OneTech Portal Blog

OneTech Upgrade Planned

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:40:25 -0600

A new maintenance patch for the OneTech Portal has been release by Sungard Higher Education. The patch has been applied to the OneTech Test portal for testing. According to Sungard, the patch was designed to fix the following issues:

E-mail signatures can now contain multiple lines.
Previous and Next buttons for announcement list now function correctly.
Outstanding issues with rich-html within e-mail center are corrected.
E-mail attachments will now send correctly after using the spell check feature.
E-mail session cache operates correctly.
E-mail message body is now retained during Reply/Forward operations.
Browser check function updated to support latest versions of IE, Firefox and Safari.
In-line frame channels now display properly in IE8.
And several others

A complete list of issues fixed can be found in the Luminis 4.2.1 Release Notes

The patch will continue to be tested in the OneTech Test portal and is scheduled to be applied to the OneTech Portal on Friday, October 30, 2009 at 5:00pm. The estimated outage required for the upgrade is approximately 1 hour. This outage is independent of the scheduled Banner outage.

If you have any questions, please contact the Campus Support Center at tech.support@atu.edu or 479.968.0646.

Data Migration Complete

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:21:40 -0600

Okay, the hard part is finally over. All of our data has been migrated into the new version of OneTech. That includes Calendar data. As you may have noticed on Friday afternoon, the My Calendar channel started displaying a calendar. All calendars from the old system should now be available, including shared calendars, with the proper permissions. If you have any questions about your calendar, please contact the Campus Support Center at tech.support@atu.edu or 479.968.0646.

We still have a few minor things to work out; like a few channels, a few look and feel modifications, and some technical background things. Hopefully these things will be worked out in the next few weeks.

Thank you for your patience.

Another Day's Work is Done

Tue, 26 May 2009 22:43:36 -0600

Here we are at the end of another day, and we're getting closer and closer to having the portal migration completely finished. Here's a recap for the day.

First thing this morning, we got the new portal online, ready for use. However, it was somewhat crippled because not all of the data has been migrated. Email was still in the process of migrating and calendar data has not been migrated due to some complications in the migration process. The look and feel has not been finalized, but it's getting close.

Around mid morning, we started receiving calls about problems with the new portal. Things like, tabs missing, channels missing, and password problems. We worked through those the best we could at the time.

After lunch, I was finally able to get a support ticket in with Sungard about our calendar import issues. We continue to converse back and forth the rest of the afternoon, troubleshooting the problem. Unfortunately, we were not able to come to a resolution, but we will continue work tomorrow and will hopefully have a fix soon.

This evening, I've recreated all the default layouts and applied them to the system. This should correct our disappearing tab problem. I also researched a method to use the built in email client in the portal, instead of the one that is provided with this version. This client is very similar to the one from the previous version of the portal and should look very familiar to you. Mail migration is about 75% complete.

Tomorrow morning, I'm planning a restart of the portal services early in the morning to repair some look and feel issues and to apply the change to the email application.

On the docket for tomorrow (Wednesday):

Calendar Migration

Channel Repairs

Look and feel refining

Other user issues

And on that note, it's time for bed. Too many nights with too little sleep.

The New OneTech Portal

Tue, 26 May 2009 03:04:41 -0600

The OneTech Portal upgrade has been successful so far. However, there are a few steps of the upgrade that have not been completed. There are a few things you need to be aware of before you start using the new OneTech Portal.

Mail is still being migrated. Most mail has already been migrated, however the migration process is still running. If your mail is not in your inbox, please be patient for a day or so and it will appear. Any new mail is already available. We will post another announcement once all mail has been migrated. The mail for users who have not logged in during the past year will not be migrated.

Calendar information is not available yet. We ran into an issue with the calendar migration, and were not able to make it available yet. We are working with Sungard to get this issue resolved.

The Look and Feel is not finished. While we've made some improvements to the look and feel of the portal, we are still ironing out some of the details. We do not recommend modifying your layout at this time, it may still be reset.

We will notify you when we have corrected these issues. If you have any questions, please contact the Campus Support Center at tech.support@atu.edu or 479.968.0646.

Thank you for your patience while we correct these issues.

Computer Services

Arkansas Tech University

OneTech Upgrades - Outage Scheduled

Mon, 18 May 2009 21:02:30 -0600

The planned upgrades to OneTech are moving along smoothly. So far, we have not run into any issues to prevent us from deploying the next version of the OneTech Portal. The data migration process has been tested to be successful so far, and will continue to be tested as we prepare to launch the new system.

