Welcome to CALS! Our goal with this article is to provide, or help you find, all of the IT support services you will need to do your job. While this information is primarily for new faculty and staff in CALS and their supervisors, it has many items that will be helpful for long-term employees as well. The following list will help new employees find the resources they need to settle in more quickly.
Table of Contents
About CALS Office of Information Technology
Our Mission
The mission of CALS Office of Information Technology (OIT) is to use our extensive information technology experience to provide consistent, integrated, and scalable delivery of timely solutions and support; and to be thought-leaders and innovators in the application and delivery of infrastructure and administrative computing activities across the college.
Our Organization
The CALS OIT is composed of two major areas and teams — Support & Operations, and Administrative Computing.
Support and Operations consists of three service areas, each encompassing multiple units, along with a small central component supporting College-wide endeavors, all reporting to the CALS Director of IT. The mission of this group is to facilitate the use of information technology for teaching, research, and outreach, to provide knowledgeable, accessible, economical, and professional client and server support, and to engage in planning, cooperation, and implementation of resources across the College, to move CALS forward in the area of Information Technology. Support is provided according to guidelines set out by a Service Level Commitment (SLC).
Administrative Computing includes the Development team and the Business Intelligence Reporting team. The teams focus on information technology solutions and reporting services which enhance the academic mission and business process of The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences through decision support systems and sophisticated financial and administrative information reporting systems.
Questions about the Office of Information Technology, or any aspect of CALS OIT management should be directed to the Director of IT, Christopher Hufnagel.
IT@Cornell
Your local IT support is provided by CALS OIT. We are a part of CALS but also affiliated with the larger IT@Cornell community.
CIT is the Central IT organization at Cornell and they manage campus-wide services such as email, Canvas, physical network cabling, etc. Rarely do you need to contact them directly. Instead, you can put in a request to CALS OIT and we will either help resolve your issue or escalate it to the appropriate team within CIT. Find out more about CIT-provided services.
Getting Help
Requesting Support
- To request IT support, please submit your request through our Get Help web page. Emailing IT requests directly to technicians risks your request going unseen. Especially if the technician you emailed is out of the office.
Urgent Support Requests
- For urgent IT support, please call us directly. See our IT Support Structure page for contact information and details about which team provides support for your department.
How We Provide Support
Important First Steps
If you are a new Cornell employee, HR's Welcome to Cornell website is an invaluable resource.
Particularly, as it relates to IT, the actions outlined below are critical:
Acquiring Technology
To ensure the supportability of technology purchased with Cornell funds, please consult with CALS OIT regarding all technology-related purchases.
For Managers
As soon as possible, either upon a position becoming vacant with the intent to fill said vacancy or the creation of a new position, begin thinking about the technology needs of the role. You should determine:
Is there an adequately powerful, and fully supportable, computer already available for this role within the department?
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Yes - Great! Hold onto it until you know the NetID of the employee filling the role. Once you have the employee's NetID, please submit a support request and include their NetID, start date, and where the computer is currently being stored. As their start date approaches, we'll back up the data currently resident on the computer and reinstall the operating system to ensure the private data of any previous users are removed. If there is a subset of the previous users' work-related data you wish for the new employee to have, we'll work with you to identify it and copy it to the newly set up computer.
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No - Please submit a support request to begin the computer quotation process. Please include with your request whether you'd like us to quote an Apple computer or Windows PC, and whether it should be a laptop or desktop model. Cornell is working to provide a more consistent and cost-effective computing environment, and to that end, the university is encouraging the purchase of a set of popular configurations as standard bundles with a number of configurable options through Dell and Apple. We're confident that our Dell and Apple offerings will meet your personal productivity use needs.
Besides a computer, what other technology purchases may be required?
For New Faculty
Your department's administrative staff will put you in contact with CALS OIT prior to your arrival at Cornell to discuss your IT needs. We will ask questions and consult on the following:
Personal Productivity Needs
Cornell is working to provide a more consistent and cost-effective computing environment, and to that end, the university is encouraging the purchase of a set of popular configurations as standard bundles with a number of configurable options through Dell and Apple. We're confident that our Dell and Apple offerings will meet your personal productivity use needs. If, however, you should choose to purchase a non-standard computer, be aware that CALS OIT's ability to support you could be impacted as outlined in our Computer Support Levels matrix. In either case, please consult with us on your personal productivity device purchase.
Research Computer Needs
CALS OIT is available to consult with you for research computing needs. Please, see our service offerings article and submit a request for consultation using our web form.
Will you be bringing any computers with you from a previous institution?
We'll want to know how many, the make/model/serial of each computer, and what operating system is installed. Upon arriving at Cornell with these computers, CALS OIT will need to onboard them for support.
Will you need to purchase new computers for your lab?
How many? What are the requirements? Will any of these computers need to be attached to lab equipment?
