How To (do things at MACS)
This page is for general info about how to get things done at MACS / who to talk to (please update/ add bug fixes!)
Room Booking (updated Jan 2023)
2023: To book a room in the NR: email Elaine Hammond: e.hammond@hw.ac.uk
Other rooms: https://scientia-rb-hwu.azurewebsites.net/
Registering for a conference
F 1) Fill in a requisition form and, have it signed by the PI of your project, 2) then send it to the Head of Dept (Jurrian Hage) for approval, 3) once approved, submit it to Janis Edgar. Sometimes a Teams call is required for payment to be made after an individual's registration details have been entered.
PDR
Link to new (2021) iHR ERP system: https://enzj.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/faces/FuseWelcome
Video (for managers) of how to input on iHR: https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/7820b3da-5274-4d7e-83e1-e3f43bb405b5?referrer=https:%2F%2Fheriotwatt.sharepoint.com%2F
Induction
University Staff Induction process: http://www.hw.ac.uk/hr/i_index.php
CS contacts / functions
To book a room in the NR: email Elaine Hammond: e.hammond@hw.ac.uk
Contact the School Office using: macs-schooloffice@macs.hw.ac.uk
for general inquiries, ordering furniture,etc
Equipment ordering: Steve Mowbray to get a quote, then Derek Davis : D.H.Davis@hw.ac.uk (see procedure below)
Travel/expenses claims: (see procedure below) **Expense claims now go to the school office**
Human Resources (HWU), including performance review (PDR): http://www.hw.ac.uk/hr/
Edit the MACS / CS website: email edit to webupdate@macs.hw.ac.uk
Publishing a Journal Paper / REF/ Open Access
You have to upload to PURE to be REF compliant… “For your publications to be eligible for REF 2020, you must make a PDF of your peer reviewed manuscript available on Pure within 3 months of acceptance”. HWU lead author must do the following:
1. Check journal will be Open Access (OA) compliant with funder here http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/fact/
2. Once paper accepted to the journal check here http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/index.php for publishing conditions
3. Upload a PDF of the allowed version to PURE – within 3 months of acceptance : https://pureapps2.hw.ac.uk/admin/login.xhtml
Robotarium cluster
http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~hv15/robotarium/
Equipment orders
- Please check with your PI first.
- If you want an Apple product, please do get a quote here: https://academia.co.uk/ (You will need to create an account with your HWU email address.
- For everything else please use https://www.uk.insight.com/
- Send the quote to Help Desk Manager <help@macs.hw.ac.uk> and <isadmin@hw.ac.uk>
- Send the quote and a requisition form (see attachments to this page) to your PI and "Spratt, Alasdair" <A.Spratt@hw.ac.uk>
Other suppliers
CPC/Onecall http://cpc.farnell.com/
Parts First http://www.partsfirst.co.uk/
Amazon (proper only) http://www.amazon.co.uk
2. To fill out the equipment ordering form (see attachments to this page: "RequisitionR12")
Business unit = 1340 : Nominal Account = 5310 : Project Activity = R35 (for EC grants) R70 (for DSTL) R20 (for EPSRC)
3. Codes ("Oracle numbers") for the various projects are:
SPRING (Christian and Oliver): RES920574 against business unit 1340.
AMAZON ALEXA: F16AZN01 and F17AZN01 (Verena / Oliver)
AdeptMind (Oliver / Shubham PhD): F16R10504
MUMMER: F14R10261 (Oliver)
DSTL: F13R00114 (Helen)
SpeechCity: F13R10105 (Verena, EPSRC)
GUI: F13R10119 (Verena, EPSRC)
Diligent: F13R10137 (Verena, EPSRC)
Travel and Claiming Expenses
1. Fill out permission form (see attachments), get it signed by project PI, or Head of Dept (if PI is not present).
R35 is the Activity Code for European project -funded travel
2. Fill out risk assessment online at: http://www.hw.ac.uk/insurance/risk-assessment-travel-multi.htm
3. Book travel
4. Claim expenses when you return (see attached form) **Expense claims now go to the office**
*** note - normally you will use the "Projects" tab on the expenses form. However, some expenses are "Non-project" (e.g. Visa fees)
*** note: when you get a receipt (e.g. for a meal) , it needs to not just be a credit card receipt, but also the actual items list.
*** e.g. when in a project meal - you need to get a separate receipt for your personal meal, not just your visa receipt :(
*** Note: the "Nominal" code for Travel & Subsistence is 5815
FULL CODING GUIDANCE DOCUMENT ATTACHED AT THE END OF THIS PAGE.
Computing Set-up Options
How you want to configure your desktop machine is up to you (and your project requirements). The basic options are:
Install a department supported OS; currently either CentOS 5.5 (Linux) or Windows XP
Install your own OS(s) and maintain it/them yourself.
