- Elevate America Unveils Job Training Initiative with North Carolina
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By Gail Thomas-Flynn, Microsoft US State & Local Government General Manager
Today I had the privilege of joining Governor Bev Perdue at the Harris Campus of Central Piedmont Community College to announce the launch of Microsoft Elevate America in the state of North Carolina. As part of this initiative, we’re partnering with North Carolina Community College System, the Division of Workforce Development in the N.C. Department of Commerce and the N.C. Employment Security Commission to distribute 23,700 training vouchers during the next 90 days. The vouchers are open to any North Carolina resident and provide access to eLearning courses and select technology certification exams at no cost to the recipient.
We launched Elevate America back in February in an effort to strengthen U.S. competitiveness in the global economy by improving access to the education and workforce skills required for twenty-first century jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that in 5 years, more than 3/4 of all jobs in the U.S. will require at least a basic level of technology skills. But achieving this requires private-public collaboration, so we’ve partnered with governments, schools, community organizations and local companies to maximize our effectiveness and tailor the programs to local needs.
The program has now been launched in eight states, including North Carolina, Illinois, Iowa, Virginia, Washington, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri—with no direct costs to these states.
In addition to eLearning courses and certification exams, Elevate America is also offering free access to the Microsoft Digital Literacy Curriculum, career resources for students, and free tutorials for web design. Over the next three years, our goal is to train up to 2 million people nationwide with critical technology skills, and we expect to announce additional states in the coming months.
If you want to learn about how to bring the Elevate America program to your city, county or state, please visit here.
- Partners: Develop an app for Windows Azure & Win $$
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By Kristin Bockius, State & Local Government Social Media Marketing Manager
This week we launched the Microsoft Azure Development Contest for state and local government partners. The contest is an excellent opportunity for all of our partners to showcase their development skills by creating a Windows Azure-based application that meets real needs of government customers. It is our hope that many of our partners will take advantage of the scalability and interoperability of Windows Azure to build mission-critical applications that state and local governments can adopt with little cost (or hopefully no cost).
Building applications that can improve citizen access to government services or helps to present useful information is one of many ways to help state and local governments realize the potential of cloud computing. And with yesterday’s release of Microsoft “Dallas,” we are providing developers and information workers of all sizes with new access to third party data, web services, and self service business intelligence and analytics. As the Azure platform evolves and new tools are developed, our state and local government customers will benefit from greater flexibility and functionality in the cloud.
Be sure to tell your friends and fellow developers about your application in your blog or through Twitter using #AzureApps as your hashtag, and remind them to come back to vote for your app too. Also, please follow Microsoft_Gov on Twitter to hear about new applications submitted for this contest. The contest is currently open and will end on February 5, 2010. A complete description of the prizes, eligibility, and entry requirements can be found on the contest Web site. Winners will be announced on Feb 25th during our Public Sector Microsoft CIO Summit.
On a related note, Vivek Kundra, Federal CIO yesterday announced NASA’s “Pathfinder Innovation Challenge” to promote science, technology, engineering and math (S.T.E.M.) learning in the U.S., offering tools to promote analysis and possible future exploration of Mars. Sponsored by Microsoft, the contest invites developers to win prizes for creating tools that provide access to and analysis of hundreds of thousands of Mars images for online, classroom and even Mars mission team use.
- Data as a Service: What does it mean for open government? (PDC09 Announcement)
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By Kristin Bockius, State & Local Government Social Media Marketing Manager
We’ve been hearing about cloud computing and “Software as a Service” (Saas) for quite a while now, but the promising cloud-based “Data as a Service” (Daas) has received little attention outside of the IT and data warehousing community. DaaS is significant because it provides an efficient, cost-effective way to make sense of disparate structured and unstructured cloud-based data across a variety of networks. Former Credit Suisse software analyst Jason Maynard has called this "data-as-an-answer" for its ability to provide insight beyond one silo or data set, according to an article in The Register.
Today at the Professional Developers Conference (PDC), Microsoft announced the availability of Windows Azure and SQL Azure platform. The Windows Azure platform—along with Windows Server AppFabric—provides a powerful, scalable, and interoperable platform for developing and managing web and composite applications, enabling developers to focus on building mission-critical applications using familiar .NET programming models. With software-plus-services and DaaS, state and local governments have the power of choice to run applications locally, in the cloud or a combination of the two, instead of being boxed into a single deployment model, data center, bandwidth constraint or browser window.
