System Center Training: December, 2008

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December 28

Installing the Visual Studio Tools for Office in SCOM...

Installing the Visual Studio Tools for Office Runtime... it should be easier than this!

I finally got the opportunity over the holidays with a little downtime, too much turkey, and all the time I can spend with my son’s toy car sets (with or without my son) to deal with one of those little pesky annoyances that’s been bugging me for a while but that wasn’t a priority.... installing the Visual Studio Tools for Office runtime on the Root Management Server (RMS) in our lab. Without this, you receive the following message when you attempt to update company knowledge content.

Read the rest of the article at http://infrontconsulting.com/resources.htm

For in-depth, technical training on System Center technologies including Operations Manager, look to http://www.infrontconsulting.com/events.htm.

December 07

Canadian Politics, specifically Canadian Politicians Need to be Better Losers

Toronto Maple Leafs Win Stanley Cup!!!

Canada was stunned Monday when it was announced that The Stanley Cup will be awarded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, possibly as early as December 16th.

The cup will be stripped from from 2008 playoff champions the Detroit Red Wings and be awarded to the Leafs, who didn't even make the playoffs.

How is this possible, Canadians ask?

Well, the Leafs have formed a coalition with eastern conference semifinalists the Montreal Canadians, and conference quarter finalists the Ottawa Senators, now outnumbering the Red Wings.

According to current Leaf coach Ron Wilson "the Red Wings have lost the confidence of the league and should hand the cup over immediately to our coalition".

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is cutting short a European trip to try to resolve the unprecedented hockey crisis that could force a second playoff series, or see an opposing team coalition take the cup.

Note: I claim no ownership for the above statement. The above statement was received via email with no source noted to reference.

December 03

64-bit Woes, not Wows!

It is 2008 right? 64-bit operating systems have been out for how long now? 4+ years? It still amazes me, the lack of support, particularly on the desktop side for 64-bit applications and drivers. One of the things we struggle with regularly is being able to demostrate server-side technology to customers and yet still use the notebook on which we run the demonstrations as our everyday notebook. Now to demo a number of Microsoft technologies, we run Windows Server 2008 on our notebooks but in order to run hyper-v, you need to install the 64-bit version of Windows Server 2008. The benefit, outside of being able to run the demonstrations is that the OS sees more system memory than XP or Vista, both of which see between 3.1 and 3.3 GBs of RAM instead of the full 4GBs but the downside is the inability to use different applications and drivers for devices like scanners and printers.

To, I sent an Office Groove invite to a colleague who is running a 64-bit o/s only to leave the Groove, a Microsoft acquired application doesn't support 64-bit. Come on folks, let's please change this!!

December 01

Training or Marketing, you decide

I am a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) or at least I hold that designation and have for 10+ years. I truly love to present and deliver training, it's a passion of mine for sure.

As a religious MSDN reader, I like you receive emails from Microsoft (MSDN specifically) about the different 'stuff' that's going on. I received one today and almost fell off my chair laughing at one particular section...

Training

How to Convince Your Manager to Send You to Training

Microsoft Learning has recently conducted research to show the value of IT training. Use our research results as a powerful weapon when negotiating training opportunities with your manager. Our research shows that training leads to improved team productivity, reduced downtime, and increased employee satisfaction and loyalty. Find out more about the research data and Microsoft Certified Partners for Learning Solutions.

The burb above intrigued me as I agee that IT training is valuable. Working as a consultant, I am always learning and trying to stay on top of technology and all of the changes and as you know, it's hard. Technology changes so quickly, it's difficult to stay current so I value any opportunity that I have to take quality training and that's where I think this gets funny and where the disconnect is that the marketing folks in Redmond or the Microsoft Learning folks just don't seem to see.

At the following link (http://www.microsoft.com/learning/cpls/reasons/default.mspx) you can read how "Microsoft Certified Partners for Learning Solutions are the only training companies that meet the Microsoft international standards of excellence." I am not sure about you, but there is no chance that you would find me taking a class at a Microsoft CPLS unless the trainer actually had real world experience with the technology that the training was on. I am not just looking to have the book read to me or presented articulately, I want to know what works and what doesn't work and what the trainer has seen. At the same time, I want to know that the training material is current to the 'version' or 'service pack' level of the application or operating system that I will be or am working with and this is where I see two glaring disconnects in the current training model.

Disconnect 1: Full time trainers (certified or not) are full time trainers. Don't get me wrong, some of these folks are great instructors and most of them are great people but they bring little to no real world examples or experience with them to the classroom.

Disconnect 2: The quality of the Microsoft curriculum 'in my opinion' has not improved. If anything, there are more and more gaps where curriculum just doesn't exist or if it does the labs either don't work or are extremely problematic. Now, in Microsoft's defense, I understand that over the last 4 years Microsoft's courseware, particularly the classroom setup dynamics have changed and have moved from a physical server installation to a Virtual PC installation and now with some of the more recent releases are using Hyper-V as a platform. That taken into account, the technical depth and product coverage has seemed to slip. Hindsight being what it is (100% right) I would have thought that during the downturn in the training market after the tech bubble burst in the early 2000's that Microsoft would have taken this opportunity to invest in building more technical curriculum to increase interest and help drive demand.

As an organization Infront Consulting Group, identified the gaps in Microsoft's training space and seized the opportunity to develop high-quality, in-depth, deep technical content in the System Center area and have received high praise from the folks that have attended the training. Mindsharp is another company that has done the same in the SharePoint space.

I still find it funny though how market research can be construed or miscontrued and a fact such as "...Our research shows that training leads to improved team productivity, reduced downtime, and increased employee satisfaction and loyalty." can be spun to imply that only training from a Microsoft CPLS will provide these benefits.

What we hear from the people that attend our training and what I heard back when I was an MCT still rings true, it's not the materials that make that class it's the trainer delivering the class and what that person brings with them to the class.

That said, if you are in a position where your manager 'just doesn't get it' and you need some ammunition to convince him or her of the value of training, I hope the following helps...

Special benefits for IT managers

Learning can help you:

•	Improve team productivity Studies show that for each new individual who is trained and certified, team performance increases—every time. Customers report a nine percent increase in productivity after training. In other words, your team gets an extra month of productivity per year.
•	Reduce downtime Forty percent of operational downtime is due to a significant lack of training on core systems. After training, 55 percent of workers report a significant increase in the quality of their work.
•	Increase employee satisfaction and loyalty Forty-three percent of hiring managers say that investing in employee development reduces turnover, probably because employees have increased job satisfaction and feelings of increased engagement.
•	Customize learning solutions Look for customized learning plans that meet your team's specific training needs and schedule—the learning plans may even be delivered right at your office.
	Good luck with your training and education!! For in-depth System Center training, check out www.infrontconsulting.com/events.htm.