Redaction Revealed

The past week we saw how the settlement between Facebook and ConnectU was hacked revealing the details of the transaction. Apparently, this is not the first time it has happen and many top organisations are exposed to such IT security risk. Managing those risks is fundamental to an organisation’s security policy.

The advent of Portable Documents Formats (PDFs) in addition to other word processing programs made document distribution easier which was then an improvement on Tagged Imaged File Formats (TIFF) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Most organisations use PDFs to redact their electronic documents before distribution. However this can be revealed if not done properly.

The discussion of instances where redacted documents had been revealed leading to the exposure of confidential information is beyond the scope of this post. Essentially, electronic redaction only changes the colour of the font and when copied to an editing program, all the blackouts are revealed.

At an organisational level, the solution lies with individuals understanding of the technology being used before it is deployed. Managers should understand the trade-offs in disseminating information and the cost of security. Checks must be in place to protect sensitive information.

The best solution if you are not sure is never to distribute information to anyone. Another is to get it printed in hard copy and use black marker over the text you don’t want to show. You can also make use of TIFF, which is only an image of the document and losing the consumer friendliness of PDFs.

Further reading:

Redacting with confidence

Copy, Past and Reveal

Notebook Recovery

I thought it was the end of it, but in the end it was recovered and working better. This happened when I was running out of space with my notebook with less than 10GB of free space remaining. There were a number easier options I could take but I was also prioritising. The computer had two operating systems, Windows and Ubuntu. The later was used on a trail basis and to be used on a desktop computer.

The main activity was taking off Ubuntu that was taking more than 10GB of disc space and archiving my documents, pictures, movies, contacts, downloads etc basically all files that are not regularly used to an external disc. The tricky issue was removing Ubuntu which was using a partitioned part of the Hard Disc. Re merging the partitioned Hard Disc involved complex procedures that could result in losing everthing if not done properly. My only hope was, I do have regular backups of all the files on CDs.

I did take the longer option of re-installing Windows after backing up all the files on the notebook. All the old file had been transferred to an external disc and all my program file re-installed. The computer is now faster like I had it when it was new and I can access all my files from the external disc. This wouldn't had been possible had I used the other options and would continue to have slow programs running on the computer.

Ghana-ing votes

[I dedicate my first post of the year to the magnificent people of Ghana for making Africa proud and that multi-party democracy can work on the continent]

Published: January 7 2009 19:59 | Last updated: January 7 2009 19:59

Elections of one sort or another have taken place in all 48 sub-Saharan African countries in the past decade. On a continent that has also experienced some 83 successful coups in half a century, this is often cited as a mark of progress.

Many elections, however, have not in themselves translated into greater stability or social justice. In most countries, voting has merely added trappings to a new form of one-party rule, where incumbent regimes control electoral machinery and use patronage and oppression to maintain power. A slew of election setbacks have, meanwhile, revived doubts as to whether a continent riven by ethnic discord and beset by development challenges is yet suited to western democracy.

Nigeria’s 2007 polls were marred by fraud of every kind. In Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe is still in power nine months after he and his party were beaten at the ballot box. Kenya is struggling to overcome the traumatic aftermath of its own hotly disputed elections. Overall, the evidence suggests Africans still tend to vote along ethnic lines – rather than for what they believe in – and that their leaders rarely miss an opportunity to cling to power. The combination can be deadly.

In this context, Ghana’s elections, culminating in victory at the weekend for John Atta Mills, the opposition candidate, are cause for celebration. On Wednesday Ghanaians witnessed the second constitutional transfer of power in a decade. Only Benin, on the mainland continent, has experienced alternating political power of this kind.

The peaceful outcome was the more remarkable for following such a tight contest with so much at stake. Only 40,000 out of 9m votes separated the ruling party candidate and his victorious opponent, to whose government the first drops of Ghanaian oil will accrue.

Ghana was the first African country to win independence and among the first to be ravaged by coups and counter coups. It is now blazing a trail towards more democratic rule.

Yet Ghanaians, like many other Africans, are divided along ethnic lines in who they vote for. They face the same daunting development challenges as their peers.

