#value stream mapping process

[consulting-1]

Value stream mapping in Mumbai

Software corporation seeks digital efficiency and agility. One such methodology that has gained significant traction is Value Stream Mapping (VSM). Originally derived from lean manufacturing, Value Stream Mapping for software development has been adapted to inner processes, providing teams with a powerful tool to identify bottlenecks, streamline workflows, and enhance the overall quality of their output.

At its core, Value Stream Mapping is a visual representation of the end-to-end process that software development goes through, from the initial concept to the final product release. Value stream mapping process reveals both the value-added and non-value-added steps within the process, enabling teams to focus on optimizing the value-added aspects and eliminating or reducing wasteful activities.

Value stream mapping benefits for software development 

Improving efficiency 

VSM allows teams to identify bottlenecks and areas of inefficiency in the development process. Teams can identify delays, redundancies, and places where work gets stuck by visualizing the pattern of activity. This insight empowers ARROWHEAD Consultancy to take targeted actions to streamline the process, reducing lead times and increasing overall efficiency.

Waste Reduction

Software development teams can identify wasteful practices such as overproduction, excessive waiting times, and unnecessary handoffs through a detailed value stream analysis. By eliminating these non-value-added activities, teams can optimize resource utilization and focus on delivering features that truly matter to the end users.

Quality Improvement

VSM is not solely about speeding up the process; it also emphasizes delivering higher-quality software. Teams can fix faults, enhance testing procedures, and adopt better quality control methods, leading to a better-performing final product by recognizing and fixing pain spots throughout the value stream. 

 If you want quality improvement in work, contact ARROWHEAD Consulting for value stream mapping in Mumbai. 

Transparency and Collaboration

Value Stream Mapping lean manufacturing that promotes transparency by making the entire development process visible to the team. This transparency encourages collaboration and communication, as team members can collectively identify opportunities for improvement and work together to implement changes. By utilizing Value Stream Mapping, teams can better understand their processes, identify waste, and develop strategies to increase efficiency and productivity.

Customer-Centric Approach

Understanding the value stream from the customer's perspective helps align development efforts with customer needs. By visualizing the steps that directly contribute to customer value, teams can prioritize features and enhancements that have a meaningful impact on user satisfaction.

Value Stream Mapping provides an organized approach to bringing about significant change in the dynamic world of software development. Software development teams could improve efficiency, enhance quality, and collaborate better by visualizing the entire process, finding inefficiencies, and concentrating on providing customers with value. This will eventually result in more successful and competitive software solutions.

[group-50]

Order to Cash – Value Stream Mapping

Order to Cash – Value Stream Mapping helps businesses identify inefficiencies in their processes, from order placement to payment receipt. By visualizing each step, it enables companies to streamline operations, reduce costs, and improve overall cash flow efficiency.

[ienajah]

Process Mapping and Value Stream Analysis

  Introduction In today’s competitive business landscape, organizations strive to optimize their operations to remain agile, cost-effective, and customer-centric. Process mapping and value stream analysis have emerged as indispensable tools for achieving these objectives. By providing a clear visualization of workflows and identifying value-adding activities, businesses can streamline their…

[sims3fiend]

Sims 3 Settings Setter

DON"T USE OLD USE THIS INSTEAD: https://sims3fiend.tumblr.com/post/777075618948005888/s3settingssetter-new-new-version-new

SORRY ONE DAY I'LL LEARN HOW TO DO THIS PROPERLY LMAO I KEEP FORGETTING Proper release notes and beta edition

I've added support for setting any Config or Option setting, plus live editing of many many others, so it's now release time. Full feature explanation below, but essentially this lets you edit lots of settings ingame directly instead of having to make .package mods, and provides a "better" and more shareable way of editing GraphicsRules.sgr settings (IMO). Sorry if a new post is annoying idk what I'm doing

THIS IS A BETA, I haven't tested a lot of the settings, there are bugs, etc.

DOES NOT CURRENTLY WORK WITH THE EA VERSION

Downloads: Sims File Share Sims File Share - Less stutter config GitHub

More info about what it is (I yap a bunch) under :)

Installation and use

Please note, some settings wont appear until you load into a world.

Download the ASI file and wack it in to your Sims 3 base directory, where the ts3w.exe is located. If you're using one of the presets, make a folder called s3ss_presets and pop them in there (you'll need to activate them in the presets menu ingame).

Make sure you have an ASI loader, these are either from Smooth Patch's ASI portion or dxwrapper. I recommend dxwrapper, just make sure you set the LoadPlugins value to 1 (should be default)

Start the game, you might experience a little more of an initial "freeze" when starting the game than usual, this is from the script logging a bunch of config calls during initialization, there's like 800 or something nuts. It should not have any negative impact on regular loading or gameplay, and I plan to turn the logging off… eventually.

Press Insert to open up the menu. Go crazy and change everything, make the sun huge, crank bloom up, live.

Check the box next to a live setting to have it save for next time you launch, same thing for config but you also have to press save down the bottom because I forgot

Help I crashed/the game doesn't start with the mod!

Please send me your hooks_log.txt if you're experiencing any crashing issues. If the crash is because you set some value to like 7 billion, that's on you, you can just delete the line out of script_settings.ini or go to Settings -> Clear all settings

If you can't get the game to run with the mod, lmk also, please tell me if you're using a launcher, if you're using any other .asi mods, using dxvk, etc. as well as what operating system you're on.

Features

Live Edit

This is the new™ and now main part of the mod. I've mapped out several/most of the exes main "settings" (anything that interacts w/ 0x005a00a0 and some that don't) areas, which allows you to now, in game, change these values whereas before it was a whole arduous process of making .package mods. I mapped these all statically so some of the offsets/addresses might be wrong.

I was gunna list the settings but there's 260~ of them so maybe not?

