Active Directory enables faculty and staff in departments who have signed up for the service to access centralized network file storage that complies with University security standards and is backed up systematically.

The Address Verification tool takes your address data and filters it through the CLEAN_Address server. This results in USPS compliant addresses and more trustworthy departmental mailings.

Authentication is the process of verifying the digital identity of the sender of an electronic communication. We provide authentication for access to services offered by OIT and other organizations at the University. Multiple types are supported: Central Authentication Hub (CAH), RADIUS, Kerberos, Shibboleth, M Key, and Internet ID/X.500.

Class capture, also known as lecture capture, is the ability to record either the audio and/or video of a class session and deliver that recording in a digital format either by the Web or a mobile device like an iPod. We are partnering with the Office of Classroom Management to research and test class capture options.

Students, faculty, and staff can use computer stations called Communications Kiosks that are located in common areas on campus for quick e-mail and Web access between classes and appointments.

University students, staff, and faculty with disabilities can get help accessing computers and information with adaptive technology through this program sponsored by OIT and Disability Services (DS).

We manage numerous computer facilities and learning environments on the Twin Cities campus. Students from all colleges may drop in to use the facilities during open hours, and instructors from all colleges may reserve them to teach classes during available times.

University departments (including coordinate campuses and extension offices) can contact a third party vendor, Asset Recovery Corp., to schedule a pickup of their used computer equipment so it can be recycled.

OIT-affiliated entities and other University entities referred by our staff can use our telecommunications rooms to provide physical security for critical servers.

We provide a reporting environment for the University's enterprise systems through two methods to help faculty and staff with operational and management decision making: UM Reports and the Data Warehouse. The Data Warehouse is a centralized repository for enterprise data that enables users to extract data for their own specific needs.

Departments, faculty, and staff can hire us to create custom-built databases. We offer a wide range of solutions, from standalone databases that reside on your computer to small-to-medium volume database-driven Web sites with features such as surveys, asset tracking, queries and reports, and news feeds. Also see: Software Development or Enterprise Application Development.

A directory service is a software application or set of applications that stores and organizes information about a computer network's users and network resources and enables network administrators to manage users' access. Individuals and applications can access data stored in the University's central identification hub with Lookup, LDAP, Finger/Whois, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), MyAccount, directory database feeds, and UCard photo retrieval.

Disaster Recovery staff create, test, and maintain disaster recovery plans for OIT applications. We also assist other collegiate units in creating and maintaining their own disaster recovery plans and strategies in order to ensure that University operations can be recovered after an outage.

Domain Name Service (DNS) is a technology which translates domain names to IP addresses. It also lists mail exchange service for transferring e-mail. We provide departments with domains ending in .umn.edu and .washington.edu and intervention support for those who use EasyDNS for domain names ending in .com, .net, and .org.

The University of Minnesota provides e-mail accounts to all eligible faculty, staff, and students. Additional services are also available for managing e-mail. Some of these are provided by default; others require the user to opt in. Initially, all e-mail accounts are basic client/server accounts. Accounts can be upgraded for additional fees. Personal Web space also is included with these accounts; see Web Space for Individuals.

A range of technologies are available at the University for instructors to use in support of teaching and learning that enable them to create digital and online course content and activities and interact with students in a variety of ways. Our consultants also can help instructors select and effectively utilize these technologies; see Faculty Development Programs and Faculty Consultation Services.

EGMS (the Electronic Grants Management System) is a series of databases with a Web front-end that faculty and staff can use to complete proposal forms for submission to sponsors and University forms related to sponsored projects or research.

As a part of our day-to-day work and at the request of faculty and staff clients and strategic planning groups, we explore, analyze, evaluate, pilot, and implement emerging academic technologies.

We produce and maintain enterprise applications designed for University system-wide audiences and that include direct involvement with University records (course registration, human resources, student finances). Projects and new systems development work classified as "enterprise projects" are prioritized and approved by a group known as e-sponsors.

University departments and staff can hire us to provide enterprise-class managed data storage for critical electronic data (primary copy of data) and if needed traditional backup services (secondary copy of data).

EDMS is an enterprise report and archiving system that delivers pre-defined enterprise system reports to staff members' desktops for viewing and printing. It is not meant to replace or compete with the University's Data Warehouse or Web Reporting capabilities.

The Enterprise Financial System is the gateway to all financial processes at the University. The new PeopleSoft system replaces and integrates virtually all financial systems on all campuses: CUFS, Financial Forms Nirvana, Electronic Grants Management System internal (EGMSi), JD Edwards, and others. Financial reporting and data currently provided by the Data Warehouse, UM Reports, and Financial Reports on the Web will also be replaced.

