Slack

Related pages

Information for DCOs

Slack is a chat service used by University staff, including Departmental Computing Officers (DCOs) and other key IT related staff across the University.

Staff with Slack accounts have access to general access channels, and to any private channels used by their group or department. Some open channels are used primarily by IT Services and DCOs to discuss IT related issues, for example:

IT Emergency Comms
DCO chat

Note: this service was previously provided using HipChat.

Launch Slack »

Overview
Guidelines
Help & troubleshooting
Our commitments

Overview

Eligibility

Access is available to all staff. Associates can be added on request.

Getting started

Our workspace's Slack URL is uoy.slack.com.

Access to Slack is via your University Google account, so please choose the "Sign in with Google" option when logging in.

Apps

Desktop apps are available to download for Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android:

Mobile apps are available via the App Store, Google Play, or the Microsoft Store.

About channels

Channels are used to organize conversations around certain topics, projects or teams. Team members can join and leave channels as required. Channels may be public or private.

By default, you will automatically be invited into the following public channels:

#announcements - this channel can only be posted in by a Slack admin, and is used for team-wide announcements
#slack-talk - this channel is open to all Slack members to help each other with using Slack

The following public channels are also available for those members who will find them useful:

#it-emergency-comms - this channel is used by IT Services to discuss any emergency situations, and allows you to track their development and resolution
#dco-chat - this channel is a place where DCOs can share knowledge and seek advice from other DCOs

Private (restricted access) channels may be set up which are specific to your department, group, or team.

Further guidance on Slack channels can be found on the Slack wiki:

Logging on and getting started with Slack

Guidelines

IT Emergency Comms

Only use the IT Emergency Comms channel to discuss an emergency situation. The definition of 'emergency' is necessarily loose, but it would normally be a situation which affects a significant number of staff and/or students, or impacts on business-critical services.

Please don't use the channel to ask whether a specific service is running or to report a problem affecting your department: the Library & IT Help Desk should be your first port of call.

To maintain the focus of the channel, discussion is led by members of IT Services. We may ask for specific input from DCOs - for example, updates on how their area is affected.

Discussion within IT Emergency Comms should be treated as confidential unless stated otherwise, and should not be shared.

Be aware that the discussion is often of a diagnostic nature, rather than confirmed facts.

Once the situation has been resolved and communications completed, discussion should move elsewhere.

DCO chat

This channel can be used by DCOs to share knowledge and to seek advice from other DCOs.

Members of IT Services may use the channel, but it shouldn't be used as a way to raise an issue with IT Services.

General

Please be aware that the records of any channel may be subject to a Freedom of Information request - be particularly careful about discussing details relating to individuals.

Help & troubleshooting

We provide more advice on using Slack, including use of mentions and notification settings, on the following wiki pages:

Library & IT Help Desk

If you're having any problems using Slack, get in touch with the Library and IT Help Desk.

Our commitments

Service status	Live and supported service.
Hours of service	24/7
Service support	For help and support with this service, contact the Library and IT Help Desk.
Hours of support	Help from the Library & IT Help Desk is available 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
Target availability	General IT Services targets: Information Services Service Standards
Our performance	Our service standards have been produced in consultation with our customers, and monitor the quality, timeliness and access to facilities and services: Information Services Service Standards
Complaints procedure	If you wish to give us general feedback on this service, please see our Feedback page for ways to get in touch. If you wish to make a complaint, please see our complaints procedure.