Use of computers at the Jacobs School of Music is governed by policies created at the University, Campus and School level.
Jacobs School of Music policies are created in conjunction with the Instructional Technology Policy Committee (ITPC).
- Eligibility for Computing Resources
- Hardware Acquisition and Configuration
- Software
- Technical Support
- Computer Ownership and Location
- Personal Computer Support
- Personal Computers on the IU Network
- Email Usage
- Email Distribution Lists
- Passphrases
- Portable Equipment
- Special Requests, Guest Speakers and Event Support
- Remote Access of Computers by MITS Staff
- Computer Logout/Shutdown Policy
- Data Backups
- IT Incident Response Procedures
Jacobs School of Music policies are created in conjunction with the Instructional Technology Policy Committee (ITPC).
Eligibility for Computing Resources
General eligibility is governed by University Policy IT-03
The following are eligible for computing support at the Jacobs School of Music:
- Faculty on full-time continuing appointments, and staff whose duties require computers. In addition, certain groups of associate instructors with substantial supervisory responsibilities may be eligible for computer equipment with departmental support.
- Visiting and part-time faculty may be provided with a computer if inventory allows.
New faculty, and faculty currently without a computer should contact Music Information Technology Services to request a computer. Requests for new staff computers should be requested by the staff member's supervisor.
Hardware Acquisition and Configuration
Baseline hardware configurations are reviewed annually and, in order to participate in volume discounts, generally follow configurations adopted by the campus. Computers in the Jacobs School of Music are replaced on a three-year cycle. Faculty may elect either a Windows or Macintosh computer. The current standard configuration includes a flat-panel monitor and network connection to the school servers, campus network, and the internet.
Requests for computers with capabilities beyond the baseline, for laptop computers, and for peripheral hardware (such as midi keyboards) are dealt with on a per-case basis and must include a detailed justification. Please make requests for new hardware as early in the year as possible.
Every effort is made to provide printers to individual staff and faculty members. In a few locations where secure space is available, a shared laser printer is provided (mainly in selected administrative offices and in the office suites in the Simon building). Those with access to a networked laser printer are strongly encouraged (but not required) to forego having an individual printer in their office. Replacement printing supplies (paper and inkjet cartridges) are available in the mailroom (mu006a) and must be charged to department accounts. If you do not know your department account number, please see the mailroom staff.
Software
To maximize compatibility, all Jacobs School of Music computers are provided with a standard set of software. In the event a computer system becomes corrupted, MITS staff will restore the computer to its original state.
Included on each computer are current web browsers and the latest supported release of Microsoft Office Professional, which includes Word (word processing), Excel (spreadsheet), Powerpoint (presentation) Access (Windows-database) and Outlook (Windows e-mail). Music notation software (Finale and Sibelius) is available through a key-server system that restricts the number of simultaneous users of the program. Contact musicits [at] indiana [dot] edu for installation. Requests for other software are evaluated on a per-case basis and generally must be purchased by individual departments.
MITS abides by software licensing agreements and will not install unlicensed or illegally copied software. We will not install a licensed copy of a program on multiple computers unless such a situation is approved in the license.
Technical Support
MITS staff provide hardware and basic software support. The staff installs hardware, responds to requests for hardware diagnosis and repair, and responds to limited software problems.
Reports of computing problems should be reported by electronic mail to musicits [at] indiana [dot] edu. If you lack e-mail access, call 855-7832 and leave a message. E-mail requests are preferred because they ensure the most efficient response. Priority is given to requests that affect a large number of people (e.g., a widespread networking problem). Individual requests are dealt with as quickly as possible.
Although MITS staff will make a good faith effort to assist with software support, in-depth support for many applications is not possible. For software-related problems, users are encouraged to use the following resources: (1) online documentation, (2) the Services and Support unit of University Information Technology Services (UITS), and (3) the UITS Support Center (855-6789).
