During the Collaborative Way training sessions, everyone in the company will review why inclusion is a key component of forwarding and supporting what we are “Up To” as a company and as a team. What we are “Up To” consists of Champion’s focus as an industry leader and our commitment to the company’s mission and strategic intent.

The practice of inclusion is based on an understanding, that as team members we operate in an interconnected and interdependent environment. Inclusion provides the invaluable opportunity of collaboration. Decisions and actions that are made collectively by inclusion oftentimes have a higher level of creativity and wider likelihood of success as they originate from a variety of views.

Inclusion at the project or local level is fairly feasible, but since Champion is dispersed with several offices in many states, collecting input and practicing company-wide inclusion can present various challenges. It would not be efficient or even possible for all employees to attend every meeting at which decisions are made here at Champion.

In an effort to promote inclusion, Champion added comment and suggestion survey links for each department and office on the SharePoint homepage. Feedback submitted via the surveys are sent to the appropriate department owner(s) and are completely anonymous unless you specifically include your contact information or include other identifying information in the feedback given.

While not all suggestions will be implemented or accomplished immediately, all input will absolutely be reviewed and considered. In addition, we will not typically be publishing feedback, but if the suggestion is reasonably feasible and forwarding for Champion then it will be taken very seriously and acted upon. To date we have not received very many comments or suggestions, but one of them can be directly related to that final push to get this newsletter off the ground, which you may agree was a very impactful suggestion. The main point is that Champion TRULY needs and wants your feedback, so we encourage and invite you all to give constructive feedback with the goal of improving and forwarding our company.

For your reference, below is a list of department owners for the various survey links available on SharePoint (located on the right side of SPS Home page):

General (Gary Hamer and Ken Hackler)
Human Resources Department (Laurie Firmin)
Safety Department (Wade Smith)
Sales and Marketing Department (Gary Hamer and Mary Milton)
Engineering Department (Ken Hackler)
Design Build Department (Ken Hackler)
Project Management (Ken Hackler)
Business Systems (Quyen Nguyen, Gary Hamer, and Ken Hackler)
Information Technology (Gary Hamer and Quyen Nguyen)

Office Locations:

Baton Rouge Headquarters Office (Gary Hamer)
Baton Rouge Automation Office (Mehrdad Ghorashi)
New Orleans Office (Ben LeBlanc)
Lake Charles Office (Brad Jordan)
Houston Automation Office (Rama Sinha)
Houston Telecom Office (Les Coker)
Rocky Mountain Region (John Hargroder)

Lastly, in addition to the suggestion surveys, we created a form to request new project documents, or updates to existing project documents, and also to request updates or new features to Vision or SharePoint. Unlike the surveys above, this form is not anonymous, since we will need to work directly with the requestor on the requirements. The link is on the SharePoint home page below the surveys:

“Need a new/update to a company document or business system?” (Quyen Nguyen and Ken Hackler)

My IT has installed a new Helpdesk Portal on everyone’s machines, and you should have a desktop icon like the one shown at right.

As long as you are logged into the desktop with your domain account and have internet access, the portal should log in automatically. If not, close the app until you are logged in and have internet access and then reopen it.

In an effort to make sure that all service tickets are captured properly and so that you and we can monitor ticket progress until completion, please use this portal to enter any service requests.

If for some reason, your ticketing portal does not work or you cannot get to it, then please email gethelp@myitsupport.com or call 504-888-MYIT (6948). After that, please use the portal for all tickets.

The following are some highlights from the My IT instructions guide, which is on SharePoint (search “My IT helpdesk”).

Clicking on the My IT Helpdesk icon will open the application and bring you to a welcome screen similar to the one shown at right.

The “My Profile” tab shows information about your computer. Username, Email Address, Domain, and PC Name associated with the PC are easily available here. It also shows you that you are connected to the internet with a green check in the upper right hand corner. All of this information is automatically put into any new tickets you create through the system.

If you click on the “Request Support” tab (see red arrow at right) under the “My Profile” tab you can create a new service request. You will see several support types such as:

01. Security/Permissions >
02. Email >
03. Internet >
04. Virus/Machine >
05. Remote Access (Citrix, VPN, etc.) >
06. Application >
07. Computer Hardware >
08. Printer/Copier/Scanner/Fax >
09. Phone System (desk/cell phone) >
10. Purchase Request >
11. Other (not listed) >

Each option may have additional questions to allow their Helpdesk to better identify your problem and get it to the correct Helpdesk Engineer. There are also options to attach a file or screenshot to the ticket.

Once you submit your ticket, My IT will communicate with you through the email that is listed on the “My Profile” tab. In addition to using email, the “View Tickets” tab will allow you to make adjustments to any open tickets such as upload documents, add notes, close the ticket, or flag it for review. You can also see the Status, the Priority, and Ticket Details including any changes that have been made by the support team. Lastly, you can use the filters to see old tickets as well.

Irish Potato Soup ♣ in Bread Bowl

“The flavor of smoky bacon is cooked throughout this creamy soup.”  Served in a crusty bread bowl that can be torn apart and eaten afterwards.

8 servings   |   Total Time: 35 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 (1 pound) package bacon
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 6 potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 (12 fluid ounce) cans evaporated milk
• 8 Bread Bowl (optional)*

PREPARATION:

1. Place the bacon in a large, deep skillet, and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain the bacon slices on a paper towel-lined plate, crumble, and set aside.
2. Cook and stir onion and celery in the remaining bacon grease over medium heat until the onion is translucent and tender. Drain excess grease, then stir in potatoes. Add water (or Chicken Broth) to cover all but 1 inch of the potatoes. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to medium-low, and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes, stirring often. Stir in the evaporated milk, and continue cooking until warmed through. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in bacon just before serving.

*BREAD BOWL:

1. It’s easy to do using those large kaiser buns you find in most bakeries – slice off the top and scoop out the innards and you have yourself an edible bowl. Use a Shamrock cookie cutter for top cut-out.