Midland Bank Call Center Installation - Essay Example

RPL Application Section 3 of the Project: Midland Bank Call Center Installation commencement of the Project April 9 year not known ) Date of completion of the Project : April 12, ???? (year not known) Employer : Micro-Route Logistics Client : Midland Bank Call Center on behalf of IBM Project Description : Project is for commencing operations at a call center of the Midland Bank. This call center is planned to have 120 workstations, 6 servers to make up the complete network. The target of the project is to install these workstations, complete the network, make all user profiles and have the network up and running. The time line for the project was one week with six people on the job, a total of thirty man hours. The work at my end involved following up and getting the supplies on time and have them unloaded, unpacked and taken to their respective locations and have it installed. Irrespective of the problems that are faced at site, the deadline needs to be maintained and the client was a prestigious one. Major part of the installation exercise was to make sure that all the nodes get connected appropriately and configure all the users in the unit with clear rights to work on their areas. My Role: I was the project leader. I lead a team of five engineers who were specifically allotted to install and execute the project. I managed the project, in addition to managing the issues with the people. I mobilized additional resources when needed and pruned unwanted manpower when not in need. When there was a shortage of technological manpower, I never hesitated to step in and get the work completed. Four of the five engineers could not join me, due to personal reasons, resulting in just one engineer at site with me to complete the entire 30 man days project in the ten man days. My immense experience in network technology helped me to complete the job, on my own along with the available engineer. As a senior project engineer, I was responsible for my team’s performance and for the deliverables committed by my company to the client. I had to monitor both the quality of work and delivery time. Technical Aspects: Server and client installation: The implementation of this project was planned for five days at an important client location. Server and client installation knowledge, including lining up with an existing network, create operating domains and allocating users to them for seamless operation, all require extensive technological and network management capabilities. Since in this operation, all support staff except one Engineer was unavailable, I had to step in to execute all of the jobs to make sure the project was completed on time. Domain Management, installation of the domains, additional domains on the six servers, need to be carried out to suit the client requirement. Client machines were installed and they were hooked on to the domains already configured. Users were created in these domains, proper rights were provided to them and appropriate User Management was also done. Time planning being an essential component in project management, was clearly adhered to in this project. As a matter of fact, by working out an innovative working methodology for installing all the 120 machines, I was able to bring about a massive reduction in man days employed. The project was planned with 6 people for 5 days; I had it completed in 3 days with only two engineers from our side. Suitably using some of the available people at the client site and from our movements department, I could have the entire project completed two days ahead of the specified time line of 5 days. Network Management: I have a thorough understanding of the networking, cabling issues, working on the hubs and on the appropriate connections to be made for efficient working. In this project, on the second day after completing the installation of the 120 machines, it was found that ten of these did not work properly and needed immediate attention. I carried out a quick analysis of the machines and of the network installed already. Since the network was not wired in properly at the patch cabinet, this fault was occurring. This meant I had to do a rewiring at the hub. I completed the job myself and made sure all the ten machines were lined up properly. Man management is another important skill that is needed by any project engineer. When there was a short fall of hands, I changed the plan to optimally mobilize people locally for moving the goods to the customer’s place and the empty boxes from the customer’s location to our own office. With the available engineer(s), I could motivate them to work harder and towards a clearly defined target to give them a sense of achievement. I brought to the notice of my management that the project was executed with in the required time schedule and with reduced man power. The installation was being carried out for IBM by Micro Route Logistics. This information was passed on to IBM and they in turn sent me a commendation letter. The commendation I received from IBM, is ample proof of the hard work and planned initiative that I am capable of doing. Client Management is another very important aspect which is required in any project manager if he is to execute the projects successfully. I had very good working relationship with the client in this project and the client was only too willing to cooperate with me by giving me manpower when I had to shift computers or do some network changes and I needed help from them. I also ensured that the quality of the work does not suffer and we are not necessarily hurrying through with our project. The client was happy at the start of the project and he was happier when the project was completed ahead of schedule. Since the quality of the work carried out was also good, the