Stake Technology Specialist Notebook

I would like help from the community for a project I am undertaking.

I wish to compile a notebook documenting a typical Stake's Technology Specialist's relevant records and instructions (operation manuals, inventory, network map, location of connections, wiring diagrams, etc.). The purpose of the notebook will be for reference and will be handed down to the next STS.

I know this will be Stake specific but I am planning on making templates for distribution to about 40 STS's at our area at our upcoming Chapter meeting. I have already started one of my own but I would appreciate additional ideas from the community as to what subjects, documents, hand-outs, resources, etc. you think I should create and include.

Thanks in advance,

Mike Fish

This is a great idea, and I appreciate your willingness to spearhead this effort and share ideas. Here are a couple of thoughts I've had in addition to the ones you mentioned:

• Log: I've unfortunately not been very consistent in this, so I only have a partial log of the support incidents I've worked on, but I've often wished I had a complete log. The log would list the date, the hardware involved, the people involved, and a brief description of what was done. Issues often repeat themselves, and so it's helpful to know when and how other units dealt with an issue. Also, when dealing with an ISP or the GSC it's helpful to be able to give the history (e.g., "we've had an outage three times in the last 4 months").
• Tools: Although we need to create network maps, etc., it's not easy to know what tools will facilitate the creation of those maps.

I work for the Meetinghouse Technology Coordination team and we would love to hear from anyone regarding their efforts towards creating a Stake Meetinghouse Technology notebook. We are looking to add some content onto mhtech.lds.org relating to this topic. If anyone wants to share with us their ideas, please post them here or email us at mht@ldschurch.org.

I think the FIR system is a perfect vehicle for documenting support incidents. I'm surprised to see no mention of it anywhere on mhtech.

One nice thing I've kept is a list of Units, Unit Numbers, Property Numbers for meetinghouse, firewall sn, subnets, any static assigned devices (used to have firewall type but they are all 881W now) - Satellite Serial numbers are also good to keep. Serial Numbers of clerk computers and licensing (Microsoft Licensing) and any special licenses the units have added like TroopMaster for instance [yes I've emailed the license information to the church, yes the stake president authorized the additional hardware] - as well as the month/year the computer was installed and when the 4th year R&I should have $$ added to replace the computer. I keep a serial number for all our new LCD TV's as well and any additional items like ROKU devices, etc.. that have been purchased through other sources.

TM has centralized much of this and is automated... I've started listing my static assignments in a notes field for the ISP under tm.lds.org - so that is a place it is located as well.

JohnShaw wrote: I've started listing my static assignments in a notes field for the ISP under tm.lds.org - so that is a place it is located as well.

Ohhh, I'm stealing that one. It would be nice if clerk support made a place to store this STS information. For one, it could help automate the scheduling of replacement equipment.

I also list the church monitors and printers as well as the "made on date" for the same.

I also have a list of MAC addresses for our APs. I have it in the "WiFi Analyzer" App in the Android. That way I can see which LDS Access is which when I'm in a "in between" room.

Update: Here is what I have collected so far.

Items to include in Notebook
Emergency contact information
Website links/references
Log of problems
Unit numbers for Wards and Stake
Ward meeting times
High Councilor’s ward assignments, contact information
Broadcast schedule
Inventory of electronics
Building and Ward floor-plans
Wiring diagrams
Network topology map
History of improvements
Plan of future upgrades
Stake Conference Webcasting checklist

Any other ideas?

A) Inventory of electronics could include:
1) Firewall Serial Number, model, subnet network address with mask range
2) Number of wireless access points (AP), vendor and model number
3) HVAC networked controller (e.q., Honeywell WebStat)
4) Networked printer addresses
5) Other groups in a meetinghouse with equipment that is networked (e.q., CES, FM, ERC)

Some information (ward meeting times, HC contact info, broadcast schedule, Network IP and range, etc) could be found on-line. I think it would be preferable to list where the data could be found to avoid stale info or needless tasks of updating it.

I understand the possibility of notebook information getting stale, but the purpose is to have all information in one place. For instance, where are all Ward's meeting times displayed on one web page? And where does it show which ward a High Councilor is assigned to work with? IP address ranges and subnets are only the beginning. A new STS won't know what static IP addresses have been assigned to Clerk PC's, networked printers and network devices.

IMO, newly called Stake Technology Specialists will not know where to go to get those pieces of information. If I want a newly called STS to 'hit the ground running', a notebook with important information (in one place) would be better than him having to research information on his own. After he gets into his calling, he could verify and update stale information in the notebook against current information on the Internet. The old, outdated information could be used as a log or archive.

michaelfish wrote:I understand the possibility of notebook information getting stale...