Do you plan to purchase any computer-attached research equipment?
Some contracts for equipment purchases will include overly expensive PCs that may be easily replaced by a standard Cornell Dell model. Using standard Cornell Dell models wherever possible, ensures quick and easy warranty repairs in the case of failure. Please include us when you're getting a quote from an equipment vendor, and we'll see if any included PCs are good candidates for this.
Do you need any other research computing services such as data storage and backup, or high performance computing?
Cornell has some great offerings in this realm, and we're more than happy to consult with you on this.
For New Staff
Your manager should have already identified the computer you will be using and coordinated with CALS OIT to configure it for your use. We will coordinate with your manager to determine a good time, on your start date, to meet with you to finish personalizing your setup.
If, CALS OIT was not coordinated with to prepare a computer for your use, please speak to your manager and ask them to submit a request to IT to either set up an existing computer or to start the quotation and procurement of a new computer (see For Manager section above). If a new computer needs to be purchased, temporary access to a loaner may be necessary. If this is the case, please inquire with your manager or Department Business Manager about availability.
Getting Online
Ethernet (Wired) Access
Managed Network
CALS OIT managed computers equipped with Ethernet ports (desktops and laptop docking stations), are registered for use on the managed network as part of our setup process. Most office space in CALS has at least one active network jack on a CALS OIT managed network. However, if the port you wish to use is not active, you may need to work with your department's Telecom Coordinator to submit a work order request to NCS.
Unmanaged Network
Access to the unmanaged network is only for personally owned computers or computers that are otherwise not managed by CALS OIT. Users of this network are personally responsible for ensuring their computer(s) adheres to Cornell IT policy generally, with a particular focus on Information Security policy 5.10. Costs associated with activation and maintenance for network jacks on the unmanaged network are the responsibility of the user/department.
Wireless (WiFi) Access
Access to Cornell's wireless networks is free for both personal and Cornell-owned computers. Cornell offers three ways to connect your wireless device to the network; eduroam (recommended, secure), Cornell-Visitor, and RedRover. We recommend you connect to eduroam whenever possible as it is the most secure option. Please, see CIT's WiFi page for more details on accessing WiFi at Cornell.
Accessing Network Resources
Department File Shares
Your department may have a network file share you'll need access to. Please, have your supervisor submit a request to grant you access to the necessary folders on the file share.
Networked Printers
To access networked printers, please see our knowledge base articles for Installing Printers on Cornell Owned Computers and Installing Printers on Personally Owned Computers.
Audio-Visual / Teleconferencing
Support
CALS OIT provides support for classroom and meeting room audio-visual and teleconferencing technology. For urgent classroom support, please see the signage nearest the lectern in each classroom. For general AV support, please submit a help request using our form.
Upgrades and Renovations
CALS OIT provides consultation and project management to CALS departments for classroom, lecture hall, lab, conference room, seminar room, huddle space, and meeting room audio-visual upgrades and renovations. We are available to work with CALS departments to identify equipment needs based on instructional or department functional goals and work with departments, CALS facilities, vendors, and other cross-functional units as necessary to deliver the AV solutions that CALS requires. Please use this form to initiate a room audio-visual upgrade or renovation request.
Web and Video Conferencing
The university-supported web and video conferencing solution is Zoom. Zoom is a full-featured web and video conferencing service that offers online meetings and webinars. Features include polling, breakout rooms, and a wide variety of audio options. For more information, please see CIT's Zoom webpage.
Research Support
CALS-OIT offers Research IT consulting services to connect all CALS researchers (Faculty, Post-Docs, Graduate Students, etc.) to the full array of Cornell's technology resources. We help turn your research vision into a solid plan that addresses your technology needs, as well as grant restrictions and regulatory requirements. Please, see our Catalog of Research IT Consulting Services for more details.
Security
Cornell IT Security Policies
Cornell University's Policy Office maintains multiple policies for information technology. These policies directly inform how CALS OIT provides services and support. You can read more about Cornell's IT related policies on the University Policy Library webiste.
Certified Desktop
All computers managed by CALS OIT are enrolled in Cornell's Certified Desktop. Certified Desktop is a package of security tools intended to promote the adoption of effective data security measures and policies on campus.
This service for faculty and staff consists of a suite of state-of-the-art security tools. Data security is a priority at Cornell, as outlined by University Policy 5.10, and Certified Desktop helps campus users better meet these goals for protecting their important files, data, and research.
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Crashplan (formerly Code42) cloud backup
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CrowdStrike advanced endpoint protection with antivirus and anti-malware
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Spirion confidential data identification tool
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Endpoint Management Tools for automated asset management and patch deployment
- TeamDynamix will be used to track and store endpoint configuration information. CIT will provide customized endpoint management tools to automatically update endpoint information.
To read more about Certified Desktop, please see CIT's page on the topic.
