Client’s Readiness Assessment Success Factors for Outsourcing Software Projects

IT services such as software development, application maintenance, disaster recovery, help desk, network and operations are critical and highly demanded to better support the operations and management of organizations, especially in the government sector. The government sector faces various problems in providing IT services due to constraints or lack of knowledge, skills and expertise, human resource and technology. Thus, IT services need to be outsourced to overcome these problems. While the need for outsourcing has increased, reported weaknesses of the outsourcing activities are attributed to issues such as project rationale and the unclear role of the project team, lack of involvement of subject matter experts and users in the early stages, lack of control and lack of emphasis on quality. These issues indicate the low readiness level of the client’s organization to take up outsourcing activities. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the contributing readiness factors that clients should comply with in order to ensure the success of outsourcing software projects. Systematic reviews and content analysis were employed in order to propose a conceptual model. There are 27 factors identified and classified into 9 dimensions.  There are six internal dimensions were identified as contributing to the client’s readiness such as strategy, people, organization culture, process, technology and management whilst three other external dimensions include the government, market and people. The outcome of this study is a software outsourcing readiness model that will assist software practitioners in designing effective outsourcing software project strategies. The model is important since the agencies have difficulty in addressing their readiness level as part of the implementation plan and to avoid project failure

The effect of curing conditions on the strength of masonry blocks incorporating palm oil fuel ash

Palm Oil Fuel Ash (POFA) is a by-product of the palm oil industry that is often disposed at landfills. In oil palm-producing countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, the high amount of POFA waste disposal is undoubtedly an environmental problem that needs to be overcome to contribute towards zero-carbon emissions by 2050. This paper presents the incorporation of POFA as a partial cement replacement in the production of concrete masonry blocks – a common building material in developing countries. In this study, the cement con�tent by weight of a conventional concrete masonry block was replaced incremen�tally at 10% interval until 30% with ground POFA. The specimens were either cured in water or left dry and tested after 28 days of curing for density, compressive strength and water absorption rate based on standard testing requirements. A general observation has been taken note on the superior results of water-cured masonry blocks with up to 20% POFA content. The results of this study is antic�ipated to add value to the present knowledge bank on incorporating waste material into sustainable building material research and development. In general, POFA is a highly potential replacement for cement, but further studies need to be done to ensure consistency in performance and for industrial application

Budaya berfikir kritis Islam sebagai pendekatan dalam mengukuhkan jatidiri masyarakat Melayu kini / Norafifah Ab Hamid … [et al.]

Di era globalisasi pemikiran Barat dilihat amat berpengaruh dalam aspek gaya hidup dan gaya berfikir masyarakat Melayu Islam khususnya terhadap generasi muda. Pada hakikatnya Islam telah menganjurkan budaya berfikir berteraskan al-Quran dan al-Sunnah. Dapat disaksikan bahawa al-Quran dan al-Sunnah turut memberi penekanan terhadap budaya berfikir kritis yang menekankan aspek penilaian, analitikal dan objektiviti dalam berfikir. Kertas kerja ini bertujuan untuk mengemukakan peranan dan kepentingan budaya berfikir kritis Islam dalam usaha mengukuhkan jatidiri masyarakat Melayu kini yang berhadapan dengan pelbagai cabaran. Arus pemodenan yang melanda masyarakat Melayu kini sedikit sebanyak telah menggugat keutuhan jatidiri Melayu terutamanya generasi kini sekaligus memberi kesan negatif kepada kududukan Melayu Islam itu sendiri. Kajian ini adalah berbentuk kualitatif dengan menggunakan kaedah analisis data terhadap sumber primer dan sekunder. Justeru kertas kerja ini dilihat penting sebagai cadangan ke arah mengukuhkan jatidiri Melayu dengan mengamalkan budaya berfikir kritis Islam dalam kehidupan seharian

