Get On the List: Putting Together OCS Contact Lists for Users
Filed under: Instant Messaging (IM), OCS 2007, OCS 2007 R2, Unified Communications
In most IM clients you have to add new contacts one by one. It’’s annoying, it’’s piecemeal…and if you”re in a big office with lots of people, skipping it altogether starts to appeal after about 5 seconds.
Avoiding this is good. Especially if you want to actually use OCS for communicating with others. So the smart thing for an OCS administrator to do is push contact lists out. Formulate standardized groups and apply them to everyone’’s Office Communicator clients. (Whether they like it or not! Bwahaha…er, sorry. Got carried away.)
First, Group Your Contacts
Group them by department or by task.
Department groups could be Administration, IT, Project Development, Sales, HR, etc.
Task-based groups could be Main Product Team, Support Staff, Marketing, etc.
For starters, I”d recommend department groups for everybody. Then task-based groups as needed.
Next, Choose a Script or a Utility
Now that you have some groups built up with appropriate contacts, you”ll have to push them out to users. There are two ways to go about this right now - use a Microsoft scripting approach, or a third-party utility.
The Microsoft script is called “LCSAddContacts.wsf.” It’’s in the OCS Resource Kit available here. (Note: This version works with OCS 2007 R2 only.)
LCSAddContacts.wsf does one thing and one thing only: Adding contacts to OCS. It will even sort with Active Directory Containers. The WinXNet blog has a good tutorial on how to use it for pushing out contact lists.
The other way is to use a third-party utility called Office Communications Server Contact Manager (OCSCM for short) found here: http://www.ocscm.com/
I haven”t tried this one out. It has a user guide, FAQs and a support forum though. Plus it’’s free. Good to have as an option.
If you”re still on original OCS 2007, try OCSCM out. If you”re up to R2, go with LCSAddContacts.wsf.
A final note: Be sure to double-check your contact groups before pushing them out as lists! People WILL notice if they”re on a list that doesn”t correspond to their job function.
Do you know another way to manage contact lists for an OCS 2007 setup? Drop us a comment with a link below.
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JBuddy Messenger: An Office Communicator Alternative
Filed under: Conferencing, Instant Messaging (IM), OCS 2007
The client app that ships with OCS 2007 is called Office Communicator. When you ask the average user what OCS is, they”ll point to their Communicator window (which looks like this) and call that OCS.
Office Communicator Window
Communicator does its job very well. (I actually prefer it over most IM apps out there.) For a while I assumed it was the only OCS client app. You wouldn”t find a third-party alternative for a big Microsoft server, would you?
Well, it seems you would.
Here’’s JBuddy Messenger. A third-party OCS-capable IM app that runs in Java. I came across it in the TechNet OCS forums.
JBuddy Messenger Window
For Business IM
JBuddy starts out like Trillian or Adium - as a free multi-protocol IM client. But with licensing it becomes a business-level communications tool. In other words, you need a license to connect to OCS 2007 with it.
Because JBuddy is written in Java, it works on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
As far as I can tell there is no support for voice or video. JBuddy is focused on Instant Messaging.
Why and When You”d Want to Use JBuddy
If you”re running OCS without VoIP
Say you aren”t planning on a VoIP install yet. Perhaps your office uses all cellphones. But you still need IM capability, and group chat would be nice.
Your Employees Use Different Instant Messaging Systems
While it’’s possible to set up third-party IM accounts in Office Communicator, JBuddy allows use of AIM, ICQ and Yahoo Messenger right away. With licensing it will operate with Jabber server, Lotus Sametime, and of course OCS 2007.
If you just want a fast, simple IM client for the office
JBuddy does the job.
In the end, it’’s nice to have choices. JBuddy is the first third-party messenger app to support OCS I”ve come across.
Because it doesn”t do conferencing and you need an enterprise license first, I”d only recommend JBuddy for small companies who use multiple IM systems and need a way to consolidate those. Otherwise, stick with Office Communicator.
Downloading JBuddy Messenger is free, but you”ll need to purchase an enterprise license to use all its business features (including OCS connectivity). http://www.zionsoftware.com/products/messenger/
If you”d like to try it out, request a 30-Day Evaluation License (free trial) here:
http://www.zionsoftware.com/products/messenger/request-eval.shtml
What Happens When You Don”t Change Your OCS Presence Status
Filed under: Instant Messaging (IM), OCS 2007, OCS 2007 R2, Unified Communications
Let’’s talk about OCS Presence for a moment. Specifically, what happens in the minds of others when you leave yours the same for days on end.
