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Welcome to Technology Evaluation Centers' (TEC's) HRIS buyer's guide for SMBs. In this guide, we discuss some of the challenges that small to medium businesses (SMBs) face when recruiting, hiring, and managing staff. We will also feature information about the latest vendor offerings for the SMB market in the area of human resources information systems (HRIS).
The products covered in this guide address the management of a company's workforce, including hiring, payroll, benefits, training, health and safety, and more.
While HRIS are also commonly referred to as human resource management systems (HRMS) or as human capital management (HCM), for the purpose of this guide, we will refer to the systems that support HR functionality as HRIS throughout. All these systems'in one way or another'encompass core HR functionality.
We've included customer success stories to illustrate how the various HR solutions have helped companies like yours solve personnel, payroll, and benefit management problems.
For your convenience, there is also a vendor directory to assist companies looking for an HRIS, whether it's an end-to-end on-premise solution, an on-demand or software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution, a third-party solution, or a best-of-breed solution.
We hope you'll find this guide a useful tool in determining which HRIS is best suited to your company's business model and particular needs.
For many years, HR management has been viewed as the enterprise function responsible for staffing and personnel-related issues, such as recruiting and hiring, establishing employment policies, handling pay and retirement plans, and administering benefits. Today, company executives see the HR function in an entirely different way. From recruiting, hiring, and training new staff, to the transfer of key functions from the back office to the front line, it is evident that executives are looking to transform HR from a seemingly low-priority function into a strategic and vital part of the business.
What is fueling this transformation is that SMB executives are beginning to understand the critical link between their people and the bottom line. To remain competitive as an SMB in today's job market, employers need to know what their employees are doing, what skills they have, their ambitions, how they are progressing, and how they fit into the future of the business.
SMBs that continue to view HR as strictly a department or administrative service and that fail to infuse HR functions throughout the organization will inevitably limit their ability to compete and grow.
We'll review some of the trends in the HR space, as well as some of the challenges facing SMBs in the wake of globalization and the changing HR landscape.
One of the biggest challenges SMBs face in the area of HR is recruiting and retaining skilled talent. According to TriNet's 2007 HR Trends Report: People to Profitability (http://www.trinet.com), which surveyed more than 500 SMB executives, talent management was the second greatest business concern after revenue. The irony is that while many SMB owners value developing their staff almost as much as building a company culture, less than a third of them have an HR director.
Some of the demographic trends that are most likely to have a major impact or cause a radical restructuring of the workplace include an aging workforce, the retirement of the baby boomer generation, and a shortage of skilled workers. In fact, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts a shortage of 10 million skilled workers by 2010 (www.bls.gov). Thus, succession planning is also becoming a growing concern for companies of all sizes. In order to ensure business continuity, succession planning must be aligned with the company's high-level goals and embraced throughout the organization.
In order to stay competitive, companies must revise their hiring, retention, and workforce management strategies so as to maintain a supply of skilled personnel in a rapidly shrinking labor pool.
Compliance is one of those necessary evils that companies must deal with'and SMBs are no exception. Between federal, state, and industry requirements, compliance is perpetual. But according to data compiled from Achilles Group's 2007 Q2 research report (www.achillesgroup.com) concerning owner trends in the SMB space, not one business owner selected HR compliance as an area for improvement'even though they must comply with thousands of HR laws and regulations.
The HR regulatory compliance arena is a constantly evolving myriad of labor laws and HR issues. The cost of ensuring compliance increases with each new regulation'which often leaves many SMBs struggling to keep up.
The truth is that no matter what the size of the organization, companies cannot afford to risk being non-compliant with labor laws. Doing so could seriously jeopardize the business.
According to TriNet's 2007 HR Trends Report, another challenge in HR is the 'flattening' of the global marketplace. This global interconnectivity creates the need for flawless management and communication from, between, and with employees. This is especially relevant for companies that have branch offices and teams across the globe or that use third-party outsourcing providers to manage their HR.
While most have adapted to this global reality in their operations, many are falling behind in developing the HR policies, structures, and services that support global operations. In order to create a truly global workforce, organizations that operate on an international level must stress the importance of the HR function throughout their global environment'while having the right systems in place to support such a structure.
To this end, HR can be invaluable in developing a unified corporate philosophy for attracting and retaining much-needed talent across the globe.
As an SMB executive, you may already know the difficulties of finding and retaining good employees. If you're competing against larger companies for potential staff or looking for a way to boost retention and loyalty within your enterprise, a comprehensive benefit plan might be the one part of your compensation package that makes or breaks the deal.
Understanding the importance of an employee's life concerns (e.g., health, children, home, aging parents), has led employers to negotiate a variety of health benefit incentives with their group health care insurance providers. Some of the latest trends include
That said, the fact remains that relative to their net earnings, small businesses pay exorbitant rates for their employee benefits. With a growing number of employees absent due to job-related stress and the increase in prescription drug expenditures, these numbers are expected to rise dramatically over the next decade.
According to a 2004 Compensation Trends and Projections Survey conducted by leading HR consulting firm Morneau Sobeco (http://www.morneausobeco.com/ the rising cost of health care benefits was the top HR concern for organizations, and was identified as a major issue by 57 percent of the survey's respondents. Rising pension costs was also a high-level concern.
While costs are expected to continue rising over the next decade, SMBs can keep these in check, by taking the appropriate actions. Some examples:
So far, we've identified four of the major challenges that SMBs are facing today, and some of the trends that we're seeing in the SMB space with respect to HR management:
With the exception of compliance complexities, each of these issues points to one common thread: people. What that translates to is quite simple. Innovation (or improvement) lies not only in the technology that organizations use to operate their businesses; it lies within their people as well. In order to drive innovation, HR executives must harness the human-capital potential within their organizations. Doing so requires investment in the recruitment and development of talent that in the long run can provide a competitive advantage over the competition.
Because of these challenges and in light of the trends, it's more important than ever for an SMB to choose a system that is suitable to its needs. By leveraging the right technology, companies can help their HR professionals cut through the paperwork, allowing HR more time to concentrate on the company's strategic resources'its people.
While SMBs have the same HR issues as large companies, they often cannot afford the expertise'or simply don't want to pay for it. Until recently, emerging HR solutions largely ignored the SMB challenges. Today, however, there are a number of emerging cost-effective solutions that go beyond core HRIS offerings to provide SMBs with solutions for their unique requirements.
Core HRIS encompass functionality for handling personnel-related tasks for corporate managers and for individual employees. An HRIS generally supports personnel management, benefit management, payroll management, training management, workforce management, time and attendance, compliance reporting, and health and safety administration. Many systems support employee self-service functionality as well. These systems support HR personnel by automating a large percentage of the work.
There is also an overlap of HRIS functionality which can be found in a learning management system (LMS)'this includes recruitment management, workforce gap analysis, payroll, benefits, and rewards. HR functionality is also seen in solutions such as knowledge management, succession management, and talent management.
When it comes to the type of HRIS to implement, SMBs have the same options from which to choose as do large enterprises. For example, one SMB may select an all-in-one (or integrated) solution to use in conjunction with its existing HR processes and information systems. Another SMB might decide to go with an information system that offers various modules'where it can pick and choose the software features and functions it requires'and outsource the rest of its HR operations to a third-party provider. The options are almost endless.
In today's market, SMBs must look toward an HRIS that can offer flexibility and a variety of options to fit the company's changing needs. Among the choices are hosted and non-hosted solutions, as well as outsourced and best-of-breed options. In this section of the guide, we will examine various HRIS vendor offerings and briefly discuss the advantages and the disadvantages of each option. Offerings include:
In order to remain competitive, SMBs need advanced HR functionality that enables them to recruit, train, and retain valued employees, as well as meet increasingly complex regulatory compliance standards. This can be achieved with a comprehensive on-premise solution (i.e., an out-of-the-box or homegrown application).
While implementing and managing an on-premise HRIS application may be the way to go for some 'mom and pop shop' types of businesses, traditional on-premise HR applications are often too labor-intensive for most SMBs to manage. The inherent start-up costs associated with the on-premise model are another concern for the SMB.
On the other hand, on-premise systems have several advantages which can be very compelling for the SMB. Many smaller businesses deploy on-premise solutions because they provide a greater sense of security; employee records are kept in-house instead of off-site. And the solution can be easily customizable and scalable to fit the company's growing needs. As the business grows, the on-premise software environment provides the flexibility for SMBs to select the peripherals and third-party applications that complement and support its business processes.
While on-premise may not be a thing of the past just yet, software vendors aren't waiting around to find out, so many that offer traditional on-premise HRIS are now adding on-demand and outsourcing services to their roster.
Some of the advantages and disadvantages of implementing on-premise HRIS in the SMB space are summarized in the table below.
The newest trend in HRIS to emerge is on-demand (more commonly referred to as SaaS), which is being rapidly adopted by scores of SMBs today. It trades on-premise deployment and its traditional software licenses for a pay-for-use or subscription-based approach. The vendor owns the software; the company simply pays for the service.
The application is delivered over the Internet to anyone with a web browser. Using the Internet as a platform provides an interface independent of the client's computer. SMBs are attracted to the advantage of this type of set-up because the costs of acquiring, implementing, and operating the software can be shared by more than one customer, which yields economies of scale. This is known as multi-tenancy; what multi-tenancy does is provide SMBs with savings through the consolidation of IT resources into one single operation.
Instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on licenses, companies are billed on a monthly basis for the modules they need and use'which makes this alternative very appealing to SMBs. And they avoid the cost of complex upgrades because the on-demand applications are automatically and routinely updated and delivered to the provider's customers. For HR organizations that lack resources for IT upgrades or process improvements, on-demand is an alternative worth considering'not to mention they can focus on business while minimizing their IT resources and expenses.
