Web-resource Design
Project, Project #2: Outlook Personal Folders
Web Use and Publishing ELFH
675
Fall
2006
Anthony Niemann
Need
Email retention is an issue that occupies the attention of executives and IT staff throughout the country (Haverson, 2002). Significant problems exist, and pose questions on how this issue should be addressed. There are a wide variety of legal issues and financial considerations, and the culture of the organization must be taken into consideration with solutions that are offered. It is common knowledge in the IT industry that many companies have struggled with how they should handle this issue (Haverson, 2002). In the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS), Commonwealth of Kentucky, approximately 32,000 users are each allotted 100 megabytes of disk space for email storage on servers located in Frankfort Kentucky. After this space has been filled, users are told that they must immediately clean out their email mailbox folders. Users have been taught to move email items into Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders. However, they are now being required to back up their own Personal Folders with a procedure developed by Tony Niemann in the Office of Information Technology (OIT). The folders have been relocated from the server to the users’ hard drive, and a procedure is now available that will allow users to back up their Personal Folders. Web-based instructions will provide employees a resource to use in order to back up their Personal Folders.
Participant profile
The students who will take advantage of this web training are state employees who live in 120 counties throughout the state of Kentucky. They will receive training on the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) Intranet site on a need-to-know basis. Training is available to all 32,000 employees in CHFS. The group is expected to be heterogeneous in almost every respect, including experience level. Experience level does not equate to expertise, however. Education and reading levels vary, but all students are capable of understanding and speaking English. Students will receive a notice that they are responsible for backing up email items in their personal folders. They will be told that if their computer hard drive crashes, they will lose all email items in their personal folders unless they follow procedures implemented to insure that their documents are safeguarded. They will also be told that it is there responsibility, and not the responsibility of the IT department to back up these documents. They will be told that training is optional. Those who take the training will be positively motivated because it is the only way that they can ensure that they do not lose important documents. Age range will vary from 20 to 65 years. Education levels vary widely from a high school diploma to masters degrees. The majority of students with master’s degrees are in supervisory positions, but some of these people acquired their degrees 15 to 20 years ago, before they had the opportunity to gain computer skills that are necessary in today’s workplace. Eighty-five percent of the students will be female, with at least fifty percent of these married. Most students never had the opportunity for initial training on Microsoft applications where they would have acquired good habits from the start of their career. Training is delivered to these users for mainframe applications, but no training has ever been offered on Microsoft applications.
Course Goal
Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) employees will take responsibility for safeguarding their important email.
Terminal Objective 1
Given written procedures, the student will demonstrate their ability to copy Outlook personal folders on the computer to their network folder on the server, with no errors.
Enabling Objective 1a
Given a computer screen displaying Outlook folders, the student will show which folders are inside the mailbox.
Enabling Objective 1b
Given a computer screen displaying Outlook folders, the student will show which folders are inside personal folders.
Enabling Objective 1c
Given a computer with an Outlook application minimized, the student will recognize the application is not closed.
Terminal Objective 2
Given written procedures, the student will verify that Outlook personal folders are successfully backed up to a network folder on the server.
Enabling Objective 2a
Given a computer display, the student will show whether the script that backs up personal folders is running.
Enabling Objective 2b
Given a computer display with the script running in the background, the student will recognize that the Outlook application should not be opened.
Course Outline
Outlook Personal Folders
Course Assessment
Following are a pre-test and post-test with each section containing a condition, questions, and answers. The pre-test is a simple two questions that will gauge whether a student has enough basic knowledge to start with the modules. The post-test is meant to gauge the learning experience. The questions cover the four enabling objectives and are alternate choice items.
Pre-Test
The pre-test assessment will be used as a method to evaluate whether more basic training for the Outlook application is required. Students will be allowed to take Outlook Personal folder training regardless of how they score on this test. They are multiple choice items.
Pre-Test Questions
What application do you use to send and receive email?
CHFS employees store their email:
Pre-Test Answers:
Post-Test Questions
Post-Test Condition:
Required: 75% answer success rate before issuing certificate of completion.
Post-Test Questions:
1. You are allowed a maximum of 50 megabytes of email data in your Personal Folders.
TRUE_________ FALSE_________
2. You are having problems with your computer and you get a message from the system administrator telling you that your mailbox is full.
You must clean out your Personal Folders as soon as possible.
TRUE_________ FALSE_________
3. You must use the PSTBAK icon on the desktop to backup your personal folders.
TRUE_________ FALSE_________
4. Your Personal Folders are located inside the Outlook mailbox
TRUE_________ FALSE_________
Post-Test Answers: 1. False 2. True 3. True 4. False
References
Haverson, D. (2002). Records management: The digital dilemma [Electronic Version]. Transform Magazine, 11(3), 32, 6p.