IT Staff Services

IT Staff Services Catalogue

 Access control

Access control systems use standard NWU cards to manage access to facilities (perimeter, buildings, parking lots etc) or to facilitate sales by student card.
Electronic Services cares for and supplies the infrastructure centrally, which is maintained by campus IT's. Access at any point is granted by lists kept up by Protection Services on your campus. Access lists belong to a list owner/administrator who takes responsibility towards managing the list of persons authorized.

 Alarms

Burglar alarms used to monitor and warn about unauthorized access to facilities or equipment. Users can apply for user codes here and need to understand that access to an alarm system bears the same risks as carrying keys to official facilities.

 Automation & monitoring

Building and system automation in general, sometimes limited to monitoring process variables and alarming on over/under range such as for cryogenic freezers, compressed air supply etc.

 Class-room technologies

All technologies found in academic facilities, including (but not limited to) computers, access control, lecture broadcast- and capturing, sound, projectors/large format monitors, cameras, switching-, control- and building automation equipment, patch points, microphones etc., used to further Teaching and Learning or Research/Innovation strategies. After installation, these are supported by campus IT's.

 Computer Room Exam ID's

This service provides automatically generated user ID’s for non-recurrent use by students when taking official examinations or tests.
Lecturers should take the responsibility to create and distribute the IDs, as well as to download the data post-exam if required.

 DT-Comm: Skype for Business

Skype for Business is the new telephony service adopted by the NWU. Skype for Business is a complete UC telephony service, which includes more than just telephony.
Skype for Business is an App-based UC telephony service that no longer requires a physical telephone instrument on your table. Instead, it is an App installed on your computer, from where you will be able to make and receive phone calls as if they were on an ordinary telephone.
Physical telephones will only be provided when it is the last resort and will be supplied at a cost.
Users are encouraged to use the App with their current headsets and communication devices. The provisioning of headsets is the responsibility of each Department.
The App is also available for Android and Apple iOS.

 e-Conferencing systems

Used for connectivity in meetings that need to be attended from remote locations. Infrastructure is provided by IT-ES, but support is done from campus IT.

 Email & Calendaring

Outlook is the official email service of the NWU.

This service enables the user to make use of the Outlook Email and Calendaring functionality.

Personalised:

  1. Email addresses are created as being NWUnumber@nwu.ac.za and can be personalised (follow infographic steps to learn more), to name.surname@nwu.ac.za Use these guides as a reference and if your last name has changed or has been spelled incorrectly.  To achieve this: Click here to go to the website
  2. Kindly be mindful that signing out of Teams and then signing back in is necessary for the modification to become active. Refer to the infographic for step-by-step instructions.

Note:  If you do this at home, a VPN connection is required.

 

 

 Fire detection systems

Mandatory in high-density buildings. Used to monitor building for signs of fire and to take appropriate action, such as alarming or automatically suppressing fire with chemicals. Note that all fire-alarm systems should be serviced 6-monthly and that OSH is responsible for these standard services. IT-ES will handle all electronic faults that are detected by these mandatory services or faults that are reported in-between.

 HPC (High Performance Computing)

This service provides the means to compute extensive parallelized mathematical computations on a large dataset.

 Internet

The Internet service enables the user to access the Internet from any network access point with a valid ip address on the default “web-based” network ports: 80 and 443.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is also allowed via the proxy.

 Intranet

The Intranet provides a space for staff collaboration.

 Laptops & Tablets

The NWU is part of a national initiative to provide laptops and tablets at affordable prices.

The laptops and tablets are moderately priced with discount on the fixed prices of some of the models.

Two suppliers have been selected (Acer and Lenovo) and each have different models to choose from.

 Lecturer Podiums

This service provides network connected workstations in the lecturer’s podiums of lecture halls.

 Multiple Choice Card Readers

This service provides a multiple choice card reader for the capturing of assessment or evaluation results that were done on multiple choice cards.

NB: The user is responsible to read in the cards themself.

 Network Cables

This service provides network cables.

 Network Point

This service provides a network point connected to the NWU network.

