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Support Options

• 'Walk up' Service Desks:

  • PAR 106 - 8:00 am – 5:00 pm

  • RLP 4.224 - 8:00 am – 5:00 pm

  • NUR 2.104P - 9:00 am – 1:00 pm

• Chat based remote support

• Phone based remote support -512-471-5000

• Email based remote support - LAITS-Help@utexas.edu

• ServiceNow ticketing support

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• The work must take 30 minutes or less

• The LAITS team member must have enough time available to assist with the request

• Urgent in-scope issues will be prioritized over out-of-scope work

• If the problem is not urgent, the customer may be asked to return at a later time

• Try to resolve the problem in a single support session

• Tickets will be created and closed in the first interaction, even if the problem is not fully solved

• If the problem cannot be resolved, LAITS staff will attempt to point the customer in the direction of another unit better equipped to handle the problem

Off-Campus UT-Owned Devices 

• Remotely troubleshoot faculty /staff computers (internet required)

• Reasonable Effort

  • • Out of warranty machines are evaluated with reasonable effort (free), and referred to other services for repair

    • LAITS strives to be a good partner to university faculty and staff and will occasionally do work that is outside of our normal scope. This includes:

      • Assisting with configuration or troubleshooting of hardware and software on personally-owned devices  

      • Student employees Graduate Assistant or Research Assistants using UT-owned devices 

      • LAITS will assist Emeritus faculty by recommending models for personal use and will assist with transferring data from University-owned computer to their personally-owned computer

      • Faculty transitioning to Emeritus status must relinquish any COLA owned or Generations computers at the time of their retirement
    • LAITS does not repair non-UT devices (such as personally-owned computers or mobile devices)
• Emeritus Faculty Support:

  • • LAITS will assist Emeritus faculty by recommending computer models for personal use and will assist with transferring data from university-owned computer(s) to their personally-owned computer(s)

    • Faculty transitioning to Emeritus status must relinquish any COLA owned or Generations computers at the time of their retirement

Off-Campus UT-Owned Devices 

• Remotely troubleshoot faculty /staff computers (internet required)

• Troubleshoot VPN issues - DUO required (Every active EID has VPN access by default)

• Assist users with remote connections to networked UT devices using RDP or other methods (VPN & DUO required)

  • NOTE: connecting to macOS requires VPN, even on-campus

  • If remote support is not possible, the customer must ship the device to LAITS at their own expense

• Configure separate, local administrative accounts for each user (eid-admin)

• Configure and ship computers to faculty / staff working remotely (customer expense)

• Add staff to specific VPN groups

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• Troubleshoot issues with a user's home network configuration or off-site building network configuration**

  • refer to customer's ISP

• Troubleshoot home printer problems

• Allow VNC (Mac Firewall)

• Travel to off-site locations for support, with the exception of specific buildings receiving support

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• • Under warranty:

    • Apple: we drop off on behalf of customers at Campus Computer Store

    • Dell: Coordinate directly with Dell (Dell will dispatch or ship to LAITS or faculty offices)

  • Out of warranty:

    • Reasonable effort (free), refer to other services (not free)

    • We will recommend replacement parts, if possible

    • Non-Dell or non-Apple hardware: Apply reasonable effort

If available, provide a temporary loaner with standard software (except CrashPlan)

Note that some departments have their own loaner pool

• • • offices)

  • Out of warranty:

    • Reasonable effort (free), refer to other services (not free)

    • We will recommend replacement parts, if possible

    • Non-Dell or non-Apple hardware: Apply reasonable effort

• If available, provide a temporary loaner with standard software (except CrashPlan)

  • Note that some departments have their own loaner pool

  • LAITS can also provide short loans of power supplies, dongles, cables, and external drives. It will require the user drop their UTID with us while the loaner is out and will be returned once the loaned equipment is returned
  • Power supplies, cables, dongles, & drives are generally loaned for a single day use

• LAITS does not:
  • Loan computers or accessories to customers indefinitely (requires an end date)
  • Loan computers or accessories to students

See Computer Lifecycle /wiki/spaces/LAITS/pages/77238591 Procedures

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• Campus Computer Store 

  • Apple products are sent to the Campus Computer Store for repair since the store is recognized by Apple as a certified service provider. CCS is open normal hours at this time (Monday through Friday). 

• Dell Support 

  • Dell machines can be repaired on-campus or at a users home by a Dell service technician.

  • Dell Pro Support chat is usually the best contact method since there is often a wait for their phone support.

