Employee IT Handbook

IT Basics

To use many U-M computing services you need to enter your uniqname (which identifies you) and your UMICH password (which authorizes and authenticates you). Additionally, you are required to use Duo two-factor authentication, as an extra security step.

Getting Help
The Information Technology and Audio Visual Services departments at the Law School are known simply as LawIT and LawAV. The most efficient way to request computer or printer assistance, training, consultation, room reservations, or audio visual equipment and services is to place a request via the Law School’s web-based service request system.
Submit a Service Request
- Hardware
- Software (PowerPoint, Word, etc.)
- Troubleshooting
- Maintenance of computers and printers
- Instruction/training (Canvas, Seating Chart, etc.)
- Network access
- General advice concerning computer purchases
- Audio visual classroom support (see below)
- Viruses/spyware problems
- Data security concerns
- Zoom support
Audio/Visual (AV) Services
All requests for AV services and equipment, no matter how simple, must be placed through the online Event Reservations system. Advance notice is extremely important, especially if it requires staff to work overtime and weekends. Give as much notice as possible for major events (at least a month for symposia and one week but preferably more for video conferences). Even simple requests must be made at least two working days in advance to ensure availability of equipment and support staff.
Submit an Event Request
Uniqname

A computing ID (a three-to eight-letter personal identifier) at U-M is called a uniqname (pronounced “unique name”). It is public information and is printed on your MCard along with your full name. You may tell anyone your uniqname because it will be part of your e-mail address. (Your e-mail address is your [email protected]).
If you do not already have a uniqname, the Assistants to the Dean aid new regular faculty in acquiring a uniqname. The Assistant to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs performs the same service for visiting and adjunct faculty and lecturers. New staff should receive their uniqname during their orientation. Law IT can also create uniqnames upon request for guests, visitors, and groups for special purposes.
Submit an IT Service Request
UMICH Password
Your UMICH password authenticates you when you use most centrally-provided and many Law School-provided computing services.
NEVER tell anyone your UMICH password. Keeping your password secret helps to guard against unauthorized use (or misuse) of U-M computing services in your name and protects against exposure of your personal private information (your social security number, paycheck etc.) stored in Wolverine Access, which is the gateway to all administrative systems at the University.
Your UMICH password is your key to:
- Google email provided by Information and Technology Services (ITS)
- connecting to the U-M computing environment when you are not on campus
- accessing your personal information in Wolverine Access
- accessing Canvas
- logging in to your computer at the Law School
- accessing cloud storage services such as U-M Dropbox
- accessing video conferencing services like Zoom
- remote desktop access to a Law School server
- making changes in your MCommunity directory entry
Create (or change at any time) your UMICH password. Find out how to select a safe password.
Two-factor Authentication

Two-factor Authentication means that when you log in, you provide two proofs of your identity. At U-M, that means your password plus Duo.
You have multiple options for using Duo. See this guide for a list of Duo options as well as considerations for each option.
This Duo management page will allow you to manage a device that you have already enrolled in Duo or enroll a new device for use with Duo.
To request assistance with any of these, please submit a service request or ask someone in your department to place a request for you.
Phone

The university is transitioning to Zoom phone. However, there are still many traditional phones at the Law School still using the old service, ITS Exchange for voice mail. A user guide is available to help you access and manage your voicemail if you are using the old system.
Email

The Law School uses and supports the university’s Google Mail system for email. The preferred interface is Google Chrome, but other browsers will work as well.
Tour Gmail
Google at U-M

Email Groups

Name	Owner
Law School staff and Faculty	Jenny Rickard
Law School Faculty	Robyn Grimes
Law Emeritus Faculty	Robyn Grimes
Law Fall Visiting Faculty	Robyn Grimes, Jenny Rickard
Law Regular Faculty	Robyn Grimes
law voting faculty	Robyn Grimes
Law TenureTrack Faculty	Robyn Grimes
Law Tenured Faculty	Robyn Grimes
Law Visiting Faculty Winter	Robyn Grimes
Law School Staff	Robyn Grimes, Jenny Rickard
Law Library Staff	Naomi Eberle
Law School Above Ground Staff	Robyn Grimes, Jenny Rickard
Law School Development and Alumni Relations	Jenni Borden
Law School Staff Admissions	Shannon Briscoe
Law School Staff Career Planning	Tammy Sindlinger
Law School Career Services	Tammy Sindlinger
Law School Staff Clerical	Jenny Rickard
Law School Staff Communications	Shelley Rodgers
Law School Staff Dean’s Office and HR	Rachel Perrell
Law School Staff Facilities Distribution and Receiving	Jenny Rickard
Law School Staff Financial Aid	Nate Bauer, Kathy Johnson
Law School Staff Financial Operations	Christina Luo, Joe Castillo
Law School Staff Information Technology	Jason Jude
Law School Staff International Programs	Stephanie Wiederhold
Law School Staff Records	Rashida Douglas
Law Temporary Staff	Robyn Grimes, Rachel Perrell

