ICAITTW001B Work Effectively in an Information Technology Environment

On completion of this unit, learners should be competent in assimilating into an information technology environment. This is fundamental for working in an organization.

They should have the ability to:

1. Comply with general information technology policies and procedures. 2. Promote the organisation and the Information Technology department in a manner consistent with the organisation's mission.

3. Identify information technology equipment, software and operating systems supported by the organisation.

Glossary

Anti-discrimination

The Anti-Discrimination Act (1997) is designed to protect your rights and to prevent discrimination. This includes equality in the workplace and in other aspects of your life.

Capital equipment

An object which is a financial asset needed for an undertaking or to perform a service. Generally, capital equipment is a financial asset that adds to the net worth of a business.

Code of conduct

Ethics agreement which details acceptable behaviour and conduct for a particular company or role.

Contractor

A person or organisation that agrees to provide materials or perform services at a specified price, especially for construction or development work.

Contracts

An employment agreement between employer and employee, which is enforceable by law. A contract of employment sets out the conditions and terms under which an employee accepts to work in a particular job, such as the wage or salary amount, number or spread of working hours and whether overtime is paid or allowed.

Computing support

The provision or maintenance of hardware and software assistance.

Consumables

Computer related goods, which are used in the daily use or maintenance of a computer system, for example ink cartridges for a printer.

Corporate hardware and software

Approved hardware and software products used within a business.

Deadlines

A time limit for the completion of a task.

Duty statements

Also known as a job description. A document which describes the purpose, expected activities and responsibilities of a particular job.

E business

E business (electronic business) is the conduct of business on the internet

EEO

Equal Employment Opportunity. Any person employing other people has to take care to treat those people fairly, and not to discriminate on the grounds of race, sex, marital status, physical or mental impairment or sexual preferences.

Employer/employee rights and responsibilities

The duties and conformable rules or guidelines for a worker who is hired to perform a job, the employee, and the person or company that employ workers, the employer.

External client

A customer or someone who pays for goods or services who is independent of the organisation delivering the service.

Help desk

A department within a company that responds to technical questions. Most large software companies have help desks to answer user questions. Questions and answers can be delivered by telephone, email or fax .

Internal client

A customer within the limits of the organisation.

Mission statement

A declaration of a company's vision and role statement.

Organisational chart

A graphic representation of how authority and responsibility is distributed within a company or other organisation.

Outsourcing

Paying another company to provide services which a company might otherwise have employed its own staff to perform, for example software development.

Project teams

A group organised to work together to undertake and complete an extensive task.

Strategic plan

A plan detailing where a company wants to be in the future. These plans usually have a strong emphasis on new technologies and ways of conducting business, such as e business.

Supplier

Someone whose business is to supply a particular service or commodity.

Workplace committees

A group of people officially delegated to perform a function, such as investigating, considering and/or reporting on a particular aspect of the workplace such as an Occupational Heath and Safety Committee.

Work schedules

A plan for performing work or achieving an objective by specifying the order and allotted time for each part.

Key Players

Key players are personnel within an organisation that are essential for the functioning of that section or department. Within an organisation key players may include: Your supervisor ,Your trainer ,A manager , Helpdesk staff ,Other colleagues in the department or division

There may be a number of key players outside your organisation that influence how information technology is used in your organisation. These may include: Government departments ,Vendors of information , technology products or the customer ,Professional bodies and societies such as the Australian Computer Society ,Industry publications Employer organisations and relevant unions

How do you promote the organisation?

Promoting the organisation to internal and external customers needs to be done in a manner consistent with organisational policies and procedures. You will need to establish how the organisation wants to be promoted. To do this you may need to understand the organisation's mission statement. Mission statements are usually found in the organisation's strategic plan. The mission statement and organisational plans are often published on the organisation's web site.

Organisations promote themselves through corporate advertising. This includes posters, brochures, listings in phone books, promotion of their mission statement within the organisation and having a presence on the internet. Individuals promote and are a representative of their organisation. The overall image of the organisation can be conveyed by the collective approach that staff have to customers, their dress, telephone manner and how their business is conducted, including meetings, presentations and interviews.

The organisation may also have a code of conduct that outlines the manner in which staff are expected to conduct themselves when consulting customers. If you are unsure about what is expected of you, speak with your supervisor, trainer or mentor who can clarify the situation for you.

Policies & Procedures

Each organisation will have its own policies and procedures. They may be directly related to the use of technology or designed to cover many aspects of the organisation.

These policies and procedures may include

- Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) guidelines

- Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) guidelines

- Guidelines outlining work practices in a department

- The structure of departments within an organisation

- Work agreements or enterprise bargains

- Manuals on how to use technological equipment

- Preventative maintenance procedures

- Purchasing requisition procedures and documentation

Mission Statements

A mission statement refers to the core business of the company, their general philosophy and customer service focus. Organisations often have their mission statement on display in the foyer of their office. Mission statements are readily accessible for viewing by the public as organisations publish them in documents, such as annual reports and overviews of the organisation.

Organisational Charts

Organisational charts are used to represent the hierarchical or vertical structure of the organisation. These charts depict the reporting and communication lines for the organisation. An organisational chart usually includes job or position description, and in some cases the name of the person holding that position.

Information Technology Functions

Information Technology can be used for a wide range of functions depending on the sectors within the industry, the type of organisation and the business conducted. The structure of the Information Technology department may be a separate branch, department, division or an integrated function of an organisation.

