Thursday, May 18, 2023
Update from Stacey
If you have been looking ahead on your calendars, you may have seen a calendar hold for an ASR event on Thursday, July 27. Like last year, we will be hosting an in-person staff assembly followed by an ASR picnic celebration. I’m looking forward to the event and hope to see you for both the assembly and the picnic. At the assembly, I will give an ASR update, and we will also discuss DEI topics. If there is something you think I should cover in my update, send me an email at tidball@umn.edu. Thanks!
Accepting gift cards
Occasionally, University employees are asked to complete surveys for a chance to win a gift card. For example, WEX, the University’s flexible spending account (FSA) partner, recently sent out an email asking employees to provide feedback on their experience with WEX, and they could then win a gift card for completing the survey.
Winning items like this would violate our conflicts of interest policy. If an employee won the gift card, they would need to return or donate it because it is a conflict of interest, or could have the appearance of being a conflict of interest. Minnesota statute also prohibits employees involved in purchasing, or who directly or indirectly influence a University purchasing decision or contract, from accepting gifts as well.
Winning items like this would violate our conflicts of interest policy. If an employee won the gift card, they would need to return or donate it because it is a conflict of interest, or could have the appearance of being a conflict of interest. Minnesota statute also prohibits employees involved in purchasing, or who directly or indirectly influence a University purchasing decision or contract, from accepting gifts as well.
ASR Staff Engagement May 18 Survey
This week’s ASR Staff Engagement Survey examines your role at the University. Thank you for continuing to share your stories and experiences.
According to the last survey, the vast majority of respondents are planning to do ‘spring cleaning’ this year (90.5%). When asked about your favorite signs of spring, most say blooming flowers, green grass, and budding trees (42.9%), followed by no more snow (19%) and the return of robins and other migrating birds (19%).
Based on responses, most people are looking forward to spending time on the patio, going on bike rides and getting out on the water this spring and summer. Finally, a whopping 57.1% of respondents have watched all of the Star Wars movies, followed by 14.3% who have watched 7 or more, and 1-3 Star Wars movies respectively. Thanks for your continued participation! It is very much appreciated. The results from the last survey are available below.
May 4, 2023 survey results
Are you planning to do any 'spring cleaning' this year?
According to the last survey, the vast majority of respondents are planning to do ‘spring cleaning’ this year (90.5%). When asked about your favorite signs of spring, most say blooming flowers, green grass, and budding trees (42.9%), followed by no more snow (19%) and the return of robins and other migrating birds (19%).
Based on responses, most people are looking forward to spending time on the patio, going on bike rides and getting out on the water this spring and summer. Finally, a whopping 57.1% of respondents have watched all of the Star Wars movies, followed by 14.3% who have watched 7 or more, and 1-3 Star Wars movies respectively. Thanks for your continued participation! It is very much appreciated. The results from the last survey are available below.
May 4, 2023 survey results
Are you planning to do any 'spring cleaning' this year?
- Yes (90.5%)
- No (4.8%)
- Not sure (4.8%)
- Return of Robins and other migrating birds (19%)
- Blooming flowers, green grass, and budding trees (42.9%)
- No more snow and/or melting snow (19%)
- Return of bees, frogs, and other critters (4.8%)
- Thunderstorms (4.8%)
- Sitting outside on the patio
- Utilizing my 3 season porch and patio, bike rides, and outdoor dinner parties
- Going on bike rides
- Weekends at the cabin!
- Getting out to the parks and running
- Being outdoors and not freezing
- 0 (4.8%)
- 1-3 (14.3%)
- 3-6 (9.5%)
- 7 or more (14.3%)
- All of them (57.1%)
ASR-IT
- App Dev
- Cassie Simpson joined our team on April 27. Welcome, Cassie!
- So far this quarter we’ve delivered stories for the following:
- College Actionable
- Room search
- SDP
- TFMS
- We’ve replaced a manual process updating SSL Certificates, which expire every year, to a fully automated one to update forty certificates. Industry standards for this continually change. Next year certificate expiration will go from one year to 90 days. Having this automated will save the team lots of time.
- We’re also working with Sara Cokl and Kristen Clements on the Projects team to incorporate feedback from our product owner retrospective. We have a new intake form, and we’ve streamlined the process to make planning easier.
