Patrick O'Beirne's blog

PraxIS Feb 2010

Feb 2010
1) Risk
   Consumer password worst practices
   IDQ Seminar 22-23 Feb 2010 - Dublin

2) In Other news
   Social Media, Networking, Twits,etc
   Free Accounting software

3) Spreadsheets
   EuroCACS Spreadsheet Auditing workshop March 21, Budapest
   XLTEST special offer held open

4) Off Topic
   LinkedIn group for Haiti Earthquake Disaster relief

IDQ Seminar 22-23 Feb 2010 - Dublin

Daragh O'Brien tells me that the few remaining seats for the Information & Data Quality conference next month are FREE for any comers. They had a lot of people contact IAIDQ saying they wanted to come but there was no training/staff development budget approved yet in their organisations.

The event consists of a one day conference and two half-day tutorials on key issues in Information Quality and Data Governance, including Data Protection.

http://idq2010dublin-linkedin.eventbrite.com/

Join the Irish Computer Society and the IAIDQ as we host a two-day conference in the IAIDQ's world-wide IDQ (Information & Data Quality) Seminar Series.

Hear leading Irish and European experts in the field of Information Quality share with you their insights and experiences. Learn:

* How Information Quality risks are pervasive in your organisation (and what you can do to avoid them)
* Proven approaches to communicating the value of information and the value of information quality to your stakeholders.
* The potential legal ramifications of not managing your Information Assets properly.
* How an Information Quality based approach to other Regulatory and Compliance challenges can help reap quick rewards in these and other areas of your business.
View/reply to this message on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/e/6QL7VHPsRQo-tJSc6kg01B0W/mbi/I1737786114_2/

Hosted By IQ Network
The IQ Network is a collaboration between the IAIDQ and the Irish Computer Society that is dedicated to developing and promoting awareness of Information Quality as a Business Challenge and Professional Discipline in Ireland.
The IQ Network operates as a Community of Practice of the IAIDQ for the island of Ireland and as a Professional Network within the Irish Computer Society

PraxIS Jan 2010

http://www.sysmod.com/praxis/prax1001.htm

1) Risk
Y2K+10
Irish Hospital Data Protection problems

2) Quality
SoftTest Ireland events February 16-18
Irish Computer Society - 6 months free membership

3) Spreadsheets
XLTest enhanced with VBA export to folders for Diff

4) Off Topic

PraxIS Nov. 09: IRISS, Quality Day, Spreadsheet Safe LinkedIn, Sharpeye

http://www.sysmod.com/praxis/prax0911.htm

1) Risk
IRISS Conference 19th November 2009, Dublin
LinkedIn group Critical Infrastructure

2) Quality
Nov 11 is World Quality Day

3) Spreadsheets
New: Spreadsheet Safe group on LinkedIn
XLTest: Spreadsheet testing and quality check add-in

4) Off Topic
Sharpeye OMR Music scanner software
8 Web links in this newsletter

LinkedIn IAIDQ Webinar for World Quality Day

http://events.linkedin.com/Celebrate-World-Quality-Day-IAIDQ/pub/157942

WebinarTODAY at 17:00GMT on the 11th of November. In the webinar, you will share a number of stories from the direct experiences of IAIDQ Directors that give an indication of the future trends, issues, risks and opportunities that exist in the Information Quality profession.
Stories will include:

* The slowly unfolding trends in litigation for poor quality information and what that means for the profession come 2014
* The impact of improved quality information in product development processes in a leading company, how this is increasingly common, and what that means for 2014
* The rising tide of quality information in Environmental sciences and how a leading agency is getting ready to meet the challenges of the future with quality information today.
http://events.linkedin.com/Celebrate-World-Quality-Day-IAIDQ/pub/157942

Keywords: data quality, information quality, data management, information management, compliance, world quality day, quality management

ScanXLS helps companies cope with the VAT rate change in spreadsheets

http://www.sysmod.com/scanxls.htm Companies in the UK and Ireland face another enormous task of changing back price lists in spreadsheets because of the VAT rate reversion from 15% to 17.5% in January 2009.
SCANXLS from Systems Modelling lets you scan your entire hard disk or network for spreadsheets that contain 17.5% or 15% or combinations that result in gross or net calculations such as 1.175, and 40/47.

Systems Modelling can also scan spreadsheet files sent to us. This spreadsheet scanning service suits those who don't wish to install third party software on their servers, or who want an outsourced solution.

Scanxls also reports on other data integrity problems or common formula errors that may exist in the spreadsheet, alerting businesses to problems that they did not know they had.

Contact: Patrick O'Beirne (+353) 5394 22294
http://www.sysmod.com/scanxls.htm

UK VAT Rate Change official information

Scary Fall Giveaway For Excel Nerds

http://blog.contextures.com/archives/2009/10/21/very-scary-fall-giveaway-for-excel-nerds/

To enter, write an original (and suitable for work!) comment below, describing either:

A) an Excel related costume (real or imagined).
OR
B) your scariest Excel related experience.

The submission deadline is 12:00 noon (Eastern Daylight Time) on Tuesday, October 27, 2009. Winners will be announced here on October 28th.