Quick comparison of the two options:
Windows Anti-Virus Framework
MACS provides a McAfee AntiVirus Framework which can be installed on any Windows system. Download the package from http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/av/FramePkg.exe and run it. In Windows Vista (and possibly Windows 7) you'll need to right click and run as administrator. It will download the required software in the background and set up regular updates. NB the security settings in the framework are centrally maintained, you cannot change the settings locally (if you try it looks like they have changed but they change back within minutes) nor can you easily disable the anti-virus software. If you suspect the framework is blocking some port or executable that you need then check with Paul or MACS technical support for details on how to temporarily deactivate the framework without having to complete remove all the anti-virus software. If the framework is found to be blocking some essential service (for example Voxeo Prophecy) an exception can be added for that machine - talk to MACS technical support staff.
Technical Support
Normally you should make a support request by email though you can just pop into Iain's office EM 1.33 for a simple question.
There are two support email addresses, one is for the university helpdesk dealing with
the issues in the university ranges such as the University firewall issues: UICS Helpdesk <ITHelp@hw.ac.uk>
Another one is the MACS helpdesk: help@macs.hw.ac.uk to which we normally send requests.
If you would like to borrow a departmental laptop or projector please read the following guidance http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/internal/projector.htm and then send an email request to: projbookings@macs.hw.ac.uk.
Wireless Network
Eduroam: http://network-help.hw.ac.uk/xpressconnect/
To connect to the iLab wifi email Stewart Murray with the devices Wi-Fi MAC address
stewart.murray@hw.ac.uk
Changing Email Password
If you need to change your email password- don't do it through webmail as that will mess up your other passwords (e.g. Library, pure)
You need to change it here to make sure everything is synched up.
Remote Access
Remote Login
ssh jove.macs.hw.ac.uk
then type your HW username and your linux system password (Note that we have two MACS passwords in the initial setup, one for Linux and one for Windows unless you change them to the same) then you are in your home directory. To iLab space: cd /ilab/data0
Remote Browsing of Internal Web Pages
To access web pages only available internally (to MACS) use "ssh -D 8080 username@jove.macs.hw.ac.uk" and then set up your browser to use a SOCKS proxy which points to localhost port 8080. NB don't forget to change your browser proxy setting back when you've finished. For Firefox you can find a SOCKS proxy under Preferences -> Advanced -> Connection Settings. For Google Chromium use the "--proxy-server" option when launching from the Linux command line, e.g. chromium-browser --proxy-server=socks://localhost:8080.
Using a "Stepping-Stone" to reach an Only-Accessible-Internally Machine
ssh username@jove.macs.hw.ac.uk -N -f -L54322:internally-accessible-machine-url:22 # this sets up a ssh tunnel
using this tunnel you can now ssh to the internal machine --- this creates a 2nd ssh session which is tunnelled via the 1st.
ssh username-on-internally-accessible-machine@localhost -p 54322
and by extension you can use ssh to create a tunnel inside the 1st tunnel to reach a VNC server on the remote machine which is set up to only accept local1 VNC connections
(1this is done for security).
vncviewer -via "username-on-internally-accessible-machine@localhost -p 54322" localhost
NB to get the above command to work on TigerVNC (as commonly installed in Fedora) you need to export the following local variable first
export VNC_VIA_CMD='/usr/bin/ssh -f -L "$L":"$H":"$R" $G sleep 20'
for details of what this means and where it comes from do 'man vncviewer' on Fedora; I've basically stripped the quotes off $G so the port parameter is passed correctly.
If you are using Mac OS X install Sonicwall mobile connect app and then connect to: http://hwvpn.hw.ac.uk
using your HWU user name and passwd.
Accessing P-drive from Mac (for teaching)
On your Mac open a Finder window and press Cmd+K (this brings up the Connect to Server window which can also be accessed through the Go menu).
In the server address box enter
smb://home-server.macs.hw.ac.uk/office
Then click on Connect and use your Windows password for login.
Matlab on non-CentOS machines
To install Matlab on a non-CentOS Linux machine simply copying across the matlab directory /opt/matlab/ (this might work for Apple OS X too). Best to copy it from jove.macs.ac.uk as I've had some strange issues when copying from some machines but jove seems okay.
You need to be connected to the MACS wired network to get a license from the Matlab license server.
Off-Site Access to the Matlab License Server
Modify the license file "/opt/matlab/licenses/network.lic". Change the SERVER reference in the file from "astarte" to "localhost". You don't need to change anything else in that file.
