The migration from WebMail to mymail accounts was supposed to start Monday for Mercyhurst College students.

The migration is not expected to occur now until Monday, Oct. 4.
System/Domain Administrator Lorraine Frownfelter explained the reasons for the delay.

Microsoft is installing upgrades on its Windows Live accounts, and Frownfelter said she did not want students to get used to a new system while changes are still being made.

These upgrades should be completed by Thursday, Sept. 23.
Another reason for the delay, according to Frownfelter is, “our password synchronization is broken.”

Students already using the mymail accounts who tried to change their password last week discovered problems. When they changed their password, it would change for their Blackboard and WebAdvisor accounts but not their mymail accounts.

IT staff working on the mymail migration have not determined if the password problem is an upgrade issue on Microsoft’s or Mercyhurst’s end.

“We hope to have it back in sync shortly,” Frownfelter said.

The students who encountered the password problem not only include freshmen, but also graduate students and IT workstudy students who are part of a test group for the migration phase.

“We are testing all phases so there won’t be glitches when we move 7,000 students because that’s a lot of phone calls,” Frownfelter said.

She said that the migration would work if they went ahead with it now as planned, but due to the upgrades and password problem, there will be fewer issues if they wait.

The migration that will take place starting the first week in October will most likely follow the same schedule that was already in place. Last names beginning with the letters A-G will migrate on Monday, letters H-M on Tuesday and N-Z on Wednesday.

Frownfelter said she doesn’t foresee any more problems arising that would postpone the switch to mymail again because the problems that are occurring now are due to the upgrades.