Stephen Swavley

How to make good Information Technology decisions - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:41:00 +0000

I have spoken to a lot of different people about the purchase of IT equipment over the last 20+ years. Many of the people I have spoken to have come to me with a vague idea that putting some computer system in place will make their life better. Often this is the case because they have come to the decision to purchase without having thought through what they are doing properly. This is usually because they are aware they have a need but are struggling to work out how to make the decision.

Over the next few weeks I intend to provide a framework that can be used to help make wise IT purchases. This framework can, and should, be used regardless of the size or type of purchase. With small purchases the framework can generally be used in your head to help guide you to a good decision. The larger the purchase, the more formal and detailed the process should be.

Essentially the framework revolves around three key questions. They are:

What For
How Long
How Much

When these 3 questions are answered properly, you can make a wise purchase. Leave any one of them unanswered and you are likely to get burnt sooner or later by the decision you make. On small purchases, you can probably live with it, but on big purchases the results can be catastrophic. The size of the purchase is defined by two factors. The straight out dollar cost and the possible impact the decisions has on you and your business.

More in my next post.

Fresh Ideas for Work and Family Grants Program Stimulus Package

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:40:00 +0000

If you are like me you are probably completely unaware of the current offer by the Australia Federal government to help out small businesses.

The Australian Government has introduced the Fresh Ideas for Work and Family Grants Program to support Australian small businesses to implement practices that help employees balance their work and family obligations as well as improve employee retention and productivity.

The Program provides grants of up to $15,000 (GST exclusive) to small businesses to help meet the set-up costs of family friendly arrangements that suit the individual needs of the business.

This is a great opportunity for small businesses.

Go to http://www.deewr.gov.au/WorkplaceRelations/FreshIdeas/ to find out more.

If you ring their help line on 13 13 94, select option 4 (I selected option 2 for employers to start off with - which is the wrong option). You need to ring between 8:00am and 6:00pm.

The Heron State Titles and Navigatum Cup Teams Trophy

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:01:00 +0000

I have been fortunate enough to finish off January by racing in the Heron State Titles and Navigatum Cup Teams Trophy.

The Heron State Titles were run on the weekend of the 23rd and 24th of January, and Australia Day (26th of January). These days were chosen so that anyone entering in the competition was not disadvantaged if they were unable to get the Monday off as a holiday.

Those of us who were lucky enough to be able to have the Monday as a holiday were able to race in the Navigatum Cup Teams Racing Competition. Ordinarily sailing competitions are an individual boat event. However, it is possible to race as a team. These events have a few changes to the standard racing rules that can make them quite fun. How much fun really depends on those competing.

In ordinary racing, you are required to sail as quickly as possible around the course, from buoy to buoy. Some deviation is allowed from the shortest possible path, but not too much, and you would be penalised if you deliberately deviated from your course to simply impede another boat. In Teams racing this changes. You are allowed to deviate form the shortest path around the course and to deliberately sail a course that will impede another boat. The majority of other rules still apply. For example, port must give way to starboard and you must avoid contact with other boats.

Teams racing is scored based on where your boats finish, with a penalty for having the last boat. So if your boat is last, then it is in your interest to try to force one of your competitors boat off the course, allowing your boat to pass you both. It can make for some very thrilling and interesting racing.

In several cases, boats turned around and 'hunted' down a boat behind them. The most dramatic of this on Monday was when a boat that was about to finish second turned back a meter from the finish line. They did this because the boat that was first was only a few meters in front, once the first boat had finished they could no longer be involved in the race and were then unable to provide any help to their team mates.

An example of an interesting tactic was when I had been forced off the course by one of my competitors before the start of the race. I had anticipated this and so had formulated a plan to deal with it – essentially I started the race on the wrong side of the start line, ‘dipped’ the start line and was then able to start ahead of my competitor. This action is completely legal in standard racing, but one that you would very rarely contemplate as in standard racing it would be almost impossible to do it successfully.

If you sail and have the opportunity to race in a Teams event, make sure you take it. You will learn an enormous amount about the rules of racing.

One of the major factors that made the Navigatum Cup Teams Racing event so enjoyable was the spirit in which everyone competed and I look forward to racing in it again.

I will finish off now with a brief roundup the results that my family and I achieved in these two events.

The most successful family member was my eldest daughter Jaime. In the first race for the State Title she actually beat me! Jaime skippered in both events with a crew more junior than her. Jaime finished in 16th place on scratch and brought home the following trophies:
• 1st place on Handicap
• 1st place Junior
• 1st place Lady
• Her Team finished 1st in the Navigatum Cup Teams Racing.

