GIS, IOT and FSSA partner to serve Hoosiers
COVID-19 is impacting families on an unprecedented scale across the State of Indiana, especially with lost or reduced wages. This has resulted in significant food insecurity, and several resources that residents normally would depend on have become unavailable during the pandemic.
In response to the outbreak, the Geographic Information Office (GIO), a division of IOT, worked with a team of state experts to create an online application that could connect residents to nearby food pantries, meal sites, and schools.
Given the unpredictable status of the operating food pantries, it was determined that a map-based app built with geographic information system (GIS) technology would be ideal for the state's COVID-19 response.
The FSSA team turned to the Geographic Information Office, to fast-track the new, mobile-friendly Food Assistance Availability Map.
What is it? The interactive app needed to provide functionality to not only pinpoint the closest food sites but also deliver critical information about each of them.
Prior to COVID-19, no one had ever mapped these resources statewide. The process for a major project incorporating multiple state-level agencies such as this one would normally require around six months, but instead needed to be completed in less than a week.
FSSA partnered with the state's charitable food banks, the Indy Hunger Network, and Feeding Indiana's Hungry, serving all 92 counties. Indiana's GIO team was able to build the map-based app, using the ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online platforms, in under a week.
How does it work? Residents can now easily locate nearby food resources by either clicking on the map or typing their address in the search field. Clicking on any of the sites produces details about it, including name, address, hours of operation, type of organization, contact information, population served, and eligibility requirements. Food pantries and meal sites can provide their detailed information via a web-based form. This information is uploaded to the map daily.
The experience has also laid the groundwork for future inter-agency collaboration, using the app to continue to serve fellow Hoosiers fighting food insecurity, which will not cease after this crisis subsides.
Visit the map here.
The Food Assistance Availability Map was also featured in a case study from Esri. Read the article here.
Connect: Do you have a project that could use GIS technology? Contact the Geographic Information Office at gio@iot.in.gov
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Indiana Virtual Digital Government Summit Reminder- New dates
This year’s Digital Government Summit is being held virtually over the course of two partial days: Wednesday, Oct. 7 and Thursday, Oct. 8.
What will it look like? The event will be like a normal summit, except broken across two mornings. Guest speakers include professionals in IT, Digital Government and Communications.
The keynote will be given by Dan Thurmon, Author, Peak Performance Coach and Hall of Fame speaker. He will be discussing the events of 2020 and “making the best of IT.”
In addition to Thurmon, Co-Directors of Center for Digital Government, Teri Takai and Phil Bertolini, Chief Innovation Officer of e.Republic, Dustin Haisler, Secretary of Administration and Chief Information Technology Officer of the State of Kansas, Dr. DeAngela Burns-Wallace and Anthony Huey, Communications coach and crisis consultant, will also be guest speakers.
"The 19th Annual Digital Government Summit will look different than the previous 18, but that gives us a great opportunity. The new virtual format offers more chances for those around the state to attend, learn and exchange best practices and ideas to drive state and local government forward. The experience and breadth of topics is something I am sure will lead to better government solutions for Hoosiers." - Tracy Barnes, Chief Information Officer, State of Indiana
Get Involved: Stay tuned for more details as we get closer. Register now!
Block your calendar – Add the Digital Government Summit to your Outlook calendar.
Oct. 7 - Download the .ics file
Oct. 8 - Download the .ics file
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EOP SpamPortal Migration
The Big Picture: IOT is moving away from the Sophos SpamPortal and moving to a more modern and secure Office365 solution (EOP SpamPortal).
This spam portal is where end users are able to view messages flagged as junk or malicious and are able to review and release any of these messages from quarantine.
IOT will also deploy in tandem to the migration, a Microsoft ‘Report Message’ Outlook add-in button which will allow users to easily add an unwanted sender to their EOP SpamPortal block list.
Need more information? Further information can be found on the IN.GOV Spam FAQ site. The EOP SpamPortal Migration Project has and will continue until projected completion in mid-November, with agencies split up in groups of eight.
(Legacy) Sophos IOT SpamPortal: https://spamportal.iot.in.gov/
(New) EOP SpamPortal: https://protection.office.com/quarantine
We have the following in place for the migration:
*CMR 13012 for Migration Group 1 has begun implementation.
*CMRs for the rest of the Migration Groups have been submitted.
· End users will receive 3 custom notifications about the EOP SpamPortal migration (1 week prior, 1 day before, 1 day after)
Any questions about scheduling can be directed to IOT Project Manager, Rita Rogers at rirogers@iot.in.gov.
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IGIC virtual conference coming soon
The virtual conference will be held Sept. 29 - Oct. 1, 2020. The keynote will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday, with Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch.
The first two days of the conference will include ArcGIS Pro tips and tricks, the impact on using GIS and Imagery, Orthoimagery 101, GIS and Indiana waterways and so much more!
A portion of day three will feature the Geospatial Coordinator's Forum and an IGIC Board Meeting.
