Intelex Training Specialist Purdal Mya recently visited long-time client Caribbean Utilities Company (CUC) in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, to help the company reimplement a system they had purchased a few years ago but hadn’t been using to its full capabilities.

Purdal (pictured left with CUC employees) spent four days at the company’s main facility working with system administrators to configure the system and to set up user-security based homepages to make the system as user friendly as possible for CUC employees. Purdal also facilitated sessions to educate end users on the system and to train them on how to use it most effectively. Then, using data that employees had been entering in recent years, Purdal was able to create simple metrics for the entire company to see. These reports showed everyone what the system is capable of. Training was also provided for Intelex’s EHS Incident Management solution, which CUC is going to start using in place of the Standard Safety Incidents (SSI) application it had been using until now. The move from SSI to EHS Incident Management will allow the company to track more than safety incidents. Now they can track property, vehicles, and spills.

Upon his return, Purdal said the “training was very beneficial to all attendees as they were unaware of the capabilities of what Intelex could do. Showing them the system, especially the platform features, really excited everyone at the company.”

With help from Intelex Project Manager Yasemin Hassan, CUC is now working towards transitioning from Standard Safety Incidents to the EHS Incident Management and finalizing the company’s Worksite Observation iForm®.

One week after Purdal was in Grand Cayman, CUC EHS and Training Manager Joey Ebanks was in Toronto for business and dropped by the Intelex office to present the company's success for all Intelex employees. Congratulations to everyone at CUC for a successful implementation!

Last week, five employees from Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. (VAA) spent three days in Toronto for Intelex training. The group will be VAA's newest Intelex power users, helping to support the airline's companywide use of the Intelex system.

Intelex Project Manager Anto Sandrasagra worked with VAA to create the training agenda, which was designed specifically for this group of users who are taking on Intelex system administrator roles at the company. Based on these new roles, the training included sessions on reporting, creating dashboards, managing documents, setting up users, and building iForms®. Intelex Training Specialist Dave McLean led the first round of training and Project Consultant Ceila Lee led the second, which focussed on iForms®.

At the end of day three, on their last night before heading back home to Crawley, England, a group of us enjoyed dinner on one of Toronto's most popular patios and then performed a few songs at a nearby Karaoke bar. The picture above is of us at the Black Bull with the CN Tower in the background. From far left (top row): Denhue, Carmela (that's me!), Dave, Anto and (bottom row): Adam, Yvonne, and Kim.

It's always a pleasure to have Intelex clients in our office and it was especially wonderful to meet another five VAA employees. We hope all of you will be able to join us again this September in Toronto for the 2011 Intelex User Conference!

Virgin Atlantic Airways developed its own customized Incident Reporting Management and Analysis System (IRMA) using Intelex's iForm® tool. The airline uses IRMA to track and report on all incidents and claims. See more Intelex clients or request a demo to learn more about Intelex’s iForms® system and other solutions.

Carmela with Intelex Training Specialist Steph DiRaddo

On Monday, April 25th, I was one of a few Intelexians who spent their afternoon at Daily Bread Food Bank to help sort through food donations from the organization's Spring Drive. It was my first time volunteering at the Food Bank. For years I’ve donated food items and dropped them off at the local fire hall but I had never known or considered what happened to my bags full of canned tuna, KD, and pasta, or exactly how they reached people in need.

What happens is that the Daily Bread relies on people in the community to volunteer their time to sort the food and prepare it for distribution to various agencies across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). On the day that we volunteered, after a 10-minute lesson from our team leader, our group of 15 volunteers dove right in and worked very well together sorting the food into their respective categories, disposing of expired or soon-to-be-expired items, and setting aside dented cans for a higher level of quality assurance. In the end we successfully sorted every last food and household item they brought to us.

Volunteering has always been something I've been interested in. In fact, I would easily use vacation time or personal days to take time off work for volunteering. However, as an employee at Intelex, I don't have to use either. Time off for volunteering is just one of the many benefits that Intelex offers its employees. Check out the complete list of Intelex’s comprehensive employee benefits program here.

As the hub of the food bank community in Toronto, Daily Bread supports approximately 170 member agencies in running different kinds of food relief programs. Its agencies run neighbourhood food banks where people go to access food hampers, as well as meal programs where people can access prepared meals such as soups or casseroles.