On-demand allows SMBs and managers to take control of their payroll and address HR needs, without adding the expense of hiring an HR manager. Having the ability to actually speak to qualified HR professionals about an HR issue can be invaluable to a small business owner. Most SMBs want the best practices expertise of larger companies; with a rented software model, they can have that access'without a large upfront investment.
This web-based solution platform is designed to help SMBs automate critical core HR activities as well as do performance management, policy management, and compensation planning.
While many HRIS vendors have focused their initiatives primarily on the large enterprise market, they are now looking at the growing opportunities available to them in the SMB space. To be successful, however, HRIS vendors will need to price their offerings to accommodate the SMB requirements.
The following table illustrates some of the advantages and disadvantages of implementing on-demand HRIS in the SMB space.
Some Facts about On-demand
In today's competitive business environment, companies are increasingly contracting out (outsourcing) specialists to perform specific functions within their HR operations. One example is payroll management. Many SMBs rely on third-party providers to manage their payroll. In addition, more and more companies are approaching third-party providers to take on other HR functionality as well. It has become an increasingly popular way to improve basic services while allowing HR professionals time to play a more strategic role in their organizations.
On the flip side, while HR is important to executives, many are afraid to transition away from their on-premise solutions or current HRIS providers due to the uncertainty associated with change and possible legal complications. For these reasons, the HRIS provider partnership is often unexplored.
However, companies that partner with an HRIS outsourcing provider that offers HR guidance are poised to succeed. Why? Because a company that partners with an outsourcing firm that specializes in its industry can reap the benefits of the provider's expertise and use it to advantage. Providers that are knowledgeable about their customers' industries are better positioned to anticipate HR issues and help resolve high-level problems.
An outsourcing firm has experienced professionals to handle various HR responsibilities, as well as ensure compliancy with state, federal, and industry laws and regulations. They can help to streamline business processes, ensure you are receiving the best benefits package possible, and provide a commitment to delivering competitive retirement planning programs for your employees.
As the cost of health care is on the rise, many SMBs find they cannot afford these kinds of additional costs'even though they can provide better selling points to potential job candidates. Insurance companies like Fidelity, Prudential, and Sun Life (to name a few) are providing SMBs with affordable retirement plans and health care insurance programs that enable them to compete with larger enterprises for talent.
But outsourcing these types of core HR activities is not a decision that should be made hastily. Before embarking on such a partnership, to maximize their chances of success, organizations must analyze their own company culture before researching the market.
Before signing on the dotted line, work out the contractual details with the vendor. A detailed service level agreement (SLA) that outlines the vendor's roles, responsibilities, deliverables, support, and timelines will help to ensure an effective outsourcing arrangement. Even after the SLA has been signed, companies must monitor SLA performance to ensure that the details of the agreement are being respected.
Below are some of the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing HR functionalities in the SMB space.
Some Facts about Outsourced Solutions
Best-of-breed HRIS combines multiple solutions into a unified system and provides companies with the innovative tools they need to strategically manage their workforce and meet new business challenges. Best-of-breed encompasses one or more of the following: human resource management (HRM), talent management (TM), and workforce management software (WMS). With a combined solution, SMBs can select a customized solution to manage their diverse needs. Consolidating multiple HR information sources not only improves data integrity, it eliminates interfaces and simplifies reporting.
Best-of-breed focuses on specialized applications rather than broad suites of applications and embodies all the key benefits of outsourcing HR. Having the freedom to select a specific module from a larger suite allows companies to take advantage of superior HR functionality'without the out-of-reach cost.
An effective HRIS must be able to track all the information a company needs about current and former employees. This automated functionality will reduce the workload of your HR staff, allowing them to focus on their primary responsibility: your employees. A solution that is dedicated to providing your company with the latest in HRIS offerings keeps your HR initiatives in mind while ensuring you reach your strategic goals.
Below are some of the advantages and disadvantages of best-of-breed HRIS in the SMB space.
Some Facts about Best-of-breed Solutions
The face of HR is constantly changing. No longer the low-priority function it once was, HR is now a strategic and vital part of the business. HR professionals share in the decision-making processes of the company rather than being on the receiving end of those decisions. And while there are a number of reasons for this change, the fact that it has changed indicates that company executives are taking a greater interest in their people'and in how employees can affect the future of the business.
Employees play a key role in the success of any business. The key to competitiveness, however, is for SMBs to understand this fact and use their knowledge about employees to their advantage. To remain competitive with larger enterprises in today's job market, SMBs must be willing to go the extra mile.
While having the right goals in mind is the first step in the HR transitioning process, companies must also ensure that they have the right system in place to handle their employee information. Selecting the right system for your HR needs will require time and effort. So before embarking on a long term relationship with a vendor or provider, do your homework. This introductory guide will get you started in the right direction by providing you with information about current trends, as well as what types of systems are available on the market today.
Whether you decide to lease or purchase HR software, or if outsourcing your HR processes is the way you choose to go, there are hurdles you must clear. SMBs will overcome these challenges in time by becoming more familiar with the available software and its processes. Whichever route you take, your choice must be cost-effective, efficient, dependable, and most importantly, meet your needs and be in line with your HR initiatives.
Sherry Fox is a TEC research analyst with over 20 years of experience in the private sector. Before joining TEC, Fox spent five years as vendor compliance administrator for a large Canadian clothing retail chain. She helped create and manage the department and provide support regarding policies and procedures to vendors all over the world. Fox also helped develop various programs relating to environmental and human rights issues within the apparel industry, and participated in conferences on the subjects of sustainability and climate change.
Fox has been involved with several software implementation projects during her years in the retail industry. From deploying payroll software to integrating a benefits module, she was actively involved in all phases of these implementations.
A proficient writer of articles, online content, guides, and manuals, Fox has comprehensive knowledge in the areas of retail, manufacturing, compliance, and technology. She also has in-depth management experience with various enterprise segments, including payroll, human resources, logistics, and compliance.
Administrative human resource (HR) management has traditionally received much more lip service than true respect from businesses and individuals. However, many recent events and consequent realizations promise to transform the HR department from a lowly cost center, a necessary evil, and a gaggle of boring pen pushers and record keepers (and other derided whatnots), into a strategic and crucial part of any competitive business. In other words, for a long time HR management has been the enterprise function or organization responsible for mundane staffing and personnel issues, such as hiring, employment policies, handling pay, retirement plans, and benefits. It encompassed applications for handling personnel-related tasks for both corporate managers and individual employees, and typically included common modules and high-level functions:
These administrative functions have traditionally been handled by HR management systems (HRMS), whether as stand-alone HRMS application suites, or as part of broader enterprise resource planning (ERP) suites (see Essential ERP'Its Functional Scope). In any case, HRMS customarily involves business applications for the management of HR transactions, best practices, and enterprise reporting, with typical functions like core HR tracking, payroll, and benefits. Lately, their scope has been extended to include recruiting, competency management, training, time management, performance management, and so on. Most of these have been bolstered by the advent of the Internet, with which came the aforementioned manager and employee self-service and e-recruiting tools. In fact, providing employees with Internet-based self-service access to their HR information (for instance, address, dependents, benefits, payroll information, and education) and to corporate HR information (such as job openings or training enrollment) has enabled companies to significantly increase the efficiency and responsiveness of their HR department and improve the overall quality of HR management.
Yet overall, HR management (including processes, technologies, and systems) has thus far done little to support the evolving workforce and its needs. Instead it has focused almost entirely on compliance-driven transaction handling and record keeping, and maybe in part on employee productivity. In fact, many employees are nowadays spending less and less time at their 'assigned' offices, cubicles, or desks, while more of their time is involved with the prevalence of project-based workgroups that constantly get created and disbanded. However, the management of physical space, technology platforms, and employee services is still built on the assumption of standard 'nine-to-five' working hours, when people are supposedly stationed at a desk, in an office, with a desktop personal computer (PC) and a telephone.
In fact, Hewitt Associates, one of the world's largest providers of multiservice HR business process outsourcing (BPO) and consulting, recently issued the insightful report 'Next-Generation Talent Management,' which indicates that demographic, economic, technological, and sociopolitical phenomena are driving the most drastic workforce changes in decades, creating a workforce that is more diverse, mobile, informed, and in demand than ever before. The report reveals the five trends reshaping the workforce, which is becoming
As the economy begins to warm up and the demographic shifts continue with the retirement of the baby boomer generation, look for even more emphasis on improving workforce management practices. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts a shortage of 10 million skilled workers by 2010. In order to stay competitive amid such a demographic bomb, companies will have to change their hiring, retention, and workforce management strategies to maintain an effective, stable workforce, and to keep their candidate pipeline sufficiently full for future growth.
It is thus no wonder that lately one of the more active areas of more strategic HR-related software has been recruiting or talent acquisition. In this domain, Monster, Resumix, BrassRing, Deploy Solutions, Peopleclick, Taleo, Vurv (formerly Recruitmax), Webhire (now part of Kenexa), Unicru (now part of Kronos), Hire.com (now part of Authoria), and Jobster (including recently acquired WorkZoo) are merely a handful of choices that first come to mind in a software segment that is abundant in niche players. More than just a system that stores and searches resumes for keywords, recruiting software is touted by these providers as a way to save time and money by streamlining the hiring process, and to work more effectively by better matching candidates to available jobs. While best practice HR solution providers like Ceridian offer scalable recruiting systems, they take the solution to the next level, by offering full recruitment process outsourcing, which allows companies to outsource some or all of their recruiting function, including people, processes, and technology. This maximizes the opportunity for long-term cost reduction and ability to focus on the core business.