Microsoft will also release a community technology preview (CTP) of a content brokerage and discovery platform, codenamed Microsoft “Dallas.” “Dallas” is available to provide developers and information workers of all sizes access to premium third party data, web services, and self service business intelligence and analytics. “Dallas” is an important part of our efforts to help state and local governments make data sets more meaningful and valuable while offering increased transparency to citizens (for example, where tax dollars are going or how the state is spending stimulus funds). Using DaaS and Windows Azure, governments can develop powerful, customized tools that will present information that citizens need in ways that are more intuitive and readable—and ultimately, help them realize the promise of open government.
Finally, Vivek Kundra, Federal CIO appeared with Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie via satellite during the opening keynote to showcase several new Azure features, including the open catalogue and data marketplace built on Windows Azure and SQL Azure. You can view the keynote and Kundra’s comments on demand at http://www.microsoftpdc.com.
For more information about Windows Azure and Windows Server AppFabric Beta 1 (available beginning today), please visit this Web site.
Visit our Federal Blog for a blog post from Teresa Carlson, Microsoft Federal VP, about this announcement – FutureFed Blog.
- Experienced in the Cloud: Microsoft on Standards and Quality
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By Kristin Bockius, State & Local Government Social Media Marketing Manager
As Gail Thomas-Flynn noted in a blog post last month, Microsoft has been in the cloud computing business for many years, and we’re heavily investing in the cloud, moving 10,000 additional servers into production each month. State and local government customers often tell us that cloud solutions that “cheap” or “good enough” are insufficient to meet the enterprise demands of the public sector. Stan Freck, Director of Software & Services for Microsoft Public Sector, explains how we are bringing standards and quality to cloud computing for our government customers.
A new case study, just released yesterday, shows how Klamath County, OR migrated to Microsoft’s Hosted Messaging by implementing our BPOS solution. This solution also included an archiving module to ensure they stay compliant with federal and state record-keeping & retention mandates. To review Klamath County’s situation and solution you can view this case study here.
- Utah Shares Social Media Guidelines
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By Kristin Bockius, State & Local Government Social Media Marketing Manager
These days, state and local government agencies are starting to realize that social media is inevitable. Someone within the organization is probably already engaged. Perhaps an employee is tweeting, blogging, or posting to social networking forums like GovLoop.
For better or worse, it is probably more reasonable to embrace social media. As a blogger myself, and head of Bright Side of Government, most of our customers are looking for answers on how to embrace social media as they make their way to Gov 2.0. I think that Utah has a good strategy.
The state of Utah is proactively addressing social media by developing a set of guidelines for appropriate social media use by all public employees and state officials. The purpose of the guidelines is to ensure that the state does not just ban the use of social media due to security, privacy and other issues. Instead, by providing thoughtful advice on how employees can effectively participate in social networks, the state is embracing a transparent and open government.
I also like to point out that the advice Utah provides to its employees is sound and reasonable. They include tips for creating engaging and valuable content. They also advise employees to be honest, transparent and thoughtful in their postings.
Most if these guidelines are common sense, but it is always good to have reminders and to create some sort of parameters around how your employees can participate.
Have you take steps to embrace social media within your agency? Share with us some of the best practices that your agency has put into place. Our readers would love to learn from you.
- Bing Maps offers free licensing for educators & governments
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By “Virtual” Jerry Skaw, Bing Maps Marketing Manager for Public Sector
Microsoft has announced an exciting change in the Bing Maps for Enterprise terms of use, opening up the door for educators and non-profits to take advantage of free licensing programs for public-facing Web sites. At the same time, now state and local governments can take advantage of new licenses for small Web sites, which offer 125,000 user sessions per year for public, non-password protected Web sites such as municipal portals. To show our commitment to education and Gov 2.0 in local communities, we are also releasing a Bing Maps platform that is more powerful and includes new innovative features.
For our readers who may not be aware, Bing Maps for Enterprise is an integrated set of services that provide a platform for building data visualization applications on top of layers of base map imagery. With the introduction of the Silverlight Map Control, Bing Maps allows developers to create more engaging mapping experiences using embedded multimedia, Deep Zoom capabilities, scaling views of landmarks and properties, and continuous panning around the globe with “World Wrap.” The latest release of Bing Maps for Enterprise also includes updated Geocoding and search updates to allow users to find the U.S. addresses and business they are looking for more easily. Finally, our growing network of data centers across the world brings content and services closer to end users, providing fast, reliable performance in all 50 states.
