Tech Support for the U of G Vaccination Clinic

The University of Guelph (U of G) is playing a key role in the fight against COVID-19. In partnership with Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health and the Guelph Family Health Team, U of G opened its COVID-19 vaccination clinic in early March with the ability to vaccinate 2,000 people per day.  

When thinking about setting up a clinic of this magnitude, one might think about vaccine stock and storage, and the amazing volunteers needed to run this operation. One might not consider the required technology, or how quickly it all had to get up and running. But that is where we come in, and we were extremely happy to help this collaborative effort.   

IT Needs for the Vaccination Clinic 

If you have received your vaccination or have volunteered at the U of G clinic, you likely have seen that it is a well-oiled machine. Technology plays a part in that, with each check-in station, vaccine administrator and check-out kiosk requiring a laptop with a fast, seamless and secure connection to ensure a swift pace and flow of people through the clinic.  

The CCS Client Productivity and Network Infrastructure teams spearheaded the technology effort, with great support from other departments including Alumni Affairs & Development and OpenEd. Their main efforts were centred around setting up the connectivity requirements and sourcing, securing and configuring 31 laptops and two printers. To manage computers that are not joined to our Active Directory domain, CCS used Microsoft Intune to configure, secure, and update the computers to provide support for networked printers. Intune was critical to ensure information security and oversight for the operation without requiring vaccine clinic staff to have University of Guelph login credentials. 

Challenges Along the Way 

Some of the challenges the team encountered included a doubling of the required number of laptops mid-way through the project and a request for a printing solution just one week before the clinic opened. There were also some technical challenges with availability of hardware as well as the implementation of security policies for computers not utilizing the standard U of G central login accounts. CCS is an agile team and like all of us, was able to manage the many challenges and deliver high quality service and support.   

Happy to Be Part of the Solution 

In the end, our team felt proud to play a part in supporting this important initiative. The University is part of the fabric of our city and having a clinic at U of G is another way in which we aim to strengthen our community. The experience was a great one for CCS – working with new people, solving new challenges, learning new systems, and contributing to our community in a meaningful way.