Category: Support Information
Graduate Mailbox – Application & Recommender Support Update
After a successful pilot of graduate application & recommender support, this access has now been made available to all Service Desk staff with a UIS Permit (Faculty/Staff Link). All CSS staff can now support tier-1 support requests for recommenders and graduate applications.
As a reminder, the available KB articles detailing support for these resources are below:
-Using the Recommender Tool: KB0011576
-Recommender Support: KB0011578
-Applicant Issues: KB0011577
Please note that any applicant or recommender issues that are above tier -1 should be escalated to the “Student/Graduate Academic” assignment group. If you need any assistance, or are unsure of what tier a request falls under, please either consult with me during the day, or assign the ticket to me on nights & weekends.
Alien Worlds edX MOOC support information
The next edX MOOC, Alien Worlds, will launch on Friday, 10/31. While support for edX MOOCs is typically done by edX, some visualizations used for the MOOC reside on a BU Astronomy website. Support and escalation information about these visualizations is available in KB article KB0011594.
Duo Application Reminder
As of today, September 15, DUO two-factor authentication is now mandatory for all BU staff members. We are likely to continue to see an increase in calls related to this service in the coming weeks.
Please be sure to categorize these tickets appropriately, they should not be categorized as BUWorks tickets. The Service Component should be “Authentication Services”, with the Configuration Item “DUO Application”
Please also note, for staff wishing to avoid having to use DUO every sign in, the option exists on the DUO screen below to remember the device (as a browser cookie) for 30 days (this will not persist on a different browser or in a private/incognito session):
New Service – VGA Cable Loaner for students
The Service Desk is now going to be loaning out VGA cables to students for their use in classrooms that have been reserved by the Student Activities Office. VGA Cables have been delivered to our Mugar location and we should begin loaning out equipment as requested. Two KB Articles have been created that outlines the process. The KB Articles are KB0011551 (instructions about what to do) and KB0011552 (policy and additional information regarding CTS should we be asked).
MicroStrategy report service support information
A new report service for research faculty called MicroStrategy is now available. Clients of this service will soon be notified of its availability. If we get tickets about it, please refer to KB0011548 for more information, including escalation information.
Primarily, we will be responsible for troubleshooting authentication issues before escalating tickets to either Information Security or Business Intelligence Reporting, depending on what the KB articles says to do.
These tickets should be classified as the Service Component “Grants Management Reporting”.
Xwin32 2014-2015 Licenses
The Xwin32 licenses (for 2014-2015) are posted on the below distribution site.
Please direct clients to that site for renewal codes. More
SafeConnect is now live
SafeConnect, the NetReg replacement service, aka Network Access Control or NAC, is now live in all residence halls on campus.
Please categorize all related tickets as:
Client Service: Identity & Access Management
Service Component: Authorization Services
Configuration item: Network Access Control
If you hear from any administrative offices or non-students experiencing issues, please make a ticket and assign it to Information Security, including Peter Trevino on the Internal Watch List.
Please refer to the following KB article for additional information, KB0010364
TurningPoint audience-response service changes
Educational Technology, Training, & Outreach (ETTO) posted about changes to TurningPoint on their blog. The text of that post follows:
On July 1, Turning Technologies, the maker of BU’s audience-response system (clicker) software, will make a major change to its approach. The company will update us to TurningPoint Cloud, which is designed to make audience-response technology work better with mobile-phone apps (to make it less necessary to purchase standalone clickers). The TurningPoint software will not change; there will need to be an update, but it will run the same. The main change is that as of July 1, students and instructors will need to get Turning accounts (akin to Apple accounts), via the TurningPoint site. The site requires a “school code”, which will be assigned to us before July 1.
Please read TurningPoint’s official PDF announcement for more details.
Once we get more information about the “school code” and additional support information, it will be made into a ServiceNow KB article.
KB article KB0011497 is now available and includes information about the "school code". A TechWeb post is also being developed.
According to ETTO, this will be required of all users starting this Fall.
For now, if you get tickets about this issue, please assign the ticket to the "Educational Technology, Training, & Outreach" assignment group if need be.
Financial Planning courses in Canvas
We've learned that the Center for Professional Education (CPE) has begun to use Canvas for some of their Financial Planning courses instead of Blackboard. At this time we do not have the access or tools to support any sites in Canvas.
If you receive any phone calls regarding Canvas please direct them to CPE for further assistance. They are aware that we are unable to support these requests at this time, and will work with Canvas directly to support these clients. The CPE contact information can be found below:
Boston University Center for Professional Education
808 Commonwealth Avenue, Suite 270
Boston, MA 02215
Phone: 1-866-633-9370 or 617-353-4497
Interim Duplicate ID contact
Lisa Rhodes, who is the Duplicate ID assignment group manager in ServiceNow, is on maternity leave through Labor Day. Until she returns, Christine Pacheco will be serving as their interim assignment group manager. We frequently contact Lisa via phone or email as well, so please contact Christine in the meantime. She can be reached at cpach@bu.edu or (617) 353-4398. If Christine is unavailable, please let David or a Lead know and we can contact Roberta Valday.