Mobile working

User accoount is the pivotal point around numerous services that are necessary for mobile work. Examples of this are:

• Email - A personal university email address and associated tools such as calendar, notes and tasks.
• Telephone (for employees only) - A work telephone number together with a work telephone or alternatively as a softphone on the notebook.
• Web conference - A personal access for the use of web conferences, short messages and telephony (softphone).
• Certificate - A personal certificate for the use of services such as university dial-in and wireless network.
• Data storage - A personal data storage and group drives as a storage location for data.
• CampusCard (KISOWL) - Application for the CampusCard KISOWL as a personal means of payment and identification at the university. means of payment and identification at the university
• Software - Access to numerous software offers of the university (MS Windows, MS Office, Adobe, etc.).
• Digital teaching - access to the university's learning and examination platforms as well as other digital tools in the context of teaching and learning.
• Library services - access to extensive analogue and digital library services (eBooks, loans, etc.)
• Time recording - access to the time recording system as a basis for mobile working
• Self-service - administration of personal data such as password, room number, academic title, etc.

You can find out how to procure and use the listed services in the context of mobile working in this documentation. In addition, you will find separate documentation for all the services listed in the S(kim)-documentation system . If you do not know your personal university user access (user name & password), please contact S(kim) using the contact addresses (telephone & e-mail) listed at the bottom of this page. You will also find detailed information on applying for, activating and other options with your user access as well as the associated services in the Useraccount documentation.

Your user account gives you the option of generating an eduroam certificate, which you need to access numerous S(kim) services. The following list tells you which services you need the certificate for, how to get it and how to set it up in the operating system and web browser:

• The university certificate (eduroam) - generation, procurement and further information about the eduroam certificate.
• University dial-in (VPN)- Secure dial-in to the university network from mobile work locations away from the university when travelling or working from home. 
• The wireless network (eduroam) - use of the eduroam wireless network at all locations and across all universities and colleges.
• The student portal (HIS) - Secure login with the help of the eduroam certificate in the web browser on the student and examination portal around the topics of exam registration, exam results, study documents (BAföG).

The university dial-in (VPN) from the Internet (home office, business trip, etc.) enables students and employees to securely access resources that are protected in the university network. Such resources are, for example:

• Network drives in the departments or administration
• User portals such as student administration, websites, financial software, etc.
• Access to special electronic offers of the library

Internet access is required for university dialling-in via VPN; all other components (VPN client, VPN configuration file, university certificate) can then be obtained via download. You can find out how to set up university dialling-in via VPN for your end device in the documentation on university dialling-in.

Mobile work at all locations of the university as well as at the Herford campus requires a secure and nationwide radio network. This is available to all students and staff of the university via the radio network eduroam.

Similar to the VPN connection, access via the wireless network also serves to authenticate when accessing certain university resources. Examples include:

• Network drives in the departments or administration
• User portals such as student administration, websites, financial software, etc.
• Access to special libraries of libraries

Alternative wireless networks (e.g. Conference&Guests) or the use of your own access, e.g. via LTE, is therefore not necessary at any location. You can also access the wireless network via eduroam at many other universities in Europe. You can find out how to set up the wireless network for your end device in the wireless network (WLAN) documentation. 

Your working time is recorded digitally, so it can also be recorded when you are working outside the office. However, it is important in this context that the device you use to access the mobile time recording website is dialled into the university network. The following options are available:

• University network (cable) - You are located at a university site and are connected to the university network via your landline at your workplace or from another computer (e.g. computer room or similar).
• Wireless network (eduroam) - You are located at a university site  and are connected to the university network via the eduroam wireless network.
• University dial-in (VPN) - You are connected to the university network from your home office or another location (train, hotel, etc.) via the university dial-in (VPN).

Detailed instructions on mobile time recording can be found in the documentation area of the S(kim). Please note that the S(kim) only provides the network. If you have any questions about calculations or times, please contact Department III.

