The following email was sent to all students on 12/1/2010 from theInformation Technology office.
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Students,
It has come to our attention that your UMass Lowell student account password may have already expired or will expire shortly. We have received numerous calls, indicating that multiple users cannot access university applications that utilize your student credentials. Examples include:
‘ Emergency Notification System
‘ Wireless Access
‘ Library Access
‘ Access to 360/Apreso for lecture downloads
HR DIRECT IS INCLUDED AND IS IMPACTED BY THIS ISSUE
Reason:
Per policy, your UMass Lowell password will expire 180 days after you reset it. Since we migrated all student accounts to the new, larger Outlook Live mail platform beginning the last week of May 2010, some of you may have expired passwords already or will expire shortly.
Note: Although you may be able to login to Outlook Live to access your email account, you will not be able to access the above applications if your password has expired. The reason for this is that your mailbox is hosted at a Microsoft datacenter and they do not expire passwords ‘ by design, since we synchronize your password with the university’s environment. While your ‘on-campus’ password has expired, Microsoft hasn’t notified you.
Action:
If you are experiencing login issues to the above applications, you will need to reset your password in one of the two following methods:
1. Browse to password.uml.edu
o Enter your full email address
o Enter your current password
o Enter your new password
Once your password has been accepted, it will take five minutes to synchronize with the Windows Live environment. We appreciate your patience.
Login to Outlook Live via http://outlook.com to verify your new password.
2. Call the University Help Desk at 978-934-4357
o Be prepared to provide information to verify your identity
o Once you obtain a new password, visit password.uml.edu to reset it.
Future plans:
We understand this is an inconvenience to you, and we’re already working to prevent this confusion in the future. In a few weeks, we will start sending out notices via email that your password will be expiring, starting two weeks from the date that your password will expire. This should give you ample time to change your password without a disruption in service.
Additionally, over the course of the next several semesters, Microsoft has stated that they plan to improve their notification functionality, and actively monitor your password expiration. We don’t have a date for this yet, but once we do, we’ll make sure it’s implemented.
Regards,
UMass Lowell Email Services
Office of Information Technology
Olsen Hall Room 100