Returning to the office

Over the next few weeks, we’ll all probably be starting to think about returning to the office and adding some normality back into our work life. To save you some time we’ve compiled this guide to help you ensure your IT equipment doesn’t hinder your return.

Check the Health of your Desktop PC

If you have an office PC, you’ll need to make sure it’s on and working ready for your return. Some of us have been using the VPN and Remote Desktop tools to connect to our PC’s and so know it will be ready for our return.

If you haven’t then you should think about connecting to your work PC to check it’s ok. If you have an LJMU Anywhere laptop you can also do this without needing to set up our VPN. We have some guides to help you do this.

Remember: If you’re on a managed laptop (LJMU Anywhere) you do not need to install the F5 VPN connection. You only need to follow the latter steps (from Page 5) of the VPN guide to connect to your office PC using the Remote Desktop Connection tool.

What if your equipment is missing upon your return?

If you’re missing monitors/keyboards/mice or other kit from your desk upon your return, you will need to speak to your line manager. Ideally, they’ll be able to locate the missing hardware, but if not they can arrange replacement or procurement of new hardware.

Installing Microsoft Teams

We’ve all been relying on Microsoft Teams during the last year, and we don’t expect that to change anytime soon. You may need to install this on your office PC, but you can do this without help from ITS.

To install Teams, open the JMUAppPlayer on your PC and search for “MS Teams”. Click the icon and it will install automatically. You’ll then have a desktop icon you can use going forwards.

If you don’t already have one, you’ll need a webcam and headset so you can participate in meetings. You’ll need to discuss this with your line manager so that they can arrange procurement of new hardware.

Signing into your Desk Phone

You might not have used your desk phone for the entire time you’ve been working from home. If this is the case, you will need to sign back in.

Press the button on your phone below “Hot Desk”, then enter your telephone extension (ie: 5555) when prompted. It will then ask for the PIN you set up. If you did not set up a password, the password will be the same 4 digits as your extension.

Changing your Micollab status

To do this you’ll need either the Micollab mobile app or the desktop client which can be found in the app player called by searching ‘DskClnt’.

Micollab Mobile App

If you want to use the mobile app you can do so by requesting a QR code from the IT helpdesk and then logging in with your username & password.

Once you’ve accessed the Micollab App, swipe left, and check that the softphone setting is enabled (blue). You’ll Then check that ‘Working from home’ is selected under availability if you wanting calls to be routed to the mobile application. Alternatively select ‘In the Office’ if you are want to take/send calls on your desk phone.

Desktop client

To change your status using the desktop client, simple click on the down arrow next to your status. In the screen shot below these persons current status is set to “In the Office”. Once you’ve clicked on the arrow you can select any status from the list that you require.

As mentioned above, select ‘Working from home’ if you are wanting calls to be routed to your mobile application. Or select ‘In the Office’ from the drop down if you are wanting to take/send calls on your desk phone.

Preparing your mobile devices for Eduroam

As we haven’t been on campus in over a year, your mobile devices have not been connected to the university Wi-Fi network eduroam. Unfortunately, as our passwords have changed several times in the last year, this means your devices still have old passwords stored on them. When we first enter our buildings our phones/laptops/tablets will try to connect to eduroam using old passwords, and this can cause account lockouts.

The best way to avoid this is to turn your Wi-Fi off before you enter the building for the first time. When you’re at your desk, turn the Wi-Fi back on and immediately forget the eduroam network from your “known Wi-Fi networks”. This will remove the old expired passwords.

You can now connect to eduroam as normal.