ICT
Weekly Update
12th March 2007
ePass is Live (in the background)
All NT Schools accounts were loaded into ePass over the weekend
and Editure is now processing all requests in the system.
Please continue to send requests for new and modified accounts
to the service desk, until we transition your school so that
you can enter and approve account requests at the school.
IT Services will work with groups of schools to implement
your transition over the next few weeks.
top ....
Teacher Laptops
Schools should have advised on any changes to the teacher
laptop allocations published on our website. We are now making
arrangements to move laptops between schools to match the
new staff allocations. A small number of new laptops have
been ordered to meet any shortfalls caused by lost, damaged
and stolen devices. Details of the numbers of teachers and
laptops currently allocated can be found by clicking here.
We are receiving enquiries from schools about purchasing
the Optima laptops at the end of their leases. We do not support
this approach because they are at their end-of-life (ie. Centrino
single-core processor, old wireless card and small hard drives.
The warranty will have expired so any repairs will be at the
owners expense (e.g. a motherboard costs $700, a battery $200
and a power supply $140).
top ....
DEET eMail System
DEET Corporate staff can now easily find teacher and staff
ntschools eMail addresses for NT Government schools. The final
part of this project will ensure the global eMail address
books are updated on a regular frequency to cater for changes.
top ....
Content Filter - URL
Checker
Secure Computing, the company that DEET contracts to provide
our Content Filtering database, categorise web pages into
categories based on content. To assist users verify which
category a site has been assigned in the database, they provide
the following URL Checker.
http://www.securecomputing.com/index.cfm?skey=234
To use, navigate to the above URL and simply enter up to
5 URLs in question and click "Check URLs". This
tool provides the following:
- An indication of whether the submitted URL(s) is included
in their database, how it is categorised and the Database
Version. DEET use version 4.
- Ability to suggest a different category, or enter a new
category, for the URL(s). Please do not overuse or misuse
this feature. The process for requesting ITSD allow sites
for educational purposes is detailed here.
Teachers could use this tool from home when planning a lesson,
to ensure that a site required for their lesson is not recorded
in a blocked category.
Caveat: Under no circumstances should this
URL be provided to students.
top ....
Hardware
HP Server & UPS warranty calls should be still made through
the Editure schools helpdesk on 1800 756 657 or eMail schoolssupport@editure.com
(if your mail system is on-line).
Please note that there may be a further diagnostic call from
the warranty agent to determine a course of action.
In the case remote schools a server component swap out maybe
required. The schools helpdesk or the warranty agent will
provide advice on how to replace the component and what you
should do with the old part. The only parts likely to be replaced
by an ICT Coordinator (under direction) would be the hard
drive, keyboard or mouse (and in some very rare instances
the power supply which is a slide out modular unit). The benefit
of this will overcome having to send the whole server back
when it only requires a failed component replacement.
There are no user serviceable parts in the UPS and the entire
unit will be replaced on failure.
All HP Server and UPS “Return to Base” freight
for remote schools is covered by DEET IT Services. The warranty
agent will advise our freight carrier and account number when
required.
top ....
Group Policies
Could schools wishing to turn on Windows Desktop Group Policies
for student accounts please advise which settings they would
most like to see managed via this mechanism. (ie. Control
panel restrictions, no run command, etc.)
IT Services will accumulate feedback and assemble a draft
paper for circulation of a default set of policies that schools
can ask to have switched on.
Please eMail: phillippe.monforte@nt.gov.au
with your input.
top ....
Global Public Drive
The “Y” Global Public drive was implemented to
provide teachers the capability to share files with teachers
in other schools.
Its popularity has resulted in a significant load on Satellite
sites, causing reduced performance and overloading, not only
for schools, but also Police and Heath personnel.
To ensure that this valuable sharing tool was not lost, we
have taken the decision to centralise it. You will notice
that the Global Public “Y” drive is no-longer
available in My Computer.
The new centralised Global Public Drive can be accessed using
the following instructions:
Click on Start,
Click on Run and type \\drwnt-bk2\Global Public (no quotes)
Click OK
This is an interim solution until a global sharepoint, accessible
from our web site, has been developed.
|
