Reference at Newman Library

Tag: S&P NetAdvantage

Workarounds for Login Problems to S&P NetAdvantage

As noted in last year’s post here about S&P NetAdvantage login problems, the most common issue is caused by oversized cookies in the user’s browser that get in the way of the login process in EZproxy.  While a user might be able to log into some databases , S&P NetAdvantage will be a problem. After making sure that the user is starting from our link to S&P NetAdvantage on the A-Z databases page, there are three different workarounds that usually lead to a successful login:

  1. Ask the user to clear their browser cache (instructions can be found easily on the web by searching for the name of the browser and the terms “clear” and “cache.”)
  2. Ask the user to open up a new browser window or tab in “incognito” or “private” mode and then try to login from there.
  3. Ask the user to try a different browser (e.g., if it’s not working in Chrome, try Firefox or Safari).

Access Issues with S&P NetAdvantage

From the EZproxy mailing list, I learned about a trick that can help with the periodic access issues users are reporting with S&P NetAdvantage: clearing the browser cache.

  1. Before assuming that the reported issue is just with S&P NetAdvantage, check whether they are able to get into any of our other databases that are hidden behind our “Remote Authentication” page (the links for these always begin with https://remote.baruch.cuny.edu). Ask them to try connecting to another database from EBSCO or ProQuest. If they can’t get into an EBSCO or ProQuest database either, it’s a problem with their username and password, not a S&P NetAdvantage problem.
  2. If their username and password do seem to work on our Remote Authentication page, ask them if they see a message like this when they try  to go to S&P NetAdvantage:

    Bad Request

    Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.
    Size of a request header field exceeds server limit.

  3. If they are seeing that message or something similar (different browsers may word the same error message differently), ask them to clear the cookies and cache for their browser and then try reconnecting to the database via the link on our databases page.

In a new page in the Library Services Wiki titled “Database Troubleshooting: Clearing Browser Cookies and Cache,” I added this list of links to instructions for each of the major browsers:

Chrome( Google)
https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050

Edge (Microsoft)
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4027947/microsoft-edge-delete-cookies

Firefox (Mozilla)
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-cookies-and-site-data-firefox

Internet Explorer (Microsoft)
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/278835/how-to-delete-cookie-files-in-internet-explorer

Safari (Apple)
https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/clear-your-browsing-history-sfri47acf5d6/mac

New Industry Surveys in S&P NetAdvantage

Have a look at the current Industry Surveys in S&P NetAdvantage. Two new features have been added that are targeted to business students. First, there is a Porter five forces analysis in the section of the report that covers “Industry Trends”. This will be something that students taking BPL5100 can use.

For accounting and finance students, the other addition is forensic accounting information in the “How to Analyze a Company” section of the report. Boxes labeled “Watch Out” point out accounting gimmicks that companies can use to make their earnings look better than they actually are. They also identify items on the income statement or balance sheet that are key industry metrics that students should understand.

CFRA, the provider of the Industry Surveys to S&P, now offers coverage of 44 industries including new in 2019: Asset Management and Alternative Energy.

Remote Access to S&P NetAdvantage Not Working

If you’re off campus and try to connect to S&P NetAdvantage, you’ll see our login screen first and then after entering your credentials will see this one from S&P, which we should never be seeing and which off campus users won’t be able to get past:

S&P login page

On campus access is fine. It is likely that S&P once again was fiddling around on the back end of their systems and failed to realize that they’d be breaking remote access for academic customers that use EZproxy software (and that’s most of us colleges and universities) to manage off campus access. I’ll have to fiddle around with the settings in EZproxy for this database to see if I can restore remote access. Look for an update here when that fix is made.