You will be acting as a community health department investigator who has been hired to look into a mysterious pattern of student absences at some local middle schools in your area. Although some town residents are attributing the absences to a local legend, it is your responsibility to conduct a scientific investigation and identify the most likely causes for the absences by using the evidence available from the school and the health department.

You will create a PowerPoint presentation fully outlining your investigation. A template for this presentation is available in DocSharing. You are welcome to modify this template to suit your needs, being sure to meet the assignment requirements.

Start by reading a memo from your boss. This memo outlines the basics of the problem for you.

Your first task for this assignment is to figure out when the unusual spike in absences took place, and in what class(es). Remember to base all your conclusions on evidence from the absentee data. You can access several charts that display all the student absences at four schools by clicking the resources icon below. If you are having difficulty choosing which graphs to display, try viewing four graphs at once to make comparisons between schools.

Once you have isolated which schools experienced the unusual spike in absences, be sure to include specific data and an explanation within page 2 of your PowerPoint presentation.

Now, you must determine what the likely causes for the spike in absences are. Use the Health Department’s website to explore all of the available data. You’ll find the school activity calendars, interviews with the parents of the absent students, and other local town information including restaurant inspection reports that will help you determine some potential causes for the absences.

Based on all of the information you collect, complete the remaining parts of the PowerPoint presentation:

Review the chapter text about the Pareto rule and examine Figure 18-4. Note that the text

says Pareto diagrams are often drawn to reflect before and after results.

Assume that Figure 18-4 is the before diagram for the Billing department. Further assume

that the after results are as follows:

Activity Activity Code Number

Process Denied Bills PDB 12

Review with Supervisor RWS 10

Locate Documentation LD 6

Copy Documentation CD 5

33

Required

1. Redo the Pareto diagram with the after results. (Use Figure 18-4 as a guide.)

2. Comment on the before and after results for the Billing department.

Scenario: Interpret the charts (link below) showing the history of # IPOs from 1975 to 2008: What additional perspective is gained by presenting these data as behavior charts? What action could be taken in terms of Deming’s insistence on using data for “prediction” and why? Week4_DQ 1_charts.doc [“Inherited” from past instructor — doesn’t mean it’s right…] Helpful clarifying information: · An initial public offering, or IPO, is the first sale of stock by a company to the public. A company can raise money by issuing either debt or equity. If the company has never issued equity to the public, it’s known as an IPO. · As such the number of IPOs can be used as one indicator of the degree of business expansion in a given time period. For your dialogue, ponder: Do you see “patterns” in the time periods corresponding to economic events during these years? Are they the types of things that could happen again? – if so, can you “predict” consequences? Bottom line: Don’t concentrate on individual points or individual special cause tests, but, rather, keep the focus when possible on the process “needle.” Just because a special cause test is triggered doesn’t necessarily mean that the special cause happened there!

READ BEFORE SEND HANDSHAKE

 

Technical Project “Designing VB Applications Across Multiple Platforms”
This assignment will contain two (2) Parts: Written Paper and Visual Basic Prototype. The Visual Basic Prototype is not included in the total page count but is included in the evaluation of your assignment. You must submit both parts for the completion of this assignment.

Imagine you are a senior systems architect who has recently been given the task to develop a personal calendar system across multiple Microsoft platforms. You will develop a technical paper and Visual Basic prototype to senior management for project acceptance.

The personal calendar system runs on the following area:

• Windows XP and Windows 7 (desktop)
• Web IIS (Web browser)

You have also been asked to implement VB best practices to help improve the efficiency of solving IT issues that end users frequently experience. Your first task is to ensuring a consistent look across each platform.

Part 1: Written Paper

 1. Write a five to seven (5-7) page paper in which you:

  a. List and describe three (3) naming conventions and programming conventions that you can implement to help improve the software design across multiple platforms.

  b. Develop a calendar and scheduling system that:

    i. Runs with Windows 7 and sync data.

    ii. Runs with Web application access.

    iii. Includes at least two (2) supplemental graphical renderings of best practice methods through the use of Excel, Visio, MS Project, or one of their equivalents such as Open Project, Dia, and OpenOffice (flowcharts, process diagrams, tables, etc.). Note: The graphically depicted solution is not included in the required page length.

  c. Use Microsoft Office as an example of common screen design. Word and Excel have very similar looks when you want to save a file. Your design should have a similar concept. The look (color, font, layout) should look the same in Windows as it does on Web applications. The calendar should work with the same functions on all hardware. Create a common screen design for all different hardware views.

  d. Imagine you need to present IT troubleshooting best practices to junior systems administrators at an IT department meeting to ensure departmental efficiency with solving issues. You want to present some of these issues from a case scenario perspective. Explain the specific IT administration activities required to fix the system.                                                                                                                        

  e. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.

Part 2: Visual Basic Prototype

 2.    Develop calendar screens for Windows and the Web in which you:

  a.    Create a Visual Basic prototype that has screens for Windows and Web. Include:

    i.    the calendar.

    ii.    navigation buttons.

    iii.    edit buttons (add, delete, and edit).

  b.    Submit one (1) screen shot for Windows and Web application.

  c.    Submit the Visual Basic code for each screen.

Gr Assignment

                                             Simulation Exercise

                     In this exercise your group will develop a job specification, create a job advertisement,      conduct 2 interviews and make a recommendation based on a written report of the outcomes.     The interviews can be live or pre-recorded. YOU will define how to measure performance    outcomes and criteria, and you will give verbal feedback to the applicants.

                         Quality of interviews

                        Sophistication of forms and criteria used

                         Engagement of the class, creativity and teamwork

 

 

                               Report

                                    Submit a 1600 word report outlining the job requirements, performance      outcomes observed and any appraisal issues. Conclude with recommendations for example on how to maintain or improve performance on the job or and how you could improve this selection process.

                 Your report should contain the following elements:

·                   Description of Recruitment objectives, The context of the hiring

·                   Specification of the performance standards to be attained by the applicant (KPI’s)

·                  Job specification

·                     a job advertisement or alternative

·                    Interview structure

·                    A form structuring the nature of feedback to be given to applicants and when

·                   Recommendations to improve the recruitment process and the simulation itself.

·                   Where appropriate you should reference ideas from journal articles (at least 5) in the             discussion.