Information Technology Services

To prepare to work remotely, be sure you have the following:

• Your Simpson-owned laptop, or a personally-owned Windows or Mac computer (including power adaptor)
• A reliable Internet connection
• Access to Simpson’s Virtual Private Network (VPN) if you use Colleague, ODS Reporting, or Network Shared Drives to do your job
• Work documents backed up to OneDrive cloud storage, SC Connect shared documents, or a flash drive

SC Connect
SC Connect is Simpson’s campus portal, a website that serves as a launch pad to access other sites, online tools, and organizational content. You can access SC Connect, and all of its connected sites/tools from anywhere with a web connection by going to https://scconnect.simpson.edu.

OneDrive
Everyone with a simpson email account has access to OneDrive. OneDrive Presentation

Email/Communication
You can access your email by going to the Email button on https://simpson.edu/resources-faculty-and-staff. You may access your email and calendar from any computer using this online version of Outlook.

Phones/Voicemail
You can access your voicemail from home by following these instructions.

VPN
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network.  We use a tool called FortiClient to access Simpson’s VPN.  By connecting to our VPN, you are actually on our network, with our firewall protecting the data you access, and consuming our bandwidth.  It is required to access VPN if you are using Colleague, ODS Reporting or accessing data on a network shared drive.  You should ONLY connect to VPN for those reasons, and then disconnect when no longer on those applications, so that our bandwidth can be maximized.  Do NOT download a bunch of files from the network shared drive to your computer from home – that could cause access issues.  Open the documents, work in them, and save them back to the shared drive.

To access VPN, do the following:

1. Open the FortiClient application on your computer (a red shield is the icon).
2. Login with your Simpson credentials.  NOTE:  On some versions of FortiClient you may have to click on Remote Access before you see the login window.

Simpson College offers various services and resources for users on the campus network. This page provides information on what is available, how to use it and solutions to possible problems you may have.

E-mail Accounts

Accounts are automatically created for all new students and employees.

SC Connect/Self-Service Accounts

Use your Simpson credentials to access SC Connect and Self-Service  which provide access to forms and data stored within our administrative database.  Students have access to their academic and financial records.  Faculty have access to course rosters, grading and advisee information.  All employees have access to their employment data.

For help with any of your computer accounts, please contact Information Services by calling (515)961-1411 or by e-mailing helpdesk@simpson.edu.

Moodle

Moodle is a web based learning management software that many of our faculty will use to create an online learning community for classes.  They will use it in a variety of ways, such as posting syllabus and class information, testing online, and facilitating forum discussions, all designed to extend and enhance the learning opportunities outside the classroom.

Moodle can be accessed from links available on OneLogin or SC Connect.

• Campus Network Access
• Office 365
• Passwords
• Printing
• Wireless

Each residence hall has a computer lab available to residents of that building.  Each lab contains a few computers and a printer. These computers are available 24 hours a day.

Available Hardware

There are over 35 computer labs at Simpson with over 360 computers where students can use standard office suite applications or special, discipline-specific software. The multiple locations of our computer labs make them easily accessible for students and faculty. Equipment configuration, software available, hours of operation and other detailed information about each individual lab can be found by accessing the links on the right.

Computer Assistance

Student lab consultants are available to provide support in Carver General Lab, McNeill Lab and Dunn Library Lab. For specific hours that consultants are available, see individual lab information. Lab consultants are a wonderful resource because they have been trained on basic Microsoft Office functions, document recovery, accessing and using student folders, SC Connect as well as basic computer operations.

During their shift, lab consultants sit at a computer with a lab consultant sign.  Please utilize their skills by asking them questions when you need help in a computer lab. Lab consultants may not be trained on special discipline specific software packages. If a lab consultant can not answer a specific question, he or she will be happy to direct you to a staff or faculty member for assistance.

• Residence Halls

Carver General and Teaching Labs are located on the main level in the Carver Science Building.