Next is Katrina, my second daughter who crewed with Jason Groves. I think Jason has been sailing for over 20 years. Katrina brought home the following:
• 2nd Place on Scratch (1st place to 5th place receive a trophy)
• Her Team finished 2nd in the Navigatum Cup Teams Racing.

And finally my results with my youngest, Matthew. We finished in 8th place on Scratch
• 2nd place on Handicap
• My team finished 3rd in the Navigatum Cup Teams Racing.

Heron Nationals Round Up

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 10:50:00 +0000

The Heron Nationals are completed and the results are all in.

We sailed well, particularly considering the foreign conditions, and finished 19th out of 58 boats. I had set myself the target of finishing in place 19 or better, so we just scraped in.

I normally sail at Dobroyd where the water is flat, there is no swell and little or no passing traffic. Largs Bay has a significant swell and plenty of chop – so this made the conditions quite different to my normal experience. These are also conditions that my boat is not particularly suited to.

The Heron class is essential One Design class. In a One Design class all the boats are meant to conform to a strict set of design rules which are meant to ensure that the boats are identical. In the Optimist Class (the dinghy that my eldest daughter races) all the boats come from only a hand full of moulds and can only use a handful of masts, booms and other parts. This means that all the boats are almost identical.

The Heron class however was originally established for home boat builders and so has a little bit of room in the specifications to allow for a margin of error. This has resulted in boats with slightly different performance characteristics being built from plywood. When manufacturing boats using fibreglass became cost effective a mould was produced in Australia for the Heron class to use.

The first mould was used for some time. The boats that were made with this mould are referred to as ‘Mark 1’ hulls. This is what I have. Sometime after this mould was made, a boat by the name of Hornet was built from plywood and was seen as a very successful (fast) boat. Due to it’s success, another mould was made using it’s hull.

Hornet had received some damage prior to being used for this, and the mould that was made resulted in boats that were nearly identical in shape to Hornet, including the uneven surface where the repair had been done. Boats made using this hull are referred to as ‘Mark 2’ hulls.

In the last 12 months another new mould has been made. This one is based on the old ‘Mark 2’ mould and it was only intended that to clean up the uneven surface mentioned above and to tidy up a few other similar items. The few boats that have been built using this mould are still referred to as ‘Mark 2’ hulls, but generally with the explanation that they are from the new mould. In addition to being a bit more ‘fair’ (that means nice and smooth) these boats are made using modern materials and techniques making the stiffer. The stiffer the hull is the better. A boat that has a soft hull will perform slower than a boat with a stiff hull.

I don’t believe any of the new boats competed in the Heron Nationals, however the breakdown of the top 20 places goes as follows:

Places 1-16 were made up of 14 ‘Mark 2’ hulls and 2 plywood hulls
Places 17-19 were ‘Mark 1’ hulls
Place 20 was a plywood hull

So I am very pleased to have finished 19th, and except for a silly capsize, would have finished 17th!

With regard to our tent relocation, we got up early and half pulled down our tent so that we could move it. We didn’t need to pull the tent down completely as we had a number of helpers. This meant that we could pick up the tent and move it whilst it was partially set up – saving a lot of time. It did look funny though and brought new meaning to a mobile home.

Our next Heron regatta is the NSW State Championship at Toukley.

Off to the Heron and Optimist Nationals

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 13:10:00 +0000

The big adventure has started. We have put Pippin in the Blue Mountains Retreat for Unloved Dogs (AKA Mama’s house) and headed west to Adelaide.

Two weeks of sun and sailing. I will be racing in the Heron Nationals with my son Matthew as Crew. Kate will be sailing with John Nobbs and my eldest daughter, Jaime, will be sitting on the beach watching and chafing because she is not on the water. Her time will shortly come when she starts the training clinic and nationals for the Optimists (the class of dinghy she sails).

The Nationals are due to start on the 28th with what is called the ‘invitational’ race. This is a bit of a hang over from when sailing regatta’s were so popular that you had to qualify to enter. The invitational race was open to everyone, even those that did not qualify to race in the nationals.

We left Sydney on Boxing Day and stayed overnight at Hay. We then travelled to Adelaide and delivered White Pointer to Largs Bay Sailing Club prior to going to the caravan park we had booked in to.

We arrived at the park to check in and were told we were not expected until the next day. Fortunately Elissa had printed out the confirmation email and was able to present it. We were squeezed in to a vacant bit of grass with the promise of being able to get early access to our site. This will make the morning very busy.

They say that owners start to resemble their pets!

