Challenge description My work is heavily focussed on designing and improving administrative processes and generating new ideas to increase administrative efficiency . I work for a recruitment agency that has been using the same manual and labour - intensive administrative processes for a long time . My challenge is to find ways to cut or automate these processes . For example , all of our recruits are required to undertake a vetting process prior to signing their contracts . For purely technical reasons , this vetting process has been manually completed for every recruit by our administration staff on behalf of the recruit . This requires significant repetitive data entry and takes time away from other tasks . The challenge was to overcome the technical constraints and automate or shift the labour of this task to the recruit . 

 Tool selection 

 For this task , and many others in my work , I used the visualisation tool , as explained by Angela Meyer in week one of the course . I find visualisation one of the best ways to describe a process or workflow using shapes , arrows and text . It helps my team and I to work collaboratively to show where there are unnecessary steps or where tasks could be moved or altered . It also allows to show connections and interactions between people and systems and to quickly sketch required software improvements . 

 Application and insight 

 In this case I first independently diagrammed the current process that I had learned from key users ( the same people who would benefit from improvements to the process ) . I then gathered relevant team members and we began to diagram a new process on the whiteboard . We thought about the best - case scenario and what technical fixes would be required to make the new options work . If we were to take our staff out of the workflow , what software and systems changes would we need , what would they look like and how could they be implemented ? 

 I was pleased that this approach allowed our team to create a solution to a problem that had previously been assumed unsolvable . It gave us a clear way forward for implementation , who to go to for implementation and what the next steps were . One key insight is that if you take only a small amount of time to visualise a challenge , rather than just discuss or write about it , it can clarify and crystalise the key elements which can help generate a solution . Having a visual can also help you to explain the issue and solution to people further down the process ( tech and software people , for example , as well as eventual end users ) . 

 Alternative approach 

 I believe this approach is the best for this type of problem . It makes collaboration and innovation easier and makes sure everyone understands the challenge in the same way . If I were to do this again , the only thing I would change would be to visualise earlier . A lot of time can be wasted on discussing ( verbally and in email ) when a quick visualisation session can get to the heart of the problem and generate a solution . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Challenge description My work is heavily focussed on designing and improving administrative processes and generating new ideas to increase administrative efficiency . I work for a recruitment agency that has been using the same manual and labour - intensive administrative processes for a long time . My challenge is to find ways to cut or automate these processes . For example , all of our recruits are required to undertake a vetting process prior to signing their contracts . For purely technical reasons , this vetting process has been manually completed for every recruit by our administration staff on behalf of the recruit . This requires significant repetitive data entry and takes time away from other tasks . The challenge was to overcome the technical constraints and automate or shift the labour of this task to the recruit . 

 Tool selection 

 For this task , and many others in my work , I used the visualisation tool , as explained by Angela Meyer in week one of the course . I find visualisation one of the best ways to describe a process or workflow using shapes , arrows and text . It helps my team and I to work collaboratively to show where there are unnecessary steps or where tasks could be moved or altered . It also allows to show connections and interactions between people and systems and to quickly sketch required software improvements . 

 Application and insight 

 In this case I first independently diagrammed the current process that I had learned from key users ( the same people who would benefit from improvements to the process ) . I then gathered relevant team members and we began to diagram a new process on the whiteboard . We thought about the best - case scenario and what technical fixes would be required to make the new options work . If we were to take our staff out of the workflow , what software and systems changes would we need , what would they look like and how could they be implemented ? 

 I was pleased that this approach allowed our team to create a solution to a problem that had previously been assumed unsolvable . It gave us a clear way forward for implementation , who to go to for implementation and what the next steps were . One key insight is that if you take only a small amount of time to visualise a challenge , rather than just discuss or write about it , it can clarify and crystalise the key elements which can help generate a solution . Having a visual can also help you to explain the issue and solution to people further down the process ( tech and software people , for example , as well as eventual end users ) . 

 Alternative approach 

 I believe this approach is the best for this type of problem . It makes collaboration and innovation easier and makes sure everyone understands the challenge in the same way . If I were to do this again , the only thing I would change would be to visualise earlier . A lot of time can be wasted on discussing ( verbally and in email ) when a quick visualisation session can get to the heart of the problem and generate a solution .
### Output: 