Tech News - July 2022

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Tech News. This is the very first edition of our regular electronic newsletter which aims to provide our community with an overview of what is happening in the ICT world that might be of interest to staff. The intention is to highlight new services and technologies as they come online, to let you know of changes to existing services, to provide awareness of upcoming ICT training, and to give a heads-up of planned maintenance which may include service disruptions. Please feel free to pass this on to your own staff distribution lists.

ICT Spotlight - Māori Pōtae (Macrons) & the Māori Keyboard

• University of Waikato Windows and Mac computers now include the ‘Māori keyboard’
• Selecting this as your default language is the easiest way to include pōtae (macrons) in your document when needed
• Find out how to enable the Māori keyboard here https://www.waikato.ac.nz/ict-self-help/guides/maori-macrons
• Contact the Service Desk if you need assistance - help@waikato.ac.nz or 07 838 4008.

ICT Services - what’s new and what’s changed

Access Control (swipe access to buildings)

• Campus Access Control is now delivered by the ITS Service Desk.
• Requests can be made through Kuhukuhu for:
  • Additional accesses or access to restricted spaces
  • Adhoc after-hours scheduling for spaces not timetabled
  • Replacement cards
  • Installing swipe access on a door
• Provision of physical cards has not changed:
  • New staff get their ID (swipe) Card from HR when they join the University
  • Students still get their card issued via Student Services (or the Halls of Residence if they are staying in our accommodation)
  • Visitor Cards and Contractor cards are still issued from the University Security Team on both campuses
• Physical Campus security, parking matters and event security remains with the University Security Team
• See more about Access Control here.
• If you have any questions please contact the Service Desk.

UniAccess Account Creation

When creating new user accounts in UniAccess, follow these guidelines:

• Staff: If they are going to have an HR contract.
• External: If they will not have an HR contract e.g. External Contractor or Emeritus Professor.
• Limited: If they will not have an HR contract e.g. External Contractor or Emeritus Professor, AND don’t require use of Microsoft Office.

An External account will provide the user with a username, email account and access to an H: drive, wifi, internet, printing (must provide a print code), Microsoft Office license.

A Limited account will provide the user with a username and access to wifi, internet, and printing (must provide a print code).
Note: H: drive and an email account can be provisioned for a Limited account on request.

If an External or Limited user requires access to Moodle and/or MyWaikato this must be requested as a Resource in UniAccess and access is granted manually.

New Anti-Virus Solution replacing Trend Micro

Between June and November 2022 ITS will be deploying the new Microsoft Defender to all University computers and removing Trend Micro. This will have no impact to computer users, but you may notice a pop-up message which says ‘there is no anti-virus enabled’. This will be momentary as one application is switched out for the other.

Changes to AV Loan Pool

• Management of the AV loan pool has moved to the Library as of Monday 27 June.
• You can book AV equipment via the Library webpage and equipment will be available for collection and drop off during Library opening hours.
• You can also email for equipment bookings or enquiries.

Zoom Marketplace Apps

Otter.ai recently became available. For Otter.ai licence owners, your live transcription and note taking can now be used in Zoom using the Otter.ai Live Notes for Zoom application.

The Zoom Marketplace has third party apps that are integrated with Zoom.  These can be found at marketplace.zoom.us. To filter the list for UOW Approved applications, tick the setting Approved Apps (in Add Permissions).

Google Marketplace Apps

Miro is a digital whiteboard app that integrates with Google workspaces, giving you a collaborative environment using Google Calendar, Meet, Docs and Drive. It allows you to save boards directly to your Drive which can then be accessed in real time as a team, or individually. You can use Miro to host a digital brainstorm, document a meeting, teach a class, …the possibilities are endless.

Colab is a Google Research product that allows anybody to write and execute python code through the browser, providing no setup to use, and free access to computing resources including GPU’s for machine learning, data analysis and education. CoLab notebooks are stored in Google Drive or can be loaded from GitHub.
See the Google Apps Self Help Page for more information on available apps.

Upcoming ICT Training

This list is subject to change, for the most up-to-date information please view the Professional Development page which has the calendar and registration form. If you have any questions or would like a specific course developed, please email its.training@waikato.ac.nz or contact the Service Desk.

Kuhukuhu Improvements

• Fulfillment information (what was done to help or fix) is now visible from the ticket’s ‘Notes’ tab in ‘My Items’
  
• The ‘Service Catalogue’ has been simplified for ICT Services - making it easier to find the request you need from the side menu
  
  *remember request forms can also be found by putting a keyword in the search bar at the top of the catalogue*
  
• Hardware and Software Purchasing can be done from the same request form
  *remember ICT Consumables can be purchased using a PCard, with appropriate approval, online through PB Tech*
  
• Five hardware related request forms have been merged into one new , easy to use, form - “ICT Hardware - Repair / Loan / Return / Dispose / Move”

Planned Maintenance