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:50:00 +0000

It would seem that the Movember affliction in my house has spread. Our poor pup, Pippin, appears to have caught a Mo as well!

Movember appears to be contagious!

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:27:00 +0000

My wife, Elissa, seems to have caught one too.

Not to mention the kids.

So we are now one big happy Mo family. And I don't feel so odd anymore.

A quick preview of the final Movember results

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 06:11:00 +0000

Well here it is! The final result of my Movember attempt. I will post more when I have recovered.

Professional Advice Sought

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:18:00 +0000

After waking up and having to look in the mirror again I thought I had really better do something about this Mo. I have sought professional advice.

I have known Peter Day, of Days Mens Hairdressing for some time now. He has a shop in the Circa Shopping centre at Bella Vista. I have asked Peter for some assistance in obtaining the Mo that was voted for.

Alas, Peter advised me that the current situation of my face will need to remain as is until much later in the month. At which time he will be able to work wonders and rescue me from this terrible plight that I am suffering. This will amuse many of you I am sure. I will include you all by posting a video of his work after he has completed it.

Whilst I am name dropping, I would also like to thank Penrith Art Prining Works (http://www.papw.com.au/ please visit their website to find out about the quality work they do) for their assistance in producing the images for you all to vote on. Thanks again to them.

Movember Results Are Now In

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:13:00 +0000

The results for the "Pick my Mo for Movember voting are now" in.

See if you can guess what Mo I am growing. Or you can view the results here: Movember 2009 Results

Don't forget to Sponsor me at: http://au.movember.com/mospace/48837

See my Mo growing - up to day 10:

Sponsor Stephen for Movember

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:57:00 +0000

The big day has finally arrived and Movember is here!

Please help me raise money for Men’s health, specifically for The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue – the national depression initiative

You can donate directly to Movember here:
http://au.movember.com/mospace/48837

You can Vote for my Mo here:
Vote for my Mo

Please do both. If you can’t donate, at least vote – it’s free.

I have started my video of my Mo Growing, you can see up to day 6 below!

A Windows Server Disaster Recovery Plan goes into action in Sydney

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:38:00 +0000

We received a call yesterday from one of our customers. Their server was not running and would not start up.

This customer is on our FixedIT comprehensive maintenance plan. We are responsible for ensuring that their server is up and running - at a fixed price. This means that we wear the risk of things like the server having a hard disk failure or some other type of disaster. The cost of getting their server back up and running is worn by us!

I am sure you can understand that disaster recovery planning and preparation is high on our list of things to make sure happen. We employ a number of techniques to ensure our customers are covered in the case of a disaster. One of the primary techniques we use involves making images of ALL the hard drives on our client’s site.

This client is a perfect example of how a well planned and implemented disaster recovery plan can save your business. Did you know that most businesses that lose their data close their doors within two years?

David received the call from our client around 9:00am. He and John did some initial diagnosis over the phone and it quickly became apparent that we would be needed on site. John was on site before 10:00am and immediately started to investigate what was wrong with the server. Rather than bore you with the technical details I will summarise it this way. The server could not boot from the hard drive. The data on the hard drive was completely lost. This is the sort of disaster that businesses dread.

However, this is where our disaster recovery plan kicked in. We knew what needed to be done and how to do it. Once we were certain that no data could be recovered from their server we commenced re-storing their server from their backups.

100Gb of data and a number of hours later their server was back up and running that same day!

Their brush with disaster was avoided.

The Dream is Over

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:12:00 +0000

I sadly have to report that we were knocked out at the Quarter Finals. Going down 2-1 against Gladesville Hornsby Old Boys. We fought hard though and had we had the full 90 minutes I think we would have put in the second goal needed to level out the score.

The final 4 and their results are below:

Gold Medal Awarded to Laranja Mecanica do Brasil 40.
Silver Medal awarded to Gladesville Hornsby Old Boys
Bronze Medal awarded to Wahroonga Tigers

4th place Jesmond Rams

Congratulations and well down to all the teams that played and especially to the three that took home the medals.

The games are over and so now it is back to my normal weekly activity of helping small to medium businesses maximise the benefit they get from their IT (computer stuff).

Movember is coming

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:15:00 +0000

I will be growing a ‘Mo’ in Movember!

Movember (the month formerly known as November) is a moustache growing charity event held during November each year that raises funds and awareness for men's health. (you can find out more at the Australian Movember website: http://au.movember.com/)

Movember wants to Change the face of Men’s health and raise money for two very serious issues - prostate cancer and depression in men.

Stay tuned for more updates to come.

