Preserving the Past for the Present and Future

Logan Shetlar Mrs. Deggner Expository Writing 201 30 March 2012 Preserving the Past for the Present and Future Many people have little to no knowledge about human’s prehistoric past, especially that of humans in the Americas. As you cruise down east bound Interstate 70 and make it through St. Louis, you start to drive by one of North America’s largest prehistoric city structures, Cahokia. According to the Cahokia Mounds Historical Site, this city covered six square miles, had 120 mounds, and was home to anywhere between 10,000 to 20,000 people from the years 700 to 1400 AD (Keller).Cahokia use to be a major regional trade center with huge mounds that had large palaces for city rulers, plazas, different neighborhoods, and even gaming fields, but much of this has been lost from natural wear of the land and also human destruction. I-70, although a hugely important interstate nearly connecting coast to coast, cuts right through some of the city, and new housing developments slowly threaten the area (Ritterbush). This human destruction happens all over and continuously erases some of human history from right beneath our feet.Archaeological sites should be preserved in order to protect unwritten human history, create economical benefits, and teach future generations about the human past and allow for future studies. Much of the reason why many people do not realize there is even a problem with the destruction of archaeological sites is that the sites are prehistoric, meaning they date back to times before written records, and most people have not heard of the sites.People in charge of a building project, such as project developers, may not realize they are about to build on top of an ancient prehistoric site, which is why there has been a federal law that now requires an archaeologist to come out to check land that may be developed. An archaeologist job is to work in the field and scientifically record and recover any artifacts they may find, usually se veral feet in the ground. The archaeologist then records all their findings and takes the material items back to a lab where they are cleaned, processed, and recorded (Professional Archaeologist).Needing to hire an archaeologist from the State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPO) inevitably costs money, which makes for a group of people who dislike the law and the idea of preserving sites. Costs vary from the size of the project and weather or not sites are found, and if the law is not followed, federal permits and money can be lost, along with additional fines. All of this can be problematic, and a possible setback in the building plans for the project developers, but it is a very important step (Getting the Archaeological Green Light).In an interview with Prof. Lauren Ritterbush, she told me about the Blue Earth Village, which she has personally worked at in the Manhattan area that has been nearly lost due to human developments. The Blue Earth Village, just east of Manhattan, Kan sas, is an early Kansa Indian village dating back to the 1790s. Modern buildings here, such as houses and a cattle show barn, have covered much of the village that was there prior, but what little is left allows archaeologist a chance to research it and provide the Kansa Indian people with information about their ancestors.If SHPO had been in place when this area was being developed, archaeologists would have been able to excavate the area and record new information about the area. Many archaeological sites also provide economic benefits, such as tourism, to the areas around the world and here in the states. Egypt’s economy relies heavily on tourism, considering the country is home to one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the pyramids, and other archaeological hot spots. In the year 2008, Egypt profited over 11. 8 billion dollars from tourism in the country.Tourism is also responsible for nearly 12 percent of the labor force in Egypt, making these archaeological sites hugely profitable (Dziadosz). For an example a little closer to home, take the Cahokia site mentioned in the beginning of the paper; the museum society there brings in thousands of new visitors each year. According to an article for the International Journal of Business and Management, tourism is a multi-industrial moneymaker that not only creates jobs, such as people who work in the museum at Cahokia, but also gets people to spend money in the area.The people that visit these sites need a hotel to stay in, gas to get their and back home, and food to eat; all providing profits that trickle back into the local economy. (Ardahaey 3). Much of the money that the these preservation sites receive are through donations (apparent on almost any website pertaining to archaeology by the â€Å"donate† page), so any money they make will go directly back into the economy through hiring new employees and allowing more of the sites to be preserved (Ken Keller).Some people may argue that stores, su ch as Wal-Mart, will do more economically for an area, but you cannot put a price tag on the knowledge that can be learned from the sites themselves. Getting an education is one of the most important parts of life in the 21st century, and for many generations to come. We all go to school till we are at least 16 years old and many of us go onto higher education, devoting nearly all of our first 25 years of life to school and gaining an education. Preserving sites give a chance for future generations to learn from the site hands on and lead to possible new discoveries as future technologies are improved.Many people do not really know what an archaeologist really does, or how their work affects anyone in anyway. One misconception of archaeologists is that their work is unimportant. In one of Shana Leslie’s online articles, she states â€Å"Modern archaeologists work closely with specialists in a variety of fields – from medical doctors to environmentalists to policy plan ners† (Leslie). Archaeologists are able to determine what an area’s climate was like thousands of years ago by testing different layers of soils or how a whole group of people began to die out from their bones (Ritterbush).Another important part of the knowledge gained from the work of archaeologist is how humans have evolved over time. Not that human beings have physically changed, but the way we live and the technologies we are able to use and come up with have greatly changed. Archaeologists are able to date their finds and look at how people lived from hundreds of thousands of years ago, to just a couple thousand, which provides incite as to how we went from people using stone tools and living in natural shelters to the iPad using, web surfing, technologically advanced people we are now.The science and knowledge gained from archaeologist field and lab work can affect people in nearly any type of profession, and help teach the future generations about our human past. While the problem of losing archaeological sites to human development is not a news-breaking event, it is still largely important and creates multiple views. People who work in project management and on building planning teams deal with the necessary set backs that may occur from needing SHPO to come in and check their land. SHPO costs money and time, and depending on if a site or sites re found, could increase both of these, making some dislike the archaeological efforts. Many people also have opposing views on the economic values of archaeological sites, believing that the sites could be put to better uses such as farm land or being built up for businesses. Still some people are just unaware of the importance of an archaeologist’s job and the sites they work on. For several reasons, archaeological sites should be preserved because they offer knowledge about prehistoric human history, create economical benefits, and teach future generations about the human past and allow fo r future research.Nearly all of what we know today about life before written records, from locations like Pompeii to the city of Cahokia just east of St. Louis, comes from the work of archaeologist. While archaeological research may cause troubles for project planners who look to build on undeveloped land, the work that these scientist do can provide new information about life before we knew it. The sites found also offer economical benefits as they attract tourists to visit the location and spend their money.These benefits to the economy are incentive to continue and preserve archaeological research as it brings in more money and helps educate future generations. The work of archaeologist helps to advance the knowledge of the human past, provide new information in other professions, and ensure future generations the chance to continue to learn from these sites. For those reasons, there should be more support of archaeologists preserving archaeological sites. Work Cited Ardahaey,  F.. â€Å"Economic Impacts of Tourism Industry. †Ã‚  International Journal of Business and Management   6.   (2011):  206-215. Research Library,  ProQuest. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. Dziadosz, Alexander. â€Å"Egypt Tourism Numbers to Fall Less than Feared. † | Reuters. Thomas Reuters Corporate, 20 Oct. 2009. Web. 27 Mar. 2012. http://af. reuters. com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE59J0PG20091020? sp=true. | Keller, Ken, Eric Young, and Gary Kronk. â€Å"Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site and Cahokia Mounds Museum Society. † Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site and Cahokia Mounds Museum Society. Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. http://www. cahokiamounds. org. Leslie, Shana. Archaeology – 10 Common Misconceptions About Archaeologists – Shana Leslie, Freelance Writer – SEO Copywriting & Professional Writing Services. † Shana Leslie, Freelance Writer. Web. 27 Mar. 2012. http://www. shanaleslie. com/item. asp? iid=28. Ri tterbush, Lauren. Personal Interview. 13 Mar. 2012 Professional Archaeologists of Kansas. Getting the Archaeological Green Light for Your Projects. Kansas: Professional Archaeologists of Kansas, 2012. Print. Professional Archaeologists of Kansas. Professional Archaeologists. Kansas: Professional Archaeologists of Kansas, 2012. Print.