The Ghastly Goodies

Some scarily smart Excel authors, developers and publishers have contributed a monstrous mound of books and utilities for me to give away as treats.

Thanks to all the contributors � Patrick �Ogre� O�Beirne, Jan Karel �The Creeper� Pieterse, Charley �Crypt-Kicker� Kyd, John �Walking Dead� Walkenbach, Jon �Petrifier� Peltier, �Chiller� Chandoo and Matt �Killer� Kennedy.

From Patrick O�Beirne of Systems Modelling Ltd one copy of XLTest: Spreadsheet testing and auditing add-in � �XLTest helps you to check the integrity of your spreadsheets far more quickly than with tedious cell-by-cell inspection.�

From Jan Karel Pieterse, of JKP Application Development Services:
one copy of Professional Excel Development, 2nd Edition
one copy of Excel 2007 VBA Programming For Dummies
one USB key (1 GB) with a set of tools like Name Manager and a free RefTreeAnalyser license (1 copy of this prize is available)

From Charley Kyd of ExcelUser, Inc.
one copy of IncSight� DB: Excel Dashboard Templates Linked to Data � �Set up your first Excel dashboard report in less than an hour. "

From John Walkenbach of J-Walk & Associates, Inc.
one copy of the Power Utility Pak (PUP). � �Power Utility Pak Version 6 (PUP v6) is a useful collection of add-ins that brings significant new functionality to Excel. "

From Jon Peltier, of Peltier Technical Services:
one copy of a PTS Charting Utility � �When installed the utilities provide buttons on the Excel menu or ribbon that allow you to select a regular worksheet range and create a specialized and customized Excel chart.�

From Chandoo of Pointy Haired Dilbert
one copy of the newly released Project Management Bundle of templates for Excel � �The bundle contains 24 highly reusable excel templates for project planning, task management, timesheets, issue tracking, risk logging, status reporting and more.�

From Matt Kennedy of Apress, 2 prizes � e-books that you can download from the Apress website:
Pro Excel 2007 VBA, by Jim DeMarco (e-book)
Pro Excel Financial Modeling: Building Models for Technology Startups, by Tom Y. Sawyer (e-book)

From Debra Dalgleish of Contextures � 3 prizes. The 3 winners can each select one of :
Beginning Pivot Tables in Excel 2007
Excel 2007 PivotTables Recipes
Excel Pivot Tables Recipe Book

PraxIS Oct 2009

www.sysmod.com/praxis/prax0910.htm

1) Risk
Fraud check list
"What am I supposed to do with this security prompt?"

2) Spreadsheets
Guidelines for Spreadsheet Development
Excel User Conference UK Oct 7,8

3) XLTEST Spreadsheet Checking Add-In Version 1.09 released

5 Web links in this newsletter

PraxIS Sep 2009

http://www.sysmod.com/praxis/prax0909.htm

Excel Development Guidelines

Named Ranges are being talked about

Eusprig 2010 Conference theme

Two MS employees want your help in making Office Better

Spreadsheet.com auction

Spreadsheet and other Tech Cartoons

epicenter 2009

The Irish Software Show - epicenter 2009 August 26 - 28th 2009

To receive updates join the epicenter Community or follow us on Twitter.com/epicenter2009

Kindly Sponsored by - SUN Microsystems - Vodafone - ESET - Salesforce.com - - Provident CRM - Realex Payments - Hosting 365 - Agile Technologies - Avnet Technology Solutions -

Barry Alastair says: We have lined-up world class evangelists, expert technology sessions and a free-to attend expo - so whether you are looking to get stuck into new technology, meet people to do business with, or get a grip on the latest offerings, simply kick back at epicenter because it will be sure to satisfy your needs. Tickets start at �99.00 and they give you access to all streams. Additionally, we have put on some complimentary vendor and tech sessions at lunchtime, so feel free to drop in to Trinity College if you're coming by! See expo page for more details.

Keynotes
Weds - Jennifer Condon / Enterprise Irelands 4yr strategy for software companies

Thurs - Prof. Barry Smyth / Co-Founder of ChangingWorlds
The Secrets of an Irish Software Entrepreneur

Friday - Colm Mulcahy / Cloud Evangelist, Founder & CEO of Saaspoint
Why Cloud will shape the Irish Software Industry

Web
Marc Grabanski / MGL Consulting / JQuery Fundamentals / JQuery Advanced
Eugene Ciurana / Independent / Mission Critical Enterprise Cloud Applications
Barry Smyth / ChangingWorlds / Web Search 3.0
Paul Lynch / Hosting 365 / Cloud Computing: The Future Hosting ?
Robin Christopherson / AbilityNet / Don't Make Your Web App a Web Wannabe
Helgi Thormar Thorbjoernsson / Echolibre / Coping with Cyber Monday
Dermot Daly / Tapadoo / Objective C for the iPhone
Damian OSuilleabhain / OS3 / Building iPhone Apps in an Hour
Romans Malinovski / &3% Less Fugly - the Making of epicenter.ie
David Rook / Realex Payments / Web Security #1 / #2
John Wood / iQ Content / Adapting the Agile Agenda to Interaction Design
Eoin Keary / OWASP / Application Security Verification Standard
John Mountjoy / Salesforce.com / The Force.com Cloud Platform
Andy Gibson / Independent / Web Application Testing With Selenium
Peter Kovak / ESET / Malware, Cyber Law & Security Solutions in Practice
Urban Schrott / ESET / Cybercrime
Kevin O'Connor / Hosting 365 / A Market Overview.
Jonathan Forde / Realex Payments / Integrating into Realex Payments

