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Procedures and Guidelines

The Information Technology Services department offers the following procedures and guidelines to ensure that campus standards are enforced as well as to better serve the IT needs of the campus. This list addresses the everyday issues and practices of the department but is not intended to provide a complete list of all possible scenarios.

Shawnee State University has a Campus Computer and Network Use Policy that applies to all users who are granted access to the University's computing resources. This is an official University board approved policy that all users must abide by which identifies conditions for use of University Computing Resources as well as sanctions that will be taken in the event of violations.

Procedures and Guidelines

General ITS Information:

Account Related Information:

University Network Related Information:

ITS Departmental Procedures and Guidelines

General ITS Information:

Requests for service

All requests for service should be submitted via the IT Service Desk Form in order to allow for the most expedient service. ITS utilizes a help desk software package (HEAT) to track and assign jobs within the department. This software will also notify the user with a return email when the request has been resolved.

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Contacting ITS after hours

The ITS Department is fully staffed from 8:00am until 5:00pm, Monday through Friday.

Users needing to report an urgent technology problem after hours should do so by calling Campus Security at x3243. Campus Security will contact ITS to relay the problem. Please be sure to provide Security with a detailed description of the problem, your name, your location, and a contact number if possible. Non-urgent problems should be reported by submitting a request via the IT Service Desk Form

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Service and Support of University Owned Equipment

ITS provides service and support of all university owned equipment.

Equipment under manufacturer's warranty will be serviced in accordance with the warranty and all parts will be acquired through warranty procedures. There will be no charge to the individual department for service and parts covered under warranty. The cost of parts needed for equipment no longer under manufacturer's warranty are the responsibility of the individual department. ITS will provide price quotes and ordering information to the individual department, who must order and pay for the necessary parts.

Printers needing maintenance kits will be serviced by ITS. ITS will provide price quotes and ordering information for the specific maintenance kit necessary for servicing the specific printer to the individual department, who must order and pay for the maintenance kit.

ITS may recommend to the individual department the need to replace a specific piece of equipment based on service record, severity of problem, cost of parts or repair, or other similar reasons. Equipment recommended for replacement by ITS and not replaced by the department may be deemed unserviceable by ITS, in which case future service will not be provided on the equipment.

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Service and Support of Non-University Property

Service and support of non-university property is the responsibility of the individual owner. This includes but is not limited to home computers, laptops, pocket PCs, iPods, and cellular phone combination devices regardless of whether the equipment is being used for university purposes or not.

ITS does provide supporting documentation for university related services such as wireless access, University housing connectivity, and accessing email from off campus. This documentation can be obtained on the ITS Web Page.

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Physical Security of Computer Equipment

ITS will not be held responsible for the physical security of assets that do not belong to the ITS Department. Individual departments must take the security measures they believe necessary to assure the physical security of their assets such as regulating key allocation and locking doors appropriately. Departments which choose to implement special security equipment for their computer labs, will need to ensure that ITS has appropriate access to maintain computers when necessary. Therefore, departments who choose to place physical locks on equipment must provide copies of the keys to all locks so that ITS can obtain access to the systems at any time.

Any physical asset that is in the possession of ITS for setup or service will be properly secured by the ITS staff at all times. Items in the possession of ITS are the temporary responsibility of ITS, but only while an active HEAT Ticket exists

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Account Related Information:

Assistance with Accounts

Users needing assistance with network login or MySSU accounts can come to the ITS office (Commons 005) for assistance during regular business hours (8:00 - 5:00, Monday - Friday). Students may also come to the Reference Desk in the Clark Memorial Library for assistance with their network login account only. To have any account password reset, the user must come in person and present a valid University ID or other legal photo ID.

During the first two weeks of each new semester, ITS assists students in evening labs (after 6:00pm) with account setup and initial logging on to the campus network. The goal of this effort is to provide timely assistance to students with evening classes, after regular ITS business hours, the first two weeks of each semester.

Faculty teaching in labs with classes scheduled before 6:00pm who wish to have ITS staff assist with initial account login in the classroom can schedule this by submitting an email to Help Desk. Faculty who prefer to send only those students needing assistance to ITS for account assistance during class time are asked to notify ITS in advance so we can ensure adequate staff on hand to quickly support them and get them back to class as quickly as possible.

Basic instructions for logging into your campus network account can be found here.

