Journal of Global Information Technology Management (JGITM) is a multidisciplinary journal. JGITM publishs articles and reports related to all aspects of the application of information technology for international business. The Journal is international in all aspects.

Journal of Global Information Technology Management (JGITM) is a multidisciplinary journal. JGITM publishs articles and reports related to all aspects of the application of information tec (more…)

-          Comprise of six processes

-          Concerned with coordinating all aspects of the project plan and is highly interactive

-          Involves identifying and defining the work of the project and combining, unifying and integrating the appropriate processes

-          Also takes into account satisfactorily meeting the requirements of the customer and stakeholder and managing their expectations

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-          Project planning, project execution, project work monitoring, and change control occur throughout the project and are repeated continuously while you are working on the project

-          Has two tools for assisting with the process integration:

• Earned Value Management (EVM) – project-integrating methodology used in this Knowledge Area to integrate the processes and measure project performance through a project’s lifecycle
• Project Software Tools

Reference:

PMP Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide, Includes Audio CD

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Repeaters (Layer 1) – amplify signal, no added intelligence, no filtering

Hubs (Layer 1) – used to connect multiple LAN devices, no added intelligence

Bridges (Layer 2)

• Amplifies signal and adds some intelligence
• Forwards the data to all network segments if the Media Access Control (MAC) or hardware address of the destination computer is not on the local network segment
• Automatically forwards all broadcast traffic

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Switches (Layer 2) – Will only send data to the port where the destination MAC address is, not to all ports

Routers (Layer 3) – opens packet and looks at either MAC or IP address and forwards the packet to the destination network

Gateways – primarily software, can be multi-protocol and can examine the entire packet

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Switches – use relay technology and typically used in WANs and CANs.

LAN Extenders

• Remote access multi-layer switch connected to a host router
• Filters based on MAC address, but not capable of firewalling

WAN Technologies

• Rules for communicating between computers on a WAN
• Communications between large disparate networks

Private Circuit Technologies

• Evolved before packet switching networks
• Dedicated analog or digital point-to-point connection
• Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP), Point-to-Pont Protocol (PPP), ISDN and xDSL
• Dedicated Line – indefinitely and continuously reserved for transmissions
• Leased Line – type of dedicated line leased from a carrier

Types and Speeds of Leased Lines

Digital Signal Level 0 (DS0) – single channel at 64KBps on a T1

Digital Signal Level 1 (DS1) – 1.544 MBps in US on a T1 and 2.108 MBps in Europe on an E1

Digital Signal Level 3 (DS3) – 44.736 MBps on a T3

T1 – transmits DS-1 data at 1.544 MBps on telephone switching network

T3 – transmits DS-3 data at 44.736 MBps on telephone switching network

E1 – predominantly used in Europe and carries data at 2.108 MBps

E3 – predominantly used in Europe and carries data at 34.368 MBps

SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol)

• Developed in 1984 to support TCP/IP over low speed serial interfaces
• Using Windows NT RAS, NT computers can use TCP/IP and SLIP to communicate to remote hosts

PPP (Point to Point Protocol)

• Used over dial-up and dedicated links
• Includes login, password and error correction
• Operates at Layer 2 and uses CHAP and PAP

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network)

• Integration of digital telephony and data transport
• Digitization of the telephone network, allowing voice, data, etc.
• Overtaken by DSL

xDSL (Digital Subscriber Line)

• Uses existing twisted pair telephone lines
• ADSL (Asymmetric DSL)
  • More bandwidth downstream (1.5 to 9 MBps) than upstream (16 to 640 KBps)
  • Works at 18000 ft theoretical lengths and 14400 ft practical lengths over copper twisted pair
• SDSL (Single-line DSL)
  • Provides from 144 KBps up to 1.544 MBps in both downstream and upstream traffic, depending on the distance from the carriers point of presence (POP) over copper twisted pair
  • Works at 10000 ft lengths
• HDSL (High-rate DSL)
  • 1.544 MBps both up and down over two copper twisted pair (T1 speed)
  • Can do 2.048 MBps on three copper twisted pair
• VDSL – (Very High-rate DSL)
  • 13-52 MBps down and 1.5 MB to 2.3 MBps upstream over single copper twisted pair operating range 1,000 – 4,500 feet

