Vulnerability in open source identity management system Free IPA could lead to XXE attacks – The Daily Swig
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Attackers could ‘take full control of the infrastructure’, warn researchers
UPDATED A vulnerability in Free IPA could lead to XML external entity (XXE) attacks, researchers have warned.
FreeIPA is a free and open source identity management system and is the upstream project of Red Hat Identity Management.
A flaw, tracked as CVE-2022-2414, was found in the pki-core package, a security advisory from Red Hat warns.
Read more of the latest news about security vulnerabilities
“Access to external entities when parsing XML documents can lead to XML external entity attacks.
“This flaw allows a remote attacker to potentially retrieve the content of arbitrary files by sending specially crafted HTTP requests.”
XXE allows injecting arbitrary entities into an XML document and performing malicious actions such as local file reading or sending HTTP requests into an internal network.
The latter could lead to remote code execution (RCE) if there are unpatched applications inside an internal network.
The vulnerability, which has a severity rating of 7.5 (high), was discovered by researcher Egor Dimintrenko of security research team PT Swarm.
The security flaw takes place in the certification system, called DogTag, Dimitrenko told The Daily Swig.
“DogTag can be used as a PKI service for any project, but it’s well known as a part of FreeIPA system. Since DogTag is integrated into FreeIPA, FreeIPA is vulnerable if still unpatched,” he said.
“It’s also worth mentioning that main impact of the vulnerability is a risk of configuration file reading, which contains password for Directory Manager user,” Dimitrenko said.
“Directory Manager is a main entity in the application and control Directory Server. By compromising this user, an attacker is able to connect to directory server and read any high sensitive data like user credentials and then make a lateral movement in infrastructure.
“Particularly in FreeIPA this configuration file doesn’t contain a Directory Manager password by default, but in some cases it takes place, for example when an administrator change Directory Manager password.”
The vulnerability affects Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6-9 and Red Hat Certificate System 9 and 10.
Dimitrenko said that exploitation of the bug is “extremely simple” due to the fact that it doesn’t require any credentials and an attacker just has to find an accessible endpoint.
The vulnerability has been patched by Red Hat in all versions apart from Linux 6, which is out of scope. There are no known mitigations available and Red Hat urges users to update.
Dimitrenko commented: “It’s nice to see that there are many companies which support responsible disclosure and communicate with researchers, instead of ignoring them and hiding their problems.”
This article has been updated to include further comment.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE Secure Open Source Rewards program launched to help protect critical upstream software
Jessica Haworth
@JesscaHaworth
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© 2022 PortSwigger Ltd.
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Top 10 WBS alternatives and competing software to use in 2022 – Tuko.co.ke
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Most people have grown up using Microsoft Office softwares, and they cannot believe there are other different softwares that can perform the same functions. The WBS alternatives are suites that contain tools that may include spreadsheets, presentations, and writers. WPS Office has grown in popularity because it is free, lightweight, and feature-rich. However, if WPS does not work for you, there is no need to worry because there are many other alternatives to choose from.
Since more and more work is being done online, the demand for office suites has grown sharply in recent years. With the new software, developers have focused on coming up with smaller, more efficient, less expensive products.
In most cases, WPS alternatives are office suites, but others are just word processors or spreadsheet applications. This means if you have to choose a WPS alternative, you must consider its functionality before doing so. According to Rigorous Themes, below are the top 10 WPS alternatives:
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This is the most popular office suite and usually comes preinstalled on most devices. It is also the best because it is reliable and secure. Users are assured of high-end security when using Microsoft Office. It has a wide range of tools that can be used for personal and business purposes.
The software has also evolved and is frequently updated with modernized toolsets. There are always new features being added. Some of the latest tools it offers include modern visuals, improved navigation, and search functions. The biggest setback for Microsoft Office is that it costs even for personal use. However, it gives value for money because users get 1TB of file storing and sharing and dedicated support.
As far as WPS alternatives are concerned, Google Workspace is among the easiest to set up and use. It is also more reliable and organized. The software was initially known as GSuite before being rebranded and Google Workspace. The tools offered by Google Workspace are available directly in the cloud, so you don’t have to install them. It, therefore, works best for people who are in a hurry to get things done quickly.
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One advantage of Workspace is that it has more tools and applications than WPS. Some tools available here are Calendar, Gmail, Sheets, Docs, Forms, Slides, Chat, Sites, and Meet. It also has security features such as Endpoint, Vault, Admin, and Work Insights. With Google Workspace, it is easy to collaborate in real-time and share everything with other Gmail users.
OfficeSuite is the best software for people who want the same features as those in WPS Premium or Microsoft Office but on a budget because it is free. The tools that are available in the free OfficeSuite are Documents, Sheets, Slides, Mail, and PDF. The PDF feature makes OfficeSuite better than WPS because the latter does not have it.
The OfficeSuite software is designed to work with all standard formats from other tools like OpenDocument formats, Microsoft Office formats, and other formats such as ZIP. It is also great when it comes to shareability because it supports third-party integrations, including Google Drive and Dropbox. Even more, features can be found in the paid version of OfficeSuite, which costs $29.99 per year.
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Docs to Go is among the most effortless WPS alternatives, and it is free. It is supported by an app that allows users to work on documents from anywhere they go. It comes with Doc, PPT, XLS, and PDF tools. It is, therefore, most suitable for individuals who want to view, edit and create documents from scratch. In addition to storing documents on your device, you also have the option of keeping them in the cloud.
The files created using Docs to Go are compatible with other office suites; hence issues cannot arise from sharing them. Another cool thing is that changes can be made to the document while in the cloud. The software has a file manager that is intended to make navigation easy.
