Free install of Microsoft Office 365 for up to 5 personal devices

Are you still running a really old version of Microsoft Office on your personal device? Have you been avoiding an upgrade to avoid having to pay for it? Well now you no longer have an excuse for not upgrading.

We've worked with our Microsoft representatives to make Office 365 available to you for free on up to 5 personal devices.

The Knowledge Base Article linked to below walks you through the process of creating an account on Microsoft's portal. The entire process takes about 5 minutes. It's simple and quick. Once you've created an account, you can install Office 365 on up to 5 personal devices for free.

Free install of Microsoft Office 365 on up to 5 personal devices

Enjoy!

New ITS Service Report "Room Ticket Counts"

We have added a new report to our list.  The new report is entitled "Room Ticket Counts".  This shows number of tickets per room over various periods of time.  Here is a link to this new report.

As a reminder, here is a link to all of our Service Reports.

Here is a link to our Service Catalog.

Here is a link to our Knowledge Base.

Access Lynda.com with a New York Public Library Card

Lynda.com  is an online educational site that includes over 5,000 courses (and over 130,000 videos) in popular fields like web design, web development, IT, education/instruction, media production, and business. Experts create and deliver all courses as well as provide supplemental materials like exercise files and relevant work samples.  These courses allow anyone to achieve personal and professional goals.  Users will need to create accounts in order to track course progress, create playlists of potential coursework, and keep course notes.
This is a valuable subscription based resource that is available for free with your New York Library Card or your Westchester Library System Card to access Lynda.com.

Please note that you can only access course content through the New York Public Library's Lynda.com login page, and not by directly visiting the Lynda.com homepage.

Representatives from the NY Public Library will be on campus to distribute NYPL cards:
February 5 from 11 am-1 pm 
February 6 from 5-7pm
Location: O'Malley 5th floor entrance.
Students must bring Manhattan College Student ID's. 

If you are not available at the above mentioned times:
Please review this KBA on  Applying for a New York Public Library Card

Please review this KBA on Accessing Lynda.com with a New York Public Library Card

partially reposted from Apply for a NYPL Library Card

Welcome Back!

We would like to welcome everyone back to campus and trust everyone had a relaxing and restorative summer break.

ITS Summer Updates

Client Services and Operations had a busy and very productive summer and would like to share some of our updates and accomplishments as we strive to be a strategic partner and provide  exceptional customer service  to the entire Manhattan College Community:

Upgraded PCs in:

De La Salle 210, RLC 103 and 105

Significant upgrades include

• Small Form Factor PC with mount placing PC behind monitor (RLC 103 and 105 only)
• Solid State Hard Drive for improved performance.

Classroom Renovations include the following joint efforts with Facilities Project Management team.

• Started installing Laser Projectors in renovated classrooms  
• Faculty and students will appreciate the instant on and off feature and the brighter light displayed from these update models.

Renovated Classrooms:

De La Salle 210

• Expanded to 34 desktops,
• New teacher's Ergotron station,
• New Laser Projector
• A new monitor added at front of room and 2 monitors in the back of the room

De La Salle 209, Advanced Learning Center

• 6 TV presentation stations
• New furniture designed to promote a collaborative learning environment.

Standard renovation including new laser projectors:

• De La Salle 214 & 216
• Alumni  200 & 201

Testing two rooms with limited  technology upgrades only:

• Renovation adding podium, PC and control unit

• De La Salle 314 and Leo Hall 324

Replaced aging Library Kiosk PCs and deployed new kiosk image.

Installed two Google Jamboards in library study rooms

• O’Malley 401
• O’Malley 314 (Jamboard will be moved to 314 within the first 2 weeks of school)

Support:

• Camino program by preparing a Chromebook cart containing 20 Chromebooks.

• Chemical Engineering Department by setting up a mini computer lab

Software Updates:

New computer lab image faster than ever before.

Replaced aging PCs in smart classrooms across campus and deployed new classroom PC image.

We have deployed software to track usage of software in our classrooms and computer labs.  We will use this data to optimize our licensing budget.  The next phase of this is to publish real time usage statistics of computer lab computers so that you can know where a free computer is at any given time.  The software we are using is called Labstats.

