Idhaya – Engineering & Technology Blog, Industrial & Mechanical Engineering Information

Many information technology projects have been declared too costly, too late. and often don’t work right. Applying appropriate technical and management techniques can significantly improve the current situation. The principal causes of growth on these large-scale programs can be traced to several causes related to overzealous advocacy, immature technology, lack of corporate technology roadmaps, requirements instability, ineffective acquisition strategy, unrealistic program baselines, inadequate systems engineering, and work-force issues. This article provides a brief summary of four processes to resolve these issues

Establishing a Process for Requirements Definition and Developing the Technical, Cost and Schedule Baselines

We all realize the importance of having a motivated, quality work force but even our finest people can’t perform at their best when the process is not understood or not operating at its best. A well defined process is critical to defining the requirements and completing the initial cost and schedule estimate. The proper use of Performance-Based Earned Value® (PBEV) provides for integration of project technical scope, schedule, and cost objectives; and the establishment of a baseline plan for performance measurement. Additionally, the use of an analytic application to project likely cost and schedule based on actual performance provides for realistic projections of future performance. Success of the project can be aided by defining the best objectives, by planning resources and costs which are directly related to those objectives, by measuring accomplishments objectively against the plan, by identifying performance trends and problems as early as possible, and by taking timely corrective actions.

In the book, “Software Sizing, Estimation and Risk Management” (Dan Galorath and Michael Evans, 2007) a ten step process is presented for program requirements generation and estimation. The 10 steps are:

1. Establish Estimate Scope
2. Establish Technical Baseline, Ground Rules, and Assumptions
3. Collect Data
4. Estimate and Validate Software Size
5. Prepare Baseline Estimates
6. Review, Verify and Validate Estimate
7. Quantify Risks and Risk Analysis
8. Generate a Project Plan
9. Document Estimate and Lessons Learned
10. Track Project Throughout Development

The key here is to establish an auditable, repeatable set of steps to establish the requirements and develop the baseline estimate of cost and schedule.

Identifying Critical Software Management Metrics

That most large software programs get into trouble is a demonstrated phenomenon. Therefore selecting the correct set of software metrics to track is critical to program success. Practical Software Measurement (McGarry, Card, Jones; Addison-Wesley, 2002) identifies seven information categories and expands these information categories into measurable concepts and then prospective metrics .

For Earned Value purposes, the most effective software metrics are those that relate to product size, schedule, quality, and progress. For software intensive programs, measures of quantity (e.g. number of lines of code completed) do not accurately reflect the quality aspects of the work performed on neither the program nor the actual progress since items such as lines of code completed do not capture items such as integration, testing, etc.

Size is often measured as Source Lines of Code (SLOC) or Function Points and used as a sizing measure for budgets and for earned value using a percent of completion method. There are two critical problems with this approach. First, there has traditionally been a significant error in estimating SLOC. And, the number of lines of code completed does not necessarily reflect the quality or total progress toward a performance goal. Therefore, any progress metric based solely on SLOC is highly volatile. Whether SLOC, function points, Use Cases, or some other size artifact is selected, a careful process must be utilized to establish a credible size metric. It is recommended that in addition to tracking progress toward a goal, size growth should also be tracked.

Schedule metrics and procedures normally relate to completion milestones are also a common tracking metric. Sometimes these milestone definitions and completion criteria lack quantifiable objectives. Often an incremental build is released that does not incorporate all the planned functional requirements or a developer claims victory after just testing the nominal cases.

Progress metrics can be very difficult for large software programs. It is generally agreed that no software is delivered defect free. Software engineers have hoped that new languages and new processes would greatly reduce the number of delivered defects. However, this has not been the case. Software is still delivered with a significant number of defects. The physical and practical limitations of software testing (the only way to determine if a program will work is to write the code and run it) ensure that large programs will be released with undetected errors. Therefore, defects discovery and removal is a key metric for assessing program quality.

