As school district employees, we are all given access to some type of sensitive or confidential data. This data may pertain to students, parents and/or employees. Regardless of what type(s) of, or how much data you can access, it is your responsibility to protect this data and make sure it is not shared with or accessed by unauthorized personnel. Below is a list of 10 simple procedures that will go a long way towards protecting sensitive/confidential data.
CONVERSATION
1. Don’t discuss sensitive data in the presence of unauthorized personnel. If they are not authorized to view sensitive data, then they are not authorized to hear about it either.
PAPER DOCUMENTS
2. Don't share sensitive documents with unauthorized personnel. This includes allowing them to view documents as well as giving them copies of documents.
3. Store sensitive documents in a lockable file cabinet or drawer.
4. Shred documents before disposal. Simply throwing away documents makes sensitive data subject to unauthorized viewing.
COMPUTER
5. Don’t allow others to view your computer programs unless you’re there
to monitor activity and operate the computer. This could lead to unauthorized viewing of sensitive data as well as misusing sensitive data under your name.
6. When away from your desk area, lock your computer. This will keep
unauthorized personnel from accessing and using your computer.
7. Don’t save sensitive data directly to your computer. This includes places such as your desktop, My Documents folder or your hard drive (C-drive). If your computer is stolen, any sensitive data stored there will be accessible by the thief and anyone else who touches that computer. Also, do not save sensitive data to external storage devices such as thumb drives, CDs and “clouds.” Thumb drives and CDs can be stolen and "clouds" can be hacked.
8. If you have to save sensitive data, save it to a
protected folder on the SBISD network. This includes your SAN Folder (H-Drive)
as well as your shared folders.
PASSWORDS
9. Don’t share your passwords. In fact, it is a direct violation of district policy to do so. If a substitute (or anyone else) needs access to programs such as Skyward or MUNIS during your absence, arrange with Technology Services to get them their own password.
10. Don’t store your passwords on your computer or any locations where
others can see them.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Accessing Your SAN Folder (H-Drive) from Your Smart Phone or Tablet
In our last edition of YATI YATA we showed how both you and your students can access your network drives from home on your own computer. Well, as the old saying goes, "There's an app for that!" Yes, an app that will allow you to access your network drives from your tablet or smartphone! This app is available for iPads and iPhones as well as Android tablets and smartphones. The instructions below were written using an iPad but should work similarly on other devices.
1. Tap App Store.
2. Type "vmware horizon." When you see vmware horizon client, select it.
3. Tap GET.
4. Tap INSTALL.
5. The app is installing.
6. When the app installs, tap Open.
7. On the Server Setup screen, type in "https://sbvdi.springbranchisd.com".
8a. Employees, enter your SBISD network username and password, make sure the Domain is set to SBM1 (if you need to change the Domain, see step 8c) then tap Login.
8b. Students, enter your SBISD network username and password, make sure the Domain is set to SBS (if you need to change the Domain, see step 8c) then tap Login.
9. You will then see this screen.
10. The Windows desktop screen will appear.
11. Once the icons are displaying on the desktop screen, tap the folder icon located at the bottom of the screen.
12. Tap Computer.
13. Tap your SAN Folder (H-Drive).
14. Select the file you wish to open.
15. The file will open and can be viewed/edited. If you open a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file, it will open in OpenOffice instead of Microsoft Office. You can make changes but when you save, it will save as an OpenOffice document instead of a Microsoft Office document. OpenOffice documents can be edited by Microsoft Office so no need to worry when opening the file later in Microsoft Office when on a district computer.
16. When finished, please be sure to log out.
17. To use this app later, tap this icon and repeat the steps for logging in and accessing your SAN Folder (H-Drive).
1. Tap App Store.
8c. If you need to change the Domain name, tap the Domain name and choose another Domain name.
YATI YATA Archives
Miss an old edition of YATI YATA? Need to refer back to an old YATI YATA article? Well, you can. Archives of all of our previous editions are available online!
There are several ways to access the YATI YATA archives:
1. Click here.
2. You may also click either of the Archives buttons on the Technology Services Homepage.
3. Or you may click the link titled YATI YATA Archives located at the bottom the YATI YATA newsletter.
Articles are organized by the edition in which they appeared. Editions are organized from the most recent to the least recent. To view an archived article, click the link for the article you would like to view.
To view the entire edition of an archived newsletter, click the link in the heading for the edition you would like to view.
