Staff IT Induction

You‘ll need a username and password to use the University’s computers, email, Wi-Fi, library and Minerva (the University's portal and virtual learning environment). New starters don't need to apply for a username as they are created automatically. You can find out more about this process on the IT Services website.

For further details, please contact your line manager.

As with any usernames and passwords, you need to make sure you're protecting them. All members of staff at the University do what's called Information Governance training annually to get the latest guidance on safe and secure handling of data. You'll be contacted about this directly as part of your induction, but in the meantime you can find out more about the training on the IT website.

You should also set up your details on the Self-Service Password Reset Service. This allows you to reset your password yourself or unlock your account without visiting the IT Service Desk. For more information on how to set up your phone number, security questions or email address on this service, please visit the Self-Service Password Reset article on the IT website.

Further information about changing your password, as well as choosing a strong password and managing it securely, is also available on the IT website.

University systems are protected by Duo two-factor authentication. You'll need to set it up before you can login to any of the protected systems (including Microsoft 365, the Azure Virtual Desktop and Minerva). We'd recommend doing this as soon as possible after you get your University username, using phone with a UK number that you have easy access to. 

As with other two-factor authentication systems, Duo will use a second device (such as your phone) to double-check when you try to login to certain systems.

Find out how to get in touch with IT to ask for technical support elsewhere on the IT Inductions site.

You are able to amend the way your first name is displayed on the University address book and email system. This might be useful if you, for example, have a preferred abbreviation of your name, or use a middle name instead.

Please refer to the Equality and Inclusion Unit website for a guide to Identity Management at the University.

As of September 2023, we are in the process of reviewing the process for new members of staff to receive laptop computers in line with the Identity and Access Management project. An interim process is in place where line mangers can request a laptop on behalf of a new member of staff – details of this can be found on the IT website.

Sometimes you may need additional equipment or software to be installed and the way this is done can vary depending on the department. Please check with your line manager for advice first.

Details about ordering other important items, like your staff ID card, can be found on the University's Human Resources site.

As a member of staff, you'll have an email account available to you for work-related communication.

You can check your email address in two ways:

• by opening your email and looking at your account
• by visiting the Staff A-Z Staff list and checking for your name

It's worth noting that you may have an email address using your name, and one using your University username - both will still reach you, but you might need one or the other to access certain systems.

The IT website has lots of useful resources to help you expand the way you use Outlook, such as sharing or accessing other mailboxes or calendars, using the Focused Inbox, and handling spam emails.

Microsoft's support site is also a really useful place to get help with using Outlook.

Microsoft 365 is available to all University of Leeds staff. To access it, simply log in to Microsoft365.com using your University username and password.

A list of all the Microsoft Office 365 applications that are available to staff is available on the IT website.

The University has developed an Information Governance training programme – everyone has to complete the training within four weeks of joining the University and every year after that. It's got some very useful and important information in it, so you need to make sure you give yourself time to complete it. It's worth noting that your account will be disabled if you don't complete it.

The training is hosted in Learning Pool and you will receive an email from the Learning Pool system with guidance on how to access the training when you have been enrolled. There are two modules in the training programme, Data Protection and Information Security.  Staff must complete both modules to complete the programme.

The Information Governance training is also available to postgraduate researchers, although completion is not mandatory unless specified by your faculty or school.

Visit the IT website for a guide to accessing the training and frequently asked questions.

Depending on the area where you are working, you might be able to connect to the University's wired network. Often this will be through the use of a dock connected to a laptop provided by the University.

If you're not able to get a connection using the wired network, you'll need to connect your device to eduroam, the University Wi-Fi network. Find out more about getting connected through our page on frequently asked questions about wi-fi at the University.

It's free and available in most buildings on campus. Once you’ve connected your device it will connect to the internet in many of the buildings across campus, halls of residence and also at other institutions which use the eduroam wireless network.

Please note that there will be occasions - such as when trying to connect to certain secure services, or receiving certain computer updates – where you will not be able to use eduroam, and will either need to connect to a wired connection on campus or try an alternative connection, like the Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD, formerly called the Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD)).

