The Art and Science of Asking Questions is the Source of All Knowledge.

~Thomas Berger

With every blog I write, the process begins in a very similar way. I try to think of recent topics in the IT tech world, search for information on said topics online, then ask myself questions like “Will this be interesting” or “Do I know enough to write about this topic?” And those questions help me to shape a subject and a blog. Asking and answering questions before any task, whether it’s writing a blog or building a home, is extremely important. For instance, if you walk in to the GAP, and ask an associate to help you pick out a pair of pants, there are some questions that you might want to ask yourself before you just start pulling jeans off of the rack. What size are you? What fit are you looking for? Where are you planning to wear these pants? And you will continue to ask questions of yourself until you have narrowed down the selection to the perfect pair of pants. Now, if you had no idea what type of pants you wanted walking in to the GAP, that process might take a while. But if you know you are looking for a pair of boot cut jeans, the process becomes easier.

The same type of scenario goes in to planning your IT projects. If you walk in to a meeting with one of our Account Managers knowing you want to buy servers, but don’t know what you will use them for or specifically why you need new ones, that particular project will probably stop dead in the water until you have put together your own list of needs/wants for those servers. And while it will be the responsibility of the Account Managers and Engineers to become a trusted advisor, suggesting the right servers for your needs, it is good to ask a few specific questions of yourself before taking the next steps. Here are a few examples of great pre-project questions:

1. What are the high-level objectives of the project?

2. What are the estimated costs of the project — and the anticipated rewards?

3. Does the potential project align with the mission, vision, and values of the organization?

4. What are the risks associated with pursuing the project under consideration?

These questions help to answer the business value of your pursued project. And while this list is certainly not all encompassing, it’s a good start and will help keep the tasks at hand on track.

For more detail on those questions, see: http://www.itworld.com/it-managementstrategy/106373/project-management-4-questions-to-ask-before-starting-any-project

Erika Larson, PEI

Ground Up

Many times our business revolves around helping small to mid-size (50-2000 user) organizations design, implement and support enterprise grade solutions for their organizations. While that is the primary focus of PEI, we have also helped many smaller, start-up organizations get going from the ground up. Given the family business nature of PEI, we can understand the pains that start up go through when they are looking for that initial IT set up. Below are a few points that PEI takes into consideration when helping newer organizations get started from the ground up:

- Cloud, on premise, or combination

o Determining how you would like your company set up is critical. We can help address the pro’s and con’s of each choice so that the best decision possible can be made

- User adoption

o You must consider the “tech savvy-ness” of your workers when setting up the technical foundation of your company. Depending on how you think your workforce will react to newer technologies, the implementation plan will change to adapt to your users.

- Growth

o This is probably the biggest factor when deciding what tools to implement. While every new business owner has very lofty growth expectations, sometimes those growth expectations come with a large cost. Implementing the right solutions, with growth in mind, is the key to any technology investments an organization can make.

Arash Zadeh, PEI

Exciting System Center 2012 Features

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit Microsoft and see, first hand, some of what System Center 2012 has in store for us. For the first time, System Center components have been truly integrated, providing some unique and powerful automation capabilities.

What if Configuration Manager could automatically respond to, and remediate, an error or warning event detected by Operations Manager? What if a request for a software installation in Service Manager could be automatically carried through an approval process leading to the application being installed by Configuration Manager? What automatic virus infection remediation? Client data protection? System Center 2012 can do it all.

Still, there are a couple features that I’m really excited about, and I think warrant a little more attention.

First is Configuration Manager’s shift to a user-oriented architecture, which allows application installs to be targeted at users, not just computers. It also presents available applications based on who is searching, not which computer he or she is using. This change can really make an administrator’s life easier. We can focus on who needs access to things, rather than which device provides access (and who is in possession of that device). The new Configuration Manager bridges the gap between user and app, creating an easier administrative experience and a superior user experience.

The other feature is Operations Manager ability to monitor, natively, web apps (.NET and J2E, specifically). Operations Manager can not only inform you if your application is unavailable, it can also alert you to performance issues within the application itself. Additionally, the Operations Manager dashboard allows an administrator to delve from a physical host server, into a virtual machine, and then into web services and specific web sites and applications to identify problems within a single interface. Operations Manager can greatly simplify monitoring your systems and infrastructure and shorten time to resolution.

System Center 2012 offers many, many more capabilities as well. Hopefully, this has helped whet your appetite, as the official release is right around the corner!

Shane Skriletz, PEI

How to Backup Lync (Part 1)

A question that I am frequently asked after we get Lync installed and running is “How do we backup Lync?” This is a great question and one that is easy to answer. Thanks to the Central Management idea and Topology Builder, we only have to backup a few items in order to get the entire Lync environment backed up.