In the mean time if you would like to support my efforts to ‘grow a Mo’ then please donate to Movember at the following address:

http://au.movember.com/mospace/48837

World Masters 2009 Sailability

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:00:00 +0000

2009 World Masters Sailability

Did you know that the 2009 World Masters includes disabled competitors? There are 3 classes of dinghies competing that can be sailed by people with disabilities. (See http://www.sailability.org/ for more details)

These classes are being raced at my home club for the dinghy I sail. (I sail a Heron when I am not playing football http://www.heronsailing.com.au/. The Heron is a great dinghy for Mums and Dads to sail with their kids.)

Dobroyd Aquatic Club (http://www.dobroydsailing.org/) is hosting the following classes.

Access 2.3 Single handed dinghy
Access 303 Single (only 1 person sailing the dinghy)
Access 303 Double (2 people sailing the one dinghy)

The Dobroyd Aquatic Club facilities include a wheelchair accessible pontoon with a hoist for lifting disabled people into the dinghies. The Access dinghies are especially suited to people with a very wide range of disabilities, and DAC believe that they have enabled the first ventilated quadriplegic solo sailor in the world to take to the water. Now that is something!

One of the key features of the Access dinghies is that they are hard to capsize and have been designed so that they can self right (this means that if they capsize they should quickly come back upright again). The centre board for these dinghies is lead filled and takes 2 adults to lift them.

I dropped in on the club house on Wednesday to see how things were going. Below are some photos of the racing. (Click on the pictures to see a larger version of the photo.)

(Above) Rigging some of the dinghies before racing. Once the dinghies are rigged they are put on a trolley and wheeled to the water. Sometimes the skipper (and crew) get in the dinghy when it is on the trolley and are then wheeled into the water with the dinghy. Support crews play a significant role in getting these competitors to the water.

(above) One of the dinghies being launched. You can see the hoist just to the left of the people, at the end of the pontoon.

Racing on the water at Dobroyd Aquatic Club.

The photo above was taken between races. There is a lot happening as some dinghies are launching to start their races and others have just finished are trying to come in. You can see one of the skippers ready to be helped in to the dinghy. Also, see the red dinghy in the left foreground? The sails have been rolled up a bit (furled). This is another feature of these dinghies that allows the sailors to easily manage how much sail they use whilst they are racing. Most other dinghies don’t have this feature.

Round 4: 3-0 West Pymble FC over BUM FC

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:41:00 +0000

West Pymble FC had a 3-0 win yesterday of BUM FC. The first was an own goal. I don't think our forwards could have struck it better. The second was a penalty from the spot after Ash turned the ball back in and was tripped (see photos below). The third was put in by one of our forwards. So we are now guaranteed a place in the quarter finals on Friday.

Well done boys.

The Quarter Finals match is at 10:15am on Friday morning, hopefully followed by the Semi Finals at 2:00pm!

The 2009 World Masters Opening Ceremony

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:26:00 +0000

The 2009 World Masters Opening Ceremony – A Competitors Journey

I arrived early for the march and joined up with my team mates.

There were crowds everywhere and everyone was talking and joking with all the other competitors.

The count down was started on the big screen at the Sydney Showground where we all congregated.

Many teams dressed up for the occasions. Some in official team colours and dress. Others were just out to have lots of fun.

Teams from all around the world were present.

Age is no barrier

Neither is height – I almost had a heart attack when I thought I might have to play the guy on the left in football. Thankfully he is playing basket ball. I breathed a sigh of relief when I found that out.

Finally our time to start marching arrived.

We left the showground and started to head down to the stadium.

Just because we were marching didn’t stop us from meeting people from around the world.

I even caught a glimpse of the REAL 703 team!

There were spectators cheering us on along the way.

We had to wait a few times on the way to allow those ahead time to enter the stadium. This didn’t dampen the atmosphere and was seen as another chance to meet other people from around the world.

The NSW Police were there, but had a fairly quite time as far as I could tell.

And the hard working and always happy volunteers did their thing.

We reached the Stadium and started our entry. I think these guys needed a rest (or maybe they were just waiting for some of their team to catch up).

And entered into the arena.

The Competitors just kept on coming! Over 26,000 competitors have entered the 2009 World Masters.

The opportunity to meet others from around the world continued.

The Ceremony started and the flags representing all the nations with competitors present were paraded. I lost count.

The World Masters Flag was raised and the Oath taken by all the Athletes.

And then the party began!

If you weren’t there then you missed out on a fantastic night.

Round 3: 3-1 West Pymble FC over Dunbar Rovers

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:20:00 +0000

A much needed win today, 3-1 over Dunbar Rovers. This was probably the most physical of the 3 games so far.