Such systems aim at helping organizations improve the processes of recruiting and hiring by more quickly prescreening, sorting, and storing resumes, and then matching those resumes to available job openings. Some systems also include modules for various administrative tasks, such as background and reference checks, and skills assessments, while some vendors go a mile further to offer so-called 'talent lifecycle management' software, which encompasses a range of processes spanning recruiting, training, career development, internal hiring, performance management, and succession planning.
The software is typically offered via an on-demand subscription service (see What is Software as a Service?), since much of the functionality that goes along with hiring and recruiting, such as creating job postings, and collecting and storing resumes, can be easily delivered via the Web. If one adds to that the cyclical nature of hiring, it seems logical for user organizations to go with a subscription-based service as required, although many vendors do offer recruiting software as a traditionally licensed product or module within a broader suite.
Related to talent management are learning management systems (LMS), since for organizations of virtually any size, ongoing training is an essential component of developing a workforce. Learning management software essentially delivers training to the desktop (often via a web browser, and is thus sometimes also called e-learning). It allows organizations to track and monitor which employees receive training (in other words, verifies attendance), when they are trained, and how well they understand the training material (for instance, by centrally testing their comprehension). Such systems are particularly relevant in industries that are bound by regulation and compliance issues (such as finance and health care) or that require employee certification.
To that end, these systems have also caught on in manufacturing, retail, and even casinos'due in part to the impact a better educated workforce can have on the top line. Manufacturing companies specifically are in need of more effective ways to manage their employees amid shrinking workforces (driven by plant closings and outsourcing) and skyrocketing benefits and disability expenses, and they have been grappling with how to deliver learning modules to employees with specific information. For instance, a company could design an event-driven workflow that is triggered by mandatory learning assignments,
whereby a touch screen kiosk situated near the factory floor work area administers a training program.
The interactive kiosk would then track, for instance, which individuals completed the module as well as what direct association they have with lowering machine downtime as a result of completing the training session. That would then tie back to HR and other associated enterprise applications.
Learning systems are also deployed to train employees on new products'either those they are using internally, or those they are selling to customers. Such systems are based on foundational software that acts as a database or administrative hub, tracking employees, course content, and other components, whereas on top of that may sit content creation tools and other middleware that helps distribute content. And then, there is the training content itself, which can be developed in-house or obtained from a universe of third parties. Cost avoidance (due to paper and travel elimination) and efficiency (for example, an enterprise has to quickly train its sales force prior to the launch of a new product and service) can be a primary reason for deploying learning systems, although one often has to reckon with a price tag in millions of dollars. GeoLearning, Knowledge Anywhere, Plateau Systems, SumTotal Systems, Intellinex, Saba, and Convergys are among the pure-play providers in this space, while some traditional ERP providers like SAP and Oracle/PeopleSoft and an integrated best-of-breed HR Solution providers like Ceridian offer learning management systems. ERP providers bundle it as part of their human capital management (HCM) suites, like SAP HCM, Oracle HRMS, and PeopleSoft HCM, and Ceridian offers it as a component of its integrated HR solution'which integrates best-of-breed applications in the areas of finding, paying, developing, and engaging talent and supports this application suite with a best practices team.
Also, more companies are reliant upon contingent or temporary contract labor and services now than at any other time. For the majority of companies, contingent labor is a significant component of the workforce mix, and they expect their reliance upon contingent labor to increase during 2006 and beyond. According to a recent survey conducted by Fieldglass, a provider of contingent workforce management solutions (which manage the business process of finding, hiring, managing, and monitoring contingent or contract labor or services), companies that take the opportunity to streamline their contingent workforce management processes stand to gain competitive advantage. The most cited motive (from about 60 percent of respondents) for improving the management of contingent labor and services was 'improving the efficiency of procuring and managing services resources.'
If organizations view employees as assets, then it follows that those assets should be allocated effectively, and in the context of business goals and demands. To that end, workforce management software generally involves staffing, developing, tracking, and rewarding employees. In practical terms, such software schedules employees based on business volume, and also tracks labor activities, projects being worked on, work orders, hours, and how workers should be paid. Workforce management software grew out of time and attendance (T&A) monitoring systems, and can now address many facets of the workforce, from making sure that assembly lines are adequately staffed on any particular shift, to identifying the best salespeople to tackle a new account and making sure they are rewarded properly. Workforce management software vendors include Ultimate Software, Kronos (which also recently acquired SmartTime), Ceridian, Automatic Data Processing (ADP), Softscape, Workbrain, 360Commerce (now part of Oracle), Kaba Benzing, MBH Solutions (including the recently acquired Concur HR product), WorkForce Software, and CyberShift.
Based in Melville, New York, Nikon Inc. is the world leader in digital imaging, precision optics, and photo imaging technology. The choice of professional photographers the world over, Nikon is the only major optical company in the world that still controls and manufactures every aspect of its glass-making business, allowing it to ensure the best quality and performance in its products. From the raw silicon to the final coatings, Nikon's glass production is both a science and an art form. Nikon also plays an active role in supporting many different organizations, events, and workshops through its Spirit Initiative campaign. The Nikon name is equated with extraordinary photographic performance, innovation, precision, and optical quality.
Before selecting UltiPro, Nikon Inc.'s HR team had been using a payroll service bureau and was burdened with manual paperwork. The corporation's HR team determined it needed in-house control; an HRMS with end-to-end talent management functionality, including Web self-service; and the timesaving of electronic open enrollment for benefits administration.
Nikon Inc. selected Ultipro, Ultimate Software's software-as-a-service (SaaS) option, and went 'live' in 2003. The company has since rolled out UltiPro Benefits Enrollment and employee self-service. With UltiPro, Nikon has reduced weeks of work to days, given its widespread workforce Web access to HR information and personal details, and increased time for the HR team to focus on more strategic contributions.
Using UltiPro Benefits Enrollment, the digital imaging corporation delivers open enrollment materials to employees via the Internet, rather than stuffing and mailing hundreds of packets of benefit plan materials and forms. The UltiPro portal also houses the organization's quarterly internal newsletter; relevant forms; links to benefits providers; and access to individual employee data, such as compensation history'available only through security-protected logins. Since pay stubs can be accessed through the portal, Nikon Inc. discontinued printing paper checks, creating even more value.
'UltiPro's benefits enrollment feature-set has shaved two to three weeks off of our open enrollment process because there are no mailings to prepare or massive amounts of data for us to enter by hand,' said Jennifer Griffin, senior benefits and information systems analyst for Nikon Inc. 'Conducting our annual benefits enrollment online is also great because we have hundreds of employees in remote locations.'
With a nationwide-distributed sales force and multiple warehouses, Nikon Inc. decided to take advantage of the UltiPro portal to improve service and enable employees to get information when needed without HR assistance. Employees can log onto the UltiPro portal from their office, company kiosk, home, or hotel. They can make benefits changes online and update details such as home address, direct deposit choices, and certifications. Nikon's HR department can transfer the automatic updates from the employee database directly to providers'without duplicate data entry'cutting time and improving accuracy.
'When employees have questions, I can log on and see their live session so that I can help them in minutes instead of spending days passing e-mails back and forth,' said Griffin.
Using built-in workflow, modifications are routed to the appropriate approver and made 'live' once authorized. By automating day-to-day changes through electronic workflow and empowering employees to handle updates on their own, records are current and accurate.
'The decision to use UltiPro's Web tools and move to a paperless environment just made sense. Now our workforce, regardless of time of day or time zone, can help themselves without needing HR as a middleman,' said Griffin. 'My department has more time to focus on improving our strategic contributions to the organization and finding and retaining the right people instead of dealing with paper forms.'
In the early 2000s, with the economy in a downturn, HR administration delivered some organizational value by outsourcing an increasing number of HR business processes, either wholly or in part. In many cases, outsourcing to some trusted technology vendors that have already demonstrated their HR domain expertise may help companies achieve additional efficiencies and functionality, reduce head count, and cut costs.
Of the many solutions in the HR realm, the most predominantly outsourced have been payroll processing, employee assistance programs, payroll tax filing, and background screening. The most appealing and achievable benefits of outsourcing are streamlined operations, access to better HR capabilities and industry expertise (when it is not a core competency of the user enterprise), freeing up of internal staff, reduced labor costs, and accurate and predictable monthly costs.
However, the returns from layoffs (often undertaken without much thought to who should really go, potentially resulting in the hasty release of the lynchpins of the enterprise's ongoing performance) and relentless cost-cutting have proved to have only a limited (if not negative) effect. While some organizations have tried to cut labor costs to be competitive in their markets, the most progressive companies have embraced their labor forces and used them as a strategic differentiator.
As products and technologies become commoditized in this information-based economy, companies are beginning to realize that the best way to differentiate themselves and create long-term strategic advantages over their competitors might be through their people. It is no longer what one owns that counts, but rather what one knows, which is particularly critical in information technology (IT) and similar professional services organizations (PSOs), because it is the technical expertise and experience of knowledgeable staff that means the difference between success and failure.
In fact, according to Forrester Research, more than 85 percent of the market value of a typical Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 company today is the result of intangible assets. For many companies, the bulk of these intangible assets is their people (or human capital), and such companies spend as much as two-thirds of their overall costs on labor. Thus, they should focus on business processes, using technology to more effectively manage employees and improve their productivity. Combining training, incentive management, and compensation management tools delivered through a role-based dashboard, the emerging people-centric software category aims to transform each individual in the workforce into an enterprise asset.
The most progressive of companies have been using best-of-breed HR technologies for attracting, hiring, training, motivating, and managing their people. Software applications are becoming more and more sophisticated to help companies with these tasks, and as these solutions continue to evolve and communicate with one another, user companies will have a more seamless access to methods and data for managing their employees throughout the employee life cycle.
