Construction Activity Report 12/19/07
Writing from my comfy apartment, I realize no one at the law school today will receive my message warmly (pardon the pun). Faculty and staff should have been warned in advance that, for a number of reasons, a critical component of the construction project had to occur this week and that this work would require a loss of heat in the building. Everyone is due an apology for the failure to receive appropriate notice of this construction activity. I am sincerely sorry that, due to a misunderstanding about responsibility for sending the notification, you all arrived to find a chilly work place this morning.Without belaboring the details, let me just say that the excavation work earlier this year for the new Fifth Street entrance required major changes in the connections to the campus central heating lines (the MTW system) which supply the existing law building. With the recent completion of the below-grade work at the new entrance, a date had to be selected for making a permanent tie-in to the MTW loop. Everyone involved in scheduling the work was sensitive to our insistence that there be minimal disruption to the academic calendar, especially during the final exam period. On the other hand, looming winter weather and the need to avoid further delays in the overall project were compelling reasons for scheduling the work as soon as possible after finals.
I'm sure your immediate reaction is to ask "Why wasn't the MTW shut-down scheduled for next week when no one is required to be in the building?" The answer to that obvious question has to do with the phasing of subsequent construction activities. Another critical component in the project is to shift the electric power source for the entire building from the old (west) basement to the new (east) building. For a variery of technical and other reasons, the MTW tie-in must occur first and be followed by the power conversion which is currently scheduled to take place next week.
So, how long will the building be without heat? The estimate is that the MTW tie-in will take three working days and thus your forbearance will be required tomorrow and Friday morning. Fortunately, the law library bridge is connected to the Robeson Library MTW link which means there should be more than the usual warmth and good cheer at the Holiday Party which will begin at Noon on Friday.
As already noted, the electric power conversion is scheduled for next week. Original estimates were that the work would take three full days (December 26, 27, and 28), but efforts are being made to develop an accelerated approach and we should know by late tomorrow or Friday whether the time frame can be shortened.
Although no one is required to be at the law school over the holiday break, the loss of power will have at least two important consequences. First, because there is too much risk in relying on the back-up generator for what could be as long as 72 hours, it will be necessary to suspend all IT services, beginning in the late afternoon on Christmas Day and continuing until power is restored. As a result, some e-mail users will not receive messages, although all e-mail will be delivered as soon as possible after the servers are turned back on. In addition, there will be no access to file servers, no website services, etc. Second, without power, the law building will be in "emergency status" and no one will be expected to be in the building for any purpose. (If there is an absolute necessity to enter the building, it must be done only with a police escort and for a very limited time period. And, remember, the elevators will be inoperable.)
John Podolski
I just wanted to clarify to everyone John's recent email with respect to an email services outage over the winter break.
The simplest answer is..
Users will see varying delays in accessing new inbound email.
The long answer is complicated and depends on a number of factors, which differ for every user.
The good news is that all email will be delivered. Depending on how other network email servers are configured, the delay might be a few days, but all email should be delivered before the University reopens for Business on the 2nd.
Tom
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