Microsoft
Marco Amoedo (MVP) / MS Dynamics CRM
Jon Skeet (MVP) / Google UK / C# / Code Contracts & Parallel Extensions
Robert Hogg (MVP) / Black Marble / OSLO / PM War Stories
Barry Carr / Independent / F# - What is Functional Testing?
Barry Dorrans (MVP) / Independent / Securing .NET Apps
Bob Duffy (MVP) / ProData/ Microsoft BI / SQL Server Virtualisation
Keith Eccles / Oracle / Oracle & .NET Operability
Richard Fennell (MVP) / Black Marble / ALM with VSTS2008 / Visual Studio & TFS 2010 for the QA/Tester
Niall Flanagan (MVP) / Independent / SQL Server
Aidan Gallagher / Inish Technologies / Software Licensing for .NET Apps
Alex Mackey / Independent / Visual Studio 2010
Craig Murphy (MVP) / Independent / Introducing OpenXML
Phil Bourke (MVP) / Tipperary Institute / A Classic Games Portfolio
To Be Confirmed / Silverlight & Azure

Java
Jeff Genender / Independent / The Rules of SOA
Eugene Ciurana / Independent / Google App Engine - A Java HOWTO
Doug Clarke / Oracle / Developing with JPA and JAXB / JPA 2.0 What's New
Simon Cook / SUN Microsystems / GlassFish / Java & Java FX
Werner Keil / Independent / STEM (Spatio-Temporal Epidemiological Modeler) / JSR-275 Measures and Units
Owen Hughes / Oracle / Oracle Database Evolution
Barry Carr / Independent / Scala - What is Functional Programming
Kevin Noonan / Cannibalising the Google App Engine
Rob Lally / A Scala Web Framework / Intro to Lean, Kanban & Theory of Constraints for Software Managers
Ian Sutton / Visualizing and Measuring Emergent Design
Tim Hodkinson / Liberty IT / Agile Development with Scrum
Anthony Swart / SUN Microsystems / Sun's Identity Management Products
John Meere / Sun Microsystems / Thin Client Computing Live Demo
Tony Jewtushenko / Product Innovator / Software Globalisation for Java Developers

Open Source
Francesco Cesarini / Erlang Consulting / Erlang
Jan Lehnardt / Independent / Couch DB
John Smedley / Ingres / Ingres CAFE / Ingres within Open Source Community
Helgi Thormar Thorbjoernsson / Websites Releases with PEAR / Migrating databases, just because MySQL sucks
Mel McIntyre / OpenApp / The Health Service Atlas - Python & Zope
Jeff Genender / How to & Being a Good Open Source Committer
Andrea Magnorsky / Monorail MVC

Current Ticket Prices
One Day �99.00
Two Day �158.00
Three Days �197.00 plus free O'Reilly book
Contact: Barry Alistair Skype: IrishDev.com LoCall 1890 812 100 / International +353 1 443 4131

Overconfidence - an optimal margin of illusion

As we grow older and more experienced, we overrate the accuracy of our judgments.

http://chance.dartmouth.edu/chancewiki/index.php/Chance_News_52
Chance news quotes from an article on the collapse of Bear Sterns:

"Cocksure: Banks, battles, and the psychology of overconfidence� by Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker, July 27, 2009
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/07/27/090727fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all
The author describes examples of a phenomenon that psychologists call the �illusion of control.� This phenomenon obtains when �confidence spills over from areas where it may be warranted (�I�m savvier than that schnook�) to areas where it isn�t warranted at all (�and that means I�m going to draw higher cards�).�
[A psychologist] had subjects engage in a betting game against either a self-assured, well-dressed opponent or a shy and badly dressed opponent (in Langer�s delightful phrasing, the �dapper� or the �schnook� condition), and she found that her subjects bet far more aggressively when they played against the schnook. They looked at their awkward opponent and thought, I�m better than he is. Yet the game was pure chance: all the players did was draw cards at random from a deck, and see who had the high hand. �

PraxIS August 2009

www.sysmod.com/praxis/prax0908.htm

1) Risk
Hackers unmask fake ATM
450 year old document control processes
McAfee data loss

2) Software Testing
Salesmanship

3) Spreadsheets
Antipodean Spreadsheet Gurus
LinkedIn proliferates Excel groups

4) Off Topic
Holidays

20 Web links in this newsletter

PraxIS July 2009 newsletter

http://www.sysmod.com/praxis/prax0907.htm
1) Spreadsheet risk
Report from Eusprig conference in Paris

