Meeting Notes and Activity Diagram

Talking with Katherine Burke, who is the Volunteer Coordinator Kōkua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services.

KKV has several programs that are used to instill confidence within members who are using their services.  It’s a long process in trying to pass along valuable skills and resources.  Members who are enrolled in these programs have to volunteer a certain number of hours in order to receive help from KKV and receive their monetary assistance.

Interview/Discussion Sewing Program

Currently, there are no forms or any type of database to document what community members have created.  There is no system of any type that inventories what products have been made.  The only tracking measure they have is a log book for community member to sign in and out. 

Can you tell me a little bit more about this program and where you see it going in the future?

            This program receives grant money to buy its materials.  Classes are held during the week so community members can partake in learning skills.  The products they make are bags, shirts, smocks, dresses, blankets, and other small novelty items.

            The first product that a member makes, they get to keep. The rest go in the KKV store and they try to sell some of these items.  However, most times they are given away.  Sold items have not been tracked nor do they have an updated inventory of the current stock.

            Most benefits are focused on the human aspect of what the member has gained and learned.  However, the want to start tracking the skillset level of participants as well as possibly show them how their products are doing on the market.

What kind of IT solutions do you see that would most benefit your staff and customers?

She would like to see a program/database, the is

1.     User friendly (volunteers have limited English speaking capabilities)

2.     Be able to pull report of what raw materials are available and value

3.     Be able to see how much profit they have made from sales

4.     Be able to logged hours of community members utilizing the program

5.     See improvement with skills of community member

Who will be utilizing the program/data? 

            This will be handled by volunteers, there are several that will be trained on how to put in data and pull/retrieve reports.

Below is the activities diagram that will take place in order to track hours by community member, products made, inventory of materials, all compiled in order to send to grant writer.

ALOHA H3 STAKEHOLDERS

Some identifiable stakeholders for the Aloha H3 would be the following:

Elected Personnel - Volunteers/Coordinators (Internal/Operational/Executive) Members in this group would be able to update runners information as to how many run, trails, attendance, donations made, hello and good-bye gifts.  They are the only ones that are allowed to input runs/hares, they also use this information to track who will be laying the trails and what information to put on the hareline and website.  Out of them, only three have access to accounts that manage gifts and refreshments.  There is the haberdasher who sells the t-shirts and other goodies that are kept by the other members of the round table.  The group has bragging rights as to how many trails laid and ran.  It's a long standing tradition to recognize the valuable time donated to finding trails and give proper thanks.

Runners (Operational) Members of this group volunteer their time in finding and laying trails for the other runner's.  It's a weekly event and every week there is a different person or group that lays the trails.

Runners (External) Runner's who attend but don't keep any of the data. They are they just to partake in the festivities, run a trail and enjoy a nice social gathering afterwards.

Some additional information to be added and tracked is the location and times of the next trail.  It could give the lead trail member's name, contact information, and any items that they may need while on trail, i.e. whistle, long socks, gloves, etc.

Kokua Kalihi Valley Stakeholders

Kokua Kalihi Valley reaches out to the community and gives a variety of help and support in trying to enrich the lives of its community members.

Some of the stakeholders that can be identified seen in the diagram below.

For Internal and Operational Stakeholders:  The employees that help run the programs and daily administrative duties and the volunteers are those that are directly within the organization.  They have a significant interest in helping their customers which means that their operation is important and succeeding. 

Internal and Executive Stakeholders:  Can be seen as Project managers and Volunteer Coordinator who run the programs that help the community and their needs.

External and Operational Stakeholders are the community members who are their customers that are utilizing the programs being offered.

Other Stakeholders have been identified as the general public.  Customers are learning valuable skills that are then transformed as input back into society and therefore helping the public in whole.

Design came from Systems Analysis and Design (Stazinger, Jackson, Burd. 2012, pg 47), stakeholders were derived from KKV website.
                                         

Runner's Hi - Stakeholders

Who doesn't benefit from running?  Formulating my idea further of using a running planner for  Runner's HI running club I found some possible stakeholders:

Runner's HI employees  (Internal Stakeholders)
Finding the motivation to run is easy when you have all the race information.  The owner and some of the employees host a twice a week fun/training run for all levels.  When, where, why and how to sign u is easy, because it's the same days every week.  Tuesdays and Thursday both each having their own routes.

