I searched for ‘mysql data anonymizer’, ‘mysql data sanitizer’, ‘anoymous mysql data’, ‘mysql data masking’, but didn’t find anything.  Even tried posting on stackoverflow: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5058611/mysql-data-masking

I didn’t find an off-the-shelf product to buy, so here’s how I accomplished it using Microsoft SQL Server 2005.  So, these instructions assume you have a Windows machine running SQL Server 2005.  I ran Windows XP in Parallels from my Mac.

1) Download the ‘Microsoft SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA)’ from Microsoft.

2) Convert the mySQL database in question to SQL Server 2005

3) Anonymize the data using ‘MSSQL.DataMask’ http://www.wintestgear.com/products/MSSQLDataMask/MSSQLDataMask.html

4) Convert the SQL Server database back to mySQL (http://www.convert-in.com/mss2sql.htm)

I know, a bit hackish.  But, I couldn’t find an existing program to anonymize mysql data.  I tried searching for mysql data sanitize as well.

If you have a better option, please let me know.

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The combination of OSS and offshore development, yield high quality, and cost effective software, which is more easily available. As it is it is a good idea in having OSS as a part of the software development project that you want to outsource. However that is a different topic all together, but covered in a previous article Open Source and Offshore Development.

In choosing to outsource your software development project, it is not only the pure coding skill that should be considered as far as the offshore company is concerned. A decision to outsource your project involves many other aspects to be considered before that decision is taken. There is obvious trust that you should have on the offshore company, who you wish to partner with, and this trust would develop over time. However establishing trust needs to have a beginning. First of all the offshore company should be having good references of their previous work. There should be case studies that you can go through, which would reflect their professionalism in the work that they have done so far. At the same time the applicable skill set that the team has, needs to be evaluated. Even after all these, there could be those nagging doubts that you may have in trusting the offshore company in the way you would want to, since the company concerned is not a referral from one of your previous contracts.

OSS source is the foundation of trust and confidence when you choose to outsource your software development. It provides you with the trust in the software being developed. It provides insurance in the worst case the project has not been delivered in the way you wanted. You still have the code and your infrastructure based on open source architecture which can be resumed or modified by a different software development partner. In other words, you still have the opportunity to engage other programmers to update the software much faster, since it is based on open source. If open source was not used as the base of the software being developed, it would have been more difficult to replace the programmers, in the event of worst case scenarios.

There are different interpretations to the term open source. In the previous example, open source would mean the complete product, which includes, tools, libraries, etc. Delivery of the developed software would not just mean delivery of the source code with the solution. It has to include the open source product, tools, library, and others which need to have some established resources. This reduces the time and effort of the new programmers in analyzing the software. The new programmers would take much more time to get on to the speed, if the software development is not based on community based open source software.

When you choose to outsource your software development, chose developers who would use open source architecture in developing the software. In such outsourced projects, open source provides the confidence and trust in much shorter time. In a decision to outsource, open source takes a positive approach to your risk management system. You can obtain the most competitive cost in choosing a vendor who would use community established open source architecture with appropriate license. This would provide you with the quality that you require.

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For the record, this example is not intended to highlight efficiencies and/or deficiencies in outsourced article writing. Also, it is not my intention to focus on India and the Philippines. I have friends from both countries.

Instead, it is provided as an example of an article written by an offshore outsourced provider. Outsourcing article writing seems to be hyped lately as a way to add original content to your website. But I haven’t seen any examples of what you can expect. Keep in mind, this is just one example. It might help you determine if offshore article writing is something that might work for you. Let me know if you want me to post some more examples.

—

Human Resource Outsourcing in India

Human resource is the latest kind of outsourcing in India. The process of human resource outsourcing is for an Indian company to locally recruit talents and managed them for you
as if you are the owner of a particular business set up for you by this company in India.
If for example you are an IT company in the US, this company set up for you will of course be a mixture of web developers, and other IT professionals. You can run this IT
company from the US with the local company who set it up for you as your manager. They will run this company for you, from payroll to talent recruiting and everything else.

This human resource that you have outsourced in India can very well compliment your IT
company in the US. They can address any production deficiency of your company and can also provide you the needed manpower backup during peak season. What is more important is that you will be paying your Indian personnel very low salaries compared to your US employees. Outsourcing in India of human resource will prove a very valuable
investments. This new trend in outsourcing in India is getting a lot of interest not only in the US but in Europe as well.

