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Alt-Spacebar brings up Windows Menu

July 13, 2010 By Comments


Unless you’ve been in a situation where you have a window that is partially on your screen and you need to move it, you won’t fully appreciate this tip.  Or if you are set up to use two monitors with your laptop and you are out of the office and only have one monitor, only to find that Windows “remembers” that when you launch a program that it is to appear on your second monitor.   If you been in either of these situations, you’ll agree with me that this is the tip of the year.

SITUATION: You are accessing a system remotely and a program window is half off (or completely off) of the screen and you want to move it so you can use it. You can’t see (or click on) the top part of the window to move it.

TIP: Hold the alt-key down and press spacebar. This will bring up the windows menu and allow you to select a command by pressing the appropriate key. Press the “M” key to select move and use your arrow keys to move the window until it magically appears on your screen.

This is just one of the many keyboard shortcuts you can use with Windows.  Others can be found on the Microsoft Website.

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IT-Business Convergence

May 28, 2010 By Comments

We’ve come a long way since the first computer showed up in the temperature controlled room in the basement of the hospital or on the desk at patient registration in the physician’s office.  Technology has been one of the key enablers of the home health care industry.

It has been a hard sell over the years to convince clinicians driven by the desire to care for people the importance of using point of care devices and spending an increasing amount of time with a machine rather than their patient.  It’s been even more challenging to get the owners and leaders of companies to understand that technology leadership starts at the top of the organization and they must understand, embrace and utilize technology and information on a daily basis.

IT-business convergence occurs when a company breaks down the walls betweeen the IT and business sides of the business so that the technology professionals go beyond supporting the business to truly enabling and transforming the business.

Companies with a high degree of IT-business convergence do the following:

  • View IT as an innovation engine that continually transforms the business, often enabling new revenue streams.
  • Regard their customers as kings and view customer service, both internal and external, as supreme.
  • Rotate business and IT staffers across departments and job functions.
  • Provide an overarching goal that is crystal clear to each and every IT and business employee.
  • Ensure that IT employees know how the company makes (or loses) money.
  • Create a distinct, vibrant and unique company culture.

Reference:  “These CIOs go way beyond Business Alignment” – Computerworld, May 24, 2010

There is simply too much opportunity for growth and risk of failure to allow key managers to claim IT ignorance or IT professionals in our company to remain isolated from the business they are serving.

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Secure your Network AND Empower your employees

April 18, 2010 By Comments
Network security must balance the need to protect your network and patient data from outsiders while enabling your staff who depend on it to perform their jobs to do so efficiently and without obstacles. Too often companies focus only on the first objective, creating a network that frustrates and limits the very people it was established to serve. With today’s technology reliant business models, there is simply no room for downtime or compromised information. It’s a common goal that IT professionals share and enjoy implementing. Keeping people out and locking things down challenges us, and no one likes a challenge more than a “tech-head”, including myself.  However, let’s not forget that our first objective is to provide technology to our users, our customers, so they can get their job done. 

Here’s a simple example of network security impeding the work of the business user who is depending on the network to get their job done.  Since my days as a systems / net admin, I’ve had the joy of working closely with hundreds of information departments helping them implement and use Rock-Pond Reports and other Rock-Pond products at their home infusion organization. This usually involves using industry standard tools like WebEx, GoToMeeting, and CrossLoop. It’s about the only way for outside vendors to work with customers to provide software support, and is often time a standard part of meetings both internal and external. So what’s one to do when these types of tools are completely blocked by an organization. It causes frustration and time waste for both parties. Usually these tools aren’t specifically blocked, but there are strict network policies in place that prevent these types of tools for functioning.

Another example is the security and spam filters that are implemented for email systems.  How many times have you sent and E-mail not only to find that the recipient never received it? Or you were supposed to get a critical E-mail that never arrived? I find myself sending an E-mail with an attachment, and then immediately sending another E-mail without an attachment asking if they have received it!  The average user is not sophisticated enough to manage black lists and white lists on their machine and do not have access to these lists that are blocking email at the server level.  As IT Professionals we must find a way to secure the email system from unwanted email while letting the email and attachments through.

