Students Increase Efficiency of Telstra's Sales Representative

Students’ Brief:  The main goal of the project is to take a door-to-door manual sales process and automate parts of it for use with the i-Mate JasJam (a smart PDA phone).  You will develop a software package that would work on the i-mate phone used by door-to-door sales people.  The software you develop will allow sales people to collect information (new home connections or other services accepted by a customer) using i-mate and then allow them to send this information back to a central server at Telstra.  The project has commercial potential.

The Telstra Mobile Order Provisioning System (MOPS) project is a collaboration between the Master of Information Technology (MSIT) program at Carnegie Mellon University and the Consumer Marketing & Channels Division of the Telstra Corporation Limited.  The project involves the development of an automated order provisioning system deployed on mobile devices on Telstra's Next GTM network.  The project aims to produce a prototype system which will be tested and implemented by Sales Representatives of Telco Services Australia, a company which Telstra  engages to promote its products.

The primary objective of the project is to increase the efficiency of Sales Representatives who sell products door to door by automating some of the current manual steps in sales transactions.  In addition, the project will provide accurate live reporting of sales transactions and performance.  The project will also involve a thorough analysis of the requirements and identify relevant issues impacting on the design and development of such a mobile-based solution.

The project team is composed of four MSIT students, Anh Tran, ChanVeasna Heang, Ratha Chealy, and Son Nguyen.  They undertook the project as a requirement of their three month Information Systems (IS) course under the guidance of Faculty Advisor, Dr Murli Viswanathan.  Having worked collaboratively with Barney Smith, a National Sales Manager with Telstra and key staff at the TSA Telco Group, the team is currently finalising the implementation of the system which will be tested in the next few weeks.  It is anticipated that by mid-August 2008, they will deliver the completed prototype system and the accompanying comprehensive report to Telstra including the details of the project,  feasibility study, analysis, and recommendationsif there is to be full-scale development of the system.

The project members view this as a great opportunity to apply their learning skills in a real-world environment and to showcase their professional knowledge which will be of great benefit when they apply for senior positions within their chosen careers.   For this reason, they strongly encourage their peer Carnegie Mellon students to undertake similar projects which will be offered in the coming semester.

In addition to this collaboration, Telstra also offers a scholarships to students studying a Masters of Information Technology at Carnegie Mellon's Heinz School of Public Policy and Management in Adelaide. The Program will support up to 15 students over the next 5 years and each scholarship is valued at $90,000. The MSIT program is ideal for those already working in IT and for those wishing to enhance their career prospects.  As a leader in the field of technology in Australia, Telstra’s Media Communications Scholarship program reflects the company’s commitment to building Australia’s IT capability.

For more information please contact us at hnzadmit-australia@andrew.cmu.edu or apply online today at Apply Yourself

*Please note that Telstra Scholarships are only applicable to Australian Citizens.