The Daily News is brought to you by George Spafford, Principal Consultant at Pepperweed Consulting, LLC.  Pepperweed is nationally recognized as a leader in IT Management and was recently recognized as one of the Inc. 500 fastest growing privately-held companies.  For more information, check out our website at www.pepperweed.com or call 888 229-0145. Please let us know if you see stories you think should be included in the next issue of the Daily News, and feel free to forward this email on to others.

 

Do you need a public speaker at your next IT-related event?  If so, please contact me at george.spafford@....  A number of programs are available including one hour presentations, keynotes, executive awareness sessions and so on all revolving around technology business, the management of IT, ITIL, and risk management.

 

"All successful people have a goal. No one can get anywhere unless he knows where he wants to go." -- Norman Vincent Peale

 

The Picks of the Day

Scientists: Humans 'very likely' cause global warming

“In a 21-page report for policymakers, the group of climate experts unanimously linked -- with "90 percent" certainty -- the increase of average global temperatures since the mid-20th century to the increase of manmade greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.  Fossil fuels like methane and carbon dioxide trap heat near the surface, a process known as the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon, but human activities, like the burning of fossil fuels, can pour enormous volumes of these gases into the atmosphere, raising the planet's temperature and destabilizing the climate.”

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/02/02/climate.change.report/index.html

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070204111643.htm

Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change:  http://www.ipcc.ch/

 

Patient, protect thyself

“About 34% of people say they or their families have experienced a medical error, the Harvard School of Public Health says. Half of those with chronic illnesses have been affected by an error.”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-02-04-patient-safety_x.htm?csp=34

[Includes a sidebar on eight ways to reduce the chances of medical error such as having a health advocate, health profile, etc.]

 

IT Process Improvement / Quality Management

Free Webinar:  Developing and Implementing a Rollout Plan

This one hour webinar covers Release Management and what goes into the Release Policy, Release Plan and Rollout Plan.  It also includes suggestions on getting started and what to be sure to include.

http://www.jupiterwebcasts.com/_archives/2007/webcast_02-05-07/index.html

[Facilitated by George Spafford and produced by Kendra Jaros of Jupitermedia]

 

What is Availability?

“The measurement of availability sounds so easy. You take the amount of time the service responds relative to the amount it should have - right? Well, unfortunately the answer is nowhere near that simple because “availability” must be defined in order to have consistent understanding and application. It is worth getting right though. Availability is a key element by which customers and users will judge IT’s ability to deliver quality services and you had better take great care in understanding what availability really means to your organization.”

http://www.spaffordconsulting.com/What%20is%20Availability.html

 

Legal and Regulatory Compliance

Internal Control Seminars

Several of my colleagues have been presenting compliance-related seminars across the country for the past five years:  Sarbanes-Oxley, Corporate Governance, Internal Controls, Fraud Prevention and Detection, and Information Security.  The next seminars are in February in Arlington, VA:  SOX Compliance and Compliance with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-123, where they will discuss internal controls over financial reporting.  The seminars are as entertaining as they are informative.

http://www.compliance-seminars.com

 

Investigation Dilemma: Sing or Keep Mum?

“If your company — like so many these days — is conducting an internal investigation, beware. Your interrogators may work for the same company you do, but they're essentially government deputies, legal experts say.”

http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/8626852/c_8652938?f=alerts

 

Be Careful What You Wish For

“But rest assured, if the new Democratic Congress sees the White House prompting agencies to implement laws in a light-handed fashion, the long-term result is going to be far more prescriptive laws.”

http://www.cfo.com/blogs/index.cfm/l_detail/8648616?f=alerts

 

To Alter U.S. Regulatory Climate, Mayor Eyes Overseas Methods

“In an effort to stop businesses from fleeing New York, Mayor Bloomberg is meeting with international finance regulators about the idea of making the American regulatory system less burdensome.”

http://www.nysun.com/article/48019

 

Security and Risk Management

Post-9/11 Security

“In recent months, the world’s biggest medical and security assistance company, International SOS, has been involved in major mass evacuations in Nepal, East Timor, Lebanon, Sri Lanka and the Solomon Islands.  CIO Asia recently spoke to former Australian SAS soldier Tony Ridley, who is now International SOS’s regional security director, Asia-Pacific. Ridley is in charge of commercial and corporate security for clients from Pakistan to China and all the way down to Australia and New Zealand.”

http://cio-asia.com/ShowPage.aspx?pagetype=2&articleid=4364&pubid=5&issueid=108

 

Risk and Security Rewards

“There's no reward without risk, according to the old saying. But in the current, closely-regulated business environment, the demand is for reward with near-zero risk. So it's no surprise that risk control groups (RCGs) are a powerful voice in any financial organization, reacting to change in the risk landscape with recommendations for both corporate policy and IT.”

http://www.csoonline.com/caveat/012907.html?source=nlt_csoupdate

[Thank you for sending this Julia.]

