A Picture Says 1,000 Words...

...or in this case it can literally say millions!  This week we learned about a crazy technology called Steganography (say that 3 times fast).  Steganography is basically an encryption program.  It works kinda like a cypher on the movie National Treasure.  You can take text file, which is relatively small in terms of bytes, and encode the text within a picture.  The text is intertwined within the picture in such a way that you need a special program to decipher the text.  Not only that, but you also need the key code, or password, to uncover the text, so only the people you want to read it will be able to.

We were given a simple downloadable program to do our own Steganography.  The program is called "S-tools", and even for a free program it could do some pretty amazing things.  I used the program and hid within a picture of my family the compete works of William Shakespeare.  Although I'm not exactly sure why I would ever want to encode his works, it shows the power of this simple program.  With more important or sensitive material, using such a program could be very useful.

For example, lets say you created an amazing new video game for the computer.  Unfortunately,  someone stole your work and made a copy of it.  Steganography would be a way to prove that you were the original creator of the game.  By simply encoding text within the title picture for your game, you would be able decode your name and copyright to that original game.  You would have solid evidence of your originality that only you could reveal.

The only thing I do not like about the program we used, is that it was a bit tedious.  I am also not exactly sure what I would use the program for as a Facilities Manager.  Of course, every job deals with sensitive information, but to encrypt all of that information seems a bit much.  If there ever were an online transfer of critical numbers or info, such as SS numbers, account numbers, or protected plans, this could be helpful I suppose.

I'll take VEKTR for 500...Trebek!

So Vektr seems like a pretty easy to use system.  I have to admit I have only seen a couple of other work order systems...but this has some things that I really like.

First, it is a GUI interface.  Text based systems always seem so clunky and old to me.  It is refreshing to just see a program that is aesthetically pleasing to the eye.  Second, its layout seems very easy to use.  As an admin (facilities manager) you are able to view or all of the WO's at once, or simply narrow it by the groups or trades you want to see.  Last, once your are viewing the groups you want to see, it is easy to look at the reports, WO's, etc.

A couple of things that seems perhaps burdensome.  One, the system seems a little high maintenance...as in, you could literally spend hours reading reports, typing instructions, or setting up inspections.  Of course this is part of the job, but there is a point when things need to just be getting done.  Two, it seems like you can easily tell when others are on or off the program.  Maybe this isn't the place for it, but this would be an excellent collaboration program as well.  Kind of like outlook.  If it had a more active calendar, perhaps email, but especially a chat feature to send quick messages to coworkers, I think that would be a nice touch.

Overall I think Vektr is the best program I have seen yet.  I would definitely be interested in using it as a future FM.  I guess that means I would recommend it to others too!

Door Number 1,2, or 3?

Well, I guess it has come down to this.  I have decided to go with the Google business applications.  I am not exactly sure if I am going to focus on just one or several.  As my research continues I assume I will be able to see which is more appropriate.

I made the choice based on what I thought would be most helpful to me in the future.  I hope my research and findings will help me throughout the rest of my schooling and career.

FPM 360: Let the Technology Begin

For my first entry, I am going to share a few technologies that have interested me in regards to the field of Facilities and Property Management.

1. Survey Monkey - I heard about this website in class this week for the first time.  I briefly went and checked it out and saw that it looks like a fairly useful tool.  It is a great idea and I would like to learn more about it.

2. Google Tools - This may seem very generic, but I really don't know anything about or how to use any of the tools that Google has made available.  I know there are some great ones for business and I would like to know more about them.

3.  Swype's new Keyboard Technology - This is an amazing new way of inputting text into touch screen devices.