Applying Performance-Based Earned Value (PBEV)

Performance-Based Earned Value® (PBEV) is an enhancement to the Earned Value Management Systems (EVMS) standard . PBEV overcomes the standard’s shortcomings with regard to measuring technical performance and quality (quality gap). PBEV is based on standards and models for systems engineering, software engineering, and project management that emphasize quality. The distinguishing feature of PBEV is its focus on the customer requirements. PBEV provides principles and guidance for cost effective processes that specify the most effective measures of cost, schedule, and product quality performance.

Program managers expect accurate reporting of integrated cost, schedule, and technical performance when the supplier’s EVMS procedure complies with the EVMS Standard. However, EVM data will be reliable and accurate only if the following occurs:

• The indicated quality of the evolving product is measured.
• The right base measures of technical performance are selected.
• Progress is objectively assessed.

Using EVM also incurs significant costs. However, if you are measuring the wrong things or not measuring the right way, than EVM may be more costly to administer and may provide less management value .

Because of the quality gap in the EVMS standard, there is no assurance the reported earned value (EV) is based on product metrics and on the evolving product quality. First, the EVMS standard states that EV is a measurement of the quantity of work accomplished and that the quality and technical content of work performed are controlled by other processes. A software manager should ensure that EV is also a measurement of the product quality and technical maturity of the evolving work products instead of just the quantity of work accomplished. Second, the EVMS principles address only the project work scope. EVMS ignores the product scope and product requirements. Third, the EVMS standard does not require precise, quantifiable measures of progress. It states that objective EV methods are preferred but it also states that management assessment (subjective) may be used. In contrast, other standards specify objective measurement. Fourth, EVM is perceived to be a risk management tool. However, EVMS was not designed to manage risk and provides no guidance on the subject.

PBEV is a set of principles and guidelines that specify the most effective measures of cost, schedule, and product quality performance. It has several characteristics that distinguish it from traditional EVMS, by augmenting EVMS with four additional principles and 16 additional guidelines.

PBEV supplements traditional EVMS with the best practices. Its principles and guidelines enable true integration of project cost, schedule, and technical performance. The distinguishing feature of PBEV is its focus on the customer requirements. Measures of product scope and product quality are incorporated into the project plan. Progress is measured against a plan to fulfill all customer requirements. Measuring the wrong things does not dilute management attention. Consequently, management is able to take rapid corrective actions on deviations that threaten customer satisfaction and business enterprise objectives.

Using An Analytic Process To Project Cost And Schedule Based On Actual Performance

Once the requirement definition is complete; the cost and schedule baseline has been established; the appropriate metrics have been selected; and a PBEV system is in place, the final challenge is to implement a process that quickly and accurately estimates final cost and schedule based on actual performance. This analysis is best accomplished using an analytic/parametric process. Galorath Incorporated calls this process SEER Control. The purpose of SEER Control is to provide an understanding of the project’s progress so that appropriate corrective actions can be taken when the project’s performance deviates significantly from the plan. SEER Control provides a “dashboard” that includes a health and status indicator for the project related to: schedule variance, time variance, cost variance, size growth, and defects discovery and removal.

At the heart of SEER Control is the ability to forecast the final project outcome based on actual performance to date. One of the primary goals of SEER Control is to provide adequate supporting documentation (charts and reports) to support the software project management process and to satisfy stakeholder needs.

Conclusion

Management of Software Intensive Programs should be based on the foundation of establishing the requirements, developing a reliable baseline estimate for cost and schedule, selecting effective software metrics, applying Performance-Based Earned Value (PBEV), and using analytic processes to project cost and schedule based on actual performance.

Author’s Note: This article was written with contributions from Paul Solomon, co-author of the book, Performance-Based Earned Value® and Dan Galorath, CEO of Galorath Inc. and co-author of the book, Software Sizing, Estimation, and Risk Management.