For more information about Bing Maps for Enterprise and free licensing options for your educational or government Web site, please visit this site or sign up for a Bing Maps account today. Also check out my recent blog post that details some of the ways state and local government agencies are already using Bing Maps.
- New Leaders in Magic Quadrants – Collaboration & Social Software
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By Kent Cunningham, BDM – Applied Innovation, Microsoft US Public Sector
Gartner recently published the 2009 Magic Quadrant for Social Software in the Workplace and also the Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Content Management (ECM), and Microsoft was recognized in the “Leaders” quadrant in both categories. This is the first time a company has placed in the Leaders quadrant for social software (a recognition shared with only two other companies) and Microsoft also pulled ahead of its previous ranking in ECM.
Government IT leaders are beginning to recognize that the old distinctions between ECM, social software, and collaboration are beginning to blur (for more on this, see Andrew Conry-Murray’s recent InformationWeek article here). Microsoft has been operating with this understanding and takes a broad view of software, so our SharePoint solution combines document-centric collaboration with robust social computing features. Gartner notes that we have used the popularity of SharePoint to deliver “social capabilities to many mainstream organizations that value the breadth of the platform and the solidity of a large vendor.”
Looking forward to next year, Microsoft will expand SharePoint to include more ECM and social business capabilities. SharePoint 2010 will improve blog, wiki, and workflow capabilities, add Facebook-style profile features, and continue to deliver ECM features. In addition to traditional business content, one of the best features of SharePoint is that allows users to manage social data like Web content, mobile devices, social bookmarks, photos and videos. For more information on what’s new in SharePoint 2010, visit this site.
- 2010 Winter Olympics using Silverlight
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By Kristin Bockius, State & Local Government Social Media Marketing Manager
NBC is gearing up for the 2010 Winter Olympics with some changes to its mainstay site, NBCOlympics.com, which went live this morning. Once again, just as it did with the 2008 Summer Olympics, NBC will be using a video player based on Microsoft Silverlight technology to offer full HD videos. Except this time, the video player will have DVR-like functionality, with the ability to rewind the video, highlight clips and save them. The site will also include Deep Zoom photo galleries so you can enjoy each flake of snow individually.
The Silverlight video player will also incorporate Facebook Connect, to allow people to chat with their friends as they are watching the events.
- Citizen Service Platform: Putting Local Government in Touch with Citizens
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By Kristin Bockius, State & Local Government Social Media Marketing Manager
How can state and local governments effectively leverage the technology they’ve purchased to get the most out of their investment? Many of our customers need help understanding how to utilize and deploy the solutions they already own. Kevin Mims, State and Local Government Breadth Sales Lead, discusses how Microsoft Citizen Service Platform streamlines citizen access to resources and important information using existing tools. For more information, also visit the Citizen Service Platform Application Center to connect with our partners and view relevant case studies.
- Gov 2.0 - Creating Closer Connections
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By Josh Rice, Director, Emerging Technologies at Microsoft
Governments at every level are under growing pressure—both internally and from the people they serve—to become more efficient, transparent and open.
Citizens are demanding more information and greater accountability. They want to participate more fully in government and to collaborate with elected officials and other government decision makers. They want to have a say in decisions while they are being made, not just hear about them after the fact. At the same time, governments are looking for ways to share information more broadly, streamline government processes, and provide resources and services to the public as quickly as possible.
Today, new applications of Web 2.0 technology—from basic building blocks such as Web sites, blogs and wikis to social media and collaboration tools such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube—are helping to bring about these changes and usher in the era of Gov 2.0.
The 2008 presidential campaign kicked off a Web-based revolution in government and politics that is inspiring state and local governments all across the United States. Some previous campaigns used the Internet for fundraising, and groups like MoveOn brought grass-roots politics onto the Web, but in 2008 Barack Obama made Gov 2.0 a central component of his campaign strategy to engage all Americans in a serious discussion about issues of national importance.