Modified Epoxy for Fibre Reinforced Polymer Strengthening of Concrete Structures

Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) is a preferable material for repairing concrete structure due to excellent material properties and effective installation cost over the long-term maintenance of structures. The successful application of FRP strengthening system very much depends on the bond between the concrete substrate and the FRP material using epoxy adhesive. Epoxy acts as a bridge to transfer stress from the concrete to the FRP material. The use of wet lay-up technique to apply FRP onto concrete structure requires epoxy to undergo a curing process normally referred to as cold curing. This paper intends to give a review of the problems with cold-cured epoxy and its effect on structural performance. Cured epoxy is characterised as brittle; therefore, modifications of epoxy are required to toughen the epoxy to suit the purpose of repairing a concrete structure. The methodological approaches from previous studies on modified epoxy were collected and reviewed in this paper. This review also offers some important insights regarding the use of sustainable materials, as well as recommendations for new epoxy in the future. &nbsp

Cooling panel wall system with difference types of cooling mediums

Global warming has caused worldwide average surface temperature to rise about 0.74oC during the past 100 years, which is partly aggravated by air-conditioning that releases chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and forming a vicious cycle. This paper proposes a cooling house system that can promote thermal comfort in buildings without air-conditioning. The cooling panel wall forms a part of an Integrated Building System (IBS), and is essentially made of tubes filled with either water or glycerin as the coolant. Target strength for the panel wall was designed based on the Malaysian Standard (MS) while the building ventilation system followed the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standard. The results are reported based on indoor and outdoor temperature difference together with relative humidity to identify the best performing house model and also coolant. The outcome of this research is expected to add value to heritage house design concepts with a better promotion of air flow and circulation in the building, without over-usage of natural resources and higher building cost to achieve the same objective

Physico-mechanical properties of polymer concrete containing micro-filler of palm oil fuel ash

Objective of this study is to present a research conducted on ground (fine) and unground (coarse) POFA in polymer concrete (PC) followed by determination on the physico-mechanical properties of PC. Physical properties of micro-fillers and mechanical properties of produced PCs were characterized. Calcium carbonate and silica sand were also used as micro-fillers for comparison purpose. The samples were subjected to compression and flexural. Morphology images of the particles were captured under morphology test to support the findings. Results showed that fine POFA micro-filler has a highly promising potential in becoming PC filler compared to coarse micro-filler. Additionally, its produced PC had comparable strength to PC with calcium carbonate. From the strength development and sustainability stand point, fine POFA has demonstrated its capability to produce quality and sustainable P

Amalan penyeliaan pensyarah pembimbing terhadap pelaksanaan latihan industri di Politeknik Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Kuantan, Pahang

Kajian ini dijalankan bertujuan untuk mengkaji aspek-aspek amalan penyeliaan pensyarah pembimbing terhadap pelaksanaan latihan industri. Kajian ini dijalankan di Politeknik Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Kuantan, Pahang. Reka bentuk kajian ini ialah berbentuk tinjauan. Kajian ini melibatkan penglibatan dari pensyarah pembimbing dan pelajar dari tiga Jabatan Kejuruteraan iaitu Jabatan Kejuruteraan Elektrik, Jabatan Kejuruteraan Mekanikal dan Jabatan Kejuruteraan Awam. Seramai 30 responden yang terdiri dari pensyarah pembimbing dan 90 responden terdiri dari pelajar dipilih secara rawak terlibat dalam kajian ini. Komponen amalan penyeliaan pensyarah pembimbing dibahagikan kepada tiga (3) konstruk iaitu konstruk pengetahuan, konstruk kemahiran dan konstruk sikap. Kajian rintis telah dijalankan dalam kalangan 30 orang pensyarah pembimbing dan 30 orang pelajar politeknik yang dipilih. Alpha Cronbach digunakan untuk menguji ketekalan dalaman item dalam soal selidik dan nilainya ialah 0.636 bagi soal selidik pensyarah pembimbing. Manakala Alpha Cronbach dalam soal selidik pelajar memberikan nilai 0.903. Dalam kajian ini, analisis diskriptif seperti peratusan, min dan frekuensi digunakan untuk mengenalpasti ciri-ciri aspek amalan penyeliaan pensyarah pembimbing dari aspek pengetahuan, kemahiran dan sikap dengan menggunakan bantuan perisisan Statistical Packages for Social Sciences for Windows Version 22.0 (SPSS). Ujian korelasi Pearson digunakan untuk menguji hipotesis dalam kajian ini. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan skor min konstruk pengetahuan, kemahiran dan sikap merupakan aspek yang berada pada tahap yang sederhana dari pensyarah pembimbing dan pelajar. Ini menunjukkan wujud kesinambungan jawapan soal selidik antara pensyarah pembimbing dan pelajar. Ujian korelasi di antara aspek amalan kemahiran dan pengetahuan serta aspek amalan sikap menunjukan terdapat hubungan yang signifikan. Kesimpulan yang diperolehi daripada kajian ini ialah pensyarah pembimbing perlu memiliki amalan-amalan penyeliaan yang lebih menjurus kepada pembentukan pengetahuan, kemahiran dan sikap yang diperlukan oleh pelajar semasa menjalani latihan industri bagi melengkapkan keperluan pelajar untuk menghadapi alam pekerjaan kelak

