UTSC FirstClass Issues

!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
UT Service Center Manual!
for !
University of Maine’s FirstClass System!
!
!
!
!
By!
Glenn Eiche;!
George Moody!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
This manual is a guide for handling service center calls regarding the University of
Maine’s FirstClass email and collaboration system.!
!
!
!
!
Page 1
FirstClass User Accounts!
4!
FirstClass User Names!
4!
Internet Email Addresses!
4!
Internal Email and Fuzzy Match!
4!
Default Email Deletion!
4!
Login Issues!
5!
Password Reset!
5!
Connection Issues!
5!
Mail Rules!
6!
FirstClass Conference Permissions!
6!
Mail Forwarding and Automatic Reply!
6!
FirstClass Signatures!
7!
Disk Space Issues!
7!
Name Changes!
7!
Automatic Account Deletion!
8!
Alumni Account Expiration!
8!
Connecting to FirstClass!
8!
UMaine FirstClass Support Web Page!
8!
FirstClass Client!
8!
Mobile Apps!
8!
Third Party Email Applications!
9!
Web Client!
9!
Data recovery!
9!
Automated Class Conference!
9!
Manually Created Course Conference!
10!
Course Conference Permission Issues!
11!
Deleting Automatically Created Course Conferences!
12!
Primary Classification Groups!
12!
Original and Alias Conferences!
12!
Restoring a Class Conference!
13!
Alumni Account Expiration!
15!
FirstClass Admin!
15!
Page 2
!
FirstClass Sub-Admins!
15!
Server Support!
15
Page 3
!
!
FirstClass User Accounts!
!
FirstClass User Names!
!
• FirstClass usernames do not follow the UMS
username format.!
• Firstclass usernames use the following format:!
• Last name, First initial, Middle initial and last
digit of the id number (e.g. for Em A.
Professor, professorea6)!
• Some legacy usernames are different from
the above and may use a variety of formats
including last name only or first name initial
and last name (e.g. professor or eprofessor)!
!
Internet Email Addresses!
!
• Internet email address are different from the FC username and roughly follow the UMS
address format.!
• These are entered as email aliases on the user information page.!
• Aliases are entered using two formats (e.g. em.professor and em_professor).!
• In cases where a middle initial is required the email alias will include it (e.g.
em.a.professor)!
• The complete email address is in the @umit.maine.edu domain.!
!
!
Internal Email and Fuzzy Match!
!
• For email within the UM FirstClass system real names are used (e.g. Em Professor). The full
email address is not required.!
• FirstClass will attempt to match names when a user enters names on the “To” line of a
message. Keying “e prof” will autofill to Em Professor or show a list of multiple matches.!
!
Default Email Deletion!
!
• By default, email will automatically be deleted after 120 days.!
• Users can override the default by:!
• Changing the expiry on individual messages using “Get Info”!
• Create mailbox folders and move messages into them. Messages in mailbox folders do not
expire.!
!
!
Page 4
Login Issues!
!
• Check to make sure the user is
using the correct username.!
• Check to make sure the user is
using the correct server.!
• This is checked in the login
window.!
• Click the “Advanced”
triangle to show the “Setup”
button.!
• Click “Setup” and confirm
that the server address is “fc.umit.maine.edu!
• Reset the password if needed!
!
!
Password Reset!
!
• Verify:!
• Identity (i.e. MaineStreet ID #). It is listed in
the “Custom ID” area of the user
information window.!
• The username they are using!
• Change the password to something less than
eight (8) characters to force a password
reset on next logon.!
!
!
!
Connection Issues!
! Network issues can cause problems with FirstClass connectivity.
•
!
!
!
• The FirstClass server communicate with the client. Network issues can interfere with
this talk resulting in disconnection.
• In the greatest majority of cases, the issue is not with FC but with the user’s network
connection.
• Users should contact their ISP or the university’s network services.
• In some cases older electronics or wiring on UM’s network have caused
disconnection problems.
• Users can try using the Web Client in this case which is not as prone to
disconnection issues.
Page 5
Mail Rules!
!
• Mail rules act like mail rules in most email applications.
• To assist users with mail rules you will need to walk users through rules, remote into
the user’s device, or have FC sub-admin status.
• Users will request assistance with rules. To see a user’s mailbox rules from the user
information window click the “Desktop” button. It is preferred that you ask “Can I look
at your desktop” before doing this. Then:
• Right-click the mailbox icon and select “Rules.”
• Select the mailbox icon and choose “Rules” from the “Collaborate” menu.
• There are four types of rules.