Gov 2.0 isn’t confined to Washington, DC. State and local governments across the country are employing Web 2.0 technology to establish a Gov 2.0 connection with their constituents, which enables them to keep people better informed and deliver services more efficiently. Last winter, for example, governments from New Hampshire to Washington used tweets and blogs to deliver emergency weather, bus service, road closure and power updates during harsh winter weather.
For most governments, using Web 2.0 technology to connect with more people over new media is really just a matter of leveraging software and tools they already own and know how to use. They just have to figure out new ways to apply them. If the governor or the mayor posts something important to a blog or a Web site, for example, how can the state or city government use Web 2.0 tools to push that information to more people in more ways?
Some governments are jumping into this new world enthusiastically; others are moving more cautiously and apprehensively. To help speed the process for governments that may be struggling with how to get something set up fairly quickly, Microsoft has come up with something that should make it easier. We have developed a solution framework or series of templates, built on the Microsoft platform and with connections to key social media tools, which we will provide free of charge to our government customers. All you have to do is customize the templates according to the requirements of your organization and you’re on your way.
The Gov 2.0 Kit was announced and demoed last week at SharePoint Conference 2009 in Las Vegas by Dean Halstead. We have released it to Codeplex for everyone to use.
- Government Internet/Intranet - The Gov 2.0 toolkit templates include a MOSS 2007 and Dynamics CRM 4.0 solution accelerator for Federal, Local and Regional Government portals. MOSS 2007 provides a platform for external and authenticated internal web content management to provide information to both citizens and government employees. Additionally it shows how MOSS features such as blogs, Bing Maps integration, collaboration, document management, personalization and interactive web forms can benefit both citizens and Government employees. Dynamics CRM 4.0 is then utilized to manage the requests and process initiated through the web forms and provide a comprehensive case and relationship management solution.
- Social Networking – The Social Network template is an add-on to the standard Sharepoint, MySite pages to include integration with current social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, etc. to allow government employees to collaborate together internally as well as externally with citizens.
Below are some screenshots from our demo platform. You will be able to access this demo on this site.
Gov 2.0 and the Microsoft platform can enable your government organization to follow through on the new mandate to be more open and transparent, more efficient and accountable, and more collaborative—both within government and between government and its citizens. The rest is up to you.
- Windows 7: An Easy Transition for State and Local Governments
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By Richard McKinney, Microsoft State & Local Government Technology Advisor
Overwhelmingly, state CIOs are responding positively to Windows 7 because of its ease of use, high level of security, and enterprise management features. State and local governments are also enjoying the benefits of seamless transition from Windows XP and Vista through Microsoft Windows Easy Transfer, which lets users decide what to transfer to Windows 7. The video below discusses the response Windows 7 has received on the state and local level and the expectations that government customers have for any operating system.
- Tough Times in Michigan? Tell me about it!
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Guest post by Phil Bertolini, CIO/Deputy County Executive, Oakland County, MI
Note: this was originally posted on the Oakland County Government blog and Mr. Bertolini has given permission to repost this in order to extend the conversation. Please comment and share your thoughts.
Are there tough times in Michigan? Are people wondering if they have a future and what that future will hold?
I recently had an experience that made me think about what our future may hold. As my family and I sat on the tarmac at Detroit Metropolitan Airport for two hours, I watched carefully the reactions of my fellow travelers as we waited for news about a minor maintenance malfunction. Some sat back calmly and waited for news, while others became agitated trying to leave the plane for their sought-after connecting flight. My family didn’t have the pressure of missing another flight, but I tried to place myself in their shoes and wonder if I could be calm when everything I had planned was falling apart around me. Having no control over the outcome can be frustrating and bring people to the brink of meltdown.
I couldn’t help but draw a parallel to the current economic situation in Michigan. We have little or no control over the freefall that our economy is in, and many are melting down under the pressure as they witness their investments and assets, like their homes, de-value. Are they scrambling to change their plans for retirement or debating whether they can send their children to college? Like a missed airline connection, are they displaced from their carefully planned out futures?
Diversifying our economy will give us some control over our destiny -- just like making the decision to leave the plane or stay onboard hoping for the best. I am fortunate to work for a visionary, our County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who is looking out into the future to lure the companies of the “new economy” to our region. He realized early on that we must diversify our economy in Michigan and launched his Emerging Sectors program with incredible success. Considering his actions, I realize that we do have some control in this economic climate, but the larger market forces must be successful if we are to grow our economy. Every company that makes change happen, big or small, in partnership with visionary government leadership, is making the economy grow.
