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eXpand International Consultancy GmbH Universitätsstraße 15/Bauteil FE, 8010 GRAZ, AUSTRIA

Telefon: +43 316 380 3537, E-Mail: expand@uni-graz.at

HANDBOOK

Department Monitoring & Support

Summer term 2020

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Table of content

1 General responsibilities .............................................................................. 3

2 Creation of Folders ..................................................................................... 3

2.1 Folders at “J” drive in the office .............................................................. 3

2.2 Access to the “J” drive at home .............................................................. 4

3 Mail administration ................................................................................... 7

3.1 Incoming Postal Mail .............................................................................. 7

3.2 Incoming E-mails ..................................................................................... 7

3.3 Outgoing E-mails ..................................................................................... 8

5 Data security .............................................................................................. 8

6 Administration of the eXpand webpage ..................................................... 9

7 Modelling of the practice firm .................................................................... 9

7.1 Purchasing .............................................................................................. 9

7.2 Simulation of invoices ........................................................................... 10

7.3 Keyfigures ............................................................................................. 10

8 Staff Purchase .......................................................................................... 11

9 Monitoring of practice firm market ............................................................ 11

11 Revision of the business plan and handbook ............................................. 12

12 Mass-mailing ............................................................................................ 12

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1 General responsibilities

Your general responsibilities in the department Monitoring and Support are:

• Update the folders in the office for each department (Accounting, Marketing,

Learning Point, Consulting, MONI) at the beginning of the semester

• Create a new folder on “J” drive (eXpands drive available via the PCs in the practice

firm office) and create the necessary folders (one for each department or process,

subfolders will be created by the employees of eXpand themselves)

• You are also responsible for accurate postal mail and e-mail traffic organisation

• You are in charge of the general office management (e.g. create lists)

• Check the office equipment

• Support all departments in technical questions

• monthly data saving of the contents on J drive

• Create and maintain the website

• Create and maintain templates together with Marketing if asked

• Purchase and if necessary, simulate regular expenses at the PF-Market

• Provide information for the staff purchase (Handbook for staff purchases)

• Monitor the PF-Market

• Revise the Businessplan

• Mass-mailing of product portfolio at the end of the semester

• Modelling of eXpand

2 Creation of Folders

As a member of the department Monitoring and Support you are responsible for the office

management. This includes the creation of folders in the office and at drive “J”.

2.1 Folders at “J” drive in the office

Normally the members of eXpand should not have a problem to have access at the drive “J”.

In case any problems occur, ask the management to grant you access to the drive.

For the new semester you should create a new folder WS/SS XX/XX. This folder should include

subfolders for each department. You can develop your own structure, but keep in mind that

there should be a folder for:

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• Each department

• Projects (in case there will be some)

• Meetings

• Templates (including logo, letter, order form and so on, Marketing is responsible to

create templates, so the content will be put in this folder by Marketing)

• PF-Visits

• Lists

• Password list (!!!): this list should be displayed very well (each member should see it at

the first glance!)

2.2 Access to the “J” drive at home

First of all you have to install the VPN client, offered from the university, to have access to the

J drive at home.

The following steps are necessary to follow to install the VPN-Client:

1. Install the Cisco AnyConnect (VPN) at your notebook

• Please log on the website https://univpn.uni-graz.at as you can see below

• Then you will able to download the Cisco AnyConnect client by click on the

following button

• After the download, you will be able to connect your private notebook with the

university network

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• To check the connection, the icon will appear on the right bottom of your

screen, instead of your internet-connection-icon

a) Connection to the J:Drive (Windows)

• Please start your explorer and click on “Computer” on the top of the screen

and choose “Netzlaufwerk verbinden”

• The following window will appear. Please choose the drive J: and insert the

following file folder: \\StudFS-Daten.stud.ad.uni-graz.at\uefa2$

• If you click on “Fertig stellen”, the following login screen will appear, where you

have to fill in your UGO-password to get the access to the practice firm drive J:

After these adjustments you can find the J:drive folder as one drive of your notebook in your

explorer

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The necessary steps for your next access, are just the connection with the Cisco AnyConnect

client and the selection of the practice firm drive at your explorer to insert your password.

b.) MacBook:

You have to install the VPN client and then you have to add the drive. Therefore open “Finder”

and “Gehe zu”.

