Elevating Inside.SMU to SharePoint in the Cloud

As part of OIT’s efforts to improve services across campus, Inside.SMU, our internal collaboration platform, will be moved to Microsoft’s SharePoint in the Cloud service.

Sharepoint OnlineThis change allows us to offer the latest version of SharePoint (the underlying software that ran Inside.SMU) to campus. It also provides you with additional features and a more reliable means of file storage and collaboration.

In the coming weeks, departments across campus will receive information on when their department’s data within Inside.SMU will be moved to the cloud. Usually, no action is needed on your part. If action is required, you will be notified by an OIT representative.

Response to Excel Survey

Microsoft Office ExcelAt the end of February, we sent out a survey to all SMU staff regarding their interest in Excel training. This survey was created as all of our Spring sessions were filled to capacity the same day registration was announced!  We also had a number of staff inquire about attending student-only sessions. However, those sessions were also heavily attended; therefore, we could not meet staff requests for attendance.

In order to accommodate both staff and student requests, we have increased our class offerings. Four additional Excel training sessions will be offered this fall for students. Eleven Excel sessions will be delivered this spring marketed primarily to SMU Staff. Visit our website to register for one of the newly added Excel sessions. Continue reading Response to Excel Survey

Office 2016 & Window 10 Coming to Campus Computers

Office 2016 available April 1

Office 2016Office 2016 will be available for all campus Windows and Mac OS computers beginning April 1st. You will find these products available via your computer’s LANDesk software portal (The LANDesk Portal Manager for Windows clients, or LANDesk Workspaces for Mac OS) where they may be selected for download and installation on your local system. Uninstalling the previous Office products is recommended, but not required. Please contact the OIT Help Desk if you do not see Office 2016 listed, if you have any difficulty accessing the LANDesk Portal Manager, or just have questions for us!

For installations off of the campus network,  be sure to download and sign in to the campus VPN client prior to launching LANDesk. Please note that Office 32 bit will be the standard offering for all Windows systems regardless of the version of your computer’s operating system . For more information visit Choose the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Office.

Windows 10 available July 1

Windows 10New campus computers ordered after July 1st will be delivered with Windows 10 Enterprise. Existing Windows 64 bit computers will be offered an optional Windows 10 upgrade via the LANDesk software portal (LANDesk Portal Manager) beginning July 1st. Computers currently being scheduled for upgrade through the campus tech fund will be delivered to customers running Windows 7, with Windows 10 upgrades offered for download and installation from LANDesk as well. If you utilize or support a lab or shared group of computers and would like to request an upgrade within those areas, or for any Windows computers running a 32-bit operating system, please contact the helpdesk for further assistance.

For more information on what version of the Windows operating system you have, visit http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/which-operating-system and for information on Windows 10 Enterprise features and changes see https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/WindowsForBusiness/windows-for-enterprise

How to remove voice mail transcriptions from Unified Messaging Voice Mail

Exchange Unified Messaging Tips & Tricks
The new campus voice mail service (Exchange Unified Messaging) has a feature which provides text transcriptions of voice mail messages to the Inbox by default. The accuracy of these text transcriptions may suffer for callers with accents, or poor quality calls (e..g, cell phone callers with bad reception).

Voice Mail Preview isn't available for this message.We expect the accuracy of these transcriptions to improve when we upgrade the system within the coming months. However, some users may wish to opt out of text transcriptions and check their voice mail by either playing the audio attachment or by dialing into the system at extension 88673. Here is how to disable the transcription feature:

 

  1. Login to webmail.smu.edu. Click the gear icon, click Options, then click General, then click Voice Mail Preview.
    -or-
    Open Outlook, click File Manage Voice Mail.
  2. Under Voice Mail Preview, uncheck “Include preview text with voice messages I receive”.
  3. Click Save.
Updated 07/10/2017: Include updated instructions for the new system.

Inside.SMU moving to SharePoint Online

App_Icon_Sharepoint_90x86[1]OIT is  happy to announce that Inside.SMU, our on-campus collaboration tool, is moving from an onsite Microsoft SharePoint server to a Microsoft-hosted SharePoint in the Cloud service. This upgrades our SharePoint software to the latest version automatically. On top of that, we also will have greater storage and backup capabilities. Most existing sites within Inside.SMU can be moved over to the new system with ease. We are working with primary stakeholders to design a roadmap for a final switchover sometime before the end of Q2.

Even though the functionality of SharePoint remains the same, some features have been renamed and moved around. The new version will also have a look-and-feel that is reminiscent of Office 365 and Office 2016. In preparation for the conversion to the cloud service, OIT will be offering a webinar for current users interested in learning more about how the new system will function and the new features. The webinar will take place on February 26 at 2PM. Visit our upcoming workshops page to register.