Private MCT Community on Born To Learn

Hi MCTs,

    Please remember that in addition to this public MCT discussion forum, Microsoft Learning has also launched the MCT Community Portal, a private community only for Microsoft Certified Trainers with forums, wikis, document libraries and more. You can access the MCT Community Portal here.

    MCTs can access the MCT Community Portal by logging on to the Born to Learn web site with the Windows Live ID associated with their MCT certification. Once an MCT has logged on, a new "MCT" tab wil appear on the site:

    Please take a minute to stop by and see what the rest of the MCT community is doing!

Matthew Roche

Microsoft Learning

Hi Michael,

I'm at the MCT Summit, I spoke to directly yesterday. After your session I decided to login to Born to Learn for the first time and I used my Live Account that is associated to my Certification ID but as has happened for a few others I do not see the MCT Tab. I know your answer was call the Rsc if you have a problem with your LIve account, but I'm no so sure that I do. I can access all other MCT Resources without any problem such as the MC T Website or Download Center.

Incidentally, after reading other posts, I logged out and in several times and then resorted to trying Firefox and finally downloaded and tried "G**gle Chrome After which I ran a deep AV Scan of my PC". :-)

Needless to say I have had no success as of yet and waited till this morning to try again.

Any further advice, or shall I just go through the Rsc?.

P.S Great presentation yesterday, I'm very envious that you get to work for Microsoft directly doing something that you are obviously very passionate about.

Thanks,

Nadeem Vance.

Hi Nadeem,

    Yes, please contact your RSC (http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/help/assisted-support.aspx) as they have the tools to resolve this type of problem. They are the dedicated support channel for issues related to the tools and services provided to the MCT and MCP programs. In your problem report, please be sure to include your Live ID's email address and the fact that you can access other MCT-only web sites; this will help move things along.

    And thanks so much for the feedback on yesterday's session. Moving from being an independent trainer and consultant to a full-time Microsoft employee was a big move for me, and I could not have made that change if I wasn't truly passionate about the work.

    Enjoy the rest of the MCT Summit!

Matthew

Hi Matthew

the new MCT Portal was announced in the last Microsoft Learning E-Mail. But when I try the link in the E-Mail I get the Message "Group not found". What is the reason for this message?

Thanks

Horst

h.mews:

Hi Matthew

the new MCT Portal was announced in the last Microsoft Learning E-Mail. But when I try the link in the E-Mail I get the Message "Group not found". What is the reason for this message?

Thanks

Horst

Hi Horst,

    If you have logged on using the Windows Live ID that is associated with your MCT certification, and still get the "Group not found" message, please contact your RSC (http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/help/assisted-support.aspx) to report the problem. They should be able to get this resolved shortly.

Matthew

I just called the RSC, they gave me a mailaddress to mail the issue to. if you want the address, mail me directly, (I am hesitating to put it here...)

Eric

Microsoft Learning Partners may access the Jobs forum if they request access via email after first signing in to the Born to Learn website to create an account.

Hi Matt -

Who do we request access from?  We are a CPLS - Please advise.  

Thanks.

Robert Kratzke

NetCom Information Technology

microsoft16637:

Microsoft Learning Partners may access the Jobs forum if they request access via email after first signing in to the Born to Learn website to create an account.

Hi Matt -

Who do we request access from?  We are a CPLS - Please advise.  

Thanks.

Robert Kratzke

NetCom Information Technology

By default, only MCTs have access to any resources on the MCT Community Portal site, including the Jobs forum. CPLS representatives can request access to this forum by taking the following steps:

1. Log on to the Born To Learn site by using a Live ID.
2. Email the Live ID's email address to mctcollab@microsoft.com with the subject line "CPLS access".

Microsoft Learning will then grant permissions for this Live ID to access the Jobs forum and will respond via email informing the CPLS representative that they can now access the forum.

Mathew -- hoping you subscribed to updates to this post.  Did this forum get deleted?  The private MCT forum gives a bunch of us a does not exist error.  There is a separate thread running about the error...

Hi Sandra,

I did indeed subscribe - I find that feature darned handy.

If you (or any of the "bunch" to which you refer) are logged on with the Live ID that is associated with your MCT certification and are still unable to access the MCT area, please share with me (either via email or by sending me a message via Born to Learn) that includes the email address that you use for your Live ID. I'll then escalate within Microsoft Learning and will get back to you with a resolution or with a request for additional information as necessary. You can also contact your Regional Service Center as well...

