Tbook Georgia Tech Software

Attention Nonprofits! It (Still) Pays to Advertise

The 2008 Report on Nonprofit Marketing (The State of Nonprofit Marketing:
A Report On Priorities, Spending, Measurement, and The Challenges Ahead)
produced jointly by the American Marketing Association and Lipman Hearne, surveyed leading nonprofit organizations.  The number one finding of the report indicates that building awareness is overwhelmingly the leading priority, regardless of size or subsector.  Smart nonprofit organizations know that they need to advertise, in both good times and bad. 

We know that times are hard and budgets are tight.  We know that your board and your staff might be stretched thin and worried about your budget.  We offer these words of encouragement:

Don’t give up…  Rethink!

Advertising and marketing that supports your fund-raising and development efforts, advertising that creates revenue for your earned income initiatives, advertising that projects your brand presence across a wide range of media—these activities are not optional in an increasingly competitive and challenging era.  Smart money, applied to supporting your revenue streams—both earned and contributed revenue—through high value marketing campaigns is your best hope for maintaining—and advancing—your mission in times like these.

You may have no choice but to operate with reduced funding for marketing and advertising.  Doing the same things but smaller is not the answer.  Strategically rethinking where and how to direct those limited resources requires awareness of the cost-effective options available now.

Statistics show that even in a downturn, giving to nonprofits does not dry up, but that focused messaging to your core segment of givers may be the cost-effective way to maintain your mission in tough times. 

Overall giving usually declines during a recession or economic crisis. However, experts point out that most households still donate to charity in times of financial insecurity.
From The Buffalo News | November 30, 2008

"It goes down a little bit, adjusted for inflation," said Melissa S. Brown, associate director of research at the Center of Philanthropy at Indiana University, which conducts a variety of research initiatives on charitable giving.
A Giving USA Foundation study that analyzed trends over the past four decades showed that, adjusted for inflation, giving fell by an average of 1 percent in recession years.
"That's not bad," Brown said. "Recessions don't cripple giving in total. Certainly there are always organizations that feel the pain, but frankly that's true every year."

Building awareness is the number one priority for a nonprofit.  However, today nonprofit leaders are faced with a multitude of advertising choices, choices which seem to be in a constant state of flux.  Is email still effective?  What about social networking?  Personal URLs?  How about traditional advertising like print, radio, TV?  Public Relations?  What is viral marketing and how do we make it work for us? 

WT Media is on the forefront of integrating the most successful cross media marketing techniques for both nonprofit and for profit organizations.

I’m Not a Financial Broker or Hedge Fund Manager; Will I Be Impacted by New Financial Regulations?

By Steve Hammett
BroadPoint Technologies

As the number of financial scams explodes this year, federal regulators are making fresh moves to toughen protections for investors.
They come too late to safeguard customers of Sarasota hedge fund operator Arthur Nadel or massive Ponzi scammer Bernard Madoff.
But the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, stung by criticism that it failed to uncover Madoff and other pyramid schemes, now wants to force most investment advisers to submit to surprise exams by outside auditors.
Public anger over Madoff, Nadel, AIG and other financial blunders has sparked the Obama administration to seek some of the most sweeping changes to the financial regulatory system since the 1930s.  Although most if these efforts will be focused on the financial services industry, spillover from FASB and AICPA impacting GAAP and the accounting world in general is inevitable.
So what does this mean for the financial professional who has to be responsible for the accounting, expenses, business intelligence and strategic direction of her organization?  Add additional compliance to your list of responsibilities, even if you are not a publically traded company or even a large organization. 
Such entities as the Securities and Exchange Commission and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will be front and center in the effort to ramp up regulation. Expected outcomes tied to the incoming Obama Administration include increased scrutiny of financial institutions coupled with more strict accounting procedures.
Recently-heard political rhetoric offers more than hints at what's coming. Such comments as "outdated and weak regulatory system and failure of regulators to adequately police the markets" no doubt will set the tone of efforts that ultimately will ramp up reporting and tracking requirements of companies throughout the country.
This scenario makes an extremely strong case for preventive medicine-in the form of accounting software with the power and resources to stay on top of expected regulations. In turn, this will help prevent small and mid-sized businesses nationwide from being crushed beneath the weight of new measures as they are enacted.
How does one become compliant when we don't even know how increased regulation will impact our corporate books or our organizations?
Users of Microsoft Dynamics GP already have the tools to meet challenges posed by increasing accounting regulation.  Among the ways GP will help in the coming days are:
1.    Putting into place stronger processes and procedures that will make compliance with new regulations more of a natural.
2.    Use the compliance features of Dynamic GP to enforce these processes and procedures
3.    Outside of the accounting department, using SharePoint workflow to supplement and enforce business processes
4.    Allowing audit trails and other security features to run and monitor them
The bad news is that changes are a-coming to your already busy world; the good news is that you should already own the tools to manage this change and remain in compliance with most of the new regulations, procedures and rules coming down the pike.

