University of Alaska, MyUA Project

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MyUA FAQ, Submitted Questions and Answers

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id	Category	Topic	Question	Answer
1042	Suggestion		Is there a way to check my grade and class status?	Click on the 'Student Tab' and in the 'UA Online for Students Channel' click 'Student Records'. It's that easy! For your current classes grades should be available from Instructor through the Course Management System. On the Students tab, click on link in the 'My Courses' channel.
1041	Comment		I am not recieving any emails. What do I do?	Check with your helpdesk. They can anchor your account to the proper email address.
1033	Comment		Does the MyUA Email client support html?	No. The email client that came with the product composes and sends messages in Plain Text. It can read most emails received in Rich Text (HTML) directly or via an attachment. If you reply or forward the Rich Text or paste Rich Text into a message, the appearance of the message received by recipients depends on which email client the recipients are using and how it is configured. The following behaviors have been observed singularly and in combination. The recipients' client: receives the email in Plain Text - or a combination of Plain and Rich Text; receives the HTML email as one or more attachments in HTML or a combination of Rich and Plain Text; hides the attachment; shows the HTML tags; renders the text unreadable.
1022	Suggestion		It would be nice to be able to see how much I owe the school and when tution payments are due. Is that info available here?	Click on the 'Student Tab' and in the 'UA Online for Students Channel' click 'Account Information '. Its that easy!
967	Suggestion	Layouts	I would like to request that when I select UAS Online that it open in the frame it is opened from. Or to have a frame structure that can pop in and pop out for more dynamic management of frames.	You can make UAS Online a Tab by itself. That idea is on our UAS MyUA home page http://www.uas.alaska.edu/myua/ and I copied the instructions below. There are some disadvantages to this though. When working with UAS Online as a tab it quickly breaks out of the frame and becomes it own web page and you loose the navigation back to MyUA. I have worked for months with both options and in the end I found that it was most efficient to open the link to a new page in a new BROWSER tab and get the best of both worlds. MyUA Tips: Make a UAS Online Tab Add new tab to your layout which will take you directly into your own page in UAS Online! Click the Content/Layout in the top left part of the page. Then click the button at the end of the tabs that says, Add New Tab 1. Name the tab: UAS Online! 2. Select the type: Click Framed radio button for the type of tab page.Add the following in the URL text box: http://myua.alaska.edu/cp/p/login?sys=uasweb&url=https://uascentral.uas.alaska.edu/online 3. Select a position for the tab: 4. Submit the choices
966	Question	Channels	Can I Change the Height of a Channel?	The settings for the height and width of most channels are pre-configured. However, on some channels, you can change the height. You will know it is possible when, in the process of subscribing to the channel, you will see link Modify this channel s parameters . Click on the link and you will be able to change height setting. You must logout for the changes to take effect. If you want to know if you can change the height of a channel already on your layout, here is how you do it. Click on Content/Layout in the upper left of any MyUA page. Click on the channel name link. If this is a configurable channel, you will see the Modify this channel s parameters link. If it is not configurable, you will see a Cancel and return link instead.
958	Comment		Are emails sent from the portal saved in a Sent file?	You can save sent messages in two ways. Go to the Options tab and check. Click on Message Preferences. Check to box for sending a copy of all messages to the Sent folder. Note you can also request read receipts and message confirmation. You can also save an email each time you send a message by checking the box at the bottom of the compose email popup.
950	Question	Group Studio	I am a Group Leader. How can I send an Announcement to my members that starts when I want and ends when I want?	Great question! The Group Announcement has a set delivery date (the day you send the announcement) and a set expiration date (7 days later). There is a partial workaround: you can have the MyUA lead on your campus send the announcement for you. It will show up in MyUA in the Personal Announcements channel – the same place your group announcements appear – but not on your Groups homepage. With the Personal Announcements function, you can specify any delivery and expiration date.