2) Excel
Hotfix for vanishing range names bug in Excel 2007

3) Off topic: LOL

Dundalk Inst Tech Student Awarded Prize at Eusprig Conference in Paris

http://irishdev.com/Home/News/581-DKIT-Scoop-Prize-at-Paris-Event.html
Ruth McKeever, Kevin McDaid & Brian Bishop of Dundalk Institute of Technology, have won the Student Prize this year's annual conference of the European Spreadsheet Risks Interest Group (EuSpRIG) in Paris.
Their work, "Analysis of the Impact of Named Ranges on the Debugging Performance of Novice Users," was described by the international panel of judges, which included Martin Erwig of Oregon State University, as a 'well-designed and thoroughly executed piece of research.'
The research directly challenged the common advice to use range names. The results show that for novice debuggers "a spreadsheet that contains range names in formulas will be more difficult to inspect and correct than a spreadsheet that does not use names in formulas".
http://www.eusprig.org

EuSpRIG 2009 : Spreadsheet Gurus Meet in Paris

Experts From Europe and North America meet to discuss the role of spreadsheets in organisational excellence at the 10th annual spreadsheet risks conference on July 2-3 in Paris, France.

Cardiff, UK, June 16, 2009 -- The European Spreadsheet Risks Interest Group (EuSpRIG), is holding its 2009 conference "The Role of Spreadsheets in Organisational Excellence" on the 2nd � 3rd July 2009 at the Ecole Normale Sup�rieure de Cachan, Paris, France.

The keynote speakers are Dr Louise Pryor, Director of Actuarial Standards for the UK Financial Reporting Council�s Board for Actuarial Standards, and Dr Martin Erwig, Associate Professor of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Oregon State University, USA.

Grenville Croll, EuSpRIG chair commented �We welcome our delegates and presenters to Paris and to the 10th Annual EuSpRIG Conference. It is a considerable achievement for any organisation, especially a non-profit and voluntary organisation such as EuSpRIG, to be able to celebrate this important anniversary with such an interesting, expansive and international programme�. Croll cautioned that �Most people do not appreciate the important role that spreadsheets play in our modern society. Nor do they appreciate the risks that we are running with this out of control but ubiquitous technology�. On a happier note, he concluded: �Here at EuSpRIG we offer thought leadership and guidance on the technical and human aspects of examining, containing and controlling spreadsheet technology�.

Speakers include: Susan Allen of HBOS who will be discussing Excel Modelling, Transparency, Auditing and Business use; Grenville Croll of Spreadsheet Engineering Ltd who will be introducing his paper on Spreadsheets and the Financial Collapse; Angela Collins of BDO Stoy Hayward who will describe her work as an Embedded Spreadsheet Modeller and Drs Sriram Iyengar and John Svirbely of www.medal.org and the University of Texas, who will describe their monumental Medical Algorithms project.

Bill Bekenn & Ray Hooper from Fairway Associates will present their curiously, but very appropriately entitled paper �Some Spreadsheet Poka-Yoke�. Professor Tom Grossman and colleagues will be travelling from the University of California, San Francisco to present their work on using the Lookup Technique to Replace Nested-if formulas. The host team of Fran�oise Tort, Fran�ois-Marie Blondel and �ric Bruillard will discuss their findings regarding the relationship between errors detection and behaviour observation. They will be joined by their Belgian colleague �tienne Vandeput from the Universit� de Li�ge who will look at some milestones involved in teaching spreadsheet programs. A team of five students from the Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland, led by Dr Kevin McDaid will present research on Bayesian error estimation, the impact of named ranges on debugging, and a natural language approach to spreadsheet information.

Matthew Dinmore from the University of Maryland Baltimore and a number of individual consultants including Patrick O�Beirne, Angus Dunn, Sebastian Dewhurst and John Hunt complete the line-up of seventeen papers in total.

About EuSpRIG

EuSpRIG (www.eusprig.org) offers Risk Managers the world's only independent, authoritative & comprehensive web based information describing the current state of the art in Spreadsheet Risk Management. We run a well-established annual conference which provides a forum for researchers, practitioners, trainers, vendors, consultants and auditors. EuSpRIG's entire peer reviewed proceedings are published on the publicly accessible Cornell University moderated scientific repository www.arxiv.org. EuSpRIG provide speakers and content for professional societies, associations, conferences and journals. EuSpRIG is a not-for-profit organisation governed by an elected committee operating under the terms of a written constitution. Committee members include senior managers and directors of leading accounting firms and senior academics from European Universities.

EuSpRIG 2009 Conference Co-Sponsors The following organizations are pleased to support the EuSpRIG 2009 Conference: Baker Tilly, Spreadsheet Engineering Ltd, AuditNet, Systems Modelling, Information Systems Audit and Control Association - Northern UK Chapter, University of Wales Institute Cardiff, University of Greenwich and STEF ENS Cachan. There is an opportunity available for a main conference sponsor.

EuSpRIG Contacts
Grenville Croll, EuSpRIG Chair, Spreadsheet Engineering Ltd, +44 (0) 7935 323499
Pat Cleary, EuSpRIG Secretary, UWIC, Cardiff, +44 (0)2920 416070

http://www.eusprig.org

PraxIS June 2009

sysmod.com/praxis/prax0906.htm

1) Risk
ISSA Ireland open event on Microsoft Security 10th June
Google Books Settlement Class Action

2) Quality
Softtest Ireland : Professionalism
CSE / ICS free event on Agile
SoftTest free events June 16-18

3) Spreadsheets
Eusprig 2009 registration open
Excel 2007 unpredictably losing defined names

4) Off Topic
Double-take exteriors of buildings by a trompe l'oeil artist
15 Web links in this newsletter

PraxIS May 2009

http://www.sysmod.com/praxis/prax0905.htm

1) IT
Java upskilling in Dublin for only 45 euro
The end of the e-Voting Saga

2) Research
Online Meeting Rooms
DropBox

3) Spreadsheets
Eusprig 2009 Conference
Framework Development Project
Can you describe a financial model as a city?