The Staff Intranet's primary objective is to provide a single source of trusted information about the university to help employees perform at their best.

It includes the latest university news and information on our strategies, policies, services and guidance for colleagues.

All employees in the University will have access to the intranet, providing you are logged onto the network.

You can access the intranet here.

On non-teaching computers, the Intranet is set as the homepage on your web browser, which can be accessed through the home icon at the top left of the screen. 

For those colleagues who do not have staff logins, we’d encourage you to apply for one so that you can access news and other University information.

If you do not have access to the intranet please contact Internal Communications at internalcomms@leeds.ac.uk

At the University, our remote meetings are held using Microsoft Teams, which is part of the Microsoft 365 suite.

You may also notice that we have relatively few telephones on desks – this is because we use Microsoft Teams Voice, so you can make and receive phone call from wherever you are using Microsoft Teams.

We also have a number of rooms around campus with dedicated hybrid meeting technology.

When you create a new document on a computer at Leeds University the best place to save that file is on the network ("the cloud"), rather than directly on your computer (for example, on the C drive).

Files saved in this way are backed up daily and are accessible wherever you have internet access. When coupled with other Microsoft 365 tools like Word, it opens up far more possibilities for collaboration with colleagues and students, and retrieval of old versions of your work if needed – for example, if your laptop's hard drive fails.

OneDrive at the University of Leeds is a personal storage area provided for staff at the University, with a very large 5TB of storage to use. Find out how to get started with using OneDrive.

Please do not use your University OneDrive space for non-work files, and ensure you comply with the University's data protection policy.

Your colleagues will also likely already be making use of Microsoft Teams and SharePoint to store and edit files across the team. You can save, upload or attach files in a Microsoft Teams message, or save and upload files to a SharePoint document library – check with your line manager where you should save files.

Find out more about the differences between OneDrive, Teams and SharePoint.

For files for students, you will need to make use of Minerva.

While saving files to the cloud is likely to be most peoples' go-to option, there might be some occasions where you might need to make use of the M or N drives. Your colleagues or line manager will be able to let you know if this is the case for any of the software or tools you're likely to use.

It's worth noting that unlike, for example, your One Drive space, these drives are not accessible wherever you have internet access – instead you need to be using a wired network connection on campus, or using the Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) or Virtual Private Network (VPN) - but please note that using AVD is the recommended option for accessing the M and N drives remotely. Also, unlike files saved on the cloud, when you delete files from the M or N drives they are NOT sent to the recycle bin but are deleted fully.

The M drive, also known as your home drive, this area is designed for you to keep documents that other people don't usually need to access. It is your own personal space for saving your documents.

The N drive, also known as your departmental shared area, and is where you can save files that other people in your department may also use.

Once you're connected to the network in a way that will let you see them, you can find your M and N drives by going to the Desktop or Start Button and clicking on Computer. Your M drive is labelled with your username and the N drive will be called Shared. It will be necessary to find your departmental folder within the Shared area, so it might be easiest to ask a colleague where to find it.

AppsAnywhere is a web-based portal that provides staff and students with access to a wide range of University software. It works by streaming the software to either a University Windows Computer, Azure Virtual Desktop or your own Windows personal computer (licensing restrictions permitting).

If you need to make use of a specific piece of specialist software this is a good place to check to see if it is available for use.

There is a list of core teaching applications, available via AppsAnywhere in the computer clusters around campus, too. This software will be automatically updated by IT on an annual basis. To request other software is updated or added to the list of core teaching applications, please use the teaching software request on the IT website. 

Some IT systems are not directly available off-campus or through Minerva or Office365. Examples are ESS/MSS (Employee/Manager Self-Service), M: and N: drives and SAP.

The Azure Virtual Desktop (formerly referred to as the Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD)) allows you to securely access many University services as though you are on-campus. Three versions are available:

• General - Employee Self-Service (ESS, for checking payslips and booking annual leave etc), Banner 9, Documentum, Kristal, Argos and other systems and campus only web applications.
• Restricted - access to the services available through General plus Banner 9 ODBC and SAP GUI .
• Academic  – for staff and students who need access to a wide range of software used in teaching (through AppsAnywhere).