942	Question	Other	How Do I Set the Auto Reply and Auto Forward functions in MyUA?	You set the Auto Reply and Auto Forward functions in your local web mail because the email system in MyUA is connected to the campus email with which you are affilated.
885	Comment		What is the difference between the Bookmarks Channel and the Bookmarks Plus Channel?	The Bookmarks Channel is your master copy. Any changes you make in the channel appear every time you subscribe to the channel, irrespective of which tab or tabs it is on. The Bookmarks Plus Channel allows you to place a unique set of links each time you subscribe to it, irrespective of which tab or tabs it is on.
872	Suggestion		Is there a complete directory of all university employees in MyUA?	Yes, there is. The University of Alaska Enterprise Director (eDir) is available as a channel. It contains the email address and other information about every staff, faculty and student throughout all 16 campuses. The only exception is students who opt to have information about them kept confidential. See FAQ #725 for subscription instructions.
869	Comment		The Announcement channels do not indicate from whom the messaged are sent.	Anyone who has the ability to send an Announcement is required by MyUA procedures to include their name, email address and phone number. Thanks for pointing t out. We will remind senders.
868	Suggestion		I do not see a spell checker on the message board.	The portal software does not provide a spell checker. However, there is a built in spell checker in the Firefox browser and you can download a spell checker for Internet Explorer browser called ieSpell. You can also download and a run on your computer a free spell checker called tinyspell (www.tinyspell.m6.net).
852	Comment		Using the User Guide. What is in It?	The User Guide is linked from the MyUA login page (http://myua.alaska.edu) or go directly to: http://www.alaska.edu/oit/docs/myua/MyUAUserGuide.pdf It covers basic MyUA Navigation, changing your layout (Tabs, Columns, Channels), Timeout, Groups, Calendar and E-mail. Here is what one user said: Thank you for the users guide. It is great. I just solved two problems I was having by printing it off and looking up my topic. If you have any suggestions for improving the guide, send them to us through the MyUA Feedback channel.
831	Question	Group Studio	Why does it say, Loading applet when I try to Chat?	When Chat function in the Group Studio is stuck with Loading applet, the Java software on your computer is having troubles. Try installing the newest version of Java from http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp. The Chat software should then load correctly.
781	Suggestion		Does MyUA have regularly scheduled outages?	Yes. MyUA undergoes an outage every Friday from 8:30-9:30pm for regularly scheduled backups. When MyUA needs an upgrade or a fix and the like, it occurs on Sundays. The time of day and length of the outage depends on the nature of the work. The outages are noted through the help desks and via the System Announcements Channel in MyUA. We strive for 48 hours advance notice - longer if possible.
725	Suggestion		Please make eDir accessible through MyUA.	eDir, the University of Alaska s Electronic Directory is available through MyUA as a channel. Go to the Content/Layout link in the upper left corner of MyUA once logged in. Choose the tab on which you want the channel to appear. Select All from the category listing; scroll down to eDir - University Directory. Select it. Another channel, which will allow users single sign on access to eDir is in the works.
694	Suggestion		How do I add, delete, rename tabs, etc.?	Click on the Content/Layout link in the top left of the MyUA window. To the right of the list of tabs, you will see a Add a New Tab button. Once you click on it, you will have to name it and select the position for it. To delete a tab, while still in the Content/Layout area, select the one you want to eliminate. Click on Delete this Tab . You can also make any tab the Active Tab (the tab that is selected when you log into MyUA). You can rename the tabs and you can move them by clicking on the arrows on the tabs.
675	Suggestion	Other	Can I add RSS feeds to the portal?	Yes, there is a customizable RSS channel in MyUA. Just subscribe to the channel called, RSS Feed and enter the RSS URL when asked. Unfortunately, MyUA can only handle RSS 0.9 feeds, but we are working on support for the more popular RSS 2.0 feeds.
666	Suggestion		When I tried to update the Weather Channel, I clicked the Update Location s and added a zip code and then hit get weather but nothing happened.	You must press the add button after you type in a zip code - then press the Get Weather button.
