Overview
Welcome! This article guides new Dornsife staff and faculty members through getting started with IT at USC Dornsife. While the broader University is served by the Information Technology Services (ITS) division, each school also has its own local IT unit in charge of supporting the school's hardware, software, websites, applications, and other technology resources.
At USC Dornsife, your local IT unit is Dornsife Technology Services (DTS), and we encourage you to reach out to us with any IT-related questions.
A note about departmental procedures
Please note that purchasing procedures, drive permissions, and the like will vary by department, so be sure to check with your department for any procedural questions. The list below is intended as a general informational list of common IT services that we offer within DTS.
Contacting the Help Desk
Is your work computer or printer acting oddly? Are you having trouble connecting to USC resources? Whatever your IT issue is, you can reach out to the DTS Help Desk anytime:
IT system status updates
View our dedicated status page for announcements of uptimes, downtimes, and outages for IT services at USC:
Getting connected with your new computer
Logging into your computer
If you were issued a Windows PC
If you were issued an iPhone or iPad
If you need a new computer, tablet, or other hardware (monitor, printer, etc)
Purchasing procedures vary by department, so please check with your department whether you should request purchases through the department or through DTS directly. You can also browse our catalog to view our standard models:
Connecting to Internet and the USC network
Connecting while on campus
When you're working on-campus, you do not need to use VPN and can simply connect to the Internet using Ethernet or USC Secure Wireless. This will automatically put you on the USC network.
Connecting remotely (off-campus)
Off-campus, if you are using public wifi and working with USC data, you should be connected to VPN at all times.
If you are using secure home Internet, you only need VPN for certain applications:
- Don't connect to VPN to use: Workday, Brightspace, Zoom, Slack, Google Apps (Gmail, Google Drive), Microsoft applications (Outlook, Office 365)
-
Connect to VPN to use: Secure CRT/SIS, Dornsife network drives, SPSS, remote desktop, some areas of myDornsife
If you are using secure home Internet but finding your connection a bit slow, the following guide may come in handy:
Logging in to software with your USC account
Prior to your first day with USC, you received an email with instructions for activating your USC NetID. Your USC NetID is an alphanumeric username with up to eight characters, and you'll use it to log into the technology resources we describe below.
Note: You may not have access to these applications prior to your official first day with USC.
Email (Outlook)
Your USC email address is your USC NetID followed by "@usc.edu" (e.g. if your USC NetID is ttrojan, your USC email address is ttrojan@usc.edu). You can contact DTS with any Outlook questions, although if you are a faculty member who opted in to Gmail, we may direct you to ITS for Gmail questions.
Note: per USC's employee email retention policy, emails are automatically deleted 16 months after the sent/received date.
Messaging (Slack)
Slack is USC's preferred chat and collaboration tool.
USC Dornsife has its own workspace at https://uscdornsife.slack.com. If your department hasn't already arranged access for you, simply fill out and submit a request to join the Dornsife Slack workspace. DTS will process your request and add you, and you will receive an email from Slack with further instructions.
Note that while DTS administers the Dornsife Slack workspace, your department will need to add you to any private departmental channels.
A few departments prefer Microsoft Teams over Slack: in such cases, your department will need to add you to their Team.
Videoconferencing (Zoom)
Zoom is USC's preferred videoconferencing tool.
Additional software (Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Adobe, etc)
The following list reviews the software available to you through Dornsife and the University, including statistical software and office productivity applications:
Phone assignment
Rather than having a physical desk phone for each staff/faculty member, USC uses Zoom Phone software. To receive a USC phone number assignment, please perform the following steps:
First, initialize your Zoom account by performing an initial sign-in:
- Go to https://usc.zoom.us.
- Click on Sign in.
- Type your USC NetID and passphrase to log in.
Now, place a request for a Zoom Phone number assignment at the following link:
(If you are unable to access this link, you can have your manager place this request on your behalf.)
Once you have been assigned a number, you can begin using Zoom Phone.
Dornsife resources
Dornsife computers, printers, and network drives
If you need to log in to Dornsife computers (including your assigned Dornsife computer), Dornsife printers, and/or Dornsife network drives, whether on- or off-campus, you need a Dornsife Account.
Your department may have already set up a Dornsife Account for you. Check your email inbox for the following email:
Subject: [SR-#####] - Request for [your name] : New Dornsife Account
From: Dornsife Technology Services
Dear [your name],
Your Dornsife Account access has been created and you can now make use of a wide range of IT services provided by Dornsife College, including network file storage and software licensing.
Your Dornsife username matches your central USC NetID. Your USC NetID is the portion of your e-mail account that appears before the @ symbol. For example, if your USC e-mail address is jdoe@usc.edu, your USC NetID is jdoe.
Your password is the same as your USC NetID password. […]
If you did not receive this message, simply fill out and submit a New Account Request online, and we will set up your account within 24 hours.
Once it's set up, your Dornsife Account and password will sync to your USC NetID and password, so you don't have to worry about remembering which login to use. Changing your USC NetID password will also update your Dornsife Account password.
Accessing network printers
To connect to your department's network printers, follow our guide:
Accessing shared departmental files
Some departments prefer to store shared departmental files (e.g. forms, standard operating procedures, meeting minutes) on Dornsife network drives, while other departments use Google shared Drives as a central holding place. Check with your department about their preferred file sharing/collaboration service.
If your department uses Dornsife network drives (aka "the G: drive")
If your department uses a Google shared Drive
Once your department confirms that they've added you to the department's Google shared Drive, you can sign in to USC Google Drive using your USC NetID. Once signed in, click on Shared drives, and then click on the name of your department's shared Drive.
Saving and backing up your own files
We highly recommend that—at some point within your first week—you set up cloud storage and backup with Google Drive on your computer. It takes 10–15 minutes to set up, but once you set it up, it will automatically back up your existing and new files with no further work on your part. This ensures that, if you later experience computer damage, theft, or loss, you can still recover your files using another computer.
DTS website for IT help
Sign into https://dtssupport.usc.edu using your USC NetID. You can use the DTS website to:
myDornsife
You will receive myDornsife access within your first week (if you are unable to log into myDornsife, wait a few days and try again). Once your access has been processed, you can sign into https://mydornsife.usc.edu using your USC NetID. You can use myDornsife to customize your profile as you would like it to appear on your department's public-facing Dornsife website:
Additional USC resources
Some applications are supported not by DTS but centrally, by the University. We have provided relevant contact information below:
Workday
USC HR Service Center
Email: uschr@usc.edu
Phone: (213) 821-8100
E-journal/database subscriptions