Planning For The Planned Pause
Summary
Here's what IT is planning for the Planned Pause - plus some tech-related tips and ideas for yours.
Full Description
The IT Plan
IT plans to break-up the Planned Pause in two separate weeks.
- 1st week: Dec 14 - Dec 18 (2020)
- 2nd week: selected Fridays in June and July (June 11, June 23, July 9, July 23, July 30)
Meetings - During the Planned Pause, IT will cancel or reschedule standing meetings. Please try to refrain from scheduling meetings with members of the IT department during this time.
Projects & Deliverables - There will be a pause on project work during the Planned Pause and no deliverables will be scheduled during this time.
Support - Technology support will continue but at a limited capacity so that our support staff can also benefit from the much needed pause. Student technicians will respond to support requests by chat and phone when available. Emails will be loosely monitored but responses may be delayed until after the pause concludes.
Please see the W&M Employee Wellness page for the university's guide to the Planned Pause.
Prepare For Your Planned Pause
Here's a cheat sheet for some of things you will need to do to to prepare for your planned pause:
Email Auto-Reply (your account) & Teams Chat NotificationsSet an email auto-reply during (or even starting before) your Planned Pause time period.
Suggested content for your email auto-reply during the planned pause can be found on the Human Resources W&M Employee Wellness page (Automatic email replay format section.) Microsoft Teams will automatically display your auto-reply in chats during the time period it is posted. |
Email Auto-Reply (departmental account)Set an email auto-reply during (or even starting before) your Planned Pause time period for your departmental mailbox.
Suggested content for your email auto-reply during the planned pause can be found on the Human Resources W&M Employee Wellness page (Automatic email replay format section.) |
Voicemail Greeting - Extended Absence MessageTurn on an extended absence greeting to let callers know that you are in the midst of the planned pause.
When you finish the planned pause, remove the extended absence greeting:
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Get Voicemails via EmailYou can also make Voicemails easier to access by forwarding messages to your email through Mitel Connect. Here's how to set it up: Mitel Connect on Windows:
Mitel Connect on Mac:
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Ideas For Your Planned Pause
The Planned Pause can be a great time to brush up on your technology skills or learn something new. Here are some tech-related ideas that you might want to incorporate into your pause:
Declutter...simplify your digital life Decluttering your digital life can be very liberating. It can help your computer run faster and help you find things easier. While we encourage everyone to make regular backups of their desktops and files, you can remove unnecessary items (or items that have been backed-up) to help streamline your thoughts and focus your attention on current tasks. This article (A 3-Step Cure for Digital Packrats) has a lot of great tips on how to declutter and here are some of our favorites:
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Make Connections...cable connections, that is! Learn the various types of cable connectors used for computers and internet set-up.
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Find Things Better...by boosting your Google search game You can save a lot of time and frustration by knowing how to efficienctly search for things on Google. Take a few minutes to learn some of these tips found here: |
Learn Something New... gain a new skill Everyone at W&M has access to a plethora of free, high-quality training courses via LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com) - many of them are technology-related. The Planned Pause is a perfect time to participate in a training course to learn a new technology skill, software package, or brush-up on the basics. W&M employees can access LinkedIn Learning courses via Cornerstone and completed courses will show-up on a training transcript (which is particularly useful when it comes to annual review time!) To access training via Cornerstone:
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Take a Deep Dive...enhance what you already know Is there a system or software that you use a lot? Take a deep dive on it to learn tips, tricks, common issues, and network with others that also use it. Here are some ways to do so:
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Increase Awareness...about cyber security matters For those of you participating in the Planned Pause in 2020, you could use this period of time to complete the required the IT Security Education & Awareness training. Find the training via Cornerstone and complete prior to Dec. 28, 2020. Allow about 20-30 minutes for completion. Read OUCH! to learn about the latest in threats to cyber security and how to combat them. OUCH! is a world leading cyber security newsletter from the SANS Institute that focuses on a different topic each month. Take a moment to read a few articles, like these: |