2 - The Basics

Computers are provided for each employee to use as required to complete duties as assigned.  All computer equipment and software remain the property of the College and the University.  The College provides central servers for file storage, networked records with PHI, applications (if needed) and access to networked printers.  All computers are to be located in a lockable, secure area.  Contact Devin Taylor, (405) 271-8001 ext. 43412) to schedule any computer equipment and software purchases, installations and upgrades.

All users should LOGOFF from the network or RESTART their computer workstation when they leave for the day.  If possible, please keep your computer powered ON to allow anti-virus and operating system updates to run after hours.  Monitors should be turned off.  Servers are designed to never routinely shut down and will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Computer provisioning policy available upon request.

The College will provide each user with standard office software and productivity software ().  A separate license will be obtained for each instance of an application or operating system installation in compliance with campus software licensing agreements.  No application or operating system will be installed on any computer without proper licensing.  Such installations will be regarded as copyright violations and may subject the person installing the software to disciplinary action.  If unlicensed software is found on any University-owned computer, the Department will be notified of the need to immediately obtain a valid license.  If no valid licensing solution is identified, the software will be removed from the computer.  Cost and adequate licensing of standard operating system and productivity software will be the responsibility of the Dean’s Office.  Readily accessible, valid licenses for any other software shall be purchased and maintained by individual departments.

Employees, having personal computers, may purchase standard operating system and Microsoft Office software at a discounted rate.  The software purchase web page is located at https://downloads.ou.edu.

Requests to install special software in any labs on three or more computers should be placed 14 or more working days prior to deadline for intended use of software.  Copies of associated valid software licenses must also be provided to the Technology Support Analyst, Devin Taylor (405) 271-8001 ext. 43412 at the time of the request.

New Software & Hardware Purchases – Information Security Risk Assessment

When requesting to use or purchase any new software, hardware or any other technology product, a risk assessment conducted by IT Security is required for security purposes.  For more information and to start the process, please contact Pam Farmer. Risk assessments can take a day or several weeks to complete depending on security intricacies. A standalone workstation application will be much faster to get through the risk assessment process than a “cloud” based clinic application. Please plan for this time. Once the review process is completed you will receive a “Risk Profile Summary” that you will then provide to purchasing to process your order.

Product reviews have a renewal period based on its classification. Any renewals of software or licensing will require a valid “in-date” product review Risk Profile Summary by purchasing.

All users have OUHSC domain accounts and therefore have access to the College servers.  The system administrator has established user access to specific directories on the College servers.  Under certain circumstances, access to some HSC systems will require two-factor authentication.

Two-Factor Authentication

Passwords are increasingly easy to compromise.  They can often be stolen, guessed, or hacked — you might not even know someone is accessing your account.  Two-factor authentication adds a second layer of security, keeping your account secure even if your password is compromised.

What HSC applications require two-factor authentication?

• Employee self-service access from off-campus
• Student self-service access from off-campus
• VPN (connect2.ouhsc.edu) – “Global Protect” application.
• Direct deposit from either off-campus or on campus

How does two-factor authentication work?

Once you have enrolled in OUHSC’s two-factor authentication system, you will login to protected applications as usual with your HSC User ID and password.  If you are off-campus (or on campus for some services), you may be prompted to send a request for authentication to the smartphone or tablet you registered at duo.ouhsc.edu.  Approve the login from the smartphone or tablet, and the webpage on your computer will automatically refresh to the location you are attempting to reach.

What is considered off-campus?

Off-campus would include your home internet connection, public internet locations, connectivity via the HSC connect.ouhsc.edu VPN service, or even cellular data connectivity regardless of physical location.  Only dedicated HSC wired and wireless networks are considered to be on-campus for two-factor authentication.

OUHSC Domain Accounts

Currently, computer accounts are triggered to automatically set up for employees when a new hire ePAF (employee Paperwork Action Form) is created by the hiring department; however, should there be a problem with that process, any user who does not have an OUHSC domain account should have one created by completing a New User Account Request form.  This form can be printed from the IT help desk web site.  Fill out the form and deliver it to the appropriate sponsor.  The designated account sponsor, will sign and fax as directed to IT.  A new OUHSC domain user account will be created and the username with a pre-expired password will be forwarded to the account sponsor in 24-72 hours.

OUHSC Computer Account Sponsors:
Faculty & Staff: Lance Leonard, Associate Dean for Finance and Administration
(405)-271-8001 x43407 | Lance-Leonard@ouhsc.edu

Students: Mark Britton, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Student Affairs
(405)271-8001 x3414 | Mark-Britton@ouhsc.edu

When an employee terminates, the Information Technology Enterprise Systems Group (IT) is expected to remove employee access to the OUHSC domain.  This group will be notified of an employee's departure by the department.  A web form is to be completed by the department at or before the time of employee termination to facilitate the transfer, archive, or deletion of user files and email. This form is available via campus network (VDI, VPN, or on campus) here.  Devin Taylor, (405) 271-8001 ext. 43412, will follow up by contacting IT to verify OUHSC account termination.

Terminating employees will have access to the College servers removed.  However, contents of their personal directory on the server may be assigned to another user as directed by the Dean, Associate Dean, or Department Chair.

How to Access your Email:

Your OUHSC email can be accessed via Outlook, smartphone, Webmail, or the Outlook client within your Mydesk Virtual Desktop.

