Google Sheets and Chromebooks

Using google sheets, a little inventory work was done by checking in ChromeBooks from the students. Over the summer there will be some major work checking in around 900 machines. Along with incoming computers, new scan-able codes are going to be applied to streamline the process for the bulk of these laptops.

Also today, we connected a another diagnostic computer to the network in the bus maintenance building.

Group Policy and ticketing System

This morning we updated some users in Active directory. In the MMC console, I added the active directory snap-in and clicked on the Mt.Baker folder. from the users folder I navigated to the specific school in the district and added new staff to a particular school, then I changed groups for others. I also added some of the existing staff to the Teachers Union. After completing my tasks in Active duty, I made sure I saved my console so that the Active Directory feature remained in MMC.

We also continued to distribute UPS units in the IDFs around campus, which I just learned are Intermediate Distribution Frames.

For the ticketing system, Mt. Baker IT department uses Fresh Desk. It forwards requests to the department Gmail accounts.

Continuing with the UPS / 6-25-2020

I spent the day distributing more UPS units around the main campus. We also transported three of them to Acme Elementary and set two of the three up. The third requires wiring up an outlet with appropriate power, so as soon as the electricians address this upgrade we will install the final unit.

UPS / backing up campus power

Power up - 6/24/2020

The Mt. Baker school district began installing uninterrupted power supplies for all the network closets. The larger ones had greater power supply needs other than what were provided. 

A good part of the day was used installing these units around the DO campus, as well as the Kindel Elementary school in Maple Falls. 

Part of the day was also used establishing a google account for me and sharing an inventory list of incoming Chromebooks used by students from the school year. I was briefed on what needs to happen and we discussed the logistics of checking these in. Google sheets is used as the spreadsheet program. I am considering creating a dashboard to easily view progress and a tally on machines that do not work (with the serial number).

First Day on the Job

  My desk! 

Off we go / 6-23-2020

I didn't waste anytime today getting my hands dirty. One of the Chromebooks supplied to the students was returned with a broken screen, but a new screen was sent along with it by a parent. More complex repairs like these are usually skipped because of the amount of time involved. After two attempts, I got the laptop to fire up after discovering that the battery has to be completely disconnected and the power button pressed for ten seconds for this particular model to take a charge. This is the final troubleshooting tip for this problem on Dell website, luckily I suspected the battery and bypassed several of the steps. 

Mt. Baker School district includes Kindel Elementary in Maple Falls Washington. From the main district office, we made a trip to Kindel and made some room visits that were on a list of ticketed requests. Some of the tasks included removing and replacing a graphics card on a machine running a projector, setting up workstations, and checking a switch closet to establish that the correct port was used for one of the rooms' stations.