For more information please call Elaine Crooks at (301) 634-2463 See more from Steve Hammett at BroadPoint Tech Topics

Microsoft Dynamics Partners In New Jersey Launch New Website

RSM McGladrey’s Technology Business Solutions practice provides implementations utilizing Microsoft Dynamics™ business management solutions, including Financial and Human Resources Management, Customer Relationship Management (Microsoft Dynamics CRM), SharePoint, and Business Intelligence serving healthcare, not-for-profit, distribution, financial services and public sector industries.  Recently ranked third in Accounting Technology’s Top 100 VARs, RSM McGladrey has served more than 2,000 clients for over 20 years.

“We are excited to showcase our products and services in this arena.  Our site features product information, success stories, white papers, and news.  We hope companies looking for business management solutions find this site to be a valuable resource center,” says Michele Juliana, Business Developer Director of RSM McGladrey.  “We’ve worked hard to lay a good foundation so we can easily add tools which benefit our clients and prospective clients.”

RSM McGladrey is recognized as a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, a member of Microsoft’s Inner Circle and President’s Club, and by Accounting Technology as a 2009 Technology Pacesetter.

internet marketing

 

A subset of the Mac vs. IBM wars is the current browser war. Netscape, maker of Navigator and Communicator, is competing heavily with Microsoft, maker of Internet Explorer (as well as a host of other monopolizing applications and operating systems). The debate rages on as loyalists from both factions argue about each browser's capabilities. "We have more stable patches!" the Netscapers yell. "Oh yeah?" the Microsofters call back, "well, we have integration with the OS!" (to which the Netscapers scoff in contempt).

While I won't take any sides on this issue, what I WILL tell you is that I'll give you instructions on setting up email and newsgroups with Netscape Communicator version 4.0 and up. Call it bias; I call it using the superior product.

Configuring your email through Netscape is easy, and it will allow you to use Communicator's handy graphical interface in mailing people. First, go to the Edit menu and select Preferences (it should be on the very bottom). Now, find the Mail and Groups menu choice on the left of the preferences window; double click on Mail and Groups in case the thread is closed (you'll see a "+" sign if it's closed. Just click on it to open the sub-menus).

Now, click on Identity if it isn't already highlighted. You'll see a selection of fields on the right. Fill in your name and email address (remember, gta100z@prism.gatech.edu!) If you have a signature file, choose it at the bottom. If not, don't worry about it.

Advance to the Mail Server menu by clicking on Mail Server in the sub-menus of Mail and Groups. In the mail server name field on the left, type in your GT number (i.e. gta001z). In the Outgoing SMTP field, type in "smtp.prism.gatech.edu". And, in the Incoming POP3 field, type in "pop.prism.gatech.edu".

Advance to the Groups Server sub-menu on the left. In the News Server field, type in "news.gatech.edu".

Internet Marketing for Microsoft Partners.

