Service catalogue

Our Service Catalogue is a list of services provided by IT Services to members of the University of Sussex and certain categories of visitors.

Each service within the catalogue typically includes a brief description of the service and how to access it, who is entitled to use/request the service, details of availability and service maintenance, and links to further information. This is intended to help improve knowledge within the University of the range of services we currently provide and to help users get more out of them. The range of services offered is reviewed annually with the University IT Consultative Group.

Information and Support
Applications and Tools
Student Workstations
Teaching and Learning
Staff Services
Business Services
Research
Network and Storage

Mac Service

Service ID

6

Summary

Provides staff and students with a Mac client environment, comprising a rich set of software applications supporting personal productivity and Teaching & Learning programmes provided by the University.

Permitted users

  1. Members of the University of Sussex.
  2. Eligible attendees at conferences and similar events being held at the University, where the use of computers comprises part of the event.

Gaining access

  1. Access to the service requires an IT Services username and password. This is issued as part of the enrolment/employment process.
  2. Eligible attendees at conferences and similar events without full student enrolment will be issued with access details by conference organisers to enable them to make use of the facilities.

Hours of operation

The service is accessible 24 hours a day.

Supported period

Normal working days 0900-1700.

Scheduled maintenance

Updates to the Mac Service (incorporating virus protection) are made:

As necessary (for Mac OSX patches);  

Annually, during the summer recess, or by exceptional agreement with course tutors (for major work to the Student service).

Change control

Software patches released to this service are tested prior to deployment.

Software application changes (upgrades, additions or removals) follow a procedure described here:

Software@Sussex FAQs. Changes will be advertised in the normal ways.

ITS Responsibilities

  1. To monitor virus and security issues and take appropriate action should any problems arise.
  2. To investigate and fix any campus-wide issues arising within Mac desktop software.
  3. To repair/replace broken Mac workstations.
  4. To consult with teaching staff and students annually to review software requirements (see #26 Applications Software Management).
  5. To remotely deploy additional Mac software where this is required by a number of staff members.

Service user responsibilities

Users are expected to:

  1. know how to use Mac systems and software;
  2. use the service responsibly and log-out when leaving a workstation;
  3. (Students) report open-access workstation faults promptly to IT Services;
  4. (Staff) to keep software updated at regular intervals (including anti-virus software).

 

Service dependencies

Data Network (#1); Managed Filestore (#2 ); Workstations for Open-Access and Teaching (#32 ).

Detailed service description

The Mac service provides a Mac client environment on managed student and staff desktops across campus.  It offers a rich set of software applications supporting personal productivity and Teaching & Learning programmes provided by the University.

 Staff Mac workstations do not normally have a networked home directory, but a software application is provided to enable  back-up of data stored on the local home directory.  See:

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/its/services/staffservices/crashplanpro 

Each staff workstation is customised with a set of software applications as appropriate to the user’s role.  Staff users are normally granted administrative rights over their workstations and are required to self-manage application and system updates.

The Student Mac service can be used in open-access computing rooms - software available is described here:  Student Software.

The location and number of open-access Mac machines are described here:  Workstation Availability.

The Student service makes use of the Managed Filestore service (#2) for user data storage. 

Links to ITS documentation

Definitions

Normal working days
These are defined for all ITS services as Monday – Friday inclusive, but excluding Bank Holidays and University Minimum Service Days.
Scheduled Maintenance
IT username and password
These are the login credentials, issued by IT Services to registered students and current staff of the University of Sussex, enabling access to email, workstations and other services requiring authentication.

New and changed services

Information about changes to services including any scheduled maintenance, are posted on the IT Services website and distributed by the IT Services Facebook, Twitter and RSS feed. Current service status traffic light information is also displayed on the IT Services website.

If the service you are enquiring about is not described below, please get in touch.

User responsibilities

All service users are expected to abide by the rules and regulations described in Regulations for the use of Information and Communication Technology and to report faults, as they arise, to IT Services.

Updated on 17 October 2013