A Much Needed Update....

I haven’t updated in a while so here is the scoop on what has been going on with me at VZW.

The second week of July on Wednesday, I met on a conference call with an IT Senior staff member in Warren to discuss some goals and limitations about the project. We use Cisco 7960 series IP phones which are linked with software to our desktops. This allows us to talk on the phone and view another user’s screen in a different location over the internet. We talked about what features are needed and some possible solutions. The ending conclusion was the idea to utilize the existing Peoplesoft data infrastructure for the new system.

IT checked back with us the next week to view the “Delivered Peoplesoft” package and see what was available for us to use. They came across a very valuable “Notes” section in the disability tab. Also some other areas were discovered which are not currently used but are available to us. All in all it was some very good news to hear and the project is almost onto the road of getting started. The next step was to submit a Work Request to IT to get the project rolling.

On Thursday and Friday I had the Access Level I training class brought to us by New Horizons Learning Center. The class was very informal and I learned a lot of new information about relational databases and structures. It was amazing to see that some people use Access for their job everyday but, some of the main concepts were completely unclear to them. I would guess after following a routine each day some of the other areas are overlooked by them without proper instruction. The guy who taught the class I felt was very personable and really presented the class in a smooth structure.

Monday and Tuesday I started to develop the first draft of the Work Request. The Work Request is a document that gets submitted to IT with significant information about a future project to be developed. Included in the document is a description of the process and who will be using the system. Following that is a business case on how the new process will be improved relating to cost and time savings.

While developing the Work Request some sections called for further explanation about each featured point. I created some mock screenshots to simulate what different tabs would appear like in Peoplesoft given the criteria explained. This will make the development of the application easier to visualize when in development. After developing the first draft of the Work Request, it was passed to my manager for some changes and revisions. Finally, the document was passed to the assistant director of Employee Relations to finalize any changes seen needed. My manager submitted the Work Request to IT.

Friday was another intern event labeled as corporate softball day! Basically all of the summer interns got together at our own Verizon Corporate Softball Field located right on the headquarters campus. We were split up into two teams and played a full game of softball. I felt this event really brought everyone together being that it was a casual atmosphere. The event also managed to get everyone talking to each other and really involved in working together. There was also a barbeque outside the entire afternoon with free food and all of our managers and co-workers were invited to come out and watch the game. I smacked a few good hits for my team and we even wound up winning the game!

After coming back to work at the end of the day Friday I reviewed and finalized any last minute changes to the Work Request. My manager then submitted to document to be signed off for IT to develop. I am awaiting a call back from our IT contact at the moment to work towards the development stage. That’s about it for now and I will keep everyone updated on what’s going on next.