December 2011

The first half of this month was exciting because we finally had our Clarity meetings that we have been preparing for weeks now. Just as a recap, the Clarity product is a new PPM tool that is going to be taking over the majority of the Project Management and Program Governance monthly reporting, into a more efficient process. During our three day meeting marathon, we met with the Architect and a couple other people working for the vendor.  We went over how AHS wanted to build their site from the ground up and all the different aspects it needed to meet our expectations. It was really interesting to see how the Architect was able to take what we wanted and what we were looking for and meet those expectations with the capabilities that clarity offers. My role in these meetings was to be taking minutes.  Therefore during these three days I was responsible for keeping track of what everyone said, the direction the conversation led to and the finalized decisions that were agreed upon. I had to be alert and focused for the entire duration of the meetings and as a result, I was able to gain a strong gasp of these processes. I learned a lot about how these tools work and how they are custom built to fit the client’s needs.

 The second half of this month was more of a transitional phase in the co-op term, by passing on my knowledge learnt over the past 4 months on to two other part-time co-op students that will be taking on my position. This was an interesting position to be in because over the course of a few days I was able to reflect on everything I have done and learnt over the past 4 months.   I started by teaching the basics that I started with (i.e. collecting data, file storing, PGO email upkeep, maintaining the Initiative Repository, etc.) to my more complicated  job responsibilities (i.e. creating the monthly Executive Dashboard, creating the compliance report, filling out change requests, creating QA documents, etc.). It was a very nice way to end my co-op term by reviewing everything I have learnt and accomplished. I will miss everyone at ACC, their kindness and welcoming nature made my work term fly by seamlessly.  I look forward to my next co-op term and the adventures to come!