The five general sectors of the Information Technology industry include:

- computer hardware

- communications hardware

- packaged software

- computer services communication services

Unions A

union is an organisation of employees which acts collectively for mutual protection and assistance. Unions represent workers in dealings with employers. They negotiate wages and conditions of employment for their members.

Information Technology Careers

The Information Technology industry is well known for its breadth and diversity. It is a dynamic area and students are well advised to read widely for current trends and emerging technologies. The broad fields in the Information Technology industry can include those associated with hardware, software, web design, networking, marketing, help desk, and communications. Many jobs in Information Technology are a broad combination of several areas. To gain an insight into the careers in the Information Technology industry, look at the following websites listed below. A brief description of each site is included.

Activities

Exercise 1

Using your work placement company or another organisation that you are studying, write a 2-3 page report which addresses each of the following points.

1. Identify the name, address, telephone and fax numbers of your organisation
Bistro Marque , Gymea Hotel , 41 Gymea Bay Rd. GYMEA Sydney , NSW. 2227 , TEL: 02 9524 3429

2. Identify and briefly explain the role of the key players in the organisation.
My Boss , He is chef in the organisation and to manage the another chefs and employees in the kitchen . He will order some materials with many merchants. He will solve the new problems that is coming for every day.

3. Create an organisational chart for your organisation.

4. What is the mission statement of the organisation?
Clean foods , Good taste , Best Quality

How does it help them to assimilate into the workplace?
“ We are family ”

5. Briefly list and explain the information technology functions within the organisation.
They are use the information technology with the salary paying for every week. They will have a receipt for employees .

6. Identify information technology equipment in use in the organisation
hardware, Computers , Printers
software (including operating system software), Wage payment software , Ordering Software.

description of any special information technology equipment used in the workplace. Telephones , Fax , calculator

7. Find out and write down the telephone number and location of your nearest branch of the Australian Computer Society.
- Sydney Mechanics School of Arts , Lower Ground 280 Pitt Street,SYDNEY NSW 2000 Ph: +61 2 9261 4411 - Email: acsnsw@acslink.net.au

8. Find out where the following policies and procedures are located in your organisation and write down where they are kept.

a. Occupational Health & Safety
Safety in the workplace is critical to the success of running a business, no matter what size it is. As a small business owner you have certain rights and responsibilities regarding health and safety in your workplace. Even if you don’t have any employees, you must ensure that your business doesn’t create health and safety problems for your customers and the general public

b. Equal Employment Opportunity

- This means having workplace rules, policies, practices and behaviours that are fair and do not disadvantage people because they belong to particular groups. In such an environment, all workers are valued and respected and have opportunities to develop their full potential and pursue a career path of their choice. EEO groups are people affected by past or continuing disadvantage or discrimination in employment. As a result they may be more likely to be unemployed or working in lower paid jobs.

c. Purchasing Guidelines
- When purchasing goods and services, the following four steps should be followed.

Step 1:Obtain written quotation from more than one vendor.

Step 2:Request your purchase using purchase requisition or the Banner .

Step 3:Purchasing Services will review your request and issue a official purchase order to the vendor.

Step 4:Verify that the goods and services delivered conform to the requirements of the order.

Exercise 2

Identify career options in the Information Technology industry.Your task is to create a profile of a person currently working in the Information Technology industry.Create a questionnaire to be used together inform

Use desktop publishing software to create a personal career profile - including a scanned photo or photo taken using a digital camera. A Sample format is included below to help you

Name : Ketsirin Promrattanapaisal

Name of company : TNC computer world

Job Title : Programmer

Job description : Create new software

IT skills required to do this job :

-Ability to establish and lead governance committees and facilitate the process of priority

-setting and decision-making.

-Interpersonal skills and a willingness to work closely with all constituents.

-Ability to adapt known technologies to new uses and envision natural relationships between emerging technology resources and the education process.

Exercise 3

Choose an information technology workplace and complete the exercises below.

1. Locate samples of information that the organisation distributes to its customers. This could include pamphlets, booklets and posters that advertise various aspects of the organisation. What does this information reveal about the organisation?

When my restaurant have some promotions . For example , Monday night is T-bone night . It’s just 10 dollar. They will show the promotion on T.V. inside the Gymea Hotel. And sometimes they will use posters for another promotions.

2. Does the organisation have guidelines that direct the way in which the organisation is promoted? If so what are they, if not why aren't guidelines necessary?

No, They don’t have guidelines because they have an event organizer company to create some promotions.

Case Study

Email Policy

The following links to the Australasian Legal Information Institute have some interesting information regarding the use of e-mail in the workplace. This is an area that has hit the media and the courtrooms recently due to employee claims of unfair dismissal and invasion of privacy.

The section of the website called, Privacy Law and Policy Reporter, publishes articles relating to privacy and computing. Read the article titled E-mail Privacy

The article recommends that organisations publish their email policy so that employees are aware of the correct use of email and the consequences of any breach of the email policy.

Task 1 Locate your work placement or another organisation's email policy. Briefly outline the acceptable use of email for your organisation. Are the consequences of breaching this policy documented ? If so what are the consequences?

- The policy should be promulgated to staff and management should ensure that it is known and understood by staff. Ideally the policy should be linked from a screen that the user sees when they log on to the network

- The policy should be explicit as to what activities are permitted and forbidden.

- The policy should clearly set out what information is logged and who in the organisation has rights to access the logs and content of staff e-mail and browsing activities.

- The policy should refer to the organisation's computer security policy. Improper use of e-mail may pose a threat to system security, the privacy of staff and others and the legal liability of the organisation.