Introduction to Early Childhood Education Essay Example

Introduction to Early Childhood Education Essay Example Introduction to Early Childhood Education Essay Introduction to Early Childhood Education Essay A sum-up of the interview conducted in Week Four with an analysis of information collected and how it impacted your apprehension of the professional field of early childhood instruction. In hebdomad four of our category I conducted an interview with a twosome of instructors from my country ( cardinal Florida ) which asked me to stay anon. for proficient grounds. I called them topic ( A ) and capable ( B ) . In that interview they both opened up to me and took me through a journey of the school system in my country. One of the instructors has been learning in this country for about 38 old ages and from what information I had gathered from the interview I can decidedly state that she has seen it all. Teaching was her passion since her early age. she recalls playing instructor with her grandma and aunts seeking to learn them proper English since they merely spoke broken English. Her household migrated to Florida from Greece when she was 6 old ages old and she did non talk a word of English when she started school. She recalls being so diffident and since she didn’t speak any English. all she did was sitting in a corner and colour all twenty-four hours. Up to this twenty-four hours she says she owes everything to her 4th class instructor Mrs. Prim. At first ( A ) thought that Mrs. Prim was the meanest individual in the whole universe for taking away her colouring documents and crayons and coercing her in a manner to larn English. ( A ) Admitted to me that she hated Mrs. Prim for making that to her. but one time she started larning the English linguistic communication she had a alteration of bosom. The remainder as they say is history. ( B ) on the other manus has merely been learning for about 5 old ages and she loves it. She’s an E. S. L. teacher and her twenty-four hours consists of learning English to pull the leg of that English is a 2nd linguistic communication. She says that she wants to assist others as person helped her female parent learn the English linguistic communication many old ages ago and helped her make something of herself. A description of at least one cardinal issue or tendency in early childhood plans and how it impacts the instruction of immature kids. Within the field of early childhood instruction. several issues are presently being debated and many new developments are emerging. One of these tendencies is toward the enlargement and redefinition of early childhood instruction to include all educational experiences for kids from birth to 8 old ages of age. Another tendency is the increased involvement in developmentally appropriate instruction. which takes into history what is known about how immature kids develop and larn. and lucifers that to the content and schemes planned for them in early childhood plans. A 3rd tendency is the renewed involvement in incorporate course of study. One attack to this is thematic organisation. in which accomplishments. facts. and subject-matter cognition are integrated around a consolidative subject. A 4th tendency is toward the reliable appraisal of children’s acquisition. which is the procedure of detecting. entering. and otherwise documenting the work kids do and how they do it. as a footing for a assortment of educational determinations that affect a kid. Another tendency is increased involvement in mixed-age groupings in preschools and nongraded instruction in early primary class plans. A concluding tendency is toward multicultural instruction and anti-bias course of study in early childhood in response to quickly turning minority populations. and increasing cultural pluralism and planetary consciousness. A brief description of the instructional approach/model that best lucifers your personal educational doctrine and how you believe that attack contributes to quality programming for immature kids. The High/Scope Approach is the 1 that matches my personal doctrine the best. The High/Scope environment combines teacher-directed and learner-directed constructions to learn pupils to believe creatively and construct relationships utilizing inventiveness while playing games. In other words High/Scope lets the kids use their imaginativeness freely and without any boundaries which encourage pupils to take part in unfastened treatments and inquire unfastened inquiries. Your current doctrine of instruction ( based on your assignment from Week Three ) . My doctrine is to do learning merriment and interesting for my pupils every bit much as possible. I say this because there will ever be a twosome or more childs in a schoolroom that need to be intrigued or need excess attending. I besides believe that some traditional methods tend to be tiring. hich draws students’ involvement elsewhere and off from larning. Your programs. at this point. for your hereafter in early childhood instruction. My programs at this point are to obtain my BA in Early Childhood Education and get down learning World History and Geography. I believe that childs today lack the cognition and the great lessons that can be learned from all the noteworthy characters through history. Just conceive of how would person in the likes of Michelangelo or Da Vinci would had left their grade in history if they didn’t have a great instructor to pave the manner for them.

