Luckily, this has been a slow week for IT incidents. The only ‘hiccup’ I’m aware of was the failure of a power backup for the Kiosk and Room Scheduler servers on Monday. Jerry was able to get them switched over to another backup and I got everything restarted and running smoothly.
Okta project: the Okta account security project is nearing completion. If you have not already gotten your invitation, you should receive one in the next week or two. If you do not get one or have deleted or allowed the invitation to expire you will need to contact crimsonservicedesk@wsu.edu ( or crimsonservicedesk.wsu.edu or 509-335-4357). Let them know you have not gone through the Okta security reset. They’ll send you a new invitation.
Also, a question arose about getting “stuck in a loop” when resetting their account information. I was contacted by someone who went through the reset steps and was then asked to rest their password again after the last step was completed. Their question was, “how do I get out of this loop?” I told them to open a new browser window (or tab) and go to office365.wsu.edu and try logging in with their new password. If it works, then you are set and can close the other window. This worked for this person, hopefully it will for others.
Phishing emails: As an aside to the item above, I visited the Crimson Service Desk port this morning for the purpose of confirming their web address and phone number. When I got there, I saw there was a Request listed for my account. It was for the phishing email I forwarded to abuse@wsu.edu this morning. I thought it interesting to see that for status, they showed “Triage Needed”. This means that they needed to fix the hacked account that sent out the email. For more on the phishing email I got this morning, check out my other post: Car Wrap Offer.
TFREC Safety training pages: With the start of the field season, a new herd of time-slippers is headed our way. With the loss of the old TRREC web server, I had to scramble to get something else in place for the mandatory training. We had hoped that they could use go straight to the EHS website and complete the Skillsoft training. Unfortunately, that is not an option. Apparently, you have to be employed for two weeks before you are “in the system” and allowed access to that training resource. At least for the time being. So with this option being out, I rebuilt the training pages. The training starts on the New Employee Orientation page (under Employee Training in the navigation menu). This explains what they need to take and how to proceed through the training pages. If they will be working in orchards, they will need to continue their training using the Saftey Training link found under the Safety section of this website. Its all designed to flow smoothly with a “Proceed to” link at the bottom of each training page, similar to how the old site worked. The old Supervisors’ checklist for employee training has been remade and is located under Safety Training. I encourage everyone to at least skim through the new training pages to familiarize yourself with the new set up and to help catch any errors. There are still a few more safety pages to be rebuilt, but at least the training material is complete. Also, now is a good time to review the Field Season Safety Reminders page; it too has been updated!
Qualitrics Surveys: WSU prohibits the use of products such as SurveyMonkey, Zoomerang, or other online survey tools that require a click-through agreement. This has to do with the integrity and security of the participants’ data. So, what you supposed to use? WSU offers employees and students the opportunity to conduct surveys using one of three approved tools: Qualtrics, REDcap (used for health science related surveys), and SESRC for Social and Economic Sciences Research. For most of you, Qualtric would be the most likely tool to use. WSU has a campus site license and accounts are available at no direct cost to active students, faculty, and staff. For more information, visit https://surveys.wsu.edu.