AAF Scripts and Protocols
For Service Desks to assist with end-user
queries
FEBRUARY, 2013
COMPILED BY AUSTRALIAN ACCESS FEDERATION (AAF)
Federated Service Usage 2011
Table of Contents
1. Background ............................................................................................. 2
2. AAF contact details ................................................................................. 2
3. Your own organisation’s contact details............................................... 2
4. Service Provider contact details (authorisation) .................................. 2
5. Identity Provider contact details (authentication) ................................ 2
6. AeRO member contact details ............................................................... 3
7. Support hours and response times ....................................................... 3
8. Escalation protocol ................................................................................. 4
8.1. Escalation protocol ........................................................................................ 4
8.2. Implementation of escalation protocol internally.......................................... 5
8.3. Escalation protocol – participants ................................................................. 5
8.4. Escalation protocol – incident template ........................................................ 6
8.5. Escalation protocol – resolution template .................................................... 6
9. User scripts and procedures .................................................................. 7
9.1. What is the Australian Access Federation (AAF)? ........................................ 7
9.2. What is the AAF Virtual Home? .................................................................... 7
9.3. What services are connected to the AAF? ................................................... 7
9.4. I have another issue or query not listed........................................................ 7
9.5. Who should I contact if I have issues? ........................................................... 7
9.6. I can’t access a service – is it down or unavailable? ...................................... 8
9.7. What is an “AAF” or “Shibboleth" login? ...................................................... 8
9.8. What are the contact details for my local Service Desk? ............................. 8
9.9. What is the Virtual Home Organisation (VHO) or AAF Virtual Home? ..... 8
9.10. How do I log out? .......................................................................................... 8
9.11. What is my username or password for AAF-connected services? ............... 8
9.12. How do I change my password? .................................................................... 9
9.13. My username and password is incorrect and I cannot log in ........................ 9
9.14. My home institution or organisation (Identity Provider (IdP)) does not
appear in the drop down list ......................................................................... 9
9.15. I have moved/switched Institutions or organisations and want to access my
existing datasets and storage......................................................................... 9
9.16. How do I add services to the AAF? .............................................................. 9
9.17. How do I set up my Identity Provider (IdP)?............................................... 10
9.18. How do I add users to the Virtual Home Registry (VHR)? ........................ 10
9.19. I need technical assistance connecting to the AAF ..................................... 10
9.20. We are upgrading or performing maintenance on a Service – who should
we notify?..................................................................................................... 10
9.21. What payment methods do you accept for payment of invoices? .............. 10
9.22. I have specific questions relating to the data of a particular Service .......... 10
9.23. How long does it take to be approved as a Service Provider? ................... 11
9.24. I’m collaborating with an institution - how do I get access to the AAF? .... 11
1. Background
The user support strategy, supported by the Council of Australian University Directors of
Information Technology (CAUDIT) members, is to improve user self-support and increase
the knowledge and level of eResearch support at the Institutional Tier 1 level.
2. AAF contact details
AAF email address: support@aaf.edu.au, AAF phone number: (07) 3138 1233
AAF website: www.aaf.edu.au, AAF Knowledge Base: http://support.aaf.edu.au/home
3. Your own organisation’s contact details
Please fill out the name, email address and phone number of your contact for your records
and escalation path. It is best to keep these details as generic as possible. If there are
additional contacts, please add them here.
Identity Provider (IdP) administrator #1:
Service Provider (SP) administrator #1:
Service Provider (SP) administrator #2:
Research Support group:
4. Service Provider contact details (authorisation)
The Service Provider contact details can be found in the following Knowledge Base article:
http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22570776-contact-details-of-aaf-connected-serviceproviders
5. Identity Provider contact details
(authentication)
The Identity Provider contact details can be found in the following Knowledge Base article:
http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22585247-contact-details-of-identity-provider-idporganisations-and-institutions
© Australian Access Federation Inc.
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6. AeRO member contact details
Australian eResearch Organisations (AeRO) are the state-based organisations who
understand eResearch tools, services and researcher needs.
