MyISU Portal Information

Frequently Asked Questions

General Information
Access, Passwords, etc.
E-mail
Security
Course Homepages
Other Technical Issues
Contact Information

General Information

What is the MyISU portal?
It is the central website for the entire ISU community to tap into online academic resources, administrative services, community information, the Internet at large and personal web-based e-mail accounts. It does not replace the ISU website, Banner, or GroupWise. There is no charge for use of the portal provided by Campus Pipeline, Inc.

How do I access it?
Go to http://myisu.indstate.edu or click the link on the ISU homepage.

What features are common to ALL users (students, faculty, staff) under this one login?

• View and change your official university biographical information (mailing address, e-mail address, phone numbers, emergency contacts and marital status). What can be seen and what can be updated will vary by type of person.
• Web-based e-mail (check your ISU e-mail from anywhere in the world)
• University course schedule
• Group Portals
• Personal calendar system
• Targeted and campus-wide announcements
• National headline news feeds
• Password changing

What additional features are available just for students under this one login?

• Course homepages with chat rooms, message boards and links to keep you in touch with your instructor and classmates.
• Web-based e-mail accounts so that you can check your e-mail online from anywhere. These new student accounts will be used by the University for official messages, such as automatically sent hold and course change notices.
• Registration and add/drop capability
• Viewing of grades, schedule, holds, academic transcript and account information
• Viewing of financial aid status, awards, and eligibility information
• Online payment of your university bill (tuition, room/board, and fines) with Visa or MasterCard.
• Links to Blackboard online-delivered courses
• DARS reports (Degree Auditing and Reporting System)
• View or apply for server and network space/access account codes

What additional features are available for just for faculty under this one login?

• Automatically created course homepages with chat rooms, message boards and links to keep you in touch with your students
• Automated e-mail lists to make sending a message to all registered students a one-step process for each section. Note that students must have logged into the portal and activated their e-mail accounts in order to receive these e-mails.
• Your teaching schedule, class lists, and grade rosters
• Viewing of student information for advising (program of study, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail address, class schedules, and academic transcripts)
• DARS reports
• Entering of student-specific registration overrides

What additional features are available for employees, including faculty, under this one login?

• Sending and reading GroupWise e-mail. Note: the MyISU access to your GroupWise account is not a full replacement for your desk-top or WebAccess GroupWise (http://gwmail.indstate.edu). The MyISU access does not have the calendar or shared folder capabilities. If your GroupWise account is not available when you click the MyISU e-mail icon, e-mail IT-Help@indstate.edu requesting this feature be activated. Teaching faculty, adjuncts, and graduate assistants should not use a MyMail account to communicate with their students due to space limits. If a faculty member has a MyMail account and would like to have it removed, please contact the OIT Help Desk.
• The Banner Web for Employee program enables employees to view pay stubs, tax forms, vacation accrual, etc. through the portal.

What if I am a faculty member or employee and also an ISU student?
The special features for both will be available with your one login. You will see both the courses you are taking and those you are teaching on the same My Courses tab.

What are targeted announcements and how can I submit an item?
Within the MyISU Portal, there is the capability of sending messages to a select group of people. These appear for a set period of time on the specified user group's Personal or Campus Announcements channel and/or as an e-mail to the specified user group's personal e-mail accounts. Visit the MyISU Targeted Announcement page for complete information.

Are there other areas of MyISU that only certain groups, say ISU students, see?
Yes. There is special information just for students on the Student tab too. Events and announcements that only students will see is maintained by Student Life Programs. Submit an item using the MyISU Student Content Request Form.

Is the MyISU portal available at all times?
MyISU has no scheduled "down time". However the Self-Services on the All Users tab and the Quick Links on the Student, Faculty and Employee tabs do require maintenance which makes the features tied to the Banner database unavailable Friday evenings from 7:00pm to 12:00 midnight, and on Sunday evenings from 9:00pm to 12:00 midnight.

Why is ISU providing this system now?
The technology now exists to allow students and staff the ability to access their own university account information. This is more convenient for users and saves administrative time by allowing direct access to database records. Campus Pipeline was chosen since it was the university portal system that integrated with our existing Banner student information system. It also provides a wide array of communication tools to help keep the ISU community in touch with one another.

Why will students want to login to the portal once a day if possible?
The most practical reasons include:

• To read and send e-mail. Official ISU e-mail notifications will be sent to your MyMail address, so you'll need to check it often.
• To stay on top of your courses. Faculty may use the Course Homepages to send students information and to post resources needed for class.
• To get informed about what is happening on campus and the world. The portal provides easy access to updated information about campus news and events, Web search engines, and general national and world news.

Access, Passwords, etc.

