Dexter Simon completed a summer internship with Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD) in their Global Technology Services department. PPD is a leading contract research organization with over 17,000 employees globally. As an IT intern, Dexter was assigned to the Desktop Services team and helped resolve service tickets, build new computers, and draft an updated guide for configuring devices. The internship provided hands-on experience with IT systems and troubleshooting that expanded Dexter's technical knowledge and prepared him for a career in technology.

1. Dexter Simon
Summer II 2016
ISCS 492-41 Internship: Pharmaceutical Product Development, LLC.
Company Background
Pharmaceutical Product Development, LLC, otherwise referred to as PPD, is one
of few leading global contract research organizations who specialize in providing
comprehensive, integrated drug development, laboratory and lifecycle management
services. Many of the clients and partners of PPD include pharmaceutical,
biotechnological, medical device, academic and government organizations. With offices
in 46 countries and more than 17,000 professional employees around the globe, PPD
applies innovative technologies, therapeutic expertise and a firm commitment to quality
to help clients and partners bend the cost and time curve of drug development to deliver
life-changing therapies that improve health.
At PPD it is quite apparent how the technology, innovation and performance
group works closely with each other, various clientele, as well as other departments
within the company in order to help them deliver life-changing medicines in a faster, less
expensive fashion. The combination of cutting-edge technologies with streamlined
process improvement, real-time analytics and customized training to create a
comprehensive solution for any potential challenge has enabled PPD to master
bioanalysis, pharmacokinetics, and sample management.
PPD’s unique structure and approach enables them, as a whole, to measure
performance and to provide a data-driven prescription for improving the lives of
thousands. PPD does a great job at mapping and optimizing their process, developing an
enabling technology (bioanalytical instrumentation) that automates and accelerates drug

2. Dexter Simon
Summer II 2016
development, creating customized mobile and virtual training that supports both the
technology and the process, then measures performance again to restart the continuous
improvement cycle.
Global Technology Services (GTS)
During my time at Pharmaceutical Product Development, LLC I was an intern
under Mr. Charles Huckelberry. Mr. Huckelberry is the IT Manager for the teams
assigned to Desktop Services in the North American region. From the day I began my
work here on May 16, 2016, I was immediately incorporated in all team activities.
PPD’s technology services provide support and assistance on how to use
information technology (IT) as a tool to facilitate business change, transformation and
growth. As a member of the GTS team it was immediately apparent that the entire group
is committed to understanding the business perspective and applying service management
best practices to deliver the power of technology through effective IT solutions and
service support.
According to PPD’s business plan, the components and extent of Global
Technology Services are as follows:
 Technology service center – Their centralized support services provide single
point of contact for IT support to internal and external customers for all IT issues,
questions and requests. One of my primary job duties was to assist with internal
customers’ service requests.
 Incident Management – Interruptions or reduction in quality of services provided
to customers are effectively managed through the use of a ticket system to restore

3. Dexter Simon
Summer II 2016
normal service as soon as possible. First and second line support teams operate as
single, centralized entities regardless of location. The primary centralized entity
that the IT team in the Richmond, VA location worked with constantly was
located in Bulgaria, emphasizing the title Global Technology Services.
 Release Management – At PPD the engineering team manages the desktop
environment through the planning, design, build and release of desktop images
and applications. This empowers the customers (often times other employees)
with the technology to perform their job functions. Below is an example of what
the build process looks like once the laptop has been connected to the hard line
and the 64-bit processing has been selected via boot agent.
.
 Access management – We protect business information from unauthorized
disclosure through the management of access to network, systems and
applications.

4. Dexter Simon
Summer II 2016
 Operations management – We provide engineering and delivery of network,
security, servers and database administration, including availability, capacity and
IT service continuity management. The pictures below show behind the scenes of
a project I had been assigned, which was to build the Richmond location’s new
training lab for new hires:
1a. Before
1b. Before

5. Dexter Simon
Summer II 2016
2. All ports are patched
3. The end result
 Applications management – GTS Desktop Services provides application, system
and web development services; working with the business to develop innovative

6. Dexter Simon
Summer II 2016
solutions that empower employees and clients with quicker and easier access to
more integrated and trusted data.
Summary of the Internship
As an IT intern at PPD I was able to grasp concepts that I had previously been
taught but had never applied. Before this internship, I had never been exposed to a
ticketing system. When I first began my internship, I was introduced to everyone working
on the North American support team on a conference call via Voice-over-IP. Shortly after
introducing myself to the GTS team, Mr. Huckelberry, my supervisor, informed me that
the company had recently adopted a new service request system that was essentially in its
beta version. It is called Cherwell Service Management and it was quite ineffective
initially. The buffer time was long enough to aggravate customers who had submitted
tickets for servicing roughly a week prior. The cause for the delay is that the tickets
submitted would go to the centralized Desktop Services location in Bulgaria, then have to
be assigned to various teams in various locations globally. This process was very
inefficient but it was the result of the outsourcing of IT jobs from PPD’s headquarters in
Wilmington, NC.
Once I was assigned an elevated account, which granted me greater permissions
than users who were not within the IT department, I was able to begin learning skills that
I can apply to the career field I hope to penetrate. I learned a lot about trouble shooting,
brainstorming, and persistence. Before working with PPD, I was pretty confident in my
technical abilities, but this internship has expanded my knowledge on the basic
operations of my own PC. Coworkers of mine were superb at guiding me along my

7. Dexter Simon
Summer II 2016
internship as Mr. Huckelberry was stationed in Wisconsin and was not able to provide on
hands guidance. Whenever there was a new order of Lenovo laptops and desktops
arriving at our door, it was my job to give them all PPD’s corporate image, and to
configure them afterwards (pushing standard software from the server, downloading
Internet Explorer, etc.). The guide that was used to help new employees understand the
steps of the post-configuration was also out of date and the employees in the Desktop
Services department knew this. They waited for me to figure out that there are many steps
that either should be included, or had been omitted. Once I brought this discover to their
attention, they then assigned me the task of drafting a new step-by-step guide for
configuring newly acquired machines.
It was also my responsibility to ensure that the tickets I had been assigned did not
go into “breach” per the service-level agreement. This meant that I had to open and
resolve tickets before the designated deadline for each ticket. Each ticket I resolved was a
new experience for me. Most of the time when I asked a coworker how to do something,
they would say something along the lines of “Go over there and try it yourself first so you
can learn”. At times this was quite frustrating as it seemed like they did not want to help
me, but it proved to be a very successful way of learning the world of IT.
While working with the Cherwell system, I learned a lot about the relationship
between the Desktop Services team and the people they support. Often times the effort of
IT support teams goes unrecognized and underappreciated. Users would knock on our
door and demand us to service them, which is outside of protocol. Everyone on site
knows that in order to reap the advantages of its services, a service request ticket must be
submitted. I discovered that the reasoning behind this procedure was to ensure that all

8. Dexter Simon
Summer II 2016
Desktop Services team members would receive credit for the work they had and so that
order among customers would be maintained.
Conclusion
Initially, I was a slightly hesitant to accept this internship as it would require
much travel from Farmville, VA to Richmond, VA. However I am glad that I accepted
this opportunity. This opportunity was afforded to me because of what I have been taught
at Longwood University. The information I have obtained here enabled me to be able to
apply knowledge and skills in a real world setting, and simultaneously gave me the
capacity to absorb knowledge and gain skills that I did not already have. This experience
had given me confidence that I can perform in the field of technology as a professional.
Overall I have learned so much more about hardware, software, and how they relate and
translate to the business world than I ever thought I would at Pharmaceutical Product
Development, LLC.