Should also apply to Swedish Schools (?)
School is out and summer is finally here! While it seems that everyone is on vacation, there is at least one department that is working overtime this summer–the IT department. Summer is the busiest time for IT professionals in the education sector, who are working endlessly to prepare the networks, IT assets, and all of the technologies for the new school year.
In an effort to help IT managers optimize these important summer months, SysAid (News - Alert) Technologies, a global provider of help desk solutions, offers 10 tips for IT Professionals to optimize their IT environments ahead of the 2011-2012 school year. 1. Implement a Password Self-Service Tool: Enable end users to quickly and securely reset passwords and unlock their accounts without intervention from the IT staff. This will dramatically reduce the number of service requests submitted by your end users. Leading analyst firms report that around 40% of calls to the typical help desk are related to password reset or lockout.
2. Clean Out Unused Accounts and Other Unnecessary Clutter: Review your lists of services and equipment, check their relevance, and purge unnecessary or dormant accounts and services. This will enable you to work more efficiently and prevent you from having to filter through irrelevant clutter. 3. Run a Quick Checkup with Your Suppliers and Software Vendors: Check for updates, new product releases, and new services in order make the most of your software and not fall behind.
4. Proactively Replace Old Equipment: Replace old or damaged equipment before it breaks down during the year. This will help prevent unnecessary costs and hassles in the long-run.
5. Automate Repetitive Tasks: Use scripts and group policies to automate repetitive tasks. This will improve productivity, reduce human error, and free up work time for more imperative needs.
With Microsoft (News - Alert) Active Directory, [http://microsoft-news.tmcnet.com/]you can map network printers automatically to users, and customize users' desktops and common application settings using group policies, ensuring that users receive everything they need. Likewise, you can create restricted desktop environments for students with limited access based on their group membership, OUs location, or site belonging. Investing in this infrastructure will allow you to create new users in seconds and easily grant or deny access. 6. Ensure Your Backup: It is critical that you review your backup strategy and test your backup consistency. Invest in a solid backup solution for both your personal laptops and servers in the workplace. Unless a backup solution is tested on a regular basis, there is a strong chance it will not be reliable when it is needed, which could result in disastrous consequences. While this important task is often postponed during the year for one reason or another, summer is an ideal time to ensure that your backup systems are operating correctly.
7. Proactive Monitoring: Experienced administrators understand the importance of preventing problems before they happen, rather than simply reacting to a problem. Make sure to implement a strong monitoring solution that will alert you of a problem before it affects end- users. Take the time to identify equipment, services, and applications in need of close monitoring and then define acceptable warnings and critical levels for those systems, as well as relevant points of contact for notifications.
8. Document Everything: Get on top of things by documenting everything. While its one of the least favorite parts of the job, documentation is an important tool for ensuring success. Routine documentation will prevent you from overlooking information,will help increase your knowledge, and will allow you to better delegate responsibilities to others on your team. 9. Enrichment Courses, Certifications, and Self-Instruction: Keep your finger on the pulse by staying fresh and up-to-date regarding the systems that you and your team use. Learn new skills and apply industry best practices to handle day-to-day problems more effectively by taking advantage of the many opportunities available.
10. Take a Vacation: While this summer will be filled with dozens of activities in preparation for the new year, it’s important to take a step back and recharge yourself before classes begin. Hopefully, the pre-emptive measures you take will help to offset some of the future challenges, but it’s important to take some time off to recuperate before the help desk requests come rolling in.
/Swedish:/ Obsevera nyhetsbrevet (Microsoft) som nämns ovan, iaf en självklarhet för NSNB (Nya Skönsmons Nyhets Byrå) >>
http://microsoft-news.tmcnet.com/
