Oracle Business Intelligence 11g

    I did more research on this new BI package from Oracle that I told you about. I didn't know that Oracle serves 70%+ of the S&P 500companies for over a decade now. The presentation that I show by the president of Oracle for Oracle BI 11g proves that they came up with a high quality enterprise package. (common file extensions for all departments, very flexible, customizable interface with applications, statistics  and many other).
  The funniest thing is that they offer a free download of the package and I thought that it would be a free product as long as you rent the Oracle servers (which are quite expensive alone).
Well I thought wrong, the license to use the package is 259,000$ per processor! +40000$ a year for support!

Just another proof of how prosperous the future is for BI in general.

In Action!

  Exciting week, I guess we are getting into the exciting part of the class. Let's make some databases then!
I am excited to get a better understanding of database structures and functions. At this point my goal is also to be able to construct a database using phpMYadmin and MySQL since they are OSS.

I am also studying for Thursday's exam. I like the fact that we have a bunch of exams for this class.I guess more exams will encourage students to study regularly, adsorb more, and those who already study lots, to get a satisfactory grade. I get a feeling that if we had just a couple of exams for this course they would have been pretty hard due to information overload. (Especially for people that are not computer fanatics-not me)


Have a great week

Some more input

Probably after the exam, the most exciting topics of the new material covered are not new to me so, I am looking forward for the following chapters.

Since I am working with Java a lot lately I discovered Oracle's Business Intelligence package, which implements many aspects of what he have discussed. The software is free but I read that you need Oracle, Microsoft or IBM servers who are all quite expensive) The exciting news are that Chapman has an Oracle and Microsoft server( i found about it today) that students can use for free. I will sure learn more about the software and about the Oracle servers so I can make it work and see its potential. I think it must be a great piece of software though from some reviews that I read and after playing around with it a bit.

Update on the Stuxnet

From a computer engineer friend I found some scary details on stuxnet. The virus would affected the sensors that control the nuclear reactor and other important instruments in a manner that they would not respond in an abnormal situation. That means that a leak on the nuclear reactor, or other serious damage for example would not be detected by the system to respond in the appropriate manner!

Well I guess that's why the Russian NATO ambassador said that we could have had a new Chernobyl.  Of course he said that because everybody suspected the U.S behind this; but also Russia since the stuxnet event, has stalked their nuclear programs, coincidence? I don't think so.

My journey to... Chapman

    Since you were interested to learn how I ended up in Orange County, here is the story:

      Probably the main reason why I flew over the Atlantic Ocean, around three and a half years ago was, because of my desire to research for new, more mind-boggling things. I graduated in high school in 1999, I was in physics school for four years (from where I didn't graduate), I have a market maker certificate. Throughout my University years and I had various business interests. I started working in our family business (pharmacy) since high school and I was always challenged by entrepreneurship, management and the financial markets. I have done a few different jobs throughout the years after high school, I was a tutor in math physics and also in business and economics here in the U.S. I was a tutor in Orange Coast college where I did my first two years of business Adm-> transferred to Chapman last year). I was an employee in the pharmacy, a cashier, the kid to run to the banks and outside jobs, later I had many managerial responsibilities, which have been growing over time (I am also an owner know since the pharmacy changed from a partnership to a form of LLC.)  My interest in the financial markets, business environment and my cousin, who was one of the most successful stock brokers in Greece, (he is in Chicago now) were the reason that I got the market maker certificate but mostly worked as a broker along my cousins' side for a period of two years. I did investments for funds and individual customers and worked for two different investment firms. I also have done a lot of work on computers. software, hardware, networks and this last year a lot of web-design and graphics.
   To summarize a bit, I was always disappointed with the educational system in Greece, so I did visit the U.S. for 3 months in research of whether I would like to stay in the U.S. and of course if so find me a good school to start.( I had decided on the business major by that time) It was a fun period I traveled a lot and stayed mostly in Chicago and in Los Angeles. My cousin (the broker) moved to Chicago to work in an investment firm and my aunt (my mothers' sister) and my uncle live in Dana Point. After all California won the debate and I attended Orange Coast College after the period of 3months.
  It was a big investment for me to move here but I am really glad to be here and accomplished many of the goals that I put throughout this journey. I am also currently very happy to minor in computer science since not only it will perpetuate my computer skills and passion, but also it absolutely relates to the modern entrepreneurial model of business. I also declared my major last year to be entrepreneurship, since I believe that is what naturally attracts me the most and I also find it one of the most challenging but also rewarding business aspect/model.
      In general I am very attracted by knowledge and new information, even more since I became a student in Chapman. That raises another question for me which I still need some time to figure out. How to distribute my time should I be a student for a good while and get more degrrees,(computer science master, or business phd, etc or should I focus on implementing some really good business ideas. So far I do a lot of both but I have zero time for what people call fun ...at least I find a lot of pleasure in both. I have my "ideas to do list" and I am implementing them slowly following some hierarchy.

