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        Flexibility is the biggest selling point that we have over our larger rivals. We give our clients the freedom needed to thrive in today’s fast-paced business world, organisations say to us that they often see higher quality work from independent consultants like us, this reason is the primary motivator when choosing us over a big firm. This means that we have the same skills and experience as the big firms, with added freedom and flexibility to let us focus and resolve client requirements.

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        16 ways to add More Hours to the Day

        A twenty five hour day isn’t coming any time soon with Covid19. Twenty four is all that we get. However, with a bit of skill you can squeeze out a couple more hours to add to your day from personal and work time. Here’s how to have more :

        1. Work in blocks.
        2. Learn how to say no.
        3. Cut down on TV/Netflix.
        4. Plan you week in advance.
        5. Limit your social media time.
        6. Don’t be busy just to be busy.
        7. Don’t do everything…delegate.
        8. Unsubscribe from useless e-mails. Do some Triage:

        Take a 10-minute break after 1 hour of work.

        Prioritize work and schedule online facetime with friends and family, due to covid lockdown. 

        Only watch 1 hour of TV/Netflix at night to wind down once work is complete.

        Make a list of what has to be done for the week and on what days. 

        Don’t make excuses and find things to clean to procrastinate. 

         

        09. Exercise - Plan workouts during your work breaks (10 min chunks) so you can get the most exercising done throughout the day.

        10. Do most important tasks in AM.

        11. Be good at planning and organizing. 

        12. Disable notification for useless apps.

        13. Find tasks to eliminate or automate.

        14. One task at a time (no multitasking).

        15. Always set reminders on your phone.

        16.Write stuff down so you don’t forget.

        Don’t waste time re-writing texts. 

        AM is best for maximizing productivity.

        Use accurate time frames for task – make sure to have extra time in case a task takes longer than expected. They are distracting. 

        Use alarm app. 

        Make use of agenda and post-its.

         

        The final question isn’t just of doing things faster, but of doing the right things. Constantly measure and be aware of the actual value each of your personal and work activities brings. Those that don’t add much should be simplified or eliminated entirely to focus on those that work.

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

        7 Steps in implementing a Zero Trust Architecture

        In the past, cyber defences used to focus on a ‘perimeter’ consisting of geographical proximity. Therefore, everything within the security perimeter was confined to the office building. Today, fewer employees are required to go to an office to work since they can access an organization’s assets through mobile devices and cloud software, regardless of where they are located. Unfortunately, this gives cyber criminals more entry points to collect and damage an organization’s assets. 

        ZTA, developed by Forrester’s John Kindervag in 2010, is one of the best ways to secure any kind of cyber assets for most organizations. The basic principles of zero trust are:

        • -        Assume network is always hostile.
        • -        Assume internal/external threats are always present.
        • -        Assume internal network is not sufficient to equal trusted.

        As not all organizations looking to implement ZTA are doing so under the same circumstances, let’s look at the two different varieties of implementation:

        • Pure ZTA creation – This is also known as a ‘greenfield’ approach. New companies without cybersecurity architecture or those seeking a makeover of their existing systems are effectively starting over from scratch. 
        • Hybrid ZTA and perimeter system ­– More commonly, companies looking to incorporate ZTA into their cyberdefences will be integrating zero trust concepts into an existing perimeter-focused cybersecurity system. 

        7 steps to implementing a Zero Trust Architecture 

        Step 1: Identifying Actors

        The first stem is establishing the actors (who) of your system. This entails knowing who your users are, who potential threats may be, etc. This involves a process of detailed recordkeeping and account management, including:

        • -        All individual users and their characteristics
        • -        All nonperson entities (NTE) and their functions
        • -        All attributes and roles associated with every account

        Step 2: Identifying Assets 

        The second step is establishing the ‘what’ of your system. This requires you to develop and maintain a catalog of all individual resources of assets that are part of your system. This list includes, but is not limited to:

        -        Enterprise owned hardware

        Computers and laptops

        Mobile devices, tables, etc.

        All IoT devices (e.g. Belkin WeMo Smart Light Switch, Amazon Echo Plus Voice Controller, Google Home Voice Controller)

        -        Unowned assets that regularly connect to enterprise resources

        Employee devices

        Client devices

        Third-party devices

        -        Digital artifacts

        All software and applications

        User accounts and relevant data (see above)

        Certificates and other digital or virtual resources

        Step 3: Identifying Processes

        Completing the initial inventory means keeping track of all processes in your system. 

        Companies may not be able to catalog all the information in Step 2, therefore it is important to set up a system that can efficiently scan a new asset and index it immediately. That way, your database adapts over time as assets are added, removed, or changed.

        This requires not only identifying all the processes, but also categorizing and ranking them with respect to stakes and cybersecurity needs. Processes to be gauged in this manner include:

        • -        Protocols
        • -        Data flows
        • -        Work flows
        • -        Transactions
        • -        Structured events

        Step 4: Formulating Policies 

        This step is where you move on to the establishment of rules and practices. It is therefore important to utilize the information gathered over the cataloguing stages to gauge the importance of a given actor, asset, or process to the overall ZTA scheme and the broader cybersecurity of the organization.

