SEPTEMBER, 2004

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Call Center chalks up record call volume

During the period June 1 to August 12, the Telecommunications Call Center fielded 9,416 calls.  "This was probably the peak time for calls all year," said Deb Harkness, "since students are finalizing their financial aid and billing for the new academic year.". 

Of these calls, about half are handled by the student staff of the center.   Deb also cited statistics collected about the performance of the call center.  "The average wait time for a call to be picked up is less than twelve seconds, and less than 4 percent of all the calls we get are abandoned by the callers who don't want to wait on hold.  We're talking about days where we can be getting up to 335 calls per day - sometimes three or four a minute during peak times." 

The Call Center will shortly celebrate the answering of their 50,000th call.  Congratulations to all Call Center Staff!

Call Center Staff - Bryan Chambala, Shatara Hayden, Manager Deb Harkness, Lora Kunzman, Sarah Tirado, Sean Cook.  Not pictured - Dan Nichols, Kathy Rivard, Amanda McKeough, Sarah Tauber and Dina Abed Al-Hadi

Exchange Mail Updates

Our email administrators have upgraded anti-virus protection for email to our mail servers.  This new software will disinfect messages before delivery.  If the message cannot be disinfected they will be quarantined on the server, instead of landing in the users' inbox minus the attachment as before.  This will prevent the bulk of the infected junk mail from cluttering users' mail accounts, since it is for the most part useless and unnecessary.

The sender will, however, receive notification that their message didn't get through. This would be important in the event that a sender does actually send a legitimate message - you wouldn't want that message to just disappear, and since the sender will know that his message has not been delivered, he can take other action to contact you.

Here is a sample of what the sender would receive back from the server:

From: MailMonitor@oneonta.edu [mailto:MailMonitor@oneonta.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2004 10:49 PM
To: Sender, Joe (joe.sender@hotmail.com)

Subject: MailMonitor for Exchange has processed a suspicious mail

A mail sent by you has been identified as suspicious by MailMonitor for Exchange.

Event: infection
Action: Message quarantined
Message ID: <askjhdaskd@oneonta.edu>
Message subject: Re: Thanks :)
Recipient: "recipient@oneonta.edu" <recipient@oneonta.edu>

=============================================================
Attachment information:
Event: infection
Action: Unable to disinfect
Filename: Info.vbs
Virus: W32/Bagle-W =============================================================

An infected email has been quarantined that appears to have been sent from your email address. If this is not the case you may safely disregard this notification, else you should scan your PC for viruses and try re-sending the message. Many viruses forge the FROM address in email messages which can cause anti-virus filters that receive them to send notifications like this to the wrong address.

Viewing Shared Outlook Calendars Side-by-Side

If other people share their calendars with you, Outlook 2003 allows you to view any of these calendars alongside yours - this makes comparison of schedules a snap! 

Just below the folder list you will see an icon that represents the calendar view:

If you select the calendar view from that menu rather than from your folder list, you will be presented with a list of other calendars that may be shared with you:

If you click the check box(es) next to a calendar you have permission to, you can view it side-by-side with your calendar. 

Outlook Web Access - new look and feel

As part of our email upgrades over the summer, the Outlook Web Access (available at http://mail.oneonta.edu) system has a new look when viewed in Microsoft Internet Explorer.  It looks much more like the version of Outlook Mail that users are used to working with on their desktop computers:

Users will see the new version when they are migrated to the new Exchange Mail Cluster later this month - a process that will be completely transparent to the user.

What our staff is up to...

Information Technology (IT) security has come to the forefront of planning on our campus. The threats to the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our data and other IT assets are far too real, and we are taking very proactive steps to address these matters.

We are pleased to announce that we have completed the search for a IT Security Administrator and that Nathan Hall has accepted the position. Nathan has provided exceptional support since joining the College in 2001.  Nathan will be responsible for administering IT security tools, auditing IT security practices, identifying IT security threats and solutions, and responding to IT security violations.

Nathan will work very closely with the systems and networking areas to assure continuity of security practices and provide technical support where necessary.
 

Nathan Hall

If you have a question for Computer and Telecommunication Services about:

Computer Problems or Related Issues - Call the Information Technology Help Desk at     436-4567

Telephone Service or Problems - Call the Office of Telecommunications at 436-2499

Directory Assistance - call 436-3500

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