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Creation and Use of Temporary Accounts

Temporary login accounts will be used for special University sponsored events in which using individual logins for all participants is not feasible. Departments needing such accounts must request to have one established at least two weeks prior to the event by submitting an email to Help Desk.

An SSU employee must be responsible for the temporary account, including actions taken while this account is in use. The Campus Computer and Network Use Policy applies to all users of the campus network. Temporary accounts will be disabled upon completion of the event

Temporary accounts do not have the ability to save or store documents on the network or on the individual lab computers. Departments using these temporary accounts must provide for an external source of media, such as a disk or a flash drive.

Departments needing temporary individual accounts that need to be created and assigned for each separate user must submit a formal request to ITS.

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Newly Hired Employees:

Network login and email accounts will be created for newly hired employees once ITS receives notice of the hire. The Department of Human Resources will contact ITS once all paperwork is complete.

It is the responsibility of the Departmental Supervisor to ensure that ITS is made aware of the hire if more timely access is required, by sending an email to Help Desk and requesting confirmation of hire be made by the Human Resources Department. An account will not be created until this confirmation from HR has been received even if a request has been made. It is the responsibility of the Departmental Supervisor to notify ITS if access is needed to the CARS Administrative Systems by submitting an email to Help Desk.

The telephone extension formally used by the employee’s predecessor will be reassigned to the new employee unless otherwise requested by the Departmental Supervisor through an email request to Help Desk. Access to a voice mailbox will be established by default as well.

Long-distance access codes and calling cards are available for University employees. The Departmental Supervisor must request access by sending an email to Help Desk. Long-distance access codes and/or long-distance calling cards will not be transferred from the previous employees to newly hired personnel.

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Transfer of Employees Between Departments :

If an employee moves from one department on campus to another department, it is the responsibility of the Departmental Supervisor of the original department to cancel any long distance access code or calling card that may have been issued to the employee. It is the responsibility of the Departmental Supervisor of the new department to request any long distance access code or calling card that may be needed in the new position. To ensure proper departmental charging, ITS will not transfer calling cards or long distance access codes within or between departments.

If changes in the user rights on the Administrative Systems are needed, the appropriate Departmental Supervisor should submit a request for the addition or deletion of access rights. In most instances, ITS will need to work with both Departmental Supervisors to ensure that rights are adjusted appropriately.

The telephone extension will remain within the original department unless otherwise requested by the Departmental Supervisor of the original department. The employee will be issued a new telephone extension for use within the new department.

It is the responsibility of the Departmental Supervisors to notify ITS of the need for any of these changes. All requests should be submitted by sending an email to Help Desk.

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Leaving the University

Students:

The network login and email accounts of students who graduate or who are not enrolled for two consecutive semesters will be deleted. All files in the email system and on any network storage location will be permanently deleted at this time.

Employees:

An employee’s network login, CARS login, and/or email accounts will all be disabled by ITS upon receiving notification of termination from either The Department of Human Resources or the Departmental Supervisor. The Immediate Supervisor of the former employee is responsible for ensuring the former employee’s computer is reviewed and evaluated for existing documents pertaining to official university business, and that ITS is notified via the help desk to assist with transition of the computer. All institutional documents should be evaluated by the department to determine if they need to be archived or transitioned to another university employee as governed under the Campus Computer and Network Use Policy. Once all institutional documents are identified, the employee’s accounts will be deleted, all files in the individual’s email account will be removed, all user-specific software will be uninstalled, and files not targeted for archive residing on local or network storage location will be permanently deleted at this time. ITS will not modify, update, or re-image the former employee’s computer without direct authorization of the immediate supervisor.

Any long-distance access code and/or long-distance calling card that may have been issued to the former employee will be disabled immediately upon receipt of notification of termination. Long-distance access codes and/or long-distance calling cards will not be transferred from employees leaving the University to newly hired or existing personnel.

The telephone extension used by the former employee will remain active and will continue to be the financial responsibility of the department. It is the responsibility of the department to forward the extension to an appropriate party who should receive any incoming calls that may be intended for the former employee. This extension will remain in the department to be reassigned to the replacement hire for the vacated position.

Departments wishing to completely relinquish a telephone extension must submit a formal request. To do this the Departmental Supervisor must send an email to Help Desk specifically stating they no longer need the extension and wish to return it to the campus pool. Once an extension is returned to the pool, it will be used elsewhere on campus and is not available for the department to re-use at a later date.

