Cherwell

New Work Order System

 

 

Since January 2013 IT@Sam has been hard at work preparing for the implementation and launch of a new work order system, Cherwell. The goal is to have this new system ready for go-live on July 15th. 

Why the change?

The current IT@Sam Work Order System has some shortcomings in navigation and general work routing. This leads to work orders that have the potential to end up in the wrong place and action is not taken on them in a timely manner. Cherwell will alleviate those problems as well as provide additional benefits for you.

Benefits

Service Catalog: There will be no more questions that you will need to navigate and hope that your work order is getting to the right place. Instead you will be presented with a comprehensive list of IT@Sam services to choose from when placing your request. With one click of your mouse you’ll be at the appropriate screen to enter your request.

Knowledge Base: In addition to the Technology Tutorials that we currently provide, Cherwell will have an integrated Knowledge Base that contains information on how to fix common error messages and general “how-to” instructions for software and hardware. This will allow you to quickly research an issue and enable a quick resolution. We are starting out with over 50,000 knowledge articles and will be adding more. We hope to get to a scenario where we fix a problem once and then capture and share this information via the knowledge base, so others won’t have to duplicate the effort and re-invent the wheel.

Problem Management: Once IT@Sam becomes aware of a university-wide problem, you will also be made aware of it with the Problem Management module of Cherwell. This will allow us to write up information regarding the issue, along with any workarounds, and publish that information for everyone’s benefit by way of the Cherwell Portal.

Demos & Training Opportunities

We have created several Tech Tutorials for you to become familiar with this new system and we will offer several training sessions as well. If you’d like to attend a training session, please sign up in the Talent Management System. 

Training Opportunities
Date	Location	Time
May 13, 2013	Allen House 108	2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
May 14, 2013	Allen House 107	11:00 a.m. – Noon
May 16, 2013	Allen House 108	11:00 a.m. – Noon
May 23, 2013	Allen House 107	3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
May 29, 2013	Lee Drain Building 407	3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
May 30, 2013	Allen House 108	11:00 a.m. – Noon

What will happen to my work orders in the current Work Order System?

On July 15th, no new work orders will be able to be placed in the current IT@Sam Work Order System. Any Work Orders that are already open and in progress, will remain in the current system and will be completed as normal. Work Orders that will take more than 6 months to complete, will be transferred to the new Cherwell system by IT@Sam staff.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us! 

 

IT@Sam System Maintenance

IT@Sam will perform our bi-annual system and networking maintenance next week. In the past IT@Sam has reserved the weekend after Spring Graduation to perform maintenance.  Although we attempt to minimize the service interruptions by performing most updates on weekends, we must perform both network and system updates, which will extend the amount of time necessary for this maintenance window.

On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights beginning at 6pm, we will update systems each night. On Thursday night, we will update the Banner ERP system, and estimate that the system will be unavailable for about 15-30 minutes as we reboot the servers.

On Saturday, May 18, beginning at 8am, the campus network will be down for maintenance. We anticipate the outage to last only 4 hours. However, it is possible that the outage may last all weekend if problems arise.  If you need notification as when the network is back up, please let me know.   Off campus resources and remote.shsu.edu will be available from off campus, it is only the on-campus resources that will not be available.

We appreciate your assistance during this time.  Please let us know if you have any major concerns about this outage or these changes as scheduled.

New Software for Fall 2013

IT@Sam Client Services has received requests from various faculty members to upgrade several software packages before Fall – 2013. These upgrades may have an impact on academic instruction since textbooks and curriculum are planned far in advance.  Please review the planned changes to campus software versions below.  Please share this information with the faculty in your department and let us know if there are any concerns with the proposed upgrade software versions or dates of installation.  The software titles listed below are not all encompassing of the software being upgraded before Fall 2013, as there may be additional software that only impacts your department and those will be handled individually with the faculty requesting the upgrade.

Adobe Creative Suite CS 6
Upgrade for all classrooms and labs scheduled between Spring – 2013 and Summer I – 2013 for both Windows and Macintosh.

SAS 9.3
Upgrade of existing SAS 9.2 to 9.3 for Windows computers on campus.  An expanded license agreement has been completed which will allow for SAS to be installed in all labs and classrooms on campus with optional installs available for faculty computers via the SHSU Program Installation Menu.  Upgrade is scheduled between Summer II – 2013 and Fall – 2013.

Microsoft Office 2013
Upgrade for all campus Windows computers scheduled between Summer II – 2013 and Fall – 2013.

Autodesk 2013 (AutoCAD, Revit, Inventor, Electrical, and Mechanical)
Upgrade for all campus Windows computers scheduled between Summer II – 2013 and Fall – 2013.

Software Request Reminder

For those who require special software for any upcoming semesters:

To ensure adequate time for installation and testing of new network software, the requests must be received and the software delivered to IT@Sam by the specified cutoff dates. However, the sooner, the better! A significant level of testing is needed to assure the application will not impact other programs—and that your students can access it as you intended. After it is installed you will be notified and asked to test the software. Therefore, please leave sufficient time for installation and your testing phase.

• Spring: October 1
• Fall : May 1
• Summer March 1

If you have any questions feel free to e-mail the Service Desk or call (4-HELP).

Upcoming System Maintenance

April 19

• Mac OSX Security Updates
• Adobe Flash Player  will be upgraded on PC workstations
• Adobe Shockwave Player will be upgraded on PC workstations
• Mozilla Firefox will be upgraded to version 17.0.5 on PC workstations

April 26

• ODS will be  reloaded  starting at 9pm on April 26 and will finish by 2pm on April 27. It is not advised to run a Cognos report during this time period. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Service Desk at x4-1950.

Windows Workstation Patches 4/13

Windows workstation patches will be released on 4/13. Some of these patches may require your workstation to reboot. Please be sure that you save all work and log out of your workstation before you leave for the weekend.

If you have any questions, please contact the Service Desk at x4-1950.

Tech Tech: Searching for a Word on a Webpage

Have you been on a website that was cluttered with text? How do you find one specific word on that site? Well there is a way to search a webpage for a specific word or phrase.

http://www.shsu.edu/~ucs_www/newsletter/Apr_2013/techtips.html