The Top Benefits for you
1. Increased User ‘up time’ through
- Improved reliability i.e. fewer system crashes and quicker system restoration
- Improved Logon and Logoff times over the current system
- Reduced security risk due to supported vendor security updates and improved system security
- Fewer calls to the Service Desk and where calls are made, more of them fixed over the phone rather than waiting for a Desk-Side Visit
- Increased availability and system uptime of the desktop environment through self healing technologies
- Quicker recovery (and reduced risk of data loss) in the event of a failure or PC replacement
- For example, someone recently had their Vista laptop stolen and when a new one was installed they suffered no data loss because they stored their data on the network and utilised offline folders.
2. Improved mobility through
- Dynamically configured network printers – active at start up from wherever you log on
- Ability to log on to any Vista SOE computer
- Ability for staff to log on to student suite computers and access their staff data
- Seamless transition when moving between the University's wired and wireless networks
- Availability of the U: Drive when working off the University network. Data is synchronised with the Network when reconnected (notebook and tablet computers only).
- Availability of email inbox when working offline and synchronised with the Network when reconnected (notebook and tablet computers only).
3. Improved Customer Service / relationships through
- Personal communication approach between ITS and schools/branches
- Improved understanding of schools in general gained through consulting with each staff member prior to their upgrade to ensure their individual requirements are documented and met.
- Unplanned IT outage messages displayed on your computer.
4. Improved Productivity / Ways of working / Features through Microsoft Office 2007
- Create professional-looking documents and presentations quickly using
- Quick Formats
- Live Preview
- Themes
- Embedding data from other Office Applications
- Tools that assist researching like
- Tabs in IE7 so you have multiple web pages open from the one browser Window
- One Note - Note book where you can quickly send Web pages and PDF’s
- Find your work files quicker through the Desktop Search (that also searches your email messages at the same time)
- The new Office ribbon groups your tools by task, and the commands you use most frequently are close at hand.
- Communicate more effectively with high-impact graphics
- Quickly compare two versions of a document
- Add a digital signature or signature line to your documents
- Convert your Word documents to PDF or XPS
- Instantly detect documents that contain embedded macros
- Prevent changes to a final version of a document
- Reduce file sizes and improve corruption recovery
- Improved automated data recovery. Following an application crash, Office will attempt to recover documents, even those not saved, that were being worked on. this occurs when the application is next launched.
There are a number of other benefits Desktop Excellence brings to the University including:
- Leading IT facilities
Desktop Excellence will upgrade the software of all computers for staff. The move to the latest operating system – leapfrogging from Microsoft Windows 2000 to Microsoft Vista – will give you a range of benefits at a personal level (see above), as well as pave the way for a number of IT projects that will be delivered in the coming years. There will possibly be computers in your area that aren’t compatible with Vista. That’s fine. Financial assistance will be made available to upgrade hardware (memory) to be compatible with Microsoft Vista.
- Low cost to Schools and other areas
This project requires compliant hardware and software. As a result, some funding has been set aside to subsidise University areas.
- Ease of changeover
Each School and area within the University is different. Our staff computers are a mix of operating systems and software. As a result, ITS will be tailoring the project rollout on a area by area basis, accommodating each area's particular IT needs where possible. Each staff member’s software requirements will be listed so we can build your needs into the rollout for your area. We also need your help in this – members of the Desktop Excellence team will move throughout your area undertakling what we call 'discovery' so we know what you are using.
- Top level support
This project is important in the next few years of the University. Not only are we minimising risk and reaping the other benefits of Desktop Excellence, we are also building a foundation for the rollout of many other projects. As a result, Desktop Excellence is being driven by senior University management, who have resourced the project accordingly.
- Setting a foundation
This project forms the foundation of many IT projects in the coming years. The University is moving to web services for IT services for everyone: this multi-million dollar project will need these upgrades – both in software and hardware – in order to deliver them.
- Improved printing
When you get Vista, all of your departmental printers will be delivered to you automatically, so it’s all automated and set up for you – double-sided printing, paper trays and sizes. New printers will be seamlessly incorporated into your printer management and you won’t need to mess around with print queues any more. It will also give us the opportunity to adopt greener practices with our printing – using double-sided printing or even scrap paper for drafts. It will also help us to take advantage of the cost-benefits of using multi-functional devices like combination photocopies/printer/fax machines.
- Training opportunities
Time will also be set aside as a part of the Desktop Excellence project to train staff in the latest versions of the software. Staff will be able to upgrade their own skills in a number of ways – from using the new operating system to using particular programs.
For more information, please contact the Desktop Excellence team on desktop.excellence@adelaide.edu.au.
|
