Mike Marshall's TS2 Rag

The Service Level Dashboard is an application built on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. It is designed to work with an existing Operations Manager 2007 R2 infrastructure configured to monitor business-critical applications. The dashboard evaluates an application or group over a time period that the administrator selects during setup, determines whether it met the defined service level commitment, and displays summarized data about the service levels.

The Service Level Dashboard integrates with the Operations Manager Data Warehouse database and displays service level metrics on the Windows SharePoint Services interface. All the customized and personalized data associated with the Web Parts of the Service Level Dashboard is stored in the Windows SharePoint Services Content database.

The dashboard can summarize the current status and health of all defined SLOs against an application or group of objects. Key measures used to evaluate various aspects of the health of defined SLOs include such information as service level metrics, mean time to repair (MTTR), mean time between failures (MTBF), and service level trends.

New features in Version 2.0 of the Service Level Dashboard include:

• Near real-time data latency. The data latency is now near real-time at two to three minutes, giving IT service managers the visibility they need to make decisions faster.
• Dashboard metrics for service level tracking. New metrics facilitate the tracking of mean time to repair (MTTR), mean time between failures (MTBF), and application service level trends.
• New presentation platform. Version 2.0 uses Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 as its presentation platform, eliminating the need for business users to have the Operations Manager console.
• Authentication. The Service Level Dashboard now uses Windows SharePoint Services groups to authenticate users and sites, making it easy to establish access to specific reports by setting permissions based on the user’s role in the organization.
• Service level objectives (SLOs). Administrators can use the new Service Level Tracking feature in Operations Manager to configure service goals for applications and groups.

Get it here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc540485.aspx

Sign up or renew your subscription so you don’t miss out. Microsoft Action Pack Subscription (MAPS) is scheduled to include Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate upon release to manufacturing (RTM). Windows 7 Professional is built specifically with the needs of the smaller company in mind, and has powerful networking, mobility, and security capabilities that can be extended and customized to fit your clients’ needs. Increase your revenue and solidify customer relationships through services like data transfer, data backup, and network configuration.

Microsoft Action Pack Subscription (MAPS) provides Registered Members of the Microsoft Partner Program internal-use, full-version software and sales resources at $299 per year plus tax to help you meet your sales goals, stay competitive, and grow your business.

What’s included in MAPS?

When you sign up for this cost-effective, annual subscription, you will receive one Welcome Kit and three Quarterly Update Kits, including internal-use product licenses to test and demo, as well as in-depth product information.

• MAPS Contents

Learn about Special Edition Kits
In addition to the standard Action Pack, Microsoft offers Special Edition Toolkits up to twice a year for qualifying partners.

• Special Edition Web Solutions Toolkit
• Small Business Specialist Community Special Edition Toolkit.

Academy Live: Windows 7 Professional and Windows XP Mode for Partners

We’ll share the value proposition of Windows 7 Professional for partners and dive a bit deeper into one of its key differentiating features next to domain join: Windows XP Mode. Windows XP Mode greatly improves the already high compatibility of the OS with many productivity applications that SMB customers rely on, removing a key barrier to move to the new Windows. We’ll show you how it works and how partners can play a key role in offering this functionality.

Level:  100 | Target Role:  Exec/Owner, Implementer, Marketing, Sales, Support

Monday, May 18, 2009 | 8:00-9:00am Pacific Time

· Webcast Link:  https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoftevents/join?id=WVC30PAL&role=attend&pw=OIM878

· Passcode:   OIM878

· Telephony:   (877) 208-6695

· Pin:  2706

To help prepare you for the latest version of Microsoft Exchange Server, we’ve got a series of 3-day in-person trainings available for our partners in Atlanta, Irvine, New York City, and Chicago.

If you’re looking to stay ahead of the market by delivering and using a highly reliable unified communications solution, be sure to register for this hands-on training opportunity. This is a 300-level training for architects with Microsoft Exchange Server, Windows Server/Active Directory, and Networking experience.

· Register now and learn more about the official dates, cost information, and full course details.

· Need details about what Exchange 2010 means for you as a partner? Visit our page on the Partner Program site.

· Want to learn more about what’s happening on the Exchange team? Check out their blog!

Join us for the upcoming Solution Accelerators Partner Webcast entitled:  Panel Discussion: Cost-Saving Virtualization Tools for Microsoft Partners

Your customers are looking for ways to drive down IT service and energy costs, while continuing to provide world-class IT services.  Two new technologies from Microsoft that can dramatically reduce IT operational costs and power consumption are server virtualization using Hyper-V, and desktop virtualization with MED-V and application virtualization.

Want to help your customers take advantage of these new technologies?

Register Today!  http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/InviteOnly.aspx?EventID=AE-54-55-8A-EC-4D-25-1A-DD-0D-9E-5F-6C-62-5A-E4&Culture=en-US

Event Entry Code: 320511