On the other hand, the laggard companies that do not embrace these technologies will likely fall behind in their quest for market dominance. For instance, by implementing a holistic employee performance management process across the enterprise, corporate strategy can be aligned (and properly communicated) with individual goals and objectives, whereby actual performance against those goals can have ramifications for individual compensation and rewards. This should drive behavior and attitude toward executing on the corporate strategy, with improved employee satisfaction and loyalty as a result.
This certainly comes in handy when the economic downturn ends, when employees begin to feel that they have more employment choices. Enterprises will again need clear, credible, and reliable strategic sourcing strategies and management in order to plan for and engage the competencies (people and companies) needed to accomplish their business strategy (by building the required effectiveness and increasing efficiency). For instance, with the economy improving and IT budgets rising, competition for IT talent'especially in key skill areas'is bound to intensify. At the same time, an improved hiring picture in IT will most likely mean higher turnover, as many unhappy IT staffers who saw workloads increase while compensation and benefits stagnated (during the economic downturn of the early 2000s) will put even more pressure on IT management.
Hence, there is a true need for much tighter integration between performance management and compensation (regardless of the economic milieu), so that exemplary employees can be rewarded more often (and feel truly special to the enterprise), as opposed to the outmoded, blanket-regulated, across-the-board annual basis (which typically produces mediocrity).
Analyzing the workforce and strategically managing the company's human capital has become the focus of human resource management systems (HRMS) as a way to transform these from dull functions to those that greatly affect corporate performance. Integrated business information warehouses, to that end, enable multidimensional analysis on information aggregated from internal and external resources (salary survey, for example), performance indicators (as in turnover), and views on strategic HR information with powerful drill-down features. Some surveys indicate that almost a third of businesses are already using data warehouses, a quarter of them are using workforce performance management or analytics, and one-eighth of them are using workforce planning.
Workforce analytics have become a core of talent management systems. This is because they focus not just on 'time' (or who has clocked in and who has not), but also on such strategic business issues as overtime and turnover trends that impact a business's bottom line profit, equal employment opportunity (EEO) or ethnicity-based hiring trends, compensation patterns, relative recruitment effectiveness and sourcing costs, cost per hire, etc..
This brings us to the notion of human capital management (HCM), or talent management, which Gartner defines as a set of HR practices that focus on acquisition, management, and optimization of the enterprise workforce. These practices include such processes as competency and skills management, succession planning, and team management. The key tenet of HCM is that companies must change the mind-set of viewing employees as an administrative cost, and instead see them as a strategic investment and a key enterprise asset, with a resulting focus on aligning workforce capabilities with business strategy. This more strategic view of the workforce will gradually become less an HR function and more a management discipline.
HCM should be about value and not cost, since people should be regarded as value-adders, and not overheads and liability. It should measure organizational outputs (such as profit, revenue, and service levels) related to better management of people, rather than focusing on input measures (such as recruitment costs) and the HR 'best practices' of earlier days.
According to studies by the Brookings Institute, in the early 1980s, tangible assets amounted to over 60 percent of firms' total assets. This ratio has now been reversed, with over 80 percent of assets being intangible, most of which is represented by human capital. Yet, while decades have been spent investing in automation technologies for better use of tangible assets, only recently have enterprises begun to invest in optimizing human capital.
Moreover, many non-HR business processes can benefit from leveraging HCM strategies, such as project portfolio management (PPM) processes (see Project Portfolio Management for Service Organizations: Bridging the Gap between Project Management and Operations), which can be improved via incorporating competency and skills data and by leveraging the team management capabilities of HCM applications. Similar examples of business processes that should benefit from 'picking the HCM brains' include production planning, job costing, scheduling, training, compliance, budgeting, and field service. In fact, any people-centric business process should benefit from integration to HCM, whereas traditional administrative HR applications and processes will hardly support this integration at all.
This leads us to a broader notion of employee relationship management (ERM), business-to-employee (B2E) management, or whatever the three-letter acronym (TLA) du jour might be (see BLM'Buzzword Lifecycle Management). In any case, these acronyms try to depict a business discipline that focuses on optimizing the employee's total employment experience'including both the human and technology aspects of that experience.
ERM espouses a comprehensive and unified view of the processes and technologies that support the workforce and their workplace, including manager-employee interactions, the formal business tasks required to manage employee relationships, and the technology used to manage the employee experience. To that end, ERM encompasses the full suite of B2E services needed by employees, managers, and others, including knowledge management, e-learning, self-services, community and collaboration support, travel and expense (T&E) management, indirect procurement, and so on. Thus, ERM is most closely aligned with the HCM focus area of workforce management.
While traditional HR and payroll management may not seem to provide a significant competitive advantage in the same respect that the aforementioned emerging technologies do, some ERM systems, like Extensity or Apptricity, help reduce cost, simplify administration, and promote a more connected company-employee relationship. What customer relationship management (CRM) solutions do for customer intimacy, today's ERM packages (replete with employee self-service and manager self-service functions) do for employee intimacy'provide all concerned parties (executives, managers, employees, government, and so forth) with immediate access to a wide array of vital information.
Since its inception in 1973, New Jersey-based Commerce Bank has grown to nearly 450 locations across the east coast. Commerce prides itself in providing customers with convenient, quality financial services.
The Commerce-Lawson partnership started in August 2000, with the signing of its first product license agreement. At the time, Commerce began using the Lawson Human Resource Management Suite, which helped simplify and streamline operations within their organization. Still, Commerce had upheld a wish list for changes and enhancements they wanted to see in the next generation Lawson Talent Management Suite solution.
For example, their limited IT staff required a faster applicant tracking system that could stand on its own, with best-of-breed features, according to Jo-Anna Rubin-Berman, Vice President of Human Resources at Commerce.
'We also wanted a system that was faster and easier for our applicants and recruiters to use, our IT staff to configure and brand for our applicants, and our HR staff to administer.'
In 2005, Lawson invited Commerce to become a Lawson Talent Management early adopter, which allowed key users at Commerce and software developers at Lawson to discuss such software needs and enhancements in detail via face-to-face meetings, conference calls, shared documentation, and webinars.
Commerce HRIS executives also attended the annual Lawson Lead-Adopter Forum, where they got to see, try, and critique the full suite of Lawson Talent Management applications in progress, and share ideas with other attendees.
'It was interesting to hear people's perspectives on processes, future plans, user interfaces, and what their applicants and recruiters were looking for. At the forum, we also developed a better understanding of the Lawson Talent Management Suite we were testing as a Charter Implementation Customer,' says Brenda Hancock, HRIS Manager for Commerce.
The Lawson-Commerce alliance facilitated in-depth discussion regarding how Lawson could continue to create products that meet and exceed the bank's needs. According to Hancock, it was obvious that Lawson executives were listening to her team's ideas.
'Lawson executives' willingness to partner and their honesty and attentiveness were much appreciated, and made Lawson stand out. During our meetings, we'd share what we were thinking, and the next time we'd see their prototypes, our changes would be in place.'
'While beta testing the Lawson Talent Management Suite, several features immediately helped address our issues,' says Rubin-Berman.
'The first is the solution's ability to easily configure text and user portals. To this day, we also appreciate the integrated administrative tools, which allow us to post multiple job boards in a single instance and apply multiple jobs to one requisition.'
Hancock adds, 'For us, the biggest and most impressive win is the full integration of Lawson Talent Management. The suite allows us to do all of our maintenance and employee activities in one spot, without having to repeat those processes. Plus, we are no longer required to have the additional audits and controls we used to have in place to make sure all of our data is in sync across the board.'
'The process of partnering with Lawson has given us the opportunity to offer our guidance and insights, and help build a product that we need to make our business grow. Once we implemented Lawson Talent Management, we were able to hit the ground running and continue the expansion of the bank.'
'When we had looked at the gap analysis based on the requirements that were needed by our technology staff, as well as our recruiters, we only found a one-percent gap in our business needs with Lawson Talent Management, compared to the best-of-breed vendors we had considered,' says Rubin-Berman.
She explains, 'While evaluating applicant tracking system vendors, for example, one of the key reasons we liked Lawson was that its Lawson Talent Management Suite is fully integrated.' Full integration is 'horizontal' within the Lawson Talent Management Suite, with interconnectedness among other software system applications. It is 'vertical' where a change at one point of entry into Lawson Talent Management permeates throughout the entire suite and its applications.
According to Rubin-Berman, 'Once implemented, our recruiters regularly reported that Lawson Talent Management is easy enough for them to use, it helps free their time to focus on more important tasks, and its reporting features allow them to complete reports themselves, which they weren't able to do using their former system.'
'Throughout our partnership with Lawson, their talented team has upheld strong commitments to Lawson Talent Management, as well as their customers. As a result, Lawson has introduced a really great product that truly incorporates our feedback, uses our ideas, and helps us achieve our overall HR strategic vision.'
Lawson Talent Management is made up of the following six applications, which are strong on their own, but derive their power from full, horizontal and vertical integration:
7560 Waterford Drive Cupertino, CA 95014 USA T: 1-888-662-4937 T: 408-257-5054 firstname.lastname@example.com www.HRnetSource.com www.auxillium.com
HRnetSource' is a comprehensive HRIS for small to midsize organizations with up to 1500 employees. HRSource' is the core data base with import/export capability and links to third-party systems such as payroll and timekeeping. Built-in applicant tracking, auto alerts, powerful querying and reporting. Open, flexible, customizable. Add-on modules include SelfSource' for employee/manager self-service, and the popular Online Employment Application Module which empowers applicants to do data entry on application forms via the company web site. This greatly minimizes the data entry burden on HR.