4) Off Topic
H1N1

19 links in this newsletter

PraxIS Apr.2009

http://www.sysmod.com/praxis/prax0904.htm

1) IT Risk
EuroCACS 2009 Frankfurt

2) European research
EuroAfriCa ICT Forum
The Informatics Development and Social Research Institute

3) Spreadsheets
Plus Prefix entry weirdness
Plus wait, there's more...
XLTest 1.06 beta version available

4) Off Topic
April Fool stories

PraxIS March 2009

http://www.sysmod.com/praxis/prax0903.htm

1) IT Risk
Survey on risk and rationality

2) Quality
SQC Conference Report

3) Spreadsheets
Ray Butler and Patrick O'Beirne at EuroCACS Frankfurt 15 March 2009

4) Off Topic
Graphing website structure

8 Web links in this newsletter

PraxIS Feb: Modelling Manifesto, Conferences, 30 years of spreadsheets

http://www.sysmod.com/praxis/prax0902.htm

IN THIS ISSUE

1) IT Risk
The Financial Modeler's manifesto

2) Quality
20% Discount on Software Testing Conference Dublin 4 March

3) Spreadsheets
Thirty Years of spreadsheets Ray Butler and Patrick O'Beirne at EuroCACS Frankfurt 15 March 2009 VBA + Excel Performance: MS asks for your Feedback

4) Off Topic
Michigan man freezes to death after electric company cuts power

10 Web links in this newsletter

PraxIS Jan. 2009

09-01 Contents: EuroCACS, SSQC, Euro news,Spreadsheet cleanup
http://www.sysmod.com/praxis/prax0901.htm
1) IT Risk
Presenting at EuroCACS 15-18 March
Software & Systems Quality Conference Dublin 3-4 March
A lesson in application acceptance testing

2) European news
Slovakia Enters Euro Zone
European art and culture archives online
Unfair commercial practices: advice to consumers

3) Spreadsheets
Cleaning up sloppy spreadsheets

4) Off Topic
Christmas 2008 souvenir

15 links in this newsletter

PraxIS Dec 2008

Dec. 2008

1) IT Risk
Redaction Redux
Irish Reporting and Information Security Service
2) Euro debates
In or out?
3) Spreadsheets
The Daily WTF on the Uncertainty Principle of Spreadsheets
4) Off Topic
Office Offline web comic
14 Web links in this newsletter

ScanXLS helps UK companies find VAT rates in spreadsheets

http://www.sysmod.com/scanxls.htm Companies in the UK and Ireland face the staggering task of changing price lists in spreadsheets because of the VAT rate reduction from 17.5% to 15% in Chancellor Darling's stimulus to the British economy, and the increase from 21% to 21.5% in Ireland SCANXLS from Systems Modelling lets you scan your entire hard disk or network for spreadsheets that contain 17.5% or 21% or combinations that result in gross or net calculations such as 1.175, and 40/47.

Scanxls also reports on other data or formula integrity issues that may exist in the spreadsheet, alerting businesses to problems that they did not know they had.

Contact: Patrick O'Beirne (+353) 5394 22294

PraxIS Nov. 2008

Nov. 2008

IT Risk
Barclays plead lawyers' mistake in Lehman purchase
Spreadsheet Safety course
Software to help keep your spreadsheets safe

Spreadsheet Safe Company Reaches Dublin Finals of Business Competition

http://www.prlog.org/10136555-novaucds-validus-reaches-dublin-finals-of-prestigious-business-competition.html
NovaUCD�s Q-Validus Reaches Dublin Finals of Prestigious Business Competition
Q-Validus the NovaUCD-based international certification solutions provider has been selected as a Dublin regional finalist in the InterTradeIreland All-Island Seedcorn Business Competition 2008.
Q-Validus, which is based at NovaUCD the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at UCD, is developing and delivering innovative assessment and certification programmes designed to improve collaboration, productivity and competitiveness in the modern workplace. Earlier this year Q-Validus launched Spreadsheet Safe� an innovative training and certification programme designed to assist businesses in reducing the risks associated with poor spreadsheet design, usage and control.
The Dublin regional finals take place on the 12 November during which Q-Validus will make its investment pitch to a panel of judges followed by a questions and answers session. The winning company in the emerging company category will receive a cheque for €20,000 and a place in the All-Island finals which take place in Belfast on 27 November.

PraxIS Sep 2008: SoftTest, Appalling Vista, XLTest, Holidays

http://www.sysmod.com/praxis/prax0809.htm

1) Software Testing
SoftTest Ireland events with Lee Copeland 15-17 Sept.