Other access methods, including the Virtual Private Network (VPN) and Remote Desktop Gateway (RDG) (used to connect to a specific on-campus Windows computer) are available if the AVD is not suitable.

Please note that if you are on campus and connecting to the network via eduroam, you will still need to use these options to access certain services.

IMPORTANT: Remember to log out of these systems once you have finished

Find out more about SafeZone, an app that everyone on campus can use to ask for help. It’s designed to give you extra peace of mind, in addition to other safety support offered by the University, and is linked to our security team, which is on hand to assist you 24/7.

Minerva (the University's portal and virtual learning environment) enables staff to create and manage online teaching areas and to communicate with students. Check with your colleagues or line manager if you’re expected to use Minerva.

Minerva gives students access to their module areas and school or faculty areas called organisations. It also has a landing page that is designed to give students a way to access the online resources that they will need at the university, things like

• Microsoft 365 email and OneDrive
• Student Services
• Timetabling
• Library

Staff can use the Minerva module areas to provide learning resources, online assessment areas and communications about their course. Minerva module enrolments typically come from Banner, so if you cannot see the right modules in Minerva, ask your support team to add you to the relevant modules in the Banner system.

To access Minerva visit minerva.leeds.ac.uk and sign in with username@leeds.ac.uk and your password.

You can find your way around Minerva using the menu on the left hand side (see the guide to navigating Minerva).

Don't forget to log out when you're finished, using the sign out icon in the menu. Close your browser to log out completely.

There's more information and help on Minerva on the Digital Education Systems support site.

In addition to Minerva and Microsoft 365, there are other digital tools available to academic teaching staff to support student education. These are supported by the Digital Education Systems team and IT Services.

Assessment Tools

• Turnitin  – Submissions and marking systems with plagiarism detection. Turnitin Staff Guides
• Gradescope – For submitting and marking assessments in a wide range of formats. Staff guides for Gradescope
• Feedback Fruits – formative assessment tool Feedback Fruits staff guides
• Pebblepad – E-portfolio tool, for logging and evidencing achievements, activity and skills. Pebblepad Staff Guides
• Buddycheck – Tool for peer evaluation of group work. Buddycheck Guides for staff

Content Tools

• Mediasite – Lecture Capture and Multimedia service. Mediasite guides for staff
• Padlet – Digital noticeboard for collaborative learning. Padlet Staff Guides
• Labster – 3D laboratory training software. Labster staff guides
• Microsoft Forms – Simple online tool for creating surveys, questionnaires and quizzes. What is Microsoft Forms?
• Online Surveys – Web-based survey builder.  About Online Surveys
• Reading Lists Tool – Assemble reading lists. Library pages on Reading Lists
• Microsoft Stream – Organisational video hosting. Stream and Mediasite Comparison
• Microsoft Teams – What is Microsoft Teams?

Other tools and systems

• • Ally – Check the accessibility of content and generate alternative formats. Staff guides for Ally
  • Athena TDM – Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) for non-degree courses run by the University of Leeds which are available to external participants. Learn about Athena TDM
  • Box of Broadcasts (BoB) – Online TV and radio archive.  Box of Broadcasts information
  • Explorance Blue – Module Evaluations Tool. More on Explorance Blue

Visit Digital Education Systems for help and advice on using these systems and other digital tools.

Each lecture theatre and classroom on campus contains various tools, such as computers, projectors and microphones – there is also a lecture capture system that allows lectures to be recorded and shared.

The Facilities Support Service provides a wide range of support to the Central Teaching Space on campus. They have a rapid-response customer services team linked to the Estates Helpdesk and are supported by a dedicated technical team who ensure that the AV and IT is working correctly and meets user requirements. Fully trained staff are always available to respond to urgent problems when teaching is taking place.

Contact Estates on 35555 for queries regarding Central Teaching Space or to report a problem during teaching. Teaching Technology Support also loan and hire equipment.

