My Dundee is being upgraded from 17:00 on the 20th December 2018 with a completion deadline of the 7th January 2019. During this period you will be able to access a temporary service, but what you can do with it will be significantly limited. This document details everything you need to know about the upgrade and what you will and will not be able to do with the temporary provision over the winter closure.

Click here to download a PDF version of this article

*Note that this guidance has been updated to make clear that it may be possible to restore the full My Dundee service before the target deadline. This possibility depends on the work being done by the vendor.

**We have also added that the header of My Dundee will become grey rather than the university Blue.

Schedule

The below table shows the overall schedule for the upgrade. Note there will be short periods of time where you will not be able to access My Dundee at all at the start and end of the upgrade.

Date	Action
Thursday 20 December 2018 @ 17:00	My Dundee taken offline: The service will be taken offline at the end of the day on the Thursday. There will be no access to My Dundee until the interim provision is brought online by 5pm the next day (Friday).
Friday 21 December 2018 @ 17:00	Temporary access switched on: Access to a restricted version of My Dundee is brought online to cover the full migration period: Reference-only access to module content (changes will not be transferred to the new system); No access to connected services e.g. Turnitin.
21 Dec – 2 Jan	Migration performed + interim provision: Blackboard performs conversion and migration of our data to new SaaS provision. Interim provision remains in place.
3 – 7 Jan	Config & testing: CTIL and UoD IT will be handed our newly migrated service and perform all the required configuration and testing.
Monday 7 Jan*	Deadline for Full Service: Users will be warned when the interim provision is going to be taken down in advance of restoring the full service.
7 Jan– 11 Jan	At-Risk Period: As with any major change or upgrade there is a higher than usual chance of service disruption immediately following the work. We do not anticipate any problems but during this week, users need to be aware of this ‘at-risk’ period.

* Note that it may be possible to initiate the transition to the new service before the deadline of the 7th. If this is the case we will warn users when the temporary provision will be removed and the transition initiated.

Communication

You will receive communication about the progress of the upgrade via email and, when possible, on the front page of My Dundee. Here is the schedule for the key messages:

Date	Communication
Thursday 20 December 2018	Final reminder that the service will be taken down at 5pm that day.
Friday 21 December 2018	Notice that the temporary service has been brought back online and that users can log back in.
3 – 7 January 2018	Notice that the temporary service will be taken down, ready for switching on the new service.
3 – 7 January 2018	A he final email will give the all clear, confirming that the work has been completed and that all services, including connected services have been fully restored.
Other	If there are any changes of schedule or issues, they will be communicated by email in the same way.

All emails will come from ctil@dundee.ac.uk and for security, be aware that we will never ask you for your login details and only go to URLs that you recognise e.g. those that end with dundee.ac.uk.

Messages will additionally be posted on My Dundee itself, including significant warnings about the limitations of the temporary service. During the periods of actual downtime at the start and end of the upgrade, you will see a holding page when trying to access my.dundee.ac.uk.

The temporary service

Once the temporary service is announced on the 21 December 2018, you will be able to go to my.dundee.ac.uk and login. You will then be able to access your modules, but with significant limitations. It is important that if you intend to use My Dundee during this time you read the below information about what is and is not possible. We will be changing how the interface looks and how you access your modules to minimise the chance of somebody not noticing that the temporary service is in place.

What you can do

Simplistically, the temporary My Dundee service should be treated as being for reference purposes only.

• You can access content and materials, but you must not make changes as they will not be saved.

You can…	Detail
Access Modules and Organisations	Modules and Organisations that have been made available by their instructors/leaders will continue to be accessible. Note that Semester 2 modules may remain unavailable until released in January by their instructors.
View content, files etc.	You will be able to view everything (excepting some connected services) as it was before the upgrade began. Videos will also remain accessible.
Download existing files and follow links	Any files will still be downloadable e.g. PDFs, Word documents and links to external resources will all still function.
View/Extract/Download Grades for pre-existing work in the Grade Centre	The Grade Centre will still be available and you will be able to access and download grades. Be aware that this will only be accurate for pre-existing work i.e work that has been graded before 5pm on the 20th January.
Access Reading Lists	Reading lists will remain available where setup by instructors.

What you can’t do

It is important that you read and understand this section. We strongly urge you not to try to get around or ignore these conditions.

• Do not attempt to make any changes or save anything – any changes will be lost.
• You will still be able to make changes and they will appear to work, but those changes will be irretrievably lost once the new system is brought online on the 7 January 2019.