Do You Do This?
If your office use OCS at all, you know someone like this. You never know what Bill or Mary is doing–because they haven”t changed their Presence status in days. They”ve been “Updating the server” or “Meeting with Joe.”
Since last week? Really?
Presence is there for a reason. It makes others aware of what you”re doing. Just like IM. Are you here, available to talk? Away, not at your desk? Busy on a project, so please don”t disturb?
These are things co-workers need to know. And it frustrates the heck out of them when they can”t tell.
Why They Do It
Now the reason people don”t change their Presence status is simple. They”re lazy.
No, it’’s not “I just don”t have time” or “It’’s new, so I forget about it.” Those are excuses. They”re lazy and don”t value what help Presence does bring them.
It takes what, five seconds to update Presence? Nobody is so busy they can”t spare five seconds. (And if they think they are, they need to offload some duties.)
It’’s Poor Communication - Why Presence is Something to Remember
There’’s a very good reason why those five seconds matter. If you”re not updating your Presence status while working, it casts a bad shadow on you in the minds of others.
Little things like this can make people lose trust in your effectiveness. “He/she can”t be bothered to let us know what they”re doing? Are they not working at all? Or maybe hiding something?”
That’’s the kind of thought process this starts. With stale Presence status, your productivity can be called into question. If nobody knows what you”re doing, how can you prove you”re doing anything?
Something else to consider: If management monitors employee productivity (and there’’s no reason why they shouldn”t, if they do use OCS), then a days-old Presence will make them wonder. What are you up to? Anything?
Now you see where this can become a problem.
Loss of (Your) Value - What Happens as a Result
Without others able to determine what you”re doing, your value as an employee could drop. (I”m not saying this will happen. But it could.)
Why? Because people will stop relying on you. They”ll assume you”re not available for whatever reason and go about their business. They stop seeing you as a person who can help them do their job. That becomes a real problem for you. Fast.
And if management makes the same assumption? That you can”t keep “the rest of us” in the loop, so you could be screwing around not doing work? Well…
An Easy Way to Remember to Update
Like I said before - five seconds. And here’’s an easy way to remember.
Plan to update Presence before & after lunch. This way you put Presence in your thoughts related to lunch. (You”ll remember lunch, right?) Associating Presence with another idea like this makes it easier to recall afterward. A little memory trick courtesy of modern psychology.
OCS Presence status should be updated every day. Five seconds. Keep it up, and retain the impression of a reliable, productive worker in the minds of others.
The OCS Insider will go on holiday from today until January 1st. Join us again after that for more exploration of OCS 2007 - and the upcoming OCS 2010. Happy Holidays!
OCS Not Working? It May Be KB974571′’s Fault
Filed under: Conferencing, Instant Messaging (IM), OCS 2007, OCS 2007 R2, Unified Communications, Voice over IP
A few days ago OCS 2007 users couldn”t get online. Right after Patch Tuesday. OCS just refused to work. Why?
Turns out it’’s a bug with a new patch. KB974571, to be exact. Once it went live, it started blocking OCS and Live Communication Server installs. Reporting that “the evaluation license has expired.”
If this only happened to evaluation copies, that might make sense. (KB974571 was supposed to help with spoofing.) However, like a well-meaning but overzealous mother, it disrupted full-version installs as well. Enough that Microsoft escalated the bug to a Known Issue.
Doug Deitterick at TechNet Blogs posted this warning last week: Do NOT Apply KB974571 to LCS/OCS Servers.
So if this all went down last week, why am I blogging about it today? It’’s because we”re still receiving support calls. Apparently some offices were able to limp forward with partially-working OCS servers, unaware of KB974571′’s effect.
And also because the patch hasn”t been fixed yet. Right now, uninstalling the KB974571 patch is the only way to fix the problem. (OCS snaps right back when you do it, too.)