I plan to add missing specific individual settings from Config eventually. If you think a setting is missing, or if you think I've mapped a value wrong (i.e. you know it has an effect but it's not working with my mod or is crashing you, or one value is changing multiple things), please let me know. Render/er is definitely missing some, that's because the function is scary and I don't like it.

Values (sometimes) have sliders with the min and max value I found in the exe set, if you want to go higher, you can double click to type in your own number.

Some interesting things you can do with the settings:

Set max lots higher than 8 AND increase the radius so it actually shows (will crash if set too high ~35+, need to investigate) by changing values in Streaming

Play in a game where the sun never sets or rises by editing Sky Common -> Sunset/Sunrise Time

Change shadow settings (includes the same thing as LD's shadow extender mod under), extending shadows (they will still look hideous, writing a post about why currently)

Change various light settings to get the perfect look for your game. Some popular mods edit these values for their looks (presets soon?)

Do whatever… this is…?

Game Config

The function we're hooking (0x0058c380) only seems to effect Config (GraphicsRules.sgr in the .exe directory) and Options (Options.ini in the documents/Sims3 directory), but logs a whole bunch of other thing. Feel free to toggle the option in the settings tab and try changing a bunch, it should in theory work because the function is reading and writing but somewhere it gets overridden or something idk 🤷

It lets you set any that fall under those two categories/headings, which means there's some like ForceHighLODObjects that aren't in the actual file and are settable. You might notice some show different values than what they're set as in your config, this could either be that I'm hooking it too early (I don't think I am), or the value is getting overwritten or changed somewhere in the exe. If there's a setting that's in the file but not in the list that you think does something, lmk, but it should capture everything.

I haven't mapped all of the Config/Option settings to Live Edit as they're all split up in the exe, if there's one you want in particular, lmk.

Presets

I've prepared a preset with just the essentials from my GraphicsRules file post with the idea that you can then use this with a stock GraphicsRules file instead of having to manage different versions, giving you the ability to toggle certain things back to default. I might make some visual "enhancement" presets or something later, either based off popular mods or my own insanity, we'll see.

Presets go into the s3ss_presets folder, and currently they stack rather than replace (not intentional but I might keep it)

Known issues:

Rendering toggles need to be re-toggled each load - Easy fix I'm just lazy

Options settings overwrite the actual Options.ini file (idk why??)

Occasionally D3D9 wont hook, I can't replicate this reliably to test so lmk if you can lmao

I mapped all the settings pretty hastily, so some are bound to be wrong

Was flagged as a virus briefly??? Praying this never happens again because I have no idea what to do to fix that dshjakfhhsdaj

Presets stack, if you apply a preset and you have existing values, they stack together… I kind of like that though as a concept so I just added a clear all option to settings, I might rework it later.

Some Live Edit value locations might change during gameplay, resulting in the menu displaying them incorrectly and crashing the game if edited in a broken state. I've checked most off them and they don't seem to, but Render ones did. Let me know if you experience it as I can probably find a static pointer like I did for Render.

Planned things:

Searching. God that'd be good…

Go over existing maps again, some I did early on before I supported static values, 4 float arrays, etc. so I've probably messed some up

Adding every single GraphicsRule.sgr setting to Live

Maybe adding some of my performance mods to it? Or should I keep them as their own individual thing? Mmmm I dunno

I still haven't looked at the way everyone else has been editing the "live" settings, so I should probably do that, there's probably a lot of info out there but at this point I'm too invested in my weird approach djsakfsksaffsa

Updates:

18.10.24 - Hopefully fixed an issue effect people using launchers, as well as a fix for the process hanging after quitting (would look closed but the process is still there in the bg). Also fixed presets applying. 17.10.24 - Hopefully fix a D3D issue that might've resulted in the game freezing/looking frozen. Handles D3D device resets. Will expand in the future to cover other areas maybe.

[lwh-writing]

Skulker's Boring Hunt

“And now that we have located the proper biome, we are able to safely release the beast back into the wild.”

Skulker opens the cage door and turns the camera so that the virtual audience can watch as the peryton returns to the wilderness of the Ghost Zone, all the while silently bemoaning how he got here.

Ever since the existence of ghosts had become public knowledge, the Whelp had been determined to improve relations with humans. Part of that outreach effort included a handful of ghosts selected to begin ‘virtual relations’ through a process called ‘streaming’ and ‘vlogging’ so that they could ‘show the world that they weren't that different from everybody else.’

Skulker, honestly, couldn't give less of a damn about humans and what they thought of his kind. The only reason (and he very much means only reason) he had put his name on the volunteer list was for the easy access to the Living Realm and the new variety of hunts.

The Whelp, though, had put stipulations on Skulker’s ticket out of the Ghost Zone. Firstly, if he ever hunted in the Infinite Realms, he had to document and explain the animals he hunted so as to provide ‘educational value to his viewers’ or other such nonsense. Secondly, if any dangerous (non-sapient) ecto-animal was loose in the Living Realm, Skulker had to drop everything and stop its rampage. And last, and certainly least, Skulker couldn't kill anything.

Skulker had tried to reason his way out of that one, claiming that it contradicted his Obsession. The Whelp had tried to reason right back, claiming that he could still feed his Thrill of the Hunt without slaughtering something on live air. They had settled on a compromise: Skulker would run a poll with his viewers, and they would decide whether he gained a new pelt or not.

The fickle humans had, to date, always voted for catch and release.

“As this week's hunt has now concluded, it is time to decide what or who I will be hunting next week. The polls are now open.”

Skulker scrolled through his Fenton-Foley-Phone as he let his puny audience make their decisions. Ember had posted a recent picture of a restaurant in Barcelona, the latest city on her grand tour. Skulker gave it a like and looked back at the now concluding poll, a little surprised at the results.

Of the ten options given by his chat and selected by his moderators, there were a few picks that were always nominated but never won. It seemed his viewers desperately wanted to see him take on a dragon, a gorgon, a vampire, and some human named Lex Luthor. This week was no different, as all four of those options were just barely beaten by a new entry to the lineup.

