Today we tell the story of a medical office’s journey to the cloud. This particular client was facing their server operating system reaching end of support (a HIPAA violation) in the near future. They had begun by looking at their electronic medical records software company’s online offering, which didn’t have all the functionality of their on-premises software and was very expensive (this is typical).
They next decided to look into moving their current on-premises software into the cloud and we were asked to help with the testing. We determined that it would be best to move the file portion of the server to SharePoint / OneDrive to increase their mobility and flexibility. We also determined that it would be best to move them away from on premises Active Directory into Azure Active Directory / Intune to allow authentication and security policies. Finally we began testing the on-premises software hosted on a server in Azure with a VPN connection to their office.
The SharePoint / OneDrive and Azure Active Directory portions went through with little issues. The server, however, was not as we had hoped. The Azure VPN connection was expensive due to it always being on and no way of turning it off outside of business hours. The performance of the SQL database that the on-premises software used was basically unusable. The other option would be to create virtual desktops on Azure for this purpose but the cost and functionality was not what the customer was hoping for.
This has lead them back to searching for an online EMR software that will meet all their requirements. This will be tough because most companies are good at some things, but not all things and compromises usually have to be made. Our hope is that this story is a lesson to other companies. The cloud may sound like the newest and best way to work, but the costs and functionality are often worse than expected.
If your company is going to use full disk encryption or has compliance requirements that you need consulting for, then contact us for assistance.
There is a huge debate raging about which company to use for file sync and share for businesses with many turning to Dropbox to make efficient mobile workforces possible. The only problem with this is the costs don’t scale well. As OneDrive for Business becomes more mature it becomes a real contender for this space especially when integrated with Windows Explorer. Here is how to make this happen for the “Sharepoint Online” shared storage space for an organization:
Configure Sharepoint Online and OneDrive for Business
Sign in to Office 365 using your credentials at the Portal Login. Make sure that you click to select the Keep me signed in check box.
Switch to the SharePoint Online site by clicking on the Sites tile.
Open a document library in Explorer View – we need to do this to obtain the URL for the library.
From your Team Site, select your Document Library.
In the Ribbon, click the Library tab.
In the Connect & Export group, click Open with Explorer.
Click on Allow if an Internet Explorer Security warning pops up.
Explorer should now Launch with your chosen Library
Right-click and Copy the URL from the Explorer window address bar.
Right-click on the My Computer icon and choose to Map Network Drive.
Click the Connect to a Web site that you can store your documents and pictures link, and then click Next two times.
Paste the site URL, click Next, and then follow the instructions in the wizard. For example, https://companyname.sharepoint.com/Shared Documents
This location will now be added as a Network Location in Windows Explorer
There is still one piece missing from this puzzle which is easily changing folder permissions from Windows Explorer. To do so it is still needed to login to the portal as follows:
From your Team Site, select your Document Library.
Select the Folder and click on the Share button.
In the Share window, click Invite People.
In the dialog box, enter the names of the people or groups that you want to give access.
As you add names, you can specify the permission level that you want the new users to have.
You can also include a personal message
When you finish, click Share.
Those are the basics for using Sharepoint Online’s OneDrive for Business to function like Dropbox for Business. If you need any help with this setup contact us and one of our Office 365 Sharepoint Online experts will help.
And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the Scriptures say,
“They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”
For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. - 2 Corinthians 9:8-10
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