The University’s electronic mail system allows faculty, staff, and students to write, send and receive email communications.  The email system is owned by the University and maintained to facilitate business communications.  Personal use of email is inevitable. Personal email use is acceptable as long as it is not excessive, occurs during break time, occurs outside of work hours, and does not interfere with the performance of the employee’s duties.  Employees should keep in mind that personal views, opinions, and philosophies expressed in personal email should be identified as such to avoid the perception they are speaking on behalf of the University.  It is not proper use of general mailings to send political, religious, commercial messages, poetry, chain letters, hoaxes, editorials, etc…. for example, just as it is improper for a University employee or student to use University facilities, equipment, or letterhead to engage in political activities, it is equally improper and strictly prohibited to use the campus E-mail system for political purposes.  Communication of unauthorized, confidential, or copyrighted material is also strictly prohibited without prior approval.  For additional information, please review the first page of this document.

To avoid a possible security breach and downloading of computer viruses or worms, the OUHSC Exchange email system is the only supported e-mail platform for the campus network (use Outlook and/or the webmail interface ONLY).  The Exchange email system provides necessary antivirus capabilities that may not be provided by third-party e-mail providers.  Therefore, do not use third-party e-mail providers when you are using a computer on campus OR from your home computer when connected to the campus network.

Refrain from using “wallpaper” or decorative images on email messages.  This unnecessarily increases the size of the file, appears as an attachment, and often reduces the legibility of the overlying text message.

Transmission of Confidential or Sensitive Email

If confidential or sensitive OUHSC information, including but not limited to PHI, must be transmitted to a non-University email account or over an external network (e.g., the Internet), the message must be encrypted.  Encryption options include typing [secure] in the email subject line, using the Proofpoint Secure Email plug-in for Outlook, and sending via a patient portal. (For sending PHI via email, refer to HIPAA Privacy Safeguards policy.)

Users may send confidential or sensitive University information via encrypted email only from their ouhsc.edu account and only to authorized recipients.  For example, PHI may be sent only for treatment, payment, or operations purposes and to third parties with whom the University has a Business Associate Agreement in place (contact Purchasing or the Office of Research Administration to confirm). 

Individuals must not send, forward, auto-forward, re-direct, or receive confidential or sensitive OUHSC information through non-OUHSC email accounts.  Examples of non-OUHSC email accounts include but are not limited to, Gmail, Cox mail, Hotmail, Yahoo mail, AOL mail, and email provided by other Internet Service Providers (ISP).

[Secure Email] – Email Encryption

Secure email can be used to send sensitive email communications to individuals outside our organization.

How to:

1. Put the word "[secure]" enclosed within brackets in the Subject-line of the message.

This works using the Outlook client, WebMail, or any other e-mail client connected to the OUHSC Exchange email service. For more information

Secure File Transfer (Large File Transfer) 

Secure File Transfer allows HSC Faculty, Staff, and our Affiliates (with HSC accounts) to securely send or receive files that exceed the 50 MB attachment size limitations of the campus email system.  When using Secure File Transfer, the attachments CANNOT be larger than 10GB. 

For more information

Emails that contain confidential or sensitive OUHSC information, such as PHI or regulated data, must include a confidentiality notice at the end of the correspondence, such as: 

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email, including any attachments, contains information from The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, which may be confidential or privileged. The information is intended to be for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution, or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately by "reply to sender only" message and destroy all electronic and hard copies of the communication, including attachments.

Users needing to access OU services, such as file servers and Outlook e-mail (Microsoft Exchange Accounts ONLY, not Webmail), from off campus are required to access these University network through the campus VPN connection or “MyDesk” virtual desktop.  Each time you want to use secured OU services from off campus, you must connect to your Internet Service Provider and then start the Global Protect VPN client.

For instructions on how to utilize these resources please see the COAH IT Quick Start Guide.

See the quick start guide here.

On campus, there are two wireless networks available for faculty/staff to use: WIFI@OU and HSCSTUDENT.

WIFI@OU
This is the OUHSC secure wireless network that enables full access to the OUHSC network.  Because it is full access, this network requires all connecting devices (personal and University-owned) to be registered, encrypted, and audited by central IT.  The auditing process verifies the computer encryption status as well as manages removable media encryption.  No personal information or activity logs are collected.

Go here to register your device for WIFI@OU. This will then trigger an appointment to be scheduled by the College’s Tier 1 support personnel.

HSCSTUDENT
This is the network designated for students, faculty, and staff that allows basic web access.  No file shares are accessible on this network.  However, an encrypted smartphone or tablet accessing the email exchange system will still work.  Instructions on how to connect to the HSCSTUDENT network can be found here (Mac, Windows, Android, iPhone).

All writable external devices being used for University business are required to be encrypted using software installed on all University-owned laptop computers. This software is also available on any university-owned laptop or tablet. For Windows machines, the software is called “Dell External Media Encryption”.

When a flash drive, external hard disk, or any external media is connected to a configured computer for the first time you will be prompted to either encrypt the drive or use it in a “read-only” mode. The encryption process will ask for a secure password and then will encrypt the drive. After the initial encryption process upon re-connection of the encrypted drive, you will be prompted to enter your encryption password. If you forget your password, contact the OUHSC service desk for assistance in recovering your drive.