Matthew

Hi,

I use the alias microsoft@netcominfo.com to login.

Used to actively use the MCT job posting board earlier - but this forum seems to be barely used - not sure if I am in the right place?

thank you,

Mudit

Thanks Mudit,

According to the Born to Learn system, this email address is associated with NetCom as a Learning Partner, but is not associated with an MCT certification. This means that you should be able to access the Partner / Jobs forum  at borntolearn.mslearn.net/.../239.aspx, but should not be able to access other areas of the MCT area at borntolearn.mslearn.net/.../default.aspx.

If this is in error, and this Live ID is in fact associated with an MCT (meaning that you are personally an MCT and use this Live ID to access other MCT program benefits online) please contact your RSC for support. The contact link is earlier in this thread: www.microsoft.com/.../assisted-support.aspx

Matthew

Matthew, I also cannot get into the private MCT site here on Born to Learn and I get the same error as Sandra above when I try to go in through a posting sent to my email client.  When I log onto BTL, the MCT tab is gone.

called the RSC and they told me to contact SPEAKTech, because this site is hosted by them.  That seemed like a weird thing to be asked by the RSC.  

Not long ago I was having problems logging in to the new Courseware Library as both an MCT and a CPLS admin.  In the old CWL, the groxworks folks had me make two LiveIDs; one to log onto as CPLS admin and one to log on as an MCT.  That worked but a couple of months ago I got an invitation to the new CWL and I used my MCT LiveID to register my CPLS and that housed it up.  So, long story short, i had the RSC swith my LiveIDs like before, the same one for CPLS admin and the other for MCT.

Well yesterday, I added myself as in instructor on the new CWL for a course we just bought licenses for.  It was right around that time that the MCT tab dissapeared for me.  I told the RSC that but Im' afraid the person I spoke to didn't understand.

Right now I am stuck.  You know I try to post a lot and keep up with the community, but right now not only is the door shut, there is no door!!!

Dave Franklyn

Hey Matthew -- I have always used sasi_san@yahoo.com to login to microsoft sites...  I do use Sandra@SQLStrongBI.com for messenger, but I have even tried my normal login on a computer without Live and it still is not there...

I did confirm that I can still access the MCT member site.

I have made no changes to my account in the past months.

I am shocked you didn't think my 'bunch' was quantitative enough :)

Now logged in as the OTHER Dave Franklyn and I have access to the MCT Tab with this LiveID.

Sadly, all my posts now belong to a LIveID that can't id to this site...

I have ever only used one e-mail address for Live-ID and the MCT-tab disappeared for me too. I started a BtL-conversation about it with Matthew.

Otto

Thanks for the additional information, everyone!

I just received information that there is a problem with the Microsoft web service that we use to validate certification status, and that it is affecting multiple sites, not just the Born to Learn MCT site. We don't have an ETA for resolution, but I will post an update here when I know more. So the short answer is "it's not just you."

Thanks for your patience...

Hi All,

I just got a resolution notice for the issue that was preventing some MCTs from accessing the MCT private area on Born to Learn. If you were having issues with access, can you please re-check and let me know if the problem is resolved for you, or if it persists? And of course, please go through the standard browser troubleshooting steps (restart your browser, etc.) If you need to.

We're in the process of working with the team that owns the certificaiton system (they have the web service that lets B2L check to see who is and who is not an MCT) to see how we can avoid a repeat of the problem, but for now it looks like we're good to go...

Matthew

Thanks Matthew!  This worked for me. :)

Really appreciate having someone to contact and help.  

ev'rything's back again ...

Thanks Matthew, great job!

Thanks for the feedback everyone, and thanks for your patience as well.

Hi Matthew.  On Tuesday of last week the MCT tab dissappeared.  Then I got it back on Friday.  Today it is gone again.  Wah!!   I always login using my LiveID.  It has not changed for 10+ years.  What is a poor MCT to do?

BTW - I am able to post here because I am accessing the site via the MCT website (mcp.microsoft.com/mct).  I can see old posts, but I do not see the MCT tab.

Hi Matthew,

Can you enlighten us about what's going on with the MCT Private Area? I had access, it went away. It came back late last week, now it's gone again. I emailed MCT@microsoft.com about the issue and they're saying "The MCT Private newsgroups programme at born to learn web site has been discontinued and you will not be able to access the site."

Is this correct?

Thanks!

Pete Mourfield

Hi Matthew,

Same here. The MCT tab was there last week but now its gone.

Hello, Matthew and my fellow MCTs....