608	Comment		Is there a direct Blackboard link on MyUA? I do not see one on any of the tabs.	Yes, there are two existing places to access Blackboard - and you can subscribe to a channel as well. In the MyCourses channel, found on the student and faculty tabs, there is a link in the left column to the learning management system of each MAU. Anchorage students will see UAA Blackboard, UAS faculty will see UASOnline, etc. It takes you to the Blackboard home page (after you log in only on the first time you use this link). If you click on any of your courses in the MyCourses channel, you will go directly to that course’s Blackboard home page. One less click! Finally, you can subscribe to the MyCourses channel and place it on any tab; and you can subscribe to a UAF Blackboard channel. Start by clicking on the Content/Layout link in the upper corner of any portal page. Then add the channel to the tab of your choice! Finally, if you just want a link to the Blackboard home page or login page, place it in the Bookmarks or Bookmarks Plus channels.
598	Suggestion		How cand I access email folders in the MyUA email that I have created in my campus email system?	You subscribe to the desired email folders by following these directions, found in the MyUA help section (click on the question mark icon on the upper right of any MyUA page). To subscribe to (an IMAP) folder, use the following procedure: 1. If you have not already done so, open the E-mail Center. 2. Locate the folder view on the left hand side of the E-mail Center window menu and click the Subscribe link. 3. You see the Subscribe and Unsubscribe window, which allows you to subscribe or unsubscribe to folders contained on the IMAP server that manages your external account. 4. Click the mailbox icon for your external account. You see all the folders that are available to you on that account. Those to which you are unsubscribed will contain a small symbol as outlined below: 5. Click a folder to subscribe to it (or to unsubscribe to it if you don t want it to appear in your E-mail Center). 6. To save the change, click the Done button. The folders to which you are subscribed will now be displayed under that account in the E-mail Center (or will not be displayed if you unsubscribed them).
513	Comment		I would like to delete the System Annoucement Channel and/or the Personal Announcement Channel on the MyUA Tab. How can I do this?	All channels in the portal can be deleted except these two announcement channels. Likewise, all tabs in MyUA can be deleted except the MyUA Tab - because the channels appear there. The MyUA Coordinating Team (which is made up of representatives from UAA, UAF, UAS and Statewide) made this policy because the members felt it was important that all users have the Announcements. Users can delete the announcements themselves (just not the channel itself).
473	Comment		The new, beta version of Internet Explorer 7 does not support inline frames, which means a user has to click one more time to access information in a channel.	Microsoft is now offering IE 7 in beta and their official release date for the final version is January 2007. There are unconfirmed reports that MS will automatically update users to IE 7 when it is released (if that function is enabled on your computer) and users will be unable to access IE 6.x. Users who choose to download IE 7 will also no longer have access to IE 6.x. MyUA is not officially supported by IE 7 and it is not completely compatible with MyUA. It is known that some MyUA channels will not display content (without additional clicks) with IE 7. There may be other functionalities lacking. Use of IE 7 it is not recommended until the MyUA software vendor officially states its support. The vendor is working towards support to coincide with release of IE 7.
416	Suggestion		Could MyUA support Tabbed browsing? Many wesites are now coding to support this convenient browsing feature. Tabbed browsing would make getting back to the MyUA Portal easier and would make where you are going, and where you have been more transparent.	Tabbed Browsing is a convenient feature. Tabbed browsing lets users load web pages in separate tabs of a single browser window, users can jump between them quickly and easily. See the following for a more in-depth discussion of tabbed browsing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabbed_browsing You can use Tabbed Browsing in MyUA with these browsers: Netscape, Mozilla and Firefox for Windows XP and Safari for Mac OS X. Right click on the link you wish to open, click on ‘Open Link in New Tab’. You can also click on ‘This Frame’, then “Open Frame in New Tab’. For Internet Explorer, you will have to piggyback a Tabbed Browsing functions from Microsoft or some other source such as Yahoo. For Internet Explorer 6.x., go to: http://news.com.com/Microsoft+offers+tabbed+browsing--in+IE+6/2100-1032_3-5738037.html and follow links to MSN Search Toolbar. The upcoming IE 7 supports Tab Browsing. To download Yahoo’s free Tab Browsing for IE, go to: http://toolbar.yahoo.com/ We are looking into why some browsers fail to render the complete title of the channel.