If your OCS 2007 and/or 2007 R2 haven”t worked since last week, check your server for KB974571′’s presence. If you have no communications capability, it’’s a safe bet that the patch is the problem. Uninstall it. Or call us to uninstall it, if you”re in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Microsoft’’s Security Bulletin on this issue: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/974571
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Time to Panic? OCS Users Can Talk with Gmail Users Now
Filed under: Conferencing, Instant Messaging (IM), OCS 2007 R2
A couple months ago I blogged on how to IM people on other networks from within OCS - MSN/Windows Live, AIM and Yahoo. But two other IM services were left off the list: Cisco’’s Jabber and Google Talk/Gmail.
At the time, OCS users couldn”t Instant Message Gmail users. Now they can.
Wait, users chatting with people on MORE Instant Messaging networks?! The horror! They won”t get anything done! The office will spend all day sending bad jokes and silly cat pictures to themselves!
Guess what? Microsoft just made it worse (better really, but doom-and-gloom attracts readers). And they did it for free!
Microsoft has released a new XMPP Gateway for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2. Download the Gateway here. Yes, it’’s a free download.
The OCS Team Blog has razor-sharp instructions on how to setup the new XMPP Gateway here:
Configuring XMPP Connectivity to Gmail
It requires a properly configured OCS 2007 R2 system, an Edge Server, and a server running Windows Server 2008 to host the gateway.
What does this gateway do?
The XMPP Gateway allows interoperability between your OCS 2007 R2 system, and user accounts on Gmail & Cisco’’s Jabber. In other words, you can add Gmail & Jabber users like you would any OCS contact in Office Communicator. See their current status with Presence, and send Instant Messages if they”re available.
(This also means Office Communicator’’s logging capability will record your conversations. Which most IM networks don”t do unless you specify. More on why this is handy later.)
Why install this at all? Won”t it just distract employees even more?
Nope. In fact, I can think of two big reasons why being able to chat with Gmail & Jabber users is good. Before I list them though, I should clarify something about Gmail.
Recently Google added the ability to chat into Gmail’’s interface. (There’’s a FAQ page for it here.) This means everyone who has a Gmail account can IM other Gmail users right from Firefox/Internet Explorer.
Why is this important? Because the first advantage of installing the XMPP Gateway is…
1. It lets you chat with clients & partners who don”t have OCS 2007.
Not everyone uses OCS (yet), so it’’s no guarantee that a client or partner will have it. However, it’’s a pretty safe bet they have Gmail accounts. Which means using this gateway, you can chat with them. Even hold conferences online.
That’’s a huge advantage right there. Some firms only deal with clients through phone and email, usually if they”re overseas or far enough away that time zones factor in. This gateway provides a no-cost way to add IM to that mix.
2. It makes adding OCS more attractive.
If you”re waffling over buying OCS, the ability to IM people on several networks does have some value incentive. Adding chat with Gmail, AIM and MSN/Windows Live increases OCS” usability, like I described above. It also means users will take to it more easily, if they know they can add in colleagues. Or clients. Or even (gasp!) friends.
A final note: Microsoft also dropped PIC license requirements for Windows Live and AIM. You can federate with AIM automatically, if you have a standard CAL for OCS 2007.
Having more Instant Messaging options CAN cause distraction instead of productivity. The whole ”time to panic” thing isn”t completely ridiculous. I addressed this back in May with my “Is There a Reason to Use Instant Messaging in Business?” post.
However, IM is another communication tool. Try the XMPP Gateway out if you already use IM. Or if it”d help with client communications. Chances are, being able to chat with people on the largest webmail provider in the world might just help you out.
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Which Has More Integration Potential - Twitter or OCS?
Filed under: Instant Messaging (IM), OCS 2007, Unified Communications
A couple weeks ago, Tony Byrne posted on Unified Communications at CMSWatch.com’’s TrendWatch blog. He talked about a panel at the Interop 2009 Conference, where they discussed connections between social computing and Unified Communications.
In his post, Tony made a really interesting point I”d like to talk about. He said:
“The major UC vendors have done a better job of integrating with incumbent line-of-business applications than social software vendors, who could learn a thing or two about socializing existing applications rather than creating new silos of social or collaborative information.
“And integration potential is where, I think, Instant Messaging (IM) still has a leg up over micro-blogging (a.k.a., social messaging) within the enterprise. ”
(Just in case you haven”t heard the term, “micro-blogging” usually refers to the short message format used on Twitter, FaceBook Messaging, FriendFeed, and so on.)
To me, this signifies a huge advantage to future business communication. Companies (especially larger ones) have a slew of communication options available to them. And what do you have with multiple options?
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