March 15, 2020

COVID-19 guidance for mandatory on campus or telecommuting designations

Beginning immediately, we are asking departmental leaders to begin working with their teams to identify employees and positions (as well as functions) who must report in-person to work and those whose work can be completed remotely.

The guidance below has been produced by the U’s Human Resources team to assist supervisors and leaders in this process. While staffing plans should be implemented immediately, leaders should keep track of the designations and provide a report to their supervisory vice president or dean by Friday, March 20, at noon.

Please note, all University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics (UUHC) and University of Utah Health employees and faculty will be designated as “mandatory required on campus” because of the current public health crisis. Any exceptions to this must be approved by the appropriate University of Utah Health administrator.

We recognize this is not an easy process and that there may not be consensus on some teams. That said, please do your best to help support your supervisors in this dialogue and decision-making process. As President Watkins stated last week in a press conference with the state’s elected leaders, our decisions in this crisis will continue to be guided by our core values which include taking prudent steps to protect the health and well-being of our campus community.

Employees with questions: Please work with your supervisors. Supervisors and directors with questions: Please contact your HR representative or associated payroll reporter.

Sincerely,

Jeff Herring

Chief Human Resources Officer

 

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March 12, 2020

COVID-19 Remote Resources Guide now available

To limit exposure and the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak, the University of Utah today announced plans to move classes online and asked that university leaders consider how telecommuting could be implemented within our organizations.

In response, UIT and its partners have developed a resource guide for university students, faculty, and staff with information about teaching, learning, and working remotely, including:

• Getting started — call forwarding, voicemail access, etc.
• Portals and applications — UMail, Campus Information Services (CIS), Canvas, Duo 2FA, etc.
• Communication tools — Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, etc. Please note that starting today, campus faculty, staff, and students may now have temporary access to Zoom Pro.
• Software and storage — Microsoft Office 365, Adobe Creative Cloud, UBox, etc
• Remote access — campus VPN, eduroam, remote desktop tools, etc.
• Additional resources — Help Desk info, IT guides, safe computing practices, system updates, etc.

Please see the Remote Resources Guide website for more information. We will continue to update the guide as necessary.

If your department, college, or org has questions about COVID-19-specific IT services, please use our special online survey to get in touch with us. For questions about Canvas, please contact Teaching & Learning Technologies.

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March 11, 2020

UIT preparations for possible increased telecommuting for students and faculty

Dear UIT colleagues,

We appreciate all the efforts you and your teams have been making to prepare services and resources to meet the possible needs of telecommuting students and faculty in the event that classes are moved online due to COVID-19. We want to give you a quick update.

Here’s a partial list of UIT preparations to support the U's overall response, to date:

• TLT has online teaching and learning resources and tutorials for instructors and students.
• The ServiceNow team created the U’s travel reporting form and triage workflow, as well as a COVID-19 Hotline documentation and triage workflow.
• The BI team provided data analysis and reporting services for the U’s large event reporting process.
• Strategic Communication and technical teams developed a list of telecommuting IT resources for students, faculty, and staff that would be available on the U’s COVID-19 website and in Pulse, in the event that all classes are moved online.
• The Network and Cable teams provided network services to support the new University Hospital negative pressure tents, created for the COVID-19 response.
• The Voice Services team provided services for the new Respiratory Clinic in University Hospital, created for the COVID-19 response.
• The Help Desk and Service Desk teams, along with the ServiceNow team, are providing resources and workspace for U COVID-19 Hotline staff.
• The Chief Technology Officer organization is preparing for possible changing needs associated with these and other IT services: AnyConnect VPN and Citrix; Skype for Business and voice services, including contact/call centers; UIT Help Desk, ITS Service Desk, and Campus Operator resources; desktop support for University of Utah Health and Campus Computer Support Services users; and BioMed services.
  UIT unit directors are making staffing plans to ensure full coverage and continuity of services for the U community.
• Cassandra Van Buren, UIT Leadership Team, has been serving as the UIT representative and liaison/coordinator to the U’s COVID-19 task force since March 3.

Thank you to all teams and staff members for responding to the U's unique IT needs at this time, while simultaneously maintaining all other UIT services. We truly appreciate your efforts.

If you have any questions about your unit’s plans for work continuity during the COVID-19 situation, please contact your manager.

Thank you.

Best regards,

UIT Leadership

Resources

COVID-19 Central @TheU

This page provides updates on guidance and actions being taken by the university in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. We encourage you to check it frequently for important updates. Campus-wide alerts will be reserved for alerting our community to significant operational announcements. If you have specific questions that are not answered by the information on the webpages, we encourage you to call the U’s COVID-19 telephone hotline at 801-213-2874.

COVID-19 Central

Remote Resources Guide

This guide provides information about teaching, learning, and working remotely.

Remote Resources Guide

IT Services Survey

UIT staff are encouraged to submit suggestions, concerns, and questions about IT resources and support during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Take the survey