Remote Assistance Policy for College Computers

Remote Assistance allows a LITS professional staff member to remotely view and control a community member's College computer while troubleshooting an issue. It can help to resolve many problems more immediately, often at the time of first call by:

• Allowing a professional technician an immediate, direct look at a problem.
• Enabling a community member to reproduce/demonstrate a problem.
• Permitting a LITS specialist to demonstrate a task while explaining it.
• Allowing technicians and community members to work side by side to achieve real-time solutions.

If a LITS specialist believes a Remote Assistance session will assist in addressing a problem, they will suggest it. Remote Assistance is offered over the phone while a community member is sitting at his or her College-owned computer. The caller must be present at the computer and in direct contact with the LITS staffer during the entire session. The caller will be asked to go to a web page and join a session with a technician.  Once connected, the caller will need to grant privileges as requested onscreen.  Remote Assistance to an individual's computer is never performed without the express permission of the caller. Either the customer or the technician can end the session at any time. 

Once the screen is shared, the technician can see the entire screen. He or she can use the connection to see what is occurring and, if allowed, manipulate the mouse and keyboard to troubleshoot or resolve the problem. The caller can see everything that is happening on his or her computer.

• Only a professional technician can offer a Remote Assistance session.  No student workers have access to the required software. 
• Each Remote Assistance session can be initiated only with the consent of the community member (verbally and by joining the session).  If the caller does not want to proceed with the session, they may decline and acknowledge that it may take longer to address their issue.
• The community member needs to be on the phone with the technician throughout the duration of the Remote session; he or she will need to verify that the connection is disconnected at the end of the session.
• Remote sessions can only be used to connect to College owned computers with supported configurations.
• Because this service requires sharing the entire screen of the caller's computer, callers should be sure to close any documents, Web sites, or applications with personal or confidential data.

Remote Assistance cannot be used to:

• Address problems which require extensive time or research.
• Solve hardware or networking problems, or issues linked with the physical environment of the computer.
• Perform advanced problem resolution.
• Immediately resolve problems which require coordination between multiple staff members.