INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

The CONDUITS Online Order Form is compatible with the latest releases of leading Internet Web browsers including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari.

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.

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, contact the Northwestern IT Support Center 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 Northwestern IT 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 the Northwestern IT Support Center. 

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 the Northwestern IT Support Center.

Please direct any telecom questions, including order status questions, to the Northwestern IT Support Center.

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, contact the Northwestern IT Support Center. 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 the Northwestern IT Support Center.

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 within the IT Service Manager.

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.

All services remain active in a subscriber's name until the department notifies Northwestern IT that the services should be cancelled or reassigned to someone else. Authorization codes are not turned off automatically. Work order contacts must contact the Northwestern IT Support Center to request any cancellation or reassignment of service.

New contacts are added to CONDUITS Online by Northwestern IT 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 Northwestern IT Billing about adding you as a contact for your department.

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

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. 

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. 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 Northwestern IT 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.

Questions regarding appropriate Northwestern IT 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 Northwestern IT 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 the Northwestern IT Support Center.

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