IT Intern
Job function (e.g., overall role, assigned tasks)
The IT team at Alexion has a well-defined waterfall methodology to run and execute various projects, so at a high level, my role was to leverage the waterfall methodology to assist Regulatory Operations team in maintaining continuous compliance through Regulatory Information Management publishing tool upgrade. As a highly regulated industry, compliance is vital and is at the core of how they do business.
I acted as a Project Manager in this project. This includes defining project scope and objectives by interviewing stakeholders and documenting requirements, as well as developing a detailed project plan to monitor progress to ensure project is on time, on budget, and on scope.
Examples of projects (e.g., list the projects you worked on and what you accomplished)
My project is to create of a project plan for ARIM Publishing Tool Upgrade, which is a tool that the Regulatory Operations team use to validate and publish various submissions, and the upgrade is done to make sure we are always compliant with regards to Regulatory Information Management.
The project plan is used to facilitate effective communication and planning. First, I had to interview stakeholders to understand the context and the need of the project. Then, I documented what I learned. From there, I created a Work Breakdown Structure as a planning tool to translate high level objectives into actionable tasks that provides a concrete way to execute scope.
Due to the time constraint of my internship, I was only involved in the Scope & Requirement phase of the framework. However, what I did set the foundation to achieve the goal of PM, as after my internship, the project team could utilize the WBS to keep track of the project to make sure it’s delivered on time, on budget, and on scope.
This foundation sets up the Regulatory Operations team for success by putting them on a pathway to ensure that their tool and future submissions are always compliant and stay aligned with the framework of how Alexion does business.
What you learned and how it relates to your major (e.g., describe what you learned from this experience in the context of specific courses)
I got to wear the Project Manager hat and put my PM skills to the test through this project after taking MIS 3535. We learned how to use MS Project in MIS 3535 and at Alexion, I was able to successfully create a Work Breakdown Structure on MS Project because I’ve learned it in class. Project Management also requires a lot of soft skills, particularly leadership, teamwork and communication, because the goal of PM is to make sure that a project is on time, on scope, and on budget. As an intern, I had to take initiative in reaching out to people when I didn’t understand certain things, and I also stayed curious to absorb as much learning as possible within that short time.
In MIS 2901, we also learned the overview of the SDLC framework, but this internship gave me an in-depth exposure to the SDLC framework the Alexion way, specifically with regards to IT Regulatory and GxP projects.
All in all, my experience at Alexion is an extension of my classroom learning that enhances various skills I’ve learned in class.