The good thing about this kind of outsourcing in India is you can avail yourself of talented Indian IT engineers and website professionals who can give your business a lot of added value at very low cost to you. And since the Indian government is supportive of this kind of undertaking, you can be sure of no red tape and other government hassles that are attendant to other Asian countries. Besides, you will be able to communicate with all your Indian personnel in fluent English, enabling you to share and discuss all things that pertains to the operation of your outsourced human resourced undertaking..

The groundwork for outsourcing in India has been made many years ago when the Indian government decided to use the English language as their second language and use English as the medium of instruction in all schools. This made the Indians proficient in the use of the language which is helping them now in the outsourcing business. Their most notable accomplishment in the human resource outsourcing business because of their English proficiency is in the proliferation of call centers in many cities of India. If you are in the US and you call a company to inquire a particular product or service that they are offering, chances are an Indian call center representative will be the one answering your inquiry. Most companies in the US are outsourcing their incoming and even their out going calls from countries in Asia, most notably the Philippines and India.

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To achieve success in offshore software development projects, the most vital part is the requirement of a failsafe communication system. It is very important that the communication is kept alive between you and your offshore partner(s), so that information can be exchanged and related matters are sorted out. If this synchronized effort is not ensured at first, the success of the project will be doubtful. Your communication strategy needs to be well defined, and such strategies should include communication tools, such as conference calls, video conferencing, wikis, bug tracking, and continuous integration build servers and a source control repository. Here we will have a brief look at some of these tools:

Conference calls/Video Conferencing – There should be a routine conference call set up between your team and the team from your offshore company. In here too a schedule needs to be set up, ensuring that conferences start and end at specified time. The issues discussed should be well documented to be referred to later.

If you have an access to a video conferencing system, it would become a highly desired facility in such scenarios. However, true video conferencing equipment would require high bandwidth, unlike the $100 web cams which are increasingly used for such conferencing. Setting up video conferencing and its operation is costly, and this conferencing could perhaps be scheduled once a week.

Wiki/Whiteboard/RSS – You would need collaborative development effort in any project outsourced offshore. Ideally the “white-board” solution is quite effective in solving different kinds of technical issues. This allows both the parties to work on a common document structure, hence following the same method of representing their status regarding the project.

Continuous Integration and Bug Tracking – You need to a way for all team members to immediately, at any time, know the status of the project from the code perspective. Two ways this can be facilitated is through a continuous integration build server and the implementation and diligent maintenance of bug tracking/automated test results.

Source Control Repository – A document repository is a part of an important tool for providing communication between the onsite and offshore teams. This repository should be accessible by both the teams 24 hours, 7 days a week, remembering that your offshore team will be working when you will have nights. The repository should preferably have a secured access, with each identified members having their own username and password.

You probably noticed the exclusion of email and instant messenger (IM) as tools? Of course, I do not suggest you remove these applications entirely. But offshore software development teams tend to quickly rely on them too much. When information is exchanged across email or IM, the knowledge contained in the communication is buried. Using these tools appears to be a time saver on the surface. However, in the longer term, in the exchange of emails/IM becomes a burden and time waster when attempting to reference previous communication dialog.

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First things first – the company
At the end of the day the company behind your offshore dedicated team might be the factor that makes your project a success or failure. Even if a single offshore developer or designer fails to deliver, the company behind that developer or designer should be able to save your project. So the question one must ask oneself is whether the company has what it takes in terms of professionalism to do that.

The company should have enough experience and be big enough to be able to deftly get a replacement for you. The company should also be big enough to be able to meet your needs as you grow. You should not be too big a client for them, and they should not be too big a company for you. You should be important to the provider but not so important that they’d do anything to retain you (go bankrupt for example).

Another important aspect of your future partner firm is its management. Do you know the names of its managing director/CEO, project managers, the board of directors, owners and its executives? If you’re unhappy about something, who will you turn to? Who is your point of contact’s superior? Has the management got experience in handling clients such as your company? How long have they been in business? Have the management got plans to sell the company soon and have they got room and capital for expansion if needed?

The candidates
Once you feel comfortable with your potential partner company its time to test its candidates. You might be thinking about extensive telephonic interviews and tests, but I’d recommend trying out a candidate you feel good about after a chat and after having viewed the candidate’s portfolio. A web developer will prove him or herself after a few days of working and not after long telephonic interviews – especially as the offshore developer might not have English as his or her mother tongue.

If you have a telephonic chat with a candidate, don’t get turned off if his or her level of English is not entirely fluent. There are many talented software engineers and web developers who does not speak perfect English, but who definitely understand written English very well.