So Easy To Give Up †Creative Writing

So Easy To Give Up – Creative Writing Free Online Research Papers So Easy To Give Up Creative Writing Some years ago, I was the kind of girl who wrote diary every day, and this habit accompanied me for quite a few years. Life in those years were not so colorful, so things written down in the diary were those like â€Å"Chatted with xx today about the origin of the universe.† or â€Å"Came across a handsome boy but unluckily he did not want to know me.† and so on. But I was that time abundant with thoughts, and I would write about anything happening on me to thousands of words. Apart from things like â€Å"I lied to mom today, and I promise this would never happen again†, there were quite a number of this kind of diaries. But unfortunately I did the same thing again the next day. I also said that â€Å"From today on I would never play computer games, because it is time for me to have a change.† But every time I saw the computer, I totally failed. Give up? That was the main clue of my college years. I was so good at giving up and so used to it that I never felt ashamed but proud of it. That was because I could always find reasons for my giving up. I gave up again and again, from lying, playing computer to life and love. My enthusiasm faded away year after year, and my obligation disappeared. I did not know what I should do and what I could do. Gradually, I feel not used to talk about â€Å"obligation†, however, I used â€Å"idea† to replace it. So I am often asking and being asked â€Å"Have any ideas or not?† when hearing somebody talking about obligation on campus, I would feel so uncomfortable and even a little bit superior because I consider obligation as a naà ¯ve thing. I began to concern about the tiny profit and loss in my life, to measure the distance between men, and to talk about right and wrong. Breadth of mind is becoming narrower and narrower, and mood worse and worse. So what is wrong with me? Haven known the sharp drop in my study, one of my college teacher, who had been concerned about me all the time, wrote a letter to me, expressing his astonishment towards me. His tongue of sadness and grieve moved me till today, and I have to bury the feeling of regret ness down my deep heart. There was a sentence in his letter which impressed me so much. He said, there is something in your life which you can not get again if you give up them once. I know what he meant by this. Man’s ability is limited, if he would not try his best in his prime time, what can we expect from him? I have watched a Japanese movie. It was boring. But there was a sentence in it which I can never forget: â€Å"There are no dress rehearsals in your life. Every day is a living broadcast†. Indeed, we always think there is a day for the living broadcast, so everyday we indulge ourselves in the dress rehearsals, but life, unfortunately, was consumed in these usual days. In fact, everyday is so important and it can not be repeated. To treasure every minute, and to build up my obligation to get close to it. This is the modal of me when I am now in my third year of college. No high-sounding, but never to give up! And now, at least, I would not be satisfied to choose my occupation, to choose my family, to choose a big color TV, to choose health, to choose dentist insurance, too choose my beautiful suit, to choose the boring TV programs, and to choose my life. May be you will say life is just like this, but I will not believe in that! Research Papers on So Easy To Give Up - Creative WritingPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyCapital PunishmentQuebec and CanadaThe Spring and AutumnThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsHip-Hop is Art19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationWhere Wild and West MeetStandardized Testing

I'm Daniel, Emily's father Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

I'm Daniel, Emily's father - Essay Example Emily is my favorite child and I would not imagine her being pregnant at her age. We established a plan for her academic and career lives before she could settle down in marriage and she agreed to it. The plan would see her excel to be one of the country’s top executives and she would be our source of pride. This is particularly because she has been the most promising, of my children, in academics. I would therefore not imagine the plan being ruined or even getting delayed because of the many uncertainties that would be hindrances. Even with the realization of her pregnancy when it appears to be at an advanced stage, I would request her and her mother to go for confirmatory pregnancy test to confirm truth of the suspicion. I would still find it hard to believe her pregnancy, even with the confirmatory tests. In struggling to accept the truth about her pregnancy, I would be disappointed in her and in myself for our responsibilities in allowing such a thing to happen. By engaging in risky sexual behavior, at her adolescent age, she has engaged in immorality and brought shame on herself and the entire family. This is because our immediate community values sexual dignity and expect people to engage in sex only in marriage. Her pregnancy would therefore be evidence that she engaged in premarital sex and some conservative families would shun our family and even restrict relationships among their children with ours. I would also be disappointed in Emily because her condition threatens the plans and expectations that we had developed about her. I would however be disappointed in myself for failing to take necessary measures for protecting her from environments and associations that led to her pregnancy. I would feel that we failed to create an environment in which she could have informed us of her relationship with a sex partner because such a discussion could have helped in counseling her, ourselves or through a professional counselor, to

Evaluation of the Current Status of Alitalia Essay

Evaluation of the Current Status of Alitalia - Essay Example Correspondingly, this report intends to examine the prospects of Etihad Airways which has started to examine the possibility to buy a majority/total stake in Alitalia, the Italian struggling airline. Alitalia is a prominent Italian based airline group and one of the leading players in the European airline industry. The group operates under the brand name of Alitalia and offers an assortment of premium services at all levels including the purview of domestic, international and intercontinental destinations. Air One is a subsidiary of Alitalia Group that provides low-cost flights to domestic and international routes. Alitalia is a privately owned group and 75% of its ownership is retained by Italian entrepreneurial and financial world while the remaining 25% is acquired by the biggest European airline, Air France-KLM. The group is also the member of SkyTeam alliance and has opened transatlantic joint venture with Air France KLM and Delta. The group over the years has been able to secure and distinguish its position amid its customers particularly due to its superior service quality, maintenance, and passenger care. The pool of well-trained employees along with effective operational management has established it as the most punctual airline across Europe. At the same time, the extensive and ambitious investment plan to make its fleet modernize has tremendously facilitated it with attaining greater customer confidence and trust. Apart from transportation of passengers, the company also operates in cargo sector. It has been able to meet the customers’ shipping requirements through the effective arrangement of cargo charter flights (Alitalia n.d.). Moreover, it has the most modern fleet of 132 aircraft. The company’s financial health during 2012 was worst affected with increasing loss and augmenting debt. However, amid this sluggish performance, the market share of the group across all routes continued to st ay stable at around 22.6% (Alitalia 2013).

Cultural Relativism and Ethical Subjectivism Essay

Cultural Relativism and Ethical Subjectivism - Essay Example This research tells that Cultural relativism is the belief about defining human actions on the basis of cultural values of an individual. Different cultures may have different ideas of right or wrong and no idea can be considered as absolute. Ethical or moral subjectivism can be defined as the absence of definite or absolute moral right or wrong. It argues that individuals may have their own versions of moral values and no standard can be set by the society. The idea that reality cannot be absolute and relative is an attempt by the society to accept or sanction the differences between the people. Cultural relativism and ethical subjectivism both argue that there cannot be one correct solution to all problems and different people may perform differently in similar situations and they can still be right. Beliefs or attitudes of people are different and so they act differently in similar situations, and society cannot set a standard for what is right or wrong. An ethical subjectivist wi ll not believe in accepting absolute moral standards simply because of the fact that absolute moral standards cannot be known objectively. The absence of surety in the context of morality is the reason why subjectivism is supported by an ethical subjectivist. The idea is to allow an individual to think or act according to his belief simply because the ‘true reality’ is not known. Everyone is therefore entitled to believe in his or her version of morality. Cultural relativism also vouches for differences among people on the account of differences between cultural values. Culture can be regarded as one of the strongest influence on a person because it shapes an individual’s personality and thought patterns from childhood. This allows a cultural relativist to argue that different culture may have different interpretations of truth and therefore differences between cultures should be accounted for without arguing for a perfect realist view of truth. The similarity be tween these two viewpoints is that they both argue in favor of societal and individual versions of moral truths. Subjectivity and relativism are preached because we can only be relatively sure about anything. Individuals are allowed to behave differently on account of their culture or personal opinions because of this absence of surety when it comes to moral reality. The main criticism on both of these theories is that the society will be in a chaos if every person in the society starts to practice his or her own version of morality. Any idea about right or wrong cannot be left to the individual (ethical subjectivism) or a group of individuals (cultural relativism) simply because of the lack of rational thought that is embedded in all societies. This criticism of subjectivity and relativism springs from the idea that people cannot be trusted for they may, and do, err in their social judgments and society cannot be exposed to the madness of one or many. The reply to this argument by ethical subjectivist will base in a belief that human beings have an inherent sense of morality.