We design and manage information access and systems security for the University's Enterprise Applications, including PeopleSoft (Human Resource, Student Administration, Financial), Imaging, Data Warehouse, and Reporting systems. We also administer the M Key two-factor authentication system, provide security access and support, and work with the Data Custodians and the Office of Internal Audit on compliance issues and common procedures.

The On-Call List enables University support staff to contact the appropriate technical staff for a production batch error, application outage, server issue, etc. It lists the contact method(s) for the technical staff and additional team members if the first technician is unreachable. Access methods are restricted; authentication is required.

Enterprise systems printers are centrally defined to an application for printing reports and ad-hoc queries. We centrally define printers for JDEdwards, PeopleSoft HR/SA, and PeopleSoft Financials. Other applications such as EDMS, EGMS, and ITG use the default printer defined to the workstation, and printing is accomplished using the print button on the browser interface.

We provide enterprise systems production services scheduling information for centrally scheduled production batch jobs. Currently the information found mostly pertains to PeopleSoft. In the future, it would include all platforms and other systems as they are implemented.

We facilitate the University's ability to manage its entire collection of enterprise systems projects as one or more interrelated portfolios and serve as a single source of information on project activity across the enterprise. We support IT governance bodies by helping to monitor and review the unified portfolio of all enterprise projects under the purview of this governance structure.

We provide quality assurance (QA) services for staff working on enterprise systems projects at the University, including consultation services for utilizing QA best practices; metrics and process improvement measurement and assessment services; test management and automation services; testing tools support services; application and infrastructure performance benchmarking services; and sandbox laboratory services.

Faculty members can partner with our research team as we explore the nature and effects of educational technology used in departments and colleges and evaluate technology initiatives and their impact on teaching and learning.

Experts@Minnesota is a gateway to our faculty and staff experts, to locate mentors, subject matter experts, or research partners. It includes information about a diverse cross-section of employees, such as laboratory scientists, professors, clinicians, project coordinators, computer programmers, and senior administrators.

Instructors can get help planning, designing, and evaluating courses and curricula that make use of educational technologies. Our consultants are available for short- and long-term projects.

The University's Google Search Appliance is a cluster of computers that enable any user of the Internet to quickly find specific information on University Web pages. It is based on the same search technology as the google.com Web search. Top-level collegiate and non-academic units may create customized search interfaces to enable searching only within their organizations' Web sites.

Gopher Messaging is a unified messaging system. In addition to regular telephone-based voicemail, faculty and staff can access voice messages online, send voice messages to an e-mail address, send text messages to a voicemail account, and much more.

Gophermail is a Web-browser-based e-mail program that can be used by anyone whose e-mail address ends in @umn.edu. Its greatest asset is speed, which translates to a lighter load on the central systems e-mail servers and thus provides a faster environment for all users.

We provide document imaging services through Perceptive Software's ImageNow product to any department or business unit at the University. Documents can be scanned or captured in their native format such as Microsoft Office files, linked with records  and routed automatically or manually, and retrieved by launching the application.

Faculty, staff, students, and the public can get telephone, e-mail, and Web information from Information Services staff, including telephone numbers, addresses, Web site and e-mail information, directions, parking suggestions, and special event contact information.

Information Technology Governance Center (ITGC) is a management system that enables University staff to digitize the information technology decision-making process and ensure compliance with regulations and best practices. Some of the components are: Portfolio Management, Project Management, Time Management, Resource Management, Financial Management, and Deployment Management.

An Internet ID and password is assigned to University affiliates to serve as a key to many online campus tools and services. When you log in (sign in), your Internet ID identifies you, and your password authenticates you as the owner of that ID.

Faculty, staff, and students can find answers to questions frequently asked about the information technology products and services we support in our Knowledge Base.

University faculty, staff, and students can use LISTSERV software to set up a mailing list and send messages to a single e-mail address, which in turn will reroute it to a list of e-mail addresses. Users may subscribe and unsubscribe to the list and control whether and how they receive mailings.

Lyris ListManager is the U's mass e-mail distribution system used for both internal and external mass e-mailings. Mass e-mail is any message that is sent to a group of people for the purpose of communicating official University business. It must be sent as a multipart (HTML and text) or text only message.

The University has implemented a two-factor authentication system on its enterprise applications (e.g., CS PeopleSoft, EFS PeopleSoft, EDMS and the Data Warehouse) and for the underlying servers and databases. Staff members who need access are issued a hardware token called a M Key. It provides a one-time password users combine with a 4-digit PIN.

Moodle is course management software designed to support social constructionist pedagogical practices. Instructors can create course Web sites that include text, multimedia learning resources, and activities. A rich set of tools and features are included to enable collaboration and group participation.