410	Suggestion		How can I access Meeting Maker through MyUA?	You can subscribe to the channel Meeting Maker UAF SW which is the web version of Meeting Maker. See Tip #1 How to Add a Channel http://www.alaska.edu/myua/tips/tips.xml). After you add this channel to a tab of your choice, you will have to enter your credentials the first time you use it (and again later if you ever change your password). You can also import Meeting Maker into the MyUA Calendar (http://www.alaska.edu/channels/UAF/Other/Help-UAF/Help-UAF-calendar-fromMM.html)
400	Suggestion		I would like to be able to change my look on my UA homepage. I d like to be able to navigate my boxes around.	To move your channels around, click on the Content/Layout link in the upper left corner under the MyUA banner. For more on how to customize MyUA, there is a ‘Help’ tab with help information. Clicking on the Customiziation link near the bottom will give instruction on the many ways that MyUA can be customized
389	Suggestion		My password expires in a week and I have been provided no means through MyUA to change it.	Your password for MyUA is the same as your password for UA s Authentication Services. A new user self-help channel coming soon will allow you to change your Authentication Services password - and thus your MyUA password - within the portal with this new channel.
377	Comment		I m so glad this is now available and working as advertised!	Thank you! The MyUA Team.
375	Suggestion		I m getting a CPIP error when I click on the UAOnline Secured Area link in the UAOnline channel. I had no problem with the same access several days ago.	Clicking on UAOnline Secured Area takes you directly to UAOnline. This is a feature of a single sign on channel. After signing in to MyUA, you don t have to enter UAOnline credentials to access UAOnline. On this occasion, UAOnline was unavailable due to a scheduled maintenance outage. Users attempting to login to UAOnline directly from the UAOnline login page saw an explanatory message about the outage. Users attempting to access UAOnline via MyUA should have seen the same explanatory message. Instead, MyUA users received that generic error message when attempting to access UAOnline. The source of the defect is now understood and tests will be conducted to further investigate it and determine solutions. In the meanwhile, announcements will be posted in MyUA Announcements Channel to warn users about a UAOnline outage (as is currently done for MyUA outages). Users can also subscribe to the Computer Outages channel to monitor systemwide outages.
374	Suggestion		I noticed that the UAOnline channel found on the MyUA Tab displays mostly student related links. Where is information of interest to staff?	The UAOnline Services channel on the MyUA Tab displays the same information that any user would see if they went directly to UAOnline (uaonline.alaska.edu). And, there are several links shown that are of interest to employees: Information for Tax Credit ; Employment Opportunities ; and Employee Feedback . Information specific to the user is seen once the user clicks on the UA Online Secure Area link. You will see the familiar Personal Information – and depending on your role, you would also see Employee ; Student & Financial ; and/or Faculty links. If you prefer that view, go to Content/Layout (in the upper right hand corner of each page) and subscribe to the channel entitled UAOnline .
368	Comment		This is fabulous! It makes this new part of my day much easier. Thanks for all your hard work!	Thank you! The MyUA Team.
367	Suggestion		Nice format and colors! Yeah, I made it here! Thanks for your diligence!	Thank you! The MyUA Team.
363	Suggestion		It would be nice if Meeting Maker was in MyUA.	This is exactly the kind of feedback we hope for! A user could place a link to the web Meeting Maker in their Bookmarks channel or even create a Meeting Maker tab. Or any user can request the development of a Meeting Maker channel by working with their respective MyUA Working Group (links found on www.alaska.edu/myua). Coming soon: directions to export Meeting Maker information for the purposes of importing it to MyUA.
