Information Technology News Archive

1996 - 2017

New and enhanced features on EEE

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The Office of Information Technology has been hard at work making improvements and adding functionality to the Electronic Educational Environment (EEE). The development team has modernized the look and feel of EEE, enhanced the mobile version, and made a significant number of functional updates (selected updates described below).

EEE Homepage

In addition to the enhanced features on EEE, you can access official UCI photos using the newly released MyPhoto functionality. Instructors and students can click on ‘Classmates’ on MyEEE to access the photos, which are made available based on user-preferences. For more information, please see https://eee.uci.edu/help/policy/tools/#photos

EEE also has a new YouTube channel, which contains a growing number of videos focused on new and existing functionality of the system.

Instructors, staff and students at UCI continue to use EEE in innovative ways and provide us with feedback about how to improve or expand the system. Your input about new features and enhancements, or questions about how to use EEE are welcome!

https://eee.uci.edu/contact/

EEE Mobile

  • Released ‘My Grades’
  • Released ‘Room Finder’
  • Released ‘Contact Us’
  • Enhanced view of classes for Summer Session courses
  • Provided an introduction to EEE Mobile at https://eee.uci.edu/help/mobile/

DropBox

  • Released ability to download a custom zip file, which includes only selected files
  • Provided a manifest file for each zip download, which facilitates recording of assignment scores in GradeBook
  • Increased default individual quota for all users from 3 GB to 5 GB

Help Documentation

EasyWebsite

  • Added capability to provide non-enrolled students with access to a restricted website
  • Automatically display the total number of times a document in a ‘Class Files’ section has been downloaded
  • User interface updates to increase the speed of page loads and mitigate against accidental site deletion

MyEEE

  • Provided CSV download of classes
  • Updated ‘Ask a Librarian’ Chat Widget

Quiz

  • Provided functionality to require students to agree to an ‘Academic Honesty Statement’ prior to taking quiz
  • User interface updates to instructor quiz views and scoring interface and mitigate against a student closing a window and losing responses

MessageBoard

  • Enable hidden identity, in addition to anonymous and identified
  • Allowed group UCInetIDs to create and administer messageboards
  • Provided input-checking to provide users with more immediate feedback when attaching files to posts

Kuali Financial System Debuts

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kuali

Accounting and Fiscal Services, in partnership with OIT and other units, rolled out the campus’s new Kuali Financial System on July 7, replacing 30-year-old legacy systems.  Modules include Chart of Accounts, General Ledger, Financial Processing, Contracts & Grants Award (post), Purchasing, Accounts Payable, Capital Assets, Travel, and Budget in addition to a new Vendor Onboarding system and Cognos reporting solution.

To log into KFS, first log in to ZotPortal, https://portal.uci.edu/ and select the following tabs:

  • Faculty & Staff
  • KFS

Many resources are available to KFS users including an informative web site, an email newsletter (with archives of previous issues, available to subscribers), and training programs on the UC Learning Center.  Help is available from the KFS help desk (x4-7001, kfs@uci.edu).

In Brief April 2014

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latest news

Retiring Windows XP

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No Windows XP
Microsoft will officially retire Windows XP next week.  This means Microsoft will cease development of security patches for this product. Systems running XP after April 8 will be open to attacks which present significant security risks to individual computers, to any network to which they are connected and to other computers on that network. In almost all cases, UCI systems and any others connecting to UCInet should be upgraded to Windows 7 or Windows 8 or should be removed from service.

In the very few cases where business necessity dictates continued use of Windows XP on UCI systems, suitable measures should be taken to protect other systems and users of UCInet. This may involve configuring the XP system’s network connectivity or, in some cases, disconnecting it from the network altogether.  Such measures will depend on the particular system’s situation.  Owners should consult with their local computing support for departmental recommendations.

Those wishing to migrate to a more current operating system can find a discussion of issues and options on OIT’s XP retirement web page.

Update from Windows Services Group

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Microsoft Windows
OIT’s Windows Services Group (WSG) provides Windows Server system administration and related application support.  Here are some of WSG’s efforts over the last year.

Windows 7 Migration

As OIT’s Desktop Support has been guiding departments through the transition from Windows XP to Windows 7, WSG has been working behind the scenes to create a productive environment for users, including server support for user profiles (i.e., seeing the desktop and preferences you expect when you log in – at any supported machine), departmental shares (network disk drives), and group policies (such as security features.)

Remote Administration

Remote administration refers to systems that allow for efficient distribution of standardized software and desktop configuration from a centralized location.  WSG has worked with Desktop Support to transition remote administration from LANDesk to BigFix and Microsoft System Center resulting not only in flexible and efficient support for user desktops, but saving UCI tens of thousands of dollars a year.

Lync

WSG has pioneered deployment of Microsoft Lync services for UCI. Lync is a hosted service that lets you connect with others through instant messaging (IM), video calls, and online meetings. Lync is integrated with Exchange so that (for example) free/busy information from your colleagues’ calendars is visible allowing you to see who among your collaborators is available through the work day or to schedule conferences.