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Home My WebLink About04.03.20 Email from Art Robinson - COVID-19 Weekly Summary - Information Systems From:Robison, Art To:Dept Heads;Asst Dept Heads;Alpert, Bruce;Bennett, Robin;Clerk of the Board;Connelly, Bill;Cook, Holly; Lambert, Steve;Lucero, Debra;McCracken, Shari;Pickett, Andy;Ring, Brian;Ritter, Tami;Rodas, Amalia; Sweeney, Kathleen;Teeter, Doug Cc:Information Systems (County I.S. Dept.) Subject:COVID-19 Weekly Summary - Information Systems Date:Friday, April 3, 2020 5:13:40 PM Attachments:2020.4.3 - COVID-19 Weekly Summary - Information Systems.docx All I’ve attached a summary document for your review. If you have questions or requests, please reach out. My team and I are standing by. Have a great weekend. It has been a long week indeed. Art Robison Director of Information Systems County of Butte 308 Nelson Avenue Oroville, CA 95965 Phone (530) 552-3200 Fax (530) 538-6419 Email arobison@buttecounty.net COUNTY OF BUTTE E-MAIL DISCLAIMER: This e-mail and any attachment thereto may contain private, confidential, and privileged material for the sole use of the intended recipient. Any review, copying, or distribution of this e-mail (or any attachments thereto) by other than the County of Butte or the intended recipient is strictly prohibited. If you are NOT the intended recipient, please contact the sender immediately and permanently delete the original and any copies of this e-mail and any attachments thereto. 5ğƷĻ 4.3.2020 9ǣĻĭǒƷźǝĻ {ǒƒƒğƩǤ All IS staff members and departmental ISRs have been working hard to support our teleworkers. The technical staff and ISRs are functioning as a team to meet the need. There are more than 900 staff enabled for remote connection. We are observing as many as 375 concurrent connections to the VPN at any given time. This rate of usage reflects only a portion of the work done by staff sheltering in place. Staff are also utilizing land mobile radio (LMR), email, landline telephones and cellphones, where a VPN is not required. County IS is actively monitoring and supporting each of these systems. Even during the COVID-19 response activities, County IS has completed the final tasks for the upcoming Go Live of the BRICS radio system. The first phase of turn-up begins early Tuesday morning. This phase will onboard the core users to the system; 9-1-1 Dispatch (SO) and patrol staff (SO). Exciting times! Staff members sheltering in place are taking advantage of the Skillsets training platform to brush up on skills. There are more than 100 staff signed up for training. Training requires only an Internet connection to participate. The original purpose of the system was to support IT staff training needs. However, the training content now includes business skills and end user training for much of the technology that we each use every day. Over a year ago, County IS negotiated a licensing agreement with the vendor to allow all 2300+ staff members to participate. This capability is paying dividends today. County IS completed the installation and configuration of the new Storage Area Network, or SAN. This system provides data storage to more than 70% of the departments. The system boasts significantly more storage and higher performance. For more detail, please review the information below. tb Virtual private network technology, or VPN, provides a means for remote staff to connect to internal resources. The VPN systems have been in place for many years, with an upgrade completed shortly after the Camp Fire incident. 900+ users activated 375+ users connected at a given time 240% increase over this time last week Basic support information http://www.buttecounty.net/is/telecommute Additional support information is accessible to staff with access to the intranet o Departmental help desk and ISR staff have access \[ğƓķ aƚĬźƌĻ wğķźƚ Even amid COVID-19 demands, County IS completed the final tasks for activating the BRICS 700 MHz Project 25 (P25) Trunked Simulcast Digital radio system, as scheduled. At 5:00 am on 4.7.2020 (Tuesday), the first phase of activation of the system begins. Included in the activation are the 9-1-1 Dispatch Center will onboard to the system over the coming weeks. The phased approach ensures a manageable transition to the new system with available resources. źƩĻƌĻƭƭ 5ĻǝźĭĻƭ Many operations in the County require wireless devices. Several device types fall into this category. Included are cellphones, smartphones, tablets (with LTE connectivity), laptop computers and Mi-Fi units. Wi-Fi only tablets are not included here. Many new cellphones were activated this week. 1217 devices active 72 new cell phones delivered this week /hL5ΏЊВ /ğƌƌ /ĻƓƷĻƩ A new call center was established using Skype for Business VoIP. Call center activated 1 week ago ƚLt /ğƌƌƭ ƚƓ {ƉǤƦĻ ŅƚƩ .ǒƭźƓĻƭƭ The number of VoIP calls has increased by 10-fold in the past week The VoIP call handling facilities upgraded to increase capacity ĻĬƭźƷĻ {ƷğƷźƭƷźĭƭ The County website is experiencing much more activity than usual. The daily visits are continuing to increase. The statistics for yesterday: 20,000 visits to the county website 11,000 of the visits were to PH 30% increase over last week 900% increase over a year ago It is clear that the public is interested in what we have to say. LƓƷĻƩƓĻƷ .ğƓķǞźķƷŷ ƷźƌźǩğƷźƚƓ Electronic services consume Internet bandwidth. As staff vacated offices, usage decreased. However, it quickly rebounded as staff reached back into the network for access to internal services. Bandwidth usage is stable for the moment. Usage will grow as more remote workers connect in. County IS is working with AT&T to implement a 400% increase of bandwidth. This is a work in progress. /ƚƓŅĻƩĻƓĭźƓŭ Many departments are using electronic conferencing methods to comply with Social Distancing recommendations. The most active platforms are: Skype for Business (County IS supported) WebEx (AT&T supported) Zoom (vendor supported) Much negative press has surfaced recently concerning the weaknesses within conferencing systems. However, if used properly, they provide a capability to collaborate when physical distances are involved. Recommendations Connect early to ensure that your technology works o Your support staff need time to address issues when they come up Host settings o If you are hosting the meeting ensure that your guests join the meeting in the desired manner: Notifications: on/off Do you want to when attendees join during the meeting? Microphones: muted/unmuted Do you want to hear attendee background noise during the meeting? Install recommended applications and plug-ins o Each platform has its own application software Engage attendees o Use desktop sharing and presentation software as needed These services do not significantly impact network resources Desktop shares and presentations help attendees understand the content Limit video use o Video is a network consuming service o Under normal circumstances video is not a problem 9ƒĻƩŭĻƓĭǤ hƦĻƩğƷźƚƓƭ /ĻƓƷĻƩ Λ9h/Μ County IS set up a second EOC this week at 3 County Center Drive in Oroville. The second EOC provides social distancing capability for the function. The two EOCs will connect via a video conference link as well as all of the usual communications tools. 20 computers 1 printer Video conferencing between the EOC at 205 Mira Loma and the EOC at 3 County Center Drive Additional resources will be added when requested. wĻƨǒĻƭƷƭ ŅƚƩ {ĻƩǝźĭĻ I would like to solicit your requests for service. Please ask if you need additional service or have questions about services already in use. I want you all to be able to can engage staff in support what they do best, service delivery to the residents of Butte County. Enjoy your weekend. Art Robison