CONDUITS Online Quick Reference

CONDUITS Online supports the following Web browsers:

• Firefox 1.7x and Internet Explorer 6 or newer for Windows
• Firefox 1.7x for Mac OS X 10.3x

Yes. However, before you can do so, you need to use Virtual Private Networking (VPN) to establish a secure connection to the NU Network.

To place an order for telecom service, a work order contact must submit the request using the CONDUITS Online Order Form, which can be accessed from the CONDUITS Online Login Page (above the login field). To ensure that your order is processed quickly and efficiently, please use the online form as orders submitted by e-mail or phone will not be processed. Please use the use the CONDUITS Online Order Form Tutorials for assistance filling out the online form.

Only approved work order contacts are permitted to use the CONDUITS Online Order Form. If you cannot see the form and you are already an approved work order contact, call The Support Center at 491-HELP to make sure your Internet browser is properly configured and supported for CONDUITS Online.

If you are not a work order contact, please talk to a dean, director, department chair, or department administrator; any of these officials can contact NUIT Billing to have you added as a work order contact for your department.

Requests that require a technician to visit your site (such as phone activations or moves) are completed on a five business day turn-around, unless otherwise specified. Orders can be completed faster, but extra rush charges will be applied.

Requests that do not require a technician to visit your site (such as voice mail password resets) can be completed faster. You will be contacted within two business days regarding your request.

Any time you have a question regarding telecom service, contact:

e-mail: it-services@northwestern.edu
phone: 847-467-5560

Each time you submit an order, you will receive an e-mail message that contains a confirmation number. Please be prepared to reference this confirmation number when calling about a specific order.

Because processing begins as soon as an order is submitted, any additions should be submitted as a new order. Depending upon the status of your original order, your new order and your original order may or may not be completed at the same time. If you need your new order to be completed with your original order, rush charges may apply.

For more information, contact:

phone: 847-467-5560
e-mail: it-services@northwestern.edu

Please direct any telecom questions, including order status questions, to:

e-mail: it-services@northwestern.edu
phone: 847-467- 5560

When calling about a specific order, please be prepared to reference the order number from the confirmation e-mail you received after submitting your request.

To cancel a submitted order, you must send a written request to it-services@northwestern.edu. Be sure to include the order number from the original confirmation message.

If you cannot see a number on the jack, please write “See Notes” in the Jack Number field on the order form. Describe the location of the jack in the Notes section of the form in words such as “The jack is located on the North wall below the window” or “The jack is located on the South wall between the door and the desk.”

If the jack you need to reference is not located in a room with a specific number, describe the location with words such as “Lobby,” “Hallway,” or “Stairwell” within the required field on the order form. Please also enter a more clear description in the Notes section of the form.

All required Department information, including specific Department Names and Department ID Numbers, can be found on the CONDUITS Department Contact List.

If the subscriber who will be using this service is a new employee who has not yet received a NetID, enter the department summary subscriber NetID on the order form. You can find the summary subscriber NetID for your department on the Work Order Contact List.

If you are unable to locate your building on this list, please contact it-services@northwestern.edu.

You will receive a confirmation e-mail stating how many issues were successfully submitted as part of your order. This e-mail will also include an order number that you can reference if any changes need to be made or if you have any questions about the order.

You're able to track your recent telecommunications orders by accessing the CONDUITS Online Order Tracker.

The online tracker makes it easy for you to view and track previously submitted orders, including verifying expected completion dates. You can also use the tool to view details of ongoing and completed orders by double-clicking on any specific request and view orders placed by other work order contacts by simply entering a NetID.

Use the Capture function (Custom Reports) to save a report you have generated for future runs or for scheduling. You must capture a report before you can schedule it.

To capture a report:

1. Select the report name from the Available Reports list.
   A new window will open below it.
2. Select the Capture tab.
3. In the Capture window, select the parameters you want to use for your report.
4. Enter a report title and description.
5. Select Capture.
6. Check the Show Captured Reports box to display the report names in the Available Reports list.
   A green arrow will appear next to the names of captured reports.

If a report is too large to be sent as an attachment, you will still receive an e-mail notification indicating that the report has been generated. The report will be waiting for you on the CONDUITS Online server.

The monthly billing cycle is from the 23rd of one month through the 22nd of the following month. Billing reports are generated on the billing date, currently the 4th of each month.

CONDUITS Online does not show "real time" charges. Reports generated by CONDUITS Online reflect only those charges posted as of the last billing cycle.

