Geek Speak – October 27th, 2017

Technology Services News and Updates – October 27^th, 2017

Happy Friday! Welcome to our weekly Technology Services newsletter for Hammersmith®! We hope you all had a good week.

There are several projects we are currently working on to assist other departments with completion and preparation for some exciting upgrades and changes through the end of the year.

WEEK IN SUMMARY

1. The new Ehammersmith.com is in place and complete!

We hope you all have taken a moment to check out our new corporate website. The site is very clean and professional and much more in line with who we are!

2. Assistance with Streamline rental management system for Summit County
3. Removal of unused servers and old data from our production environment
4. Setup of connection between our network users and our new ticketing system, Samanage

UPCOMING PROJECTS

5. Regular Friday maintenance tonight, October 27^th, 2017

We are continuing our regular, calendared maintenance on systems and network tonight from 10:00 PM to 2:00 AM. By working on a consistent and standardized basis we will be able to get in front of any updates, issues, and preparation for new projects. The items for this week are:

• Virtual Server prep and changes to prepare for upgrades
• RUN update and repair
• Server 2012 upgrades to servers – 5 servers
• Jenark maintenance, repair, and security improvement
• Active Directory prep and cleanup in anticipation of upgrades to our Domain Controllers
• General windows and server software updates, patches, and cleanup

During our maintenance window servers, data, and connections to the network will be unavailable. EMAIL AND PILERA WILL CONTINUE FUNCTIONING AS USUAL.

6. Streamline Rental Management Software and new explorethesummit.com website

Our new system for managing and accepting rentals in Summit County is almost complete! This will include a much improved website at explorethesummit.com as well as improved management of our units in Summit County. We are currently working with our new provider, Streamline, to complete outstanding items and training so we can begin using this exciting tool. Stay tuned!

7. SmartWebs transition of Associations beginning

SmartWebs, our new, mobile, and user-friendly system for managing and communicating architecturals, violations, and work orders, is in the process of being setup for live use. The first 25 Associations will be in and live by the third week of November. The SmartWebs Task Force has been working diligently on this implementation and are focused on completing this transition by the end of 2017!

8. New Technical Support and Business Center ticketing system, Samanage, beginning on November 15^th

We continue working on the implementation of our new ticketing system, Samanage. Our current focus is on connecting the system to our internal user directory for ease of use and function. Ben will be communicating more on training and information, including the new web portal for adding tickets, over the next several days.

CHANGES TO EXPECT

• November 15^th is the start date in our new system
• We will be posting training information and how-to items to MyHMI next week
• Your login for the new ticketing will be the same as your network login – 1 less password to remember!
• The new system will have a web portal for ticket submission to improve communication and accuracy of assistance. This will be linked on MyHMI
• We are working on templates for new users and other automated processes to improve efficiency

9. Server Upgrades

We are in the midst of our server upgrades to Server 2012! Tonight will be our first grouping of production servers moving to this new operating system. The first several servers will be non-impacting to users from a day to day perspective, however, we will be communicating with everyone regarding the upgrade of our HMI-REM servers and Domain Controllers as this will change some of the look, feel, and function of those environments

10. OFFICE 365

We are still working through determining a partner to assist us with this project as it is a huge endeavor to move all our mailboxes, distribution groups, calendars, and Outlook functions from one provider to another. While we do that we are working on the necessary changes to our network and environment to prepare for a clean transition. As a user, several items will be improved in our system including:

• Upgrade of all computers to the most recent version of Office 2016
• Cloud storage of K Drive documents for better use of our internal data storage environment
• Skype for Business Instant Messaging for internal communication
• Office 365 Email with better security, tools, and appearance

11. Network upgrades and improvements

Our network connectivity upgrades are continuing and we are now working with Comcast on hard dates for implementation at all our satellite offices. We are currently looking at the 2^nd-3^rd week of November as the time frame for these onsite implementations to take place and will communicate hard date and times to each office as we receive them from Comcast. These upgrades will allow us to have a private, secure, connection from each office to Inverness and our Data Center without having to go through an Internet tunnel. It will increase the speed of file opening and transfers inside the network and will separate our Internet traffic from inside the network for better management and security.

12. Preparation for removal of RUN by end of 2017!

With the upgrades and changes taking place with the above-mentioned systems and software, we are beginning the preparation of our systems for the removal of RUN from production! As we progress we will keep everyone informed. The data and information will continue to be available for some time but the active use of RUN will cease by the end of 2017.

SECURITY AND HAMMERSMITH

As we progress with our system updates and changes, the importance of security and data protection is vital to our company. The implementation of the numerous web-based systems we are using makes security even more crucial. To that end we ask that all of you be mindful of your workstations and LOCK YOUR COMPUTER when you leave for any period of time.

This is a simple process and protects you and the company from a person using your computer if you are not there.

Technology Services will be on the lookout for unlocked computers and will be giving you an obvious reminder should we find unlocked systems. Thank you!

 

As we continue with the changes and improvements here at Hammersmith®, we want to keep the Technology Services Mission in everyone’s mind:

Technology Services provides secure, reliable, and integrated technology solutions in alignment with Company goals,

while delivering excellence in customer service. In support of this mission, we will:

Partner with the Hammersmith® community to understand the information technology needs of staff and clients.

Provide leadership and planning for the effective and strategic use of emerging technologies.

Demonstrate technical and operational excellence through a commitment to professionalism and continuous improvement.

 

We hope you all have a great weekend!