Day in Review - Geek Speak

I've been delegating a few more assignments that aren't hard, but are new to the people getting them, such as renewing a certificate, creating load balancing objects, modifying dns entries, updating switch entries, managing sub-contractors, etc. They are learning which is good. Some of my people jump right in, others toe the water.

Worked on more KACE help desk stuff. Doing our auto-assignment rules. We have some entries for other departments cause as everyone knows if it runs on a computer it is a technology work order. We are trying to get some of the rules to auto-close, reply with the KB article contents and not just the link (Select Title, Notes FROM table WHERE ID = KB Article). We have some rules that auto-assign based on status (New) and originating location. Nothing spectacular. I'll post some of our custom scripts if I get them working. Kinda cool.

Day in Review -- Admin Overhead

A lot of little things. Phone calls, emails, visits to meet people, talking with people, dealing with purchases, verifying procedures for the next year, and on on. It is amazing how much time gets taken up by these things. All this while trying to do our geek stuff.

Day in Review -- Geek Speak

Does reading technical specifications for switches, access points, and wireless controllers count as geek speak. I am trying to generate an RFP for wireless overlay at 40 campuses. Need to find all the part numbers for a spreadsheet and make sure they work in our environment. We have some unique space and switch uplink constraints.

Tried spec'ing out a new desktop for my group too. Damn, they can be a whiny bunch :) Seems every network, phone, and server admin has an opinion on what to go. A tech staff doesn't seem to understand a budget. Let's see...you spend 95% of your time at your desk working. VPN and remote access logs show you login once a month. Why do you need a laptop with a massive video card again? The other part of this is knowing you can build the machine from newegg/tigerdirect/whoever for about 60-75% of the cost versus the folks we buy our standard from. But we get all these neat management features! and power savings option! and we never use 'em! awesome! And a 4 year warranty. Ok, that is worth something. But if I took that off, how many more could I buy? I detest warranties. If I could spare everything, I would. I know it isn't always practical. But putting a warranty on a ~$600 computer when you have10000 units is dumb.

Despite the rants. it was a good day.

Day in Review - Admin Overhead

Had one of those train your boss moments. My boss took the feedback well. We are always training others or ourselves.

Had a meet and greet day with principals. Tech guys just love visting with people. They seemed like nice enough people, but only 2 days into thejob. Time will help render a final verdict.

Formal construction site visit was fun. new wing of the building. Outside plant fiber is in the proposed location as usual. It is always interesting to listen to the conversation of others when the verbalize the plan and design for things. Architects aren't always crazy and intentionally try to make things difficult. And I do empathize for them on renovations....converstations usually go. Architect: Do you have existing as builts? Customer: uh, no? Architect: Do you know where existing underground utilizes are? Customer: Can't we just do a locate?...Anyhow. on on on. You try to design something when know can really describe in detail was is currently there.

RFP Writing Info Gathering -- Hardware Only

Somewhere along the way to writing an RFP, you'll going to have to gather some information on what you are buying, whether it be a service or a piece of equipment. We will deal with hardware first.

