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Information about the New MySBU Portal

If you have questions about the new MySBU portal, please contact:
David Bolton, Director of Administrative Computing
Sells Administrative Center, Phone:  417.328.1538 | Email:  dbolton@sbuniv.edu

Here are some frequently asked questions concerning the MySBU portal.

 

When is the portal going live?

The MySBU portal is going live June 1, 2011!

 Why did SBU decide to implement a portal? 

SBU made the decision to implement a portal in December 2009.  A portal is a tool that is used at many other universities and in researching the pro’s and con’s we felt that a portal would be of great benefit to SBU.  For years, we have had various systems used by students, faculty, and staff that required different ways of accessing them and in many cases different usernames and passwords.   User complaints had risen to a point where we needed to find a solution to bring all of these systems into one location so that we could implement single sign-on technology (the ability to login once using a username and password and then move between systems without having to login again).  Another area of concern we needed to address involved the annoyance and frequency of mass emails.  The portal will allow us to target announcements (much like instructors do with Angel) to those individuals that need to know, instead of blasting everyone.    If you want to access systems like ANGEL and WebAdvisor, or read and send email, if you want to know what’s happening on campus, or keep up to date on campus events,  go to the portal.     Back to top

How will the transition to the portal affect students?

In order for us to provide single sign-on capabilities within the portal, it was necessary that all systems have the same username.  Student’s username in WebAdvisor have changed to a MySBU username consisting of a lowercase “s” (for student) and the student ID number.  This change took effect in early 2011.  If your ID number is 123456, then your MySBU username is “s123456”.  With the introduction of the portal this will be the only username and password a student will have to remember.

All students will be provided with new email accounts through Microsoft’s Live@edu.  This means a new email address.  You new email address will be user MySBU username at the @SBUniv.edu domain (e.g. s123456@SBUniv.edu).  All current email being sent to any previous SBU email address will be forwarded to your new Live@edu email mailbox.  This change becomes effective with your initial login to the portal.  (See the question, Will student’s email change with the introduction of the portal?)

Beginning June 1, your new email address will be written to the ANGEL learning management system as the default email.  ANGEL has an internal course mail that is separate and not linked to your SBU email account.  If you wish to forward ANGEL course mail to either your SBU email address or another email address, you have that option in ANGEL by clicking on Preferences in the side navigation panel and then selecting system settings (type in the email address you desire, select the preferred forwarding mode, and then click save).

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What username and password will I use to log into the portal?

Beginning June 1, 2011 students and employees will log into the portal using their MySBU username and password (this is the same username and password that you currently use for WebAdvisor).  On the first login to the portal, all users will be requested to change their password.  This password change is necessary in order to establish a connection to your new Live@edu e-mail account through the portal.
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What are the advantages of a portal?

The portal will be more convenient.  Having everything housed in one location with single sign-on capabilities and the ability to target announcements to groups of students that need to know the information will definitely be an advantage.  There are many other features of the portal that will be very useful to students.  Organizations and clubs that students may participate in will have the ability to have a presence in the portal through team sites.  Each of those team sites can communicate with its’ members through the portal by posting announcements, events, documents, etc.  The portal also allows each student to have a personal space called a MySite.  This site will allow the student to store personal documents or share documents with others, and since the portal is web-based, all documents and information stored in the MySite will be accessible from anywhere.   The MySite provides a profile page where users can enter basic information they wish to share (much like a profile page in Facebook).
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Will student’s email change with the introduction of the portal?

Along with the introduction of the portal, SBU will be providing a new e-mail system to students, faculty, and staff.  SBU has chosen to use Live@edu by Microsoft.  This web-based email system will be accessed through the portal and will use Microsoft’s Outlook Live Web application.  Not only will there be access to e-mail but Live@edu also provides users with much more.  Below are some of the features:

Student email addresses will change with the implementation of Live@edu.  Your email address will be your MySBU login ID (example: s123456) plus SBU’s domain (@SBUniv.edu).  As an example, your email address would be s123456@SBUniv.edu.  Email coming to your current email address will be forward to your new live@edu email address.  Instead of accessing that mail through Netmail you will access all email at Live@edu through the MySBU portal.  We will keep Netmail up and running for a period of time in order for you to view, print, or forward old email messages that you may need.   Click here for more information.
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I hear SBU is launching a new mobile application, is that true?

Yes, SBU will be launching a mobile application in conjunction with the portal.  This mobile applications called MOX (Mobile Access) will deliver students, faculty, staff, prospective students, parents, and alumni anytime access to SBU’s most important and up-to-date news, events, building locations, notifications, maps, contact information and more.  Currently supported mobile devices include the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPadBlackberry, and Google Android. 
Click here for more information.
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What internet browser can I use to access the MySBU portal?

The MySBU portal is built on Microsoft’s SharePoint technology; therefore, Internet Explorer is the recommended browser.  However, we have tested the portal on Firefox and Google Chrome with good results.  Please keep in mind that just because the browser supports the display of the portal, some of the applications you may wish to access form the applications web part in the portal may not be certified to work with that particular browser. 

You will have the best experience in the portal with Internet Explorer.  To improve your experience with Internet Explorer on your personal computer or laptop, you may wish to review these browser settings recommendations.  Note:  these setting have been applied to all SBU owned desktop computers.
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