ITS Service Report link takes you to a series of links to reports generated by our ticketing and project management system. It includes data with regard to our service delivery statistics but also contains information with regard to rooms that are currently facing technology issues.

Not sure if a classroom issue has been resolved?  Click here for an up to date  Room Issues report: Complete with details on current status of each room that has an issue.

Banner (Forms) received a facelift this summer!  

• Banner Forms no longer requires JAVA, which means that more browsers, such as Google Chrome are now supported!

• ITS rolled out an Enterprise Reporting Environment called Argos. ITS has been actively working with the user community to empower them through the use of Argos for report development and thereby giving them the ability to get to their data more quickly.

Networking Updates

• Installed wireless throughout Alumni Hall to include classrooms 200 and 201, Student Health Services, and offices located on the second floor.

• Upgraded networking equipment in Draddy Gymnasium and Alumni Hall to increase the network speed between the two buildings.

Glance MC Updates

• Student Developers working for Web and Collaboration via Summer Internships and Work-Study / Campus Employment continue to update Manhattan College's Glance MC mobile app with new features and to take advantage of continuously evolving technologies.

• Students and employees are encouraged to download the native app - or updates when available - from either the iTunes App Store or on Google Play.  A key element of the app is the bundled Digital Jasper Card, an enhancement to one's plastic card and part of the college's Jasper Pay initiative. This convenient option is accepted at college dining venues and can also be used for access to certain locations on campus which currently use the plastic card. You'll find other features of each app useful on-the-go, as well.

• The Glance MC app is available in the iTunes App Store and on Google Play - simply search for “Glance MC”. For more information on this student-developed app, see the ITS Glance MC Mobile App page.

ITS STARS Update:

A Student Technology And Resource Specialist (STARS) is a Manhattan College student who exemplifies Lasallian values by utilizing their unique skill set to assist members of the Manhattan College community.  A STAR has a combination of excellent interpersonal communication skills and technology knowledge.  STARS show compassion when working with members of the community who are having technical difficulties.  STARS will be going through ongoing training this Fall and  upgrading their technical skills in order to offer even stronger support to the Manhattan College community. Managers are organizing training and a student management hierarchy with the goal of a 90% student run Client Services department in the upcoming Fall 2017 semester.
Reminders
Have a question?  Check out our Knowledge Base first.
The best way to get in touch with a Client Services representative is an email to its@manhattan.edu or a phone call to x7973 (718-862-7973). Note that email and voicemail for this line go to our ticketing system so we encourage you to leave a message
Please follow these instructions to update your personal email address: https://manhattan.teamdynamix.com/TDClient/KB/ArticleDet?ID=2619.
Remember that we will never ask you for your password. We encourage you all to please reset your computer and provide the temporary password to ITS prior to dropping it off at Client Services. If you do not do this prior, please allocate an extra 5 minutes to work with a Client Services representative so that they can assist you in changing your password when working with us. Upon completion of work on your computer, please allocate another 5 minutes so that a Client Services representative can assist you in changing your password back to its original state. This is necessary in order to safeguard your password. Remember that you should never give your password out to anyone under any circumstances. Note that the same procedure holds true when you are requesting assistance with one of your Manhattan College accounts. For more details about best practices for keeping your information secure at Manhattan College click this Cyber Safety link found on the ITS website.

Client Services can NOT lend out equipment to students. If a student needs equipment for a project, they must have a Manhattan College employee sign out equipment on their behalf. Note that the Manhattan College employee is responsible for that equipment.

Client Services can provide short-term loaner equipment such as laptops and projectors by reservation. Note that if equipment is needed long term, it should be purchased via your department.

In lieu of loaning certain cables and remotes, Client Services has installed commonly used VGA and Audio cables as well as projector remotes in all yet-to-be-renovated classrooms. Network cables will be provided to faculty upon request. Faculty requiring other specialty cables or adapters (such as Apple VGA adapters) should contact Client Services for assistance purchasing this equipment as they are not stocked or provided by Client Services.

The Client Services office does not work on personal computers. We will train employees and students and instruct them on how to fix their computers, but personal computers cannot be dropped off for service. No personal items should ever be left in any of the Client Services offices.

