As the largest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, with an annual operating budget of $110 billion, the U.S. Army needed a state-of-the-art financial management system to optimally support its warfighters and adhere to congressionally mandated governance procedures. The Army chose Accenture to help design, build, test, deploy and maintain the new system, named the General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS).
Read the diary entries below to learn about the experiences of Accenture interns staffed on this project. Comments posted by the writers do not necessarily reflect the position of Accenture on any specific subject.
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By Lindsay MillerNetworking skills are essential to being successful at Accenture -- and they are nothing like what I had previously assumed. I used to think networking was a tactic that one used to get something from someone else. To me, networking held a negative connotation. It was removed, disconnected and somewhat impersonal. I never associated meeting new people and making friends with networking. That was, until I came to Accenture.
One good thing about Accenture is that it is a very flat organization. Meaning that, other than by maybe dress code or office location, it is difficult to tell a consultant apart from an executive. This type of environment is very conducive to being able to communicate with coworkers of all backgrounds.
Since I am new to the GFEBS project, I often have to seek help from different teams, ranging from the project management team to GFEBS security, which is the team that handles all our government system access needs. As I expand my network and get to know more people, I find that it becomes easier to get the help I need. Not only do I feel more comfortable asking questions of people I know, it also eliminates some of the “hunting” time I have to do in order to pursue the answers I need.
As interns, we are encouraged to attend events that help us network with one another outside of work. It is now nearly a month into our assignment and we have already had several activities, including a driving range outing and a sports night. Having lived in the DC Metro area nearly all my life, I thought there were few places I left unexplored. Turns out, I was wrong. To my surprise, yet to come is a Ghost Tour in Old Town Alexandria, a night out at a DC Comedy Club and a Washington Nationals Game.
Posted July 27
By Brittnee Robinson
The SAP Performance Test Analyst will be responsible for testing various components within the SAP architecture. These responsibilities will include, but are not limited to, the following:
So here is my breakdown of what I do. I work on the Performance Test team on the GFEBS project with two other analysts, who are nearly my age, and a consultant. Before an application is deployed for public use, it has to go through a series of testing processes. The purpose of our group is to measure the throughput and response times of the system during multiple, simultaneously executed business events. My group works closely with other testing groups because the application must be functionally correct before performance tests can be carried out. To implement these tests, we use a software program to develop scripts that simulate common tasks of the end user. Our goal is to stress the application so much that it fails. I have been told that the system has been pretty stable during testing and no failure has been reported. We have a performance-testing period scheduled for later this month. I will keep you posted on what happens!
Posted July 21, 2009
By John Lindner
It won’t surprise you to learn that whenever the Army spends any money on anything, for any reason, the transaction is tracked. Prior to Accenture’s collaboration with the Army, several incompatible financial systems kept track of these transactions. Now, one system, the General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS), makes it possible for the Army’s finances to be audited (as per the Defense Appropriations Act of 2002), and also for the record of any purchase to be made available in real time. So when the Army base in Qatar buys something, the Army base in Arlington can know about it right that instant. And that ”something” might be as innocuous as a Black Hawk helicopter or as critical to the Army’s mission as hardcover copies of The Republic.
For the GFEBS project, Accenture is implementing a software solution called SAP. GFEBS is the largest such implementation in the world. As the project matures, we propose many changes to our client to insure that our work is as valuable to them as it can be. The proposed changes include new functionalities, changes in scope, etc., and the Army incorporates some of them into its goals for the project, and others it sets aside. Not surprisingly, though, every change must be communicated to the Army from the team that proposes the change. That’s where I come in.
As an intern analyst on the Configuration Management team, I make sure that the change request the Army sees is exactly the change that the requesting team wants to make. That means talking to other members of the Configuration Management team, talking to our Army counterpart and talking to the people who actually proposed the change in the first place. After I have all the information I need, I prepare a PowerPoint presentation and take it to the weekly meeting between Accenture and the Army where the proposed changes are decided upon. Another member of the CM team runs through the change requests while I record the Army’s disposition on each one. If the request is approved, the responsible team immediately begins implementing the changes. And these changes might be as minute as spelling corrections in governing documents or as monumental as multimillion-dollar expenditures (usually on hardcover copies of The Republic).