But from here, they have a resource to other race events on island as well as interisland and mainland travels, form flyers in the store, to a weekly publication and websites.

Runners (Operational Stakeholders)
The group that is invested here would be the runners themselves.  They would be able to plan training runs as well as travel accommodations. Successful implementation means that you would be able to see training schedules, travel plans, and see if they can take on more runners.

Runners(External Stakeholders)
The run club is an open club with no dues, so passer by, vacationers, or the occasional runner can easily join.  They just have to show up and can run as far or as little as they want along the course.  Joining any of the travel runs is just as easy.

Interview Outline

Setting:  I would conduct this interview in person at:

Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant
1 Aloha Tower Dr #1123, Honolulu, HI 96813

Talking to  General Manager Evan Woodruff, Julie Lam and other coordinators (TBD)

Introduction - Aloha, I'm Rachel Silversmith and currently attending Hawaii Pacific University and would like to see if there is a need in your organization that I may be able to help with.  I am familiar with your organization as I am an active runner and know that by attending some of the meetings there might some areas that I may be able to help with.  If we could sit down and go over some ideas of where I might be able to help, that would get me started in the right track, that would be great.

Interview/Discussion

• What types of information about the run group do you keep and for how long?
• Can you tell me a little bit more about this program and where you see it going in the future?
• What kind of IT solutions do you see that would most benefit your staff and customers?

Schedule follow-up to be determined at a later date and location.  

Conclusion:  Recap on what are the important IT support the program is looking and thank the coordinator for her/his time.

Running

Running is passion shared by many people, including this person. I have several run clubs here on Oahu.  My Tuesday and Thursday run group meets at a local running store called Runner's HI

A lot of runner's not only train together but they travel as well.  Most times travel plans and arrangements are made on their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Runners-HI/118060228233980

They are looking for help logging miles per individual runners as well as track upcoming events so that runner's can join in on the travel arrangements.  It would match single runner's with others so that they can share accommodations and car rentals.

Caring is Sharing

Here in Hawaii, a little aloha goes a long way.  At Kokua Kalihi Valley they are constantly giving back to the community and have open doors for those that want to contribute to making communities feel like a family.

   

Recently, they started a project using sewing to help encourage individuals to tap into a self creativity and find the self confidence they need in order to find jobs.  Always promoting good health and togetherness. 

So for the project they are looking for a way to inventory what material they have on hand and track what they are spending to keep this project going. They sell the products in their store and they don't have any accountable transactions to the profitability of the program.  The are some other factors that they would have to show, they don't keep any type of data profile of individuals but need to since, payments are based on how many hours they are there crafting their skills.  

One of my FAVORITE things to do

They are called the Hash House Harriers.  The name might raise an eyebrow or two but it's one of my favorite running clubs.  I've seen more of the hidden secrets that Oahu has to offer because of the wonderful folks who lay the trail for the rest to follow.  It's like hide-n-seek, but for grown ups.  It rekindles the youthful spirit and creates a great atmosphere and simply an amazing social circle.

More insight can be found here Hashing, where and what it's all about.  It actually has a mismanagement and like the name that's how they run things, until every they hold elections for positions that ensure that there is food and beverage and trails to be ran.

These are year long positions that take tremendous time and effort.  All done by volunteers and the most amazing thing is it's just not here in Hawaii but it's an international organization.  We even bid, like the Olympics, to host the most epic trail and invite runners from all over to attend.

The project that comes to mind is to help streamline the positions and accountability.  There is also a log book that holds all the runners who has ever attended and how many runs they ran, it give awards for 5 runs, 15, 25, 50 and then every 100 runs after that.  Gifts are bestowed for milestones and those that will be traveling onto there next chapter away from their home hash.   They also track how many times a person has offered up their time to lay a running trail for the masses to enjoy. All of this is done the old fashion way and recently they just held elections and like any organization is conducting an audit to see where they are slacking in awarding running and haring accomplishments.  The local hash information can be found at  Aloha Hash House Harriers.