You don’t need to be a chemical engineer or have a university degree to be a chemical manufacturer. 
In fact, if you can follow a cooking recipe, you can very easily make chemical formulas. Chemical compounds – which can include anything from cleaning products to toiletries and cosmetics – are used on a daily basis by everyone around the world.

It’s a huge market – chemical formulas are high-demand, necessity items, for which repeat sales are guaranteed. You can be your own chemical manufacturer and become part of this huge industry which has, until recently, been controlled by a few multi-national companies.

Why should you become a chemical manufacturer? If you have an existing business, whether home or office cleaning, hair or beauty salon, hotel supplier, fundraising or sports club, and you use or sell chemical formulas on a regular basis, the cost savings for your business can be substantial.

Why put the profits into the pockets of another chemical manufacturer, when you can put them into your own?

In addition, becoming a chemical manufacturer offers you many extra avenues for income. As well as using the products you make, you can also sell them to your customers, competitors, and create new markets. Being your own chemical manufacturer will enable you to label your own products and promote your own business.

If you’re thinking of starting a business, becoming a chemical manufacturer is one of the easiest and most profitable industries on earth. 

Easy because chemical formulas are as simple to follow as cooking recipe. In addition, you don’t need an expensive laboratory – you can operate from home, workshop or shopfront. Most of the equipment you will need to get started is probably already in your own home, or its inexpensive from the supermarket or hardware store. Profitable because of the minimal cost of the raw ingredients, the minimal amount of time required for manufacturing and the high demand for the products.

Chemical manufacturing involves little, if any, wastage. Products have a long shelf-life and can be manufactured on order. While many industries operate on profit margins of 10 % – 50 %, as a chemical manufacturer you can expect between 500 % – 1000 %. Very few other industries offer this kind of return for such low investment.

A chemical process plant is meant for creating an industrial environment to manufacture various chemicals. In some of these plants, chemicals are being processed into new materials. In order to produce different products & chemicals, complex chemical processes are needed to be carried out.

There are several steps involved in a chemical process plant known as unit operations. A particular unit operation is generally carried out in a separate area, or unit, of the chemical process plant. These units are interconnected to one another in a way that allows materials to be transported to the next unit when each unit operation is complete.

Chemicals and chemical-based products are known be inherited from other objects. The first unit operation in a chemical process plant includes input of raw materials, known as feedstocks. A feedstock refers to the first input of raw materials, or material inducting into a certain unit. The output resulted from a certain unit operation is known as matter. It can refer to matter that has completed the entire chemical process and ready to come out of the plant. Often, a chemical product or chemical requires only one unit operation whereas output originated form one unit operation may be used as a feedstock.

The construction of a chemical process plant requires lot of efforts as it is a complex process requires not only buildings and offices but more consideration into plant architecture.

The feedstocks and output from these plants may cause serious implications to environmental health. A single mistake in chemical process can cost high to human and animal health. Chemical engineers should use high quality process plant and machinery to ensure good quality output.

Since there are numerous chemical processes employed and outputs vary, there is no set standard chemical plant. Design often based on a number of important factors, including temperature and location.

Green Plant is a UK based quality equipment Provider Company, specializes in new and used chemical process plant equipments & machinery, stainless steel tanks, reactors, mixers, mono pumps, and vessels to all industries.

A duct system is used as part of a building’s ventilation system; the ductwork includes ducts and connecting ducting. The ductwork system provides the delivery and removal of air within the building, whether this is warm air or cool air depending on the temperature requirements of the building.

Ducting is a crucial part of a HVAC system and in order for an efficient HVAC system it is crucial to seek professional help from ducting experts. A poorly designed system will be inefficient and the airflow around the ductwork will be affected, which will have a knock-on effect on the conditions of a building.
The tubing for ductwork is typically manufactured from:

• Tin
• Sheet metal
• Fibreglass
• Flexible plastic

Developments in material technology have seen the popularity of flexible ducting increase as they are much easier to install than the rigid sheet metal tubes. The plastics used also have much more favourable insulating properties than their metal alternatives, again helping increase the efficiency of the ventilation system.