Email Away Message

MCommunity Away Message
MCommunity Group Away Message
Calendar

The Law School uses and supports the university’s Google Calendar as its shared calendaring system.
Tour Google Calendar
About U-M and Google Calendar
Computer Backups

Individual user devices (laptops or desktops) can be backed up with the University supported program called CrashPlan. The program will backup your local user folder and all sub-folders on up to nine University owned and supported devices.
Law School Information Technology staff can help you set up CrashPlan on your workstation or laptop to help you get started, and explain the basic functions of the program. After that you can fully manage the system without intervention.
Law IT highly recommends using U-M Dropbox for all of your storage needs, so we do not install this software by default.
About U-M Computer Backups

Standard Software

The standard software package provided to new employees varies from time to time. Currently, it consists of:

	Windows	Mac
Operating System	Windows 11 Enterprise	macOS
E-mail	Google Mail
Business/Productivity	Microsoft Office 365	Microsoft Office 365
	Adobe Acrobat DC
	Adobe Reader DC
Collaboration	Google Apps (Docs/Spreadsheet/Presentation)
	Dropbox
Communication	Zoom
	Google Meet
Web Browsers	Edge	Safari
	Mozilla Firefox
	Google Chrome
Utilities	IrfanView
	7-Zip
	NotePad ++
	VLC
	Cisco SecureClient VPN
	Crash Plan
Security	Crowdstrike Falcon

Several applications are available upon request. You may request specialized software not included in the standard software package by submitting a service request.

Shared Equipment

Laptop Loaners
There are a few laptop computers available to faculty and staff for limited periods of time. Laptops should be reserved at least 48 hours in advance by submitting a service request. A Request for Removal and Use of University Equipment form must be completed and signed prior to taking the laptop out of the Law School.
Network Printers, Copiers, Scanners, Fax Machines
The university has encouraged schools and colleges on campus to decrease local printing/personal printers and move toward shared network printing in order to save money and resources. Employee computers will be configured to print to the most convenient network printers in their area.
Many of our printers are multi-function devices, incorporating print, copy, scan to email, and fax features in one machine.
If you wish to use any of the network printers listed in the table of shared equipment locations and features, please submit a service request.
Toner
To facilitate distribution of toner cartridges and track toner usage of Law School-owned printers, please request toner cartridge replacements by completing the toner cartridge request form.
Energy Efficient Computing
Computer/monitor
- Do not leave your computer running overnight and on weekends
- Try to plan your computer-related activities so you can do them all at once, keeping the computer off at other times
- A modest amount of turning on and off will not harm the computer or monitor. The life of a monitor is related to the amount of time it is in use, not the number of on and off cycles
- The best screen saver is no screen saver at all - turn off your monitor when you are not using it. This option is second best only to turning off your computer all together
Printing/copying
- Review your document on the screen instead of printing a draft. If you must print a draft, use the blank back side of used paper
- When making copies, use double-sided copying
- Do not print out copies of email unless necessary
- Use “paperless” methods of communication such as email, Google Chat, and scan-to-email
Statistical Assistance

The Center for Statistical Consultation and Research (CSCAR) provides free statistical consulting to all UM faculty, staff, and graduate students to help with the design, planning, analysis, and presentation of results of research studies.
CSCAR also offers workshops for a fee on statistical methods, including sample size calculation, basic and advanced regression, structural equation models, data mining, and spatial statistics; basic and intermediate use of statistical software, including SAS, Stata, R, SPSS, and ArcGIS; and a brief one-day overview of important statistical topics called Statistics: A Review, which is offered in the Fall and Winter.
Read more
Other Resources
- Installing faculty and staff network printers.
  Network printing
- Maintaining Xerox network printers for key operators.
  Xerox information
- Access cloud storage services, and the Law School VPN.
  Remote work resources
- Identify ITS solutions to common faculty and researcher computing needs.
  Faculty and Researcher Guide

Other Services

Classroom Applications

Room and Event Scheduling

Allows law students, faculty, and staff to reserve Law School rooms, request audio-visual support, and post events on the Law School calendar. All requests must be made at least four business days in advance.
Enter scheduler
Class Participation