2) An appalling Vista
Vista gets my back up
The cult of statistical significance

3) Spreadsheets
XLTest nears release

4) Off Topic
Holiday snaps

12 Web links in this newsletter

SQC London Free entry to first 50 respondents

Sep 29-Oct 1
Only six working days left until the SQC - The first 50 people who contact SQC will get a free place to one day of the conference! Call Sam on 020 7448 4682 to book now.

View Offer

S QC UK conference - 29th to 30th September
QEII Conference Centre, Westminster
Free entry for one day of the conference to the first 50 people who contact us.
Contact Sam via email or call her on 020 7448 4682 to let her know on which day you would like to attend and quote SQC50.
Industry speakers:
We have a great range of speakers from companies such as Carphone Warehouse, UNUM, Allen & Overy, O2, Lloyds TSB, Microsoft and many more - all of whom will be sharing their experience of testing in the real world.
Topics include:
Running a centralised performance testing service in an Ecommerce world
Testing during the development phase using open source tools
Agile Testing methods in a real world testing environment
The politics of testing: Role plays from the coal face
These are delivered in a variety of formats at SQC which include interactive discussions and workshops so you have much more opportunity to get involved and really understand the topics.
http://www.sqs-conferences.com/uk/

Our eco-study holiday

In August Megan and I went on a course with Archipelagos Aigaiou about Mediterranean flora on the Greek island of Ikaria and followed up by a few days holiday.
The course was a fascinating insight into the nature of the island and the science of botany and dendrology. As well as conventional classroom lectures and laboratory examination of specimens that we collected, we went on guided field trips to the Rhanti forest and the Halaris River gorge. Our professor was the botanist Halil Cakan of Cukurova University in Turkey. (On a social note, this illustrates how young scientists can set up normal relations between Greece and Turkey, where there is a long and troubled past, even within living memory.)
Ikaria is an amazing island, unusually green for a Greek island, even in the dry month of August. There are still lakes and reservoirs, and an abundance of pipes strung across the landscape carrying water to the farms.
The Rhanti (Radi) forest is the largest forest of Quercus Ilex holm oak or hollyoak left in the Mediterranean, with some trees 500 years old. Free-roaming goats eat young tree shoots, so the forest is not being renewed as much as it could be. It appears that unlike the tethered and cared-for goats that we saw elsewhere on the island, these are simply owned to claim EU grants, and left to fend for themselves. Archipelagos have prepared a video on the consequences of goat breeding on natural environment of Radi forest
We also saw evidence of bark beetle infestation giving the "metro-map" tracks in the cambium (the growing layer of cells just under the bark) similar to those that we saw in the Banff national park in Canada.
We also walked on one of the hiking trails in Ikaria and I hope to upload some of our photographs later. Because Ikaria has few beaches, it is not spoiled by drunk tourists, so it is mainly favoured by Greek holidaymakers escaping the heat of Athens.
We finished by visiting our friends in Athens who looked after us with true Greek hospitality. As well as the usual museums, we joined thousands of visitors going to see the full harvest moon rise over the Acropolis.

http://www.archipelago.gr/en/FieldCourses/MediterraneanDendrology/tabid/76/Default.aspx

Archipelagos, Institute of Marine & Environmental of the Aegean Sea, is a Greek non-profit, non-governmental, environmental organization. It has been active since 1998 in several parts of the Greek Seas (Ionian Sea, Sporades, Central Aegean, Lybian Sea, Eastern Aegean). Since 2000, Archipelagos' field of action has focused on the eastern Aegean, having its main research base on the island of Ikaria but with activity covering the whole of the Aegean Sea. Archipelagos action combines scientific research into the biodiversity of the marine and terrestrial environment of the Aegean Sea and islands, with efficient conservation work, in which the local communities have an active part.

PraxIS August 2008

August 2008

1) Risk & Security
     Security flaws plague majority of e-banking sites
     The risks of marketing your marketing
     The $100,000 keying error
     The risks of hacking

2) ICT for Development
IEEE Computer Journal on Computing in Developing Economies

3) Spreadsheets
Eusprig 2008 conference report
More spreadsheet error stories in the news

4) Off Topic
Ecological Holidays

15 Web links in this newsletter

PraxIS Newsletter July 2008

www.sysmod.com/praxis/prax0807.htm

1) Risk & Security
What to do if you suspect or discover fraud

2) Quality
Presentations available on Software Testing

3) Spreadsheets
Eusprig 2008
XLTest: A New Addin for Spreadsheet Checking

4) Off Topic
Don't blame me, I voted ...
5 Web links in this newsletter

At Eusprig 2008 I'll be announcing my new XLTest add-in for auditing spreadsheets and looking for beta testers.

Spreadsheet Hell!