How do I get a login and password?
A login has been created for every person working for or taking classes at ISU. If you do not know yours, go to myisu.indstate.edu and click the link "Activate Your Sycamore Login". You will need to enter your ISU Student ID number (often starts with 991...), your birthdate and your social security number or your Federal I20 number if you are an international student. Your Sycamore Login is typically the first letter of your first name and then your last name up to ten more characters. There may also be a number at the end to make it unique.

Your password is 6 characters. If you do not know or have forgotten your password, see "What do I do if I forget my Password? below.

What do I do if I forget my password?
If you have previously set your Security Question, click the Forgot Your Password? link on the MyISU login screen. Provide your 9-digit User ID number and click the "Forgot Password" button. Then answer your question and you will be prompted to set a new password. Exit the Banner page that appears and then login into MyISU with your new password.

If you have not yet set your question or forget your sycamore password and the answer to your question, you must call the Registrar's office at 812-237-2020. A Registrar's staff member will ask the caller a series of questions to identify the caller. When the caller is identified that student's sycamore password will be reset to the requested 6 characters. The student will be forced to change that sycamore password the next time they login to Self-Services.

Can my password include alpha characters?
Yes, passwords can now contain characters of the alphabet as well as numbers. The alpha-characters are case sensitive so remember if you capitalized. Check to make sure Caps Lock isn't on when logging in with lower case letters. Punctuation marks and special characters are not allowed.

What do I do if my account has been disabled?
To protect unauthorized people from accessing your account, the system disables entry into your account after 5 (five) unsuccessful login attempts in a row. An account will be re-enabled automatically with time or you may call the OIT Help Desk at 812-237-2910 (toll free 888-818-5465) to have your account re-enabled.

How do I change my Password?
Log into the portal. Click the Student tab and then click on the Change Your Password link in the My ISU Quick Links channel. Follow the directions on that screen.

You must use the way noted above for your new password to work in the many other systems tied to your ISU portal account.

As a student, if I change my MyISU Password how long does it take for my passwords on other services to match?
In most cases the synchronization of passwords across these systems will take less than 20 minutes. However during "busy times", like the beginning of the semester or during registration periods, it may take significantly longer.

As a faculty or staff member, if I change my password for the MyISU Portal, how long does it take for my password to update?
For teaching faculty members, password changes will take place immediately.
For staff, password changes may take up to 24 hours to complete.

How do I change my Sycamore Login?
Your Sycamore Login matches your name on record at the university. If your name has changed you must first have it changed in the Registrar's office for students or Human Resources for faculty and staff. Contact the OIT Help Desk at 812-237-2910 (toll free 888-818-5465) or via e-mail at IT-Help@indstate.edu to have your Sycamore Login changed. Actual changes are made at the end of academic semesters.

E-mail

My instructor sent an e-mail to me through the My Courses class website and I didn't get it in my MyMail account?
The E-mail Class feature on the faculty My Courses class websites uses your MyMail account. Students must have gone into MyISU and clicked on the E-mail icon to set up their MyMail inbox. If a student hadn't done that at least once before the instructor's e-mail was sent, that message will not be received. Login into MyISU and click your E-mail icon. Now you will be able to receive e-mails from the portal or anyone else using your portalID@mymail.indstate.edu account. If you still do not receive e-mails, there is a technical problem the OIT staff should investigate. Please contact the OIT Help Desk at 812-237-2910 (toll free 888-818-5465) or via e-mail at IT-Help@indstate.edu.

Will I be able to check my other e-mail accounts from the ISU Portal?
Yes. You will be able to make this portal the one place you view POP3 compliant e-mail. See the Setting up MyISU Portal POP Mail page for directions.

Are there space limits on student MyMail accounts?
Yes. The quota is 50 Mb in size. A warning is issued to users when they reach 50% of this capacity. Additional restrictions include each message being 3.1 Mb in size; each message having a maximum of 5 attachments; and attachments being limited to 1.2 Mb each. NOTE: All teaching faculty, adjuncts, and graduate assistants are encouraged to use GroupWise accounts to communicate via e-mail to students to avoid the space limits in MyMail accounts. If you don't have a GroupWise account, please request one from the OIT Help Desk at 812-237-2910 (toll free 888-818-5465) or via e-mail at IT-Help@indstate.edu.

My student MyMail folders disappeared. How do I get them back?
When you are in your MyMail account, click on the Subscribe link at the top of the folder menu. On the next screen you will see all of your folders. Click on those with a tiny P in the folder icon to re-subscribe and make them visible in your Folders list. Click Done.