Digital time recording website

Danger - Operating systems (MS Windows, Apple macOS, etc.) and application software (MS Office, Adobe Photoshop, etc.) are often afflicted with programming errors, which on the one hand cause incorrect behaviour, but on the other hand also result in security gaps. Security vulnerabilities in particular allow attackers to disrupt the use of your work device, destroy your data stored on the work device or gain access to your work device.

Measure - Against this background, the manufacturers of operating systems and other software products are constantly providing updates, hotfixes and security patches that continuously improve stability and security. Regular information about new updates and the use of the latest software products is therefore part of the responsibilities of a computer system user for reasons of stability and security.

Task - Check your implement with the following questions and contact the addresses listed below if you need to make improvements:

• Question 1: Is your operating system up to date and do you regularly apply the security patches provided by the manufacturer?
• Question 2: Is your software up to date and do you follow the manufacturers' update processes?

Evaluation: If you answer one or even both of the above questions with "No", there is a need for action.

• Where do you stand? - Find out about the current status of the operating system/software versions
• What does the S(kim) say? - Are there any recommendations on the use and application of products?
• In the department - If necessary, contact your IT staff in the department
• Support at S(kim) - You are also welcome to contact S(kim) in person at the service points or via the contact addresses listed at the bottom of this page.

Good to know: The operating systems and software installed on the administration, IWD and S(kim) systems are automatically kept up-to-date by the S(kim).

Danger - Unattended work devices offer unprotected access to the available data to third parties. Strangers can be employees of the university but also external persons. Especially in the context of mobile, location-independent working, the risk of unauthorised persons accessing your data increases enormously (office, lecture theatre, conference room, canteen, conferences, train journey, home office, etc.).

Measure - Prevent strangers from having the opportunity to gain access to your work equipment without your presence. These access safeguards concern two areas:

1. The switched-off work device - Make sure that a login (user name & password) is required when starting your work device (booting). A boot process that starts your operating system without authentication and opens up all possibilities (data access, e-mail, etc.) is very convenient but also a major security gap.
2. The unattended work device - Make sure that your work device is locked with a gesture (mouse at the bottom right) or after a short period of inactivity (e.g. five minutes). Otherwise, even being distracted for a short time, going to the toilet or taking a lunch break can be very dangerous.

• Good to know - Current work devices already have advanced authentication options such as fingerprint or facial recognition. These login methods are intended for precisely these two scenarios, among others, and are very low barrier in everyday life compared to the keyboard entry of access data.

Task - Check your implement with the following questions and contact the addresses listed below if you need to make improvements:

• Question 1: Are you prompted to log in (user name & password) when you start your work device?
• Question 2: Have you activated a screen/keyboard lock that can be activated by you or takes effect after a short period of inactivity?

Evaluation: If you answer one or even both of the above questions with "No", there is a need for action.

• Where are you? - Find out about the options for logging into the operating system and screen protection
• What does the S(kim) say? - Are there any recommendations on the use and application of products?
• In the department - Contact your IT staff in the department if necessary
• Support at S(kim) - You are also welcome to contact S(kim) in person at the service points or via the contact addresses listed at the bottom of this page.

Good to know: The operating systems and software installed on the administration, IWD and S(kim) systems are automatically kept up to date by the S(kim). This also includes security, i.e. a login password and a screen lock.

Further sources and help

• Windows login options and account protection (Microsoft)
• Mac: How to lock the screen (tips+tricks)

Danger - Not only on a train journey, but also in other places such as conference rooms, lecture theatres or in the home office, there is a risk of strangers gaining access to sensitive data on the display of your work device. Depending on the font size and colour contrasts, details can also be easily read from the immediate vicinity (e-mails, text messages, etc.) and even photographed in an exceptional case.

Measure - Prevent people from looking over your shoulder. When positioning your work equipment, consider where such glances could come from. Create further barriers by using privacy screens such as jackets or bags. It is also possible to use privacy films, especially when travelling on business (by train, plane, etc.). These adhesive films for your display reduce the viewing angle to your near field and only allow content to be recognised from close up.