Exit strategy – worst case scenario
What happens if you choose the wrong candidates? Will the partner firm offer you a free replacement to try out? Is there any contract length? Make sure you have an exit strategy in place before any contracts are signed.

Project management platform
If one of your projects ever runs into problems such as missed deadlines or misconceived requirements – which most people in the web development and software engineering business experience every now and then – make sure that your partner firm has got an online platform through which requirements are being funneled. So that you can make project managers, managing directors and other executives aware of the problems and have someone do something about it quickly. An online project management platform allows stakeholders to overlook the project in any phase and without asking developers to mail a bunch of files to concerned persons.

Don’t make the process to advanced
Be meticulous about the recruitment of an offshore team of developers, but don’t make it too complex at the same time. Sometimes it’s ok to go with your gut feeling and take chances. Action is better than inaction!

About the Author

David Claesson is the owner and founder of the web development company LiteBreeze Infotech which provides web development/web design services and offshore dedicated teams. David can be reached at david@litebreeze.com or +46 706 162 318.

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Especially after emergence and hype of offshore outsourcing, Indian companies have laid more emphasis to hone rigorous development methodologies. Adding more to reliability, many Indian software companies are certified Level Five that is considered as the topmost level of Carnegie Mellon University’s Capability Maturity Model (CMM). The message is quite clear that Indian companies have moved the ad hoc level of hectic software processes to mature, disciplined and structured software processes that assures the frequent improvement in quality. Many major Indian companies have attained just right and flawless processes in order to compensate the inadequacies and maximize the savings of customers.

Recently, one of the discussions, “You cannot underestimate the importance of structuring and defining your processes, putting tools in place to measure the performance of those processes, and having processes in place to improve those processes”, clearly reflects the importance of processes. The startup outsourcing service providers should call more attention to develop their basic processes to make them ingenious, documented and easily comprehended by everyone before the team moves ahead to advance processes and went offshore.

So, robust quality assurance processes is the key aspect that charms global clients to invest in the Indian outsourcing relationship on an ongoing basis. The client expects over tenfold product rigor than it was before to make sure what he is going to save via outsourcing. Another important fact that has been highlighted recently is the necessity of the automated processes and the software that regularly monitors, analyzes and improves these processes to stay in market and demand.

Good understanding of the continuing high cost of ongoing management carries great importance in outsourcing to keep the business relationships alive and functioning appropriate. Today, you would find hardly any question regarding processes strength and investment in the process of Indian outsourcing. Now business people have an approach of thinking global and acting global that has further eased the concept of process outsourcing to India. While exploring the possibility of sending more jobs to India and finding it inevitable and significantly profitable, today, fortune European companies suggests other to find a project if they didn’t do it yet and get started now.

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by Jason Himes

In the domain of Offshore Software Outsourcing the offshoring business is reaching the sky from day to day. Increasingly more IT companies opt for Offshore Outsourcing to satisfy their business needs. This trend also adds to the facts that many of the Offshore Software Outsourcing deals will fail due to improper planning and management.When engaged in Offshore Software Outsourcing, many companies sprint into the deals hoping to gain a competitive advantage with costs cutting or production processes boost. But there are many factors to be considered, for if neglected they can really smash the expected gains. We can name some factors, outsourcers should try to focus more on while dealing Offshore Outsourcing.

Offshore Software Outsourcing deals may include plenty of concealed expenses or charges that should be pointed out and thoroughly considered. Among them may be such factors as, communications, travel and infrastructure arrangement and maintenance. These costs can make real difference to initial prices. Another important factor is the term. Short-term deals may have no and most often don’t have any financial benefits or effective ROI if the planning and startup costs are relatively very high.

Another crucial point in Offshore Software Outsourcing is comprehensive and timely communication between the vendors and customers. Both parties should keep control over the process once the agreement is concluded. It is noted that parties are apt to putting off and neglect the course of the project, which may cause the failure of the whole deal. Offshore outsourcing process monitoring should be grounded on a daily basis to ensure proper communication and aid in avoiding miscommunication. Also, both parties should have clear view of the purpose why they have made an Offshore Outsourcing deal and enumerate the benefits they want to gain by project completion.

Salary factors must not be the decisive ones in the deal of the Offshore Software Outsourcing. This can be quite a misleading benefit. The level of offshore service providers staff at initial stages may be lower compared to the next stages, while vice-versa situation with an in-house personnel. This may cause the loss productivity at the initial stages. Moreover, offshore service provider’s software engineers will need some time to get familiarized with your business. In-house personnel may start feeling uncomfortable and insecure if more and more work is outsourced overseas. One also should consider plenty of differences: cultural diversities, style of communication, personal attitude to government policy and government itself – these factors if not considered can easily turn into real problems. That’s why a piece of really good advice can be of great help if you are a newcomer to Offshore Software Outsourcing.

