PlanNet Consulting played an instrumental role in implementing a new Voice over IP (VoIP) phone system for Citrus Valley Health Partners (CVHP), completed in December 2011.  PlanNet managed the Assessment, Procurement Process, and Contract Negotiations and provided Implementation Oversight.

CVHP was looking to replace their Fujitsu F9600 PBX’s and NEC 2400 PBX.   Aside from the fact that the current PBXs were end-of-life, Users on the legacy systems had also been experiencing issues with dropped calls on the Polycom wireless handsets.   Altura Communications Solutions was brought on to implement an AVAYA AURA IP Communications platform.  The new system utilized IP and digital handsets.  Digital handsets were used in locations where cabling didn’t support VoIP phones.  Altura managed to retain 100% feature transparency and functionality during the migration to the new system by integrating the existing PBXs.  A wireless infrastructure remediation and upgrade to the Polycom equipment was also completed to resolve the issues with dropped calls and integration with the new VoIP phone system.

CVHP had a total of over 3500 phones installed at their six locations which included three hospitals, one hospice location, one business office as well as one additional corporate office.

And on the topic of speech to text, there are many different mindsets that go into the validity of whether speech to text works good enough. I am now the opinion that it does, in fact good enough for me to use on a regular basis. I spoke this entire blog using the speech to text editor that comes with windows 7.  Granted there were minor updates and changes that I had to fix, however, for the most part it was done directly through the speech to text capabilities of windows 7.  Now it is available in previous version, however this one seems to be very accurate with just a little bit of training.

If you haven’t used Speech to Text before, guess what …  It’s time to try.  With very little effort and the right tools, you can be up and running using Speech to Text in an hour!  It is really pretty easy and can be a real time saver.  Depending upon your personal preferences of course.  So to get started just click on your Start menu and type in “Speech” :  You’ll see the program Windows Speech Recognition show up.  Select it.

** Note that you can have multiple ways to get to this, but just choose the Programs options. Another way is via the Control Panel.

Now, before you actually start to use the Speech Recognition option, make sure you have a good microphone.  My suggestion is to use something USB based with noise cancelling.  This will take out any “machine” noise that is produced by plugging directly into the sound card of the machine.

The first thing that you go through is the setup wizard.  I have captured each of the screens that you will see as you go through this process

After you have installed and trained your dictation, you well see the speech Microphone is ready for commands or dictation.  You can right click on it to pull down a menu of options.  If you do any sort of public speaking this is a great tool to help you speak clearly and articulately.  Not to mention that your typing words per minute will go through the roof .

Here is hoping that you have a productive and efficient day.

Until next time … Darrell

As of January 1, 2012, Oracle no longer requires its customers to re-certify equipment in the event of a self-move. Previously, Oracle required all Sun/Oracle

equipment being moved to be moved and/or certified by Oracle personnel or a certified installation partner immediately following a server or data center move. Now, any equipment currently under warranty with Oracle remains under warranty regardless of who moves the equipment. If the equipment is damaged in transition, the customer is liable for the repairs to or replacement of the damaged equipment. If the equipment is not damaged in the move, the warranty remains intact.

For further information, please see the Tech Support Bulletin at:

http://www.oracle.com/us/support/library/hardware-systems-support-policies-069182.pdf

Reliance, the largest metal services center company in North America, was under a tight schedule to  move out of one of their existing facilities to a new facility with a higher level of redundancy and managed services.

PlanNet successfully developed a move strategy as well as implemented the XREF tool to track dependencies and minute by minute cut over plans for multiple teams during all critical cutovers.  Multiple Data Centers were consolidated into two new facilities as well as moving their DR to a different facility.  PlanNet also provided necessary Program and Project management to create templates and produce deliverables based upon those templates.

PlanNet was able to help Reliance relocate within their required time frames as well as maintain their accepted outage windows for each move event.

It has been proven that the human brain works much faster when dealing with images and colors versus the written word. So let’s do two things in your calendar to take advantage of our brain’s natural ability to process vistual stimulas.

Define your colors by Categories:

When you’re ready to assign colors to items in a calendar start thinking about how you organize your life. Then start thinking from the perspective of how you want to view things. How should things pop out to you visually based on similar colors. Just like you do in creating metrics for projects or reports for applications. Think about what you want your end result to look like when assiging details to the items that go into that result.

