A. The Information and Computing Services department served the central technology needs of the CSUEB community, providing services that included centrally managed e-mail, the main campus web environment, support for Academic Affairs and other areas without their own technical support staff. Beginning July 1, 2007, the university brought all technology services together and the Information Technology Services division was born. ITS incorporates what was known as the ICS department, as well as virtually all other IT staff and resources, from the various administrative, academic and college areas on campus. For more information about ITS, including a list of staff and our new organizational chart, please visit our website.

A. In the administrative areas of our campus, Administration & Finance, Student Affairs, Planning & Enrollment Management, Academic Affairs, University Advancement, President’s Office, and other non-general fund areas, the desktop support will be managed centrally as part of the new User Support Services (USS) department. Initially staff can continue to contact their technical support staff in the same way and they did prior to ITS being formed. In the future, our goal is to improve services by cross-training staff, streamlining systems, and providing support in a more consistent manner across all supported units. We would like to get your feedback on how we can improve our support to better meet your needs. Please take a few minutes to login* and take our survey. This year the technical support in the academic areas and colleges will remain the same as always.

A. The ITS division is looking at ways to run IT at CSUEB more efficiently, including the consolidation of IT equipment when it makes sense. Some of the projects we’re currently working on are server consolidation and virtualization for select servers, as well as managing desktops as infrastructure in order to improve security and access to resources. Departments may not necessarily use the same servers or storage that they have used in the past, but ITS will provide users with adequate space to store necessary files on centralized storage devices that are under warranty, secured and backed-up nightly.

A. One of the goals of the new ITS Division is to ensure consistent security across the campus. A Policy Team was formed from volunteers representing IT staff supporting the different departments on campus to work towards achieving this goal. The charge for the team is to recommend a consistent set of user and computer policies that will ensure security, reliable access to resources and a consistent user experience. The Policy Team recommendations are shared with the Desktop Team, ITS Management and UIT, as necessary. To view our meeting notes and documentation login* to our SharePoint site.

A. In order to use our resources most effectively, ITS released a request for proposal (RFP) to find the best vendor and best equipment at the best price for the campus community. A team of IT staff representing different areas of the campus reviewed the proposals and evaluated the equipment to determine which company will provide the best option for the needs of our campus. This process will enable ITS to achieve significant cost savings in the purchase of 500+ computers per year to replace the oldest computers on campus, about 25% per year, helping us achieve the goal of having all administrative computers on a 4-year refresh cycle. Lab computers will be on a 3-year refresh cycle in order to provide our students with an optimal learning environment. IT staff from the various areas on campus may make recommendations about which computers get replaced first, but the ultimate decision lies with each unit’s Vice President or Dean. These computers will have a baseline configuration that will meet the needs of the majority of administrative users. If you have specialized needs beyond the standard configurations, your IT support team will work with you to configure something appropriate for your needs that can be managed centrally. Contact your local technical support or put in your request through the Help Desk form or e-mailing the Help Desk directly at servicedesk@csueastbay.edu and we will route your request to your IT support team.

A. There are different kinds of software licenses available to CSUEB through contracts negotiated by the Chancellor’s Office. For specific examples of the types of software licenses available see the Chancellor’s Office website. CSUEB provides a set of standard software that meets the needs of the majority of computer users. If you need software and you’re not sure how to get a copy please contact the Help Desk with your request by filling out a Help Desk form at or e-mailing the Help Desk directly.

A. Currently, the CSUEB Help Desk takes requests from faculty, staff and students received through forms on the web, e-mail and voicemail, and assigns requests to appropriate technical support staff on campus. The Help Desk hours are 8 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday. You can contact the ITS Help Desk by filling out a Help Desk form, e-mailing the Help Desk, or leaving a message at 510-885-4357 or on-campus at extension 5-HELP. Every attempt will be made to assign your request to the appropriate area within 2 business hours of the request. In the future we hope to be able to offer additional services in the Help Desk area by hiring and training more staff, developing self-service options for support, providing limited chat-for-help options, and working towards a central Help Desk that is more full-service for the campus community. We appreciate your patience and feedback. Please login* and share your ideas about the Help Desk by participating in our survey.

A. Recent campus-wide training has been mostly focused on PeopleSoft implementation. Over the next year, we will be providing workshops and resources as users move towards the new version of Microsoft Office, 2007, and Windows Vista. You can find out more information about training that’s available on campus at the training website. If you or someone in your office is interested in training for your group please contact us at training@csueastbay.edu. Help us determine the kinds of training that would help you do your job better by giving us some feedback. Login* and fill out our survey.

A. You can find more information out about ITS at the ITS website.

A. The default allocation for all users is 1GB [1,000 MB] of space. 

A. Users should store “work-related” documents and files. Prohibited Files

• E-mail files [e.g., Outlook Archive or Personal Folders .pst]
• Personal music, videos and movies [e.g., .avi .mpeg .mpg .mov .ra]
• Personal pictures [e.g., .jpg .jpeg .gif .bmp]
• Personal documents and anything not specifically related to CSUEB work

A. Refer to guidance within CSUEB’s Draft E-mail & IM Retention Policy.

A. Usually files stored under the My Documents directory will be redirected to central storage. Make sure that you keep work-related files in this directory. If the My Documents folder hasn’t been redirected to central storage yet you should have an H: drive where you can manually put the files that you’d like to save to central storage. If you’re not sure how your files are being stored please contact the Help Desk or your local IT support staff.

A. Confirm records retention schedules/requirements with your unit manager or department head, then purge/delete files that no longer need to be retained. If additional storage space is still needed, send a request for assistance to the Help Desk.

A. Yes, central storage is backed up regularly to tape, and these tapes are stored off-site. These backups are designed for disaster recovery of the entire storage system. Therefore, they are not designed to facilitate recovery of individual files or folders mistakenly deleted by an individual.

A. Please contact the Help Desk for assistance. IT support staff will be able to help you restore files that have been accidentally deleted.

A. Storing important work documents on central storage ensures that university records and files will be protected and available even if your computer stops working.

A. You can contact the Help Desk online at http://www.csueastbay.edu/its/helpdesk/, by sending an e-mail to servicedesk@csueastbay.edu, or by calling 510-885-HELP.

A. The current e-mail and calendar quota for staff and faculty is set at 200MB.

A. You can follow some ‘Best Practices’ to better manage your e-mail:

• If you’re using the Outlook client you can configure it to automatically archive older messages and calendar items. Check with your local support or go online to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/830119 for instructions on how to configure auto-archive for email and for calendar data.
• Save any large attachments you receive via email to your hard drive or other storage and not in your mailbox. Once you’ve saved the attachment you can delete the e-mail.
• Regularly empty your “deleted items”, “junk e-mail” and “drafts” folders to reclaim space. ‘Deleted items’ are not automatically cleared from your mailbox so if you don’t regularly empty this folder the items are still using up your quota.
• Please refer to guidance within CSUEB’s draft E-mail & IM Retention Policy.

• Review the ‘Best Practices’ guidelines for help with managing your e-mail and calendar quota.
• Contact the Help Desk to put in a request for help with your quota by sending an e-mail to servicedesk@csueastbay.edu or filling out a form online at http://www.csueastbay.edu/its/helpdesk/
• The Help Desk will assign your request to your local IT support who can help you setup auto-archiving, train you on how to file and better manage your e-mails on your local hard drive, and check your Outlook settings overall.
• If the nature of your work requires a larger quota even after following the ‘Best Practices’ guidelines your IT support will then contact the e-mail administrator to increase your quota.