To search for a topic or article, click your mouse in the search box, type in a keyword(s), then click the search button.
You will see your search results. Click a link to view an article.
There are several ways to access the YATI YATA archives:
1. Click here.
2. You may also click either of the Archives buttons on the Technology Services Homepage.
3. Or you may click the link titled YATI YATA Archives located at the bottom the YATI YATA newsletter.
Articles are organized by the edition in which they appeared. Editions are organized from the most recent to the least recent. To view an archived article, click the link for the article you would like to view.
To view the entire edition of an archived newsletter, click the link in the heading for the edition you would like to view.
You will see your search results. Click a link to view an article.
You can now view the article.
Friday, February 13, 2015
Check Your Gradebook Categories!
Attention Secondary Teachers. Please check each of your gradebooks to ensure your categories/percentages are set up properly. If they are not, it will cause your gradebook to not calculate properly which will lead to additional problems as we go through the semester.
Since the first progress report period of the semester has closed, the category screens are locked on all gradebooks so you won't be able to make these changes directly. If you notice a problem with any categories or percentages in your gradebook, please contact Skyward Help at x2248 or skywardhelp@springbranchisd.com.
Since the first progress report period of the semester has closed, the category screens are locked on all gradebooks so you won't be able to make these changes directly. If you notice a problem with any categories or percentages in your gradebook, please contact Skyward Help at x2248 or skywardhelp@springbranchisd.com.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Message From Venu: Friday Maintenance Window
We have 450 computer servers at SBISD serving 40,000 users (35,500 students plus 4,500 staff). Our wired and wireless data network connects these servers to our computers – desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. The data network makes it possible to access several hundred different programs we collectively use across the district. The network provides access to the Internet and provides content filtering (for our kids) and firewall protection (for viruses and malicious hacking).
To maintain this extensive infrastructure takes time and effort. Computer software goes through periodic updates to fix problems, introduce new features and stay current. Updating takes time and while the update is taking place, the computer or software is not available for use. I’m sure you’ve experienced this with your smartphone. With this many servers and programs something is always being updated – to fix problems, to apply security patches, to upgrade to a new version.
Instead of scheduling each upgrade individually, we accumulate all the updates for the week and do them all on Friday evenings. That’s the time most of us are taking a breather from work. This is our “maintenance window”. It is from 6:00 PM Friday to 6:00 AM Saturday. During this weekly Friday “maintenance window” which system goes down depends on what maintenance we are doing that week. If we are upgrading a major network component, everything will go down. If we are upgrading one application, just that application will go down. Please do remember the program you are trying to access may be down Friday evening. You will not see a warning. If it is being updated, it will just go down abruptly.
By instituting the concept of a “maintenance window”, updates become a routine thing. We don’t have to “schedule” each upgrade with all the affected users. And, you don’t see a bunch of emails about various systems going down at various times for maintenance.
To summarize, any computer system may go down on any Friday after 6:00 PM without warning. (During football season, we postpone email, network and Internet upgrades to after 10:00 PM.)
...Venu
To maintain this extensive infrastructure takes time and effort. Computer software goes through periodic updates to fix problems, introduce new features and stay current. Updating takes time and while the update is taking place, the computer or software is not available for use. I’m sure you’ve experienced this with your smartphone. With this many servers and programs something is always being updated – to fix problems, to apply security patches, to upgrade to a new version.
Instead of scheduling each upgrade individually, we accumulate all the updates for the week and do them all on Friday evenings. That’s the time most of us are taking a breather from work. This is our “maintenance window”. It is from 6:00 PM Friday to 6:00 AM Saturday. During this weekly Friday “maintenance window” which system goes down depends on what maintenance we are doing that week. If we are upgrading a major network component, everything will go down. If we are upgrading one application, just that application will go down. Please do remember the program you are trying to access may be down Friday evening. You will not see a warning. If it is being updated, it will just go down abruptly.
By instituting the concept of a “maintenance window”, updates become a routine thing. We don’t have to “schedule” each upgrade with all the affected users. And, you don’t see a bunch of emails about various systems going down at various times for maintenance.
To summarize, any computer system may go down on any Friday after 6:00 PM without warning. (During football season, we postpone email, network and Internet upgrades to after 10:00 PM.)
