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Welcome to Africabiz Online Synopsis RSS Feed edition. Previous issue available at this link

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Current delivery by guest author Neal Williams is a continuation to previous issues [is96frontand email96] titled: From Small To Big As Far As Management Copes and The Necessicity To Establish National IT Centers In African Countries To Manage The Economy. The title below speaks for itself.

Basic Considerations In Buying Project Management Software

Neal Williams

The cost range of project management software is huge. From under $50 to over $20,000. Extensive reviews have been written about all the different software packages and it is far too complex to summarize in a short article, but following are some general guidelines to help you narrow down the decision making process.

Start by determining the size of the expected project(s) and number of projects. Quite simply, the larger number and more complex projects will justify more complex and expensive software.

Small Projects

Smaller, infrequent projects often can be handled with no specialized software. Gantt-charts can even be constructed with Excel. Remember though that even if your projects are small at this point, if there is a possibility that your business will grow, it may make more sense to invest the time and money in a more advanced software tool.

Suggested packages at this level include Milestones line of packages. Prices range from around $50 up to $240. Turboproject has versions under $50 up to $300. For somewhat more complex packages consider Microsoft Project at $200 to $600 or Primavera Suretrak at $400 to $600.

Medium Sized Projects

Budget becomes more of an issue as project size increases. This requires software with greater flexibility and more complex relationships. The other elements of resources, time, and scope grow substantially in medium sized projects. The previously mentioned Microsoft and Primavera packages are good choices at this level.

Large Multiple Projects

With multiple large projects resources need to be carefully allocated and prioritized. Several layers of management will be involved and the entire project management process will often need to be integrated into various departments of the organization including payroll, human relations, accounting, etc. In order to accomplish this, the project management software will need a great deal of flexibility and possibly even some customization.

Choices at this level start with the medium sized packages and go up to the highest versions of Primavera. Often network versions are used which enable multiple users contributing to the projects.
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About the author: Neal Williams is a Project Management Professional. More information can be found at his project management software website (Article source: http://articles-4-free.com).

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Many thanks for subscribing to Africabiz. See you here on June 15, 2007.

  Dr. B.M. Quenum
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Business Opportunities

SUGAR-CANE & PRODUCTS - PART V: - PRODUCTS MANUFACTURED FROM SUGAR-CANE JUICE

This current series' first issue outlined the importance of sugar-cane as Economic Catalyst to developing.

This delivery exposes the advantage of producing unrefined brown sugarcane sugar in comparison to white sugar (from beet root or sugarcane) - in prelude to the exposure of economics about a medium-scale operation to ptoducing brown sugar.

Indeed, most people think that a pack of sugar is similar to the other one as far as it is white sugar or brown sugar. That is not true because sugar can be manufactured either from beet root or from sugarcane. And true unrefined brown sugar is manufactured from sugarcane and is brown through and through. In the contrary, brown sugar produced from beet and from refined sugarcane are just coated with molasses and when you do rub a sugar cube thus produced, it is white inside.

One can say that a country, which population are fed with unrefined sugarcane brown sugar would have better chance to remaining healthier. And as we know, health is the prerequisite to developing. To understand that assertion click here.

Based on data exposed in previous delivery about a small-scale sugarcane juice production facility, it is possible to setup medium-scale operations to produce unrefined sugarcane brown sugar - evaporating sugarcane juice. The process is a simple one that is used since ages in Asian countries (China and India) to provide a healthy and nutritive product to the populations.

For more on the matter click here. Next delivery (June 15, 2007) will give briefs about the economics of a medium-scale operation to producing unrefined brown cane sugar (moscovido).

MORE ON SUGAR CANE & PRODUCTS

1- Sugar Cane Industry, The (Cambridge Studies in Historical Geography) by J.H. Galloway (Paperback Sep 23, 2005) 2- The House Surrounded by Sugar by Leanna Williams (Paperback - Mar 8, 2006) 3- From Cane to Sugar (Start to Finish) by Jill Braithwaite (Hardcover - Aug 2004) 4- Cane Sugar Handbook: A Manual for Cane Sugar Manufacturers and Their Chemists by James C. P. Chen and Chung Chi Chou (Hardcover - Nov 8, 1993) 5- Sugar Cane by Alex Morgan (Paperback - Aug 28, 2002) 6- The Sugar cane factory: A catechism of cane sugar manufacture for the use of beginners by Frederic I Scard (Unknown Binding - 1913)

7- Sugar Cane Cultivation and Management by Henk, Bakker and H., Bakker (Hardcover - Jan 1, 1999) 8- Sugar Cane (Tropical Agriculturalist) by R. Fauconnier (Paperback - Feb 24, 1993) 9- Management Accounting for the Sugar Cane Industry (Sugar Sciences, Vol 8) by A. E. Fok Kam (Hardcover - Mar 1988) 10- The nature and properties of the sugar cane With practical directions for the improvement of its cultures, and the manufacture of its products) by George Richardson Porter (Unknown Binding - 1831) 11- Sugar-cane and Sugar Industry in Nigeria The Bitter Sweet Lessons by Abdul-latif D. Busari (Paperback - Nov 2005) 12- The 2007-2012 World Outlook for Sugar Cane Mill Products by Philip M. Parker (Paperback - Oct 13, 2006)

Click here to read more about the matter

Control Your Desktop

ARE YOU EXPERIENCING JERKY VIDEO / DVD PLAYBBACK - PART I: UPDATE YOUR GRAPHIC CARD DRIVERS

The Operating System installed on the computer that is plagued with jerky video playback is XP PRO U.S. English language . And I bought the graphic card in Europe with UK English language installation disk.

Therefore, if the installed drivers's version is 8.4.2.1, it is UK English version and not U.S. English version - the later one being the one that should be more suitable for the operating system.

Conclusion: One should always install drivers compatible with the language version of the Operating System. Sound like an obvious statement, but it is not so in this particular case, because "normally" there should not be difference between U.S. English and UK English versions of a hardware's drivers.

After, removing / uninstall of the International UK version, and install of the U.S. English version, videos' playback remained jerky - less freezes, but still discrepancies between sound and images from time to time, for videos embedded in webpages or DVDs played from DVD player.

Therefore, further troubleshooting would be necessary to obtain smooth and regular video and DVDs playback. Next delivery (Issue 98 - June 15, 2007) will discuss Part II: Install Additional Codecs To The Original Ones Shipped With Windows XP

Freebie Of The Month

GAIN EXPERTISE IN CURRENCY TRADING

Would you like to become an expert in currency trading? The well known Forex or FX. Certainly. But how to do it when till now it sounds like rocket science only master by trading rooms practitioners.

Now, it is no more rocket science learning Currency Trading from the comfort of home - thanks to Interbank FX Software, which features a Graphical Pattern Scanner (GPS). Yeah, a GPS, but not the one you know about that help travelers in remote places, forests, deserts and on roads and highways locate positions and localities. That is Global Positioning System.

Here, GPS means Graphical Pattern Scanner, an application to Interbank FX Software that Identifies trading patterns and predict Currency Market trends. Its primary function is to help currency traders predict potential market trends so they can buy or sell accordingly.

Visit Interbankfx.com to grab a copy of this marvelous piece of software and become an expert in Currency Trading business.

In order to use the Interbankfx-GPS tool, traders must have either a live account that provides full GPS functionality or a demo account with limited functionality.