This guide is the second in a three part series on getting set up. Make sure you read this document thoroughly so you know exactly what you need and obtain documents in the required quantities. Beware: obtaining translations, for example, takes a long time and costs a lot, so not having one to hand when requested can really slow down your process, cause complications and cost you money.
Personnel Department (Personalabteilung )
Prior to arrival
You should have received an email from the Personnel Department requesting some information. They will then prepare an Application for Contract (Einstellungsvorschlag), which you need to print, sign and send in duplicate.
The Application for Contract should be submitted at least 6 weeks before you intend to start work, along with some necessary documents. If you need a visa, the personnel department can provide you with a letter for the relevant authorities.
First Day at Work
Before you arrive, the Personnel Department should have set up a meeting with you (usually on the first day of your work) and have sent you your contract. They will have several forms and information sheets for you to sign, as well as your contract (they will provide an English translation, but this is NOT legally binding - only the German version is). There is an oath to swear (or an affirmation if you prefer). Time: approximately 30 minutes.
If you are from outside the EEC, then you will need a residency permit (Aufenthaltstitel). The Personnel Department will give you a document, which you then need to take to the (Ausländerbehörde des Landkreises München) in Munich (Mariahilfplatz, 81541 München) to apply for a Residence Permit or Blue Card.
You will need to have to hand the certificate of address registration (Anmeldebescheinigung), IBAN and BIC codes of your Eurozone bank account and your Tax ID Number (Steueridentifikationsnummer) in order to fill out the Personnel form (Personalbogen). If you don’t have these to hand, you can return the form later, but after the 10th of the month, your salary may not be paid on time that month!
If you aren’t already registered at a public Health Insurance Provider (Krankenkasse), you can do so at the same time in your Personalbogen (the Personnel Department will show you how).
Getting your IT Accounts
There are two different IT systems for which you will need accounts. For the central employee database you will retrieve an TUM-ID somewhat looking like ga12abc. It is used for the central TUM services as well as for services provided by Leibniz-Rechenzentrum (LRZ). On top there is a account for the faculty of informatics, managed by Rechnerbetriebsgruppe (RBG). This account name contains the first eight letters of your last names and potentially the first few one of your first name as well. It is used for most IT-services provided in the *.in.tum.de namespace. Unfortunately you will need to request both accounts individually. Also both accounts come with their own e-mail addresses. However, it is possible to use only one of them and configure the other one as a forwarding.
Getting your TUM IT account and Personal Card
Go to Mr. Andreas Paul (room 00.05.038) and ask for your PIN and TUM-ID. Your TUM-ID is one of the most important login credentials and allows you to access multiple TUM services. Mr. Paul is not always in his office so it's better to arrange it beforehand by a phone call or e-mail. His contact details can be found here.
You can set all the rest up yourself, from the web platform campus.tum.de . Be sure to upload a photo - your Personal Card (Personalkarte) can be collected about a week after you upload, from the office in building 10, Walther-Meißner-Str. on Garching campus, on Wednesdays between 10-11 am. Time: registering and setting up your account: 20 mins. From the upload of your photo to your card pick up, 1-2 weeks!
Dillinger@zv.tum.de
You can load money onto your Personal Card and use it in the Mensa as a smart card. If you can’t wait to get some of that delicious Mensa nourishment, you can obtain a Mensa Card from the Mensa, which functions in the same way but probably will not give you the staff discount.
In order to take out books at any library of the TUM, you have to register with your Personal Card first. This can be done at the checkout desk of the library – just ask the staff.
Getting Access to the I6 Website and Wiki
Once you have your TUM-ID you can log in to the wiki system and should be able to access the internal I6 wiki area. If this is not the case, your account has not been linked to the chair. As the Wiki permissions are loaded from the central employee database, please contact rbg-tumonline@in.tum.de (which is usually managed by Mr. Paul) to get the database entry itself corrected, rather than to request permissions for single Wiki pages. Once you can access the wiki, please add yourself to our Ph.D. students list.
Also make sure whether your name appears in the employee list on the I6 website. Note that the list is only updated every 24 hours, so you might need to wait a day until your name shows up. If you waited that long and you are still not in the list please contact Alexander Lenz. To create your personal page on the I6 website, have a look at this article.
Getting your Faculty for Informatics IT account
Already have an RBG Account?
in case you already worked as a HiWi at the chair before you might already have an RBG account. Note that the account's status needs to be updated from student to employee. Otherwise you will lack some permissions and your account might expire after your graduation.
To have your account updated, please contact i6-it@tum.de.
On a Monday or Thursday between 10.00 and 17.00, go to the Servicebüro in room 00.05.41 and ask for Frau Christine Bauer (more here). Most likely you will find her eating lunch... You need a form of ID (driving licence is fine). Time: about 10 minutes.
With your login (usually your last name, sometimes followed by your first initial(s), all in lower case) you can go to https://admknoll.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pass.html using the account name (username) “I6” and password “accountform” to set yourself up with a password you can use to log into and edit the I6 website (https://www.ce.cit.tum.de/air/home/). Please note that your supervisor needs to confirm this with by replying to an email which is automatically sent to him/her.
Having logged into the website, (click on the “internal” tab on the top right), you should create a personal page. Instructions are on the website. This done, you should add yourself onto the “People” section of the website. You can scan, photocopy and print using the Xerox printers1. You can print from your computer, but only if you have an ethernet connection. You need to contact i6-it@tum.de and give them the following information to get whitelisted for a network connection:
- Your name
- Type of computer, e.g. Work Laptop
- Room number, e.g. 01.09.35
- Job title: Research Assistant
- MAC address of your ethernet port (NB. NOT wifi port!), e.g. 3c:11:c2:db:56:8a
To print to the Xerox printers, instructions are on the RBG website.
For all other questions, please read our manuals and how to's.
1. Printer setup instructions: https://wiki.rbg.tum.de/Informatik/Benutzerwiki/XeroxDrucker (German)
Mailing List and Student Groups
Important information and news at the chair are reported through the chair's mailing list. Once you have your TUM email account ready, write a request to i6-it@tum.de to be added to the mailing list in order to get timely information.
In order to increase cooperation and improve communication between the researchers working under Prof. Knoll, there are three student groups. As an internal student of Prof. Knoll at the chair, you are required to join one of the groups. Please contact one of the group organizers to join and get more information on the meetings of the group. You can switch groups if you realize that another one might fit your research interests better.
| Topic | Organizer | |
|---|---|---|
| BIO | Bio-Inspired Methods | Zhenshan Bing |
| MBM | Model-Based Methods | Christian Creß |
| ML | Machine Learning | Josip Josifovski |
Summary
- Sign everything at the Personnel Department (Section 1.2)
- Sign up to a public health insurance provider (Section 1.2)
- Get your TUM Personal Card (Section 2.1)
- Set up your library account (Section 2.1)
- Set up your Informatics IT account (Section 2.2)
- Join one of the student groups (Section 3)
- Documents to obtain:
- Contract
- Other forms from Personnel Department, including Holiday Sheet (Urlaubskarte)
- Personal Card
- Health Insurance (Krankenkasse) Card
- If you are going on a work trip, do not forget to fill in a Work Trip Form (Dienstreiseantrag)
If you plan on writing a Ph.D. you might also want to take a look at how to enroll for a Ph.D.