1. Why is the college assigning student identification numbers to all students?

State law requires the colleges district to issue a separate student identification number to identify students. The student ID number will help protect the confidentiality of the students' social security numbers (SSNs), thereby helping to protect their identity and privacy.

2. How will we know the difference between the students' SSNs and their student ID numbers?

The new student ID numbers will be a 9-digit number with no significant intelligence built in. The student ID number will be prefixed by 88 to distinguish it from SSN. Example: 88 123 4567 (the two eights are fixed and the remaining seven digits will be randomly generated numbers).

3. When will the student ID number conversion occur?

The student ID conversion is planned from midnight of Thursday, July 20 through July 23, 2006. Student notification will occur at least two weeks prior to the conversion. The new student ID goes live on July 24, 2006.

4. Which students will be notified by mail?

Students who were enrolled in Fall 2005 or any session/semester thereafter.

5. What will students do if they forget their student ID number?

College will provide students with a new student ID card. Colleges are advised to print the student ID number on the card. In addition, through the beginning of the Fall 2006 semester, students will be able to enter their old student ID and their PIN on the WEB or on STEP to access their new student ID. Admissions & Records and various departments will have access to view database and provide new ID number upon proper ID by student.

6. Will students be required to provide their SSNs when they apply?

Colleges are required to request the social security number to be provided when students apply; however, students cannot be denied admission if they refuse to provide their SSNs. Students who apply for financial aid must provide their SSNs.

7. Who will be assigned a new student ID number?

All new students and students who were enrolled since Fall 1992 in any of the colleges within the LACCD.

8. Who will have access to student’s SSNs?

SSNs will be used in MIS reporting to the state Chancellors Office and IRS reporting. In addition, departments that require collection of SSNs to meet state and/or federal requirements will also have access to SSNs; e.g., financial aid.

9. Will students be able to change their student ID numbers?

Yes, the student ID number can be changed in very rare situations when absolutely necessary; however, this will require a petition approved by the Vice President of Student Services.

10. Will students’ ID numbers appear on their official transcripts? Will the SSN appear?

Yes, the SSN and the student ID number will both appear on students' official transcripts. The use of SSNs on transcripts is not prohibited by law, since public posting of transcripts does not typically occur and mailed transcripts are sealed. Unofficial transcripts will list the student ID number only.

11. When will the DEC be shutdown?

All student information systems included DEC, STEP, WEB roster are unavailable from midnight of Thursday, July 20 through July 23, 2006.

12. Can I still enter the grades of my summer session A students via the web roster after the conversion?

Yes, you can submit student grades by paper grade roster as usual.

13. Can I post my students' grades using the new student id number or some portion (e.g., last 4 digits) of this number?

No, grades cannot be posted by the new student id number or any portion of this number. Students can check their grades via the on-line system.

14. How can I help?

Doing any of the following can help:

- Encourage students to register for summer B before July 21st.
- Announce to students the new ID goes live on July 24.
- Encourage students to go to the Admissions Office to exchange their old ID card for the new ID card in the fall 2006.

15. To whom can college employees address questions or concerns regarding the student ID number change?

You may contact the district office, Project Manager, Calvin Madlock, at 213-891-2213.

 

1. What is my new E-Mail address?

Your new email address is the same as your existing email address with the exception of the domain after the “@” symbol.

For example:

• Jan F. April email address was AprilJF@laccd.edu
• Her new email address will be AprilJF@lamission.edu
2. My email address used to be in the long format form. How does it work with the new email system?

The old email system provides two different formats of an email name: a short format and a long format.

Example:

Long format names:

• Jan_F._April@lamc.cc.ca.us
• Jan_F._April@laccd.edu

Short format name:

• AprilJF@laccd.edu

 

With the new email system, the long format names will be invalid.

3. What is my new email address if my name is June A. December?

You have a good question!

Based on the District’s standard, the first part of the “@” symbol is formed by the first 6 letters of your last name, initial of the first name and initial of the middle name; this is sometimes called the “six-one-one formula.”  In this example, June A. December’s email address is: DecembJA@lamission.edu

4. When can I use my new email address?

The new email address can be used to send an email to any destination outside of the District right after the move e.g. @yahoo.com or @csun.edu. However, it may take a couple hours or quicker to synchronize your new email address with the District Global Address.

5. Who can obtain an email account? What will be the procedure?

All Mission College employees-full time and part time staff and faculty-can obtain a college email account. The employee's department chair, manager, or director must initiate the request for an email account via the WebSTAR system. The request should include the employee's full name, title, and employee number. A new email account will be issued within 2 working days upon employee verification.

6. What happens to my archived ccmail folders?

All archived ccMail folders will be imported into Outlook, and once imported, will be available within Outlook. Our professional IT staff will assist you in importing all archived ccMail.

7. What is Exchange 2003?

Exchange 2003 server is network software that runs on a digital file server to provide email delivery and other groupware services. It provides a single view of email and calendaring using the Outlook clients. The product also has a web-based view, called Outlook Web Access (OWA) that looks remarkably similar to the full Outlook program.

