20 November 2008 Update
Thu Nov 20, 08 11:26 pm
I travelled back to Carlisle on Tuesday from Denmark. The morning of my departure I was unexpectedly awaken at 0300 for a cherry red (fire) false alarm. This alarm woke up the entire ship's company. I never fell asleep again before I got up to catch my train a bit after 0500 for the airport. Thankfully I was able to sleep for most of my flight back from Copenhagen to Manchester.
***Work***
It is amazing now much information is stored on computer systems. This could be someone's next of kin contact details in case of an emergency, how often a donor gives to support an OM'er or type of ministry, emails, publicity documents for an outreach, blogs about the impact of an outreach, etc. How much of this information is duplicated (or not duplicated because it is no longer accurate.) Is there any way to link these different pieces of information together? Who has access to this information?
A few weeks back I participated in meetings that put together a high level blueprint and structure for IT systems within OM. At the outset we reviewed where as an organization we are going with our computer systems (websites, financial databases, email, training systems, etc.) It became pretty clear that as an organisation our systems do not scale and communicate amongst themselves enough. Taking someone who expresses interest in missions from that initial interest into a short term outreach, 1-2 year commitment, life service with OM and/or leaving OM is not a very streamline process. A user must have information put into each system and/or be given access to information each system. Their access requires differing user accounts and access levels. Our current way of providing access to each system is not efficient. There is repetition of data and administering the system will not scale as OM grows larger.
So a major component of the meetings was trying to figure out how to link and connect each of these systems together and be scalable and manageable. The decision was to use a Microsoft technology called Active Directory (like a phone book) to store a single user accounts and passwords that will be used for giving access to each of OM's computer systems. Active Directory will be used as an abstraction layer to link all the other systems back into Active Directory and through Active Directory to each other. It sounds easy enough on paper, but in reality it is a major rethink and rework for OM. Many of our computer systems will need to be redesigned to accommodate a central authentication system and the architecture of the central authentication system also has a lot of complexity. After things are linked together with Active Directory we will then need to tackle the question of information flow between systems. The diagram of how that is going to work looked like a spaghetti bowl.
My role in this strategy is to architect the Active Directory structure and a simple interface for administering it. I have lots of work to do for this to work. There is no timeline yet, but the project will easily take 6 months to a year. I am very excited about the work because it will be very complex and really stretch me.
***Logos Hope***
Apart from this new work that I am starting soon I paid a visit to the Logos Hope in Køge, Denmark (outskirts of Copenhagen). I had a really enjoyable time visiting friends, making new friends, dancing, playing games, talking late into the evening and working. There are now about 400 people on board the ship. They are quite close to going into full time ministry. They are already going out on church teams into the community around Copenhagen. The ship has a bit more work in the engine room and a few other critical parts before it can get its Passenger Ship Safety Certificate (PSSC.) The bookshop will be having its grand opening next week for the Christmas season. Pictures of the book fair:
I installed a computer system to push software out to the 140 business computers on board the ship to keep them up-to-date with software. I also did some maintenance on a computer system I installed 1.5 years ago. I found my time on the ship to be quite restful even though I had long hours. It was so nice to have hundreds of people around. I got so much energy from that. My sinuses no longer bother me so I slept better as well.
I got to go to a Danish pool, do some swing dancing, attend a Danish state church and go to the cinema. Part of my time was also spent assisting OM Ireland reassemble their entire network after they took everything apart to drywall and sand the server room. It took me several evenings and lunch breaks on the phone to get them working. I also was able to remotely fix OM Brasil email server one evening after it had been broken for 11 days. The cool things you can do with technology.
I took a few photos around the ship and of the Danish church.
Sunset from the foredeck of the Logos Hope looking out over Køge
The state church in Køge. This is the pew with doors at the ends of the aisle and the seats facing each other.
Reception desk on deck 5
My cabin
A ship coming into port to pick up wood
The wood that it is going to be pick up
The ship moored to the quayside with the doors to its hold opened
The crane picking up wood to put in the ship
Wood being placed in the hold of the ship
Praise reports: my health is doing much better, I am well rested, the meetings went really well, I have a new housemate, and there was good clarity and receptivity to me and my work on board the Logos Hope.
***Prayer Requests***
- Wisdom as I architect this new authentication and identity management solution for OM
- Continue to pray for the Alpha course. This upcoming weekend is the Holy Spirit weekend away where typically people make a decision to follow Christ
- Get settled into life again in Carlisle after 2+ months of nearly constant travel
***Photos***
All my photos from Køge.
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Neat pictures of the ship.