Computer Ownership and Location
Jacobs School of Music computers are intended for use in on-campus offices and studios. In rare cases where faculty and staff members wish to use a school-owned computer at home, approval must be obtained from MITS and possibly the ITPC and/or Dean's Office. When such approval is made, faculty/staff members must complete an off-campus inventory form available from MITS or the Business Affairs Department. MITS staff will provide service only for school-owned computers located on-campus. If faculty/staff members have technical problems while using a school-provided computer at home, the faculty member must bring it to campus for repair.
For laptops, tablets and other mobile devices special security protocols will be required. Passcodes must be used at all times and some devices may require encryption with applications such as BitLocker and FileVault.
Documentation and software that are 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.
The JSoM Off Site Office Equipment Agreement Form will need to be signed by anyone using school-owned computers or mobile devices at home or off-campus. You can view a copy of this agreement here.
Personal Computer Support
MITS does not provide support for individually owned or home computers. Questions about personal computer hardware and software should be directed to their original manufacturer and/or vendor. Questions about problems with Internet connectivity at home should be directed to your Internet Service Provider (i.e. Comcast, SBC, etc.)
Outlook Web Access is the preferred method to check your Indiana University email account from home. Please contact the UITS Help Center at 812-855-6789, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if you experience problems with the Outlook Web Access system.
Personal Computers on the IU Network
Personal laptops may be used on the IU Wireless Network.
Indiana University offers several options for wireless connectivity. Wireless may be accessed by any faculty, staff, or student with a wireless-equipped laptop and other mobile devices. In order to gain access to the wireless network the laptop must be registered (a ten minute online process) and you must have an active network ID.
- IU Secure is a wireless network for IU students, faculty, and staff that uses WPA2 Enterprise (WiFi Protected Access) for authentication. You will not need to use a VPN connection when you are connected to IU Secure, and you will have full, secure access to the Internet and IU services. For information about how to connect, see What is IU Secure?
- If you are connecting from an area on campus where you do not see the "IU Secure" option, use VPN over wireless.
- If your mobile device cannot make a VPN connection and you cannot use IU Secure, you can use the unencrypted wireless service to access non-IU resources and IU services that use secure protocols (e.g., web sites that use HTTPS, such as https://onestart.iu.edu/.
The use of personal desktop computers on the Indiana Univeristy Jacobs School of Music network is not permitted.
Email Usage
Use of Electronic Mail is governed by Universitiy Information Technology Policy IT21.
Email addresses are automatically provided to full-time faculty and staff members. It is expected that Jacobs School of Music faculty and staff will use their @indiana.edu email address to communicate with their colleagues within the school.
Other policies for email use are found at the UITS website.
See also: What should I know to avoid getting in trouble with email?
Email Distribution Lists
MITS maintains three email lists for official JSoM Communication.
- SOM_faculty@indiana.edu
- SOM_staff@indiana.edu
- SOM_students@indiana.edu
These lists are moderated. The ability to send email to these lists is restricted to a small number of individuals.
These E-mail Lists are available only for official announcements of the School.
Faculty and staff interested in sending a message to one of the lists must receive approval of the one of the list moderators (generally the Director of MITS or Dean's office).
Passphrases
As of October 26, 2006, IU began requiring all new users, and all other users who choose to change their existing passwords, to set a Network ID passphrase. This will be the passphrase used to access all of your IU accounts online, including email, Oncourse, and SIS. To change your IU Network ID passphrase, visit the Passphrase Maintenance page.
When choosing an IU Network ID passphrase, follow the requirements below:
Network ID passphrases must:
- Contain at least 15 and no more than 127 characters.
- Use at least four unique characters (letters, numbers, or symbols).
- Use at least four words. "Word" is defined here as two or more distinct letters; words must be separated by one or more spaces or other non-letters (i.e., hoagy carmichael-on_kirkwood123avenue contains five "words").
These passphrases must not:
- Contain your name or username.
- Use the at sign ( @ ), the number sign ( # ), or the double-quote mark ( " ).
- Be a common phrase (e.g., to be or not to be or april showers bring may flowers).
- Be based on predictable patterns (e.g., the alphabet or the layout of a standard keyboard).