That’s my role right now, but the opportunities I have to try my hand at other things are nearly overwhelming. Over the course of the past week, my team and I have taken a critical look at the process I described above. We asked questions like: How can we move urgent change requests through our system more quickly? How does each step we take increase the value of our work? We asked and answered those questions because we recognize what an important role we play in the GFEBS project, and we want our work for this client to be all it can be. But at Accenture, that’s not surprising.
Posted July 20, 2009
By Lindsay Miller
I am studying to be a Mechanical Engineer and, before coming to Accenture, I was only familiar with what a typical engineer’s job consisted of - design, redesign, testing, and more design. When it came time to find a summer job, I knew I wanted something different. I was never completely dissatisfied with my other internships, but I also never felt content doing the same tasks day in and day out. I knew that if I continued in these roles, I would probably become specialized at a certain task and carry it out for a good portion of my career. Now, I don’t know about you, but doing the same thing every day is not something that particularly appeals to me!
I am a social person. While I enjoy testing in a lab, I prefer not to have to do it alone. At Accenture, I do testing, but it is in a room with my whole project team. Someone is always around to talk about last night’s hockey game or a rerun of So You Think You Can Dance. It is not infrequent that I find I have strong commonalities with the people I work with – already, I have found people to golf, kayak, and even scuba dive with!
While I felt strongly about interning for Accenture, I was also worried that my engineering background would not be sufficient. People typically associate consulting with business, an area I felt I knew little about. Turns out, I am surrounded by people with all different types of backgrounds, from philosophy to civil engineering. Everyone has a unique opinion or idea to bring to the team, making us as well-rounded and strong as we can be.
Your job at Accenture is what you make of it. With a large network and access to an endless amount of training and resources, you can seek out where you feel most comfortable. If that happens to get old, you simply begin the search again!
Posted: June 25, 2009
Of all the internships that I have participated in during my college career, Accenture has so far provided me with the most opportunities to build my networking skills and gain hands-on experience in a corporate environment. The evening preceding our first day, a welcome dinner was held in honor of the interns. There, I was able to meet my senior project manager, senior executives, and other interns. The first two days of the internship consisted of orientation, where we learned more about Accenture and its core values. Most of the presentations were given by senior executives which I thought was pretty neat since they have such busy schedules. On the third day, the interns dispersed to their respected client sites where we were able to meet our teams and learn more about our specific duties.
For the summer, I will serve as an SAP Performance Test Analyst at the Army GFEBS client site. To be honest, I never heard of SAP before coming into this role; however, my team has been very supportive by helping me get acquainted with the project. I really enjoy the fact that I am not assigned busy work, but tasks that contribute to the project in a meaningful way. Oh and did I forget to mention that my team is AWESOME? Everyone is very approachable and always happy to answer any questions that I may have. They truly live up to the “work hard, play hard” motto by hosting team dinners and other social events throughout the week. I enjoy coming to work and hardly find myself watching the clock. Lastly, I am getting a taste of Accenture’s flexible work schedule by working Fridays from home- how neat is that! So far, I am impressed with the work environment and overall employee morale at Accenture. This should prove to be one exciting summer!
Posted: June 24, 2009
I began this internship expecting to learn many things. After only a few days on the job, I’ve already discovered a lot about what it means to work at Accenture. But the two things I most want to gain from my internship experience are an understanding of how the problem solving abilities I developed in school translate to skills that I can use in consulting, and how leadership can be exemplified in a corporate setting.
Anyone who has sought out a job in the consulting industry has often seen phrases like ‘problem solving abilities’ and ‘critical analysis skills’. I think my education has afforded me the opportunity to develop those traits, but not always in ways that will obviously help me thrive in the business world. My major is in Philosophy, so I can tell you a lot about ethics, or metaphysics, and the arguments of many scholars in those fields. Studying such topics entails a great deal of critical thinking. But how will that kind of thinking help me in my work with Accenture? By the end of the summer, I plan to be able to answer that question with firsthand experience (and not just the number of times I quoted Plato in a meeting!).
Here’s another question: What does leadership mean at Accenture? Right now, I would define leadership with reference to my experiences in various student organizations or my involvement with the Boys Scouts of America. I get the impression, though, that kayak expeditions are a rare thing on my project. So how will my understanding of leadership change with my experience as an Accenture intern? Considering the exceptional people I have been placed with, I think I will be in a good position to answer that question, too. Stay tuned.