August 31, 2021 - Charlie Mac and Associates

I find it interesting to learn of the systems that others use, so I'd like to share the ones we use. We have a tendency to make the most of and build upon our investment in Office 365, host apps on and backup to either Azure or AWS, or to use open source.

Corporate

Productivity - Office 365. We mainly assign E3 licences, and the occasional E1 licence for sub-contractors.
Ticket, asset and opportunity management - Dynamics 365 (expanding into works management soon)
Finance - Quickbooks Online
Timesheets - Microsoft Project Web App and PowerBI (for reporting and generating printed timesheet info)
Websites - WordPress, hosted by Synergy Wholesale (where local hosting/performance is important) or Dreamhost (where neither is).
Progress tracking and collaboration (for testing and complex delivery projects) - Azure DevOps
Password management - 1password (although considering an open source option)
Progress tracking - MS Planner
Virtual meetings - MS Teams
Backup - Azure (Azure Backup Center for workloads on-prem and in the cloud), Office 365 (Skykick)
Architecture diagrams - Visio
Phone system, and alternate virtual meeting platform - 3cx with SIP trucks provisioned through NetSIP/OTW
Remote monitoring - Zabbix
Remote management - Teamviewer

Specialty

Test planning, preparation and execution - Azure DevOps
Load/performance testing - Apache JMeter (scripting) and Blazemeter (execution)
Usability testing - Participate.io
SCORM development - Adobe Captivate
LMS - Moodle
GIS - QGIS
Client / Community / Customer Management Systems - Dynamics 365 / Powerapps / Flow
Data transformation - Excel Power Queries (simple), Talend Open Studio (complex)
Video production - OBS Studio or Adobe Premiere Pro
Photo editing - Adobe Photoshop
Records Management - Content Manager (maximising PROV compliance) or SharePoint

Hardware

Secure tokens - Protectimus
Laptop / desktop - Surface Pro
WiFi APs, switches and firewalls - Ubiquiti (inc Unifi gear and Unifi Controller)

The backup policy we apply in most cases (ie our default policy):

Backup schedule commencing 2000hrs (local time)
Instant restore retained for 2 days
Daily backup retained for 30 days
Weekly backup made on Sunday and retained for 12 weeks
Monthly backup, week based, made on the first Sunday of the month and retained for 60 months
Yearly backup, week based, made in January on the first Sunday and retained for 10 years.

This is in excess of what most organisations need, but in most cases when it comes to backing up, it's good to over do it.

Create a recovery point

Just in case things don't work out when you recover the backup, you'll have something to recover back to.

Log into the Azure portal
Search for Backup Center
Select the virtual machine you wish to create the recovery point for. Do this by selecting Backup instances in the left hand blade
Create the recovery point
1. Select the virtual machine to backup. Click Backup now (so we have a restore point if needed).
1. Retention of backup defaults to 1 month
1. You can monitor the progress – select Backup Jobs under Monitoring (left blade).
1. Cutting this backup may take a few hours, or longer.

Recover the desired backup

Stop the virtual machine you want to recover. This may take a few mins once initiated.

Initiate the recovery – this will create a backup as well at the time recovery is initiated

Select Backup instances in the left hand blade
Select the virtual machine. Click Restore VM.
Select restore point (from list of backups)
Select Replace existing and then a staging location for the data
Click Restore. The process is usually done within an hour.
Restart the virtual machine.

Welcome to a world of interesting work and inspiration working with Charlie Mac. First thing, let’s take care of some housekeeping.

All you need is a computer able to run Office 2019 and a reasonable internet connection.

Working with clients

Relationships and trust are really important to us. This means that you must:

Respect and seek to understand all people we work with, even if you disagree with them. This means working within their view of the work and what is important to them.
Don’t take anything personally. We are there to fulfil the needs of our clients and to work with them in a way that best suits them.
Look to dress in a way similar to the clients you work with and to talk in a similar way so that we may work more closely with them.
Protect the secrets of our clients (including commercially sensitive information and personal information). If unsure, don’t share any information about our clients and the work we do to anyone.

Managing your own work

We will set a budget of hours for you for each week and objectives to achieve for the week. If you think you’ll need more time, let me know. If you don’t think you’ll need all the time you are budgeted for, then let me know too.
Record all of the time you work. We can only get better at what we do if we understand how long things take.
You can undertake the work you are given at any place that best suits you.
On occasion, you’ll need to work with the client at their preferred location (usually at their HQ). Transport is your responsibility to organise and we can facilitate / fund in advance if needed.
You can charge for travel time only (minus 30 mins each way, from your primary location). Include this travel time on your timesheet against the project you are working on when applicable.
We will fund any additional expenses required to successfully complete the work you are assigned, as long as you seek approval from me before the expense is incurred.
I find applying the Pomodoro method (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique) is really helpful in applying focus to the task at hand, but it is completely up to you if you use this. Note that there is a spot on your timesheets to help you record how many Pomodoros you spend on a task.
If you are an employee, you are covered by our business insurance and work cover. If a situation arises where you may need to call on this cover, please let me know as soon as you can. Sub-contractors will need to have their own public liability and professional indemnity insurance at least to the level required by the clients that they will work with.
Your Charlie Mac email address should be used for all the work you do with Charlie Mac. Please do not use your personal email address for work you do with Charlie Mac and for conversing with clients.