Portable Equipment
MITS provides a small number of laptop computers, portable projectors, digital cameras and audio recorders. These are intended both for occasional classroom presentations and for those times when a faculty and staff member must make an off-campus presentation at a remote location. Contact musicits [at] indiana [dot] edu or the Music Library Circulation Desk for more information or to reserve any of this equipment.
Special Requests, Guest Speakers, and Event Support
Requests for events such as guest lectures, colloquia, video conferences or other events that require special setup, equipment, software or staffing must be scheduled at least 10 working days in advance.
Support for laptops or other devices belonging to guests will be limited. Guests should have all necessary cables and adaptors required for connecting to standard projection equipment and be able to run their own presentation.
Setup and testing should be scheduled in advance and not be left until the time of the event.
Remote Access of Computers by MITS Staff
All of the Mac and PC desktop computers within the school have been equipped with remote control software that allows MITS staff to connect to and control the computers via the network. When connected to a remote computer in this fashion, MITS staff can view the contents of the screen and control the keyboard and mouse cursor as if they were sitting at the computer.
The remote control software allows MITS to troubleshoot problems and assist faculty/staff members with problems without having to travel to their office. MITS staff will only connect to remote computers in certain situations:
- When an MITS staff member is on the phone with the faculty/staff member.
- When the faculty/staff member is in the MITS offices.
- When MITS staff need to access the computer to log a user off prior to server maintenance.
An icon on the screen (in the Windows system tray or the OS X menu bar) indicates when the computer is being viewed and/or controlled remotely. MITS will never access personal files without prior approval of the faculty or staff member.
Computer Logout/Shutdown Policy
Computers should be logged out of at the end of each day to protect the security of a user's documents and ensure that any maintenance that is performed on the computer does not result in the loss of user data.
MITS staff members create nightly backups of users' data stored on school file servers. These backups can fail for certain files if those files have been left open by a user that has remained logged in. Logging out ensures that all of your data will be backed up successfully.
MITS sometimes needs to apply software and security updates to individual computers and are unable to apply those updates if a user has remained logged into a computer. Logging out of your computer is also the only way to ensure the safety of your files and information; if you don't log out of your computer, anyone with physical access to your computer can access your files.
Data Backups
MITS regularly backs up important data. Faculty and staff desktop computers (both PCs and Macs) have their users' data folders stored on school file servers backed up nightly. Files stored on office computers but not saved to a file server will not be backed up.
In the event that a file or folder is accidentally deleted, please contact MITS 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. Recovery requests must be made no later than four weeks after the file was deleted.
IT Incident Response Procedures
1.A person who notices an incident, or has a lost or stolen personal mobile device that access IU resources.
- Some types of incidents that may warrant action/investigation are: slow or non-responsive systems, new errors/messages, programs constantly crashing, unauthorized access, break-in attempts, inadequate protection controls, or inadvertent disclosure.
2.Step away from the computer. Do not touch it or attempt to login or alter it. Do not power it off. These actions will delete forensic evidence that may be critical to your incident.
3.That person notifies the the MITS Director, 812-855-2972 or the MITS Office, 812-855-7832.
4.If the Director of MITS or the MITS Office cannot be reached, notify UITS Support Center, (812) 855-6789.
5. The Director of MITS or IT personnel will collect information (without using the system) if it can be done quickly, such as: scope of the issue, type of compromise, names and IP addresses of machines, approximate date/time of compromise (if known), and usernames of users and system administrators of the machine.
6.The Director of MITS or IT personnel will then notify:The University Information Policy Office (UIPO): https://protect.iu.edu/contact/index.html
7.The UIPO will work with the department’s IT staff to coordinate response and forensic investigation, as necessary. They will use the UIPO sensitive data incident response checklist and toolkit. Details about the incident and response will be documented in their tracking system.
8.Specifically for production services like websites: plan remedial action to restore service, and when. Consider bringing up a new machine to host the site - or posting a “down for maintenance” banner.
9.Incident team will review steps taken in response to attempt to prevent future incidents.