This WPS alternative is excellent for people who want to manage files on their smartphones. It is a smartphone office suite app that comes with features such as Presentations, Documents, Spreadsheets, and PDFs. It is compatible with other office suite formats; hence there won’t be a problem when sharing documents created using it.
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SmartOffice is a light app since it is designed for mobile use. It is equipped with features that can view, edit, convert, share and print from your smartphone. The application can also be beneficial to enterprises because it can be integrated into other tools and customized.
WPS may not be best suited for Apple computers and laptops, which is why iWork is the best alternative created for the Mac Operating System. It is Apple’s native office app designed to work with documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and other files on the Apple computer. Some of the top apps in the software include Numbers, Pages, and Keynotes.
iWork has other design tools and templates that can simplify your work. When connected to the internet, you can easily work and collaborate with other iWork users in real-time. Other valuable features include shapes, photos, charts, and pictures. This software costs $79, but it is also possible to purchase specific apps separately.
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Polaris Office is a suite that has Sheet, Word, PDF, Slide, HWP, and ODT. Polaris Office apps can be used online without the need to install them. It is complemented by a smartphone app that can facilitate working even when one is away from the computer. It has more features than WPS, including the ability to improve content styles and the tracking of changes.
The tools available on Polaris Office load faster, which makes it a good option for scrolling through large files. This also makes it practical for editing large-sized documents regardless of the device used. The software ensures the security of your documents both on your device and in the cloud. Polaris is not free, but it is affordable.
Collabora Office is a WPS alternative that caters to the needs of enterprises and businesses. The suite has tools specifically designed for enterprises who want to install the tool on-premises, thus allowing them to keep all their data on the company servers. It is an enterprise version of LibreOffice.
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Some of the tools available in the software include centralized deployment management, LTS support, support & service, mobile app, cloud, and constant updates to keep the software up to date. Its features include Presentations, Spreadsheets, Text, and Databases. With Collabora Office, it is possible for a company to have custom features depending on its needs.
The SaaS provider, Zoho Workplace, provides a workplace environment that blends office suite and team management systems. As a result, it facilitates the collaboration of teams in addition to the tools for working with files. Some of the tools that can be used here are Word Processor, Spreadsheet, and Presentation.
Other extra features in Zoho Workplace include Email, File Management, and Online Meetings. It provides context to your work, continuity for your team, convenience for all involved, and collaboration for enterprises. Through the software, it is possible to work on files and documents anywhere you go.
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Hancom Office is great because of its sharing and collaboration features, especially for those working in teams. The tools are available not just for desktops but also for smartphones and even for web browsers. As a result, it is easy for people to collaborate and work together from wherever they are.
Among the top tools available in Hancom Office are Cell, Word, Show, and PDF. This enables users to process word documents, keep spreadsheets or even work with PDFs. In addition, files can be imported from other formats and edited with powerful tools that are easy to use.
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You don’t have to get stuck with your office needs just because a single software is not working. While many top office suites are paid for, many equally reliable ones are free. Most WBS alternatives are compatible with major operating systems and have many office features. It is also essential to consider your needs before selecting office software because if you are handling sensitive information, you may require one that is more sophisticated than WPS.
Tuko.co.ke shared an article about AdwCleaner alternatives. Some companies are slowly turning to advertisement-supported software to market their products and services. While some hardware programs are legitimate, most are malicious and pose a threat to a user. In most instances, they may spy on users or intentionally install viruses into one’s device.
AdwCleaner is among the best freeware tools known for keeping internet browsers free from sneaky malware such as adware. The program eliminates strange pop-ups and unwanted programs that may slow down your computer or smartphone. Its alternatives make the internet even safer to browse.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
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New Termi Chatbot May Just Be the Missing Link in Driving Tech Adoption at Law Firms – LawSites
Lawyers have a disparate array of technology tools and systems at their disposal – for email, documents, billing, invoicing, CRM, and much more.
The problem, however, is exactly that – that they are disparate. If a client emails the lawyer in Outlook asking for a copy of its invoice, the lawyer has to stop and think about where to find that, then go to that application, get it, and return to Outlook, or get an assistant or someone else to do it.
It is a problem that hinders technology adoption in law firms and creates platform fatigue – or platform confusion – among lawyers and staff, not to mention the waste of time.
Imagine, then, if you could have a digital assistant that could do this all for you at your request – that would be the intelligent go-between that connects you and your workflow to all your firm’s technology systems, all from a familiar messaging platform.
That is the idea of Termi, an AI-enabled chatbot that aims to solve the problems of slow tech adoption and platform fatigue by allowing attorneys and staff to simply ask it natural-language questions or request tasks that they might otherwise have to send to a human assistant or the IT department.
It was developed by Helm360, a full-service IT company with offices in London and California that specializes in technology solutions for legal and professional services firms.
Read more about Termi on the LawNext Legal Technology Directory.
“The genius of Termi is that it actually relies on the ingrained law firm habit of sending an email or text to support staff to solve a problem or access records and data,” the company says. “Instead of doing that, users write an instant message to Termi, which leverages AI to respond to the request, either with information or by triggering an action.”
Termi’s no-code backend system features a drag-and-drop interface that firms can use to map out how the software responds to requests. If the system fails to understand a particular user request, the information is logged and IT staff can use it to enhance the list of trigger phrases Termi will recognize.
“There’s usually a pattern to poor tech adoption in firms,” said Bim Dave, Helm360’s executive vice president. “When a new tool is introduced, many lawyers feel they don’t have time to learn it, so they send off an email to their assistant or IT support to get what they need from the system.
“Then the process breaks down because assistants and tech support are overwhelmed, help is delayed, other crucial projects are ignored, and then the firm abandons the software because it’s causing problems.”