Finally, consider the changes that are rapidly taking place in the area of social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) and the amount of content that is delivered through digital media that requires a user to have FLASH installed and the ability to hear sounds on their computer.  I worked with a company that made sure all of their users not only had sound cards but headsets so they could access training videos that helped them with their job.  However, the process of putting this in place challenged many IT rules that were obstacles to getting work done in a changing workplace.  If key vendors and companies you work with have effective Facebook pages, your staff should be able to access them.  It was not that long ago that many companies did not want employees to have Internet access at their desk.  We’ll have to find other ways to manage our employees than denying their access to key technologies that will empower them to be smarter, more efficient and more connected with others. 

Now don’t get me wrong, there are reasons these things are locked up. They are abused, sometimes insecure, and are easiest to deal with by simply blocking them. The home infusion industry has to comply with HIPAA as well as their accreditors. There’s no room to have your CPR+ database leaked to the Internet, or your HomecareNet financial reports up on a WebEx screen not knowing who’s on the other side.  The data stored in your SQL Server database from these systems contains private informaiton and it is your responsibility to protect it. 

So here is our challenge; make these technologies all co-exist on your network without rendering it open to attacks, viruses, information leaks, and downtime while empowering your employers through the access to the data and systems to get them the information they need and connect with the people they need to connect with to provide safe patient care. It can be done, and your going to get a lot of credit for it, and see results. The technology exists today to safely allow modern services to be utilized while maintaining safety through automatic alerts, logging, and monitoring. New operating systems like Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 are helping making it easier by introducing firewalls that are smart enough to separate good and bad traffic. Network hardware is allowing for the virtualization of your networks to segment your sensitive data from the rest of your network where more vulnerable tools are being utilized. So that’s your challenge, start with the following:

  1. Enlist your users to educate you on why types of tools they already use, what types of tools they want to use and cannot, and how you can help make them more productive.
  2. Look at the technology you already have, such as operating systems and network hardware, and determine if they have built in security features you arn’t already using.
  3. Examine your internal auditing processes and determine if you can identify potential compromises more quickly.
  4. Research the Internet to find out what others are doing to protect their networks and users. The information is out there.

Most importantly, spend time talking with your customers (as IT people we usually refer to these people as “users” but they are really our customers) and find out if they are having trouble getting access to the systems, websites and data that they need.  Often they won’t tell you, they’ll resort to inefficient alternatives and talk bad about you behind your back.  If your system is hacked or experiences a security breach, it is definitely your responsibility.  It is equally your responsibility to make sure your customers are able to access the data and systems they need to get their job done.  How are you doing?

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Understanding Remote Access

March 30, 2010 By Comments

Never has accessing your home or work computer from anywhere in the world been as easy as it is right now. With built-in remote features in Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X as well as hundreds of third-party applications, there isn’t much you have to do except actually do it. Every great technology innovation seems to come with even more risks that need to be paid attention to. The problem is that these remote access solutions are so simple to implement and use that often times the security vulnerabilities that they open up are overlooked.

Remote Desktop, sometimes referred to as Terminal Services, is Microsoft’s technology for allowing users to connect to a remote Windows system. Once connected to the remote system, it’s as if you were sitting in front of it. It’s obvious why this can be a problem if not done using a secure channel. This can be as easy as enabling Remote Desktop on your Windows 7 workstation, or as complex as an IT department configuring a single server to provide a virtual desktop to multiple users at the same time with heavy security policies in place called Group Policies. Remote Desktop has never been more secure as it is today with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008. It’s been updated to include modern security techniques such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) as well as the ability to only allow clients to connect securely. Most organizations today only allow remote desktop connections once connected to a secure and encrypted virtual private network (VPN) decreasing the security vulnerability significantly.

You may have heard of, or even used Citrix. Citrix is similar to Remote Desktop but takes things a bit further. In addition to offering the same level of security and encryption benefits, it also allows for the “publishing” of specific applications rather than the entire desktop. This enables IT administrators to provide users with access to only the applications that they need. Many home infusion users will find that when they are using CPR+, HomecareNet, or Ascend remotely, they will connect to a Citrix server first. You may think the application is running on your PC, but it’s safely running at the office just as if you were at work!

