ISG Blog

Over the Christmas period the majority of the iSG Team will be on leave as THQ will be closed in the week between Christmas and New Year.

But for those hard working people who are still at their posts fulfilling their mission over the next week, iSG will have a skeleton staff on deck and available to assist you.  Please note that iSG are unable to provide any NEW services (mobiles, broadband connections, computers, etc) but we can help if you encounter any difficulties during this time.  Feel free to keep logging tickets in the New Supportal or call us on (04)802 6262.

Members of the OpsIT (Service Desk), InfIT (Back Office) and DAS (Data Analysis Support) teams will be on deck and ready to help.

Most of the team will be back on the week of the 7th January and we look forward to enabling the mission for you in 2019.

Thank you for all you do for the Salvation Army and to fulfil God's mission through this organisation.

We provide 3 most asked questions as further information on the use of the New Supportal.

How do I check on my tickets?

1. Login into Service Desk Plus with your sXXXX ID and standard password.
2. My Requests Summary should be on the main screen
   
   
3. There will be a count of Pending tickets. Click on the number.
   This will take you to a list of your pending requests
   
   
4. Click on the ticket you want to view.
5. If you want to see your closed tickets, click Requests on the top menu bar.
   
6. From the “All Requests” drop down, select “My Closed Requests”
   

How do I add a comment to a ticket?

1. Find the ticket
2. Open the ticket
3. Scroll down and click on “Reply”
   
4. In the pop up box type your text to the end of what is already there.
5. Click Add to save
   
6. This will add the comment under Requester Conversations
   
7. Click on your name to expand the section out and see the comment.

How do I add an attachment/picture to a ticket?

1. Find the ticket
2. Open the ticket
3. Select the Actions drop down and click on “Add Attachment”
   
4. In the small popup box click Choose File. This will open your computer File Explorer. Navigate to and select the file you wish to attach. Click Open.
5. Click Attach File.

A further update on the New Supportal and how to use this.

Getting to the new website on Monday will be the same as you always have done, either via the link on the QuickLinks Menu on the intranet Home screen or via support.sarmy.net.nz.  The credentials used to log in here are the same used for all TSA systems, ie. YOUR s-id (S###) and current password.

Once you log in, this will take you to the Home screen of Service Desk Plus (the new Supportal).

There are two ways to log a ticket.  The first is to select "Create a new Service Request" which will take you to the main ticket logging page.

Or the better way is to select Request Catalog...

then select from the relevant choices provided to either Log a ticket

or request something

Please note that "stage 2" on moving to Service Desk Plus is to create e-forms with appropriate automated workflows that will facilitate the logging of requests such as new mobile phones, broadband connections, new hardware, etc.  At this stage however, the current forms used can still be found on the intranet under Departments & Services > iSG Help Desk > iSG Forms.  Each request will show which form needs to be completed until we have the e-forms ready to go.

We look forward to providing better service with the use of this latest updated tool.

Dear friends

We wish to notify of an upcoming change to Supportal. Next Monday, 17 December, you will see a significant change to how the Supportal home screen looks.

This change is happening to assist users in getting better service from Team iSG.

Some of the changes that you will see are:

• the ability to receive email notifications and reply to these directly into your ticket from the email;
• the ability for technicians to fix issues on your computer without you needing to connect via the Remote assistance tool which will save users time and frustration with the current process;
• this system will also allow us to create e-forms which will streamline the process of the various requests sent to us. This will not necessarily be available straight away but is in the future planning project;
• functionality such as the Links Page and Ask Sally will still be available

On Thursday this week, we will update the iSG Blog with information on how to log tickets within the new system.  

Why not take this opportunity to subscribe to the iSG Blog. With regular entries that provide you with tips and tricks, plus other useful information, its a great way to be in the know of what iSG are working on and how we are moving forward to "enable the mission". 

At the top of screen just click on the envelope  and then you will be asked to provide your name and email as per image below:

Complete that and hit Subscribe.  You will then receive email notifications whenever we update the Blog (maximum 3 times a week).

Check the Blog on Thursday for further information on how to use the new Supportal.

