SWOT and STEEP Documentation

Our group agreed to meet today (oh well, yesterday) for us to continue our documentation for our major paper. Supposedly, we had to meet 2:00 pm at McDonalds Bajada but due to some circumstances we had started our documentation 6:30 pm. We divided the task, the SWOT analysis was assigned to Edsa and Emilio, and the STEEP analysis was assigned to Karen. The first 3 hours of our documentation was going well but the next hours were strenuous.

It was already 12:00 am when we left at McDonald.

Final Interview on ANFLOCOR

On this day, we had our interview at ANFLOCOR. We arrived there at 12:30 pm and we had to wait 30 minutes because office time is 1:00 pm.

We had so many questions that we asked from Mr. Giovanni Pimentel, the IT-Senior Manager of ANFLOCOR. The questions were more about on STEEP and SWOT analysis. We asked him about the Sociological, Technological, Economical, Environmental, and Political factors that are external to the organization. Then, we asked him about the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of their organization. We also asked him about the structure of their company and a brief history of there IS.

We ended our interview at 2:30 pm.

Follow-up interview approved,

During the last few days we have been checking our email account but there is still no reply from Sir Giovanni. So we decided to call them. Fortunately, we were able to talked to Sir Giovanni. We first asked for an apology (thank God! He understands.). Finally, we will have our interview this Friday, September 25, 2009 at 1:00 pm.

We sent an email to Sir Giovanni, saying sorry and we also asked for a reschedule of our interview… if we can still. *hopefully*

We checked our email and read Sir Giovanni’s reply which was sent on September 10, 2009. Sir Giovanni said that he will be vacant on September 11, 2009 at 1pm. Since, September 11 had already passed and we weren’t able to be there, we felt sorry for ourselves and we were so downhearted and afraid that Sir Giovanni might not allow us to conduct an interview with him anymore. :(

We went at ANFLOCOR before 8:00 in the morning. Sir Giovanni has not yet arrived and the girl on the reception said that Sir Giovanni will be having an important meeting on that morning, so we might not be entertained. Sir Giovanni’s secretary said that we really cant be entertained so she gave their contact number for us to call and confirm our next interview.

Later that day, we checked our email and figured out that Sir Giovanni had actually sent us a message telling that we can interview him 1pm that day.

Information Environment

I had a hard time dealing with this question.. I honestly don't understand what exactly an information environment is. I have tried surfing for those terms, and read some of my classmates answers, hoping that I could understand it. But I am still not sure if my understanding is correct.

Allow me to state what I understand about this 'information environment'. I think it is a place or field wherein you gain information or knowledge. I am so much confused if it's really just a 'field to gain information' or is it a 'field to enhance a specific knowledge'. Most of my classmates answered 'professions', so maybe Information Environment is a field wherein we enhance and/or practice our knowledge.

Well then, my information environment would be either on SYSTEM DEVELOPING or INTERNET/WEB DESIGNING, or NETWORK SPECIALIST.

SYSTEM DEVELOPING

Popular titles are Programmer, Systems analyst or System Developer. They create, manage and maintain software programs. To create such programs you need to learn and master the art using programming languages (code). Popular programming languages are Visual Basic, C++ and Java. It involves gathering requirements, coding and testing.

Programmers create software products based on identified market needs, and or specific user requirements. This allows a lot of room for creative ability and innovative thinking while working to specifications and standards. In performing systems analysis, you interact with users, observe their workflow and attempt to create models that will satisfy the user. It means a certain degree of conceptualization is required. To give the user what the user wants, the analyst must know the working requirements of the user, sometimes to the minute details. You need to love paying attention to details.

Analysts in some organizations may not necessarily start out with a computing background. Often people bring their previous job experience to work with the programming team in understanding user requirements. A programmer may be involved in analysis, or may strictly focus on programming, or both. This depends entirely on the working environment.

Programming, just like engineering design requires logical thinking, attention to detail and the ability to focus for long periods. Although programming routines tend to be more predictable than jobs with a fair amount of troubleshooting, it can be quite intensive with regard to self-development. You must be ready to keep learning programming languages/tools/updates because of continuous enhancements in the way programs are written.

I am not so good on this one but I do have fun programming our machine problems, although sometimes it doesn't end successfully. One of the challenges being a System Developer is having the patience debugging the errors.


INTERNET/WEB DESIGNING

Web sites are coming up all the time all over the world. Web professionals develop and maintain web pages and web sites on the Internet. Internet design and development is a combination of two skill sets: Programming as well as art/graphic design. Web development can be regarded as a special form of programming. Web developers are involved in creating models, graphic designs, web page designs, testing and troubleshooting.

Web development requires creativity and attention to detail. Although programming skills are important, it is also vital that the Web developer has a flair for presentation and aesthetics. Web development in addition involves a fair amount of testing and problem solving.

This is a bit harder than System Developing since it includes graphic designing. I get encouraged doing this because of designing, when you see the result..whoa! So self-satisfying! In this information environment, my role should be the web designer..hmm, what i mean is only with the design..hehe..not with functionality.. but if i could..then why not!

The challenge as a Web Designer, is that you got to think on how will it look good while performing its function. There is tendency that your web will get ruined because of the design.


NETWORK SPECIALIST

With the growth of the Internet, driven primarily by the merging of Communications and Computers, there is a growing demand for individuals skilled in the technical aspects of this unique convergence. Networking is an area of IT that is developing rapidly, especially with new developments in wireless and mobile computing. No wonder the fastest growing sector in IT now is that of Wireless networking.

Networking encompasses Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN) and Internet. Networking facilitates communications and the sharing of resources using IT. Just like the Engineer, the Network Engineer is involved in the design, maintenance and troubleshooting of all aspects of the Network environment - Network equipment, the physical Network, Network connections, Network management and Network Software. Popular Networking names and products include Microsoft Windows, Novell Netware, Banyan, US Robotics, Appletalk, Cisco, Agere, Orinoco, 3COM and Linux.

The Network professional not only deploys networks but must also ensure reliability and consistency of the network by handling problems efficiently, and reducing the risk of network failure. You're also expected to keep abreast of the latest in computers and network technology. The job can therefore be quite demanding as you should not only be flexible enough to provide service at any time, but as a network professional you should be expect to work long hours, weekends inclusive. This is a good position for those with problem-solving and analytical thinking skills.

References:
http://www.wikipedia.org
http://www.jidaw.com/myitcareer.html
http://rsg0927.forumsmotion.com/management-information-systems-1-f1/assignment-10-due-before-september-26-2008-1300hrs-t168.htm