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The Operations Division and the C.O.O.
The Chief Operations Officer is responsible for overseeing the proper running of the Operations Division, each of which’s teams are headed by a manager. Each manager’s role is to ensure that his or her team performs its given tasks satisfactorily, and reports to the C.O.O. The Operations Division is comprised of the Launch Team, Legal, Finance, Human Resources (H.R.), Public Relations (P.R.), Business Development (B.D.), Information and Facilities and Assets. The roles of each of these teams are outlined below:

  1. Finance
    The Finance Team is responsible for maintaining reserves of cash held with the University in School accounts, or bank accounts. It is responsible for receiving invoices for goods and services from various units of U.L.S.S.D. (approved by the relevant Executive) and ensuring that the corresponding exchange of funds is made. The Finance Manager ensures that accurate and timely records are kept of any such transaction, and must be able to produce a Financial Report to present to the Steering Committee or Management given reasonable notice.

  2. Human Resources
    The H.R. team is responsible for maintaining appropriate staffing levels in all Operations and Engineering Teams. Typically, this will involve recruitment drives and promoting awareness of the BLUEsat project around the University. However, the suitability and level of commitment of a member must ultimately be assessed by the appropriate division head. The H.R. executive, who runs this division, reports directly to the C.O.O.

  3. Public Relations
    The Public Relations team is responsible for U.L.S.S.D.’s external image. The P.R. executive and his or her team’s primary role is to increase public awareness of the BLUEsat project. This is done primarily by communicating with the media via the President and in partnership with UNSW’s Public Affairs and Development (P.A.D.) Unit. P.R. is also responsible for maintaining U.L.S.S.D.’s identity standards. This means that all logos, letterhead, colours and fonts used in official documentation are the responsibility of, and subject to the approval to, the P.R. Team. U.L.S.S.D.’s primary exposure to the outside world is via the Internet, and as such, the P.R. team is responsible for producing and keeping up-to-date the U.L.S.S.D./BLUEsat website. This involves analyzing the prospective audience, and gearing the website so as to capture the interest of each.

  4. Business Development
    The B.D. Team is distinct from the Finance Team in its role to seek out funding from the University, and sponsorship from external businesses. The role of the B.D. executive and his or her team is to regularly make contact with businesses and University staff in order to secure funding for U.L.S.S.D. and ultimately the BLUEsat project. Newly acquired funding is handed over to the Finance division, which will undertake the transfer of funds. Where there is exchange of goods and services, the relevant team leader will take delivery of such. The B.D. team works closely with the P.R. team regarding promotional material, and staffing stalls at various business-oriented conferences, CeBIT being an example. The B.D. executive maintains regular communications with the C.O.O., who is responsible for the division’s activities.

  5. Legal
    The Legal Team is responsible for keeping abreast of legal issues concerning U.L.S.S.D. and its project. This includes Import and Export regulations, international treaty obligations, launch insurance requirements, and Intellectual Property (IP). The Legal executive, preferably a person with some legal background, regularly advises the C.O.O. and the President regarding these matters of importance. The Legal Team works with the various other teams to ensure that U.L.S.S.D. is operating with the law and the regulations of the University. The Chief Legal Officer manages the team, and is responsible to the C.O.O.

  6. Information
    The purpose of the Information team is to maintain records of various aspects of operations. Led by the Information Manager, this team’s prime responsibility is to maintain the information standards of U.L.S.S.D. to ensure the continuity and integrity of U.L.S.S.D’s information storage and retrieval systems. This mainly involves creating and maintaining databases for various data such as personnel records, theses completed, etc.. The Information team co-operates with the P.R. team on website development in order to produce an information-driven website.

  7. Facilities and Assets
    The Facilities and Assets division, managed by the Facilities and Assets Manager, is responsible for the acquisition and maintenance of both the physical property owned by U.L.S.S.D and the software operating on the computers. This includes the rooms and furniture, the computers, tools and satellite hardware owned by U.L.S.S.D. Purchases to replace, improve or supply assets, both tangible and virtual (i.e. software) must be first approved by the C.O.O. The Facilities division handles requests from throughout the organization for adjustment or movement of U.L.S.S.D. assets. The Facilities division is responsible for the operational state of the numerous computers and other items of technology and parts thereof around U.L.S.S.D.\BLUEsat premises. Core servers are kept in good state, well protected from external threat, and available to all U.L.S.S.D. members as much of the time as possible (i.e. downtime minimized). In addition, the team ensures that software running on the computer hardware available is kept operational and up-to-date. Finally, backups of all computer-based work, and server states, are regularly made and properly archived. The Facilities and Assets Manager manages all areas of his or her team, and reports to the C.O.O. regularly.

  8. Launch
    The Launch Team, headed by the Launch Officer, is responsible for coordinating all of the various elements of the Launch Campaign. This involves , with the President, liaising with the Launch Services Provider, as well as with C.O.O. and C.T.O. to ensure that the various requirements of the Launch Campaign, both Technical and Operational, are fulfilled. This team works closely with the legal team.

The current Operations Division executives are:

Chief Operations Officer:Garth Law
Finance Executive:
Human Resources Executive:
Public Relations Executive:
Buiness Development Executive:
Legal Executive:
Information Executive:
Facilities Executive:Geoffrey Lee
Launch Executive:

About UsOrganizationOperationsAuthor: Vaenthan Thiru
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Last Modified: August 28 2005 10:43:58.