Now, click OK on the bottom of the preferences window. You're done! You can now use Netscape's mail and newsreader like you would elm and tin (of course, Netscape's nicer!). Familiarize yourself with Netscape's workings; try sending an email to yourself and receiving it. Subscribe to git.test and post a test message. Fun, eh? I thought so.

computers : basic unix

"Uhn-iks," you say? No, that's UNIX (pronounced YOO-nix). It's the operating system used by most machines that manage the network here at Tech. Do you need to learn Unix? Not forwards and backwards, but a few tips will be quite beneficial in the not-too-distant future. Trust me. For starters, let's try logging on to acme. Acme refers to network machines that you can logon to. Open up your Telnet client (Win95/98: Start - Run - Telnet), go to the connect menu, and choose Remote System. Now, type in acme.gatech.edu for the host name, and make sure the port is set to telnet. Ok, now click connect. BAM! You're connected. A login prompt should appear; enter your GT number and press enter. A password prompt should appear under the login. Enter the password given to you by the friendly people at OIT. You should now be in the magical world of acme! Example: login: gta001z Password: ****** Most likely, a "change password" set of prompts will come up. If not, type in "passwd" at the prompt and follow the directions. These prompts will let you choose your own, personal password to acme. IMPORTANT! REMEMBER THIS PASSWORD! Don't be a schmuck and create a new password only to forget it after 5 minutes on the phone with your chums. Ok, so you've logged on and customized your password. Now what? Let's try a few commands. Type in "usage" and press enter. A screenful of data should appear relating to how many bananas you have. Bananas? Don't get too hungry just yet; remember, this is computing, not Martha Stewart. Check to see your "percent usage" on the upper right of the screen. This is how much usage time you have consumed out of 100% allocated. You see, OIT only gives you a certain amount of playtime on acme; they don't want you using up all of their resources 24/7. So, being the demigods that they are, they invented a currency and named it bananas. Whenever you execute an action in acme, you use up bananas. When you run out of bananas, you can't really do much, now, can you? The good news is that you normally don't consume much and you will rarely run the risk of running out of bananas. And, they OITers are kind enough to replenish your account every semester. Let's try another command: type in "quota". Two numbers should appear; the first is your current disk usage, and the second is the amount of disk space that you are allowed to use. If the first number is greater than the second number, you will most likely get a nasty email about it, which cordially asks you to stop hogging space and delete a few unneeded files. Like bananas, unless you are planning on composing War and Peace II, you won't have too many problems with quota. I know, these commands are boring; you're aching to do something fun, huh? Ok then, finger me. No, I'm serious, finger me! Type in "finger gte014f" and press enter. You should receive a few lines which state who I am in real life, if I have any mail (Yipee!) and if I have a plan (who, me?). The finger command is a good way to see who's lurking behind a GT number. Now, type in "lu George Perantatos". You should get a screen of my info. Lu stands for "look up"; every student at Tech has a record on file, and you can access it by typing lu-ing their name. As a side note, "lu George" will not yield me, but "lu Perantatos" will. Let's finish this Unix command section by typing in "ls" and pressing enter. Ls stands for list, and it displays the files in your directory. Depending on how much you've used your account, this may be empty. Now, on to bigger and better stuff! Type in elm and press enter. Navigate through the setup screens, choosing the defaults for any and all choices. What you end up with is a menu-driven email reader! What fun! "But, what's my email address?" you cry. Simple: take your GT number, add an @, and then add "prism.gatech.edu". Example email address: gte001z@mail.gatech.edu Elm is a nice little program that allows you to compose mail, check mail, delete mail, and deep fry mail. Ok, maybe not the frying part, but you get the point. The easiest way to get accustomed to the program is to follow the menu prompts at the bottom and compose a message to yourself. Try sending this message, receiving it, reading it, and deleting it. Remember to follow the menus! As a note, a menu choice indicated with a carat symbol "^" means to use the control key. For example, "^X" means hold down the control key while pressing "X". Ok, press "q" to quit out of elm and return to the main prompt. Now, type in Tin and press enter. Tin is a more cryptic newsgroup reader program. Newsgroups are basically collections of emails about a specific topic where each "subscriber" to the newsgroup can read any and all messages to the newsgroup. In other words, a newsgroup is like a public corkboard of email messages. Unfortunately, I'm not going to detail proper use of Tin as a newsgroup reader, as I get very angry and frustrated with its ineptness. What I CAN tell you is to either follow the menu prompts to subscribe to groups and read the messages, or wait until we setup your browsers to read newsgroups. That's it for UNIX! Now, on to the Internet. Microsoft Dynamics GP Software For Small and Medium Sized Business.

computers : basic computer setup

All right, you've set up your computer, it's sitting on your desk at Tech, and you're ready to surf the web with your newfangled system, right? Not so fast, Slick. You still have to set up your computer for Techland. Sweating from confusion? Don't fret; you've got Mr. Do-It-All right here to help.