Many teaching sessions and lectures are automatically recorded, with the recordings made available to students via Minerva within 72 hours.

Staff can log into Mediasite to review and edit their content. Staff can also make use of the ad-hoc lecture capture service which is available in approximately 280 central teaching spaces. Staff and students can take advantage of personal capture to create screencasts, podcasts and videos and share these internally or more widely via VideoLeeds.

The IT website has various articles on the Lecture Capture system, including an introduction to Lecture Capture and Media Management. You can also find guidance on the Digital Education Systems Help site. For bespoke training and support on creating digital media to support student education email OD&PL via academicdev@leeds.ac.uk.

Banner is the University's corporate student information management system. It covers almost every aspect of student administration, including:

• recruitment and admissions
• enrolment and registration
• student fees
• finance and funding
• academic progression
• degree classification

Banner also supports the generation of essential statistical information such as the HESA return for the UK government.

Banner Access

To get access to Banner, follow the steps below. These instructions are also on the IT website, along with related articles and request forms. Please log in to it.leeds.ac.uk to see them all.

Step 1 – Complete the request for a Banner Username.

Step 2 –Attend B200 Banner Navigation training and, at least, one other session; B400 Enquiry and Reporting would be the recommended follow-up.

Details of training availability can be found in our Banner Training Schedule (see the related article). Alternatively, if available, a Banner Super User (see the related article) can provide ad hoc training.

Step 3 – Once your request for a Banner Username has been approved and the requisite training completed, your credentials will be generated and issued by the Banner Security Team.

Step 4 – If you need to be attached to modules in Minerva or for exam mark entry, please complete an Access to Modules form and follow the given instructions.

SAP is the University's Human Resources (HR), Finance, Plant Maintenance, Sales and Purchasing System. Staff may need access to certain areas of SAP, depending on their responsibilities. Please check with your line manager as to what SAP roles you will need, as several other systems interact with SAP.

The University uses SAP for recording purchasing transactions; SAP then provides the ‘end to end’ audit trail. End users requiring goods or services from external suppliers are required to create transactions using either SIPR or Science Warehouse.

Further information about SAP, SIPR, Science Warehouse and purchase cards can be found on the Purchasing System Training SharePoint site. It's also worth noting that all travel requests should be raised via the Key Travel booking system.

For the purchase of IT hardware, software and consumables, please raise an IT ticket before ordering anything. IT will then advise if the purchase will be facilitated by them or if you should raise the request via Science Warehouse. Please note before you purchase or renewing software it needs to go through the Contract Information for Software Compliance (CISC) process.

The Publications system is the University's central repository for recording publications and professional activities carried out by members of staff and postgraduates. One of the principal uses of the system is to provide data for the University's submission to the HEFCE Research Excellence Framework, the new process for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions.

The Publications system also allows the uploading of texts that are in the process of being published or have been published, into a system called White Rose Research Online (WRRO).

WRRO houses research outputs from the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York. The repository aims to:

• promote the impact of research output from the White Rose Consortium partners
• make research easy to find through Google and other general and academic search service
• provide a long term home for research outputs
• bring research to new audiences, inside and outside academia
• add to the growing, worldwide body of openly available scholarly content

Visit the Publications system website for more information.

Help guides are available from within the system, however if you feel it would be helpful to have some training, the trainer is Yunas Mohammed and he can be contacted on 0113 34 33622 or at y.mohammed@leeds.ac.uk

The University has rooms of computers known as "clusters" that are available for students to use around campus. Staff may also use these when the rooms are not booked for teaching. You can also find printers and scanners in the clusters that you can use through the MyPrint system.

A list of all the clusters can be found on the IT website.

During coursework or exam periods clusters may be very busy.

Some of the University Cafes have a small number of computers - these are not for long stays, but for quick access to check email, for example.

As always, if you're using a public computer, don't forget to log out when you have finished!

The first thing to ask yourself is – do I really need to print?

If you do need to print, our MyPrint system can help you monitor the environmental impact, but it's worth remembering that the University is working hard on achieving its sustainability goals, so if you can avoid printing, please do.