Available billing history begins with the first CONDUITS Online billing report processed for the first billing cycle of Fiscal Year 2006, which includes charges from August 23 through September 22, 2005. Billing reports earlier than that are not available in CONDUITS Online. You will be able to view previous billing reports for each billing cycle since this time.

The automatic reports you receive are PDF files. Since you cannot easily edit PDF files into portions, you will want to go to CONDUITS Online and generate a Custom Report in another format such as MS Word, MS Excel or MS Excel (tabular). Once you have downloaded a report in one of these formats onto your computer, you can copy and paste as necessary in Word or Excel to create individual files. You can then send the smaller files as e-mail attachments.

You can add comments only to billing reports you have downloaded. Go to CONDUITS Online and generate a Custom Report in another format such as MS Word, MS Excel or MS Excel (tabular). Once you have downloaded a report in one of these formats onto your computer you can add comments to the report as appropriate and necessary.

All services remain active in a subscriber's name until the department notifies NUIT that the services should be cancelled or reassigned to someone else. Authorization codes are not turned off automatically. Work Order contacts must contact NUIT User Services at it-services@northwestern.edu to request any cancellation or reassignment of service.

New contacts are added to CONDUITS Online by NUIT Billing, whose staff works with departments to determine what kinds of functions a new contact should have within the system.

Talk to your dean, department chair or department administrator and ask them to contact NUIT Billing about adding you as a contact for your department.

The CONDUITS contact list that you see when you access CONDUITS Online is updated dynamically. As new contacts are added to CONDUITS the list is automatically updated.

New subscribers are added to CONDUITS by NUIT Billing, whose staff work with department contacts to determine to which department the new subscriber belongs and to what CUFS account their charges should be charged.

The Standard Reports functions are supplied by the vendor and cannot be modified. Thus a column of $0.00 values for tax will always be displayed.

Yes. For ease of access we recommend saving your reports on your own computer or on your department or school's server.

Under the converged services funding model there are no monthly charges for some services. These services, along with usage information, still appear on your billing report for reference only.

The Subscriber ID is a unique identifier assigned to each CONDUITS Online subscriber. It is automatically generated when a subscriber is first entered into the CONDUITS Online system. This ID number is not used by NUIT, but cannot be removed from the CONDUITS Online system.

CONDUITS must have a publicly viewable service number for every service and service request in the system. For many services, the actual service number translates well into a CONDUITS service number. For example, a voice line's service number is its ten-digit phone number; a voice mailbox's service number contains the five-digit mailbox number. However, the six-digit authorization code is considered a private number known only by its owner, similar to a PIN. Since each service needs a publicly viewable service number, each authorization code is assigned a system-generated service number that will appear on the billing reports. The AC- prefix is short for "Authorization Code."

The converged communications charge is not an allowable direct cost on a sponsored project and cannot be assigned to a sponsored account. The converged communications charge, by definition, represents the provision of multiple telecommunications and networking services in a "bundle." The benefit derived by and cost to be assigned to an individual sponsored project from any one of the services within the bundle cannot be readily determined, which is the essential criterion of the Federal government's definition of an indirect cost. In fact, most of the services (e.g., local telephone calls) had been designated as indirect costs to sponsored projects before their inclusion in a bundled format. In addition, the converged communications charge is allocated by person on a once-per-year basis, and not on the basis of usage. This further complicates the allocation basis for sponsored projects. By extension, as the converged communications charge is not an allowable direct charge to sponsored projects, it should not be included in sponsored project proposal budgets.

The following NUIT Non-Core Services that are provided, priced, and metered outside of the bundle may be assigned as direct costs to benefiting sponsored projects:

• International long distance calls.
• Domestic long distance calls made using a Northwestern calling card.

Questions regarding appropriate NUIT costs on sponsored projects should be directed to your designated grant and contract officer/administrator in the Office for Sponsored Research or Accounting Services for Research and Sponsored Programs.

Chart of Accounts numbers are added to CONDUITS Online by NUIT Billing, whose staff work with department contacts to determine how new Chart of Accounts numbers will be used and assigned.

Accounts 76910, 76915, 76950, 76955 need to be open and have sufficient funds for you to submit a Chart of Accounts number on the CONDUITS Online Order Form. If you have additional questions regarding accounts, please contact NUIT Billing at it-billing@northwestern.edu.

The download to NUFinancials occurs once a month, generally within five business days of the end of the billing cycle.