WEEKLY BLOG

  Week 13: Building the Backend      This week, we moved from designing screens to working on the actual backend of the Dietary Inventory System (DIS). This is where all the important functions live like user logins, inventory tracking, and delivery management. It felt like going behind the scenes after working on the frontend last week.      We set up three types of users: admin, who has access to everything staff related operations, staff, and wards, who receive food deliveries. Creating the login system was tricky at first. Making sure each user only sees what they’re supposed to. The admin can add new users and adjust settings, staff can update food stock levels, and wards can only view delivery schedules. Testing permissions was funny. I kept accidentally locking myself out or seeing pages I shouldn’t.      For the inventory module, we made sure it could track food quantities. I helped set up simple alerts so the kitchen knows when ...

Week 12: Starting the Frontend      This week, we finally began working on the actual Dietary Inventory System (DIS) after all the planning. Since I’m still learning, Ma’am Ynah assigned me to help with the frontend.. At first, I was nervous because I’ve never built a system using Laravel before, but it turned out to be a great way to test and apply what I’ve learned during my breaks, learning the framework.      We used a simple drag-and-drop tool called Figma to design the screens, which made things easier to visualize when coding it later. My main task was creating the layout for the inventory and delivery module, where staffs and admin can log food supplies and create delivery orders. I kept thinking back to the HOMIS+ manual I worked on and how confusing some parts were. That helped me design clearer labels and buttons so users wouldn’t get stuck.      It wasn’t all smooth sailing, though. Sometimes, I’d spend way too long adjusting tiny...

Week 11: My Hands-on Week with Firewalls and System Planning     T his week, even if its short, gave me some of the most interesting hands-on experiences so far during my OJT. I spent the Monday days in the network room with Sir Jam, finally getting to see the hospital's firewall up close. While I'd heard about firewalls in class, actually seeing the rules that control all network traffic made everything click for me. Sir Jam patiently explained how they balance tight security with allowing doctors to access critical systems - it's more nuanced than I imagined. I'll admit, when he first showed us the configuration interface, I felt completely lost. But by the second day, I started recognizing patterns in how they block threats while permitting legitimate medical traffic.      The next day brought a complete change of pace as I was now part of Ma'am Ynah's small team to plan the new Dietary Inventory System. Being one of just three people (including my OJT buddy)...

Week 10: Refining Helpdesk Skills      Returning to helpdesk duties this week, I noticed significant improvements in how I handle user concerns and technical reporting. I was primarily accompanied by Ma'am Lyca, who guided me through more difficult cases, though I also had opportunities to manage some tickets independently. The experience from previous weeks has helped me develop better diagnostic approaches and communication techniques when addressing support tickets, allowing me to work more efficiently both collaboratively and on my own.      A key improvement was in accurately identifying and explaining issues to both users and technicians. For instance, when users reported wifi being down, I learned to first verify if it was truly a connectivity issue or just certain websites being inaccessible. Many cases turned out to be blocked sites like Facebook or YouTube due to hospital policies, not actual network failures. Instead of just saying that I'll be c...

Week 9: Hands-on Networking Experience      This week provided a valuable opportunity to expand my technical skills as we were assigned to rotate through the hospital's Network Department. Under the guidance of Sir Jam, a network specialist, we were introduced to fundamental networking concepts through practical exercises in a controlled test environment.      The hands-on session began with basic file-sharing configurations between test computers. Sir Jam walked us through the step-by-step process of setting up shared folders, managing permissions, and troubleshooting connection issues. To my surprise, I was the first one called to demonstrate the setup, which made me a little nervous but also eager to apply what we’d just learned. It was interesting to see how these basic networking functions, which I've used casually before, actually work from the administrative side.      We then moved on to wifi configuration exercises, where we learned ...

Week 8: A Welcomed Rest      After several weeks of intensive work on the HOMIS+ transition, this week offered a lighter workload that allowed me to catch my breath. With the major tasks of manual preparation and system demos completed, my responsibilities shifted back to more routine help desk duties and general support tasks.      The slower pace gave me time to organize my notes from previous weeks and review the feedback we collected during the demo sessions. I found myself revisiting some of the user concerns, thinking about how they might be addressed in the final system configuration. Between the occasional password reset requests and user access configuration, I took the opportunity to observe how the current HOMIS system operates in daily practice, which is a useful knowledge that will likely prove valuable when the transition occurs.      This quieter week also allowed me to reflect on everything I've learned so far during my OJT. F...