TechSIS Web for Students
Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ)
- What is TechSIS Web for Students?
- Who can use it?
- What browser can I use?
- When is it available?
- Why isn't Web for Students available 24 hours a day?
- What is a "Student ID Number"?
- What is a "PIN" and how do I get one?
- What if I forget my PIN?
- What can I do to protect my records?
- What is a "Call Number"?
- How secure is my information on TechSIS Web for Students?
- What is a "Personal Test Number"?
- How is my e-mail address used?
- Does Tech offer Internet access from home?
- What effect does a hold have?
- I'm a parent. Can I pay my child's tuition and fees on Web for Students?
- When I click "log in", my browser says it cannot load the page, or gets the error "The identity certificate uses an unknown signature algorithm."
- I am getting "This session has expired."
- I got an error message. What does it mean?
- Why does my browser try to download a file named tservweb.exe when I click a link?
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What is TechSIS Web for Students?
TechSIS Web for Students is an integrated set of Web pages, server programs, and mainframe programs that use the World Wide Web to give students access to their records over the Internet. It was purchased from Sungard SCT and customized by Texas Tech University. The official URL (Web address) of TechSIS Web for Students ishttp://techsis.tosm.ttu.edu/student/
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Currently-registered undergraduate, graduate, and Law students of TTU, and HSC students.
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According to the vendor, only these browsers and versions are supported:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer for Windows, version 4.0 or later (version 6 recommended)
- Microsoft Internet Explorer for Macintosh, version 5.0 or later (version 5 recommended)
(Other browsers may work but these are the only ones supported by the vendor.) America OnLine's browser is not supported, but you can use IE with AOL. "Web accelerator" & "download accelerator" software has been found to interfere with TechSIS, and should be disabled or uninstalled. Cookies, JavaScript, and SSL security must be enabled on your browser.
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Sunday: Noon - 10pm
Monday through Friday: 8am - midnight
Saturday: Noon - 6pmIt's also normally available at all other times except Tuesday through Saturday, 12:01am through 4:00am. Availability may vary during university holidays. Watch the announcements on the home page for scheduled service interruptions.
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Why isn't TechSIS available 24 hours a day?
Your student record files are not stored on the TechSIS Web server (which is normally up 24 hours a day), but on the campus mainframe computer. Nightly mainframe jobs require that the mainframe's student record files be closed, thus making them inaccessible to Web for Students.
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What is a "Student ID Number"?
Your Student ID Number is your Social Security Number. However, if you indicated when you were admitted to Tech that you did not wish to use your SSN for identification, your Student ID Number is the nine-digit "Matriculation Number" assigned to you at that time.
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What is a "PIN" and how do I get one?
Note: The preferred method of logging in to TechSIS Web for Students is with your eRaider ID.
Your PIN ("Personal Identification Number") is a six-digit number that serves as the password for access to your student records. PINs are mailed to currently-enrolled students. If you didn't receive or lost yours, contact the Office of the Registrar. To get your PIN, bring your Texas Tech Student ID Card to the Office of the Registrar in West Hall.When you type your PIN, it will appear as asterisks (******) to prevent others from seeing it. All six digits must be entered (if your PIN has leading zeros, enter them also).
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Texas Tech considers your PIN to be extremely confidential information, and will release it only with proper identification. While the procedures below may seem inconvenient, they are followed for your protection. If you enter a wrong PIN too many times in one day, you will be locked out until the next day. This is to prevent someone from trying to guess your PIN.
To request your PIN:
- In person
Bring your Texas Tech Student ID Card to the Office of the Registrar, Room 118, West Hall. - By e-mail, fax, or mail
Send the following items:- Student ID Number
- Full legal name as on file in the Office of the Registrar
- Date of birth
- Permanent legal address
- The statement "I authorize Texas Tech University to send my PIN to me"
- Your signature (scanned into a JPG or GIF file attachment if sending by e-mail)
- An e-mail address, fax number, or mailing address where you would like your PIN to be sent
- k.turner@ttu.edu (e-mail)
- 806-742-4765 (fax)
- Office of the Registrar, Lubbock TX 79409-5015 (mail)
- In person
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What can I do to protect my records?
- Don't reveal your PIN to anyone (even if they say they work for Texas Tech) and protect the use of your Student ID Number.
- When you are finished, log off from TechSIS Web for Students (click the Exit button) and exit from the browser.
- Change your PIN once you receive it, and at least once a year thereafter. Some choices of PINs are more secure than others. Less secure (i.e., easily guessed) PINs include: Birthdate, phone number, address, and zip code; 000000, 111111, ..., 999999, 123456, 654321, etc.
- The PIN Verification screen shows the date your records were last accessed via Web for Students. If this date does not match the date you last logged on, it is possible someone else has accessed your records. Please change your PIN immediately and report this incident to the Office of the Registrar.
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Web registration uses five-digit Call Numbers such as 72568 instead of course IDs like ENGL-1301-001 to identify courses. Every class, lab, discussion, etc. has its own unique Call Number. Before you register, you'll need to know the Call Numbers for the classes you want to register for. Call Numbers can be found in the complete schedule of classes and the Open Class Lists.
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How secure is my information on TechSIS?