Daily Bread Food Bank is the largest provider of emergency food relief in the GTA. Its member agencies see a monthly average of 73,000 client visits and serve the majority of the clients accessing food bank hampers in the city and many of the clients accessing prepared meals.

In an effort to help the Canadian Red Cross provide relief and aid to those affected by the Japan earthquake and tsunami, Intelex Technologies pledged to match all employees’ donations for the month of April. Intelexians raised over $1,000 and Intelex then matched dollar for dollar. Together, we were able to make a contribution of over $2,000 for relief in Japan.

A powerful 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck Japan on March 11, 2011. It was the worst in Japan's history and triggered a tsunami warning across 20 countries along the Pacific coast. Local volunteers with the Red Cross have been working around the clock to support emergency response efforts including evacuation, search and rescue and emergency first aid.

To help the Canadian Red Cross with their efforts in Japan, please visit their website and make a donation today.

Thank you, Intelex, for supporting our effort by matching our contributions!

On February 18th, Intelex employees spent the afternoon together honouring Intelex founder and former CEO Ted Grunau. Intelexians enjoyed a catered lunch and an awards ceremony to recognize employees for exhibiting qualities and strengths that Ted valued most. February 18th was Ted's birthday and Ted Grunau Day is a way for us to both remember him and introduce his legacy to new members of the Intelex team.

Intelex President and CEO Mark Jaine hosted the event and along with the usual awards presented, this year he added two special awards: Manager of the Year and Executive of the Year.

Congratulations to all award winners and nominees on being recognized by your peers!

2011 Award Recipients:

Rising Star Katsu Takeuchi	Operational Excellence Gretchen Herrada	Notable Person of the Year Yi Zhang	Technical Innovator of the Year Craig MacGregor
Business Builder of the Year Jason Fitzpatrick	Hardest Worker of the Year Ketul Shah	Most Reliable Alex Khoussid	Co-Worker of the Year Carmela Maia
Dedication to Client Satisfaction Andrew Gaudet	Team Player of the Year Ted Burton	Commitment to Quality Lixian Xiao	Minister of Good Times Purdal Mya
Product Innovator of the Year Michael Anderson	Manager of the Year Kristy Sadler	Executive of the Year John Phyper	Employee of the Year Bevin Lyon

To kick off 2011, the Intelex team was invited to dress casually for the month of January and make a donation to one of two charities. Intelex very generously committed to matching all employees' donations at the end of the month. In the end, over $2,500 was raised for both charities.

One of the charities was the Out of the Cold program in Toronto. The Out of the Cold program is a volunteer initiative that consists of congregations from faith groups, community members and advocates who provide safe refuge, hospitality and emergency shelter to the homeless community throughout the City of Toronto.

The other charity Intelexians donated to was re:nourish, a program founded by Nutrilawn. The re:nourish program raises funds for an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. The financial contributions made by Intelex were directed to the orphanage and the communities surrounding it with food, supplies and the building of a community garden.   

Thank you, Intelex, for again matching our donations and helping us to make contributions to such worthy causes!

Set of four wins extra raffle tickets! Intelex celebrated the holiday season with a night of dinner and dancing on Saturday, December 4th at The Carlu, a unique and historical venue in downtown Toronto. Guests enjoyed a varied menu of hors d'oeuvres including mini beef burgers, pulled chicken & mulled pear quiches, grilled prawns, seasoned potato wedges, mini salmon pot pies, and eggplant ratatouille. Late night sweets included Oreo, praline, coconut & almond cheesecake lollipops and sliced fruit & berries.

As Intelexians and their dates arrived at The Carlu, they each received one playing card. Everyone then needed to make a set of four by finding their same number in the other three suits, all from the same deck. Those who found their matches were awarded additional tickets for the raffle. Raffle prizes were given out by President/CEO Mark Jaine, who organized the event and picked out the prizes himself. Raffle prized included an Xbox 360 Kinect, a Sony Cyber-shot camera, Best Buy gift cards, and two 16GB iPads with WiFi. When prizes weren't being given out, the dance floor was overflowing with dancers, many in their bare feet!

