State of Oregon
Dept. of Human Services
Industry:
Government
Environment:
Microsoft® platforms, Novell, SQL various Unix platforms, BlackBerry Enterprise Server Applications Deployed Mobile Admin
Overview
The State of Oregon Department of Human Services is the largest department in Oregon state government. DHS provides more than 300 programs and services to seniors, people with disabilities, low-income families, children who have been abused or neglected, and people with mental illness or addictions. In addition to these direct services, DHS also supports all public health program initiatives.
With so much at stake, DHS must ensure the continuous flow of information, with minimal interruptions and response times being critical.
Evaluating the Solution
DHS manages 10,000 users over 250 servers and 900 BlackBerry smartphones, with the number of BlackBerries to increase to 1200 in the next year. With such a vast network, and a limited number of network administrators, DHS began to actively search for ways to remotely manage their servers from their Blackberry smartphones.
They discovered the Rove solution through a Research in Motion representative who suggested they try it based on past customer successes. Kimberly Simmons, a BlackBerry and Remote Access Administrator from DHS downloaded the 30 day free trial from the Rove website. “I was impressed at how easy it was to get up and running. It was great that Mobile Admin seamlessly integrates with the BlackBerry Enterprise Server!”, exclaimed Simmons.
Some of Mobile Admin’s immediate advantages included instant access to all IT resources from anywhere, and more satisfied users.
Increasing Flexibility for IT Staff
With the ability to restart a server instantly from a handheld device, Mobile Admin has given IT administrators a much appreciated increase in flexibility and responsiveness. Before Mobile Admin, when a server failed, DHS System Administrators would have to either rush back to the office, or find a place to dial in to perform administration tasks. The response time was much slower.
IT administrators can now restart a server, unlock users, or reset passwords from anywhere using their BlackBerry smartphones. “It’s not only bette service for our users, it’s a real quality of life issue,” says Simmons. “One weekend, I received a support ticket that a service had stopped. I was able to restart the application within minutes. It saved me a lot of time, since I was able to restart my service from home on my BlackBerry.”
“None of us are as worried about being around a computer now, and we don’t have to carry around our laptops. We know we can fix routine problems remotely. If I have my BlackBerry with me, I feel confident that if there are problems, i.e a server is down, a users BlackBerry is lost or a service fails, I am able to take the necessary steps to fix the problems within minutes.”