client signed off on the third day itself. Title of the Project: Spanish Property Plus Date of the Project : May 2003 Duration of the Project : Own business: ASG Client : Spanish Property Plus Project Description : The client wanted to have a simple network fixed in their office. I undertook a study of their requirements. The network that they wanted needed fifteen points which would cater to the requirements of all users in the office including network printers. The machines need to be installed and configured for various uses. Every user had to be configured and an email server had to be installed. The MD of the company also wanted a broad band line connected up to the network. Along with this, a proper backing up process needs to be established. A stand by raid hard disk was needed, in case the server was to fail. On closer analysis, it was found by me that they also needed power supply lining up for the equipments in place. In addition, a hub to network all the user nodes along with an hard disk storage for all the users to store their works was also needed. The internet needed to routed through a router and a firewall for adequate safety needed to be installed. My Role: I did the complete client interaction. This involved the initial requirements study to judge the quantum of job to be done, including the hardware and the software requirements. The major part of the work was after the study, to decide on the nature of the hardware, the configuration, the software that would run on these and the networking methodologies, including the topology was to be decided by me. In addition to this, I also need to decide on the networking points, where they have to be provided, taking into consideration the possible future requirements. I had to quote for the job in terms of cost and time and make sure that commitment was maintained. I also had to decide on the power supply points, provide wiring for both power and for the network nodes were all decided, planned and executed by me. I had to line up the internet connection after configuring the hub and establishing and configuring the nodes. Every PC was configured to access the internet along with an email account. Technical Aspects: Network installation: The MD of the company wanted a study to be done. Based on the study, a recommendation was made to provide one network point in the MD’s cabin, one in the presentation room, four in the Storage rooms, one for the server and two spare points. Two network points were also provided for network printers which were shared by the users. Selection of Equipment: After a detailed study, necessary equipment starting from the most ideal server to hubs were selected. For the server, I made use of six servers, with raid controller for 1GB and 780 GB Hard disk drives. I also made 512 as the memory needed on the server. Apart from this, the server also had a six CD read and another CD writer. In addition to that, the servers also had one zip drive, one ADSL driver. 50 meter cables, ten power points for various nodes, RJ45 connecters were all provided for the entire installation. I had the server installed and carried out the complete Domain Management, installation of the domains, additional domains on the six servers, was carried out to suit the client requirement. Client machines were installed and they were hooked on to the domains already configured. Users were created in these domains, proper rights were provided to them and appropriate User Management was also done. Time planning being an essential component in project management, was clearly adhered to in this project. By working closely with the client, the suppliers and the installation engineers in my own company, I could have the job completed in just two days once the decision was made. Client management is another important skill that is needed by any project engineer. I made sure that the project was first booked by convincing the client on the nature of the work. Since the client wanted to administer his network himself. I worked out an easy to maintain, XP based peer to peer network that would be very comfortable for the user to manage. Client after seeing my initial commitment in work, had complete trust in deciding on the nature of products that I should select and install. This shows the level of confidence I instill in my clients. Client signed off in just two days having fully satisfied himself on the methods and processes to work. Methodology: The server was first installed. During the installation I made sure that sufficient quantities of all required spares are available like patch chords, cables, RJ45 end connectors, etc., I had the server installed and the rest of the machines connected up to the network. After which, I had Windows XP installed on the server and all the other machines. I also made installation of Office XP on five of the office machines. Five copies of Norton antivirus and Acrobat reader was also loaded on to the five work stations. The lone CD Writer was fixed in the MD’s machine in case he needs to take any back ups. I had the raid controller installed along with Server and made sure it mirrored the important operating system and mail server files for seamless changeover in the event of a failure. I requested BT to provide their Broad band line close to my server. Subsequently I connected the broad band line to the server through the modem so that all the users are able to access the broad band line over a proxy server. All this was configured through the router and a fire wall to provide adequate safety to the private network. The 160GB Hard disk was then mapped so that every user could use and save data into it for a centralized back up. Individually in every machine, I had the internet configured so that access to the net as well as to the emails were possible. Read More