Initial Reflection

For my internship I wanted to focus on something that would create a mutually beneficial relationship for both my workplace (URS Corporation) and me (completing the internship requirements and learning some new skills). I decided to create a procedure for issuing badges and granting access controls for this facility and others. Another goal after completion of the procedure is to train and implement the procedure into our daily tasks. Working at URS in Security as a Personnel Security Administrator allows me to have tribal knowledge as to what is needed and what areas can use improvement. It also allows me to take off without wondering who would handle my job in my absence because right now we dont have anyone capable of doing that. Over the last few years the Security Department has beefed up and we are trying to ensure that our jobs correlate. After expressing this interest in my contract proposal to Dr. Smyth and while waiting to have the contract approved, I began to do some research on by pulling reports and trying to analyze the current access that each employee holds to make a decision on how to eliminate and or customize access levels. It also allowed me to look at some past procedure to see if there is anything that I can use for this procedure that is still effective now. After my contract was approved I began to focus more on specific goals that I outlined in my contract. I met with my on-site internship supervisor, Paige Greenaway, who is just transitioning into the Facility Security officer role in the company and will be overseeing my work on this procedure as well as adding any beneficial input that she has from working at a similar job site. Overall, I feel like Im off to a good start. I now see what levels can be eliminated, what levels require customization and what badges are valid or invalid. By the end of this week I hope to start creating the procedure so that a draft is ready for submittal. I also will need to meet with Paige to discuss current needs and the timeframe for completion. I will continue with the planning process. I think this task is going to be easier than I first thought. I think once I train some coworkers on how to issue badges and grant accesses a large weight will be lifted off of me and I will know that there is someone here that can fill in if needed. Also, the greatest achievement I hope to get is to be able to get a promotion and leave this task for some else in the company and having a current procedure in place will allow that to occur without hassle.

Reflection II
As I mentioned in my first reflection, I felt like I was off to a good start. I saw what levels could be eliminated, and have started on those eliminations. By doing so, I also had to go back and review to ensure I wasnt missing anyone in the process of elimination. I am discovering that there may be a weakness in that there is no way to execute a report that will indicate which individuals have customized access levels. It will not be a more

cumbersome task as I will have to view each individuals access as opposed to utilizing a report that will allow me to narrow down my choices. I also talked about checking on active and inactive badges for which I was able to delete those that are no longer needed and create and excel spreadsheet with the deletion date and badge number. This was if someone is just away on travel and returns and their badge no longer works I have a valid record of when I deleted them from the system and why. I am starting on the procedure and have good leads and am also using some procedures that are outdated but helpful in giving me pointers on the style that we need to follow. Since my last reflection, we have hired another manager, Marji Pretzello. So, Thursday, we all met to discuss my creation of the procedure the provided so much guidance on things that I still need to address as well as gave me a good starting point. Marji has also volunteered to be my guinea pig at the end of the project to go through the procedure herself to ensure that it works exactly as I have it written. I am definitely still in the beginning phases of the planning process. I still admit this this task is going to be easy and am glad the intern opportunity means I get to utilize what I work on daily and incorporate it into what I need to complete this course. It will not require me to learn any new tasks just use the existing tasks that I do daily and at the same time fulfill my requirements for this class. I have always enjoyed working in security but have found that I didnt know all there was to know. Since management changes have occurred I have taken classes, been on business trips and am becoming better engaged in my job.

Reflection III
I am excited about the way my internship is working out. I have accomplished a lot in the last few weeks and am well on my way to completion of my final procedure. I have made revisions and am still awaiting approval from the Director of Security Services. Last week I met with my manager, Paige Greenaway and her assistant, Diane to discuss other opportunities with access controls and am working to finalizing that as well. By finalization I mean we have a few more accesses to review and possibly will create two new access areas. I will be running reports this week to ensure that we have no stones left unturned. After my procedure is approved I will work on implementing the procedures within the group, I think I mentioned in my mid-term that the plan is for me to use 3 volunteers that are willing to try the procedure out on a step-by-step basis and we will meet to ensure that it is accurate and I will allow them to offer suggestions for improvement at that time. I think the end of this week will bring closure to this portion of my project and I begin working on the technological aspects of this and my video creation will be my first task. The project is going along very well; I am sticking to my timeframe. I think this task is going to be easier than I first thought. I cant wait to start training my co-workers on how to issue badges and grant access to ensure that the process is effortless. It will definitely be a good feeling to know that I had such a vital part in creation of these procedures and was able to not only apply them here but use them in fulfillment of this course.

Reflection IV
It has been a week since my last reflection and the week has been full of achievements as well as roadblocks. On the last reflection I mentioned the need to print reports that would allow us to do database management. My achievement was with the help of two employees (Diane and Sharon) we were able to clean the database by deleting badges that were no longer in use as well as badges associated with terminated employees. That was one goal I was hoping to achieve because there were a lot of invaluable data that limited our storage availability. Another milestone was the creation of two new accesses that will also ensure that accessibility is more generalized. The roadblock is that Ive been unsuccessful with getting management buy-in on my procedure. My new manager, Marji is revising the procedure to include some new government directives and it was sent to me for suggestions and as of Thursday is currently with my manager for another review. My objective for this week is to finalize this procedure and then implement the procedure which has been held up longer than I had anticipated. Once implementation is complete I can be on the road to finalizing my internship.

Reflection V
Well the roadblocks have been averted and I feel accomplished once again. I was a bit concerned, as was Dr. Smyth that this management buy in may not happen at least not in enough time to complete my internship. As I mentioned in the last reflection we have completed the database management and in doing so, it has minimized the amount of storage space available in WinPakPro that was becoming a major hindrance for the company. The decision still has not been made or justified in replacing the software so right now we are practicing the band aid effect anything that will free up space to allow us to continue using this software without interruption. My new manager, Marji is done with revising the procedures and she and I spent several hours last week reviewing and ensuring that everything in both documents are accurate and this week and we finalized them before Thanksgiving break. This weeks goal is the implementation to the managers, employees and other security personnel including the receptionist. To finalize my internship I will work on the completion of my annotated bibliography, and work on familiarizing myself with Vimeo so that I can also incorporate this as a learning tool for employees to reference along with the hard copy of the procedures. We are well on our way to improving security at URS, with the new management and realignment of positions, together we were able to make this department better represented and well in short professional. As I have mentioned before there have been several times when we have been asked questions and when a response was given we were asked to provide documentation that backed that up and we were struck without the proof. Now,

there should be no question to what are the guidelines that this company must abide by. I am just elated that I could be a part of this transformation.