INTERNSHIP REPORT

Name: Mohammad Ahsan Arshad Shaikh ID No. 17009

Program: BBA (Hons) Major Field: Marketing

1.1. Organization where internship was served: PIA

Duration: From: 9th July 2018 to 21st September 2018

1.2. Report based on (Tick) Option 1 _____________ Option 2 ______________

1.3. Due date of the report _____________________________________

(2 weeks after the successful completion of internship)

1.4. Report submitted on ___________________________________________

1.5. Delayed by N/A days

(If applicable)

1.6. Reasons for delay: N/A

(If applicable)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents
INTERNSHIP REPORT..................................................................................................................1
TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................................................................2
DEPARTMENT FOR INTERNSHIP.............................................................................................2
FUNCTIONS OF THE IT DEPARTMENT AND CORELATION WITH THE CORPORATE
OBJECTIVES:.................................................................................................................................2
Coordinating IT activities............................................................................................................3
Upgrading systems and databases...............................................................................................3
Keeping up with the technology..................................................................................................3
Implementing new technology as per requirements....................................................................3
Providing IT support throughout the organization......................................................................4
Conducting live conferences........................................................................................................4
Assurance of smooth running systems throughout the world at all sub stations of PIA.............4
MY ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES..........................................................................................4
Assisting supervisor in day to day tasks......................................................................................5
Managing paper work..................................................................................................................6
Inter department interaction.........................................................................................................6
Email generation and follow up...................................................................................................6
Project Management....................................................................................................................6
Department: IT Department.............................................................................................................7
CONCEPTS AND THEORIES LEARNT AT IoBM BEING APPLIED.......................................7
Enterprise Resource Planning......................................................................................................7
IS Audit........................................................................................................................................8
Organizational Behaviour............................................................................................................8
Business Communication I & II..................................................................................................8
NEW THEORIES AND CONCEPTS.............................................................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................10

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DEPARTMENT FOR INTERNSHIP

Department: IT DEPARTMENT

Supervisor’s Name: Mr. Irfan Kamil

Designation : ITO

Duration: 10 weeks

FUNCTIONS OF THE IT DEPARTMENT AND CORELATION WITH THE

CORPORATE OBJECTIVES:

The IT department at the Pakistan International Airlines is one of the most

important departments to help it achieve its mission and corporate objectives.
The airline aims to provide world class service through customer service and
innovative products by using state of the art technologies and cost effective
measures in procurement and operations. The Airline uses various types of
softwares to achieve its goal. Some are in built while some are acquired.

The core functions of this department include but are not limited to:

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Coordinating IT activities
From training to implementation to smooth running of all the processes
requires support of the IT department. The IT department coordinates all IT
related activities as well as activities that require coordination between other
departments through various softwares and by giving access to required
information.

Upgrading systems and databases

Being in the airline industry requires constant up-gradation of systems and
databases in order to compete in the industry. Timely and accurate information
is a key essential and that requires the systems to be up to date. The IT
department ensures that all systems are upgraded well within time and they
are also proactive about new features that would be required in the future. The
department is also required to train all relevant employees when the systems
are upgraded.

Keeping up with the technology

Besides upgrading, the department also acquires and develops in house
softwares to match the latest technology trends. Unable to keep up makes the
procedures more costly as the industry competition as fast paced and moves to
newer technologies more quickly and smoothly. On the recommendation of the
IT department, PIA implemented ERP system last year which was developed by
ORACLE.

Implementing new technology as per requirements

After acquiring or developing new systems and technologies, the department is
also responsible for implementing it throughout the company and at all sub
stations of PIA around the world. Moving to ERP system last year was a huge

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leap which the company caught up with rather slow. However, the IT
department played a major role in implementing it in all relevant departments
including finance, HR, supply chain and maintenance. This included training
the employees to use the modules as well as providing assistance wherever
required.

Providing IT support throughout the organization

On a daily basis, the employees often need help with internet services, local
systems, upgradation etc. The IT department ensures that the processes run
smoothly and to entertain all queries and concerns that arise as quickly as
possible. Basically, everyone and everything that requires IT assistance from
setting up a hardware system to implementation of a software, the IT
department team has to ensure that it is managed.

Conducting live conferences

There are often live conferences for Managers, with staff members from sub
stations abroad. The technical support to coordinate and set up these
conferences and meetings is yet another function of the IT department.

Assurance of smooth running systems throughout the world at all sub stations
of PIA
PIA operates to almost thirty international destinations with sub stations in a
number of places. The IT department ensures that all the sub stations run
smoothly and are provided with all necessary requirements.

MY ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

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My internship period was almost three months and because of that I got a
chance to undertake more responsibilities than what my supervisor had
initially planned for me. From assisting my supervisor on day to day basis to
being a part of the latest project undertaken by the department, I got a chance
to learn a great deal which I could co relate with my theoretical knowledge. In
the last one and a half weeks, I got a chance to observe and be a part of one of
the projects being carried out by the IT department. The ERP system, although
implemented last year, required some features that need to be readjusted
according to the requirements of the finance department. My supervisor and
his team, including me, met with a number of employees from the finance
department to basically know the problems that they are facing so that we
could compile a report of recommendations and forward them to ORACLE for
adjustments. The project is still being carried out. Below are the details of my
role as an internee:

Assisting supervisor in day to day tasks

I had to assist my supervisor in day to day tasks. The coordination activities
were carried out on a daily basis. I was asked to follow up on all the current
projects and update them on the drive for my supervisor. When I first joined,
my supervisor highlighted some tasks and asked me to develop reporting
formats on drive which I was supposed to fill out at the end of every day. To
follow up on projects (to monitor progress), I interacted with other
departments. It was mainly to do with the ERP modules and what problems the
employees were facing. I was also keeping a track of number of complaints
received, number of queries entertained and resolved and how many required
further probing.