Please remember to plan event setups in advance. We work with limited resources so we cannot always complete last minute requests.  

Client Services currently has 3 convenient locations: Jasper Basement, LIB 502/504, & RLC 103. Please stop by the location closest to you. We encourage you to call first to be sure that someone is available as we are constantly assisting the Manhattan College community.

Client Services Hours of Operations can be found here.

Computer Lab Hours can be found here.

Campus-owned computers are purchased with hardware support provided by the manufacturer. ITS will diagnose and determine whether manufacturer hardware support is needed. For the fastest service, users are also able to contact the manufacturer directly to access hardware support and replacement.

Your feedback helps us improve our service and should be sent to https://docs.google.com/a/manhattan.edu/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeIph5pps5YgLJUC6NAN0PX7K3zCrPUh7cCcxYP1Q6cRm8xrA/viewform

Don't forget to add us to your Google+ circles +ITS and follow us on Twitter @MC_ITS

Check out our Blog: http://itsblog.manhattan.edu/

Check out our known issues page: http://itsblog.manhattan.edu/p/known-issues.html

Thank you for your attention.

RESOLVED: JasperNet outage overnight

ITS is aware of a network issue affecting some JasperNet users overnight.  The issue was identified prior to 6AM and resolved at approximately 6:30AM.  While many JasperNet users were unaffected, some devices connecting to JasperNet for the first time between 12:30AM and 6:30AM on Monday would have had trouble obtaining an IP address and may have received an error when trying to access network resources.

ITS deployed a temporary solution as of 6:30AM and will be working throughout the day to install a permanent fix to prevent this issue from reappearing in the future. 

Removal of USB DVD Drives Smart Classrooms

Since all Smart Classrooms have a PC with a DVD drive in them, we are removing the extraneous USB DVD drives from the podiums.  Please use the DVD drives on the PCs going forward.

Get on the Same Page: New Google Docs Features Help Power Team Collaboration

Getting people on the same page for a project can be tough. It requires managing a ton of opinions and suggestions. The last thing you should have to worry about is making sure your team is literally working on the same document. That’s why we built our powerful real-time editing tools to help with this—Google Docs, Sheets and Slides—so that teams can work together at the same time, using the most up-to-date version.

Today, we're introducing new updates to better help with "version control," to customize tools for your workflows, and to help teams locate information when they need it.

Track changes, make progress

It can take dozens of edits to make a document just right—especially a legal agreement, project proposal or research paper. These new updates in Docs let you more easily track your team’s changes. Now, your team can:

1. Name versions of a Doc, Sheet or Slide on the web.

Being able to assign custom names to versions of your document is a great way to keep a historical record of your team's progress. It's also helpful for communicating when a document is actually final. You can organize and track your team’s changes in one place under “Version history” (formerly known as “Revision history”) on the web. Select File > Version history > Name current version. For even quicker recall, there’s an option to select “Only show named versions” in Docs, Sheets or Slides.

2. Preview “clean versions” of Docs on the web to see what your Doc looks like without comments or suggested edits.

Select Tools > Review suggested edits > Preview accept all OR Preview reject all.

3. Accept or reject all edit suggestions at once in your Doc so your team doesn’t have to review every single punctuation mark or formatting update.

Select Tools > Review suggested edits > Accept all OR Reject all.

4. Suggest changes in a Doc from an Android, iPhone or iPad device.

Click the three dots menu in the top right of your Doc screen to suggest edits on the go. Turn on the “Suggest changes” toggle and start typing in “suggestion mode.”

5. Compare documents and review redlines instantly with Litera Change-Pro or Workshare Add-ons in Docs. 

Here’s a quick way to preview and accept all changes (or reject them) and name versions of your document.

Partially reposted from::  https://www.blog.google/products/g-suite/get-same-page-new-google-docs-features-power-team-collaboration/

Horan Hall: Brief Network Outage Friday, August 25th at 1pm

Physical Plant will be conducting a generator test in Horan Hall tomorrow at approximately 10am.

There will be two brief outages, one while switching to generator power, the other while switching back to mains power.