Recently, Dave and Kiran Gill, customer success manager at Helm360, provided me with a demonstration of Termi.
Interact with Any Third-Party System
“From our experience of working with so many law firms around the world, we find that there’s so much information across different parts of the organization that, from a lawyer’s perspective, it can just be so time consuming and frustrating to get the information they need so that they can actually do their job,” Gill said.
“So we wanted to introduce and build a tool that would try and give them back some of that time so that they can focus on what their actual profession is, because we know in this industry every minute counts.”
Termi works on desktop, mobile and tablet, and on both PCs and Macs.
Given that, she said, the idea of Termi is to deliver the answers to your questions, wherever you are, whenever you need them, whether on a mobile device, in Microsoft Teams, in Microsoft Office, or on the desktop.
“Termi is able to interact with any third-party system through its advanced plugin framework,” Dave said. “This means it has tremendous potential to transform technology usage and adoption within a firm and drive success.”
Among the products it works with are the Microsoft Business suite, a wide variety of document management systems, and many practice management systems such as ProLaw, Elite 3E and Aderant.
Termi can send alerts, such as regarding missing time entries.
Some of the ways in which law firms are already using Termi include:
“Our goal was to deliver a solution that would connect business systems to their users in a way that is so intuitive and easy to use that they actually want to use it,” Dave said.
There When You Need It
In law firms that deploy Termi, lawyers and other users see it pinned to the taskbar on their computers. In whatever system they are working, they can click on Termi to get the information they need.
It can also be embedded as an add-in within various applications, including Outlook, Teams and Slack.
Say you are that lawyer who just got the email from a client asking for the latest billing statement. In the normal course, you might hunt around for it yourself, call your finance department, or ask your secretary to get it.
With Termi, simply type, “Send me the latest billing statement for Client X.” Termi goes into your billing system – say Elite 3E – and pulls the statement and delivers it to you.
But maybe you also want to know the total costs you have billed for a particular matter. Termi knows that there are multiple matters that include the name you provided in your query, so it presents a drop-down and lets you select the matter you want.
That may raise the question for the lawyer of whether the invoice has been paid. Simply ask Termi, “Has invoice 6688 been paid?” Termi answers, “Invoice 6688 has been paid in full, an amount of $500 by automatic check 30001.”
In all of these questions and responses, Termi is connecting directly to 3E through its API and generating a preview of an invoice or pulling information. But, in a nod to security, the actual information remains in 3E and is never stored in Termi.
Other examples of using Termi:
Search and Dashboard Functions
Termi also includes a search function that allows users to search for specific information, whether within a specific system or across systems. A user could, for example, search for someone in the firm directory directly from within Termi.
The search function can also be used to conduct research. Enter a query, for example, and Termi may take you to Westlaw or to a third-party source to which the firm subscribes such as The New York Times.
Forget your firm’s New York Times login? Termi can get you that, reducing the need for routine calls to the help desk.
Termi can be configured to deliver training videos in response to questions.
In fact, one firm is currently configuring Termi to be the first step in all support queries, hoping to cut down on the high numbers of requests that were bombarding their support desk.
While this article has focused on the chatbot, a second key component of Termi is its dashbard. This can be used to generate customized reports or drill into data from across applications.
Termi also can be used to deliver notifications. It could be set so that, on a certain day and time, a notification would go out. For example, it could deliver a daily briefing including the schedule for the day and a summary of the user’s dashboard.
It can also be used to consolidate all notifications across the firm, such as approvals or when there are new hires.
Preconfigured Out of the Box
The standard version of Termi comes preconfigured out of the box to handle a range of questions, but firm administrators can add questions of their own to the module and customize it in a number of ways. If a firm has preferred terminology it uses – such as “engagement” rather than “matter” – Termi can be pre-trained to the firm’s preferences.
“You don’t have to be a coder to be able to do that,” Gill said. “You can be an admin person who has had the relevant training and can go into the backend and use a simple step-by-step process to be able to add questions to the library.”
Termi can be delivered via the cloud or through an on-premises deployment. Most small or mid-sized firms use the cloud version while some large firms prefer the on-premises deployment.
Termi uses a variety of connectors – APIs, web services, custom DLLs – to enable it to connect to virtually any system within a law firm, whether SharePoint, CRM, document management, HR, or others.
For SharePoint or a DMS, for example, a lawyer may ask Termi, “Show me documents related to software agreements.” Termi retrieves them and lets the user toggle through documents or open any directly from there.
As of the time of my demonstration, Termi had been deployed or was being implement in 12 firms in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, including three Am Law 100 firms and the rest small to mid-sized firms.
It is sold on a per-user subscription basis.
The Bottom Line
While there are other chatbot providers in the legal market, Dave said that the problem he has seen with them is that they typically do just one specific thing, while firms have a series of best-of-breed systems. There was nothing that provided a unified experience that connects those systems.
“Ours is probably the only chatbot out there that you could plug into all of the best-of-breed systems, configure and get up and running pretty quickly, and allow you to have a one-stop shop,” said Dave.
“And that’s really what it’s designed to be – it’s designed to be a bridge between all of those systems and all of that knowledge that you have within the firm.”
While Termi indeed serves as a bridge connecting systems, my takeaway after seeing it demonstrated and reading more about its capabilities is that it is also something more.
My impression is that Termi could well be the missing link in driving greater technology adoption at law firms – particularly at mid-sized and larger law firms with multiple sophisticated but disparate systems.
By uniting those systems through an intuitive, chat-based interface, Termi makes interfacing with those systems a no-brainer for law firm professionals – as easy as asking a question.
Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.
