ISM3004 Computing Portfolio Project, 2008
Diana Rashid

About Me

My name is Diana Rashid and I was born in Lakeland, Florida. I have been married for three years, and I have many hobbies. I try to stay active by riding my bike, running, and rollerblading. I am a student at the Warrington College of Business, and this is my last semester. I plan to get a job with Morgan Stanley for a few years, and then get my MBA. At that point, I will work in hopes of eventually becoming CEO of the company.

Click Here to view my resume.

Webpage

What do you think a Web presence (site) is an “essential” for businesses of all sizes?

A webpage is very essential to the success of businesses these days. More and more people now do their research online before they buy what they want. If a business does not have a webpage, it is limiting its’ ability to maximize their marketing ability. A webpage is a convenient way to choose exactly what aspect of a topic a person wants to find out about. It is now also a more cost effective way to advertise, in comparison to the yellow pages. The customer benefits financially by not having to drive around wasting time and money. Overall, a webpage is a huge asset to a company, whether it is big or small.

Podcast

The Many Uses of Podcasting

A podcast is an audio that is recorded and stored on a Web site that can be downloaded to a computer. It can also be downloaded to portable players such as an Ipod. Podcasting has become a popular way for people, for example businesses, to keep in touch. It is a convenient and simple way to communicate. Internet surfers can now get information efficiently and effectively. Companies can post information that is necessary for their employees to hear, without inconvenience for anyone. Meetings and conferences can be much more pleasant when people don’t have to travel.

The power of podcasting has reached not only businesses, but also schools and universities. Students or professors can post recorded information for many people to see, in just a few minutes. It is especially useful for online programs, where people would have never had the chance to get that education if podcasting was not available. Even high schools are now beginning to use this technology.

Podcasting is also useful when it comes to entertainment. People can subscribe and listen to whatever they want. They could be running errands, exercising, cleaning, or whatever, and still have the ability to multitask. This ability to multitask is exactly what we need in today’s society, where everyone is always trying to get as much done as possible.

Please check out My Podcast.

Secure E-mail

Email is an essential part of business and society today. Encrypted emails are a safer way of sending emails. The reason why it is more secure is that the email can be viewed only once. It practically eliminates the possibility of someone seeing the email you sent, which may be private. It can be initially time consuming to adopt this method, but it is easy to use and much more secure.

Computers have the disadvantage of giving people the ability to impersonate someone online. Having a signed email allows the receiver to confirm that you are sending the email. It you are writing to a business, it is a professional way to send a message. These days, most careers involve the use of a computer. For the most part, it is crucial to a person’s success to know the capabilities of the computer, and understand how to use it. This is especially important when it means more security.

Collaborative Computing Project

Collaborative computing has become an integral part of businesses today. We live in a time period where the people we work with may not even live in the same state or country as we do. A person must be able to communicate and work with others. Some projects are accomplished better with the collaboration of different types of people. Programs like Sharepoint can assist in the communication that is necessary for us to succeed.

Sharepoint is a new addition to the 2007 Microsoft Office system. You can edit and analyze large amounts of data. Different people can log on to the same site and edit the same documents without ever having to go anywhere or meet anyone. Although I have participated in collaborative computing, I have never used Sharepoint. I was surprised that is was so easy to use and very convenient. All of my team members are from different parts of Florida, and it would have been very difficult to do the project any other way. There are alternatives like email and using the phone, but the project would not have been done as quickly and easily as using Sharepoint. My team and I were able to constantly give each other feedback through this program. We uploaded pictures, conducted surveys, and edited data on the brochure we were working on.

My experience with Sharepoint has been very positive. The next time I have to collaborate with people to do a job at work, I am definitely going to use this program. We currently just send the document back and forth to each other through email. After a while, I think most businesses that require collaborative computing are going to be using this program. Everyone at work is not necessarily very computer savvy, but that good news is that this program is not difficult to use.
Please check out my team's advertisement.

Excel 2003/2007 Skills


This project has been very informative, especially since I do not normally use Excel. I was surprised to see how many different ways Excel can manipulate and use information. The pivot table and the goal seek functions can definitely be used at work. With the goal seek function; I can predict future profits and goals. The pivot table can take a large amount of information, summarize it, and make it more usable. I really have not even used the text functions, so I was happy to become familiar with that as well. My boss at work has always emphasized the importance of us understanding this specific program. He will be pleased to see that I have become more familiar with it. Of all the projects that we did, this is probably going to be the one I use the most in the future. The project was challenging for me, but I enjoyed doing it.


Database

Microsoft Access Skills


Microsoft Access is a database that allows users to create reports and tables. You can open it with different views according to what you need. It also allows the user to manipulate data to make it easier to use. There are many benefits for using Microsoft Access, and it is especially useful for very large amounts of data. You can better organize that data, and ensure that there is no duplicate data.

This program was challenging for me to use, but I found it to be very useful. It takes time to get accustomed to using it, but the program will help in that regard. For the most part, it will let you know if you entering information that is wrong. It is also a very secure program, and it will constantly ensure that you are not opening information from an unfamiliar source. Many businesses could definitely benefit from this program.

I will attempt to implement this program into the office I work at. I constantly have to deal with large amounts of data, so this will come in very handy.