Fraudulent Email Resources
Cornell's IT Security Office also maintains a web page on how to identify fraudulent emails (phishing). The two most referenced resources on this page are the IT@Cornell Phish Bowl, which shows examples of phishes targeting Cornell, and the Verified Cornell Communications pages.
If you should receive a phish in your email, please report these to the IT Security Office. Be sure to include the entire text of the message and email headers. Use the Phish Bowl to see some phishing (fake) emails that have been spotted at Cornell.
Secure Password Management
Cornell's password management service uses the LastPass product to offer all current students, faculty, and staff a free enterprise account. Increase your personal and professional online security by saving all your passwords in one secure vault. LastPass also allows teams to safely share passwords. LastPass remembers all your passwords so you don't have to! To learn more, please see CIT's LastPass webpage.
Email
Office 365 is the university's email system for faculty, staff, and graduate and professional students. It is a cloud-based service from Microsoft that manages email, calendars, task lists, and address books. To access your email through a web browser, visit outlook.cornell.edu. For more information on Cornell's email for faculty and staff, see CIT web page on this.
Undergraduates and alumni use G Suite for Students, formerly known as Cmail.
Sharing Files
Cornell offers several ways to share files with others. Before choosing a solution, we recommend you:
- Consult with the groups/individuals you wish to collaborate with to determine which tool will work best for everyone.
- Consult CIT's Regulated Data Chart to determine the appropriate tool for the data you wish to share.
- Consult with CALS OIT if you have any questions.
| Box |
Box provides current Cornell faculty, staff, students, and affiliates with a simple way to share critical research, collaborate on group assignments, and manage team files, delivering a consistent user experience across campus. For more information, please see CIT's Box webpage. |
| Google Drive |
In order to support collaboration with Cornell students and colleagues at other institutions, G Suite accounts - which include Google's email, calendar, and collaboration services - are available for faculty and staff. For more information, please see CIT's G Suite webpage. |
| OneDrive |
Microsoft OneDrive is available through Cornell's Office 365 and helps university faculty, students, and staff store, share, sync, and collaborate on their documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and other files. For more information, please see CIT's OneDrive webpage. |
| Secure File Transfer |
Cornell Secure File Transfer is a secure method for transferring files smaller than 5 GB and allows anyone with a Cornell NetID to send and receive files. For more information, please see CIT's Secure File Transfer webpage. |
| Shared File Services |
Shared File Services (SFS) provide file storage which enables sharing of files between groups of users and computers. For more information, please see CIT's Shared File Services webpage. |
Software
Standard Software
All managed computers are set up by CALS OIT using a standardized imaging process. This process ensures a consistent end result which includes a standard set of software. We maintain a list of these standard software titles on our knowledge base article on this topic.
Procuring Software
The university offers many software packages, either under a site license or at a discount, centrally through CU Software. If you need to purchase software that is not currently offered at Cornell, please know that before any IT applications, software, or services can be purchased, an approval process needs to be followed. Further details on this approval process can be found on CIT's IT Governance web page.
Backup
Personal Productivity Backup
All personal productivity computers managed by CALS OIT are backed up using Certified Desktop's Crashplan offering. CIT maintains articles on using Crashplan and CALS OIT has a few of our own as well.
Specialized Computing & Research Backup
CALS OIT can consult with you to determine the ideal storage and backup options that fit your data access requirements and classifications. Requests for Research IT Consulting can be submitted through our Get Help web page.
Working Remotely
Whether you need to remotely connect to a resource on campus, or simply wish to know about best practices while working remotely, our page on this topic aims to set you on a path to remote work success.
Employee Departures
When an employee resigns their position or transitions to a new role within the organization, you should consider the following IT-related items:
- What will be the disposition of their computer?
- If the computer will be reused by a yet-to-be-hired successor, please retain the computer until you have the successor's NetID before submitting your request to CALS OIT to have it set up for their use.
- If the employee is leaving Cornell, you can have them or HR add a comment to their Outlook's Automatic Replies (Out of Office) settings.
- Do you (the departing employee's manager) have access to all the data you need?
- Determine what you would like done with the employee's computer backups.
- Is it important to retain them for a period of time? If so, for how long and where would like to store them?
- Will any portion of the departing employee's responsibilities shift to someone else? If so, some of these changes may require additional/changed permissions to network/computer resources.
- Is the departing employee moving to another department at Cornell? If so, determine whether the phone number they had been using is important to retain for department purposes. With RingCentral, Cornell's phone numbers are tied to individual NetIDs and will move with them unless you let NCS know you need to retain the number.
- Are there resources that you or your unit might control that need to be handed over to another employee? We recommend always having at least two to three administrators on these resources:
- Yammer
- Teams
- EGAs (Exchange Group Accounts)
- Off-Campus/non-Cornell IT resources