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How to get help from Eastman Computing Services

The best way to make us aware of your need for service (and to receive support most promptly) is to visit our support portal at help.esm.rochester.edu. Doing this will start a request in our management system. That system helps us make sure that no requests go unaddressed, all the information about a request stays in the same place, and that your request gets routed to the best possible team member.

Secondarily, you can send an email to help@esm.rochester.edu. Our system will capture your message and start a request automatically. We don’t recommend emailing members of our team personally, as those messages will require manual forwarding into the management system.

Sometimes though it’s the web and/or email itself that’s the problem. In that case, please call us at 585-274-1160. That’s our official phone number, and the proper one to use. Your call will either be answered directly by a member of our team, or your voice-message will be converted to an audio file and emailed to our help@esm.rochester.edu address mentioned above. We’ll listen to your message and contact you by whatever means you specify in your message, or via email when those means are unspecified.

All services provided by ECS require that a support request be created first.

Scope of Service: What, Who, Where, and When

We actively support University-provided equipment. Using your own equipment instead? We can provide pre-written setup information for making personal equipment (such as phones and tablets) connect to University systems. You can use this information to set up those devices yourself. We do not actively support personal equipment. That being said, we are interested in making things work properly, so often you’ll get some personalized attention. We ask you to recognize that this is not the norm, and that sometimes circumstances may not allow for that level of response.

We provide direct support to Eastman School of Music Staff, Faculty, and Students. We provide support via telephone, email, remote-connection, and in-person visits. We do not provide support to your spouse, children, parents, or other relatives. Similarly, we agree to work with you directly, and not via a proxy or third-party.

We provide support on the Eastman School of Music campus. We do not provide in-person support at your home, but we’re happy to schedule a remote-support session.

We provide support between 9am and 5pm, Monday through Friday, except for University Holidays, or times specified by the Director of Technology & Media production.

 

Scheduling a Support Session

You can use a link provided by ECS to schedule a support session by using the Calendly service at the Eastman Computing Services website. All support sessions for on-site service must be scheduled at least 2 hours in advance, so that we can arrive on-site (if we aren’t on-site already) and prepare. Drop-in service without an appointment is not available. ECS does not offer ‘office-hours’. Sessions are reserved time periods for you alone. Sessions should be scheduled by the person needing support, not by a proxy or intermediary.

 

Remote Support

Most likely, if we can’t answer the question via email, we’ll ask to schedule a remote-support session. During that session, we’ll make use of a remote-support tool to connect to your computer, phone, or tablet to help you.

 

In-Person Support – when we come see you

Sometimes, an in-person visit to your desk is required to make your equipment work properly. In cases where we need to be physically present to provide service, here’s what you can expect:

  • For your protection, we will arrive wearing a face-mask and a new pair of gloves. We require that you wear a face-mask, too.
  • Even though we’ll be wearing gloves, we will actively refrain from touching anything not relevant to our work.
  • We may ask to sit in a chair in front of your computer.
  • If we need you to enter something on the keyboard while we’re sitting in a chair, we may opt to get out of the chair first to increase the distance between us.

 

In-Person Support – when you come see us

If the request would be better resolved by coming to see us, please schedule a Support Session using Calendly at the ECS website.

When we meet, here’s what you can expect:

  • We will meet you in the Cave, located in the basement-level of the main building.
  • For our mutual protection, we will have sprayed-down and wiped our work-surface and tools.
  • We will be wearing a new pair of gloves, and a face-mask.
  • We have established a work-surface for use in the Cave so that we may work together but each have more personal space. We will work with you at the work-surface. We may have to retrieve tools, cables, etc. from our office in MB035, but please don’t follow us. You can help us by remaining at the work-surface. This reduces the amount of cleaning we must do.
  • We will have cleaned any of our equipment that you may need to touch while resolving your issue. For example, if you need to verify or change a password, we will have cleaned the keyboard and mouse of the computer we make available for that purpose.

 

Remote Access of Computers by ECS Staff

When possible, we’ll make contact with you either via Zoom or via a phone call, and connect to your computer remotely. Remote-access features have been enabled on every Apple and Dell computer within the school. This software allows Eastman Computing staff to connect to and control the computers via the network as if we were sitting at the computer ourselves.

The remote control software allows us to troubleshoot problems and assist faculty/staff members with problems without having to travel to their office. We only connect to remote computers when:

  • We are on the phone with the faculty/staff member.
  • The faculty/staff member is in our office.
  • When we need to access the computer to log a user off prior to server maintenance.
  • When we have maintenance to perform on the computer that cannot be done any other way.

 

Computer Ownership and Location

Any computing hardware and software provided to Eastman faculty and staff members is considered property of the Eastman School. Computing resources are provided to Eastman faculty and staff members as tools to assist them with their work responsibilities. Any computing equipment that is provided to a faculty/staff member (other than laptop computers) is expected to remain in the room where it was installed, and all equipment should be returned back to us when you’re no longer associated with Eastman.

