PeopleTools update: MyU and PeopleSoft outage June 1-2, 2019

On Saturday and Sunday, June 1-2, PeopleTools, the PeopleSoft development platform, will be updated. During the update, MyU and PeopleSoft will be unavailable for all campuses.

The following are specific impacts to note:

• MyU (and dependent applications)
• PeopleSoft (and dependent applications)
• ECAS and PCAS
• APAS and GPAS
• Grad Planner
• Perceptive Content

Access to Canvas (canvas.umn.edu) and University email (mail.umn.edu) will not be affected. We encourage you to mark your calendars for the update weekend, so you can plan around the service outage. Visit the IT Service Status page for the latest information on system availability.

After the update, it is recommended to clear your browser’s cookies and cache before logging into the affected systems. Job aids on the new PeopleSoft homepage and navigation options are linked via MyU > Key Links > PeopleSoft.

The update ensures that our PeopleSoft systems retain vendor support. The project team includes representatives from Campus Solutions, Human Resources, Finance, Information Technology, and MyU/Portal across the University. A lot of effort has gone into coordinating, planning, testing, training, and communications for this update due to the new homepage and navigation features. Thank you to the many people in ASR who have been part of this project!

Google is renaming Team Drives to Shared Drives

Google recently announced that the Team Drives feature of Google Drive will be renamed to “Shared Drives.” All features and permissions will stay the same, but references to Team Drives will read as Shared Drives for web and mobile. The new name will take effect for Drive on the web on June 3. OIT’s full roll out timeline is available.

Spring grades submission

Most grades for the Twin Cities’ spring 2019 regular session were due on 5/20/2019.

• 87.9% of graduate grades and 91.6% of undergraduate grades were submitted on time.
• This is an improvement over the spring 2018 where 80% of graduate and 88.7% of undergraduate grades were on time.
• As of Tuesday 5/21, 94.6% of all graduate grades and 97.8% of undergraduate grades have been turned in.

Northern Stars Student Remembrance

At last week’s staff event, Sue talked about the new Certificate of Attendance issued for students who pass away during their time at the Twin Cities campus. In April, the University hosted the Northern Stars Student Remembrance Event (video, 47 minutes) to acknowledge students who have passed and present the certificates to the families.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month!

During May, NAMI Minnesota (National Alliance on Mental Illness) and dozens of other organizations are involved in community education and creating awareness about mental illness. Visit NAMI’s calendar of events and activities. In July, a representative from NAMI Minnesota will present at the ASR All-Staff Assembly on Mental Health in the Workplace. Stay tuned for upcoming details.

Inclusive practices for names and pronouns for academic contexts

One of the breakout sessions at our 2019 spring staff event featured guest speaker, dr. Saby Labor, from the University of Minnesota’s Gender and Sexuality Center for Queer and Trans Life. Saby presented key questions, assumptions, the importance of pronouns, activities, and resources. View the slide deck on Inclusive Practices for Names and Pronouns for Academic Contexts. There are also LGBTQ+ definitions available.

Recap of the ASR Spring 2019 Event

On Thursday, May 16, 2019, the Development Team invited all of ASR to attend the Spring 2019 Development Event. Sue Van Voorhis and Bob McMaster gave their addresses about the vision organizer, accomplishments, updates, and the direction ASR is planning to go in the future. There were plenty of breakout sessions that were hosted by our own ASR members as well as other University of Minnesota members such as dr. Saby Labor, the Raptor Center, and the Zero Waste organization on campus. To view the presentations we received permission to share, go to the ASR Staff Development Event website under the Breakout Sessions page to check them out. Thanks to everyone for a fantastic event!

Annual Compliance Form

All ASR staff members are required to fill out an annual compliance form. Carin Thoms sent out an email with a link asking everyone to complete the form: Protecting Privacy of Staff and Student Records 2019-2020. Please complete it by Friday, May 24.

Please note student workers were not included in the email, but should complete the form. Supervisors can forward this on to the students.

Oracle Java transition

In 2019, Oracle announced they would not be providing updates or patches to Oracle Java for licenses without a subscription. This means that it could cost the University a lot of money to continue using Java. OIT will be removing Java from all ASR computers on May 16 unless they hear that there is a business need to continue using Java. Jaime Wascalus is coordinating that effort for ASR. Please read these quick updates to determine if this transition might impact your work:

• Windows 10 Users of SQL Developer, DARwin Client, and PeopleTools Client: Testing has shown that users do not need Java installed for these tools; therefore, there is no further action you need to take. Java will be removed from your machine automatically and you should see no impact.
• Mac Users of SQL Developer: For those of you who use Oracle SQL Developer and are Mac users, Jaime will submit your devices to OIT as those that should retain Java, since there have been mixed results in using OpenJDK. Currently, she has Mac users from ASR-IT on her list. If there are any Mac + SQL Developer users in other ASR units, please email her (wascalus@umn.edu).
• Other dependencies: If you have other tools that you use that depend on Java, please let Jaime (wascalus@umn.edu) know so we can exclude you from the machines that are having Java removed.

More information can be found on OIT's Oracle Java Transition Project page. Please email Jaime if you have any questions.

ASR wins Community Excellence Award

ASR was awarded the Community Excellence Award which recognizes individuals and groups who go above and beyond as a leader with a strong, demonstrated commitment to building connections with the University of Minnesota’s Gender and Sexuality Center for Queer and Trans Life for the purpose of bridging communities with education. The award was given at last night’s Lavender Celebration. Sue Van Voorhis, Julie Selander, and Matt Tveter accepted the award on behalf of ASR, which was given for the collaborative work to create functionality for all students, staff, and faculty to indicate a gender identity and/or personal pronoun in the MyU portal last year.