Geek Speak – January 5th, 2018
Technology Services News and Updates – January 5th, 2018
Happy Friday! Welcome to the first Geek Speak of the New Year!
As we kick off 2018 we are focused on several specific projects and systems for the 1st Quarter.
THIS WEEKS PROJECTS
Meltdown and Spectre
As many of you I’m sure saw in the news and on the internet, we were actively working to protect against this newly discovered issue which impacts pretty much any computer made since 1995.
We have made the necessary updates to all of our Inverness office, Servers, and Loveland offices and are completing out Colorado Springs, Northglenn, and Summit the next couple of days.
FOR YOUR PERSONAL COMPUTERS
Windows 10 and Mac OS have already released updates to protect against Meltdown. Please make sure you run updates on your personal computer.
For Windows 7 and Windows 8 Users, the updates will be included for your computers Tuesday, January 9th as part of automated updates.
Although this security issue has not been used to actually attack anyone it was important for us to do all we could to make sure we were protected.
PROJECT IMPACTS AND STATUS
- Regular Friday maintenance tonight, December 29th, 2017
Because we worked on much of our maintenance and updates to protect against the Meltdown/Spectre scare, our regular maintenance schedule tonight will be from 10:00 PM to Midnight.
We are working general maintenance items and Office 365 preparation
– AntiVirus updates and maintenance
– Office 365 environment downloads, permissions, and prep for January 9th
During our maintenance window servers, data, and connections to the network will be unavailable. PILERA AND EMAIL WILL CONTINUE FUNCTIONING AS USUAL.
- Office 365 Email
Because of the work that was necessary for the Meltdown/Spectre issues, The move of our Email accounts and system to Office 365 will be completed for all users NEXT WEDNESDAY – THURSDAY, January 10th and 11th! To accommodate additional scheduled items and travel for some of the IT team we had to delay by a week. This will be a very intense time of work for the IT Team on both days and will take all day and much of the night.
WHAT TO EXPECT AND PREPARE FOR
The night of Wednesday, January 10th, we will be moving our primary email location over to Office 365. During the day on Wednesday we will be downloading copies of all active Mailboxes to be moved over starting that night and into January 11th.
The morning of January 11th we will be working with everyone to ensure that old emails, calendar items, and setup of your email account in Outlook is successful. The process will be simple but will take time. We will be providing instructional screenshots and steps to everyone for Outlook, Android, and IOS phones on Monday, January 8th so you can setup the new connection.
IMPORTANT
Your old emails and information WILL be transferred over to the new environment, HOWEVER, it will take some time for all of them to show up in your Outlook and will be updating throughout the day on Thursday, January 11th. The IT Team will be working these transitions in a priority order starting with CAMS.
- SmartWebs
The SmartWebs team is actively working on the continued setup of our Associations in SmartWebs.
Training for the use of SmartWebs has been scheduled starting January 16th and CAMs and Community Care have been invited. Make sure to look at the dates and times as you receive them.
- GRID AP
GRID AP, our new invoice and check processing system for our clients, is in place on our servers and Accounting will be working with GRID AP next week to begin training and learning how to use this system.
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!