“It appears that next week I will be hunting the Joker.”

Immediately, the chat exploded into chaos.

wonder_womanSIMP: pog

StardustSinger: skulker vigilante arc?? 👀

Penglow: RIP watch out for the Batman!

rock-mayo: RIGGED

golfAceVendetta: pog

OpperantParrot: LETS FUCKING GO!!!!

the_general_plum: :D

carbon-ham: D:

LizardSquid: E

egg_composition: gotham is going to chew you up and spit you out lmao

OtterCat: D:

“And once again, it’s time to decide my prey’s fate. Type one to vote kill, type two to vote spare. Voting is now open.”

That prompted another flood of responses, and Skulker returned to his phone, scowling a bit at his girlfriend’s posts. He was happy for Ember, of course he was. She was fulfilling her dream and chasing her Obsession, how could he be anything but ecstatic and proud of her success? He just missed her, though he would never admit it aloud.

Hm. Perhaps he could do a little solo hunting and send her a new pelt. Something to remind her of the Ghost Zone while she was away.

The timer went off, and Skulker dejectedly checked the results of the poll, only to do a quick double-take before smiling sharply at the results.

“Results are in. It seems this week I will be hunting, and killing, the Joker.”

The chat exploded with excitement right before Skulker started saying his outro and mentally mapping out his hunt in the coming week, unaware that at that very moment, a complication had arisen in his plan.

TheBloodSon: It appears that this may be a problem.

[i-am-not-the-riddler]

Birthday surprise

Arkham Riddler x Reader, word count: 673. I was imagining little Eddie has this one thing that is very close to his heart. It’s kinda cute. Anyway hope you enjoy, it’s my first fic.

⚠️CW: Sfw, just fluff and cuteness, might be a little cringey

The clock on the wall ticked steadily as you carefully arranged the final green ribbon on the meticulously wrapped gift. Your hands trembled slightly, a mixture of excitement and anxiety coursing through you. You knew how much Edward valued precision and attention to detail. Today was his birthday, and while he often dismissed such celebrations as trivial, you had noticed the smallest flicker of interest in his eyes when the topic had been brought up in passing.

So, you’d spent weeks planning this—trying to match his brilliance, his flair for the dramatic, in the only way you knew how. Every detail had to be perfect, every element of the surprise a reflection of the man who relished in the complexities of puzzles and riddles.

The dim light in his lair cast long shadows across the room, bouncing off the towering monitors filled with Gotham's maps and endless streams of data. Edward sat at his central console, fingers flying over the keyboard as he orchestrated another one of his intricate schemes. His back was to you, so engrossed in his work that he hadn’t even noticed your presence.

You took a deep breath and stepped forward, holding the gift behind your back. "Eddie," you called softly, your voice cutting through the quiet hum of the machinery.

He didn't look up immediately, his fingers still moving at a rapid pace. “What is it? Can’t you see I’m—” He cut himself off, finally turning his head. His piercing blue eyes met yours, a spark of curiosity lighting in them. "Busy," he finished, though the word had lost its edge.

"Yes, I can see that," you replied with a small smile, stepping closer. "But I thought you might appreciate a distraction. Just for a moment."

Edward raised an eyebrow, his gaze flickering between you and the small, neatly wrapped box in your hands. "A distraction? On today of all days?"

"Exactly," you said, offering him the gift. "Happy birthday, Eddie."

For a moment, he just stared at the box, as if analyzing every angle, every crease in the wrapping paper. Then, slowly, he reached out and took it from you, his fingers brushing against yours in the process. His touch sent a shiver down your spine, and you saw the briefest of smiles tug at the corners of his mouth.

"What’s this?" he asked, though you knew he had already deduced what it was.

"Only one way to find out," you teased.

Edward’s smile widened slightly as he carefully removed the wrapping paper, revealing a small, leather-bound journal. It wasn’t just any journal—it was an exact replica of one he had once mentioned from his childhood, where he had first begun cataloging his puzzles and riddles.

For a moment, he said nothing, his thumb tracing the edges of the cover. Then, he looked up at you, his eyes softer than you had ever seen them. "You remembered," he murmured.

"Of course," you replied, feeling your heart race. "I know how much it meant to you. I thought… maybe you’d like to start a new chapter. With me."

He closed the journal and set it aside, standing up and closing the distance between you. "You," he began, his voice low, "are a puzzle I never want to solve."

You smiled, and Edward seemed to hesitate, his usual confidence wavering. For a moment, he simply looked at you, as if trying to comprehend the gesture, the thoughtfulness behind it. Then, with a tenderness you rarely saw, he leaned down, his lips brushing your forehead in a lingering, affectionate kiss.

"Thank you," he whispered, his voice soft and almost shy, the bravado he usually wore like armor completely stripped away. His arms slid around you, pulling you closer, as if he was afraid to let go.

As you rested your head against his chest, you could feel the rapid beat of his heart, and it made your own swell with warmth. In that quiet, intimate moment, you knew without a doubt that the effort had been more than worth it.

[plethoraworldatlas]

Ten conservation groups today sent a letter calling on Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and the Board of Forestry to protect additional acres of forest lands in the proposed Western Oregon State Forest Habitat Conservation Plan. Their proposed increase in protected mature and old-growth forest land would help safeguard imperiled species like the threatened Oregon Coast coho salmon and marbled murrelet.

Specifically, today’s letter seeks to protect forests older than 80 years in the Tillamook and Clatsop state forests and the Cook Creek watershed because of their ecological value for coastal communities and wildlife. The draft conservation plan is now in the process of being finalized by the Board of Forestry.

“Protecting more mature and old-growth coastal forests would benefit Oregon’s treasured wildlife and sustain coastal communities,” said Meg Townsend, senior freshwater attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We need to protect Cook Creek to safeguard critical spawning habitat for Oregon Coast coho and make sure coastal residents have safe drinking water and recreational opportunities.”

