27 Mar 2008 by Chetan Shah.

Most of the organizations (small/mid sized/large) have data store which cater to the whole enterprise, the so called data warehouse or data marts. More often than not it has been observed that the applications which feed from the warehouse or feed to the warehouse need some sort of Metadata management tool which acts as inventory of the data fields which are in involved in the data transfer.

Following are some of the reasons why there is a need of Metadata tool

- To determine the impact of a change in field definition. A classic case here is Y2K problem where before the year 2000 only 2 digits were allocated to the year and post Y2K it was required a change it to 4 digits. In this scenario the only option would have been to manually go thru each and every source code file to check which all files use 2 digit year if the organization did not use some kind of Metadata Management tool to identify the potential impact to all the up/down stream applications.

- Identify Golden Elements amongst suite of applications. Each enterprise has some “golden” elements which are widely used amongst different applications in an enterprise. Having a Metadata Management tool will enable us to identify it efficiently.

- Promotes reuse of data. Rather than creating 20 different fields for account number the enterprise can leverage and enforce a single field for account number. Needless to say reuse of data elements is always an efficient and effective way of enforcing data consistency in the enterprise.

- Enable developers/data analyst/maintenance staff to understand the data semantics. Metadata management tools by default forces all those who work closely with the application to keep metadata information current.

I am currently in process of determining best practices, industry standard and tools available in market for Metadata Management. I will be updating my blog on a regular basis on this topic. If you have any suggestions or comments please feel free to post here, I will highly appreciate it.

Posted in Technology | No Comments »

14 Mar 2008 by Chetan Shah.

For individuals who cannot contribute to Roth IRA because of MAGI limits, there is one more way of contributing to Roth IRA. Come 2010 all traditional IRA contributions can be transferred over to Roth IRA. So, for 2007, 2008 and 2009 you can make a non-deductible contribution to a Traditional IRA account and then in 2010 and 2011 roll it over to Roth IRA. Agreed that it does not make sense to contribute to traditional ira and not claiming deduction on income tax return but the opportunity to later rolling it over to Roth IRA is hard to pass.

For further information read Suze Orman’s Article.

Posted in Personal Finance | No Comments »

9 Mar 2008 by Chetan Shah.

One of the easiest ways to reduce the usage of paper is to stop getting junk mails. Everyday our mailboxes are filled with all kinds of catalogues, fliers, advertisements etc. which we directly throw it away in the recycle bin. Recycling paper is at least better than just throwing in a normal garbage can but not getting these unwanted mails will be even better.

In order to stop getting junk mails. You can write to the following agencies. Within 6-8 weeks of your writing you will see a drastic reduction (close to zero) in your junk mails.

1. Direct Marketing Association

2. Abacus

3. Call 888-567-8688 to stop Credit Card offers - Look for “Remove your name from marketing lists upon request.”

4. Writing directly to the company, asking them to remove your name from their mailing list. They have to honor your request. Most of the times, companies send a business reply envelope, I have sent my removal request using that same envelope - Yes, it works

Acxiom has a good booklet which you take a gander at.

Posted in Personal Finance | No Comments »

4 Mar 2008 by Chetan Shah.

Google provides a great SMS texting service by which you can send a SMS message to them to get directions, weather, movie times etc. It is a great utility when an individual is on the road and does not have access to an internet connection. All we need is a text plan by the mobile carrier. As SMS texting is becoming a norm this should not be a concern. Pretty much everyone who owns a cell phone also has some kind of text messaging plan.

To learn more please visit Google’s Text Message Overview website.

Posted in Technology | No Comments »

3 Mar 2008 by Chetan Shah.

One of the key components of an efficient watchlist matching software application is its “matching” matrix. This matrix defines on which fields should the application match the enterprise data with the watchlist data. This matrix also defines the priority of each match. I.e. : If there is a customer in the company whose last name, first name, complete address and nationality perfectly match with what is on the watch list side then the risk analysts need to look at this customer asap. This can be done by assigning a priority for each match pattern which the software application looks for as part of the matching process between the enterprise and watchlist data.

Axiom :
The Matching Matrix should be reviewed and updated on a regular basis.

Reason #1 :
As the enterprise grows, its data characteristics change. The match patterns created last year might not be efficient this year due to data changes. Old/Outdated patterns can create a lot of false positives for Risk Analysts.

Reason #2 :
The watchlist data supplied by different agencies also undergo cleansing. Data which was harder to extract in the past might be easier to extract now. For example : prior to the SDN’s XML Format, the date of birth was in the comments field of each record and hence was not guaranteed to be in a proper format.

Posted in AML | No Comments »

2 Mar 2008 by Chetan Shah.

More and more brokerage companies like Fidelity, Schwab etc. are offering Full Service Brokerage accounts which act like a checking account also. I.e : they enable the account holder to do ATM Cash withdrawal, write checks, bill pay, overdraft protection and even credit cards.

In addition to that most of the full service brokerage account offer very attractive interest rates for the money sitting in their checking accounts. Like as of this writing Schwab was offering 3.01% and Fidelity was offering around 3.25%.

With all this features available from a full service brokerage account, I cannot think of any reason why we need to have a regular checking account with XYZ bank which offers less than 1% interest for the cash sitting in your checking account.

Lot of people may argue that brokerage companies need a huge “minimum balance” in order to prevent monthly charges. As of this writing Fidelity needed $2500 for its The Fidelity Account and Schwab needed $0 for its Bank Checking plus Brokerage account
Another point of concern maybe the ATM fees charged by the bank who owns the ATM machine, as neither Fidelity nor Schwab has their own ATM machines. These fees are refunded by brokerage so even if ATM machine states the bank will charge you $2 as service charge, you will be refunded this amount.

As an additional benefit, having an account with a brokerage firm like Fidelity which needs $2500 as a minimum balance at any time, will force an individual to save money for their emergency needs.

Bottom line, there is no reason why the money should be sitting in a regular checking account when most of the brokerage houses are offering all the features of a regular checking account PLUS a very decent interest rate on your liquid cash.

Posted in Personal Finance | 1 Comment »