What I did to help my successor, or anyone else reviewing the notebook, was to put an "as of" date for each piece of volatile information. Sometimes the entire page had volatile information so the page had an "as of" date instead of for each piece of data. I did receive feedback from my successor a few months later that this greatly helped.

michaelfish wrote:For instance, where are all Ward's meeting times displayed on one web page?

Why is that important? The current info can be found in maps or CDOL. Set it down on paper now, and it will be wrong in 5 months. However, you might want to document the time slots. The slots tends to be static, it's the wards assigned to the slot that changes.

michaelfish wrote:And where does it show which ward a High Councilor is assigned to work with?

That changes pretty frequently.

michaelfish wrote:IP address ranges and subnets are only the beginning.

tm.lds.org

michaelfish wrote:A new STS won't know what static IP addresses have been assigned to Clerk PC's, networked printers and network devices.

I like the idea of recording it in tm. That way both the STS and GSD has access to it. At work I label everything that has a static IP.

michaelfish wrote:IMO, newly called Stake Technology Specialists will not know where to go to get those pieces of information.

And THAT, IMHO, is what should be documented in the notebook. Telling him here to find the current info is more importantly then listing something that's likely to be out of date by the time he needs it.

The purpose of this thread is to come up with ideas for the creation of a comprehensive STS notebook (I have 6 days left) for distribution to 40 (hopefully) STS’s at the Phoenix LDSTech Charter meeting next week. The notebook will contain templates, links, and other resources intended to help others and perhaps be passed to the next STS.

I am aware that information in a notebook would need to be constantly updated and that there is more current information on the Internet, but what new STS is going to know where to look, and what to look for?

What if there was a STS notebook with important links and other useful information?

If I can create a comprehensive sample, perhaps in the future, a church employee could look at the collected ideas and create a single webpage to access the latest data. BTW, I plan to send a sample of my work to Elder Eliason (LDSTech missionary).

michaelfish wrote:
For instance, where are all Ward's meeting times displayed on one web page?

Why is that important? The current info can be found in maps or CDOL. Set it down on paper now, and it will be wrong in 5 months.

Having Ward meeting times in a notebook is important because a new STS may not know anything about other wards in his stake. When I was called, I certainly didn’t. I’ve been the STS for several years now and I STILL have problems remembering which ward meets when and in which building. Having all information printed on one page in a notebook for all ward’s information such as: 1) the name of the ward, 2) the building they meet in, 3) their meeting times and 4) some contact information including the High Councilor assigned to the ward was and still is VERY helpful to me. For instance, when I get requests to resolve problems and I want to schedule the best time to meet, instantly having this information on one page is faster and more convenient than looking through several pages on the Internet or running a CDOL report for the information.

michaelfish wrote:IP address ranges and subnets are only the beginning.

tm.lds.org

tm.lds.org is a great tool, but it currently does not show static IP address assignments made by the previous STS…like I said, it is only the beginning.

If you have any ideas for a STS notebook, please contribute.

Thanks,

Mike

michaelfish wrote:If you have any ideas for a STS notebook, please contribute.

First of all, I love the idea. It has opened up new avenues for me to magnify my STS calling.

Personally, it would be more valuable for me to have this information in a single, well indexed, file rather than a physical binder. It could be a DOCX, ODT, or even my preference, a PDF version of either of those. I could then store it on my phone for instant access anywhere, anytime. That file could not only contain the mostly static information you previously suggested, such as, unit numbers, inventories, building plans, wiring diagrams, checklists, etc.; but also the more dynamic info. With the latter could be active links to where the most current info can be located. It could also contain links such as tm.lds.org and mhtech.lds.org, with explanations as to what what each one is good for.

Organization of topics with a good index and portability would be the most important for me.

Any contributions for website links a Stake Technology Specialist that would be helpful?

I've compiled a few. What am I missing?

Official Main - lds.org
Meetinghouse Technology IT Support and Help, Overview - mhtech.lds.org
Technology Manager Firewall and Internet Connectivity - tm.lds.org
Church Technology Website - tech.lds.org
Technology Forums - tech.lds.org/forum
LDSTech broadcasts - tech.lds.org/wiki/LDSTech_broadcasts
Official Facebook Site - facebook.com/ldstech
Official Twitter Site - twitter.com/ldstech
Handbook 2: Administering the Church - lds.org/handbook/handbook-2-administering-the-church
Video, Audio and Images - video.lds.org
Hymns Text - lds.org/music/text/hymns
Personal Video Conferencing - pvc.lds.org

Does anyone have useful FHC technical links to add to the above?