Intact mature and old-growth forests provide important habitat corridors and refuges for wildlife including at-risk species like the marbled murrelet. They also help moderate flooding and runoff occurring more frequently in a changing climate while ensuring water quantity and quality to downstream communities. Older forests are the most resistant and resilient to climate change impacts like wildfire.

Across Oregon, only about 10% of mature and old-growth forests remain, and much less than that remains on the North Coast.

Clearcut logging and related activities like road building and aerial pesticide spraying increase sediment and other pollutants flowing into streams and drinking water sources. No-logging buffers around streams have increased under a settlement agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups. But communities remain concerned about the extent of clearcutting in their drinking watersheds and the short-term and cumulative harms of industrial logging.

This summer, Oregon Wild co-developed a project with NASA to map the extent of logging across watersheds on the North Coast. The analysis revealed that the forested areas many Oregon coastal communities rely on for safe and clean drinking water have been more than 50% clearcut over the past 20 years.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Mission to Map the Elevation of Earth

Kevin Kregel had his lucky fishing hat firmly in place, complete with an array of fishing tackle above the floppy brim and a chinstrap cinched up tight. It was time to try the fly-cast maneuver. Commander Kregel wasn’t out for trout on a mountain stream. He was at the controls of the space shuttle Endeavour. Instead of wielding a fly-fishing rod, he and the crew of the 97th shuttle mission were preparing to whip a slender, 200-foot-long mast into place on day two of their 11-day quest to create an unprecedented map of Earth.

With one end mounted in the orbiter’s payload bay and the other cantilevered out into space, the mast was a central part of the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). It was also the longest instrument ever flown aboard a space shuttle. A detector at the end of the mast and one nestled inside the shuttle bay were ready to collect reflections from a radar beam aimed at Earth below. First, there was the matter of swinging the fragile mast around to precisely orient the instrument in orbit. Doing it with a detector as heavy as a grand piano attached to the far end was going to be the tricky part.

Closing Mapping Gaps

Nearly a quarter century after the mission to map the world, the SRTM’s data still yields results. Just this year, it aided in wildfire forecasting for Iran’s Zagros Mountains, tracking soil erosion in South Africa, assessing flood risk on the coast of Brazil, and even determining how the locations of power-generating wind turbines affect real estate values. Tens of thousands of research papers are published every year that rely on SRTM maps for these and other environmental, economic, agricultural, and public safety studies.

Back when Endeavour launched on February 11, 2000, much of Earth’s surface was a mystery, topographically speaking. No one knew the precise heights of many of the world’s mountains or the depths of the valleys between them. Where height information did exist, topographical maps varied in quality and scale from country to country. The result was an incomplete patchwork of maps.

Prior to 2000, correcting these mapping deficiencies had proven elusive. Most imaging satellites had a hard time seeing through cloud cover, particularly over portions of South America and Africa; it was expensive to fly mapping instruments on planes crisscrossing remote regions; and in some cases, countries denied access to airborne mapping efforts due to political conflicts. Scientists and engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory set out to solve the problems with an instrument that could see through clouds and map much of the planet over the course of a single space shuttle mission.

Their solution was the SRTM instrument that now hangs from the ceiling in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Fairfax County, Virginia. Only a fraction of its fragile mast extends from the golden canister where it was stored for the trip to orbit and back. Fully deployed, the trusswork of slender rods would reach two-thirds the length of a football field. When packed away, the entire thing collapsed like an accordion to fit in the canister, which is a bit taller than the average adult.

The radar system at the heart of the SRTM instrument had flown twice on Endeavour for prior mapping efforts. During those missions, the instrument offered two-dimensional views of the ground from orbit. By combining data from different vantage points, NASA scientists produced stereoscopic images that revealed stunning 3D topographic views. But the need for multiple passes over the locations slowed the process, and while clouds are transparent to radar, changes in the atmosphere between orbits limited the quality and accuracy of the resulting maps. The missions primarily focused on areas of scientific interest in South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Oceania, covering about 10 percent of the planet’s surface on each of the two flights.

With a radar antenna mounted at the end of the SRTM mast and another inside the shuttle bay, the new instrument could continuously view Earth in 3D, ensuring that atmospheric changes from one orbit to another were no longer a problem. Because it could capture images in a single pass over any given area, the SRTM would be able to scan large areas of the planet and reveal detailed topography nearly ten times faster than its predecessor. In total, the SRTM collected elevation data over 80 percent of Earth’s landmass in a single flight, with coverage spanning the areas visible in the maps at the top of this page.

Fishing for Data

If not for the weightlessness of orbit, a thousand-pound radar antenna would have been far too heavy for the delicate mast to handle. But even in space, there’s still the problem of inertia—the resistance of things with mass to changes in motion. That meant that the SRTM mast was going to flex whenever the spacecraft turned to put the instrument in position to map the planet below. Despite its rigid design, the long mast would act like a spring, with the antenna wobbling at the end after any shuttle maneuvers.

“It’s a very small angle wobble, less than a degree,” said Scott Hensley, a senior research scientist at JPL who helped develop the SRTM instrument, “but it translates into big error.” The motion would have amounted to inaccuracies on the order of a thousand feet (300 meters) in features on a topographical map.

The JPL design team had anticipated the flexing and installed a system of gas jets at the end of the mast to counteract the wobble. “It was a really clever idea,” Hensley said. “It worked for like a day and a half, and then I think it froze, so it no longer ejected the gas.” Fortunately, engineer Bill Layman had outlined a fly-casting contingency plan in the event of a problem with the jets. Which brings us to Kregel and his fishing hat.

Layman’s fly-cast maneuver mimicked the motions that sport fishers use when casting with long, flexible fly-fishing rods. In order to rotate the SRTM mast into position, Kregel and Endeavour pilot Dominic Gorie first applied a short burst with the shuttle’s thrusters, comparable to the initial flick of a fly rod. That caused the mast to bend backward slightly as the shuttle turned, and then to rebound forward. When the mast straightened out, a second burst of the thrusters sped up the shuttle’s rotation, mimicking the forward portion of a cast. The timing and strength of the thrusts were tuned to prevent further vibrations as the mast swung into place. Reversing the thruster procedure brought everything to a quiet, vibration-free halt, with the radar system in position to start mapping.