Task - Check your implement with the following questions and contact the addresses listed below if you need to make improvements:

• Question 1: Do you have a sense of potential exposure in public spaces and do you reduce this risk through display size (recognisability), jackets and bags if necessary?
• Question 2: Do you have a privacy film that restricts your display to a near field?

Evaluation: If you answer one or even both of the above questions with "No", there is a need for action.

• Where do you stand? - Find out about the possibilities of privacy screens (e.g. film) and consider this aspect and measures against it in busy public spaces (canteen, train, etc.) from now on
• What does the S(kim) say? - Are there any recommendations on the use and application of products?
• In the department - If necessary, contact your IT staff in the department
• Support at S(kim) - You are also welcome to contact S(kim) in person at the service points or via the contact addresses listed at the bottom of this page.

Good to know: S(kim) likes to source protective films and inform you about the different products for your work equipment.

Danger - It can happen that work equipment (computer, smartphone, tablet) is lost, especially when travelling. Be it through theft or by leaving it lying around/forgetting it in the lecture theatre, meeting room, train, hotel or other fleeting (transit) locations. Of course, in such a case, the work device is provided with a password that controls the login to the operating system. However, by removing the hard drive (memory), all existing data can then be easily read from another device.

Measure - For precisely this loss, it is important that not only access to the work device (computer, operating system) is secured with a password, but also that the hard drive with the data it contains is fully encrypted. An encrypted hard drive then only allows access via a login to the work device. But not to the removed hard drive.

 Good to know

• External devices - This topic relates to active work devices (notebooks, smartphones, tablets) as well as mobile data carriers such as USB sticks or mobile/external hard drives.
• MS Windows & Apple macOS - Current operating systems offer the option of encrypting the internal hard drive as well as external devices. In MS Windows this is done in the Control Panel with BitLocker and in Apple macOS the topic can be found in the system settings under "Security & Privacy" FileVault.
• Password - A basic component of hard disk encryption is always a password. If this password is lost, the encrypted content can no longer be accessed.

Task - Check your implement with the following questions and contact the addresses listed below if you need to make improvements:

• Question 1: Is the data storage on your work device (hard drive) encrypted?
• Question 2: Are other storage media you use also encrypted?

Evaluation: If you answer one or even both of the above questions with "No", there is a need for action.

• Where do you stand? - Find out about the options for encrypting your work device and storage media
• What does the S(kim) say? - Are there any recommendations on the use and application of products?
• In the department - If necessary, contact your IT staff in the department
• Support at S(kim) - You are also welcome to contact S(kim) in person at the service points or via the contact addresses listed at the bottom of this page.

Good to know: The administration, IWD and S(kim) work devices supplied by the S(kim) are encrypted with BitLocker and set up for employees. The corresponding passwords are held by the S(kim).

Danger - When sharing your workstation (desktop) in digital conferences/lectures, e.g. with Cisco Webex, not only the desired programmes (e.g. web browser and MS OneNote) are shared, but also other non-topic-relevant programmes or insights by switching programmes (Alt+Tab or similar), depending on the procedure. Information from the operating system's notification system is also briefly displayed. For example, the receipt of a new e-mail with disclosure of the sender, subject and first lines. Other participants in the conference/lecture may therefore gain a great deal of insight into content not intended for them and, depending on their talent, may also have the opportunity to save it with the help of a screenshot (quick hotkey).

• Good to know: The disclosure of e-mail correspondence to third parties is a data protection violation!

Action - Never share the entire workstation (desktop) in web conferences/lectures, even if this makes it very convenient to switch between the required programmes. It is better to plan your use in the conference by considering which programmes you need. At the start of the conference, you can then release these individually and then switch between them.

Task - Check your approach in web conferences/lectures with the following questions and contact the addresses listed below if you need to make improvements:

• Question 1: Do you plan your web conferences/lectures and only release the content that is actually needed?
• Question 2: I am aware that sharing the entire workstation (desktop) can cause a data breach.

Evaluation: If you answer one or even both of the above questions with "No", there is a need for action.

