Working Remotely: How Can I Be Prepared?


General Advice

Access your Email and Calendar

  1. How do I access my email and calendar remotely?
    1. If you don’t have the Outlook client installed, you can access your email and calendar via bluemail.depaul.edu. Instructions can be found here.

Telephone

  1. What will happen to my phone calls?
    1. If you have an individual phone number, or have been delegated another user's line or shared line, calls can be made on Teams via the Desktop Application or Mobile. Please see the Teams Phone Introduction for more information.
  2. What will happen to phone calls coming to my department or office mainline?
    1. Department mainline calls can be routed to your account by the designated Line Owner by adding delegates and setting up call forwarding in Microsoft Teams. Each department or office phone number will be connected to a delegate email account (ending in @depaul.edu, i.e. hrbenefits@depaul.edu) Please see Teams Phone Delegation for more information or contact Help Desk if you are unable to identify the delegate account.
  3. I’m part of a call center and spend all day on the phone, what do we do?
    1. An individual responsible for call center operations can request assistance with operating the call center remotely here.  Please include the user who needs this service, extension number(s), and the device type they will use for this service in your request.

Access your Voicemail remotely

  1. How do I manage my voicemail remotely?
    1. Your voicemails are available in the Microsoft Teams app. Please review this article to learn more about managing voicemail in Teams
    2. Depending on how the line was set up, some shared lines are set to go to a shared email mailbox, while others can only be seen on the hardware desk phone. If you are unable to identify where voicemails are routing, please contact the Help Desk for assistance.
  2. How do I change my greeting remotely?
    1. For individual lines, please see managing voicemail in Teams
    2. For shared lines, please see Shared Line Voicemail

Meetings, Conference Calls, and Classes

  1. What if I need to have a meeting with other people?
    1. Use Microsoft Teams (Campus-wide and External)
      1. All DePaul Faculty, Staff, and active Students have access to the Teams collaboration tool. Getting started instructions, along with the location and instructions for downloading the full Teams client and the Outlook plugin can be found here.
      2. Log in with SSO BlueKey credentials.
      3. Guests outside of the University can also participate. You can invite external users by email, phone, or web link.
      4. Teams provide a conference dialing bridge number as well as other interactive features like screen sharing, video and chat, presence sensing, and more.
      5. You can also use the Teams mobile client on your phone.
    2. Use Zoom (Campus-wide and External)
      1. All DePaul Faculty, Staff, and active Students have access to the Zoom collaboration tool. You can download the full Zoom client and the Outlook plugin here.
      2. Log in with SSO BlueKey credentials.
      3. Guests outside of the University can also participate. You can invite external users by email, phone, or web link.
      4. Zoom provides a conference dialing bridge number as well as other interactive features like document sharing, video, and chat.
      5. You can also use the Zoom mobile client on your phone for convenience
  2. What tools are available to me for teaching remotely?
    1. The teaching commons website has a page dedicated to remote teaching options

Collaborating with Other Employees

  1. DePaul has standardized on the Microsoft Teams collaboration platform.  Teams is a cloud-based team collaboration platform that includes instant messaging, audio and video communications, file and screen sharing.  Soon the University will be adding telephone service to teams.  Learn more and get started in the Service Portal Knowledge Base. This page has multiple links to videos, downloadable quick-start guides, and internal Knowledge Base articles for employees to get started using Teams. Employees can view a short (2.5min) introductory video here.

Access to Files, Documents, and Software

  1. Access to U:\ and W:\ drive
    1. You can access files stored on your U and W drive remotely by accessing webdrive.depaul.edu from any web browser. You will be prompted for your Campus Connect username and password. Once you are logged in, you will be presented with your U drive. In the left panel, you will also be able to access your W drive.
    2. If you download and make changes to a file, remember to upload the new document when you are finished.
  2. How do I access files that were stored on my DePaul desktop?
    1. Follow the instructions in the Remote Desktop section of this document.
    2. Information Services strongly encourages employees to store their work-related documents in their DePaul OneDrive account.  If you move your files on your DePaul desktop into a OneDrive synced folder, you can securely access them from anywhere.  Data stored in OneDrive is backed up, and users may recover deleted files, and even revert to previous versions of documents.  Additionally, you can easily share documents with your peers and even with users outside DePaul. 
  3. Microsoft OneDrive
    1. Unlimited cloud-based document storage that is natively integrated with Windows 10, Office, and the Office365 suite. Download clients for Mac, IOS, or Android devices or access content with a web browser.  You can access and begin using your personal DePaul OneDrive space here. You can find more information on OneDrive here. 
  4. Can I download software on my personal computer?
    1. Some university-licensed software, including Microsoft Office and the Adobe Creative Suite, is available for installation on faculty/staff personal computers. Visit the Personal Computers section of the software.depaul.edu website.

Remote Desktop

  1. What if I need access to special applications on my DePaul desktop computer?
    1. I have a Windows PC at DePaul
      1. From your home computer, you can connect to your DePaul Windows computer through the Remote Desktop (RD) Gateway with the RD Helper Tool. Windows users can follow the instructions listed here to manually enable Remote Desktop, or run the Enable Remote Desktop utility on your work computer.
      2. Windows users can launch the Remote Desktop Connection app from the Windows 10 search bar.
      3. Visit whatsmyip.depaul.edu to find out your DePaul computer’s public IP address, which you will need to navigate to your computer remotely.  This step must be performed from your DePaul computer.
      4. As laid out in the instructions, it is suggested that you disable sleep and hibernate functionality to maintain accessibility.
      5. Connect with a Windows computer at home via the RD Gateway: Access your on-campus Windows computer with the RD Helper Tool (recommended) or connect manually.
      6. Connect with a MacOS computer at home via the RD Gateway: Access your on-campus Windows computer with the RD Helper Tool (recommended) or connect manually.
    2. I have a Mac computer at DePaul
      1. From your home computer, you can connect to your DePaul Mac computer using KB Article Remote Desktop for macOS.

Securely Access DePaul Resources

  1. How can I access DePaul computer resources that are only available on campus?
    1. DePaul has a Virtual Private Network (VPN) that will allow you to securely connect from your local workstation to DePaul’s campus network. A client is required. Information on installing the client can be found here.

How can I Fax a document?

  1. The campus E-fax system will still function remotely.
    1. Instructions for how to fax a document via the e-mail system can be found here.

How can I Scan a document if I don't have a scanner available at home?

  1. One simple option for anyone with a smartphone or tablet with a camera is to use the OneDrive client to scan to your OneDrive account

Get Help

  1. Get answers to the most common questions about DePaul's IT services, including online collaboration tools and more, in the ServiceNow KnowledgeBase.
  2. Looking for more tools facilitating remote work? Browse our complete list of IT services, tools, and resources at helpdesk.depaul.edu
  3. The Helpdesk is available via email at helpdesk@depaul.edu or by phone at (312) 362-8765 to students, faculty, and staff Monday-Thursday 8 AM – 8 PM. Friday 8 AM-5 PM and Saturday 8 AM-4 PM.  You can also submit a request for help directly via the webform here.