Ductwork can also be used as part of an industrial exhaust system to remove materials/particles from the air in buildings/work places. The pipework of an industrial duct system is used to convey the particles from the point of collection to the chimney (outlet). With industrial ducting it is again crucial to ensure that the system is designed to be as efficient as possible to ensure that operating costs are minimised while at the same time providing a safe and comfortable working environment.

Designing an exhaust system or ducting system is affected by the principles of fluid mechanics and clearly the longer the piping used, the greater the level of resistance and therefore the greater the capacity of the blower that is required. Getting the design of your ducting right first time is crucial as corrections at a later date will be costly.

Copyright (c) 2008 Dave James

Keyword Research has become an integral part of starting up your own business or growing your business (exponentially). Search engine marketing is here to stay for the long term, hence finding customers through keyword research should also be an integral part of your marketing.

Earlier, all you needed to do was to enter the description of your business in the title & meta tags and you were done with optimizing your web-site. Things have changed! And hence this article…

How does Search Engine Optimization (SEO) relate to keywords?

SEO is the process of increasing the number of visitors to your web-page by the careful and deliberate use of targeted keywords and their specific placements designed to get the page to show up on the top listing for such keywords. (SEO also includes other strategies not discussed here.)

TIP: Keyword Research is very useful to you when you decide to start a pay-per-click campaign to drive visitors to your website or increase revenue using adsense.

Here are the seven simple steps to keyword mastery that will cause your page to be indexed correctly by Search Engines and your link to be displayed at the very top on the search results page.

Step 1) Start with the most common words you use to describe your business(or your niche, if you operate in one). If you are in the automobile service business, you may have the following: Car Repair , Body Shop, Car Repair, New tires with car repair, Wax and Shine etc. If you actually have a niche business such as Jaguar Service And Repairs, then it becomes even more easier.

Step 2) Call your friend. Ask him how he would try to find your widget on a search engine if he lost your phone number and he wanted to look you up on the Internet. What if he forgot the name of your establishment? What if ….

Your perception of how people see you may be different from your customers’ perception of you. Add these new words to the list.

Repeat this as many times as you can with different people.

Step 3) Find other words related to your original list. such as names of the brands. Lexus Repair, Lexus spare-parts, Honda kit, etc.

Mix and match keywords with your original list to find even more keywords.

Step 4) Go to google and run a search for your widget. See what keywords bring up your competition and what words do not. Add them to your list .

Step 5) Add plurals and common mis-spellings too.

Step 6) Figure out as to how often people search using each of the phrases you have identified in your list. You can use the google adwords tool for this purpose.

TIP: Use adwords tool to see how many people have searched for each of your phrases in the recent past. https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal . This also suggest keywords you might want to use.

Step 7) Make sure your keywords are placed in the following locations on you web page: Page Title, Meta Keywords, Meta Description, Header Tags, Alternate Description for images, First Paragraph on the page, strong Tags, Em tags, Ordered and unordered lists, Anchor Tags, File names, Folder Names, Footer Tags, Any URLs and links in your pages.

Should I use many keywords in the same page?

Yes. Use as many keywords as it makes sense. Don’t overdo it. If your content becomes just a keyword trash-bin, users will start skipping over it and the search engines will catch on pretty fast. So avoid using too many keywords where it does not make sense. It’s best if you have multiple pages offering up different keywords.

One caveat. You need to be aware of ‘Keyword density’. Sometimes, if your usage of keywords is too high, and it looks like you have placed too many keywords, the search engine may not give you the best ranking. “Sprinkling” is the key-word when it comes to using them on each page.

You should also be aware of negative keywords. These are keywords you need to use in your PPC(Pay-per-Click) text so as to make sure that people do not click your link expecting to get freebies.

e.g. If you said : “Self Clearning Widgets- $500 and up”, you keep out the people who are looking for cheaper stuff.