675 Cochrane Drive Markham, ON L3R 0B8 Canada T: 1-877-237-4342 email@example.com www.ceridian.ca
Ceridian, a top 100 global outsourcer, helps its customers maximize the power of their people, lower their costs, and focus on what they do best. Ceridian's suite of innovative Human Resource solutions includes payroll, workforce management, HRIS, recruitment and staffing services, EAP, talent management, training, and more.
2035 Lincoln Highway Edison, NJ 08817 USA T: 1-800-385-0331 T: 732-287-8270 email@example.com www.CheckPointHR.com
CheckPoint HR helps midsize organizations automate all aspects of their human resource operations. As a leading administrative service organization, our web-based HRMS technology platform offers an affordable solution to manage payroll, benefits administration, and business-critical HR processes. This allows organizations to deliver world-class services to its employees, reduce costs, and improve operational efficiencies.
380 Saint Peter St. St. Paul, MN 55102 USA T: 1-800-477-1357 email@example.com www.lawson.com
Lawson Strategic Human Capital Management provides organizations with the tools they need to maximize workforce potential. By helping identify key talents, our suite helps ensure that the right people are in the right positions to maximize their contribution and potential. And by automating administrative processes, we help HR staff increase efficiency, which allows them to focus on more critical initiatives.
155 West St. ' Suite 8 Wilmington, MA 01887 USA T: 978-988-7884 email@example.com www.nuviewHR.com
NuView's award-winning HRMS/Payroll solution helps global organizations manage people, process and strategy across the enterprise. Through our comprehensive HR and Payroll tools, clients streamline process and optimize strategic tools to improve organizational effectiveness and connect HR policy with the business objectives. Find out more.
888 Executive Center Drive W St. Petersburg, FL 33702 USA T: 1-866-271-6046 firstname.lastname@example.com www.sageabra.com
Solve HR and payroll challenges with Sage Abra HRMS. With software and services including HR, payroll, benefits, training, attendance, reporting, and an online portal including employee self-service, company communications, benefits enrollment, recruitment, and more, Sage Abra can help meet challenges now and in the future.
2000 Ultimate Way Weston, FL 33326 USA T: 1-800-432-1729 www.ultimatesoftware.com
Ultimate Software is a leading provider of integrated, strategic human resources, payroll, and talent management solutions. Its award-winning UltiPro' includes recruitment, onboarding, benefits, payroll, performance and learning management, business intelligence reporting, salary planning, and time/attendance'with self-service for administrators, executives, managers, and employees.
25 B Hanover Road Florham Park, NJ 07932 USA T: 973-360-0688 firstname.lastname@example.com www.unicornhro.com
Unicorn HRO specializes in fully integrated benefits, payroll, and human resources solutions. The company's complete suite of payroll processing and human resources information systems provides companies with anywhere from five to 10,000 employees with a cost-effective and extremely timely method for managing the entire payroll and HR cycle. The solutions can be combined with Unicorn HRO's outsource services.


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CooL,CalM,CollecT..If u neva met me u got no right ta judge me..judge not lest u b judged first..chase me...#TEAMSUCKAFREE #SECTION #CREED #POWERTEAM
In reply to: " but where is my nocturnal buddy @GothamsFinest_ ? " -Asked by @Byambaaak
In reply to: " Yo why is this trending bro? #RappersMoreRelevantThanBowWow @GothamsFinest_ " -Asked by @Dougie_Man

subset: commoncrawl


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Last Modified: November 1, 2001
Table of Contents
CancerMail from the National Cancer Institute
AU - Greinert R
TI - Skin cancer prevention.
SO - Eur J Cancer Prev 2001 Apr;10(2):123-4
AU - Greinert R; McKinlay A; Breitbart EW
TI - The European Society of Skin Cancer Prevention--EUROSKIN: towards the promotion and harmonization of skin cancer prevention in Europe. Recommendations.
SO - Eur J Cancer Prev 2001 Apr;10(2):157-62
AD - European Society of Skin Cancer Prevention--EUROSKIN, Dermatologisches Zentrum, Buxtehude, Germany.
AU - Micallef MJ; Darmanin S; Buhagiar JA; Camilleri-Podesta MT; Yamauchi H; Kurimoto M; Inglott AS; Ellul-Micallef R
TI - Interferon gamma induction in human melanoma cell/allogeneic leukocyte co-cultures is enhanced by interleukin 18 but drug resistant melanoma cells are poorer inducers of IFN-gamma.
SO - Int Immunopharmacol 2001 Feb;1(2):295-305
AD - Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Malta, Msida. firstname.lastname@example.com
Human melanoma Colo 679 cells were made resistant to doxorubicin (adriamycin, ADM) by continuous exposure to ascending concentrations of the drug and Colo/ADM80; a variant which grew continuously in the presence of 80 ng/ml of ADM was thus established. Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) produced interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) when cultured with mitomycin C (MMC)-treated parental Colo 679 cells. The synthesis of IFN-gamma was synergistically enhanced by adding interleukin-18 (IL-18) and this was IL-12-dependent because a neutralizing antibody against IL-12 almost completely inhibited IFN-gamma production while control antibodies (Abs) were inactive. The cellular sources of IFN-gamma were found to be B cells, CD8+ T cells and CD4+ T cells as revealed by flow cytometry after double staining for surface antigens and staining for intracellular IFN-gamma. Interestingly, the resistant cell line induced much less IFN-gamma production than the parental cell line under the same co-culture conditions; however, IL-18 could still enhance the production of IFN-gamma. In conclusion, our study shows that acquired resistance to anti-cancer agents can also reduce immune responses to cancer cells. However, the immunostimulatory cytokine IL-18 could still enhance IFN-gamma production in drug resistant tumor cell-PBMC cultures indicating that such immunostimulatory agents could still be beneficial in immunotherapy for patients with recurrent drug resistant tumors.
AU - Banchereau J; Palucka AK; Dhodapkar M; Burkeholder S; Taquet N; Rolland A; Taquet S; Coquery S; Wittkowski KM; Bhardwaj N; Pineiro L; Steinman R; Fay J
TI - Immune and clinical responses in patients with metastatic melanoma to CD34(+) progenitor-derived dendritic cell vaccine.
SO - Cancer Res 2001 Sep 1;61(17):6451-8
AD - Baylor Institute for Immunology Research, Dallas, Texas 75204, USA. firstname.lastname@example.com
Immunization to multiple defined tumor antigens for specific immune therapy of human cancer has thus far proven difficult. Eighteen HLA A*0201(+) patients with metastatic melanoma received injections s.c. of CD34(+)progenitor-derived autologous dendritic cells (DCs), which included Langerhans cells. DCs were pulsed with peptides derived from four melanoma antigens [(MelAgs) MelanA/MART-1, tyrosinase, MAGE-3, and gp100], as well as influenza matrix peptide (Flu-MP) and keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) as control antigens. Overall immunological effects were assessed by comparing response profiles using marginal likelihood scores. DC injections were well tolerated except for progressive vitiligo in two patients. DCs induced an immune response to control antigens (KLH, Flu-MP) in 16 of 18 patients. An enhanced immune response to one or more MelAgs was seen in these same 16 patients, including 10 patients who responded to >2 MelAgs. The two patients failing to respond to both control and tumor antigens experienced rapid tumor progression. Of 17 patients with evaluable disease, 6 of 7 patients with immunity to two or less MelAgs had progressive disease 10 weeks after study entry, in contrast to tumor progression in only 1 of 10 patients with immunity to >2 MelAgs. Regression of >1 tumor metastases were observed in seven of these patients. The overall immunity to MelAgs after DC vaccination is associated with clinical outcome (P = 0.015).
AU - Hoeller C; Jansen B; Heere-Ress E; Pustelnik T; Mossbacher U; Schlagbauer-Wadl H; Wolff K; Pehamberger H
TI - Perilesional injection of r-GM-CSF in patients with cutaneous melanoma metastases.
SO - J Invest Dermatol 2001 Aug;117(2):371-4
AD - Department of Dermatology, Division of General Dermatology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Based on evidence that granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) induces a potent systemic antitumor immunity, we tested recombinant GM-CSF in advanced melanoma. Seven patients with histologically confirmed cutaneous melanoma metastases were treated with perilesional intracutaneous injections of recombinant GM-CSF and observed for a follow-up time of 5 y. All but two patients had a decrease in the total number of metastases. At the end of the 5 y follow-up three of the seven patients are still alive with only one patient receiving other than surgical therapy, and one patient died tumor free at the age of 93. The remaining three patients died from progressive melanoma. Perilesional intradermal GM-CSF therapy resulted in a mean survival time of 33 mo. The treatment was well tolerated and no side-effects other than local erythema at the injection sites and mild drowsiness were seen. Immunohistochemical analysis with staining for CD14 and GM-CSF receptor demonstrated an increased infiltration of monocytes into both injected and noninjected cutaneous melanoma metastases compared with lesions excised prior to the initiation of therapy. The same was true for CD4- and CD8-positive lymphocytes. This phenomenon, together with GM-CSF-induced leukocyte counts of more than 20,000 during therapy, support the possible impact of a systemic over a locally induced reaction by GM-CSF. To our knowledge this is the first report that intracutaneously injected GM-CSF results in long-lasting reduction of melanoma metastases.
AU - Spratt JS
TI - Surgical therapy of metastatic melanoma.
SO - Ann Surg Oncol 2000 Oct;7(9):713
AU - Nikkola J; Vihinen P; Vlaykova T; Hahka-Kemppinen M; Kahari VM; Pyrhonen S
TI - High collagenase-1 expression correlates with a favourable chemoimmunotherapy response in human metastatic melanoma.
SO - Melanoma Res 2001 Apr;11(2):157-66
AD - Department of Oncology/Radiotherapy, Turku University Central Hospital, Finland.
Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are proteolytic enzymes that can degrade extracellular matrix and thus enhance metastasis. We have studied the expression of two collagenolytic MMPs in 37 samples obtained from 26 patients treated for metastatic melanoma. Interestingly, the samples showed a different expression pattern of collagenase-1 (MMP-1) and collagenase-3 (MMP-13). The samples with high expression levels of MMP-1 (n = 18) were more frequently MMP-13 negative (14 out of 18), whereas those with low expression levels of MMP-1 (n = 15) were predominantly positive for MMP-13 (nine out of 15) (P = 0.027). High expression levels of MMP-1 were associated with a favourable response to chemoimmunotherapy. Responders (n = 13) frequently had intensively MMP-1-expressing metastases (nine out of 13), especially those who achieved a complete response (five out of six). Response failures (n = 7) mainly had metastases with a low intensity of MMP-1 expression (six out of seven) (P = 0.019). There was a tendency towards longer survival among patients with intensively MMP-1-expressing tumours (median 14.3 versus 6.7 months, P = 0.068). The high expression levels of MMP-1 correlated with low MIB-1 (to nuclear antigen Ki-67) (P = 0.019) and positivity for MMP-13 was associated with high MIB-1 expression (P = 0.00048), suggesting that their different expression patterns may affect tumour growth and contribute to differences in patient survival.
AU - Bedikian AY; Plager C; Stewart JR; O'Brian CA; Herdman SK; Ross M; Papadopoulos N; Eton O; Ellerhorst J; Smith T
TI - Phase II evaluation of bryostatin-1 in metastatic melanoma.
SO - Melanoma Res 2001 Apr;11(2):183-8
AD - Department of Melanoma/Sarcoma Medical Oncology, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston 77030, USA.
In this phase II study we assessed the efficacy of bryostatin-1 (NSC 339555) in metastatic melanoma patients when given intravenously either once a week at a dose of 25 microg/m2 per day over 24 h for 3 weeks or at 40 microg/m2 per day over 72 h every 2 weeks. Treatment courses were repeated every 4 weeks. Patients who had received one prior chemotherapy regimen for advanced melanoma, with or without biotherapy, were randomized to one or the other bryostatin-1 dose schedules until 12 patients were registered to each arm. Because there was one confirmed response among the 12 patients who received the 72 h dose schedule, 25 more patients were added to that arm. No prophylactic medications were given. Objective tumour measurements were used to assess the efficacy of the regimen. The National Cancer Institutes common toxicity criteria were used to grade reactions. In total, 49 patients with metastatic melanoma, none having symptomatic brain metastasis, were studied. Of these, 12 patients received the 24 h bryostatin-1 regimen, while the remaining 37 received the 72 h regimen. One patient receiving the 72 h regimen had a partial response lasting over 7 months. Muscle pain occurred in over 90% of the patients and was the dose-limiting side effect of the 72 h regimen. Grade 3/4 nausea and vomiting were more common on the 24 h regimen than on the 72 h one (35% versus 5% of patients). There was no therapy-related thrombocytopenia. Neutropenia was mild and mainly limited to patients receiving the 72 h regimen. Bryostatin-1 has limited activity against melanoma when given by 72 h intravenous infusion.
AU - Deichmann M; Benner A; Kuner N; Wacker J; Waldmann V; Naher H
TI - Are responses to therapy of metastasized malignant melanoma reflected by decreasing serum values of S100beta or melanoma inhibitory activity (MIA)?
SO - Melanoma Res 2001 Jun;11(3):291-6
AD - Department of Dermatology, University of Heidelberg, Vossstrasse 2, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany. firstname.lastname@example.com
In metastatic melanoma S100beta as well as melanoma inhibitory activity (MIA) are elevated in the serum in the majority of patients. Elevation has been found to correlate with shorter survival, and changes in these parameters in the serum during therapy were recently reported to predict therapeutic outcome in advanced disease. However, the value of these markers with respect to other possible markers by multivariate analysis has not yet been proven for individual patients. In this prospective study, S100beta and MIA were measured in the serum of 67 consecutive patients before and following treatment. Analysing both the sensitivity and the specificity of the serum parameters by the areas under the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves, decreases in S100beta and MIA during therapy were associated with response to therapy, while increases indicated progressive disease. Unexpectedly, the individual diagnostic value of changes in tumour markers during therapy was not superior to one-point measurements at restaging. Moreover, S100beta and MIA were not superior to the conventional parameters lactate dehydrogenase and C-reactive protein (CRP) on multiple logistic regression analysis. Applying classification and regression trees (CARTs), one-point measurements of CRP was shown to be the most relevant overall parameter.
AU - McClay EF; McClay MT; Monroe L; Jones JA; Winski PJ
TI - A phase II study of high dose tamoxifen and weekly cisplatin in patients with metastatic melanoma.
SO - Melanoma Res 2001 Jun;11(3):309-13
AD - Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Hollings Cancer Center, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425, USA.
We have previously demonstrated that the combination of tamoxifen and cisplatin has activity in patients with metastatic melanoma. In vitro studies have demonstrated that tamoxifen and cisplatin exhibit cytotoxic synergy in human melanoma cells and that this interaction is dependent on a tamoxifen effect. The mechanism of this effect is currently under investigation in in vitro studies. In an attempt to improve the complete response rate of this regimen, we initiated a phase II trial to determine the effect of the use of high dose tamoxifen and weekly cisplatin on the complete response rate, disease-free survival and overall survival. Tamoxifen was started on day 1 initially at a dose of 240 mg/day and continued until the patient was taken off treatment. This dose was subsequently lowered to 200 mg/day. Cisplatin (80 mg/m2) was begun on day 2 and repeated weekly for a total of 3 weeks. During week 4, the patient was not treated with cisplatin but was evaluated for response. If disease stabilization or regression was documented, the patient received a second 3 week cycle of cisplatin and was then re-evaluated for response. Patients with progressive disease at any evaluation were removed from the study. In 28 consecutive patients, the overall response rate was 32% (95% confidence interval 15.88-52.35%). One patient achieved a complete remission that lasted 22 months. All other responses were partial in nature. Toxicity was primarily nausea and vomiting. Two patients developed grade 2 renal toxicity. There were no episodes of deep venous thrombosis. This phase II study demonstrates that this combination has modest activity in patients with metastatic melanoma. However, this study failed to confirm our hypothesis that high dose tamoxifen would increase the complete response rate of this combination. While this combination has activity, the overall response rate is not significantly better that that observed with the original Dartmouth regimen and the toxicity is substantial. We do not recommend this dose and schedule for routine clinical use.
AU - Retsas S
TI - Prognostic factors in therapeutic lymphadenectomy in melanoma.
SO - Melanoma Res 2001 Jun;11(3):315-8
AU - Anderson KW; Baker SR; Lowe L; Su L; Johnson TM
TI - Treatment of head and neck melanoma, lentigo maligna subtype: a practical surgical technique.
SO - Arch Facial Plast Surg 2001 Jul-Sep;3(3):202-6
AD - Department of Dermatology, University of Michigan, 1910 Taubman Center, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0314, USA.
Melanoma with the lentigo maligna histological pattern often provides a significant and difficult challenge to the head and neck surgeon. The lentigo maligna subtype is the most common type of melanoma on the head and neck. This potentially lethal form of cancer is associated with greater nonvisual lesional extension that is often not clinically apparent. Failure to excise the entire lesion results in a higher risk of local recurrence and a poorer prognosis. The staged excision technique described herein results in histological interpretation of 100% of the peripheral margins using formalin-fixed vertical sections. Definitive local excision and soft tissue reconstruction are performed in a subsequent stage, with an assurance that 100% of the peripheral margins have been evaluated and interpreted as free of disease.
AU - McCain J; McCain C
TI - My life has been full of narrow escapes. John McCain and his wife, Cindy, on the senator's battle with melanoma.
SO - Newsweek 2001 Aug 20;138(8):40-1
AU - Lam L; Krementz E; McGinness C; Godfrey R
TI - Melanoma of the clavicular region: multimodal treatment.
SO - Arch Surg 2001 Sep;136(9):1054-8
AD - Department of Surgery, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, 280 W MacArthur Blvd, Oakland, CA 94611-5693, USA.
HYPOTHESIS: Treatment for melanoma that has metastasized to the supraclavicular nodes should be intensive and use a multimodality approach. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of clinical records. SETTING: Six primary care centers, 2 of which were referral centers. PATIENTS: Eighteen patients diagnosed as having a rare pattern of advanced melanoma metastatic to the clavicular region. INTERVENTION: Combined radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and thorough surgical excision of the affected nodal basins. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Length of survival from time of diagnosis and treatment to time of follow-up. RESULTS: Median survival among the 18 patients was 28 months with a 22% survival rate at 5 years after diagnosis. Among patients who received radiotherapy to the clavicular node basin, mean length of survival was 88.7 months with a 50% 5-year survival rate compared with a mean length of survival of 33.8 months and an 8.3% 5-year survival rate in patients who did not receive radiotherapy (P<.001). Mean survival among patients who had supraclavicular node dissection was 45.8 months with a 23.1% survival rate at 5 years after diagnosis, compared with a mean survival of 52 months and a 20% 5-year survival rate among patients who did not receive therapeutic lymphadenectomy. Of the 11 patients who had therapeutic lymphadenectomy, 2 also received radiotherapy to the supraclavicular nodal basin and continued to be disease-free at 82 and 130 months. All long-term survivors had been treated with intra-arterial chemotherapy. CONCLUSION: In a series of patients with malignant melanoma metastatic to the clavicular lymph nodes, multimodality treatment using radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and thorough surgical excision of affected nodal basins provided an appreciable 5-year survival rate.