339	Comment		Why is that when I log into MyUA a screen briefly appears noting information about my account?	MyUA subscribes to UA Authentication Services (AuthServ). Your AuthServ password, which is used to login to MyUA, expires every 180 days. The screen that flashes shows you how many days you have left before the password expires. When your expiration is 30 days or less away, you will have to click on the MyUA button to continue. You will also receive a reminder email from AuthServ 7 days before password expiration.
290	Comment		The MyUA Portal will be fantastic for those who use Voice Recognition software. I have been using Dragon to navigate and have found it to be quite efficient.	Thanks for sharing your experience.
276	Comment		Can the layout of the link to the UAA Student Newspaper channel be reconfigured?	Yes. The task to change the appearance of the link and picture for Northern Lights is on the list. Many changes to the appearance of channels will take place over the coming weeks.
269	Comment	Other	How can I save a copy of my Sent Email?	The MyUA email client does not save sent email by default, but there are two ways to save a sent message. At the bottom of the email composer, there is a box to check if you want to save that individual message to the Sent folder. Or, you can automatically save all messages; this is a very easy to option to engage. Click on the email icon in the upper right hand corner right under the MyUA banner. Once the email client has loaded, click on the Options tab in the upper left hand corner of the email client. From this menu click on ‘Message Preferences’ in the right hand column. The second option is “Save Sent Messages:”. Check the box “Send a copy of all messages to ‘Sent’ Folder.” Click okay. All messages sent from this email client will automatically go to the Sent folder.
267	Comment		I love the Access Services page! So much easier to get to view my paycheck!	Thank you! The MyUA Team.
266	Comment		The tutorials were helpful and I appreciated being able to obtain more information about the subject if I needed to. The color scheme and font type is pleasing to me. I like the idea of the similar color scheme to make us seem all connected.	Thank you! The MyUA Team.
253	Question		How do I get the system to keep the changes I make to my pages, i.e., windows minimized or closed? It looks like I have to minimize all windows each time--really?	Using the minimize option only works for the session you are in. This may change in future releases.
250	Comment	Group Studio	What does Whisper do in Group Studio?	Whisper allows you to send a message to only one person instead of the whole group. What you do is choose whisper then choose the person by clicking on them and type in the message.
239	Comment	Other	There are a couple of photos the bleed over into the text. The Campus Events link on the MyUA tab and the Bookstore link on the Student tab. Regards, Mist	It has been difficult to find a picture size that fits in the smaller resolutions and still looks good at the higher resolution at the same time. However, we are still trying to get this to work
238	Comment	Channels / Content	Will I be able to access Blackboard through MyUA?	Yes. A single sign on channel to a test blackboard database from one of the MAUs was successful. When we know the channel works for any MAU and is certified by our vendor, we will introduce it to the Pilot. Integration with and single sign on to Blackboard via the MyCourses channel is targeted for later in the summer. A user can bookmark the Blackboard log in page, or make it a tab, but of course, would still have to sign in.
230	Comment		Is there a way for a user to change the portal colors?	That would be a terrific feature, but at this point, the software does not allow users to change colors. The software vendor says the ability to change colors should be in the next version of the software, which should be available sometime next year. The portal colors were chosen by a cross-MAU design team.
221	Comment	Channels / Content	I checked my pay history through a Human Resources link on the Staff tab. It took me to the Human Resources page that then allowed me to click on UAOnline where I had to put in my employee ID and my old password. I thought that the idea was that ID/password goes in once and is not necessary beyond the initial login?	Single sign on to UAOnline has been achieved through the UAOline channel on the MyUA tab. Simply click on ‘Access Services’ and you will be taken to the main page of UAOnline with no further authentication. The HR channel on the Staff tab is simply a link that takes you to the UAOnline website outside the portal.
219	Suggestion		In the University News section of the MyUA tab, rather than having to click on the heading that says headlines, why not post the most recent news, similarly to how it is done on the UAF main page? I am more likely to click on a headline and read it, rather than just Headlines.	Great points, and that is exactly where we are heading for many of the channels.