Accessories provided along with the computers at the time of delivery are considered part of the system and should remain in the same location as the computer hardware.

 

Software Licensing

Desktop and laptop computers provided by Eastman Computing Services come equipped with a standard set of licensed software. We offer additional, optional software via Managed Software Center (on Apple computers) and via Software Center (on Dell computers). Feel free to install any title you see there. These titles have all been pre-approved and Eastman Computing has licenses for each of them. None of these titles require Eastman Computing’s assistance to install.

 

Hardware Requests

We’re interested in providing hardware that helps you work comfortably and efficiently. If you have a specific request, or would like to talk about your goals and how we can find equipment to help you achieve them, please make contact with us. The University’s procurement process is complex, so it can take longer than you might expect to receive items. We appreciate your patience, and will keep you updated with the status of your request. It will help us if you can place your requests as early in the year as possible via email. The Eastman Computing department has standardized on a five-year replacement cycle for faculty and staff computers, and will generally supply a replacement comparable to your current equipment unless otherwise requested.

 

Software Requests

Similar to hardware requests, Eastman Computing is interested in providing software that helps you achieve your goals. Many software titles are available without paying a license fee to the author, and we endeavor to make those titles available upon request. For others, a software license may require a one-time fee for a perpetual license, or an ongoing subscription. As these agreements can become complicated, and the University’s procurement process is complex, you can help us by placing your request as early as possible. We will verify that the title will meet your goal, that it won’t run afoul of University policies, and that it won’t provide any financial surprises to Eastman. Once approved, we’ll receive the software and make it available to you via either Managed Software Center (for Apple computers) or Microsoft Software Center (for Dell computers). We’ll also make sure that the software is properly licensed.

 

Personal Computers on the School Network

Eastman Computing is pleased to provide the UR Wireless network to faculty, staff, and students.  As of this writing, there is no wired network access available for personally-owned computers or other devices. Please see our FAQ page for further information.

 

Email Usage

Eastman email addresses are provided to all faculty and staff members. In accordance with University Email Policy, please use your @esm.rochester.edu email address for all official business.

 

Accessing Email From Off Campus

Microsoft Office 365 has a website that allows you to read, compose, and file email messages using Microsoft’s web-based version of Microsoft Outlook. University IT offers links to tutorials, features, and FAQs of that system. Office 365 is the only supported method for accessing your @esm.rochester.edu email account from off-campus, unless you have a school-provided laptop.

Faculty and staff members who use Eastman-provided laptops may use the standard Microsoft Outlook application while off-campus.

 

Computer Shutdown Policy

Even though Eastman computers revert to a low-power state after a period of inactivity, computers should be shut down at the end of each day. This helps conserve energy, and ensures that all of your data will be backed up successfully from the server.

 

Data Backups

Our department creates periodic backups of important data. The H: (personal data), M: (Main Hall), S: (departmental) network drives are backed up on a nightly basis.

We also offer internet-based backup software to faculty and staff who use Eastman-provided laptops. Contact us to determine if your Eastman-provided laptop’s data is protected by this service.

In the event that a file or folder is accidentally deleted, please contact Computing Services staff as soon as possible to arrange for the restoration of the file. Please be ready to provide at least the filename(s) of the deleted file(s) and their location or path, if possible.

 

Quotas

Computer storage is a limited resource, and is managed via a quota system. Quotas for network drives are assigned per-user and apply to any files that you have ownership on the server. For example, if you copy a file from your H: drive to the S: drive, each copy of the file will count against your quota limit.

 

Student Workers

Eastman Computing wants student-workers to enjoy the same productivity and efficiency as any other faculty or staff member. To that end, the University has informed us of a new process to use when it comes to student workers who need access to departmental email addresses and network shares. This process needs to be done once per student employee.

In short, University IT can create an “underscore work” or ‘_work’ address for each student employee. This will be a separate account from others that they have. Once the student has this account, please make contact with us. We can attach a departmental email address or network share access to it.

This prevents the password for a departmental email address from being shared to a student’s day-to-day account, which is a security risk and management challenge.

Please help us by making contact with University IT to have them create a “_work” email address for each student worker. We have been told that University IT will know what this is when you ask for it. They have a form available for this purpose on their website, but we recommend making contact with University IT for training, as the form is a bit opaque. UniversityIT is available at x5-2000.

 

New Hires

ECS is very interested in making your newly-hired employee feel comfortable and productive in their new position. To streamline requests, we encourage hiring managers to use our New Hire Technology Request Form where they can supply all the information we’ll need in advance of the new hire’s first day. It covers hardware, software, accessibility needs, telephones, and other services in one convenient form.

Notification about new hires should come directly from Eastman Human Resources, who has been asked to share the New Hire Technology Request Form link directly with hiring managers.