Blog 10: 19/04/2018

Lecture:

This weeks lecture was a little different as we had guest coming in to give us a lecture. Haider Bilal had started the lecture to let us know that James Whittingham would be presenting today. Before James started the lecture, Haider had made sure to let everyone know that we needed to go 10 blogs in 9 weeks. He reminded us that we should have done a blog during the Easter break.

This weeks lecture was based on 'Sustainability & Business in the 21st Century. James had introduced himself and told us that he was LSBU sustainability manager. He had started the lecture by introducing himself as he has been working for roughly 15 years which involves 3 years as a sustainability consultant and 12 years in house as a manager. I really enjoyed this lecture as after introducing himself we had done a quiz. This was new for me as usually I would either watch a short video or just listen the lecture. He had a different perspective which made the lecture more enjoyable and I was able to understand it better. He had asked some strange questions which I was not able to get a estimate on how many people they would be by 2050. My estimates were not accurate but were close. I was pretty shocked to see the results of the answers as I did not realise how big our economy really is. His questions was only based in the UK and what really surprised me was the figures were huge so it made me think 'how really big is the world'. Through this it made me also realise that there is a lot of opportunities that we can grab.

After the quiz, in order to still keep my attention; James had put up a video was based on 'Malala introducing the worlds largest lesson'. Personally I know about Malala and she is one my role models; I have also read her book. Knowing that a video of Malala was on really captured my attention as I do follow her. This video was really interesting as it showed us that there are people in the world are more fortunate then others. This video had made me  made me realise on how we should watch out for each other. It explained that it had 17 goals which involves; no poverty, zero hunger, good health/well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water/sanitation, affordable/clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry innovation and infrastructure, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate change, life below water, life on land, peace, justice and strong institutions and partnerships for the goals. This was very inspiring as it made me realise that I can also made a contribution to fix these issues. James then went on explaining that we are consuming a lot more than before.

James then went ahead and explained that there are businesses who are also contributing by using greener products/services which has also benefited them too. These businesses are Tesla, Unilever, Toyota Prius, IKEA, Nike and GE Ecomagination. I do purchase from some of these companies so it gave me a sense of relief that some contribution is taken place. I had also decided that I would make a contribution by purchasing from companies who are greener. After explaining on how these businesses make a contribution, James had challenged LSBU. This was very interesting as I wanted to know how is LSBU making a contribution to this issue. James explained that LSBU had reduced electricity and gas by 40% since 2005 and also was ranked 9th in 2017 Brite Green HEI ranking. This was amazing to hear as I had enrolled LSBU at 2017 and finding out that they were ranked within top 10 had made me proud that I study at LSBU. LSBU only had saved a lot of water by reducing the use of water as they had saved roughly 37M litres which had shocked me as LSBU was trying to be as greener as possible. One of the biggest aspect that I was very happy to hear was that LSBU is Fair Trade.

Seminar:

We had focused on a case study which was based on Ebay as the worlds largest business. Susie had also focused on assignment 2 which is based on reflection. She had explained more about assignment 2. Susie had asked everyone in the class if they have shared the blogs with her. We had focused on doing our blogs. I asked a question to Susie if we needed to have different presentation for each person and she had told me that the presentation is the same. Although we did not do much this seminar but Susie gave us time to catch up with a lot of things we were behind in. She had asked us we had done a week 9 blog during the Easter break. She had given us time to do the blogs and to touch on them if we needed to. Overall this seminar session was very useful as I was able to catch up with a lot of work.

Teamwork:

As we have not done the presentation today, on the group chat we had decided to do the presentation on Thursday as Ponni and Assanatu was not able to do the presentation on Monday or Tuesday. I was not able to do it on Wednesday as I had a orthodontics appointment to attend. We had managed to present the presentation on Thursday. Overall we had done everything but we just needed to present the presentation.

Before the presentation Viorica had explained the changes she had made. She had came up with more ideas such as summarising the findings before giving the four main recommendations. She had also come up with a good overall conclusion that she would present. Before the seminar started, we had
asked Susie if we could leave earlier as we needed to find a place to present our presentation.

