Talks about more scientific topic: SAP

It's been a long time since my last post. I was hammered by a lot of tasks in my last week in NTU and early week in Yogya. I had TERP10 certification test in my last week in NTU and now I'm having my thesis to be done. I planned to meet my thesis supervisor this morning but he was teaching in other site in my university. Therefore, I have to wait till this afternoon. Having 3 hours for waiting, I feel want to post something :P Let me talk something more scientific than the last mellow post.

In this post, I want to talk about SAP ERP, a powerful enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. In my single semester in NTU, I took a course called Enterprise Computing. From that course, I learned a lot about the concept of ERP/enterprise system (ES) and the practical skill of using ERP software, specifically SAP. After finishing that course, I was able to take one of SAP entry level certifications, TERP10. Thanks GOD, I made it. The course was so exciting because the teacher was a real SAP consultant. He was able to combine and deliver the concept of ES, business process, and the practical skill. The latter consists of using and customizing SAP ERP. From the learning that I got, I can frankly speak that I understand about enterprise business processes and the basic skill of using SAP. :P Thanks to my teacher aka James.

ERP software has a main objective to plan the resources in the enterprise so the enterprise can achieve its objective that is profit maximization. The resources could be a material resources, fixed assets, human resources, etc. Resources in the very big company often located and managed in many different departments.  At the same time, the companies need to deliver the product to the customer using the integrated business process that involve those departments. In this point, ERP software helps the company to integrate the information so the activity can also be integrated.

SAP ERP is a modular ERP software. It has a module for each company functions, such as accounting, procurement, production, sales and distribution, human capital management etc. These modules serve the users in every departments by integrating the information in one database and distributing the information to the users who need it.

SAP ERP is developed by SAP AG, a Germany-based enterprise software developer. Now, majority of the big companies is using SAP ERP for its operation. SAP ERP could win over its competitors, such as Oracle, because it offers more integration between its modules. The major weakness of SAP ERP is only its interface. It looks very old-fashioned and confusing for the newbie. Many competitors try to offer much better interface to overcome SAP ERP. However, it's hard for them because SAP ERP has the best quality in system integration which is the most important feature of ERP software.

Nowadays, many Indonesian companies, such as Astra International, have used SAP ERP. However, the companies that haven't used SAP ERP and have the potential to use it are more in number. This condition also happened in other developing countries such as India and China. In conclusion, wherever there is a high growth potential, there will be a place for SAP ERP to help the companies to reach profit maximization.

What I miss and what I will miss Part 2

It's been 3 months since I left Yogyakarta. At that time, I left my comfort zone which was substantially formed by my friends. I left the comfort of group studying with Ephy, Gle, Anti, and Abi. I also left the comfort of dormitory living with Iko, Fahran, Dexa, Kukuh, Arya, etc. For sure, I also left the comfort of having a girl friend, Rizka, :P .

I really miss that comfort zone. Now, some of them have left Yogyakarta while I have a lot of things to do in the next couple of months. I know that I won't have the same comfort zone although I'll go back to Yogyakarta. Maybe I'll have it but not that perfect. I won't regret it because leaving our comfort zone is necessary if we want to develop ourself. Yea, that's how we roll.

When I arrived in Jurong, I realized that I would struggle to find the new comfort zone. Fortunately, I didn't wait for long time to find it. I found a lot of new friends who also found me in their comfort zone. I met Brij from India, my roommate, who latter become my Yoga Guru! I met Adi, Chandra, and Gadis who are Indonesian scholars in the same exchange program with me. Exploring the new life in this small country with them is a really big experience for me. The other scholars also make me feel the life in here couldn't be more perfect. Last but not least, I met my high school friends and Indonesian moslem full-time students. They helped me a lot to adapt in here. Special thanks to the romantic couple, Laras and Arie, who always ask me to sing along the Lonely Island's songs, haha.

Ten more days before I leave Singapore, I know that I will miss this comfort zone. Time flies so fast and the cycle goes on. One more time, I'll leave my comfort zone. And one more time, that's how we roll. Thanks a ton!

What I miss and what I will miss Part 1

10 more days to come until I go back to my real life in Yogyakarta. When we have left our original city for 5 months, it's normal that we miss something that only available in there. For me, what I miss the most is ... FOOD! Especially my favorite food e.g. nasgorsap (beef fried rice), gudeg (I don't know the english name), and sgpc (rice+vegetables+peanut sauce). I used to eat gudeg for breakfast, sgpc for lunch, and nasgorsap for dinner. That's why I got fat during my univeresity life, haha. Here they are:

Gudeg is a traditional food from Yogyakarta, Indonesia (where my university is located). It's made from young jack fruit boiled for several hours with palm sugar, coconut milk, and additional spices. The latter give brown color to the dish. Gudeg is served with white rice, chicken, hard-boiled egg, tofu, tempe, and a stew made of crispy beef skins (sambal goreng krecek). Sounds nice? My favorite gudeg is Gudeg Bu Hj Ahmad. It's located in the way from my dorm to my university https://foursquare.com/venue/5370085 . Just give me a call if you are there, I'll be roll up for you! haha.

