New my.pitt.edu will allow users to customize to their needs

By MARTY LEVINE

Pitt’s main internal website, my.pitt.edu, and its Pitt Mobile version are rolling out redesigns this summer aimed at allowing users to better find, organize and use Pitt resources.

On July 1, users of my.pitt.edu will be able to pick their campus and their own role (staff, faculty, student, alumni, parent or retired staff). The center of the site will now feature resources (currently along the right side) that users can arrange, both by “favoriting” the Pitt items most used — say, PRISM and PeopleSoft — and by bookmarking preferred resources from outside Pitt, such as your favorite news outlets. New “service centers” also will collect the most commonly used resources for each role.

The announcements, currently taking up the center of the site, will be in a slimmer space across the top, and can be dismissed individually if desired (while remaining in a dismissed announcements folder) or can be hidden altogether. Similarly, the new site’s top banner — technically a task carousel, which will flip through featured news and events — can be hidden if users wish.

“We really want users to get in the habit of ‘search,’ ‘favorite’ and then go,” when looking for their most used resources or for new things, said Jennifer Decima, IT service owner for my.pitt.edu and Pitt Mobile, in Pitt IT. Since there are now 1,500 Pitt resources clickable from the site (as opposed to 50 when the site opened in 2016), searching for items is a user’s best bet, she emphasized.

The new Pitt Mobile, to launch Aug. 1, also will allow users to pick their campus and role to govern what they see. It also will allow for “favoriting” of items and will offer campus guides.

The best feature, Decima said, is a new personal calendar that lets users synch their Pitt schedule with Outlook and other calendars you may have on your mobile device, all on a single display. It also will help users add University events easily to this calendar, she said.

The new Pitt Mobile will let users find Pitt people to send private messages.

All users may see more regional campus features in the future, and students will see more academic-focused content, such as class schedules, than on the current version, she added.

To install the new Pitt Mobile in August, use Google Play for Android devices and iTunes for Apple or other iOS devices.

Marty Levine is a staff writer for the University Times. Reach him at martyl@pitt.edu or 412-758-4859.

 

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