After the seminar, we had managed to meet up as a group after a short break and found a place at the key-worth centre. Viorica's son Yousef had came by to help us record as we needed someone who would be able to hold the phone to record. We had done a lot of draft presentations as we wanted to time the minutes. We knew we had to do the video around 15 to 20 minutes. One thing I had realised which had caused problems was Assanatu and Mumtahin did not memorise their part of presentation. This had caused major delays as they were able to put their best. We had to keep pausing as they both would not fluently speak. This had caused a lot of time to be wasted as we had to remind them on what they need to say. Although they both knew what they had to speak, I was sure that they did not practice presenting at home. This got me really frustrated as I had told everyone at the group chat to read the notes and practice at home so this way they could memorise it and the presentation would flow. We had taken roughly 4 hours to record the presentation due to this. Me and Viorica had to manage and give ideas of what exactly they can say. Overall we had managed to finish the presentation on time.


Suman Tanveer

Blog 9: 11/04/2017

Teamwork Week 9:

During our Easter break, we had stayed in touch through Whatsapp as we had discussed on when we were going to present the presentation. We had decided to do the presentation on Monday as we wanted to make sure that it was done as soon as possible.

One aspect that we had lagged behind was presentation as most people did not attend the presentation which led to changing the date of the presentation. We could have presented the presentation 3 weeks before Easter but due to team member not attending or not checking their Whatsapp messages, it had caused delays. The assignment is due on Friday back and we need to make sure that we present before the due date.

I had told in the group chat by latest Thursday, if nobody attends then we would record the video without them as we can't keep waiting for team members who are not even interested. this got me really frustrated as every week we would plan to do the presentation and some members of the team would make excuses or just not attend. Some group member would not even read the message and would say that they did not know about it when I would tell him 2 to 3 days before the presentation. This is why I had told them by Thursday latest everyone needs to come in and do the presentation or else we would have no choice to record without them.

During the Easter, I had made sure to practice on my presentation and I was able to remember my part of the presentation by heart. I made sure to do the presentation in front of friends and family so this way when I am recording for the presentation I am confident and able to get my point across.

Overall I would say our group work was good as we were ahead of everyone. We had found a business really quickly and managed to do an interview within that week. We had managed to identify the problems and solutions. The only aspect we had fallen behind on was presenting the presentation. We didn't really have a group leader; if we had a group leader who would be telling us the dates of each activity then I think we would be been more organised. As we did not have a team leader misunderstanding occurred as some group members would think and prepare for the presentation whereas some would not bother coming in.

we had used whatsapp as or main communication platform as the days that we don't come in university everyday and we usually just see each other as a group every Thursday. In order to make sure that we are organised we should have had multiple meetings within the week so this way we would be able to discuss on what days everyone is available to record the presentation.

Blog 8: 22/03/2018

Lecture:

This weeks lecture was focused on 'Business models in the digital world'. We had started with a video which was based on 5 trends that would shape the future of work. these were globalisation, mobility, millennial's & changing behaviours and technology. This was very interesting as I was able to get a brief overview on how theses five trends shape the future of  work.

Hiader then started to explain about what an organisation is and how IS has an impact on the organisation. One aspect that I really captured my attention was when Hiader spoke about the 5 types of organisational structures,as this was very interesting to know about. I had also learnt about the different managerial levels there are. Overall this lecture was really useful and I was able to understand more about the different business models in digital world. Hiader Bilal had explained on what needs to written on blog 10, as we don't really have a lecture and I was wondering on what exactly we need to write.

Seminar:

Today's lecture we had worked on Pivot tables in excel. This is used to find ways of presenting information in a report format. This was really useful as its a quick and easy way to see information. We were given a sheet to follow which was really easy to follow. I managed to finish my excel really quickly as I had found this activity really easy. This made me feel very happy as I realised how much my excel skills has improved. Not many people had attended this seminar due to another assignment was due tomorrow. I was given the chance to work on my assignment once I finished my excel activity. Below is the spreadsheet that I had completed today.

