Practicum 2: Day 8

Today was very hectic and was even stressful to a point. We had even more technicians trying to set up the scanner on the top floor. Because of the layout of the display, the program that Systems Auditing uses to manage print jobs cannot fit the screen, and thus can not lock the system down. All of the photocopying machines that have this software have a special computer attached, with a very small keyboard and touchscreen display to operate it. The computers run off Windows XP, and technically it functions like any other computer, but the System's Auditing software locks it down, making the machine run like a kind of embedded terminal. Since this wasn't possible on this computer, the IT Manager and the Systems Auditing technician tried to achieve a compromise so that it operated in some way without posing a huge security risk.

Practicum 2: Day 7

Today was sort of a..disappointment. One of the tasks that I haven't mentioned that we did recently was setup a new computer, monitor, and a scanner in the photocopying room on the top floor. Today two techs from separate companies arrived to install the scanner, as that was their responsibility. The companies were Copitrak, a systems auditing company that deals with the firms photocopiers It seems. The other was Canon, who actually gave Harper Gray the scanner. It was such a mess however. Two Canon techs ended up arriving and neither could do the job the company wanted them to. I'm going to keep details out, but it was mostly us watching things go wrong. Although today I did get a solo responsibility when I responded to a support request! Someone was reporting issues with his wireless mouse, so I brought him a corded mouse to use, but it turned out all I had to do was replace the batteries. Still, I'm glad I brought the mouse in case I would have needed to install it.

Practicum 2: Day 6

Today was quite the busy day. On top of responding to usual support requests, I had a few tasks of my own I got to do. First off, many of the employees that work in the firm (especially lawyers and IT's) have blackberries for business use that the firm provides. Today, one user reported that the trackpad on his blackberry had become insensitive and unresponsive. Luckily, the member of tech support that I work with has a box of dead blackberries on his desk. So we took a broken phone of the same model, and went about removing the trackpad of the broken phone and inserting it into the old. It was really cool. A user also required that I copy 2 PDF files onto fifty 2 gig thumb sticks, and I got it completely in 15 minutes.

Practicum 2: Day 5

Today we finally got around to re-imaging a lawyer's computer that was having issues using java earlier this week. Tech support had attempted everything they could to resolve the issue, and decided that it was a machine-based problem, and it had to be re-imaged. Re-imaging seems to be common practice on the computers there. Everyone's profile is saved on the network, so besides special programs that only select users can have access to (like Casemap or Divorce Mate) nothing is saved locally. It was quite a simple process too! When the computer boots, we press F12 and it boots a program called Pixieboot. This program is able to load an image of Windows 7 just off the network! After it installed, then came the process of installing programs, testing to ensure Java still functioned, restarting, and then repeating that for 10-15 times. Still, I like how the image is based off a network and automatically acquires a licence. It's really cool.

Practicum 2: Day 4

Today was a fairly relaxed day, but I got involved in some interesting activity related to the company's document management system, or as they call it, the DM. It's a really interesting bit of technology, and while I'm still not exactly sure how it's achieved, I understand the basis of how it functions. You see, with over 150 employees, all trying to access documents, things get complicated as far as organization goes. To streamline things and to better prevent disaster, the DM is used. How it functions is that all files are kept in one place on the network. When someone tries to access that file, they are actually "checking out" the file, like they're renting a movie from a video rental store. When they're done with it, it's checked back in. There's also a record kept for each file, so they know when it's checked in and out, and who accessed it. That way, if disaster strikes, they know when in their backups they should retrieve the file.

Practicum 2: Day 3

Today saw us on the floor a lot again. Besides responding to support calls, today we primarily were performing updates to two programs called CaseMap and DivorceMate, and replacing toner cartridges in a few computers. Replacing toner is pretty simple. In our office we have a large shelf of boxes, each with a large packing label on it. This label contains the specific type of printer system it's meant for, a large blank square, and other various information. New (well, they're actually recycled) toner cartridges come in a large bag, and when the toner is replaced we take the empty cartridge out of the printer we put it into the bag, back into the box, and then cross off the blank square on the label. Then it goes back onto the shelf. Once every few weeks, someone from the company that supplies the recycles toner comes and exchanges new boxes for crossed off boxes.

Practicum 2: Day 2

We were on our feet quite a bit today. When you're doing work on three separate floors, you tend to walk around quite a bit. And today we were primarily installing new displays into lawyer's offices.  I found it very odd what kind of displays they had on hand. They had about 20 or so new LG LCD monitors in the box, and for some people's setups it was as simple as unboxing a monitor and hooking it up (while trying to make space for it).

However, some users didn't have an LG display yet, and instead were using older Samsung models that we needed to switch out and give to other people. The most interesting thing that happened today though, was that somebody had a large, square LCD monitor, and we had to give them a new LG to go with it. To have it match with the display they had already, we ended up rotating the LCD monitor to run in PORTRAIT mode. It was the oddest thing I had ever seen, I wasn't even aware you could do that with monitors!

Here's a photo I took!

Practicum 2: Day 1

Today was my first day at my second practicum for my Information Technology Technician program. This month I am working for Harper Grey LLP in Vancouver. It's a lawfirm located in downtown Vancouver and runs out of three of the highest floors in the Scotiabank tower in Vancouver.

4 employees manage all of the technology in the firm and make up the Technical support. During my practicum I will be primarily "Shadowing" one employee, while occasionally helping out the others.

Today was a routine first day. A tour of the building and it's server rooms. A demonstration on the way the backups work (they use a tape system and every day a company called Iron Mountain arrives to collect the backup and processes it for a week). a bit about the programs they use. We also responded to a support request involving Outlook contacts. Overall a pleasant first day.

Today's Blog Post

I love to work in a group! I'm familiar with all five of the members involved with IT at my second practicum, and it feels great when I'm treated like a member of the crew! It's usually my responsibility tag along with one specific member, but it's cool when I get to work with other members.

That said, when I get my own solo responsibilities, I'm very eager to show what I can do on my own!

Practicum Day 4

Today was another VERY relaxed day. As stated yesterday at the end of the day we stopped by a distributor, Ingram Micro, to pick up a new XEROX Printer/Scanner for Accurate. Today we went to Port Coquitlam to Accurate's locksmith location. We unpacked the printer, installed the toner cartridge and paper, and replaced the old printer with our new one.

Then we had to set the printer up so that it could send what it scans via email. By putting an email address and allocating it to number 0 on sort of a speed dial-like list, pages that are scanned will be sent as a PDF to a woman's computer in New West Minster over TCP/IP.

After we were done, we went back to Lin Haw, and we bought a Serial card that use PCIe. The card was then installed into a new computer at Accurate in New West. The card was needed for the computer to support two modems that they require for business.