• Where do you stand? - Find out about the current status of the release options
• What does the S(kim) say? - Are there any recommendations on the use and application of products?
• In the department - If necessary, contact your IT staff in the department
• Support at S(kim) - You are also welcome to contact S(kim) in person at the service points or via the contact addresses listed at the bottom of this page.

Good to know: For video conferencing in general, see the Cisco Webex documentation Cisco Webex

Danger - Operating systems (MS Windows, Apple macOS, etc.) and application software (MS Office, Adobe Photoshop, etc.) are often afflicted with programming errors, which on the one hand cause misbehaviour, but on the other hand also result in security vulnerabilities. This point, which has already been dealt with in the operating system & software updates section, namely keeping the working device (operating system & software) up to date, is extremely important, but not sufficient. Updates for security vulnerabilities are always delayed. Between the emergence of security vulnerabilities and their rectification by an update, there is an opportunity to exploit these gaps. There are also other dangers that can be introduced through e-mail correspondence or other applications.

Measure - In addition to an up-to-date working device, the use of virus protection software is absolutely essential. This software recognises patterns and behaviour that indicate attacks or other dangers and isolates these areas from the system at an early stage and informs you about them. Anti-virus software also requires regular updates to protect against the latest attack methods.

Task - Check your implement with the following questions and contact the addresses listed below if you need to make improvements:

• Question 1: Is your work device protected by anti-virus software?
• Question 2: Do you update the virus protection software regularly or automatically?

Evaluation: If you answer one or even both of the above questions with "No", there is a need for action.

• Where do you stand? - Find out about the current status of virus protection software
• What does the S(kim) say? - Are there any recommendations on the use and application of products?
• In the department - If necessary, contact your IT staff in the department
• Support at S(kim) - You are also welcome to contact S(kim) in person at the service points or via the contact addresses listed at the bottom of this page.

Good to know:

• The administration, IWD and S(kim) work devices supplied by the S(kim) are equipped with virus protection software. This software is automatically updated by the S(kim).
• This software is also available to the departments and the departmental workstations can also be connected to the S(kim) virus protection server for automated updates.
• It is also possible to use virus protection software for the private computers of university employees. Further information on this can be found in the IT security documentation

With MS Exchange, the S(kim) provides all employees and students with a basic tool for digital communication. The offer includes the following components for communication, time management, documentation and controlling:

• Email - The main component of the offer for asynchronous exchange based on personal email addresses but also mailing lists, functional mailboxes and out-of-office notifications.
• Calendar - Coordination and planning of appointments and events with the calendar. An important tool in the context of time management.
• Notes - short messages or transcripts from meetings, conferences or lectures.
• Tasks - points or emails sent for resubmission after a certain period of time provide an overview.

Below you will find further information on MS Exchange and additional references:

• Desktop management - On the workstations of the administration, the IWD and the S(kim), all of the above four components are automatically provided to each employee by the S(kim) with the MS Outlook client software.
• Self-installation - Employees from the specialist departments can also access MS Exchange using MS Outlook or alternative e-mail clients. However, this is not administered by S(kim), but must be configured by the department itself. Access data and instructions for this can be found in the e-mail account documentation.
• Mobile devices - In addition to the personal notebook, access can also be set up for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. The necessary instructions can also be found in the e-mail account documentation.
• Compatibility - Not all email clients support the four options presented above (email, calendar, notes, tasks).
• Training - S(kim) offers regular training courses for the holistic use of MS Outlook. Details can be found on the S(kim) training website.

The Cisco Webex software provides you with a powerful communication tool in the context of mobile working. You can collaborate with other employees and students via web conferencing or telephony, regardless of location but at the same time (synchronously). Webex also includes a chat function that enables further dialogue (asynchronous).

You can find out how to work with Cisco Webex, which function you can use for what and much more in our Cisco Webex documentation.

Mobile working often requires several people to work on a document at different locations at the same time. Each employee automatically receives a personal network drive for this purpose, from which documents can be shared with other employees. In addition, S(kim) offers the option of setting up a network drive for different user groups, for example an organisational unit, to which all members of this unit have access.