Crowd management strategies and safety performance among sports tourism event venue organizers in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor

High risk of injuries and accidents among attendees at event, especially Sports Tourism Event has become one of the major concerns to researchers and practitioners. One of the major strategies to ensure attendees safety is by practicing effective crowd management strategies. The aim of this study was to investigate the level of crowd management strategies and safety performance practices among sports tourism event venue organizers in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, Malaysia. The sample included 40 of safety or operation manager attached to sports tourism event venue organizers. The results of the statistical analysis revealed that the correlation crowd management strategies had significant relationship with safety performance. Since the findings may not have utilitarian value to other event venues in Malaysia, future studies might consider using a national sample rather than the local sample

The need of genetically modified (GM) foods for Malaysia food security

Malaysia could also be one of the countries that propose the need of GM Foods due the food crisis problem after facing with uncertainty of economic conditions recently and it could be a preparation for the Malaysian food supply system. This study empirically examines the level of consumers’ understanding and knowledge about food crisis and Genetically Modified (GM) foods. In this study, quantitative and qualitative methods or known as triangulation methods had been applied. Through quantitative methods, the questionnaire survey was developed to evaluate consumers’ understanding, knowledge and the perception of food crisis and GM Foods which are the main issues of this research. Using the qualitative approach, the face-to-face interview approach was conducted among experts of various areas such as biotechnology, economic and food industry and it provided truly significant and in-depth information for this study. The overall findings from this study could be streamlined and at the end it clearly indicates that during global and Malaysian food crisis, there is a need for GM foods and the scientific advance such as GM foods is important to deal with the long term needs. However, it is important to see a more focused initiative and systematic development for biotechnology in Malaysia. Thus, efforts to increase funding and improve coordination between government agencies, private companies, academicians and experts responsible for food assistance are all excellent initiatives that have to be looked into

Perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) of information technology application towards managerial productivity in fast food chain outlets

The usage of information technology in fast food chain outlets is to be pervasive and compulsory to improve organizational performance and strategic competitiveness. However, having technology available is not enough, it must be accepted and used appropriately by its target user group in order to realize anticipated productivity gains. Therefore, this study aims to examine the relationship between perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) of information technology application towards managerial productivity of managers who are attached in the fast food chain outlets in the Klang Valley area. A random survey with questionnaire method was conducted as a quantitative data collection on 326 managers from participating food chain outlets with regard to their acceptance of IT application leading to their productivity. The findings indicated that perceived usefulness (PU) have significant (positive) relationship on managerial productivity (MP). In contrast, ease of use (EOU) has insignificant (negative) relationship on MP. It has been concluded that perceived usefulness of IT application was influence the productivity of managers and on the other hand, the ease of use not influence manager's productivity in today's work environment. Based on the findings, it is hoped that this study will further enhance knowledge in the human resources field and training, with respect to managers' attitude and awareness towards IT application in restaurant operations