The NetFiles service is a secure online file storage and collaboration solution available to all faculty, staff, students, and business units at the University that is accessible using a Web browser or, for faculty and staff only, a desktop client.

We provide network services to thousands of customers and locations on campus through the Gopher GigaNet. These services connect units, faculty, staff, and students in public facilities and residence halls to the Internet and to local network resources.

PeopleSoft (now Oracle) applications are the basis for a great number of the University's mission critical functions. Our staff of product managers and PeopleSoft analyst/programmers provide development support for the Campus Solutions and Human Resources modules, and develop all application fixes and customizations to the system affecting the University campuses.

The basic security configuration for an out-of-the-box Microsoft Windows workstation is not sufficient for a workstation using the University network. We have developed two software tools to assist users: QuickStart Basic and QuickStart Level-2.

We provide data, video, and voice services to University units at remote locations.

Computer owners on University of Minnesota campuses are responsible for maintaining the security of their computers. We provide resources for University faculty, staff, and students such as antivirus software available at no charge, tools to clean up spyware, and instructions on how to secure your personal computer before you get infected.

We safeguard University information and assets from unauthorized disclosure, use, modification, or loss by developing proactive technical and non-technical measures to help identify and prevent security risks and provide effective response in cases where those measures fail.

We offer departments with demanding business applications a premium alternative to running their own computer center. Departmental staff retain control of their data and applications, but are supported by professional operation of the server hardware and operating system. We deal with issues of support, capacity, fault tolerance, and disaster recovery related to operation of a server and server operating system.

Service Gateway is a tool departments may use to request services from Networking and Telecommunications Services (NTS), including requesting changes to voice and data network jacks and to subnet management through Infoblox, and viewing and managing network resources.

We provide maintenance and operations support for central applications such as PeopleSoft, Netfiles, and Enterprise Ticketing.

We can provide fee-based software development services to departments, faculty, and staff for projects ranging in size from departmental systems and medium-to-high volume database-driven Web sites to University-wide initiatives such as the WebVista course management tool and myU Web Portal. Also see: Database Development, Enterprise Application Development, or Web Site Development.

We license a variety of software in bulk quantities to leverage academic and volume discounts and make them available at no additional cost or discounted prices to collegiate units, departments, faculty, staff, and students. Software can be purchased via online order forms.

The system status page is used to communicate the current status of various services and applications supported by OIT and other departments. The system status page is also used to announce scheduled maintenance for services and to communicate postmortem analyses of outages.

Tech Stop is a student-focused technology center where students, faculty, and staff can get walk-in assistance with and support for University technology services including e-mail client configuration; Internet password changes; Symantec AntiVirus installation or assistance; consultations on virus removal; ResNet connection problem troubleshooting; updating drivers; help with common good software such as e-mail, UMCal, WebVista, and Moodle; and much more.

Faculty, staff, students, and members of the alumni association can get answers to questions about e-mail, Internet access, network connections, passwords, personal Web space, supported software and systems (including PeopleSoft and other University enterprise systems), telephones, voicemail, and Web browsers from our help staff. Most support is free to the University community. At Tech Stop, we also provide free and fee-based software and hardware diagnostics, configuration, and installation services.

Faculty, staff, and students can develop technology skills and knowledge through our online learning options designed to provide quick access to information and in-person, instructor-led short courses. We also can customize our in-person courses for, or partner with departments to develop new training.

We provide centrally-funded telephone services to all campus departments. Move/add and change charges are managed and paid for by the unit or department. Single- and multi-line digital telephones are available, as well as Centrex telecommunications devices for the deaf (TDD), and campus and outdoor phones.

We provide a reporting environment for the University's enterprise systems through two methods to help faculty and staff with operational and management decision making: UM Reports and the Data Warehouse. UM Reports contains pre-built reports to serve common needs.

UM Web Stats is a powerful log analysis tool available to Web site administrators who manage sites on the University of Minnesota network, including the Crookston, Duluth, Morris, and Twin Cities campuses. The Web interface makes it easy to generate reports and graphs based on your Web server's log files.

UMCal is an enterprise-level, University-wide personal calendar management and scheduling system. UMCal can be used across various software platforms with a downloadable client or via a Web browser to manage and share calendars for individuals and resources. Calendar accounts are available to students, staff, and faculty. Sponsored accounts may also be requested (for a fee).

UMChat is an instant messaging (IM) service that enables University of Minnesota faculty, staff, and students to exchange messages on the Internet in real time.

UMConnect enables University faculty, staff, and eligible graduate students to create on-demand Web presentations and to communicate and collaborate through Web conferences and webcasts. Students can use UMConnect to view content and participate in Web conferences and webcasts. We also provide onsite technical support for webcasts for a fee.

