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Hardware Safari
- 1. . © TechSoup Global | All rights reserved1 Go on a Hardware Safari with Idealware With Karen Graham, Idealware David Forrester, National CASA February 16, 2017
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- 4. . © TechSoup Global | All rights reserved4 Presenters Assisting with chat: Ale Bezdikian, TechSoup David Forrester CIO, National CASA Karen Graham Executive Director, Idealware Susan Hope Bard Training & Education Manager, Techsoup
- 5. . © TechSoup Global | All rights reserved5 The Need Is Global – And So Are We • TechSoup’s mission is to build a dynamic bridge that enables civil society organizations and social change agents around the world to gain effective access to the resources they need to design and implement solutions for a more equitable planet. Countries Served TechSoup Partner Location NetSquared Local Group
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- 7. . © TechSoup Global | All rights reserved7 TechSoup Special Offer, February 16-26, 2017 • What: 25% discounted registration for Tech Planning courses • 4 course learning track $99 NOW $74.25 • 201, 202, 203 $40 NOW $30 TECHPLAN25FEB2017
- 8. Hardware Safari Presented by TechSoup and Idealware February 16, 2017
- 9. Karen Graham IDEALWARE EXPERT TRAINER Executive Director, Idealware karen@idealware.org @karentgraham INTRODUCTION
- 11. David Forrester GUEST SPEAKER CIO, National CASA INTRODUCTION
- 13. Kicking off Your Hardware Safari The first step is to identify and document the hardware your organization currently using. OVERVIEW
- 14. We’ll walk you through what hardware you’re likely to have. Then use the worksheet to map out your own hardware. Let’s Go on a Hardware Safari! INTRODUCTIONOVERVIEW
- 15. What hardware is your organization using? If you’re not sure, go dig around in your server closet or utility room to find out! Don’t let the number of items overwhelm you – start with what you know and work from there. Workstations Workstations are the desktop and laptop computers that your staff use. The model number for desktop computers is typically on the front of the unit. Frustratingly, many laptops only list the model number on the bottom of the machine. Type (desktop/laptop) Brand (and model # if possible) Age of machine (approximate) How many do you have? Printers By type, we mean either personal printers (connected directly someone’s computer) or network printers, which are connected to your network with a gray or blue network cable. Type (personal/network) Brand (and model # if possible) Age of printer (approximate) How many do you have?
- 16. Desktop and laptop computers: How many do you have? About how old are they? Workstations OVERVIEW
- 17. How many printers do you have? Are they connected to your network or to individual computers? How old are they? Printers OVERVIEW
- 18. The phones on your desks: How many do you have? What models are they? Phone Handset
- 20. A PBX (private branch exchange) controls access to external phone lines and allows calls to be routed. If you have to dial 8 or 9 to get an outside line, then you have a PBX. PBX = The Brains of Your Phone System OVERVIEW
- 21. Where are data lines entering into your office from outside? Is there a phone gateway box? Find the Connection OVERVIEW
- 22. If you connect to the Internet through a small business service, you’ll have a modem. Cable modems are provided by cable companies. DSL modems are provided by telephone companies. Modems Cable Modems: DSL Modems: OVERVIEW
- 23. Routers connect the computers on your network to each other and to the Internet. Your router will be connected to your modem. It may be wired or wireless. Routers OVERVIEW
- 24. Firewalls protect your network from the Internet. Firewalls OVERVIEW
- 25. Switches have ports for computer network cables, and are used to link devices on your network. Smaller networks may not need a switch. Switch OVERVIEW
- 26. Servers are computers that carry out such specialized roles as: Centralized file storage Controlling printers Handling particular software packages Servers OVERVIEW
- 27. And to whom? Take a moment to go over invoices and see what services you have related to your hardware devices. How Much Are You Paying For This? OVERVIEW
- 28. Whew! Take an hour and see what you can find out. Don’t let it overwhelm you. OVERVIEW
- 29. Next Steps 2
- 30. Tech Planning Courses NEXT STEPS
- 31. TechSoup Special Offer, February 16-26, 2017 • What: 25% discounted registration for Tech Planning courses • 4 course learning track $99 NOW $74.25 • 201, 202, 203 $40 NOW $30 TECHPLAN25FEB2017
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Editor's Notes
- TechSoup doesn’t just help NGOs overcome barriers to effective use of technology. We also help NGOs overcome language, economic, geographic, cultural, knowledge, and access barriers. We create new ways to access technology, new paths to connect and network, and new means to learn and develop skills — all so that NGOs can operate at their full potential, more effectively deliver their programs and services, and better achieve their missions.
