QUT IT Helpdesk Website

The QUT IT Helpdesk website is the first place QUT Staff and Students go when they require assistance. As such it provides realtime information about the status of QUT services, important notices, integrates with the IT Helpdesks knowlege base to dynamically display popular articles, and provides self-service forms so users can log support requests directly into the Helpdesks chosen management tool FrontRange ITSM.

The site has an admin section for Helpdesk staff to update system statuses which is also integrated with twitter to automatically post updates to twitter.

QUT IT Helpdesk

noVNC Windows Service

Submitted by Chris on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 13:25

As part of ongoing development of a mobile application which allows QUT lecturers to control presentations, audio, and room lighting during using Android and iOS devices I have made some further contributions to the noVNC project. 

I have created a Windows service wrapper for the websocket server required for each VNC server to allow browser based VNC clients to connect to the lecturer's PC. This makes the deployment of this websocket server to each lecturer hall PC much more manageable than installing python and the required plugins on each PC.

For details on the Windows Websockify Service and source code see the: noVNC Wiki

Next week I am presenting the completed application to QUT staff, after which I will upload further details, screenshots, and a video of it in action.

Auckland Uni Implementing Assignment Minder System

Submitted by Chris on Thu, 09/15/2011 - 19:07

The University of Auckland is currently in the process of implementing the Assignment Minder System. Yesterday I was fortunate enough to have a video chat with a couple of staff who a working on the project. 

They were able to show me via screen cast their implementation so far, far, as well as ask me questions to help them along with integration into their own systems. 
 
It was really rewarding to see it in action at another university. In the next few weeks I will get some screenshots of their impletation, and upload them.
 

noVNC HTML5 VNC Client

noVNC is a HTML5 VNC client created by Joel Martin and released as open source with a LGPLv3 license. By using web sockets noVNC really shows how powerful HTML5 can be. I have made a few contributions to this project by adding support for mobile devices. This included enabling the use of the iOS and Android's native keyboard input, and creating a mobile friendly GUI. I have also added mobile meta tags so noVNC can be saved as a bookmark to the homescreen, and operates as if it were native mobile application if the user so desires.

Open Source Warmth

Submitted by Chris on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 21:18

A lot of people do not understand how open source software can be successful/rewarding for those who contribute to these projects. In the last few months I have worked on a couple of open source projects and can say that contributing to an Open Source project is one of the most rewarding things I have done as an IT professional, even though there is often no tangible reward.

Labmonitor

The Queensland University of Technology Labmonitor website allows staff, and students to check the availability of computer labs in realtime. The website's underlying software for monitoring computers is Computer Lab Solutions Labstats Software. This software is made up of a client application installed on the lab computers, and server remoting application which clients report to. Finally there is also a webserver component that produces reports on desktop usage, lab maps, and statistics gathered about the client PC's.

Assignment Minder System

The Assignment Minder System was created to meet the needs of the Queensland University of Technologies (QUT) Assignment Minder Service. This service handles the submission of physical assignments at the university, delivery of assignments to markers, and finally the return of assignments to students. Each semester 200,000+ assignments are processed by Assignment Minder. The Assignment Minder system is used to track and manage assignments throughout this process in a way that provides accurate tracking and non-repudiation.

Assignment Minder System

LETS Reporting Service

The Learning Environments and Technology Services (LETS) Reporting Service was created in order to pull of the departments data into a single system for reporting. Setting up this service required some challenging integration to pull data from the Genesys phone systems Oracle Database, Frontrange ITSM Oracle database, flat files, multiple MS SQL database's used by Audio Visual Services, the IT Helpdesk MySQL service outage database and the Assignment Minder Oracle Database into a single MS SQL database for archiving and reporting.

LETS Reporting Service

Portfolio Website is Live

Submitted by Chris on Tue, 08/02/2011 - 20:00

Web designers and websites are like builders and houses. Their own house is always the last to be completed. That has been the story of this website which has been on my personal to-do list for at least a year but, has always been second priority to other projects.

Hopefully this site gives a good impression of what I can do and what I have done. My main aim is to showcase projects I have worked on for potential clients.

This blog I will use to provide updates on project', sharing ideas and sharing interesting articles I come across.

Assignment Minder Mobile Web Application

The Assignment Minder mobile web application allows students at the Queensland University of Technology to generate assignment coversheets which are used to track assignments, and check their assignments current status using their mobile phone. This allows students a convient, and quick method to print their coversheets, and helps prevent the rush on computers in the computer labs before the Assignment Minder desk closes.

Assignment Minder Mobile Application

Pages

Subscribe to Chris Gordon RSS