Year One District Computer Disbursement Plans
Dear STC's and Principals:
I want review the tasks that must be completed by schools prior to the IT Installation Team arriving on their pre-scheduled date to configure, image and install your new computers.
First, you can expect a call from Sheila Loranger of IT in the coming weeks. She will set-up two dates with each school:
1) The date your school's new computers will arrive to your school
2) The date the IT Installation Team will arrive to configure, image and install your new computers.
Please recall that both of the dates can be viewed on the Proxy Refresh Calendar on GroupWise made available to all principals and site tech coordinators.
The IT Department will schedule school installations as follows in order to maintain a reasonablely quick district-wide installation of over 500 new computers and to ensure a quality job at each site. Fridays will be used to "clean-up" any unfinished business from each week's installations.
Installation Week # 1 (possibly the last STAR testing week)
Mo - 1 schools, Tu - 1 schools, We - 1 schools, Th - 1 schools, Fri - 0 schools
Installation Week # 2
Mo - 4 schools , Tu - 2 schools, We - 4 schools, Th - 2 schools, Fri - 0 schools
Installation Week #3
Mo - 4 schools , Tu - 2 schools, We - 4 schools, Th - 2 schools, Fri - 0 schools
The IT department in most cases will be installing computers in classrooms during the day. We are aware of the STAR testing window and will schedule only at agreeable times. Please communicate needs to Sheila Loranger at the time of her call if there is a conflict.
Second, the following activities must be completed by each school before the IT Installation Team's scheduled date to configure, image and install your new computers.
1. Computer Receiving and Inventory. Schools will use the methods set forth by the ABCUSD purchasing department posted under the district's refresh cycle web page under "receiving procedures". Complete instructions are located at the following Refresh Website link:
=> RECEIVING PROCEDURES
2. New computers (laptops included) moved into their primary use locations prior to the IT Install Team's arrival. A new IT policy requires that laptops be hardwired during usage at their primary stations. Therefore, during installation laptops should be in their primary use locations for ethernet cable measurements and installation. Ensure that all computers' primary stations have an available hardwired ethernet port and power supply access. IT will verify during their install visit that everything a teacher requires at their primary docking station is in working order.
3. The Site Tech Coordinators must ensure the appropriate Remote Management Clients are installed on all OLD Computers.
Mac. All prior existing site computers Mac O.S.10.1, 10.2 and 10.3 must have the Apple Remote Desktop client pre-installed on the computer prior to the IT Installations Team's arrival.
PCs. All prior existing PC's Windows 2000 and above must have the Altiris A-Client installed prior to the IT Installation Team's arrival.
(See attached descriptions for installing the A-Client on PC's and Apple Remote Desktop on client on Macs)
Administration (Office) computers will have the A-Client installed by IT staff at a separate time.
4. All OLD machines must be moved into their new primary use locations if the school plans to repurpose these machine for other uses on campus. Remember the remote clients (ARD and Altiris) must be installed on these OLD machines prior to IT Installation Team visit. OLD machines will be configured to be viewed and controlled on ARD and Altiris, however, old machines will not be "reimaged" as part of the new computer installation process. Please place a work order for any assistance with re-imaging OLD machines.
OLD machines that have an ARD or Altiris client installed must also have the computer named using the ABCUSD standard naming convention: First 4 Letters of School Name- room #- the computer # (computer number refers to the quantity # of the machine within the specific room). The hyphens are required in the naming convention. The naming conventions are explained in the attached How to Install A-Client document attached.
5. Report to the IT department in advance of the IT Installation Team's arrival any known computer access ports that are knowingly not functioning. Each ABC classroom has (4) student computer ports and (1) teacher computer port. The IT department will fix computer ports located only in the areas earmarked for the new computers in advance of the IT Installation Team's visit.
6. Save Teacher Data stored locally on OLD machines in a safe location prior to the IT Installation Team's arrival. A simple flash drive is the easiest way to safely transfer teacher data (report cards, grades, lesson plans etc) off an old machine. This data can be easily transferred to new machines after the new machines are successfully installed. If the STC coordinator requires assistance on how to save data from an OLD machine please contract Americo or Chi in the IT Department.
7. The IT Department will create schools' images in advance of the IT Installation Team's visit. All images created by IT will require proof of licensing for all software titles.
STC's should drop-off the following image materials to the IT Department (Attention Americo / Chi) by Friday, May 11th:
1. Copies of the Titles (Disks if available)
2. Licences (school purchase orders as a secondary option)
3. Copies of any new software titles to be included.
If a school can not provide this information in advance, a school would be required to enter in their own registration keys for software titles on their new images IT creates. In other words, the software titles without licences provided to IT in advance will not work after the new computer images are installed until the site enter's in their own registration keys. The IT Department will not be creating images on the day of the install team's visit to prevent undue delays to the installations at other prescheduled schools.
The I.T. Department has previously completed the groundwork for assisting schools in designing their new images. The I.T. Department has a blueprint for all schools' submitted images to date on file and that will be posted on the Refresh Website under "images" (look for your school's folder of images). Therefore, only proof of licensing or any last minutes changes should be provided to the IT department prior to a school's prescheduled install visit. If a school has created a requisition for new licencing the requisition may be used to show proof of purchase to the IT Department so image delays will not be a problem for recently added software titles.
We know this is a comprehensive set of instructions, so thank you for taking the time to review the contents to prepare for a successful refresh cycle computer installation.
Please let me know of your feedback, questions and ideas.
Thanks to all who submitted feedback to the original draft plan.
Colin
=> Year 1 - Roll Out MTG 3-16-07
=> A-Client on PC's
=> Apple Remote Desktop on client on Macs