top o' the mornin'®

[earendel]

The "great refresh" is almost over and people are beginning to stop grumbling about their new equipment. The people in charge have admitted that a host of errors occurred during the equipment ordering and they have said that they'll "make it right" and provide docking stations (or port replicators) for all the people who didn't get one.

Aside from that it should be a quiet day since one of the branches is offsite doing a team-building exercise.

[MarleysGh0st]

Aside from that it should be a quiet day since one of the branches is offsite doing a team-building exercise.

You don't get to go build your team?

[gsabc]

The people in charge have admitted that a host of errors occurred during the equipment ordering and they have said that they'll "make it right" and provide docking stations (or port replicators) for all the people who didn't get one.

These are the same people in charge who promised that everyone would get what they wanted the first time, correct? Hmmm...

[earendel]

Aside from that it should be a quiet day since one of the branches is offsite doing a team-building exercise.

You don't get to go build your team?

We have two branches - Military and Civil - and the "support team" (myself, the office secretary, the procurement analyst, the budget analyst, and the government purchase card coordinator). The Military branch is doing the team building; the Civil branch is here. As for our group, we're pretty much an independent bunch - each one the master (or mistress) of the particular domain, unlike the branches, where the members may work in concert. So we don't do a lot of "team building".

[earendel]

The people in charge have admitted that a host of errors occurred during the equipment ordering and they have said that they'll "make it right" and provide docking stations (or port replicators) for all the people who didn't get one.

These are the same people in charge who promised that everyone would get what they wanted the first time, correct? Hmmm...

Yes, but evidently there was some serious miscommunication somewhere along the way. To explain the process:

1. I was given a list of names and the equipment the individual was using, and a list of the "standard" equipment that would be provided. The choice was a "standard desktop" or a "standard laptop". We were informed that the "standard laptop" would include a new monitor, keyboard, mouse and, most important, a docking station.

2. Somewhere along the way the need for a docking station became moot - they were required because access to our financial management system required using a smart card, which could only be read by a board that had to be installed in each computer. The boards were too large for laptops, but could be put into the docking stations. Six weeks ago, long after we submitted the requirements for the refresh, the need for the smart card reader was abolished when the financial management database was upgraded to allow us to use our Common Access Cards to login (if you watch NCIS you've seen the CAC).

3. Since the docking station was no longer needed, that part of the equipment list was dropped, along with the monitor, mouse and keyboard. Users would be getting just a notebook PC (and not a very large one at that - a Dell Latitude 630 with a 14" screen). They would have to use the trackpad, the notebook PC screen and its keyboard to work. Now I don't know about you, but that would drive me absolutely crazy, particularly the keyboard part. When the technicians began doing the refresh and taking away the big monitor and keyboard, people got upset and complained to the "face of the refresh", namely me. So I checked and found out that the equipment list had been changed without letting us know.

4. The local liaison for the refresh has said that once everything is put in place, we can go around and find out what we need to "make it right" and she'll do what she can to make sure that everyone gets port replicators (in lieu of docking stations, but accomplishing the same purpose), monitors, keyboards and mice, but it might take a couple weeks or more to accomplish that.