Desktop and Device Support

Service Owner: Al Crowley

NIU's Division of Information Technology (DoIT) provides secure, managed and monitored desktop and device support services for departments, classrooms, conference rooms, and technology centers. This support includes:

  • Desktop and laptop support for Windows and MacOS as negotiated and described in a Service Level Agreement.
  • Media equipment installation and support for a full range of classroom, conference room and lab requirements.
  • Remote management and troubleshooting for Windows and Macintosh desktops and laptops.
  • Virtual desktop solution (AnywhereApps) to allow faculty, staff and students access to a large variety of Windows applications.

Software

NIU has obtained licensing for two Adobe products, Adobe Acrobat Pro DC and Adobe Creative Cloud suite.

  • Acrobat Pro DC: Available for all NIU full-time Faculty and Staff
  • Creative Cloud Suite: Limited availability (see below)
    1. Faculty/Staff who previously had a license
    2. Students identified by Course registration due to remote learning needs

Installation notes for Adobe Creative Cloud / Acrobat Pro DC
(may require Admin rights on your computer)

  • Before you begin, make sure to log-out of your Adobe account (gear symbol > log out) and close any active Adobe programs.
  • Failure to log-out before installing the latest version of Adobe may cause account problems.
  • Do not use the Microsoft Edge browser for this process.
  • Adobe provides a free un-installation/cleaner tool.

Instructions for Acrobat Pro DC

  1. Visit Adobe
  2. Login using your NIU credentials
    1. Students: ZID@students.niu.edu
    2. Faculty/Staff: AID@mail.niu.edu
  3. Select “Company or School” for Account type, then enter your password.
  4. Click "Access your apps and services".
  5. Click "Get Acrobate DC Desktop" from upper right.

Instructions for Adobe Creative Cloud

  1. Visit Adobe
  2. Login using your NIU credentials
    1. Students: ZID@students.niu.edu
    2. Faculty/Staff: AID@mail.niu.edu
  3. Select “Company or School” for Account type, then enter your password.
  4. From the Creative Cloud website select the Waffle menu in the top right-hand corner of your browser screen.
  5. From the Waffle menu, click on “Creative Cloud
  6. Click “Get Desktop App.” Download and run the file to install.
  7. A box may pop up that says “Permission may be required;” please just click OK to continue.
  8. Creative Cloud will then begin to install. Please allow this process to finish. You may be required to log in again after the installation process finishes.
  9. Once the Creative Cloud Desktop App has been installed, you can then install ANY of the applications listed.

If you have any problems accessing your licenses, please submit a ticket via our IT portal,  ("Get Help" > "Submit an Incident")

What is Adobe Acrobat Sign

Adobe Acrobat Sign is an electronic signature solution by Adobe. It streamlines the signing process by allowing individuals to electronically sign documents from any location, eliminating the necessity for manual signatures. Equipped with strong security features and compliance with legal standards, Adobe Acrobat Sign guarantees the legitimacy and protection of signed documents. It helps in optimizing document workflows and boosting overall productivity.  

Thoroughly go through the Electronic Signatures page to understand the requirements and use cases in selecting the right solution from available options. After that, if you feel Kuali Build is the right solution for your needs, continue reading through the rest of the information.

What Adobe Acrobat Sign is not used for? 

  • Document storage
  • High risk data or confidential data
  • Refer to important guidelines to be followed below when using Adobe Acrobat Sign for workflows and eSignatures.

Important guidelines in using Adobe Acrobat Sign. 

  • When implementing an electronic signature process, all applicable laws, rules, regulations, and NIU policies and procedures must be followed.
  • Data owners and stewards still has the responsibility of following all the data retention, records maintenance and disposal as required by state.
  • These solutions are only tools available to implement electronic signatures and workflow management and are not to be used as document storage solutions.
  • All applicable data retention and record keeping rules must be followed outside the tool.
  • These tools must not be used for the following types of High-Risk data at this time.
    • Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)
    • Credit Card or Payment Card Industry (PCI) Information
    • Export Controlled Research (ITAR, EAR)
    • Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) Data
    • Personal Health Information (PHI, HIPAA)
    • Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) 

Policies and Compliance

Use of these tools must comply with Illinois law and University policies, including:

Support:

Support for Adobe Acrobat Sign is only available through Adobe’s knowledge base. No internal support team available for form and workflow building.

Join the Teams Community here to share your questions and ideas with other Adobe Acrobat Sign users at NIU.

Basic Tutorials for Users:

More training guides and videos can be found at https://helpx.adobe.com/sign/tutorials.html

Digital Signatures

Digital signatures use a specific type of electronic signature. Not all electronic signatures are digital signatures and may not be required in all cases. Thoroughly go through the Electronic Signatures page to understand the requirements and use cases in selecting the right solution from available options. Digital Signatures use a certificate-based digital ID to authenticate signer identity and demonstrate proof of signing by binding each signature to the document with encryption. Validation is done through trusted certificate authorities (CAs) or trust service providers (TSPs). Additional rules are required to be followed prior to adopting true digital signatures. Specifically, the Illinois Electronic Commerce Security Act provides the Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS) with exclusive authority to specify the policies and procedures for the issuance and use of digital signatures by State Agencies. The Certificate Policy (CP) and the Certification Practices Statement (CPS) are CMS’s written description of the policies and procedures for the issuance and use of digital signatures. Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT), by Legislative directive, is the sole source of digital certificates for State of Illinois agencies, boards, commissions, universities and those who do business with them. Check Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology website for more information on Digital certificates and how to obtain them.

Form Creators: For using Adobe Acrobat Sign to get Digital Signatures from the signers, form creators have to select Digital Signature field in the Signature Fields section of the Authoring environment. Below you can see the e-signature field on the left, and the digital signature field on the right.

Digital Signature Field Image

Signers: For signers who are required to sign any document using Digital Signatures, it is required to obtain a Digital ID first. Digital ID’s are issued by the State of Illinois. Navigate to Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology and select “Get a Digital ID” from the section links on the right hand side of the page.  Follow the on-screen instructions for creating a Digital ID.  To complete the automated ID creation process, the requestor must possess an Illinois Driver’s License.  Non-Illinois residents must complete a form and mail to the State of Illinois CMS department.  This form can be found at the web site listed above. Here is a detailed guide with step-by-step instructions.

After the above step is completed, anytime an Adobe Sign form is received with Digital Signature, it needs to be downloaded and signed using the Digital ID stored in entrust. Here is a detailed guide with step-by-step instructions for this process.

Get Access

Anyone can sign forms created in Adobe Acrobat Sign but for ability to initiate or send forms/contracts for signatures, employees need to request access to Adobe Acrobat Sign permission and agree to all the guidelines one need to follow and support available, before granting access. 

Request Access to Adobe Acrobat Sign

Login to Adobe Acrobat Sign:
  1. Visit Adobe Acrobat Sign
  2. Login using your NIU credentials
    1. Faculty/Staff: AID@mail.niu.edu
  3. Select “Company or School” for Account type, then enter your password.

SPSS Statistics is a software package available to all NIU students for interactive, or batched, statistical analysis. Log-in authentication required for download.

For PC

For MAC

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