Help Desk Supported Software (April 27, 2007)
At least annually, the CITES Help Desk will publicly publish a list of software that we support. Publishing such a list provides guidance to customers, helps manage client support expectations, and helps us to manage our work. The list will define what “support” means. Support may be inclusive, such as usage questions, installation/configuration questions, etc. Other support may be limited to answering what questions we can, or forwarding to other resources. Some applications on the list may be supported by CITES Help Desk, while others may be supported by other CITES units.
Categories of Support
Software on the list will be categorized by the type of support offered. Support will fall into these categories:
- Category 1: Primary CITES services
- Category 2: CITES-sponsored services
- Category 3: Other
Category 1: Primary CITES services
Category 1 Software includes programs that CITES offers as primary services, such as Oracle Calendar, Exchange/Outlook, virus protection software, and other email clients. Programs on this list are fully supported by CITES Help Desk and imply:
- The CITES Help Desk will have at least one copy of the software installed.
- The CITES Help Desk staff will attend training on the software when possible
- Minimally two CITES Help Desk staff will maintain expertise on the software.
- We will answer all types of questions about the program, including usage, installation/configuration, compatibility issues, bugs, etc.
- We will have escalation procedures in place so that if we can't provide a timely answer, ourselves, we can call upon resources to get a solution as quickly as possible. (This may mean a support call to a vendor.)
Level 1 software applications include (except where noted, latest version is understood):
- Classroom: Illinois Compass
- Communications-Dialup: dialup connections for Mac OS X & above and Windows Workstation 2000 & above
- Communications-File Transfer: WebDrive, WebFolders, Mac OS X Native WebDav client, Goliath 1.0 & above
- Email: Eudora 6.2.4 & above for Mac, Eudora 7.1 & above for Windows, Exchange/Outlook 2003 & above, Express Email web client, Apple Mail
- Operating Systems: Mac OS X & above, Windows Workstation 2000 & above
- Office/Productivity: NetFiles, Oracle Calendar
- Others: Cisco VPN 3000 Client software for Windows and Mac, Enterprise-Licensed release of McAfee Anti-virus products, QuickConnect, VirusScan for Mac OS X, Virex 7 for Mac OS X
Category 2: CITES-sponsored services
This category comprises other CITES-distributed software: free or discounted programs that we offer to customers through the CITES WebStore (for example). Though software in this category is "CITES-sponsored", full support may not be available. Other Category 2 programs are those in common usage that we receive regular questions about. Examples are operating systems and desktop productivity programs such as word processing software and spreadsheets. Support for Category 2 includes:
- Assistance with downloading and/or installation.
- Additional help, as needed, in gaining access
- Usage support if we have staff who know the program or if we have access to other resources
- Referral to outside support sources
Level 2 software applications include (except where noted, latest version is understood):
- Web Browsers: Internet Explorer 6.0, Mozilla Firefox 2.0 &above (not extensions), Safari
- Desktop Productivity Tools: Acrobat Reader, Microsoft Office Suite 2003 & above, Microsoft Office X & above for Mac
- Dialup: UIUC Dialup
- Email: Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0 & above (no extensions)
- Other: QuickTime
Category 3: Other
Category 3 covers any other software that customers use, obtained from sources outside of CITES. Support includes:
- Limited installation/configuration/usage support based upon our ability to spend time on the problem.
- Referral to outside support resources
- We will not publish a list of this software
Changes
We have defined the following criteria for adding or dropping programs to or from the list. Criteria will include:
- Extent of use among customers. A program in widespread use is a candidate for our support. A program that grows into disuse may be dropped from our list.
- Mandated. The university, campus, etc., requires that we support the program
- Currency, viability, or compatibility. When possible we will support the latest release of software unless that release is known to be buggy or otherwise incompatible with other important software.
- Ease of support. Complex or esoteric software programs are less likely to have (at least, full) support.
- Special request. Departments may contact the CITES Help Desk to request support of programs meeting their special needs. These will be evaluated on a request-by-request basis.
