Alerts Page

UPDATE: Banner Access Issues Resolved

Issues with access to Banner Administrative Pages have now been resolved. If you still encounter related issues, please contact the Help Desk at helpdesk@wwu.edu.

UPDATE: Access to files in Microsoft 365 limited for some users restored

Update: 10:40am via Microsoft regarding issues accessing Excel documents stored on OneDrive/SharePoint and Teams, the issue is now resolved. Users may need to restart their applications and refresh their web browser instances to proceed. Microsoft provided the following report:

Final status: We identified that a recently deployed code change that was intended to address a separate issue resulted in impact. We reverted the offending change and monitored the service to confirm that this has resolved the problem. Users may need to refresh their web browser or restart their app to see resolution.

User Impact: Users were unable to access Excel files within Microsoft 365 services.

More info: Users may need to refresh their web browser or restart their app to see resolution.

Impacted services may have included, but weren't limited to:

- SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business and Microsoft 365 apps when attempting to open Excel files using an internet browser.

- Microsoft Teams when attempting to open Excel files within the Microsoft Teams client.

 

Users were able to open files in the Excel desktop app. This issue affected new Excel sessions only; existing sessions open before the issue began were not affected.

During the event, users were receiving an error message that stated, “Something went wrong, please try again”.

Scope of impact: Any user attempting to open Excel files may have been impacted by this issue.

Preliminary root cause: A recently deployed code change intended to address a separate issue resulted in impact.

 

Next steps:

- We're reviewing our code change procedures to better understand why impact wasn't detected prior to deployment and help prevent similar issues in the future.

https://twitter.com/MSFT365Status/status/1455583278824624130?s=20 

ReADY Request to be Down Today at 1:00 p.m.

Facilities Management’s ReADY Request will be down for a brief period today from 1:00 - 1:30 p.m. for maintenance. While ReADY is not accessible, please send all customer service Facilities Management requests to fixit@wwu.edu or call FM Customer Service at 360-650-3420.

New Degree Works URL and User Experience (UX)

Western has introduced a new user experience (UX) for Degree Works starting today. The new Degree Works user experience is available on all devices (phones, tables, laptops, and desktops) and meets modern web accessibility standards.

Previous Degree Works bookmarks will no longer work. Please use the new URL https://dashboard.degreeworks.wwu.edu/Dashboard/ or access Degree Works via myWestern or Web4U.

For more information, visit the Degree Works for Students Page on the Registrar's Office website: https://registrar.wwu.edu/degree-works/students

VPN to Support Multi-factor Authentication - Tonight

To enhance data and network security, connecting to the university’s Virtual Private Network (VPN) will soon support Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) beginning tonight, Thursday, October 28, 2021, at 9:00 p.m. Access to VPN will be unavailable for about 30 minutes.

VPN users currently enrolled in MFA will experience two changes:

1. They will be prompted by MFA to approve their sign-in request.
2. Authentication will be through Azure using your username@wwu.edu and password. Authentication will no longer be through the AnyConnect VPN dialog box. (See screenshots in “Additional Information below).

VPN users who are not yet enrolled in MFA will only experience the new authentication experience described in #2 above.

Degraded WiFi performance in some areas, users unable to log in to WiFi

10/25 at 7:48pm : The issue causing the Wireless networks to no longer accept connections has been resolved - a seemingly unrelated system update caused the configuration for switches in CG and HH/WL to no longer accept connections. That has since been remedied and both controllers are now accepting connections again. 

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We have received  reports of degraded Wireless signal and an inability to authenticate on to WWUWireless and WirelessSecure in the Haggard Hall and Wilson Library areas. EIS has been notified, and this alert will be updated as a fix is deployed. 

Web4U, Password Change, Banner, Other Admin Systems Maintenance

To perform quarterly database system updates, many administrative systems will be unavailable or will have limited functionality on Friday, October 22, 2021, at 7:00 p.m. until Sunday, October 24, 2021, at 12:00 p.m. (noon).

• Web4U
• Banner & other admin apps
• DegreeWorks
• Universal password change

Academic apps (e.g., Canvas) and Microsoft 365 apps (e.g., Teams, Outlook, Office, SharePoint) will be available.

The mail.wwu.edu Web Address to be Retired

The "mail.wwu.edu" web address will be retired effective December 31, 2021. If you type "mail.wwu.edu" in your web browser or have that address bookmarked to find your mail, use https://office.com instead. Your WWU email address remains unaltered by this change.

For more information, please see this article.

Resolved: Network Outage In Old Main

The outage of both the wired and wireless networks affecting Old Main has been resolved.