There are two crucial pieces for most environments. First is the topology itself and then secondly, we need the user’s data (Contacts, etc). To do the first piece, we use Export-CsConfiguration from the Lync Management Shell. An example:

Export-CsConfiguration -FileName MyTopologyBackup.zip

To backup the users data, we need to use the dbimpexp.exe tool. This tool is available in the root folder of the Lync Server installation media. It is also installed at \Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Lync Server 2010\Support as part of the Core Components. Here is an example of how to run the dbimpexp.exe command:

Dbimpexp.exe /hrxmlfile:<path and backup file name> /sqlserver:<SQL Server FQDN>\<instance name>

dbimpexp.exe /hrxmlfile:MyUserDataBackup.xml /sqlserver:mysqlserver.domain.com

With these two pieces you can get most of your Lync environment. In the next article I will detail how to backup other Lync components such as the Location Database, Group Chat and Response Group settings.

Adam Ball, PEI

What Makes a Good Client?

It’s often surprising to people when I speak to them about what makes a good client. It’s always presumed that the partner, the vendor or integrators are the ones that have to ‘work’ during a project or long term engagement. Believe me it is not! The very definition of partnership is; an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The key word here is ADVANCE meaning move forward …accomplish something. I have worked recently with several new prospects that have found it acceptable to keep some key bits of information from our team. For some reason (I have no idea) they feel that keeping little nuggets of information from a partner or vendor is imperative to maintain control or possibly test their ability to read minds. An ESP evaluation if you will. I’m still unclear when or how the talent of mind reading became associated with IT consulting or selling in general but I’d like to stop that campaign from running again.

Firmly establishing there are limited to no real mind readers on both sides of a client-consultant partnership what then can we do to work better together? First, know your environment. It’s amazing to me how many pre-sales calls I can make with clients on a critical migration project (email, phone, servers) and they have NO idea what’s happening in their own house. Things such as users count or seat counts, server totals and applications are not trivial things, they are THE thing. Without some critical information there is absolutely no way to price a new solution nor is there a way to price the support or engineering hours to get you to that new solution. It’s amazing when clients are upset that you are unable to give them a cost on an email migration when they have no idea what their user count is currently.

Second, know what you want. Ok, this one can be tricky but know at least an idea of what you want. Do you want to move to virtualization or do you want to stay with static servers? If you don’t know what virtualization is just ask. Do you want to empower your users with IM, presence, online meetings and VoIP? Are you looking for a mobile solution or application to help improve productivity? I recently had a client tell me they wanted to migrate to a cloud system for email, calendars and document sharing. After reviewing the pro, cons and costs, uncovering their user count, their total document needs and creating a migration strategy over a several week engagement they seemed frustrated on how long it took to create a plan. Their comment to us was ‘you didn’t tell us what to do you asked us what we wanted’. Shocker, asking what someone wants. Be prepared folks we are going to ask you what you want and it’s ok to say you don’t know.

Last, don’t be afraid to say I don’t know. As stated previously we are going to ask you what you want, when you want it and how you think you might get there. It would never occur to a good partner or consultant to assume you will follow our every direction or command. Remember this is a partnership and we’re going to agree to cooperate to advance our mutual interests. We’ll achieve your interest in complete success while looking good to management and our interest in making you completely happy…or at least satisfied. When we ask the question ‘what do you want’ or ‘what you do envision’ don’t be afraid to say I don’t know. It’s ok because there will be times when you ask us questions and our response will be I don’t know. That’s when we do our jobs of finding the answers for you and helping you better understand what’s possible.

So overall there are really simple principles to being a good client. Know your environment, know what you want and don’t be afraid to say I don’t know. If we work together and share all the details necessary and even the ones that seem unnecessary we’ll achieve that amazing thing together …success!

Jennifer Smith, PEI

Recommendations for Rookies – Microsoft Project Professional 2010

These past couple of months I have been working with my fellow project manager, Dan, to configure and figure out Project Server. After playing with a lot of the settings, I found that the backbone of Project Server’s web application is really Microsoft Project Professional. So far, to us, Server is an interactive platform to do resource allocation and update projects via timesheets. In order for Project Server to behave the way we want, we need project plans that are properly constructed. You can create a basic project plan in the project web app but it is not going to have a lot of the features that our in-depth project plans need.

Through my tests and trials I noticed there is a specific order each column should be filled in that works best. I start with the task name and fill in every task and sub task in the project. Then I build my team and assign the resources required to complete each task. Next I set the order the tasks are to be completed in by noting the predecessors. The last thing I do is determine task type and enter my variables.

Project uses three variables to determine the timeline of a project-Duration, Units and Work. Duration is the overall amount of time it will take to accomplish a task, which is usually measured in days. Units depend on the resource and is the percentage of available time the resource gives to the task. The third, Work, is the amount of time in hours it actually takes to do the task. The underlying concept is that you tell project 2 of the variables, one of which is fixed as the task type, and the program populates the third. For example, if you enter a task with Work = 8 hours and Duration = 2 Days, project will calculate that 50% of the resource’s effort will go to that task on each day. People often overlook that the default task type in Project is Fixed Units. So given the scenario above, if you keep the task type set to Fixed Units and then you change duration, project will recalculate the amount of work. This can be a bit confusing so here is my recommendation for rookies:

The task type should be set to the variable that does not change. Enter that variable for each task in its associated column. Then enter the variable you would like to control in its column. Finally, hit “Calculate Project” and let the program determine the values for the third variable.