Bob Ambrogi is a lawyer and journalist who has been writing and speaking about legal technology and innovation for more than two decades. He writes the award-winning blog LawSites, is a columnist for Above the Law, hosts the podcast about legal innovation, LawNext, and hosts the weekly legal tech journalists’ roundtable, Legaltech Week.
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ABOUT LAW SITES
LawSites is a blog covering legal technology and innovation. It is written by Robert Ambrogi, a lawyer and journalist who has been writing and speaking about legal technology, legal practice and legal ethics for more than two decades.
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10 Powerful Document Management Systems For Law Firms – Lawfuel
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Bricsys 24/7 Embeds Automated Document Management Workflow with Cooperlink CONNECT – RealWire
The integration accelerates secure data interchange for faster decision making and enables project managers and CxO to create a unified digital environment, limiting the cost of errors arising in repetitive processes and disconnected systems
GHENT, Belgium – September 8, 2022 — Global provider of design and collaboration solutions, Bricsys, part of Hexagon, announced its partnership with web application platform Cooperlink CONNECT. Bricsys 24/7 users will be able to automatically upload, record and archive documents in real-time from Microsoft SharePoint to Bricsys 24/7, reducing the time spent manually saving files and re-encoding metadata.
This collaborative two-way integration provides a 100% digitised and automated coordination of information: from the classification and exchange of documents to the validation of technical sheets.
Ideal for users working on large construction projects from design to handover of the as-built files, the business-oriented platform enables better collaboration among contractors, owners, architects, and engineering teams thanks to uniform data accessible in one central place. This eliminates the risk of project fragmentation, miscommunication and errors that are costly and time-consuming to fix.
Real-time validation tracks changes made to work-in-progress data. Full transparency across teams allows users to catch any issues when manipulating data across disconnected systems in early development cycles from SharePoint to Bricsys 24/7. The integration also takes care of API updates, file synchronisation and guarantees predictive prices.
Rahul Kejriwal, CEO of Bricsys, says: “Both software complement each other perfectly. Cooperlink CONNECT enables a real-time 2-way integration between Bricsys® 24/7 and Microsoft SharePoint (and OneDrive) or a file server. Through synergies and a significant expansion of know-how, we can offer our customers a broader knowledge management solution and guide our users through their digital transformation journeys”.
Axel Palmaers, CEO of Cooperlink says: “The ability of our technologies to combine is extremely beneficial to construction projects, and we are excited to work with Bricsys in this partnership. Avoiding silos of information is increasingly important to our customers to enable better collaboration among departments, uniform data access in the whole organization and to reduce the costs of errors resulting from discrepancies between disconnected systems.”
Set up rapidly, Cooperlink CONNECT is available to a growing number of worldwide Bricsys 24/7 customers, no matter their role.
For more information on Bricsys 24/7 innovative solutions, visit our web pages.
ENDS
About Bricsys
Bricsys (www.bricsys.com), part of Hexagon, is the global technology company that creates the BricsCAD® family of computer aided design (CAD) products and the Bricsys® 24/7 project collaboration platform. We are relentlessly committed to the success of our customers by offering cost-effective, mission-critical CAD software with industry-leading product support.
Established in Belgium in 2002, Bricsys NV has approximately 300 employees around the world, partners in more than 80 countries and 1,200 registered application developers.
© 2022 Bricsys NV. All rights reserved.
About Cooperlink
Cooperlink (www.cooperlink.io), is the leading technology company enabling construction players to break data silos and automate their workflows without changing their habits. Thanks to its open platform and its connectors to third-party systems, Cooperlink creates a secure common data network for multi-disciplinary construction projects.
Established in Belgium in 2017, Cooperlink is a growing company currently active in Europe and North-America. Collaborators from 500+ efficient builders use Cooperlink on a daily basis.
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11 of the Best ERP for Small Distribution Businesses to Consider – Solutions Review
Our editors have compiled a list highlighting some of the best ERP solutions for small distribution businesses to consider implementing into their company processes.
Enterprise Resource Planning systems combine financials, HR, inventory, supply chain management, sales, and customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities to help companies manage and streamline processes. These functionalities are essential to distribution companies, as they require smooth and reliable operations that can adapt to potential disruptions. For example, if a distributor runs out of stock, an ERP system can alert the distributor in real-time so they can address the issue before it becomes a more significant problem.
However, choosing the right vendor and solution can be complicated, especially for smaller distribution companies, where budget, functionalities, and scalability are crucial. These companies need a solution that can meet their immediate needs, keep operations running smoothly, and grow alongside them as they expand over time. There are plenty of leading ERP solutions to choose from, but not all are qualified to meet the needs of small-to-medium-sized businesses.
With that in mind, the team at Solutions Review compiled the following list to spotlight some of the best ERP solutions for small distribution businesses. Our editors selected these software solutions based on each provider’s Authority Score, a meta-analysis of user sentiment through the web’s most trusted business software review sites, and our proprietary five-point inclusion criteria. The list is organized alphabetically.
Description: Acumatica provides cloud and browser-based business management software solutions for small and mid-sized businesses. The Acumatica ERP solution offers clients a suite of integrated applications powered by a single cloud-based platform. With its wholesale distribution capabilities, Acumatica can help distributors automate quote-to-cash cycles, simplify item management, enhance sales and marketing with configurable CRM workflows, and manage their warehouses, requisitions, financials, orders, and more.
Description: ADS Solutions is a provider of intuitive cloud-based ERP solutions tailored to the needs of small and mid-sized businesses. Its primary product, Accolent ERP, is a solution for small and mid-sized distributors that combines sales, customer service, CRM, e-commerce, inventory control, purchasing, accounting, warehouse management, business intelligence, financial tracking, and other capabilities on a single platform. Accolent ERP is built on web architecture and runs in the AWS Public Cloud, so users can access the solution from any device that uses a standard web browser.
