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Information
Management and Technology
- The
length of time I already spent working as an IT Officer in various
positions ensured that I had developed dependable and desired skills and
knowledge which placed me in a unique position in Croydon College (for
example) as a new employee, in achieving time defined rolling tasks much
quickly and efficiently to the admirable commendations of my Managers.
In Croydon College, new desktop rollouts take three months to achieve
throughout the college. I was employed in the department in August 2004,
but by September 2004 - one month, I had completed the new desktop
rollout all on my own. I had prioritised the task and identified the
areas that required new desktops replaced based on priority. I divided
the task into daily phases and set myself a daily target which I then
achieved quite fast. I had set a new record in the department and
everybody benefited in learning how the task was achieved. I was given
more responsibility over other areas within the department. I
demonstrated my knowledge and skills by writing out Information
Technology guides and instructions and taking leadership roles in
management, training, and installation of speciality hardware and
software.
Managing the
Organisation
- My
strong written communication skills have been utilised in various ways
throughout my career and has been demonstrated in the writing of
Carr-Gomm’s IT Department’s Policies and Procedures since 2006. My
communication skills were further demonstrated when gathering ideas and
data from contributors to the Carr-Gomm Reshape meetings of 2007 using
emails, telephone and personal interview techniques to obtain vital
information necessary to the implementation of required changes in the
company. The Carr-Gomm Society’s first Reshape of 2007 started in April
2007 and was implemented through the IT Department. The interpretation
of the Reshape policies and procedures were put into standardisation for
the whole organisation by only two of us in the IT Department. The steps
that ensured the success of the task were mainly due to the flow of
information which I gathered at each instance of implementation. I had
to check each information before implementing
the required change and raised queries where I was confused and or met
with obstacles. I repeat some
of the questions for clarity and understanding and to ensure
compliance. I persisted in the
exchange of information and feedback until the process ended in April
2008. While I gathered information, my colleague tested all information
I passed to him against already existing practise. The whole
organisation benefited from this task. We identified 270 “Ghost Workers”
(misplaced workers) and stemmed the waste of resources.
Personal
Responsibility
- My ability to
identify and prioritise technical and speciality tasks, manage others,
take decisions, and be accountable is demonstrated with my current role
as the only staff in my current employment responsible for the Backup
and Recovery strategy for the whole company. Following the visit of
Auditors in February 2007 and the results of their recommendations, the
IT Department in a joint meeting agreed to implement a Disaster Recovery
Plan for the whole organisation. I was chosen for the task and the
management role fell to me. I started the role by investigating what the
role entailed and defined the objectives. I liaised with several similar
organisations and eventually interviewed a few Disaster Recovery expert
vendors. For each decision I took, I liaised with my line manager and
sought approvals for every step while also providing feedback and
explanations and targets. On behalf of the company, I installed several
duplicate network servers in a remote site several miles away. I wrote a
comprehensive and detailed Disaster Recovery documentation containing
steps to take during a major network and building disaster at the
company’s headquarters. Together with my line manager, we identified key
players and roles that are critical to the continuation of the
organisation and prioritise these roles in the event of a disaster. In
2009, the Auditors vetted the Disaster Recovery plan and its
implementation, and, vouched it efficient. The whole organisation will
benefit from this in the event of a disaster, and my team benefitted
from contributing to the plan.
Managing and
Developing People
- My skill and
proficiency in developing others is well demonstrated in the large
number of Voluntary Carr-Gomm Staffs who has successfully worked in the
IT Department and found permanent work placement afterwards. There is no
rule as such for training new addition to the Carr-Gomm’s IT Department,
however, over the years, all new IT Officers; including volunteers have
been trained by me. Immediate after introduction into the department,
new members of staff are drawn to me because I have vast dependable
skills and experience which goes beyond the job. I also understand
intuitively the issues surrounding being in a new environment. I have
developed both male and female IT Staffs from different religious,
academic, cultural and racial backgrounds. I delegate tasks to the staff
which includes re-building network servers, Laptops and desktops,
providing remote support to end users or troubleshooting other IT
issues. I evaluate and monitor individual performance of staffs in the
achievement of assigned tasks. I delegated the update of Active
Directory User database to a lady volunteer. I supervised her from the
inception of the task to the end of it. I provided her a working
template and carried out task related performance reviews. At the end of
the task, I asked her a series of questions in order to gauge her level
of understanding of the task. I answered questions and provided
feedbacks throughout the task implementation. The task was completed
successfully. The team benefitted in the end through the user guide that
the lady volunteer wrote to ensure ease and compliance to the procedures
involved in the task in the future.
Human
Resources
- While I have
not been directly involved in personnel selection and employment
processes, I have influenced the selection of personnel’s to specific
roles in the team. I have provided my Line Manager specific skill set
and personnel qualities to look out for in potential individuals that
would eventually join the department. I have assisted in drafting
pre-selection test and questions. From liaising, and interacting with
colleagues and understanding them, in Carr-Gomm, I know the strength and
weaknesses of all my colleagues. I have encouraged the compiling of a
knowledge base documents to act as a reference guide for most of the
repetitive daily tasks carried out in the IT Department. These documents
have been created and they contain “How to Do” guides for tasks that
range from 3rd parties contact list, to how to install
application servers. I have written copious documents that explain and
breakdown the structure of maintenance of all network servers, backing
up of servers, the routines of checks of file access permissions and
levels of authorities. My colleagues have picked upon my efforts and
have complied written instructions for the speciality areas they
administer. Overall, this is ensuring uniformity and standardisation of
due processes in the department. Grievances and discipline is carried
out by the Human Resources Department on behalf of the organisation, but
the processes involved in these principles are written down and
obtainable by every member of the team from the organisation’s Intranet.
Finance and
Resources
- My knowledge
of costs in relation to labour and tools has always been called in to
play to ensure that the Croydon College IT Department operates within
annual operational budgetary plans. I have assisted in recycling IT
tools to avoid spending beyond the confines of department budgets. In
Carr-Gomm, I have sought the purchase of IT Equipments from alternative
3rd party sources in order to cut costs. I shop around and
obtain dependable and efficient tools of Information Technology and
support from highly competitive sources. The numbers of staff and
resources in the IT Department is tailored very closely to the confines
of the Budget. I follow my Line Manager’s recommendations in all
financial transactions in order to ensure a healthy end of year budget
report.
Health, Safety
and Welfare
- I operate a
personal “no accident no liability” policy and throughout my career
which has now spanned more than 12 years, I have not had a single work
related accident despite operating heavy machines, and working in
unsociable environments and conditions. My ability to ensure a safe
working environment is one of the many reasons why I am always the
natural selection to “break” (initiate) new staffs or volunteers in to
the department’s ways of doing things. When working on or moving
Hardware of varying sizes, I utilise the safest method of carrying the
item by ensuring that there are enough physical support when needed and
that individual staff are health and safety conscious with regards to
hazards prevalent around them in the work place. Every member of the IT
Dept has gone through mandatory Health and Safety training, this
notwithstanding, on a weekly basis, staffs are reminded to keep all
working environment safe and cloister free. The health and safety
officer does a round of the Offices every fortnight. When I am managing
new staffs and volunteers, it is part of my tasks to ensure that they
comply with the organisation’s health and safety
standards.
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