Office of Information Technology

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) assists with IT services, consultation, vision and leadership, and works to plan, develop, implement and support technology with functional users and organizations who hope to enable their operational or ministerial initiatives through the use of technology.  We work with Pastoral Center agencies, departments, parishes and schools (as resources permit).

OIT operates and supports the Pastoral Center local area and wide area networks linking Pastoral Center agencies, locations and users.  OIT provides the systems and applications used by Pastoral Center staff. Additionally, OIT operates and administers the Archdiocese of Chicago E-mail system with users in agencies, parishes and schools.  OIT also hosts many of the official web sites of organizations within the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Our responsibilities include reliably operating and supporting the technology and applications infrastructure providing the production capabilities.  Functions also include providing IT direction, guidelines, alignment, and support for the overall mission on an Archdiocesan-wide basis, developing and maintaining strategic relationships and partnerships to leverage opportunities, assisting with networking, computer applications and training, hardware/software support, and technology purchases.

Our goal is to assist every Archdiocesan organization, whether an agency, department, parish or school, to realize the best results when using technology.

We recognize that technology can be very challenging and we are here to help to the degree that our resources allow. Whatever your need or concern, we are committed to assisting you to get the most from your technology investment or project.  Please call us so that we may work with you. 

Progress is continuing on Archdiocesan-wide initiatives and we want to work together to insure that your plans and ours are complementary and would not limit your future participation or be more costly than required.

We offer technical consultation, training, job aids, technology recommendations and standards, guidance with troubleshooting, project services, procurement advice and other assistance.  If you need on-site services that we may not provide—like installation or repair services—we will work with you over the phone to resolve the problem or refer you to a service provider.

The Office of Information Technology provides a Technical Assistance Line at 312—534—5227, to provide assistance to Pastoral Center Agency users with their IT related issues such as; service requests, hardware or software problems, purchasing, passwords, etc.

Similar support is available, via phone only, for staff members of Archdiocese of Chicago Parishes and Schools.

No matter what your question or problem is, calling the Technical Assistance Line will get your problem or question routed to the technical resource best qualified to deal with your issues. This method of providing a single point of contact, insures the quickest response to your needs, and eliminates the need to attempt to navigate our organization in search of the best person to resolve different questions or problems.

When you call, a ticket will be opened to track your call, and to enable us to contact you later if we are unable to resolve your question or problem on the initial call. Your call taker will issue you a "Track-It" ticket number, please retain this number in case you need to contact us about your ticket, before or after resolution.

Our normal hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 9 A.M to  4:45 P.M, we are closed weekends and holidays. If you are calling after hours, please leave a message and we will respond on the next business day. Please remember to speak slowly and clearly, and leave a call back number, so we can return your call. 

Any matter requiring escalation may be escalated via the Asssitance Line by advising the call taker that you want the ticket escalated to a manager,  or you may contact any of the above managers directly, preferably in the following order:

Technical Support Supervisor,

Manager - Technical Services,

Director - Office of Information Technology.

If you are have issues with the handling of any issue you have reported, please bring the problem to the attention of one of us so that we can remedy the problem. We appreciate your cooperation and want to be helpful and of service to you.

Services offered to departments and agencies within the Pastoral Center network include (but aren't limited to):

• IT Technical Assistance Line
• Training 
• Telephone consultation—regarding troubleshooting, hardware repair, expansion, replacement, life-cycle management, software
• User administration and management — accounts, rights, application privileges
• Server and application administration — daily oversight, monitoring, updates, patches
• Technology purchasing assistance
• Software management — licensing, updates, patches and distribution
• Installation and maintenance of hardware and software
• Product evaluation, testing, research, recommendations
• Network services — printing, file sharing, VPN's, LAN's, WAN's
• Internet services — proxy, firewalls, logging, anti-virus, content filtering, trusted domains, site blocking
• Web hosting — public sites and Intranet sites
• Domain hosting
• E-mail services — anti-virus, spam management, filtering, quarantine, post office functions, delegations
• Consulting
• Application maintenance and support
• Back-up and recovery
• Telephone and voice-mail system support — moves, adds, changes, billing

Services offered to schools, parishes and agencies that are not part of the Pastoral Center network include (but aren't limited to):

• IT Technical Assistance Line
• Telephone consultation—regarding troubleshooting, hardware repair, expansion, replacement, life-cycle management, software
• Technology purchasing assistance
• Vendor referrals
• Product evaluations, testing, research, recommendations
• Web hosting (via the DotNetNuke web application)
• Domain hosting
• Archdiocesan Web-accessible Email—anti-virus, spam management & blocking, filtering, quarantine
• Consulting
• Technology standards and recommendations