Why Develop? 

Many organizations , like schools, private colleges, libraries, etc, vary greatly in terms of the size and composition of populations, physical layout, work requirements, and availability of technical resources. Some are high schools only while others support all grade levels, or college level clientele. Some organizations have several labs and resource rooms with computer equipment, others only have one or two, which are used by hundreds of users. In spite of the differences, there are some factors common to many of these kinds of environments:

• They operate on extremely limited budgets.

• There is rarely, if ever, a one to one ratio of computers to users, meaning one computer needs to be accessed by many users on any given day.

• The person who manages the computer networks  normally has full time duties in another area of work.

• Needs within an organization are normally diverse enough that security and desktop settings appropriate for one group are too restrictive for another groups needs.

•  The primary function of a computer is for use as a tool of communication, composition and research. Users will be involved in creating web pages to display work,  using word processors to type assignments, managing their files and folders, etc.

• Individuals with special needs are often mainstreamed into regular settings wherever possible, meaning there is an increased demand on the teacher/assistant to provide help for users who often have weak organizational skills, and will need assistance in locating, saving, retrieving work, remembering assignments, filling in web addresses, etc.

• Supervision and assistance available in different areas  will vary. For example, a library and a regular computer room will have different program and security requirements because of lack of staff available to work full time in a library.

• There will often be a mixed computing environment, as some of the older computers cannot support the newer operating systems, yet they still work and their availability is needed.

To assist with these issues, mysaNiTy was designed to:

• Provide remote storage of computer desktops which not only maximizes NT/2000 security, but greatly eases administrative burdens by having only to go to one workstation to add, remove, or change properties on your shortcuts.

• Integrate user accounts with Internet Information Server so that users can easily display Web Projects within their own network environment, or develop a low cost intranet, without having an Internet connection

• Integrates the use of commonly used freeware browsers, mail clients, scripting engines, and web and mail servers, thus helping reduce cost and to provide a full range of Internet services for users including Intranet Email and Web services.

• One click management of user accounts; generate accounts, move accounts to another group remove accounts and all associated files and make  it simple and efficient to manage transient users who access school networks.

•  Provide a very quick method for changing security settings on local workstations, based upon group membership and/or physical location.

• Set up a centralized accounts database on an NT Server with a home folder, Internet and mail settings available to a user, regardless of where he or she logs on.

• Works across a variety of client operating systems to give continuity and availability of client folders, mail, etc across platforms.