Greetings Pacific University Community!
Fall term is in full swing and our entire university is back! With lots of upgrades and migrations your UIS team is working tirelessly to support and enhance the technology we all use. We have new training opportunities and security updates we look forward to sharing. Remember, your UIS team is just a phone, email, or Zoom connection away!
Thank you and go Boxers!
Brandon Gatke
CIO / CISO
No More Annual Password Changes
Now that employees are protected with Multi-Factor Authentication with Duo, UIS is eliminating the need for yearly password changes. You can continue to change your password whenever you like, and may be asked to change your password if we notice suspicious activity on your account, but your password for your individual account will no longer expire. Please remember that you should never share your password with anyone else (even UIS staff) and you should never approve a Duo (multi-factor authentication) request that you didn't personally initiate.
Learn About Google Collaborative Inboxes
Google Collaborative Inboxes have largely replaced the other systems that we previously used for special (shared or non-personal) email addresses before the Exchange to Google transition. New Collaborative Inboxes can also be requested for any business need. On Tuesday 9/20/21 from 1-2pm you can learn more about the features that Google Collaborative Inboxes provide that can help a team handle incoming emails efficiently. Register to attend via Zoom.
Be Wary of Google Add-Ons
Google Suite has the ability to directly integrate with a variety of other services. UIS has tested and can recommend the Box add-on for Google Workspace and the Zoom Scheduler extension for Google Chrome. However, the Google Workspace Marketplace also contains many cloud products and services that have not been evaluated and approved for use, and installing them may grant access to data accessible by your Google account to companies that are not approved to have this access. Please contact us if you have questions about using third party add-ons with your Google account.
New Help Portal Coming in October
On October 28th, UIS will switch over to a new portal at services.pacificu.edu for creating and interacting with help tickets and searching our knowledgebase. After that date, the helpdesk.pacificu.edu site will no longer be used for this purpose. The new site will feature easy-to-use request forms that will help speed the information needed directly to the people who can help you. In the future, other departments that provide services will begin using the services.pacificu.edu site, making it a one-stop-shop for many of your help needs.
Google Tip: Email Templates
Lisa Christensen from Financial Aid brings us the following tip: Boxer Mail has a template feature. Templates can be enabled in the [link: https://boxermail.pacificu.edu]Boxer Mail web interface[end link] by going to the gear icon -> See all settings -> Advanced tab -> Enable templates. Once enabled, while composing an email you can click on the three dots on the bottom of the window to access templates. You can save a message you are writing as a template, or you can access any of your saved templates to insert them directly into whatever message you are writing. For more, see Google's documentation on this feature. As a thanks for this tip, Lisa will be given an Amazon gift card.
Google Tip: Google Calendar Appointment Slots
Jeff Fortner from the School of Pharmacy brings us the following tip: In Google calendar, you can create appointment slots that anyone (including students) can sign up for. To do so, start creating a calendar appointment in the [link: https://boxermail.pacificu.edu]Boxer Mail web interface[end link], but change it from "Event" to "Appointment Slots" right beneath the name field. You can choose the duration of the block of slots, and how long each slot will last (e.g. half hour slots for two hours), and under More Options you can even set a block of appointments to repeat. Once you have created the block of slots, click on it and you will be given a link titled "Go to appointment page for this calendar." Anyone with a Google account that you send the link to can sign up for a slot, and that information will appear on your calendar (and theirs). For more, see Google's documentation on this feature. As a thanks for this tip, Jeff will be given an Amazon gift card.
Sophos Replacing Symantec Endpoint Protection
As announced in our June newsletter, we've replaced Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) with Sophos as the antivirus software running on university owned computers. There may be a few computers still running SEP, and users of those computers may notice more alerts and restrictions now that Symantec is out of date. If you notice Symantec Endpoint Protection still running on your computer (the yellow circle icon rather than the blue shield icon, as shown below) please [link:help@pacificu.edu]contact the Helpdesk[end link] so we can assist you in changing over to Sophos.
Outlook Webmail Access Changes
Outlook Web Access is the web interface to access your old mailbox as it existed on the Exchange server prior to the move to Google. As of September 28th, this site will only be available while on-campus or while connected to the university VPN. Outlook Web Access be fully decommissioned at the end of November. Your Google mail web interface through Boxer Mail will continue to be accessible from all locations.