...Venu
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Using SB Portal to Access Your SAN Folder/H-drive from Your Home Computer
Recently we received a call from a teacher asking how a student can access their network drives from home on their own computer. Well, this is how it is done. And it works for employees too!
1. Go to http://sbportal.springbranchisd.com.
2. Type your SBISD login name in the Username field.
3. Type your SBISD password in the Password field.
4. Students need to change the item in the Domain field to show “SBS” (Employees need to use
“SBM1”).
“SBM1”).
5. Click the Log In button.
6. A screen will appear with monitor icons. Click on one of the monitor icons.
7. A desktop screen with the SBISD logo will appear. It may take a minute or so, but the desktop
icons will eventually appear.
icons will eventually appear.
8. Click the “folder” icon in the task bar.
9. In the left column of the window that opens, click Computer.
10. Double-click the icon for your SAN Folder/H-Drive.
11. You now have access to your SAN Folder/H-Drive. You may edit your documents that you have
in here. If you open a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file, it will open in OpenOffice instead of
Microsoft Office. You can make changes but when you save, it will save as an OpenOffice
document instead of a Microsoft Office document. OpenOffice documents can be edited by
Microsoft Office so no need to worry when opening the file later in Microsoft Office when on a
district computer.
in here. If you open a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file, it will open in OpenOffice instead of
Microsoft Office. You can make changes but when you save, it will save as an OpenOffice
document instead of a Microsoft Office document. OpenOffice documents can be edited by
Microsoft Office so no need to worry when opening the file later in Microsoft Office when on a
district computer.
When finished, be sure to log out!!
12. Click the “arrow” button in the top center of the screen.
13. Click your username on the right side of the screen.
14. Click Disconnect.
15. Click the Yes button.
16. Click the Log Out button on the next screen.
17. Click the Yes button.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
New Students and Transferring Grades
When a student has been scheduled into your class after school has started, a "New" button will appear next to the student's name. When you click this button, you will see five different options. The option(s) you choose will depend on the scenario of the transferring student.
1. Click the New button to begin the process of transferring grades.
2. If you want to get rid of the New button, uncheck Do not display NEW by this student's name.
As you read through this document you will see instructions for all 5 options. You are free to use whichever option(s) you see fit when transferring grades for new students but we have provided you with the most common scenarios and recommendations for each.
Scenario #1: Student has transferred from one class period to another class period of the same teacher (course number must be identical) Recommended: Use Option #1.
Scenario #2: Student has transferred from one class period to another class period of a different teacher (course number must be identical) Recommended: Use Option #5 to transfer assignment grades for the current grading period and Option #4 to transfer term grades for closed grading periods (if applicable). Option #2 can be used but you may find it more tedious and time-consuming.
Scenario #3: A student has transferred from a class on the campus to any other class on the same campus. Recommended: Use Option #5 to transfer assignment grades for the current grading period and Option #3 to transfer term grades for closed grading periods (if applicable). Option #2 can be used but you may find it more tedious and time-consuming.
Scenario #4: A student has transferred to the campus from another SBISD campus. Recommended: Use Option #5 to transfer assignment grades for the current grading period and Option #3 to transfer term grades for closed grading periods (if applicable). Option #2 can be used but you may find it more tedious and time-consuming.
Scenario #5: A student has transferred to the campus from another district. Recommended: Use Option #5 to transfer assignment grades for the current grading period and Option #3 to transfer term grades for closed grading periods (if applicable).
Option #1 – Auto-Transfer Scores from Dropped Section of this Course
This option is ideal if a student transfers from one section of a class to another section of the same class with the same teacher.
1. Click Transfer Matching Scores.
2. Click Save.
Back to Top
Option #2 - Transfer Assignment/Term Scores From a Dropped Class
This option works with students who have transferred to a class from any other class on campus.
1. Click the dropdown menu to choose whether to transfer both assignment grades and term grades or term grades only.
2. Select the dropped course from which you would like to transfer grades.
3. Click Manually Transfer Scores.
4. Click the Grade link for the assignment in your gradebook that you would like to transfer a grade to.
5. Click Transfer for the grade from the dropped course that you would like to transfer to the assignment in your gradebook.
6. If you have entered a grade for all assignments in your gradebook, click Complete Assignment Scoring. You may also click No Count Ungraded Assignments & Complete Assignment Scoring to change all of the student's ungraded assignments in your gradebook to "No Count."