Groupwork:

In our groupwork, so far we have done everything. We were supposed to dress smartly for the presentation but we could not do the presentation today as some group members did not attend. I asked the group if they could come in tomorrow but they are not able to come as they are busy. We then as a group suggested on Whatssapp to do the presentation after Easter break. I had found this quite frustrating as my group were not participating as much as they did once the group had started. Some group members decided to not come in meetings or in Susie's seminars. Assanatu did not come at all this week which was frustrating as she complained that she is busy next week and would not be able to come at all. This was quite of a problem as we all wanted to get the presentation done by this week. Viroica worked really hard as last week she had given us a script on what we can speak and told us to practice it for this week. Now we have 3 weeks to practice on what we would be speaking in the presentation. As we want the presentation to be professional, Viorica suggested to invite her son Yousef to help us coordinate the presentation. He would be holding the camera in place for us to do the presentation.

Suman Tanveer

Blog 7: 15/03/2018

15/03/2018

Lecture:

For this weeks lecture, Bilal had focused on 'Preparing & delivering a presentation'. He had explained the structure of the presentation. He told us to keep the presentation simple as making it look nice would only waste time and may make it harder to read the text in the presentation. He told us to not use too many words as it should not be overcrowded. I had learnt the difference between a good slide and a bad slide. Bilal told us to use either the fonts Calibril, Ariel, Veranda or nay standard fonts. I usually use Calibril as its my preferred font. This presentation was literally common sense and very easy to understand but one aspect that made me realise that this is a problem is colour. I like using colour in my presentation  but then I realised that colour can be distracting and hard to read. This is why we need to make sure to choose a colour that can be read easily and is not annoying. This also links with background as it can cause text to be difficult to read.

Seminar:

For this weeks seminar we have focused on excel activity which comes under what if analysis. Under what if analysis we had to go on scenario manger which we would then put a scenario. The first scenario was original budget as we were focusing on budgeting. we had then made a new scenario
of budget 2 and budget 3 in order to know the different expenditure methods. We used to this in order to see how much money would be used in each budget and which budget would be more affordable. This was a very useful tool that I had learnt and also was very interesting. I had enjoyed today's seminar. We were given two different activities which both I was able to complete during seminar. The first activity that we had done we had done it together as a class with Susie whereas the second one we had done it independently.

      

Groupwork:

This week Viorica had sent out the presentation slides for all of us to look at and practice our speeches for the presentation. We had a meeting to do practice on the presentation. We had decided to go to learning resource centre where we had practised our presentation three times in order for us to know how long our presentation would last for. Everyone had attended the meeting and we were able to progress with the presentation. However as we were presenting a draft version of our presentation, we had realised that most of the time we were just reading off the paper. We had decided that we would practice our part of the presentation at home and by next week we should be able to make a present.  We had a presentation on Monday from Bilal saying that we should memorise the text so this way we would be enable us to use eye contact. Due to we didn't know the presentation by heart, we decided that we would practice it at home first.

Suman Tanveer

Blog 6: 08/03/2018

08/03/2018

Lecture:

This weeks lecture was based on ' Cloud Computing 7 Relational database'. The lecture had started with a video which was about 'Cloud service as a Xaas'. this was interesting as I was able to know what as-a-service is as it is a computing which involves IT resources and services that can be accessed. That does not mean that the business needs to own the resources, they don't really need own the equipment and these services are provided to businesses in different scales.

After the video, Haider had started with the presentation; he explained about utility computing as businesses would rent the resources which they used based on subscription based and has a lot of scalability benefits as it is able to meet the demands. An example of theses would be google, amazon, Microsoft etc.

As technology is moving forward there is cloud computing which is based for the internet such as Gmail. Hiader then went talking about the varies advanced cloud application which I found very interesting. One of the advanced aloud application which I found very interesting to know was Green computing. I am very interested in making the world a greener place and knowing that there is an advanced cloud application that just does the job really intrigued me. Hiader after capturing my attention had put up another video which based on introducing database. I don't have much knowledge on how to make a database. Haider had then explained and showed us on how we have create a simple query, form or report. This is a useful tool for business students to be able to make a simple form on using database. I was very interested as once I got home, I went back on the lecture slides and managed to make my own form. I was very happy that I was able to make a simple form using database.