So as an example if I have a weekly status meeting that is in regards to a particular project I would think about using the same color for all of the meetings or items that are associated to that project

In the same sense I will look at recurring items vs. One off items with different shades as well.

So if I select a darker color for particular project, then within that I might use a lighter shade of that same color to represent one off (non recurring item) Depending upon your preferences, which is easier to read and stands out better. This will help you in a weekly view to see which schedule is not usually in your calendar and where your focus is being applied.

In the below example you can see that I’ve chosen darker colors for my one of meetings and lighter colors for my recurring meetings. *note that this is Outlook view, you can do the same thing in Google Calendar as well as most calendar applications. You can rename any color category to your liking…

Now the reason I chose a darker color for one off vs. stand alone items is they stand out more. So the lighter shade represents something that is on a recurring basis the darker colors something to pop to make me remember that I need to do that is not something that’s on my regular schedule. This has nothing to do with reminder pop ups and such, just a visual way to view my calendar.

Assign your Categories to your appt’s:

Now that you have decided on your color scheme you can assign colors to your individual and recurring calendar items…

Once that is done, your calendar will start to look like this:

vs:

On a personal note, I do the same thing with my kids. Each get’s their own color and shade according to child and activity (or sport) …

I hope this helps you with your productivity and the organization of your Calendar. Until Next time…

PlanNet prepared and managed the procurement documents of a new city-wide cable infrastructure RFP, a new VoIP system RFP and a new Data Network RFP reflective of the specific goals of the City of Thousand Oaks.  PlanNet assisted in the review and award of these various bids and then played the role of the primary Project Manager to oversee and coordinate the implementation of this infrastructure and systems city-wide over a two year period.  The project was successfully completed in July 2011.

Besides being the biggest football game of the year, the Super Bowl is often known for its memorable commercials.  This year was no exception.  On Sunday, February 5, 2012, the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) was featured in a very special McDonald’s Super Bowl commercial that caught the attention of many.

The commercial brings to life what strength in numbers really means to RMHC families. Anastacio’s two brothers, sister, mom, dad and grandfather, as well as RMHC staff and volunteers were close by to support him while he endured intense chemotherapy. And on one especially hard day (not shown in the video), he found joy in spending time with Ronald McDonald himself at the House in Oak Lawn, IL.  Through joyful moments and moments of pain, it’s that support and care which makes RMHC so special to families worldwide.

Many are unaware of the charity that assists in helping sick children and their families who are in need of treatment and housing.  PlanNet Consulting’s Managing Principal, Steve Miano, who was recently elected to the Board of Advisers to RMHLA, is proud to have played a key role in contributing as a sponsor and donor within the past few years.  PlanNet’s active involvement in the charity has helped raise awareness and touch the lives of many children and families in need.

To learn more about this charity and making a difference, please visit the RMHC website for more information.

So here’s what we’re going to cover

• The base information tab
• Filling in the squares
• Entering your scores
• Show what colors mean
• Covering point picker tab

That’s it we are all done…. Enjoy.

Click Here to get the Template

Please click on the image below for Instructions in Microsoft Word format:

Below is the video on how to edit and use the template.

William has successfully fulfilled many technical and creative roles in the Broadcast Media and production industry. He is highly experienced in video capture and content management in all stages of production. Mr. Gurk has worked on numerous Indie Films, commercials for television and Super Bowl, episodic television shows, and feature film trailers. He is well versed in multiple digital video formats including RED, P2, XDCAM as well as tape-based digital and analog media.

In addition to his expertise in audiovisual infrastructure design and engineering, Mr. Gurk is adept at many industry standard technical and creative software applications. Key applications include Auto CAD, Avid Media Composer & Pro Tools, Apple Final Cut Studio, and Adobe Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects and Encore.

PlanNet extends a warm welcome to it’s newest addition to AV consulting.  Welcome aboard William!

Her diverse data center background includes capacity planning, facilities management, as well as physical and application migrations.  Her resume also includes several large migration projects including data centers, headquarter facilities, lab facilities, and DR sites.  Michelle’s expertise is in project management with experience in co-lo contract negotiations, semiconductor, storage networks (NAS and SAN), and large-scale Data Center facilities.

PlanNet looks forward to working Michelle on a variety of data center projects.  Her impressive background, skills, and knowledge make her a perfect fit at PlanNet Consulting.  Welcome Michelle!