 

Super Bowl Stadium Site Hacked, Packed Trojan

“The Web site of Miami's Dolphin Stadium, which plays host to Super Bowl XLI on Sunday, has been trying to hijack unpatched Windows PCs for about a week, a security company said Friday.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20070203/tc_cmp/197003035

 

Hackers break into CDC's Web site

“Computer hackers tapped into a Web site at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week planting a virus that has possibly infected computers used by people who visited the site, agency officials said.  CDC's podcast site, www.cdc.gov/podcasts, which contains audio and video on a variety of public health topics, has been taken off the agency's Web site and is expected to be down for at least a few days.”

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/stories/2007/02/04/0204cdchack.html

 

Healthcare / Bio-Informatics / Care Delivery Organizations (CDOs)

Webinar: Optimizing Health IT

This will be presented live on February 20, 2007 at 2:00pm Eastern and then available as an on-demand archive several days after

“Information technology’s (IT) use in healthcare is booming yet many hurdles are being encountered in regards to successful adoption and then ongoing support of these systems. Many healthcare organizations are rushing to implement technology to meet mandates but have challenges to address in terms of strategy, controls and processes. As a result, the outcomes of these organization’s IT investments are suboptimal and, in some cases, actively put patients and the healthcare provider at risk.”

http://www.complianceonline.com/ecommerce/control/trainingFocus?product_id=700297

[This is a $249 webinar that George will present.]

 

CalRHIO starts building its state-wide HIE

“CalRHIO will pick a contractor by mid March. The resulting HIE will be a ‘service-oriented architecture framework, Web services platform, application components and operational support services for an exchange within and across health care organizations statewide.’”

http://blogs.bsti.com/healthcare/?p=519

 

VA, DOD to develop electronic health records system

“The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense have agreed to jointly develop an electronic health records system that will allow physicians to share the medical records of veterans and active military personnel.  The two departments said that a joint system will make medical records instantly accessible to physicians, allowing them and other health care professionals to make faster and better treatment decisions. Both departments have already moved to improve their electronic health records systems, according to the statement.”

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9009123&source=rss_ind132

 

Viewpoint: Top Five NPI Myths

“National Provider Identifier (NPI) compliance is driving significant system and business process changes. The consequences of not properly planning for NPI are far-reaching, including delayed claims payment, unhappy providers and potential disruptions to mission-critical processes.  Here's a look at several common misconceptions about NPI, and how health plans can be sure they're taking the right steps toward compliance, while enabling more effective provider network management across their organizations.”

http://www.health-itworld.com/newsitems/2007/01-31-07-dhp-npi-myths

 

Hope, challenges in computerizing medical records

“The health care industry and state and federal governments have pinned great hopes on electronic medical records, which proponents say will help reduce medical errors and costs. Patients typically are treated by multiple physicians, clinics and hospitals, and a computerized records network allows doctors to find information quickly in an emergency, alerting them, for example, if a patient has a dangerous allergy to a medication, or if they are about to order an expensive test a patient has already had.”

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/01/30/hope_challenges_in_computerizing_medical_records/

 

Free ePrescribing S/W Initiative Stirs Interest and Debate

“Will the recent offer of free electronic prescribing software and service to all U.S. physicians and others authorized to write prescriptions shake up healthcare the way the plan's backers expect? Early indications seem positive, though some key questions linger.”

http://tmlr.net/jump/?c=25002&a=296&m=4382&p=100137676&t=164

 

Human Error / Safety / Environment

EU confirms deadly bird flu in UK

“An outbreak of bird flu on a farm run by Europe's biggest turkey manufacturer Bernard Matthews is the highly pathogenic H5N1 version of the virus which can kill humans, the European Commission said on Saturday.”