 Nextcloud

Nextcloud is an open source, NWU hosted cloud storage solution with file share and communication capabilities. It enables you to access and sync your files, as well as communicate and collaborate.

Nextcloud is NOT available for undergraduate students.

Please note that this service is not for
databases.

 NWU Templates for Postgraduates

This service provides an MS Word Postgraduate and Proposal template for creating a Dissertation/Mini Dissertation or Proposal.

 NWU-Vending (VV)

This system manages the following services:

  • Point-of-sale (various service providers)
  • Stock management
  • Fund management
  • Mobile services
  • External Vending
 Open Port

This service allows a user to apply for an open port on the NWU Firewall.

Requests are approved or disapproved by the IT Director.

The NWU’s Firewall ensures that all internal network computers are protected by preventing any unnecessary and unauthorized network traffic to and from any internal computer connected to the NWU Network.

Central Firewall policies are maintained to grant access in exceptional cases.

The Internal Proxy Servers store or keep copies of the most requested or browsed pages or downloads and in doing so accelerates any consequential requests for the same information from the local storage.

 Password Management

This is the password you use in conjunction with your NWU# to gain access to most IT services. Your initial password is either your ID number or passport number followed by @Nwu, e.g., 12345667890123@Nwu

Your password will be the same for all CAS systems (e.g., eFundi, e-mail, MS Office 365 suite, etc.) This is NOT your student PIN, used for academic systems (e.g., registration, account enquiries, exam results). To change your student PIN, please visit Change Student PIN.

ATT: Staff - this is not your VSS password. To change your VSS password, please visit VSS Password Reset. Your password expires after three months. Please change your password before this time.

If your password expires, you will have to reset your password by clicking on 'Forgot Password' on site.

 PC Lab Virtualisation (Citrix)

The strategic goal of Citrix Desktop Virtualisation (click for a quick overview) is twofold: firstly to provide convenient, anywhere, anytime access on almost any device to NWU staff and students,  and secondly to extend the life of physical PC labs by offloading demanding computing tasks to a central system that is more capable than the individual workstations

Citrix allows you to connect to a Virtual Desktop from almost any recent device with internet access. Students have access to an "All-purpose Lab Desktop" with mostly the same software as can be found in the physical PC labs, while Staff have access to a "Staff Desktop" which has access to network drives.

 Plagiarism Detection

A means to provide access to Turnitin via eFundi for comparing uploaded assignments to a database, determining the probability of plagiarism.

 Printing

This service provides secure printing on the NWU network printers.

Staff and Guests use the printers situated in their departments.

Students have access to printers situated in computer rooms and libraries on their campus.

 Remote Support Software AnyDesk

This is the standard NWU Remote connection program and can be loaded on any device regardless if private property or NWU owned.

 Research support Equipment

Design and supply of purpose made equipment for controlling experiments and measuring/recording results or monitoring standard equipment. This is usually done in cooperation with Instrumentmakers wherever specialized mechanical components are used.

 Sound and visual systems

Sound and/or visual systems in venues other than classrooms.

 Staff Registrations

Staff members are automatically registered on the NWU network and provided with a NWU number once their record has been processed by People & Culture .

The NWU number is automatically deactivated 30 days after the resignation date as captured by People & Culture.

When staff log into the NWU network for the first time, their password is their RSA ID number or passport number.

 Teams recordings

How to restrict access to recordings in Teams. The procedure will give you a step by step guide to secure your recordings.

 The Power Platform

The Microsoft Power platform was selected as the low code no code (LCNC) development platform for the NWU.

Every user has access and the ability to develop within the default environment linked to the NWU tenant, fostering collaborative Power Platform capabilities.

Please see the Power platform guidelines on best practices for storing your data.

The following development tools are allowed and do not depend on project type:

  • Canvas apps
  • Dataverse apps
  • Power Automate
  • Power Pages
  • Artificial Intelligence services
  • Power BI Dashboards

Due to potential cost implications, some types will only be allowed per request. Please see General guidelines point 1.6.

Power platform development applications are classified as:

  • Personal Development and Training application projects
  • Business Unit (Faculty/ Department) applications projects
  • Enterprise application projects

Every classification has a different set of rules and regulations, please refer to the General guidelines for more information.