Back to my weary travelers who are fighting to get to their destination with no control over their destiny, I draw a correlation with our citizens that may be either losing their jobs (or just trying to make ends meet) with little or no control over their destiny as well. They need government services now more than they have ever needed them in the past. How will we deliver these services as our revenue declines? How will we decide who receives services and who will not?
As a public servant I learned early in my career that delivering services efficiently and cost effectively is not an easy task. Technology now plays a key role in streamlining our processes and driving more services out to the public, Oakland County government is more “open” to citizens today than ever before because of our investment in technology. Accessing government over the web has grown from a few transactions in 1998 to millions in 2009. Embracing the web has allowed us to reengineer our service delivery platform which in turn has changed the way citizens interact with government.
A County Commissioner asked me the other day, “Are we being cost effective with our technology investment and is it still worth spending so much?” I thought to myself, we have been making these investments for years and as a result we have been changing the relationship between citizens and government. I impulsively responded, “We could go back to providing services with pencil and paper and you could hire hundreds of additional people to accomplish what we are accomplishing with technology.” The ensuing conversation was much more productive, but I later realized that this Commissioner was frustrated with our financial situation and was probably being approached by frustrated citizens about the cost of government. In essence, they were frustrated that their individual plans had been altered and they had no control over the situation, just like the travelers I watched on my flight.
In my opinion, investing in technology for strategic change to government is needed now more than ever. People will argue that it may be more important to provide services directly to people and not continue to spend funds on expensive technology initiatives. I would argue that it is the enabling technologies that are streamlining the delivery of services to millions of citizens -- and that technology will be a key element in the reengineering of everything government does. Change the process of government by using technology to enable that streamlining effort, and bring down the cost, and ultimately gain greater control over our destiny. A continued investment in technology ensures government services will be delivered cost-effectively and efficiently, and be more readily available to more people than ever before.
My family watched as many people disembarked from the plane that day to begin trying to gain some control over their destiny. Little did they know that right after they began their alternate journey, the maintenance problem was fixed and the plane was pushed back from the gate. I wonder if they regret not hanging in and riding out the tough times to get to their good times? Maybe that is what we need in Michigan. Maybe we need to ride out the tough times while working together to gain control over our destiny. Maybe we need to embrace technology more in these tough times to help us get there. What do you think?
Does your city, county, state or agency have an interesting story to share? Do you want to be recognized for your great work? Then tell us your story and have it shared on the Microsoft State & Local Government blog! Thank you to Mr. Bertolini for sharing his story with us today.
- 2010 NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing Now Open!
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By Kristin Bockius, State & Local Government Social Media Marketing Manager
I have the privilege of co-owning the Microsoft DigiGirlz Day event program for Microsoft. We host events all over the world to give high school girls the opportunity to learn about careers in technology, connect with Microsoft employees, and participate in hands-on computer and technology workshops. Microsoft's DigiGirlz Day is a one-day event designed to provide high school girls with a better understanding of what a career in technology is all about. We share content from NCWIT (National Center for Women & Information Technology) during these events and I wanted to share the news about the open call for awards in case you know an young high school woman who qualifies. Please help spread the word and reach our goal of 1000 applicants this year!
Applications are open now through November 15, 2009 for the 2010 NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing!
Sponsored by Bank of America, the NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing recognizes young women at the high-school level for their computing-related achievements and interests. By generating visibility for these young women in their local communities, the NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing encourages their continued interest in computing, attracts the attention and support of educational and corporate institutions, and emphasizes at a personal level the importance of women's participation.
All US high school young women (grades 9-12) are invited to apply. Complete information on the award is available at http://www.ncwit.org/award including Spanish language versions of the Award promotional materials.
Awardees are selected for their demonstrated, outstanding aptitude and interest in information technology/computing; solid leadership ability; good academic history; and plans for post-secondary education.
Each qualified national award winner will receive:
- $500 in cash
- a laptop computer, provided by Bank of America
- a trip to attend the Bank of America Technology Showcase and Awards Ceremony, March 27, 2010, held in Charlotte, North Carolina
- an engraved award for both the student and the student’s school
Past winners are not eligible to apply (but we appreciate your help in spreading the word), however, previous applicants (including Semi Finalists) are encouraged to apply.