ITS will reset the voicemail password giving the department supervisor access to the former employee’s voice mailbox. It is the responsibility of the department to modify and/or delete the greeting on the mailbox.

Retiree Accounts:

For those faculty who meet the retirement criteria as identified in the faculty contract, and elect to utilize the privilege of Computer Access, ITS will create a new network/email account that offers the retiree this privilege. Retiree’s wishing to utilize this post retirement privilege and have an account created, can request this during the Exit Interview process with the Department of Human Resources. Retirees who do not request that an account be created during the Exit Interview will not be provided with an account.

The account will be created using the same username as their current faculty account however it will be a new account. Retiree accounts will have access to campus email and will also have the ability to use campus dialup from offsite using the same logon credentials.

The one-time password will be set to the formal retirement date of the individual as provided by the Department of Human Resources. The password will be entered in the format YYYYMMDD. The retiree will be required to change their password on first logon. All guidelines regarding Assistance With Accounts are applied to Retiree Accounts.

The employee’s current account and the post retirement account will not exist concurrently and data cannot be moved from one account to the other at the time the Retiree Account is created. Employees must save any items of a personal nature they wish to retain on some alternative form of external media before their Employee Account is replaced. Any documents not retrieved will be deleted at the time the Employee Account is replaced with the Retiree Account.

In compliance with Shawnee State University Policy 5.30, ITS will disable accounts for those who leave the University and then delete them after documents of an institutional nature have been identified (by the department supervisor). Employees who leave the University do not have the option to keep their existing Employee Account open unless they will continue to work in some capacity for the University. This requires VP approval to do so. Please refer to Leaving the University for information regarding the guidelines for normal account termination. Shawnee State University reserves the rights to terminate Retiree Accounts without notice due to lack of activity for 12 consecutive months.

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University Network Related Information:

Personal Laptops or Devices on the Network (Hard-wired and Wireless)

Users found placing unauthorized equipment on the campus hard-wired network will be considered to be in violation of the Campus Computer and Network Use Policy.

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Attaching Networking Devices to the Campus Network

Access to the campus network is provided across campus by the ITS Department. Users should have no need to attach miscellaneous network devices such as routers, hubs, switches, or wireless access points to the campus network. Users found placing unauthorized equipment on the campus network will be considered to be in violation of the Campus Computer and Network Use Policy and the unauthorized devices are subject to removal.

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Addition of Physical Network Ports

Users or departments needing network access installed in a location not currently networked to suit their needs must submit their request via the IT Service Desk Form.

ITS will acquire a quote for the necessary materials and labor required for the new wiring and send it to the department for processing. ITS will then work with the vendor and department to coordinate the installation.

If the additional port is considered to be a part of a building renovation or building re-wiring, it must be included in the overall scope of the building renovation. This will be contracted out in most instances and the costs should be covered by the infrastructure funds of the building project as a whole. ITS will work with contractors to define the scope and ensure project is completed to meet SSU standards. If a department is being temporarily relocated due to a building renovation, costs for materials may be charged as outlined above if the temporary location does not contain sufficient connectivity. ITS will scope the proposed temporary location and provide a cost estimate if notified in advance of the move to allow the department to budget for these costs in the renovation plans.

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Campus Infrastructure Usage

ITS has many infrastructure paths established on the SSU campus and extending out to SSU housing. These paths are primarily in the form of underground conduit, manhole openings, and conduit run within campus buildings for the purpose of housing data and voice communications cable. These conduits were installed solely for use for ITS to satisfy current and future upgrades to campus infrastructure. Additional use of the conduit, manholes, and handholes already populated with fiber would most likely result in damage to the existing cable and therefore is not considered appropriate. Additional use of the conduit, manholes, and handholes already populated with voice cabling could likely result in damage to the existing cable or void existing warranty and therefore is not considered appropriate without prior ITS consent. No open conduit should be populated with fiber/telephone/video without prior consent of ITS. Departments utilizing these conduits without prior ITS consent will be held financially responsible for the repair of damaged fiber previously existing in the conduit. It is not the responsibility of ITS to prove any additions caused the damage, it will simply be assumed the damage was caused by the unauthorized additions. ITS cannot be held responsible for any damage to unauthorized fiber/telephone/video in the event that ITS needs to replace or repair the lines that were installed at the intended use to the conduit.

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