Apple provides something called Apple Remote Desktop for Mac OS X, which allows Mac users to connect to their systems remotely. Not only that, Microsoft releases “Remote Desktop Client for Mac” which enables Mac users to connect to Windows systems remotely. Citrix also provides a Mac OS X client that enables the same functionality. Most VPN servers also provide some way for Mac users to connect, this give Mac users big hope for using their systems in a work environment!

Finally, there are lots of third party remote access application, such as CrossLoop, RealVNC, and GoToMyPc. These can be useful to quickly access other people’s system as well as your own through secure channels facilitated by the companies themselves. These often are perfect solutions, and inexpensive, for the home user who needs to access their home computer from work, or on the road.

If you’re a user, ask yourself the following question:

  • What types of things do I need to access remotely?
  • Does my organization facilitate the remote access that I require?
  • How can I take remote access into my own hands using third-party applications like CrossLoop, RealVNC, and GoToMyPc?

If you’re an administrator:

  • How can I take advantage of the built-in capabilities I already own, such as Remote Desktop, and extend that to my users?
  • What types of applications and services do users need to access?
  • What types of vulnerabilities do I open up when extending applications and services to remote users?

Being productive from wherever you are is not a convenience anymore, it’s a requirement. Keeping security and safety in mind is a must for both the user and the administrator, luckily technologies being developed every day are helping make this much easier.

Need some help? Rock-Pond works with remote systems every day, and faciliates remote access to people as well. We can help you navigate all of these options and opportunities.

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Software Support – how does your vendor stack up?

March 30, 2010 By Comments

I had this idea to evaluate the quality of software support by the most basic measurement – how easy was it to find the vendor’s phone number for support.  So I went to the CPR+ website and clicked on the contact us – saw a picture of their owners, their building and right there – their toll free number for support.  5 seconds.  Next I went to the Healthcare Automation website, clicked on contact us and there it was, the support phone number.  And then I went to the Hanns On Software site and one click and there it was.  So what is the difference between 3 and 5 seconds?  Nothing.  That’s not my point.  Read on.

So I went to the Microsoft site looking for the number to call for SQL Server support.  After 10 minutes of searching, clicking on “Contact Us” links, clicking on links that I thought surely I would get a phone number, I got nothing.  I clicked on SQL Server and all I could find was info for SQL Server 2008.  I guess they figure that if I am not on the latest release I am nobody.  This was not just random searching, I started by clicking on the support tab off of the main www.microsoft.com menu.  I don’t give up easy, as I have some real SQL Server questions.  I entered “SQL Server” in the search area on the site (something none of the home infusion software vendors had) and I got a Bing search results page.  Clicked the back button. Clicked on Products and found SQL Server.  Oh, I’m almost there.  Clicked on Contact us and got a “Ask Carey” prompt. 

I give up.

There is a lesson here.  All of the home infusion vendors started out using some legacy data format like .dbx or Access database files.  All of the home infusion software vendors have selected Microsoft SQL Server as the software to store all of the data that is put into their home infusion software.  The difference is that in the “old days”, the data base served the needs of the software.  The database was only designed to be used by the software vendor and when you had a problem with the software, whether it was related to the system, the database or the information in the database, you called the software vendor.

In today’s world, your data exists independently from your system and there are powerful tools, including SQL Server, that allow you to take control of your data.  Tools that are exponentially more advanced than your home infusion software.    You can still call your software vendor and ask them about the data in your SQL Server, but you’ll get a fairly narrow answer.  If you want to fully take advantage of the power of SQL Server you need to hire someone with this experience or contract with a company who has it.  One of the most powerful and underutilized applications you have in your business might be SQL Server, or some other Microsoft product. 

If you want to know about SQL Server (or CPR+, HomecareNet or Ascend), you can always call Rock-Pond Solutions.  You are already on our site, just click on Contact Us on the top of this page.  2 seconds.  Or enter “SQL” in our search box.  We do a lot with SQL and SQL Server and we have a search box, just like Microsoft.  Our mission is to help you extend the value of your information system investment. In late 2009 and 2010 we’ve been helping home infusion providers extend their systems through advanced uses of SQL Server and the opportunities are awesome.

