ITIL Training - Are We Ready for V3

By William A Edwards MBCS, BA(Hons)

In the summer of 2007, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) launched the new version of its best practice framework for Service Management - known as ITIL (R) V3 - and since then, has been busy putting its new qualifications scheme into place. The new top-level certification for the latest version is known as the ITIL Expert qualification.

It appears from figures recently published regarding the take-up of ITIL training however, that the new scheme may be already scuppered before it starts. The figures show a high demand for the V3 Foundation course, but almost no demand for the newer capabilities and lifecycle courses.

The large number of courses now required to be completed and corresponding examinations to be passed in order to obtain the expert qualification may, to a large extent, be responsible for the low demand at the intermediate level. The older V2 Service Sanager certificate could be completed, start to finish, in only 13 days whereas the new ITIL Expert qualification would now take up to 27 days to finish.

The new qualification schema is a three-level affair with a fourth level also scheduled. Of course, this new range of courses may be good for training providers, but the key question is: is it right for the market? The absence of a significant number of bums-on-seats seems to me to suggest that it absolutely is not.

While the V2 Service Manager qualification scheme remains open, it presents a more direct route to the V3 qualification; and that, I believe, is an important reason the V3 scheme is not yet working properly. Given a straight choice, people would rather pay less, take less examinations and get the qualification quicker after all.

So APMG really need to get their thinking-caps on to determine what can be done to rectify the situation. One thing that really needs to be considered soon is the shutting-down of the version 2 scheme. Thats what needs to happen as a matter of some urgency if the new scheme is to be taken more seriously by delegates and training providers alike.

About the Author:

Your free source of ITIL (R) V3 Information online ... ITIL V3 Talk Also see our ITIL (R) Knol ... ITIL V3 Knol

Why Online Accounting Makes Sense for a Small Business ?

By Sandor Lenner

Are you a typical small business owner that wants to be more efficient and save money then read on to learn how an online accounting system can help you save time, and make your employees more efficient, and may even streamline one of your businesses processes to save you money. These are just four common examples that may be indicative of your business. Many other examples exist, however this article will was written to solely address these four examples.

Do You Have These Business Problems ?

1. Your checkbook is not in balance or your bookkeeper has to call the bank to get the daily balance.

2. Your bills are manually prepared in Word or Excel in the evenings and then re-entered into your computer and not promptly sent out.

3. You do not have or use the invoice estimating feature of your accounting program.

4. You do not keep a real time listing of your receivables and payables and its always takes a lot of time to get customer and vendor information or you keep this information on Excel.

With an online based accounting system, such as QuickBooks Online Plus, you can change and have real time access to your accounting information from any web enabled computer from your customer's office,your home, on the road, hotel or virtually anywhere. You can access accounting information on your Blackberry or I-Phone. You can even be at a customer's office, and you or your employee has completed a project,you can prepare the bill and print it out and personally deliver it to the customer. This time savings will facilitate your cash flow for two reasons. First, the bill is given to your customer in real time and the second reason, you are able to bill in the field in real time, or your employee can email the bill to to you for your approval. Alternatively, you can access review and correct the bill as soon as its prepared by your employee in the field, providing you have an online accounting system on your computer, with WIFI or wireless air cards.

Now it gets better, by using the estimate feature in QuickBooks or any other online accounting system, you can have consistency, accuracy and completeness between the estimate and the final invoice. Two more important benefits is (a) cash flow improvement resulting from quicker billing and (b) the potential to improve the process, you may be able to save considerable time for yourself or reduce the time required by your bookkeeper. Remember, you do not need a wired network when using an Online Accounting system, since youre getting the information from the Internet through WI-FI. And don't forget the time savings and fuel savings by not having to go to your office to get your accounting information when you are now able to access the information online.

Many small business owners do not reconcile their checkbook balances and they often call the bank to obtain the daily cash balance. Running a business without a properly reconciled checkbook is not a good business practice. By not maintaining a balanced and reconciled checkbook, is a serious weakness in any system of internal control and may provide an opportunity for fraud.

Many small businesses do not use the accounts receivable or accounts payable programs included with their accounting packages or if they use it, they do not use in real time. This type of information is crucial to running your business. Accounts receivable and accounts payable systems gives real time information to make business decisions and to properly understand your future cash positions. Another benefit of any online accounting system is having one central source, in real time for all of your invoices and support for customer deposits,i.e. a general ledger and accounts receivable and accounts payable journals. With an online accounting system you can view from anywhere the accounts receivable and accounts payable balances in detail or with summary aging reports. One tip, is to use the emailing feature to bill your customers from the accounts receivable program. Save the postage and time.