    • Dell Warranty Support: 1-866-901-8629

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Inventory

SeeComputer Lifecycle Policies (LINK)

Missing Devices

See Desktop Engineering -Missing Devices (LINK)

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Computer Surplus

See /wiki/spaces/LAITS/pages/77240676 (Link)

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• UT email account (Austin only) - exchange

  • Outlook app only (apple mail officially doesn't work)

• UT WiFi ("utexas")

• UT VPN

• Direct to resources for downloading and installing the following software, where licensing permits

• • • • • ESRI ArcGIS Online/ ArcGIS Pro

        • MATLAB - Software Download Links

        • Microsoft Office

LAITS staff do not:

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LAITS Staff installs and supports a standard list of software on university owned computers

• Install standard software on each computer

• Maintain and support BeyondTrust 

• Patch and update a limited set of software (more details here)

• Assist with UTBackup configuration

• Install non-standard software as requested

  • Apply "reasonable effort" to non-standard software*

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• Support non-LAITS (CNS/NASC, PHAR, ENGR) computers - if it's not our image, we can't help

• Support software and applications, even Microsoft Office, beyond a "reasonable effort"

• Install software outside of the terms of service:

  • no unlimited re-installation of trial software

  • no terminal servers for circumventing licensing agreements

  • no other methods to circumvent licensing agreements

• Escalate support issues to external software vendors

• Offer software training

• Maintain software licenses, installation media, or keys 

  • Adobe Creative Cloud is the exception (see Desktop Engineering - Service Definition)

The University ITS does not allow UT data be stored on these services

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• iCloud (link to Security policies matrix: https://security.utexas.edu/iso-policies/cloud-services/decision-matrix)

• Time Machine Backup - UTBackup is free and supported

• App Store

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Internal staff Notes

*For example, we'll work to figure out why your Outlook calendar isn't syncing, but we will spend a limited time on Thunderbird calendars

Refer to the Desktop Engineering Service Definition for more details on software, including updates and patching.

• - UTBackup is free and supported

• App Store

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Operating System Support

• Operating System and Software Support (****Note: Upon thinking about this, I don't think we need this in DSS. I don't want to have a user think they are limited to just these things. I'd rather have them call us and ask to fix whatever the issue is, and then we can either direct them to the right place or help them****) 
  • LAITS will assist supported faculty, staff, and researchers with most issues related to computing devices, including, but not limited to:
    • Patching and Security > link  to EPM
    • Software Applications / Self Service > link  to EPM
    • Remote Access > link to EPM
    • Backup Management > link  to EPM

LAITS Staff installs and supports the operating systems for macOS and Windows

• Install and support macOS*

• Install and support Windows*

• Provide a Windows .iso file for self-installation of a local virtual machine**

  • Parallels

  • Virtualbox

  • VMWare fusion

• Upgrade UT-owned computers to the recommended operating system upon request

LAITS staff do not:

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• Configure and deploy computers to new faculty and staff on (or near) their first day

  • We must have the computer 5 business days ahead of time*

    • New computer purchases should be made at least 4 weeks ahead of start date for employee

    • We prefer to contact incoming employees directly for scheduling deployments

      • get personal email/phone from supervisor

  • Install non-standard software prior to deployment, if the software is provided ahead of time

• Group deployments of computers if more than 5 people are starting on the same day

• Deploy computers with standard software

Day of the deployment

• ARCHIVE - Deployment Procedure (OLD)

LAITS staff do not: 

• Purchase new equipment for staff (see Purchasing New Computers section of this page)

• Grant permission to: (during deployment)*

  • Mainframe (we install application only)

  • departmental UTBox shares

  • shared calendars

  • mailing lists

• Connect to personal folders

  • Dropbox

  • email

  • cozi family calendar

• Transfer data from a non-UT-owned computer

• Deploy large orders (5+) immediately upon receipt. The Generations program should be used for bulk orders

• Create @austin.utexas.edu email address (this happens automatically on the first day)

  • vanity domain addresses such as @nursing are self-service

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• Upon request, remove access to LAITS-managed systems

• Wipe and prepare computers for reassignment*

  • Equipment will be returned to the department until it is assigned to a new person

• Coordinate EML entitlement extensions via ITS.

• Retirees will have access to mail 30 days after their last day at UT.

  • LAITS can coordinate an extension through ITS, if needed. ITS request form is here

LAITS staff do not:

• Disable EIDs (we will contact ISO to do so if necessary)

• Proactively track departing employees (departments must notify us)

• Permanently grant or extend access to mailboxes for retirees/terminated employees

• Set out of office reply for departed employees - Contact ISO

• Recover UTBox files from personal UTBox accounts - contact ISO

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• Link to Desktop Support SLA (BAD LINK)
• Team Member and Contact List
• ServiceNow Assignment Groups:
  
  • LAITS-Desktop-PAR
  • LAITS-Desktop-RLP
  • LAITS-Desktop-NUR
  • LAITS-Desktop-SEA
  • LAITS-Desktop-UTA
  • LAITS-Remote
  • LAITS-Provost
  • LAITS-Deployments
  • LAITS-Desktop Off Campus
• Slack Channel:
  • #laits-docs-all
  • #par-doc
  • #rlp-doc
  • #nur-doc
  • #dss-all
  • #dss-remote
  • #uta