I was thinking about this assigment all week and then tonight it hit me today when I was at the Federal Building.   This building ten years ago when I was in it last didn't have half the technology it does today. 

From when I walked into the building I had to put all my items in a scanner which scanned my purse and items and they showed up on a pc monitor this is for security .   Then I walked thru a metal detector as well which also was for security purposes in today's world security measures like this in a federal building are pretty standard.  

I then had to go to the social security office inside the building and instead of going to wait in a long line I was directed to a automated kiosk.  I then had to select what I was there for and it printed me out a number and a wait time.  I found this great way to sort people by category and wait on them effienctly.  Then On the television it let you know where you were in line and your number would appear on the screen and the window you were supose to go to. 


I from there today had to go to the DMV and they also had a very similar system where you now put what you were there for and it designated you a number and a wait time.   I was in and out of both places quicker then I ever have and this I believe makes life easier for employees and customers.   I also was directed by both places of there online websites which I decided for this assigment to check out.  What I found out is allot of the transactions can be done right online now.  Which also makes for easy access for customers and cuts down on traffic in the local offices. 

Concept Mapping

Concept Mapping I use allot in my job we use a tool called Microsoft Visio to work out concepts and map out ideas in planning sessions.  I work in Health Insurance and we write in my department what is called Standard Operating Procedures and decisions trees.  This software gives us a step by step road map to design to give users a simple flow chart to follow.  Below is a link that shows how the chart look like.   This tool is used allot in our industry we use concept mapping for our call reprsenatives and they can get a step by step process on what to do on various scenarios of a call.   I myself have just started using this tool in the past year and I find it very user friendly.

http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/ATC/Collaboratory/Idea/conceptmaps.pdf