Moving to the KMPT Cloud Part 3

Cloud computing
Moving to the “KMPT Cloud”
Part 3 – Logging in to the secure portal and personalising your desktop
So you’ve been told you’ve now been given access to the KMPT Cloud and you have
an email with your PIN number – Congratulations! What happens next depends on
whether you have a laptop and whether you’ve done any of the things below. If you
don’t have a laptop, skip to the next paragraph. Assuming you do have a laptop:
• You may want to move any files you’ve created on the laptops C: drive and
laptops D: drive to your networked H: drive or networked S: drive because you’ll
not be able to access the local drives on the laptop while using your virtual
desktop. This is a deliberate security configuration and is required in order for us
to allow staff to use their own (or any other) computer. You cannot do this yet ‐
for now you must use only trust issued computers.
• You’ll also need to ensure your laptop is wireless enabled unless you intend to
use wired connections wherever you need to work – if you are not given the
option of “Wireless” when you start the laptop, the chances are your laptop is
not yet enabled and you need to ask the IT Helpdesk to enable wireless on your
laptop. Once done you’ll be able to access the wireless network anywhere we
have installed wireless networks across the trust. Over time we will also be able
to connect at other trusts’ sites and a growing number of other locations.
• You will also want to know how to log in through our secure internet portal.
You’ll find the answer to this in Appendix A.
Whether you’re using a laptop or a desktop (or both), you’ll want to personalise your
desktop. This means configuring the “look and feel” to your preferences so will
involve setting your preferred desktop background – perhaps one of the standard
backdrops or even a picture of your family or friends. You’ll also see how to set up
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the “Start” menu so the software programmes you use most frequently are more
conveniently located on the menu. Some staff like to use shortcuts on the desktop,
some like to be able to see the clock on the screen, and so on. This user‐specific
configuration is all “personalisation” and in addition to the look and feel of the
desktop, you can also set a number of options within the software programmes you
use including Word, Excel, Outlook, etc. Appendix B will take you through
personalising your desktop settings.
The virtual desktop is a replacement for your physical desktop and is intended to be
used all the time whether on your laptop, while working from another site (perhaps
using a computer in A&E for example), and when hot‐desking and using another
trust computer. From when you start using the virtual desktop, use it all the time by
logging in, loading the browser and typing https://desktop.kmpt.org into
the address bar:
The next question might well be, why bother? There are several answers to this but
one of the most compelling is that you will never again have to worry about whether
the machine you’re sitting at will allow you to work, whether it will take 40 minutes
to log in, whether the machine is running the right version of some software, and so
on. Of course, all the benefits listed in the previous paper can only be realised if we
fully move to the virtual desktop and these benefits are considerable – if you haven’t
looked through them, I’d urge you to because many of the benefits will make life
(well, a small part of it anyway) more enjoyable and easier for you. Also, future
developments will be applied only to the virtual desktop so your physical desktop
will become increasingly poor by comparison and you’ll start to experience difficulty
working with your colleagues as they use better systems. Finally, from next year we
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will start rolling out replacement machines with no local applications installed so you
will only be able to use the virtual desktop. This isn’t actually intended to pressurise
staff into moving over, it’s a natural evolution in the way IT services are provided and
managed. Others will follow.
Other issues to be mindful of when migrating to the virtual desktop.
In preparing for the roll‐out of our virtual desktop we have “packaged” around 160
software programmes (applications). Packaging is the process used to prepare
software to run on the virtual desktop. The 160 applications we’ve packaged are
those used across the trust by everyone or by large numbers of people. There are
some applications however that have not yet been packaged and until they have
been, a small number of staff will have to revert to their physical desktop when they
need to run those unpackaged applications. Appendix C describes how to switch
between the physical and the virtual desktops. This will not affect most people
because all the common applications are packaged.
For those people using smartcards, there is another temporary measure you’ll need
to be aware of. The software that reads your smartcard and authenticates you is
installed on both the physical and virtual desktops. This means that when you place
your smartcard into the smartcard reader, both software installations try to read the
card and authenticate you and the results could be unpredictable. There is a simple
fix you will need to apply for now and a permanent fix down the line. The temporary
fix is simply to disable the software on the physical desktop and Appendix D will
show you how to do this, it’s a simple two‐click process. The permanent fix is for us
to remove the software on the physical desktop. We cannot do this however while
others rely on it so until everyone has moved to the virtual desktop you’ll need to
keep disabling the software when you log in. If you have a laptop that is not shared
by other people, then you can ask IT to remove “GEM Authenticate” from your
physical desktop because no‐one else will be affected. You’ll still have to remember
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Cloud computing
this work‐around though if you use another organisations computer (eg in the A&E
Department). The software will reinstate itself next time someone logs in, after you
have logged out.
The first time you log in to the virtual desktop you may be invited to download an
“add‐in”, you should click the “Download” button. If on the next occasion you are
again invited to download the add‐in, click the “Already installed” link. If you are
invited to download the add‐in every time you log in, advise the IT Helpdesk.
You may also receive other messages the first time you log in asking if the software
can have full access to your machine and whether it should ask you every time. You
can respond by saying “full‐access” and “never ask again” and should not be
troubled by these messages in future.
When connecting from the internet for the first time you may be told your software
is trying to connect to a website. This is actually the browser add‐in trying to
connect to our secure web portal and you can confirm.
If you get any messages you are unsure about, report them to the IT Helpdesk.
Similarly, if you are repeatedly asked the same question, report it to the IT Helpdesk.