• Send rules are used for a single-step rule for outgoing messages.
• Receive are used for a single-step rule for incoming messages.
• Advanced rules are used for multi-step rules
• Application rules are used for FC add-on applications and rarely used at UMaine.
• Users will often create rules to silently delete spam email.
• These rules can be based on spam level, or
• They might be based on a particular email address.
• Users should right-click on their mailbox icon and choose “Rules” to bring up the rules
window.
• This window will list all created rules and buttons to create, delete rules.
• To view a rule double-click it and the rule window opens showing it’s setup.
!
FirstClass Conference Permissions!
!
• Permissions for conferences should be listed in hierarchal order.
• FC reads down the permission list and sets an individual’s permission the first time
that the user’s name is encountered.
• For example, if the first item in a permission list is “All Users = Disallowed” and the
next item is “Em Professor = Controller” Em will be disallowed since she is a member
of the “All Users” group.
• The “All Users” group should normally be the last item in a permissions list.
Mail Forwarding and Automatic
Reply!
!
• Open the FirstClass preferences
• Mac: FirstClass menu => Preferences =>
Messaging tab => Mail Rules
• Windows: Edit menu => Preferences =>
Messaging tab => Mail Rules tab
• Users can set rules for forwarding and
automatic replies.
• Automatic Reply and forwarding can be applied
to FC email, Internet email or both.
Page 6
• Automatic forwarding can be by two methods.
• Forwarding, the message will show the forwarder as the sender.
• Redirect, the message will maintain the original sender’s name on the “From” line.
!
FirstClass Signatures!
!
• Open the FirstClass preferences
• Mac: FirstClass menu => Preferences
=> Messaging tab => Initial Content
tab)
• Windows: Edit menu => Preferences
=> Messaging tab => Initial Content
tab
• Users can set their signature in the text
editor of the window.
!
!
Disk Space Issues!
!
• When users reach their FC disk space
quota they will be able to receive email but lose the ability to send or forward. They will
need to delete files or request additional storage space. Disk space is determined by
group role
• Newadmit = 50 MB
• Student Group = 100 MB
• Graduate Student = 150 MB
• Classified Staff Group, Professional Staff Group, and Faculty Group = 250 MB.
• FirstClass was never meant to be a permanent file repository. Users should archive
items and delete them from FirstClass (See “Archiving FirstClass Material).
• User’s should be told to delete items to reclaim space.
• Because of the way FC cleans up deleted files, single items are deleted before
folders with files.
• Users should sort mailbox items by file size and focus on multi-media and other large
files first.
• FC SubAdmins can run account audits which will help users locate where they are
using space.
!
Name Changes!
!
• Names needs to be changed in the UMS System first(Verify in UNET UserID Manager)
• To change a user’s name (Sub-Admins only):
• Change the name on the user properties page.
• Change the username to reflect new name (optional at users request)
• Update the email aliases to reflect new name.
• Remind the requestor to notify people of their new name and email address.
• In some cases the requestor needs to have the old name active for a period of time.
Page 7
• For internet email retain the old Internet email with the new aliases
• To retain the internal FirstClass name please refer to the FC Administrator.
!
Automatic Account Deletion!
!
• UM FirstClass Accounts are set to delete after 90 days of inactivity for students and
graduate students.
• Faculty, Professional and Classified Staff accounts do not expire automatically.
• If deleted, the items in the account cannot be recovered.
• The user might be able to create a new account at umaine.edu/firstclass if they still
qualify for an account.
!
!
Alumni Account Expiration!
!
• Alumni are granted a FirstClass alumni account for three years after their last UM degree.!
• During the third year alumni are informed of the pending deletion in September, January and
May.!
• Accounts are deleted in July.!
• Individuals continuing their studies at UM or working for UM will not be affected. Refer these
individuals to the FC admin.!
• The FC alumni policy was changed in 2010. Refer all questions regarding the policy to the FC
admin.!
!
!
!
Connecting to FirstClass!
!
UMaine FirstClass Support Web Page!
!
!
• UMaine maintains FirstClass support pages
• http://www.umaine.edu/it/software/firstclass/
• FirstClass Account Activation page
• http://www.umaine.edu/firstclass
• New users will need their MaineStreet ID# to activate their FirstClass account.
!
FirstClass Client!
!
• The latest FirstClass clients for Windows and Mac operating systems are available
from:
• http://www.firstclass.com/Resources/ClientDownloads
!
Mobile Apps!
!
Page 8
• FirstClass has mobile apps for both Android and Apple iOS.
• Android FirstClass Mobile can be downloaded from the Google Play Store.