As mentioned in previous announcements, our planned go-live date is scheduled for this coming weekend. As promised, we would like to further detail our schedule for the upgrade. Starting this Friday (May 22) at 5:00 p.m., the OneTech Portal will be made unavailable in order to start the transition process. Users will not have access to the portal, or to email during this time. If everything goes as planned, the new version of the portal will be live before campus opens on Tuesday, May 26 at 8:00 a.m.

The portal will have a new look and feel applied, however many of the same channels will still be in place when you log in the first time. After we are live with the new system, we will begin to roll out new channels and features in the coming weeks. All changes to the portal will be documented on the OneTech Portal Blog (http://blogs.atu.edu/luminis). Major changes will be announced in the Campus Announcements channel.

If you have any questions, please contact the Campus Support Center at tech.support@atu.edu or 479.968.0646.

Thank you,

Computer Services

Arkansas Tech University

OneTech Upgrades - Update ...or... No More Google Apps

Thu, 07 May 2009 16:41:14 -0600

You may have seen this on the OneTech Campus Announcements and you should also receive this as an email, but I thought I'd post it here anyway.

---

Arkansas Tech is in the process of preparing for a major upgrade of the OneTech Portal as you were recently notified. This upgrade to the next version of the OneTech Portal is in support of our Unified Digital Campus initiative and it is required to move forward with upgrades to other systems connected to the OneTech Portal.

In the previous announcement we stated that the OneTech Portal upgrade would include integration with Google Apps; a set of services provided by Google and including Gmail accounts rather than the university email currently in use. In the interest of maintaining the highest possible level of security for our email accounts, we have decided against integrating with Google Apps and Google Mail at this time. Your Tech email account will continue to be the official email account for the university to correspond with you.

Most of the services provided through Google Apps are available to you as a free resource and you may choose to sign up independently. If you wish to find out more about the available Google Apps, including free word processing, spreadsheets, calendar, talk, etc., you can find information at http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/.
We are still planning to upgrade the OneTech Portal sometime during the week of May 25th. We will announce an exact date and outage duration when we get closer to our go-live date.
If you have questions or concerns, feel free to contact the Campus Support Center at 479.968.0646 or tech.support@atu.edu

Sincerely,
Computer Services
Arkansas Tech University

OneTech Portal Upgrades Planned

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:45:09 -0600

Arkansas Tech is in the process of preparing for a major upgrade of the OneTech Portal. This upgrade to the next version of the OneTech Portal is in support of our Unified Digital Campus initiative, and is required to move forward with upgrades to other systems connected to the OneTech Portal.

What does this mean for me?
Not much for most users. Although the new version of the OneTech Portal will have a new look and feel, most of the features available in the current OneTech Portal will also be available in the new version. However, there are some changes you need to be aware of.

New Features
* Enhanced ability to target content and announcements
We will have the ability to better customize channels, tabs, and announcements to particular groups.
* Enhanced Single Sign-On capabilities
OneTech will contain links providing you with one-click access to other web applications here at Tech like Blackboard, Moodle, Banner and others; not requiring you to log in again.

What about all my data?
Your data will be migrated to the new system. This includes Calendars, Group Data, Course Data, Email, and Address Book data. NOTE: Any customizations to your layout in the current system may not be transferred.

What's the timeline?
We are currently planning this upgrade sometime during the week of May 25th. We will announce an exact date and outage duration when we get closer to our go-live date.

Where can I get more information?
You can find more information about the upgrade by visiting the OneTech Portal Blog (http://blogs.atu.edu/luminis). Updates throughout the process will be posted here. Email and OneTech announcements will be posted with further instructions and information as the go-live date approaches.

If you have questions or concerns, feel free to contact the Campus Support Center at 479.968.0646 or tech.support@atu.edu.

Internet Security: Phishing

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 10:52:38 -0600

Yes, PHishing; and No, it has nothing to do with slinging a baited hook in the water.

What is Phishing?

In the field of computer security, phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing

This is a very real problem I've seen again and again. Most of the incidents I've had to deal with are related to messages that users receive asking them to verify their usernames and passwords. DON'T DO IT! This usually results in a compromised account, in which the attacking party then logs into your account and sends thousands of email messages on your behalf often containing illegal material. Not to mention when they log into your OneTech account they have access to all your personal information stored inside. Here's an example of a phishing email we've seen lately.