Sgpc (sego pecel - Javanese language), another traditional food from the same city, is a type of dish which use peanut sauce. It is used to flavor the main course such as white rice and boiled vegetable. The latter one is the one which make me like sgpc, because I need a lot of fiber to reduce my fat, haha. My favorite sgpc is Sgpc Bu Wiryo 1959 https://foursquare.com/venue/1747533?page=2 .

Save the nicest food for the last. Nasgorsap (stands for nasi goreng sapi -- beef fried rice) is a common fried rice with a fantastic taste! Its flavor tastes similar with Indomie (famous Indonesian instant noodle) flavor. Maybe, this is why I really like nasgorsap. But, it isn't the only reason. There are many reasons that I can't explain. Find it by yourself https://foursquare.com/venue/1755411 !

At the first time I arrived in NTU, I hardly found nice food to be eaten. For me, foods in here are too tasteless. In addtion, chili sauce in here isn't spicy enough for me. What a struggling condition for me at that time (Struggled because of food, what??). Finally, in the middle of March, my struggle was over. I found my saviors! haha. They are pasta and grass jelly soya milk:

I usually order pasta in Nasi Padang stall in canteen B https://foursquare.com/venue/14158771 . I often eat pasta with egg, sliced chicken, and beef lung. Not really healthy eh? Don't worry, I have grass jelly soya milk for the counter. I order it from Mr. Bean stall which is also in canteen B. Actually, pasta and soya milk aren't that special but I really like their taste. I like the spicy flavor from pasta and the natural fresh sensation from soya milk. Yea, that's why they are my saviors!

10 days later, I won't be able to eat them anymore. Hence, they are the one that I will miss when I go back to Yogyakarta. Just call this feeling as food melancholy, haha.

A Question in Mind: Threshold Question

"What are some ways information technology can help ... to achieve ... ? " This was the typical question that appeared several times in my exam this morning. This question is my today inspiration because I hardly answered it, haha, kidding, (honestly, 50% kidding). I found that this question was the question which should be kept in my mind. This simple question leads me to think about the technology side of anything. As I want to have a career in business technology field, it helps me a lot to develop critical thinking about issues in my field. If one is able to develop critical thinking, the ideas and solutions will be like water flowing from the mountain spring. Just call this question as my field's threshold question.

I call it threshold question because it opens a kind of portal that leads into new or previously accessible way of thinking. This meaning seems similar to threshold concepts because both of them have an almost similar usefulness. The threshold concepts are used to understand a field of study comprehensively. Once you understand the threshold concepts in a particular field of study, we can easily understand the other concepts in that field. For example, my SAP lecturer said that the threshold concepts of SAP is the modular concept. Hence, you can easily understand all the things about SAP if you understand about modular concept.

Back to threshold question, do other fields have threshold question? I think the others can have their own threshold question just like threshold concepts. Hmm, I tried to look for an example for the other fields but I couldn't find it, haha. The most important thing is the question should lead us to develop critical thinking and then we can fully understand our field of study or even develop new idea. So, what about yours? Good luck for finding your threshold question!

Perfectionism

Perfectionism. That is one reason that explains why I took a lot of time for designing my blog layout. Damn, I spent almost 2 days to do the design part such as header design, color composition, and widget code editing. At the same time, I'll have 2 exams on next Monday and Wednesday T.T Why did I do this? Haha, but don't worry, while I was editing widget code I learned some javascript logics. So it's quite helpful for my programming exam, isn't it??

Yea, my perfectionism always makes me want to give the best for what I'm doing. According to Mr.Wiki perfectionism has negative and positive aspects. Its negative aspect has two forms that are procrastination and self-depreciation. Procrastination happens when perfectionism is used to postpone task  ("I can't start my project until I know the 'right' way to do it."). I think I suffered this a lot, hahaha. Meanwhile, self-depreciation happens when perfectionism is used to excuse poor performance or to seek sympathy and affirmation from other people ("I can't believe I don't know how to reach my own goals. I must be stupid"). It seems this problem doesn't happen to me because I often self appreciate my self lol.

Don't forget the positive aspect of perfectionism! Perfectionism can drive people to accomplishments and provide the motivation to persevere in the face of discouragement and obstacles (Roedell, 1984).  For example, Michelangelo's perfectionism may have spurred him to create masterpieces such as the statue David and the Sistine Chapel. The other example is my blog design, haha. This is the product of my perfectionism. 

Although I only ended up with black and white color composition, I think it is enough for newbie, haha. For the header image, I made it in photoshop. I was thinking about what is the best logo for my blog. Then, the best idea that I could found was that empty-sliced-head with silly face, haha. For the next layout, I would like to improve my logo using illustrator and human sketch! emmm, maybe 3d max for the next next neexxxt version.  

howtogetdumb -- Do you wanna be a dummy?

Welcome to howtogetdumb! So, do you really want to be a dumb? If yes, surely I can help you. Or are you already a dumb and wanna get dumber than now? Hahahah, kidding dude! I just didn't have any better idea about this blog name. This blog is my personal blog and its name supposed to be better than this.

I use this blog as my adventure log (so it should be adlog, cool, new term, but whatever!@#$). My adventure could be a learning process, travelling to some places, experiencing events, or even eating foods! I hope my blog can be useful for all of you!