Definitions of mail aliases:  

These are mailing lists, please feel free to use them for communication purposes.

cse-consult@cse.buffalo.edu = includes CSE system administrators and technical support staff.  Please, report all concerns about hardware, software, broken equipment, account issues (enabling, disabling, login, quota), etc.

cse-lab-ug@cse.buffalo.edu = includes all lab consultants and the lab manager.  For announcements presumably from lab manager, lab supervisors, system administrators that relate to the consultants only. Also used as a forum among consultants for requesting cover for shifts, timesheet reminders, etc.

cse-lab-admin@cse.buffalo.edu = includes lab administrators and the lab manager.  Used for staff, consultant and instructor concerns about lab functions that are not of a technical nature such as personnel problems, insufficient lab hours, lab rules and procedures, and complaints.

cse-lab-ta@cse.buffalo.edu = includes all TAs (UTAs and grad TAs) in 101-116 for the semester.    For announcements (presumably from the instructors) that relate to TAs only.

cse-lab@cse.buffalo.edu = includes cse-lab-admin, cse-lab-ug and cse-lab-ta.  For materials like this document, that impact everyone involved with the lab.

General Lab Rules and Policies  

• Food or Drink in lab:
  Consultants, TAs, faculty and labbies are responsible for making sure there is no food or drink at any time.  Students should be informed of this by instructors/TAs in the beginning of each semester.  Those students that are found with food or drinks in the lab should be asked politely to remove it.  If a student does not cooperate, their username should be sent to cse-lab-admin@cse.buffalo.edu and proper measures will be taken (temporary deactivation of their account until the student is met and explained the expected CSE department ethics.)  

• Obscene or disrespectful materials on screen:
  Consultants, TAs, faculty and labbies are responsible for making sure there is no viewing of obscene/disrespectful materials in the lab at any time.  Students should be informed of this by instructors/TAs in the beginning of each semester.  Those students that are found guilty of above actions in lab should be asked politely to stop viewing inappropriate material.  If a student does not cooperate, their username should be sent to cse-lab-admin@cse.buffalo.edu and proper measures will be taken (temporary deactivation of their account until the student is met and explained the expected CSE department ethics.)  

• Printing Policy
  Students should not touch printers to refill paper but rather ask the consultants to help them with printing. We will strive to limit the printing to materials related to respective classes only.   

• Nametags and Consultant on Duty sign
  Nametags and "Consultant on Duty" sign should be displayed by the consultant at all times during shift.

• Off-hours and Extended-hours lab use
  Opening the lab earlier then scheduled and closing the lab past scheduled hours is not recommended and the lab manager should be notified in either case.  As far as staying extra hours after closing on days when a project is due for a group of students that is in desperate need of having the lab open - this is allowed and very appreciated. Be sure to notify the lab manager and document the extra hours on the your timesheet.   

• Academic Integrity  
  Please keep in mind that consultants exemplify the department’s academic integrity described under:
  http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/Academic_Integrity.html

• Emergency Situations:
  In case of emergency (student fight, accident, etc.) Campus Police or CSE Office should be contacted.  Phone numbers are in the contacts section of this manual and on the back

Lab Information

• Labs should never be left unattended at any time.  If no one can cover you, the lab has to be closed.  

• All CSE UG labs follow the University Academic calendar with respect to closing.  

• The Schedules for each lab are posted inside glass display cases hanging outside lab doors for students and all others to see.  The info posted with the schedules includes instructions for students on what to do if lab is closed (e.i. go to Bell 101) , URLs for online lab schedules, and who to email with any concerns or suggestions for the labs. 
  If a consultant wants to advertise a tutoring flier inside the display case, contact wcdever@cse.buffalo.edu  

• URL to find links to this document and lab schedules on-line
  http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/uglab  

• Opening the lab:
  Baldy 19 opens with a swipecard and alarm   
  Baldy 21 opens with a swipecard and alarm   

• Punching in/out:
  To document the beginning of your shift punch in using the punch program (See instrctions below).
  Remember to punch out at the end of your shift (or if you’re covering additional hours, punch out when you are leaving)  

• Wear nametags and display ‘Consultant on Duty’ sign on your machine. This will show students who is supervising the lab.  