We changed our configuration slightly, going from a 4-4-2 to 3-1-4-2, employing a floating centre back/centre half. This allowed us to play a more attacking game.

The change paid off and we were the stronger team on the park. Ashley Pini taking out a hat trick. Dunbar had few opportunities but took a goal late in the second half with a shot from outside the box that was deflected off the chest of our sweeper.

Despite letting the goal in it was a good result.

We still need to win on Wednesday to ensure that we make it through to the finals.

8 teams progress through to the finals – two from each of the four pools. The first finals game is a sudden death leaving four teams to battle it out for Gold, Silver and Bronze.

Round 2: 0-1 Loss against Dunrooten

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:17:00 +0000

A disappointing 1 - 0 loss today at the hands of Dunrooten.

A poor start saw us defending for the first 20 mins and not really getting near the ball. They seemed to out number us and had several good opportunities. Finally they got their goal with a miss kick shot which kind of sparked us into playing some football.

We had an improved second half but could not get a good shot on target and eventually lost 1 - 0.

A good talk at half time saw us change our approach and with better shape we were at least able to compete with them. Time got the better of us in the second half.

The equation now is two wins from two games to get a crack at the QF's.

The surprise of the day was to see BUM FC win against Dunbar Rovers 2-1. (BUM FC stands for Belconnen United Masters Football Club).

We play Dunbar Rovers tomorrow and BUM FC on Wednesday.

Round 1: 4-0 to West Pymble FC

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0000

The 2009 Masters are finally underway and what a way to start. A 4 - 0 win over a very ordinary Woolworths team. Probably a relief more than anything as we have now scored 4 goals in our first Masters attempt and won't finish at the bottom of the pool. We played on what would be one of the best fields I have ever played on.

Woolworths generally had the better of the first 5 - 10 minutes. After that the midfield started to dominate and our right half (Steve Green) was too quick down the right sending over some great crosses which put them under pressure. Finally we took our chance and got the ball into back of the net and then repeated with a cross from the left which was met in the air for a great goal. The subs started coming on and soon took full control of the game.

We continued to dominate them through the second half and put away 2 more goals, putting the game away and getting us off to a great start in the Masters campaign. On top of our 4 goals we had another 4 or 5 great opportunities that should have found the net but were put wide or over the goal.

The other game in our pool played today was between BUM FC and Dunrooten United. The score was 2-0 to Dunrooten United.

Tomorrow we play Dunrooten United. A win against them will greatly improve our chances of getting to the finals.

The Joys of Queuing Theory

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:41:00 +0000

I have chatted with some of my team mates about the time it has taken to pick up their accreditation.

Longest queue time so far: Over 5 Hours
Shortest queue time so far: 10 Minutes

Ahh . . . brings back fond memories of studying at University. As part of my degree I studied queuing theory. The queues for picking up your accreditation would make a great case study or assignment.

Less than 12 hours to kick off!

World Masters Accreditation

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:56:00 +0000

I picked up my accreditation for the World Masters last night. I queued for about 2 hours.

There are over 26,000 entrants to the World Masters. They all have to pick up their accreditation over a period of a few days. This would be one of those IT projects where the technical part is actually quite straight forward. The complex part would be the actual implementation. The sheer volume to transactions that need to be processed in such a short time is enormous. Every entrant needs to have photo identification. Many, like me, submitted a photo online weeks ago. But a significant number needed to have their photos taken whilst picking up their accreditation. Imagine trying to do this WITHOUT digital photography?

Despite the queue, they seemed to me to have a pretty good setup.

Tomorrow is the first game. Kick off at 10:15am at Valentine Sports Complex (VSP1) against Woolworths United Seniors.

2009 World Masters

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Swavley) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:39:00 +0000

The 2009 World Masters starts at the end of this week (http://www.2009worldmasters.com/ ). I have joined up with West Pymble FC and will be competing in the Over 40's Competitive division.

There are 4 pools. We are in pool 1. The first 2 teams from each pool go through to the finals. The first final is played on Friday 16th. The draw works well for us as we have a bye on the 15th. Giving us a day's rest before the finals start (assuming of course we get that far).

10/10/2009 10:15 AM VSP 1 Woolworths United Seniors v West Pymble FC
11/10/2009 11:30 AM VSP 1 Dunrooten United v West Pymble FC
12/10/2009 04:30 PM VSP 2 West Pymble FC v Dunbar Rovers
14/10/2009 04:30 PM VSP 5 West Pymble FC v BUM FC
15/10/2009 West Pymble FC v Bye