• Android server: https://fcc.umaine.edu
• Apple iOS FirstClass Mobile app is available from the Apple App Store.
• Apple iOS server: fc.umit.maine.edu
!
Third Party Email Applications!
!
• Pop server address: pop.umit.maine.edu
• SMTP address: Standard UMS Gmail STMP setting
• IMAP: While FirstClass has IMAP capability our experience with it has been poor.
IMAP connections are not recommended.
!
Web Client!
!
• Web access to the UMaine FirstClass server is available at http://www.umit.maine.edu.
• While FirstClass continues to improve their web interface the FC client is
recommended.
• Firefox or Safari (on Macs) are the recommend browsers. Chrome may cause
problems.
• Sub-Admins cannot use the FirstClass web interface.
!
Data recovery!
!
• Data recovery is not guaranteed. In rare instances we will attempt recovery.
• Refer requests to the FirstClass Administrator. The user should have this information:
• Name of the item to be recovered (e.g. conference called “Em’s Journal Writing”)
• When the item was last known to exist. A specific date is preferred but a short time
frame will help.
Data
recover can take several weeks. Often the user can recreate the lost information
•
much more quickly.
!
Automated Class Conference!
• Creating Course Conferences (Primary Instructors)
• Primary instructors listed in MaineStreet can create FC
conferences for their courses.
• The course creation tool is located in Faculty Resources =>
Course Conference Request.
• Conferences will appear on the instructors FC desktop by 8:00 a.m. the following
day.
!
• Course Conference Names
• The Course Conference Request tool pulls data to create a unique conference
name.
Page 9
!
• The conference name contains:
• Course
• Course number
• Campus ID
• Year and Semester
• Years are identified as fiscal years (i.e. 2014-2015
=15).
• Semesters are identified
as:
• Fall = 10
• Spring = 20
• Summer = 30
• Adding Teaching Assistants or
Additional Instructors
• By default TAs and
secondary instructors are
not added via the Course
Conference Request tool.
• Primary instructors can
manually add them to the
permission and
subscribers/members
lists. Older FC versions
use “subscribers;” newer
versions use “members.”
• The permissions window is
accessed by right-clicking the course
conferences and selecting
“Permissions.”
• TAs or additional instructors are
added in the “Who” area but must be
listed above “All Users.”
• Permission should be set to either
“Controller” or “Contributor.”
• Instructors and support offices are granted “Controller” status.
• Students are given “Contributor” status.
• The primary instructor should determine which permission set TAs or additional
instructors will have.
• Instructors will also need to add additions to the subscriber/member page by
clicking that button and adding the individuals.
!
Manually Created Course Conference!
!
• While using the Course Conference Request tool is the preferred method to use for a
course conference some instructors manually create conference.
Page 10
• The disadvantages of this method include:
• Conference must be manually populated (students added/deleted from the
permissions and member pages)
• Disk use for the conference counts against the instructor’s quota.
• Since manually created conferences are originals if accidentally deleted they cannot
be easily restored.
• The UM Faculty Development Center will assist instructors who wish to convert
manually created conferences to automatically created conferences.
• ([email protected],
• http://umaine.edu/fdc/,
• 207-581-1925)
!
Course Conference Permission Issues!
!
• Course conferences created through the use of the request tool automatically add
permissions for all users in the course and the support departments at UM.
• Students’ and instructors’ permissions are controlled by their membership in one of two
groups for each course, the instructor and student groups.
• These group names show the course, section, semester and a suffix indicating
instructor or student.
• SOC 101_0502_1510_inst is the instructors’ group for Sociology 101, section 0502
for fall semester, 2014.
• SOC 101_0502_1510_stud is the students’ group for Sociology 101, section 0502 for
fall semester, 2014Members of the course will show that course’s group name in the
list of groups under User Groups/Directory tab of the user information window.
!
• If a student or instructor accidentally deletes the alias of a
course conference:
• Open the user’s information window
• Click the User Groups/Directory tab
• Find the appropriate course group noting its name
• Delete and then add the course group again.
!
• Instructors can change permissions for a course
conference and inadvertently lock themselves out by
changing their own or the instructor’s group permissions. To resolve this issue:
• Open the course permissions (right-click => permissions) and find the instructor
group.
• If it is not set to controller reset it and close out.
!
!
Page 11
Deleting Automatically Created Course Conferences!
!
Instructors will often use the Course Conference Request tool to create a course conference
and then decide not to use it. This must be done by the FC
Admin.!
!
• Information needed on the Tracker ticket:!