• Survey the lab for equipment missing or broken and anything out of the ordinary.  Report any technical problems (login problems, equipment, printer) to cse-consult@cse.buffalo.edu  
  For all other concerns and questions email lab manager (wcdever@cse.buffalo.edu)  

• If asked to help students, please use professional and positive attitude. Keep in mind that your are responsible for only basic assistance with CS labs and Unix support.  Use common sense to judge the extent of your help and if students become over demanding, explain your duties are not to complete their work for them and that they should contact the TA or professor.  If the problems persist email the lab manager.  
• A walk through is required at the beginning of every shift.  All equipment should be looked over to ensure there are not any missing items(mice, mouse pads, etc).  If anything is found missing it should be reported immediately.

• Monitoring the lab at all times during the shift is required.  A stroll through the lab once every 15 minutes is recommended to keep the consultant at maximum observance level.  

• When your shift is over, please wait for the next consultant/TA.  Any extra  hours that are covered will be compensated.  If next person does not show, post a message to cse-lab-ug@cse.buffalo.edu stating that “the next consultant is not here and if anyone can cover, please do” in case an available consultant is on campus and can take over. If no one can relieve you , you will be forced to close the lab.  If no one does show up, politely explain the situation to all students and ask them to leave.  Notify cse-lab-admin@cse.buffalo.edu and close the lab.  If possible, put a note on door stating next time lab should be open.  

• To close lab (at the end of the day): Make sure no one is in lab.
  Turn of monitors in Baldy 21 (to keep room temperature cool)
  Baldy 19, 21 –  and shut the door (make sure the latch catches). Check if door is locked.
  Sun Rays and Sun workstations should NEVER be turned off.  CSE-Consult staff will handle this.

• If a consultant can not make his/hers scheduled shift, cse-lab-ug@cse.buffalo.edu should be emailed ASAP so any other available consultants could cover.  

• Consultants should check Borken every Thursday/Friday for posting of schedule for the following week.  

• Post availability changes should be in Borken.  Also email the lab manager immediately.

• Arrive on time for your shift.  If you have to arrive late (or miss a shift completely) post to cse-lab-ug@cse.buffalo.edu or as soon as possible so that a replacement can be found. Missing a shift without informing anyone is unacceptable.  Consultants routinely late will be reevaluated.

Procedures for newly hired consultants

- name

- email

- phone number and address

- status (1st year undergrad, senior, grad, etc)

- student number for card access

- hourly availability for all 7 days of the week

- number of hours you prefer to work a week (CSE Department allows for 20 hrs max, but keep in mind your class work load)

You will need to bring her a [drivers license OR students ID] AND [social security card OR birth certificate].

• Baldy 19 and Baldy 21 labs are equipped with motion detector alarms, which are activated/deactivated with a 4-digit code.   For safety reasons the code in the alarms is re-programmed, occasionally.  This code should obviously be kept only among lab personnel. If the code is changed or forgotten, contact lab manager. Alarm procedure will be used in both Baldy 19 and Baldy 21.

• Steps to De-Activate the Alarm:

After the door is opened with the key, if the alarm was previously activated it will play a long beep (~30 seconds).  If no beep sounds then the alarm was not activated by the previous user – the lab manager and cse-lab-admin@cse.buffalo.edu should be notified about this by email. If the beep does sound, then alarm needs to be deactivated within 30 seconds of entry by dialing the 4-digit code into the keypad. If the code is correct the beep will stop and the led in the center of the keypad will turn green. If wrong code has been entered … re-enter the right code again. 

If alarm sounds accidentally, then try punching in the right code again to disarm it. Next, immediately notify Matt (at 645-3180 x129) and Public Safety (at 2222 from the phone in the lab) about the false alarm to prevent armed navy seals from charging into the building. Tell them who you are, what room you are in and your position as a consultant.  Next e-mail cse-lab-admin@cse.buffalo.edu to report that there was a false alarm in the particular room.