You have to choose “Mit Server verbinden” and insert the following:

“smb://studfs-daten.stud.ad.uni-graz.at/uefa2$”

2.2 Folders in the office

At the beginning of the semester it is important to create physical folders and boxes for

departments and processes. But you only have to create new folders which are really needed

by the departments and processes (please find the templates on j drive). So, ask in one of your

first business meetings that the leaders of the departments should provide you with that

information. You are not responsible for the structure or the allocation of the files. However,

Monitoring and Support has to allocate all postal mail to the right boxes in the office. Every

department and process is responsible to sort the mails in the right folders. MONI is only

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responsible for placing incoming invoices in the Accounting inbox, incoming offers into the

‘Offers’ inbox and orders into the Consulting inbox.

3 Mail administration

The mail administration includes dealing with postal and electronic mail.

3.1 Incoming Postal Mail

You should check the mail of eXpand at least two times a week. When you open the door of

the office of Institute for Business Education and Development (RESOWI - G1) you will

find on the left-hand side two mail boxes (one for eXpand and one for KFUNIline).

At the beginning of the semester there is always a lot of mail. Monitoring and Support has to

pass the mail to other departments, that means the other departments depend on our work!

Stamp the letters with “Eingegangen am ...” and hand it over to the departments/processes

concernin:

• orders to “Consulting”

• invoices to “Accounting”

• offers to the folder “Offers”

• staff purchase invoices to the folder “Staff Purchase”

• other things to the folder “other”

3.2 Incoming E-mails

Access the ZID-account by using the web access at the website email.uni-graz.at! Make

sure to use Internet Explorer, somehow, other when using other browsers, you may not be

able to see the folder structure.

User name: edvz\wipmail8

Password: susi78

Our e-mail address is expand@uni-graz.at

In the eXpand e-mail account you find folders for each department/process and for the projects.

You should distribute the e-mails from the folder “Posteingang” to each department/process

folder (like the incoming letters-Post). Inform pandas to check their department/process folders

on their own. Do not forget to send the user name and password to the other members of

eXpand.

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3.3 Outgoing E-mails

Each department/process writes e-mails concerning the practice firm work from this account.

Inform pandas to write their name and department on their e-mails! The members have to

check the account for new emails independently.

4 General office management

For efficient work at the practice firm, it is necessary to provide information at the right time.

Due to that fact, you have to update the office hours at the ACT homepage in the commercial

register (please find the login data on the password list). In case you have valuable information for the other practice firm members put it on the pin

board in the practice firm office or write an e-mail. If you send out an official mail to all staff

members, please do not forget to send it also to the management! Create following lists for the

pin board in the practice firm office:

• Staff list (with names, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, department/process)

• Practice firm visit list

• Holiday list

• Office material demand list (maybe together with KFUniline)

• Staff purchase list (the members should have an all-day-long access to this list. For

that reason, it would be favourable, if the list would be provided electronically

in a separate folder to which all pandas have access to)

We saved the lists from this semester on J drive for you.

It is also your tasks to ensure, that every item in the office works and to replace it if these things

are old, outdated or maybe the paper or the toner in the printer is empty.

Simply go to the office of the department for business education and ask there to get your office

supplies.

5 Data security

At the end of each month, you have to save all the data on drive “J” on an external drive. You

find this drive in the office or you will receive it from the management.

Speak with the department learning point about creating

the lists!

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At the last day in the office you are also responsible for putting the handbooks on the webpage

for the new pandas. Try to find a place, where everyone can see it. Be sure, that the handbooks

are also saved on drive “J”.

6 Administration of the eXpand webpage

The official eXpand webpage is located on the Uni Graz server. The administration of the

webpage is done by TYPO3 – as all webpages from our university. In order to change the

webpage you have to make sure you receive access to the TYPO3 backend. Please ask the

management to organise this access or ask UNI IT for support.

Before you start working on the webpage it is highly recommended to read the TYPO3

handbook.

You find our webpage on: https://wirtschaftspaedagogik.uni-graz.at/en/expand/

The TYPO3 backend is available at: https://webadmin.uni-graz.at/typo3

(Log in with your regular UNI Graz Online account)

You will find a handbook about webpage-handling and TYPO3 on “J” drive as well as FAQs

and further information at http://typo3support.uni-graz.at/de/schulungen-infos/.

7 Modelling of the practice firm

eXpand is a model of a real firm. That is why we also need to buy assets and operating expenses.

Therefore, MONI receives a certain budget from Accounting department.

7.1 Purchasing

Monitoring and Support has to create expenses, for example electricity, office material (paper,

folders, pens etc.), cleaning, trash, but also education (seminars) every month. You can be very

creative but realistic when purchasing.