RR communications Essay Example for Free

RR communications Essay At RR communications, it is obvious there is a problem that needs to be handled if they are to avoid losing customers. The problem lies with the decentralized operations where each business unit has a mandate to operate independently. The business units have the power to make and implement new projects and make decisions without having to involve the whole firm. This has led to many problems such as customers complaining of having receipts for each of the four products offered by the company and would prefer having one receipt for all their transactions. Due to the division among departments, the company has been unable to meet reporting requirements for the Sarbanes Oxley Act. It has proved obvious that a shared IT service, which is standardized among all the units, is needed to ensure everything goes well. The first problem we see at RR Communications is that there is a definite lack of centralized and concise IT governance. Currently all of the separate functions of the company have their own individual leadership with no central leadership. For this reason, each of the sections takes actions and makes decisions based only on how it affects their own particular departments. There is no coordination to ensure that the act of one area does not negatively affect the rest of the firm. This in turn has led to a significant lack of uniformity across the organization, which is hurting customer relations. There are unified databases and each section maintains their own set of records; this is causing great frustration among their customers who continually have issues when dealing with more than one area. Much of the division of departments has been caused by a lack of central leadership. The CEO of the firm has failed to unify the department or assert any control over the individual IT vice presidents. Even though they reported to him, each had acted entirely independently. This continuous failure of leadership has caused the department heads to develop a sense of isolation and self-survival. Even though a new executive VP of IT has been appointed to bring unity to the firm, there has been severe resistance as each department feels it will suffer. The lack of centralized management for so long has caused significant discord between the departments that will take considerable effort to overcome. In addition, this company attitude has filtered down from the VPs to the middle and lower management creating an overall atmosphere that is dangerously disjointed. Even the suggestion of bringing together the database systems and management has caused a near  mutinous uprising and rejection of leadership. The current managerial atmosphere has been around so long, the attitude of individualism has been deeply imbedded in the corporate culture. While, individual thinking is useful to foster innovation and creativity, when the entire organization acts to satisfy only its individual requirements, the firm overall will suffer. Unless this attitude can be overcome, any attempt at bringing unity to the company will fail. From the technical standpoint, RR Communications is suffering from a severely fractured information management system. Every section of the company maintains its own individual customer databases, which are in incompatible formats. If a customer maintains relationships with more then one division, they get bills from each individual area. Customer issues often fail to get resolved because the departments do not communicate or share information. This is causing problems with diminished customer satisfaction. In addition, without a centralized database, full customer information and statistics are impractical to collect. In addition to suffering by not being able to collect detailed records, the company is facing regulatory issues by not being able to provide complete information on the company’s activities, and significant resources are being wasted to assemble simple reports. Currently management and associates at RR Communications believe that a collective solution is impossible, and any attempt to do so will cause them to suffer. While it may be true that the initial implementation of such a system will require a significant collective effort, the end result will be well worth it. It is also clear that much of the perspective of management is extremely short sided; projects are selected only based on a very narrow and limited benefit view with no regard for their long-term viability. As more and more systems have been patched together to fulfill immediate gaps, the overall collection of programs has become a cumbersome, inefficient, and unmanageable mess. A truly efficient system would be one that is all-encompassing and communicates across all facets of the organization to deliver a unified and fully integrated information system that can add real value to the firm. One other major issue at RR Communications is the proliferation of rouge projects completed without oversight or regard for how they will affect the firm. In a large company every project should be examined to determine how it could provide value to the organization before being launched. At RR  Communication projects are being launched that benefit only select areas and may in fact be causing a significant negative impact to the rest of the firm. The company currently does not have a steering or operating committee to oversee and exert control over these projects. Without any form of centralized control and governance, these rouge projects will continue to sabotage the effectiveness of the organization. Lack of common information and enterprise IT strategy has caused several problems for the business and the IT departments of RR communications. Customer service has suffered and customer dissatisfaction has grown. Lack of common information has made it difficult for management to monitor the businesses as a whole. Business units are unable to exchange information and remain unaware of the other divisions’ work. There is little sense of how the divisions work together to meet the company’s overall goals. The accounting problems make it difficult to present shareholders with accurate financial information, and the system is not cost-effective in any case. Furthermore, each division working at individual level to attain its success makes them rigid and unable to adapt to changing requirements; under these circumstances even the implementation of new technology will be extremely difficult. The organization cannot operate efficiently as a whole or at division levels, and the costs are bound to keep increasing. Analysis: As many annoyed customers can probably agree, being transferred from one department of the company to another over and over again to resolve a simple issue is one of the main reasons many companies lose customers. This is certainly an issue at RR Communications. The main cause of the problem seems to be the division of the different business units. This lack of unity is caused by a faulty commission system that rewards individual performance over company profit. The fact that the four CIOs refuse to work together and resort to sabotaging the efforts of the others, serves to show that they are more interested in their own selfish financial goals. While the president of the company may have been a visionary and brilliant entrepreneur, he lacked the managerial skills to recognize the need to have a unified commission system which would foster participation in a common goal, and thus a common  commission which is interdependent on all four business units would be most beneficial to the company. Unifying IT Resources The most important problem for RR Communications to correct is a significant deficiency of successful information management, reflected by the confused state of their customer information databases. Currently customer data is disbursed in separate databases for each section of the company, so that data from one department is not available to another. Thus, customers are forced to maintain relationships with multiple departments and receive billing from each. This separation means that valuable information resources are not being effectively utilized, hurting the firm’s productivity and efficiency. To improve the state of information capital at RR Communications, a complete overhaul of the current systems will be necessary, from both an IT and business standpoint. Information represents a vital asset to any company. This can be in the form of customer accounts, sales records, research development, financial statements, etc. However, in order to realize full benefits, the same information must be readily accessible by all individual units, so that the company can leverage it in the most efficient manner. The first step to correct the issues at RR Communications is to create a unified data architecture that combines all information resources into a central database that is accessible to all sections of the firm. By providing a centralized database clients will be better served by allowing complete access to customer records throughout the company. This will also improve reporting abilities, lower administrative costs, and greatly increase the value of information resources. To achieve the greatest benefit to the company, RR Communications could consolidate its data