Social Science Computing Services (SSCS) Policies
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Scope of Services - Who we support
Faculty: Support exclusively for School of Social Sciences faculty.
Staff: Support exclusively for School of Social Sciences staff.
Graduate Students: Limited assistance in support of faculty research projects.
*When feasible, SSCS may provide additional support for dissertation research.
Undergraduate Students: No support provided, except in very rare cases.
Scope of Services - What we support
Equipment: Support is provided for UC Irvine owned equipment only. Very limited support for equipment located off campus (equipment must be brought to campus for the majority of cases).
Hardware Repairs: Computing Services will diagnose and troubleshoot hardware problems in the regular course of providing support, but will defer hardware repairs to the manufacturer.
Warranty Requirement: Support is extremely limited for computers not under warranty. Non-warranty work will incur a labor charge of $60/hour (after a free first hour for diagnosis or rudimentary issues).
Concierge Research Support: SSCS provides a one-on-one consultation service to help faculty meet their varied and unique research needs. We will attempt to pair your identified needs with available no- or low-cost resources at the school or university, or alternatively help with selection and purchase of additional resources. Faculty are encouraged to reach out to SSCS as early as possible when planning research that may contain technical components. Please email sscs@uci.edu to schedule a consultation.
Purchasing
SSCS is available to help with computer hardware and software purchases for use on campus. We can help make sure that equipment and software will meet the needs and requirements of individual use cases. All faculty and staff should consult with computing services before purchasing computing equipment or software.
Buying computer equipment
Faculty are provided with startup funds when they first arrive to the school. Faculty are
expected to use a portion of these funds for their computer equipment. Later, faculty
can use a portion of their Research and Travel funds to purchase new computer equipment
(faculty should contact their department managers for specifics and limitations).
Faculty involved with research that requires specialized or additional computing equipment
are responsible for finding funding (through grants, departmental funds, or the like).
For funding ideas, please contact the faculty chair of your department or your department
manager.
Staff are provided a single desktop computer by Computing Services. These computers will
be upgraded approximately every 5 years and will be under warranty. A Xerox copier
is provided for printing. Any extra computers or equipment must be purchased with
department funds.
Staff who prefer a Laptop:
Staff with mobile computing needs may opt for a laptop computer instead of a desktop
computer for their office if they meet the following criteria: The request for a laptop
instead of a desktop computer should be made when the staff member is due for a new
computer and must be made with Department Head approval.
Staff who prefer a Macintosh:
Staff who feel more comfortable using a Macintosh computer may do so with Department
Head approval after needs-assessment with Social Sciences Computing.
Buying Software
The campus requires all software purchases to be reviewed to ensure adherence to security and accessibility requirements, which is handled by SSCS for our school. Computing Services is available to assist with installation, usage, and common troubleshooting of our Standard Software titles. For specialized software or unusual use cases, please consult the helpdesk team at sscs@uci.edu.
Standard Software
- Microsoft Office
- Adobe Acrobat
- Google Chrome
- Cisco AnyConnect VPN (for laptops and OCLA)
Faculty and researchers are responsible for purchasing any other software licenses that they require, using a KFS account (purchases made with personal funds or credit cards may not be reimbursed). Again, please consult with our helpdesk for all software purchases to ensure you are following all applicable policies and procedures, and getting the best deal, including any education discounts.
Printing
The school provides each department with a multifunction printer, scanner, and photocopier. If needed, a faculty member may purchase an individual printer with their own funding, and a staff member may request a printer (with department head approval and funding). Computing Services can help recommend a printer, but it should be purchased through regular departmental purchasing processes. We will only perform basic setup, configuration, and troubleshooting. Any additional required service (toner, imaging drum, service kits) is the responsibility of the owner.
BYOD (Bring your own devices)
Computing Support will do our best to help configure email and network access on non-standard devices (register network adapter, assign IP address when needed, etc.). Owners are expected to maintain their own patching, security, and other updates.
Email Lists
SSCS maintains several email lists used for sending email to different groups within the school. The membership of these lists is maintained internally based on current employment and enrollment information.
New Lists:Research labs, departments, centers, or other groups may request their own email lists. This is done through OIT's Google Groups system. It is the responsibility of the requestor to administer their own list, including maintaining list membership and moderating messages sent to the list.
Spam: If you are on a SocSci email list that you feel is issuing too many emails or announcements that are irrelevant to that list, please contact SSCS and we can help you reach out to the proper channels.
Training
Social Sciences Computing Support only provides training on the use of computers or software through special training sessions. All faculty, staff, and graduate students are expected to know how to operate the equipment and software necessary for their jobs; self-paced online training is available for some software titles (contact sscs@uci.edu for details).
Out-of-Scope Support
Requests that fall outside of the computing support scope of services will be addressed individually, based upon need and impact to the school/university. Out of scope support usually incurs a labor charge of $60/hour.