Likewise, its equally important to know what you owe, in real time. During these times, you need to have a procedure to detect duplicate, erroneous bills or fraudulent bills. As a business owner, if your accounts payable system is up to date, you can review the accounting payable reports to answer a suppliers questions right over the phone as to why a bill was not paid or to tell the supplier when payment can be expected. QuickBooks is easy, there is little excuse not to use these features of this software or any other comparable software. Just imagine, if your bookkeeper enters the bills into an online accounting system, like QuickBooks Online Plus, then you can assess that same report from wherever you are and select the bills to be sent out. It gets better, you or your designee can electronically pay the bill from wherever they are. Once again, with an online accounting system you can be anywhere or even be on the go, that is traveling to appointments and you will know how much is owed. I have only addressed three important areas i.e. cash, accounts receivable and accounts payable. I almost forgot my favorite topic and equally important, with an online accounting system, you will always be able to compare your actual monthly profit and loss statements to a budget. With proper analysis the budget tool provides you with a plan for next year and the budget is the tool that helps you see financial shortfalls before its too late. One final comment, QuickBooks Online Plus does not have an inventory module, thereby preventing retail,manufacturers and distribution companies from using this software, unless you purchase a 3rd party add on module

To stress a very important point, there are limitations to QuickBooks Online Plus accounting when inventory is a major component of the balance sheet, the solution is using an accounting system that has remote access such as QuickBooks Pro or Premier with remote access or a 3rd party inventory add on. This topic has already been discussed in another article that I wrote. Please contact me for a copy of that article.

The time savings resulting from your CPA or accountant being able to review and implement corrections online is crucial to receiving timely and correct financial statements. Therefore, if you have a question, and your accountant has web based access to your accounting data, corrections to the accounting information can be made, thereby avoiding the time for the accountant to schedule a visit and drive to your office.

In summary, just like the way electronic calendars such as Outlook or Google Calendar on our Blackberry's and I phones have changed the way we utilize secretarial skills, online accounting software improves they way small business owners use accounting and bookkeeping systems to run their businesses.

About the Author:

Learn how QuickBooks Online offers the essential online accounting tools to manage your business and the freedom to access your financials from work, home, or the on the road . Sandor Lenner, C.P.A. - M.B.A has been providing accounting services for over 35 years. He is also a Certified QuickBooks Pon the road visor and works as a part-time consultant for a Miami Accounting CPA firm

MACD Divergence Explained

By Ahmad Hassam

Understanding how to interpret a MACD divergence can be very helpful for you in trading. Do you know what does a MACD Divergence means? Just that the current price trend is running out of steam. It soon may reverse direction. However, price reversal may not happen right away. But a MACD Divergence is a powerful hint. The market is changing direction. It is easy to spot MACD crossovers and dramatic rises. Not so a MACD divergence. Spotting a MACD divergence will only come after practice.

For example, if the price is making a series of higher highs and MACD is making a series of lower lows, something is wrong between the two. What you are looking for is when the price action and MACD do not agree.

MACD is seen as a sign that fewer and fewer traders are in the trend. No one is trading against the trend. Yet fewer and fewer traders are in the trend. Most probably the traders are getting nervous and slowly fading out of their trades.

The only traders in the trend are nervous. They are likely to exit their trade at the first sign of trouble. So if MACD is diverging from the bullish trend. As soon as the bears muster up enough guts to short, the bulls will exit and the bears will take over.

There are two powerful keys in locating times when MACD divergence is likely to represent a reversal in price. This is exactly why MACD is so powerful. It takes time to setup but when it works, it often works well.

When the price is at the double tops or double bottoms, MACD divergence can be powerful. At this point you spot MACD divergence. You are making your trading plan based on the reversal or breakout of the support and resistance (S&R). This is known as Exhaustion Pullback.

You should trade now based on rejection reversal. This is a sign that the price action is running out of steam. This indicates that there are not enough committed traders to break the support and resistance (S&R).

MACD is also used as an overbought/ oversold indicator. When you see that it has reached its overbought/ oversold range and the price action is turning normal, this is a signal that you should avoid trading at this time.

Dont think that the currency pair is overbought and everyone is buying. However, when the price reaches its extreme, you will see price exhaust and the MACD line drop back into normal zone. Dont confuse the overbought/ oversold MACD zones as trade opportunities.