from multiple silos into a unified enterprise data warehouse (EDW) (Smaltz, 2011). This architecture provides multiple benefits including a single location for all information storage reducing the amount of duplicated efforts. This also greatly improves the integrity of data by providing a ‘single version of the truth’ (Smaltz, 2011). When data is spread throughout multiple databases, invariable some of it will differ. For example, a customer’s address may have been changed in one department but not another. These differences can prove costly to a company. A centralized EDW means that only one record should exist for each customer and reduce  data discrepancies. Having such a centralized system would also satisfy customer needs in a more efficient manner and would help to cross-sell products, which in turn would result in higher profits and more profit for the company. By allowing customers to have a single point of contact, and sharing information by standardizing software and databases across the organization, information will flow more freely and readily available thus giving the employees the ability to communicate in real time with accurate data and maximizing customer contact to increase profits. Having a decentralized IT function is not conductive to achieve an enterprise vision because by keeping the separate business units separated, it keeps pertinent information out of reach of other business units, and thus allows missed opportunities to maximize profit. Also, the lack of communication among the units creates chaos and disorganization in the organization and gives precedence to individual goals above company goals, which in turn will end up hurting the overall enterprise vision and may even spell the end of the enterprise altogether. Finally, having a decentralized IT function creates customer frustration such as in the case of getting several bills for different products. This frustration may cause the company lost customers and lost profits. Information Stewardship Information Management Policy The difficulty in implementing this solution is the current state of the databases scattered about the firm; many are in incompatible formats, so that significant effort will need to be invested to bring together all of this data into a single, shared IT service system accessible to all. In addition, not all data is equally valuable to each unit. Efficiency necessitates allowing employees access to the information that is most pertinent without inundating the various departments with extraneous details. For this reason, whatever IT solution is implemented must be able to adapt dynamically to the storage and retrieval needs of each department. Another challenge to creating a centralized system is the role of information stewardship. Information stewardship involves the ownership and control of information to reduce discrepancies and redundancies. To maintain the consistency and accuracy of data, information stewards need to be appointed. â€Å"Information stewards are businesspeople. They should be responsible for determining the meaning of information ‘chunks’ and their  business rules and contextual use. They should be responsible for the accuracy, timeliness, consistency, validity, completeness, and redundancy of information† (McKeen Smith, 2009, p. 76). A serious challenge to the consolidation of data at RR Communication will be consolidating all of the disparate information from around the firm into a single enterprise data warehouse. It is very likely that there will be duplicate information, conflicting records, incompatible data formats, and other inconsistencies that will not lend themselves to easy integration. However, the reduction in duplicate and conflicting information will be vital to the success of RR Communication. Duplicate data means an increase in administrative work and overhead, a nd conflicting and inconsistent information means the company is not performing at optimum levels. The reduction of duplicate data, or data deduplication â€Å"can improve the performance of virtual systems, reduce network traffic and cut the costs associated with data protection. In addition, deduplication allows backup data to be replicated more efficiently to other sites for disaster recovery† (Symantec, 2011). Duplication increases the amount of data a corporate network must process, reducing efficiency and increasing costs. Storage costs increase as the same information may be stored and backed up across multiple databases, again wasting resources. Finally, duplication of data significantly increases the amount of labor required to utilize it in any useful manner. Clearly, RR Communication will need a significant amount of data deduplication to create a useful, consolidated enterprise data warehouse. To facilitate the proper stewardship of information, an information management policy needs to be created that addresses these issues in a way that prevents such confusion and disarray. An information management policy will dictate the rules and guidelines for how information is handled, who is responsible for maintaining and updating it, and outline the policies and practices to do so (McKeen Smith, 2009). To begin to unravel the data mess at RR Communications they should define an encompassing information management policy that will effectively address the issues of what information is retained, who is responsible for updating it, how it is to be maintained, and who should have access to it. Critical to the success of this policy will be the involvement of management from all functional areas of the company. Each should be given the opportunity to contribute to the policy,  and each individual needs should be addressed. In addition, the problem with this solution will be gaining acceptance from the different functional areas of the business. There will obviously be conflicts of ideas and differences of opinion in how the policy should be created and enforced. To improve the effectiveness of the policy it needs to be thoroughly enforced from top management down. This means to gain compliance, RR Communications’ CEO needs to set the example and pressure all levels of management below to do the same. Another strategy to encourage the support of the divisional presidents for the shared customer service is by creating awareness that the free information flow would be beneficial for all and would simplify business processes, thus allowing then to increase their bottom line, and thus their bonuses. Finding opportunities to demonstrate small success would help show the support being given to the divisions. To aid in compliance, a large corporate training program should be initiated to ensure the policy is well known by all associates. Gaining compliance by all of the business areas will be the most difficult part of this solution; the ingrained attitude of self-preservation that exists at RR Communication will be difficult to overcome. However, change is not impossible, but only by dedication of management. The initial implementation period will be the most difficult, and if enforcement waivers the policy may fail. Creating Useful Information from Raw Data One characteristic of an enterprise system is ensuring seamless integration of a company’s information among all divisions, including financial and accounting Markus, M.L., Tanis, C. (n.d.). Hence, to achieve a successful enterprise system, a company must have its IT systems centralized to ensure information runs smoothly and is relevant among all divisions, especially the financial and accounting information. Considering the accounting problems brought up at the final meeting, the company obviously needs to implement a centralized IT function. Moreover, it will be far more expensive to have an enterprise system with a decentralized IT function, which is contrary to the aim of achieving an enterprise system. While a centralized information management system will indeed offer benefits at RR Communication, if there is no way to utilize and interpret that data, it is useless; this is analogous to being data rich and information poor. Just  because a company has loads of data does not mean that is fully informed. A company such as RR Communication collects vast quantities of data, but having the resources to convert that into useful information can be an extreme challenge. At RR Communication, they are facing a double-sided problem; they have neither a collective data warehouse, nor do they have any effective information management. Once the problem of centralization has been addressed, information management can be. One potential way to improve the use of massive amounts of data is using a metadata repository. A metadata repository functions much like the card catalog of a library; while it does not specifically contain the information, it provides an index of what is available, including the relevant points on what it contains, as well as a pointer to locate the information (Moss Brodie, 2002). This index provides an extremely valuable resource tool to quickly locate pertinent information. In addition, the metadata repository should be designed with the ability to hook into other systems that are developed to provide information to mother systems as necessary. Establishing this framework now will offer increased benefits as more systems are built off the central