Remote Office Resource Guide

The purpose of this guide is to provide information to support remote office activities in the case that AgriLife agency employees must work from home. As many of AgriLife’s IT services are cloud based the majority of business applications and Microsoft Office software are available online for use on any computer device.

Downloadable PDF Version of Remote Office Guide

Remote Office Tips & Tricks Library

AgriLife IT Service Desk Information

The AgriLife IT Service Desk Team “FirstCall” can be reached between 8am and 5pm Mon-Fri via the following methods:

Email:  First-call@tamu.edu
Phone:  979.985.5737     Toll Free:  866.996.2056
Web:   https://firstcallhelp.tamu.edu

Online Applications and Information Resource Guide


EMAIL &
CALENDAR
 If using a personally owned computer at home you can access email via a web browser by going to https://portal.office.com and logging in with your AgNet credentials (firstname.lastname@AGNET.tamu.edu)
 


TEAMS
 Teams can be accessed via the TEAMS application on your work laptop or via a web browser on your home computer by going to https://teams.office.com and logging in with your AgNet credentials (firstname.lastname@AGNET.tamu.edu)AgriLife IT highly recommends the use of TEAMS while working remotely to optimize communications and collaboration within your departments.  TEAMS can also be used to web conference with non-AgriLife employees as well simply by adding them to a TEAM meeting via their email address or sending them a web conference Team link.For how-to guides and overview on how to utilize features such as web conferencing, chat, file sharing and other features of TEAMS please go to:

https://firstcallhelp.tamu.edu/whats-new/teams/

OFFICE 365
 If you do not have a laptop issued to you from work you can access all the Office 365 applications such as Outlook, Calendar, OneDrive, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. via a web browser at https://portal.office.com and logging in with your AgNet credentials (firstname.lastname@AGNET.tamu.edu)You can also install the full working version of Microsoft Office to your personal home computer by click the “INSTALL OFFICE” Button located in the top right area of the screen once logged into the https://portal.office.com for both PCs and MACs.

 



OTHER WEB
RESOURCE LINKS

Miscellaneous
  • OFFICE PHONES: Employees may want to consider forwarding their office phones to their mobile phones if your phone system provides that functionality.  Information on forwarding from your campus phone or checking your voicemail can be found at: https://it.tamu.edu/work-from-home.php (middle of the page)
  • UPDATE PERSONAL CONTACT INFO: Update your contact information as seen by HR.  Visit https://sso.tamus.edu > Open Workday > Select Personal Information and click “Change > Update my Personal Address/Phone Information” then SAVE
  • FAMIS ACCESS: FAMIS Access from a personal home computer will require the assistance of IT staff. Please contact the FirstCall Service desk if you require FAMIS access from home.

SYNCPLICITY

 If you utilize Syncplicity for file storage you can access your account by going to https://agrilife.syncplicity.com/
Login with your AgNet Credentials
  


    WEBEX
 For those employees still utilizing WebEx the link for accessing WebEx is:

https://agrilife-tamu.webex.com

AIT recommends using TEAMS by creating a TEAMS meeting in your Outlook Calendar for a more robust and collaborative web conferencing experience in addition to file and desktop sharing.

 

 


Network File Server Access

  

TAMU CAMPUS W: DRIVE REMOTE ACCESS:

For those AgriLife employees located on the TAMU Campus that may require access to their W: or S: drives the following information is how to connect remotely to the file server from off campus:

  1. If not already installed download and install the TAMU VPN connector located on http://connect.tamu.edu
  2.  After successfully installing and connecting your VPN client you will need to create a network drive map to the campus file server.
  3. Open Windows File Explorer
  4.  In the address field below the menu bar type in \\165.91.132.187 then hit ENTER
  5.  This should display a listing of departmental folders.
  6.  Right-Click on your department folder and select MAP NETWORK DRIVE
  7.  Select a Drive Letter and then click FINISH.
  8.  This should open a new window with a listing of folders for your department W: and S: Drives (located under the PROTECT) Directory.

Please note that the TAMU VPN client must be active in order to access the mapped network drive.

If you need assistance, please contact the FirstCall Service Desk.

REGIONAL CENTER W: DRIVE REMOTE ACCESS:

For those employees located in regional centers or urban county offices that need remote access to their W: drives the follow these steps:

  1. If you do not have a center VPN account request one using the instructions located here.
  2.  Install the VPN Software and configure per the instructional email you will receive upon approval of your VPN account.

TAMU CAMPUS W: DRIVE REMOTE ACCESS (MAC USERS):