steve

We tend to only have RACIs in our service definitions. And then we identify the team for each task (e.g. service desk responsible for first line support). But I guess it depends on your scale, how many teams / roles there are? What's the churn like for role descriptions / team structures? How well are you cross skilled?

I brie what you did there

"Beginning on January 1, 2024, Copilot for Microsoft 365 will be generally available for Microsoft 365 A3 and A5 faculty for $30 per user per month with a 300-seat minimum per tenant" https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/copilot-for-microsoft-365/announcing-updates-to-copilot-for-microsoft-365-availability/ba-p/4007075

Hope you all enjoyed my little light show.

Have a look at Azure Automation State Configuration: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/automation/automation-dsc-overview Using PowerShell you can define and monitor VMs configuration

The Green Bile Light Club Charlies Angles Horrible Losses MoonBaker The wedding ginger

I've lived at Leeds Dock for 10+ years so this is literally on my door step, but as typically happens I'm in the midst of buying a place so might have moved before the event! Happy to provide whatever info I can about the area, like parking, hotels, shops, restaurants, pubs (extensive knowledge in this area), etc.

The water taxi now costs £2 per journey and only runs Mon – Sun: 10am – 6pm

I was in BCS for a while, but my employer stop paying for it. I'm not overly sold on their charter so won't pay my own money. Personally I think they've helped set IT back in schools a bit by shifting focus to discreet computer science from general IT skills.

If like me you can't get a smart meter installed (need a full apartment building rewire due to space in meter rooms), you can get other electric usage monitoring equipment. I've had one of these installed for a few months: https://shellystore.co.uk/product/shelly-em-120a/ Really helped to focus in on where the usage is coming from - hot water. My energy (electricity) usage so far this year (10kWh per day average) - no gas in our apartments.

The very first memory of gaming I have is playing my uncles Mattel intellivision console in about 1982 when I was just 7. I was mesmerised, you could actually control what was inside the TV! The same Christmas I was given a Tandy Ogre Eater and I can still remember the sounds it made. A lifetimes love of technology has followed, through Atari 2600, 800XL, STFM, Gameboy and to now PCs.

If you're ever looking for a Microsoft admin website have a look at: https://cmd.ms/

University of Leeds Second Line Support Technician Grade 5 (£24,285 – £27,929 p.a. depending on experience) This role will be based on the university campus. We are open to discussing flexible working arrangements. Are you an enthusiastic IT professional who can contribute to the delivery of IT 2nd line support? Are you organised and have a high level of attention to detail? Are you interested in supporting the delivery of the University’s digital transformation? As we embark on an ambitious Digital Transformation, we are investing in our IT service, which is vital in developing our learning and research capability as we strive to collaborate globally, tackling global issues. As part of the Field Services Team, you will be part of a busy team dealing with requests, incidents and technical changes directed to IT Services. You will work with a diverse range of customers, technologies and devices across the University, responding to support requests and finding solutions to IT issues. With a professional approach, exceptional customer service, and communication skills, you will play a key role in ensuring users can access core IT services. With experience providing first and second line support in a busy and diverse IT environment, you will have experience using and supporting Windows and/or Mac and Linux client operating systems on desktop, laptop, tablet and other mobile devices. You will be responsible for responding to more complex queries, requests and issues. You will be able to work autonomously, managing your workload and supporting colleagues by providing advice, guidance, mentoring and training as appropriate. Location: Leeds - Main Campus Faculty/Service: IT School/Institute: DDO Category: Technical Support Grade: Grade 5 Salary: £24,285 to £27,929 p.a. Working Time: 1.0 FTE Post Type: Full Time Contract Type: Ongoing Release Date: Thursday 09 February 2023 Closing Date: Sunday 05 March 2023 Interview Date: To be confirmed Reference: ITDDO1015 https://jobs.leeds.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx?ref=ITDDO1015

