Message from your Chair: Judy Cheves

As we go "to press" we are fully involved in our September chapter Kick-Off meeting. We hope that many of you attend and are impressed with our offerings.

Early arrival will provide you with an opportunity to have some refreshments while networking with other IT professionals who share your interest in improving the software quality processes and products.

During our meeting we will share our vision and plans for future speakers and educational opportunities. We are establishing relationships with other professional organizations and will provide updates on programs offered by these organizations as well.

Our Program Chair, Karina Gamble, has lined up quality speakers for our meetings to keep you up-to-date on best practices, tools and techniques. Our October speaker, Frank Reynolds, is sure to provide interesting insights while sharing his experiences training Project Managers for the Guangzhou Airport project.

We provide opportunities for all members to actively participate in chapter activities. Ask any Board Member for details on how you can become involved in SCQAA-SF. You'll find the experience valuable and rewarding.

I encourage you to visit the SCQAA-SF website at www.scqaa.us for more information regarding our Chapter, meeting location, and scheduled speakers.

Regards,

Judy Cheves

Our Committee: Your Opportunity

Membership:

The Membership committee of the Southern California Quality Assurance Association - San Fernando Chapter is dedicated to expanding our membership in the Northern Los Angeles County & Southern Ventura County areas. Our goal is to have an active community of professionals dedicated to the continuous improvement of information technology quality practices and principles. Please encourage your friends and co-workers to visit one of our chapter meetings, visit our website http://www.scqaa.us or sign up for our informative newsletter by e-mailing scqaa_sf_maillist@yahoo.com If you have not yet attended one of our meetings, come and visit, learn new ideas from our speakers, meet and share experiences with others in information technology. Come and learn about professional opportunities in the San Fernando area, or just enjoy the camaraderie and maybe win a door prize!

The Membership Committee needs YOU!!! Volunteer today for an exciting opportunity to meet new people, visit new places, and make new friends! We are looking for local professionals who can spend just a little time each week to contact friends and business associates and let them know about the exciting opportunities SCQAA-SF membership provides. If you would like to be a part of our membership committee or have suggestions for improving our membership opportunities please look for me, Ron Winters, Membership Committee Chairperson at any SCQAA-SF meeting or send an e-mail to membership@scqaa.us.

Program:

In this slow economy with the current job market, it is more critical than ever for QA professionals to actively participate in associations such as SCQAA, to network with colleagues in local companies, learn about career and consulting opportunities, and most importantly to keep themselves up to date with the current technologies, best practices, and quality tools and techniques. The SCQAA San Fernando chapter, serving the northern Los Angeles county members, is here to help you accomplish all of the above. We are inviting prominent and interesting speakers to come to our monthly meetings to share their insights, their experience and knowledge in their subject matter expertise. We are also planning to offer a few short courses in various subject areas that we think can benefit most of you in enhancing your software engineering, project management, quality assurance, and IT security management skills.

As the program chair of the SCQAA-SF, I am working with a group of dedicated and experienced professionals developing a master plan to offer short courses and seminars at significantly discounted rates to our members in 2004. To best serve the needs of our members, I invite you to participate in our programs subcommittee and provide your input for a set of courses that you would like to see SCQAA offer in 2004 in a centrally located area. Please join our programs subcommittee and allocate few hours every other week of your time to help us meet if not exceed our members training requirements in 2004

Website:

The San Fernando Chapter of SCQAA is working behind the scenes to formulate and deliver dynamic and informative events for the QA and IT community. To keep the public well informed, we have secured a website - www.scqaa.us. As the Webmaster, I am looking to expand the Web Committee to support our website. If you are creative, dedicated and interested please join us.

Quality Meetings Upcoming

September 16, 2003 “Using The Inspection Process To Sell Your Company On The Value Of Their Quality Initiative" by Lois Zells sponsored by SCQAA Orange County Chapter meeting at Amerisource Bergen in Orange, CA. Cost is $15 which includes catered dinner.For details: www.scqaa.com To RSVP: rsvp@scqaa.co

September 18, 2003 “USING CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT TO DRIVE QUALITY " Presented by Keith Couch, QAWISE Talk Radio Host. Sponsored by SCQAA Los Angeles Chapter at America Honda Motors in Torrance. No cost to attend. For details: WWW.SCQAA.ORG

October 1, 2003 “COMPUTER FORENSICS 101 WORKSHOP” Complimentary half day event sponsored by Guidance Software, presented by the Los Angeles ISACA AND ISSA chapters and hosted by Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) in El Segundo, CA. AM and PM times. For more information, click on: http://isacala.org/