The silly season is upon us and as per usual, our suppliers will provide any BAU (business as usual) support to us throughout this time.  However, a stop is being placed on any new requests. As a matter of keeping you informed here is what you need to know:-

• Vodafone: "Brown-out" period starts 7 December 2018 - 13 January 2019.  No new broadband requests and only limited new mobile connections will happen.  However, SIM swaps, assistance with current connections (both mobile and internet) will be provided as per usual.
• Cyclone:  Our computer supplier will be closed from 21 December 2018 - 7 January 2019.  They will endeavour to provide new machines as needed but will be restricted by their suppliers.  iSG will endeavour to assist as best we can, but there may be limited supply of machines.
• Sitehost: Change freeze period from 12 December - 7 January 2019.  This is an infrastructure change freeze which will assist in the systems remaining as stable as possible throughout this period.

For all other matters, we will continue to keep you posted through our communications as you log your tickets.

Thank you for your assistance over the past year, and we look forward to continuing to "enable the mission" over the coming days and months.

Just a quick note to let you know that Team iSG are all in Wellington this week working on getting the team back on the same page, and improving the many services and methods of support we provide.

During this time we will have periods for "BAU" (business as usual) but particularly from Tuesday through to Thursday this time will be limited as we go into sessions to update the team on various items of interest for them.

Feel free to continue logging tickets through Supportal and we will attend to them during our BAU times.  We will be prioritising these as per our usual process.

If you have an urgent matter that needs attention immediately, then feel free to call Michael Cabatbat, our Ops IT Team Leader, who will be able to ascertain the urgency of your request and then assign the required task to one of our team.  As you can understand, we are keen to provide minimal disruption to the team during our sessions to ensure they get the most benefit of our time together.  His mobile number is 021 829 871.

Thank you for all you do for The Salvation Army and the part you play in fulfilling the mission to care for people, transform lives and reform society through the Holy's Spirit's power.

Credit: Oldtimers Facebook page

Have a great weekend everyone!

In order to provide a consistent operating environment for TSA Centres, to keep updated with the latest security patches and to improve reliability, iSG are implementing a regularly scheduled “change window”.

This will be conducted on the first and third Thursday of every Month, from 6pm to 10pm.

During these periods, iSG or our affiliated support partners will perform operations such as system updates, firmware updates, operating system updates, software updates, patch application and reboot of managed devices.

These operations will be across a variety of systems supported and managed by iSG, including: servers, network shares, Avaya phone system, Aerohive devices (including Branch Routers, Switches and Wireless Access Points), websites (including Support Portal, SABS, BiAS, iBall, eBoards, Intranet, Webmail among others) and any other systems identified as requiring maintenance or updates.

ISG will identify the systems affected, likely impact and anticipated duration of each event and place a notice on the Support Portal before the commencement of the change window.

ISG will attempt to minimise the disruption to centres (especially those with a 24 hour operation) and strive to maintain systems availability as far as practicable.

ISG will not send an email notice to the entire Territory for each change window.

ISG may not necessarily perform any actions at all on any given first or third Thursday of a particular month, but having them regularly scheduled it is hoped allows centres to plan around potential outages or service disruption.

ISG reserve the right to perform updates at times additional to the regularly-scheduled window, if they are of a critical nature or leaving systems unpatched represents an unacceptable risk to TSA. If such additional “out of schedule” updates are required, iSG will attempt to advertise these as far in advance as possible via Support Portal notification message.

We wish to notify of an upcoming change to Supportal. In the next few weeks you will see a significant change to how the Supportal home screen looks.

This change is happening to assist users in getting better service from Team iSG.

Some of the changes that you will see are:

• the ability to receive email notifications and reply to these directly into your ticket from the email;
• the ability for technicians to fix issues on your computer without you needing to connect via the Remote assistance tool which will save users time and frustration with the current process;
• this system will also allow us to create e-forms which will streamline the process of the various requests sent to us. This will not necessarily be available straight away but is in the future planning project;
• functionality such as the Links Page and Ask Sally will still be available

This system is currently being tested by Team iSG with some of our 'live' tickets so you may get some notifications from this. However, we will send a further update to the territory once the system is ready to go live.

This week we meet... 

