Requesting IT & TeleCom Support

If you need help with either an information technology or telecommunications related problem, employees should email the Help Desk, helpdesk@voadv.org. Emailing the Help Desk creates a work order for the IT department.

When emailing the Help Desk, please include a short description of your problem in the subject heading (e.g. printer problem, application problem, telephone problem, etc.) of your email and a detailed description of the problem in the body of the e-mail. Everyone, simply emailing the IT department something is "down" without providing a complete description of the problem (more often than not) increases IT's response time because someone from the department will need to contact you to ask for details about the problem (that could have been included in the initial email request).

The Help Desk is a not a third-party tech support company; it is a help desk application the IT department uses to track and prioritize support requests. When someone emails the Help Desk, everyone in the VOADV IT department (currently composed of Dan and Oscar) and our IT consultant, Chuck Grindle, receives an email notification. If, after sending an email request to the Help Desk, you do not receive an email response from the Help Desk within 10 minutes (see the example below), your request was not received and you should either text or call the IT department at 856-452-0449.

If you need to add additional information to your initial request, reply to the email from the Help Desk or use the appropriate hyperlink listed within the email.

If email is not an option for you, please call for support, 856-425-0449.

SecurManage Conference (Pittsburgh, PA, Sept 18-20, 2011)

This past week I attended the SecurManage conference in Pittsburg; it was a worthwhile trip. I had an opportunity to meet the developers, learn about upcoming changes to the application, and convey the changes Volunteers of America Delaware Valley would like made to the case management system.

Before traveling to Pittsburgh, I drafted a list of items I either wanted the SecurManage folks to implement or fix (while I was there they addressed my list); the list included:

1. requiring password changes after so many days; according to the developers, within the next year, they will be forcing users to change their passwords after X amount of days.
2.  creating new users based off of a template (a more advanced role-based security configuration); yes, they are re-creating the new user setup component of the application.
3. modifying the intake and discharge history reports; they created a new report to fix the problem I brought to their attention several months ago . It's called the Movement Report. 
4. ensuring the time stamp to modified LSI-Rs reflects who modified the report; they noted the flaw but have yet to work on fixing it.
5. identifying returning clients without giving all of our SecurManage users VOA-All access; they created a new Alumni Module.
6. allowing admins to either modify or add data located wherever there is a drop-down menu; they will not allow it or plan to ever allow users to do so.
7. providing white papers pertinent to best-practices; they may do so in the future.

Our users can expect to see the following changes to SecurManage:

1. New Reports
1. Average Census Report
2. Movement Report (including building transfers)
3. Checking Transaction Report
4. Close Out Report
5. Admission Report
6. New Assignment History Movement Report
2. New Scheduling Module
1. TBD
3. Tablet Computer Functionality
1. Voice recognition
2. Device GPS Tracking (only works with the Android operating system)
4. New QCP, Quality Control, Module
1. Available at an additional costs of $.25 per head
5. ACA Forms
6. New Alumni Module
7. New Assessment Instrument
1. ORAS, Ohio Risk Assessment System

On a side note, while attending one of the breakout sessions, I learned about the Facility Tasks component in SecurManage that tracks scheduled facility related preventive maintenance items. I thought it was useful way to document items that, while not case management or treatment related, are still very important to our funding sources.  Do we at VOADV use the Facility Tasks section in SecurManage?

Please email me, Oscar R, with any questions you may have regarding the three days I spent at the SecurManage Conference or leave a Comment below.