There are two main printing systems in use on campus at the University:

• MyPrint printers
• Departmental printers

Here are instructions for 'MyPrint' printers (around campus, these are generally Konica Minolta devices):

• How to Print
• How to Copy
• How to Scan
• How to print from your own device (eg over eduroam wifi)

The MyPrint website allows you to manage the print jobs, see the environmental impact of your printing and see your print history. It's also worth noting that MyPrint machines operate a credit system for students, but there is typically no charging in place for staff.

Departmental printers are those where certain departments or offices have printers set up as networked printers. These operate separately, so check with your line manager for the specifics around how to use them.

Always be careful to select the correct machine and collect your printing immediately – be sure to take extra care if printing sensitive documents (and, again, ask yourself if it really needs to be printed before doing so).

Finally, it's worth noting that currently you cannot print directly to your home printer from the Azure Virtual Desktop. However, there are a number of workarounds, which are explained on this page.

At the University of Leeds, five of the main providers of IT training are:

• The IT Training Unit – Microsoft Office, researcher courses;
• Digital Education Systems – Minerva and other learning and teaching systems;
• Organisational Development and Professional Learning (OD&PL) – Lecture capture, learning and teaching tools;
• Skills@Library – Endnote, Searching the catalogue, academic skills training; and
• Researcher@Library – Research data, Bibliometrics.

Other training (including for systems like SAP, Banner, Minerva, etc.) is run by different teams around the university. Please refer to the relevant sections for more information.

Most courses available to staff are listed in the online Training Catalogue.

All staff and students also have FREE access to over 21,000 courses on LinkedIn Learning.

The University's Digital Education Service specialises in fully online and digitally enhanced learning and offers a range of services to help provide accessible, inclusive and inspirational digital education opportunities for all. 

For help with incorporating digital elements into your teaching and learning activities, please contact your local Digital Education Enhancement team.

For information and how to guides on the digital tools and systems visit the Digital Education Systems Team Help site.

HELIX is a brand-new digital learning space for students, staff, and the wider community. It consists of a mix of multi-purpose spaces, featuring immersive technologies, maker and prototyping equipment, and cutting-edge multimedia production studios.

To discuss building fully online external courses or commissioning learning resources email the Business Development team.

Microsoft offer support and training from their Microsoft365 help and learning website. You can type your question in the "How can we help you?" search bar or click on the software icons to give you tutorials on useful topics.

If you are looking to complete some training in one of the Microsoft packages, click on Training from the Support homepage or visit the Microsoft 365 Training Center directly. Here you'll find tutorials, videos and other tools to help you learn how to use the software.

The Jisc Discovery Tool supports you to assess your digital capabilities by asking straightforward questions. Once complete you receive a personalised and detailed report of your current capabilities and areas for development, along with a range of learning resources.

The Discovery Tool corresponds to the Jisc digital capabilities framework that has been adopted for staff and students at Leeds.  

If you would like to find out more and to take the Discovery Tool, please visit the Discovery Tool staff page.

LinkedIn Learning is an online learning platform which you can access anytime, anywhere. It contains over 21,000 video-based, professional courses in a wide range of areas such as technology (including Office 365), business and professional, and creative.

As a member of staff you have free access to all LinkedIn Learning courses. You can also find collections of courses about core digital skills, assembled by the University, by searching for Digital Essentials and filtering by University of Leeds.

There is more information on how to get started with LinkedIn Learning on the IT website, and on the OD&PL LinkedIn Learning pages. you can also book onto a Beginners Guide to LinkedIn Learning session to help you make the most of the platform.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and platforms are a fast-moving field that, as an institution, we remain convinced holds great potential for enhancing various aspects of our teaching, research and administrative work.  

Our Generative AI website contains general policies, guidance and information for both staff and students. You can also find guidance for staff on the Secretariat website. 

The IT website is also home to some guidance on the chatbot version of Microsoft Copilot (formerly known as Bing Chat) that can help with a series of tasks such as coding, writing, generating images, answering general questions and more.