This will not affect the rest of campus.

Prioritized Support Monday 8/28 - Friday 9/8

Client Services will be providing priority support to classroom and network support requests from Monday 8/28 - Friday 9/8. Response times for all other requests will be slower than normal.  We apologize for any inconvenience.

RESOLVED: Wifi affecting Thomas and Hayden Halls

UPDATE #3: ITS has resolved the wireless issues in Thomas Hall and Hayden Hall. If you continue to have any wireless issues, please contact ITS at its@manhattan.edu or at extensions-7973.

UPDATE #2: ITS is working with the wireless vendor to correct these issues. We apologize for this inconvenience.

UPDATE: ITS has determined the issue and is currently working on correcting it.

ITS had been made aware of an issue affecting the wireless networks in Thomas and Hayden Halls. We are currently troubleshooting the issue.

We apologize for the inconvenience and will update this blog post with any updates.

Client Services Closure Monday 8/21 11AM - 2PM

ITS Client Services offices will be closed from 11AM - 2PM on Monday 8/21 for mandatory staff training.  No support will be available during this time period.  Please plan accordingly.  We apologize for the inconvenience.

Prioritized Support Monday 8/14 - Friday 8/25

ITS teams will be extremely busy closing out summer projects and preparing classrooms and computer labs for the Fall 2017 semester from Monday 8/14- Friday 8/25.  Response times will be slower than normal and priority will be given to classroom and network support requests.  We apologize for any inconvenience.

8/11/2017: Upgrading DegreeWorks Production to 5.0.0

Starting at 9:00 AM today, 8/11/2017, ITS will be performing an upgrade on the production DegreeWorks environment. The upgrade requires a database upgrade, as well as, moving through several point releases with the DegreeWorks product. The maintenance is expected to take several hours and the production environment will be down for the entire maintenance window. We will update this blog post as we have more information on the progress and status of the upgrade.

- - - - -

Updated @ 4:30 PM:

The upgrade is complete. DegreeWorks should be fully accessible.

Planned Network Maintenance Draddy/Thomas/Alumni Hall 8/18 at 7am

UPDATE 2: During the maintenance, it was found that some of the networking equipment was faulty and needed to be replaced. This caused the outage to last longer than anticipated. As of 3:30pm, this afternoon, the network maintenance in Draddy Gym and Alumni Hall has been completed successfully. The network maintenance in Thomas Hall will be put off until a later date. We apologize for this inconvenience.

UPDATE: Due to some power issues with the new equipment being installed, this maintenance is being pushed back to next Friday, Aug 18th at 7am. We apologize for any inconvenience.

ITS will be conducting network maintenance on the building network in Thomas Hall and Draddy Gym/Alumni Hall. This scheduled maintenance will be conducted on Friday, August 11th from 7am-10am. 

In order to improve the network reliability, there will be scheduled network maintenance in order to upgrade old and outdated networking equipment. This scheduled network maintenance will affect both the wired and wireless networks in Thomas Hall, Alumni Hall, and Draddy Gymnasium.

We apologize for the inconvenience that this may cause. If you have any questions, please contact ITS at extension x-7973 or via email at its@manhattan.edu.

Banner 9 - Scheduled Downtime 8/2/2017

Dear Colleagues,

ITS will apply Banner 9 patches and upgrades to the production environment tonight (August 2, 2017) between 10:00pm - 1:00am.  This will require 3 hours of downtime.

Thanks you,

Information Technology services.

- - - - -

Updated at 12:20 AM:

Maintenance is complete.

Banner 9 Known Issues

Below find information about the Banner 9 known issues and solutions in the form of a Knowledge Base Article to date:

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Cursor Issue
There is sometimes a defect with Banner 9 in which the cursor disappears from the text box while typing. The cursor intermittently loses focus while the user is entering data into any input field. When entering a character, the cursor disappears and the user must use the mouse to select the field and continue typing.

Link to TeamDynamix Knowledge Base Article:  Banner 9 - Cursor Issue

Fixing the File Association Problem in Windows
When attempting to print or open a .log or .lis file, the computer is unable to open that file.