Description: Aquilon Software provides ERP software for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), focusing on helping manufacturers and distributors in North America improve cash flow, manage costs, optimize working capital, and maintain profitable growth. The company’s distribution solution is equipped with supplier relationship management, sales analysis, inventory management, electronic data interchange (EDI), sales order management, replenishment planning, built-in reporting, and purchase order management.
Description: Blue Link provides small to medium-sized wholesale and distribution businesses with an all-in-one inventory and accounting ERP software suite. It offers out-of-the-box functionalities for order entry, landed cost tracking, EDI integration, warehouse management, invoicing, purchase orders, batch tracking, inventory management, CRM, general ledger, warehouse management, and more. Companies can also customize the Blue Link platform to meet the needs of their industry and business.
Description: Brightpearl is a unique Retail Operations Platform built primarily for retail and wholesale businesses. Its products span various competencies, including sales order management, inventory management, retail accounting, and purchasing & supplier management. With its wholesale management functionalities, companies can scale their business as it grows, provide merchants with the proper infrastructure, and manage multiple suppliers, price lists, web stores, and more. Brightpearl offers various services, including implementation, training, support, and a customer success team.
Description: CPTech is an ERP solution provider for small and mid-sized distributors and wholesalers. With its DistributionPlus software, CPTech provides businesses with serial traceability, inventory management, purchasing, sales, document management, quoting, electronic data interchange (EDI), warehouse management, and other capabilities for managing operations. The platform is available in the cloud or on-premises and can also help companies with their accounting, purchase orders, e-commerce, shipping, and logistics processes.
Description: Epicor Prophet 21 is an end-to-end, cloud-based ERP solution tailored to the needs of growing distributors. Prophet 21 can be run from nearly any browser or device and comes equipped with configurable, extensible features that enable users to customize fields, personalize views, integrate with other business applications, and more. The software includes customer experience management, sales management, e-commerce, business intelligence, accounting, supply chain management, value-added services, and warehouse management capabilities.
Description: Infor is a global provider of cloud software solutions for companies across the manufacturing, distribution, consumer products, public sectors, energy, healthcare, hospitality, and service industries. The company’s software can help users take advantage of data-driven insights, adapt to emerging trends and challenges, and accelerate its path to innovation. With its CloudSuite Distribution product, Infor provides distributors with the end-to-end functionalities they need to modernize end-to-end automation strategies, enhance customer experience, manage inventory, determine supply and demand, and more.
Description: My Office Apps offers a cloud-based, scalable, and configurable ERP system for growing companies. Kechie, the company’s ERP platform, is built to grow alongside a company and improve processes with AI-powered reporting tools, automation, and more. Its features can automate and synchronize inventory management and help streamline finance, manufacturing, supply chain management, procurement, sales order management, CRM, warehouse management, logistics, and other processes.
Description: NetSuite is a global provider of cloud-based ERP, accounting, commerce, CRM, and PSA services for organizations in over 20 industries that need help growing, scaling, and adapting to changes in their industry of choice. The company’s wholesale distribution ERP solution can help small businesses streamline critical businesses, reduce IT costs, manage inventory levels, supply chains, customer relationships, financials, warehouses, sales experiences, fulfillment processes, e-commerce strategies, and more.
Description: Sage is a technology provider offering cloud business management solutions for worldwide small and medium-sized businesses in professional services, wholesale distribution, construction, manufacturing, nonprofit, and food and beverage. With Sage Business Cloud X3 or Sage 300cloud, distributors can improve visibility across their supply chains, understand the ins and outs of their warehouse operations, manage supplier performance, make informed business decisions, empower their sales teams, and more.
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What is Records Management System (RMS)? – Definition from Techopedia – Techopedia
A scrum master is a facilitator for an Agile software development team that uses the Scrum project management framework.The scrum master is responsible for the team's iterative progress towards a well-defined goal. This includes making sure that all project stakeholders understand the Scrum… View Full Term
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Records Management system (RMS) is the management of records for an organization throughout the records-life cycle.
The activities in this management include the systematic and efficient control of the creation, maintenance, and destruction of the records along with the business transactions associated with them. Considered a key component of operational efficiency, record management adds more value to organization’s information assets.
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A Beginner's Guide to Defining Project Scope – The Motley Fool
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by DP Taylor | Updated Aug. 5, 2022 – First published on May 18, 2022
Image source: Getty Images
The process of project management is a difficult one to master, and perhaps the one aspect of it that flummoxes managers the most is project scope. Creating a project charter or mapping out your project schedule all seem a lot more straightforward and easier to do compared to laying out the scope.
But it’s a mistake to not put enough time and effort into the project scope. One Harvard study found that the average project overran its budget by 27%. If you want to avoid doing the same, you need to spend a lot of time on the scoping process so you aren’t surprised later.
If you know it’s time to tackle the project scope, here’s how you can put sound project management principles to work and produce one that will make the project a resounding success.
Project scope refers to the list of project goals, deadlines, and tasks. The project scope is often detailed in a document called a scope statement or statement of work.
By laying out a project scope in a document, you provide the entire team with a guide on all facets of the project, from the tasks to be completed to the resources needed to the goals to be achieved. The project scope can be widened if more needs to be accomplished than had been previously thought, and it can be narrowed if the project is too large for the team to tackle.
A project scope is an important part of project manager responsibilities, and it will help you stay on task and avoid project scope creep.
It’s easy to say what a project scope is, but it’s not so easy to create a project scope document. It can have a lot of detail and moving parts, and it’s not something to take lightly. But if you break it down into five steps, the process becomes pretty straightforward.
