ksadamowicz

THE COMPASS: NAVIGATING EDUCATION
For-profit LLC, formed in the state of Indiana.
Mission Statement: We strive to be the premier educational and developmental resource for our community of learners. Our focus is on providing innovative services that meet the needs f our community with unmatched quality and flexibility. We promise to offer a safe and welcoming environment that is always supportive of learning regardless of level, subject, or age.
Goal: to help navigate the often challenging waters of Middle/High School and the path that all students must travel to prepare for life after graduation.
The Compass offers a comprehensive selection of educational services to meet the diverse needs of the communities of learners.
CLIENTAL
80 junior high/high school students
Black Academic Achievers – non-profit organization
TUTORING
The Compass offers two different types of tutoring to meet learners’ needs.
• On-Demand service: student can obtain assistance as needed in any subject. Does not require an appointment.
• One-on-One tutoring: provides long-term guidance for student development and consistent guidance that builds comprehension over time. Focus is on repairing grades, improving basic skills, and keeping students on track in a specific class.
EDUCATIONAL CONSULTING
Educational Consulting is a service focused on helping students and parents take the right steps for life after high school. Activities include college selection guidance, career exploration, and college application assistance.
TEST PREPARATION
Programs are provided in the area of test preparation including workshops, private test prep sessions, and test taking 101.
CREDIT RECOVERY
Service provided for students to earn high school credits. Can be used as an alternative to traditional summer school for students who have failed a class or for students wanting to work ahead. For the credit recovery program, The Compass uses Nova Net, by Pearson, which is arranged by a school guidance counselor.

Communication flows
Two main communication lines exist within The Compass. There are several ways in the internal line of Compass for the connection and information exchanges among the managers, counselors and tutors. The directors regularly communicate with each other and make decisions via email; email has become the primary and most frequently used medium for the daily business operation. The owners schedule weekly or biweekly administrator meetings at the business site to discuss the company’s operation and development. The managers discuss other company business and emergency affairs via conference calls.
The external line exists between the company and customers. The information flow starts with a request from the potential client via phone call, or email or mail with a registration form. Usually, by way of a counselor referral or word of mouth referral, a director will make a phone call back to the potential client to set up a meeting with the students’ parent and a session with the student. Most additional communication with the parents is via phone or email to inform them the kids’ progress of learning in the Compass. As to the students, most communication and course coaches are held in the Compass’s business center. The tutors and counselors will training the students face to face based on the students’ class requirements and personal demands. The modern communication medium works as an assistant tool during the training processes.
Today’s Technology
It is evident that email and telephone are two major tools in the current company’s information and communication flows for the business operation and management. The company owns basic office machines and communication equipment including computers, printer, Wi-Fi, network switch and server. The website (http://www.munciecompass.com/index.html) provides abundant information about Compass’s services, however, these information communication tools are still insufficient or inadequate to promote the company’s business in today’s high-tech information age. In other words, the current information media are too simple to inspire the company’s objective of innovation.
The Compass is a small local company faced to the students in the surrounding communities and middle/high schools, using focused low-cost strategy with lower market share and lower market growth rate for its products/services Innovation with differential services were not totally presented by existed communication tools and strategies. Any company which desires to survive in the critical economic environment, should learn how to keep the organizational diversity within continuous Innovation, since innovation has became a essential factor decided the company’s succeed or failure.
After reviewing the situation with The Compass there are three key problem areas. Having stated the task, the action is to implement solutions that will attempt to relieve the problems. These problems include active directory not having sufficient space to retain information, Firebox not configured and having no control on the system itself to regulate information access.
The active directory is the Avery Photo ID system. This system is a check in for students and employees. It also tracks the times they arrive and leave. This is built into a database of when people come and go from the system. The system allows visitor information to be stored in a digital log with the ability to generate detailed visitor reports. The issue with this system is that the visitors are not deleted after a given amount of time. This is giving the database that this system is stored in a problem. The database that the system is stored in is becoming congested and overloaded. This is noted of the system failure at a rate of once every three to four weeks. The manager will manually reboot the system as a preventative measure to ensure that the structure is working condition.
The Compass should look into investing in a Dell server potentially a rack based or IBM eBlade server. This would allow for more space and storage potential. Cardinal Consulting suggests an IBM System Storage DS3400. This storage system is capable of amassing 14.4 TB. This would cover the needed storage area issue that The Compass is potentially facing.
There are three aspects that could be improved in the first stage of enhancement.
1. Purchase multimedia equipment to add interaction between students and counselors/tutors, and to enhance trainees’ performances. It includes:
• Flat panel TV used to broadcast a slide show to advertise upcoming workshops.
• Screen saver advertisers posted on all computers
• Projector for laptops
2. System hardware
• Avery Photo ID system – check in system for students and employees
• Firefox – for web security and works with Active Directory for identity management

3. System software platform
• Provide more online interactive activities and projects between counselors/tutors and students
• Offer online self-assessment system for students to evaluation their own performance.
• Offer more open information online to share education knowledge with parents.
Report compiled by Karynn Adamowicz, Mark Isenbarger, Gyuanuan Li