New Hire Links and Tools
Welcome to Cochran. Here we have a large workforce of field and in-house employees, all of whom use IT resources regularly. Here are some of the most-used links and tools we have.
Within the company, there are two ways to access your email: Outlook and Exchange Online using Office 365.
If you have been assigned a personal computer, Outlook is already installed on your PC. You can access this by clicking on the Outlook icon in your Start menu or taskbar. Once Outlook is launched, if you receive SPAM or questionable emails, you can report them directly to IT using the Phish Alarm Button in Outlook. It receives alerts for all emails that are flagged.
Instructions for users working at home through the VPN connection:
- Open and enable your Sonicwall NetExtender VPN client and wait for the connection to be completed.
- Enter your username and password.
- Set up the MFA using your phone, if prompted, by scanning the QR Code in the Microsoft Authenticator App.
Note: Not all users are automatically provided with VPN access. If you are experiencing trouble or need this access, please contact the helpdesk.
To Change Your Cochran Password:
- Open a browser and log in to https://account.microsoft.com/
- Enter your Cochran email address.
- Enter the MFA code if prompted.
- On the side, under “My Account,” there should be “Change Password” listed.
- Enter the previous password and the new password.
The password criteria are listed below.
Your new password must meet the following criteria:
- cannot repeat any previous 5 passwords
- must contain at least 12 characters
- must contain characters from 3 of the following character types:
Upper-case characters
Lower-case characters
Numeric characters
Non-alphanumeric characters
- cannot contain your username
- cannot contain any part of your full name
- cannot contain any word from a list of common words
- cannot contain 3 consecutive characters from username or full name.
PC/Laptop Points of Note
To provide a safer and more secure work environment, IT supplies equipment with antivirus software. This is a failsafe for our users that should stop most of the accidental malicious content from permeating our systems.
We do need our employees to be alert, aware, and cautious with the use of all electronic equipment that connects to our network.
Some tips include using strong passwords, verifying update sources before installing them, and scrutinizing emails before clicking on any link or opening attachments. Contact IT if you notice any unusual messages or activity occurring on your computing equipment.
Work Related Data
Saving your important data onto the C: drive of your computer is not part of our corporate backup strategy; if requested,
IT can create a personal, secure location on our “Users” network drive to store any critical data that falls outside the scope of your normal team network data stores. This will ensure that your work is always saved and available to you in the event of failure.
Cochran OneDrive
When you sign into the computer, you should get signed into OneDrive, which backs up data located on your computer, but not everything is automatically selected. What is backed up when signed into OneDrive?
Desktop
Documents
Pictures
Opening an IT Ticket:
To effectively manage the needs of a large and diverse user base, all requests for assistance need to be cataloged in our ticketing system. This is as easy as sending an email to Helpdesk@cochraninc.com; the subject line needs to contain a brief description of the problem, and the body needs to provide a more robust description of the problem.
It is helpful to include what steps you have already taken to attempt a resolution, when it started, and what correlated event led to the problem. Department or job codes are necessary if costs are associated with the request, the best way/time for IT to reach you, and, in some cases, the GF/PM/Manager/Director tied to the job for approval requests.
For example:
As you can see, the user here gives a brief description in the title, which sums up the entirety of the ticket and lets us know exactly who the ticket is for. This shows up for IT as the following:
Corporate
Some of Cochran’s external-facing webpages are:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/136793
https://www.facebook.com/Cochraninc
Corporate Device Policies
The employee handbook contains guidelines and policies that you signed when you accepted employment.
A copy of the employee handbook can be found on the intranet, with specific references to IT-administered equipment on pages ~20-24:
Thank you for taking the time to look through this document.
IT staff are available via phone and are happy to take your calls most hours of the day.
IT Helpdesk line: 206-368-3185
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