I'm also not getting in.  What, did some one do a restore from last week's backup?   I say this because it's looking just like it was last week when it was broke and the same group of people having problems then are having them again.

I'll hold off further complaints until Redmond awakens and gets to work!

Dave Franklyn, Auburn University

Peter Mourfield:

Hi Matthew,

Can you enlighten us about what's going on with the MCT Private Area? I had access, it went away. It came back late last week, now it's gone again. I emailed MCT@microsoft.com about the issue and they're saying "The MCT Private newsgroups programme at born to learn web site has been discontinued and you will not be able to access the site."

Is this correct?

Thanks!

Pete Mourfield

Hi Pete,

    (And thanks for everyone for posting the problem report here as well)

    It looks like the Certification system, which is hosted by Microsoft and called by Born to Learn and other external web sites to validate certification status, is not responding again. This was the cause of this problem last week, when a change to the Certification system made it so that no external site could call it. Based on the information shared with me last week I believe that the current problem is based on a different root cause, but until I hear back from the support team this is just a guess on my part.

    Regarding the very disappointing response you received from the MCT support team, I can say without question that they are mistaken. It appears to me that the person who responded to your inquiry has confused the MCT private area on Born to Learn with the non-retired MCT NNTP newsgroups. The newsgroups were retired last year and will not return. The MCT private area on Born to Learn has not been discontinued, and Microsoft Learning is looking for more ways to use it to interact with the MCT community, not to retire it.

    Can I ask you to please forward to me the email you received so that I can follow up with the team responsible for our support and operations? When we launched the private MCT area on Born to Learn we provided training and reference materials for this type of inquiry, but it appears that these were not enough. To be fair to the support team, I'm sure it can be difficult to keep track of what is what, especially when the names are similar and the support personnel don't actively use the resources themselves. But still, if we can prevent these crossed signals from happening, all of our lives will be easier...

    I have escalated this problem to our support team. Please be aware that it is still before business hours here in New York, and the support team is located primarily in the Seattle area, so it may well be 3 or 4 hours before I have progress or a resolution to report. In the interim, please bear with us. Thanks for your patience...

Matthew

"The MCT Private newsgroups programme at born to learn web site has been discontinued and you will not be able to access the site."

Great Lord!  I can't believe this is true.  You really need to forward that to Matthew and someone at MCT@Micsoft.com" needs to find a new job.  Keep in mind we are encouraged by MSL to ask the RSC first, but with an answer like that and my experiences over the past couple of weeks I am now hesitant to do so.

Dave Franklyn, Auburn University

Hi folks,

Just as a quick update, it appears that all MCT-only and MCP-only web sites that are not hosted on microsoft.com (and as such use the same systems that we use here on Born to Learn) are affected by this outage. This includes the transcript tool, logo builder, virtual business cards and so on.

We're actively working with the support and development teams, but as of right now we do not have an ETA for resolution. I'll post updates here as I have them.

Matthew

Hi MCTs,

    We've just gotten notification that the affected web service is back up and running, so the MCT area on Born to Learn should be as well. But since I could not personally reproduce the error (only a subset of MCTs were affected) I can't say for certain. If you were unable to access the MCT area on Born to Learn today, please try again and let us know if you can now get in.

    Thanks again for your patience!

Matthew

Matthew,

Confirmed!  It is now working for me again.

Thanks for all you do!

See Ya!

Thanks David and everyone else who has contacted me individually - the confirmaiton is very much appreciated.

Looks like the MCT tab dissapeared again. Was there after logging in but vanished when I clicked on it. Tried logout and login again, but no MCT tab.

Hi everyone,

I signed in, MCT tab was right in front of me, but when I clicked on it I got Group Not Found error. Every subsequent try was unsuccessful.

I'll try later.

Thanks for the notice, folks. I've escalated this to our support teams again.

FYI: I'm heading to the doctor in a few minutes, so if I don't respond to posts here for the next few hours, please be patient.

Tried again this morning - still no tab.

Same for me.  No tab.

Hi again everyone,

Just as a quick update, we're currently working with the support team in Microsoft that manages the system that tracks what people have which certifications, but we do not yet have an ETA for resolution. As soon as there is progress to share, I will post it here.

Matthew

So, Microsoft did away with the NNTP newsgroups because....?

This is really getting old.  

Hey All,

The support teams working on this problem identified the underlying issue and implemented a fix last night. All affected MCT users should now have access to the MCT tab and the private MCT area on Born to Learn.

