SHSU Information Resources Update

Enjoy Your Holidays!

Lots will be going on here while you are away. Since the university will be closed during the holidays, we will be using the campus downtime to fix, update, and upgrade the computing systems and networks. If your department has special tasks that must be performed during the weekends or holidays during the semester break, please notify the Helpdesk now so that we can work to accommodate your schedule.

It probably won't be delivered by reindeer, but there will be software wrapped up and packaged for you.

Firefox 3.0.4 = new version
Java = new version
Mathematica = new version
Microsoft Office 2007 = reinstall
Microsoft Visio - new product
SamMenu = new version
Sci-Finder = reinstall
We are targeting December 27th for testing the EPO (Emergency Power Off) for the Data Center in AB1 – this will cut all power to the Data Center. So plan on taking that Saturday completely off from worrying about SHSU!

Faculty reminder: Blackboard will be down for the week of December 23rd through December 29th to allow maintenance.

Talk Back

The SamWeb Work Order (WO) system is THE Computer Services system for organizing the thousands of SHSU technology support requests. It literally is thousands. Since September 1st, we have created 3,948 WO's!

You can request a status update on your WO through the WO system itself. Go to SamWeb > Computer Services > Workorder System > User Menu > My Open WO's. You can quickly read what's happening with your request and you can also use this to explain further what the problems are.

We will be initiating a survey to each of you upon completion of your WO starting this month. The questions which we are planning to use are:

In general, I am satisfied with the completion of this workorder.
In general, I feel this workorder was completed within a reasonable amount of time.
Would you like a Director to contact you about this workorder? Yes/No
Please provide any other comments or feedback.

If you have thoughts as to how we can improve even the feedback/assessment process itself, please let us know. Send a note to Jacob Chandler, Director of Administrative Applications, and share your ideas.

Blackboard

Another semester almost done, and it's time for the dreaded grades. Attend the training session offered this month to learn the ins and outs of the Grade Center.

As mentioned above, and on the Blackboard site, Bb will be unavailable for a week during the holidays to allow time to set up the failover systems. Doing this during the semester break will allow us to perform the necessary diagnostics and changes which should limit downtime next semester. We know you want it up 100% of the time. Each step we are taking is with the goal of achieving a 99.999% uptime at least.

Sharing

We have moved the T: drive and we are pleased to say we have lots more space, but still with everyone at the same place, things can get crowded quickly. So please evaluate your files as you still are sharing your space with 1,600 other faculty and staff.

The T: drive is a perfect location for sharing with collaborators or co-workers. If you want more than one person in your department to access the same documents, don't send the same file through e-mail to dozens of people. Let them view them and/or edit in one location.

One more reminder: The S and T drives are state-owned property and as such are subject to the Open Records acts. You should not store personal information in either place. This would include movies, music, and pictures.

Keep It Unlisted

Protecting SHSU's campus information is not limited to hard-copy files, online information, or your hard drive. You also have private information stored on your campus fax machine. These machines have their own memory storage recording the incoming and outgoing numbers and messages.

Do you have your fax machine in a place where only authorized people can access? You should be aware that some fax machines allow you to reprint whatever was printed previously. So if you receive confidential information, be sure to clear the memory.

Training

Classes this month include:

December 8th, 10-11 a.m. AB1 room 215 Blackboard Grade Center and Grade Help for End of Semester: Our trainer will be providing assistance in organizing the Grade Center for end-of-semester calculations
December 9tn, 1-3 p.m. AB1 room 215 "Keeping a Low Profile": Learn how to keep your profile neat, tidy and under quota. All are encouraged to attend and participate in our very first interactive training session featuring CRS "clicker" quizzes and a Jeopardy game! (If y'all can help get the word out, that would be great. This is our "test run" for the games and clickers use in training classes)

January's schedule will include a class on Microsoft Visio, as the entire campus will be receiving that software during the semester break.

Check the Calendar for class times and sign up now to reserve your seat. You may also request one-on-one training or training for your department. Just e-mail the Helpdesk.

Just Change It

Nell Users: The new method of logging on to Nell is SecureCRT. This change was done to protect your password so that hackers could not steal it. So it's a good thing!
Unfortunately, there currently is a glitch (feature); you are denied login when your password gets even close to expiring. You can avoid this frustrating dilemma while we are working on an alternate fix. Just change your password early. It expires every 90 days so set an Outlook reminder to change it in 60 days. You can then change it by typing set password at the VMS $ prompt.

What's Good, What's Not, and What's Happening When?

The Helpdesk provides support for university equipment and software on the local area network. Each month's update will include the versions of software and minimum requirements for hardware with the new or changed information highlighted and bolded.

Memory Sticks: Purchase (and encourage your students to buy) flash drives that are USB Mass Storage Compliant.

Operating Systems: The supported version of Macintosh machines will be OS X, version 5 after the Leopard conversion which is underway. The supported version of Microsoft's operating system is Windows XP.

Software Packages: The supported versions of office suites are Microsoft's Office 2007. The new version of an office suite for Macintoshes is Microsoft Office 2008 and is being packaged for installation on campus machines.

Hardware Configurations: The new minimum requirements for the SHSU local area network support for a PC are a 2.5 GHz processor, 1.5 GB RAM, and an 80 GB disk, with 15 GB free. Our recommended configuration is a 3.0 GHz Core 2 Duo 2 GB, 800 MHz memory, and a 250 GB hard drive. The recommended configuration for a Macintosh on the LAN is a 1.6GHz PowerPC Single-core/Single processor, 1GB RAM, and a 40GB hard drive.

Computer Services may schedule significant periods of downtime for major system upgrades and maintenance. For your planning purposes, the weekend following each graduation will be set aside for scheduled outages. Additionally, certain systems may be unavailable on Friday nights after 6 p.m. and on holidays. Blackboard will be unavailable from 12/23/08 until 12/29/08.

All offers, training, and software above pertain to faculty and staff at SHSU only. If you have any questions, compliments, comments, or concerns, please let us know.