Virginia Fookes

Operations Support Officer, Operations Portfolio Management Office

Provide effective operational and administrative support to the Director of the Operations Portfolio Management Office.

• Communicate and build relationships with directors, senior managers and staff within the department, other government departments, and the private sector
• Workforce management and reporting
• Financial management, monitoring and reporting
• Drafting of correspondence, minutes, reports, submissions
• Tracking and actioning correspondence and emails
• Special projects as required
• Diary management
• Arrange meetings, venues, equipment, take minutes and follow up on action items
• Travel bookings
• Day to day executive and administrative support to the unit as required

Provide effective operational and administrative support to the Group Director, Teaching and Learning Experience and for the Directors within the functional area.

• Communicate and build relationships with directors, senior managers and staff within the department, other government departments, and the private sector
• Workforce management and reporting
• Financial management, monitoring and reporting
• Experience in procurement processes to obtain services, licenses and products
• Drafting of correspondence, minutes, reports, submissions
• Tracking and actioning correspondence and emails
• Special projects as required
• Diary management
• Screening and actioning phone calls
• Arrange meetings, venues, equipment, take minutes and follow up on action items
• Travel bookings
• Day to day executive and administrative support to the unit as required
• Event coordination for the T4L Unit for professional learning days. This included venue sourcing and hire, merchandise procurement, travel coordination, registration coordination, catering.

Operations Support Officer, Office of Director, Teaching and Learning Systems, Information and Technology Directorate.

Provide effective operational and administrative support to the Director, Teaching and Learning Systems and for the managers within the functional area.

• Communicate and build relationships with directors, senior managers and staff within the department, other government departments, and the private sector
• Workforce management and reporting
• Financial management, monitoring and reporting
• Drafting of correspondence, minutes, reports, submissions
• Tracking and actioning correspondence and emails
• Special projects as required
• Diary management, screening and actioning phone calls
• Arrange meetings, venues, equipment, take minutes and follow up on action items
• Travel bookings
• Day to day executive and administrative support to the unit as required

Provide executive assistant support to the Director and his nine senior managers. Responsibilities are as follows:

• Diary management, screening and actioning phone calls
• Arrange meetings, venues, equipment, take minutes and follow up on action items
• Travel bookings
• Day to day executive and administrative support to the unit as required
• Communicate and build relationships with directors, senior managers and staff within the department, other government departments, and the private sector
• Drafting of correspondence, minutes, reports, submissions
• Tracking and actioning correspondence and emails
• Financial management and monitoring
• Workforce management and reporting
• Stationery orders, ordering and maintenance of office equipment, Invoice payments
• Asset Management
• Special projects as required

The LMBR Program was created by the Department of Education and Training to replace ageing technologies with modern, integrated systems, designed to meet business needs. The Program Management Office was responsible for all aspects of best practice project management.

Responsibilities were as follows:

• Contribute to the development, implementation and monitoring of project plans and schedules, including the coordination of activities and teams associated with achieving the project objectives.
• Liaise, consult and negotiate effectively with team members, other project teams and project stakeholders in relation to project activities, and deadlines.
• Risk and issues tracking and managing project risks and developing project and internal controls
• Contribute to the development of training materials in the use of the program management office tools for program team members.
• Status reporting to project teams and management.
• Develop and implement project management office practices and procedures.
• Represent the LMBR program in a variety of forums on issues relating to the project.

Project Administrator, Applications Development,

Information Technology Directorate.

The OASIS Thin Client project was the roll out to all DET NSW Schools new technology called thin client that would allow DET to deliver to all schools in a cost effective model the existing OASIS application from a centrally supported data host. I was the Project Administrator on the OASIS Thin Client project from January 2007 to March 2008.

Provide project support to the OASIS Thin Client project. Responsibilities were as follows:

• Identifying implementation issues and liaise with development management to ensure these issues are addressed
• Providing project support in roll out activities
• Monitoring the operation of systems to ensure all automated procedures run correctly
• Coordinate Project Control Group meetings, take and distribute minutes and other meeting papers, follow up on action items
• Liaising and coordinating with regional IT coordinators on school scheduling and equipment delivery
• Weekly and monthly project reporting
• Budget control and reporting
• Purchasing and invoice processing
• Responding to enquiries from schools and DET staff relating to the project
• Assisting three other projects with project reporting

Development, Information Technology Directorate.

Provide executive assistant support to the Director and his five senior managers. Responsibilities are as follows:

• Diary management, screening and actioning phone calls
• Arrange meetings, venues, equipment, take minutes and follow up on action items
• Travel bookings
• Day to day executive and administrative support
• Communicate and build relationships with directors, senior managers and staff within the department, other government departments, and the private sector
• Drafting and typing correspondence, minutes, reports, submissions
• Tracking and actioning correspondence and emails
• Invoice payments, stationery orders
• Ordering and maintenance of office equipment
• Financial management
• Asset Management
• Provide assistance to staff
• Assist in the recruitment process
• Special projects
• Staff management

Related Achievements:

I have successfully implemented or enhanced administration processes in the unit resulting in more efficient processes and work flow.