Now Rolling Out MICROSOFT TEAMS

MICROSOFT TEAMS for faculty and staff

Microsoft Teams is a new chat, instant messaging and collaboration tool included with Office 365.  Teams will replace Skype for Business/Lync as the official IM/chat tool for employees and is available to all ESU students, faculty and staff.  The Skype/Lync servers will be shutdown on April 15, 2018.  You can download, install and begin using Teams now.  Training sessions and informational videos are featured below and watch for more opportunities in the near future.  If you have any questions or need assistance getting started with Teams, please contact us at the IT Help Desk. 

For More Information -> mailchi.mp/emporia/you-heard-it-here-first-announcing-microsoft-teams

IT - Data Management

If you're ever wondering what's up with IT Data Management, we're down with that here.

That's right!!! We are currently doing a lot of different things :-)

• Ad-hoc reports
• Parameterized Cognos reports
• General data extracts
• Data Visualization
• Data edits etc.

Data Management Team

Director:
Dianne Graves

Team Members:
Kameron Neal
Vaishali Bhatt

Universal Reports (Campus Wide Reports)

List of some of the amazing reports (with a short description of each) developed by our team.

1. Universal Majors Minors Report

This report takes in term code, address (mailing/ permanent), majors/ minor, student classification, GPA as parameters to pull students who have an Active Student Status whether they are enrolled or not.

2. Universal Pre-Requisites Check - Course Perspective

This report checks for students pre-requisites (if any) for the desired term and course reference number.

3. Universal Advisor CleanUp

This report produces a listing of desired department's inactive students and their advisor information to aid in ending old advisor assignments.

Report Location: Cognos > Public Folders > Student Public Reports > Campus Wide Reports
Link to the reports: Cognos

Requesting access to Cognos

Click on this link for instructions on how to request access to Cognos

Requesting a Cognos custom report

Click on this link for instructions to request a Cognos custom report

10 step guide on how to run a Cognos report

Click on this link for a 10 step guide on how to run Cognos report

Cognos Training

Our team conducts Cognos training sessions once every semester and on-demand basis.
Please feel free to contact the Data Management Team (dgraves4@emporia.edu) if you would like us to set up a Cognos training specifically just for you or your entire department. We'd be happy to do so!

Friends don't let friends go without backup!

World Backup Day is this week, on March 31, and serves as a reminder for people to back up their valuable data. But what exactly is a backup and why should you care?

A backup is a separate copy of all your important files, for example family photos, videos and documents. Instead of storing it all in one place, you keep a second copy of everything in a safe place in case you lose your device or data gets wiped out by malware. 

So, how do you back up?

For ESU data, we have got you covered! Every employee and student has 1 TB of storage on OneDrive which comes with the Microsoft account. Simply sync your folders with OneDrive and it will automatically make backups as you go, so you never have to worry about it! The Help Desk has put together a great section with instructions and videos, which can be found here. 

For your personal data, you have different options – there are pro’s and con’s to each and it really just depends on your preference.

1. The first option is backing up to a hard drive or flash drive. Instructions on how to set up your backup can be found here. People are often most familiar with this option, but there are some things to consider. In order to back up your data in real time, the hard drive has to be plugged in to your device at all times. That means, if your device is lost or stolen, your hard drive might be as well. You might also consider potential natural disasters and hardware failures as you make your decision. The advantage of using a hard drive is that you are in control of your data and you don’t have to trust a third party with it.
   
2. The second option is backing up to a cloud storage provider. The process is going to be similar to setting up OneDrive. You can purchase a personal license from Microsoft which includes 5 GB of storage or use other providers that meet your needs. The advantage of this option is that you set up synchronization once and won’t have to worry about it again. On the other hand, you are trusting a third party with your data and the cloud storage has to be configured correctly.
   
3. The third option is Network-Attached Storage (NAS). NAS is basically the best of both worlds, your own “mini cloud storage.” It attaches to your home network and provides you with your own personal cloud space. You can connect multiple devices, such as computers, smart TVs and tablets, and access your files with all of them. It can be a bit of an investment, depending on how much storage capacity you need, but it may be worth it. 