Dunn Library Lab is located in Dunn Library at the end of the circulation desk.

McNeill Lab is an all-Macintosh lab primarily for graphic design and communication classes.

Computer Lab Supervisor
Rita Watson
Carver General Lab
(515) 961-1869

Contact Information:

Information Technology Services Help Desk
515-961-1411
helpdesk@simpson.edu

If you have an urgent issue and are in need of support outside of these hours then please email helpdesk@simpson.edu with the word Urgent in the subject line and include your phone number.

Academic Year
Mon – Friday we open at 7:30AM

May Term & Summer Term
Mon – Friday 8-4:30.

Please note the Help Desk will be closed between Christmas and New Years Day.

Computer Ethics and Policies Statement

Simpson College provides information technology (IT) resources to students, faculty and staff. As members of the campus community, all users have the responsibility to use those services in an effective, efficient, ethical and legal manner. Ethical and legal standards that apply to IT resources derive directly from standards of common sense and common decency that apply to the use of any shared resource. The campus computing community depends first upon the spirit of mutual respect and cooperation that has been fostered at Simpson College. While freedom of expression is recognized, users of institutional computer accounts are reminded that certain categories of speech-defamation, obscenity and incitement to lawlessness are not protected by the Constitution. Users are encouraged to respect the privacy of others and to avoid grossly offensive expressions in matters of ethnicity, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age or disability. Simpson College reserves the right to monitor the use of IT resources for the purpose of determining compliance with the provision of the computer ethics and policies statement.

Computer User Account and Electronic Mail Policy

No person may use, or attempt to use, any computer account other than his/her own assigned account. The negligence or naivete of another user in revealing an account name and password does not confer authorization to use the account.

• An account owner may not lend his/her account(s) to another user.

• Each account owner is responsible for all computing activities involving that account and will be held liable for any misuse of that account.

• All users accessing inter-campus networks using College owned computers must know and respect the rules and policies of that network.

• Users may not send anonymous mail, mail with altered headers giving erroneous information (e.g., an erroneous “sender” name), or anonymous files from anywhere on campus.

• Users may not use college-owned resources to deliberately annoy or significantly impede the academic pursuit of others. For example, it is prohibited to send obscene, abusive or threatening e-mail.

Student Residential Computer Network Policy

Simpson College’s residential network provides students living in the residence units, college owned Greek housing and non-college owned Greek housing the ability to further their educational experience. This is accomplished by enabling access to computing resources at Simpson College and on the Internet.  By connecting to the campus network, the student agrees to the terms and conditions of this Student Residential Computer Network Policy.  This list of acceptable or unacceptable behaviors is meant to be illustrative, not exhaustive.

1. Student is responsible for all activity originating from this connection. Student must take reasonable precautions to prevent unauthorized use by others of this connection, and his/her accounts, programs, or data.
2. Students should not engage in activities that consume excessive amounts of network bandwidth.
3. Student must not modify or extend the campus network services and wiring. This applies to all network wiring, hardware, and in-room jacks. The only device you can connect is a personal computer. You may not connect servers of any type, hubs or network printers.
4. Campus network connections are provided for individual use only. Student may not create accounts on his/her computing system that provide campus network access for anyone else.
5. Campus network connections are for Simpson related activities only. Student may not conduct a commercial business via the campus network.
6. Student may not run sniffers or any other software or hardware designed to intercept packets or to disrupt the security or operation of the campus network.
7. Student may not participate in illegal activities such as software piracy—either the distribution of copyrighted software or illegal attainment of software or other copyrighted materials—from the campus network connection.

At Simpson’s discretion, we may monitor network resources for violations of this policy. Sanctions for violation of this policy may result in disconnection from the campus network, other disciplinary actions, or referral to external authorities.

Simpson College Mail-List Use Policy

Upon getting an e-mail account you will automatically be added to an appropriate moderated e-mail list. Currently, these lists include those for the students, faculty, staff and administration.