A breakfast briefing for all Chartered Accountants and colleagues
Date: Thursday, 26th June 2008.
Time: Full Irish breakfast, 7.30am. Presentations 8am sharp, followed by Q&A. Ends 9.30 approx.
Venue: Hilton Hotel, Charlemont Place, Dublin 2.
Cost: �50 per person CPD: 1.5 hours
The Chartered Accountants IT Services Committee is pleased to host this morning session. Regulatory pressure for compliance and risk management has created a dependence on spreadsheets which is increasingly seen as a weakness that needs to be controlled. However, the sheer scale of their use raises considerable practical challenges in discovery, risk assessment, evaluation, and the control of their development, maintenance, and use.
These presentations present research and experience into the causes of expensive mistakes from uncontrolled spreadsheets and describes evolving good practice in both end-user training and management action to reduce risk.
Contents: Risk and spreadsheet hell : The Spreadsheet control problem : End User Computing (EUC) issues : Publicly reported problems and what caused them : Real data from those who actually checked : Evolving good practice recommendations and skills certification : Good practice in detecting and preventing errors : The appropriate level of review and testing : Software tools, product screenshots : Summary
Patrick O�Beirne, B.Sc. (NUI) MA (Lancs) FICS, is Managing Director of Systems Modelling Ltd. His current engagements include consulting on spreadsheet compliance methods, best practices in model development, in-depth training in model audit and review, as well as IT consultancy. He is current chair of the European Spreadsheet Risks Interest Group (EuSpRIG) and of SoftTest Ireland, and a Fellow of the Irish Computer Society. He has advised two certification bodies on the content of a syllabus for a new certification in good spreadsheet practices. His latest book is Spreadsheet Check and Control (Systems Publishing, ISBN 190540400X)
Dave Carpenter BBS, FCA, is Chief Executive of Q-Validus, a leading provider of international certification and management services, offering a customized mix of consulting, item and test development, data management, training, research and software tools to meet the unique needs of its clients. He previously held the position of Chief Executive of the ECDL-Foundation, the worldwide governing body for the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL), and its international counterpart the International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL), certification programme.
Booking Form

Eusprig 2008 Programme

www.eusprig.org
An Overview of Spreadsheet Analytics; Tom Grossman
Automating Spreadsheet Discovery & Risk Assessment; E. Perry
Controlling End User Computing Applications- a case study; Jamie Chambers
End User Computing in AIB Capital Markets: A Management Summary; Andrew McGeady
End-User Behaviour Analysis: Supporting Debugging Tool Design and Evaluation; Bishop, McDaid
EuSpRIG and Education and Training; D. Chadwick
Evaluation of an Intelligent Assistive Technology for Voice Navigation of Spreadsheets; Derek Flood, Kevin McDaid, Brian Bishop
Excel and the Accounting and Finance Professional; P Brown, P Alliy
Information and Data Quality in Spreadsheets; Patrick O'Beirne
In Pursuit of Spreadsheet Excellence; G. Croll
Metrics-Based Spreadsheet Visualization; Karen Hodnigg
Overview and Results of DidaTab project; Francois-Marie Blondel, Eric Bruillard
Reducing Spreadsheet Risk with FormulaDataSleuth; Bill Bekenn and Ray Hooper
Revisiting the Panko-Halverson Taxonomy of Spreadsheet Errors; Ray Panko
Self-checks in spreadsheets: a survey of current practice; D. Colver
Spreadsheet Applications - Rules of Engagement; Dick Moffat
Spreadsheet Components For All; J. Paine
Spreadsheet modeling for solving combinatorial problems: The vendor selection problem; Pandelis G. Ipsilandis

PraxIS June 2008

1) Risk & Security
E-Voting Banned by Dutch Government
Medical IT risks

2) Quality
June SoftTest Ireland events

3) Spreadsheets
     Eusprig 2008 programme announced
     Another Excel problem solved
     ICAI Spreadsheet Risk briefing

4) Off Topic
Quotes

8 Web links in this newsletter

25 Aug, 2007: BH200 Vista not working

Dell Bluetooth headset woes

I have a Inspiron E1405/640M with Vista Business Dell Truemobile 355 Bluetooth + EDR Driver date 21/06/2006 version 6.0.6000.16398 Bluetooth headset BH200

I've read various forums such as
http://www.notebookforums.com/thread178221.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=137370
and the Dell support troubleshooter: "Problems With the Dell BH200 Bluetooth 2.0 EDR Stereo Headset"

I posted that method to the Dellcommunity.com forum but my question is:

Why do I have to go through this rigmarole EVERY TIME I turn on the laptop? Surely once installed it should recognise the headset the next time I turn it on? Bluetooth was supposed to make interfacing easier. With the old plug-in mike+earpieces all I had to do was plug them in and they worked. Maybe I should go back to them.

UPDATE: The method I described in my last post does not work any more. I downloaded what seems to be the latest patch, R140135, but when I run setup I get

 
---------------------------
Bluetooth Software
---------------------------
This installer be run on Windows Vista only.
---------------------------

If that message had 'Aaarrr' in front of it that would be talk-like-a-pirate software, but I presume the word 'must' is missing. Which is useless as I *am* running Vista Business.

I have an email into tech support, got the automated answer, still waiting for a specific answer.

Still waiting, 2 weeks later....