     

My impressions on the Course

   After I said a few things about myself I guess it's a good time to express some of my thoughts regarding the course. To be honest I did not know what was it all about but just because of the title "Computer Information Systems" I was already excited about it; I love computers and knowledge/Information.

   And of course I was on the right track because since day one I am really excited not just from the teaching material but also about by your teaching style, the organization/structure of the course (slides, tech reports) and in general I have learned many things already.
    Due to my close relationship with business (my parents are pharmacist and owners and I also had my few entrepreneurial years before I attend Chapman) and my computer background, I naturally know a lot of the material. But on the other hand even these few classes, have greatly assisted in connecting numerous ideas and processes that were scattered in my head. For example the idea of Information Systems connects numerous things regarding my understanding of databases, business networking, customer service and customer satisfaction, profitability through information systems. The Virtual Company is an idea that I am trying to implement for some time now (We are in the process of creating an online store that will sell the best products/deals in electronics from the online market, interesting commercial/business news and technology news in Greece) and the information that you have provided has clarified numerous aspects and assisted in my own planning. In other terms I will know how to do things better when this course is done.
    I have no doubt about the convenience of IS/IT (you preached about them the first day of class) and about their contribution in the present and the future of businesses, services and societies as a whole.

   I ll honestly say after this class has started, I am creating a database of our customers and our customers' customers and soon we will construct a facebook-like site to promote networking, advertisement and create value for everyone in the network. (You emphasized a lot on the significance of this and you are right)

    Also around the summer,  I want to come up with a complete IS/IT proposal, train my team,  implement a nice IS package solution and market it.

    I love win-win situations and IS is one of them! Also I am going to paraphrase Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, who referring in cloud computing, mentioned that all these years humans are mostly serving computers; development, errors, etc. It's about time that computers will actually do what we really need and serve humanity) I believe that IS are IT are very relative to this approach.

Learning about me

Programming Background:

I have worked on C++ and Fortran back in 2000 when I was in Physics school mostly to evaluate expressions.
I am currently taking Java and C#( visual programming) in Chapman and I am very excited with both languages.

Web Design:

About a year now, me and a team of a few more people are constructing websites for a variety of businesses (many hotels) or individuals. We are using html, javascripts, flash, java, Google API and we are continuously progressing on the quality of our work, while doing lots of research and trying to keep up with the continuously evolving market.
Here are a few of our sites: (They are all Greek Sites)
http://www.dionysoshotel.gr/
http://www.sklavenitiscarpets.gr/
http://kiklamino.com/
http://www.serkos.gr/
http://www.ofotografos.com/new/
http://www.pamemetram.gr/
In general I do a little bit of everything on the technical part; coding, graphic design, and of course a lot on the business part (advertisement, networking, planning, finances etc)
The last two months we are also offering online advertisement to all of our customers, including facebook, twitter, Utube channels, myspace, orkut, blogs and of course Google adds.

Computer Background:

  Probably you wouldn't be wrong if you called me a computer geek. Computers have been a hobby since I was 8 years old (I am 29 now) . I've been putting together my computers and repaired hundreds of computers over the years, handling hardware or software issues, for friends or for some extra cash.

Excel and Access:

I've been using excel for years now and in my daily life too, for statistics, expenses, organization on my businesses, for my classes, assignments and wherever I can consider it could be helpful.
As far as access I haven't used it for a couple of years now but at some point I was pretty good at it.

The Internet

Since the earliest years of the internet I fell in love with the idea, networking for personal relationships or exchange of information, I really believed in it. Kinda funny I also believed in Google a lot and was from the first few thousands that registered for a g-mail account, when it became open to the public. Saying that, Google is probably one of my favorite companies and I am trying to follow up with their continuous contributions.