CHESS, anyone?

Today in class we discussed business computing, among other topics. We learned corporate concepts such as standardization, which is the logo, what distinguishes a company from another; customers have a consistent perfection, as well as quality control, which are basically keeping those standards. Now, it is important to meet your standards, not exceed them, otherwise, they are not really standard anymore. It was also very interesting to learn how to make templates, which are basically electronic letterheads. We learned about efficiency, which is getting the most with the least, in simple terms, and effectiveness - how well something works. Now, companies can also have a competitive advantage, in which they set an impression in their customers' minds about the company. We also briefly learned about memos, which is one of our assignments that is due Friday.

We finally arrived at the famous, or maybe infamous, CHESS simulation. This is the premise: there is a 250-room, limited service hotel in downtown Syracuse, New York. The previous manager did a lousy job and now the New Bank of Syracuse owns it and asked you to be the consultant and make recommendations on running it. In the memo assignment, we have to state our vision for this hotel, which has to make $70,000 weekly in departmental income. Reneta introduced us to the simulation, which seemed very interesting, in which we would handle the three market segments - business, leisure, and groups. We must manage the process of selling rates to customers and make sure they are satisfied.

Later on, Mark went over Microsoft Office Word 2007. I thought to myself, this would be a cinch. I was terribly wrong. There are so many little things that are hidden in the program that no one seems to know about. They make typing much more efficient and productive. All these shortcuts and functions were really interesting to hear about. I can't wait for our first try at the CHESS simulation tomorrow!