  Name:   Korbin Jarvis

1. How long have you worked for TSA and what do you do (in a couple of short sentences)? I joined the iSG Team as a Junior Representative at Booth House last month this year.  As a Junior Representative, my role includes setting up new machines with The Salvation Army standard image ready for deployment and I DBAN (wipe out) old machines after their use is finished.  I am responsible for the THQ backups and offsite backups (backups for other centres of TSA).  I configure and reformat devices as required.  I assist with managing, sorting, couriering and storing equipment.  I also sort messages and tickets and assist the iSG Team in completing tasks as required.
2. Tell us a little about yourself. I have been close to TSA for my entire life due to family connections as an Officer's son.  I lived in Petone, Lower Hutt until my family was moved to Auckland where I lived for 17 years.  In January this year my family and I moved to Wellington.  I have worked in various different voluntary roles for TSA before working at iSG, including volunteering as a store person at New Lynn Family Store (2013-2016) and at Tawa Family Store for the first half of this year.  I was also an on/off volunteer kitchen hand at Booth Cafe in 2015-2016 and at Epsom Lodge 2013-2016.  I have assisted at the DHQ food banks.  Last year I was an intern at TSA's Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit.  I am very interested in religion, philosophy, mythology and legends, folklore, folk and fairy tales, urban legends and modern folklore, art, poetry and architecture, contemporary news, socio-political studies and culture and society studies, geography, history, earth, space and natural (especially pre-historic) science studies, languages, learning french and learning about francophone countries.  I enjoy activities like cycling, diving and similar sports, as well as combat sports such as boxing, mauy thai and martial arts.  I really like good entertainment such as video games, gaming, tv series, movies, shows and comics.  I also like good coffee, tea and good food.
3. What’s the last text you sent, or funniest one received in the last month? "Thanks" sent to the Ops IT team leader after I got home from the team dinner and movie evening which I really enjoyed and I thankful to have been invited to by the iSG Team.
4. If you had to choose only 3 adjectives to describe yourself, which would you choose?  Interested/curious (to learn), hard working and nice.
5. For what are you most grateful today? I am most grateful for my religion (Christianity) and having a role in that as part of TSA as well as all the previously mentioned subjects and things that interest me.  Being a part of the iSG Team is also one of the things that I am most grateful for.

This week we meet...

  Name:   Mark Whittaker

1. How long have you worked for TSA and what do you do (in a couple of short sentences)? I have been working for TSA since 2011, just on 7 years. I'm involved in a number of different tasks including ensuring the machines being used around the territory are set up and ready to do what they need to do.  In short I'm here to enable the mission.
2. Tell us a little about yourself. I live with my partner in Te Awamutu.  In  my down time I enjoy gardening.
3. What’s the last text you sent, or funniest one received in the last month? I prefer talking to people.
4. If you had to choose only 3 adjectives to describe yourself, which would you choose?  Responsible, reliable and a renegade
5. For what are you most grateful today? my boss 

 Name:   Kirsty Alexander

1. How long have you worked for TSA and what do you do (in a couple of short sentences)?  I have worked at TSA THQ for 3 years now, first as the EA to the Secretary for Business Administration and now as Administration Assistant for Personnel and ISG. I m also currently studying towards a degree in Social Work hence the job change .
2. Tell us a little about yourself. I have two children, Nathan 18 years and Laura 16 years ( I know I look far too young for children that age) hehe I live with my partner Jeff and his two children Annelisa (16) and Andre (10). Jeff and I play competitive tennis, I play social football and I do aqua aerobics with my daughter. I am very family orientated and am very close to both my parents and Jeff's parents too. I have two brothers, whom I don't see much with them living up North but when we get together it is always a good time. I have a very busy and full life with kids activities, managing their sports teams, playing sport, housewife duties, studying full time and working full time hours also. I love being busy!
3. What’s the last text you sent, or funniest one received in the last month? The last text I sent was "Ok xx" to my son after he asked me to drop a pair of school socks off to his dads after work (boys...sigh)
4. If you had to choose only 3 adjectives to describe yourself, which would you choose?  Three 3 adjectives to describe me.... Friendly, helpful and great sense of humour 
5. For what are you most grateful today? I am most grateful today for my kids, my family, my partner and being alive

This week we meet...