- TechSoup doesn’t just help NGOs overcome barriers to effective use of technology. We also help NGOs overcome language, economic, geographic, cultural, knowledge, and access barriers. We create new ways to access technology, new paths to connect and network, and new means to learn and develop skills — all so that NGOs can operate at their full potential, more effectively deliver their programs and services, and better achieve their missions.
- Susan will kick off
- Speaker: Karen
- Speaker: Karen
- Maybe you haven’t had any tech help or you’re brand new… As your first step in thinking through your technology plan, we’re going to ask you to go on a hardware safari – to check out your own offices to spot, identify, and document what hardware you’re actually using. What computers are you using? How old are they? How many desktops compared to laptops? What phones and printers do you have? And what’s all that stuff lurking in the data closet? This is a really important first step – it’s difficult to make any decisions about what you should do in the future without knowing what you’re actually doing right now. This step is often called a “technology audit”, it’s the same thing, just in less colorful terms – a walkthrough and documentation of what you currently have.
- I’m going to walk you through how to identify what you have – this module is kind of a field guide to hardware in the wild. It’s designed to help folks who aren’t very familiar with hardware, to boost your comfort level in going through the Hardware Safari worksheet, which comes next. But if you’re already generally comfortable with office hardware – so you could, for instance, define the difference between a router, a PBX, and a telephone gateway -- feel free to skip this module and head straight for the worksheet. In fact, if you already have a technology audit that covers pretty much the same ground as the worksheet, feel free to skip that too, and move to the Hardware Considerations module for help in thinking through whether what you have is likely to in fact be right for your organization.
- So let’s dive in, with likely the most obvious pieces of technology hardware in your offices – your computers. About how many computers do you have? How many are desktop computers – so like the ones in the top row, that aren’t designed to be moved around? How many portable laptops do you have? David: where do you look on a computer to find the model, serial number, etc? How do you know how much memory it has or what kind of processor? (What does that mean?) As you do the worksheet, try to put an approximate age on each computer – did you just buy it this year? Or has it been around longer than your most tenured employee? David: how long does a desktop or laptop typically last? What about tablets? Don’t forget to record those too.
- Another fairly obvious one – how many printers do you have? Are they connected to an office network – like with a cable, or through a wireless connection, or do they connect directly to an individual’s computer? This is easy to figure out – if some individual computer needs to be on to print, then it’s connected directly to that computer. Otherwise, it’s a network computer. And again, ballpark the age– brand new as of last month? Ten years old? David: Where would you typically find the info tag on a printer? Is there other helpful info you can find by looking at the properties from a connected computer?
- Let’s move on to considering your current phone systems. Start by looking at the public face of your phone sytems – the actual phone handsets on your desk – again, how many do you have? Are they all the same model or different models? Phones don’t tend to get out-of-date as quickly as a computer, but see if you tell how old they are. Most of you probably have phones something like the one pictured, but I don’t – I use a soft phone for everything. That means I don’t have a physical phone device. I use an app on my computer or my cell phone to make and receive calls from the organization’s phone number. This is becoming more common because it’s an economical, portable option.
- David: What would someone typically find inside a server closet? While we’re on this subject, what advice do you have about keeping a server room tidy, safe and secure? (Control temperature, keep moisture out, lock it, label the wires and cables, tape a contact list to the wall)
- The next step is to venture into your data closet and see what you’ve got in there! If you have more than a couple of people in your office sharing a phone system, you likely have a PBX. That stands for Private Branch Exchange, but is one of those acronyms that lots people know just by the letters– the decode isn’t very meaningful. A PBX coordinates multiple phone lines for an office – so for instance, it lets you have five actual phone lines for ten people and phones. This allows you to save some money on phone lines, with the thought that it’s unlikely that all ten staff people will all be on the phone at the very same time. So the PBX helps to route calls from a main line to the extensions, either automatically or with the help of a receptionist, and makes sure that when you try to call out, you can find an open line. This is usually done by dialing 8 or 9 to get a line – if you have to do that, then you have a PBX. It might control voicemail and provide other advance features too. There’s different types of PBXes. You might have an old one with a bunch of cables sticking out--they last approximately forever, so it’s possible you have a really old one that works fine for you. Newer PBX boxes tend to be more compact, like the one pictured. Or it’s possible you’re using a remote PBX – that you don’t have any inhouse PBX at all, but instead there’s a remote service that handles routing for you.