New this Fall! Affiliate Awards
Through a generous grant from the Motorola Foundation, there will be additional Affiliate Award programs in Texas, Illinois & Florida. The application period is the same and students who apply from these states will be entered into both the local and national competitions. Affiliate award prize packages will vary by location.
- How many (Windows) 7’s can you find?
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By Kristin Bockius, State & Local Government Social Media Marketing Manager
Today is a BIG day! I’m thrilled that our new operating system, Windows 7, is now available for everyone.
In a recent blog post, Reasons Why I Like Windows 7 & Office 2010, I shared some of my favorite features including how quickly the operating system launches, ways to personalize it and rapidly access programs. You can learn more here about other features, how it works and of course where to buy it (no reason to be shy about that one). 
I am excited to announce that starting today and continuing for 7 (business) days, I am going to share 7 Windows tips & tricks each day via our Microsoft Gov twitter handle! After the 7 days are over, we (the very nice government marketing & web team) will package up all of the tips & tricks (56 in total!) we got from the Windows team into a nice downloadable document.
And, if that wasn’t enough (said in my best infomercial announcer voice), one of my co-workers has been working on a Windows 7 e-book for government that will be available in a few days. You should check it out (it will live here when it is ready) – there is a wealth of information in this e-book.
To celebrate the launch of Windows 7, corporate launched an exciting new online competition yesterday called 7 Ways to Change the World. The competition encourages people to create a 2 minute video explaining how they believe a Windows PC could help a nonprofit make a greater impact. There will be 7 winners, and each person who submits a winning entry will receive a new PC with Windows 7 and a $7,000 grant for their chosen NGO. Contest ends November 11th!
Another great thing to share – we have customers that already have Windows 7 in place! A great example for government is the City of Miami. Beginning today, the City of Miami has Windows 7 workstations available at several Elevate Miami ePark locations where the community has free computer use for practice and training. As you may recall from my past posts, the City of Miami has a mission to prepare its community for the future, and through the Elevate Miami program, youth, adults, senior citizens and small businesses can deepen their technical knowledge and skills to gain a competitive edge within this new digital age.
By having Windows 7 accessible on the same day it officially launches, the City of Miami is clearly demonstrating a strong commitment to ensure its citizens stay right in step with new technology. This is an excellent example of how state and local organizations can use innovate technical resources to build and prepare their workforce and contribute to the economy.
To learn more about Elevate Miami, click here. In addition, please share your state and local community initiatives that highlight how your area is leveraging the latest in technology. These programs are something that I truly like and love to share!
If you want to learn more about Windows 7, as well as our other products that are launching (Windows Server® 2008 R2 & Microsoft Exchange Server 2010), attend our free virtual event on Nov 10th. Details can be found here.
And just in case you counted, there were 19 7’s in this post! :)
- Battling digital crimes on the front lines
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By Colin Nurse, Microsoft State & Local Government Chief Technology Officer
Are you a fan of CSI? It is a fast-paced drama about a team of forensic investigators trained to solve crimes by examining the evidence and it has aired on CBS for years. The one thing that always gets me is how they are able to scour a crime scene, collecting irrefutable evidence and find the missing pieces that will solve the mystery.
That is why I was thrilled to see that our company now has a bit of its own CSI on its hands. Crimes often are digital in nature, so we have partnered with the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) to help law enforcement combat cyber crime.
NW3C will be the first U.S.-based distributor of the Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor (COFEE). Microsoft developed the COFEE program to leverage digital forensic technologies to help investigators gather evidence of live computer activity at the scene of a crime.
Even if the front-line officers do not have computer expertise, they can still conduct forensic analysis on a computer before it is powered down and restarted. This way, any live evidence will not risk being lost when a PC is shut down and the information can still be used to assist in the investigation. [updating this per the comment on this post – thanks Danny!] The first responder is simply running a program that acquires information which has been defined by an examiner who setup the COFEE USB drive. The first responder is NOT conducting "analysis" and we should be careful in calling what they are doing anything but a pre-defined data capture. In addition, in the vast majority of cases, we would not be "powering down and restarting" the computer system.
Just think of it as Grissom detecting evidence inside of your computer or network to detect and combat criminal activities.
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