What does IT do when everything is working?

A post shared by Radio Voima (@radiovoima) on Feb 24, 2017 at 5:37am PST

They go to sauna.

They sleep on the floor.

They organize their own competition gathering.

They play some games.

What does IT do when everything is working? #dance #happy #discoinferno #lahti2017 #enjoylife #volunteer #IT

A post shared by Mira Järvenpää (@mirraje) on Feb 25, 2017 at 12:24pm PST

They dance like there's no tomorrow.

//Mira

Media Centers are open!

Main Media Center opened on Saturday 18th of February, four days before the competition even started. First few days were quite quiet so we had time to finalize all the installations. We installed printers, added wired network to special editing rooms and helped few journalist with minor issues. 

One of the Sub Media Centers (the one we are responsible of) opened on Tuesday 21st of February. Days got little bit busier since more journalist started to arrive. Most common problem had something to with printers. It was the same last year. Usually it means we show how to install drivers for printer and so far the most difficult case has been with faulty color drum cartridge. Which actually took almost two days to replace because of some information issues. 

We also decided to divide our wireless network in two: 5GHz and 2.4GHz. It balanced the workload and wireless started to work much smoothly for everyone. We also decided to manually configure a controller AP, because some of the AP kept disappearing from Zabbix. Configuration fixed the issue and none of the users never even noticed the issue. 

Being in IT can be frustrating because no one ever notices your work if everything is working, but when something doesn't - you are the first one to blame.  

//Mira

Final week before opening

Monday: Free for students!

Tuesday: Installing AP's in the morning and finalizing the plan of newest network group. Later briefing second year students about the topology of MMC and SMC and making sure everyone knows how to use Zabbix and pfSense.

Wednesday: Installing MMC AP's to their correct places, finalizing the documentation and backbone connections. One team building Vierumäki.

Thursday: Installing the table switches to MMC. It really starts to see like we will make it on time.

Friday: Final installation day! MMC Service people had a walk thru the media center and we of course joined them. Our IT team will be working closely with them, so it's important to get known to them.

See you next week!

//Mira

10 days!

10 days to go to the World Championships in Lahti! This unique winter festival starts soon and ticket sales are going fast. Ensure your tickets now and join the celebration: Lahti2017.fi/en/tickets! #lahti2017 #roadtolahti #juhlakisat #lahti #salpausselkä #finland #suomi100

A post shared by Lahti2017 (@lahti2017) on Feb 11, 2017 at 11:52pm PST

10 days to go.
Next week we will start putting everything in their correct places and everything we have worked for is coming true. I cannot wait!

//Mira

Two weeks summary

The event is closing up fast! Our network were tested in Finlandia Hiihto and of course - it worked perfectly. Only issues were caused by outdated Win7 images which were easily fixed by updating them.

Last week we started building extra network group. It was requested by Datalatu Oy and since we had time, we took it under our wings. In two week we have the basics ready for it and only physical installation left. Unbelievable how fast everything is when people know exactly what to do.

Even cables match the theme color!

We also finished building SMC backbone and Wifi access points are up and running. So basically SMC is only waiting for tables and physical installation of switches and then SMC is fully ready. Unfortunately the situation with MMC is not that good.. We are still not sure which day we get there to do all installations.

This project truly teaches you how to work without knowing everything. It makes this even more exciting.

Oh, and we are finally accredited! Look how awesome the passes are.

//Mira

Volunteers' training

Today we had a training for volunteers in Lahti2017 championships. Over 800 volunteers gathered up to learn the basics about the event and customer service. It feels like half of Finland is somehow part of Lahti2017. And it is awesome.
The event has multiple partners. The biggest is Stora Enso, but there are like 30 other ones also. I didn't even know how many there could be. Full list of the partners can be found here, just scroll down. One of the funniest cooperation so far must be Atria.

Repost @tarjasnowland ・・・ Mitä tänään syötäisiin? Kisamakkaraa! Otan kaksi, tokaisi Topi. Niin sitä pitää poikaseni 💙😀 #lahti2017 #kisamakkara #atria @lahti2017 @atriasuomi #sausages

A photo posted by Lahti2017 (@lahti2017) on Feb 3, 2017 at 7:35am PST

If the picture is not showing, check it here 

So what they taught us about customer service? Well, basically it was all about working as a group, always remember to smile and be yourself. The customer service ABC according to Lahti UAS students were:

1. Listen
   Listen the customer. Do not underestimate the customers issue. 
2. Understand.
   Understand the issue. Ask as many questions as needed. If you don't have common language, find someone who can help.
3. Solve the issue.
   Try always resolve the issue right away. If it cannot be solved, make sure the customer knows how to give feedback. 

These three steps equals happy customer!

//Mira