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Another area that concerned me the most is the fact that I can’t seem memorize the various formulas presented in the study material. I eventually developed a way to remember these formulas by trying to read them like words (sounding like a Klingon). I will explain this in another post if I get around to it. There were also the different theories in motivation and leadership. Again on top of everything else that I have been trying to jam into my noggin’ this was another bang-my-head-on-the-desk item. For this, I also developed a simple system to allow me to remember them better.
On the week of the exam, I received some really good news that got me very excited in a sense which would have been really cool if I received them in any other week, however, the good news and excitement served as a distraction and made it really hard for me to focus on the week which is typically when I do a complete “brain dump” of everything I studied.

At this point, I was basically resigned to the fact that I may not pass the exam.

The exam was a computerized 200 multiple-choice question test hosted by a company called Prometric. The beauty of this type of exam is that you immediately will know whether you pass or fail the exam on the same day. This is much unlike the CISSP and CISM exams, which still use the old-school fill-in-the-bubble-really-good-otherwise-the-machine-will-fail-your-sorry-butt paper exam. That type of exam will take 6 to 8 weeks before you find out the results and YES it is a torture not knowing.

First thing I did as I started to take the exam was to write down all the formulas and the acronyms that I made up to remember the theories in the scratch paper that was provided by the exam proctor. Only to be somewhat disappointed (peeved more like) that out of the 200 questions less than ten asked about the formulas and none asked about the theories.

The exam allows you to mark the questions that you are unsure of the answer. It was complete downer when I had to mark the first 3 questions of the exam. After that, however, I was able to pick-up my stride.

Out of the 200 questions, 25 are what the PMI calls pretest questions. These questions are not graded and used by PMI to test-out some of the questions they will introduce in the future versions of the exam. The questions are spread-out throughout the exam and there is no way of knowing which of the questions are graded and which ones are pretests. Overall, only 175 questions are graded and I need to answer 106 of the graded questions correctly (approximately 60%) to pass. Factoring the 25 non-graded questions and some using some basic math and statistical probability, I figured I can miss 69 question and still pass the exam.

The exam was 4 hours long and I finished it within 2 and a half hours, giving me time to review the questions I marked. At this point I was completely burnt-out and I just wanted to get out of there. As I went through the marked items, I was surprised that I actually marked only a total of 29 questions. So I thought if I get all these questions wrong, what is the probability that I got 40 more questions wrong from the unmarked questions? Pretty low I thought. So instead of reviewing and stress-out over the 29 questions, I trusted my gut and submitted them as my final answers. And after a few it-looks-like-Windows-is-hanging-hour-glass seconds and answering a few survey questions, I got the result that I was waiting for: “Examination Result: PASS”.

Now where is that six pack?

As extracted from the ever-reliable Wikipedia :

Government, commercial and other organizations employ PMP certified project managers in an attempt to improve the success rate of projects in all areas of knowledge, by applying a standardized and evolving set of project management principles as contained in PMI’s PMBOK Guide.

Professionals obtain the credential to verify their proficiency in project management with an internationally accepted certificate. It has proven especially helpful for project managers trying to find jobs or self-employed project managers selling their services to customers.[citation needed]

Many contractors hire certified PMPs to make their bids and proposals more attractive to prospects. Sometimes, IFBs or RFPs require that project managers must be certified PMPs.

In December 2005, the PMP credential was tied for fourth place in CertCities.com’s 10 Hottest Certifications for 2006, and in December 2008, it was number 7 of ZDNet’s 10 best IT certifications.

I also found an article from About.com that list PMP as the highest paying certifications in the tech industry. Now if I could only put that article into reality for myself, it will be awesome considering I now hold two of the top four certifications listed in that article (the other being Certified Information Systems Security Professional or CISSP).

In any case as I did with my previous cert “conquests” (CISSP and CISM), I bypassed paying for the expensive training and opted to go the hard way, actually hitting the books and doing self-study the best way I know how. There were several factors that made it a little bit more difficult for me to focus this time around. I won’t talk about those factors in this entry as I don’t have any illusions or interest of being in a reality show . However, suffice it is to say that I was actually a little bit worried that I may not pass this one on the first try as I did in the other two.