Heidi Christensen, PEI

The Advent of the Cloud

With Cloud computing being ‘all the rage’, I can’t help but equate the evolution of the IT sector with the demographic that tends to follow suite. Does anyone really remember “Time Sharing”? One job in…one job out.

If you’re under 45 years old, probably not.

Dumb terminals, probably IBM green screens, hard wired into monolithic mainframes; could be IBM’s, NCR’s, Burroughs, Digital Equipment Corp’s (DEC’s), Wang, Sperry Rand, Control Data (my former employer), Honeywell and yes………even General Electric.

This was the era of the baby boomer. Typically folks born between 1946 and 1964. Green stamps, posty notes, wide ties, milkmen, xx cents for a gallon of gas, hula hoops and Frisbees, drive-ins, silly putty, mood rings, lava lamps, 8 track players and pet rocks all come to mind.

Then Nerds starting showing up……..and creating companies that would forever change the way we live.

PC’s, Client Server, then Enterprise and Internet computing came into vogue and as a result time, sharing and ‘batch processing’ went through any number of transformations.

Application Service Provider (ASP) comes to mind where a vendor might house any number of ‘instances’ of an app and effectively ‘rent’ it to a customer. This is about the time the Gen X crowd (born early 60’s to late 70’s) would have hit the employment market.

Then SaaS (software-as-a-service), PaaS, and IaaS, started showing up. And low and behold……here comes Gen Y (born from the 70’s to 2000) to bring it to the marketplace.

And now “the cloud”…………..

Just wondering what they’ll call that generation. Gen Z?

Matt Teahan, PEI

Lync: Changing the Way We do Business

It was really great to participate in a live demonstration with a prospect and begin using these products at work and see the power of Microsoft’s Lync. I guess I’ve been a little old school and have always been the one to pick up the phone a ‘reach out and touch someone’. What a big step up the food-chain to see who is available to reach out to, how long they will be gone or just what their current status is. Even better, a quick Instant Message (IM) and I can get my quick question answers without having to wait for them to complete their current call. The coolest part is being able to ‘federate’ with people outside of the same company. Friends and colleagues from all over the world can have visibility into my status and know if I can talk to them now or in an hour.

It’s like Skpe on every desktop. And it’s Free, no minutes to worry about, all VOIP.

It does reinforce one basic point and one fundamental change for those of us that have grownup over the last 30 years in the computer revolution, proprietary PBXs, etc..…Telephony is just application on the net.

-Brent Cherry, PEI

Setting up Simultaneous Ring on Lync

Simultaneous ring is a great tool to have for Lync in case you are busy or briefly unavailable. Unlike call forwarding where your phone doesn’t ring, you can have your incoming calls simultaneously ring your office phone and another number or contact that you so choose. This setting is a great way to ensure that callers never get a busy signal and that an important call is never missed. What also makes this a great tool is that the caller will never know their call has been forwarded. It can be done like this:

1. On the bottom of the Lync there is a telephone symbol.  Click it.  Then, click Simultaneously ring, and then do one of the following:

• Click another of your numbers, such as your mobile phone.

• Click New Number, and then type a new number in the dialog box that appears.

• Click My Delegates, and then in the Delegates dialog box, add any contacts whom you want to answer calls for you. You can also specify that they be rung only after a certain period. Delegates can also make calls on your behalf.

2. Click My Team-Call Group, and then, in the Team-Call Group dialog box, add the contacts you want to receive your calls at the same time you do. You can also specify that they be rung only after a certain period of time.

For more information and a helpful video on how to set up simultaneous ring, go to http://bit.ly/xfDGqc

Adam Lee, PEI

Lync External Pool Name and Lync Mobility

Here is another tidbit that I came across recently while working with a client. When we setup Lync for them originally, they wanted their internal and external pool names to be exactly the same. At the time, there was no reason it couldn’t be from a technical reason so that is what they chose to do.

With the release of Lync Mobility, we now have a technical reason that the internal and external pool names cannot be the same. The Lync Mobile client is dependent on the web services to sign in and due to how Lync Mobility works, if your pool names are the same, it won’t properly utilize the external web services.

The reason we want to utilize the external web services is so that if you switch from an internal wireless to say a 3G connection, the Lync Mobile client will be able to stay connected. The Lync Mobile service is built with the idea that internal clients will actually use “hair-pinning” in order to sign in. That is, they will go out the firewall and come back in the same interface so that they are accessing Lync Mobility as if they were outside the corporate network.

If you are wanting to implement Lync Mobility, the lesson learned is make sure your internal and external pool names are different.

Adam Ball, PEI