Navigating the University of Memphis Student Portal: A Comprehensive Guide

The University of Memphis (U of M) student portal is a centralized online platform designed to provide students, faculty, and staff with easy access to essential resources, information, and services. This article explores the various features and functionalities of the U of M student portal, offering a comprehensive guide to navigating this important tool.

Accessing the Portal

The first step to utilizing the U of M student portal is accessing it. You can visit the portal by going to you.memphis.edu.

Initializing Your UofM Account

For new users, initializing your UofM account is a crucial first step. This process, often involving the Password Reset service, allows you to set up your login credentials. Remember to create a strong, unique password that you don't use for any other accounts. Security is paramount; never share your password with anyone.

Key Features and Functionalities

The U of M student portal offers a wide array of features and functionalities, organized into various channels and tabs to streamline user experience.

Banner Self Service

Most users will access Self Service Banner. The Banner Self Service channel provides an expandable listing of links to each of the SSB tabs that a user has rights to. Everyone will have a 'Personal Information' tab. Other tabs will be dependent on other roles held at the U of M.

Internet Native Banner (INB)

Internet Native Banner (INB) opens in a separate browser window. Banner INB is intended to be a tool used more by the University's administrative offices and "power users". There are links to information to assist the Banner user including reference materials/links and training opportunities.

Communication and Announcements

Campus Announcements: Stay informed about important university-wide updates through the Campus Announcement channel. Authorized U of M staff can post messages that will appear here, targeting all faculty, student, and staff.
Group Announcements: Receive announcements targeted for members of a specific U of M group. Group Announcements can be sent to all individuals in a certain U of M role.

Student Resources

The student portal is replete with resources specifically designed to aid students in their academic journey.

Student Channel: A dedicated student channel provides links to pages with information for undergraduate and graduate enrollment policies.
Account Balances and Bursar Information: The student category offers links to check account balances and Bursar contact information.
Financial Aid: Access contact information for the Financial Aid Office, along with links to their website and important dates, all within the Student category.
Semester Dates and Academic Calendar: Find links to semester dates and academic calendar information in a channel under the Student category.
Current Schedule: View your current schedule through a channel available under the Student category.
Graduation and Career Services: A channel under the Student category provides links to graduation and career services.
Frequently Needed Links: A list of frequently needed links for students is available under the Students category.
Schedule Planning: A channel with links students frequently need to plan their schedule is available under the Student category.
Scholarship Office: Contact information for the Scholarship Office, with links to their website, can be found in the Student category.
TIGERWEB: Links to TIGERWEB and information pages are available under the Student category.
Tuition Estimates: Estimate tuition for course loads by semester through a channel available under the Student category.

Tools and Resources

The portal also provides access to various tools and resources to facilitate academic and administrative tasks.

e~Print System: Access the university's e~Print system via a channel available under the Tools/Resources category. Note that prior authorization is required.
Employee Self-Service: Faculty and staff can access the Employee Self-Service site through a channel under the Tools/Resources category.
IT Services: Links to work request websites including ITD Helpdesk, Telecommunications, and Physical Plant.
Search Functionality: Search for people and webpages at the University of Memphis through a channel available under the Tools/Resources category.
Tutorial: A channel with a tutorial on how to use the portal is available under the Tools/Resources/Luminis category.
Utilities for Webmasters: Utilities to administer the A-Z list and Tiger Pride information databases are available to university webmasters under the Tools/Resources category.
UMdrive: Single sign-on (SSO) access to UMdrive.
UMWiki: UMWiki access and new account request.

News and Entertainment

Stay informed and entertained with the following channels:

News Headlines: A channel that delivers current headlines is available under the News category.
Strange Story Items: A news channel with strange story items is located in the News category.
Academic Journals: Access academic journals through a channel found under the News/Journals category.
National News: National news from the New York Times is found in the News/National category.
Historical Events: Births, deaths, and events on this day in years past are available from the News category.
Daily Cartoon: Enjoy a daily cartoon by Ted Goff located in the Entertainment category.
Project Gutenberg: A channel with links to the latest books released from Project Gutenberg is available from the Entertainment category.

