Smart Money Reminders

From Laurie Covington:

Hello,

Financial Services has asked me to remind staff to please make sure that all transactions clear through Telecheck (check and credit card) before clearing things in Smart Money. There have been several recent occurrences in which the customer signed the Smart Money receipt and the fines were cleared, but no funds were actually taken from their card or check. In those cases, fines have to be put back on the accounts and the customer contacted. Sometimes, the customer has not been known so HPL is out those funds. Please remind all staff about this issue. Transactions should not be completed in Smart Money until everything clears in Smart Money. If staff training (or re-training), please reach out to Dimitri Revada and she can arrange for a one-on-one session.

MR

Movie Time Log

Hello,

Several staff have requested a Movie Time log so that they can keep track of what was shown at both locations and use the information to collaborate, select, and schedule future programs.

The link to the form and the results page can be found on the group blog under both Lakewood and Kashmere's Branch Statistics section. It is the same form and log, so you may use either link to submit the information and use either results form to view the information.

Movie Time Log

Moving forward, please log all movies shown through this log.

(If you need any modification to the log, please let me know. Feedback is always appreciated!)

Thank you,

MR

UPDATE: COH and HOPE 2015 Meet and Confer Agreement Compensation

From City of Houston:

The 2015 Meet and Confer agreement between the City of Houston and the Houston Organization of Public Employees (HOPE) provides that bargaining unit members, with the exception of Police and Fire Trainees, will receive an annualized base pay rate increase in each pay grade. The second pay increase under the agreement will appear on the July 22, 2016, paycheck.

For the chart with the annualized listings, please click here.

Remember that to find out how much it would be per hour that you need to take the dollar amount in the chart and divide by 26, then 80. So the math would look like this:

1040 / 26 = 40

40 / 80 = .50 

An annualized increase of $1040 translates to about an additional $0.50 per hour. 

As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

MR

NOTICE: CyberSecurity

Hello,

As many of you are aware, there have been several emails from HITS regarding suspicious emails that can install ransomware, trojans, or viruses onto our computers and infect our networks. Recently, some employees received an email that had an authentic name and a City of Houston email account. This was a phishing attempt to steal user credentials and logins.

Please be mindful when checking your emails. If you think an email is at all suspicious, delete it immediately. Do not click on any links or attachments in the email. If you are unsure, please get a second opinion from one of your coworkers or your supervisors. Remember the CyberSecurity training we took a while back and know how to detect fake sites or emails:

1. Look at the address bar: bad links will take you to fake sites that have a different URL from COH or HPL websites. (David LaPlante from HITS provided an example in an email he sent on 07/07/2016.)
2. At no time will anyone from within or outside COH request PINS, credit card information, Social Security numbers, etc. If you receive such an email, delete it immediately.
3. Look at the sender's email address. If the name is strange or one that you may not have heard of, it might be suspicious. Look at the send address as well: strange send addresses should be noted and deleted if suspicious.
4. Fake emails often have many typos such as misspellings, grammatical errors, etc. Too many of these are a sign that the email might be fake.

Please remember that we all should be vigilant about following the guidelines set forth by HITS and Digital Strategies. If at any time you think your computer might have been infected, shut it off, remove the network cable or power cord, and contact the IT HelpDesk immediately.

You can also review the online training we had regarding CyberSecurity at this link: https://training.knowbe4.com/login (you will need your login credentials).

Here are some additional resources to review in your downtime:

McAfee Blog: 7 Ways to Tell If It's a Fake

Tech Republic: 10 Tips for Spotting a Phishing Email

Indiana University: Don't Take the Bait

Thanks,

MR

Duplicate SRP Accounts

From Sara Pope:

I was alerted to a family of 4 that had registered for SRP 2 times, once with their real names, and once with nicknames. They had the same phone numbers and the same addresses. They collected prizes on both accounts at 2 different locations.

Please make sure you (and all of your staff) are looking up customers in Summer Reader before registering them, and before logging or awarding prizes. Sometimes, customers create a new account because they don't remember their user name or password, and they aren't doing it maliciously. Remember, phone number is a great way to look up customers (if they put one in). Also, if you just search just the last name, you'll get a list of everyone with that last name, and you may see duplicates there (although, sometimes, there are more than 1 person with the same name, so it isn't always necessarily a duplicate). If you are noticing duplicate accounts, please put a note in the record that you believe the account is a duplicate.

I have been deleting duplicate accounts as I come across them, but I have been swamped lately, so I haven't been doing it as quickly as I would like. When I do delete an account, I put a note in the existing account (that way if a customer has a question about where their account went, anyone can answer that question).

Please share this with your staff, and let me know if you have any questions!

MR

Staff Summer Reading Program (SSRP)

From Chris Hu:

Greetings:

My apologies for the tardiness of this announcement. The Staff Summer Reading Program (SSRP) is once again underway. Traditionally, this program has helped to encourage staff members to read outside of their literacy comfort zone (but you are not required to do so). Staff are welcome to select materials from all genres and formats. Graphic novels, CD audio-books and e-books are all fair game.

All staff are welcome to participate. Please feel free to pass this information on to any staff member who might not receive this email. The end-of-program party, prizes, and dues (if any) have yet to be determined. Read, review, and log your results at:

Login: from Inside HPL, select Reference; then select "staff" under the SRP Reader Online Access box on the left side.

Use the "staff login credentials" to login; select USSRC (yes that's right it's the Unofficial Staff Summer Reading Club).

I am available to answer questions about the program.

MR

Computer Card FAQs

Hello,

Please review a few of the Computer Card FAQs provided by Sarah Ortiz a few years ago. The post has been added to the Workflow Procedures section of the blog:

Computer Card FAQ

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,

MR