Internship Responsibilities and Discussion of Experience - Term Paper Example

Report of Internship Responsibilities and Discussion of Experience al affiliation Report of Internship Responsibilities and Discussion of Experience Introduction During the course of my internship, I managed to undertake an installation process of RFID system for the Sears stores based in Maryland. In the course of this placement, I got to acquire skills ascribed to the maintenance of the RFID system. Additionally, through the program, I got to undertake data entry work after scanning orders and ensured that the inventory data is accurate. I did my internship at Sears Company, which is essentially a departmental store established in America. The company runs over 1700 retail outlets under Sears, Kmart, and their auxiliaries such as pharmacies. The company is the 5th largest retailer by annual revenue since 2013. This organization operates as a subsidiary of the parent company that is the Sears Holding Corporation. The Sears Company has recorded success as a leading retail department that essentially focuses on aspects of digital links to their client base. The organization provides for a social shopping platform that appreciates its members, stakeholders, and business partners. In the capacity of an intern in the Sears organization, I got to amass great experience IN relation to information technology that was widely used in the various departmental stores in Shears, based in the Atlanta region. My main duty was to work in collaboration with the departmental store’s IT department to ensure that the entity meets its goal with regard to their supply chain management. Most of the tasks to which I was assigned, gave me the privilege to put into practice what I had amassed during my course work. Given the stature and corporate position of the institution, it is evident that the programs used in as far as Information Technology is concerned were of international standards and this gave me the needed exposure and experience in the course of attaining the organization’s objectives in the competitive business world (Huber & Michael, 2007). Skills Acquisition It is evident that the technological advancement is essentially on its level high and its dynamic nature needs a very responsive system to keep up with changes in the market. During my internship period, I had the opportunity to experience the innovative techniques required to potentially manage the inventory within the supply chains in the organization. In the course of practice, systems such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) have been able to achieve great milestones owing to the innovative technology that keeps changing with the market demands. The Radio Frequency Identification is essentially a wireless use of electromagnetic fields to convey information meant to track tags attached to orders. In essence, RFID devices will work within a range of 20 feet for high-frequency devices of the scanner (Huber & Michael, 2007). I learnt the significance of being responsive to changes in the market dynamics in order to remain relevant in the industry. Furthermore, the role of research and development played a very special role in securing the company’s position within the corporate supply chain management. I realized from the internship program that for any developing technology, there is an evident need for extensive resource allocation to cater for the high costs of implementing new programs and IT systems. However, such Information Technology systems once installed play a very central role in increasing the productivity of labor and act as a viable substitute to the conventional and manual systems within the supply chain. For this reason, I learned that RFID is such a program used by the company to reduce the costs of production and hence solve many other supply chain dilemmas as was in the case of Sears Company. It is important for any technology-based company to invest its resources on upgrading their systems by incorporating programmed systems that facilitate production process. This exposure provides practical applicability of efficient data systems in reducing inventory and human errors and hence maximizing on productivity. Additionally, course work, theoretical concepts learnt in class and more importantly, laboratory experiments became evident in reinforcing the various elementary concepts of RFID. This aspect of the internship made me develop as sense of accomplishment and enabled me develop deep passion and zeal for my coursework. Application of Acquired Skills In the course of my internship session in Sears Company, I was in a position to utilize some of the skills and knowledge amassed during the course of my career. It is evident that ‘IS 420 Database Application Development’ was essentially one of the main courses that played a central role in helping me attain my internship objective. The course primarily offers hands-on experience in the course of establishing consumer database functions while utilizing the database management program. From this course, we learnt how to essentially create and manipulate database concepts including sequences, designing program units using SQL as well as executing consumer submissions. These concepts tend to be very practical in as far as hands-on service delivery and work competency are concerned. After being enrolled for the internship, I came to realize the significance of all these facets in their individual capacities. I used this course work knowledge to develop prototypes for client applications for Sear Company. This was a clear demonstration of skill utilization from the theoretical concepts to practical first-hand application. IS 450 Data Communications and Networks This is another critical course unit that played a critical role towards the successful accomplishment of my internship program. The course work learned in class provided the basic knowledge of survey, data collection, communication and networking. The unit is primarily a survey course that seeks to examine the basic concepts and theories in IT networking. Through this course work, I was in a position to comprehend all major concepts of wireless networking. In the course of learning, we were able to extensively examine a distinct network protocol stack and this offered us insight on various programming concepts including Sockets, Routing protocols, HTT, among other Internet computing protocols. This knowledge formed the basis of work execution within the organization. I was in a position to comprehend the procedures and execute the networking protocols accurately. Having knowledge of the Internet architecture which was essentially the foundation upon which other programs were run, enabled me have grasp the concepts and be part of the implementation team. I was also able to undertake in network security and management at Sears Company having gained the knowledge and experience from IS 450 Data Communications and Networks. IS 451 Network Design and Management This is another course that focuses on the implementation and administration of the respective enterprise networking and applications. The course work includes various module readings, case studies and practical assessment on various aspects of middleware as well as network architecture for the circulated applications and preferred technologies aimed at supporting enterprise systems. All these concepts have been harmonized into the IS 451 Network Design and Management unit with the sole objective of generating virtual layer of resources coupled with an autonomous system. These are critical skills acquired through network designing and virtualization (Al-Kassab & Thiesse, 2013). In executing hand-on processes in administering enterprise networking, we need this knowledge hence the course work did play a central role in sufficiently equipping us with the needed technical skills which cannot be wished away Internship Relation to IS Curriculum In assessing my internship program, I can comfortably state that I had largely assumed its significance and