September Post

It's the end of September, and I am not too satisfied with the amount of work I've put into my mentorship this month. I was able to put in some hours of work in the beginning of September working on some more service integrations with CloudHQ and Zapier. Unfortunately some of the passwords have been changed and I have not yet received an update on what they are, so I cannot show the CloudHQ dashboard (which is too bad because I really enjoyed using CloudHQ). But here is a screenshot of one of the "Zaps" that is being used in Zapier to sync Nimble (an online CRM) with Google Contacts.

Here is a screenshot of one of the "Zaps" that is being used in Zapier

to sync Nimble (an online CRM) with Google Contacts.

Something that I think was also important was creating an IT calendar of important dates for things such as password changes, quota checks, data archival, and domain renewals. I've learned that those are some important routine tasks that
con be influential in a successful IT department (Possible EQ answers!!!!), and that was all from making a calendar to help remind the staff make sure those tasks are not forgotten.

The image above is a Agenda view of the important IT dates

for Jeved Management until Jan 1, 2014.

By looking at the calendar you can see that a pretty big day (October 1st) is coming up, and I will surely be busy completing the routine tasks. But what just may be the most important tasks are the "Service Audit" and "Service Renewal". These two tasks require the IT staff to analyse the usage of the services that are being used and those that are not. Depending on the results, services such as Google Apps will be renewed, while services such as WiseStamp will be cancelled as it is no longer needed (we have decided to replace it with BrandMyMail). A properly conducted service audit can help the infrastructure set up by IT to run more efficiently and to remove any unnecessary expenses. Therefore, I am lead to believe that Service Audits are an essential part of a successful IT department.

Blog 6: Second Interview Questions

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?

• Maria Tarozzi is my primary mentor and she works for Jeved Management.

2.  What five questions will ask them about their background?

• What factors led you to working in Information Technology?
• What things do you enjoy most about your job?
• What do you think is the best way to get a job in IT?
• What are the hardest things about a job in IT?
• What other jobs did you consider before choosing IT?

Blog 5 Project Reflection and Working EQ

1) What positive thing has happened as a result of what you have completed so far?

• A positive thing that happened was when I told my mentor my concerns with one of the services they were using (WiseStamp), I then researched and found a better replacement (BrandMyMail). Along with that I have completed my Interview 1, I just need to type out the transcription.

2) Pick a piece of research or your interview.  How has it helped you improve your understanding of your topic?

• I feel that the article titled Consumer Acceptance and Use of Information Technology (Source ID# 6) has given me a great deal of information on what is required for IT to be successful. From what I've read in the article, and what I've also heard from my mentor, it is IT's job to find a solution to a companies technical needs, and these needs cannot be met if the employees don't have full acceptance of the new changes.

3) What has worked for you so far in the senior project?

• Finding a mentor and a acceptable topic is what has worked, along with actually getting useful information from my mentorship that has help me create a working EQ. I also feel proud to say that I've been able to shadow my mentor on a close to regular basis.

4) What hasn't worked so far?  

• I have been able to find some research in Information Technology on my own, but it is getting increasingly difficult to find more good research. In order to get more research I am going to ask my mentors if they know of any good resources I could use when I see them again. One of the methods I've been using to find research involves searching for specific fields/topics in IT instead of just IT as a whole.

5a) What is a potential question you would like to study this year?  (working EQ)

• What makes an IT department successful?

5b) What do you plan to do for mentorship?  If you haven't found a mentor yet, then discuss where you are currently looking and who you are talking to to find it.

• I plan to continuing shadowing my current mentor to find answers to my EQ, as well as helping them out, and to ask about or find other mentors/companies that I could get more experience through mentorship.