repository. Addressing Corporate Culture As seen in RR Communications, lack of common information and enterprise IM strategy can cause several problems to the business and the IT department. RR Communications has encountered serious customer service problems, due to lack of common information and enterprise strategy. In addition, lack of common information makes it hard for the overall management to monitor the businesses. Business units are unable to exchange information, and none is aware of the other divisions’ work. The company is not in a position to strengthen its brand since no divisions work together. To remedy this, a unification of the firm needs to take place from more than just an IT standpoint. The disjointed nature of the firm’s information assets reflects a deeper separation of the personnel at RR Communications. Departments work for their own ends with naught but passing concern for their effects on the company as a whole. This lack of cohesion manifests itself in the behavior of the CIOs, divi sional managers, and even the employees, and has resulted in the severe fragmentation of corporate culture. The fragmented IT systems are only a symptom of a much larger problem. Before addressing the IT  problems at RR Communications, the underlying culture of the business needs to be transformed. This begins at the very top, with the president of the company and the highest leaders; they need to be the first to set the example, and it is clear their current attitudes have set the company on the disastrous course it is on. Removing the CIO team which has hampered the company’s efforts at unification up until now was a good step, but serious considerations now need to be taken to prevent things from getting worse. Other associates could easily see firing the CIOs as a usurping of departmental sovereignty; however, they need to use this as an opportunity to show that the company can be brought together without sacrificing any of their needs. To capitalize on this opportunity the president and vice president should bring together the next level of management into a council of members to set the direction and culture of the firm in a way that promotes unity and mutual respect. This council should be responsible for creating and fostering an atmosphere that shows the benefits of the firm functioning as one. They need to prove to the management and associates that their departments will have a say in decisions, and their needs will not be overlooked. To improve the odds of acceptance, the council should be selected from leaders that have proven themselves as examples of good leadership and who are respected in the firm. Key to the success of this council will be keeping everyone on equal footing and ensuring that no one area is given preference over another, especially in the beginning. It is obvious that certain departments will have greater needs then others, and sometimes priority will need to be given to one area; however, if this behavior is present from the outset they will receive much resistance from the firm, as this will reinforce existing fears. Once a unity of the firm has been established, people will be more flexible to accept changes after they see the benefits. It will be up to the president and vice president as leaders to maintain these policies and be the example. As demonstrated in previous cases, the president has been lax in demonstrating himself as a leader and this could prove damaging to any such plans to unify the firm. Leadership must begin at the top, and the success or failure of a company often reflects the abilities of its leadership. Implementation Challenges The advantages of a shared IT system eliminate some of the above-mentioned  problems. A single centralized and standardized IT operating system will enhance quick decisions across all the departments, since all units will be looking at the same data. Furthermore, with a shared service, customers will not have to visit different databases for the same company; rather, all their queries and purchases can be done from one site that will serve them with all that they need from the company. Another advantage will be easy monitoring of the divisional units—their individual performances as well as their contributions to the whole company. Another advantage for the company will be the ability to monitor financial operations, since all operations will be reflected on one database centrally (Amces, 2010). To implement the shared service strategy, it will be important to seek support of the divisional presidents, considering they will be in charge of the units, which are the moneymaking branches. Their willingness to participate in the construction of the shared service will benefit the whole company. The first step to the implementation of this strategy will require assurances that it will benefit the whole company far more than the current system that is facing opposition from not only the customers but also other stakeholders such as the suppliers. In turn, since employees’ remuneration is awarded on performance, improved performance for the whole firm will be an added advantage. Since the divisional heads are used to being in control, it is important to remind them that having a shared service will not mean the imposition of decisions from above. Rather, the shared service will make the operations of the whole organization work in harmony for the purpose of easy monitoring customer convenience. They should be included as part of the implementation team, so they can offer input on what they may not want to change. For instance, many are worried they will have to do away with specific projects. Ensuring them that these projects will continue after implementation of the shared service would increase their support, as would helping them understand that the new, shared system will enhance the harmony and efficiency of whole organization; eventually they will come to see that their roles will remain mostly the same. Another way to improve the odds of success to a centralized data structure is by appointing a team to oversee the maintenance of the data warehouse fr om an enterprise level. Ideally the members of this team should be comprised of analysts from the important functional areas of the company. This can help gain buy-in from the company  due to the fact that the members of this team have already proven themselves to be knowledgeable and capable in their previous environments (Smaltz, 2011). In addition the benefit of incorporating these individuals is that individual departments will feel that they have representation in the new system, and that their interests are protected. This will increase the potential for global acceptance in the program. Another way to increase compliance with the new systems is to implement an incentive program that would drive associates to achieve the best results. Incentive programs drive people to reach specific targets by offering them tangible rewards beyond their current compensation. At RR Communications, an incentive program could be implemented to increase compliance and adoption of a new centralized system. For example, the company could offer monetary bonuses to departments that lower their operating costs using the new system the most. Another more abstract idea would be to have a small bonus program for departments that offer ideas to enhance the productivity of the system. Many of the departments have complained that a shared system would cause them to be overlooked; however, offering this type of inventive would both encourage them to make enhancements of the system while simultaneously demonstrating that their opinions count. Positive reinforcement, such as an inventive program, help gain the compliance of the workforce in a much more efficient way then punishment or negative reinforcement. There are governance mechanisms and metrics that can be used to encourage the implementation and use of a shared enterprise data system. The governance that needs to be put in place is the alignment of divisional units with the IT department. The metrics must be aligned with transparency to ensure that IT is in congruence with business operations. The governance mechanism should involve all departments focusing on regulatory issues, risk alleviation and opportunity enhancement. The metrics used should be concerned with making divisional data fit into an enterprise system. These metrics will identify areas of weakness and avenues of improvement. To quote an analogy, â€Å"Rome wasn’t built in a day;† and it will take significant time and effort to remedy all the problems at RR Communications. Close governance and metrics will aid in any improvement plan. Recommendation: It is evident that RR Communications need an intervention in its customer  service center. The lack of a centralized customer care center is making it hard to provide unified services to customers. More so, a lot of time is wasted by customers who have to be referred to different department for billing. Customers are forced to have several accounts with the company for each division since each division is held with its independent operations including billing (Smith McKeen, 2007). This makes it hard for customer care provision. Considering consumer service is very crucial for any business, RR Communications need a centralized customer