Can allow students to opt-out (or opt-in) to being called on in class. Faculty can manage these and other settings. You can generate randomized reports or integrate with the Interactive Seating Chart program.
Class participation portal
Interactive Seating Chart

Add student images to a classroom template. It can be used interactively during class to track how many times each student was called. Integrates with Class Participation to make sure the program does not choose students who opted out for the particular day.
Interactive seating chart
Exam Instructions

Collects faculty instructions for regular exams, Electronic Bluebook exams, and take-home exams.
Access exam portal
Class Registration Setup

Allows faculty to provide registration information so that classes are set up properly for students to enroll.
Set up class registration

Administration

Faculty Annual Report

Enter Faculty Annual Report information for tenured, tenure-track, and clinical faculty.
Faculty Annual Report portal
Teaching Preferences

Collects class and scheduling preferences from faculty as a first step toward building a schedule of class offerings for the next year.
Update preferences
Law Photos

A photo directory of all current Law School students, faculty, and staff that allows you to change your image, or block the image if necessary. It also allows you to hear how a student pronounces their name.
Photo directory
Cook Grant Application

Collects application materials for the Cook Summer Grant, released time, and Grant-in-Aid programs.
Access application

Data Security

Data security at the Law School is a cooperative effort. LawIT can provide firewalls, update your computer software with patches, lock down your machine with access restrictions, and provide other tools for preventing inappropriate access to the sensitive data used in the course of carrying out your duties, but a major part of security is user behavior. Most security incidents occurring at the Law School are a result of web browsing to infected web sites and clicking on email links with infected content.

Some safety tips:

When possible, rather than clicking on links, type them in manually
Minimize browsing Websites you are not familiar with
Think before you click – Think twice before you click banner ads or pop-up windows

Protection provided by the Law School
The Law School has several measures in place for protecting computers and the network:
- The school is firewalled as a whole.
- Each computer has a local firewall enabled.
- Anti-virus protection software is loaded on each computer and is updated regularly through the University.
- CrashPlan is installed on some computers to provide a daily backup of local files to the network, the purpose of which is to restore lost data from local machines. LawIT recommends using U-M Dropbox to store data on computers without CrashPlan.
- LawIT maintains regular backups of network servers.
- We have an incident response team for security incidents and questions who should be alerted by way of the service request system.
- LawIT gives ‘User’ level access to reduce the exposure of workstations by default.
- LawIT maintains a “white list” of safe applications that can be run on PCs.
- LawIT uses computer patch management software to automatically update software on school computers as needed.
U-M Resources

The threat landscape is constantly changing. To address this, the University has departments that keep up with all the changes and provide information and tips to the U-M community. Some of the issues tracked include phishing, virus outbreaks, security updates for operating systems and applications, and hoaxes. The links below point to some of the security services offered by the University.
Antivirus information
Consult an IT User Advocate
Read about U-M information assurance
U-M IT policies
Personal Identifiable Information (PII)
As a member of the University community, you may have access to personally identifiable information (PII). It is essential that this PII is protected. Never save PII to your workstation without consulting with LawIT about encrypting the data.
What is PII?
PII is Personally Identifiable Information. It is information which can be used to uniquely identify, contact or locate a single person, or may enable disclosure of personal information.
See more examples of sensitive data.
Why protect PII?
- Unauthorized disclosure of PII may lead to identity theft or may otherwise harm the University or an individual
- It is required by U-M’s Standard Practice Guide 601.12
- It is required by federal, state and industry regulations
Note: Any malware on any machine with PII constitutes a security breach, according to the University’s Information Assurance security group (IA).
Who should I tell if I recognize that PII has been compromised?
We have an incident response team for security incidents and questions who should be alerted by way of the service request system.
Computer Patch and Power Management

Patch management
In order for LawIT to successfully perform security updates and patches to Law School computers to protect our machines from ever-increasing vulnerabilities and malware attacks, it is required that you turn off your computer at the end of your work day. Shutting down your computer at night and on weekends will ensure that your work is saved properly before the patches are applied. Not doing so could jeopardize the integrity of unsaved work. Your assistance will not only protect your computer from security threats but will also have a big impact on the Law School‘s efforts to save energy.
If there are reasons why you cannot participate in this process, please contact LawIT via the service request system.
Power management
As part of the university’s green computing effort, the Law School has implemented power management strategies to reduce electricity consumption by default on local work computers. Power management is a feature that turns off computers or switches them to a low power state when not in use. Applying power management settings to faculty and staff workstations at the Law School will save substantial energy over time.