potentiality. However, after undertaking the program, my perception completely changed. I learned a myriad of new concepts and practical skills at the work place that I had not comprehend during practical and laboratory sessions. The various networking protocols from a practical perspective, gave me new insight into the whole career concept with a sense of fulfillment whenever I utilized educational knowledge to find solutions to the various challenges in the organizational setup. I learned a lot through an active experimentation requiring critical thinking and responsive decision-making. The change of environment and prevailing dynamics gave us a new experience requiring effective execution of planned protocols. Furthermore, the hands-on greatly spurred an in-depth reflection of Splitter’s concrete through an active experimentation learning cycles (Huber & Michael, 2007). Consequently, the preset goals and targets for the RFID education model were extensively defined with reference to the curriculum objectives. In this regard, we were exposed to the learning process entailing paraphrasing of the elementary mechanisms of the RFID system. It is through this program coupled with background course work knowledge that enabled us master the various simple RFID calculations such as wavelengths and frequencies. Moreover, we were able to demonstrate how both active and passive RFID systems operate while categorizing the various components involved. These goals for RFID played a very important role in the course of ascertaining the performance of the course with regards to the set intern expectations (Al-Kassab & Thiesse, 2013). Consequently, we amassed skills through listing of the various sections of the RFID systems while at the same time identifying evident changes between passive and active tags. Moreover, we were expected to predict the performance of the individual tags during their interactions with RFID system projections. Hence understanding the processes was mandatory in as far as the various RFID dynamics were concerned. Internship Responsibilities I got to know the history of the organization and its operational structure. After being introduced to the organization, I got to know my duties and the office I was to report to in case of anything. I was also introduced to the line of operation as well as the corporate culture of the organization. I learnt in deeper insight, how Sears Company operates its three divisions. I was mandated with the responsibility of installing Radio Frequency Identification as an organizational goal under the supervision of my supervisor and team leader. This was in line with the preliminary preparations that had been designed by the governing body and top executive. Our obligation was to ensure that the blueprint plan was executed as planned. Other activities that I took part in during the course of my stay in the institution include installation of hardware in the various departments and particularly the readers that were essentially interrogators and complementary to the tags. We sought to establish a pulse of energy to the respective tags to establish a response system. It is interesting to understand the mechanisms used by the tags to detect the energy and resend it back as a feedback containing the tag’s serial number. I also learnt how the electromagnetic law works in the course of transferring information between tags and its recipients. I was mandated with the task of fixing the tags and recipient’s antenna to guarantee that they are of the same standardized sizes. This responsibility enabled me learn the nature of the antennae in influencing the power levels of both the tags and readers. It essentially requires great knowledge and expertise to orient the antenna to optimize the sensitivity of the tags and reader. I was also tasked with the duty of ensuring that all the attributes and protocols required for making the hardware components of Radio Frequency Identification were in place to ensure their proper functioning at all levels. Keenness and precision is key in delivering efficient designs that meet the set targets with regards to RFID. I also took part in carrying out all the necessary measures designed for purposes of securing security concerns and privacy of the Radio Frequency Identification. This process was meant to fasten and tighten security that the system is prone to. The online platform is vulnerable to a wide array of attacks and cyber crimes like any other information technology sector; hence, the need for increasing security of the system. I took a core role in ensuring the system is not prone to any of the vices or breach into the company’s private and confidential information. Some of the measures that we implemented in the course of tightening security include operational controls, technical controls and the management controls. All these procedures were part of my duty in executing the assigned roles and responsibilities. The other responsibilities I was privilege to undertake in the course of my internship entailed fastening the RFID tags on all Sears merchandise. The tags had computer chips mounted on them so that all the tags had their distinct code meant to easily identify them. This made the process seamless in the course of attaining the expected outcomes. I spend huge amounts of time scanning all merchandise as directed by my supervisor. In the course of my two weeks, I had been moved from one department to another with every section having a defined working protocol different from the other. For this reason, for the duration that I was in internship program, I had a wide range of exposure with different experiences that were fulfilling in as far as my career objectives were concerned. I realized that the company saves many resources through the use of RFID; having had first-hand experience with the system. RFID seeks to remarkably reduce errors and inaccuracies at the various levels of production and supply chain management. In the store management sector, RFID served to increase inventory accuracy, optimized real-time tracking as well as reduced costs. For this reason, the responsibilities assigned to me sought to open my reasoning and general perception of the role of Information Technology in ensuring business success. Conclusion In conclusion, it is evident that the rate at which technology is advancing in the corporate sector warrants the labor market to be more responsive and dynamic in skills acquisition and work execution. Without the relevant background knowledge, skills and individual ingenuity, it is essentially impossible to compete favorably in the IT industry. It has become evident that modernization has fostered for increased efficiency with remarkable output levels. Many manufacturers have been compelled to exploit the most recent technological approach that march the needs of their consumers thus the persistent need to maximize on creating RFID protocols in the context of their supply chains. The above report hence served to demonstrate the educational constituents to the concepts of functioning attributes of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in as far as Sears Company is concerned. In this school of thought, it is evidently important for the future educational curriculum to be more aligned to the market expectation and aspects of practical application. This is meant to ensure that graduating students fit well in the market and empress their employers. The report served to provide insight into shaping educational resources to address critical issues of concern in the sector such as RFID. References Al-Kassab, J. & Thiesse, F. (2013). "RFID-enabled business process intelligence in retail stores: a case report." Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research 8(2), 112-137. Huber, N. & Michael, K. (2007)."Minimizing Product Shrinkage across the Supply Chain using Radio Frequency Identification: a Case Study on a Major Australian Retailer." Management of Mobile Business. ICMB 2007. International Conference. Toronto: IEEE Xplore, 2, 45-49. Read More