New South Wales:
Intersect
http://www.intersect.org.au/
support@intersect.org.au
http://www.qcif.edu.au/
rcc-support@uq.edu.au
http://www.ersa.edu.au/
servicedesk@ersa.edu.au
http://www.tpac.org.au/
info@tpac.org.au
VeRSI
http://versi.edu.au/
info@versi.edu.au
VPAC
http://www.vpac.org/
info@vpac.org
http://www.ivec.org/
help@ivec.org
Queensland:
QCIF
South Australia
eRSA
Tasmania:
TPAC
Victoria:
Western Australia
iVEC
7. Support hours and response times
All organisations provide support within business hours and will aim to respond as soon as
possible.
© Australian Access Federation Inc.
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8. Escalation protocol
8.1.
Escalation protocol
As a general rule, resolving all incidents at the local help desk (T1 level) is desirable. The
escalation diagram is to be followed for all issues that are unable to be resolved
at this Tier. (A larger version can be found here: www.aaf.edu.au/support-framework.)
© Australian Access Federation Inc.
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8.2.
Implementation of escalation protocol internally
As the internal organisational structure differs between institutions, the implementation of
the escalation protocol has been designed to fit into both centralised and decentralised
structures.
A centralised structure operates with a central Service Desk as the first port of call for
issues. A decentralised structure operates with a number of different Service Desks (e.g. one
in each of the faculties) who typically deal with incidents within that area.
The implementation of the escalation protocol should see the centralised Service Desk or
decentralised Service Desks relating to eResearch take on the “Tier 1 Institutional Service
Desk” role.
8.3.
Escalation protocol – participants
Below is an explanation of each participant’s role within the escalation protocol:
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Tier 0 User: the end user or researcher who may raise the incident.
Tier 1 Institution Service Desk: first tier of institutional support who will search
the AAF Knowledge Base for incident resolution, otherwise will escalate to the next
level of support as per the escalation protocol.
Tier 2 Institution Research Support: second tier of institutional support who
understand research within the institution. Contact details should be available
internally.
Tier 2 AeRO Research Consultant: second tier of support provided by the
state-based AeRO members who can answer generally about tools and services,
otherwise will escalate to the relevant participant. AeRO contact details are in
Section 6 of this document.
Tier 3 Institutional: the technical team within an institution who will provide the
technical support prior to referring the incident outside of the institution. Contact
details are available in section 5 of this document.
Tier 3 Service Provider AAF: AAF can provide technical support from a
federated perspective and referral to other Tier 3 support. Service Provider contact
details are in Section 4 of this document.
Tier 3 Identity Provider Other: the technical team who administer and manage
identities and user access within the Identity Provider. This is typically the same
team as “Tier 3 Institutional”. Contact details are available in section 5 of this
document.
Tier 3 Service Provider Other: Service Providers are responsible for connecting
the Service to the AAF as well as operational support. Service Provider contact
details are in Section 4 of this document.
© Australian Access Federation Inc.
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8.4.
Escalation protocol – incident template
When escalating issues, the following method is to be followed:
1. Complete the information below, at a minimum. This is the Incident template:
Issue:
Priority:
Reference #:
Time and Date:
User Contact Name:
User Contact Phone Number:
User Contact Email Address:
Additional Details:
2. Copy email address of relevant escalation contact from Section 2-6.
3. Send the incident information to the relevant contact.
Note: The preferred method is via email or using your existing incident
management system to send an “external assignment”, however in some cases the
only method available is via the ‘contact form’ available on the website URL
provided.
8.5.
Escalation protocol – resolution template
When resolving issues, the following method is to be followed:
1. Complete the information below. This is the Incident Resolution template:
Issue:
Resolution:
Reference #:
Time and Date:
User Contact Name:
User Contact Phone Number:
User Contact Email Address:
Additional Details:
2. Copy email address of user from initial incident report
3. Send the incident report via email or use your existing incident management system
to send an “external assignment”
© Australian Access Federation Inc.
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9. User scripts and procedures
This is not a complete list of FAQs. These are the most common user-queries.
All Knowledge Base articles/FAQs can be found here:
http://support.aaf.edu.au/home
9.1.
What is the Australian Access Federation (AAF)?
Audience: All
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22522432-what-is-the-australian-accessfederation-aaf
9.2.