service center. A centralized service center will have many benefits to the whole organization such as cost reduction, time saving, good management of customers’ data or information, and customer satisfaction. I recommend a centralized customer service center for RR communications for its advantages as predetermined below. The divisional IT service means having separate audits for every division. Having each division with an individual audit is expensive for the company since several auditors will be needed. Eliminating the divisions will save some costs that would otherwise be used for the services of the auditors at every division. With a single it department, data can be fed there and only one audit team will be required for the whole company. This also means reduced time for audits since with divisions audits have to be put together after each department has completed its audit (Smith McKeen, 2007). Coordination among the auditors will be efficient since information is collected from one point where all information concerning company accounts is stored. Therefore, having a centralized service center will enhance such operations across the whole organization. In addition, with a centralized customer service center as well as IT, it will ensure information is collected at one point making it easy to access information concerning any department from any point within the company without having to refer to the division in charge. Hence, for the auditors, complying with the set Sarbanes Oxley act will be easy since information about customer billing and accounts of the whole firm will be centralized ensuring accuracy. Having the customer service centralized enhances business operations and processes, ensuring best practices such as timely audits are realized. With data consolidated in one central place, information can be exploited to breed new opportunities for the company. When data is at one place for all the divisions, it is easier to have a broader picture  concerning how the divisions can create a new opportunities. Exploiting these opportunities jointly among the divisions is better than going individually. Moreover, security can be more enhanced with a shared service center since monitoring will be done by one entity. This will further reduce costs associated with having each division taking responsibility of storing and maintaining its own data. Considering that RR communications is currently having several softwares, consolidating information together for the whole company is hard. Smooth flow of information across departments to ensure easy sharing is vital; not only for the whole com pany, but for divisions too, considering information consolidation is a fundamental instrument for doing business. Consolidating the IT services to one centralized structure will require removing of service center hardware from each division to one central department that will mitigate risks and have a common structural design as well as policies that are easily reviewable for updating. A common security procedure will reduce risks associated with information breech. Through the same procedures and practices, the company can reduce file systems redundancy within the organization and enhance efficient document retention as well as reduce costs. Another reason to have one service center is to match the technical capacity of the company with its vision. At the current divisional independence, the divisions exploit their own visions that are not in congruence with the organization’s vision and mission. Considering the company’s vision is to have a consistent brand across all the divisions, it is necessary to have cross-shared services across all divisions to achieve this vision. The vision can be achieved through cross- sales of all the company services to its customers, as opposed to each department having its selling strategy. Having a shared sales service will serve to reduce the costs incurred when divisions do it individually hence creating a better chance for profit across all departments. Having a central service center will ensure that the overall vision of the company is followed since the central service center will be inclined towards the vision of the whole company. This way, each division can have a chance of benefiting form other divisions, hence the company as a whole (Smith McKeen, 2007). Having a single service center will allow easy outsourcing for the organization. Currently, businesses are outsourcing majority of their operations to other professional companies for reductions  of costs. With independent divisions and IT strategies for each individual division, outsourcing will be quite complicated. Having a central service center to oversee all requests will enhance efficiency as well as value. More so, through the consolidation of IT services and information at one common place will reduce security risks associated with outsourcing services. This will further ensure reliability and security of information. A consolidation of information and IT services will enhance cross-services for customers such as billing (McKeen Smith, 2011). The company divisions at current circumstance hold their information secret from each other, making it a competition within the divisions that raise the problem of billing where customers have to be referred to other divisions for other services. With the consolidated information, customers will only need to visit one department from which other information concerning other divisions can be met. This will improve the perception of their whole company as a brand and the standing of the company can be improved as well as customer satisfaction. There is need for the company to realize that in the current world information is one of the drivers of businesses, which all businesses need to survive. Having each division with its own information center reduces the chances of the company improving in the future since the harmonious climate needed among the divisions for this achievement is minimal. Having stipulated the advantages bound to arise or reasons why a central service center should be achieved, it is important to consider how RR can be able to implement this recommendation with ease and least resistance from the divisions. This is the first most likely problem to arise during implementation. Hence, the first step should be generating support form all divisions, which has been quite hard up to now especially from the managers who are self centered and concerned with their earnings that depend on their performance. The managers also have a negative attitude towards merging of information and data among the divisions through one central service. A three-point strategy can be used to gain their support. It includes financial strategy, mitigation of risks associated and compliance to regulation. Financial point can emphasize the advantages the shared service is bound to raise, which will for the benefit of all the divisions and organization as a whole. Risk mitigation will arise from security of information through monitoring by one entity in a standardized  way, while regulatory will be concerned with abiding to set accounting rules of the Sarbanes Oxley act which the company has been having problems with (Schwartz, 2007). The next step would be to lay out the vision of the company and show why it cannot be achieved with division of operations among the divisions. This will impart some reasoning among the leaders, and support fore all divisions should be ensured. The main aim is to make everybody in the divisions aware of the role they will play and their stake to ensure thee is compliance and acceptance of the strategy to build a one services center (McKeen Smith, 2011). One of the problems that could arise after implementation of a shared service center is ease of adoption. Some employees who have been used to the old system will require to be trained how to work harmoniously with a single service center. Many will be required to handle more information concerning not only their divisions, but also other divisions. Hence, there will be need to have them trained to provide a central service to the customers. Another problem would arise for the culture set by the independent divisions prior to the implementation of a single service center. The current culture is of rivalry among the divisions considering they have been competing among themselves. Killing the culture will be a little hard. To deal with the problem the company will have to sta rt early through brining people together and coming up with tasks that can be incorporated in all divisions that allows all members to interact. The shared tasks will enhance cooperation among the different divisions. Conclusion RR is having problems because of lack of a common service center. All divisions are held with their own operations that aim at achieving divisional goals at the expense of corporate goals. The company is lacking a strong unified brand to sell to customers since all divisions are accounted for independently. This has made it obvious that a shared service will be the best for solving these issues. RR needs to put in place an alignment of their IT services with the business units. Transparency must be encouraged and joint responsibilities of IT ad businesses to achieve shared service center (smith McKeen, 2007). The company