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Southern Oregon University

Information Technology

IT Services Guide for Employees

Welcome to Southern Oregon University! This guide has been prepared to make it easier for you to understand the basics of our IT environment and to make you aware of the services we provide. Please read it carefully and keep it available as a reference. If you have questions or need assistance please contact the Faculty/Staff Help Desk.

Your SOU Network Account

All faculty, staff and registered students are provided with a network account. The network account provides access to network services including your P: drive, which is your personal storage area, and if you are a faculty or staff member, to your S: drive, which is the department shared storage. It also allows you access to a variety of network printers. If you need to apply for a network account, you can pick up an application in the Computer Services Center.

Initial Login

A few days after receiving your application for a network account, you will be contacted by the Faculty and Staff Help Desk and given your user name and a temporary password. You will then be walked through the initial login (this must be done on your office computer or at one of the computers in the Help Desk Area). You'll also be changing your password to a secure password that only you will know. Remember that this network login password should be at least 8 characters in length, and is case sensitive

Network File Storage

Storage of your documents should be done on the network. Because we are morally as well as legally responsible to protect personal information of faculty, staff and students it is important that we take precautions to secure it from prying eyes. The network drives are on our servers are only accessible by authorized individuals and are protected by various means. In addition these drives are backed up nightly, so if you ever lose or accidentally delete a file or folder we can recover it for you within a few days. You may have a number of network drives available to you but everyone will have at least a personal network drive (P:) and a department drive (S:).

The P: drive - This is your personal space on one of the network servers. You will have this drive available to you on any computer that you log into on campus. We recommend using this drive to store all of your files. You can create folders here that can help you organize the files/documents you save.

The S: drive - This is a public drive for all the people in our department so that documents can be shared. Everyone in the department will have access to read, write, create, erase, modify and save files on the S: drive. The most common place to save files for public use will be under the S:\data folder. Faculty will have a "Classes" folder in the S: drive where they can save files for students to access (e.g. syllabus, lecture notes, assignments). Note: Students can only read from the "Classes" folder… they cannot write to or delete from this folder.

Campus email

Your campus email account is also known as your Gmail account. Gmail is a suite of applications that work together to provide you the ability to work with email, calendars and contacts. The campus address book is accessible within Gmail.

Your Initial login to Gmail - Your email is accesible through the MySOU portal or directly by going to mail.g.sou.edu.  Your username and password are the same as your network account.

Other IT Resources

Computer Labs

There are more than 28 student computer labs on campus. Each lab provides unique hardware and software resources for students, staff and faculty. Labs provide access to our network as well as the Internet and many of them have services such as high speed printing, copying, faxing and scanning. Students are charged fees for printing.

Special facilities are available for visually and physically disabled persons.

Smart Classrooms

We use the term "Smart Classroom" loosely to identify a classroom that has any kind of electronic instructional technology. For most smart classrooms, the current campus instructional technology standard is to provide an overhead projector, VCR, and television in each room. Approximately 65 classrooms including labs have network/Internet connections, computer-based teaching stations, display equipment such as LCD projectors, large monitors, audio systems, and other appropriate instructional devices. A number of departments have also aquired their own portable notebook/LCD units.

Classroom scheduling is done by the Academic Scheduling Coordinator in the Registrar's office, in consultation with department chairs. For specific classroom information or requests, please contact the Academic Scheduling Coordinator at 2-6602.

Media Services

The following electronic devices are available to you for short-term checkout from our IT Receptionist and Media Checkout window in the Computing Services Center from 8AM to 5PM, Monday through Friday. Please make a reservation since these items are limited.

Laptop Computers

Video Camcorders

Projectors

MP3 Recorders

Cassette Recorders

Digital Camera

PA System

Microphones

VCRs and TVs/monitors

 

"Clicker Technology"

 

As an employee, for only $7 you may purchase the complete Microsoft Office Professional Suite for use on your home computer. This software must be removed if you leave employment at Southern Oregon University. Just ask about these at the IT Receptionist and Media Checkout window.

