Chromebook Carts

One of the most frequent complaints we hear from classrooms is about the poor wire management in the Chromebook carts. Technology department staff as well as classroom teachers have spent many hours trying to solve this problem. It is time consuming and the solutions have not stood up well to time. The end result is wasted time every day while students struggle to retrieve and return their Chromebooks to the carts.

Because of some unused textbook funds we are able to replace the existing carts with a better designed cart that has much more effective cable management. The carts are easier to access and provide ample space for Chromebook storage.

Unfortunately there is no good way to quickly deploy the new carts without disrupting classroom instruction. We have come up with a method to deploy the carts without interrupting classroom activities but it will take several weeks to complete. If everything goes well everyone should have new carts by the beginning of May.

Please note, the Chromebook cart replacements will be in the elementary and middle school buildings only. The high school receive new carts over the last two years.

Phone System

The technology department has posted an RFP for a new district wide telephone system. This is the last major technology initiative of the current building project. We will be working with potential vendors over the next few weeks with the goal of making a recommendation at the April board of education meeting. It is anticipated that the new system will be installed over the summer and will be fully functional before the start of 2018-19 school year. Information about training opportunities will be communicated once those details have been worked out with the selected vendor.

The intention is to maintain current phone numbers and extensions as much as possible. Some of the advantages of the new system will include simplified system management, improved user access to handset and voicemail features, expanded remote access, reduced maintenance costs, and reduced operation costs. There will be many additional feature enhancements and a welcomed opportunity to bring day-to-day management functions in house thus reducing outside vendor dependence.

While a great deal of planning has gone into this project, due to its scope and scale there are bound to be unknown complications. The technology department will be working closely with the selected vendor to ensure that we stay on schedule and meet the project objectives. We will continue communications through this medium as the project progress and more information becomes available.

How to Write A Good Help Desk Ticket

Productivity will be affected by the quality of a helpdesk request. A ticket with concise, useful information can be the difference between an instant solution and one that takes hours or days. 

Not every problem is the same, which means that not every ticket requires the same level of detail.

Here are four common troubleshooting steps you can easily take before you submit a ticket:

1. Quit and restart the application where the issue occurred.
2. Reboot your device.
3. Ask around to see if the issue is unique to you; someone else might already have a solution. If the problem is widespread, report that to the helpdesk.
4. Check the knowledge base for a solution, the solution to common problems may be available in a knowledge base article.

Always tell your helpdesk team what troubleshooting steps you’ve taken and the results.

Try to Replicate the Issue - Provide information on how to recreate the problem in your ticket. Often times, the technician must recreate the error to solve it.

Proper Request Type

Categorizing a ticket correctly is important, without proper categorization, support requests lack even the most basic context. Improper categorization can mislead the helpdesk or even funnel the support request to the wrong person.

Proper Prioritization

Not all helpdesk requests are created equal. Always correctly prioritize your ticket to take some of the decision making off of the shoulders of IT. And again, the prioritization of a support request may determine who is responsible for resolving the ticket and even how the helpdesk is made aware of the issue 

Proper Ticket Subject Line

A support ticket subject line should set expectations, and if possible, enable the helpdesk agent to glance at the subject line and immediately know the issue (without being too wordy). Use relevant keywords that make it easier to find when searching/sorting. When your helpdesk is inundated with requests, a clear subject line can lead to a quicker resolution – and even help IT solve future tickets featuring similar issues.

The Importance of a Concise, Relevant, and Detailed Description

This can’t be said enough.

Usually, the difference between a poor support ticket and a great one is the details. The more detailed the ticket, the more likely it will be solved quickly and without much heavy lifting on your end.

Note: The helpdesk doesn’t need every detail, just the right ones. However, don’t be afraid to ask questions in your ticket. Your helpdesk would much rather you ask than guess and make an issue worse. If you put the work in upfront to include the right details, the rest of the process will be much more seamless. As an added bonus, the helpdesk will love you and will likely place priority on solving your tickets because they know it will include all the necessary information.

Below are some examples of helpful details you can include:

Provide Baseline Technical Details

• When in doubt, a helpdesk ticket should include the following technical details:
• What were you trying to do?
• Whay happened instead?
• When was the last time this worked (if ever)?
• If there was an error message, what did it say?
• Does this happen every time you try?
• When did you first notice this?
• Where is the computer/device located?
• What type of computer/device (Mac, PC, Chromebook, etc.)

