Welcome

Welcome to A&F Administrative Systems.  Our goal is to provide A&F staff with the systems, software, and training that's needed to do your jobs with excellence.  Please use the menu above to navigate our application and desktop support areas.  Should you need further assistance, please refer to the contact information to the right.  Our office will be happy to assist you.

Alerts & Notices

General Subsidiary Account Password Expiration Notices Updated: Monday, September 26, 2016 - 17:26

UMass Amherst Information Technology User Services is sending out emails to people who own subsidiary accounts. This is due to a policy change where these accounts will now have passwords expire after their set time frame similar to normal accounts.

What you should do:

Log in to SPIRE, go to Main Menu > IT Accounts > My IT Accounts. Look at the attached accounts that you "own". These are controlled by you and you can change the passwords by selecting the account from the list. However, depending on the use of the account, they may have different password rules. If an account is used as a service account that runs a process and can not go through the automated password expiration, please email afit@umass.edu with the accounts, the use of the accounts, and any special notes or people in AFIT that may know the details of the account/process.

Accounts that log in to workstations may be subject to this change regardless of their use as a service. It is still recommended you contact us regarding those accounts as well.

Student work accounts (often ending in af or -af), will need to have their passwords changed. If you own the account, you can change the password for the student, or you can do the  "Assign Official User" part and assign it to the student who uses it. This gives them access to change the password, while keeping you as the owner of the account. They will be able to changet he password through SPIRE.

 

Please contact afit@umass.edu or 5-1956 with any questions or concerns regarding this change.

 

Details of their messages:

Beginning September 19th 2016, subsidiary accounts (except Resource and System accounts) will go through a process to change the password. The process is the similar to the one used for primary NetID password changes, and consists of three automated email reminders, over a two week period, sent to the account owner as well as the subsidiary account.

During the two week notification period, password changes on subsidiary accounts can be done in SPIRE by the account owner or the official user.

If the password is not changed within the two week notification period, the password will be expired.  Once the password has been expired the account will not be usable until the password is changed in Spire.

Example of a reminder:

This is an automated reminder.

The password for subsidiary account  - {ACCOUNT} (owned by {OWNER}) - is set to expire in ** 2 weeks **.   Note: This is not your primary/NetID account.  UMass Amherst IT enforces periodic password changes to enhance security.

If this password expires, you will not be able to use this account until the password is changed.  If the password is not changed within 6 months after expiration, this account will be deleted.

To change this Subsidiary Account password, the Account Owner or Official Account User should:

    1) Log in to SPIRE with your NetID and password.

    2) Navigate to IT Accounts > My IT Accounts and select account {ACCOUNT}.

    3) After clicking on the Change Password button, follow the instructions to change the password.  Be sure to click Change IT Password at the bottom of the page.

If you no longer want this account, the Account Owner may delete it using the My IT Accounts page in SPIRE.

Thank you!

Desktop Login Screen Changes Updated: Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - 10:25

To further help keep our inventory clear we have made changes to the log in screen of A&F desktops and laptops.  The log in screen is now custom to your department.  

 

If your log in screen says the wrong department or displays a message about needing to be moved please contact the helpdesk at 413-545-1956.  

Desktop Filtering Junk Emails Updated: Wednesday, March 30, 2016 - 17:32

UMass has recently been targeted for large amounts of phishing and spam emails. The following links should help provide some information on how to protect against the number of emails. Sophisticated phishing attempts sometimes will make it through, and always requires the receiver to make judgments and be skeptical whenever they discuss service changes, account management changes, and other attempts to gain account information. If you ever have a concern about an email please give us a call or forward the email as an attachment to our support address: afit@umass.edu

UMail:
http://www.it.umass.edu/support/email/umail/spam-filtering-faq

Exchange/Outlook:
http://www.it.umass.edu/support/email/filter-junk-email-exchange

If you get an error saying you are working online and need to switch to cached exchange mode follow this guide:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Turn-on-Cached-Exchange-Mode-78...

Applications Logging into HR Direct Updated: Thursday, November 5, 2015 - 16:04

If you attempt to login to HR Direct for your paycheck and receive the error message "Invalid Credentials",  your password might be expired.  If this happens, please contact UMass Amherst Information Technology at 5-9400 or email  it@umass.edu.  If you had set an alternative email, you can also use the "Forgot Your Password" link on the SPIRE login page.

Desktop ALERT: How to report fraud emails Updated: Thursday, November 5, 2015 - 09:34

Please be cautious of scams and possible phishing attempts. If you are unsure about an email, it's best not to click any links or open any attachments. Feel free to call or email us with questions. We will be able to help determine if it's a threat or not. If you are going to send an email to us about a specific email in question, please "Forward as an Attachment" (done by going using the "More" button next to the normal reply/forward section of outlook). This allows us to trace where the email came from and determine what systems are compromised.

Desktop Ad Blocking in Chrome and Internet Explorer with Adblock Plus Updated: Monday, October 26, 2015 - 09:49

Adblock Plus is being utlilized to reduce network traffic and exposure to compromising ads. It is currently being pushed out to Chrome and Internet Explorer.

A new icon will show in the upper right of the Chrome window, or the lower right area of the Internet Explorer window. It will apear as:

ABP

If you encounter problems on a website and belive it to be the Adblock Plus (ABP), you can disable ad blocking for websites with the following instructions:

Disabling ABP in Chrome:

  1. Click the ABP Icon in the toolbar area.
  2. Click on the line where it says "Enabled on this site". It should now change to "Disabled on this site".

Disabling ABP in Internet Explorer:

  1. Click the ABP Icon in the lower toolbar area.
  2. Click on the line where it says "Disable on {current site}". It should now change to be disabled for the current site.
Desktop Java no longer supported in Chrome Updated: Thursday, September 10, 2015 - 09:44

Please note Java is no longer supported in the Google Chrome web browser.  

If you are having a problem with Java please make sure you are working in Internet Explorer (IE).  Some examples of web based applications that use Java are: Summit, Tririga, MyMicros, ImageNow, SQBX.  

For more information see the link below.

https://java.com/en/download/faq/chrome.xml

If you have any questions please call AFIT at 413-545-1956