• Steps to Activate the Alarm: After making sure no one is left in the lab, the door has to be fully closed from the inside.  No motion can occur in the lab.  Once both of these conditions are met, the alarm screen should read ‘system ready’

• Punch in the 4-digit code. The alarm should play a beep if the code is correct. The alarm is now armed, the green LED in the middle of the keypad will now turn red and the display will read: "On: Exit NOW."  There is < 30 seconds to leave the lab and close the door completely.
  
  If alarm is armed and door is closed but the lab has to be re-entered again (you forgot something…), wait 1 minute outside, until the alarm enters the armed stage.  Then deactivate the alarm the usual way.

• To use the swipecard access system in Baldy 19 or 21, simply slide the card until the green LED lights up.  Open the door within 10 seconds. The red LED indicates that your card is not accepted.

• To gain access, email lab manager with your username and person  # and UB bank card # (The anatomy of the card can be found at
  http://www.ub-sunycard.buffalo.edu/anatomy.shtml ).  

• Joann Glinski, CSE Budget Secretary, is responsible for the initial paper work that is needed to get you on payroll and for submitting timesheets to payroll and the disbursement of paychecks. 

• Time periods are 2 weeks in length. Time period starts on Saturday and ends on the second Friday following.  Timesheets are due in lab manager’s mailbox (in mailroom, Bell 211 labeled SINGAL) by 3:00pm on last Friday of the time period.  Please fill the timesheets out carefully and completely (with out abbreviating hourly notation; example: write 9:00 instead of 9) to make Joann’s job a little easier.  

• Documenting breaks: If you are working more than 6 consecutive hours, it is necessary according to university policy to document a 30-minute break during your shift. If you forget to do this, the Payroll Office will subtract 30 minutes from the shift without any notice. Ex: Shift is 1-6PM. On the timesheet, it would be recorded as 1-5:30PM, 6-6:30PM  

• Total hours/week limit: According to university policy, F1-students cannot exceed working a total of 20 hours/week anywhere on campus. Citizen-students are allowed to work no more than a total of 40 hours/week on campus, but according to CSE Department policy, working for the department cannot exceed 20 hours/week either.   

• Blank timesheets can be obtained from a bin (labeled “Hourly Timesheets for Labbies/Consultants ”) in the mailroom or from Joann.  

• Timesheets are verified and signed by lab manager and lab supervisor before they are forwarded to Joann.

• Times logs form the punch program are available.  Email the lab manager by Thursday prior to the timesheet due date for your personal record.

• Checks can be picked up every other Friday (opposite of timesheet-due-date Fridays for the previous time period.  Feel free to contact Joann about any payroll questions or paperwork.  Lab manager will usually notify all of the sacred day of paycheck arrival.  

• Periodic monitoring of lab environment (general wellness, cleanliness, student behavior, equipment)  

• Obtaining the recitation schedule from administration and scheduling open lab hours 

•   Posting schedule outside each lab in display cases and on UG Lab website  

•  Helping in hiring new consultants  

• Training new members of consultant team in the lab rules and all lab procedures  

• Planning mandatory meetings for all TAs and Consultants / and weekly meetings with supervisor  

• Advising the consultants with any aspects related to the UG Labs  

• Collecting and signing/verifying timesheets for consultants  

•   Petitioning for raises of consultants hourly rates  

• Communicating to administration  

•   Lab Manager’s official starting workday is the week before classes start  

• To password-lock you computer while you are away from it and providing support to other students, the following command can be used:
  xlock -remote -mode random

• In Baldy 21 there is a printer named ‘oak’ . To print a document, use the Unix print command  lpr –Poak filename.java  where the filename.java is the name of the file to be printed.  Make sure no one prints files with the “.class” extension because that will print pages of garbage.
  Example: lpr –Poak Lab1.java  

• To print more than one page on one sheet use this command mpage –n –Poak filename.java where n is the number of pages that you want to appear on one sheet of paper and filename is the name of file you want to print.
  Example: mpage –2 –Poak Lab1.java