210	Comment	Channels / Content	The UAF Newsroom links to department newsletters is great! And I was looking for a link to the UAF directory, and found it on the Contact Us linked page! Got into UAOnline and checked my leave balances! There s lots of very nice features!	Thank you for postive comments; glad you like the single sign on the UAOnline. We will continue to improve MyUA, guided by our feedback and testing.
207	Suggestion		The title of the web page says ‘Campus Pipeline’; should say MyUA. I know this is just a test version, but wanted to make sure someone is thinking about this.	We believe we found all the places to change Campus Pipeline to MyUA; please let us know otherwise.
195	Comment	Channels / Content	The Headlines channel and the Weather channels were unavailable, showing an error message.	These two channels display content from public sources outside the university. The error message meant the owner of the content was having a problem with their server, interrupting the feed. This will almost always be the case, including feeds from university sources. The portal simply displays the information in the link. These errors should be reported. We keep track of who ‘owns’ the university feeds and would contact them.
193	Comment	Calendar	I put an item in my calendar for today on the MyUA tab. I didn’t show up, even after I refreshed.	This Calendar channel allows you to keep multiple calendars. It could be that your entry was made on the calendar that was not on display. To see a list of your different calendars, click on calendars tab. To display a calendar, see drop down menu on the top right corner.
183	Comment	Channels / Content	When I added a channel to a new tab I made, it appeared on the MyUA tab instead.	When you are adding a channel to a tab, notice in the Manage Content/Layout screen, that there are rectangles with the various tab names in them. Select the tab upon which you want to place the new channel by clicking on its name. The tab becomes highlighted to signify that it is the active tab that is being managed. Now click to add the channel of choice.
173	Question	Channels / Content	Is there a way to link the Group Pages and Discussion Boards as well as the class pages with Blackboard? Otherwise, it seems there might be a large amount of redundancy.	Some time in the coming months, we will integrate Blackboard with MyUA. Then, when you click on MyClasses, you will be taken to your Blackboard course (without signing on again). You will also be able to access the Course Studio, which has almost identical functions as Groups.
164	Comment	Browser	I ve only just now had a chance to log in and see what MyUA has to offer. I only had a few minutes to browse around and my initial response was wow. I must say I am impressed so far and this site should prove to be very useful throughout the upcoming months. I plan on exploring MyUA more in depth as soon as I am able, I look forward to it, thank you for spending the time and effort in bringing MyUA online for us.	On behalf of the entire MyUA portal team, thank you! All feedback is welcome; postive feedback is especially welcome. We hope we can continue to meet your expectations. MyUA Project Manager
160	Comment	Channels / Content	I see the UAF student newspaper channel. Will there be other ones for the other two MAUs?	These channels have now been created. Their names are Student Newspaper UAA, Student Newspaper UAF, and Student Newspaper UAS.
157	Comment	Channels / Content	University News - Why don t I see Statewide News - or is there a Statewide news webpage/channel? It seems as a statewide employee I d first like to see University News for Statewide, not UAF. Shouldn t UAF news be a channel I d be able to add?	We have a UA News and Information Channel coming soon. Until then, the UAF news channel was placed on the MyUA tab of all statewide employees. You can delete any channel (except Announcements) by clicking on the [x]. You can add channels through the Content/Layout function.
156	Question	Channels / Content	Is there a way to import bookmarks into the Bookmarks Channel in total - or does each one have to be inputed? If not, maybe this is something that can be looked at for future abilities. Otherwise, I am really impressed so far...and I was not set to be impressed.	No, there is no way to import your own bookmarks into the Bookmarks Channel. You have to add each one yourself. Thanks for your suggestion for improvement - and for the positive comment.
152	Comment	Channels / Content	The pictures in some of the channels, like the Campus Events channel, cover some of the link.	The size of the picture in the Campus Events channel has been changed; we are working on fixing others like it.
