MartinT

Just got another update to Version 83.0.478.50 (Official build) (64-bit).

Yes, you need Teams version 1.3.00.12058. The 9-way view has been very popular with us.

Several secure portals used by HR (pension, tax) will only work with IE. They don't want to use it, we don't want them to use it, but they have no choice. For me, new Edge has already proven itself and I am happy for all staff to use it.

I agree that a quiet room is a big ask, and the reality is that some teachers have reported disruption in their lessons from younger siblings drifting in and out of view. Minted? Yes, most of them are. Another reality of independent schools.

You write a Remote Teaching policy and make sure that all parents read it and sign up to it. They must provide a quiet environment, not in a bedroom, and no other family member may be in the same room. They must be fully dressed. Backgrounds should preferably have the blur option enabled. Almost all our parents have signed it. Our experience so far is that one-on-one lessons and small classes work best. Larger classes are better with broadcast and no interactivity. We use Teams only and I insisted that a couple of SLT members stopped using Zoom. So far, so good.

I think I'd pass on the graduation ceremony.

If you have Microsoft 365 A3 or greater, you get five 365 installs as part of the licence. So staff may install it on their home machines as well as their phone. If they leave, it just stops working.

Using the Teams Admin Centre you can only apply the policy to (I think) 20 or 25 users at a time. Very annoying.

You will need a Reverse Proxy entry (better) or port forward (less secure) for port 3389 through the Smoothwall. Install your certificate (preferably a wildcard for your domain) in the RDP server and also the Smoothwall if it's not already there for other services.

I think education is always better than enforcement. We have just done the basics to prevent students from creating Teams.

Teams is our key pandemic remote teaching solution and I have been doing training, helping departments with trial video calls, making student helpsheets etc. We're just about ready but giving IT support from home will be somewhat novel. We're watching the news and waiting.

We are seeking to appoint an outstanding professional with strong personal skills who will be responsible for all matters concerning the development, management, maintenance, and security of information systems and services, media and communications equipment at Heathfield School. The successful candidate will be confident to oversee and lead the development of systems including (but not limited to) whole-school management information (currently SIMS), Microsoft 365 including Office 365, Teams, OneDrive for Business, SharePoint, Forms and other Azure tools, Active Directory, Oliver (library system), PaperCut. They will also support systems under distributed leadership such as Finance (Capita FMS), Security (CCTV and Paxton Net2) and Marketing (school website and alumni database). Salary is in the range £41-45k commensurate with experience. Closing date: Friday 27 March at mid-day; interview date: Week Commencing Monday 30 March 2020 https://www.heathfieldschool.net/about-us/job-vacancies/

Format the Display Name as you wish it to be seen, then it'll just work.

In Sixth Form at school I was programming using a Teletype terminal and acoustic coupler into the City of London Polytechnic system. I then studied Electronic Engineering at University. Used punched cards for some of my modules and did my thesis on a self-built Wireless World Comp-80 computer with a Zilog Z80 CPU. Graduated in 1980 and started work as a computer service engineer, repairing to component level - often onsite. My first car was a company car. After spells as a Group Product Manager at NEC and Xerox, I reverted to running IT systems at Xerox and finally at my current school some 17 years ago.

Join the BCS and become an MBCS as soon as you qualify. Then work towards CITP (Chartered IT Professional). It's a well recognised qualification and will always look good on your CV and will differentiate you.

I don't get the twin reader business. When you swipe in, a log entry is generated. Why the second reader?

If you integrate door entry, clocking in and photocopiers into a single ID badge solution for Paxton and PaperCut, it's worth the one big bill to get it all done together.

We use the Paxton Net2 logs for clocking-in using our ID badges. We don't have a solution for clocking-out, but I understand we could replace the internal buttons with internal readers and emergency release if we needed.

Work as usual. I'm doing server updates today, more of the same tomorrow and then we're hybridising our Exchange 2016 server ready for migrating mailboxes to the cloud starting later this week.

I shall ask whether that's ok to supply.

We use Meraki APs (84 of them) and they are pricey for the annual licensing, but you get what you pay for. Being part of Cisco, their quality and support is premium.

Our retention policy matches what we say in our GDPR policy, which is the crucial thing. Inbox: 1 year Sent Items: 2 years All folders at the root or lower levels: 7 years Deleted items: 7 days Junk: 14 days

Looks like a good tool but we've done it all now.

Yes, I buy Lenovo E490 with SSD now so no need to upgrade with SSDs any more.

I have found the SharePoint Migration Tool to be pretty naff and unreliable. We use the 'Open with Explorer' functionality using Internet Explorer (yes, I know) so that we can drag/drop files directly using File Explorer and that has worked well for Terabytes of data transfers.