About Myself

Member Registration

Hi...

My name is Shamsuddin. I am working as a Software Consultant for a reputed Software Development Company in the United Arab Emirates. I am 29 years old.

My native place is Perintalmanna, which is in the South Indian state of Kerala. Kerala is also know as 'God's own cuntry' because of it's natural beauty. If you would like to know more about Kerala, visit my God's own country page.

I did my College Graduation at M.E.S Kalladi Collegee, Mannarghat. It was completed in 1991. I countinued my study by joining 'Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Applications' course at School of Engineering, which is affiliated to Centre for Science and Technological Studies, Kerala, India. I completed the course in 1993.

I worked as a Computer Programmer for almost one year in India. In 1994, I came to the capital city of United Arab Emirates. Here, my career was started as Computer Programmer / hardware support executive.

Then I worked for a reputed group of companies as I.T Co-ordinator, taking care of their software and hardware systems.

As I mentioned in the beginning, currently I am working as a Software Consultant. This job is very challenging when compared to the earlier two. Yet, it is really interesting and I love it.

s My Family

My family consists of five members. My mother, myself , my wife, my brother and my sister. We missed our father more than 22 years ago. My mom is a typical Keralite house wife.

I am the elder son of my family. I got married in Aug. 2001. My wife is a science graduate. She is in India now and will be joining me very shortly. My brother is doing some computer course. He is helping my mom and taking care of our properties etc.

My sister is now spending a happy time with her husband in Saudi Arabia. She is very bright in her studies. She passed her College Gruduation (BSc Chemistry) with distinction. She will be soon joining for her Masters Degree. Her husband is working in Saudi Arabia.

s My Hobbies

My hobbies are browsing the web to know more about latest technologies and developments in the I.T industry. Reading news papers, magazines, computer related books, novels etc. Watching movies and listening to music. Chatting with friends. Playing cricket and travelling.

s My Role as a Consultant

Once a project has been approved by the management, it is assigned to one of the consultants. From that point, it is his / her responsibility to take care of that project. I have identified three main phases which are to be completed for the successful completion of a project. They are as follows.

Pre-Implementation Phase
- This includes studying the requirements of the client and to ensure that the existing application (base application) meets all the requirements of the system. If there is no base application you need to develop the entire application from the scratch.
  
  If the base application doesn't meet all the requirements of the client, you may need to incorporate additional functionalities to it.
- Estimating the resources required to develop the entire application or the new modules. Designing and developing the application. (For more details see Designing an Application)
- Suggesting hardware specifications to the client. Co-ordinating with the hardware vendors of the client to setup the hardware platform.
- Initial implementation of the system and providing user training. Answering the queries of the user and clarifying their doubts.
- Testing the system in the actual environment.
Roll over Phase
- This phase is crucial as far as the user is concerned. The user need to prepare all the data required to be fed into the system. For example, in a Financial Accounting System, the user need to prepare the outstanding balance of all the Customers, Suppliers etc.
- During this phase users may have to work on the old system as well as the newly implemented system simultaneously for a certain period. There are mainly two advanteges for this. First of all, this will help the client's business not to affect in case the newly implemented system fails at any point. Secondly, this gives the user a clear understanding of how the functionalities of the old system (may be manual) which he/she was performing for years, can be maped into the new system.
- Final implementation of the system. Guiding and assisting the users to 'go live' with the system implemented. From this point, the system is assumed to be fully operational.
Post-Implementaion Phase
- This phase covers mainly the maintenance and support issues. The consultant will have to answer queries from users which may arise time to time.
- Initial and quickest way of providing support/maintenance is by remotely accessing the clien't computer/network from the consultant's office and fixing the error. This can be done using a modem and and a remote access software like 'pcAnywhere'.
- The consultant may have to visit the client's site frequently until the users are fully comfortable with the new system.
- Once the system is fully operational, the client may ask for more functionalities in his system. The consultant has to address such issues without affecting the system which is already implemented and working fine.

The above topic is entirely based on my experience and my views regarding consultancy. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to e-mail me at mshamz@hotmail.com

s Designing an Application

Designing an application involves four steps. They are, Conceptual design, Logical design, Physical design and Deployment.

Conceptual Design
- In this step of the application design process, you will identify the requirements of the application which has to be developed. This involves interviewing the business owners, managers and end users to find out what they require from the application.
- A Conceptual design can eliminate many problems which you may face at a later stage of the development process.
- A Conceptual Model that Microsoft recommends is a three tier 'service model'. This model consists of a User service tier, Business service tier and Data service tier.
Logical Design
- In this step you will identify business objects and services. A business object can be something the system is required to know about or something the system gets information from or provides information to. (eg; Orders, Customers etc..)
- Defining the pre-conditions and conventions required to call the business service. (eg; while placing an order the customer shouldn't exeed the credit limit)
- Validating the logical design by comparing it with the requirements in the conceptual design.
- Reviewing and refining the logical design problems. It is easier to improve and application in design than it is after coding.
Physical Design
- Physical design is the process of developing software components which correspond to the business objects and services identified in the logical design.
- To know more about COM (Componet Object Model) and DCOM (Distributed Component Object Model) visit Microsoft site.
Deployment
- Deployment is the process of distributing the application or the components which constitute the application.
- Once the components are ready , you need to decide how the they will be distributed. The components can be distributed on different computers on a network or on a single computer depending on the nature of the application.