8. What is Outlook client?

Outlook comes with the MS Office 2003, 2000 or XP version suite. It gives you access to all the available features of the Exchange 2003 server.

9. What is Outlook Express? Should I use Outlook Express instead of Outlook?

MS Outlook Express is email software and comes along with MS office suite. It will allow you to keep an address book, but it is not robust enough to be a true contact management software tool. For example, MS Outlook – not Outlook Express - can schedule a meeting with someone else and it will update your calendar and send and email to that person notifying them of the request for a meeting. Outlook Express is NOT recommended for use on campus.

10. What is Outlook Web Access (OWA)?

Outlook Web Access (OWA) is the web-based email client. Your email can be accessed from any computer that has Internet access and a browser. It is very easy to use and can be used anywhere to access your inbox or manage your email account. While you may use other types of email clients, we endorse and will only support the use of OWA for your email.

11. How does Outlook Web Access (OWA) differ from Microsoft Outlook Client (native client)?

The “native” Outlook client and OWA allow you to access your email account and other services on the Exchange server.

MS Outlook is the primary client for MS Exchange Server. It is designed to operate as an Independent personal information manager (PIM), or in conjunction with the MS Exchange Server for group scheduling, email and task management.

With Outlook Web Access, you can use your web browser to gain secure access to your email and calendar you maintain on the Exchange server with few limitations as follows:

• You can not create, edit, or use a distribution list to address a message in OWA.
• You may only view your own contact list; you may not view others or shared contact lists.
• You may only view your own calendar, you may not view others or shared calendars.
12. When should I use Outlook client? When should I use OWA?

The MS Outlook client is the recommended and supported method to access the email accounts via faculty and staff owned computers (permanently assigned computers). Outlook Web Access is the recommended method for accessing email accounts from personally owned computers, on campus shared computers, student computer labs, and off-campus computers.

13. Does it matter what browser I use?

All features associated with Exchange 2003 OWA are only fully functional and supported with Internet Explorer version 6 or higher.

14. Can I use Netscape to connect to OWA?

Yes, Netscape version 4 or higher is recommended.

15. How about me? I am a MAC expert.

No problem! Outlook Web Access works beautifully and supports all MAC OS.

16. Why is OWA slower than Outlook?

OWA is always slightly slower than a direct connection using the Outlook client. The Outlook client connects directly to a back-end server where the mailbox data is stored. However, OWA communicates first with a "front-end" server which then relays requests to the "back-end" server. This is a security feature that enables us to never expose our critical back-end servers directly to the Internet.

17. To complete the log-off process, do I have to close the browser after logged off OWA?

Clicking on the log-off button of OWA is sufficient to maintain security of your mailbox contents. OWA 2003 uses cookie based authentication and SSL encryption which does not store your user credentials on the local hard disk.

18. How much mail storage space do I have?

Storage space is a measure of how much disk space your email occupies on the servers. Every user has 60 megabytes (MB) of mail storage. It you mainly send and receive text emails, you could probably store around 150 messages per MB of storage space.

19. Will my messages be removed from server after one month as cc:Mail?

The IT staff will not remove messages out of your storage space as was done with the old ccMail system. However, you are encouraged to archive your messages when your mailbox size has reached the limit. Failure to archive your email when your account has reached your mailbox size will to prevent you from sending and receiving new email.

20. How do I know if I am near or over my email storage space?

The email system will notify you when you reach certain thresholds. The mailbox limitation is configured as follows:

• 50 MB Warning level: You will receive a warning that you have exceeded the mailbox limitation.
• 55 MB Prohibit Send: You will not be able to send any messages.
• 60 MB Prohibit Send and Receive: You will not be able to send mail and any mail sent to you will bounce back to the sender.
21. Why do I seem to use more storage space with Exchange services?

Every item (mail messages, calendaring items, notes, tasks, journal entries) in a person’s email account counts towards the account’s storage space.

22. Is there a limit to the size of an attachment of a message I can send through?

Yes, the maximum size of an attachment file that can be sent or received is 6 MB. This is the District standard.

23. What format files of the attachment should I use?

To protect the email from viruses and spam, the following file formats are allowed to send or receive: *.doc (MS word), *.xls (MS Excel), *.ppt (MS power point), *.pdf (pdf files), *.txt (text files), *.rtf (rich text format)

If you need to attach any of the file types having different format than the allowed list above, please do the following:

• Rename the file with a different extension or no extension.
• Notify your recipients of the original file type so they can rename the file’s extension before attempting to open it.
24. What are POP3 and IMAP4? Do I need to configure POP3 or IMAP4 to check my email at home?

POP3 and IMAP4 protocols allow users to use Outlook or Outlook Express to check their email off campus. Users are required to send their username and password to login to email server without encryption. So, your messages and credentials can be read by any eavesdropper listening to the flow of information between your personal computer and your Internet service provider. In additional, POP3 and IMAP4 configurations intend to expose the Exchange message store to the Internet. Thus, POP3 and IMAP4 are vulnerable protocols which we do not support.

To check email at home, please use Outlook Web Access.

More questions? Please send your questions or comments to: MissionIT@lamission.edu