The first step of defining the project scope is to define the end product or goals — also called “deliverables” — of the project. You need to be crystal clear about what you hope this project will accomplish. It’s a good idea to outline your goals using the SMART rule:
Defining goals is so important because it sets the tone for the rest of your project scope. Here are a couple of ways you can ensure you set the right goals.
The next step for effective project planning is to identify areas where your project may be derailed. What could threaten your project’s budget? What could cause major delays?
For example, if you were building a small house, you might run into a problem with the weather, if there were twice as many rainy days as there usually are at that time of year, that might delay your progress. Or, perhaps the price of lumber goes up by 5% by the time you order a shipment.
Obstacles can be hard to predict, but chances are you already have a good idea of what’s most likely to go wrong with the project, so start with that and work outward.
How much money will the project cost? What supplies are needed? How many man hours of labor will be required? All of these questions need to be answered in detail. You should do extensive research and come up with exact figures; educated guesses almost certainly will result in cost overruns that could derail the entire project.
An accurate accounting of resources will ensure that everyone has the tools they need to keep the project on schedule, so this is an important step.
Now that you’ve laid out the goals, obstacles, and resources, you can put together a general timeline of what you can achieve. It’s important to set aside specific milestones that will help everyone monitor the project’s progress.
For example, if you’re building a house, the first milestone might be to lay the foundation, the second could be to erect the structure’s framework, the third could be to install electrical and plumbing, and the fourth could be the completed house.
Coming up with milestones is an important part of putting the project scope together. Once that is in place, you are almost finished, and it’s all about plan scope management from here on out.
With your project’s goals defined, it’s now time to create a list of stakeholders. A stakeholder is anyone who has an interest or concern in the project. For a construction company, for example, that would include the chief executive officer, the chief financial officer, investors, and the construction manager.
List any and all individuals who should be in the loop on this project and have any significant responsibilities in making sure the project is executed.
It’s important to have an exhaustive list of all stakeholders, because if you miss anyone, it could have major ramifications on the project because tasks weren’t completed because of someone being left out.
Creating a project scope from scratch is a little bit daunting, but there are many software options out there that can guide you. Here are three of the best project management software options that are especially effective in helping you lay out a project scope.
monday.com offers a task scheduler with prioritization, which helps you lay out the milestones, and a shared team calendar that allows you to involve all stakeholders. A resource management tool helps users track the project’s resources.
You can view all tasks and the stakeholders they’re associated with via monday.com’s dashboard. Image source: Author
Podio also has task prioritization and scheduling features and an easy way to input new tasks by simply hitting “T” on the keyboard. It also has document storage, so you can keep the project scope on file, and reporting, so you can gather data on how well the project is doing.
Podio’s dashboard makes it easy to see project stakeholders and tasks. Image source: Author
Scoro has custom fields to enable you to track and manage resources. It also has a task creation and list system that will allow you to manage your milestones, and you can tag relevant stakeholders. It also has document storage and file sharing, as well as budget reports and dashboards so you can watch the finances.
Scoro’s dashboard keeps all aspects of the project scope in one place. Image source: Author
Now that you know what all goes into creating a scope of work, it’s time to start working on your own. Ask yourself these questions:
Set aside a few hours in the next week or two to sit down and go through the steps above. Look at a project scope example or two to see how others have done it. And then just get to work and draw one up.
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DP Taylor is a business software expert writing for The Ascent and The Motley Fool.
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From Hot Wheels to handling content: How brands are using Microsoft AI to be more productive and imaginative – The AI Blog – Microsoft
John RoachOct 12, 2022
When designers at the toy company Mattel were asked recently to come up with a new Hot Wheels model car, they sought inspiration from DALL∙E 2, an AI system developed by OpenAI that creates custom images and art based on what people describe in plainspoken language.
Using the tool, designers can type in a prompt such as, “A scale model of a classic car” and DALL∙E 2 will generate an image of a toy vintage car, perhaps silver in color and with whitewall tires.
As a next step, the designer could erase the top of the car and then type, “Make it a convertible” and DALL∙E 2 will update the image of the car as a convertible. The designer can keep tweaking the design, asking DALL∙E 2 to try it in pink or blue, with the soft-top on, and on and on.
DALL∙E 2 is coming to Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service, by invitation, allowing select Azure AI customers to generate custom images using text or images, the company announced today at Microsoft Ignite, a conference for developers and IT professionals.
The availability of DALL∙E 2 through Azure OpenAI Service provides customers such as Mattel cloud AI infrastructure that blends the cutting-edge innovation of text-to-image generation with the compliance, responsible AI guardrails and certifications that Azure offers, Microsoft says.
The Mattel designers were able to generate dozens of images, each iteration sparking and refining ideas that could help design a final fleshed-out rendering of a new Hot Wheels model car.
“It’s about going, ‘Oh, I didn’t think about that!’” said Carrie Buse, director of product design at Mattel Future Lab in El Segundo, California. She sees the AI technology as a tool to help designers generate more ideas. “Ultimately, quality is the most important thing,” she noted. “But sometimes quantity can help you find the quality.”
Microsoft is also integrating DALL∙E 2 into its consumer apps and services starting with the newly announced Microsoft Designer app, and it will soon be integrated into Image Creator in Microsoft Bing.
The rollout of DALL∙E 2 across Microsoft products and services reflects how the company’s investment in AI research is infusing AI into everything it builds, produces and delivers to help everyone boost productivity and innovation.
Over the last 18 months, we’ve seen this transition in technology from proving that you can do things with AI to mapping it to actual scenarios and processes where it’s useful to the end user.