Divergence can not only be found on the MACD line and the signal line, it can also be found on the histogram. You should note this important point. The two situations described above along with your other technical indicators can provide excellent trading opportunities to you. Master MACD divergence!

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. He is interested in day trading and swing trading stocks and currencies. Discover A Revolutionary New Forex Robot. Develop your own Forex Trading System.

The Basic Facts Of One Way Rental Cars

By Anne Durrell

One-way rental cars are an important thing to consider when planning a long travel and a lot of vacationers as well as business travelers are in agreement with this. One way rental cars are also a good choice for individuals as well as families that are moving out of state.

One-way rental cars have a lot of perks, for example, discounts and flexibility. One way rental cars also often eliminate mileage restrictions.

Very often, it is impossible for us to drive a round trip. This is where one-way rental cars can come in easily.

One way rentals also come in handy for those who want to have a road trip, but just don't have the time to drive both ways. Renting a car and flying home allows travelers to have a few extra days of vacation.

A lot of rental car companies offer greatly discounted rates, so that financial savings are inevitable with one way rental cars.

Vacationers will have extra money to spend on their trip by saving some money on their car rentals. This makes car rentals inexpensive for business travelers as well as vacationers.

Flying these days can be stressful to say the least. Increased security restrictions, due to recent terror attacks in the US, have made for long lines at the airports.

One-way rental cars save the time as well as hassle of having to go through airport security, purchase your tickets, check your luggage, and board a plan. All you have to do with one way rental car is get in the car and then drive!

Traveling by minivan, truck, or car is also a fantastic way to see the sights during your trip. You will enjoy roadside diners, visitor's centers, and the opportunity to get out and stretch whenever you please.

Another advantage to using one-way car rental is that you will save the odometer on your car. It is very important that you keep your cars up to date a well maintained so that they will last for a long time, and by choosing to use a rental car, you could save hundreds of miles on your own vehicle.

Most of rental cars come with a roadside assistance, which means if you should break down the car rental company will pay to have the car towed as well as they will see to it that you get another rental vehicle to change your previous car as soon as possible.

If you have a plan to take a trip soon, you should defiantly consider choosing a rental car, since one way rental cars can save you a lot of money.

About the Author:

Her name is Anne Durrell. She comes from California. She has written extensively on Car Rentals . You may want to check out her other guide on enterprize rent a car tips, and cheap rent a car guide!

A Small Amount Of Documentaries That Are Worth Downloading To Watch Now

By Shirley O Allen

Documentaries are meant to be instructive and to make us think. They tell us about life and situations from a viewpoint that we don't always see. They are intended to inform us but they also succeed in amusing us and some of them are the best movies around.

There are a a small number of documentaries that they say one and all must see. "An Inconvenient Truth" falls into that class. "An Inconvenient Truth" deals with a subject that affects each and every one of us and the lives or our children and grandchildren. It is an easier to make the option to be more environmentally friendly when you actually see the ruin of global warming.

Along the same theme is the TV series, "Planet Earth". You need to take advantage of any opportunity you have to watch this astonishing series. You can download it today and enjoy it this evening. It is scenic and amazing and it will take your breath away at how miraculous this planet that we live on is.

It is possible that the most famous documentary filmmaker today is Michael Moore. He is very political so you may or may not agree with his politics but either way you must confess that he makes you think. He took home an academy award for "Fahrenheit 9/11" and he has also brought us fascinating movies about the healthcare system in "Sicko" about guns and violence in "Bowling for Columbine" and soon you will be able to download his new movie called "Slacker Uprising" for free as a Thank you to his fans.

One popular and entertaining documentary that is recommended is "Supersize Me". You may be stunned about how your health could potentially modify if you were to strictly eat only fast food for 30 days. Download the movie and check it out.

A couple of emotional favorites are "March of the Penguins" and "Hoop Dreams".

A few of the more contemporary documentaries are "Religulous" and "Man on Wire". Both of these movies will make you think about life in a different way and isn't that what a good documentary should do?

In a twinkle of an eye you can download any documentary you want to see right on your own computer. A magnificent documentary will make you ponder, it will impart information in a original way, and it is continuously pleasurable.

About the Author:

If you would love to understand more about getting free movie downloads, check out my blog http://gamersnetwork.org where I have reviewed the greatest movie download free sites the internet has to offer.

The Marketing Requisites of Pay Per Click

By Sean Galusha

PPC or pay per click marketing has become a popular means for website owners to make money through the online world. It is also seen as a cost-efficient way for businesses to advertise their products in the internet. Pay per click has indeed given good opportunities for both.