May students "pop" their MyMail e-mails to other e-mail systems?
[POP is the term used to refer to using the Post Office Protocol to call an e-mail from another e-mail system.] Yes, students may POP their MyMail into another third party e-mail system. However, you are responsible for reading all e-mail sent to you from official ISU offices. ISU is not responsible for failures of third party systems or you in accessing ISU-sent e-mail popped into another account. You are responsible for setting up this arrangement with other providers. You must ask the third party provider for technical support; do not call the OIT Help Desk. If you choose to POP your MyMail to another account, you should choose the "delete from server" option so your MyMail account does not retain a copy of your e-mails. See the "quota" FAQ. ISU may need to change e-mail systems or upgrade current ones that may not support POP. Announcements will be made about this, but you are responsible for making arrangements to restore your MyMail account. MyMail also has an auto-forward option that allows you to send a copy of your MyMail e-mail to another system of your choice. See the E-mail Help system for more information about auto-forwarding. The MyMail server name is mymail.indstate.edu. With both of these options, know that important ISU information is provided through the MyISU portal that are not e-mail based (Personal or Campus Announcements).

Will the MyISU Portal replace GroupWise?
New students are only given a MyISU portal e-mail account. GroupWise is the e-mail and scheduling system that most ISU faculty and staff use. If your GroupWise account is not available when you click the MyISU e-mail icon, e-mail IT-Help@indstate.edu requesting this feature be activated. The version available from within the portal does not include the calendar system or shared folders and is provided as a convenience to users who want to check messages without having to leave their MyISU session. Users may prefer the full-feature PC-based version for normal office use. If your old scifac, befac, etc., e-mail address is appearing within MyISU on the My Courses page, please e-mail IT-Help@indstate.edu requesting that your default email be changed to GroupWise. This is especially important for teaching faculty to do so that their students' e-mails to them are deliverable.

Security

Is the portal secured to transfer sensitive personal information?
Yes, the components of the portal's Self Services that let you interact with the university's information database are encrypted for your protection. This may not be apparent from your browser's security icons since the portal uses frames. To verify that the Self Services areas are secure using the Netscape browser, right click the area of the screen that holds the sensitive information. Choose "View Frame Info" and read the Security line. In Internet Explorer, right click and then choose Properties. The Connections line will have "SSL" for Secure Socket Layer, the encryption method used. Only areas of the portal that need to be secured are encrypted to allow for faster page rendering.

Is there a timeout period for MyISU?
Yes. After 15 minutes of inactivity, you will be asked if you want to continue your session. If you don't answer this question, you will automatically be logged off the system to protect your account. Always log off MyISU as soon as you are finished or when you need to leave the computer, especially public work stations.

Course Homepages

How will MyISU's Course Homepages affect existing departmental or personal websites?
The MyISU Course Homepages will not replace any existing websites. They are created and exist only for a specific section of a specific course so only the students enrolled will see them. Faculty may wish to link to their department, course, or personal websites from the Course Homepage so that the resources already created are easily available. Faculty can add up to six different links.

Why don't I have a Course Homepage for a class I am teaching?
If a course does not appear on your My Courses page, please have your department chairperson e-mail the Office of Registration and Records at regr002@isugw.indstate.edu to request a modification to the instructor of record. The CRN (course reference number) and course id (subj, crse #, section) should be provided with the request for modification. Once the modification has been submitted by the chairperson and processed by the Office of Registration and Records, the course will appear on your My Courses page.

Other Technical Issues

What other ISU services use this same login and password?
Your MyISU Sycamore Login and password is your key to accessing all of the following services:

• MyISU Portal
• Blackboard for ISU
• Proxy access to the library databases
• Quartz - Novell server (on campus)
• Sapphire - personal website server

Note: When you change your password or request your MyISU password be reset there may be up to a two-hour delay in synchronizing your new password with the ISU services mentioned above.

If the MyISU portal goes down for technical problems, are some features still available?
Yes. Web delivered courses and the Self Services are housed on separate servers and may still be available. See Accessing features Outside the MyISU Portal for website addresses and login information. NOTE: MyMail e-mail accounts are only available when the portal is. Employees may use GroupWise Web Access to access their GW e-mail online.

Why doesn't the "My Headlines" work with the Internet Explorer 6 browser?
IE6's "medium" privacy setting is the default, and this excludes the cookie set by Infospace, the provider of the My Headlines content. You may get a message that the cookie was being rejected. Users will either have to change the IE privacy policy (Tools->Internet Options->Privacy) from medium to low, or add www.infospace.com to the list of trusted sites (Tools->Internet Options->Security->Trusted Sites->Sites) in order to use the My Headlines feature with IE6. This also can occur in IE5, if you set it to only accept "per-session" cookies. The "allow cookies to be stored" radio button needs to be checked in this case, or you will get the logout screen again.

Contact Information

Whom do I contact about the MyISU portal?
If you have a technical issue with your portal account please contact the OIT Help Desk at 812-237-2910 (toll free 888-818-5465) or e-mail IT-Help@indstate.edu.

If you have a policy issue that you would like to share with Office of Information Technology administration please contact myisu-feedback@indstate.edu.