With the formal establishment of a Secretariat of the Hong Kong Institute for IT Professional Certification (HKITPC) with full-time staff in June 2008, the growth and development of the first IT Professional credentialing scheme in Hong Kong for the local IT professionals, namely the Certified Professional of IT (CPIT), has reached to a new stage.

HKITPC strives to upkeep and promote the expertise of our IT profession, inspire IT professionals' personal professional development, and ultimately foster the Hong Kong IT industry's development and competitiveness. In 2008, again, with funding from the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) of the HKSAR Government, developments of three new CPIT titles were underway. These three new titles, namely CPIT (APM) - Associate Project Manager, CPIT (InfoSec) - Information Security Officer, and CPIT (BA) - Business Analyst target IT professionals who have entered the profession for a couple of years and consider to choose a specialisation for their IT career.

CPIT (APM)
This is the "entry level" CPIT credential for IT or business professionals with an emerging career interest and work exposure in project management in the IT area. Holders of CPIT (APM) are expected to have demonstrated in the examination their project management competencies in applying their knowledge, performing their skills and applying their process knowledge within the context of the IT work.

CPIT (InfoSec)
This is for IT professionals in the Information Security area. It certifies professionals with demonstrated and up-to-dated concepts, skills, knowledge and experience in the information security discipline. Holders of CPIT (InfoSec) are expected to have demonstrated in the examination their competencies in identifying, preventing and processing any security leaks, threats, intrusions, etc. in information systems and in defining policies, rules, behaviors, etc. in terms of information security within an organisation.

CPIT (BA)
This CPIT credential is for business analysts in IT work. It certifies IT or business professionals with good knowledge and work exposures in the business analysis competencies which include but are not limited to identifying business problems, analysing business needs, and proposing IT solutions which can fulfill the business/organisational requirements with the appropriate use of reference methodologies, processes, practices and techniques.

Unlike the three senior CPIT titles launched in 2007, applicants of these three new titles will be assessed by examinations. Three Expert Groups have been formed to develop the examination scope, scheme, approach and contents of the respective CPIT titles. The first examination will be held in mid 2009 for CPIT (APM) and CPIT (InfoSec) while the second examination, which will be for all three titles, is scheduled to late 2009.

To help applicants prepare for the examinations, HKITPC work closely with professional training/continuing education course providers to design and develop suitable courses. These courses are monitored by HKITPC to ensure that they are up to the requirements of the CPIT scheme in not just the course contents but also the course delivery and the qualifications and experiences of the course instructors.

The first batch of these endorsed CPIT courses will be offered by:

- PEAK of Vocational Training Council
- Hong Kong Productivity Council
- School of Continuing & Professional Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong

To further promote the CPIT, a signing ceremony signifying this collaboration was held on 3 February 2009.

All these initiatives can definitely contribute to maintaining the professional standing, uplifting the professionalism of IT professionals in Hong Kong and attracting more people to join the industry. With such a strong pool of talent, Hong Kong IT industry can maintain its leading role in the region.

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is a systematic means to maintain, improve and broaden one's skills and knowledge that are essential to carry out one's duties professionally. The HKCS recognises that ICT is an ever-evolving field and being a well-equipped ICT professional, CPD is essential to the development of one¡¦s profession. As such the Society has updated the content of the CPD to make it more user-friendly to further enhance our members¡¦ competitive edge in the ICT industry.

Programme Objectives
The CPD Programme will enable a HKCS Member to:

- Maintain one's professional knowledge and competence
- Be aware of the latest developments and be able to apply the latest technology and applications for the benefits of his/her employer
- Meet the increase in responsibilities and expectation of his/her employer
- Be aware of the society's expectations and demands
- Provide reasonable assurance to the society that his/her service has been carried out professionally

Programme Requirements
Under the new programme, members are required to fulfill a minimum of thirty (30) CPD hours within a period of twelve (12) calendar months (from 1 January to 31 December) in order to qualify for a "CPD active" status in the membership record and/or a "CPD Certificate" issued by the Society. The calculation of the CPD hours is very simple and based on the number of hours the members have participated/attended in recognised CPD activities and areas.

CPD Activities
There are three types of activities recognised by the CPD Programme:
Type A: Enrolling in a course which is either offered by recognised professional societies and/or education/training providers or part of in-company staff development/training;
Type B: Attending conferences, seminars, workshops, visits and activities alike;
Type C: Participating in professional services, committee works and education/ training and research publications.