The trend is the result of nonlinear breakthroughs in AI capabilities achieved by bringing more compute to more data to train richer and more powerful models, according to Eric Boyd, Microsoft corporate vice president for AI Platform.
“The power of the models has crossed this threshold of quality and now they’re useful in more applications,” he said. “The other trend that we’re seeing is all the product developers are thinking through and understanding the ways that they can use AI in their products for both ease of use as well as saying, ‘Oh, I can make my product work better if I use AI.’”
DALL∙E 2 was trained on a supercomputer hosted in Azure that Microsoft built exclusively for OpenAI. The same Azure supercomputer was also used to train OpenAI’s GPT-3 natural language models and Codex, the model that powers GitHub Copilot and certain features in Microsoft Power Apps that run on Azure OpenAI Service. Azure also makes it possible for these AI tools to rapidly generate image, text or code suggestions for a person to review and consider using.
The addition of DALL∙E 2 builds on Microsoft and OpenAI’s ongoing partnership and expands the breadth of use cases within Azure OpenAI Service, the newest in the Azure Cognitive Services family currently in preview, which offers the security, reliability, compliance, data privacy and other enterprise-grade capabilities built into Microsoft Azure.
Other AI technologies developed by Microsoft and available through Azure Cognitive Services such as language translation, speech transcription, optical character recognition and document summarization are showing up in products and services such as Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Power Platform and Microsoft 365.
“Over the last 18 months, we’ve seen this transition in technology from proving that you can do things with AI to mapping it to actual scenarios and processes where it’s useful to the end user,” said Charles Lamanna, Microsoft corporate vice president of business applications and platform. “It’s the productization of these very large language models.”
These AI capabilities are aimed at eliminating tedious work and enabling employees to focus on higher-value tasks, such as freeing sales associates to engage in conversations with customers without having to take notes, Lamanna said. These new tools can also automate processes that currently eat up hours of people’s workdays such as writing summaries of sales calls and adding them to a client database.
“We can now inject AI that listens to our conversation and helps people be more productive by creating transcripts, capturing action items, doing summarization of the meeting, identifying common phrases or doing analysis about, ‘Am I a good listener?’” said Lamanna. “That required the advancement of the state-of-the-art AI and the advancement of these digital collaboration tools.”
Lamanna is focused on creating tools that enable anyone with a computing device to create their own AI-powered applications using the Microsoft Power Platform. For example, his team is rolling out a feature in Power Automate with AI powered copilot capabilities that allow people to use natural language to build workflow processes that connect various services running in the Microsoft cloud.
“Users in normal language can say, ‘Hey, whenever I get an email from my boss, send a text message to my phone and put a to-do in my Outlook,’” Lamanna explained. “They can just say that, and it gets generated automatically.”
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This ability to turn a sentence into a workflow dramatically expands the number of people who can create AI-powered software solutions, he said. People with a touch more technical know-how can further customize and refine their applications with low-code tools and graphical interfaces available in the Power Platform such as the intelligent document processing technology in AI Builder, he added.
A lawyer could use this technology to build a customized application that is triggered whenever a new contract is uploaded to the firm’s SharePoint site. This app could extract key information such as who wrote the contract, the parties involved and the industry sector and then email a summary of the contract with these details to lawyers in the firm who cover the sector or clients.
“That’s kind of magic,” said Lamanna, contrasting this type of AI automated workflow to how such tasks are typically accomplished today. “You check the SharePoint site, open a new file, and skim and try to summarize it to see if you have to do anything with it. AI is getting people out of this monotony and getting computers to do what’s best for them to do anyway.”
The digital transformation of the past several years has added to the flood of content that people around the world produce. Microsoft customers, for example, now add about 1.6 billion pieces of content every day to Microsoft 365. Think marketing presentations, contracts, invoices and work orders along with video recordings and transcripts of Teams meetings.
“They’re creating documents, they’re collaborating on them in Teams and they are storing them in SharePoint-powered experiences,” said Jeff Teper, Microsoft president of collaborative apps and platform. “What we want to do is integrate AI technologies with this content so clients can do more structured activities like contract approvals, invoice management and regulatory filings.”
That’s why Microsoft created Microsoft Syntex, a new content AI offering for Microsoft 365 that leverages Azure Cognitive Services and other AI technologies to transform how content is created, processed and discovered. It reads, tags and indexes content – whether digital or paper – making it searchable and available within specific applications or as reusable knowledge. It can also manage the content lifecycle with security and retention settings.
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For instance, TaylorMade Golf Company turned to Microsoft Syntex for a comprehensive document management system to organize and secure emails, attachments and other documents for intellectual property and patent filings. At the time, company lawyers manually managed this content, spending hours filing and moving documents to be shared and processed later.
With Microsoft Syntex, these documents are automatically classified, tagged and filtered in a way that’s more secure and makes them easy to find through search instead of needing to dig through a traditional file and folder system. TaylorMade is also exploring ways to use Microsoft Syntex to automatically process orders, receipts and other transactional documents for the accounts payable and finance teams.
Other customers are using Microsoft Syntex for contract management and assembly, noted Teper. While every contract may have unique elements, they are constructed with common clauses around financial terms, change control, timeline and so forth. Rather than write those common clauses from scratch each time, people can use Syntex to assemble them from various documents and then introduce changes.
“They need AI and machine learning to spot, ‘Hey, this paragraph is very different from our standard terms. This could use some extra oversight,’” he said.
“If you’re trying to read a 100-page contract and look for the thing that’s significantly changed, that’s a lot of work versus the AI helping with that,” he added. “And then there’s the workflow around those contracts: Who approves them? Where are they stored? How do you find them later on? There’s a big part of this that’s metadata.”
