ITS outlines plan for ANGEL during finals week December 15-19

Over the last year, staff in Information Technology Services (ITS) have worked to update the contingency and communication plans for ANGEL. ITS has increased the computing capability of ANGEL by adding three times more Web servers and installing a larger, faster database server with four times greater performance capacity than a year ago.

To optimize the performance of ANGEL during fall finals week, the Import Wizard and Export Wizard tools will be turned off from 4:00 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 13 until 6:00 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 20. In the event that ANGEL does begin to experience performance problems, ITS staff will take additional measures to temporarily remove access to nonessential features from the ANGEL My Profile page to alleviate load. See below for a list of these nonessential features.

If ANGEL becomes inaccessible, faculty may wish to contact their students via e-mail. Faculty can obtain a list of the Penn State e-mail addresses of all students enrolled in their class through eLion and use this list to send a message. For instructions, see the Copy E-mail Addresses from eLion topic in the ANGEL Help & Information Guide.

Following are the nonessential features that would be temporarily unavailable on the ANGEL My Profile page, if necessary, to alleviate load. Alternative means to access these features in ANGEL, where feasible, are noted. Access to these features on the My Profile page would be restored once ANGEL is stable.

• Course Submission and Consultation System (CSCS)
• Online SRTE (student rating of teaching effectiveness). The pilot for the online course evaluation period is closed. Access to the component is not needed at this time.
• What's New notification icons for courses. New items can be viewed by entering a course, expanding the course guide, and selecting What's New. Please refer to the Course Guide topic in the ANGEL Help & Information Guide for additional information on the course guide. The notification icons are still available for groups.
• My Announcements. Course and group announcements can be viewed by entering a course or group and selecting the Resources tab. Please note that course and group editors have the option to remove the announcements component from the Resources tab or to add it to the Communicate tab.
• My News. Course and group news can be viewed by entering a course or group and selecting the Resources tab. Please note that course and group editors have the option to remove the news component from the resources tab or to add it to the Communicate tab.
• My Tasks. Course and group tasks can be accessed by entering a course or group, expanding the guide, selecting Tasks, then Personal Tasks. Please refer to the Course Guide topic in the ANGEL Help & Information Guide for additional information on the course guide.
• New Mail. Mail can be viewed by entering a course or group, selecting the Communicate tab, then Read Course (or Group) Mail. New messages are shown with bold text.
• Today's Calendar. Course and group calendars can be viewed by entering a course or group and selecting the Calendar tab.
• Calculator. No alternative within ANGEL.
• RSS Headlines. No alternative within ANGEL.