CPD Areas
The CPD activities should be related to IT professional skill developments in the following areas:

- IT technical skills
This is an ever-evolving category and should be revised from time to time. Examples are training in systems analysis and design, databases, programming languages, testing, network administration, security, etc.

- Application field skills
IT is applied to all walks of life and most members are applying IT skills to solve specific problems. Member's training in his/her respective application field is recognised. Examples of application field skills may include skills in the areas of Banking, Logistics, Insurance, Marketing, Manufacturing, etc.

- Project management skills
To manage a project and to control a project's budget are an absolute must when one progresses up the professional ladder. Training in project management and related skills are recognised.

- Language and communication skills
A true professional should be able to convey and report ideas clearly. Training that enhances spoken and written presentation and reporting skills are examples of training in this category.

- Soft skills
A member should be aware that soft skills are critical elements towards the development of a professional. Training in areas such as teamwork, negotiation, leadership, awareness of the social impacts when an IT solution is applied, and ethical issues are examples of training in this category.

CPD Hours
The CPD hours are the number of hours that the Member is engaged in the CPD activity. For example, the CPD hours of attending a 2-hour seminar/workshop are two (2).

There are a maximum number of CPD hours to be claimed per day for the CPD activities of Type B. For a half-day activity, the maximum is three (3) CPD hours. For a full-day activity, the maximum is six (6) CPD hours.

How to Apply
There are two types of CPD recognition: (1) a "CPD active" status in the HKCS membership record and (2) a CPD Certificate issued by the HKCS.

At the beginning of each calendar year, Members will receive an e-mail invitation to submit their CPD activities in the past year. Members who have obtained at least 30 CPD hours in recognised activities and areas will get updated on the membership record as "CPD active". All "CPD active" members can apply for a CPD Certificate with a fee of HK$100.

The submission form, together with more details of the CPD programme, can be downloaded from the HKCS website at http://www.hkcs.org.hk/en_hk/membership/cpd.asp. We look forward to seeing more members to join this new CPD programme.

CIOB - Chief Information Officer Board
The CIO Board is a group focused on sharing information between CIOs. The Board aims to encourage members to learn from each other through round-table discussions and open best practice sharing. The primary objectives of the new division are to provide a platform for CIOs/HoITs to share insights, views, issues and experiences amongst themselves.

BISID - Business Intelligence SID
BISID aims to share BI best practices in the industry, help Hong Kong companies make effective use of BI in their businesses and leverage on BI as a business-oriented platform to connect more business leaders with HKCS so that they can better understand the strategic business values of ICT as a whole. The BISID charters to enhance and bridge businesses via applied technology and information intelligence.

EBSID - E-Business SID
EBSID aims to promote the uses and development of electronic commerce technologies and applications in Hong Kong and to provide a forum for the exchange of information and experience in the area of Electronic Business technologies and applications and information management.

ETSID - Emerging Technologies SID
ETSID embraces the development of Digital Arts and Entertainment SIG, Enterprise Architecture SIG and the Open Source and Open Technologies SIG.

HITSID - Health IT SID
HITSID focuses on developing health IT standards, policies and legislation as well as to influence policy makers to ensure the effective application of ICT for the benefit of healthcare development of our community.

ISSID - Information Security SID
ISSID provides a forum for sharing practical knowledge and experience relating to security issues such as information security governance, ISMS, computer forensics, business continuity planning and risk management.

QMSID - Quality Management SID
QMSID promotes all aspects relating to quality management, including software processes, development methodology, project management, process and quality improvement models such as CMM/CMM1, ISO9001 and Six Sigma.

CIOB - Chief Information Officer Board

In 2008, the CIOB continued its practice in holding its meetings rotated amongst members¡¦ premises. The first meeting was held at the Chong Hing Bank Centre, Dr. Paul Liu introduced the Bank¡¦s IT facilities and solutions, and Mr. Joe Locandro presented the senior IT manager Mentoring Programme and process. Members considered that such a Mentoring Programme will greatly benefit IT management, mentees, and the organisation.

The second meeting was hosted by Mr. Michael Ma at AIG Tower, in addition to presentation in AIG¡¦s IT developments, services and facilities, members discussed the scope, process and benefits of IT benchmarking.

The third meeting was held at the Hospital Authority Building and hosted by Mr. Andre Greyling. He introduced the IT process and developments in Hospital Authority as well as the information flow between public hospitals and clinics. He also invited the Managing Director of Boyden as a guest speaker to give a presentation on the survey/ analysis of IT industry in relation to Human Resource Management including trends, employment terms and condition, and turnover rate.