Now that you’ve learned about the different options, take the World Backup Day pledge on social media and win a security gift bag! And don't forget, friends don't let friends go without backup!

Facebook: ESU Information Technology                      

Twitter: ESU Information Tech

Never a Bad Time for Spring Cleaning!

Spring Break is here and it's never a bad time to do a little spring cleaning, especially when it comes to technology.  Here are a few items that you might consider:

-Clean up your email.  Sure, Microsoft and Google house our ESU email in the cloud now, but storage isn't unlimited and its good to be a good digital citizen.  Reminder that employee email has a 50 GB limit and Gmail for students doesn't have a specific limitation.

-Clean up your W: drive.  If you're the custodian of files for your shared folders on the W: drive remove any that are no longer needed.  The W: drive is hosted in our data center and it does have an ongoing cost to operate.

-Consider the new service Hornet Sites.  As part of our Hornet 365 service, any employee group/team/department/committee, etc. can have their own Hornet Site.  Part website, part file storage it's a secure space for you to customize as needed to share and collaborate on content with anyone with an ESU account.  Because Hornet Sites are hosted by Microsoft, moving files from W: drive to your own Hornet Site is more efficient--not only can you access your files from anywhere, including syncing to your PC, but you can also manage your own permissions.  Stay tuned for more about Hornet Sites in the near future.

-Clean your desk off.  Okay, that one is just for me.  In the era of paperless and digital transformation, my desk seems to collect a lot of printed material!

-Brian Osbourn, Director, IT Systems & Client Solutions

Introduction to Quizlet

Introduction to Quizlet Part 1

Whether you are a student studying for midterm exams or an individual trying to learn a new language, Quizlet can help you take on the task of learning something new. Quizlet is an application/website made to help users learn.  It can improve grades and increase memory retention and promotes studying smarter not hard. With +200,000,000 study sets on their site users can easily find any information they need. What does Quizlet do to improve learning?

Quizlet provides seven study techniques to help users learn: Flashcards, Learn, Write, Spell, Test, Match, and Gravity. Lets go in depth with each technique about what they do and where they help.

Flashcards

Flashcards are the most used technique.  This is where a question is on one side of a virtual flashcard for users to solve and the solution is provided on the back of the card. Flashcards are a great way to learn a new language by putting a foreign word on the term side of a flashcard and the translation on the definition side.  This is also great for learning key terms or vocabulary.

Learn

This is one of Quizlet's newest techniques to improve the speed and depth of learning. Learn works by progressively making later questions harder so users' retain more information from more stimulating questions. Having multiple choice questions turned into 'write the answer' questions.  If a question is missed then Learn will put that question on a future round for users to try again.

Write

Users are given a term, definition, or picture followed with a blank line to type in the correct answer. After the expected answer is inserted into the blank line the user submits that answer and Quizlet displays whether the submitted response is correct.  If not, the application will show the correct answer below your answer. This technique is great for studying longer definitions or learning the correct response to images.


-Donald Goode, SCS Student Technician

myIT Tip of the Week

PC Running Slow?

These are some of the most common steps to help get your computer up to speed.

Power the computer off and back on.

Check for Windows Updates-

1. On Windows 10 or 7 type Windows Update in the search and hit enter.
2. Choose ‘Check for Updates’.
3. Download and install the updates if any are found.
4. Reboot the machine to configure the updates. It may be a little show when rebooting and you may see a black screen with an arrow. (Windows is configuring the updates)

Note: When your machine is searching or installing updates it will run a bit slower.

Run a Symantec Virus Scan-

1. Click on the system tray down by the time double click on the Symantec Icon. (Or search for Symantec in program files)

2. Click on ‘Scan for Threats’ on the left. Then choose ‘Full Scan’. Symantec will start scanning your computer for malicious items. This scan can take a while, and you can continue to work while it is scanning. Once it is finished you may be asked to reboot your machine.

If you have any questions or need help with any of the steps contact us at the Help Desk.

Call:       620.341.5555

Email:    helpdesk@emporia.edu

Chat:        www.emporia.edu/it