The purpose for these lists is to disseminate academic and other school-related information to the respective groups. Please do not send the following types of messages, since they are not school or academic related.

• Messages sent for the purpose of selling goods. (This excludes sales announcements by administrative/academic departments and college related groups.)

• Messages meant to benefit a single individual whether it be student, faculty or staff.

• Messages which are considered “chain letters”, jokes or other such mail.

• Messages containing any content which breaks any part of the “SIMPSON COLLEGE COMPUTER ETHICS AND POLICIES STATEMENT” and “COMPUTER USER ACCOUNT AND ELECTRONIC MAIL POLICY.”

Simpson College reserves the right to review e-mail messages for compliance purposes.

Security Incident Reporting Policy

A security incident is an actual or potential event involving loss or compromise of data or the loss of functionality of an information system or network. Examples include unauthorized access to a PC, data theft, unauthorized data modification, a computer virus, unauthorized network probing, denial of service attacks, and violations of acceptable use policies.

Send an email to report a security incident. The security team will review and respond.

Copyright and Compliance Policy 

The Simpson College community respects the intellectual work and property of others, regardless of the medium by which it is transmitted. This is a cornerstone of academic integrity and essential to the mission of the college. We prohibit the use of unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material, which is subject to both civil and criminal penalties as well as college procedures.

The faculty of this institution recognize its obligation to provide continuing guidance as to what constitutes academic honesty and to promote procedures and circumstances, which will reinforce this principle.

Distributing copyrighted materials using peer-to-peer or file-sharing programs is illegal and the college uses technological solutions to deter this activity. Still, Simpson may receive notices of copyright violations and is required by federal law to respond to notifications of copyright violations on its networks.

All shareware programs must be registered in accordance with their license and use provision.

Simpson generally addresses copyright violations with a “three strikes” procedure. It also recognizes that, depending on the situation, a single offense may be sufficient for immediate suspension or termination of network services and access privileges, and for names of violators to be referred to the appropriate authorities for criminal or civil prosecution.

World Wide Web Publishing Policy

Simpson College recognizes the value and potential of publishing on the Internet and so allows and encourages students, staff and faculty to publish electronic information.

Content of all electronic pages, including links to other pages, must be consistent with college policies as stated and with local, state and federal laws. A page may be considered in violation if it contains links to a page that violates the aforementioned policies.

Copyright laws apply to electronic publishing as well as to other publishing.

Users are expected to abide by these laws.

No institution-owned information technology resource should be used for commercial purposes, including sales and marketing.

All personal home pages must contain the disclaimer, “the views and opinions expressed on this page are strictly those of the page author”.

The College’s information technology resources are finite. Owners of personal home pages that require inordinate amounts of computer resources will be asked to modify their page or move it to an Internet service provider better equipped to distribute those pages.

• 3 Strikes – Copyright and File Sharing Violations

Information Services supports the computers of faculty, administration and students on campus. While services to students are limited, you can find information on common issues, answers to questions, and ways to prevent or fix the computer problem.

All Simpson College-owned computers and printers are supported for business use. If there is an issue, you can consult the Solutions for Common Problems here or in the FAQ list. Or you can call Information Services for help. If you are a student on campus, we will support your computer for software issues pertaining to Internet and network connectivity.  Feel free to call with any questions.

Employee Purchase Program

Simpson College employees, both full-time and part-time, can purchase Macintosh and Hewlett Packard computers through the college. We are glad to answer any computer-purchasing questions you may have and provide pricing information. As an employee benefit, Simpson College offers a 12-month and a 24-month payroll deduction program. The 12-month plan has a 6-percent interest charge with no money down and the 24-month plan has a 9-percent interest charge with 20 percent of the total purchase price down.  Please contact the Information Technology Services Help Desk via email, helpdesk@simpson.edu or via phone at (515) 961-1681 with questions or to purchase a computer through the college.