        It is highly recommended to begin with smaller or lower-stake process or asset. For instance, an application used by a small and defined subset of users is preferable for first adoption than one used by all users.

        Once the right process or asset is chosen, policies regarding specific cybersecurity needs and means can be drafted. 

        The policies define:

        • -        Which credentials or authenticating factors are appropriate for access
        • -        What information is eligible for the algorithm calculating access approval

        -        How the algorithm for access is to be calculated:

        • Logistics of access approval and denial
        • Priority and relevance of information
        • Exceptional cases and exceptions

        Step 5: Producing Solutions

        The fifth step involves creating the solutions by putting into action all the data collection and policy planning. 

        Here, you draft a list of viable solutions or deployments of ZTA to be used on one or more candidates identified in Step 4. These solutions are also guided by the policies outlined in Step 4. 

        You must determine which solution to implement. Things to consider when choosing from your list of solutions include:

        • -        Does the solution enable data collection analysis?
        • -        Does it require installation of components?
        • -        Does location impact its efficacy?

        Once a solution is chosen, you materialize it through deployment. 

        Step 6: Beginning Deployment and Monitoring 

        The sixth step involves putting your solution in place, deploying it on and through the various components that make up your ZTA architecture for the selected candidate(s). Actual changes are finally implemented to your cyberdefence framework. 

        It is highly recommended to have one or more trial runs before deploying the solution in full force. Initial hiccups are likely, such as 

        -        The system may be overly cautious, not granting access where it should.

        -        The system may be improperly lax, granting more access than it should. 

        -        The system may no properly handle special cases.

        This step is not complete until the deployment of ZTA components on the chosen candidates is fully deployed. Once complete, you will have successfully implemented ZTA. 

        Step 7: Expanding the Framework

        This last step requires you to return to the fourth step. Insights from your first run through steps five and six will guide your decisions as you return to Step 4. 

        Once you decided that the initial ZTA deployment on chosen candidates is functional and stable, because: 

        • -        you are monitoring the ZTA and loggin all traffic,
        • -        changes and adjustments are few and minor, and
        • -        operation involves little to no maintenance. 

        At this point, your deployment is successful. Moving forward you need to identify a new round of candidates for ZTA deployment, then designing the plan – until you enable cybersecurity for the complete list of applications that require protection, it should include application, data and infrastructure in your model implementation.

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  • Business Intelligence should not be Hype, use it to answer these 4 golden rules, I included an explanation of the OBIEE Design Architecture with step by step approach to building Reports.

Business Intelligence should not be Hype, use it to answer these 4 golden rules, I included an explanation of the OBIEE Design Architecture with step by step approach to building Reports.

by Alex Antonatos
on 19 October 2018

BI should provide users the data and tools to answer questions that are important to running the part of the business you are responsible for

  1. Determine if the business is on track
  2. Identify where things are going wrong
  3. Take and monitor corrective actions
  4. Spot trends

Below is the OBIEE Standalone Architecture and an overview of its components

 OBIEE Architecture

  • Data Source --Contain the business data, users want to analyze. OBI supports Relational Database, OLAP databases, Flat Files, Spreadsheets, XML files etc .
  • OBI Web Server-- Provides the processing to visualize the information for client consumption.
  • Clients
    • Answers--Provides a self-service analysis platform for analytical needs.
    • Dashboards—Provides a way to organize related information for easy access.
    • Delivers---Used to create Ibots. Delivers alerts to subscribed users. It is integrated with dashboards and answers.
    • BI Analytical Server--- Provides efficient processing , generates dynamic SQL to query data base iin the data sources, structures results to satisfy requests.
    • BI Scheduler---Manages and executes jobs requesting data analytics. Schedules reports to be delivered to users at specified times.

Last week received the following support email

From: **********************************
Sent: March 25, 2013 2:29 PM
To: Alex Antonatos
Subject: OBIEE reports with Answers

Hi Alex,

I am a regular reader of your blog, great website and thank you for sharing your experiences.

We have installed OBIEE and new to BI Answers trying to understand how to create reports with Answers. Can you help us understand the steps required in deploying procurement spent report with Oracle Answers.                                                    

Sincerely,

*******************

*******************

Step by Step approach in building BI reports using Answers

Oracle BI Answers is the Oracle BI interface used to query the organization’s data. They provide answers to business questions. It allows you to explore and interact with information, and present and visualize information using different views.

Answers can be accessed by using URL default area http://OBIServer/analytics/saw.dll?Answers

Step 1: Arrow mark indicates the subject areas accessed by the current user. In my current example I am using Purchasing to respond to the support email above.

 Step 1- BI Answers

Step 2: Once click on the subject area displays the related tables and columns in left side pane

 Step 2- Bi Answers

Step 3: Select the columns from the left side pane.

Step 3- Bi Answers

Step 4: Select the columns from the left side pane.

 Step 4- Bi Answers

Step 5: Save the results in the required folders

 Step 5 - Bi Answers

Then you can view reports in various formats. By selecting the type of report from the drop down, then it will generate the report in that view.

 Sample BI Output

Like always, don’t hesitate to share your experiences/tips with me and the website readers on OBIEE

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