- Quarter three planning is also underway! Product Owners are submitting stories for the next planning meeting.
- Student Data
- After having a strong and robust search pool, we hired a new Business Intelligence Developer who will be starting in June!
- The Course Section and Student Modality dashboard is available on the EM Hub under the Curriculum and Courses tab.
- The newly updated Class Scheduling Distribution Summary will launch in early June 2023.
- This next quarter includes a range of fun and exciting projects:
- Admissions EDW/UM analytics building a new trackbook on the admissions funnel throughout the system
- Retention Priority modeling in preparation for Fall 2023
- Supporting the systemwide re-enrollment pilot effort that is situated with the Systemwide Enrollment Management Council
- Continuing support for building a Coursedog data mart
- Ongoing curricular analytics to support general chemistry
- Ongoing maintenance of existing subject areas and reports for tuition, GPAS and other student reporting
- Destiny One
- The DORS team fully tested the newest Version 2023.1 Destiny One core feature pack, which is now deployed to the Production instance.
- We are working with the vendor, Modern Campus, on several product enhancements (change requests).This work includes finalizing and approving requirements, testing delivered changes, and approval of changes for delivery to the Production instance.
- IAM leadership attended the April Destiny One governance meeting to provide information and answer questions related to the new identity tool and proposed changes to email and Google workspace offerings. Working sessions will be conducted with IAM and the Destiny One user community to reimagine Destiny One accounts, and how learners access the system when the new identity tool is ready for implementation.
- SF IT
- Preparations for tuition calc setup for new year (tasks that don’t require the Regents approval of the Annual Budget.)
- Tested the most recent security updates (CPU) from Oracle, which has been deferred to when the next updates are delivered in late July.
- Working with OIT, U Services, and EDMR on Common Data Layer deliverable to replace x.500 feeds.
- Email for life retirement analysis.
- Reviewing RFP responses for epayment services.
- SR IT
- Busy with end of of term processes, such as grading
- User Acceptance Testing (UAT) for Coursedog
- Email for life retirement analysis
- Continued security work
- 13 Credit Exemption retirement
- Reporting work for Tuition Attribution and Humphrey by the Numbers
- FA IT
- Summer ‘23 Disbursements are happening.
- AY24 tasks in full swing for all campuses.
- Oracle updates were put into production on May 21 to fix items that were part of Image 28, which went in last month.
- Tested the most recent security updates (CPU) from Oracle, which are deferred until the next updates are delivered in late July.
Fraser construction
Construction on Fraser has begun! They have removed all of the furniture out of the building. Check out the pictures below:
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
May is Mental Health Month: Language matters
May is Mental Health Awareness Month! This national month of awareness and action has been recognized since 1949. Mental health is something everyone should care about because almost one in five Americans suffers from anxiety. Depression affects nearly 8% of the population.
People with mental illness are often marginalized and discriminated against in various ways, but understanding what that looks like and how to address and eradicate it can help. One way that we destigmatize mental illness is through the language we use. How often do we hear terms like, insane, crazy, or bonkers used in everyday interactions? The words we choose matters as it not only describes the world around us, but also assigns value and meaning which can impact the people in our lives. Try these alternatives instead:
People with mental illness are often marginalized and discriminated against in various ways, but understanding what that looks like and how to address and eradicate it can help. One way that we destigmatize mental illness is through the language we use. How often do we hear terms like, insane, crazy, or bonkers used in everyday interactions? The words we choose matters as it not only describes the world around us, but also assigns value and meaning which can impact the people in our lives. Try these alternatives instead:
- Crazy, insane or insanity, nuts, wacko/whacko - wild, confusing, unpredictable, impulsive, reckless, fearless, lives on the edge, thrill-seeker, risk-taker, or out of control
- Idiot(ic), stupid or moron(ic) - Uninformed, reckless, impulsive, ignorant, risk-taking, risky, or dangerous
- Dumb - dense, ignorant, lacks understanding, impulsive, risk-taker, uninformed, silly, or foolish
- Lame - boring, uninteresting, monotonous, lacks excitement, uncool, or out of fashion
Want to learn more? Check out these additional resources:
Mental health resources
Join our DEI Community of Practice
Subscribe to our DEI Google Group to discuss the latest news, connect with the committee, and keep up with DEI initiatives. More information about the group and DEI committee can be found on the ASR Intranet.
