Changes to myUMBC for August 19, 2010

Well... not exactly nothing, just mostly behind the scenes changes.  Nothing I will bore you with.

Two things though:

• We changed how myUMBC logs you out a bit to try and resolve some problems people were having.  We're keeping an eye on it.
• Fixed a sneaky little bug that kept people from being invited to non-public, closed groups. Yeah...  /shame

A Few Words About myUMBC's Complexity

The bulk of the technical problems that people have been having with the new myUMBC (redirects, missing links, security warnings) are the result of breakdowns in the interrelationships between dozens of backend systems that make up "myUMBC".  Notice the quotes, they're important.  myUMBC is not just a single website/service, it is how we lump together many online services: email, online learning, class registration, parking registration, etc.

The front end, the initial face (for most people at least), of myUMBC is the website you're looking at right now.  We call it the portal.  The portal's job is to make it look and feel like many different systems are only one.  We jokingly refer to this as "smoke and mirrors," in that we do our best to hide some of the more "creative" ways of making things feel seamless.  Sometimes we accomplish our goal better than others, but the hope is that ultimately you can focus more on getting your job done and less about where and how to do it.

Launching a new version of myUMBC is tricky.  While we (the portal group) can test to make sure the portal part of myUMBC does what it is supposed to, many of the other systems the portal depends on are outside of our control.  In addition, many of those other system don't have a testing environment that allows us to try things out beforehand.  Ultimately, the only way to know that everything works is to put it into production and hope that the number of fires that need to be put out are few and far between.

For the most part, the new version of the portal has gone remarkably well considering how much of the behind-the-scenes technologies are new.  We've had a few casualties along the way, and to those who've had a technical problem, I apologize.  As we learn about problems, we work as fast as we can to fix them.

However, the problem sometimes isn't solely on our end.  Sometimes, an upgrade to myUMBC forces people to re-acknowledge a problem they may have learned to ignore with a previous version.  Sometimes, a new system fixes bugs in the old system, which causes people to see the correct information, but not the information they were expecting.

As a general rule, here are three things you should do to make sure your myUMBC experience is the best it can be:

Log In and Check Your Profile

The new myUMBC is much more discriminating about which links it shows to which people.  In the old days, we could assume that everyone was either a faculty/staff or student.  Now there are 11 distinct types of people who log in to myUMBC, ranging from applicants to parents to alumni to members of the public who've been given accounts for various reasons.  Because of this, it is extremely important that you log in to myUMBC to get links to the things you need to do your job.  Where a link may have not required you to log in before, it may now.

If you're logged in and still don't see something you think you should, check your profile.  If you're an undergraduate student, make sure your profile says "undergraduate student."  If it doesn't, there might be something wrong with your account and you should contact the Registrar's Office to make sure everything is in order.  If you're a faculty or staff member, you may need to contact HR.  Bottom line, check to make sure you profile says what you think it should.

All that said, sometimes we've goofed and aren't showing you a link you should see.  Considering how many students, faculty and staff there are, if we've made a mistake like this, we usually hear about it fairly quickly.  However, don't hesitate to send us feedback, because you may be the first.

When you log out, close ALL browser windows.

Don't just close the window you're looking at.  Don't just close a tab.  Close ALL browser windows.  Check the taskbar, make sure no browser windows are hiding.

This is especially important for myUMBC because we're constantly sending you to different services and websites in order to let you do your job. When you click the Log Out button, we do our best to log you out of those other services, but sometimes we can't.  Its a technical limitation of the web.  So you need to close your browser to make sure you're completely logged out.

Upgrade Your Browser

In this day and age, its hard to imagine that some people are still using a web browser that is nine years old.  Yes, I'm looking at you Internet Explorer 6.  This release of myUMBC is the first to actively block people using older browsers, instead redirecting them to a page with links to upgrade.  Older browsers are bad because they don't support the newer web technologies that make sites faster, more engaging, and more secure.  Because of the myUMBC team's limited resources, its almost impossible for us to support browsers that aren't up-to-date with recent technology, while providing the kind of experience that people expect.

In closing...

This turned out a lot longer than I anticipated, but it felt good to be able to share some of the challenges we're up against with a site like myUMBC.

Please keep the feedback coming.

Have a great day!

- Collier