should also have a common enterprise vision for their systems. All the departments should be included with emphasis on joint business opportunities and risk mitigation. The top  management should be in forefront to creating an atmosphere of improvement continuously with a key focus on customer service to ensure the shared service center is successful. References McKeen, J. D., Smith, H. A. (2009). IT Strategy; Issues and Practices (2nd Edition ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. McKeen, J. D., Smith, H. A. (2011). IT Strategy; International edition (2nd Edition ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Moss, L., Brodie, M. (2002, July). Data Rich, but Information Poor? Retrieved October 26, 2011, from Information Management: http://www.information-management.com/issues/20020701/5341-1.html Schwartz, K/D. (2007). IT Governance Definition and Solutions. Retrieved from http://www.cio.com/article/111700/IT_Governance_Definition_and_Solutions#what Smaltz, D. H. (2011, July/August). Are You Leveraging Your Data or Is Your Data Leveraging You? HIT Exchange , pp. 8-9. Smith, H. A., McKeen, J. D. (2007). Shared Services at RR Communications. Queens School of Business. Symantec. (2011, May 2). Deduplication and Efficient Data Storage. Retrieved October 26, 2011, from PR Newswire 1. List the advantages A single customer service center will yield both financial and human resource savings for RR Communications by eliminating the allocation of duplicated resources to the multiple divisional and regional customer service centers. With valuable resources freed from these multiple customer service centers, the company will be able to allocate more resources to its value added activities and improve operational efficiency. RR Communications run four divisions, each with a distinct but a complimentary product. They are internet, mobile, landline, and cable TV service. There is a deregulation in the telecommunications industry and its becoming a norm for competitors to offer multiple services like RR Communications. RR Communications’ customers  have been complaining about double billing because the four divisions have no working collaboration and thus, no way of knowing when the other division may already have sent the bill. A single customer service center will consolidate the da ta of the customers of all divisions and by addressing the problem of inaccurate billing, it will potential save the loss of dissatisfied customers to the competitors. A single service center will also yield growth opportunities by marketing the company’s other services to customers that they may not already have and offer discount incentives on the purchase of multiple products. A single customer service center will allow comparison among the company’s divisions in terms of product quality, customer satisfaction, and retention rates so that more resources could be allocated to troubled areas. A single customer service center will also make it easy to gather data about the company’s divisions and store them in standard formats for management analysis. By having access to all the relevant information about the customers, the customer service center will be better able to address customers’ questions and market company’s products which would not have been possible with separate customer service centers. It will also be convenient for the customers to call only one place for all their questions and thus, will increas e goodwill for RR Communications. 1. Is it possible to achieve an enterprise vision with a decentralized IT function? The answer to this question really depends on what the meaning or intention is behind the idea of an enterprise vision. If this simply means of having certain departments existing and able to complete their tasks and accomplish their goals, basically that the enterprise is functioning, than the answer is certainly. As demonstrated in the case study, there were multiple divisions for IT that were each doing their own thing, and while it wasnt pretty, compatible or optimal, everything did, technically, work allowing each department to function. As soon as the vision of an enterprise expands to a desire to work more efficiently, unify tools and platforms, have stronger compatibility or be one company a decentralized IT function becomes a massive hindrance. Turning to the case study again, each department was replicating the efforts of the other departments by finding their own software/data vendors, creating unique database systems and having their own support staff. This not only made it difficult for clients who  needed assistance, but meant there was excessive spending, and an inability for multiple departments to come together to function as a a single entity within the enterprise. 2. What business and IT problems can be caused by lack of common information and an enterprise IM strategy? There are numerous business and IT problems that can arise from the lack of common strategy. In terms of IT there can be duplication of efforts, systems and tools leading to not only multiple expenditures to yield the same results, but this may mean there is no strong outline of how systems are set up or designed, there may be no map detailing the hardware and software in place, which makes it far more difficult to not only run inventory, but ensure that new expenditures are needed and not (again) duplicating tools that have already been purchased or implemented. When different software and hardware solutions are used across departments, this also leads to difficulties in compatibility. When the organization wants to implement something new, it would be difficult if not impossible to determine if it can be integrated into the existing tools, or this may result in unanticipated technical errors arising from compatibility issues. Business problems stem primarily from an inability of data to be effectively shared across groups, thus limiting the ability of various departments to work together. Not only could this cause rifts to form between various groups, but it also means that there could be issues with data consistency. This is especially troubling for client data, as a change in one department may not be updated elsewhere due to data being stored in different databases, the inability for data to be updated across databases, and even opens up the potential for technical errors causing data that is normally consistent to suddenly become dispar ate from similar data elsewhere. Additionally, when the business requires technical assistance it is likely to be difficult to find the correct person with the knowledge needed to resolve a particular issue if that department is using specialized systems that are not consistent across the organization. 3. What governance mechanisms need to be put in place to ensure common customer data and a shared customer service center? What metrics might be useful (think service level agreements, etc.)? Common customer data will require a standardized database, as well as regular auditing procedures to ensure that data is only being modified/updated by those individuals who are supposed to have access, as well as verifying  accuracy for these modifications. Customer service really depends on the objectives of the company. I worked on an inbound phone line at a call center for 3 years while this was technically brokerage service, arguably it was a cutomer service center. Training had to be farily comprehensive so we could assist clients with almost any issues they had, and on top of that reps have to know what departments specialize in certain topics in case they need help figuring out what happened or resolving a complicated problem. On top of that, there is regular review and QA of random c alls to ensure representatives are giving correct informaton and assisting the client based on the standards and expectations set by the organization. Call reviews are measured on a scale where there are certain objective actions that are required on every call, then measured more subjective terms such as professionalism. I work with a tremendous amount of shared customer data, and everything is monitored, recorded and subject to audit procedures. There is always the abilty to find out who did what, when, and every phone call is recorded and maintained for a period of time. This of course protects the client as much as it helps protect the firm. As far as data is concerned, I dont know if there are specific service level agreements in place, but I do know that there is regular testing of what is referred to as host fallback where all the primary systems are taken down for a period of time, then brought back up. While this is frustrating for reps and clients who need access to the data, the very small number of times I experienced an unscheduled outage the backup systems performed well, all reps knew how best to work within the confines of the backup system, and the discussion with clients about why certain things could not be done went far more smoothly than if regular testing was not performed. The case study this week describes the classic example of an organization which is heavily decentralized into distinct lines of business (each with its own IT group) that realizes their need for a flexible and responsible IT function, a common view of the customer, and the elimination of redundant systems