Geek Speak November 10th, 2017

Technology Services News and Updates – November 10th, 2017

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

It’s been another busy week! Here are some updates for this week and heading into next. BE SURE TO REVIEW TONIGHTS MAINTENANCE ITEMS, THERE ARE SOME SERVICES THAT WILL BE IMPACTED!

WEEK IN SUMMARY AND IMPORTANT REMINDERS

1. Network Storage and File cleanup

Thanks to everyone who helped push this over the finish line. We now have a clean, modern, and up to date rental management system with Streamline. Check out our new website for rentals at explorethesummit.com.

2. PILERA Use and Reminders

The use of Activity Logs and Notes in Pilera is now in full swing. John White sent out an instructional last week on how to use this feature of Pilera. IT IS CRITICAL THAT WE USE PILERA FOR ALL ACTIVITY LOGS AND NOTES INSTEAD OF RUN. As we drive towards our goal of removing RUN by the end of this year we must ensure all data is getting put into Pilera. Thank you.

TEXT AND PHONE COMMUNICATIONS
We are currently working with Pilera on the pricing and setup of TEXT and Phone communications. Until we are able to get this fully implemented and determined please be sure you are SELECTING EMAIL ONLY for your communications. Thank you.

UPCOMING PROJECTS

3. Regular Friday maintenance tonight, November 10th, 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:

• IMPORTANT – Domain name changes to ehammersmith.com for Office 365 project – THIS WILL MAKE EMAIL INACCESSIBLE FOR 30-45 minutes between Midnight and 1 AM
• Virtual Server Upgrade
• New Domain Controller build and setup for Server 2012
• Jenark coupon and ach data prep
• Continued Active Directory cleanup
• General windows and server software updates, patches, and cleanup
• Phone system maintenance and cleanup
• Run and Jenark maintenance and cleanup

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

4. 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. Managers are currently working on submitting the necessary information for their associations to take the first group of Associations live. As we receive confirmation from SmartWebs of setup completion we will inform everyone of the Associations that are live.

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

Our Samanage rollout is next Wednesday, November 15^th.  If you haven’t already, you will be receiving a Samanage activation email early next week.  Click on the link inside the email to set your password (feel free to make it the same as your network password if it’s easier to remember) and then click around the portal to familiarize yourself.  This portal allows you to view/manage tickets you’ve submitted to IT.  Don’t submit any tickets through the portal until Wednesday, as they will not be noticed.

6. Server Upgrades

We are in the middle of our server upgrades to Server 2012! We are working tonight on building and installing a new Domain Controller that will transition us over to Office 365 and Server 2012. After this we will begin working on the HMI-REM environment and Servers.

7. OFFICE 365

We are working with Microsoft directly to transition our Microsoft Office and Exchange Email to Office 365. We are currently working on the setup of our Domain Names and structure for the transition of our email. We are still on track to complete this by the end of 2017. As a reminder, you will experience the following benefits:

• 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

 

8. 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.

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!