CMS Training Exercise and Initial Access

Last Updated: August 27, 2025 11:01:02 AM PDT

Find out how to gain access to the campus CMS.

Required Steps for Access

You must be provisioned in the CMS before you can log in. Workplace Technology Services (WTS) offers online training, provides documentation, and provisions all users. Here's what you need to do to get started:

1. Email us

Send an email to wts@ucsd.edu asking for access to the CMS training. Include:

your full name as you want it to appear in the CMS
your Active Directory (AD) account username, if it is different from your email address

You'll receive a response through a Service Now ticket about getting access to the CMS Sandbox training site.

Note: If you will be requesting access to medschool.ucsd.edu, email somcommunications@ucsd.edu for approval before you start the training process.

Account requirements: You'll need an individual Active Directory (AD) account.

2. Complete self-directed exercise

Go to the CMS Training Exercise Instructions site. This will walk you through the process of creating your own page in the Sandbox training site.

After completing your page, you'll be directed to a form. Complete the multiple choice questions, let us know the URL of your published training page and the URL(s) of the CMS site(s) you need access to.

You'll again receive a response through a Service Now ticket. We'll check your work and let you know if we see any issues. We may ask you to make edits to your page before giving you access to a live site.

Once we see that your exercise has been successfully completed, we'll give you access to your requested CMS site(s). Note that some sites require approval from the site owners before new users can gain access. This make require additional time.

Recommended Next Steps

Review additional training: The training exercise only covers the basics. Make sure to review the CMS training documentation, guide to web writing, and style guide.
Learn about working in Blink: If you are working in Blink be sure to review the differences between Blink and the Sandbox training site.
Work with your fellow site editors: Contact your site manager and other subject matter experts to collaborate and ensure consistency across your site.

Account requirements

You'll need an individual Active Directory (AD) account.

Note that this is a new requirement as of August 27, 2025. Previously, a business systems account with department access was required. Business systems accounts were not set up the same way for all departments, leading to additional steps for some users. Moving to AD streamlines the CMS new user process.

Lost access

If you previously had access but can no longer log into the CMS, contact wts@ucsd.edu to reset your access.

The most common cause for loss of access is a change in your business system credentials. For example, changing your name or moving from one department to another.

UC Learning training credit

If you want, you can self-report your completion of training of "Using the Campus CMS" to Staff Education, so there's a university record. Here's how to fill out the report:

Name: Using the Campus CMS
Activity code: leave blank
Description: leave blank
Activity type: select Self-Reported Training
Media Type: elearning/ virtual training
Delivery Method: elearning
Content Type: Technology
Cost: leave blank
Start Date and time as well as the End Date and time
Score: leave blank
Duration: leave blank
Credit Hours: leave blank
Activity Organizer: Workplace Technology Services
Name of the presenter: leave blank
You can select to hide the training from managers or to not show the training on your transcript. Click OK when you have entered all the information. Unless you selected to not have the training show on your transcript, you should now see the information on your transcript.

Email questions to wts@ucsd.edu and include the site/page(s) you are working on.

Note: this page has a friendly link that is easy to remember: https://blink.ucsd.edu/go/cmstraining