Have a look at the business plan and especially at the bookkeeping to find out which assets are

needed (check the balance list as well as the fixed asset table). On the ACT-Homepage you will

find a lot of PFs where you can buy things.

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7.2 Simulation of invoices

In case you are not able to find the needed goods or services on the practice firm market, you

have to simulate invoices. You are going to simulate invoices for rent, broadcasting fees etc.

in order to make eXpands environment as economically genuine as possible. Please find the

templates we used on J drive.

We advise you to start ordering and simulation rather early in the semester. Before doing so,

ask Accountancy for the budget to be spent. You can use the same simulated invoices every month; you only have to update the date.

But remember, before simulating invoices try to find a practice firm, which is offering the

products or services you need and hope for an answer. At the end of the semester you have to

give an overview about the situation at the practice firm market (How many practice firms

have answered and how many products you ordered).

7.3 Keyfigures

One part of modelling is to calculate key figures and compare them with a reference value of

the industry. So, you can see if the model is economic valid and realistic. In this semester we

calculated the five following key figures:

• Equity ratio

• Days sales outstanding

• Return on sales

• Other operational intensity

• Personal intensity

But you can calculate which key figures you want and which you think are necessary to answer

the question: “Is the model economic valid and realistic?”

When you have calculated the key figures it’s important to compare them with reference values

of the industry. Therefore, you have to search on the internet for appropriate reference values.

This semester we found some industry key figures on the website of the National Bank of

Austria.

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8 Staff Purchase

Staff purchase is used to animate the practice firm market. The job of all pandas as members of

a practice firm is to act as consumers at the practice firm market.

Each student working at eXpand has at least to do three staff purchases, more are not advisable:

• at least one at the international market (e.g. on the Online Trading Day or else via

EUROPEN)

• at least one at the national market (PF-Visit)

• at least one at the national Webshop (Act)

You have the possibility to pay with credit card or by using money transfer.

Monitoring and Support has to, as mentioned above, create staff purchase lists where everyone

needs to note down their staff purchases and the status (paid, not paid, waiting, cancelled etc.)

You have to inform the pandas about:

• using the folder in the practice firm office for offers (Monitoring put all the incoming

offers in this folder and all pandas can have a look at this offers – it is more realistic to

get an answer from this practice firms because you can be sure, that these practice firms

are active)

• ordering with the name and address of eXpand

• writing the SP on the staff purchase list on the pin board in the PF office

• collecting the documents (order, acceptance of order, bill of delivery, bill and con-

firmation of payment) and give it into the staff purchase folder in the PF office

DOCUMENTS ARE PART OF THE PORTFOLIO!

• paying their invoices by himself/herself (ask accounting for help)

For a step-by-step staff purchase instruction have a look at the document (Staff

Purchases_Handbook) on J drive.

9 Monitoring of practice firm market

Monitoring of the practice firm market includes the search for products and services needed by

eXpand. You are going to write down the practice firms from which you ordered and whether

you got a response or not, you might as well search the market for competitors (therefore, please

have a look at the current business plan).

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10 Instagram Account

There is also an instagram account, which was created in SS 2019. The account should be used

for social media marketing. You have to talk with the Marketing department, who is responsible

for postings in the actual semester. You can find a posting plan in the folder of Monitoring &

Support (SS 2019).

Here is the access data for the Instagram account:

Username: expand_graz

Password: good212team

11 Revision of the business plan and handbook

It is your responsibility to revise the business plan, therefore make sure to have a copy saved

as a word document. You will have to read through the whole business plan, correct mistakes

and update lately received information. The business plan consists of a pedagogical and a

business part, please make sure to that everyone at least reads through their respective part in

the business section. You might like to ask them to update the information on their department

or process themselves. Make sure to save the updated version on “J” drive. The same procedure

has to be done with the handbook.

12 Mass-mailing

In collaboration with Consulting and Marketing you will handle the mass mailing at the end of

the semester. Consulting provides the product portfolio and Marketing provides the text for the

offer, your job will be to get the addresses, prepare the mass mailing for e-mail as well as postal

mail and secure the electronically and physically prepared mail.

Monitoring & Support provides the cover letter, you will have to get information on the delivery

costs at the post office. To find the addresses of practice firms you may use www.act.at. We

sent out postal offers to all Austrian practice firms, therefore we went to the website www.act.at

ÜFA-Suche. At the bottom of the side you have to choose “aktive Übungsfirmen” and a list of

all Austrian practice firms appears. On top of the list at the right side you see an Excel sheet,

which contains the necessary information. We also send email-information to international

pratice firms.