Registration:
$100 for members ($25 for student members) $125 (after 9/11/2020)
$140 for non-members $165 (after 9/11/2020)
$300 for Exhibitors
Times are:
· Tuesday
o 9:00 am - 4:30 pm
· Wednesday
o 9:00 am - 4:30 pm
· Thursday
o 9:00 am - 3:30 pm
To REGISTER and find out more, click here.
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IOT Refresh Policy
With a huge majority of the state workforce working remotely, business operations, including IOT, are re-evaluating how they best deliver services. One request being made to IOT is to move more of the workforce to laptops. In order to best meet this need, prevent waste from equipment where the cost has not been fully recovered and to maintain efficient processing and PC builds, IOT has developed a policy to facilitate these requests.
Many factors (see below) have been considered while developing the early refresh policy. Going forward, it is IOT policy to handle requests to migrate existing desktop PCs to laptop PCs the following way:
Agencies Within Twelve Months of Refresh.
1.The agency will pay off the existing depreciation left on the current desktop PC.
2.IOT will apply the desktop refresh credit to the new laptop PC, with the agency paying the difference. This is usually referred to as the upgrade charge.
3.The laptop PC in question will not be refreshed when the agency refresh project kicks off within the next twelve months.
Agencies More Than Twelve Months Away from Refresh
1.The agency will pay off the existing depreciation on the current desktop PC.
2.The agency will be charged the full price of the new laptop PC. No desktop refresh credit will be applied
3.The agency will be required to refresh the new laptop PC during the next refresh cycle. They will not be allowed to keep the new laptop PC and request a replacement in the middle of the next refresh period.
How does seat and IOT budgeting work?
When an agency has its PCs refreshed, IOT pays the upfront cost for the purchase of standard machines, but any upgrades are paid by the agency. The cost of the PC, plus maintenance and support, is paid back with the monthly seat charge over the following four years.
If an agency turns in PCs where the cost has not been fully recovered, there is a negative effect on the seat budget – which potentially causes rates to increase for all customers to make up the difference.
IOT prepares its seat rate by budgeting for the amount of PCs it is scheduled to refresh in the coming fiscal year. Drastic changes to the refresh cycle can cause the budget to be overspent.
What other problems are caused by upgrading some of the agency users early?
1.IOT maintains staffing to manage cycling through customers on a four-year rotation, changing that schedule will require hiring additional resources, which, in turn, costs more money.
2.Replacing machines in the middle of a refresh cycle also makes it harder to keep an entire agency on the same 4-year rotation; this causes two issues. First, each agency has unique PC builds, with different software and even group policy settings. It is more efficient to create agency profiles at one time and then apply them, versus doing it on an ad-hoc basis. Second, IOT prepares its seat budget based on the estimates of machines needed. Moving vast amounts of customers off an agency cycle will make budgeting very difficult in future years.
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Recording your PowerPoint and Stream presentations
Have you ever given a presentation and then sent the slides afterward and you are hoping the audience remembers the context? Or have you ever had an issue on the computer and you try to describe it to someone? There are a couple available solutions that you can use to solve these and other problems.
PowerPoint can be used to record yourself speaking over a presentation or you can record your computer screen with either PowerPoint or Stream and share it with others.
Is it easy to record? As long as you have a web cam and a microphone, you can easily create a recording to send to others.
How to record in PowerPoint:
1.Select Slide Show > Record Slide Show.
2.Choose from two options:
*Start Recording from Beginning - to record from the beginning of a presentation.
*Start Recording from Current Slide - to record from a specific slide.
3.Select what you'd like for your recording, and then select Start Recording.
Manage recordings:
*Pause - to pause a recording.
*Close - to end a recording.
*Laser Pointer, Pen, Highlighter, or Eraser - to use the pointer, ink, eraser, or highlighter tools in your recording.
Save recordings:
When you're done recording, save and share your presentation as a PowerPoint Show. Your recording will automatically play when someone opens the presentation.
1.Select File > Save As.
2.Select where you'd like to save your presentation to.
3.Under Save as type, select the dropdown arrow and then select PowerPoint Show.
4.Select Save.
Using Microsoft Stream, you can create short screen recordings of up to 15 minutes.
1. Select Create > Record screen in Microsoft Stream.
2. When prompted by your browser, select Allow Microsoft Stream to use your camera and microphone.
You're now ready to start recording!
*Select the Record button to start recording.
*Select which content from your screen you wish to share—your entire screen, an application window, or browser tab—then click Share. To include audio from your computer in the recording, select the checkbox Share audio.
*Wait until the countdown for the recording to begin. Once you begin, you'll see a timer and the time limit.
*When you're finished recording, switch back to the Microsoft Stream screen recorder tab in your browser.
*When you're finished, select Next to review your recording.
Upload stream
1.Fill in the video name, description, and language in the details section
2.When published, everyone will have permission to view your video.
*To set custom permissions, groups, channels, and other options, click Update video details.
3.After the upload is complete, you can either publish or save, as follows:
*Click Publish. Select Go to Video to go to the video page on Stream and watch or share your video.
*Click Save as draft if you're not yet ready to publish your video. Your video will be saved to My Content > Videos in Stream, from where you can publish it at any time.