I haven't been able to find any useful guides etc., for setting up FHC computers, especially now Tivoli is the main management tool!

michaelfish wrote:Any contributions for website links a Stake Technology Specialist that would be helpful?

I've compiled a few. What am I missing?

I'd definitely add:
Broadcast Info: broadcastinfo.lds.org (yes, it's part of mhtech.lds.org, but the direct link is handy and is referenced in several publications, such as the annual Church Broadcast Schedule).

Biggles wrote:Does anyone have useful FHC technical links to add to the above?

remote.familysearch.org is the starting point for FHC tools/downloads.

russellhltn wrote:

Biggles wrote:Does anyone have useful FHC technical links to add to the above?

remote.familysearch.org is the starting point for FHC tools/downloads.

Yes that is a starting point for the necessary tools, but there aren't any detailed instructions on what the tools do and in what order they should be deployed.

For an example, when should you deploy the Landesk uninstaller after using the FHC image DVD! I haven't come across any detailed installation instructions for many of the tools available. Whereas on the RKAT site the instructions for Setting up a new Clerk computer are quite comprehensive!

I might be looking for something that hasn't been created yet, but it would certainly be useful information for a new STS trying to keep a FHC running!

I would also add a link for downloading MLS. The old mls.lds.org URL now redirects to:
https://www.lds.org/callings/melchizedek-priesthood/records-and-technology-support/applications
where you then have to scroll down and locate the right link for the actual MLS download page.

IMO, a better redirect (and a good link for your notebook) would be:
https://www.lds.org/callings/melchizedek-priesthood/records-and-technology-support/mls-download

Biggles wrote:Yes that is a starting point for the necessary tools, but there aren't any detailed instructions on what the tools do and in what order they should be deployed.

It is what it is, but it's what's available.

It would probably be a good idea to include the phone number for FHC Support - and the caution to not accept any answer as authoritive (or even correct) unless it can be backed by a "Knowledge Document" or other documentation.

Biggles wrote:For an example, when should you deploy the Landesk uninstaller after using the FHC image DVD!

I believe that Trivoli will take care of that for you.

We need to add to the notebook how to convince stakes not to have their own unofficial FHCs.

Unofficial FHC / VS computer-only FHC - One thing I used to convince them about either fishing or cut bait, was to go through the process of approving the FHC, it usually comes with a nice computer and a MFP.

johnshaw wrote:Unofficial FHC / VS computer-only FHC - One thing I used to convince them about either fishing or cut bait, was to go through the process of approving the FHC, it usually comes with a nice computer and a MFP.

I'd think a bigger one would be access to the premium websites that are available to an official FHC.

We've been using www.basecamp.com to coordinate across the STS and AV team needs. There is a free level for a single project that works great. We can schedule events that require AV support and discuss across the team how we are going to handle the needs. When we have stake conference, we also use Slack to communicate in real time across buildings.

I use Evernote for capturing notes and adding photos of the AV setup, modem serial numbers, etc. to a note for each building. I can then print out the notes, or share them with others on the web. Sometimes I export to PDF to upload into the basecamp project for reference.

We've also incorporated a few Google Docs as a shared repository of information.

I like the idea of a good old fashion book. No batteries top die, no network connections to go down, just plain and simple data. We are building our "Smart Book" as we call it with photo's and all. Slow but sure....

jwunsch300 wrote:I like the idea of a good old fashion book. No batteries top die, no network connections to go down, just plain and simple data. We are building our "Smart Book" as we call it with photo's and all. Slow but sure....

Just make sure to have backup copies. Otherwise, it will go home with someone and fail to git to the next person.

russellhltn wrote:

jwunsch300 wrote:I like the idea of a good old fashion book. No batteries top die, no network connections to go down, just plain and simple data. We are building our "Smart Book" as we call it with photo's and all. Slow but sure....

Just make sure to have backup copies. Otherwise, it will go home with someone and fail to git to the next person.

Exactly why we put it online.... A book I never knew existed was developed by an ExecSec prior to my call as Stake Clerk/STS and I was relearning things that we found one member of the 'old' stake presidency had the book that would've saved me a real large amount of hours.

this is a very good idea, i would like to be updated with the progress of the notebook, i love this idea, as a newly called sts, i was kind of lacking already build info about technology assets in my stake, so i had to compile the inventory my self. i could be reached on enomichael@gmail.com, Eket Nigeria Stake STS.
THANK YOU