Support for Windows 7 is nearing the end

Greg Greiner December 20, 2019 No Comments

Machines Running Windows 7

Do you own or work from a personal computer running Windows 7? If so, keep reading. As presented at the past two NTI’s and all regional seminars, the end of support for Windows 7 has come upon us.  Beginning January 14, 2020, Microsoft will no longer provide support for the Windows 7 operating system:

  • No tech support for any issues
  • No software updates
  • No security updates or fixes

Although a Windows 7 computer will still function, it will be at a much greater risk for viruses and malware. Not good. So, we do recommend that if you own or work from a Windows 7 computer that you upgrade to Windows 10 before January 14, 2020. Optionally and depending on its age, you might consider purchasing a new computer.  Can you believe when Windows 7 was released, the iPhone 2 was one of the new cool gadgets?

The landing page of the LMS will soon undergo an upgrade and while this upgrade occurs, one of the changes to note will be the devices that are considered recommended and compatible.  Windows 7 will no longer show as compatible and changes to what is deemed recommended will come soon as well due to the system continuing to become more system agnostic everyday.

For more information for Windows users out there, check out this video for a full explanation of what it means when Microsoft ends support for one of its Operating Systems and how to prepare.

Microsoft Windows 7 End of Life Support site

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful Holiday Season!

LMS Performance Issue – Dec. 15, 2019 11:55am – 12:27pm Eastern

Greg Greiner December 15, 2019 No Comments

The Learning Management System experienced erratic performance on Sunday, December 15, 2019 from approximately 11:55am eastern until 12:27pm eastern affecting some users and their interaction with the system.  Sensors alarmed the support team immediately and troubleshooting was begun. The team found and fixed the problem and confirmed performance had returned to acceptable metrics.  As soon as the team was able to provide a reason for the disturbance, a notice was placed on the login pages to both the TMS and the LMS to alert users that we were aware of and working on the issue.

We understand the importance of the LMS for our users and are very sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused.  All systems began to run normally at approximately 12:27pm Eastern Sunday and continue to function acceptably.  We continue to monitor the system and again, apologize for the system issue.

LMS Performance Issue – Dec. 14, 2019 11:30am – 11:49am Eastern

Greg Greiner December 15, 2019 No Comments

The Learning Management System experienced erratic performance on Saturday, December 14, 2019 from 11:30am eastern until 11:49am eastern affecting some and their interaction with the system.  Sensors alarmed the support team immediately and the DB was switched from the master DB server to a backup DB.  After converting over to the backup the support team then replaced the master and recovered the overall implementation to include multiple redundancy once again to the LMS DBs.  During this time, and as soon as the team was able to provide a reason for the disturbance, a notice was placed on the login pages to both the TMS and the LMS to alert users that we were aware of the issue.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused.  All systems began to run normally just before 11:50am Eastern Saturday and continue.  As always, we continue to monitor the system and will provide details if anything ever occurs.  Again, we apologize for our system issue.

All New Electrical Theory Simulator – It’s Better Than Ever!

Greg Greiner November 8, 2019 No Comments


The electrical training ALLIANCE  is excited to announce, the all new Electrical Theory Simulator (ETS) is almost complete.  Beginning the first week of December we will be removing the previous version of the ETS and it’s associated labs from the current AC Theory and DC Theory topics and replacing them with the all new model.  The new version was built to not only resolve the old operating system and browser concerns…including the necessary loading tools and Flash, but also to allow for a more simple interaction, better functionality, and future additions.  This process of replacing the old with the new will take us a few weeks to complete.   Read on to learn about the improved user experience and user interface. (more…)

Course Completion and Grade Management Tracking Integrated into TMS

Greg Greiner November 1, 2019 No Comments

Capturing learner course completion status and managing their course grades are now included as part of the Training Management System feature set.  This new tool allows you to manage documenting course completion in the same manner that the course enrollments were made.  This powerful tool pulls in LMS coursework progress and the online Test Assessment scores (where the online feature is being used) directly into your view for use in documenting the completion.  Since this information is already stored in the system, the process for determining completion is a snap and allows you to later pull reports and learner transcripts. (more…)

2020 Significant Changes to the NEC® – Curriculum Update

Greg Greiner October 15, 2019 No Comments

The electrical training ALLIANCE is proud to announce, the 2020 Significant Changes to the NEC® in collaboration with NECA eBook and printed book are available now and the PPTs will be by the end of the month. For the new Code cycle, the PPTs will be available on a flash drive and not a CD.

The National Electrical Code® (NEC) is the most widely used electrical standard in the United States and is being adopted more globally as electrical codes and standards evolve internationally. This authoritative text is written by leading industry experts to inform electrical contractors, Electrical Workers, maintenance personnel, inspectors, engineers, and systems designers of the most significant revisions and new requirements in the 2020 NEC. Coverage of changes provides readers with insight and detailed information about the reasons for the change and how these changes impact electrical installations and one’s daily work and business operations.

eBooks
The eBook version of the textbook comes with all the bells and whistles a professional eBook rightly should.   The user will be able to access this information wherever they are, because wherever they are, their smartphone is likely very nearby.  They will also be able to efficiently search the reference, make notes, and highlight from either the device they downloaded the eBook to or via use of the web app from any device.

 

For purchase, distribution and access details regarding eBooks from the electrical training ALLIANCE please review this Blog post.  Included are two videos to help explain how to go about this process and some of the important highlights.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

LMS Timeout Error Update 9.23.19

Greg Greiner September 23, 2019 No Comments

The LMS system experienced performance issues on 9.23.19 starting at 3:41 pacific.  These issues continued to be displayed for a few hours.  At all times the system data was secure but access to some parts was sporadic for some users.  It was also found that a few other large internet access providers experienced long lag times as well as full time outs including Comcast and Sprint both being affected this evening.  We continue to monitor all aspects of the system and will provide updates when they are available.

 

 

 

Exciting Update to the PLC Courseware and Reference Material

Greg Greiner August 16, 2019 No Comments

At long last the updated PLC course Introduction to Programmable Logic Controllers (J162LM) is now available. This course replaced the Programmable Logic Controllers, Level I (J237LM.J1) and Programmable Logic Controllers, Level II A (J237LM.J2A) training.  This LMS course utilizes the Introduction to Programmable Logic Controllers (S531) reference textbook.  We are still another couple weeks away from having the Online Test Generator Tests completed for use, but have made the course available now.  When the tests are completed, another blog post will be published.

Thanks for Reading! 🙂