You cannot…	Detail
Make lasting changes	As stated above, although you will be able to make changes to modules and the content within, those changes will be erased once the new service is brought online. We are unable to prevent changes from being made so we are relying on users to remember this condition. This includes staff making any changes to their module and students engaging with any activities, such as quizzes.
Access or use Turnitin	– No submissions – No similarity checking – No marking – No downloading – No marks returned to the Grade Centre – No accessing feedbackIf you attempt to access Turnitin from your module, you will be redirected to the My Dundee landing page as the service will have been turned off.Also note that existing links to Turnitin may look odd as the usual icon will not be displayed.*
Access Turnitin via alternative route (only applicable to certain staff)	Some staff had been given special access to Turnitin via either an iPad or directly through a special website in the past. Do not attempt to access Turnitin in any way under any circumstances or you may cause irreparable damage to your assignments.
Blackboard Assignments & Safeassign	Blackboard Assignments will still be visible (we are unable to disable these centrally). However, any submissions, changes or marking will be lost. CTIL will be contacting module leaders with Blackboard Assignments that may be affected to advise that such assignments should be disabled for the duration of the upgrade to avoid confusion. Do not attempt to use Blackboard Assignments during the upgrade period.
Access or use Collaborate	You will get a “Launch Error” message.
Access or use Questionmark	You will get a “Launch Error” message. Note that staff members with Questionmark OnDemand accounts will still be able to access QMOD directly if required.
Access or use Maple TA	You will get a “Launch Error” message.
Access to any Campus Pack resources	You will be redirected to the My Dundee landing page.
Qwickly	You will be redirected to the My Dundee landing page.
Panopto Videos	Existing videos will still be viewable but you will be unable to add new or edit existing.
Kaltura Videos	Existing videos will still be viewable but you will be unable to add new or edit existing.
SCORM Packages	SCORM packages will not work. This is most relevant for a few organisations that provide elearning packages such as the ‘Information Security Awareness Training’ organisation. To avoid confusion, we have disabled some Organisations that use this tool.

 

Support

Technical Support

There will be no support for users from the 22 December to 3 January
Help4u is not monitored and UoD IT do not provide any technical support during times when the University is closed. CTIL will also be unable to offer any support during this period through help4u or through the elearning@dundee.ac.uk or ctil@dundee.ac.uk address.

Note that this is no different from the standard provision during periods when the University is closed.

Elearning Drop-ins

CTIL will be putting on additional staff drop-in sessions before and after the migration. The main purpose of these are to help any staff wishing to prepare modules in time for Semester 2, but we’ll be happy to address any issues relating to My Dundee and the upgrade. See below for the timetables:

When	Where
Monday 17 to Thursday 20 December; 10am-12	CTIL Main Office, Top Floor, Main Library (ask at reception if you’re unsure)
Tuesday 8 to Friday 11 January; 12-2pm	Exchange Street, Main Library
Tuesday 15 and Thursday 17 January; 12-2pm	Exchange Street, Main Library Note that this is the standard drop-in CTIL will be running throughout Semester 2.

What if something goes wrong

UoD IT have exhaustively planned and rehearsed the upgrade with the vendor, Blackboard, and we do not anticipate any delays or issues. Saying that, in case of a problem we have made contingency plans that we can refer to in case of any unexpected issues. If we need to make any changes to the schedule or the upgrade in general, you will be informed by email.

 Will My Dundee be any different once the upgrade is complete?

Once the upgrade has completed and the final notice has been issued that you can go back into my.dundee.ac.uk, things will look and work much the same as before. This upgrade is about changing the way My Dundee is delivered and so the immediate benefits are focused on reducing downtime, increasing reliability and gaining access to new features. However, this upgrade will enable us to make far more visible and impactful improvement later in 2019.

There are some minor changes that module leaders should be aware of:

‘Grade Centre’ will become the ‘Mark Centre’

Both staff and students will be used to accessing the ‘Grade Centre’, either from the course management area (staff) or the student tools but once the upgrade is complete, ‘Grade Centre’ will become the ‘Mark Centre’. This is due to our changing the language pack to the proper UK English. We understand that changes like this can be confusing, but the language pack that we have used for the last few years is a customised US pack that results in a number of americanisms in the interface.

Full Width

The first thing you will notice after 7 January is that My Dundee will span the full width of your browser window. This is part of the improved flexibility across different screen resolutions/sizes, including mobile devices. This change will be more or less noticeable depending on the device you are using, but will be most noticeable on large monitors.

Simplified Theme

In preparation for our future move to the new Ultra user interface, we will be applying a reduced theme to My Dundee. The theme dictates things like the colours, fonts and styles used in the user interface and specifies how modules look. You’ll find some of the menus and interfaces have different colours than before and that the header of the main page will become Grey rather than the university Blue.

Module Menu Colour Scheme & Buttons

Some modules have enjoyed the ability to customise the look of the left hand module menus by adding your own colour scheme and button designs. In order to improve accessibility and bring some consistency to the user experience, we will be disabling the ability to customise these.

Thank you for your patience

We are very aware that this upgrade has caused disruption to users. Thank you for your patience and cooperation throughout this process and CTIL will be working hard next year to deliver the benefits that are made possible by this upgrade.

Any questions? ctil@dundee.ac.uk

Regards

Hamish Loveday
Senior Educational Technologist