In a context of unprecedented and ever-changing state of health emergency, the Universitat de València adopted a set of measures on 13 March which includes attending to the needs of the public over the phone or other telematic means.

After the state of emergency was announced on 14 March, the UV has strived to limit the staff and student presence at the university, which poses a significant challenge to the activities. This measure forms a part of the instructions sent to UV cetres, departments, services, and units, which, in return, should elaborate Contingency Plan for Continuity of teaching, research, and services at the UV.

This proved to be challenging both for online teaching activities and their management. This challenge was discussed in a previous article. This article overviews a set of applications available at the UV that enable everyone to work remotely from home for our university.

Before starting, think of security

Working from home brings about a paradigm change; therefore, the UV Computer Service reminds of some important actions to take before starting to work:

• Upgrade an operating system to the latest version;
• Have an active and updated antivirus programme installed;
• Have various search engines downloaded and updated in case some search engine is incompatible with the application you will be using;
• NEVER save passwords if you work on a public computer;
• Avoid downloading and storing the files containing personal information on public computers;
• Have a trusted Internet connection: never use free networks and, in case of working from home, ensure that Wi-Fi is protected with a strong password.

Follow the link to access all information about cybersecurity (in Spanish): https://www.uv.es/uvstic

Which tools you will need: VPN, remote access, and shared access

There are certain concepts that may seem new to those who never connect to the UV network outside the institution.

One of them is VPN connection.

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and establishes a private connection so that the data sent from a private network is transferred through an encrypted virtual tunnel of a public network. In other words, VPN allows a user to access a corporate network, assigning its address and privileges to a remote computer, even though the connection is established via a public Internet access. To learn more about VPN at the UV, click here (information in Spanish):http://links.uv.es/g1ljeUW

In a nutshell, VPN will allow you to work from home as if you stayed at the university.

To use VPN, download a corresponding application and log in with your username and password.

You should consider these things, though: first, VPN slows down your connection speeds; and second, secured server connections with VPN are limited, so you should use it only in cases when you really need VPN. 

If you need to use VPN in your work, download an application and access the specific instructions to install it following this link: http://links.uv.es/0oGwXU9

Access to remote desktop

You can remotely access your work computer directly from home. For this, you should personally contact the UV Computer Service for the technicians to activate the remote desktop software at your specific work computer and protect the connection.

The most important thing to maintain remote access is to keep the computer on and remember the team name or IP as well as your Windows login credentials.

Shared drive access

Drive service allows to share and access your data from any network. It is a collaborative and safe space that allows working in groups with other people from the university and requires only your username and password.

The UV drive disk establishes connection via a search engine as well as through a network unit. Find more information about the UV drive following this link: http://links.uv.es/SH3VV14

What do I need to make the UV applications work

The majority of applications of the Universitat de València can be accessed using a search engine (launch boxes, ENTREU, TRAMITEM, TAULER, GTI, LICIT@ and PACTUM, as well as the employee portal).

Meanwhile, SICUV requires a VPN connection established through a remote desktop connected to SICUV server.

In this document of the UV Computer Service, you can find more specific information about the means to access online management applications of the Universitat de València.

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This information was provided as a part of institutional communication on behalf of the Principal’s Office of the Universitat de València and based on the document “How to work remotely using the UV management applications” designed by the UV Computer Service, which may be accessed here (in Spanish): https://www.uv.es/coronavirus/tutorials/ACCESO_%20APLICACIONES_GESTION_UV.pdf