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/02/03/britain.birdflu.reut/index.html

 

WHO warns against false sense of security on bird flu

“The World Health Organisation warned that European nations must not be lulled into a false sense of security about bird flu, following an outbreak among poultry at a British farm.  WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said Britain and Europe could just as easily be the source of the feared mutation of the H5N1 bird flu virus that might trigger a human pandemic, as Africa and its blighted health care services.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070204/hl_afp/healthflubritaineu_070204190448

 

46 nations want global warming police

“Forty-five nations answered France's call Saturday for a new environmental body to slow inevitable global warming and protect the planet, perhaps with policing powers to punish violators.  Absent were the world's heavyweight polluter, the United States, and booming nations on the same path as the U.S. -- China and India.”

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyNiZmZ2JlbDdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5NzA3MTgwNCZ5cmlyeTdmNzE3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTI=

 

Lab disaster may lead to new cancer drug

“Her carefully cultured cells were dead and Katherine Schaefer was annoyed, but just a few minutes later, the researcher realized she had stumbled onto a potential new cancer treatment.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070204/sc_nm/cancer_drug_dc_3

[It’s nice when human error helps for a change.]

 

Outsourcing / Globalization / International

Dubai serves as diversification model

“Dubai's push to diversify its economy may not only save it from a possible crash in oil prices but could also serve as a model to other Gulf Arab states for a post-oil era, its leader and economists said.   Dubai's ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, vowed at a ceremony Saturday to make his emirate ‘a pioneering global city" that would be "free of the direct influence of oil price fluctuations.’”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070204/ap_on_bi_ge/emirates_oil_dependency

 

It’s Thailand’s turn to lose a billion dollars

“Now it seems, the Thais have reached the point of diminishing returns in their once successful strategy of learning from the Philippines. According to an article at the Singapore Straits Times last week, Thailand is about to lose a billion dollar investor too – Ford Motor, because of the uncertain business landscape caused by current fluidity in Thai investment laws and business climate.”

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=65663

 

South Korea's rough edges

“It is true that the 1997 crisis and the spectacular collapse of the Daewoo conglomerate preceded wide-ranging improvements in corporate governance practices. At the same time, South Korean companies have evolved from copycat manufacturers into world-class producers of mobile phones, computer chips and cars.  But many of the governance changes have been superficial and are aimed at appeasing shareholder demands without eroding the founding families' control.”

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-books4feb04,1,7689555.story?track=rss&ctrack=1&cset=true

 

China's Hu heads to South Africa

“Chinese President Hu Jintao heads Tuesday for South Africa, Beijing's biggest trade partner on the continent, where President Thabo Mbeki warned last year that Africa needed to guard against allowing ties with China to develop into a ‘colonial relationship.’"

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/02/05/hu.africa.ap/index.html

 

Economics / Business / Misc.

The Global Bet

“Six years ago, only about 8 cents of every new dollar flowing into U.S. stock funds was invested overseas. Silicon Valley and its microchip-studded stocks were the hot destination. Now, that number is hovering around 77 cents, as American investors look longingly at soaring returns in international markets.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/03/AR2007020300142.html

 

Toyota reports record quarterly profit, sales

“Toyota, hot on the heels of General Motors to become the world’s No. 1 automaker, reported a 7.3 percent jump in quarterly profit Tuesday on booming sales in North America and Europe that offset sluggish demand in Japan.  Toyota Motor Corp. recorded group net profit of 426.8 billion yen ($3.6 billion) in the three months ended Dec. 31, up from 397.6 billion yen the same period the previous year.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17003564/

 

End Notes

Titles and links to articles written by George Spafford are listed at:  http://spaffordconsulting.com/articles.html

 

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Pepperweed Consulting, LLC, was founded by IT professionals who recognized a need for quality IT Management tools and specialists peaked in their implementation and use. Today, Pepperweed is nationally recognized for its unique ability to provide optimal infrastructure and process designs and to deliver on the promise of those designs through hands-on implementation of selected technologies. Recently listed as one of the Inc. 500 fastest growing, privately held companies, Pepperweed is one of the largest IT Management practices in the U.S.

 

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George Spafford Principal Consultant Pepperweed Consulting, LLC® Office:  269-556-9597 Mobile:  269-208-1832 FAX:  208-978-6295 George.Spafford@...

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