150	Comment	Channels / Content	Can weather feeds for communities not found in the Weather for Alaska channel, such as for Soldotna, Homer, Palmer, Wasilla, etc., be displayed?	Yes. However, we have not yet found an appropriate online source for the desired information that we can place in this channel. Improving this channel is on our list of items to be accomplished by the portal team. In the meanwhile, the out-of-the box channel called MyHeadlines will display weather by Alaska zip codes. It is not an ideal channel, however, because it takes an additional click to see weather.
116	Technical	Announcements	Can announcements be targeted to MAUs?	Yes. Announcements can be sent to users with a specific MAU role.
109	Technical	Roles - Luminis and Banner	If a user is given an additional role, will a new tab corresponding to this role appear in the user’s layout?	Yes, but only if there is a tab specific to that role. For instance, a user begins with a Faculty role. This user’s layout contains a MyUA tab and a Faculty tab. If this user takes a course, the user’s Banner record will reflect this second role. When Banner updates Luminis with this user’s additional role, the user’s layout will now have a MyUA tab, a Faculty tab, and a Student tab.
80	Technical	Group Studio	Are Group Studio settings (including maximum number of groups a user may belong to and maximum number of users in a group) modifiable?	From SCT Luminis System Administration Guide, Version C, 6/24/04: “In some situations, you may need to adjust these or other Group and Course Studio settings. For example, you may want to limit groups to 8 MB of space for their photo albums.”
79	Technical	Group Studio	Is there a maximum number of Groups I can belong to? How many members can be in a Group?	Yes. You may join up to 300 Groups. A Group may have up to 1000 members.
77	Technical	Layouts	Can tabs be deleted?	Yes, a user may delete a tab unless the tab contains a locked-down channel.
76	Technical	Layouts	Can users choose their default tab?	Yes. From Luminis Client Support site, Answer ID 821: Luminis allows a user to customize his/her layout, and provides the user with options to modify tabs. One of the options includes allowing the user to select Make this the default “Active Tab” among all tabs within a user’s layout. The user’s default tab may be a tab that he/she created or a tab that the user received as part of his/her layout (based on the user’s Luminis roles). The option to allow users to set their own default tabs is a global setting, and it applies to all Luminis users. A major customization of the portal is required in order to restrict users from setting their own default tabs, and this lies beyond the standard configuration supported by SCT. “To prevent users from changing the default tab displayed at login requires editing an .xsl file included in the uPortal.jar file. Please note that changes such as this may not be preserved with patch installations or upgrades, and editing these files is beyond the standard supported customizations. However, if your institution needs to ensure a single, consistent default tab displayed for all users you can follow these instructions when logged in to the Luminis server as the Luminis administrative user...”
75	Technical	Layouts	Can a user subscribe to pre-made tabs??	No, this functionality does not exist in the core product. Subscribable channels do exist, however, for users to add to their tabs.
71	Technical	Layouts	When a user adds channels to his or her layout, do all existing channels appear in the selection list, or only the ones available to the user s role(s)?	When a new channel is created, the channel creator must specify which users, by role, may access the channel. When a user is in the process of adding channels to his / her layout, only channels that are associated with that user’s roles will be displayed in the selection list. Likewise, the layout owner may only add channels to the default layout that are available to that layout owner (for instance, a Student layout owner will not have access to channels tied to Faculty roles).
70	Technical	Layouts	When a user creates a new tab, is it possible for Luminis to pre-populate the tab with some channels?	No, this functionality does not exist in the current product.
68	Technical	Layouts	Can a user change a tab name?	Yes, if the tab creator (layout owner) sets the tab name as editable. From Luminis System Administration Guide, Version B, 7/9/03, Page 7.15-7.22: The layout owner will have the ability to set the names, content, and options available to users for each layout. The layout owner has the ability to set the tab’s type, whether it may be moved/edited/deleted or have columns added to it. If users are enabled to move tabs in their personal layouts, it is possible that a movable tab could be pushed off the visible area of the user interface. If users are not allowed to move this tab, it will be ordered relative to other tabs by the precedence value given the layout to which it belongs in the dlm.xml file.