7. You may adjust term grades if you wish. Note: This cannot be done until the term you are trying to adjust has ended.
8. You may also enter an exam score.
9. Click Save Term/Exam Grades and Enter Semester Grades.
10. You may enter a semester grade.
11. Click Save Semester Grades and Finish.
Back to Top
Option #3 - Manually Enter Term Scores
This option works well for students transferring from another campus or district.
1. Click Manually Enter Scores.
2. In the New Grade column, type in the grade for each term.
2. Enter the semester grade and click Save Term Grades and Finish.
Back to Top
Option #4 - One-Click Transfer Term Percents from Dropped Section of this Course
This option works with students who have transferred from one section of a class to another section of the same class within the campus.
Click Transfer Percent.
Back to Top
Option #5 – Enter a Starting Grade Percentage for the Current Term
This option will allow you to enter a term average for the current term. It is best to do this before entering any assignment grades for the current term for the new student.
1. Click Enter a Starting Grade.
2. Enter the term average that you would like the student to begin the current term with. Then click Apply Grade Percent.
Back to Top
1. Click the New button to begin the process of transferring grades.
2. If you want to get rid of the New button, uncheck Do not display NEW by this student's name.
As you read through this document you will see instructions for all 5 options. You are free to use whichever option(s) you see fit when transferring grades for new students but we have provided you with the most common scenarios and recommendations for each.
Scenario #1: Student has transferred from one class period to another class period of the same teacher (course number must be identical) Recommended: Use Option #1.
Scenario #2: Student has transferred from one class period to another class period of a different teacher (course number must be identical) Recommended: Use Option #5 to transfer assignment grades for the current grading period and Option #4 to transfer term grades for closed grading periods (if applicable). Option #2 can be used but you may find it more tedious and time-consuming.
Scenario #3: A student has transferred from a class on the campus to any other class on the same campus. Recommended: Use Option #5 to transfer assignment grades for the current grading period and Option #3 to transfer term grades for closed grading periods (if applicable). Option #2 can be used but you may find it more tedious and time-consuming.
Scenario #4: A student has transferred to the campus from another SBISD campus. Recommended: Use Option #5 to transfer assignment grades for the current grading period and Option #3 to transfer term grades for closed grading periods (if applicable). Option #2 can be used but you may find it more tedious and time-consuming.
Scenario #5: A student has transferred to the campus from another district. Recommended: Use Option #5 to transfer assignment grades for the current grading period and Option #3 to transfer term grades for closed grading periods (if applicable).
Option #1 – Auto-Transfer Scores from Dropped Section of this Course
This option is ideal if a student transfers from one section of a class to another section of the same class with the same teacher.
1. Click Transfer Matching Scores.
2. Click Save.
Option #2 - Transfer Assignment/Term Scores From a Dropped Class
This option works with students who have transferred to a class from any other class on campus.
1. Click the dropdown menu to choose whether to transfer both assignment grades and term grades or term grades only.
2. Select the dropped course from which you would like to transfer grades.
3. Click Manually Transfer Scores.
4. Click the Grade link for the assignment in your gradebook that you would like to transfer a grade to.
5. Click Transfer for the grade from the dropped course that you would like to transfer to the assignment in your gradebook.
6. If you have entered a grade for all assignments in your gradebook, click Complete Assignment Scoring. You may also click No Count Ungraded Assignments & Complete Assignment Scoring to change all of the student's ungraded assignments in your gradebook to "No Count."
7. You may adjust term grades if you wish. Note: This cannot be done until the term you are trying to adjust has ended.
8. You may also enter an exam score.
9. Click Save Term/Exam Grades and Enter Semester Grades.
10. You may enter a semester grade.
11. Click Save Semester Grades and Finish.
Option #3 - Manually Enter Term Scores
This option works well for students transferring from another campus or district.
1. Click Manually Enter Scores.
2. In the New Grade column, type in the grade for each term.
2. Enter the semester grade and click Save Term Grades and Finish.
Option #4 - One-Click Transfer Term Percents from Dropped Section of this Course
This option works with students who have transferred from one section of a class to another section of the same class within the campus.
Click Transfer Percent.
Option #5 – Enter a Starting Grade Percentage for the Current Term
This option will allow you to enter a term average for the current term. It is best to do this before entering any assignment grades for the current term for the new student.
1. Click Enter a Starting Grade.
2. Enter the term average that you would like the student to begin the current term with. Then click Apply Grade Percent.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