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Back in February, Republicans in Congress allowed an expansion of federal trade assistance — meant to aid workers who lose their jobs due to international trade — expire, bumping thousands of workers off of the program. Workers who qualified under that expansion, which was funded by the 2009 Recovery Act, made up more than half of the 280,000 workers who benefited from trade assistance last year.
At the time, some Republicans, such as House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI), were ready and willing to extend the trade assistance, but Tea Partiers in the House balked. Senate Republicans then threw a fit and blocked an extension, saying that they refused to budge on trade assistance unless it was coupled with consideration of pending free trade pacts with Columbia, Korea, and Panama.
The Obama administration yesterday countered and said that it won't move on the free trade pacts until trade assistance is reauthorized. "The administration will not submit implementing legislation on the three pending FTAs until we have an agreement with Congress on the renewal of a robust expanded TAA program," said National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling. Republicans have responded to the administration's stance with predictable disapproval:
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): "Our economy needs jobs and growth, not an ever-expanding list of reasons to delay the creation those jobs. It is my hope that the President will reconsider this decision and will not allow anything to get in the way of Congressional consideration of these trade agreements and the jobs they'll create."
SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R-UT): "[Tying trade agreements] to unrelated spending is hugely disappointing to American workers, farmers, and job creators, who are losing out to foreign competitors with every passing day. It makes no sense to shut the door on increasing U.S. exports by over $10 billion in order to fund a costly program."
SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IA): "I don't think the current funding level is sustainable," said Senator Charles Grassley…"I see the possibility of more goal-post moving."
So Republicans are allowed to hold benefits hostage for more trade deals, but the administration attempting to ensure that workers already affected by trade receive some help "makes no sense"? As CAP's Sabina Dewan wrote, "threatening to let Trade Adjustment Assistance expire unless the administration 'moves' other trade agreements amounts to little more than a conservative anti-jobs and anti-worker agenda."
Indeed, merits of the trade agreements aside, trade assistance should be reauthorized independently, as the current version of the program, which dates to 2002, "covers fewer workers and offers lower benefits and fewer opportunities" than the version of the program that expired. As AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said, "for years the TAA program has been a lifeline for working people trying to get the skills necessary to change careers after their lives have been turned upside down."


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'Movie 43' wasn't named after number of laughs ★ 1/2
"Movie 43" is a collection of one-joke short films strung together as a feature, movies built seemingly built around this guiding directive: Find big-name stars and see how far "out there" they'll go for a laugh. Thus, you have Kate Winslet on a blind...Tags: Greg Kinnear, Nicole Polizzi, Hugh Jackman, Stephen Merchant, Johnny Knoxville
"A Christmas Story 2″ isn't the only Ralphie sequel out there
Channel Guide MagazineDespite its numerical designation, the recently released A Christmas Story 2 isn't the only way to see the continuing adventures of Ralphie Parker. Did you know, for instance, that Jean Shepherd — whose writings served as the basis for A Christmas... -
'Rango,' 'Margaret' head back into movie theaters Friday
24 Frames'Rango' and 'Margaret' are re-released into Los Angeles theaters for one week beginning Friday... -
Anna Paquin on the unlikely resurrection of 'Margaret'
24 FramesActress Anna Paquin interviewed about Kenneth Lonergan's "Margaret"... -
Movie review: 'Margaret'
If you know Gerard Hopkins' Victorian-era poem "Spring and Fall," a reflection on the loss of innocence addressed to a young child named Margaret, you have a clue about what writer-director Kenneth Lonergan is getting at in "Margaret." This contemporary...Tags: Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, Entertainment, Kenneth Lonergan, Movies
Scarlett Johansson, Kieran Culkin and Justin Timberlake in love triangle?
Pop2itThe actress was recently spotted alongside Culkin and then, just hours later, Timberlake.... -
Scott Pilgrim's regress: Edgar Wright on the film's 'nostalgia trip'
Brand XâScott Pilgrim vs. the Worldâ is advertised as âan epic of epic epicness.â But it also could be considered a date movie with dated datedness. âIt's largely a nostalgia trip,â said director Edgar Wright of the retro tec... -
Friday's TV Talk Shows
Show TrackerThe Early Show Train performs. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today Ke$ha performs; Kieran Culkin. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC KTLA Morning News Terry Crews; Chris Parnell; pro wrestler Sheamus. (N) 7 a.m. KTLA Good Morning America Billy Crudup; Jonas Brothers and...... -
'Scott Pilgrim vs. The World': A flashy winner
Brand XâScott Pilgrim vs. the Worldâ is so manic, so tricked up, so full of videogame aesthetics, that you might legitimately wonder whether filmmaker Edgar Wright designed it to mark some generational divide. If so, he has failed monumentally: I sit a... -
'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World'
Chicago Tribune Movie critic3 stars It's easy to make a movie in a style approximating that of a comic book or graphic novel. "Sin City" did it. "Road to Perdition" did it. "Watchmen" and "Kick-Ass" did it. As did "Ghost World." Except for that last one, the others fell short as...Tags: Heart and Circulatory System, Kick-Ass (movie), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (movie), Music, Alison Pill
Movie Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Frankly My Dear - Orlando SentinelOf all the sweet-wimpy-guy-chases-the-hot-girl Michael Cera movies, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is the Michael Cera-iest. Of all the gonzo-goofy comic book adaptations that embrace video gaming sensibilities, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is the go... -
Edgar Wright gets retro with 'Scott Pilgrim,' a hero for the AOL crowd
The Hero ComplexTodd Martens of the Pop & Hiss blog continues his guest-writer pilgrimage on Hero Complex... "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" is advertised as "an epic of epic epicness." But it also could be considered a date movie with dated datedness.......
Jan 25, 2013
|Story| Chicago Tribune
Dec 19, 2012
| Zap2It
Jan 26, 2012
| Los Angeles Times
Jan 13, 2012
| Los Angeles Times
Sep 30, 2011
|Story| Los Angeles Times
Sep 21, 2011
| Zap2It
Aug 19, 2010
| Los Angeles Times
Aug 12, 2010
| Los Angeles Times
Aug 12, 2010
| Los Angeles Times
Aug 12, 2010
|Story| Chicago Tribune
Aug 11, 2010
| Orlando Sentinel
Aug 4, 2010
| Los Angeles Times
Original site for Kieran Culkin topic gallery.


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Open Tracking
The Open Tracking app adds an invisible image at the end of the email which can track e-mail opens. If the email recipient has images enabled on the email client, a request to server for the invisible image is executed and an open event is logged. These Events are logged in your Statistics portal, the Email Activity interface, and are reported by the Event WEbhook.
When using this service customers often ask the difference between a unique open versus an open. A unique open is logged only the first time a given recipient opens the email whereas normal open's are logged for all opens of the email in question.


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Dr. Gross is one of the most respected plastic surgeons in Orlando FL and a leader in the Central Florida medical community. He has been in practice for 19 years and specializes exclusively in Facial Plastic Surgery. He focuses on the most difficult cases, with an emphasis on Rhinoplasty and Revision Rhinoplasty. His years of experience give him the ability to diagnose and treat patients with integrity, respect and compassion. Recognized as Central Florida's leading expert in facial plastic surgery, Edward J. Gross, M.D. is one of an elite group of double -boarded plastic surgeons , certified by the American Board of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery (ABFPRS).
Honors and Distinctions:


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2. | flavor country | ||
Noun: the destination for having a cigarette. THe place you often go to smoke.
Origin: the old Marlboro ad campaign "WHere are you going?"
"I'm headed to flavor country" Or "Who's up for a trip to flavor country" |
1. | flavor country | ||
A smoker's destination. From an old Marlboro ad. Sometimes used sarcastically. Boss Lady: Ladies, are you smoking in the building?
Patty, Selma: Um, well, er, uh... Homer: These are mine. (Takes drag from both cigarettes, coughs violently). I am in Flavor Country. Boss Lady: Both are yours? Homer: It is a big country. -The Simpsons |
3. | Flavor Country | ||
When a guy, vaginaly stimulates a woman using a baby back rib covered in BBQ sauce, and afterwards eats her out enjoying the flavorfull BBQ sauce, and left over meat. Instead of having dinner before hand, Raul went to flavor country on Megan.


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TASSIMO(TM) Cappuccino Foaming Milk Creamer T DISCs for TASSIMO(TM) Beverage System - 8 Count
TASSIMO Cappuccino Foaming Milk Creamer is the perfect way to add a foamy layer made from milk to all of your hot beverages. Experience coffee, espresso, crema, hot chocolate, or tea complemented by the rich frothy texture of foamed milk. Please ensure your cup is at least 11 fluid ounces in size to enjoy a full, frothy beverage.
TASSIMO(TM) Cappuccino Foaming Milk Creamer T DISCs for TASSIMO(TM) Beverage System - 8 Count
Cappuccino foaming milk
Great milk pods for Tassimo espresso drinks. I only with that you could still buy the Latte milk pods separately as well.
December 29, 2012
Love this product
I use these foaming milk creamers everyday! I love coffee with steamed milk from a cafe and these are just as great made at home.
July 16, 2012
Very Good
If you enjoy a Cappuccino or any coffee beverage with a foaming creamer this works very well. It does not have the taste like some where you feel you are getting a powder milk product. I buy this and then the Espresso product which I find to most cost effective instead of buying the pre-packaged item they have for Cappuccino.
If you are looking for something that tastes like a real cup of coffee then I suggest you get the Tassimo. You may be limited on variety but you can always buy your own flavor syrup and add it. It would be worth the extra step. The K-cups to me taste like instant hot water. And no, I do not work for Tassimo.
May 30, 2012
Great, when you can find it.