Unlike the frozen gas jets, the fly-cast maneuver relied on the shuttle’s limited supply of thruster propellant. That meant the technique had the potential to cut the mission short. But Kregel and Gorie managed the fly-cast maneuver to reposition the SRTM on six occasions with enough efficiency to leave plenty of propellant to complete the full mapping schedule. The deft piloting allowed the shuttle team enough time to collect elevation data over most of Earth’s landmass, between the southern tip of Greenland and the southern tip of South America.

Read more about SRTM’s treasured maps in the story’s second installment.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using topographic data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and SRTM coverage boundary data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Photos and illustration from the NASA image and video library, STS-99. Story by James Riordon/NASA’s Earth Science News Team.

[govindhtech]

New APIs For Amazon Location Service Routes, Places & Maps

Introducing new Routes, Places, and Maps APIs for Amazon Location Service

The Routes, Places, and Maps features are expanded and improved by the 17 new and improved APIs that Amazon Location Service announced today, giving developers a more unified and efficient experience. These improvements increase the accessibility and utility of Amazon Location Service for a variety of applications by bringing new capabilities and providing a smooth migration process.

Advanced route optimization, GPS tracing, toll cost calculations, a range of map styles with static and dynamic rendering options, proximity-based search, predictive recommendations, and rich, detailed information on points of interest are all now available.

At Amazon, user feedback informs the great majority of its roadmaps. When working with location-based data, several customers developing applications with Amazon Location Service have expressed that they require more specific information, like contact details and business hours, as well as specially designed APIs. Developers have indicated a desire for further features, like comprehensive route planning, proximity-based searches, more place details, and static map graphics, even if the present API set has given many users useful tools. These needs are met by these new APIs, which offer a more thorough and unconventional location solution.

Improved and new capabilities

In direct response to your feedback, today’s launch provides seven completely new APIs and ten revised APIs. Specific improvements are made to each service Maps, Places, and Routes to accommodate a wider variety of use cases.

Routes

Advanced route planning and modification features are now available through the Amazon Location Routes API, enabling customers to:

Determine service regions within a certain travel time or distance by calculating isolines.

OptimizeWaypoints helps save trip time or distance by identifying the most effective waypoint sequence.

To offer accurate cost estimates for routes involving toll roads, compute toll costs.

SnapToRoads allows GPS traces to be precisely matched by snapping sites to the road network.

You may create more dynamic and accurate route experiences for your consumers with these features. For instance, a logistics firm may minimize delivery travel expenses by optimizing driver routes in real-time while accounting for real-time traffic.

Maps

More specially designed map types created by talented cartographers are now available in the revised Amazon Location Maps API. These map styles provide expert designs that remove the need for custom map construction and speed up time to market. Furthermore, developers can incorporate static maps into applications using the Static Map Image feature, which eliminates the requirement for constant data streaming and boosts performance in use scenarios when interactivity is not required.

Among the Maps API’s primary features are:

GetStyleDescriptor, which returns details about the style; GetTile, which downloads a tile from a tileset with a given X, Y, and Z axis values

GetStaticMap allows non-interactive maps to be rendered for reporting or display.

Places

In response to requests for more granularity in location data, the Amazon Location Places API has been improved to enable more thorough search capabilities. Among the new capabilities are:

For improved user experiences, SearchNearby and Autocomplete allow predictive text features and support proximity-based queries.

Improved company information including sections for contact details, business hours, and extra features for sites of interest

Applications like food delivery services or shop apps, where customers require comprehensive information about nearby locations, will particularly benefit from these functionalities. Consider a scenario in which a consumer launches a food delivery app, uses SearchNearby to find restaurants in their area, and downloads restaurant information, including contact details and business hours, to verify availability. The application utilizes OptimizeWaypoints to recommend the most effective route for pickups and deliveries after a driver has been assigned several delivery orders. SnaptoRoads improves the customer’s real-time tracking experience by providing a detailed depiction of the driver’s location as they follow the route.

The operation of enhanced location service

It is simple to call the API. You have three options: the basic REST API, one of AWS SDKs, or the AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI). However, some further preparation is needed to display the data on a map in a web or mobile application. Despite having extensive documentation, the method is too intricate to go into detail here.

There are two methods for authenticating API requests with Amazon Location Service: using API keys or AWS API authentication (AWS Sigv4 authentication). For developers of mobile applications, API keys may be more practical in situations where end users are not verified or when integrating with Amazon Cognito is not practical. For front-end apps, this is the suggested authentication technique.

You utilize a combination of the AWS CLI, cURL, and a graphical REST API client to show the flexibility of the APIs and how simple it is to integrate them inside your apps.

Beginning

Amazon Location Service provides a more complete range of mapping and location data for your business needs with these updated and new APIs. These will improve the scalability and agility of developers, which will help you speed up your development lifecycle.

Explore the most recent version of the Amazon Location Service Developer Guide to get started, then start incorporating these features right now. You can also test the APIs using your preferred AWS SDKs to see how they can improve your apps.

Amazon location service pricing

Learn about the reasonable prices for maps, locations, routing, tracking, and geofencing offered by Amazon Location Service. Pay only for what you use; there are no up-front fees.

Pricing

You pay for the queries your application makes to the service listed in the table below after using the Amazon Location Service for free.

Volume discounts are available for customers with a monthly usage exceeding $5,000.

Price may vary based on request parameters, please refer to the Pricing section in the developer guide.

Amazon Location Service free trail

During the first three months of using Amazon Location Service, you can test it out with the free trial. You won’t be charged for monthly consumption during that period up to the amounts specified for the APIs indicated in the table below. You will be charged for the extra usage in accordance with the paid tier prices if your usage surpasses the free trial limits or utilizes Advanced, Premium, or Stored services.

