Name of Technology used: Project Planning

Name of Intern: Leanne Drapeza

Moment of Inspiration:

As a CISCO PMO Intern, the challenges brought upon when I first started was the creation of project plans for three school districts.  The lack of project plans was delaying projects and Technology Coordinators lack the time to track and put them as a plan.  I was assigned to create project plans for Hattiesburg, Lamar, and Forrest County.  The task became challenging because of the lack of information I had to gather a plan.  A project plan is vital in making sure everything will be completed in time and within a reasonable period.

Describe the Success Story:

With this in mind, the first step was to meet with Technology Coordinators to construct a method to track project progress.  After several meetings and determination of tasks, I was able to construct a project plan that was applied in all of the three districts.  Each district's project plan were divided for each school and addresses tasks such as (Power, UPS, HVAC, Installation of Racks, Cabling-Data, Cabling-Wireless, Routers Implementation, LAN installation, etc.).  By breaking these tasks down, Technology coordinators can easily determine which tasks are not on schedule and the ones that are.  The project plans started during the implementation phase of the project, in which some activities were completed earlier.  The project plans successfully assisted in the planning phase and time management of Technology Coordinators.  These enabled them to easily specify weaknesses and parts of the project that are not being accomplished.  In addition, the project plans served as a guideline for the partners that were responsible for installation activities in the schools.  The continuous process of monitoring tasks weekly is the method used to measure progress.

The process of project planning strated with the construction of the plans in Microsoft Project. Then, a weekly tasks notifications was sent out to Technology Coordinators as daily reminders on tasks that are due this week.  The process ensures that tasks must be on time to avoid delays and meet timeframe requirements.

How did this activity/project benefit the teachers, students and the school?

The outcome of the project plans was very successful.  It helped Technology Coordinators to keep track of tasks consistently.  It also helped the 21S mentor to keep up with the progress of the project and to make sure everything is in line.

What (skills, knowledge or attitude) did you as an Intern learn from this experience?

Through the Internship, I have enhanced my leadership, collaboration, team-working, communication, and interpersonal skills.