Are phrases better than individual words?

Depends! If your customer is searching for self-cleaning widget, then you should use self-cleaning widget. If your customer is searching for just widget, and auto clean, you should use these words separately.

How often do I have to check my keywords?

As often as you can. Your customers react to various influences around them and search for different terms at different times. To be able to remain on top with a good ranking you need to keep on top of your keywords. Sometimes they react to an offer made by a competition and start searching for similar offers.

I know. You are saying:”But I don’t have that much time to devote to just keyword research.” That brings us to the next question.

Do I have to do it all by myself?

I have had many websites in the past few years. In the beginning I did everything manually the old fashioned way.

Lately I’ve found a few tools that help make life easier for me, though you could do it all by yourselves if you had the time and the tenacity(which I sorely lack). I suggest you find yourselves a tool to do the work for you.

I use Keyword Elite now, though I’ve used WordTracker in the past.

Pick 1: Keyword Elite tool : If you really plan to take your business to the next level, this is a great tool. From generating your own keyword lists, to analyzing pay-per-click listings, to studying your competition, this one accomplishes quite a bit. This tool works with Google, Yahoo,MSN, Ask etc. It will save you tons of hours of wasted time and effort. Also, I like the fact that it is multi-threaded(lots of more power.)

WebSite: http://www.elitekeyword.net

Pick 2 : WordTracker: Offers a free, ‘lite’ version, as well as a paid version. Features include an online management system for different keyword projects, searching for often misspelled words, a system to calculate your best keywords, and much more. WebSite:Wordtracker.com/FreeWordtracker

Pick 3 : WebCEO :From a free version to a $389/- version this company has various options available. For small business owners, the $199/- version would be suitable.Go for the $389/- version if you have multiple web-sites running and your business model is solely online. Web Site: http://www.webceo.com/cgi-bin/go/clickthru.cgi?id=linkflow

What next ?

Use keyword research to identify the most likely phrases for your business.

Master keyword research just like I outlined in this article and create a massive list of targeted keywords.

Make a list of the 5 most promising keyword phrases.

Head over to your favorite domain listing / hosting company (eg. www.GoDaddy.com) and see if you can buy that phrase in the .com domain.eg. Self-cleaning-Widgets.com

Point your existing website to this url. If you don’t have an existing web-site, create your new website using all the keywords you identified.

Submit your site to the search engines.

Happy hunting!

Mechanical Modeling is the creation, manipulation and storage of arithmetical objects to represent objects that are all around us or virtual objects. Today in the mechanical industry 3D modeling is strongly connected with the manufacturing as well as casting process. Outsource your mechanical design and 3D modeling services and you can save your time and money.

It is very not easy to start building a new 3d model or customizing one if you are a newbie in the 3d mechanical industry. You are far better of using 3d modeling services. Use of 3D modeling services is common for advertising firms that make ads for their customer’s health professionals that want to sell their prescriptions to doctors, video productions and architectural designers. They outsource their 3d projects because of the capability to cut down costs and get it done easy and fast. Making 3d models is routinely just too slow and occasionally too pricey compared to the cost of just getting custom 3d models done by experienced 3d modeling artists.

The mechanical design and 3d modeling services are use in every business sector which is related with mechanical industries. In the industrial market with the help of mechanical software 3D modeling services are easy to use and maintain. Flexibility and precision makes these services much more significant in creation of 3D or three-dimensional model of any mechanical product or system.

The mechanical engineers can use 3d model design services during the conceptual stages of mechanical product design. Mechanical design services are able to produce quick prototypes and provide designers with working models of the product in development.

There are so many benefit of using 3D modeling and mechanical design such as interference and clearance in assemblies, Stress-free checking of kinematics, accurate wire frame geometry creation and speedy verification of designs against specifications etc.