66	Technical	Layouts	Can a user change color/logo sets?	As Luminis currently functions, this is not possible.
61	Technical	Announcements	Is there a way for the user to save important announcements or view an archive of old announcements?	From Luminis Support Center, reference #040729-000026: “There aren t any standard procedures for doing this (and currently no plans for any). Once a TA expires, it is removed from the DB. You would have to go in and manually change the expire date.” A possible solution is for the announcement creator to select to email the announcement as well as publishing it to the channel. This way, users would be able to save the announcement within their email, if desired.
60	Technical	Announcements	Must announcements have an expiration date?	From Luminis Support Center, reference #040729-000026: “If you don t specify an expiration date, it expires exactly a week after [being sent] (midnight of the 7th day).”
57	Technical	Announcements	Will a user new to a role (e.g., a new student) receive targeted announcements sent prior to their being added to that role?	No. From Luminis Support Center, reference #040729-000026: “If a user is added after a Targeted Announcement is sent, that user will not get the Targeted Annoucement.” *************** UPDATED 12/23/04: *************** Looks like we had some incorrect references in some of our notes on the subject. On a III.2 server with the default install/settings, I sent a TA (set to expire in a month) to the faculty role yesterday, and today added a brand new user with that role. The new user was able to see the TA. SCT Luminis Support
45	Technical	Channels / Content	Does My Courses channel show all MAU classes or just those for one MAU? How does this content get loaded?	It will show a consolidated course list for student / faculty users that will link out to corresponding MAU Blackboard servers. The channel will show all classes that the Student user has registered for in Banner, or all the classes the Faculty user is teaching. Once the Blackboard integration is complete, additional functionality will allow the user to click a link to go to the course home page in Blackboard. If the course does not have a home page in Blackboard, the user will either not see a link for that course, or will get an error. This has not been implemented yet.
37	Technical	Roles - Luminis and Banner	Can users see what roles are currently assigned to them?	No. Luminis does not allow users to see a list of their roles.
34	Technical	Roles - Luminis and Banner	How is content within channels tied to a Luminis role?	Targeted Content Channels allow for specific sections of content to be displayed based on the user’s role(s). For instance, a Targeted Content Channel named ‘Library’ may have sections of content for each MAU’s library information. A user with UAA and UAS roles will see the library content targeted for UAA and UAS, but not the content targeted for users with UAF roles. Content within non-targeted content channels will be completely viewable by all users of that channel.
29	Technical	Layouts	How is the precedence / priority order of Luminis layouts established?	From SCT Luminis System Administration Guide, Version B, 7/7/03: The precedence sets the priority of the layout fragment relative to other layout fragments in the system. The higher the number, the greater claim the layout has on the left-most tab position in the user interface. If two layout fragments have the same precedence, they will appear in the layout in order of appearance in the dlm.xml file.
15	Technical	Group Studio	Is there a limit on the number of users in a group?	From SCT Luminis System Administration Guide, Version C, 6/24/04: No more than 1000 users can belong to any group.
3	Technical	Group Studio	Can Group Studio Announcements be displayed outside of Group Studio – in a channel?	Members of any group in Group Studio will receive announcements from the group(s) they belong to via the user s Personal Announcements channel. SCT s System Administration Guide Version C page 284.
2	Technical	Group Studio	How does a user become a group leader?	If user has permission to manage Group Studio, then he/she can create a group and automatically become that group leader. If a user do not have permission to manage Group Studio, then he/she can request creation of a group. After Group Studio manager approval, a group will be created and user who requested group will become leader of that group. Any group leader can choose to delegate leadership permissions to other members of that group.
1	Technical	Group Studio	Hidden groups – who can see what groups?	If a group is hidden it does not get displayed in the hierarchy of groups under the Group Index tab. It is only displayed for group members under My Groups tab in Group Studio. If a group has a restricted membership (based on roles) it is visible only to individuals with the requisite role(s).