Save sparingly: This does not mean that you rarely save your work progress, but that you really only save documents in one place accessible to everyone else. This saves valuable storage space and prevents you from working with different versions of a document in your unit.

Further information on suitable storage space for mobile working can be found in the Sync&Share documentation.

The MindManager mind map software helps you to visualise complex relationships or new creative approaches in your day-to-day work. To do this, you often first record all the important points (brainstorming) and write them down so as not to forget any aspect. In the next step, the software helps you to form/structure these collected points by sub-totalling them into thematic clusters.

In addition to this brainstorming method for synchronous/asynchronous individual and group work, the software includes other functionalities such as data visualisation (organisation chart, process maps, etc.) as well as forms of presentation familiar from project management such as the GANTT diagram, project timelines, budget planning and more.

Further information on the software, such as procurement and instructions, can be found in the "Software for employees" section of thehardware/software/framework agreements documentation. 

Stay up to date regardless of where you work with fast communication channels. With the help of news and calendar entries, the administration, departments, IWD and the S(kim) provide a great deal of information on the websites. You can easily access this news via feeds (RSS). In addition, there are subscriptions (iCal) for your calendar so you don’t miss any events, announcements or appointments. Here are some addresses from S(kim):

• News - On the internet pages of the S(kim) you will find our news. You can have them filtered according to your interests (IT, Teaching & Learning, Library, etc. ).
• RSS-Feed - In the menu under Quicklinks you will find the RSS-reference of the S(kim). You have to configure these for your device with the help of an RSS app and you will receive all S(kim) news without visiting our website.
• Calendar subscription - If you subscribe to the S(kim) calendar in the calendar app of your device, you will see all appointments (safety information, maintenance, opening hours, etc. ) displayed there. Comparable to the NRW holidays or the lunar phases. You can also get our calendar subscription via the menu under Quicklinks as a calendar icon.

For more information about news, events, RSS feeds and calendar subscriptions, follow the links below:

• The S(kim) news system
• The S(kim) calendar
• The documentation RSS feeds with all RSS feeds of the university
• The documentation Calendar subscription

The library operated by the S(kim) at all locations is much more than a "book transfer station". It is a place of encounter which invites to linger, research and mobile work. For example, if you are active at another location of the university, you will always find a (individual) workstation in the library as well as cosy public research areas.

The library also offers conference rooms with modern equipment for groups or teams, so that hybrid meetings are also possible. In addition, whiteboards, chic and ergonomically good furniture are available, which make even long stays pleasant. In this way, a change of wallpaper, i. e. mobile working at the library’s workstations, also creates a different angle of view than in the familiar environment.

Feel free to contact us using the contact addresses listed at the bottom of this page for our job offers related to research, conferences and individual work. We will be happy to explain the possibilities and functions of the rooms and equipment.

The eCampus learning platform (ILIAS) provides students and staff with a protected place for mutual exchange beyond face-to-face events in seminar rooms and lecture theatres. Teaching/learning content can be made available in closed learning rooms (ILIAS courses) (e.g. lecture notes, video recordings, etc.). This also works via the learning platform's internal messaging system, which is also linked to the university's e-mail.

Further information on the learning platform can be found in the learning platform eCampus (ILIAS) documentation, which also provides links to further instructions directly in the learning platform.

With Cisco Webex software, you get a digital learning room in the form of web conferencing, which allows you to meet with employees or students from the home office or on business trips.

For more information on web conferencing, see the Cisco Webex documentation.

The university creates jobs at many locations that are available to all university members. These are equipped with docking stations that have a USB-C port and two monitors. Other hardware such as Tatstatur or mice are brought by the users.
For more information on this topic, see our Shared Desk Workplaces documentation.

You will also find helpful approaches to the topic of "travelling abroad on business" in a separate document.

Business trip abroad

IT-Security is also an important topic in the context of "mobile working". The following link will take you directly to our documentation:

IT-Security