Client Services Support, Remote Work IT Guidelines

The following is a basic set of resources and associated information intended to assist personnel with the ability to work remotely. There are many differences in the remote work requirements for each individual’s job duties, so if you have any questions or concerns about whether or not this information is relevant to your job in particular, please reach out to your supervisor for guidance.

Before you work from home:

1.      Test to make sure your VPN connection works

a.       Un-dock your laptop, connect to campus Wi-Fi, and then connect to your chosen VPN

b.       Once you are connected, make sure you can access resources that you need such as network drives, web applications, specialized software, etc.

2.       Make sure you have a telephony device such as a headset or USB phone that you could bring home

a.       Speak to your supervisor if your job requires you to make/receive phone calls and you do not have a portable telephony device

b.       If you are able, take your telephony device home and make a test call to make sure that Skype for Business and the device itself are functional.

c.       IP Phones will not work at your home

3.       Make sure you have set up and are comfortable using Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

a.       If you have a 2FA token (Yubikey or OTP C100), consider enrolling a personal device, such as a cell phone or home phone as a secondary option. Alternatively, you can speak to your supervisor about taking your token home daily or procuring a second token for home use. Make sure you have set up a recovery option in the 2FA system as well.

4.       If you do not typically work on a laptop or have another mobility option, you may be required to identify a personal device for remote use. This means you may have to set up network drives and other Software on this device. Make sure to map needed drives, install needed software, and test to make sure you can access files and required resources before you begin working remotely. (More instructions on this later in the document)

VPN:

There are two VPN options for employees supported by Client Services Support. The AITS VPN should be used by all System Office Employees. Campus units should use their campus’s Cisco AnyConnect VPN. The AITS VPN is typically already installed on University-owned computers that we support, but can be configured on a personal machine. The campus Cisco VPN can be purchased from the Webstore for free by anyone with an active NetID and password, no additional forms are required for access. More details are below:

NOTE: If your job requires that you work with HIPAA data, you may NOT use a personal device for such job duties.

AITS VPN (SYSTEM OFFICE USE)

If you will not be using your university-owned computer for remote work, you will need to follow the instructions at the site below to configure the AITS VPN connections.

Chicago, Urbana, and Springfield Campuses:

Windows

https://answers.uillinois.edu/illinois/page.php?id=98654

Mac

https://answers.uillinois.edu/illinois/page.php?id=98683

CISCO AnyConnect VPN (CAMPUS UNIT USE)

Urbana Campus:

Information on how to download and install the Cisco AnyConnect for those on the Urbana Campus can be found here:

https://answers.uillinois.edu/47507

Chicago Campus:

Information on how to download and install the Cisco AnyConnect VPN for those on the Chicago Campus can be found here:

https://answers.uillinois.edu/uic/75012

Springfield Campus:

Information on how to download and install the Cisco AnyConnect VPN for those on the Springfield Campus can be found here:

https://www.uis.edu/informationtechnologyservices/connect/vpn/

NOTE: These VPN connections can be used on any campus, but you should purchase and install the offer associated with your pay-campus. This is due to licensing restrictions.

Telephony Devices

If you have a USB headset or a USB Phone these should work remotely. It is still recommended that you test these devices with your home setup before relying on them for work. Examples of these devices are below:

·         Polycom CX300 R2

·         Jabra SPEAK 410 MS

·         Plantronics Calisto P610-M

·         Plantronics Calisto P240-M

If you have an IP phone – these are typically the phones that you can log into directly and have a network connection - you will need an alternate telephony option for remote work. Examples of these devices are below:

·         Yealink T48S, T46S, and T42S

·         Polycom CX600

·         Yealink T58A, T56A, and T55A

Two-Factor Authentication

Many services on campus already require Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), but there are additional campus resources that require 2FA from off-campus. If there are web-based resources that you need to access to complete your job, try accessing them from off-campus to see if you are required to use 2FA. You can also check with the administrators of these services to see if 2FA is required. A huge amount of additional information about 2FA, how it works, and who it affects can be found here:

https://techservices.illinois.edu/content/two-factor-authentication-2fa

Network Drives

In order to access network drives (such as your home drive, or shared department drives) you will need to connect to one of the VPNs described previously in this document. If you are using a personal device, you will need to map connections to these drives. Instructions on how to map a network drive can be found below. You will need to know the path for your network drive. This information should be listed on your primary work computer in file explorer. An example of a network drive path is: \\ui.uillinois.edu\aits\home\netid

Windows

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4026635/windows-map-a-network-drive

Mac

https://it.cornell.edu/computer-recommendations/how-map-drive-mac-os-x

Software Availability

If you are using a personal device, you can still access the full Office Suite with the campus Office 365 online service. The Office 365 (O365) suite, including Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Teams, and more, is available at http://office.illinois.edu/. You will need to sign in with your NetID, password, and 2FA to access these tools.

How to Get Help

If you Require Assistance with any of the above configuration settings, or if you have issues during testing, please contact the AITS Service Desk at servicedeskaits@uillinois.edu or call one of their support numbers: 217-333-3102 or 312-996-4806 (either phone number connects you to the same group). Additional information on campus-specific resources can be directed to the campus Help Desks listed below:

Chicago – Academic Computing and Communications Center (https://accc.uic.edu/forms/contact-us/#QUICK-HELP)

Springfield – Information Technology Services (https://www.uis.edu/informationtechnologyservices/)

Urbana – Technology Services at Illinois (https://techservices.illinois.edu/get-help)