The availability of DALL∙E 2 in Azure OpenAI Service has sparked a series of explorations at RTL Deutschland, Germany’s largest privately held cross-media company, about how to generate personalized images based on customers’ interests. For example, in RTL’s data, research and AI competence center, data scientists are testing various strategies to enhance the user experience by generative imagery.
RTL Deutschland’s streaming service RTL+ is expanding to offer on-demand access to millions of videos, music albums, podcasts, audiobooks and e-magazines. The platform relies heavily on images to grab people’s attention, said Marc Egger, senior vice president of data products and technology for the RTL data team.
“Even if you have the perfect recommendation, you still don’t know whether the user will click on it because the user is using visual cues to decide whether he or she is interested in consuming something. So artwork is really important, and you have to have the right artwork for the right person,” he said.
Imagine a romcom movie about a professional soccer player who gets transferred to Paris and falls in love with a French sportswriter. A sports fan might be more inclined to check out the movie if there’s an image of a soccer game. Someone who loves romance novels or travel might be more interested in an image of the couple kissing under the Eiffel Tower.
Combining the power of DALL∙E 2 and metadata about what kind of content a user has interacted with in the past offers the potential to offer personalized imagery on a previously inconceivable scale, Egger said.
“If you have millions of users and millions of assets, you have the problem that you simply can’t scale it – the workforce doesn’t exist,” he said. “You would never have enough graphic designers to create all the personalized images you want. So, this is an enabling technology for doing things you would not otherwise be able to do.”
Egger’s team is also considering how to use DALL∙E 2 in Azure OpenAI Service to create visuals for content that currently lacks imagery, such as podcast episodes and scenes in audiobooks. For instance, metadata from a podcast episode could be used to generate a unique image to accompany it, rather than repeating the same generic podcast image over and over.
Along similar lines, a person who is listening to an audiobook on their phone would typically look at the same book cover art for each chapter. DALL∙E 2 could be used to generate a unique image to accompany each scene in each chapter.
Using DALL∙E 2 through Azure OpenAI Service, Egger added, provides access to other Azure services and tools in one place, which allows his team to work efficiently and seamlessly. “As with all other software-as-a-service products, we can be sure that if we need massive amounts of imagery created by DALL∙E, we are not worried about having it online.”
No AI technology has elicited as much excitement as systems such as DALL∙E 2 that can generate images from natural language descriptions, according to Sarah Bird, a Microsoft principal group project manager for Azure AI.
“People love images, and for someone like me who is not visually artistic at all, I’m able to make something much more beautiful than I would ever be able to using other visual tools,” she said of DALL∙E 2. “It’s giving humans a new tool to express themselves creatively and communicate in compelling and fun and engaging ways.”
Her team focuses on the development of tools and techniques that guide people toward the appropriate and responsible use of AI tools such as DALL∙E 2 in Azure AI and that limit their use in ways that could cause harm.
To help prevent DALL∙E 2 from delivering inappropriate outputs in Azure OpenAI Service, OpenAI removed the most explicit sexual and violent content from the dataset used to train the model, and Azure AI deployed filters to reject prompts that violate content policy.
In addition, the team has integrated techniques that prevent DALL∙E 2 from creating images of celebrities as well as objects that are commonly used to try to trick the system into generating sexual or violent content. On the output side, the team has added models that remove AI generated images that appear to contain adult, gore and other types of inappropriate content.
We’re designing the interfaces to help users … use this tool to get the representation they want.
DALL∙E 2 is still subject to a challenge that many AI systems encounter: the system is only as good as the data used to train it. Without the benefit of context that provides insight to user intent, less descriptive prompts to DALL-E 2 can surface biases embedded in the training data – text and images from the internet.
That’s why Bird is working with Microsoft product teams to teach people how to use DALL∙E 2 in ways that help them achieve their goals – such as using more descriptive prompts that help the AI system better understand what results they’re after.
“We’re designing the interfaces to help users be more successful in what it’s generating, and sharing the limitations today, so that users are able to use this tool to get the representation that they want, not whatever average representation exists on the internet,” she said.
Buse recently joined the Mattel Future Lab, which is exploring ideas such as the metaverse and NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, to expand the reach of the toy business. She’s using DALL∙E 2 as a tool to help her imagine what these virtual experiences could look like.
“It’s fun to poke around in here to think about what would come up in a virtual world based on – pick a descriptor – a forest, mermaids, whatever,” she said, explaining that DALL∙E 2 is helping her team predict this future. “How do you predict the future? You keep feeding yourself more information, more imagery and thoughts to try and imagine how this would come together.”
Boyd, the Microsoft corporate vice president for Azure Platform, said DALL∙E 2 and the family of large language models that underpins it are unlocking this creative force across customers. The AI system is fuel for the imagination, enabling users to think of new and interesting ideas and bring them alive in their presentations and documents.
“What is most exciting, I think, is we’re just scratching the surface on the power of these large language models,” he said.
Related:
Sign up to receive the latest updates on how DALL·E 2 is being used in Azure OpenAI Service and across Microsoft
Learn more about Microsoft Syntex and Power Automate
Read: How AI makes developers’ lives easier, and helps everybody learn to develop software
Read: New Z-code Mixture of Experts models improve quality, efficiency in Translator and Azure AI
Read: New Azure OpenAI Service combines access to powerful GPT-3 language models with Azure’s enterprise capabilities
Top image: Mattel toy designers are investigating how to use images generated by DALL∙E 2 in Azure OpenAI Service to help inspire new Hot Wheels designs. By typing plain language prompts like “A DTM race car like a hot rod” or “A Bonneville salt flats racer like a DTM race car,” they can generate multiple images to help spark creativity and inform final designs.
John Roach writes about Microsoft research and innovation. Follow him on Twitter.
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