Subject: thank you

Date: Sat, 2 Nov 2002 21:13:40 -0500

From: Susan K Temple <susantemple@juno.com>

To: farchambeau@fsc.edu

Frank,

Sorry this took so long to write but the days go by fast. As we had discussed when I stopped in at the school, I am very thankful for the LAN class that I took. As a CIS major I didn't have much exposure to the hardware side of computers. Recently, I was hired as a consultant for a small Veterinary Clinic to get their new Veterinary software up and running. It wasn't long before I was also asked to network the computers in the exam room and the front desk. They had the wiring done but needed to set up the file sharing, etc. I was very glad for the hands-on experience in the LAN lab with NT Server. This clinic is using Windows XP Professional, which was a little different, but at least I knew enough about networking to know what I needed to find to do the job. And yesterday I was asked if I could add 2 more computers to the network, and, oh by the way, did I know how to install a Network card on another computer.

And then there was the day that I came in and was told the Printer was broken, and could I fix that!! (As it turned out it wasn't anything major, but knowing how to access the queue and clean it out was valuable for making me look pretty good.) I was also asked to set up the Database for Inventory and Treatments. The program's basic database shell was there, but empty. So, knowing my way around databases made the task much easier (referential rules and all).

Another aspect of the job, now that the program was up and running, was to teach the other employees how to use this program - which required customizing my explanations into everyday English so they would learn quickly and not feel stupid. This has also included rewriting the "manual" into more detailed explanations to spell out basic directions that might have been taken for granted. (It's amazing what people don't

know - even simple things like Cut and Paste) Generally, I have found that when I came into a small business as the "computer person" they expected me to have a pretty broad range of knowledge about hardware and software. So my advice to CIS majors is to

pay attention in LAN - you'll most likely need to know it.

My thanks to you for a very useful course, Frank.

-- Susan Temple (class of 2002)