As part of our troubleshooting process we believe we have identified the reason why some MCTs have been affected while most MCTs have continued to access the MCT tab without interruption. For each of those specific users we have researched, it appears that the affected MCT has either

1) Recently changed the Live ID they have associated with their MCT certification, or

2) Uses a different email address for their Live ID and their contact email

If you have been affected by these recent problems, can you please confirm if either of these scenarios applies to you?

I realize that you're frustrated, and rightly so, but this information would be very valuable to us in our ongoing efforts to ensure that future web service outages do not affect the MCT community. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, when we built the MCT authorization system for Born to Learn, we included a fallback mechanism that would allow us to grant access to MCTs even if the web service (which provides real-time validation of MCP and MCT status based on your Live ID) is not responding. This mechanism has worked as designed in most cases, but I believe that we have now identified scenarios (specifically #2, above) that will cause it to fail.

So... if you've been affected by our recent problems, can you please let me know if either of the scenarios above applies to you?

We're continuing to research root causes either way, but this would be a great help as it would confirm (or refute) our working hypothesis.

Thanks in advance!

Matthew

Matthew -- I use a separate Windows Live ID for chat.  I associated it with my original -- which I would love to remove since it was from 1997 when I first was made an MCT.

Nether scenario applies to me, but I am still not able to access the MCT tab.  Is there a contact or a list that we should be adding our names to so you know who being affected?

Thank you!

I have access to the MCT tab again.

Scenario 1 does not apply to me.

About scenario 2 I am not sure. Where do I find my contact email? The public email address from my profile differs from my login name for Live ID. I changed the last one on purpose.

@Jason and Otto - Please check your private messages - there is a "conversations" link at the top of the page.

@Sandra - I'm honestly not sure what you're asking here. You can contact the RSC if you want to change the Live ID you use to access MCT resources. I brought this up in this thread because this is one reason we have identified as a cause of MCTs not being able to access the MCT area on Born to Learn, if they have recently changed their Live ID.

sandra:

Hey Matthew -- I have always used sasi_san@yahoo.com to login to microsoft sites...  I do use Sandra@SQLStrongBI.com for messenger, but I have even tried my normal login on a computer without Live and it still is not there...

I did confirm that I can still access the MCT member site.

I have made no changes to my account in the past months.

I am shocked you didn't think my 'bunch' was quantitative enough :)

Sandra,

Looking back in the thread I think I understand a little better.

Your sasi_san@yahoo.com address is what is associated with your MCT certification. If you log on to B2L with this ID you should have access to the MCT site.

Your Sandra@SQLStrongBI.com address is not associated with your MCT certification. If you log on to B2L with this ID you should not have access to the MCT site.

You have logged on to B2L using both addresses, so there are two different accounts in the system for you.

Does this help?

Matthew

P.S. Just as a word of warning for all, I will be going offline for the weekend in an hour or so, and will not be able to check email or messages until Monday.

:)

I think the confusion was with the term Live...  I use sasi to log into all Microsoft sites - but my mail doesn't go there.  When you said Live I was thinking of Messenger -- which I log in with Sandra.  I have noticed that when I visit some sites it confuses the two and sometimes I need to log out and on of the web page to get it to switch to sasi...

Could Windows Live Messenger log in's be messing things up?

Sandra Mueller:

Could Windows Live Messenger log in's be messing things up?

It's a possibility. Windows Live ID (the single sign-on technology formerly known as Passport) is used by a wide number of web sites and applications, including Windows Live Messenger and Born to Learn. I know that if you're logged in to one web site using a specific Live ID, and then open another web site that uses Live ID in the same browser window, then your credentials will be the same. but I do not know what the behavior is for Messenger. Based on what you're saying, I expect that this may well be the case...

Matthew,

as of Feb 4th MCT Tab is back again.

Scenario 2 applies to me: I've been using the same address as Live ID and as a contact email for years (well, always) but last year (around June) I changed contact email to a different one. I hope it helps.

As Benjamin Franklin said: 'He that can have patience, can have what he will.' So, fellow MCTs, have patience, and to paraphrase 'Field Of Dreams': 'If you wait, it will come.'

Thanks!

Matthew,

I have used the same LiveID all the time. I have changed the email address, but that was seven months ago.

I still have no access to the MCT newsgroups (no "MCT" tab and my bookmarks that used to work now take me to a "Group not found" error page).

My LiveID hasn't changed in 10 years. My public email address is not the same as my liveid (a @hotmail.com address) but it has been that way for many moons,

Cheers

Craig