What is the AAF Virtual Home?
Audience: End user, Researcher
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22522442-what-is-the-aaf-virtual-home
9.3.
What services are connected to the AAF?
Audience: End user, Researcher
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22538227-what-services-are-connected-to-theaaf
9.4.
I have another issue or query not listed
Audience: All users
Response:
Choose a few keywords from your issue or query and search the AAF Knowledge Base
here:
http://support.aaf.edu.au/home
If you still cannot find the answer, please refer to section 4 in this document
9.5.
Who should I contact if I have issues?
Audience: All users
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22538237-who-should-i-contact-if-i-have-issues
© Australian Access Federation Inc.
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9.6.
I can’t access a service – is it down or unavailable?
Audience: End user, Researcher
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22539866-i-can-t-access-a-service-is-it-down-orunavailable
9.7.
What is an “AAF” or “Shibboleth" login?
Audience: End User, Researcher
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22522452-what-is-an-aaf-or-shibboleth-login
9.8.
What are the contact details for my local Service
Desk?
Audience: All users
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22519381-what-are-the-contact-details-for-mylocal-service-desk
9.9.
What is the Virtual Home Organisation (VHO) or
AAF Virtual Home?
Audience: All users
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22550198-what-is-the-virtual-home-organisationvho-or-aaf-virtual-home
9.10.
How do I log out?
Audience: All users
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22519401-how-do-i-log-out
9.11. What is my username or password for AAFconnected services?
Audience: End user, Researcher
© Australian Access Federation Inc.
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Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22539976-what-is-my-username-or-passwordfor-aaf-connected-services
9.12.
How do I change my password?
Audience: End user, Researcher
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22539333-how-do-i-change-my-password
9.13. My username and password is incorrect and I
cannot log in
Audience: End user, Researcher
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22540086-my-username-and-password-isincorrect-and-i-cannot-log-in
9.14. My home institution or organisation (Identity
Provider (IdP)) does not appear in the drop down list
Audience: End user, Researcher
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22550358-my-home-institution-or-organisationidentity-provider-idp-does-not-appear-in-the-drop-down-list
9.15. I have moved/switched Institutions or organisations
and want to access my existing datasets and storage
Audience: Researcher, Administrators
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22538837-i-have-moved-switched-institutions-ororganisations-and-want-to-access-my-existing-datasets-and-stor
9.16.
How do I add services to the AAF?
Audience: Researcher, Administrator
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22529672-how-to-technically-join-the-australianaccess-federation
© Australian Access Federation Inc.
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9.17.
How do I set up my Identity Provider (IdP)?
Audience: Identity Provider Administrator
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22538867-how-do-i-set-up-my-identity-provideridp
9.18. How do I add users to the Virtual Home Registry
(VHR)?
Audience: Identity Provider Administrator
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22522442-What-is-the-AAF-Virtual-HomeRegistry-VHR-and-is-there-a-user-help-guide-available-
9.19.
I need technical assistance connecting to the AAF
Audience: Administrators
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22550838-i-need-technical-assistance-connectingto-the-aaf
9.20. We are upgrading or performing maintenance on a
Service – who should we notify?
Audience: Service Providers, IdP Administrators
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22538907-we-are-upgrading-or-performingmaintenance-on-a-service-who-should-we-notify
9.21. What payment methods do you accept for payment
of invoices?
Audience: Service Providers, IdP Administrators
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22519811-what-payment-methods-do-youaccept-for-payment-of-invoices
9.22. I have specific questions relating to the data of a
particular Service
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Audience: End Users, Researchers
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22522982-i-have-specific-questions-relating-tothe-data-of-a-particular-service
9.23. How long does it take to be approved as a Service
Provider?
Audience: End Users, Researchers, Service Providers
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22550888-how-long-does-it-take-to-beapproved-as-a-service-provider
9.24. I’m collaborating with an institution - how do I get
access to the AAF?
Audience: End Users, Researchers,
Response: http://support.aaf.edu.au/entries/22539753-i-m-collaborating-with-an-institutionhow-do-i-get-access-to-the-aaf
© Australian Access Federation Inc.
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