The launch of MyUT, a new student portal designed to host common student needs — such as registration and class schedules — will be delayed until the spring semester.

Joe Williams, interim communications director for the Office of the Executive Vice President & Provost, said UT delayed MyUT’s launch to modernize the system alongside broader technological upgrades across campus.

“Most UT systems are mainframe-based, however UT is upgrading them to the more modern cloud-based system,” Williams said. “Due to all of the modernizing occurring, the time it took for the MyUT portal to be ready was underestimated.”

Jody Couch, program director for student administrative systems, told The Daily Texan in May that MyUT will integrate student data to personalize the portal for each student.

“Over the next year, we will roll out features like targeted messaging, calendar integration and the ability for colleges to add content for their students,” Couch said.

Williams said the delay of the launch will provide time for MyUT to be checked for other issues.

“More surveys and focus groups will be used to check for changes that might need to be incorporated,” Williams said. “The goal is for MyUT to be able to handle the massive load of all its users on days like [the] class registration deadline.”

Gathering feedback from students this semester is critical to improving the design of MyUT before its launch, Couch said.

“We will have focus groups later this semester to share the portal with students to get their thoughts on the design and to make any pre-launch adjustments we need,” Couch said.

Couch said the changing technology environment at UT presents unforeseen complexities with integrating different systems with each other.

“Some of the complexities occur when integrating with other systems, ensuring the portal can handle user access and making sure integrations are good,” Couch said.

Couch further stressed the need for a portal that will not crash or slow down on days with heavy user traffic.

“On days with heavy user traffic, our mainframe database systems tend to slow down or crash,” Couch said. “The implementation of the cloud-based system aims to fix this problem.”

First-year law student Evan Martin said providing a better portal for both undergraduate and graduate students would make everyday student life easier.

“From what I’ve heard about MyUT, the portal will be easier to navigate and more dependable for students,” Martin said.