  Name:   Bryan Adams

1. How long have you worked for TSA and what do you do (in a couple of short sentences)? Since Feb 2012, dearie me – has it really been that long ??? I was formerly STH Division ISG Rep, and whilst I’m still based physically in STH DHQ, I’m now officially titled Systems Engineer. “Wot’s that?” I hear you ask, well, we’re still figuring that part out as we go along, but it’s a lot closer to what I was doing before joining TSA. I’m a member of the Back Office Team, and work with Infrastructure. So while I wear many hats (some of them even get washed occasionally!) one of my main roles is to design network solutions for TSA Centres of all flavours, Territory-wide..
2. Tell us a little about yourself. Married, 2 kids primary school age. When not trying to persuade them off various devices and onto bikes or to go to The Outside, I’m often found listening to music and glaring balefully at the lawn, willing it to mow itself... I don’t think I have too many vices, but spending too much money on music (yes I BUY it!), HiFi and Home Theatre, mmm yeah – I have that one.
3. What’s the last text you sent, or funniest one received in the last month? Last: Hi. 1x espresso please for Bryan. There in 1min   --- Funniest received-in-error recently from a male colleague (who had only just left the office and was running late for home): On my way, love you!
4. If you had to choose only 3 adjectives to describe yourself, which would you choose?  Diplomatic (it’s to temper my honesty, see?), Dependable (always ready with a Dad joke), and Different (aren’t we all a little strange?)
5. For what are you most grateful today? Most grateful today for my good health, my great family & excellent friends, and that the weather is on the improve. Looking forward to BBQs again! For those of you in Wellington and unfamiliar with this pastime – this is where a bunch of loved ones come round to your home and you spend an enjoyable afternoon outdoors in the back yard, discussing various apropos of nothing, try to keep the children from losing too many eyeballs, eat too much cheese with crackers, cook various meats over a hot plate/grill and don’t have anything blown off plates or the table!

  Name:   Rahul Raghunath

1. How long have you worked for TSA and what do you do (in a couple of short sentences)? Worked  for TSA for 4 months and  I handle all the mobile phone, Internet lines  and  Avaya desk phones (Avaya Coordinator)
2. Tell us a little about yourself. Born and raised in Bangalore,INDIA. Moved to NZ 4 years back and I love reviewing restaurants
3. What’s the last text you sent, or funniest one received in the last month? I went to subway today and tried the new buffalo chicken sub and asked for the habanero sauce. The lady at the counter spent a minute warning me about how spicy it is compared to hot sauce. I was thinking “how cute, she thinks it’s going to be spicy for me “. 😂😂
4. If you had to choose only 3 adjectives to describe yourself, which would you choose?  Punctual, Friendly and Crazy
5. For what are you most grateful today? Grateful for my parents, colleagues and the chance to Enable the Mission.

Have a wonderful weekend.

From Team iSG

This week we meet...

  Name:   Fiona Elliot

1. How long have you worked for TSA and what do you do (in a couple of short sentences)? I have worked in ISG for 9 years and I am the Software Development Lead – this means I am the person to talk to about all changes to or new software requirements.
2. Tell us a little about yourself. Mum of one, married to Irish man who I dragged to New Zealand about 10 years ago, mediator between an old cat and a new annoying kitten! I love to travel and experience new things.
3. What’s the last text you sent, or funniest one received in the last month? Feeling jealous. I won’t send you photos of what I’m doing today cos it’s too boring! (Message to my two sisters who are currently on holiday in Europe)
4. If you had to choose only 3 adjectives to describe yourself, which would you choose?  Friendly, reliable, busy
5. For what are you most grateful today?  That I have the opportunity to balance a job which I really enjoy with also being able to be a supportive and available Mum to my daughter. Also, that it’s sunny!

 Paul Kitchen

1. How long have you worked for TSA and what do you do (in a couple of short sentences)? Started in January 2012. Provide desktop and network support and liaison, advice and training as part of the ISG Service Desk team.
2. Tell us a little about yourself. Married to Julie since 1997, 2 children, Adam (17) going to Otago Uni next year, Grace (15) gearing up for Army or Navy. 1 Whippet, 2 cats, and occasionally some kittens that we foster for the Kitten Inn.
3. What’s the last text you sent, or funniest one received in the last month? Pretty much all work related, and definitely not funny.
4. If you had to choose only 3 adjectives to describe yourself, which would you choose?  Introverted, bewildered but hopeful
5. For what are you most grateful today? a. That I am surrounded by people who accept me for being all of the above and don’t seem to mind if the mix changes from day to day.
   b. The privilege of influencing other people’s lives for the better from the safety of my little room at BCM.
   c. That my kids are smarter and have more going for them than I ever did at their age.

This week we meet...

  Name:   Holmes Lam

1. How long have you worked for TSA and what do you do (in a couple of short sentences)? 9 Years, time flies. I am part of the Back Office team and I help keep everything in the server room working.
2. Tell us a little about yourself. I am a father of two boys, busy as I take them to football and softball fields every weekend.
3. What’s the last text you sent, or funniest one received in the last month? 👌
4. If you had to choose only 3 adjectives to describe yourself, which would you choose?  Kind, friendly, reliable.
5. For what are you most grateful today? Health

 Name:   Maria Takai

1. How long have you worked for TSA and what do you do (in a couple of short sentences)? Officially since December 2017, but I had a stint in the department as a student first. I'm part of the OpsIT team. I help people with IT issues. Or at least I try to....
2. Tell us a little about yourself. I'm a Tongan Kiwi who likes a laugh, I enjoy playing games I can win and l Iove to spend time with nieces and nephews to feed my inner child.
3. What’s the last text you sent, or funniest one received in the last month?  Sweet! Yeah I'll make sure you're in the lounge when they go off
4. If you had to choose only 3 adjectives to describe yourself, which would you choose?  Awesome, forgetful and awesome!
5. For what are you most grateful today? Getting a ride to and from work with Geraldine (Johnson)!

