My Volunteer Experience - Jacinta Jiawei Qi | SAcommunity

Submitted by Volunteer Jacin... on Tue, 09/17/2024 - 19:58

Welcome Jacinta!

Jacinta Jiawei Qi joined our SAcommunity Team as a volunteer, beginning with the team this year on the 23 August 2024. She attends for ~4 hours a week onsite at the Connecting Up office, Infoxchange around her university studies and other commitments.

Total Hours 64 This year 20 Joined 23 August 2024 Last Check-in 26 February 2025

Personal Biography

Jacinta Jiawei Qi is a second year Master student of Data Science at the University of Adelaide. She has a Bachelor in Jurisprudence from Shanghai International Studies University and a Masters in Accounting from Kent State University, Ohio. Jacinta has previously worked as an accountant and tax consultant in both China and the US. Being fascinated at how AI and software can improve the efficiency and accuracy of the daily work, she chose to study Data Science to further her interests in the analytics field. She is currently interning at Brentnalls SA Chartered Accountants and Advisers focusing on optimizing and automating their workpaper processing procedures.

Jacinta is undertaking volunteering at Infoxchange to gain some practical work experience in Australia. To both further her understanding of the local work culture, and to make new networks and connections in Adelaide. She aims to utilise her existing skill-set to work on further exploring SAcommunity's open data, and to investigate other tools and automation in the Data Analytics program to improve efficiencies for the team.

Jacinta’s career goal is become a data analyst or software engineer combining her accounting and information technology knowledge. She is eager to keep exploring how software and AI can change the world, applying the knowledge into actual use and improving or creating something that could benefit the company or even the whole community.

Image: Burnside Council Year 2022-2023 Report

Community Services in Council Project

Jacinta has selected Burnside Council for her Power BI council reports, utilizing a database of approximately 225 community services operating in the area for the financial year 2022-2023. When completed they will be able to be found >>here and follow up reports from Stathis and Pujan.

Creating community service information data presentations involves several key steps. Jacinta began by cleaning and validating raw CSV files extracted from Google Analytics 4 and SAcommunity, utilizing both Excel functions and manual cross-checking to transform the data. Once cleaned, the data was compiled into comprehensive Excel files and summarized to highlight key trends.

Insights from Google Analytics and SAcommunity data were further visualized in Power BI, revealing data anomalies and areas needing correction. The database was then updated, and reports were re-created to reflect the improved information accurately.

Yong Kheng Beh's visit to Connecting Up 25 October 2024

Image: SAcommunity Volunteer and Intern: Flavia, Yong Kh Beh, Rex Porter, Alex Thi Ngoc Bich-Nguyen, Eily Lee Selvam, Navodani Thennakoon, Dylan Reed, Jason Chun Kwan Lam, Shoaib, Jacinta, Rajkarthic and Navodani

Digital Training & Development
Volunteers and interns have access to the Connecting Up Digital Learning Platform providing live webinars and recorded webinars, workshops and webcons presented by subject-matter experts to understand more about a range of technology topics for the not-for-profit sector.

Relevant training sessions were selected, attended, summarised and assessed by Jacinta to look at how these sessions can enhance her volunteer experience have included:

Microsoft Power Platform - Build your first app in a day

The Microsoft Power Platform is a suite of tools that enables end users to develop applications, automate workflows, analyze data and create custom solutions. Throughout this lecture, I gained proficiency in utilizing Power Apps, which is a tool designed to build applications that steamline approval workflows, facilitate model comparisons and so on.

The applications I created, in accordance with the provided instructions, allows users to compare the bubble tea options and place orders. I also create an interest form gathering information from prospective volunteers or interns.

I have been awarded a certificate of completion, which acknowledges the topics covered during the course. Furthermore, I am actively applying the skills acquired to enhance the operational efficiency of Infoxchange.

Cake and Connect - R U OK? DAY on 10 September 2024

In preparation for R U OK Day, we welcomed the opportunity to come together over cake and meaningful conversations. It served as a gentle reminder to check in with people around us and ensured the mental and emotional well-being.

We valued the relaxed environment, where we inquired about each other's feelings and shared ideas on healthy habits we can incorporate into our routines to improve our overall well-being. This simple yet impactful approach fostered a sense of connection and reinforced the importance of being mindful of one another’s health.

Volunteer Friday Group 2024