The NMMU’s Department of Computing Sciences recently convened and carried out the very successful Corporate Environmental Management Information System (CEMIS) course. This course, which was the second of five courses to be presented within the DASIK project, was conducted from the 15th – 19th July. The key topics that were covered in this course were Sustainability Reporting, Environmental Impact and Protection of Enterprises, Sustainable Development, Environmental Policies and Legislation, Material Flow Management and Life-Cycle Management as well as IT and Green Initiatives.
Over 30 delegates from DASIK’s partner universities and companies, such as NMMU, University of Dar Es Salaam, University of Oldenburg, SYSPRO, VW and Bran Systems attended this course. The training provided the attendees with the cutting-edge knowledge in this field on the international stage. The course was presented by Prof. Dr. Jorge Marx Gómez and Mr Nils Giesen from the University of Oldenburg as well as Prof Andre Calitz and Dr Brenda Scholtz from NMMU.
The delegates and the presenters of the CEMIS course
The first DASIK workshop, which took place from the 18 – 19th September, was held in Oldenburg, Germany. Academics from partner universities as well as individuals from partner companies from South Africa, Tanzania and Germany attended this workshop. Eight delegates from our department as well as Dr Sibongile Muthwa, NMMU’s Deputy Vice Chancellor : Institutional Support also attended this workshop.
Congratulations to the following students who received awards at our Honours Awards function:
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Mando Kapeso – Best 2013 ERP Student (SYSPRO Award)
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Martin Smuts - Best 2013 Honours Project
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Martin Smuts - Gideon de Kock Award for the best marks since second year
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Michael Moreau - Best 2013 Honours Student
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Mando Kapesp receving the SYSPRO Award for Best ERP Student from Dr Brenda Scholtz |
Martin Smuts receiving the Best 2013 Honours Project Award |
Congratulations to Michael Kyazze and his supervisors Prof Janet Wesson and Mr Kevin Naudé whose paper titled “A Model for Managing Personal Health Records Using Mobile Devices in South Africa” received the award for the best paper at INTERACT African Masters Consortium.
James Pearce, BSc Computer Science Alumni, received the NMMU Alumni Rising Star Award at the NMMU Alumni Awards on 31 October. James and his university friend, Charles Stretch, started their business Blueworld in a garage in Mill Park during their second year. After they sold Blueworld to Naspers in 2008, SMSPortal was born. Today the company has a R300million annual turnover, operates in 160 countries and has connections to 750 cellphone networks worldwide.
Charles Stretch (left) and James Pearce (right) on the cover of the Entrepreneur magazine (March 2013 issue)
Congratulations to Irene Snyman, MCom candidate, and her supervisors Dr Brenda Scholtz and Prof Ander Caltiz whose paper titled “The Usability of Collaborative Tools: Application to Business Process Modelling Tools” received the runner-up prize for the best paper award at SAICSIT 2013.
Alumnus Carina Strydom (Grey High), Keith Gibson (Alexander Road) and Leo Hulsman (ASPEN) were acknowledged as ambassadors or our discipline and department during our Alumni event on the 1st November.
From left to right: Prof Jean Greyling (HoD), Carina Strydom (Grey High), Keith Gibson (Alexander Road) and Leo Hulsman (ASPEN) at the Alumni event
Maxime Mbabele, BSc Computer Science Alumni student, developed the Quick Budget application which is currently the 8th best-selling app out of a total of 240 in the finance category of the Samsung App Store.
Innocent Zvovuranda, BSc Computer Science Alumni student, developed a textbook trader application which came first in the national Business Connexion Internship Competition. Innocent was one out of 110 interns to compete nationally in this competition.
Innocent Zvovuranda receiving his prize
Dr Leda van der Post and Mr Clayton Burger presented a two day course on Web Design to 20 employees from Media24 in Cape Town.
Prof Ander Calitz and Dr Brenda Scholtz attended the SYSPRO User Conference in Sandton, Johannesburg from the 25th to 26th November. They had various contacts with a wide range of media representatives during this prestigious conference.
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Dr Brenda Scholtz doing an interview for Business Live |
The SYSPRO User Conference Venue |
Honours students attend the 2nd International DASIK workshop on Environmental Management Information Systems. They are joined by academedics and people from industry, representing South Africa, Germany and Tanzania.
Thanks to staff from the department who made a Mandela Day difference at Siyakhathala creche in Walmer Township (great initiative by Amanda Esterhuyse).
Brenda Scholtz is an invited member on a panel at the GRI4 (Global Reporting Initiative) guidelines release workshop at PWC in Cape Town today. This is directly related to the work conducted on sustainability in the department.
Congratulations to 2nd years Kevin Beyers, Matthew Sainsbury, Douglas Bentley and Liam Carver who have gone through to the final round of the CHPC Student Cluster Competition. They will be participating in Cape Town early December.
Congratulations to Siyabusa Charlie and Anelisa Kasper who received bursaries from Ovations Group. This was as a result of the IBM Academic Initiative run by Romeo Mombasa (IBM) and Dr Brenda Scholtz (NMMU, Computing Sciences). Siyabusa and Anelisa will be visiting Ovations Group in Johannesburg to meet the staff and experience a day at Ovations.
From left to right: Dr Brenda Scholtz and Anelisa Kasper
Dr Susan Stillman from the USA and Director of Education, Six Seconds’ Global Office, spent some time with the Soft Skills Society, discussing emotional intelligence. She wrote: "Thanks again for the chance to spend time with you all. It was truly the highlight!"
Dr Susan Stillman (middle, front) and the Soft Skills Society
Congratulations to Alumni Tawanda Ngundu (Zimbabwe, Honours 2012) and Olivia Nanyome (Namibia, BCom Information Systems 2012) who have been chosen to represent their countries as part of Daimler's Student Experience Program in Germany. They will be in Germany until the end of August, working in the IT Department. Both Tawanda and Olivia were two of the first students to graduate with our new BCom Information Systems degree programme. This is truly a great success story for this new programme as it is evident that these skills are of an international standard.
Tawanda Ngundu and Olivia Nanyome
Top 2012 undergrads, Michael Moreau (3rd year), Stephan Crous (2nd year) and Matthew Hill (1st year), fly to Cape Town on an industry visit sponsored by Korbitec, Open Box and ACI.
Students, staff and people from industry (from SA, Germany and Tanzania) attended a Business Process Management workshop, which forms part of the DASIK collaboration with the University of Oldenburg.
Alumnus, Marc Heiligers from Mad Mini, coordinated a Ruby on Rails workshop in the department, presented by himself and visitors from the USA. 20 staff members and students attended.