My Business Process

One of the most recent business processes I have participated in is going to the gift store called Ten Thousand Villages and picking up a beaded necklace. The 4 components of this business process are:

Activities: Selling gift items, arts and crafts from different places in the world.

Resources: The gift items that have value, the cash that comes in from customers.

Facilities: The store itself, that is located downtown Oakville and across Canada

Information: Realising that they get more customers during the Christmas season, as such they would need to have more sales representatives at the stop during the season.

Website:

http://www.tenthousandvillages.ca/

MIS and My Career

MIS is the system that manages the data that it has collected over a period of time, analyses it and helps management to takes appropriate decisions based on the information. A system is usually developed and used for this purpose, it is fed with data got from day to day activities and the information processed from it is then used to make important business decisions.

In the world of Information Technology, information systems are developed to track the revenue made by the software company, the current projects, the overall profits made, the employee turnover, etc. Some examples of how MIS is integrated into the IT industry are as described below:

Customer relationship management: Usually in software provider companies, the company will normally have a customer care number where customers can call with concerns. Others might call in if they have trouble with their software installation and need to sort it out. This is usually a 24hour support provided to customers so as to resolve their issues immediately and thereby not aggravate the customer.

Instant Messaging: Many companies have set up an instant messaging software for their employees to communicate with other employees over all locations. This makes it simpler for employees to communicate and resolve tasks sitting at their desks rather than having to walk up to the other cubicle.

Blogs: Companies also introduced employees to writings blogs. They provided the employees server space and all employees could read the posts, view pictures or technological updates that an employee updated in his/her blog.

All the above MIS examples help the IT industry to achieve its various objectives. Customers are very important to the company and thus by providing them with full time support would in turn keep them happy and reduce the risk of losing a customer. In the case of instant messaging (IM), IMs reduce a lot of employee work time by not needing him/her to walk between cubicles to clarify the tiniest of doubts or even to check if the employee is at his seat or not. Blogs are windows to a person’s thoughts. While providing employees a very fine way to keep their minds active by sharing their hobbies and connecting with people with similar interests, companies also provide the employees with a forum to share and discuss technological advances. An interesting way to get knowledge across to those interested. Employees are a company asset and providing them with healthy habits can boost their morale and increase productivity.

Suggested sites for more information on MIS

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/management-information-system-MIS.html 

http://ceris.metropolis.net/pac/pac07.pdf

http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/small/Mail-Op/Management-Information-Systems-MIS.html

My IS Day

 When I started thinking about my IS (information System) day, I was so shocked to see how much of ‘IS’ is involved into my day to day activities. From waking up in the morning and checking my email, to the bus journey and not to mention a whole day of classes using IS.

Sr. No.	IS	Hardware	Software	Data	Procedures	People
1	Check Email	Laptop	Microsoft Outlook	The username, password and the email itself	Open the website, enter the username and password, check my inbox for new mails	Me and the sender of the email
2	Bus Journey	Bus, Bus ticket/coins, ticket machine	The software to detect and print time on the transfer ticket. Software to verify the coins/ticket inserted	Time of travel	Wait at the bus shelter, enter the bus, insert the bus ticket, take the transfer	Me, bus driver
3	Lectures	Document reader, computer	Microsoft software in the computer, reader software in the document reader	Class notes	Teach during the appointed lecture hours by use of the given technology	Instructor, students
4	Coffee shop	Coffee machine	Computer software to calculate the amount for the purchases , and to keep  a track of the financial transactions	Number of coffee cups consumed in the day	The queue, paying for the coffee, collecting your coffee	The coffee consumers, the people serving him

It is indeed so amazing to note that IS has integrated into my life so much that I can't imagine living without it!

My Employment History

One job! Yes, while that seems odd to a normal Canadian youth (my age) who has probably worked most of his summers, it’s definitely not the same for an Indian. Indians rarely engage in summer jobs; however voluntary work is more common within the community.

I got selected into Cognizant Technology solutions, a multinational software company, through our campus recruitment cycle. As soon as I completed my engineering degree, I packed my bags in glee and left my hometown to explore the new world. At first we were trained in PeopleSoft and fortunately I got selected into a project without any delay. Over the years I shifted projects, shouldered different responsibilities, played different roles in the team and had a wonderful learning curve. I had the best 4 years of my professional life, learning business ethics, excelling in my work, networking with some of the best IT professionals and best of all, I truly enjoyed what I did. This phase of my life not only allowed me to broaden my knowledge but challenged my mettle and gave me a chance to prove myself.