Seminar:

In our seminar today we had focused on excel activity on lookup and V lookup. We had Hiader Bilil for this seminar. I had found this a little difficult as usually with Susie we are given instruction on how to do the activity. Whereas this week we were given a sheet which we had to follow and it had the issues included. I had followed the sheet but it would come as N/A which was a little annoying as I though I was doing it right but this was done deliberately in order for me to know the mistake that can usually happen on excel. On my usually seminar session Susie would show us on exactly how to do it which would would be very useful and I would remember the formulas this way. I had found this session very confusing and difficult. I had managed to finish the activity but I was still confused which made me go on YouTube to look on lookup and V lookup.

I had also found that we were a little behind on the excel work as last week we should have the IFs worksheet on excel. Hiader Bilal told us to do by ourselves during the week. This was a little challenging as I thought I was on track but knowing that we were 1 week behind then the rest of the groups was a little frustrating. Once I got home I had done the IF's worksheet and completed as I knew I would not have time or I would either forget to do it.

Group work:

For our group work we had focused on finding the problems and solutions. We had made a table which included problems in one section and solutions in the other section. We had had a meeting where we had discussed on each problem and various solutions. This was very successful as I was able to fill in the table and complete it. All my team members had attended the seminar today which gave us a chance to have a group discussion on what we are planning to do next. We decided to have a meeting on Monday to work on the presentation. On Tuesday we would be doing the presentation. Mumtahin had decided to make the YouTube channel. This way we can upload the video as soon as it is finished. According to plan we are heading in the right direction and in this case we should be able to record the video before the Easter break.

Suman Tanveer

Week 5: 01/03/2018

01/03/2018 

Lecture:

For today’s lecture we had focused on ‘Information Systems Crimes, Security & Controls’.  We had first watched a video on how easily phones can be hacked. This video had taught me a very big lesson as students we link our phone to any free WIFI hotspots. This is one of the biggest reason on phones can be hacked and it only takes 60 minutes. This had shocked me very much and alerted me to not link my phone to any hotspot that does not look legit.

Haider then explained that we need to be really careful as phones can be hacked through internet which is an extremely powerful hacking tool. He explained on how if a phone has no internet then it is safe. We should not trust any free WIFI hotspot as the hackers would only need 60 minutes to hack into your entire phone which can cause a lot damage as these days we keep everything on our phone. Haider then started to talk about the most common computer crimes. I had found this lecture really interested as through watching the first video I was very interested in the topic. The video was very powerful that it had captured all my attention to the presentation. I would advise Haider to keep putting a video before a lecture as this way students who are audio and visual learners would have the attention of the lecturer.

He then went into detail on computer viruses such as Malware: malicious software which would include viruses, worms and trojans. As understanding this was a little tricky, I really liked how Haider had also placed another video to watch so we were able to know the 10 most devastating computer viruses. This was very interesting as I realised that a lot of well-known companies were also a target to these horrific viruses.

Haider then went on explaining cyber threats as there are also other sorts of crime on the internet. A lot of people are very vulnerable on the internet as there is cyber bullying, cyber-terrorism, cyber war and many more. This had shocked me as there is a lot of crime done through the internet and nobody really isn’t very safe on the internet. Haider then started to talk about ways to reduce the risk approaches which would reduce the chances of you being venerable to the internet. He explained that there is also laws put in place that are against computer crime which is ‘Computer Fraud and abuse Act of 1989 and Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986’. This crime has also now attacked the phones. An android phone is more vulnerable as it is an open marketplace where is Apple is an IOS which means it is a lot safer. Overall this lecture was really interesting and engaging. I had enjoyed this lecture a lot more than my previous lecture.

Seminar:

Once coming in for the seminar, we had focused on excel activity. Although I have no experience using excel, Susie has taught me a lot of formulas that can be used at Excel. I find it a lot easier and interesting than my first week. This is because this was all new for me and it did get confusing but gradually week after week it is getting easier. Excel has been a life saver as I use excel for my modules such as Economics and Management and Information systems. Through excel I am able to make graphs and tables that represent data.

