News from the Service Desk

As the first point of contact for many IT questions, the central IT Service Desk team responds to up to 1000 telephone and self-service queries from across the University each week. This is our first update in a new series to keep you informed about important messages, new developments, popular questions, and to share some handy tips. Find out more about the Service Desk and IT Customer Services in this profile written by our director.

Popular requests

The Service Desk receives a lot of common requests. You can make your own requests for many different services using IT Self Service. Here are some of our top reminders for everyone at the University. 

• If you have a query about one of the administrative systems, including the Development and Alumni Relations system, Finance systems, HR systems, Student systems, Research Administration systems, Chorus telephony and many more, use the search to quickly find what you are looking for. 
• If you need a new generic email account for your team or group, please use the online form (in the account management area), to help you place your request quickly and easily. 
• If you forget your Single Sign-On (SSO) password, you can reset it via https://webauth.ox.ac.uk. There is also a quick link to ‘Manage passwords and accounts’ at the top of the IT Services website homepage. More information about managing your accounts and passwords is also available. 

What's new this term

Over the past few months we’ve introduced several new service requests in the IT Self Service environment. These will likely be of particular interest to local IT support (ITSS) colleagues. 

• The Generic Email Account Delegation service request has been updated to permit requests for multiple people using a spreadsheet. This can be found in the email and account management area of IT Self Service. 
• The new Account Suspension service request enables HR, ITSS, Academic Administrators and Heads of House to request quick suspension of user accounts. 
• The SharePoint Change Owners service request has been split into two to make it easier to request changes to key roles for SharePoint. The new service requests are Change Business Owner/SharePoint Network Administrator and SharePoint Change Site Administrators.  Both can be found in the Nexus365 area of IT Self Service. 
• Windows Managed Server Change enables designated ITSS to request changes to Windows servers that are delivered as part of the Managed Server Service, and can be found in the Technical Services area of IT Self Service.  
• The new Additional Core User Directory (CUD) Attributes service request is available to request additional attributes that are not already included in CUD.  

Getting IT help

Your local IT support colleagues know your local systems best and should be your first port of call. You can also check the IT Help website where you will find  links to forms for queries and requests in IT Self Service and quick help guides for the most popular systems and software.  

If you cannot find the answer to your query or need additional support for a service, you can provide relevant written details and screenshots using the Request for Help form. Clear information from you helps all the support centres to understand your problem and help you more quickly.  

If you have an urgent query, our Service Desk colleagues are available by telephone 24/7 all year round (with support from our out-of-hours service partners). Have your University card to hand and call 01865 (6) 12345.  

Did you know?

Did you know that the IT Help website is constantly being improved as our team responds to feedback. It now features collections of advice and guidance about a range of topics including SharePoint, Wi-Fi and VPN, software, Nexus365 and much more.