Read more on Govindhtech.com

[anushkasharma55]

Mastering Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Your Path to Operational Excellence

Introduction to Lean Six Sigma Green Belt

Lean Six Sigma Green Belt training is a powerful and valuable program that equips professionals with the skills to improve processes, enhance quality, and drive operational excellence. This training is crucial for those aiming to advance their careers in process improvement and quality management

Why Choose Lean Six Sigma Green Belt?

Understanding the importance of Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification is the first step toward recognizing its value. This certification demonstrates a professional’s ability to lead small-scale improvement projects, analyze and solve quality problems, and contribute to the overall efficiency of an organization

Core Concepts and Methodologies

Lean Six Sigma Green Belt training covers essential concepts such as DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control), value stream mapping, root cause analysis, and statistical process control. These methodologies help professionals identify inefficiencies and implement effective solutions

Real-World Applications

The real-world applications of Lean Six Sigma are vast and varied. Green Belt professionals work across industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, finance, and IT, using their skills to streamline processes, reduce waste, and improve customer satisfaction

Benefits of Certification

Obtaining a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification not only enhances your skill set but also increases your marketability. Certified professionals often experience career advancement opportunities, higher salaries, and a greater ability to contribute to their organizations’ success

Conclusion

Your Journey to Excellence

Embarking on Lean Six Sigma Green Belt training is a strategic move for any professional seeking to excel in their career. By mastering these techniques, you position yourself as a valuable asset capable of driving significant improvements and achieving operational excellence

[blackjackkent]

I'm not entirely clear on what's going on with Rakha's relationship with Lae'zel but I'm like 90% sure Lae'zel just broke up with her on her own initiative before I could do it. XD

"I am not yours. You are not mine. Or so I've come to believe. You were zhak vo'n'ash duj - source of my bruises. The wounds you inflicted will heal, but they will leave behind scars."

Ma'am we slept together once, incredibly unsentimentally, and now you're surprised that Rakha was baffled that you wanted to do it again?

This is honestly really interesting and NOT what I expected and suggests to me that Lae'zel catches feelings WAY earlier in the whole process than I thought. Filing this away to talk animatedly about during my Lae'zel-mance on my stream playthrough, where it makes tons of sense because Jayce is a small, cute, worried-looking nerd who thinks Lae'zel is literally the coolest.

With Rakha, though... this has really played out in a way I did not expect at all.

Fundamentally I think Rakha's relationships are progressing a lot faster than Hector's did because I am taking a LOT more long rests, because Rakha is squishy and has to recover from battle more. XD So we're getting a lot more progression on the first map (or, more accurately, the opening adventures on the first map are meant to be taking a lot more in-character time than I realized on my first playthrough).

She and Lae'zel also connected really strongly right from the beginning, and given the way Lae'zel is behaving I'm starting to be inclined to think that connection was way more intense than I was giving it credit for. I already knew that Rakha has basically depended on Lae'zel for guidance and valued her trust, but clearly Lae'zel felt the same way in reverse, more than she let on.

However - talking to her again after this led to a different related set of dialogue: "Curious. I took of you completely. Yet your body seems no more worse for wear. Perhaps I might find use for it again..."

...What?

OK, I'm starting to think, actually, that in this worldstate, Lae'zel's emotions are just ALL OVER THE DAMN PLACE. Rakha is not the stable central pillar that Hector was able to be; Lae'zel is simultaneously carrying the camp's forward momentum, Rakha's impulse control, and her own life upheaval entirely on her own back and doesn't know how to ask for help with any of it. Which has led to:

I trust you more than anyone else here. Want to fuck? OK we fucked and I still trust you and it's becoming a lot. Again? No? Well FUCK YOU THEN YOU NEVER MATTERED TO ME ANYWAY. Unless--

This is actually all tremendously sad, and a very strong reminder that Lae'zel is very, very young. :( That post that was going around about how she deserves to have a category 5 meltdown free of judgment is starting to feel particularly relevant and this may be fodder for writing in this worldstate once we get to the creche.

Rakha, meanwhile, is just confused. She can tell Lae'zel is upset, but doesn't fully understand why. I think on some level she wishes she could feel differently.

(The fact that this came directly on the heels of Rakha telling Lae'zel she wants to use the worms also probably didn't help. This is just a big slosh of everybody handling everything in the world badly. Astarion is absolutely looking on from the next tent over with popcorn.)

[sublingual-art]

Thanks to everyone who joined me for a brief but important grasshopper stream last night. I made a few adjustments to the geometry that I had been thinking about since rigging, and then started setting up a process for texture painting. It just looks like a noisy bump map now, but I can actually paint a few separate masks that individually control the displacement, value, and hue, and then easily bake that into a set of PBR textures for my web viewer.

[koz123]

Operational Excellence for Pharmaceutical Companies with BMGI India

The pharmaceutical industry operates in a demanding landscape defined by complex supply chains, intense innovation pressure, and the need for absolute precision. To stay competitive, pharmaceutical companies must continuously evolve—improving speed, quality, and efficiency across operations. BMGI India, a global leader in operational excellence consulting, helps pharma companies overcome industry challenges with customized, results-driven solutions.

Pharma strategies often stumble due to misaligned execution, inefficient workflows, and rising costs in R&D and manufacturing. BMGI India addresses these challenges through a proven four-pillar framework: Innovate, Strategize, Solve Problems, and Transform.

Innovate Systematically: Leveraging tools like TRIZ, DFSS, and the D4 Innovation Method, BMGI accelerates R&D by embedding quality into product development and streamlining ideation-to-launch processes.

Strategize with Precision: Using Hoshin Kanri, Balanced Scorecards, and Value Stream Mapping, BMGI ensures clear alignment between top-level goals and operational execution.

