Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Welcome Back! Spring Semester IT Services Announcements

Happy New Year! We would like to welcome everyone back to campus and trust everyone had a relaxing and restorative winter break.


ITS Winter Updates

Client Services and Operations had a very productive winter break by working hard to stay on top of all maintenance and support of technology for staff and students during the intersession. We are grateful for all the hard work they do year round! 


ITS New Training Coordinator and Training Request Reminder

Susanne Leavey, a 2015 Graduate of Manhattan College, began in her new position of "IT Training Coordinator" on January 3rd, 2020. ITS would like to take the time to remind you that you may utilize the Training Department as a resource by requesting trainings. If you would like to request a training you can do so by emailing its@manhattan.edu or requesting a training through the MC Service Catalogue by selecting "IT Training Services" under categories. 

We hope you have a great semester and make sure to be on the lookout for helpful tips and tricks in our upcoming blog posts! 

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 have been 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 continued goal of a 90% student run Client Services department in the upcoming Spring 2020 semester.

Reminders

Have a question? Check out our Knowledge Base first.

The ITS Service Catalogue is a great resource!

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:

How to Update Your Personal Email.

Remember that IT Services will never ask you for your password.

We encourage you all to please reset your computer password 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 we 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 2 convenient locations: Jasper Hall, Ground Floor, North Side & RLC 103C. 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, clients 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: Tell ITS

Don't forget to add us to your Google+ circles +ITS.  Follow us on Twitter @MC_ITS and Instagram mc_ITS.

Check out our Manhattan College ITS Blog.

Thanks and wishing everyone a productive semester on behalf of the ITS team!

Friday, January 10, 2020

ITS Client Services Limited Resources During Certain Times in the Spring 2020 Semester



ITS Client Services will have limited resources during certain times in the Spring 2020 semester; these time slots are:

Jasper ITS Office:
Mondays   11:30 am – 2:00 pm
Thursdays   1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

RLC ITS Office:
Mondays   7:30 am – 11:00 am
Tuesdays   12:30 pm – 2:00 pm
Wednesdays   7:30 am – 9:00 am
Fridays   7:30 am – 12:00 noon

During the above times, priority support will be given to classroom and network support requests.  Please plan accordingly.  We apologize for any inconvenience.

ITS Prioritized Support January 14 – 24, 2020



ITS Client Services will be providing priority support to classroom and network support requests from Tuesday, January 14 - Friday, January 24. Response times for all other requests will be slower than normal.  We apologize for any inconvenience.

Web Theme Updates applied to Self-Service

Updates to the web theme have been applied to Banner Self-Service.  As a result, Faculty and students can expect a more modern experience better aligned to Manhattan College branding standards.  Additionally, the updated web theme incorporates responsive elements that enable a better experience for mobile users.

Brand-Aligned Styling

SSB landing page with new CSS - Desktop











Responsive Design / Mobile-Friendly

SSB Mobile View


Thursday, January 9, 2020

Windows 7 End of Life Schedule

Every Windows product has a life cycle. The life cycle begins when a product is released and ends when it's no longer supported. Knowing key dates in this life cycle helps you make informed decisions about when to update, upgrade or make other changes to your software. 

Windows 7 Support will end January 14, 2020.

Microsoft Support Reference to determine: Which Windows operating system am I running?

Solution

Manhattan College ITS loads Windows 10 on all ITS supported compatible devices.

Next Steps

If you happen to have a computer with Windows 7 please upgrade your computer before January 14, 2020.  You can contact ITS for assistance.
Further details:  Windows 7 End of Life Schedule 

Windows 8.1 End of Life Schedule

Every Windows product has a life cycle. The life cycle begins when a product is released and ends when it's no longer supported. Knowing key dates in this life cycle helps you make informed decisions about when to update, upgrade or make other changes to your software. 
Windows 8.1 Mainstream support will end January 9, 2018
Windows 8.1 Extended support will end January 10, 2023
Microsoft Support Reference to determine: Which Windows operating system am I running?

Solution

Manhattan College ITS loads Windows 10 on all ITS supported compatible devices.

Next Steps

If you happen to have a computer with Windows 8.1 please upgrade your computer to Windows 10 before January 9, 2018.  You can contact ITS for assistance.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

COMPLETED: Horan Hall - Brief Network Outage 1/10 at 10am

Physical Plant will be conducting a generator test in Horan Hall on Friday, January 10th at approximately 10am.

There will be two brief outages, one while switching to generator power, the other while switching back to main power. Both wired and wireless will be affected during this generator test.

This will not affect the rest of campus.

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

UPDATE: This test has been completed.