Note the Phishy things I have highlighted in this message:

Phishing messages often contain poor grammar.
The message says "we will be deleting all mail account that is not functioning" where it should state "we will be deleting all mail accounts that are not functioning"
Phishing messages generally come from unfamiliar email addresses.
This messages says to reply to "edu.verification@live.com". As you know our email addresses end in @atu.edu and any correspondence about your account would also come from an @atu.edu email address.
Phishing message will ask for personal information like your username and password.
You should never give anyone your password. We will not ask you for your password via email. If you are asked for your password via email, tell the person requesting the information you'd rather them reset your password. If they have the ability to reset your password, it is very likely they are trustworthy and you are not being phished.
Phishing messages generally contain unfamiliar terminology
This particular message refers to our system as "webmail". Our system has never been referred to as webmail, but as OneTech. We usually refer to usernames as OneTech IDs.

These things we found in this message are common between most phishing messages, so keep an eye out for messages that seem suspicious and delete them immediately. Be very careful when replying to email. As a general rule, it is better not to send any personal information, especiallially credit card or bank information, usernames, or passwords, via email.

What if I've already responded to one of these messages?
The type of information that you've handed over to a phisher determines the steps you should take once you realize the email was not legitimate. If you sent someone your username and password, that's an easy fix; simply change your password. But if you've sent more delicate information, such as credit card or bank account numbers, you will most likely have to change your credit card or bank account numbers in order to be protected from the damage that phishers can cause. Although, by the time you realize that you've sent that information away, it's very likely that the damage that the phisher had intended to do has already been done. The best protection against phishing is to simply not respond to the email.

Password Change Channel v2.0

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:57:05 -0600

As you may have noticed, the Password Change Channel has a new look. The new channel was designed to accommodate the new password policy. We've received several calls recently about problems with the new channel and I hope to answer those questions in this post.

New Password Policy

As noted in the channel, Arkansas Tech University has adopted a new Password Security Policy. A copy of this policy can be found at http://www.atu.edu/cservices/plc-pwd.shtml.
Here's the short version:

Passwords must be changed every 120 days
Passwords must be at least 8 characters long
Passwords must contain three of the four following types of characters:

Lowercase
Uppercase
Digit
Special Character

INB users cannot use the following special characters:

@ $ & ( ) , < > ` ; = # | % spaces

Passwords cannot be re-used until three other passwords have been used.

Users can use no more than two consecutive characters found in their username and/or full name.

Example: a user with a name of John Doe (jdoe10) cannot use a password that contains any of the following combination of letters: 'joh', 'ohn', 'doe', 'jdo', 'oe1', 'e10'.

The hardest part of changing your password is creating a new password. Check out this information about creating strong passwords (http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/create.mspx).

Finding the Password Change Channel

Fortunately, changing your password is easy. First, lets make sure you have the Password Change Channel.

If you haven't deleted the channel, it should be located somewhere on your Welcome tab. If you have deleted it, simply add it back to your layout. Click on the 'Content/Layout' link in the top left corner; click 'Add Channel' somewhere in your layout; In the category drop down, select Applications and click Go; Select 'Change Password' in the list on the right side and click 'Add Channel'; Click 'Back to Welcome Tab' to return you to your Welcome Tab.

Changing Your Password

Now that you've found the channel, lets change your password.

Your OneTech ID will be automatically inputted into the form for better security so the first thing you have to do is input your current password into the 'Old Password' field. Then type your new password into the 'New Password' field. You will notice that the strength meter will indicate the security level of your new password. Once your password meets the minimum requirements, the 'Change Password' button below will be available. Repeat your new password in the 'Confirm Password' field. Then click the 'Change Password' Button.

A Successful Change

Once you've submitted the form, you should get a message that says your password has been changed. You should then return to OneTech and log out, and then log back in to verify your password is working correctly.

A Failed Change

If you get an error like the one above, simply follow the directions given in the error. If it says that the username or password are incorrect, your username was automatically inputted into the form so it is likely that you mistyped your password. If you get the error listed above, either your password doesn't meet the complexity requirements or your password has already been changed today. You can only change your password once in a 24 hour period. Try changing your password again after 24 hours.

Your Next Login

If your password has been changed, you will see a dialog box the next time you log into OneTech that indicates your password has actually been changed. You have two options here: 1) enter your old password and click 'Submit' or 2) click 'Start Recovery Session' if you do not know your old password. It is highly recommended that you enter your old password when prompted. Only use the 'Start Recovery Session' button when you don't know your old password.

If you have any questions about changing your password or how to use the password change channel, please contact the Campus Support Center at 479.968.0646 or tech.support@atu.edu.

Speaking of Change...Who watched the inauguration today?

New Roles Available

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:39:56 -0600

Effective 20 January 2008, we have two new roles available for use in OneTech. The new roles are as follows:

Student_Enrolled

Student_Enrolled_Oc

As you may or may not know, the current student role defines all users in the system that have ever taken a class in the past 10 or 15 years (result of the conversion from the old mainframe). So these new roles are designed to help us target a more specific group of people.

