RingCentral at TCU

RingCentral is currently being rolled out to campus, building by building. We will be communicating to you several weeks before your building goes live so watch for communication about this exciting new phone system. Learn more by visiting Ringcentral.tcu.edu.

1. Conversion – Phase 1 – Transition entire buildings from digital and analog phones over to IP based phones.  Over 50% of the campus is already on an IP phone and those individuals are ready to move to RingCentral.
2. Deployment – Phase 2 – Deploy new RingCentral phones to replace the existing IP phones across campus.  We will be doing this in groups of 500 every few months and this phase is expected to take 18 to 24 months to complete. Completion Date – October of 2020
3. Learning – Phase 3 – Once a user is transitioned to a new RingCentral phone we plan to offer them the opportunity to learn how the system can change how they work.  Individuals will be able to attend online webinars and use RingCentral University to take advantage of this amazing new system.

Visit our special RingCentral website to learn more about this new tool.  http://it.tcu.edu/ringcentral

Faculty/Staff/Students,

This semester, we will be introducing a new security feature to many of our applications called Okta Multi Factor Authentication (MFA).  This is similar to the services that many of your financial institutions use to verify your identity before allowing you to connect to their online banking resources.

This is different than the 2FA system that we use in myTCU today.  We will eventually combine the two systems into one in the future.  Please, review the information below so you know how to prepare for this change. 

What is Okta MFA?

Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) is a push notification, text message or code that you will receive when you access a secure TCU service.  Once you are enrolled, you will be prompted to validate your identity via this tool before you can gain access to the requested service. 

Okta MFA is smart, too, so you won’t be asked to enter a second factor all the time – just when we think extra protection is necessary.  This will generally occur when you are off campus or when you are connecting from a new location for the first time. Check out the video below if you would like to learn more about Okta MFA.  

https://embed.vidyard.com/share/zUu3r7mPzgSBm5MVMH2aj4

How will this requirement affect me?

We will enable Okta MFA gradually on an application-by-application basis. We will provide you with instructions on how to enroll in the tool, so you are ready when we add it to a new service.

Right now you don’t need to take any action, but this will eventually affect services like the F5 VPN, O365 email, Box, Orgsync, myTCU and many other tools.  Watch for future emails from us as we get started with this project. Please, reach out to the IT Support HelpDesk if you have questions about this process.

Faculty/Staff,

Over the course of the week, IT will be adding a new program to your TCU computer called the Bomgar Button. This is the same tool that many of you have already used when working with IT to do a remote support session to your machine.  Please, review the information below on what this is for. 

What does this mean for you?

The Bomgar Button pre-installs some remote software on to your computer and places an orange icon with a B on your desktop.  Make sure to leave the button in place and do not attempt to delete it from your computer.

Once opened it allows you to enter a unique PIN number provided by the IT technician that you are working with in order to begin a remote session.  This must be user initiated and in no way gives anyone unauthorized access to your machine.  The goal of this implementation is to make it easier for IT to start a remote support session since this will keep you from having to download additional software in the future. If you have any questions or problems, please reach out to the IT Support HelpDesk using the information below and we will work to provide assistance

Faculty/Staff,

Over the course of the past four years we have done extensive work to prepare the campus for a true technology disaster. Last year we did a disaster recovery test in June and are now ready to run a similar trial this summer. Please, make note of the dates below so you can plan accordingly.

The 2019 Disaster Recovery Test will start on Sunday, June 9^th and end at 5 p.m. on Monday, June 10^th.

What does this mean for you?

All of TCU’s primary systems have backup servers running in our secondary data center which will take over when we do this test. Our goal is to ensure that the redundant systems do their job in the case that TCU is faced with a true emergency.

Major systems like email, printing, file shares, Internet access, myTCU/PeopleSoft, ID card access, and TCU websites are expected to make a seamless transition or have minimal downtime. We DO expect several non-redundant systems to be unavailable during the DR Test and will provide more details as the event approaches.  If you have any questions or problems, please reach out to the IT Support HelpDesk using the information below and we will route your questions to the appropriate contact