As good as the real deal: VM Platforms

Having my first introduction to a virtual machine, I had to further investigate to see what the lure is all about.  Is it the bright lights or the fancy gadgets, I mean really what is the benefits of a dual operation system.  I have trouble with just one.

Virtual machines (VM) are categorized into two processes.  System Virtual machine and Process Virtual machine.  You may be wondering, what's the difference?

Well, system virtual machine is a complete platform that can coexist with multiple system virtual machines on the same hardware. It emulates an existing architecture that is more dynamic and more complex that provides a platform that can run programs where the actually hardware may be unavailable or extinct.

Process virtual machines are a bit less complicated.  Using this type of process is only for a single, specific process ran within a host operating system.  It's not a true virtual machine, since unlike a system virtual machine it's not confined to the system model.  Rather it has access to all the OS services.

This Virtual Machine Download Instruction Video shows how to install it on your computer.  I myself have it installed on my computer.  I'm still learning how to use and found this tutorial to help.

Another link here at  Virtual Tools has tips and pointers on installation, starting and stopping you virtual machine.  Take a look and I'll keep a look out for additional information.

uCloud, iCloud, we allCloud for...

What is in a cloud?   In today's society, being "connected" is all about having updated information and access  from Facebook to Twitter to email's, tagging and everything in between.

Let's cover a few topics to get started because picking the right cloud is important.  First off, what is cloud? It's basically an online backup storage that allows you to upload documents from any device and have access to it in the future, as well as share with others.  Some automatically upload or "sync" your files according to your settings.

How to pick the best cloud for you.  Depending on your own needs here are a few tips to look out for:
1. What are your requirements? Are you using MAC, PC, tablets, or "i" anything?  Identifying what types of software, hardware and operating will help you determine which cloud is better for your device. Some simply work better with some but not others.

2. How much are you willing to pay or not pay? Due to advancements in technology, the cost is now a fraction of what it once was. Depending on your needs some free storage space is available but limited to its size.

3. What is the amount of available storage that is needed?  If it's the occasion image, folder, file or data several g's may suffice and there are plenty of re.  However, as we put our digital life on "online" sites uploading is more frequent, images are larger and and our files grow with the experiences that we want to share.

4.What kind of data will it allow me to store?  If your like most, music is a high priority. Check to see if it offers the type of sharing that you need or if it simply holds your music files so that you can quickly download and/or share your artsy side.

These are just a few and the following link has their best reviews, for more detailed information take a look
http://www.thetop10bestonlinebackup.com/cloud-storage

Just remember when it rains, it pours.  Be prepared by having access to your personal and professional documents and information when you need them.

Learning to Code with Ruby

Coding is not my strong point.  Having to go through this Ruby on Rails has both been refreshing and frustrating.  I started with http://www.codecademy.com and naturally after the creation of a profile you start the process of learning not only ruby but have the choice to play with Java, Python and PHP just to name a few.

But what is Ruby?  If you're like me you want to know what it is and had to find sites to dumb it down for me.
Ruby is a scripting language.  Ah what?  Scripting Language, it means that it relies that runs on the web to translate your hand-written code into an executable code right there and then.  upon an application source code all of the time.  It doesn't have a compiler, instead it uses a an interpreter.  For compiled langualed a compiler is used and every time you change your code you have to stop and re-run the code for your changed to take into effect.  It really depends on the programmer and what they like to use but I do find that ruby is easier to use than say, JAVA.

I found these on youtube that gave a small differences between Ruby and PHP but there are more and were humorous as well as informative.

Of course having a background in writing programs helps since Ruby builds on some of the same concepts.  What is really nice though is Ruby has a large and helpful community.  I was able to find the answers that I needed or see why my programming didn't work, which was quite often.

It may take some computer wizard only a few hours to go through the whole tutorial but for a "newbie" like me several days since frustration kicks in (it has been several years since I even attempted to write code).  I remember why I changed from CS to CIS, but in hindsight had I realized I'd be doing this today I would have completely switched to a basic business degree.

Some other sights that I found useful to help me through Ruby tutorial is http://www.codeschool.com/courses/try-ruby.  Basically another in browser tool to work on your Ruby language skills.

Follow me and my progression on trying to re-learn a much needed skill in the program writing world.  I'm taking the blue pill and following the bunny rabbit down the hole.  Cheers!

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