November 2006
Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation
Services (DRS) Kicks off Testing Phase
Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation
Services (DRS) has kicked off their testing phase. Alliance
staff completed a week of training which included over 30
DRS staff who participated in various parts of a week’s long
agenda. By the end of the week, DRS staff had learned their
role and value in the overall testing process, practiced
working with testing scenarios, and how to report discovered
errors.
The training agenda also included a JAWS Primer, Bug Master
Training, Testing Team Lead Training,
AWARE Hands-On Training, and Testing Team Training.
As the project moves into Alpha and Pilot testing, team
learning and newly established internal processes will play
a key role in the success of the project.
We look forward to working closely with Oklahoma during the
next few months of their testing phase.
October 2006
Florida Division of Blind Services Goes
Live with AWARE v5.0
On Friday, October 6th, the Florida
Division of the Blind Services successfully implemented the
first .Net version of
AWARE with v5.0.
DBS has spent the past two years working
closely with Alliance developing AWARE
using the newest .Net technology. The strong
collaborative effort between DBS and Alliance made a huge
impact to the success of the smooth statewide
implementation.
With 350 plus statewide users, DBS was
proud to unveil many of the designs that they had worked so
hard at developing during the past year. For example,
Florida is the first agency in Alliance history to provide
their Service Providers with the ability to login into
AWARE
which will allow them to electronically record data as they
provide services to their participants and electronically
invoice.
We congratulate DBS on their success and
look forward to working with them for many years to come!
Picture of DBS and Alliance Staff on October 6, 2006.
Front Row (Left to Right): Esna Brown and
Kurt Ponchak
Back Row (Left to Right): Ken Goss, Marilyn Trogden, Pat
Campbell, Jodi Loete, Michele Copa, Steve Ritacco, Andrew
Limburg, and Adam Gaffney
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September 2006
Doug Jenkins Receives his Network+
Certification
On September 8, 2006, Alliance's employee
Doug Jenkins completed his studies and passed his
certification from the Computing Technology Industry
Association! He has earned his Network+ certification. It is
a major accomplishment and we are all very proud of him!
The next time you see Doug, be sure to give him a pat on the
back. He deserves it!
For more information about the certification, see
http://certification.comptia.org/network/default.aspx
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August 2006
Florida is Gearing Up for Pilot
For several months, FL Division of Blind
Services (DBS) has been alpha testing the beta version of
AWARE Version 5.0. They have spent numerous hours
alpha testing datapages, reports, accessibility, and their
business practice changes.
Now DBS is gearing up to kick off their
Pilot Testing on August 24th. DBS will Pilot test
AWARE v5.0 in several offices from August 24th
through September operating in parallel with their legacy
system, CRIS. Their goal is to have a successfull Pilot Test
which will result in moving to production on October 6th.
Alliance is looking forward in teaming up
with DBS as they move to Pilot.
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July 2006
Alliance is Growing
Alliance Enterprises is pleased to
announce that three new employees (well, two new and one
returning) will join the Alliance team on Wednesday, July 5,
2006. Please welcome Mary Rose Sprague (returning to
Alliance), Doug Jenkins, and Eric Sabisch!
Mary Rose will team up with the
AWARE Team as a Sr. Developer. Mary Rose has over 20
years experience in IT in many positions and from 1999
through 2002 was a senior developer with Alliance. Most
recently, she has been a classroom teacher and district
technology trainer for the Puyallup School District. Welcome
back Mary Rose!
Doug will join the Support Team as a Help
Desk/Systems Support Specialist. Doug recently worked with
Starling Consulting, Inc. in Olympia, as a Customer
Service/Help Desk manager supporting Starling’s proprietary
software program.
Eric Sabisch will join the
AWARE team as a Documentation
Specialist. Eric was an IT Administrator and Logistics
manager supporting network administration, web programming,
and developed technical user documentation for The Great
Physicians RX in Olympia.
Welcome Mary Rose, Doug, and Eric!!!
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June 2007
Alliance Office Closure (June - July)
Alliance is on schedule for the release of
version 5.0 and what a busy time it has been!
As we have done in the past, we plan to
have an Alliance retreat for our staff once the release is
complete. Our office will be closed during that time, except
for emergencies.
THE ALLIANCE OFFICE WILL BE CLOSED ON THE FOLLOWING DATES:
-
Friday, June 30, 2006 – all day
-
Monday, July 3, 2006 – all day
-
Wednesday, July 5, 2006 from 8:00 am
to 12:00 noon pacific time.
OUR STAFF WILL ONLY BE AVAILABLE FOR
EMERGENCIES.
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April 2007
Alliance's Newest Employees
Alliance welcomes Michelle Massey and
Jonathan White.
Michelle Massey recently located to Olympia from Greenville,
South Carolina. She was a Senior Information Analyst for an
information services company in Greenville. Michelle will be
teaming up with Alan Rhoten to learn anything and everything
she will need to know about Alliance,
AWARE, our customers, and our projects - the
essentials for a Sr. Business Systems Analyst at Alliance!
By the time Jonathan White reads this, he will have teamed
up with Cecile Bentley, Susan Torgerson, and Alice
Kosanovich in Oklahoma City! Jonathan will be working as a
Project Manager for the Oklahoma project. Jonathan comes
from the Washington State Department of Corrections, where
he was a Project Manager and Business Analyst.
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March 2007
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Aunt Darcy with
Newborn Karsen |
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Alliance's Newest
Grand Baby (Karsen Fleming) Alliance
Enterprises welcomes a new grandchild to its
employees Dennis Fleming and Lori Fleming, and
nephew to Intern Darcy Fleming. Karsen James was
born to Lori and Dennis' other daughter Jolene on
January 17, 2006 at about 3:17 a.m.
It was truly a family affair. Lori acted as her
daughter’s birth coach. Darcy assisted during the
entire labor. And Dennis walked the hospital halls
with son Royce all night long. Karsen is the first
of his generation for the Fleming family.
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February 2006
Florida Division of Blind Services
Kicks Off Alpha Testing Florida
Division of Blind Services has kicked off their Alpha Test of customizations and
data converted from their legacy system to AWARE. It
really brings the end user experience to life when they can see their existing
case data in AWARE.
During this phase, Florida will be
validating the converted data against their legacy system to
ensure that data elements converted properly. This will get
them warmed up for the next phase of the project; Pilot
Test! These are exciting times in Florida.
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of page January 2006
Alliance Sponsors a Family for the
Holidays
Alliance Enterprises, Inc. staff sponsored
a family from a local elementary school for the holidays.
With smiles abound, Terrie Flaten, Chris Hill, and Angela
Sanders delivered an Expedition full of gifts and a
Christmas tree. For the sixth year in a row, Alliance has
sponsored a family in need.
New Years greetings from the Alliance staff!
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