Offshore Software Outsourcing Library

About the Author

Offshore Outsourcing Company

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In today’s world of outsourcing, freelancers commonly use a company name of their own to lure their prospective clients into thinking that they have more experience than what they really have. In reality they might be one man shows who perhaps will not be able to provide you with sufficiently fast turn around times, nor a broad range of expertise. Always speak with a representative of your prospective partners and probe them on their company’s track record, location and number of employees. A company that refrains from having a phone conversation with you is a clear warning sign that something fishy is going on.

Software development companies should be able to present a lot of information on their operations and prior projects. Ask for case studies, coding conventions, testimonials, resumes of the staff that will be able to work on your project and all other information that can be used to judge the professionalism of your future software development partner.

Experience and References

Once you feel that the company evaluated has presented itself well in the first stage of evaluation, go ahead and ask for references and proof of prior experience such as case studies or perhaps even demos of applications similar to that you are going to develop. Once you’ve asserted that the company has the expertise required to take on your project you can proceed with asking for and analyzing the company’s proposal.

Editor’s Note:To help find offshore software development providers and to list your offshore software development services, check the Offshore Software Development Directory

The Proposal

In the company’s proposal, cost and milestones should be clearly specified along with terms of payment. Other aspects worth noticing is whether or not the proposal stresses the benefits that the application will bring with it for your organization and if it includes suggestions on how to go beyond the initial goals outlined. What will the turn around time be for finishing the application, and more importantly what will happen if the deadline is not met?

In the final agreement you sign with your software development partner, make sure that a requirements specification is included and signed. The requirements specification should be as detailed as possible and all possible functionality that you require should be printed onto that specification. Without a clear requirements specification a software development agreement will do no good in case your partner decides to deliver an incomplete product.

About the Author

David Claesson is the owner and founder of LiteBreeze Infotech – a software development firm providing web development services and dedicated development teams.

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Out of these outsource physical design, and nearly one-third of respondents from large organizations that are more likely to outsource, chip designers who responded told their firm outsource some portion of design; 15 percent noted outsourcing by physical design. But the survey said or made it clear that “outsource” is not just mean “offshore.” The respondents said their organizations use vendors in India as compared to China.

Offshore Outsourcing vendors

While leading the edge chip-design by Software projects, that will tend to stay in the America, many digital Integrated Circuit designs can be successfully done by Offshore Outsourcing vendors. But it is not all over the wall type of thing as there are costs and concerns, which could easily offset lower wages in India or China. India may seem remote for most Offshore IT Outsourcing developed in Asia, by doing design close to the foundry and where the packaging and testing.

For constraints that you give them are real is by making a good floor plan before handing over Web Designs for final routing. The true total cost and total schedule that takes to get things done like chip-design, the organizations consistently underestimate the important point to find a provider who is willing to tell the truth. To minimize iterations, offshore company has a well-defined flow to validate incoming library, net list and constraint quality, he said. Upfront planning and realistic constraints will help to avoid iterations between physical and front-end design. Iterations are the key challenge in Offshore Outsourcing of Integrated Circuit by physical design.

About the Author

The author is a Writer working with a leading software development company, which deals with software outsourcing, offshore outsourcing and offshore software development. Get more valuable information at http://www.a1technology.com.

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Evolution of the Field
Since around 1975, various people have tried valiantly to impose discipline on the chaotic, egocentric, idiosyncratic practice of programming. And just at the turn of the century some professional institutions have started to establish the core competencies that would let a programmer call herself a software engineer.

Vision of the Future
Will we see the transformation complete: will programmers be licensed and regulated like other engineers? Personally, I think it’s too early to bet one way or the other – programmers are remarkably individualistic and there will be be very strong resistance to regulating what they regard as their craft. On the other hand, offshore development and the rise of software-based lawsuits are changing the landscape much as barbed wire changed the American west of the 19th century. If you’d like my prediction, ask me again in a decade.

Today’s Situation
But if you are going to work in the world of the programmer, you’ll have to understand some of the standard ways in which complex software is constructed. If you want to sound erudite, you can refer to them as “software development methodologies” or “development models,” but if you’re talking to a programmer you’re better off asking, “So, how do you folks build software around here?”

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