The fourth meeting was held at Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA) and hosted by Mr. Raymond Chu who presented the IT systems and services of HKHA. He also introduced four HKCS social clubs and other activities.

A special lunch meeting was held in December in which representatives from IDC presented its practice and processes on IT benchmarking. Members also exchanged their insights and experience on the topic.

CIOB, in conjunction with the Information Industry Bureau of Zhongshan City, also held an Information Service and Software Management Forum in Zhongshan. The objectives of the forum were exchanging IT outsourcing experience and sharing best practice in software outsourcing. Over 60 delegates from Hong Kong and Zhongshan participated in the forum.

On the invitation of China CIO Forum, four CIOB members attended the third China CIO Forum which was held in Sanya in June. Mr. Sunny Lee and Mr. Daniel Lai, BBS, JP also delivered presentations and shared experience with the China counterparts.



BISID - Business Intelligence Special Interest Division

Business Intelligence Special Interest Division (BISID) was founded in February 2008. The key objectives of BISID are to facilitate the sharing of local and international best practices of business intelligence across IT professionals in Hong Kong, define a highly recognisable professional qualification on business intelligence and develop corresponding certification process for Hong Kong, promote the application of business intelligence technologies and solutions to local companies in Hong Kong to enhance their competitiveness, productivity and operation efficiency in the global and digital economy, demonstrate and enhance the business values of IT to the senior executives of Hong Kong companies through the business impact generated by business intelligence, and develop and train up more world-class business intelligence professionals in Hong Kong to serve the uprising need from the employers in Hong Kong, China as well as Asia Pacific.

In 2008, we have successfully formed a professional BISID committee. Our team is composed of business executives and IT professionals who are leading BI projects in large or small-to-medium enterprises in Hong Kong, BI practitioners who are working for leading BI vendors and consulting firms, and professors from leading universities who are doing research on BI and Data Mining areas. More importantly, our team is determined and passionate to grow the BI industry in Hong Kong and achieve the key objectives as described above. BISID committee is organised into 7 subcommittees.

- Research, Publication and Best Practices
- Training and Development
- Professional Development and Certification
- SME and Government
- Membership and Alliance
- Marketing, PR and Events
- Treasury, Secretary, Legal and Administration

• Hong Kong's 1st Vendor-Neutral BI User Group Gathering
  BISID had successfully organised the Hong Kong's 1st "vendor-neutral" BI User Group gathering on Dec 4, 2008. It attracted over 170 guests to attend this event. Speakers from Johnson Electric, Cathay Pacific, HSBC, DBS Bank, Bank of China and The University of Hong Kong shared their non-biased vendor-neutral BI experiences and best practices with the participants of the event. It also gained the IT media, such as Computerworld Hong Kong, MIS Asia, etc., to report this event and the formation of BISID. All major BI vendors in Hong Kong were sponsoring this event. This event provided an excellent networking and knowledge sharing platform for BI practitioners, users and academic researchers. BISID will continue to organise this kind of event in 2009.
  
• BI Usage Survey in Hong Kong
  BISID and the Department of Information Systems of City University of Hong Kong had jointly conducted a BI survey in December 2008 to identify the current trend of BI applications and practice in Hong Kong. The survey called "The Current BI Practice in HK" focuses on identifying the main reasons driving organisations to adopt BI solutions, the obstacles encountered when BI solutions are adopted, the BI adoption methodology, and the awareness of major BI solution vendors.The survey result is now available on the HKCS BISID web page. http://www.hkcs.org.hk/en_hk/sg/bisid/index.asp
  
• BI Briefing and Education to Universities and Industries
  BISID is keen on helping various industries and university students to understand BI and its applications. In 2008, BISID had done many briefing sessions. For instance, BISID was invited as the guest speakers in the IBM Data Warehousing Conference, Hong Kong CIO Summit, Hong Kong BankTech Summit. BISID also conducted workshops for graduate and undergraduate students in The University of Hong Kong, Polytechnic University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong, etc.

To ride on the momentum of 2008, BISID committee will organise the following activities in 2009 and further step towards achieving our key objectives. You are welcome and encouraged to join our upcoming BISID activities.