There are other advertising tools available in the internet. Aside from the pay per click marketing tool, there is also the search engine optimization, online sales, affiliate marketing, online auction and many others. Pay per click however has several good points when it comes to online advertising and these made the tool popular.

Pay per click is quite different from the usual advertising. In advertising using television or radio, cost depends on the duration of your commercials or how often it is repeated. In print advertising, cost may depend on how long is your ad. In billboards, it would depend on the size and the location.

In the online world, advertising may work differently. Advertising cost does not depend on the size of the ad, and the impact and effectiveness of an ad online does not depend largely on the size of your ad. In fact, it may be difficult to measure.

One thing that makes pay per click marketing popular is that, it addresses this situation in online advertising. If you want to get a good worth of your money in advertising, pay per click is one advertising tool you can engage online, because it allows you to post your ads on websites without any cost and pay only when someone interested clicks on the ad.

Pay per click advertising is focused on getting interested online users and potential customers to visit the business site and what is good about pay per click is that, it only involves cost once potential customers are redirected to the business' site. First, the business owner determine a fix rate that he will pay the website owner once his ad is click. If the website owner agrees, it will then be his pay every time a click to the ad is made. The tool however prevents the owner from clicking his own ad, as there are generated codes that will tell if the clicks come from different users.

With this, pay per click has been known to be an effective advertising means because business owners will know at the very least that he is paying for people who visit his site and are interested on his products.

About the Author:

Author Sean Galusha is the founder and CEO of Localize Internet Marketing, a Local Internet Marketing Company. The team of experts at Localize Internet Marketing strive to deliver targeted local results to their customers by utilizing Internet marketing techniques such as Pay Per Click Management.

How To Start Earning Money From Travel Business

By Gary Mooney

Want to know about a great business opportunity?

The travel business is a generous business. Discounted travel packages are always available-you just have to get the right number of people to go on a vacation with! But if you really want to earn money, you should engage in wholesale travel. The new way of engaging in the travel business is through network marketing.

This is possible through simple network marketing. You see, there are so many travel companies out there but they don't have enough people to do the legwork for them. They produce so many discounted travel packages but they just can't seem to get the word out. This is where you and I will come in, we join their company as distributors who will be selling those packages to people who want to travel.

How does it work?

Plane tickets are normally cheaper when you book them in advance compared to buying them from the airport. Now, this happens because airlines are confident that they will still be able to fill their seats. However, what happens when airlines realize that the plane may not be filled before take-off? Now, when the plane is not filled, the airline shoulders the exact expense for things like fuel and salaries. In order to lessen that loss with one flight, they pad the prices of plane tickets bought by incidental passengers.

On the other hand, wholesale travel packages assure these airlines that the plane will be filled. When that happens, plane tickets become a lot cheaper when you book them in advance. And the difference between the advance tickets and wholesale travel tickets is where your travel commissions are going to come to from. That's a LOT of money!

But, because we are dealing with wholesale travel, we ensure these airlines that all seats will be filled and they give us the leeway to charge less per ticket. This is the kind of cooperation that happens within the travel business. When this happens, the challenge for the travel agencies is selling these plane tickets. This is why our contributions will be vital to the company. Being distributors, they need our capabilities to fulfill that promise to the airlines.

As mentioned before, network marketing makes use of the word-of-mouth technique. In the business jargon, that's also called multi-level marketing or MLM. In MLM, you have a travel company that hires people to be distributors, that's what you and I are going to be. These distributors sell goods like plane tickets and other travel packages. When they make successful sales, they get commissions from them. So basically, you earn as much as you work.

This business opportunity is so simple and clear. If you don't get to sell any travel packages, you don't earn anything, you don't lose anything either! But if you sell a lot, you also earn a lot. That is the beauty of the travel business.

Since it will be a home-based business, you really have nothing to lose by grabbing this opportunity. You only have those unlimited travel commissions to gain. Moreover, you're doing your customers a favor by giving them the opportunity to save on their travel expenses. All in all, it's a win-win situation for all the stakeholders in this set up.

About the Author:

Are you ready to start living the life you have always dreamed? Then stop at http://gleem.me/. It is not hard to picture yourself being successful with our opportunity. There really is no way you can get a raw deal from the travel business, unless you insist on being the incidental passenger who pays a lot more than the rest of the passengers on the plane. So, avail these special offers!!!