University of Leeds Senior Second Line Support Technician Salary: Grade 6 (£28,762 - £34,308 depending on experience) This role will be based on the university campus. We are open to discussing flexible working arrangements. Are you an enthusiastic IT professional who can contribute to the delivery of IT 2nd line support? Are you organised and have a high level of attention to detail? Are you interested in supporting the delivery of the University’s digital transformation? As we embark on an ambitious Digital Transformation, we are investing in our IT Service, which is crucial in developing our learning and research capability as we strive to collaborate globally, attacking global issues. As part of the Field Services Team, you will be a senior member of a busy team dealing with requests, incidents and technical changes directed to IT Field Services. You will work with a diverse range of customers, technologies and devices across the University, responding to incidents, support requests and technical change, acting as a source of technical expertise for colleagues, an escalation point for complex issues, and customer liaison where appropriate. With a professional approach and exceptional customer service and communication skills, you will play a key role in ensuring users can access core IT services. You will use your breadth of experience to improve the processes and standards by which the Field Services team operates. Your experience will be supported by strong technical knowledge of operating systems, device administration, data management, software and security which you will use to tackle our more challenging incidents and requests and support and develop your colleagues. You will work largely autonomously, managing your workload and coordinating colleagues in the course of projects that you will be driving. Location: Leeds - Main Campus Faculty/Service: IT School/Institute: DDO Category: Technical Support Grade: Grade 6 Salary: £28,762 to £34,308 p.a. Working Time: 1.0 FTE Post Type: Full Time Contract Type: Ongoing Release Date: Friday 10 February 2023 Closing Date: Sunday 05 March 2023 Reference: ITDDO1017 https://jobs.leeds.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx?ref=ITDDO1017

University of Leeds IT Operational Leader (Second Line Support) Grade 7 (£35,333 – £42,155 p.a. with a discretionary range up to £46,047 p.a. depending on experience) Interviews: Friday 3 and Monday 6 March 2023 This role will be based on the university campus. We are also open to discussing flexible working arrangements. Do you have experience working in a busy Field Services provision? Are you committed to providing Customer Service Excellence? Do you want to use your first and second-line support experience to lead a team? The University of Leeds is one of the top 135 universities in the world. Established in 1904, we have a strong tradition of academic excellence, reflected in first-class student education, along with world-leading research that has a real impact around the globe. We have a genuinely global community, with more than 39,000 students from 170 different countries and over 9,000 staff of 100 nationalities. Primarily responsible for operational leadership of Client Support, Client Services within IT, and delivering end-user 2nd line support. Working with colleagues across IT, you will be responsible for the daily leadership of colleagues through effective support, mentoring, coaching and management of workloads. You will act as a point of escalation and be professionally experienced in delivering Field Support services, incident management and request fulfilment. You will be able to guide, support and challenge colleagues in your team to ensure optimal resource allocation and prioritisation. You will have excellent communication and interpersonal skills and the ability to lead and manage others in line with the University’s Leadership Strategy and Policies. Location: Leeds - Main Campus Faculty/Service: IT School/Institute: DDO Category: Professional & Managerial Grade: Grade 7 Salary: £35,333 to £42,155 p.a. Post Type: Full Time Contract Type: Ongoing Release Date: Thursday 09 February 2023 Closing Date: Sunday 26 February 2023 https://jobs.leeds.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx?ref=ITDDO1016

Simple Sign-In for Education customers looks interesting: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/education-blog/what-s-new-in-windows-for-education-in-2023/ba-p/3728772

Slade - the story of four half glam rocker, half vampire slayers from Wolverhampton

Try to implement least privilege as much as you can. Separate your "work email / user account" from all admin access. Don't use the domain admin account unless its an emergency (set a very complex password and secure it) - make a few accounts that you can switch between to do things like user access, computer domain join, desktop admin etc. Best thing I did for managing systems is learn scripting - PowerShell can take a bit to learn but once you get into it, the time it can save you is fantastic.

This. If they come up with some "justification" of voice commands - what about the phone app on their personal device (assuming they are in a private office etc.)?