- Quarterly BI User Group Knowledge Sharing
- BI Competition for University Students
- Case Study on Key Success Factors of BI Projects
- BI Briefings to Universities, Professional and Commercial Associations
- Publication of Local BI Best Practices Papers for Hong Kong and China
- Further Development of BI Professional Qualification
- Alliances with BI Professional Associations in the US and China

EBSID - E-Business Special Interest Division

EBSID was formed in July 2005 with the vision to broaden the adoption of electronic business technology and application in our community. Through our activities, we highlight the growing importance of ICT in the business community, and provide a platform for the industry to exchange their experiences in adopting electronic business technologies and applications to increase competitiveness and productivity.

On the 21st August, EBSID organised a "Briefing & Sharing Session of the Hong Kong ICT Awards: Best Business Award". The objective of the session was to enable interested companies and individuals to have a better understanding of the Award, as well as promoting the innovative and original design produced by distinct pioneer practitioners in the ICT industry in Hong Kong. Dr Johnny Ng, HKCS Vice President (External Affairs), Mr Duncan Chiu, Organising Committee Chairperson of Hong Kong ICT Awards 2008, and Mr KT Yung, Chief Assessor of the Best Business Award, introduced the background of the award scheme as well as rules and regulations, judging criteria and assessment processes of the Award. The Society was delighted to have the following three gold winners of the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2007: Best Business Award to share their valuable experiences during the sharing session.

• Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (Electronic Disclosers System), Best Business Grand Award (as also Best Business (Application) Gold Award)
  
• Immigration Department, Government of HKSAR (Electronic Passport System), Best Business (Application) Gold Award
  
• Outblaze Limited (Outblaze Video), Best Business (Product) Gold Award

• Organise speakers' meetings focusing on the application of new / advanced technologies in day-to-day business operations. We will partner with various SIDs, experts and industries sectors to contribute topics that are of interest to our members.
  
• Organise site visits to major logistics facilities in Hong Kong and Shenzhen areas, including logistics parks, warehouses and container terminals. Focus will be placed on their adoption of ICT in order to maintain their competitiveness and productivity.

In order to provide a platform for ICT experts to mingle with business owners and promote the adoption of e-business technologies, other trade organisations as well as professional bodies in addition to HKCS members will be invited to the above-mentioned activities.



ETSID - Emerging Technologies Special Interest Division

ETSID is composed of three SIGs, namely the "Digital Arts and Entertainment SIG", the "Enterprise Architecture SIG" and the "Open Source and Open Technologies SIG".

The "Digital Arts and Entertainment SIG" aims at organising activities advancing the status and professionalism of practitioners in the Digital Arts and Entertainment industry. It also plays the role of advising government bodies of the region on the promotion of the industry.

The Enterprise Architecture SIG aims at promoting the arts and science of enterprise architecture practices through the knowledge sharing in the Architect's Circle in which the certified Systems Architects (CITP/SA) can provide mentorship to other professionals ascending through the architect's discipline.

For the Open Source and Open Technologies SIG, promoting the use of open source and open standard technologies for the delivery of appropriate ICT solutions and services in various organisations and fostering regional cooperation in the advancement of open technologies development and adoption are its aims. It actively participated in the 2008 Asia Open Source Software Conference & Showcase (AOSSCS) and CodeFest which was held during 8 - 14 Mar 2008 in Guangzhou, China. This Asian international summit was jointly hosted by Guangdong Linux Center (GDLC), Center of the International Cooperation for Computerisation, Japan (CICC), Hong Kong Computer Society (HKCS) and Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) to accelerate the open source software (OSS) development in Asia. Our 2 conveners, Mr. Wilson Ko and Ir. Dr. Samson Tam led a group of 29 students to attend the event which not only provided an opportunity for IT students to build networks and connections, but also gathered the veterans and students form Mainland, Japan and Hong Kong together to renew and enlarge their personal networks.



HITSID - Health IT Special Interest Division

An efficient and sustainable healthcare system has always been one of the top priority tasks in every government's agenda. HITSID was established in 2007 with a vision to advance the understanding and use of ICT in all areas of the healthcare sector so as to meet the need of our community.

On 5th September 2008, a presentation on "Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems and Hospital Authority's Public Private Interface - Electronic Patient Record Sharing" was organised with Hong Kong Council of Social Service. The presentation was well received by all attendants.

To provide a platform for major ICT industry players to introduce emerging technologies to healthcare professionals, an inaugural symposium on "Improving Healthcare Quality and Delivery with ICT-based Solutions" was held on 14th November 2008. Distinguished speakers were invited to share their insights on how to make use of ICT to add value to and transform existing hospital/clinical process. Many of the speakers are from overseas and possess expertise in their specialised areas. With over 150 people from private and public healthcare sectors, technology providers, academics and IT professionals joining the event, it is certainly a great success.