• Hardware Vendors
• Visit the people who make the gear or software that meets your need. You may have to cold call an HP, a Dell, a Cisco, a Juniper, a Fortinet, Sonicwall, whatever. You may have a long standing relationship. Either way, talk about what you are wanting to do to a variety of vendors. List where you are now, what you want to do, and the budget for the RFP or project. You have to give them an idea of how much you can spend. They should be able to help you with the nuts and bolts. Hopefully, they can give you a BOM of what you need to accomplish the goal. Don't afraid to play them against each other. It is a business decision. They already know who their competitors are. The closer you can get an apples to apples specification, the easier it will be later, even if you prefer vendor A solutions cause the equipment is Tangerine (no, I've never used this as a criteria. Although I have ruled out a vendor due to aestitics. The thing just looked really really ugly on the wall. I couldn't picture my teachers and staff using it without calling and saying it looked ugly). Eventually, the OEM may bring a partner or reseller in. That's actually good, usually. You need to meet these players too. They are likely who you will be buying the solution from and quite possibly performing the install or service.
• Resellers. Ugh. Good ones exist, people tell me so. Actually, they do. I've never had extended good luck with a whole lot of them. They get complacent IMHO. Anyhow, you'll likely meet the team or project lead for your area or project type. You need to figure out if you like these people, because they are likely to be who you deal with daily if they win. If you don't "click" with the first person, you can ask for another. They may say no. Deal with it. That's why you put previous customer experience or references on the RFP later.
• Laws. Be aware of these during your meetings. Some are so specific in the public realm, don't even bother asking for lunch. Yeah, if you are making a $750,000 business decision over a combined $25 lunch at Chili's, you should suffer the consequences.
• Hardware Specifications. After you meet with these people you should be able to have the contacts and quite possibly some verbiage to lock down your specification. Often you want to ensure that you aren't being sold black or grey market equipment. The vendors should be able to help you limit responses to qualified resellers by either having the correct minimal level of reseller (silver partner or better, etc) or required specialist (RCDD on staff). Conversely, if there is a local area reseller that is just -amazing-, the hardware vendor help ensure they have the chance to compete against the AT&Ts. Remember, they'd rather you buy their product from anyone than the competition.
• Balance. As you do these visits they are interested in your acquiring your business. Most get paid commissions and bonuses based on what they sell. RFP's tend to be large buys which means large bonuses. If you can't find your reseller or account manager after you cut the first check, they are celebrating you buying their solution. You aren't really the center of the universe. But money does make the world go round..

Next Software & services...

Writing RFP Tips Especially in Education Pt 1

Things I've learned writing an RFP:

Pre-writing Legal & Timelines

• Does your company/institution use a boiler plate for these things? Go find it. Yeah, it may suck and need revisions, but if you mention that, you may get to re-write it. Be careful if you open your mouth. Heck, it may be wonderful (if so, i'd like a copy!).
• Find out your legal requirements on time
• Do you have to advertise in two separate weeks?
• Do you want to allow for Q&A for clarirfications?
• Do you have to allow 28 days for responses?
• Do you have to have a public opening?
• Are you allowed to 1st, 2nd..and final submittals where you are allowed to ask for clarifications?
• Does this have to go to an approval agency such as a board? When do they meet? When do you have to be on the agenda?
• Do you have to hit dates for another agency (eRate funding)
• From bullet 2, build your schedule. Work backwards. When do you to award this? Go to the board? Or when is eRate funding applications due? Build a time-line based on finish at that date. This is the one single thing that has bitten my butt more than others. You may think it is a simple quote for 60k in electronics/equipment with no services so basically it is an over-glorified speadsheet with totals. Turning it into an RFP puts some legal requirements on it.
• Now, you should know when you have to be done with your writing.

I'll cover fact gathering, specifications next...

Day in Review -- Geek Speak

As I've mentioned, we passed a bond. Yay. Sort of. More work. More toys. Gotta take the good with the bad. And in bonds, you must get your money off the table before others spend it for you. And then say you spent it. (Like Technology repaved a parking lot with Technology Bond Funds - true story).

As part of this, to acquire said toys, we have to produce an RFP. Starting these things are a chore. Since we'll be applying for eRate, I have to hit some deadlines. First one is in september. Ouch. Time to get started - NOW. I'll do my RFP tips in another message. I'm probably not the greatest, but maybe it'll help someone get started. I got the outline for 1 done. 2 more to go.

Did a psuedo site survey for APs needed at a campus. Pro-tip, in the summer in warm states where they turn off non-essential AC, always do these morning. Early if possible.

Also sat through another KACE educational 2 hours. I wish I had the time to play with the image and application deployment portion of that toy. I got the service desk setup.

Got our Yousend-it account enabled. We have a 10M email restriction. We send stuff over 10M out on occassions. This usually happens the day of the board meeting (board agenda, slides, etc). At 4:30PM when I want to go home. 3 times in one year, means there is a solution required. Now we get to train the people likely to need the solution. Hopefully that'll fix one source of panic. (Anyone saying they'll dream up other, I know you are right...let me bask in my brilliance for a moment. Ok, its done. Carry-on.).