Sometimes migrating mailboxes from on-prem to Exchange Online is easy. But when it comes to moving mailboxes from a GoDaddy managed tenant, getting Admin access to perform the export is almost impossible. Here's one way that seems to work.

Export mailbox contents

Log into the Compliance Centre as an account admin (https://compliance.microsoft.com/)
Select eDiscovery | Core from the left blade
Create a case
Apply a search to the case. From the menu bar, select Searches and then + New Search
1. Select Specific locations, and then Exchange Mailboxes only
1. In Define your search conditions select the date range for mailbox items
1. Review the search and click Submit
Wait until the search you have just submitted completes
Initiate the export of mailbox items found in the search
1. Click on the search you created in step 4 and details should be shown in the right-hand blade
1. Click Actions | Export results
1. In the Export results blade, leave defaults as they are (particularly Export Exchange content as One PST file for each mailbox
1. Click Export
Download export results (must be done from Edge)
1. Click on Exports in the menu bar
1. Select the export that you have created in the previous step
1. Wait until the export completes (this may take a few hours)

Update folder structure in PST files

The exported PST files will need to be modified so that they have a similar folder structure to the target mailbox. If you open the exported PST, you'll notice that the Inbox is in a subfolder under <mailbox name>(Primary store)/top of information store/. Simply locate the Inbox and move this to folder root. Repeat this for any other folders that need to come across. Delete any folders that don't need to come across (like the now empty <mailbox name>(Primary store)/top of information store/ folder).

To make these changes, open the PST in Outlook, made changes, then close the PST.

Note that if this step is not done, a new folder structure will be created in the target mailbox for the imported items, rather than them being merged with the target inbox.

Import mailbox contents

Follow these instructions in the new tenant: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/use-network-upload-to-import-pst-files?view=o365-worldwide

First step is to create an import job

Again, log into the Compliance Centre as the account admin (https://compliance.microsoft.com/)
Select Information Governance | Import
1. Note that PST files should be < 20Gb
Follow the instructions provided
Download and install AzCopy as per the instructions. Note that:
1. If you get an error when trying to upload PSTs with AzCopy, then the SAS URL must be modified to enclose all & in double quotes (ie & becomes "&"). Alternatively, close entire parameter values in closed double quotes.
2. You can use this spreadsheet as a template to create AzCopy commands
3. Use the /NC2:2 switch on slower upload speeds to avoid timeout. Lowers thread count to 2. More here.
Check that AzCopy uploaded the correct number of PST files
Create a mapping file, using this as a template
1. Note that the fields FilePath will usually be blank and the TargetRootFolder will usually be / (ie Inbox)
Select the mapping file and complete the import.

Next step is to run the import job to import into Office 365

Select the import job you want to import
Click on Import into Office 365
Select whether you would like any filters applied (ie only import items from the last 12 months)
Select OK to commence the import

To enable users to add guests within the tenant

Sometimes you need users to add guests on their own. Normally, this can only be done by Admins. To enable this:

Log into the Office 365 admin portal (https://admin.microsoft.com/)
Go to Settings | Org settings (left blade) | Security and Privacy (menu bar) | Sharing
Check Let users add new guests

To add a new guest user

In the Office 365 admin portal:

Select Users | Guest users
Click + Add a guest user. You’ll be redirected to Azure
Select Invite user and enter their details.

The guest user needs to accept the invite before gaining access to anything.

To add them to a Planner board, follow https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/guest-access-in-microsoft-planner-cc5d7f96-dced-4da4-ab62-08c72d9759c6

I put a lot of effort into getting an IT strategy right, because it sets the scene for the future. And I want people to get excited about the future and the opportunities for growth that it will bring. Good strategy, as Richard P. Rumelt describes in his book Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters, relies on a clear understanding on current capability, a clear vision of the future, and the kernel of a practicable approach that will get an organisation from current to future state. Good strategy means listening a whole lot, asking heaps of questions, and suggesting ideas until something resonates.

In an IT strategy engagement, we would normally:

Hold a quick kickoff meeting - this is where we talk about the process of developing the strategy, who needs to be involved (key stakeholders), and any aspects that come to mind or need focus.
Understand the vision for IT. In many cases, this does not exist - even if there was an IT strategy in place. From one aspect, this is difficult because technology seems to be changing so rapidly that it would appear difficult to predict what it might look like out on the planning horizon of 3 or even 5 years time. On the other hand, not much has changed. Many are still looking to flatten or reduce their IT spend and to offer better ways for staff to work more efficiently between themselves and with their clients.
Collect current state information - on all aspects of IT architecture - physical (ie the actual hardware and software that lives on the hardware), logical (the functions that each physical thing performs) and network (how they are connected together). It is usually at this point that we begin to get a feeling for possible weaknesses and areas for improvement.
Identify and interview key stakeholders. These interviews usually go for 30 mins but can go to 60 if there is a lot to talk about.
Hold a workshop to bring the perceptions and ideas of key stakeholders together so that we end up with common understanding.
Document the IT strategy based on all of the above.

It's easy to develop an IT strategy. It's hard to develop a good IT strategy. It's even harder to execute good IT strategy - and to keep coming back to the strategy to check on how you are going. But being part of an organisation that executes good IT strategy is like being in a symphony - an incredibly uplifting experience.