To align with the government's territory-wide Electronic Health Record initiative, HITSID will assess the possibility of setting up a healthcare think tank to discuss how to leverage ICT to address the latest healthcare issues in Hong Kong in 2009.

ISSID - Information Security Special Interest Division

The instability of the financial markets has hindered the growth and expansion of various businesses which begin to review their business strategies and to find ways to increase revenue and cut costs at the same time. However, some senior executives do not have the long-term vision to realise the importance of leveraging on IT to transform their business processes and to optimise efficiency.

As the opinion leader in the area of information security and governance, the Executive Committee Members of the Information Security Special Interest Division (ISSID) always uphold our duty to send the right messages to organisations to increase investment in IT and information security as we understand that it is often during difficult times that fraud opportunities tend to surface.

By organising and participating in public seminars and attending interviews, we promote information security awareness, the corresponding risk and control assessment, and proper security protection methods. We also actively assist the HKSAR Government and the community in developing information-security related policies and guidelines.

The increasing number of media coverage as well as record number of conferences on security incidents has shown that Information Security has been one of the hottest topics in the business world. Among all these incidents, computer forensics has drawn most of our interest. In view of this, the ISSID has organised successful workshops in IT security incident response and data leakage investigation.

The sixth annual Information Security Summit and Workshops 2008 held from 17-21st November was one of the successful examples. With the theme of "Enhancing Mobility Security in an Information Collaboration World", this 2008 Summit was supplemented by a number of popular workshops. This Summit truly reflects the unique bond of the information security practitioners in Hong Kong and the ISSID will definitely continue to play a pivotal role in future Summits.

The ISSID has been looking forward to serving our members and the community in the coming year, by continuing to offer high quality seminars, workshops and social activities. One of our priorities in 2009 is to provide more opportunities for security practitioners to expand their social network. The successful Sake Night (pairing with Vietnamese dishes) held last year has become a strong motivation for us to come up with more innovative activities in the coming year.

Finally, we would like to thank the Executive Committee Members and all the guest speakers for their whole-hearted support over the last year. We cannot do the job with such ease without them. With your continuous support, 2009 will surely be another successful year to come.

QMSID - Quality Management Special Interest Division

QMSID aims to provide a forum for exploring all areas of ICT quality management; to advance disciplined ICT management and system engineering practices, ICT process improvement, system quality improvement and effective project management; and to arrange networking activities, seminars, visits and the publishing of materials as a means to achieve recognition of excellence, mutual support and a higher level of professional understanding and skills. The SID is composed of 2 sub-divisions: Hong Kong Software Process Improvement Network (HKSPIN) and Project Management Specialist Group (PMSG).

• Sub-Division: Hong Kong Software Process Improvement Network (HKSPIN)
  
  HKSPIN Committee member Roy Ko participated in the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) IT Division Annual Conference on April 25 2008. Dr. Hareton Leung also gave a presentation titled "Improving Software Quality of SME: Dream or Reality" at the same conference.
  
  HKSPIN organised a speaker's meeting with Mr. Niall Kennedy on "Optimal Release Processing for High-performance Web Applications" in June 2008. Advanced techniques and best practices on improving web application performance were presented. Mr. Edmond Sung presented "Success Factors for Implementing Effective Configuration Management" in October 2008 to highlight that key steps in ensuring configuration management is effective. 3 e-newsletters including, issue 3 in April, issue 4 in September, and issue 5 in December were published in 2008 disseminate news of the field of Software Process Improvement.
  
  
  
• Sub-Division: Project Management Specialist Group (PMSG)
  
  

  PMSG organised a presentation on "How to Project Manage Career Planning" in April 2008. Mr. Alan Wong of Manpower was invited to present important ideas of the topic to a group of students from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

  PMSG set up a booth at the ICT expo to promote HKCS project management.

  Looking ahead, with the downturn of the economy and the reduced budget for new projects, project teams may now have more time to review the management and development practices and seek improvement to become more competitive and prepare for the coming recovery. Models and standards such as CMMi (Capability Maturity Model Integration), TMMi (Test Maturity Model Integration), eSCM (eSourcing Capability Model), ISO9001, PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) provide good fundamental concepts and guidelines for improvement. HKSPIN and PMSG will continue provide opportunities for our members to learn the latest development in process, quality improvement and management, and to share experiences through regular e-newsletters and speakers' meetings. Also, HKSPIN plans to explore opportunity to work with CSPIN and GDSPIN. We continue to count on your participation and feedback.