Group Collaboration

The portal facilitates group collaboration through Group Studio integration.

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Group Studio Summary: Quickly view summary information from Group Studio groups that you are a member of.
Group Management: Group Studio group leaders can quickly view information about groups they manage.
Enhanced Bookmarks: An enhanced bookmark channel with special features for sharing a set of bookmarks with a group. This enhanced channel provides the ability for layout owners to place a Bookmarks channel on a layout and populate it with links that all users should see. When placed on a layout, the functions for adding and editing links are only available to the layout owner. These functions are removed for users who are members of the layout. Group Bookmarks also supports multiple instances so that users can place their own bookmark channels on different tabs and maintain separate sets of links within each.

ERP Implementation Resources

For those involved in the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation, the portal provides access to relevant documents and tools.

ERP Document Repository: A link to the repository of documents for the ERP implementation is available under the Other category and is available to ERP team members.
Finance Related ERP Documents: A repository of finance-related ERP documents is available under the Other category and is available to ERP team members.
Portal Team Charter: The charter of the University of Memphis Portal Team is under the Other category and is available to ERP team members.
Project Spectrum Resources: Meetings, training sessions, and events scheduled for Project Spectrum are available to the ERP Implementation group from the Tools/Resources category. A decision, issue, and task tracking application for UofM Project Spectrum is available to ERP groups under the Tools/Resources category. Quick links to Project Spectrum websites are available to university staff under the Tools/Resources category. The home page for UofM Project Spectrum, the SCT Banner 7.0 implementation, is available from the Other category.
Survey Results: Survey results from the 5/2005 Portal survey are available to ERP groups from the Other category.

Other Channels

Moon Phase: Displays an image and description of the current phase of the moon. This channel is located in the Other category.
IT Impact Reports (ITIRs): Summary of currently open IT Impact Reports (ITIRs), and links to management site, available from the News or Other categories.
University of Memphis Job Announcements.
Nature: Nature is a weekly international journal publishing the finest peer-reviewed research in all fields of science.
Portal FAQ: Link to "My University Portal" FAQ. This channel is available to the Portal Team under the Other category.
Higher Education Portal Implementations: Links to various higher education portal implementations with an emphasis on Luminis portals, available to the Portal Team under the Other category.
Miscellaneous Portal Implementation References: Links to miscellaneous portal implementation references. This channel is available under the Other category.
Organizational Charts: Organizational charts for the University of Memphis are available from the Other category.
Chart of Accounts Maintenance: An example of the chart of accounts maintenance from the University of New Mexico. This channel is under the Other category and is available to ERP team members.*Happy Birthday!

Additional Technologies and Services

Beyond the portal itself, the University of Memphis provides a range of technologies and services to support students and faculty.

Canvas: Canvas is the current learning management system.
Media Services: MediaSite and Ensemble are all media services used for posting digital media content for instructional purposes.
Qualtrics: Qualtrics is used to create, distribute, and analyze surveys.
Microsoft Teams: Teams is used for web conferencing and collaboration. Microsoft Teams is available to all faculty, staff, and students.
EduBlogs: The UofM provides a blog development solution through EduBlogs.
umApps: Using our umApps software service requires an active account. Before using umApps from off-campus, you will need to install VPN.

Account Security and Management

Maintaining the security of your UofM account is crucial.

Password Security: Your password should be unique from every other password you use and should never be shared.
Compromised Accounts: Any activity that is unusual or inconsistent may indicate that an account has been compromised. In such cases, the account holder must be specifically approved by IT Security staff.
Multi-Factor Authentication: Implement multi-factor authentication on all your devices to add an extra layer of security to your online accounts.

Key Identifiers

U-Number: A U-Number is a unique University identification number, consisting of a "U" followed by eight digits.
UUID: A UUID is generated upon admission to the University or upon hire.

Getting Help

If you need assistance with technology-related issues, turn to the Service Desk. You can call, come by, or chat online for help.

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