Today, I’m enrolled into the Business accounting course here in Canada because I believe that this is my opportunity to get global exposure and an in-depth understanding of finance. This coupled with my existing experience in the department will surely make me a strong candidate for a job that uses financial knowledge together with software skills.

My Personal Achievements

“Press on- nothing can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Perseverance and determination alone are omnipotent.”
-Calvin Coolidge

I truly believe in the above quote because today the world is full of highly educated people. I too am hungry for knowledge and very eager to learn new skills. I began honing my musical skills at the edge of 8 when my mum enrolled me into the school of music in my hometown. I started learning classical piano and slowly progressed into playing for the school concerts. I took exams and I’m proud to say that I passed in merit my 6^th grade of piano from the Royal School of Music, London. It was an out of the ordinary achievement because it was the same year when I answered my 12 grade. The 12th board exams are usually feared and everybody studies hard as your results normally decide if you’ll get selected into the university of your choice. Yes, I did it! Not only with the piano exam but I secured a seat in one of the privileged engineering colleges and with a very high percentage.

I then used another 4 years of my life pursuing electronics engineering degree. Having done well in my course I got selected into a well-famed multinational company. Today I am delighted to say that I enjoyed working with some of the best IT professionals and also in a wonderfully cheerful environment! Working with software in the finance domain gave me a certain degree of practical exposure to finance. I later thought of this as a great opportunity to have a formal course in accounting which would help me understand the subject in depth and take up a new job which is more inclined towards it. Today I am proud to have secured the admission at Sheridan for the business program and very excited to have achieved a 4.0GPA for my first semester. I love being back to school and I love learning the new things life offers!

Over the years life offered me some great opportunities and I'm proud to say I excelled in my studies, won scholarships, learned to cook, sew, make handmade cards, ride the bike and drive the car. I made new friends, found love and happiness, learned to laugh at myself and also to care about others. This is all a part of me… in fact this is me! I am proud of my personal achievements because they are indeed fruits of my hard work and that of a determined soul.

My Community Involvement

Living a richer and fuller life is something I crave for and thus, I constantly work on achieving it. I’m an Indian and come from a very pious family. At a very early age I was introduced to the church and it wasn’t long before the parish community felt like a second home to me. Playing the piano and getting involved in choir was not only a way to worship but an opportunity to explore new horizons. I got to meet the youth, make new friends and have fun. Getting actively involved in the choir not only boosted my self esteem, but got me a step closer to achieving my goal of a richer and fuller life.

A few years later, work moved me away from my hometown and I found myself in the company of strangers. Again, I seized the opportunity to use my musical talents to get involved into the new parish choir and it wasn’t long before I’d made some of the best friends I have today! Cheers to a lovely bunch of friends!

Coming to Canada was a different story altogether. Back in India while working, I had lived alone for awhile and I thought that life would be as easy to live here, with my days filled with studies. However, more often than not I found myself lonelier and more isolated than before, as everything is located at a distance from each other here in Canada. It was then that I seized the opportunity to volunteer at the Sheridan Elder Research Centre to teach computer skills for seniors. I can now say that working with my senior student week after week was a truly delightful and a rewarding experience. I got to meet some really pleasant people and it was here that I felt the warmth of the Canadian community; an experience I’ll surely treasure for a while.

Career Goals

Why should we have a career goal? Can you imagine what the soccer field would look like with a game in progress but no goalpost in sight? Players would surely be confused and will be shooting the ball all over the field. Goals keep people focussed. Once we have a career goal in mind, we need to work towards it and try achieving it. Once we achieve a goal, we then set new goals for ourselves and that is how we climb up the corporate ladder!

I have been working in the software industry for the past 4 years. Working as an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) consultant especially in the finance domain can get challenging if you don’t have your finance-fundamentals in place. Also, working here gave me a lot of practical exposure to the finance world that caught my interest, as such I decided that I didn’t want to continue being a software developer with technical skills itself, but wanted to grow into the finance domain and one day be a functional consultant with the appropriate finance knowledge.

This decision led me to apply for the business accounting course at Sheridan. I got selected and now I’m happy studying the new concepts of how accounting fits into the business world.