This is a digitization effort to preserve a 15-week physical record of my Industry Based Learning (IBL) journal. The original content was part of one of my first website efforts – hosted on the now defunct DezzaNet ISPs personal home page platform. View the journal index on my main Coles Myer (IBL) page.
Monday 23 July, 2001
Today was rather quiet, with no scheduled meetings. One of the habits I am becoming accustomed to is the purpose/occurrence of meetings. Meetings can be official or unofficial in nature – the official type is normally held in a conference/ meeting room while unofficial ones can take place at your desk area. It is generally accepted that any meetings are to be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance – unless urgent and arranged via email/telephone.
2017 reflection: I recall clearly that one theme from my Coles Myer IBL experience was learning all about Microsoft Outlook and meetings. I also remember how discussion took place within our IBL network on the behaviour and practices of workplace email usage.
Tuesday 24 July, 2001
Light workload one day, heavy the next. Today could have been considered a half day – with two important meetings/appointments scheduled at the Tooronga HQ. It was the first time I have been to HQ – the building is as big as it looks from the outside. The normal view from the Tooronga train station can sometimes be deceptive – it is colossal! The building is organised into “modules” – of which, I think there are around 15. Each module is assigned a specific area – one for Coles, another Kmart, etc… The passageways are long and winding – it is very easy to get lost =)
2017 reflection: Today Tooronga is totally unrecognisable from the Tooronga complex I was visiting. And that is also taking into consideration that the separate Tooronga Village shopping centre and parking has also been completely redeveloped. In 2001, the minuscule size of Tooronga Village made the Coles Myer HQ appear even bigger. With the company having been reorganised and also the target of various demergers and acquisitions, I believe the Tooronga office building is now rebranded the Coles Support centre. The Kmart and Target resources, from what I understand, have been relocated so that the Springvale Rd, Mulgrave office is dedicated to Kmart and all of Targets operations are based from their Geelong office.
Wednesday 25 July, 2001
Having been through a trial run of the presentation work, today was spent improving it, based on the decisions made yesterday. Other work was spent familiarising myself with the previous work done on the Coles Call Traffic Analysis project.
Thursday 26 July, 2001
The day began with an 8:00am meeting at Tooronga – meaning that I could afford to sleep in for an extra 15 minutes or so! Transport to Hoddle St was provided by my supervisor and we arrived with 30 minutes spare to spend on checking emails. I had two voicemail messages! One was of a non-work nature while the other was work related. I would address them after the monthly team meeting. In the meeting, I was assigned the role of taking the minutes – a relatively straightforward task – one which I completed in the remaining time during the afternoon. The train journey home saw me run into my cousin and we spent the 30 minutes catching up.
2017 reflection: The importance of meeting minutes was reinforced by the responsibility assigned to me this day. I use the word “reinforced” because the original value and importance of timely meeting minutes was drummed into me by my Dad who lived and breathed meeting protocols, mainly because of his career.
Friday 27 July, 2001
This Friday was uneventful – with no meetings scheduled in my calendar. I spent the morning trying to fix up the team meeting calendar item, followed by research on business models on customer satisfaction and the link with profits. In total this week, I’ve worked 49 hours – wow! I now have accumulated 16 hours overtime – which can be converted into 2 complete days off! Time-sheets are a very important part of accounting for your time – the Cost Recovery System is based on Access technology and help the ITS department to charge the CML Brands for projects done for them.
2017 reflection: The importance of time-sheets was introduced to me through this work. Time-sheets underpin many corporations, particularly as a means to track and attribute costs to the right accounting classifications. As a mere IBL student, maybe it was not as important, but for companies who need to correctly attribute capital expenses to project work, versus operational costs for ensuring the ongoing function of a business and its existing products is vitally important. The difference is driven by the accounting treatment of costs and whether depreciation expenses apply.2001