Wireless Access

Our campus is friendly to mobile users. You will find access to our "hotspots" from virtually every area and major building. If you are working from a University supplied laptop it will be pre-configured to allow you easy access to the network (including your P: and S: drives) as well as to the Internet. If you are using your own personal laptop you will go through a "registration" process which will ensure that you have up-to-date anti-virus and anti-spyware protection before we allow you access to the Internet. If you do not have that protection you will wind up in "quarantine" but don't worry, we will allow you limited access to download protection or update your definition files. You'll soon be surfing the Net and doing it without worry!

Faculty/Staff Help Desk

Having problems with your computer? Maybe you can't get logged in, or maybe it just won't turn on. Whatever the problem; hardware, software or training, the Faculty / Staff Help Desk (2-6900) is the place to call or email. Our trained and courteous student employees will log the call, and walk you through the problem. If they can't solve it for you, then they'll escalate it to the people who can.

Although we don't support your personal computing equipment, we will help you get connected to the wireless network and except for things such as helping you connect to the wireless network or suggestions for protective software. We are staffed Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

IT Training Classes

Classroom Training - Classes on a variety of subjects are offered each term in a classroom environment. "Hands-on" and interactive, you'll learn tricks and tips that will help you do your work quickly and more efficiently. Most classes are 50 minutes long and they are staggered in day and time to allow you to find one that fits your schedule.

Department Training - We also offer courses on a departmental basis and will schedule a time and place that works for your whole staff. Our departmental classes can be given in an organized manner to step through the needs of your employees.

One-on-one Training - If you are under the gun and need training for that PowerPoint presentation right away, then give us a call and we'll make it happen.

Banner Student Information System (SIS)

SIS is the software product Southern Oregon University uses for its student information system. The Banner Student Information System supports the full range of functions necessary for student administration including: creation of catalogs, scheduling of classes, recruitment, admissions, assignment of housing, registration, advising, academic history, degree audit reporting and accounts receivable. In this system, you can view class rosters, academic histories, student registration, faculty schedules, enter advising plans, print unofficial transcripts, and more. To get a Banner Student Information System account, please fill out an account request form and be sure to check the Banner SIS box., Included with the account will be a VMS Operating System account which will allow you to run reports from the BASIS jobs Menu such as class rosters, advisee lists, current majors, section tallies, and more.

Banner SISWeb for Faculty

Banner SISWeb for Faculty is a web system that allows faculty to enter their grades as well as view/print class rosters, wait lists, transcripts, give registration overrides, run degree evaluations and more. It requires a faculty ID and a personal identification number (PIN) to get in. All instructors have an account automatically set up for them using their 9 digit faculty ID. They must then go into Banner Student and set their personal identification number (PIN) the first time or call the Registrar's office to have it set for them. No account request form is needed for this system.

Student Data Warehouse

This is a subset of data from the Banner Student Information System combined with a user friendly, graphical query/reporting tool (BI/Query). In this system, you can perform queries on the student data and format the results as reports, mailing labels, or ASCII text to be exported to other applications. There are also some pre-defined reports available (i.e.; Academic History by Department/Subject, Class Rosters, etc. To get a Student Data Warehouse account, you need to first sign up for a Student Data Warehouse class.

CAPP Degree Evaluation

"What will it take for me to graduate? Am I on schedule? What if I change my major?"

These are questions that are commonly asked by students; questions that CAPP (Curriculum, Advising and Program Planning) can answer. CAPP Degree Evaluation is a tool used by both students and advisors to audit course work against degree requirements. Students and advisors can obtain quick and accurate information that shows just where the student is on the path to completing their degree.

You can initiate a degree evaluation, view results, and print degree evaluation reports via SISWeb. You can also do a "What-If-Analysis" to generate an evaluation showing what courses need to be taken and what requirements have been met if the student were to change their degree program.

