On 1 November 2024 the SUMAC platform will be moving from sumac.ac.uk to app.sumacmentoring.co.uk.

This article provides information about the change and provides advice on how to manage the transition to mitigate any impact and to make the change as smooth as possible.

There will be redirects in place from all existing sumac.ac.uk pages, including the login screen and signup forms, until at least the end of January 2025 – we will make sure you are kept informed about any changes to that timescale and to tell you when the old domain will be completely removed and the redirects no longer operating.

There will be notifications on the platform up to the end of October 2024, so that when admins log in they will be reminded of the change.

Arrangements for data hosting, sub-processors, data privacy and security all remain unchanged

Here are a few suggested actions to ensure continuity for your programmes:

Updating links: With the redirects in place there is no urgency but we recommend that you start work on identifying any links you have on your webpages, email templates and documents that can be accessed online, so that after the transition takes place, you can update the links.

Signup forms: Until the transition happens, the updated signup form links with the new URL will not be available on the Basic tab in scheme settings. As redirects will be in place until the end of January 2025, there will be no problem if people continue to use the old link – they will simply be redirected to the form at the new domain.

However, once the transition takes place you will be able to copy the new signup form URLs from the Basic tab in Scheme Settings, and you can start to update documents and webpages which include the signup form URL.

Emails: After the transition to the new domain on November 1, emails sent from your schemes in SUMAC to your members will be from sumac@sumacmentoring.co.uk.

It is highly recommended that you contact your IT department and ask them to whitelist this domain in the organisation’s incoming mail server security settings.

Also, we strongly recommend that you add @sumacmentoring.ac.uk as a ‘Safe Sender’ in the Spam Email Preferences in Outlook or whatever email application you use, to prevent emails from the scheme going into your junk mail folder. You can do this now and it will then ensure that when the transition takes place you will continue to receive emails from the scheme without any interruption.

Accept/decline links in Provisional emails: For security purposes, the accept/decline links used in Provisional partnership emails are tied to a specific domain and cannot be forwarded to a different domain.

This means that when the SUMAC platform is back on line on 4 November, the accept/decline links in any Provisional emails sent out prior to 5.00pm 1 November will no longer work.

On that basis we would advise that you:

a) Keep the volume of Provisional emails sent during week commending 28 October to a minimum

b) Where no response has been received (i.e. the partnership has neither been accepted or declined) resend Provisional emails on, or soon after, 4 November.

It is possible that scheme members may attempt to accept/decline partnership offers in Provisional emails that were sent at an earlier date. In such cases, where the scheme members contact you, the Provisional email can be resent from their profile, and they will then be able to respond.

One other option where there has been no response to provisional emails sent before 5.00pm 1 November, is to resend all the Provisional emails in a bulk process from the Partnerships Data Screen.

To do this, go to the Partnerships Data Screen, change the pagination to show ‘All’, filter partnerships to only show Provisional partnerships, and email ‘Sent’, then select all the partnerships and click on the ‘Send Provisional Email’ button at the top of the screen. This will re-send the email to all relevant scheme members, including the updated accept/decline links.

Notifying your scheme members: We recommend that you write to your members and advise them about the change of domain.

We also recommend that when you notify your scheme members about the changes, you also ask them to set sumacmentoring.co.uk as a 'safe sender' in their own email application. We have provided a draft email text below which you can edit as required and use as the basis for a communication to your scheme members.

Dear Colleague, student, mentor, mentee etc.,

We have been informed by Sumac Mentoring Limited, the company that provides the SUMAC platform, on which our mentoring/coaching scheme is hosted, that on 1 November 2025 the domain of the platform will be changing from sumac.ac.uk to app.sumacmentoring.co.uk.

Nothing else is changing and if you do continue to use old SUMAC URLs there will be redirects in place until at least the end of January 2025.

The only action that we recommend you take now, in order to ensure that the transition takes place smoothly, is to add @sumacmentoring.ac.uk as a ‘Safe Sender’ in the Spam Email Preferences in Outlook or whatever email application you use, to prevent emails from the scheme going into your junk mail folder. You can do this now and it will then ensure that when the transition takes place you will continue to receive emails from the scheme without any interruption.