- Information is encrypted before it is transmitted over the Internet using SSL technology.
- A valid eRaider ID and password, or Student ID Number and PIN, must be provided before access to any information is allowed.
- Data is encrypted before it is passed between the web server and the mainframe computer.
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What is a "Personal Test Number"?
Your Personal Test Number is a nine-digit number that is used by faculty to post grades, instead of using your Student ID number. You can get your PTN on TechSIS Web for Students, from the Office of the Registrar, or from your department. New PTNs are issued on August 15th of each year. You can get your PTN by logging in to TechSIS Web for Students and clicking on Personal Test Number on the Student Services menu.
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How is my e-mail address used?
It is included on the class roster that is available to your course instructors on TechSIS Web for Faculty and Advisors.
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Does Tech offer Internet access from home?
Yes. -
A 'hold' indicates you have one or more outstanding obligations (unpaid library fine or tuition, need to see your advisor, etc.) A registration hold prevents you from registering, adding, and dropping. A transcript hold prevents you from getting an official transcript. If you have a payment-related registration hold, after making your credit card payment here, you must contact Student Business Services to have the hold removed.
Only the department that entered a hold can clear it. The department's name is shown on the Holds screen in TechSIS.
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I'm a parent. Can I pay my child's tuition and fees on TechSIS?
If your child has entered you as an authorized payer in eBill, go to the eBill Web site and log in with the e-mail address and password you were assigned.
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Your Web browser does not support the current SSL security algorithm. Internet Explorer 4.1 and 4.5 for the Macintosh must be upgraded to IE version 5 or later.
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I am getting "This session has expired" or "Server not available."
Sometimes, simply exiting and restarting your browser will clear this error. Other causes:
- JavaScript, cookies, and/or SSL are disabled
- Your Web for Students session was left inactive for too long
Be sure to log out of Web for Students and exit from your browser when you are finished. Leaving a Web for Students session logged in and unattended invites others to view and change your records. - Your browser may not be able to do encryption.
- You've already exited from Web for Students
Once you exit, you must login again. - Your PC is running Web accelerator or download accelerator software
If you have purchased or downloaded one of these accelerator programs, please uninstall or disable it. - You are using America Online's browser
You can use Internet Explorer with AOL. There is an issue with the AOL caching proxy server and the AOL web browser. The workaround is to open a separate instance of IE in order to access TechSIS Web for Students. You most likely will run into problems if you use AOL's browser. The phone number for AOL technical support is (800)827-3338. - Excessive system load
The mainframe system could not respond to your request within a reasonable period of time. - You pressed your browser's Stop button or the Esc key, then clicked a link
Interrupting Web for Students while it is working on your request requires that you log back in. - You are behind a firewall
As a security measure, Web for Students builds a key to identify you and your session. This key includes your IP address. If you are coming through a firewall, it is possible that your internal address will be translated to a different external address each time you leave your site. If this happens, Web for Students views it as a security breach and tells you that you must log in again. To solve this, see your network administrator to get a static IP address or map to a static translation. - Your Internet provider uses HTTP proxies
As a security measure, Web for Students builds a key to identify you and your session. This key includes your IP address. If you are coming through a proxy server, the proxy server may use multiple IP addresses. If the proxy attempts to get pages using different IP addresses, Web for Students will view this as a security violation and tell you that you must log in again. Using Internet Explorer, it is possible to use a proxy server but set exceptions. IE will not go through the proxy for these sites listed as exceptions thus alleviating the problem. In IE, go to View | Internet Options | Connection | Proxy Server | Advanced and enter techsis.tosm.ttu.edu/student/ under Exceptions. - You are using WebTV
WebTV uses HTTP proxies (see above) with their set-top boxes. There is currently no solution available for WebTV users. The problem lies with the configuration of the WebTV set-top boxes and cannot be resolved at Texas Tech. - You double-clicked a link
Links should be clicked once. If you click a link twice, you will be logged out.
- JavaScript, cookies, and/or SSL are disabled
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I got an error message. What does it mean?
- "Add Function not allowed for this course"
- This course cannot be added on the Web, or the add deadline has expired.
- "Student not eligible to register on the web"
- You are trying to register at a time when registration is not permitted, or you have a registration hold on your records. If neither of these is true, contact the Office of the Registrar.
- "CAN'T DROP TO 0 HRS"
- You tried to drop all your classes. This implies you are withdrawing from the University. If you are simply trying to rearrange your schedule and find it impossible to do so without dropping all your classes, please go to the Office of the Registrar for assistance. You can also try temporarily adding an arbitrary course, dropping your last course, adding your new course, and dropping the arbitrary course.
- "A network error occurred while Netscape was receiving data"
- Click on Netscape's Options menu and select the Security Preferences option. In the dialog box that comes up, make sure that the "Enable SSL v2" & "Enable SSL v3" boxes are both checked.
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Why does my browser try to download a file named tservweb.exe when I click a link?
- "Download accelerator" or "Web accelerator" software is installed on your PC. Please disable or uninstall it.
- You may have upgraded your browser from a version in which you specified to "always download EXE files", and the new version doesn't permit you to reverse this setting.
- A broken HTTP proxy server at your Internet Service Provider's site.
