Banner System Upgrade Complete

To the Manhattan College community,

       It is with great pleasure that I can inform you of the completed upgrades for our Banner System. This was an extensive upgrade that provided needed functionality for the Financial Aid / Admissions offices, however, we have upgraded every Banner system, e.g. Student, Finance, Human Resources, etc. This will also enable us to stay up to date with Federal Regulations, regarding taxes, etc.

      Along with this were some changes to some Java processes that come alongside Banner. If your computer has been updated to the latest Java 7, you will notice this immediately as when you log into Banner Forms, you will get three prompts warning you if you would like to run this Java application. One prompt is jacob.jar, one prompt is UNKOWN, and one prompt is Ellucian. You must click "I accept the risk and want to run this application." And then click run. I am working with Ellucian / Oracle to make this process smoother in the future, but due to the nature of the Java Security updates, all schools are currently going through this. If you are on Java 6, you may not get the same exact prompts, however, everything will work the same. If you are having any issues with this, please feel free to contact the Helpdesk and we will get your issues sorted out as soon as we can.

       I would implore you to download the new Release Guides for your specific system as you can learn about the new functionality that has been provided with these very significant updates.

      Thank you for your time and patience in this matter.

      Have a great evening!

Melvin Lasky

Senior Database Administrator

Riverdale, NY 10471

Phone: 718-862-7410

Fax: 718-862-8024

melvin.lasky@manhattan.edu

www.manhattan.edu

Self-Service, Degreeworks, and Banner System Maintenance

From approximately Noon to Midnight today, the following systems will be offline for critical software updates:

- Self-Service

- Degreeworks

- Banner

Starting at Noon and for the duration of the outage, users will not be able to access systems such as Banner self-service to perform such tasks as submitting or checking grades.  Users are asked to wait until normal processing is expected to resume around midnight.  The community will be notified if the system is available earlier. Access to those systems via the myMC portal will also be affected.

Access to other JasperNet services including Email, Moodle, and Home server will be unaffected.

Although the timing of this upgrade is not optimal, it is a requirement in order to continue processing important College tasks including Financial Aid for next year and was delayed as long as possible to avoid interruption during the semester.

The New (and Much Improved) Google Sheets

For diehard fans of Excel who have switch to Google Apps products, you need to try out the new Google Sheets!

Google just announced a significant upgrade in functionality, including support for offline editing and new filter views for simpler sharing.

For now, you will need to opt-in to use the new functionality.  Turn on the new Sheets by checking the “Try the new Google Sheets” box in Google Drive settings. From then on, all new spreadsheets you create will work offline and include these new features. The post on Google's Office Blog mentions that Google will be adding a small list of missing features in the coming months.  Note that the new functionality will only effect new sheets you create after opting-in.

Well Wishes for Finals and the Holidays

As the Fall 2014 semester comes to a close we at ITS would like to wish the community well for Finals week and the coming Holidays.  We will be working diligently over intersession to make sure that all the technology you rely on is working efficiently when you return.  During this time we will be taking a short hiatus on blog posts.  You can expect more information to come when you return in January.

Phishing Scam

Earlier this afternoon we received several reports from users that a Phishing Scam has been circulating.  The message requests that you reply providing your username and password. If you received this message and replied, please change your password immediately using: https://start.manhattan.edu/

If you require further assistance, please email its@manhattan.edu or call x7973.

Change the Size of Your Google Apps Slides

Have you noticed that your Google Apps Slideshow presentations don't fill the screen when using a widescreen display?

If you are interested in filling the display, check out this how to from google:

Change the size of your slides

1. Click the File menu and select Page setup.
2. Select a size from the dropdown menu. You can select from several options:
   • Standard (4:3)
   • Widescreen (16:9)
   • Widescreen (16:10)
   • Custom — If you select Custom, you can specify the dimensions of your slides, selecting the units (inches, centimenters, points, or pixels) from the drop-down menu.
     
     
3. Click OK.

Link from Google: https://support.google.com/drive/answer/3447672?hl=en

Reminder Tech Lunch November 13th 12:30PM - 1:30PM Cafe 1853

Have a technology question that you have been wanting to ask ITS?

 Have a question about Moodle or Gmail?

Members of ITS will be available in Cafe 1853 from 12:30PM - 1:30PM on November 13th to answer questions that you may have about the following topics:

Moodle

Google Apps

Technology Support

Instructional Technology

Systems

Network

Security

Banner
Self Service

JasperNet Web Resources - SERVICE RESTORED

Service has been restored to the JasperNet web resources affected with this AM's outage.  ITS will continue to monitor the systems closely throughout the weekend.

JasperNet Web Resources Offline

ITS is aware of a system outage affecting all JasperNet web services.  We are currently investigating the issue and will have more information soon.

Phishing Scams

We have received a couple of reports of phishing scam emails being received by users on campus today.  Remember that ITS will never ask you for your username or password.  Emails asking you for such information are fraudulent and should be deleted.  If you did submit your password information to one of these emails it is recommended that you change your password as quickly as possible.

Google Apps New Launcher

Google has just updated its Google Apps launcher. 

Before the update, Google had all the apps listed in the top of the page as pictured below. 

After the update, the apps no longer appear in a toolbar on the top left. Rather, they are in a grid-like structure on the top right of the page, next to your account name and picture. To access your Apps (calendar, emails, drive, etc) you can click on the 9 small boxes to access a drop down list as shown below.

Reminder Tech Lunch October 30th 12-1PM Cafe 1853

Have a technology question that you have been wanting to ask ITS?

 Have a question about Moodle or Gmail?

Members of ITS will be available in Cafe 1853 from 12:00PM - 1:00PM on October 30th to answer questions that you may have about the following topics.

Topics:

Moodle

Google Apps

Technology Support

Instructional Technology

Systems

Network

Security

Banner
Self Service

Client Services Improved Telephone Response Time

The ITS department continues to improve upon our level of service.  We worked hard to increase the amount of Client Services Technician coverage this semester.  Also, due to the Telephone Upgrade we were able to implement the ability to call all Client Services locations at once.  The pairing of these two initiatives has allowed us to guarantee an improved response time to requests made via x7973.  Click here for more information.

How to Backup/Restore Bookmarks

All modern web browsers, such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, offer options for backing up your bookmarks and even browsing history. This allows for easy transfer of bookmarks between different computers and restoring bookmarks to your web browser in the event of a software malfunction. Please click here for a step-by-step guide on backing up your bookmarks.

Reminder Tech Lunch October 21st 12-1PM Cafe 1853

Have a technology question that you have been wanting to ask ITS?

 Have a question about Moodle or Gmail?

Members of ITS will be available in Cafe 1853 from 12:00PM - 1:00PM on October 21st to answer questions that you may have about the following topics.

Topics:

Moodle

Google Apps

Technology Support

Instructional Technology

Systems

Network

Security

Reminder Tech Lunch October 15th 12-1PM Cafe 1853

Have a technology question that you have been wanting to ask ITS?

 Have a question about Moodle or Gmail?

Members of ITS will be available in Cafe 1853 from 12:00PM - 1:00PM on October 15th to answer questions that you may have about the following topics.

Topics:

Moodle

Google Apps

Technology Support

Instructional Technology

Systems

Network

Security

Self Service Jaspernet Login Link - Time Out

Login to Self Service using your Jaspernet ID?
Ever notice that when it times out it defaults to the CWID and PIN login?
This has been resolved!
You can now click the link at the top to re login with your Jaspernet ID