Important Reminders

  • CAPP degree evaluations are not official. Final approval for graduation is required by the student's department and the Registrar's office.
  • CAPP Degree Evaluation should not take the place of regular academic advising.
  • Not all degree programs have been set up in WebCAPP. More programs will be added throughout the year. SISWeb contains a list of all programs available.
  • CAPP can only be used for catalog years starting Fall 2000 or later.
  • Not all transfer work has been equated to SOU classes and may not show up in the Degree Evaluation reports. Advisors, the Student ACCESS Center, or the Registrar's office decide which transfer courses count towards a student's degree requirements.
  • OHSU Nursing students, undeclared majors, and pre-majors may only run Degree Evaluation on their general education requirements or run a What-If-Analysis on other degree programs.
  • Questions on how to use CAPP Degree Evaluation or about the content of degree evaluation should be directed to the Faculty and Staff Help Desk at 552-6969 or via email at Helpdesk@sou.edu.
  • Complete documentation on CAPP Degree Evaluation is located at http://www.sou.edu/it/sis/CAPP_Faculty_Degree_Evaluation.shtml.

Other Web Resources at SOU

The following web-based resources are available for your use.

SOU Web Sites

Southern Oregon University is committed to establishing an effective presence on the World Wide Web. This presence should be an inviting information resource for current and prospective students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of SOU and the community, wherever they may be. To that end, the SOU Home Page and related pages should represent-in a positive light-the people, programs, and mission of the University, for instructional as well as promotional purposes.

The design and content of the upper level web pages is determined by the SOU Web Team. Our goal is to give these pages a consistent look and feel. Upper level pages include the "top level," the university home page, and "second level" pages: department overview pages, search and navigational pages, and others at the root of the server. In addition, the Web Team or Webmaster will maintain Perl, CGI, and PHP scripts, databases, and other files and directories.

Each department should designate an individual or individuals who will be responsible for maintaining the home page of the department and for creating links for all pages related to that department, personal or otherwise. Departmental webmasters should ensure that their site and home page is kept up to date by periodically deleting old files and updating existing files.

To create your own personal web page, follow directions here.

In support of your Web development efforts, the SOU Web Team has adopted a Content Management System, Publish, to make it easier to maintain department web sites. Publish makes it much easier for non-technical people to keep a website up to date. In addition it makes it much easier to update an entire site at one time. The Web Team is in the process of assisting departments to migrate their sites into Publish.

For more information on creating web pages at SOU, including policies, guidelines, and instructions, please contact SOU's Marketing office 2-6093 . For support and training options contact the Faculty and Staff Help Desk at 2-6900.

Campus Calendar

A centralized calendar has been set up on the web to browse and search for campus events. We encourage you to post all events happening on campus or SOU-related events off-campus to the online Events Calendar. Just go to the calendar, then click on the "submit an event" button in the top navigation. The event will then be reviewed by an editor before appearing on the calendar itself, usually within 24 hours.

 

The academic calendar is available at www.sou.edu/admissions/calendar.shtml.

eClassifieds

To advertise or look for items for sale, for rent, or wanted, or to offer extra equipment or supplies to other departments, use the eClassifieds. This free service for faculty, staff, students, and alumni includes posting areas such as Announcements, Rentals & Roommates, Automobiles, Ridesharing, General Merchandise, and Department-to-Department. Features include Keyword Notify, which allows you to set up your own keyword search agents to notify you when a particular kind of ad is posted, and Privacy Mail, which keeps your own email address hidden. New ads appear as soon as they are posted. Visit the eClassifieds at: http://www.sou.edu/classifieds.

Acceptable Use Policy

All faculty, staff, and students are expected to be familiar with and abide by the SOU Computing Acceptable Use Policy. You can read it online at www.sou.edu/it/policies/accept.shtml.

For more information about computing at SOU, including the email system, working from off-campus, and much more, visit the Information Technology web site at www.sou.edu/it/ or contact … you guessed it … the Faculty/Staff Help Desk.