EQUIPMENT AND SOFTWARE TECHNICAL SUPPORT

1. The Policy

IT Infrastructure

IT services at ALDAR University College are provided through a Gigabit Ethernet with OFC Backbone and Wi-Fi coverage across all the floors. That includes the Computer Labs, Mac Lab, Engineering Labs, Language Lab, Multimedia Room and TV Studio.

• High Speed internet is available in all the classrooms, computer labs, library and faculty/staff offices.
• All classrooms and laboratories are equipped with Smart Interactive Boards, Multimedia Projectors, and broadband Internet access.
• Around 300 Computer Systems which have latest Intel Core i7 and Core i5 processors, Desktop PCs, Notebooks and iMacs.
• HP Proliant Generation8 servers power backed up by APC Smart ups.
• 12 and 8TB Network storage for Data Backup.
• ALDAR has 14 different labs (Computer, Engineering, Cisco, Multimedia and TV studio)
• 20 latest Core i7 computers are installed in library with internet and printing facility for students.
• Gigabit network with OFC backbone, based on structured cabling. Network is being managed by Cisco Catalyst 3850 Layer 3 and Cisco Catalyst 2960 Switches and Fortinet Fort guard 200D firewall. Providing both wired and wireless access across the entire campus.
• Every faculty and staff member is assigned a computer for official use.
• Active Directory is implemented in the college and every faculty, staff member and student has his own account to access the college network.
• Printing services for Staff and Faculty are provided on their office floors while students can print from Library by using their PIN codes. This is being issued by Cashier after paying a certain amount.

On Campus Central Storage and Active Directory

To manage the Faculty, Staff and student logins Active Directory is being used. Every staff/faculty and student has his own username to access the College network. Access to different devices/objects is controlled by a number of Group policies. 

For the security and integrity of Faculty, students and staff data, a Central File Server is installed, while automatic backup of file server is taken on daily basis on a Network Attached Storage.

G Suite for education

To share and collaborate on files with others across the campus or across the globe. Rather than putting data on hard media (i.e., flash drives) or sending large email attachments. Google Apps provide 10TB (for each user) online storage which let users store files, data or graphics online. Google calendar is being used to schedule different meetings.

 Learning Management System

To enable a professional learning environment IT department has implemented Google classroom. All faculties use it to deliver their course material and online quizzes.

Similarity Software

To prevent students from plagiarism and checking originality of their assignments similarity software is in practice.

E-Databases

To get help from online indexing and abstractions following E-databases are available for Faculty and Students.  

• EBSCO
• American Economic Association
• Middle East Monitor – The Gulf
• ACM Digital Library

Digital Library

ResourceMate library software is available in library as well as on student portal. By this student can search books from library even if they are not in the campus.

E-Learning

IT staff help faculty with more advanced needs, such as incorporating digital learning and streaming media, webcasting or PowerPoint Web lectures into their course materials. 

Technology Workshops for Faculty and Students

To train Faculty and Students for different IT tools “Technology Workshops” are delivered so that they can efficiently use these tools in their teaching/research work and studies i.e. similarity software, Google Classroom, EIAS.

Orientations for Students

At the start of every semester an Orientation session about the IT services is delivered to all the students so that they can effectively use IT services to benefit their studies.

 Self-Study Guides

Different Self Study Guidelines/Videos are available on LMS site about the use of IT services and other commonly used tools.

Software Systems in use

ALDAR IT team has developed ERP system and providing regular updates and support. ERP has following modules

EIAS (Electronic Intelligent Academic Solution)

EIAS is an Academic Smart ERP Software allow the College to facilitate all the Academic procedures and increase the team work Activities by integrating all the Department Such as Accounting, Registration, Admission in one frame work. 

EIAS is an executive module for managing the entire data related to students, admission, registration, courses, attendance, assessments, scheduling, student marks, certificates, and statistics etc. The admin staff have the capability to access the system based on the roles and permissions allotted to them in the system.

 Accounting Module

The Accounting Module has student fees management system and pay roll management. Students and university’s   invoices and receipts can be synced across the software. 

Its main features are create invoices, add receipts, add fee concession/scholarship, Ledger,

journal, and payments, payroll management, etc.

It gives the flexibility to print invoices and receipts directly from the system with customizable headers and footers.

 HR Module

With HR Module, all the information of university faculty & staffs will be organized along with their details. This module will assist in maintaining proper records of details, attendance, leaves, pay slip, salary register, contracts, etc.

It’s most important features are managing employee leaves, correspondence letters, Document expiry report, employee attendance report etc…

CRM

CRM module used in the department of Professional Training and Continuing engagement center. CRM module follows the procedures right from query to registration. This module tracks complete student’s details by phone, email, walk-ins and provides proper follow-up to all enquiries. Moreover, user can track all the types of communication correspondence status and success rate of enquiries. Its quick response of dealing inquiries ensures the growth of institution. The salesmen can prepare quotations and register the clients to the desired courses. It also helps the admin staff to manage student record, attendance, courses and salesmen sales details etc…

Student Portal

Through the portal a student can register online for his courses. On portal he has access to his timetable, grades, academic advice, academic records, fee details, study material, Study plans, digital library and all the communication between the college and student.

