CU*Answers Web Services » David Damstra

Holiday Hours

David Damstra — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:32:15 +0000

Web Services will be closed on Monday, July 5, 2010 in observance of Independence Day. Our regular hours will resume on Tuesday, July 6th, 9 AM to 6 PM Eastern Time. Web updates submitted on Friday July 2nd will be published on Tuesday July 6th or Wednesday July 7th.

In the event of an emergency, please follow standard CU*Answers after hours contact procedures.

Have a happy and safe holiday!

New Site for CU*South

David Damstra — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:41:31 +0000

Last week, right before the CU*Answers Leadership Conference, Web Services launched a new website for our cuasterisk.com partner CU*South. This new site takes a radical break from their previous website strategy in that with this new site they are going to manage their own content locally. Because this new site is built using WordPress, they can simply log in and publish new content as needed.

The entire site is dynamically controlled through the WordPress dashboard including some of the newer features of WordPress 3.0 such as custom background images.

Reg E and Opt In

David Damstra — Thu, 27 May 2010 19:23:05 +0000

We’re getting several emails about adding Opt-In forms to Credit Union websites in response to Reg E. At this time, we are asking everyone to sit tight. We suggest you read up on what CU*Answers and our partners, such as Xtend, are preparing in response to Reg E. There is information online in the CU*Answers Kitchen. Additional information is presented in a recorded webinar at Ondemand.cuanswers.com. We are also preparing marketing collateral for your to use in statements, e-statements, e-Info, in your lobby and on your website. In the end, members will be able to opt-in via It’s Me 247 Online Banking. We would expect more information to be announced at Leadership Conference. We know this is a large and pressing concern for Credit Unions. But rest assured, CU*Answers is working on it and will have a solution well within the time frame.

Update: Some marketing collaterals have been published.

Please feel free to contact us with any further questions.

PowWOW Experience by Mike Varley

David Damstra — Mon, 24 May 2010 15:52:31 +0000

This is a Guest Post by Mike Varley, IT Manager from Frankenmuth Credit Union and winner of our Free Trip to the Passageways PowWOW Contest.

As the winning entry in the essay contest sponsored by CU*Answers, I was given the opportunity to spend two full days immersed in the world of Passagways, intranet portals and collaboration, and I thank those who put it together for that opportunity! Attending the Passageways Powwow conference was well worth the time. In this short synopsis, I can only give you a high level view, but there is much more underneath. Suffice it to say the environment was thought provoking, positive and a model of open collaboration.

The first thing you realize is that companies have integrated their portals right into the daily activities of their staff and the cultures of their organizations. It is being utilized now for many things, such as effective file sharing, employee recognition and motivation, products and services, compliance, policies, procedures, HR activities, community service and yes, even some FUN. All this wrapped up in a portal.

As you listen to the speakers and talk with participants, you know that a portal, an intranet, collaboration and “Web 2.0″ are inevitable in the workplace, now or in the near future. The question is “are you ready?” It is, or should be, something that is planned for and deployed properly to get full value back. Start the process now.

And about value – one revelation I had was the considerable value that companies put in their intranet solutions. It was apparent that people find it critical to still invest resources of time, money and staff to expand, learn about, and grow an organizational portal for the benefit of everyone.

If you haven’t looked at the CU*Answers Talent Source Portal, which is the CU*Answers and Passageways partnership, check it out. If it’s been a while, go back and revisit it. Maybe we’ll see you at the next Passageways PowWow conference!

Mike Varley, IT Manager from Frankenmuth Credit Union

More information on Talent Source Hosted Portals

Read what the Talent Source Portal can do for your Credit Union.
Interested in seeing the tools? Check out our Talent Source Portal Demo.

Planned maintenance for Tuesday morning (5/25/2010) [Updated] [Completed]

David Damstra — Mon, 24 May 2010 15:45:12 +0000

Update – 5/25/2010 9:15 AM – All security updates have been applied and all web hosting and email services have been resumed normal operation. Again, we apologize for the longer than usual maintenance window this morning. If you notice any issues with your web hosting or email services, please contact us.

Update – 5/25/2010 8:10 AM – Applying updates and security patches is taking a little longer than usual this morning. Web and Email services may continue to experience slower than usual response times or brief interruptions. We will update this post when the maintenance is complete.

CU*Answers Web Services has a planned maintenance window on Tuesday morning (5/25/2010) from 5:00 am – 8:00 am EDT. Client websites and email services may experience intermittent downtime during this window. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Best Portal Page Contest

David Damstra — Thu, 06 May 2010 15:24:06 +0000

As you know, we are proud users of the Passageways Portal for our Intranet. So much so that we even offer hosted versions of it through a partnership with Passageways.

This year at the Passageways PowWOW — the Passageways annual conference — Passageways is running a Best Portal Page contest. CU*Answers has a couple of entries, and we’d appreciate your vote. So if you have a few minutes today, please view the entries and cast a vote. Voting is open to anyone.

We are particularly proud of #7.

And if you like what you see, consider getting your own Hosted Portal.

Updated: Unplanned Maintenance on Web Servers

David Damstra — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 16:45:56 +0000

Currently one of our web servers is experiencing problems causing some client web sites to be unavailable. Web Services is currently working with Internal Networks to resolve the problem as soon as possible.

4/22 6:40 AM ET Update: WESCO Net Engineers are continuing to work on a resolution to this unplanned maintenance.

4/22 1:00 PM ET Update: The web server has been restored to new hardware. Please report any persisting anomalies to web services. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Time for Spring Cleaning and Time to Get Organized

David Damstra — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 19:49:23 +0000

It’s time to clean out the old cobwebs and bring in new energy. Any shared resource is a lot like a closet. Everyone puts their stuff into it and it rarely gets sorted through. Now is the time to sort through that intranet or file server and clean up.

This is a perfect opportunity to put a Talent Source Portal in place to organize the clutter. Post documents, provide interactive tools and allow everyone to help keep it useful, organized and the collaboration effort moving. The Talent Source Portal is more than closet; it’s a fully stocked room of organized resources.

There are still a few spots left to save the $1500 installation fee for new Portals, so act now.

Time is running out! Only 2 days left to win a chance to go to Passageways Conferene

David Damstra — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:50:58 +0000

Only a few days left to submit your entry on how you would use a Talent Source Hosted Portal to improve your Credit Union. If you win, you will save your Credit Union over $750. This unique opportunity allows you to see for yourself how portals are being used by others and learn from the best about collaboration efforts. Get the inside track on new technologies and a whole host of advanced learning from peers using the Passageways Portal.

Submit your entry by March 31^st for this one of kind opportunity. All entries will be reviewed for content and a winner selected by April 15^th. Full details at http://ws.wesconet.com/2010/03/04/win-a-chance-to-learn-from-passageways/

Top 12 Reasons to sign up for PowWOW 2010

David Damstra — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:36:16 +0000

If you haven’t submitted your entry for a chance to attend the Passageways PowWOW for free yet. Or you are thinking about taking advantage of the special rate for CU*Answer’s clients, but haven’t registered yet?

Check out Passageway’s Top 12 Reasons to sign up for PowWOW.