Join our DEI Community of Practice
Subscribe to our DEI Google Group to discuss the latest news, connect with the committee, and keep up with DEI initiatives. More information about the group and DEI committee can be found on the ASR Intranet.
Office Closure (5/23): One Stop, GSSP, UVS, SAA, and Third Party Billing
One Stop Student Services, University Veterans Services, Graduate Student Services & Progress, Student Account Assistance, and Third Party Billing will be closed from 12:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 23 for a staff event. This includes phone, email, and in-person services at all three One Stop Student Services locations, Student Account Assistance, and Third Party Billing.
Full service will resume at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 24 for all units. The details of this closure are being communicated to both staff and students across multiple platforms. Please share this information with others as needed.
Full service will resume at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 24 for all units. The details of this closure are being communicated to both staff and students across multiple platforms. Please share this information with others as needed.
Staff recognition
Shout out to the many members of the Coursedog Project team for their efforts to make User Acceptance Testing (UAT) successful! The team prepared the system, created materials, and supported nearly 100 ECAS and PCAS users over 8 sessions in two weeks. This testing helps to ensure users can complete their work in Coursedog when it launches on August 21. It also provides the opportunity to refine and improve training materials so they meet users’ needs.
Special props to Matt Plachejo for facilitating all the sessions! Matt patiently and expertly fielded many questions from our future Coursdog users who were testing out Coursedog for the very first time.
Thursday, May 4, 2023
ASR Operations and Strategic Initiatives
- Project management for the Coursedog & Chatbot projects are in-progress.
- Coursedog will be beginning user acceptance testing next week.
- Chatbot implementation by the vendor is complete and we will kick-off the ASR portion of the project on May 16th.
- Training courses are being developed for Coursedog authors and approvers.
- The OSI Project Team is providing some oversight and guidance for WorkflowGen process transitions. For more information, see the WFG Retirement Transition Guide.
- A new work intake and prioritization process for Jadu e-forms and workflow work is in development.
- We’ve been working with OSF to review, update, and test financial aid communications for the 23-24 aid year.
- We finished creating the 2022 ASR Annual Report, which includes profiles for each unit and additional information about ASR’s organizational structure, technology, budget/ROI, and ASR and MPACT.
- We’ve established a monthly writer working group meeting for the content writers across all campuses. These meetings are a great opportunity for writers to hear about new initiatives, upcoming projects, and to share resources.
- We are also creating an internal content maintenance calendar that will live on the content management website. This document will help align all writers on content-specific dates, reminders, and deadlines.
- The development of a new content strategy training presentation is underway. Geared toward new hires, this presentation will examine the importance of our content strategy, and why it should be at the forefront of our content decisions.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
Cinco de Mayo
Mexico's history and culture are vast, ancient, and deserving of celebration. The oldest neighbor of the United States, Mexico declared independence from Spain just 30 years after the US separated from England. But Cinco de Mayo isn't a celebration of Mexican independence. It’s a minor celebration of a Mexican victory over the French in 1862.
The holiday is widely celebrated in the United States due to a confluence of history, politics, and capitalism, which you can learn more about on the N&N blog!
------------------ Start blog content ------------------
In 1862, when the battle occurred, many people living in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California had been Mexican citizens just 20 years earlier before their territory was claimed by the US in the Mexican-American war. These people celebrated the defeat of the French and their descendants have continued to celebrate the holiday.
In Mexico, the holiday was popularized by Porfirio DÃaz, who had fought in the battle before becoming the long-running de facto dictator of Mexico, whose reign led to the Mexican Revolution. After the revolution, Mexican citizens largely stopped celebrating the holiday while US celebrations continued.
US celebrations outside of California were mostly modest until the late 20th century when beer companies began marketing the holiday. Perhaps seeing it as an opportunity to create another St. Patrick's Day-like celebration, the marketing has largely focused on stereotypical symbols of Mexico. Marketers and beer sellers replaced shamrocks with sombreros and corned beef with tacos, and a new US party was born.