Mechanical engineering design is a part of the overall domain of mechanical engineering. Mechanical design has significantly benefited today’s refined mechanical and engineering designers. Although some of the generally cited benefits include improved accuracy, efficiency along with easy interference inspection, better layout, labeling and dimensioning.

Mechanical 3D Modelling offers various types of free 3D models, mechanical design, 3D modeling, 3D animation and products design services. So outsource your mechanical design and 3d modeling related requirements and save your time and money.

Keywords are the key pun not intended ingredients to search engine optimization. If want your website to rise from the ranks and be one of the first page search engine results, you need to know which keywords work best for your website and how to incorporate them in your content without ruining its cohesiveness, coherence, and value.

Keywords and How Search Engines Work

The first step to finding the right keywords for your website is to understand how search engines work.

Search engines work basically the same regardless if it is Yahoo, Google, or America Online that is behind it. The labor force of search engines is called search engine spiders software programs capable of surveying and analyzing data from the Internet.

Keywords can be any single or group of words found in your website. The more they are used, the better but frequency does not guarantee its effectiveness. Your chosen keywords must also match the query entered by the searcher in the search engine website.

Relevance is important when choosing a particular keyword to represent your website. If you have set up a website for your photography business, words like photography, pictures, and portraits are all relevant keywords because you can see an instant and direct connection between the keywords and the focus of your website.

Now, let us say you used the sentence see great photos of yourself in your photography website and you choose great as a keyword. Your choice does not qualify as a relevant keyword because great is a general term that can not be immediately linked to photography.

Keywords may either be specified by the website owner or designer with the use of meta tags or determined by search engine spiders. Search engines have specific rules when determining which terms should be considered keywords. Besides frequency, words that appear in the title of the article or page, the first sentence, and subheadings are given more points than those that simply appear throughout the body of the text.

Depending on the search engine indexing system, use or insertion of particles and prepositions between keywords and letter case may matter.

For your website to match a query, it must contain exactly the same keywords and positioning of words specified. Thus, if an individual makes a query for red small shoes, your website would not be considered an excellent match if your keyword is small red shoes. Synonyms are not counted either: queries for automobiles will not match websites using vehicles for keywords.

Spelling matters and especially if your website tackles topics that are commonly spelled. If you were the producer behind the movie “The Day After Tomorrow” you should also consider using the keyword The Day After Tomorrow because lots of people make mistakes when spelling this.

Typo errors could also redirect people to other impostor websites instead of landing in yours so you should consider including keyword errors that are a result of speed typing.

To know if your keywords are good choices or not, there are online software tools available to help you evaluate your keywords like America Online Hot Searches, which lets you know the hottest queries since the last hour or day; Google Trends, which allows you to compare results from different words and categorize information according to demographics and other factors; and Yahoo Buzz, which simply let us know what is in and what is out.

When Gundolf Schmidt was born in 1969, his parents and older brother lived with his maternal grandmother in Germany. Until Mr. Schmidt was six that family closeness continued: His father was busy building a home in his nearby hometown, and that’s a slow process . . . but a rewarding one.

Emulating this parental example, Mr. Schmidt also built his own home after he was grown. Naturally, he got a fair amount of advice and help from his family.

That family tradition of hands-on interest in how things work has been the basis for a very successful technical career that recently led to a management position. He now serves as the engineering manager at a big Tier1 automotive supplier for a team of 31 located in Germany, the Czech Republic, and India. Throughout his explorations of learning and building, he has been blessed by having a beautiful wife who is very patient with his projects and hunger for knowledge.

This career success wasn’t completely planned. To some extent, it just happened.

After high school, Mr. Schmidt developed an interest in electronics and computers. To learn more, he enrolled in a school to prepare for work as an Informationselektroniker (which is similar to an electronic technician). Upon finishing the program, he had planned to attend the technological university. Opportunity intervened when his boss offered Mr. Schmidt an attractive job in the electronic design department of the company.

After two years, it was time for service in the German army’s signal corps where Mr. Schmidt learned a lot about communications technology. When he left the army, his employer was experiencing financial difficulties.