What has made the difference is that successive leaders have allowed an independent media to flourish and an autonomous electoral commission to gain strength as an institution, and with it public trust. In the process, Ghanaians are becoming increasingly demanding of performance from their politicians. Their example is particularly welcome at a time when real democracy in Africa is otherwise under threat.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

Strategic Business Analysis

Organisations operates in an uncertain environment for their future direction.   The recent financial crisis tells how the future can be unpredictable even with the sophisticated  available tools to management. A strategy is often needed to overcome this uncertainty. Strategic Business Analysis (SBA) is a a planning tool for the future direction and scope of an organisation. As a planning tool it looks at the long-term and considers the whole organisation including stakeholders, resources and competencies. It is basically about 'strategic management' that seeks to achieve the objectives of the organisation and adapt its scope, resources and operations to environmental changes in the long term. There are various approaches to SBA, the most common and popular is the 'top down' rational process. This strategic planning approach, also known as the Johnson, Scholes and Whittington (JSW) model, is broken down into three interdependent phases of strategic analysis, strategic choice and strategic implementation. Apart from this, there is the emergent strategies by Mintzberg (1987) that sees strategy as evolving over time and the incremenatalism approach  sees strategy as extensions of small scale practices. There is also the freewheeling opportunism to strategy, describing the process as  grabbing opportunity as they happen.

Strategic Planning

The strategic planning process  starts by setting the mission- that is identifying the purpose of the organisation - and then establishing objectives to achieve the mission. These objectives are targets usually quantified with time-limits. The next stage is analysing the internal and external environment for strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, including stakeholder analysis for their power and influences on the organisation. This process leads to identifying strategic options, making a choice and implementing the strategic plan as outlined below. This process includes a control loop that compares the objectives set to results. Deviations from the plan/objectives is adjusted in continuous periodic process.  See Below:

Strategic planning is also carried out at different levels of an organisation. At the corporate level, decisions like, what business is the firm undertaking? What business should it be undertaking? is compared with the firm's environment, resource capabilities and the values and expectations of stakeholders.This is known as the corporate strategy. At the business level, the strategy considers how each strategic business unit (SBU) try to accomplish its mission within its selected area of activity.This is the business strategy. At the functional level, the strategy considers how distinct functions of the business support the corporate and business strategies. This the functional strategy.

The Strategic Analysis/Position

This assessment process involves analysing the environment in which an organisation operates  for example competitors, markets, regulations, opportunities and threats etc. The environmental variables - political, economic, social, technological environmental and legal are scan for their effect on the organisation and it activities. Assessing the strategic capabilities of the organisation is part of this process for example resources, competences, for its relative strengths and weaknesses. This is done taking into consideration the culture, beliefs and assumptions of the organisation; and of the power and expectations of stakeholders. Major stakeholders include shareholders, managers, employees, trade unions, customers, suppliers government and the general public.

The Strategic Choice

This is based on producing strategic options-establishing possible choice for future strategies-for example producing at the lowest cost, differentiating products and/or determining a method of growth (acquisition vs organic). The next step is assessing the options as to their comparative merits and feasibility to the organisations existing position. This is done by building on strengths, overcoming weaknesses, taking advantage of opportunities and minimising threats; The last step is the selection of an option/strategy for the organisation to pursue. the strategy chosen could be single or mixed and not be the right or wrong one but on merits and demerits. The selection is influence by values of managers and interest groups within the organisation reflecting the power structure.  These choices are made at every level of the organisation. That is at the corporate, business and operational levels.

The Strategic Implementation/Action

This process involves detailed plans or objectives for operating units, targets for managers to achieve,  including detailed specifications on how the activities are to be carried out.  Several parts form this process into a coherent plan which includes resource planning and the logistics implementation. Others include the organisation structure needed to carry out the strategy and the systems  (information, procedures and controls) employed to manage the organisation. Sub-strategies for products, markets, human resources etc. is part of this process.

Alternative Strategies

Mintzberg (1987) suggests that strategies evolve over time (emerge) and do not arise out of conscious strategic planning process. This emergent strategies result from a number of ad hoc choices in a down top approach to the final unclear objective of the strategy whiles continuously adapting to human needs. Separate part still develop as strategy proceeds in an incremental faction. The incremenatalism approach believes strategy is built on the process of consultation, compromise and accommodation by making small scale extensions of former practices. Freewheeling opportunism is another alternative strategy that grabs opportunity as they occur. Basically it is used by entrepreneurs who dislikes planning and enjoy taking risks and new ventures only to lose interest once its up and running. Johnson and Scholes describe strategy as design, experience and ideas. This they called the three lenses of strategy. Essentially, strategy as design is the same as the rational planning model and strategy as experience reflects the emergent approach, whiles strategy as ideas mirror freewheeling opportunism.

Further Reading:

Johnson G, Scholes K, and Whittington R, Exploring Corporate Strategy, FT Prentice Hall, seventh edition, 2005

Mintzberg H, Ahlstrand B, Lampel J, Strategy Safari : The Complete Guide Through the Wilds of Strategic Management, FT Prentice Hall, 1998

 

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