• Instructor’s name and contact information!
• Exact name of the course conference. It should be in this
form: !
• Assign the ticket ownership to the FC Admin.
• The FC Admin will remove the desktop aliases for the instructor and students in the
course .
• Remove the inst and std groups from the conference’s privilege set.
• Delete the original conference.
• Assign the ticket to the appropriate programmer for any server-side cleanup that is
required.
• The programmer will return ownership to the FC Admin who will close it out.
!
Primary Classification Groups!
!
• Requests for changes in a user’s classification group should be referred to the FC
Administrator.
• Newadmit
• Upon creation student accounts are assigned this group role.
• They have limited access, generally only their mailbox.
• 50 MB disk storage
• Student Group
• The FC Administrator runs scripts early each semester to convert newadmit students
to Student Group members.
• Access to “Student Resources.”
• 100 MB disk storage
• Graduate Student Group
• Access to Graduate Student Resources
• 150 MB disk Storage
• Faculty, Professional Staff or Classified Staff Groups
• Access to the appropriate resources conference
• 250 MB disk storage
!
!
Original and Alias Conferences!
Page 12
* A conference that a user sees on his/her
FirstClass desktop can be either an original
conference or an alias of an original conference.
* Original Conferences
* Created by an end user or an FC admin.
* Can exist anywhere within the server file
hierarchy.
* User created conferences are created on
the user’s desktop
* Users can assign aliases to other users.
* Must be protected to prevent accidental
deletion. Once deleted an original can only
be restored through a recovery process.
* If an original conference’s file name is
underlined it is NOT protected.
* Right-click the conference icon and select “Get Info.” Check the “Protected” box
at the bottom, left.
* This will the file name underline.
* Alias conferences can be protected but they will not show the underlined file name
when not.
* In the Get Info” window the item’s status will be indicated in the upper right corner,
either original or alias.
* The item’s server path is also indicated in this window.
Alias
Conferences are those created by another user and shared with others.
*
* The server path will show the location of the original.
* All auto-created course conferences on instructors’ and students’ desktops are alias
conferences.
* Instructor-created conferences will be originals and will be located on his/her FC
desktop.
* Make sure these are protected.
* Might offer to move them to the server level. Either FDC or a FC admin must move
them, though.
!
Restoring a Class Conference!
!
• As mentioned above, class conferences in FirstClass (FC) can be created two ways: !
• The instructor manually creates and populates the conference. A
good number of UM faculty still use this method. It has several
drawbacks. !
• Original conferences located on one’s FC desktop count
against their disk quota. Using option #2, below, places an
alias on the user’s desktop which does
NOT count against their quota.!
• A deleted original desktop conference
can only be restored through a recover
process.!
Page 13
• The instructor must populate the conference with users, set permissions and assign
aliases to each student.!
• The instructor uses the “Course Conference Request” tool. located inside of the “Faculty
Resources” folder on their FC desktop.!
• The disk usage does not count against the instructor’s quota.!
• The conference original is located at in an area that is accessible by staff and students but
cannot be accidentally deleted by them. Users see aliases on their FC desktops.!
• Restoring deleted aliases is easily done.!
• The conference is automatically populated pulling enrollment data from Student Records.!
• If an instructor calls and inquires about setting up a conference or transferring items from
one conference to another please refer them to UM’s Faculty Development Center at:
!
!
!
!
!
[email protected]!
207-581-1925!
http://umaine.edu/fdc/!
* !The FDC also provides extensive training and faculty support for technology issues. All
students are handled through UTSC.!
!
!
Page 14
Alumni Account Expiration!
!
• Alumni are granted a FirstClass alumni account for three years after their last UM degree.!
• During the third year alumni are informed of the pending deletion in September, January and
May.!
• Accounts are perked in July.!
• Individuals continuing their studies at UM or working for UM will not be affected. Refer these
individuals to the FC admin.!
• The FC alumni policy was changed in 2010. Refer all questions regarding the policy to the FC
admin.!
!
!
FirstClass Admin!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
Glenn Eichel
206 East Annex!
University of Maine!
[email protected]!
207.581-4631!
FirstClass Sub-Admins!
!
!
!
!
Marcie Greene!
UTSC Umaine!
!
!
George Moody!
UTSC Umaine!
!
!
Eric Pomelow!
Networking UMaine!
!
!
Calvin Bishop!
EAST USM!
!
!
Andy Moody!
Campus Services, UMaine!
!
!
Todd Berry!
Programing, UMaine!
!
!
!
!
Server Support!
!
!
!
!
Page 15