a password-protected URL. • Go to Google Merchant Centre and log in. (make sure your Merchant Centre account is correctly found out first) • Go to Products. • Click the plus button. • Enter your target country and make a feed name. • Select the ‘scheduled fetch’ option. • Add the URL of your product file, along side the username and password required to access it. • Then You have to Select the fetch frequency that best matches your product upload schedule. • Click Save • Now you can see product data should now be available in Google Merchant Centre. Just confirm you Click on the ‘Diagnostics’ tab to see it’s status and ensures it’s all working smoothly.
The dark side of knowledge scraping
We have multiple positive uses for data scraping, but it does get abused by a little minority too. The most misuse of knowledge scraping is email gathering – the scraping of knowledge from websites, social media and directories to uncover people’s email addresses, which are then sold on to spammers or scammers. In some jurisdictions, using automated means like data scraping to reap email addresses with commercial intent is against the law, and it’s almost universally considered bad marketing practice.
Many web users have adopted techniques to assist reduce the danger of email harvesters getting hold of their email address, including:
• Address munging: when you changed the format of your email address when posting it publicly, e.g. typing ‘patrick[at] gmail.com’ rather than ‘[email protected]’. This is often a simple but slightly unreliable protecting your email address on social media – some harvesters will look for various munged combinations also as emails during a normal format, so it’s not entirely airtight.
• Contact forms: employing a contact form rather than posting your email address(es) on your website.
• Images: if your email address is presented in image form on your website, it’ll be beyond the technological reach of most of the people involved in email harvesting.
The Data Scraping Future
Whether or not you plan to use data scraping in your work, it’s advisable to teach yourself on the topic, because it is probably going to become even more important within the next few years. There are now data scraping AI on the market which will use machine learning to stay on recuperating at recognising inputs which only humans have traditionally been ready to interpret – like images.
Are you afraid that your system might get hacked? Well, whether you have a database that needs protection or a personal system, you need to take some necessary steps to ensure it is protected from most of the hacking attempts. This guide will help you find out how:
Tips for Securing Your Database:
Have a Strong Password: Make sure to use small and capital letters, numbers, and special characters in your password and keep the character length fairly longer; more than 15 at least. Furthermore, put a limit to the wrong password attempt so that after a certain number of attempts, the database access goes in lockdown mode. Lastly, try to change the password after every 3-6 months for added security.
Install Updated Security Patches: Install the security patches as soon as they are released. Databases are very vulnerable when the security patch is outdated, and even a simple query can easily compromise it.
Add Firewall: Install a firewall in your database servers that allow only trusted hosts to be connected to them. Block all of the ports that are not in use and also all outbound connections and set exceptions for linked databases, so your internal information flow does not bottleneck.
Check Non-Used Functionalities: Your database servers might have all of the functionalities enables as default, which can put them at the risk of attacks. So make sure to disable them all.
Leverage Encryption: If you are getting a database created by a software development company, ask them to install SSL encryption from the get-go. Encrypt every file and file system and also add encryption for the database-level column to encrypt all of the data.
Check for Permissions: You might not even know that a hacker has access to certain elements of your database because he has secretly got permission for it. So make sure to regularly check for permissions for views, database tables, and stored procedures. If you see any changes, you can be at risk.
New Database Check: When you migrate your database from one server to another using a third-party tool, you need to know that it is highly likely all settings will be at the default level. This means there will be no firewall, passwords will be very weak, and it might also not have the latest security patch. So you need to carry out a detailed check for these things and fix them on the spot.
Audit the Web Application: Check your web application for any SQL injection, weak permission, or misconfiguration. Make sure to ask the software development company to make you a customized system where you can give access to users based on privileges so that you can connect low privilege users to the database, which will limit the attacks in case of a SQL injection.
Tips for Securing Your System/Network:
Scan, Scan, and Scan: Your system, especially the one that is connected to your company’s network and database, can give hackers access to loads of valuable, private data. A virus from any hacker can do this for him, and viruses do not originate inside your computer. They are transferred from an external source. One of the most common sources are USBs and hard drives. Whenever you connect your system to an external drive, scan it first using a good antivirus, and then proceed.
Download Only From Authorized Websites: If you are downloading something in your system like software, or file, make sure to only get it from a fully secured, credible, and authorized website. Many websites offer free downloads, but those files can have spyware or viruses that hackers can use to get information from your system.
Be Vary of Phishing: When you are working in a professional environment, email is the biggest communication tool you will be leveraging. But it is also a very easy way for hackers to get into your system. When you get random emails asking to download a file or visit a link, do not do it no matter what it says. Have it inspected by an IT expert and if he/she clears it, then go ahead. Most of the time, these are attempts by hackers to get into your system and steal your data. This process is known as Phishing.
Do Not Set Easy Passwords: Just like with the database, your system can also be hacked, especially via a process called Brute Force. The shorter and easier your password is, the faster it will be hacked. So make sure to add small and capital letters, numbers, and special characters in your password.
Over to You:
Remember one thing, whether you are getting a database, website, or an application designed, try not to go for a clone system because most of the companies are already using clone scripts. This way, hackers have a good practice of hacking such systems. Try to have a customized system developed by the software development company.
Want to purchase the source code for a mobile or computer application from a software development company or a business? Well, it is absolutely possible, but you need to remember that when it comes to its cost, things can get a bit tricky. This is because there is not really a straightforward way to decide the value of the code, which is why you need to manually look at various factors to get the right price.
