UNIVERSITY NEWS | MyLMU, the website where so much university business is done, has received a makeover.
The new design, which was informed from both ongoing conversations with LMU students, faculty and staff, as well as a study of user patterns collected over the past two years from the old MyLMU, improves the look and function of the website. It also provides an upgrade in stability and security. The project was a yearlong collaboration between Information Technology Services and Marketing and Communications.
All of the main features from the old MyLMU are still readily available. The most-trafficked functions – email, Box, Brightspace, Concur, HR Self-service, PROWL, MyTime and the ITS Help Desk – are right up front on the new home page. These data-driven selections will make the new-look MyLMU a more efficient website. Those familiar functions once found under “quick links” in the old system are still available; but links that were non-operational, or just not used, have been removed.
“It was important for the university to update the 10-year-old technology of MyLMU, which has become unsupported by that company,” said Patrick Frontiera, vice president of information technology and business services. “The new MyLMU provides a customized interface that matches the university’s branding standards and provides a simpler user interface while at the same time running on current technology.”
Connecting MyLMU to the other university systems also became an important objective. Ben Sullivan, associate director for digital media solutions in Marketing and Communications said that the website was rebuilt using the university’s content management system that is used for its other sites. “That way when we upgrade the CMS for all its other duties, MyLMU gets upgraded in the process. The outcome is it should be more stable and secure,” Sullivan said.
With the streamlined, improved user experience, there will be some things to get used to. In the old MyLMU, announcements were mingled with events, making either sometimes hard to find. In the refreshed website, only announcements appear in the Announcements section, while events are displayed separately in the Calendar of Events portion of the home page. The Calendar of Events has been separated into sorted tabs that feature key events on campus, academic seminars, performances and athletic events, all pulled directly from the university calendar. The new MyLMU “is now a hub, with spokes to things like the university calendar, LMU This Week, and our social media presence,” Sullivan added.
And, as Sullivan mentioned, social media will make the front page even more engaging, adding the Twitter feeds for the university and President Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D.
The university also hopes to hear the LMU community’s thoughts about the new MyLMU. A MyLMU Feedback form is available for users to submit suggestions for improvements, questions or other general comments about the website.
Take a tour of the new MyLMU below:
