UNM IT recently launched MyUNM 2.0 to replace the former version of the University website that is utilized campus-wide.
IT Chief Information Officer Gilbert Gonzales said he initially requested a change when he noticed that the underlying website portal technology had not been altered much since 1998.
Lack of stability was the primary complaint surrounding the website, he said, as it often crashed. He said he hopes that this issue is resolved through the website's revamping, while also making it more mobile-friendly.
The website’s new layout is a concisely-packaged format of tools, resources and applications.
“That could not only be useful to a student who just wants to get to a mobile app store, but it also helps us get data to the business units, because it’s more aligned with the world we live in today, which is heavily influenced by mobile devices,” Gonzales said.
Chi Tuan Bui, manager of web and mobile services at UNM, led three of the developers in creating, implementing and supporting MyUNM 2.0. He said that this was a year-long process and that now, the new site functions well on mobile devices whereas the original MyUNM site could not.
The new responsive mobile technology allows them to deliver a product that works on mobile browsers for viewing purposes and interactions between users as well, he said.
Additionally, the links that were once spread across various pages are now aligned into apps found on a single page. Bui said the aim of the app-style design is for users to access information quickly.
With MyUNM 2.0’s development platform, every department, as opposed to solely IT, can develop content and information on the site as well, he said. He hopes that with the continuous improvement to MyUNM2.0, it will become a vital online resource that users cannot live without.
Director of IT Applications Duane Arruti is responsible for overall applications and support at UNM.
Arruti said the new site offers the department more control over aiming the content towards UNM-based users, as opposed to some of the constraints created by the other portal.
“We really see this as sort of a foundation we’d like to build on in the future,” he said. “Part of the long-term vision and strategy for this is to leverage search capabilities and an app store … where folks can actually get to what they need without having to go through layers.”
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Gonzales said the new version of MyUNM is in accordance with how the world's software is evolving.
“We aren’t introducing fundamentally new technology; we’re simply adapting technology to deliver software licenses and data in a way that is more consistent with the experience they have with their Android devices or Apple devices and so on," he said. "It’s an improvement in alignment.”
MyUNM 2.0 is only the beginning of a continuous process to update the website with different upcoming versions, including MyUNM 2.1 and 2.2, in an effort to constantly be improving. Gonzales said they like to think of it as a platform for delivering content and tools through applications that can meet instructional, administrative and research needs.
Elizabeth Sanchez is a reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Beth_A_Sanchez.
