OET Cloud Services FAQ

It is a set of software productivity tools/programs you run over the Internet. Specifically we are using Google Apps as our base set of tools. Google Apps is accessed through a on-line account you connect to with your computers Web Browser. See question “What is Google Apps below?”.

OET Cloud Services are intended to to be used by the OET Board, Chapter Chairs and Staff positions at the state level to help them perform their duties and to offer new ways to communicate and share ideas.

Send an email to:  web@oregonequestriantrails.org.

Cloud refers to computer programs that can be used over the Internet. In the early days of PCs, before the internet, software programs only ran locally to help us with our work. Now with the availability of the Internet, these software programs can run on many other computers connect to the Internet. Do you use email today? Well then you are using “The Cloud”. The term cloud came about as a marketing tool or a way to offer/sell new computer related services and software to businesses.

Google Apps is a service from Google providing independently customizable versions of several Google products run under the OET owned domain name, “apps.oregonequestriantrails.org”. It features several Web applications with similar functionality to traditional office suites, including Gmail, Google Drive, Google Groups, Google Calendar, Talk, Docs and Sites.

Initially we will focus on the use of   Google Drive, and Gmail. Google Docs is an integral part of Google Drive, and Google Contacts is tied to these automatically, so we also expect these will be used also. Google Groups and Google Calendar productivity tools offer capabilities we may want to use in the future. Google Drive will provide a way to easily share and view the same OET related documents.  Gmail will provide a organizational  email account for those who want to separate their personal email form their OET email activities, but for those who do not want this, email routing will remain unchanged.

OET Cloud Service is basically our use of Google Drive, and if you choose, Gmail. There is help on the Internet available on how to use these products, but because we a focusing on using them in a limited way to make them easier to use,  help documentations to help get you started can be found here.

From your personal computer, open your Web Browser, and go to the OET Cloud Service Web page. Next click on the link to open the OET Cloud Services login window, and login.

If you are a OET Board, Chapter Chair or Staff member, you should have been emailed this information already. If not please send an email to web@oregonequestriantrails.org and request your account login information.

From  the OET Cloud Services login window, click on “I can’t access my account and follow the instructions to recover your password.

Google Drive provides a secure, central location to store OET related documents 0n-line on the OET Cloud. The same document can be viewed and if you have permission edited by all OET Staff members. This will help insure they are up to date and current. The OET Documents once available on the OET DVD are now accessed through Google Drive. When in Google Drive, you will see the folder OET Shared Drive. This folder contains all of the shared OET documents. Adding a document under this folder makes it instantly available to other OET Staff.

Because OET Cloud Services is based on Google Apps, then the recommended Web Browser is Google Chrome. You can use other popular Web Browsers like Internet Explorer, but some user features may not be available to you to use. Download Chrome here for your PC or MAC.

The use of OET Trail Mail by OET Members is now managed under Google Groups. Previously this is a separate Cloud Service OET used through Yahoo Groups (groups.yahoo.com), but Yahoo Groups were discontinued. Google Groups is very similar to Yahoo Groups so you will notice no difference. Under Google Groups Trail Mail users now have access to OET online shared files, see the OET Trail Mail page for details.