Week Two

Week 2 Objectives:

• Continue to work with and learn the different applications provided at the Fireman’s Hall
• Become familiar with the hardware systems at the firehouse
• Update and revise The Fireman’s Hall Museum Technical Support Guide as I become more knowledgeable of the software and hardware at the site and include any technical issues I come across and how to troubleshoot them
• Learn about networking through The Philadelphia Contributionship’s networking infrastructure

Accomplishments: The Fireman's Hall Museum was closed for a few days this week so I spent much of my time at The Philadelphia Contributionship and managed to achieve a total of 25 hours.  For one of the days that the museum was open, I assisted the museum manager helping to coordinate activities for their upcoming fundraiser through Microsoft Word.  Another day, I worked with Nancy to learn about and become familiar with the software Label Vision and how it works.  Label Vision is the barcode labeling and printing software that the Volusion gift shop uses to identify items in the store.  It also allows for these items to be priced for sale.  This program consists of various features and tools that help to assist in the creation of desired labels.  I also learned more about the hardware systems and interfaces in the museum by observing them more in detail and recording them in The Fireman’s Hall Museum Technical Support Guide.  This included recording what kind of operating system they were, their manufacturer, their model, and processor.  They are working on trying to get rid of these outmoded systems and bring in new ones for the team to use.  They are also trying to replace their Skipjack software, which is a software company that manages credit card transactions in the Fireman’s Hall Museum’s gift shop, with Stripe and PayPal.  During my time at The Philadelphia Contributionship, I was given a list of tasks to complete by my supervisor and I utilized the software, Fogbugz, to organize and keep track of them.  I also learned about the infrastructure of the insurance company and worked with Visio to organize it into an organization chart.  I was also able to meet with the infrastructure manager of the company.  He plans to talk to me more about the infrastructure and take me to visit the SunGard site which will teach me not only more about the networking aspect of The Philadelphia Contributionship, but also give me more of a visual of  what networking looks like and how it takes place.                      

Week One

Accomplishments: This week I accomplished a total of 32 hours as I became acclimated with the staff and the different applications I was introduced to at the Fireman’s Hall Museum.  Two of the applications I have been working with this week are the Volusion and Fogbugz applications.  Volusion is a cloud based application that hosts internet sales.  It serves as a web store and shopping cart for the Fireman’s Hall Museum’s gift shop internet transactions as well as an in-house system used to check out customers.  I was able to learn how the checkout process at the register works by shadowing the gift shop manager, Nancy.  In doing this, I became familiar and more knowledgeable of the technology used.  I also became aware of some of the technical issues being faced at the register.  One of the issues was with adding tax to items being purchased in the store.  Nancy had to manually add the tax before every transaction in order for it to be applied.  I plan to speak with the 3rd party host, Volusion, to have them help me troubleshoot the issue.  I was also able to work with her on the gift shop website, firemanshallstore.com, learning my way around the site and how to process orders online and prepare them for shipment.  This enabled me to learn more about the application further than what it actually does and the purpose it serves.  I managed to also become familiar with the Fogbugz application.  Fogbugz will basically be an application I use to keep track of certain tasks that need to be handled and resolve any inquiries that need to be resolved.  As I began learning more about the different types of software that exist at the firehouse, I began updating The Fireman’s Hall Museum Technical Support Guide (a guide the staff at the museum use when facing technical difficulties) with more information on the programs.

Highlights from the week:

• I had the opportunity to shadow in on a conference meeting at The Philadelphia Contributionship with my supervisor.  Although it was very difficult to understand the discussion, it was great to be able to get insight on the business aspect of the world and how meetings are conducted.
• I was able to be introduced to two past interns for the insurance company and the Fireman’s Hall that were also from Penn State Abington and majored in IST.  They were both currently full time employees for The Philadelphia Contributionship.  I had lunch with them and they shared some of their stories and experiences with being interns.  The employee who had interned at the firehouse had shared some insight on her experience and gave me advice on what it takes to put my best foot forward.
• I also had the opportunity to attend The Paramedic of the Year Award ceremony and see Thomas Rusby Jr. be honored for being one of the most compassionate and dedicated paramedics in the City of Philadelphia.  In addition, I was able to meet the entire executive staff of The Philadelphia Fire Department including the Fire Commissioner, Mr. Derrick Sawyer.