Difference between Business Analyst and Systems Analyst (within the context of the IT)

This is from my own perspective and mainly based on my personal experience:

Business Analyst:
Re-document the business rules and the business processes in a format and terminology that is eligible to be consumed as requirements for introducing new system(s) or redefining an existing business.


Systems Analyst:
Either re-document the exiting system(s) or conclude other systems in an answer to highlight the suitability for fulfilling the defined set of requirements.

User experience - Apple support in Egypt: Thanks Apple!

In comparison to my frustration last year trying to figure out an issue with my iPhone in my home country Egypt, I was very satisfied few days ago when I approached the company for an iOS support ticket. It's understood that Apple has no Apple stores in Egypt, only re-sellers, and the iPhones especially are supported through the mobile network operators. So those who purchase their handsets from outside the country, like my case, are mostly left behind with very limited support through the re-sellers.

My story started when I first tried to enable keychain on my device. To complete the operation, I should receive the security code on my registered phone number with Apple; however, since I purchased my device from Geneva, it looks like I have selected the country as Switzerland when I first set it up. Hence, whenever the service tries to send to me an SMS, it never reaches me as it was addressing my correct Egyptian number, except with a Swizerland's prefix.

https://www.apple.com/eg/support

Contact Us --> Get Started --> Select a product --> Select a topic --> "This Topic is not listed" --> Fill in the topic details -->

I have started my support request through Apple's online chat where the agent advised me to dial Apple support through the phone since resetting my account information requires verification which cannot be completed through the chat window. Moreover, he kindly shared a list of contacts which did not include Egypt and advised me to call the nearest location if my country is not listed. Before I do, I gave it a second shot for searching again on the Apple official site for support contacts until finally I found a toll-free support number (0800 000 0888) which answered with the reply that my call was outside the working hours. Another visit to the website, I was amazed to find a support call-in service with doubts that it might even work in Egypt. Anyway, I decided to give it a try and reserved an appointment annotated with my request topic. On the pre-defined time, I received the call which started by few minutes of waiting time. Then an agent replied and asked me about my issue, and looks like she recorded it very professionally and consulted someone or or another system. Finally, after some relatively long waiting period, she kindly returned with questions for verifying my identity, then some more waiting time which seams to me that she was waiting for her system interface to respond. Consequently she very patiently helped me through the resolution and confirmed it before we close the line.

Overall, I can say I had a very good user experience, starting from the scheduled call, passing by the very helpful agent, and more importantly she was able to find a way to resolve my issue in a single call.

It is worth mentioning that I questioned the location of the call center which turned out to be located in Athens; however, all the experience I perceived was merely Egyptian; the whole call was in the local Egyptian accent. Impressed!

I believe this post is my thank you token for Apple and that dedicated agent!

Writing technical documents with gender neutral language

1)
The form no one enjoys reading:
The project manager approved the estimates and added it to her or his project plan.

The more appropriate form:
The project manager approved the estimates and added it to the project plan.


2)
The form no one enjoys reading:
The professional project manager considers all the risks. S\he also categorizes them.

The more appropriate form:
The professional project managers consider all the risks. They also categorize them.


3)
On the level of words comes some examples:

Chairman --> Chair
Policeman --> Police officer


4)
For titles, unless you are sure about the specific person's preference; 

Miss --> Ms
Mrs  --> Ms

A killing mistake for task scheduling: 12:00AM or 12:PM

To cut it short:

12:00PM is noon.
12:00AM is mid-night.

Difference between Start\Finish times, Baseline Start\Finish times, and Actual Start\Finish times for project tasks.

Baseline Start\Finish times: Those are the planned times entered during planning to specify the planned start\finish times for each task. Once the plan enters execution, this should not change; however, this remains as a baseline (reference) for comparison with the actual Task Start\Finish times for each task for the purposes of monitoring or evaluation.

Actual Start\Finish times: Those are the actual times periodically entered for each task at the head of its execution and following its completion to specify the actual duration for each task.

Start\Finish times: Those are the forecast-ed times periodically updated for planned tasks to reflect any new inputs which are excepted to change the schedule and which were not foreseen at initial project planning.