 WiFi (Wireless Network for Mobile Computing)

This service provides mobile access to the NWU Network.

IT Staff Software Catalogue

 Antivirus Software

Microsoft's antivirus software provides protection of Windows workstations against virus attacks and malware intrusions.  Microsoft Security Essentials is used for Windows 7 and Microsoft Defender is used for Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10.

 Bulk SMS

Connect-Mobile is the new product that can be used for sending bulk sms's.

 CCTV

Used as security and/or management tool to view in real-time or to scrutinize recorded visual evidence of events. Users that wish to apply, need the signature of management (one level up if the applicant is a manager him/herself) and need to abide by the rules so as not to transgress the POPI act or place the university at any kind of risk. All applications need to be properly motivated and are screened by Protection Services and IT before being approved.

 Computer Room Software Licensing

This service provides support in terms of advice, licensing and implementation of software for the computer rooms.

Software is divided into two categories:

  • Licensed by ITC
  • Licensed by a specific department (other than ITC).
 eFundi

This service is a web-based eLearning, collaboration and research management system. It is designed to help lecturers and researchers create many different courses and project sites with varying levels of complexity.

eFundi offers a broad spectrum of features, including tools for:

  • administration,
  • assessments & assignments,
  • communication,
  • voting for your favourite lecturer (twice per year),
  • sharing resources and,
  • collaborative learning.

The Tools can be individually selected, added, or removed based on each site's specific requirements or needs.

 eFundi MOVE

eFundi MOVE is the app that provides an offline version of the eFundi platform. 

This service synchronizes the following eFundi tools to Android, IOS and Windows devices:

  • Resources
  • Announcements
  • Schedule

Alternatively see the eFundi Move Manual

 Hemis Academic Timesheets (HAT)

This web-based service has two functions.  Each function has it's own login page and support.  The two functions are:

HAT LM provides the front-end for lecturers to:

  • connect themselves to the modules that they are responsible for;
  • enter the number of students for the specific module.

HAT APP allows the lecturer to:

  • fill in their time sheets.
 Institutional Advancement System (DEVMAN)

This system is used for the Institutional Advancement of the NWU.  The functionality include:

  • Alumni Relations
  • Fund Raising
  • Community Engagement
  • Marketing
 Integrated Work Management System (IWMS)

This service includes the following:
•    Facilities service and Maintenance    
     requests
•    Space and IT Asset Reservations
•    Move Requests
•    Space and Infrastructure requests
•    Space Management
•    OHS incident reporting, risk assessment
•    Lease Management
•    Residence and Office space occupation
•    Capital Project Management

 Kuali Financial System (KFS)

This service is the Financial system of the NWU and includes:

  • Accounts payable and receivable
  • Capital asset management
  • Chart of accounts
  • General ledger
  • Kuali identity management
  • Purchasing
  • Value added tax
  • Reporting.
 MS Teams

Microsoft Teams is a powerful collaboration tool available via Microsoft’s Office 365 suite. As part of the NWU’s path to Dx (Digital transformation), MS Teams is the currently supported collaboration tool. The application allows teams and groups to create a virtual space where they can collaborate. Although the collaboration opportunities are endless, at NWU, Microsoft Teams may only be used for operational or academic purposes. MS Teams is available to all current NWU staff and students. It is easy to use and convenient in this era of hybrid working, allowing you to work with others even while off-campus. One can collaborate on documents, send instant messages, and even hold online meetings or video conferences.

 Oracle HR

This system is used by Human Capital for the management of:

  • Employee biographical information
  • Appointments
  • Leave
  • Payroll
  • Position budgets
 QuestionPro for Staff

This service provides online surveys, mobile data collection, advanced analysis and data visualization.

 Site Administration & Access Control (NWU-SAS)

This service provides administration functionality relating to access control for NWU. This includes the management of identity cards, traffic (parking), and keys.

 Student Administrative System (VSS)

This service manages student study admissions, residence admissions, registrations, course results, fees, financial aid, graduation, short course admission and registration.

 Web Publishing

This service provides web publishing support for information to be placed on the NWU Internet and Intranet.