UMContent is an enterprise Web-content-management system available for use by all units. It enables technical staff to design and develop sophisticated Web sites and non-technical staff to create and manage the content.

UMSurvey is an academic online survey tool centrally managed by OIT which is available to current students, staff, and faculty at the University of Minnesota.

A wiki is a Web site that enables users to directly and collaboratively create and edit content quickly and easily using a Web browser. UMWiki is a service offered to faculty, staff, and students that makes it easy to create Web pages, embed images, documents, and Web links. Built-in revision tracking shows when changes were made, and by whom.

UMart is a Web portal that sells technology products and services from technology vendors to the University students, staff, faculty, and departments at discounted prices. It is also a place where University departments and colleges can sell goods and services to the general public.

University project teams developing Web sites or Web applications can hire us to conduct usability evaluations. We also provide equipment and support services to University researchers who want to use our usability lab for their own projects.

We provide video conferencing, video streaming, satellite, video tape duplication, and video technical consultation services to all University faculty and staff. Video conferencing (interactive television) connectivity is available to and from all five University campuses and to the statewide Distant Learning Network of Minnesota. We also provide ISDN service to connect credit course and noncredit events to distant sites beyond the University system or state network.

University departments, faculty, and staff can hire us to provide video production services for a range of productions types, from single-camera shoots, to complex, multicamera recordings, to live video streaming projects. Services also include script writing, studio and location videotaping, and editing.

Since information going through the air over wireless connections can be intercepted and read by others, wireless networking on the "UofM" network should be limited to casual Web browsing. Faculty, staff, and students whose computers are not WPA2 compatible should encrypt their data by using Virtual Private Network (VPN).

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is used to send and receive voice communications in much the same manner as normal data communications that travel from computer to computer. VoIP enables us to provide full University voice services to departments at remote site locations. This service is currently in use on the Rochester campus.

Departments, faculty, staff, and eligible graduate students can hire us to provide on-site technical assistance for Web conferences and webcasts.

We provide common good central Web hosting to University units. This hosting is done on Unix-like systems and does not include database back-ends. Web content is maintained by staff in local units.

We design, build, and support enterprise-class Web applications enhancing the lives of University of Minnesota community members. From applying for admission and financial aid, to planning courses to, finally, finding meaningful employment upon leaving the U, we support Web-enabled vital student activities related to admissions, financial aid, human resources, registration, and student financial accounts.

Departments, faculty, and staff can hire us to create custom built Web sites. We offer a wide range of solutions, from static Web pages with no database backend to medium to high volume database-driven Web sites with features such as surveys, asset tracking, queries and reports, and news feeds. Also see: Software Development or Enterprise Application Development.

The University of Minnesota provides personal Web site space for all faculty, staff, and students as part of their e-mail accounts. Officially registered student organizations also may create their own Web sites. Initially, all accounts are basic client/server accounts. Accounts can be upgraded for additional fees. Web space for departments also is available; see Web Hosting for Departments. In addition, a variety of Web technologies are available to instructors to use in support of teaching and learning; see Educational Technologies.

WebVista is course management software that enables instructors to create and manage, and students to access and participate in, Web-based learning materials and activities using built-in sychronous and asychronous learning module, discussion, chat, whiteboard, assessment, grade book, collaboration, and other tools.

We manage the central wireless network that provides campus affiliates and guests with wireless Internet access as they roam the Twin Cities campus.

We provide low-cost, part-time technological consultation and support to departments at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus on an annually-renewable basis. We can support a few to a few hundred staff members, solve problems affecting desktop computers and peripherals, troubleshoot network situations, deal with hardware issues, assess hardware and software needs, and assist in planning upgrades and future projects.

Alumni, faculty, staff, and students can get fee-based, carry-in computer consultation and support services from us for short-term computer problems. We can help with data backup or transfer, data recovery, hard drive cleansing, securing your computer, software and hardware installation and configuration, and server support. Call us, or if you need to talk to someone about a computer problem in person, drop in at Tech Stop and get immediate help with your issue.

All current University students, faculty, staff, and alumni may use the secure ePortfolio site to enter, view, and organize personal, professional, and educational records and to share selected materials in private or public Portfolios (presentations). Individuals outside of the U of M community may view public Portfolios and others to which they have been granted access by U of M users.

The University has partnered with Apple to privately share audio and video content with the University community using Apple's iTunes software, as well as to share content with the public via a dedicated presence on iTunes U in the Apple Store.

myU is a Web portal accessible through the Internet. Students, faculty, staff, and friends of the University use it to access University information and applications personalized for them based on their role at the University. It includes communication and collaboration tools and areas users can customize themselves.