Sep 27,2007: Excel 2007 float bug at 65535

microsoft.public.excel is discussing this problem:

multiply 850 by 77.1 and Excel displays the result to be 100000

David Gainer's Excel blog says: The Problem
This issue was introduced when we were making changes to the Excel calculation logic in the Office 2007 time frame. Specifically, Excel incorrectly displays the result of a calculation in 12 very specific cases (outlined below). The key here is that the issue is actually not in the calculation itself (the result of the calculation stored in Excel's memory is correct), but only in the result that is shown in the sheet. Said another way, =850*77.1 will display an incorrect value, but if you then multiply the result by 2, you will get the correct answer (i.e. if A1 contains "=850*77.1", and A2 contains "=A1*2", A2 will return the correct answer of 131,070).
So what, specifically, are the values that cause this display problem? Of the 9.214*10^18 different floating point numbers (floating point on wikipedia) that Excel 2007 can store, there are 6 floating point numbers (using binary representation) between 65534.99999999995 and 65535, and 6 between 65535.99999999995 and 65536 that cause this problem. You can't actually enter these numbers into Excel directly (since Excel will round to 15 digits on entry), but any calculation returning one of those results will display this issue if the results of the calculation are displayed in a cell. All other calculation results are not affected.

Other posts on that blog show how the value of 100000 can be propagated rather than just be a display problem.
Joel Spolsky gives his explanation at http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/09/26b.html

PraxIS Feb 2008

http://www.sysmod.com/praxis/prax0802.htm

1) Risk & Security
    Societe Generale 
2) Bank Direct Debit fraud
    Jeremy Clarkson's challenge taken up
3) Spreadsheets
    New certification on safe spreadsheeting being tested 
4) Off Topic
    Schadenfreude
15 Web links in this newsletter

Praxis March 2008 newsletter

http://www.sysmod.com/praxis/prax0803.htm

1) Risk & Security
     171,324 Irish blood donor records stolen
     Followup to l'affaire Kerviel
2) Quality
     Software & Systems Quality Conferences Dublin, 5th March 2008
     SoftTest Ireland events April 1,2,3 
3) Spreadsheets
     Jim Kaplan's AuditNet newsletter features spreadsheet tools
     OSU Spinoff RedRover launches its Excel audit product
4) Off Topic
     Interesting Photos of the day 
13 Web links in this newsletter

ISSA Ireland Friday, May 23rd at 12:30

The topic for Friday's meeting is "Meeting Compliance and Audit Requirements while Minimising Effort" and our 3 speakers are as follows:

Sean Carey is Head of Internal Audit at Postbank, Ireland's newest bank recently launched by An Post and Fortis Bank. Sean has a keen interest in information security and on May 23rd will give an auditors perspective on information security, explaining how best to demonstrate compliance internally.

Mike Harris is Director of Risk Advisory Services for Ernst & Young and has worked in information security for over 10 years. At this event Mike will speak on the topic "Achieving Compliance by Improving Security", looking at how to develop overall security framework based on a standard such as ISO 27001 and how this can both improve security and demonstrate compliance.

Eoin Fleming leads the financial services security practice for HP Services and was formerly Chief Security Architect for HP Ireland. Eoin has recently worked with a number of customers to automate compliance checks and on Friday he will outline the possibilities and limits of automated compliance.

For more details or to register for this event please see http://www.issaireland.org/meetings. This is an open meeting, free of charge and anyone with an interest in the topic is welcome to attend.

IIA Congress Social Networking Free Ticket Draw May 15

Barry from IrishDev.com has a prize to give away!
This Thursday, the Irish Internet Association have their annual one day congress in Croke Park.
http://www.iia.ie/events/event/155/iia-congress-2008/
Entitled Beyond Websites: Business Uses of Social Networking and New Media, the event will explore of the explosion of social networking sites into our lives, and the impact it's had on business, successful integration of social networking into organisations' business models and why it takes its rightful place as part of any company's business tools.
Sponsors include teen network Bebo, and IGOpeople.com, Ireland's newest business network which is launching beta at the event.
Members Competition So, exclusive to IrishDev.com, we have three tickets (worth 345euro) to give away!
To win, go to the IIA website where you will find the answer to the following question - Who is the CEO of IGOpeople.com? Then simply email your answer to Barry at IrishDev period com
We'll pull the three winners submitted by 9am tomorrow.
IOTC 2008
Lastly, don't forget about our next tech event of 2008, the Irish Open Source Technology Conference on June 18 - 20th. The blog is live and the website, where people will be able to watch the event live goes up with full schedule on June 1st - don't forget to register for IOTC event alerts for chances of complimentary passes etc.
http://iotc.firstport.ie/
Supported by leading open source companies SugarCRM ,and OpenApp, I can tell you is that we have some very special people coming to share knowledge over the three days including Ireland's Youngest ever Tech Millionaire!
Barry Alistair
Commercial Director
Be my Friend on Facebook
T: LoCall 1890 812 100 / International +353 1 775 1700
Skype: beeps66
IrishDev.com

Praxis May 2008

http://www.sysmod.com/praxis/prax0805.htm

1) Risk & Security
Aer Lingus 5-euro flights to the US from test data leaked to web
Data Protection Commissioner Unprotected
Irish Computer Society Privacy Forum Launch
ICS Security Professionals Network presents ISO27001

2) Software Industry
SoftTest Ireland for software testers
Accounting for nothing

3) Spreadsheets
Eusprig 2008
Safety in Numbers
The bigger picture

4) Off Topic
$5/hr for Excel skills?!

17 links in this newsletter