Desktop Support

The Desktop Support team provides comprehensive support and technology services for university-owned computing devices.

Customer Support

Remote Support

In-Person Support

  • Service Desks:
    • PAR 106 – 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
    • RLP 4.224 – 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
    • NUR 2.104P – 9:00 am – 1:00 pm

Support Details

LAITS Desktop Support shall provide an initial response to client end user requests for support submitted by email or our ticketing system within 4 business hours. Replies to clients within this system will be within 8 business hours of end user reply. As end user requests and support issues can vary significantly, we do not provide an SLA for issue resolution.

LAITS does:

  • Deliver support during standard University business hours
  • Support faculty, staff and research lab computers for our customers
  • Support the following customers using a “reasonable effort”
    • Emeritus Faculty with UT-owned devices
    • Graduate Assistant or Research Assistants using UT-owned devices (GRA / GA / TA)
    • Customer’s personally-owned devices (phones, personal computers)

LAITS does not:

  • Provide support to students (unless appointed to a staff position)
  • Deliver support in the evenings, on the weekends, or during University holidays or skeleton crew days
  • Provide staff for special events, or for events taking place during business hours unless previously arranged
  • Troubleshoot issues with a user’s home network configuration
  • Travel to off-site locations for support, with the exception of specific UT buildings receiving support

Reasonable Effort

LAITS team members may assist non-supported faculty and staff or non-supported computers within the following guidelines:

  • LAITS team members must have time available to assist with the request and work must take 30 minutes or less
  • Urgent in-scope issues will be prioritized over out-of-scope work
    • If the problem is not urgent, the customer may be asked to return at a later time
    • Tickets will be created and closed in the first interaction, even if the problem is not fully solved
    • If the problem cannot be resolved in a single support session, LAITS staff will attempt to point the customer in the direction of another unit better equipped to handle the problem

Onboarding and Offboarding Employees

LAITS works with departmental staff to onboard/offboard employees. The onboarding and offboarding of faculty and staff requires coordination among each of LAITS core teams to ensure the timely completion of tasks for new and departing faculty and staff.

Onboarding and offboarding employee requests begin with an email to laits-help@utexas.edu. The request should include:
Employee Name, EID, office location, contact email and first day or final day of employment (as applicable).

Onboarding Actions

LAITS does:

  • Require a minimum of 5 days ADVANCE notice to ensure successful onboarding of new employee.
  • Image, deliver, and deploy a new or reassigned computer prior to the first day of work
  • Configure said computer for UT Backup and provide basic instruction to the new employee
  • Set up and configure the new employee login, Outlook email, printing, and VPN
  • Configure UT WIFI and Outlook email on the employee’s personal phone, as requested
  • Add computer to be able to print to appropriate departmental printers
  • Set up VPN access and provide basic instruction

LAITS does not:

  • Grant individual access to:
    • Mainframe
    • Departmental UT Box or SharePoint/ Teams/ OneDrive shares
    • shared calendars
    • mailing lists
  • Connect to personal data, personal email, etc.
  • Transfer data from personal computer hardware
  • Set up “vanity” email addresses such as @cola.utexas.edu

Offboarding Actions

  • Remove employee access from network resources
  • Assist retiring faculty in migrating data to a personal device
  • The department is responsible for collecting a staff computer for repurpose or surplus

Office Moves

LAITS will assist with moves of up to 3 people without additional cost. This includes assistance with breaking down, moving computers, and then reconnecting devices. Moves of more than 3 people will be treated as projects and be subject to an hourly rate charge.

Hardware Support and Computer Repair

Computer Purchasing

Computer Repair

Customers should contact the LAITS Service Desk with any computer issues and we will determine if the issue is software related or if a hardware repair is needed.

  • Warranty Hardware Repairs:
    • If the issue is determined to be hardware related, the computer can be dropped off with LAITS for repair
    • Dell hardware repairs can be scheduled to be done at the Service Desk or can be scheduled in the customer’s home or office
    • LAITS supports UT owned iPads, but does not currently provide support for other mobile devices (iPhone, Android, Fire Tablet)
  • Non-Warranty Hardware Repairs:
    • LAITS will facilitate a paid repair on a UT Device that is out of warranty 
    • Your department is responsible for payment to the Campus Computer Store for any out of warranty repairs
    • If available, LAITS staff will provide a temporary loaner with standard software (excluding UTBackup (CrashPlan))

Loaners

Requests for loaners can be made by contacting the LAITS Service Desk. LAITS will provide a faculty or staff member with a temporary loaner computer if one of the following conditions are met:

LAITS does:

  • The customer will be without a computer due to troubleshooting or repairs
  • The customer has a computer on order, but it has not yet been delivered
  • A computer deployment for a new employee is requested with less than 5 business days’ notice

LAITS does not:

  • Loan computers or accessories to customers indefinitely (requires an end date)
  • Loan computers or accessories to students

Lost and Stolen Devices

  • Staff members must report lost or stolen equipment to the the UT Police Department (512-471-4441) and fill out an ISO Stolen Device Form
  • Contact LAITS to request a network search to determine if the device is on campus or online

Printers

See Fleet Management for details on our Printer Support.

Research Support

LAITS provides bespoke technical support and configurations for faculty research projects when needed. Our support for research labs and projects includes:

  • Providing personalized technical support for LAITS recommended computers (any peripherals will need to be supported by the specific vendor)
  • Providing templates and assistance with the creation of Confidential Data Control Plans (CDCPs).
  • Assisting faculty needing special maintenance windows for workstations that are collecting data.
  • Coordinating the submission of Information Security Office’s (ISO’s) exceptions for systems that can not be left online and connected to the network.
  • Maintaining an inventory of research lab workstations with descriptions of workstation needs.

Last Updated: 2023-08-03

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