To add to this is the fact that even though I have been using and somewhat familiar with various project management principles for quite some time, there are quite a number of concepts and terminologies in the PMI’s Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) that was very new to me. Another key challenge was the way the PMBOK is intended to be learned. Much unlike the CISSP’s Common Body of Knowledge, wherein one can learn each of the 10 domains independently, the PMBOK is a methodology, whose knowledge areas are interdependent and with process groups that follow a particular road-map and relationships and have independent processes that within themselves have separate elements that inter-relate with other processes.

So aside from simply remembering terms and what-have-you, to effectively master the PMBOK, one must be able to understand how each of the knowledge areas, process groups, processes and elements (process input/output and tools and techniques) inter-relate and which one comes first. Needless to say it was a doozy.

Continued in Yeah Boy! I passed the PMP Exam… (Part 2)

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The PMBOK9(r) Guide – Fourth Edition continues the tradition of excellence in project management with a standard that is even easier to understand and implement, with improved consistency and greater clarification. Standard language has been incorporated throughout the document to aid reader understanding. New data flow diagrams clarify inputs and outputs for each process. Greater attention has been placed on how Knowledge Areas integrate in the context of Initiating, Pla (more…)

Information technology has changed how businesses operate and succeed in today’s global economy. Organizations can now use IT to transform themselves and achieve a tremendous competitive advantage. Information Technology for Management: Transforming Organizations in the Digital Economy, Seventh Edition highlights how this new technology is changing the current business environment and what effect it has on today’s students.  The text addresses the major principles of MIS in (more…)

6,000 Total Unique Questions. Various Difficulty Levels (easy to super-hard) Questions. The largest unique database of PMP questions in one program. Questions show in a random order each time you start the program, You’ll never see the same questions in the same order. “Wordy”, Graph Intensive , situational and real world PMP exam questions and answers. Track Overall exam time and per question time to manage your time usage. Explanations of the rational behind the correct answer (more…)

One thing that I’d like to point out though, it does not take a genius to create a strong password, which for all accounts and purposes there is no such thing. It gives as much protection as a locked door knob to your house. It gives you a layer of protection, but not the protection. Just like a door knob, it can help prevent casual intruders, but not those who are really intent in breaking in. But, I digress.

In any case, I figured I give a quick comment on this matter since this somehow ties in to what I do for a living and what I preach to users practically on a daily basis.

First point of fact: It does not take a genius, knowledge of nuclear science or for that matter hours of deliberation to create a strong password. Typically a password with 8 characters utilizing 3 of the 4 types of characters in your keyboard is often sufficient.

Password1 is a strong password. Although I would not recommend using this password exactly, it meets the requirements I stated above. It has more than 8 characters, uses the upper case letter, lower case letter and a number, 3 of the 4 types of characters required. To make this password even technically stronger, add a special character, i.e. !Password1.

Now was that hard?

Second point of fact: even if your company requires you to change your password regularly, you don’t need to build a special database to maintain all these passwords. Going back to our Password1 example, if you need to change it, develop a simple system that will be easy to remember and follow. In this case a simple change, such as Password2, will often be sufficient. So all you have to remember is that you changed your password to the next number up. Many companies only prevent users from re-using passwords within the first three changes, so if your company requires a password change once very quarter, you can rotate from Password1 to Password4 every year: Password1 for the first quarter, Password2 for the second quarter and so on.

Now was that too time consuming?

Third and final point of fact: Companies and organizations who require password set-ups far and above what I mentioned above, i.e. requiring passwords 14 characters long, requiring all 4 character types used and not allowing reuse of passwords even after 4 or more changes (yes I’ve run into policies like these) are who this article should be referring to. In my personal and professional opinion, these policies, for a lack of a better word, are moronic policies and do not provide the organization with better benefits or security. They often tend make the organization more insecure as users will find ways to circumvent these rules like writing it on a post-it note and pasting it on the monitor. How many of you have passwords written behind your keyboard?

So what do I do personally?

Personally, I maintain only three password combinations and don’t change them unless I really have to. If I have to, I typically just do the slight variations that I mentioned above and no, Password1 is not one of them.

To read about the research by Cormac Herley mentioned in the article: The Rational Rejection of Security Advice by Users.

On a side note, I just found it peculiar that the research was sanctioned by Microsoft, a company well-recognized for their vigilance in maintaining the security of their products.