- The point where various data lines like your internet and phone lines enter your office is sometimes called the “demarc” by techie folks. It’s important for you to know where this is so you can quickly direct a repair technician there. We’ll talk about internet stuff in a minute, but first let’s touch on another piece of phone hardware you might find here. There are two ways to get phone lines into the office – either old fashioned copper lines (commonly called POTS lines, or Plain Old Telephone Service lines). If you have copper lines, they’ll typically plug directly into the PBX. But if you’re using digital lines – often called Voice Over IP or VOIP lines – you’ll likely have a box that serves as a gateway between the world and your phones, giving you some security and control.
- Most smaller offices will also have a modem, which controls the overall internet connection between your office and the world. If you have internet access provided by a cable company, like Time Warner or Comcast, you’ll have a cable modem. If you have access provided by a telephone company, you’ll have a DSL modem. The modem will connect to literally an internet cable coming in from the wall. David: What about internet over copper or other new high speed options – will you see anything different with those? How can you tell the difference between this and the phone related devices? Are there sometimes more than one of these?
- The modem provides an internet signal, but you need a router to actually plug any sizable amount of computers into it. Routers manage the flow of internet data to and from your computers. There are some very reliable inexpensive routers – the Linksys model in the picture on the top is widely used and may look familiar. The router itself will be plugged into the modem. The connection between your router and computers could be done through physical cables – so you could literally just plug one end of a cable into the router and the other end into a computer. Or you could have a wireless router, which allows all your computers to connect to it without wires, as long as they’re in reasonable physical proximity.
- A firewall is a really important device to protect your internal network from all the potential bad guys in the outside world. It’s often packaged in the same device as your router – so notice that’s that same familiar Linksys box again at the top, which serves as both a router and a firewall. A firewall monitors all incoming and outgoing internet traffic to flag things that seem suspicious – for instance, if you click in your browser to see a website page, the firewall will let the information for that webpage through, because it knows you’ve requested it. But if someone is trying to send something suspicious into the network that wasn’t requested, the firewall will intercept it to protect your network. The firewall should be sitting between your router and your computers… if it isn’t packaged into the same device as your router. David: The Linksys device in this picture looks just like the one on the last slide. Are there combo devices that do more than one thing?
- A switch looks complicated, but in fact it’s essentially a network’s version of an extension cord or power strip. A router generally has at least a couple of ports – if you have enough ports on it to plug in everything you need to plug in, they you may not need a switch. But if you need more ports, a switch plugs into a single port and then provides you with a lot more – anywhere from four to twenty or more.
- Last but not least, check out your office for servers. A server is just a computer, but one that’s typically attached to the network and dedicated to performing specialized roles. So for instance, you might have a file server that stores documents so that everyone on your staff can access them. Or you might have a server that helps make a particular software package, like a constituent database, available for everyone to share. In your safari, just look for computers or boxes that don’t seem to be any of the other things we discussed, and see if you can track down their purpose. You should be happy if you don’t find any, because a cloud-based infrastructure is easier to maintain. David: Are you starting to see orgs without any server at all? What about other options like peer-to-peer networks? Or offsite servers? Email might be on premise or in the cloud – you’ll need to find out. If you find a server that might be a sign that it’s on premise. David: What are considerations for making this choice?
- David: What have your clients been surprised to find out they are paying for? Do you have any tips for consolidating or saving money? Where is it NOT a good idea to skimp on services?
- Alright! We made it through – that was our walk-through of how to identify what you’ve got. Take an hour or so to investigate what’s on your staff’s desktops and in your data closets and document it in the Hardware Safari worksheet. If you have a lot of staff members but no standardized hardware, it can be really time consuming to try to itemize everyone’s desktop computer and phone system – if that’s bogging you down, just ballpark what you have at what age – so for instance, how many one year old desktops? How many three year old desktops? If you have to choose one, it’s more useful to get an overview of everything you have than concentrate on a deep-dive into one level. After you’ve identified what you actually have, how do you think about what you *should* have? I’ll let Susan walk you through our online course on tactical tech planning.
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