Find the port being used by the license daemon, unfortunately this seems to change, do the following:
[]: ssh some-machine.macs.hw.ac.uk
[]: matlab &
<RETURN>
[]: netstat -t --program 2>/dev/null | grep -i matlab
tcp 0 0 some-machine.macs.hw.ac.uk:51101 astarte.macs.hw.ac.uk:XXXXXX ESTABLISHED 1157/MATLAB
[]: fg
>> exit % to quit the copy of matlab that you started
[]: exit # close ssh connection
Substituting XXXXXX from above, create a tunnel for the required ports from your machine to the Matlab license server, e.g. in Linux type the following the command line:
ssh some-machine.macs.hw.ac.uk -L1727:astarte.macs.hw.ac.uk:1727 -LXXXXXX:astarte.macs.hw.ac.uk:XXXXXX
(The two ports are the Matlab server port 1727 and license daemon on port XXXXXX.)
Letter styles
- Latex iLab Letter : template, logo, style file : ilab-letter.zip
- Word template
Printing posters
Poster prices (correct on 1/9/2011):
A0 Poster photosatin £30.45
A1 poster photosatin £19.95
A2 poster photosatin £15.75
A0 lamination (matt or gloss) £10.50
A1 lamination (matt or gloss) £7.35
A2 lamination (matt or gloss) £5.25
There is also a setup charge of £9.45 per order (not necessarily per poster), and poster tubes cost £3 or £5 depending on size.
Posters are normally submitted as Powerpoint files or PDFs but they can accept other formats (check first). Turnaround is normally 2 working days.
They trim to the edge of the printed area so there's no need to leave a border unless you want one. They do suggest ensuring that you don’t place any important content too close to the edges of the poster.
Contact Calum Wilson at Media Services to place your order and copy in Sandra McArthur - s.m.mcarthur@hw.ac.uk.
Example: email to c.c.wilson@hw.ac.uk with your poster file attached, with info such as:
Entity: 01
Business Unit: 1340
Cost Centre: 4101
Nominal Acct: 6210
Project Name: PARLANCE
Project Code: F11R00021
Activity: R35
HWU branded slides
Template available here'
Staff / Library Card
To get a combined staff / library card individuals need to go along to the library. The card will be printed with your picture and School details.
Ordering a book from the library. Go here
http://www.hw.ac.uk/is/suggest-a-book.htm
Promotions
Promotion deadlines are in March, but the HoS needs your documents weeks in advance to prepare your case well, so please give us plenty of notice if you want to go up a grade. The Human Resources forms are all at: http://www.hw.ac.uk/hr/p_promotion.php
Description of the Research Grades structure (2010) is attached below.
Marking student projects
Download mark sheets at http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/macshome/cslocal.htm
Aliases and Mailing Groups
http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/cs/localinfo/facil/aliases.htm
The document on the central mailing lists (incl. per-year) is here (also available on the Wiki under HaWo links):
https://intranet.hw.ac.uk/ps/is/Document%20Library/Virtual%20Mailing%20List%20Manager%20(VMLM).pdf
In short, use an email address like this to reach all students: course-F21SC-S1-1ED@list-serve.hw.ac.uk
where F21SC is the course code S1 stands for semester 1 1ED stands for Edinburgh campus (1DU for dubai)
To reach all students on the CS programme F291-COS, for Edi campus and year 2 use: F291-COS-F2-1ED-1-U@list-serve.hw.ac
Staff availability
http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/internal/MACS%20away%20from%20school.htm
REF Conference list ranking
http://core.edu.au/cms/images/downloads/conference/08sort%20acronymERA2010_conference_list.pdf
Room Booking (updated Jan 2023)
2023: To book a room in the NR: email Elaine Hammond: e.hammond@hw.ac.uk
Other rooms: https://scientia-rb-hwu.azurewebsites.net/
Setting up Printing from a Mac
Ian needs to register the laptop with its account name for the printing to work.
Apple-> system preferences->print & fax
Add printer
Protocol: IPP
Address; cups-server-1.macs.hw.ac.uk:631
Queue: printers/cps1152
Name: cps1152
Print Using:-->select printer software--> HP Laserjet 4050 series (will vary depending on printer)
Click Add
Check Trays (e.g. Tray 3 for ps1152)- check if duplex
OK
Timesheets
We now have to do our own timesheets for EC projects -- but only if you are less than 100% - check with OL fora template / examples.
Meetings Website and Internal CS website
http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/internal/MACS_Meetings.htm
http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/macshome/cslocal.htm
Past papers website
http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/cs/localinfo/pastpapers/index.htm
Ethics form:
http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/internal/forms/research_ethics_form.pdf
To be completed prior to experiments with human subjects. Word doc attached.
Pure:
http://pureapps2.hw.ac.uk/admin/login.xhtml
Seminars
to arrange seminars. Go to Jamie's webpage and fill out the form there and email it to him.
http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/~gabbay/
Less than 2 weeks notice and teas/coffees aren't guaranteed I've been told.
Booking lunch at the Business School Bistro
Call 451 3963 or email: bistro@ebs.hw.ac.uk
Leaving MACS
Make sure you have completed a "leavers form" and a "exit interview questionnaire" available here.