As a result, Mr. Schmidt took a job as a service technician for medical systems at another company. After a while, he was promoted to representative service manager. Although he was doing well, the job was wearing due to heavy travel across Germany.

Mr. Schmidt next decided he wanted to try his hand in the software environment and joined a small software systems house that was active in producing automotive applications. The company’s founder, Dr. Sammel, gave Mr. Schmidt the chance to work as a software engineer without formal qualifications.

Over the five years he was with the company, Mr. Schmidt took many courses to build his effectiveness and became quite knowledgeable about software development, programming languages, and quality assurance in software projects. He became a SPICE (ISO15504, Software Process Improvement and Capability dEtermination) assessor and an ISO 9000 internal auditor (European organization for quality — Quality Management Technician).

He also passed several training sessions in the CMM/CMMI (Capability Maturity Model / Integration) model. This education involved eight semesters of distance study while he was working that provided the equivalent of a Bachelor of Science degree.

In 2003, Mr. Schmidt joined Visteon, the former auto parts subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company. He was the software validation leader for a big automotive multimedia project developing Digital Audio Broadcast tuners for several car manufactures. In this role, he spent most of his time performing the validation process, analysis of errors, defect management and writing of software tools for automated testing, and in customer meetings.

In November 2004, Mr. Schmidt finished an important training course and qualified as an International Software Testing Qualifications Board certified tester (Foundation level). During recent years, he used his spare time to further improve his knowledge by learning some new software-languages e.g. C, C++, Java and Visual Basic and reading books about different bus-systems (e.g. CAN-BUS and so on) which are used in the automotive environment. For him, continuous improvement and learning new technologies are key factors in daily work.

Mr. Schmidt’s next foray into distance learning came in 2005 when he began a Master of Science program at Rushmore University. His goal for this education was to prepare for becoming a manager in the company. He found teaching people to be very interesting and was interested in how he could help his software group to improve its processes.

He selected Rushmore at this point in his career development because it offered distance learning, enabled him to study parallel to his daily work, and gave him the chance to earn his Master of Science degree in an acceptable amount of time. Another advantage was being able to take 12 credits in non-science courses so he could learn more about management practices while improving his English language skills. Rushmore also allowed him the freedom to take the specific courses of his own choice.

While at Rushmore, Mr. Schmidt was able to explore complex issues related to his work. For example, his American company developed software for European companies. As a result, both the CMMI and SPICE assessment models were of interest.

For one course, Mr. Schmidt mapped how CMMI translates into a SPICE perspective to help his company better understand its maturity and to save money. The result was a tool that helped improve his department’s processes.

In another course, Mr. Schmidt described powerful ways of performing software testing to be sure the new systems operate as intended. He further explored how quality staffs and software development teams can cooperate in more effective ways.

Rushmore professors also remember receiving frequent photographs from Mr. Schmidt showing progress reports while building his lovely new backyard pond as he worked on these tough courses. Obviously, the desire to build and learn is never ending for Mr. Schmidt.

Pushed by his professors, the technical work he accomplished exceeded Mr. Schmidt’s expectations. Through intensive work with Rushmore’s editing staff, Mr. Schmidt also felt that his English skills improved.

How did he feel about this distance learning experience?

“I feel proud and satisfied to have completed my M.Sc. while concurrently doing my job and building my house. I’ve learnt many valuable reading and writing techniques and also usable skills in the different environments based on my self-crafted course structure.

“The Rushmore program has provided me with what I expected: practical online learning, flexibility in terms of time, choice of courses and advisors, convenient payment options, visible progress, academic support and one-to-one mentoring.

“Maybe in the future I will start my PhD . . .”

Before graduating in 2006, Mr. Schmidt joined TRW in 2005 where he gained the position he now enjoys leading a global team of 31 as an engineering manager.

As he continues to learn and build, it’s clear that Mr. Schmidt’s best days are ahead of him.