Please don’t assume we know what you’re talking about. Be descriptive.

Providing this level of detail will go a long way with your helpdesk. Every ticket may not need this information, but it is a great starting point.

Share a Screenshot or the Exact Text of the Error Message

Your helpdesk team will be grateful if you provide a screenshot, gif, or video of your issue. If you can’t include an image, add the exact text of the error message.

A Complete and Honest Picture

Many people won’t tell the whole story when they ask for help. This only makes a resolution harder to come by. A great help desk isn’t there to judge, but rather to help. A smooth and swift resolution is critical to managing the chaos of dozens of systems and different types of equipment. The performance of the helpdesk is likely being graded on the speed and quality of ticket resolutions.

Copy Machines and Printing

Over the last year administration and the technology department conducted a review of the district copy and printing services and costs. The review process reveled some issues that needed to be resolved.

First, the per print cost was excessively high at 2.2656 cents per print. As a point of perspective, Office Depot charges 2.2 cents per print and that includes the cost of the paper. Second, much of the copier and printer fleet was old and in poor condition. Most copiers were 5 years old with some over 10 years old. Printers typically ranged from 5 years to 15 years old. Third, the lease agreements did not break out the cost of the machines and maintenance. Everything was lumped into the single per print charge. The lease agreements were also arranged to require a perpetual renewal of the entire lease agreement to replace failing equipment. It was noted that each renewal increased the per print cost and extended the lease an additional 5 years. The final observation of the review was the lack of print accountability.

The school district was printing and coping over 10 million pages a year at a cost of well over $200,000 per year and no accountability. This was a business practice that needed to be corrected and an opportunity to save money.

During the summer a RFP was release seeking proposals for upgrading our copy and print services. The district was looking for a number of goals to be addressed in the proposals. These included:

1. Updating existing copy and print equipment
2. Move copy capability closer to the classroom
3. Improving student printing capacity
4. Reduce costs, print waste 
5. Reduce the copier/printer footprint (from over 200 devices to 90 devices)

The proposals were to include the full cost of equipment and cover the cost of maintenance for the first 33 million copies which would be 3 years or more.

Proposals were submitted by 8 different companies and after careful review 3 were selected to return for interviews and demonstrations. It was determined that AB Dick's proposal best met the goals and provided the best value to the school district.

The final solution put 90 new Kyocera Multi Function Printers (MFP's) throughout the district and removed most of the existing copier and printer fleet. Implement Papercut on all new MFP's to provide accounting functions.

Some improved features include:

• Find-Me-Printing (print to a single print queue and retrieve the job from any MFP)
• Integration with Google Apps
• Automatic scanning to your G-Mail account
• Scanning directly to your Google Drive
• Printing directly from your Google Drive
• Color coping available in all buildings
• Scan to or print from a USB drive
• Simple card swipe to logon to any MFP (students use their Student ID)

The new copiers were deployed over a three week period in October. For the most part the deployment went according to schedule.

While there are many positives to this project it also has its share of difficulties. Pushing the new print driver to Mac computers was not reliable. Many computers required manual intervention by the technology department. Proper authentication is required for printing. A number of staff were not logging onto the correct wireless connection for proper authentication. In some cases the access card ID did not match what we had in the system. Some staff did not have an access card.

There are also challenges with student printing. Students also have to be authenticated correctly to print. There were some of the same issues regarding missing or incorrect student ID numbers. In the high school labs students were using a generic login account on the computers. These computers needed to be prepared so students could logon with their network account. This was new for many students which required training. Many students did not know their network password so that had to be reset. I know these lists are not all inclusive of the problems people have experienced.

Some of these issues would be difficult to anticipate, however, the technology department could have reduced the number of issues through better planning and implementation. Change is often challenging, some see it as inconvenient, and for some down right terrifying. However, change is sometimes necessary to stay up-to-date, improve processes and inefficiencies, and reduce operating costs.

Technology Department News

Welcome to the Caledonia Community Schools Technology Department News Site

This site is dedicated to providing information regarding technology department related projects, issues, and opportunities. We will post information about upcoming project plans so you will know what to expect. Status reports will be posted to keep you informed as we progress through ongoing projects. We will keep you updated about any current issues and will post information about upcoming service disruptions so you can plan accordingly. We will also post information about currently available and new technology resources that may provide exciting instructional opportunities.

We welcome feedback and general comments but do request that they are constructive and positive in nature.

I hope you find this to be a useful resource for technology related information. Thank you!