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Managing paper work
There is a lot of hands on work in this department. It is quite task orientated
which makes it difficult to maintain records as effectively. I was completely
managing the paper work and documentation for my supervisor. Since the
focus is now on a paperless environment, only the essentials had to be
managed. While the complaints were being received through the system, I was
still asked to maintain a record of its analysis. I was already gathering data for
it related to the ERP modules to be more precise.

Inter department interaction

Apart from assisting with coordination within the department, I was also asked
to assist with coordination with other departments mainly finance, Human
resource and maintenance. The ERP modules in these departments had to be
updated and I was asked to meet with the employees and compile notes on the
problems they were facing and what improvements they would like to see. This
was task orientated and not particularly related to the project that I assisted
my supervisor with.

Email generation and follow up

I was sending out follow up emails and email responses to all the queries that
were being generated after discussing with my supervisor. Often he would ask
me for a solution first or would want me to look for a solution and later during
discussing each query, he would tell me how to go about it and who to refer the
concern to. After directing the concern, I also had to follow up till the query
was resolved and ticket (query) was closed. Apart from this, I would also send
emails related to the work in progress to keep employees updated about our
department’s work schedule.

Project Management
Towards the end of my internship, I was fortunate enough to be a part of a
project where recommendations report for improvement in finance module on
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ERP system was being worked upon. In this project, 24 people had to be
interviewed based on a set questionnaire that had been developed by the
department. The complaints from the finance department was increasing
tremendously and that required the finance module on the ERP system to be
upgraded to the requirements of the department. To figure recommendations, it
was necessary to understand how everything linked up in the department and
what problems were being faced. The project is still in progress. However, I did
manage to be a part of 11 interviews as an observer. I also had to present a
separate report to my supervisor through which he gauged my understanding
of the ERP System.

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Department: IT Department

CONCEPTS AND THEORIES LEARNT AT IoBM BEING APPLIED

There were a number of concepts and theories that I had learned in IoBM
which I saw being applied. Some courses were directly related to my role as an
internee including Enterprise Resource Planning and IS Audit.

Enterprise Resource Planning

ERP system was implemented at PIA last year. I had studied this course at
IoBM where we were taught about different modules including Finance, HR,
Supply Chain and how this works altogether to bring a more cost effective and
efficient system for any organization. The project which I was a part of towards

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the end of my internship basically revolved around this particular system and
finance module where the employees were facing issues and we had to compile
a recommendation report for those changes to be incorporated as it is an
externally developed system at PIA. I learnt how these systems can benefit the
organization and can improve the time lag for important decisions as
information can be easily accessed.

IS Audit

This was not directly related to my role by Microsoft Access was being used as
well other Microsoft Office products including MS Excel and Word. Access was
primarily being used for queries while Excel was maintained for record keeping
especially for internees. I was also asked to make a format for reporting and
follow up which was shared with my supervisor on a daily basis.

Organizational Behaviour

PIA being the national carrier has very different organizational behavior
dynamics. It’s a blend of corporate and local culture. While the structure is in
place which is rather vertical than horizontal in nature with proper reporting
lines and appears to bureaucratic but quite the opposite in some departments.

Business Communication I & II

Being a large organization, there are reporting lines and reports are presented
on day to day basis. I had studied about report writing and formatting in these
courses among other things which I could observe being applied widely in the
organization.

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NEW THEORIES AND CONCEPTS

I learnt ERP Systems in more detail, regarding the usage as well as the user
experience and how that can affect the working for employees. I also learnt in
detail the thought process and work flow that takes place in designing such a
system. Besides this, everything I did was a practical version of what I had
learnt in college except that the application of the same concept can be
different in two departments. For example, reports in HR department were
more theoretical and policy oriented while report writing in IT department is
more on the technical side. Similarly, organizational structure is present in
each department but the working was more horizontal in the IT department as
compared to the Finance Department.

CONCLUSION

I had interned at Pakistan International Airline’s IT Department. My experience

was a valuable one as my supervisor was quite involved and ensured my
understanding of the IT department and its working. He also ensured that I got
a chance to communicate and collaborate with other departments including
finance and HR. This helped me in learning how to apply the theoretical
concepts that I had learnt. I also got a chance to observe the organizational
behavior and could see theories about organizational cultures and social
behavior being applied. My responsibilities included assisting my supervisor,
email generation and follow up and project management which helped me learn
a great deal about ERP systems and its usage. I had studied in classroom
about different modules and at PIA, I saw that being implemented and used.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

The two major problems in the IT department which in effect are also
significant problems for the organization as whole are inefficient ERP system
and overstaffing in the department. While the ERP system has definitely
improved the system overall, it was developed with some flaws. I would like to
recommend that the IT department interviews employees from different
departments and gets their feedback about their respective modules and the
problems they are facing. They should then prepare recommendations and get
the amendments made as soon as possible to not only improve their internal
systems but for the airline to be competitive in the industry locally and
internationally.

As far as overstaffing is concerned, the HR should either consider revising the

roles of employees as downsizing may not be an option for them. However, it
should be considered. I noticed this problem when I observed multiple
secretaries for just one manager.

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