I love the Cappuccino Foaming Milk Creamer Discs but since the recall the are very hard to find. The only place I found them is on Bed Bath & Beyond website. What I don't understand is why you can find the Espresso with the Foaming Milk discs but you can't find the Milk disc by themselves. When I do see them on their website, I'll stock up because they are usually sold out the next day! In between finding them, I'll heat up milk and then use a hand blender to froth the milk. After that I add my espresso. Works pretty good in a pinch!
May 16, 2012


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and PublicationsStay -
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Student Engagement
Learning science research and practical experience highlight the importance of interaction and engagement to successful learning. Active and collaborative learning environments are particularly effective for Net Generation learners. Games, simulations, group projects, and undergraduate research are among a number of models for interaction and engagement being explored.
Articles and Reports
- The entire issue of the EDUCAUSE Quarterly Magazine, Volume 32, Number 4, 2009 is devoted to student engagement.
- Engaging Students with Engaging Tools, EDUCAUSE Quarterly Magazine, Volume 32, Number 4, 2009
- Learning Space Design with an Inclusive Planning Process Promotes User Engagement,EDUCAUSE Quarterly Magazine, Volume 32, Number 4, 2009
- Assessing the Future: E-Portfolio Trends, Uses, and Options in Higher Education, ECAR Bulletin, February 2009.
- Assessment for Improvement: Tracking Student Engagement Over Time, Annual Results 2009, National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), November 2009
- ELI 7 Things You Should Know About...
- Next-Generation Presentation Tools, January 2010
- Google Wave, November 2009
- Live Question Tool, April 2009
- Alternate Reality Games, January 2009
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- Wii, July 2008
- Second Life, June 2008
- Digital Storytelling, January 2007
Podcasts, Presentations and Videos
- Continuous Improvement in Teaching and Learning: Open Learning Initiative (OLI) and Open Learning Net (OLnet), ELI Web Seminar, January 11, 2010
- Clickers and Peer Instruction: A Powerful Way to Improve Student Engagement and Learning, but Only If You Do It Right ELI Web Seminar, October 05, 2009
- GameQuest: Creating an Education Game Program for Higher Ed, presentation and podcast from the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, October 2008
- Digital Story Making: Understanding the Learner's Perspective, presentation and video from the ELI Annual Conference, January 2008
Updated January 2010
Library Items on this Topic
EDUCAUSE Library Items for Student Engagement and Interaction
- 2013 Horizon Report
February 4, 2013
Produced by ELI and NMC each year, the Horizon Report describes six areas of emerging technology that will have significant impact on higher education and creative expression over the next one to…
- Emerging Technologies, Innovation, and Academic Transformation: A Report on the ELI Focus Session
January 31, 2013
On October 2 and 3, 2012, the ELI teaching and learning community gathered for an online focus session on emerging technologies, innovation, and academic transformation . This white paper is…
- Student Mobile Computing Practices, 2012: Lessons Learned from Qatar
May 18, 2012
Mobile computing is transforming information technology and the student learning environment in higher education , yet educational institutions everywhere are just scratching the surfa…
- A Dialogue for Engagement
October 7, 2010
© 2010 Malcolm Brown, Mark Auslander, Kelly Gredone, David Green, Bruce Hull, and Walt Jacobs. The text of this article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs …
- Hotseat: Opening the Backchannel in Large Lectures
September 22, 2010
Key Takeaways Despite their flaws as teaching and learning environments, large lectures remain a standard teaching approach because of their relatively low cost, ease of preparation, and lo…
- Scientific Advances and Information Technology: Meeting Researchers' Needs in a New Era of Discovery
June 1, 2010
This ECAR case study from the University of Washington discusses the key findings of the University of Washington "Conversations with UW Researchers" project and the UW 2008 Faculty Survey o…
- 7 Things You Should Know About Backchannel Communication
February 9, 2010
Backchannel communication is a secondary conversation that takes place at the same time as a conference session, lecture, or instructor-led learning activity. This might involve students using a …
- Horton Hears a Tweet
December 22, 2009
By Joanna C. Dunlap and Patrick R. Lowenthal Learning takes place in a social context, and encouraging student-student and student-faculty contact and interaction gets at the heart of s…
- Engaging Students with Engaging Tools
December 22, 2009
Key Takeaways A new course teaching media, mass communication, and political identities in the Middle East and North Africa explored the use of social media in pursuit of effective learning…
- Teaching Without Walls: Life Beyond the Lecture
September 14, 2009
Malcolm Brown , EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative director, will moderate this web seminar with Michelle Pacansky-Brock , where she'll pull back the curtain on the classroom of the future, exp…


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- Effort To Control Supply/Demand New York Times media columnist David Carr scrutinizes his own paper's plan, calling it a "hedge" that "puts maximum flexibility in the hands of the leadership of the newspaper. [...] Access can be gradually ramped up or down depending on macro trends in the market." He ultimately endorses, "People who remain reflexively bullish on free ignore that fact that the clock is ticking on many of the legacy businesses that produce that content. The new approach is an attempt to replace that ticking clock with a meter and its success is not assured, but to sit still would be dumb."
- NYT's Coming Death Reuters's Felix Salmon foretells doom. He says that blogs will stop linking to the Times because they need readers to be able to click through, which will cut off all their traffic. (Salmon assumes most web traffic comes from bloggers.) He laments, "This is, of course, exactly the approach that the NYT's management would take if it felt that it was managing a company in terminal decline, and wanted to squeeze as many dollars out of it as possible before it dies. Successful media companies go after audience first, and then watch revenues follow; failing ones alienate their audience in an attempt to maximize short-term revenues." Update: In the comments below, Salmon counters, "I would never assume that most web traffic comes from bloggers. And I certainly didn't do that in my blog entry this morning."
- Investors Clearly Hate It Wall Street Journal's Zach Seward links to the recent stock performance of the Times, concluding, "Investors as berserk and uncertain as everyone else on NYT charging for website."
- NYT Must Cater To Loyal Web Readers Poynter's Bill Mitchell warns that the Times has to prove to its loyal web-based readers that it's worth their while to start paying. "The challenge will be preserving its relationship with the huge global audience that will bear the burden of a metered pay plan," he writes. "[C]ritical will be its ability to stay connected to users around the nation and world who are either unable or unwilling to subscribe to the paper in print."
- What To Make Free Versus Protected Michael Roston lists. What to put behind the paywall: Sunday style and other "diversions." What to keep free: Breaking news, because if it's important a free paper will carry it; "public trust" investigations that serve as a public service.
Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at mfisher at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.


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Points of Departure
nytheatre.com review by Martin Denton
March 18, 2006
A quick Internet search indicates that there are places called San Bartolomé in Spain, Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru. Michael John Garcés doesn't say which of these countries (if any) is the setting for his play Points of Departure, and I suspect he's hoping in this way for a bid toward universality; I'm not sure, though, that that's such a useful idea.
The first act of Points of Departure is about a man named Marquez who has journeyed from his current home in an unnamed country that is certainly the United States to a small city in an unnamed country that appears to be in Central or South America. This country has systematically oppressed and eliminated the native culture in an apparent attempt to replicate, on a modern scale, the genocide/assimilation of Native American tribes by the United States. The "tongue" that Marquez knew as a boy (for he is from this country; grew up in a tiny village not far from this city) is obsolete; everyone speaks Spanish and has a Spanish name now; the injustices and excesses of the past that have made this possible are officially "forgotten" now as well.
Marquez, nonetheless, wants to get back to his village. He's not heard from family members still there in a long time. Much of what happens in this section of Points of Departure is Marquez's Kafka-esque struggle to get permission to go to the village from the local authorities, personified by a timorous bureaucrat named Cruz. Providing a thriller ambience to the thing are a local shopkeeper with a secret named Vargas and a hotel maid, Petrona, who seems to know (and to be bent on finding out) more than, strictly speaking, you'd expect her to. The ending is tragic, and not just in terms of the fates of the characters; the success of the government in completely eradicating Marquez's "people" is total and therefore chilling.
I found this first act to be provocative and pertinent (if a bit slow-moving under Ron Daniels's static and unimaginative direction); in fact, when the intermission arrived, I felt that Garcés had made his case effectively and had trouble imagining what more he would have to say in Act II.
And indeed, it turns out that he has little new to say at all. The second act, which takes place in a U.N. refugee camp "near the border" (of the same unidentified Latin American country and—where?), is about Petrona, and her struggles to get out of this place where her people are being persecuted. She's the only character from the first act who is also in the second; others involved in her story, which spans decades, are her husband Tumin, her father, her brother Xun, and a child named Leti whom she helps to escape. The stylized suspensefulness of Marquez's story is replaced here with self-conscious poetics: Petrona indulges, in between remembered incidents involving these other characters, in long, rambling monologues that feel nothing but (over)written. (Unfortunately, Sandra Delgado doesn't seem to have the technical expertise to manage the language, let alone make sense of them.) Points of Departure sinks beneath their weight.
This is a shame, because the first act has useful things to say about repression and collective memory. I think it would have even more to say, though, if it were more specific about where this is taking place: if these events actually happened (or are happening) somewhere, shouldn't we be given that information?
Alfredo Narciso (Marquez) and Mateo Gomez (Vargas) deliver expert performances in the first half, helping to wrap us into the intrigue and mystery that eventually unravels as the play moves forward. Cristian Amigo provides accompaniment on guitar that is appropriately sparse in Act I and, like so much else, overdone in Act II.


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Beautiful Brandon!
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010I don't know about you, but when I drive by stuff like this I can't help but stop and savor the moment. How lucky are we that we get to live in an area where fields of sunflowers just make your day!?
This incredible field of sunflowers is on the East side of Route 7 in Brandon, across from the former Brandon Training School and the McKernon Group offices, just south of the cemetary.