The first step in setting your computer up for the Georgia Tech network is to setup your GT account. This account is the branding mark of your existence at Tech, and will stay with you until you leave this hallowed ground. Note: the following assumes you have correctly and completely setup your Ethernet network card in your computer!

So, hop on over to the Rich building. "Huh, Rich building?" Yes, that's where Office of Information Technology (OIT) is housed. As you enter the ground floor, the OIT office will be on your left. There, you will get to converse with the ever-polite OIT staff, who will kindly direct you in filling out a form (the first of millions that you will complete during your stay at Tech). After filling the form out, the OIT staff will give you a printout with a GT number and a password. There! Wait about an hour, and you exist (well, in computer terms at least).

I know, you probably are eager to rush back to your computer and start playing, right? Wrong. After sedating yourself, find a working computer that's online to the Internet. These systems can be found in the Rich building, the library, and the College of Computing clusters. Sit yourself down in front of these computer and log on to www.gatech.edu/dorm_ip.

Now, to complete this form (the second one, if you're counting), you'll need your newly acquired GT number and password, as well as your Ethernet card address. You can obtain the Ethernet address via some utility on your computer that was either provided with the card on a floppy disk or via a network diagnostic utility that also came with the card. Each Ethernet card address is different, so it's imperative that you know YOUR OWN, and not your best friend's.

Example GT num: gta001z
Example password: f9283jr
Example Ethernet card address: 01 A0 45 6F F3 3C

Complete the form on the web page, providing any and all requested information. Once you complete this form, a screenful of magic numbers will flash on the screen. You may want to make note of your IP number at this time.

Microsoft Dynamics Partners blog is a good source of information

Example IP number: 128.51.12.23

Since you're antsy about getting on the net, you can now run back to your room and plop down in front of your new system. To finish setting up your computer, follow the handy steps at www.resnet.gatech.edu/setup/win95/.

If everything worked, you should be surfing! Have fun, and don't stay up too late!

Computers

So, you've decided to attend Georgia Tech, a fine institution built on the advancement of science and technology. You think to yourself, "Hmm, technology. Doesn't that mean computers?" And then, depending on your level of computer literacy, you either smile at the thought of high-speed Ethernet links, or cringe at the fact that most of your college career will be hinged on a gray box filled with circuitry.

Let's face it: computers are a big part of life at Georgia Tech. Since the onset of the Student Computer Ownership by the Office of Information Technology (OIT) last year, every entering freshman is required to purchase, borrow, steal, or otherwise manufacture a computer for personal use. While this may seem like another aspect of the royal Tech Shaft, owning a personal computer at Tech makes one's life incredibly easier in the long run. Sure, it costs money, but in this case, the benefits outweigh the costs by a significant margin.

Obtaining a computer is only half the battle; to be a functional computer user (notice I didn't say all-out geek), you must learn how to apply your brand new box to your homework, assignments, reports, e-mail, web browsing, and, of course ICQ-ing, instead of using it as an expensive paperweight.

So, step inside my parlor, sit a spell, and tell me about your problems. No, wait; that's after you use your computer. In the mean time, here's how to get up and running in the world of Georgia Tech computing.

tbook : academics : introduction

Institute Comm. & Public Affairs

Incoming students used to be told at freshmen convocation, "Look to your left. Look to your right. Only one of you will graduate." You'll still hear horror stories about Coach Lanoue's drownproofing class, fond memories of E-mag and the quarter system, a major called "Archi-torture," and tales of CS majors slaving away all night on projects.

We're not going to lie and tell you that Tech's a piece of cake, but we'll gladly let you in on a few bits of information to make your transition to college academics a little easier. Getting a solid education begins with getting a solid handle on how the campus works. We want to help you avoid the details and hassles, so you can spend more time doing what you need to get done.