Working Remotely (for NDSU Employees)
Before you need to work from home:
- Ensure you are following all remote work requirements as outlined in the Remote Work Agreement.
- Office telephones can be forwarded to a cell phone or land line off campus (local phone number). Your department's telephone administrator can provide information. More information on setting up or accessing your phones below.
- Make sure you have the equipment you need at home. Bring your laptop home each night or make a plan to bring your desktop computer home. Note that most desktop computers will need to plug into a home router Ethernet jack. You will always have better network performance connecting with a cable versus wireless connection.
- Make sure you have a second-factor set up in Duo that you can access remotely when you are prompted for Multi-factor Authentication. If you only have it set up to call your office phone or you leave your token at your office, you will need to be able to authenticate with a device remotely. Learn how to add or manage your devices.
- Ensure your Internet connection has sufficient bandwidth to handle remote work requirements. We recommend at least 100 Mbps download and 25 Mbps upload per person working remotely at your home/location. Contact your Internet provider regarding this service.
- Understand and Follow Guidelines for Protecting Sensitive Data
VPN Requirements and Options
NDSU offers two VPN options, depending on the use case:
- If you handle sensitive data or are working three or more days per week remote, you must use an Aruba VPN device. This applies whether or not a remote work agreement is in place. Contact the IT Service Center to request an Aruba Device.
- If you are working off campus 2 or fewer days per week and do not handle sensitive data, you may use either an Aruba VPN device or the Cisco Secure Client software VPN (Bison Login required to view instructions).
Phones and Voicemail
File Collaboration and Storage
View instructions for all of the following solutions for storage and/or collaboration
- Central File Storage - access files stored on the S:, X:, and U: drives outside of the network.
- Google Drive - share and edit documents with colleagues and access from anywhere with your Bison login
- One Drive - share and edit documents with colleagues and access using your NDUS credentials.
- Secure File Transfer - send or receive large or sensitive files securely.
Webconferencing for Meetings
Zoom is a great tool to conduct remote meetings. NDSU has a campus license so all students, faculty and staff have a paid license. Zoom is easy to use, and can be used on many devices or platforms. A user can install the app on their desktop and mobile device.
- Instructions to get started with Zoom
- Login to Zoom with NDSU account: https://ndsu.zoom.us/
Team Collaboration
Microsoft Teams is a solution that supports team chats, file sharing, web conferencing, etc. It also has the capability of many of the Skype for Business features such as direct chatting and chatting with groups of individuals. Teams uses your NDUS credentials. See more about Teams.
Software
We discourage the use of free desktop applications or free online services. IT may not be able to support it. Without a contract, we do not have an agreement for data security. This is especially important to consider when you are working with student data, as we must ensure FERPA compliance. Refer to our Software webpage for information on how to get appropriate software.