IIA-SFV Meeting October 8, 2003 "IIA National" Veronica Johnson from Institute of Internal Auditors – San Fernando Valley Chapter. For more information, click on: http://www.iia-sfv.org/

Quality Meetings In Review

ISACA-LA Meeting 09/09/03 “IT Risk Management” by Richard Knapp of VIGILANTe. Demonstrating how easily a system can be hacked and reminding people of recent viruses that have battered US organizations, Richard emphasized the need to take a proactive approach to managing vulnerabilities. Dealing with third generation hacker tools requires going beyond reactive measures such as setting up firewalls to preemptive security measures, which he described during this session.

Our Corporate Meeting Sponsors

Serena, Corp. at 20920B Warner Center Lane, Woodland Hills, is our very first Corporate Meeting Sponsor. We very much appreciate their sponsorship, which provides the SCQAA San Fernando Board with a fine workspace for our Board meetings.

Countrywide, Corp. is our second Corporate Meeting Sponsor, as they are providing Membership meeting space starting with the first monthly meeting in Simi Valley on September 17, 2003.

QAI Certification Programs

To request more information, send email to certify@qaiusa.com.

Earn CPEs

Are you a CQA or CSTE? Earn some of your Continuing Professional Education (CPE) points by attending SCQAA-SF meetings. Earn even more by helping with our committees!

Southern California Quality Assurance Association San Fernando Chapter (SCQAA-SF)

QAI Certification Programs

To request more information, send email to certify@qaiusa.com.

Meet Your SCQAA

San Fernando Chapter Board

The new Board slate is composed of:

Position	Board Member	Backup Member
Chapter Chair	Judy Cheves	Karina Gamble
Vice Chair	Karina Gamble
Treasurer	Deanna Witrack	Judy Cheves
Secretary		Julie Borland
Sponsor/PR Chair		Bill Hackenberg
Membership Chair	Ron Winters
Food Service Chair	Peter Reidy
Webmaster	Lenni Lara
Mail List Chair	Gerry Caruso	Karina Gamble
Newsletter Chair	Elizabeth Runyon	Deanna Witrack
Meeting Chair	Julie Borland	Suzanne Mullen
Program Chair	Karina Gamble	Lenni Lara
Chapter Advisor	Jim Stoumpos
PMI Liaison	Bill Hackenberg
ISACA Liaison	Elizabeth Runyon

Would you like to be a speaker and have a topic of interest to the quality community? Contact the Program Chair (karina@qainsight.com) or Chapter Chairperson (Judy.cheves@Countrywide.com) and let us know what you would like to contribute.

Would you like to contribute information to this Newsletter? Contact the Newsletter editor at this address: scqaa_sf_maillist@yahoo.com.

The SCQAA San Fernando Board holds monthly Board Meetings at Serena Inc. in Woodland Hills. If you would like to attend the Board meeting and would like to help this chapter, please contact Judy Cheeves at E-Mail (Judy.cheves@Countrywide.com ) to obtain the meeting schedule and location.

Subscription Information

You are subscribed to the SCQAA-SF "QUALITY IN BLUE” newsletter mailing list because you either signed up for it or otherwise expressed interest in SCQAA-SF.

You will soon be able to read past issues of our "QUALITY IN BLUE" newsletter on our website.

To unsubscribe, send just the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line to: scqaa_sf_maillist@yahoo.com. If someone forwarded this newsletter to you and you want your own free subscription, e-mail to scqaa_sf_maillist@yahoo.com

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We'd love to hear from you. Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please help us respond to your requests and input by writing to us at: scqaa_sf_maillist@yahoo.com or visit our Web site: www.scqaa.us and you can contact a Board member.

Privacy policy: We will not distribute your name or e-mail address to anyone, other than for SCQAA or QAI chapter purposes.

Directions to Our Meeting Location in Simi Valley:

You might want to check out driving directions from your starting point on yahoo.com, but here is how you will finish the trip:

Countrywide Financial 2900 Madera Road, Simi Valley, CA 93065 1C Central Lobby Presentation & Video Make your way to CA-118 and go to Simi Valley Exit CA-118 on Madera Road North Go 0.3 miles then turn right on North Madera Road Go 0.3 miles past Countrywide Way to first driveway on the right: 2900 North Madera Road. Follow the driveway up and around the building on your right and park on the other side (which is actually the front). Conference room 1C is right off the main lobby.