Student Sample Status Report #1

Date: March 22, 2001
To: Center Team Leader
From: Caryn Mendez
Subject: Inventory Control Documentation Project Status Report

Project Overview

I am working on an inventory control program for my current workplace, the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Arizona, where I am an Office Assistant. The purpose of the inventory control program is to remedy an inventory problem that currently exists in the departmental main office. Specifically, the lack of an inventory procedure has consistently caused the main office to run out of much needed items, thus resulting in an obviously inefficient office procedure. To ensure the office maintains a constant supply of necessary items, I proposed that an inventory control program be created.

The major part of the program I'm creating involves making up inventory sheets using Microsoft Excel, which are designed specifically for the MCB department, with information that will let me know which supplies I need to keep in stock, how much of each item I should have, and at what quantity will I need to re-order the item. The final product of this project will be an Inventory Control Program binder, which will contain the inventory sheets discussed above, organized by category (for example, shipping supplies, equipment supplies, general office supplies, etc.). It will also contain a short user guide which explains the function of the program and informs on how to fill out the inventory sheets.

Work Completed

I have completed approximately 90% of the project. After my preliminary research, in which I searched for sample inventory sheets on the internet, I was able to start the project as planned on Monday, March 5. I began the project by taking a complete inventory of all supplies the department keeps in stock. The next day I began looking up the order number for every item, and when that was completed I divided the supplies into categories. This took a couple of days since there were a great number of items and several books I needed to consult in order to obtain an order number for every item. Beginning on March 8, I started inputting all of the inventory information into the Excel documents. All of the inventory sheets are currently complete.

Work to be Completed

The majority of the project has been completed, and I am now working on organizing the program binder. I need to purchase dividers so that the inventory sheets can be neatly and clearly divided by category. After purchasing the dividers, I will then organize all of the sheets in the binder. I also will be writing the program guide (to be completed by Friday, March 25), which I expect to be a short Word document. This guide will contain directions and an explanation of the program. The project will then be fully complete on March 25.

Problems and Adjustments

The one problem I encountered in the course of project was quite minor: I wanted to include a section on the bottom of each inventory sheets for notes, but I found that I could not manipulate the documents to include this section. I firmly believe that a notes section is a good idea (since order numbers get changed, items get discontinued, etc.), so I am now incorporating the notes section into the cover sheet for each category in the binder. On the back of each coversheet, I will have a place where notes can be made; and this location will fortunately make the notes about changes and such more visible.

Also, I fell slightly behind on completing the project: I originally planned to have the project complete by March 19, however, I took a few unexpected days off from work for the Spring Break and therefore lost time to work on the project. However, I am well ahead of the class project completion date (and my workplace gave me no deadline for completion), so falling behind has not damaged my project. I plan to have my project fully completed by the end of the week, only four days behind schedule.