Solve Core Problems: With Lean Six Sigma and Mega Process Redesign, inefficiencies and bottlenecks in manufacturing and supply chains are eliminated, boosting performance and reducing waste.

Transform Operations: BMGI empowers pharma companies to redesign workflows, improve cross-functional collaboration, and build scalable, agile systems for sustained growth.

Why BMGI India?

Backed by cross-industry expertise and a metrics-driven approach, BMGI delivers end-to-end solutions—from strategic planning to execution—that lead to measurable improvements in yield, cycle time, and cost-efficiency.

Conclusion

For pharmaceutical companies aiming to lead through innovation and operational excellence, BMGI India is the strategic partner that transforms complexity into opportunity.

Source: https://kutblog.weebly.com/blog/operational-excellence-for-pharmaceutical-companies-with-bmgi-india

[dankusner]

CHRISTEENE "FUK V29"

Queer cinema goes far beyond frequent program selections like But I’m a Cheerleader and To Wong Foo. 

Who knows this better than local filmmaker and UT professor PJ Raval, who this Friday hosts a showcase of his LGBTQ film students’ work at micro-cinema Hyperreal Film Club. 

Should Raval’s name strike the reader as familiar, it may be from his documentary work, which includes Who We Become, a Netflix- streaming and Ava DuVernay distro’d coming- of-age doc about three Filipino Texan women during the early COVID days, and investigative doc Call Her Ganda, which traverses the late Jennifer Laude’s story. 

As a longtime Austinite, Raval says his interest in the city came from its “DIY queer punk scene, which included filmmaking.” 

Raval argues ATX’s indie screen scene was born from a queer-saturated place, aka aGLIFF founder Scott Dinger’s former film sanctuary the Dobie Theater – the premiere venue of Richard Linklater’s Slacker. 

“Watching Teresa Taylor (aka Teresa Nervosa of the Butthole Surfers) on screen as the iconic Madonna pap smear pusher remains one of the queerest moments in Austin film for me,” Raval writes over email, “even though Slacker itself has never been considered a queer film per se.” 

Raval isn’t ignorant of recent policy changes to UT-Austin as a result of state legislation, such as the 88th Lege’s Senate Bill 17, which banned basically all administrative instances of diversity, inclusion, and equity on public uni- versity campuses. 

Yet at the same time conser- vative lawmakers tried to stamp out DEI, Raval created his Queer Media Production course as pointed praxis for his belief in the queer com- munity’s survival. 

“Queer identity is rooted in political resistance and living out one’s values,” he expresses. 

“For me, this also extends into being a filmmaker and film educator.” 

In an effort to continue the DIY queer spirit which first attracted him to Austin, Raval’s QMP course asks students to “make work thinking about queer pasts, the risk-taking present, and possible liberatory futures.” 

Much like himself, Raval says, his students’ work has “gravitated toward the DIY and punk roots of queer film- making, from Sadie Benning to Vaginal Creme Davis, with some sprinkles of John Waters, Gregg Araki, and Bruce LaBruce.” 

Their pref- erence for less high-budget productions keeps up pace with Austin’s current queer filmmaking PJ Raval  scene. 

In particular, Raval calls out Yen Tan, Hannah Varnell, and the This Is Not a Cult team behind Erica’s First Holy Shit! – as well as their predecessors, such as Raval’s former collabo- rator CHRISTEENE (aka Paul Soileau). 

“I take pride knowing the work of my Queer Media Production students is a continuation of this rebellious lineage,” says the filmmaker. 

Friday’s showcase solidifies Raval’s course in that legacy. 

With the 18 short films spanning genres from sci-fi to documentaries, music videos to digital animation, Raval was most surprised by his class’ desire to subvert expec- tations. 

“You may think you know, but do you really know?” Raval explains. 

“Their work is largely experiential for a viewer and an artistic expression of their personal experience.” 

This thought process of film-as-experience maps onto the professor’s own feelings about his chosen media, which Raval believes is “one of the most powerful forms of storytelling.” 

“For a captivated moment,” Raval says, “filmmakers have the opportunity to trans- port audiences, give glimpses into the life of someone else, and an opportunity to experi- ence the world in its many triumphs and fail- ures. These powerful moments create bonds of empathy for one another.”

[freshwhisperskoala]

What is Lean Six Sigma? A Comprehensive Guide

In today's fast-paced business world, organizations are constantly seeking ways to improve efficiency, reduce waste, and enhance customer satisfaction. One of the most popular and effective methodologies for achieving these goals is Lean Six Sigma. But what is Lean Six Sigma exactly? This comprehensive guide will walk you through the fundamentals of Lean Six Sigma, its certifications, and how it can benefit individuals and businesses alike.

What is Lean Six Sigma?

Lean Six Sigma is a methodology that combines two powerful process improvement strategies: Lean and Six Sigma. Lean focuses on eliminating waste and enhancing value by streamlining processes, while Six Sigma concentrates on reducing variation and improving quality using data-driven techniques. Together, they form a synergistic approach that promotes efficiency, quality, and continuous improvement in organizations of all sizes and sectors.

At its core, Lean Six Sigma aims to deliver better products and services by identifying and eliminating causes of defects and inefficiencies in business processes. This results in improved customer satisfaction, lower costs, and faster delivery times.

Key Principles of Lean Six Sigma

Lean Six Sigma is built upon five key principles:

Define value from the customer’s perspective.

Map the value stream and identify steps that do not add value.

Create flow by eliminating waste and inefficiencies.

Establish pull, producing only what is needed when it is needed.

Pursue perfection through continuous improvement.

By adhering to these principles, organizations can create more efficient workflows and higher quality outputs.

Lean Six Sigma Certification Levels

To become proficient in Lean Six Sigma, professionals typically pursue certifications that reflect their knowledge and experience. The most recognized levels are:

Lean Six Sigma Green Belt

A Lean Six Sigma Green Belt is trained in the core concepts and tools of the methodology. Green Belts typically work on process improvement projects within their department and support Black Belts with larger initiatives. A Lean Six Sigma Green Belt course covers topics like process mapping, data analysis, root cause analysis, and statistical tools. It’s ideal for professionals looking to lead small to medium-sized projects or contribute to larger ones.

