One Stop website update

The One Stop website redesign project is ramping up for upcoming usability sessions with prospective, undergraduate and graduate students in August. Currently, the ASR communications team is creating the content, sending it to ASR and system campus colleagues, and moving approved content to the new site. The technical team is preparing the development site that will be tested by students in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more updates.

Fraser construction update

This week, in Fraser 200, the conference rooms are being framed while cubicle systems and office furniture are being installed. The project is progressing according to plan, and staff may begin moving back into the space as early as the middle of August. But, as with any project of this scale, "the unexpected" can occur. Please avoid getting in the way of workers if you look inside the space, and if you notice something is missing, don't panic, it probably is missing. But, that doesn't mean it won't be installed.

View OCM Director Jeremy Todd's photo review of the project starting in September 2015 and ending with a photo from last week »

ASR's appreciation event is next week

The event is drawing near! As a reminder:

When: Thursday, July 28, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Where: Bruininks Plaza (outside), or inside Bruininks Hall if it rains

The silent auction fundraiser will be held in 330 Bruininks Hall for the same time and duration as the Appreciation event. Find out more about ASR's third annual fundraiser to support student scholarship »

This year's event will be catered by Deli Double. The menu will include hamburgers, veggie burgers, hot dogs, pasta salad, fresh fruit, BBQ beans, and jumbo cookies. Water and Coke products will be provided.

Editing My Info in MyU

Staff are now able to edit their first listed campus office phone number (CMP OFC 1), these edits can be made in the same place of MyU where staff add/change emergency contacts, or edit home address and phone, etc.  

Go to MyU and click on My Info. Click on the pen image for each item to edit information for that specific area. Please note, campus mail and campus location 1 information needs to be updated or edited by ASR's HR partner Marit Gladem.

Opt in to Help Protect Your W-2 & Direct Deposit

University faculty, staff and student employees are eligible to opt in to an additional layer of protection for their W-2 and Direct Deposit information. Duo Two-Factor Protection for W-2 & Direct Deposit is easy to use and free of charge. Learn more »

Old voicemails system to stop supporting messages on July 27

Beginning July 27, callers will no longer be able to leave new voicemail messages on University phones that are still using the old voicemail system. In order to continue voicemail service, users will need to transition to the new system. If you have not transitioned to the new system, you are urged to do so as soon as possible. The process takes about five minutes to complete and step-by-step instructions are available.

ServiceNow annual upgrade on July 30

ServiceNow users have been encouraged by the Office of Information Technology to get comfortable with the Geneva user interface in the days before the upgrade.

The following resources will be provided or updated:

Self-Help Guides - Incident & Request and Knowledge Creator & Editor guides will be updated for the Geneva environment by the morning of July 27.

Practice Activities - Guided hands-on activities based on common scenarios will be available through a Moodle site. These activities are expected to take one hour or less, and can be completed in the ServiceNow TST environment. Instructions and a link to the Moodle site will be provided via email to ServiceNow users the morning of July 27.

If you have any questions, contact servicenow-upgrade-team@umn.edu.

OBIEE upgrade on August 20

The Office of Information Technology's Enterprise Data Service team is currently working on a major version upgrade of the Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) reporting tool, the U's enterprise web-based reporting tool that powers UM Analytics. The production upgrade from version 11g to version 12c is scheduled to be completed on Saturday, August 20.

Project Management 202 registration

Project Management 202 is an intermediate course that introduces how to develop and effectively manage a project plan. The 202 course will highlight some of the techniques that help project leads accurately estimate task duration, establish target dates, track and communicate progress, and avoid common pitfalls in project execution. 

Register for the August 18 session.

Staff assigned to lead or participate on projects, as well as staff looking for development opportunities are encouraged to participate. Project Management 101 and 201 are prerequisites.

You can find additional information about the Project Management courses on the ASR Project and Work Facilitation website. 

Strategic direction for ASR: Course, Class, Calendar, Classrooms

Thank you to all ASR staff who attended the Course, Class, Calendar, Classroom session at the spring ASR staff event. We continue to collaborate with the Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE), develop requirements, and outreach to departments. To ensure the best process development possible, we continue to engage in the following practices:

• Researching best practices at peer institutions and at the University of Minnesota
• Gathering input and feedback from stakeholders
• Engaging in an iterative and collaborative design process

Campus stakeholders continue to offer feedback through listening sessions, information-gathering sessions, committee meetings and informal networking.

Progress is underway for a few topics:

Credit and grading-base changes after registration starts

• The bulk of credit and grading base changes happen prior to the start of the term, but after registration starts.
• A process has been implemented for a cross-functional ASR group to complete an audit of the requests to understand student impacts.
• The group can approve, reject, or offer solutions for requests that do not impact students.

ECAS improvements

• We reviewed priorities with OUE and developed functional designs for various ECAS improvements, including course attributes, freshman seminars, and cross-listed courses.
• Development work will transition to production later this summer.

WebEx upgrade on July 8

WebEx will be upgraded on the evening of Friday, July 8, to provide a refreshed user interface and to improve user experience. Previously scheduled meetings will not be affected by the upgrade. Some of the new features and improvements:

Personal Meeting Room will be available at no extra cost and will no longer require an InterCall account to access.

• Avatars can be created and personalized.
• Personal Room pages can be customized.
• Better notifications.
• Microsoft Office 2016 compatibility.

Visit the University’s Office of Information Technology document to view additional details about the WebEx upgrade »

Reminder: ASR Appreciation event

The event is drawing near! Here are some additional details and information: When: Thursday, July 28, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.Where: Bruininks Plaza (outside), or inside Bruininks Hall if it rains

The silent auction fundraiser will be held in 330 Bruininks Hall for the same time and duration as the Appreciation event. See further fundraiser information below.


This year’s event will be catered by Deli Double. The menu will include hamburgers, veggie burgers, hot dogs, pasta salad, fresh fruit, BBQ beans, and jumbo cookies. Water and Coke products will be provided.

ASR Silent Auction fundraiser

The ASR Appreciation event is just three weeks away! Remember to drop off your donation items for the 3rd annual ASR Staff silent auction fundraiser to support students through our ASR student scholarship funds. Can we beat last year’s $1,000 bounty?

Drop your items off at Mara Schnieder's office in 259 Fraser Hall, or Eleanor Pijut's office in 160 Williamson Hall.

One Stop Financial Wellness Counseling update

One Stop Student Services capped a successful first year of Financial Wellness counseling sessions with 173 student appointments between July 1, 2015, and July 1, 2016. One Stop now has 31 staff members certified in Personal Financial Management.

The counseling sessions we offer give students an opportunity to meet one-on-one with the trained counselors to discuss issues pertinent to their current and future financial well-being. The most common topics that students wanted to have addressed were budgeting, instructions on how to create spending plans, student loans, and learning about credit cards or credit scores.

ASR Staff Engagement

The ASR staff engagement team and the ASR directors have decided to focus on finding ways to improve the following during the 2016-17 academic year:

• Collaboration/ Cross Functional Opportunities
• Development & Recognition
• Effective Environment
• Mentorship/Training/Coaching
• Communication/ Documentation

Several initiatives related to the items above are already underway:

• ASR -IT is documenting and creating templates for business processes

Opt-in Duo two-factor authentication for W-2s and Direct Deposit

This coming weekend the change to "opt-in" Duo 2-factor authentication for W-2s and Direct Deposit access will go live. Staff can expect an email middle of next week from the Office of Information Technology. This new process adds an extra layer of protection to the user's personal information. For more information read this OIT document »