About Us

JGS-IT was created to provide technology support and services to the faculty, staff and students of the Jones School.  Our staff provide assistance in the area of desktop support, networking, technology procurement, instructional technology, programming  and application support

Misson:
To focus on customer service, proven and new  technologies for the delivery of instruction, and the infrastructure to support high caliber collaborative research.
 

Location:
Technology Services is located on the 3rd floor suite 307

Hours of Operation/Contact Information:
 

Phone: Helpdesk 713-348-8319
Email: help@rice.edu
Support Requests: http://helpdesk.rice.edu/submit.html 

JGS Network and Email Support

• Network Connectivity.  All faculty and staff with school issued, network- capable machines, will be provided with at least 100Mbps to the desktop.  Wireless will also be provided to all devices that support our encryption and credential methods via PEAP  Limited visitor wireless will be provided to guests of the school.
   
• Departmental Servers/Storage.  As storage space is already being provided through Central IT, any additional storage should be requested through JGS IT.  Personally administered servers will receive service on a best effort basis.
   
• Port Activation and Equipment Moves.  All port activation requests will require a window of at least 3 business days.  Major equipment moves involving networking or computing equipment should be planned with IT at least a week before the planned move if not sooner.
   
•  E-mail and Exchange.  All users will receive an Exchange mailbox.  Support from JGS IT will be all inclusive for all JGS-issued machinery.  Home or mobile support will be limited to Outlook Web Access or self help documentation.  There is a 200MB quota per user mailbox.

Faculty and Staff Support Policies

• All requests and queries sent via the approved methods will be RESPONDED to within one business day.  Problem resolution may be impacted by parts availability and request  magnitude
• Priorities will be assigned based on the amount of users affected, class and academic deadlines, and impedance to job performance.
• Walk-in requests will be prioritized the same as requests submitted via other methods  (non emergency walk-ins follow standard prioritization)
• Support for applications offered by the University but managed by other departments (OWLSpace, Library Portal, etc.) will be on a best effort basis.  Problems outside of JGS scope will be referred to the department in charge of managing the application.
• Personal machines not issued by or purchased with the approval of JGS IT will not be supported.   There will be no support for third party hardware brought from home or purchased exclusively for personal use
• Secondary machines purchased with departmental budgets will be subject to a charge of $100/hour if worked on by full-time staff.
• Hardware and software not part of the JGS standard will be supported on a best efforts basis and subject to a charge of $100/hour if worked on by full-time staff.
• Cell phones and PDA support is limited to models and services that are part of the JGS plan and must have Windows Mobile Operating System.
• Blackberry and iPhone support is not provided.  Email  and wi-fi configuration will be provided on a best effort basis and  may be subject to service charge.
• Supervisor approval is necessary before obtaining a phone on the JGS account.  Account plans will be determined based business need, position classification  and authorization via the Office of Financial Services.
  • Plans will be based on estimated work usage requirements . Personal calls are allowed (within plan guidelines) but any overages will be assumed to be related to personal calls and overage charges will be reimbursed by staff  member via personal check or cash.
   
• In the case of stolen JGS issued machines, JGS-IT will need the police report file number, investigating officer’s name, badge number, and phone number. File the police report within 48 hours of the incident.  You should keep your serial number in a safe place in case the computer is destroyed
  • Computrace software is provided on all Rice purchased staff laptops.
  • Computrace  is optional for faculty and may be paid for via the faculty’s support account.
   

JGS Student Support Policies

• Support for applications offered by the University but managed by other departments (OWLSpace, Library Portal, etc.) will be on a best effort basis.  Problems outside of JGS scope will be referred to the department in charge of managing the application.
• Priorities will be assigned based on the amount of users affected, class and academic deadlines and staff availability
• Home  email or mobile support will be provided via self help documentation.  There is a 200MB quota per user mailbox. EMBA students not on exchange will have a slightly different quota.
• Email accounts may be disabled at graduation and students should obtain alumni accounts prior to graduation to prevent interruptions in email service.  Account data is stored for only 30 days after graduation.
• Wireless connectivity  will be provided to all devices that support our encryption and credential methods via PEAP.  Home wireless setup and repair will not be supported.
• 5 printers are available for JGS student use.  Black and white printers in rooms 163, 215, 315 and the Business Information Center charge $0.05 cents per page.  The color printer in 163 charges $0.25 per page.  Your balance will be automatically set to $20.00 at the beginning of each school year regardless of the current balance.
• You may refill your balance only by checks made out to Rice University and delivered to the Help Desk Office room 307. JGS-IT does not issue print credit refunds
• Blackberries are not supported on our Exchange server.  Other devices will be supported on a best effort basis.
• It is the student’s   responsibility to back up their own data with the provided external hard drive or by their own means. 
• JGS-IT does not provide loaner equipment

Technology Support Services

• New network and email accounts
• Hardware and Software Support
• Technology Procurement
• Network management and support
• Project Management
• Technology Inventory Management/Tracking
• Liaison for Rice IT
• Database development and support
•  Instructional Technology Support

Service Request Procedures

The preferred method for problem requests is via the online request form:

1. Go to http://helpdesk.rice.edu/submit.html. 
2. Make sure to include your Rice email account and extension on the form
3. Please be as detailed as possible on the request description

Requests can also be submitted s via e-mail to helpdesk@rice.edu. (online preferred)
Less preferred methods are phone or walk-ins  (without first submitting a ticket or e-mail).  

Feedback

Feedback is important to the Office of Technology  in order to maintain customer satisfaction. If you have a complaint, praise for a job well done or suggestions on how we can improve our operation, please send them to ebrewer@rice.edu.