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification

A Lean Six Sigma Black Belt has a deeper understanding of the methodology and often leads cross-functional project teams. They are responsible for project planning, execution, and mentoring Green Belts. The Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification is a rigorous program that dives into advanced statistical methods, project management, and change leadership. Completing a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt course or participating in Lean Six Sigma Black Belt training helps professionals gain the expertise needed to drive significant business improvements.

What is Lean Six Sigma Certification?

What is Lean Six Sigma certification, and why is it valuable? Lean Six Sigma certification is a formal recognition of an individual's expertise in using Lean Six Sigma tools and techniques to improve business processes. It demonstrates a professional's ability to identify problems, analyze data, and implement solutions effectively. Certification programs typically include theoretical training, hands-on projects, and examinations to assess knowledge and practical skills.

Holding a Lean Six Sigma certification, whether at the Green Belt or Black Belt level, is a strong indicator of a person’s commitment to operational excellence and continuous improvement. It’s highly valued across industries including manufacturing, healthcare, finance, IT, and logistics.

Benefits of Lean Six Sigma

Implementing Lean Six Sigma delivers numerous benefits to both individuals and organizations:

Improved Efficiency: Streamlined processes reduce delays and resource waste.

Higher Quality: Consistent outputs meet or exceed customer expectations.

Cost Savings: Eliminating defects and waste reduces operating costs.

Customer Satisfaction: Enhanced service and product quality lead to greater satisfaction.

Career Advancement: Certified professionals often enjoy better job prospects and higher salaries.

Choosing the Right Course

When selecting a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt course or Lean Six Sigma Black Belt course, it’s important to consider the provider’s reputation, curriculum, and format (online or in-person). Look for programs that offer real-world projects, experienced instructors, and recognized certification. Many reputable organizations offer training aligned with the International Association for Six Sigma Certification (IASSC) or American Society for Quality (ASQ) standards.

Final Thoughts

Whether you're a professional looking to enhance your skill set or a business aiming to improve operations, Lean Six Sigma offers a powerful framework for achieving sustainable success. Understanding what is Lean Six Sigma, pursuing a Lean Six Sigma certification, and applying its principles can lead to transformative outcomes for individuals and organizations alike. With options like the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt course and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt training, there’s a clear path for anyone ready to make a meaningful impact through process improvement.

[timenmoney]

Beyond the Hype: A Practical Guide for Entrepreneurs Building SaaS in 2025

The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) revolution isn't slowing down. For entrepreneurs, 2025 presents incredible opportunities to build innovative solutions, create predictable revenue streams, and make a real impact. But turning an idea into a thriving SaaS business requires more than just passion – it demands strategic planning, technical insight, and deep market understanding.

This article provides a high-level look at the essential steps you need to navigate the dynamic digital landscape and build a competitive SaaS product. Think of it as the foundational map before you dive into the detailed journey.

Understanding the SaaS Landscape

Before you build, you need to understand the model. SaaS is all about delivering software via the cloud on a subscription basis, freeing users from installation hassles and offering providers recurring value. Key characteristics like cloud infrastructure, multitenancy, scalability, and robust SLAs are non-negotiable for success today.

Idea Validation: Your First Crucial Step

Many promising ideas fail simply because they don't solve a real problem someone will pay for. Our guide emphasizes the power of direct customer conversations and thorough market research to validate your concept and identify genuine pain points before you write a single line of code. Learn what questions to ask and why this step is paramount.

Strategic Planning: Laying the Foundation

Building a robust SaaS requires careful planning. This involves critical decisions around:

Architecture: Single-tenant vs. Multi-tenant – understanding the trade-offs for security, cost, and scalability.

Methodology: Choosing the right development approach (Agile, Iterative, etc.) that fits your team and project complexity.

Roadmapping: Creating a clear plan from concept to launch, defining objectives, workflows, and resource allocation.

Choosing Your Tech Stack for 2025

The technologies you choose form the backbone of your application. We touch on the leading front-end frameworks (React, Angular, Vue.js) and popular back-end languages, frameworks, and databases relevant for modern SaaS development. It's not about following trends, but selecting the optimal stack for your specific needs and your team's expertise.

Developing Your Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Don't try to build everything at once! A core principle is focusing on a single, primary feature that solves the central problem. Learn the power of the MVP development process: Build, Test, Launch, Feedback, Refine, Relaunch. We also briefly explore technical options for both coders and non-coders to get started efficiently (think boilerplates and no-code platforms).

Implementing Essential Features & Best Practices

Certain features are non-negotiable for any SaaS: secure user authentication, reliable payment and subscription management, and an administrative dashboard. We also highlight crucial best practices for 2025, including data security & compliance, strategic feature prioritization, integration strategy, multi-tenancy considerations, and the potential role of AI.

Scaling for Sustainable Growth

Success brings growth, and growth brings challenges. The guide touches on both technical scaling (microservices, architecture adjustments) and business model scaling (tiered pricing, enterprise plans, retention strategies). Retaining customers is often more cost-effective than acquiring new ones – learn why customer success is key.

Ready to Build?

This summary only scratches the surface of the comprehensive guide. Building a successful SaaS in 2025 is a journey that requires starting small, validating fiercely, building iteratively based on real user feedback, and always planning for the future.

If you're an entrepreneur ready to tackle this exciting challenge, the full article provides the detailed framework you need.

Dive deeper into the essential steps, considerations, and best practices for building your SaaS solution in 2025.

Read the Full Comprehensive Guide on Medium

Let me know your thoughts on this summary and what aspect of SaaS building you find most challenging!

#SaaS #Entrepreneurship #Startup #Tech #BuildInPublic #CloudComputing #BusinessStrategy #Innovation #ProductDevelopment #Guide #2025