Student_Enrolled defines all currently enrolled students on the Russellville Campus while Student_Enrolled_Oc defines all currently enrolled students on the Ozark Campus. These roles can be used for targeted announcements as well as targeted content. Please use these new roles to better target personal announcements.

This is just the first of the new roles we plan to implement. Stay tuned for new information about new roles.

Multiple Sessions for INB Users

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:51:13 -0600

Effective this morning (Friday, June 13) INB users are allowed to have multiple concurrent sessions in OneTech. This change has been made to allow for ease of use when switching between INB and SSB. In order to take advantage of this feature you must use two different internet browsers. We recommend Internet Explorer (Already installed in Windows) and Firefox. The idea is that you would access INB through the 'My Banner' Channel in OneTech in one browser and access SSB and other things from the other browser. If you've never used the 'My Banner' Channel, instructions on setting it up can be found Here. This method should alleviate any timeout issues pertaining to Banner.

New Channel: Argos Reporting Tool

Tue, 06 May 2008 10:22:23 -0600

There's a new Channel available in the OneTech Portal. Institutional Research has recently asked me to create a channel with a link to the Argos Reporting Tool which is an online reporting tool to extract information from Banner. Any Faculty or Staff member can add this channel to OneTech, but you must contact Intuitional Research to gain access to the system.

To add the channel click 'Content/Layout' in the top left of screen. Select the tab you would like to put the channel on. Click an 'Add Channel' button where you would like to place the channel. Select 'Applications' in the drop down menu and click 'go'. Select 'Argos Reporting Tool' in the next list and click 'Add Channel.' Then click 'Back to Welcome tab' in the top left.

ABUG 2008

Mon, 05 May 2008 18:53:35 -0600

The Arkansas Banner Users Group (ABUG) annual conference was today at the University of Central Arkansas. My wonderful counter part (your DBA) decided to volunteer us to present on something having to do with Luminis (OneTech). So after some discussion, we (collectively) decided to do a presentation on how we are going to handle the upcoming password policy within Luminis and Banner. So after 5 weeks of preparation and many, many, many hours of attempting to reverse engineer Luminis code attempting to find a solution, we presented on our topic today. Attached is the slide deck of our presentation "Password Issues with Luminis and Banner" or as our DBA likes to call it "Luminis, Banner, and Passwords, Oh My!"

*Edit* I've fixed the issue with the web server and have attached the correct file.

ABUG2008.ppsx

Luminis CMS 3.3 Upgrade Released

Mon, 05 May 2008 18:16:31 -0600

The Luminis Content Management System (LCMS) team announced the release of the upgrade version 3.3 on Monday, April 7, 2008. The LCMS team posted the following:

Luminis CMS 3.3 represents the second phase of our delivery on user experience, performance, and quality improvements. Better user experiences and better performance at both the client and server levels are included with this release. Luminis CMS 3.3 is also the most thoroughly tested of our releases to date - a product of our continuing commitment to incremental increases in testing rigor. Testing for Luminis CMS 3.3 also included early release activities with several clients, to whom we give special thanks.

What this means for you

Simplified site navigation creation, styling, and management
Easy changing of page layouts
Direct publishing for faster workflow review or live site updates
Improved in-context editing and user feedback
Multiple item selection
User choices around expired/expiring content display
Mac Safari 3 browser support
Performance improvements
Defect corrections

We have tentatively scheduled the upgrade to occur the weekend of May 16.

Email addresses and the online directory

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:47:18 -0600

A user asked why the faculty email addresses had not been updated in the online directory. Here's why.

When the email changeover took place on December 22nd, 2006 we aliased all the old email addresses for faculty, staff, and students who already had an existing email account. For faculty and staff this was their old firstname.lastname ID. For students this was the old stu12345 ID. So if you had an old ID, whether it was a faculty/staff ID or a student ID, it was aliased in the new email system. This means that you can still get email that is addressed to your old account automatically delivered to your new account. This is only the case for those faculty, staff, and students who had an ID under the old system and not for new students who never had an old email account before the changeover. So, when looking for an email address in the online directory feel free to email the address that is listed for your instructor even if its in the firstname.lastname format. It'll get there.

There's one catch to this, however. If someone is trying to send you an email to your old account and is putting "mail.atu.edu" after the @ instead of just "atu.edu" then the mail will be returned to the sender as undeliverable. That's because we have phased out the mail.atu.edu domain and are now using the atu.edu domain exclusively.

So, for example, if your old ID is stu12345, then...

stu12345@atu.edu <-will work
stu12345@mail.atu.edu <-will NOT work

If you feel that your old account may not be aliased correctly then please call the Campus Support Center at 479-968-0646.