New Staff
The tabbed guide below will help you familiarise yourself with Bath University Computing Services. We know that as a new member of staff it can take time getting to grips with the IT services available to you. To make the experience less overwhelming we have chosen to focus on key areas that will help you make the most of what BUCS has to offer.
New BUCS accounts
Your Computing Services (BUCS) account is your passport to all the IT services available here at the University of Bath.
To set up your account, go to the library service desk hatch with either your library card or your contract and a form of ID. You will then be asked to fill out some forms which will allow your account to be created. You will be given a printout with your username and password which will allow you to log into your account straight away.
You can visit the password change page to change the password you use to access University email, computing facilities etc.
Once you have access to your account you can log in to any of the public access PC's, use email, surf the web, create your own web page and much more.
Employee Self Service (ESS)
Employee Self Service (ESS) enables staff at the University of Bath to view and update their personal details over the web.
Changes to your name, address, marital status, and emergency contacts can all be made via a simple web form. This means that you can ensure important HR information about yourself is kept up to date, without having to fill in any forms or contact anyone else to do so.
You can also view job-related information such as your payslips.
All you need to use Employee Self Service is access to the web and your BUCS user name and password.
Home working
As a member of staff you are able to access your workstation off-campus using Remote Desktop.
Members of staff are also able to access their files remotely by mapping a folder on the University server to their personal computer.
Please note: in order to map a folder or use Remote Desktop from outside the University network, it is necessary to set up a Virtual Private Network (VPN) first.
Calendar
Oracle Calendar is the University's diary and calendar application, which can assist you in managing your appointments and work time more effectively.
You can enter information so that only you have access to it, or you can restrict access to a specified individual or group of users. It allows you to: arrange meetings with other Oracle Calendar users; examine the schedules of other members of University staff; make to-do lists, reminder notes and keep a record of things you have done; print schedules in a variety of formats.
Oracle calendar is installed on all staff workstations and can be synchronised with a variety of mobile devices.
Email and instant messenger
Electronic communication is important to many roles within the University.
email: find out more about the University email services
Instant messenger: use the messaging service Jabber to send instant messages to other staff members
Follow us on Twitter: get up-to-date information from Computing Services on University IT services on the BUCS twitter feed
Software
University of Bath Computing Services (BUCS) offers a variety of software for use by staff.
Some software is only licenced for on-site use, whereas other software is available for both on-site and home use.
You can get more information about software for staff in the software section of the BUCS website.
Tools
There are a number of additional web tools and services which you might find useful as a member of staff.
Learning Material Filestore (LMF): the LMF allows members of staff to store and share files online. Each staff member is assigned a default 1GB of file space.
Wiki: A wiki is a web page that can be edited collectively by a group of people. At the University of Bath, Departments, teams and individuals are using the wiki in a variety of ways such as helping with time management, planning tasks and describing a team and its work. You can go straight to the University wiki or take an interactive tutorial first.
Account Manager: See the email groups you belong to, all your help requests with the progress, and your email and h drive quota in Account Manager
Moodle: certain staff members can upload content, message people, set up forums or write a blog on Moodle, the University's virtual learning environment.
IT shop and staff purchasing policies
IT shop: The IT Purchasing shop (located in the Library) is non-profit and passes all discounts directly to its customers. A variety of IT products are offered, many of which are commercial quality.
Staff purchasing policies: If you need to obtain a mobile device or computer for work use, you will need to place an order through the IT Purchasing shop. Before doing so, please make sure that you are familiar with the University policies regarding the procurement of computers and mobile devices for staff.
Training
Help
Contact us directly
There are many ways you can contact us directly, use our online help form to tell us your problem. Visit us at the Service Desk for all general computer and network queries. Call us about general enquiries on (01225 38)3535 or for MIS Service Desk call on (01225 38)3434. Our staff are available to help from 9am till 5am Monday to Friday.
If your request is urgent and it is outside our staff hours view our out of hours serious fault procedure for how to request help.
Visit our support forum 'YouGuru' to ask questions and get information about accessing our services via Macs, Linux machines and smartphones.
Find out more about our service
To find out more details on the type of problems we can help with visit our About Service Desk page
To find out more about how we deal with your requests visit our Requesting help page
Training
Help