Once everything is properly configured, you will not get any messages and the whole
process is very robust and smooth.
Finally, I must remind you one more time that only trust issued computers are to be
used for now. We will shortly lift this restriction but for the present, using any other
machine is a breach of policy. I hope you enjoy using the KMPT Cloud and look
forward to telling you about lots of exciting new developments, made available
through the virtual desktop over the coming weeks and months. Best Wishes.
Les Manley
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Appendix A: Logging in through the secure internet portal
From your computer (and assuming you are connected to an internet connection),
load your browser and type the address https://desktop.kmpt.org into the address
bar.
The KMPT secure web portal will be loaded and will look like the image below. Here
you must enter your regular username and password (the same username and
password you enter at work).
After typing in your username and password, click the “Get Image” button.
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After clicking the “Get Image” button an image is displayed showing two rows of
numbers. If you cannot read the digits in the lower row, Click “Get Image” again,
and again until you can.
Now click in the One‐Time Code (OTC) field or as you type in your security code it will
not be entered and your login will fail. Using the top row of numbers look‐up each
digit in you PIN and enter into the OTC field the digit you see in the lower row. For
example if your PIN was 2461, the digits you’d type are 3426 because these are the
digits that appear under 2, 4, 6, and 1. Once you’ve entered your OTC, click the “Log
On” button.
If all is well, you will briefly see the following, before the next screen is loaded.
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The next screen offers a selection of desktops available to you. Normally there will
be only one or two desktops available – perhaps the old/current one and a new one
with all the latest software. I can see more here because I have been involved in
testing and these are test desktops. Select the “KMPT Desktop” by clicking on it.
The screen may temporarily go grey and then blue. After around one minute the
desktop is loaded and the first time you use the virtual desktop it will look quite
boring as shown below.
You can also log in to your virtual desktop from a trust site by typing the same
address into your browser although you will not be asked for a One‐Time Code –
this is additional security required to connect from the internet.
Congratulations! You’re now logged in.
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Appendix B: Personalising your desktop
Assuming you’ve logged into your virtual desktop, and the illustrations here assume
you have not already personalised it, you’ll want to change the desktop background.
To do this right‐click on the screen and select “Properties” from the menu.
This will open another window on the desktop. A number of pre‐defined desktop
images are available and can be pre‐viewed by clicking on it. When you find one you
think you like, click the apply button to see it.
If you don’t like any of the predefined
images you can choose you
use a picture of your own. Click the
“Browse” button and navigate to
the folder containing the file you’d
like to use. Click on the file and
click “Open”
Here you can select “Centre”, “Tile”,
or “Strech” to choose how the image
is made to fit the screen. A sample
of the three is shown below. Click
“Apply” to see the effect.
When you’re happy with the settings, Click OK.
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Some software applications are used more frequently than others and it is perhaps
more convenient to have these immediately available on the start menu. There are
two ways you can do this: Pinning applications to the start menu, and Creating
short‐cuts on your desktop. We’ll start with pinning applications to the menu.
Initially the start menu is quite stark.
To pin an application to the start menu,
move the mouse onto the application
and then right‐click. A menu will appear.
Select “Pin to Start Menu”.
Repeat for all the applications you’d like
to appear on the start menu.
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Here is an example where several applications have been pinned to the start menu
and you can see how convenient they are when you need them.
If you change your mind, you can rightclick
on a menu item and select “Unpin
from Start Menu”.
You can also change the order of the items
on the menu by clicking on them and
dragging them to where you want them
To place shortcuts on the desktop use a similar process, right‐click the application,
hover your mouse pointer over “Send to”, and when the sub‐menu appears, select
“Desktop (Create shortcut)”. The image on the right shows a few shortcuts created
in this way.
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Many people like the clock displayed in the lower‐right corner of the screen. If the
clock is not displayed and you’d like it to be (or vice‐versa), move the mouse pointer
to the task bar at the bottom of the screen and right‐click.
Select “Properties” and ensure the checkbox “Show the clock” is ticked by clicking it.
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Appendix C: Switching between the physical and virtual desktops
This is not recommended because it can leave your screen in a bit of a mess if you
get it wrong, but on occasion it may be necessary to switch between your physical
and virtual desktops.
In the illustration below the screen is showing my virtual desktop.
Hold down the “Shift” key, press and release the “F2” key, release the “Shift” key.
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Notice the window shift slightly and if you look carefully you will notice a window
border has appeared. The virtual desktop is now a window (it always was but with
no boundaries).
Notice in the top‐right corner the window controls. The most reliable control to use
at this point in the minimise button, indicated.
To illustrate the window effect, I have moved the virtual desktop window here and
you can see my physical desktop running in the background.
To restore the virtual desktop (assuming you have minimised it), click on the
application on the taskbar “KMPT Desktop” and then press Shift‐F2 again to restore
the full screen to the virtual desktop.
If you move or resize the virtual desktop, you may not be able to get the virtual
desktop to fit within the physical desktop resulting in no taskbar or two taskbars! If
this happens, it’s easier to shut‐down the browser and reload the desktop.
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Appendix D: Disabling the “GEM Authenticate” software
To disable the GEM Authenticate software on the physical desktop, note the icon on
the task bar that looks a little like a beach ball. This is GEM Authenticate.
Right‐click the icon and choose “Quit”. The software is disabled and the icon will
disappear from the bar.
GEM Authenticate is only temporarily disabled and will re‐appear when you or
someone else logs into the computer.
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