Instructor Portal

Through the Instructor Portal, faculty has access to his/her class list and they can send either message to all the class or to an individual. They also have access to their schedules, student advising, students attendance, students marks sheet, exams schedule, LMS and digital library.  

IT Support

IT staff is available for support of faculty, staff and students during the operational hours of the college in IT office. Staff is fully trained and support students with their technological problems as well as their assignments.

IT Support Policy

Purpose and Scope

ALDAR IT provides computer and information systems support for all faculty, staff and students of the college. The purpose of this policy is to describe the basic level of service that will be ensured as well as the limits of the IT Support capabilities and what will not be supported. “IT Support” is defined as any queries made by faculty, staff or students to the IT Support regarding any failures, problems and other matters relating to the operation of computer labs, library, classrooms and faculty/staff office computers/workstations, servers, software, telephony, printers and other IT related equipment.

Policy Statement

SOFTWARE SUPPORT

Support is provided for all software packages and operating systems in use at 

• College (EIAS, HR, Accounting, Online portals)
• Computer labs
• Multimedia and engineering labs
• Language labs
• Library computers
• Classroom computers
• Office computers
• Students laptops/computers

Please note that personally installed or unlicensed software on official computers, including screensavers, games, obsoleted applications etc., will not be supported.  Installation of unauthorized software is violation of ALDAR policy.

HARDWARE SUPPORT

Support is provided for all hardware and devices, including all parts of the PC. Hardware faults will be diagnosed accordingly. The IT Support will attempt to fix hardware defects to the best of its ability, but may need to send equipment for repair to the vendor. In such case if possible, replacement will be provided to the user.

Procedure

IT Support can be reached via email helpdesk@aldar.ac.ae or telephone 333 from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm throughout the week. After receiving the call complaint will be logged in the “Service Request System” by the helpdesk attendant and she assigns the complaint to concerned dept. 

After resolution he will give the feedback and supervisor will close the complaint.

Processing time

The target resolution time for the problem is 4 hours from the time the problem is registered.  Depending on the nature of some of the problems received, some requests may take longer to process.

Priorities defined

Each complaint will be logged based on the below ranking criteria.  Emergency calls shall be given first response, even if work has begun on the other call.

EMERGENCY PRIORITY

1. Users cannot work due to a partial or complete network outage.
2. Unavailability of any application due to Server problem.
3. Computer virus

HIGH PRIORITY

1. Classroom computers problem
2. Lab computers problem
3. Network connectivity is slow or unresponsive

NORMAL PRIORITY

All other complaints will be considered as normal.

Computer laboratories maintenance policy

Computer & Multimedia Labs and Classrooms

The ALDAR University College IT department is responsible for all computer labs and classroom computers, multimedia projectors installed and smart boards. 

Day to Day Maintenance

• Special checks are completed prior to semester commencement for all classrooms and labs computers.
• During the teaching periods, IT staff proactively checks classroom computers and multimedia projectors daily in the morning and computer labs fortnightly.
• To minimize disruption to teaching in classrooms any faulty computer will be replaced from already installed computers within 10-15 minutes.
• If an installed computer fails and cannot be quickly fixed, IT will replace it with a machine loaded with our standard software, within 4 hours, in the computer Labs.
• In case, multimedia equipment and interfaces will fail. We strive to complete all reactive maintenance as a high priority. In such circumstances, we strive to substitute a “workaround” technical solution, within 2 hours, where possible, to minimize disruption to teaching and learning.

Post Study Semester Maintenance

• Computer maintenance will take place in all Labs according to our preventative maintenance schedule. Access during computer maintenance to any lab will be declined during maintenance times.
• Students have one week after finals to remove their projects from all computer local hard drives or make duplications. Instructions will be communicated to students through sms and e-mail.
• Preventative maintenance schedule:
  1. The last two weeks in July
  2. The last week in December and the first week in January
• All requests for extended storage must be communicated from the faculty member/mentor to IT before the end of the semester.
• Maintenance will be performed in the following areas and logs will be updated:
  1. All Computer Labs
  2. Library
  3. Classrooms

Computer maintenance Checklist 

• Check physical network connection – Ethernet cable and RJ-45 outlets
• Check physical connection to the electricity distribution
• Clean old user data and Defrag Hard Disk
• Remove unused and obsolete software and plugins
• Update and patch OS Windows and MAC
• Update antivirus and perform full scan check

Software Installation

1. Microsoft Office Install and update the software.
   • Install Arabic Keyboard, languages and regional support for languages.
2. Regular Software Install required software
3. Patch or update to the latest version
   • Program registration or license activation
4. Other software
   • Acrobat Reader
   • Winrar
   • Google Chrome
   • Browser plugins: flash, java, etc.
5. Network Printer support
   • Configure Xerox Workstation client drivers
   • Set TCP ports
   • Verify and test connection to networked printer
6. Policy Approver
7. College Council
8. Policy Steward/Owner
9. Director, Administration and Finance Email: diradmin@aldar.ac.ae
10. Publication Location(s)
11. Policy and Procedure Manual
12. Next Review
13. Annual Review
14. Version History