A big thanks goes out to all those who helped us celebrate this holiday season and a special thanks to Mark Jaine for treating us to an incredibly memorable night! To my fellow Intelexians, Intelex clients, and clients to be - Happy Holidays & all the best in 2011!

"O Intelex" jingle ("O Christmas Tree" melody)

Intelex's Vision Meeting, held last month, was a great success! 2010 was a momentous year for Intelex and there was a lot to celebrate. We reflected on the company’s achievements, shared our visions for 2011, and participated in a variety of team building activities.

The Intelex Vision Meeting is an annual event hosted by Mark Jaine, Intelex President and CEO. Each year the entire Intelex team spends the day together getting to know one another and learning about what other departments are up to. Company and product updates are presented to the entire team and employees are given the opportunity to provide feedback and input on how to improve all aspects of the organization.

As always, the most entertaining group activity was the Intelex jingle/skit. It’s always interesting to see what Intelexians will come up with! Employees are randomly divided into ten groups and then given 30 to 40 minutes to create a jingle or skit about Intelex. Most of the time, employees are inspired by popular melodies or current events for their jingles and skits. The stage at the Renaissance Hotel’s Ballroom has seen everything from Disney songs and rap music to the Old Spice guy. 

In addition to a fun-filled day, this year Intelexians enjoyed an evening event as well. Everyone was invited to stay at the Hotel for a very exciting casino night! Poker, Black Jack, Craps, Roulette, and a Wheel of Fortune - enough games for all to play the whole night. Those needing a break from the tables enjoyed Foosball and Air Hockey. We ate, drank, danced, and ended the evening with an incredible raffle, where gifts included gift cards, iPods, a digital camera, an Xbox 360 Kinect, and an iPad. There were also some fun company prizes such as "Put CEO to work for the day" and "Get your own private office for a week". The casino night was a huge hit with the team and was a great way to end a wonderful day!

Thank you, Intelex!! We're already looking forward to next year's Vision Meeting! 

President/CEO Mark Jaine

Intelexians sharing ideas

Poker table at casino night

Intelex training webinars are hotter than ever! In the last year, Intelex Project Consultants and Training Specialists have facilitated 22 free training webinars for over 300 Intelex users. Our 30-minute training webinars are designed to be both introductions for new users and refreshers for users who are looking to enhance their use of a particular feature. Most webinar topics are suggested by Intelex users themselves. On occasion, we create a series focusing on new releases or popular topics.

Earlier this year, we offered five training webinars on new features available in 5.1, the most recent version of the Intelex system. Today, we’re half way through a series dedicated to the Intelex Reporting Suite. Starting with the most basic and leading up to the most complex, the Report Building series has been divided into four separate webinars. Not only is it a benefit for clients to learn in stages, it gives them an opportunity to practice building some reports before advancing to the next stage.

For Intelex users who aren’t available to catch the live webinars, Intelex has created a library of webinar recordings, which clients can access day or night on Intelex-Exchange, Intelex’s online client portal. Other videos in our library include instructional videos, client presentations from Intelex User Conferences, and messages from Intelex President and CEO, Mark Jaine.
 
Intelex users can view course details and register for upcoming training webinars on Intelex-Exchange. If you don’t already have access to the Intelex-Exchange, submit a request online.

For the second year in a row, Intelexians were invited to make monetary and food donations to help Toronto’s Daily Bread Food Bank with its Fall Drive. Our goal for 2010 was $1,250.00 and as many non-perishable food items as we could gather. Intelex staff donated a total of $2,015 and just like last year, President and CEO Mark Jaine pledged that the company would match all donations made during the drive, which ran at our office from September 20, to October 15, 2010.

Thanks to the many generous people in our office, Intelex was able to contribute a total of $4,030 toward Daily Bread’s goal for its 2010 Fall Drive. We also collected about 50 lbs of non-perishable food items and delivered them to our local fire hall a couple of days before the end of the Fall Drive.

Daily Bread Food Bank is a non-profit, charitable organization that is fighting to end hunger in communities across the Greater Toronto Area. Every year thousands of people across the GTA rely on food banks and Daily Bread serves the majority of these people through neighbourhood food banks and meal programs in its member agencies. In 2009, there were over 872,000 client visits to over 170 of Daily Bread’s member agencies food banks and meal programs.

Thanks again to everyone who donated to Daily Bread Food Bank!