The Cost of Source Code Depends on the Following Factors:
Since there is really no hard and fast rule for setting the price of a source code, you need to manually consider some fundamental yet important factors to assess a code’s worth. And to be honest, its value depends on the software itself and also what went into the software development process. Here are some of the most key factors to take into account:
The Developer’s Experience:
This is the key deciding factor behind how high or low a software’s source code is really worth. How experienced, expert, and worthy the software developer is, will decide its cost. There are basically three types of developers discussed below:
Beginner Programmer: This is the kind of individual who has just dipped his toe into the vast sea of software development and lacks practical experience. There’s a possibility that he might use a clone system with a few changes to design software. Furthermore, he doesn’t have the experience and vision to understand the future trends in your business, which means he will just use the resources at hand and design a system that can sustain for a few years. In short, his system will have many bugs and will also not be future proof. So just to give an idea, we can say his source code might cost $.
Senior Programmer: This programmer has moved past beyond the stage where the clone system is used or where there are chances of source code having errors and bugs. However, he is still in the middle; he might not have the vision and sight to design a software that can last for a lifetime. He might be able to give you a few good years, maybe one or two decades worth of software. But when business trends change and you need to add new modules in the database, you may have to spend more money to make several changes in the code or even get a new code from scratch. We can say his source code might cost $$.
Software Architecture: This is the guy who is a professional at what he does. He will design a source code in a way that is free for any bugs and will also be future proof. Plus, his source code will be tried and tested by beta users and based on the feedback, the code will be fully improved and ready to be implemented. A code developed by a software architecture will cost $$$ or more.
The Functionality of Software:
Besides the experience of the developer, the cost of software also depends on its functionality. The better the software functions and the more it benefits businesses and other users, the higher its price will be. So here are a few noteworthy factors to keep in mind as well:
Business Benefits: Is this software benefitting existing businesses, or if you have purchased it, has it improved your business? Maybe it has helped in skyrocketing your revenue directly? OR maybe it has indirectly improved your revenue by streamlining your internal procedures and increasing efficiency? If that’s the case, then the code’s cost will be high.
Features of the Software: What kind of features does the software has, is it equipped with all the latest ones, or does its source code need some tweaking for the addition of more features to meet your competition? The more useful features a software has, the higher you can expect it to cost.
Adoption by Users: If you are already using the software without its source code, then how many users do you have? The number of people using the software also impacts the cost of source code because it is already tested in the market and accepted by a wide variety of users.
Besides the factors mentioned above, you also need to see how unique the source code is, are there many software based on it? Are there only a few of them? Or are you the only one using it?
The uniqueness of the source code also defines its cost because the source code is the property of the company. So buying the code means you are buying a part of their business, so it is obvious that it will come with a hefty price tag.
If you are getting software development for your business so that you can have access to all kinds of data in one place, then you seriously need to think about who designs its database.
A bad design can ruin the software, and that can ultimately do damage to your business. If you want to get more info about the database, its role, and the characteristics of a good database, keep reading this guide until the end.
Role of Database Software Development in Your Business:
Nowadays, businesses heavily rely on data to manage their internal and external operations and also make decisions that shape their future. Without the help of useful data, businesses will be shooting arrows in the dark without knowing the right direction. For instance, not having the right data on the inventory available, businesses might go out of stock, and by the time they know it, they will already be turning away customers that need their products.
Similarly, managers will not have the correct insight into the performance of their company without data, which means they cannot make the necessary decisions to grow it. So now that you know how important data is, you also need to know that without a database, all of this data is useless. You need a correctly designed database to properly organize and store that data so that it is available for the right people to access it in minutes without going through piles of unnecessary information.
For Instance: If a manager wants to see sales history for the year 2020, he can just input it in the database system, and instead of getting the history for any other year, he will exactly get the sales figures for the year 2020.
Characteristics of a Good Database Design:
You need to understand that every business needs a customized system of a good database. A bad one can result in getting wrong or incomplete data. Or it might not keep up with the pace of businesses when it starts to grow in the future. So here are the characteristics of a good database that defines the success of the software it is used for:
Independent Data Storage:
If the database design is properly created, then all the modules inside it will be independently stored. This means it will be easier to get any specific piece of information without getting the screen bombarded with all sorts of irrelevant data.
Furthermore, when you make changes to any specific data module, other modules will not be affected because they are stored independently. So if a company wants to add or remove units of inventory in the inventory management module, the sales module will not be affected unless it is programmed to do so.
Should Not be Clone System:
If you get database design from a beginner or incompetent software development firm, they might use a clone script of a database of a business similar to yours and build your entire database software based on that.
This means the database will not be unique to your business, and you might not be able to add any additional modules in it.
Data Should Be Consistent And Reliable:
A bad database design increases your risk of getting different answers to your queries. This means you might ask for the sales history of a specific product, but you might get mixed data for different products. This can result in duplication of product identification numbers in the database.
Good database design will validate the data when it is being entered and loaded and reject anything which is not according to the pre-set rules such as wrong values, duplication of ids, etc.
Should be Beginner Friendly and Load Fast:
A good database will be very easy to operate and get results from. Not everyone using it will be an IT pro, which means it should not feel like operating an airplane with lots of functions to generate simple data reports. There should be straightforward functions that deliver the right results.
Furthermore, the database should load fast. It should not take several minutes to find the data and bring it on screen; this can happen if the database is structured poorly.
Security Must Be Excellent:
The database of your business is something that should be kept very secret because if it falls into the hands of a scammer, your business can take severe damage. For instance, your CRM database leaking out means the personal information of your customers can be misused by others, and that can result in expensive lawsuits.
A good database should have layers of security like authentication that verifies the credentials of users and then give access based on the credentials stored in it.
Furthermore, different levels of users should have limited access based on their posts. A manager should not have access to executive-level data. Regular auditing also helps in finding out if there are any issues in the database like wrong people accessing the information. Moreover, there should be regular backups on a secured space so that if the database gets erased or infected with viruses, you can have a backup copy.