This week we meet...

  Name:   Ian Wood

1. How long have you worked for TSA and what do you do (in a couple of short sentences)?  I have worked for almost 16 years in The Salvation Army, in a few different roles.  Yes that is a while, and you can see the price of working here so long looking at the blog from 2009.  I have for some time been working in ISG Backoffice which incorporates many systems though I focus on the email system.
2. Tell us a little about yourself.  I am married with two children.  I enjoy playing with my son, even though he likes to use me as jungle gym. I also enjoy participating in the music team at church with my daughter.  I am on guitar and Bethany plays drums.
3. What’s the last text you sent, or funniest one received in the last month?   My profession of love to a male colleague (meant for my wife), leading to our blossoming relationship!
4. If you had to choose only 3 4 adjectives to describe yourself, which would you choose?  I hope those around me think I am hard working, trustworthy, dependable (except for blog entries) and loyal.
5. For what are you most grateful today? I am most grateful for may family.  Father's Day 2018 pictured above!

This week we meet...

  Name:   Steve MacDonald

1. How long have you worked for TSA and what do you do (in a couple of short sentences)? I am the System Administrator for Technology One (The TSA Finance and Payroll application) and been employed at TSA for 3 years.
2. Tell us a little about yourself. I am married with 20 year old twin boys who make me look even more vertically challenged than I really am.
3. What’s the last text you sent, or funniest one received in the last month? "Sorry, I had pocket dialled you" (This is probably my most common text message)
4. If you had to choose only 3 adjectives to describe yourself, which would you choose?  Sarcastic, Loyal and one of my boys said Ancient
5. For what are you most grateful today? Hair conditioner

   Name:   Lino Babaran

1. How long have you worked for TSA and what do you do (in a couple of short sentences)? I’ve been working for TSA as Northern Division ISG Representative since November 2015
2. Tell us a little about yourself. I was born and raised in the Philippines, I’ve worked and lived in U.A.E and Singapore for almost 11 years before I decided to migrate to New Zealand in 2015 with my pretty & loving wife and daughter.
3. What’s the last text you sent, or funniest one received in the last month? Sorry Wrong Sent
4. If you had to choose only 3 adjectives to describe yourself, which would you choose?  Patient, calm and loveable *smirk
5. For what are you most grateful today? I’m super grateful for my life, health and love of my wife, daughter and true friends. I am also thankful for my job, supportive teammates/colleagues and for having a very kind and understanding Boss.

It's Friday!  Enjoy time with those who matter this weekend (matter to you and to God ).

God bless you.

As promised last week, a troubleshooting document has been prepared to assist with this move and can be accessed via this link. If you can't get the link to work, then copy and paste this thread into the URL: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-M8XArSiMxBPPi-fOC0IxwHolWs6ONLxa-86nnnFzJ0/edit

As a reminder, here are the main points to remember about the work that is about to be done:

This change will happen tomorrow Thursday, 23 August 2018 from 6pm

• Your email address will change to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and will become your primary logon to The Salvation Army (TSA) systems. (Note the underscore becomes a DOT and there are no apostrophes (‘) or spaces!)
• All old email addresses will continue to receive email. For existing staff, this will be indefinitely. New staff will only have the DOT format email address.
• Continue to logon to your work PC with your S-ID (Sxxxx).
• From Friday 24 August, please logon to all TSA web applications including Google applications and TechOne Finance and Payroll with This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The exceptions are:
  • SAMIS – Continue using your S-ID
  • iMIS – Continue using your current logon
• Your Chrome Profile (logging into chrome browser) will continue to work with the old profile name however it will eventually ask you to re-authenticate. At this point, you must change the name to the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. format. Click on this link for further instructions.
• On your mobile phone you will need to re-log on to your Google account with the new format. Click on this link for further instructions.

As always, should you encounter any problems, feel free to log a ticket in Supportal and one of our team will be more than happy to assist with this.