You see, Microsoft is in the software business, not the support business.  They rely on other vendors, like Rock-Pond, to support their products.

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File Transfer Methods – Not All The Same

March 30, 2010 By Comments

In the middle of an already complicated computer world lies the age old requirement of being able to get files from one place to the next. It sounds simple on the surface, but with so many security and performance related issues popping up over the past few years, file transferring is more complex, and riskier than ever. Not only do you have to worry about making sure files get from here to there without picking up a virus, but you have to make sure that the only eyes that see them are those who were intended to. Now throw into the mix the fact that files today are significantly larger than ever before containing videos, pictures, presentations, and data.

The average user, especially the traveling user, argues that they are limited to what they can do, which is generally attaching files to an E-mail. This works, sometimes, but is starting to become obsolete with the massive amounts of spam & content filtering as well as file size limitations mandated by either the sending or receiving organization.

During the initial planning stages of Rock-Pond Connect, a tool developed by Rock-Pond Solutions to manage the deployment of report templates to its customers, several file transfer methods were looked at. The most significant goal of the project was to provide a way to quickly and safely transfer files while maintaining compliancy with the majority of organizations’ IT guidelines. This immediately threw out our good old friend FTP. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and is as old as network protocols get, dating back to 1971. It’s insecure, lacks encryption, as well as authentication. Most organizations’ networks don’t even let it in or out of the firewall, and it’s certainly not HIPAA compliant. SFTP was later released with a goal to build in greater security, encryption, and authentication. SFTP is in line with the popular “SSH (Secure Shell)” protocol which is the industry standard for accessing remote Unix-like operating systems. There’s also FTPS, which is an extension to the FTP protocol that adds support for Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Don’t forget that you can always throw your files on a USB stick to accomplish the same task, but now there are new risks, like losing the stick itself! Luckily, there are applications (often times provided with the USB stick) that let you encrypt the data with a password in case of it being lost or stolen. The web is a popular file transfer method, also supporting TLS and SSL, but is mostly uni-directional, meaning the user is usually only pulling files to their system rather than sending them to another. Luckily, Rock-Pond’s requirement for Rock-Pond Connect was only uni-directional, from us to the client.

We ended up coming across a version control system called SubVersion, a quickly growing client / server version control system that efficiently synchronizes files between two or more systems while maintain history and backups. We compared it to our requirements, and it matched up perfectly. We weren’t in need of encryption as the files we are deploying are simply templates, not data. Even if we needed encryption, SubVersion can operate over the TLS / SSL HTTPS protocol.

One of the biggest selling points for us was the fact that our customers could get files from us using an “incremental” approach, meaning they only get what’s been changed since the last time they synchronized with us. This was important to maintain a small bandwidth footprint for ourselves as well as our customers. In addition, transfers take place quickly, and can repeat often.

As I work with home infusion providers around the country, one commonality that I come across is people’s desire to put files “somewhere else”, just in case. Not only that, people are often on a workstation and then traveling using a laptop. Often times a home infusion provider needs to be able to effectively get files back and forth with the company providing them reimbursement services, usually containing sensitive information.

SubVersion, though not a traditional file transfer protocol, has a place in each of these scenarios. For a backup solution, users can synchronize their files to a remote central repository for safe keeping with the ability to revert back to old revisions if need be. No more sudden panics because you accidently delete a file. For the traveling road warrior, you can synchronize your files to a central remote repository from your workstation and quickly pull them down on your laptop. When done with your laptop, synchronize your files and pull them down to your workstation. Two computers, same files. Lastly, to provide files to an outside organization, such as your home infusion reimbursement center, setup a remote repository and synchronize just the files that the reimbursement center should get. They can do the same allowing for a seamless sharing of files over a secure channel.

While there are many options, too many to talk about in this single blog post, SubVersion has met Rock-Pond’s needs well, both from an everyday internal use to a full customer file deployment solution. Look at your own file transfer needs and ask yourself these questions:

  • Do you require encryption and fine grain authentication?
  • Do you need to transfer files over the internet, and how often?
  • What types of people do you need to share files with? How secure are their systems?

Establish file transfer policies and procedures and continue to audit them with today’s ever-changing technology developments. It’s easy to get your files from here to there safely and has never been so important.

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