I found the department team meetings a good in-road. They might have shared issues and they don't like to say "daft" things in front of their colleagues. Face-to-face allows you to follow up on those suggestions like performance - where, when, is it something in particular? Can you help document the dates / times?

We have ServiceNow too, but a few ticket systems offer change / ITIL functions. Our system has these change types: Standard - a templated, repeatable change performed to a set of instructions by the same people, e.g. switch port change, firewall rule change, software upgrade, Windows patching. Normal - (with risk and scale identified) - These are undocumented changes that need approval. They need a justification, description, plan, backout plan, comms plan, etc. Emergency - either urgent that can't wait for the change board or they are retrospective after a change has been made in a hurry. Changes can be seen as a bit of a waste of time, but they do get you into good practice of understanding exactly why and what you are doing and how you can back out if the worst happens. And they are good at documenting activity that doesn't come via tickets. In a smaller organisation you might find it difficult to get enough people to make up change board that can ask the right challenging technical questions.

I've done AZ-104 and found it worth while for my role, wouldn't have paid personally for the exam, but I got that free. Next up is AZ-305 to get Solutions Architect, again free exam. Then recert AZ-104 later in the year. I found John Savills YouTube stuff great for Azure: https://www.youtube.com/c/NTFAQGuy My employer does put on job vacancies that relevant certs are desirable - AZ-10 for cloud / server roles, so they do help shortlisting. And it shows you undertake professional development. On the AWS v GCP v AWS, public sector tend to favour Azure, some other UK too. AWS much bigger in the USA I'm told. I'd also look at Terraform, good cross platform infrastructure as code language.

Over the last 7 years I've been tracking my electricity usage in my apartment. Its just a 2 bed 2 bath - but everything is electric, heating, hot water, oven etc. no gas supply possible. During this period, I've lived on my own or with my brother so demand hasn't been the same year on year. I'd say I'm "frugal" but not to the point I'm prepared to sit in the cold. My typical per year usage is between 3700kWh and 5000kWh (average about 4500) per year depending upon how cold the winter has been, working at home frequency and if I'm living solo. Usage across a year varies between 8kWh per day in the summer and up to 20+kWh in the depths of a cold winter. I'd love to track my usage more accurately but due to the unique way the meters were centrally installed in the building, smart meters can't be fitted without huge expense. So I've used a couple of TP-Link smart plugs to monitor some of my appliances: Average kWh per day (measured over a couple of months per appliance). Fridge/freezer - 1.74 Hot water tank - 3.5 Dishwasher - 0.8 Washing Machine - 0.3 The rest of my usage comes from heating (up to 10kWh per day in winter), cooking (oven / hob / microwave - about 1.5kWh per day) lights (all LEDs), TV, computer, etc. I've tried to use my oven a bit less (2.5kWh per hour), those cheep and easy baked potato meals that need 1.5 to 2 hours in the oven aren't as cheep as first thought - now start in the microwave and 30 mins in the oven. But home cooking is always cheaper than a takeaway. I think the only big change I could really make is a new fridge/freezer would save me about 1kWh per day, saving about £112 per year at current prices - with pay back in under 4 years. But I'm hoping to move this year so won't do this as its integrated and would be left behind.

Both of these are used by staff: https://tophat.com/ https://www.mentimeter.com/

The challenges have now gone live: Challenge (MS Learn Modules) Est. time to complete Desktop and Device Management (42) 19 hours Windows Server Hybrid Admin (17) 15 hours Azure Admin (35) 19 hours Azure Database Admin (33) 21 hours Azure Developer (33) 21 hours Power Platform Developer (23) 20 hours Teams Admin (25) 20 hours Teams Voice Engineer (19) 13.5 hours Security Operations Analyst (32) 21 hours Identity + Information Protection (29) 22 hours Dynamics 365 Sales Consultant (25) 21.5 hours Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Mgmt (15) 18 hours