Link to TeamDynamix Knowledge Base Article:  Banner 9 - Fixing the File Association Problem in Windows

Fixing the File Association Problem in Mac OS X
When attempting to print or open a .log or .lis file, the computer is unable to open that file.

Link to TeamDynamix Knowledge Base Article: Banner 9 - Fixing the File Association Problem in Max OS X

Known Issue: "Nothing Happens When I Click This Button"

A problem that may be encountered in Banner 9 will prevent you from receiving any feedback when interacting with the interface. If you get this issue, check around for pop-up blocking issues. An alert to allow pop ups from "banner-app12.manhattan.edu" should be showing on the screen. This domain is Banner Production, so it is safe and should be allowed to produce pop ups.

Link to TeamDynamix Knowledge Base Article:  "Nothing Happens When I Click This Button"

Banner 9 Known Issue - Service Invocation Failed
ITS is aware of an issue where you may be presented with the below error message.  We are working to resolve this issue as rapidly as possible.

In the meantime, if presented with this message, close ALL browser windows and start over.  We apologize for any inconvenience cause by this workaround.

Banner 9 After-Update Support
An update to the Banner Forms interface was applied on Saturday 7/22.  ITS will have extra support resources dedicated to "Banner 9" questions starting Monday 7/24. While the update only affects the user interface (UI) to Banner Forms, there are some minor navigation changes and enhancements - most notably "Application Navigator" which now allows you to search for forms rather than remembering the form name. No data is being changed as a result of the update and functional processes are expected to remain the same as "Banner 8".

Ellucian (Banner vendor) has also been made aware of the update and will have "functional" support personnel available to any offices with questions about Banner 9. Banner users are encouraged to make use of the Banner 9 documentation below as well as Ellucian support resources (in addition to ITS). In addition to attending the campus Workshop Sessions (above), some campus offices have already worked with Ellucian support to dive deeper into Banner 9 including taking advantage of new navigation shortcuts.

Ellucian Hub (Contact Ellucian Support)

Banner 9 Priority Support (Contact ITS)

Banner 9 Getting Started Guide (PDF)

Banner 9 Navigation Guide (Tutorial)

Banner 9 - Fixing the File Association Problem in Windows

Issue

In Banner 9, when attempting to print or open a .log or .lis file, the computer is unable to open that file.

Cause

This is because the .lis and .log  files do not have a program associated with it. This requires the user to manually select the program to associate that file with.

Environment

Windows

Resolution

To solve this issue follow these steps:

1. After downloading the file, locate the downloaded .lis or .log file by navigating to the Downloads folder on your computer.
2. Then right-click on the file and select Open With.
3. You will then be asked which program you would like to use to open the .lis or .log file.
4. You can select either Notepad, Wordpad and Microsoft Word.
5. Be sure to check "Always use this app to open .lis or .log files"

This link also provides more support and options for changing file associations. File Association and Default Programs

Link to TeamDynamix KBA:  Banner 9 - Fixing the File Association Problem Banner 9 - Fixing the File Association Problem in Windows

Banner 9 - Fixing the File Association Problem in Mac OS X

Issue

In Banner 9, when attempting to print or open a .log or .lis file, the computer is unable to open that file.

Cause

This is because the .lis and .log  files do not have a program associated with it. This requires the user to manually select the program to associate that file with.

Environment

Mac OS X

Resolution

1. Click on the file in the Finder.
2. Choose File→Get Info (Command+I). Alternatively, you can also right-click on the file and select Get Info.
3. In the Info window, click the gray triangle to disclose the Open With pane.
4. From the pop-up menu, choose an application such as TextEdit or Microsoft Word to open .log or .lis files.
   
5. (Optional) If you click the Change All button at the bottom of the Open With pane, you make the selected program the new default application for all files of that kind.
   Notice the handy alert that appears when you click the Change All button and how nicely it explains what will happen if you click Continue.

* In Microsoft Word, if the output looks incorrectly formatted, you can switch the page orientation to landscape mode and change the size of the font.

Link for more support: OS X El Capitan: Choose an app to open a file

Link to TeamDynamix KBA Banner 9 - Fixing the File Association Problem in Max OS X