Shadow Planner Users Group Meeting 2/23/12

Transcription

1 Updates Michael McLaughlin from Information Systems and Computing s Technology Support Services (TSS) department spoke about how TSS can help University wide departments with loss of technology. The text of his presentation is attached at the end of this document, but here are some highlights. The Provider Desk, or ProDesk, in available to help Local Support Providers (LSPs) Monday through Friday during regular business hours, 9 am to 5 pm. After business hours, an LSP can call the ProDesk number and will be have the option to be transferred to someone who is on call for emergencies. Queries to the ProDesk are either answered by a ProDesk team member or distributed to someone else in ISC. ProDesk team members then manage the query to make sure it is answered in a timely fashion. Most are resolved within 1 2 days. In an emergency or Mission Continuity situation, the primary role of the Provider Desk will be to relay information, and you should have detailed mission continuity plans to cover for loss of technology that don t rely on ProDesk assistance. However, the ProDesk does have considerable resources to help plan for an emergency. To prevent loss of information, TSS offers a Secure Remote Backup service. TSS is also the parent organization of ISC Support On Site (SOS). Schools and Centers can engage these technology specialists either on an ongoing basis (if you prefer not to hire your own LSP for any reason) or as back ups in an emergency. In the latter situation, it s best to establish a relationship with SOS now rather than wait for the emergency to happen. TSS also provides security consulting, including Platinum level support for Symantec anti virus software. Reminders Getting help In person meetings: Janet Plantan and Anita Gelburd, of the Mission Continuity Program team, are happy to meet with staff members from your unit to talk about how best to construct Mission Continuity plans and enter them into Shadow Planner. Just e mail Anita at gelburda@isc.upenn.edu to set up a convenient time. Questions: Any questions about Mission Continuity planning or using Shadow Planner can be directed to askmc@lists.upenn.edu. Mission Continuity website: Remember that the Mission Continuity website ( has many useful tools, both for organizations that are constructing plans and those who have already constructed them and loaded them in Shadow Planner. Here are some highlights: Page 1 of 5

2 o The Pre Planning Questionnaire: use this tool to gather information before constructing a plan. You can use it to conduct interviews, or fill one or more questionnaires out for each department that needs a plan. o A plan template: use this to help construct Mission Continuity plans in Excel. You can make trial scenarios and changes in the spreadsheet, so that plans are in good condition when they are loaded into Shadow Planner. o A Lessons Learned/Best Practices report template: after your organization experiences an outage or incident you may want to debrief to think about what worked well and what worked not so well and whether you want to make any changes in your plan. The website contains a template for such a process. This is not required; it s just there as a tool if you d like to use it. o User group meeting notes: In case you miss one of the monthly user group meetings, or you d like to review what was discussed, notes from each monthly meeting are posted on the website. Using Shadow Planner Usernames for Shadow Planner: Your username to enter Shadow Planner is your full e mail address, not your PennKey username. If for any reason you are locked out of the system, send a message to askmc@lists.upenn.edu and we will help you sort out the problem. Recommended browser: The recommended browser for using Shadow Planner is Internet Explorer, version 5.5, 6 or 7. In the new version, which is expected to be released sometime this winter, other browsers are supported. Accessing the back up version of Shadow Planner: In case Shadow Planner is not available for some reason, you can always access a back up version at It is recommended that you bookmark this address as well as the URL for the main Shadow Planner site: Keeping Directory information updated: Remember that information in Shadow Planner is only as current as information in the Penn Directory, since Shadow Planner is updated from the Directory. Please remind everyone in your office to update their information in the Directory regularly. Go to: click on Update Directory Listings. Make sure to update the Penn Profile, Public Profile and UPenn Alert information, so all necessary data will appear in Shadow Planner. For people who have concerns about privacy, remind them that very few people have access to Shadow Planner, so private information is not being widely distributed. The next user group meeting will take place on 3/29/12 at noon, in the Meyerson Room of the Van Pelt Library (2 nd floor). Our guest presenter will be Mark Mills from Purchasing, to talk about loss of third party plans. Page 2 of 5

3 Presentation by: Michael McLaughlin, Information Systems and Computing s Technology Support Services (TSS) What is TSS? The branch of Information Systems and Computing that provides central IT support, guidance, and services to the University We are a client facing side of ISC focused on users and LSPs at the University The Pieces of TSS Client Services Group (CSG, aka ProDesk) LAN Technology Services (LTS) Support on Site Services (SOS) Technology Training Services (TTS) Classroom Technology Services (CTS) TSS and Mission Continuity Can TSS help in MC? Building No Equipment No Technology YES Human Resources YES 3 rd Party Partners In some cases The Provider Desk Second tier support o Exclusively for Local Support Providers o Staffed by senior level analysts with a broad range of experience o Close contact with ISC service owners When you contact the ProDesk Staff on call 9 5, M F Your call, , or web ticket enters a queue and is responded to in order of receipt Either your question will be immediately resolved or A Remedy ticket will be opened in your name Depending on the issue, the ticket will be held in the ProDesk queue or routed to the appropriate ISC group Page 3 of 5

4 ProDesk and Mission Continuity Network and network service related issues o ACD/Interactive Intelligence issues o Network performance and connectivity issues AirPennNet PennNet PennNet Phone ISC service issues o ISC Exchange and Zimbra services o WWW and Penn WebLogin o PennGroups o Listservs and Forward Only service Other ProDesk Functions Network administration requests o DNS records, IP space, third level domains Supported product questions and issues o Configuration and compatibility o 2 nd and 3 rd tier OS and software questions PennKey data issues Other ISC referrals Vendor referrals and escalations Preventative TSS Services Provider Web o Provider Notes Wiki o csg.upenn.edu Provider Tools o Provides best practices and other information for LSP oriented software like PGP Whole Disk Encryption, Ghost, etc. o Antivirus response and support o Platinum support with Symantec o Constant monitoring of virus, phishing, and worm threat levels o Distribution of the full suite of Symantec AV products virus@isc.upenn.edu Page 4 of 5

5 ISC LAN Technology Services LAN and server consulting services Expertise in firewalls, PGP, Active Directory, VMWare products, and more Secure Remote Backup Service o Encrypted, user configurable, iterative desktop backup o Encrypted data stored on servers at Penn o Accessible from other computers in case of emergency ISC Support on Site Services Support and technical consulting group Provides end user support, desktop and software support and management, web and database consulting, and other user services Supplemental staffing for large projects and staff shortages Feel free to contact with questions: Michael McLaughlin ISC TSS Client Services Group mvm@isc.upenn.edu Page 5 of 5