Teamwork:

This week within the lecture, Bilal Haider had told us that we need to start on our business and questions by this week. Though we are ahead, this week was not as productive as it could have been. Ponni did not attend the seminar session again this week which caused us to cancel our meeting for Thursday. We wanted to get everyone's idea of the possible problems and solution from the business. Mumtahin had told us on the group chat that she had more questions to ask the manager from 'games and gadgets'. We had decided to book another meeting by the this week for next week so this way if we have any questions we can ask the manager by next week. Although we have done a meeting with the manager, we needed more information and for that we decided to book another meeting. This way we would have more information which would give us an idea of the possible problems and solutions we can discuss for our assignment.

Veroica had explained to Mumtahin that she wanted to have a look at the questions that she wanted to ask the manager. She wanted to make sure that the information that would be obtained would be useful.  This week Susie also asked us about our group contribution. I had told her about the issue on some group members not attending meetings. She told me to send the voice note that we had taken during our first interview with the manager, I told her I already sent it but I doubt that they have listened to it. She told me that to let them know they need to attend the meetings or else they can be kicked out of the group due to no contribution. I let Ponni and Assanatu know on the group chat that they need to attend the meetings or else they would need to find a new group as it still is the first couple weeks. 

Suman Tanveer

Blog 4: 22/02/2018

Lecture:

This week the lecture was based on ‘Enhancing Business Intelligence Using ISs’. Haider had explained about the database management system (DBMS). Haider had explained that this allows businesses to organise information. He had then explained about database as this would include entities, records and attributes. At first, I did find this a little confusing but then he had explained this by showing us an example. He had showed us an enmity student example which showed me on how an entity represented. He had then explained on advantages of database approach, which was very interesting.

Haider then started explaining about business analytics which is used to predict the future. This lecture was a little confusing but still very understanding. Some aspects of the lecture I was able to understand but as Haider was speaking a little fast it did get confusing. Next lecture I would make sure that I let Haider know that he did speak a little too fast for me to understand. Even though after the lecture was finished then I went home and looked at the notes that were given. After reading the presentation slides again I had understood about the lecture. This lecture was interesting but due to, I was not able to concentrate much, I had missed a lot of information. Even though I did get the information by reading the slides again. Next time I would make sure to stay focused on listening to Haider as this way I would understand everything he would be saying.

Seminar:

I had attended my seminar session on 22nd February 2018; in the session we had focused on our excel activity. Firstly, we had focused on finishing off the excel activity that I had started last week. I was taught why adding a '$' sign would affect the digits. I had learnt that adding a $ sign would make a fixed digit that would not change. We had focused on basic functions which was very useful as I am not familiar with excel. Through learning the basic it would give me an idea on how excel works.

As well as this excel activity, we had also focused on a case study which was about YouTube. Susie had handed out a case study and we had read the case study in groups. In my group, I had worked with Ponni and Mumtahin. After reading the case study we had answer questions. I use YouTube quite often as I am aware on how to use it. On aspect that we had focused mostly was if businesses use YouTube to promote good image. This was very interesting as we were able to get everyone's views on how they found YouTube. I had realised that if YouTube or any other social site used by businesses is not used properly then it would affect them long term as their brand image and reputation would be ruined. This seminar session was very engaging and I was able to learn a lot. 

Group work:

We had a meeting on Monday about our findings after lectures. At the meeting one of team member Ponni did not attend but had sent us her bit of the work through our Whatsapp group chat as she wasn't well. I had asked Assanatu to tell me what problems she has found about the business but she had told me that she did not even listen to the recording that i had sent last week. As she was not able to stay too long, we told her to listen to the recording by Tuesday and give us an idea of the possible problems she has found. Veroica then had explained the possible problems she had found and explained to all of us of her findings. She explained to Assanatu on what she thought as she was confused about the business. I then told everyone to have a meeting on Tuesday as this way Assanatu would have heard the recording and would understand what we were talking about.

One of my group member Mumtahin was getting a little annoyed over Assanatu and Ponni excuses as it was delaying the work. We felt like me, Mumtahin and Veroica are doing all the work as there was not much contribution from Ponni and Assanatu. This is because according to the amount of work we have done so far. Me and Mumtahin had found the business, attended on the interview with the business manager. We had also come up with problems and solutions for the business. Veroica had come up with questions that was asked during the interview, attended the interview and had also came up with problems and solutions. Whereas Ponni and Assanatu showed no contribution apart from replying to WhatsApp messages.

Suman Tanveer