------------------ End blog content ------------------
As Cinco de Mayo celebrations have grown, so too have attempts to honor the full breadth of Mexican and Indigenous culture. If you’re interested in checking out some Cinco de Mayo celebrations, here’s a few in the Twin Cities:
Check out the additional resources to learn more about Cinco de Mayo:
Provide your feedback on May 11 at the DEI Coffee Hour!
As noted in previous issues of News and Notes, the DEI committee has been working on our purpose, structure, and goals for the group so we can continue to support diversity, equity, and inclusion in ASR. Please join us for an optional (virtual) coffee hour on Tuesday, May 11 from 8:15-9:00 a.m. to hear what we’ve been up to, and provide your feedback regarding where we should focus our efforts.
For your convenience, this event has been added to your calendar. Please RSVP if you plan to attend, we hope to see you there!
Join our DEI Community of Practice
Subscribe to our DEI Google Group to discuss the latest news, connect with the committee, and keep up with DEI initiatives. More information about the group and DEI committee can be found on the ASR Intranet.
Mexico's history and culture are vast, ancient, and deserving of celebration. The oldest neighbor of the United States, Mexico declared independence from Spain just 30 years after the US separated from England. But Cinco de Mayo isn't a celebration of Mexican independence. It’s a minor celebration of a Mexican victory over the French in 1862.
The holiday is widely celebrated in the United States due to a confluence of history, politics, and capitalism, which you can learn more about on the N&N blog!
------------------ Start blog content ------------------
In 1862, when the battle occurred, many people living in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California had been Mexican citizens just 20 years earlier before their territory was claimed by the US in the Mexican-American war. These people celebrated the defeat of the French and their descendants have continued to celebrate the holiday.
In Mexico, the holiday was popularized by Porfirio DÃaz, who had fought in the battle before becoming the long-running de facto dictator of Mexico, whose reign led to the Mexican Revolution. After the revolution, Mexican citizens largely stopped celebrating the holiday while US celebrations continued.
US celebrations outside of California were mostly modest until the late 20th century when beer companies began marketing the holiday. Perhaps seeing it as an opportunity to create another St. Patrick's Day-like celebration, the marketing has largely focused on stereotypical symbols of Mexico. Marketers and beer sellers replaced shamrocks with sombreros and corned beef with tacos, and a new US party was born.
------------------ End blog content ------------------
As Cinco de Mayo celebrations have grown, so too have attempts to honor the full breadth of Mexican and Indigenous culture. If you’re interested in checking out some Cinco de Mayo celebrations, here’s a few in the Twin Cities:
- St. Paul's West Side holds a massive Cinco de Mayo celebration
- Festival 5 de Mayo 2023 - Cinco de Mayo on Lake Street in Minneapolis
- The Facts and History of Cinco de Mayo
- How Cinco de Mayo Got Its Start Because of California's Mexican Americans
- What Cinco de Mayo Looked Like in Vintage Los Angeles
Provide your feedback on May 11 at the DEI Coffee Hour!
As noted in previous issues of News and Notes, the DEI committee has been working on our purpose, structure, and goals for the group so we can continue to support diversity, equity, and inclusion in ASR. Please join us for an optional (virtual) coffee hour on Tuesday, May 11 from 8:15-9:00 a.m. to hear what we’ve been up to, and provide your feedback regarding where we should focus our efforts.
For your convenience, this event has been added to your calendar. Please RSVP if you plan to attend, we hope to see you there!
Join our DEI Community of Practice
Subscribe to our DEI Google Group to discuss the latest news, connect with the committee, and keep up with DEI initiatives. More information about the group and DEI committee can be found on the ASR Intranet.
Staff recognition
Congratulations to Carolee Cohen! She was the recipient of the President’s Award for Outstanding Service. The award is presented each year, and recognizes exceptional service to the University, its schools, colleges, departments, and service units by any active or retired faculty or staff member. Recipients go beyond their regular duties and serve as exemplars of the University community.
Update from Stacey
As usual, ASR is a busy place! I can’t ever mention it all, but one example is the work to support our students who are taking final exams this week (starting today). This would not be successful without the scheduling work that OCM and CTS support, reminding departments to reserve rooms, assigning them in Astra, making sure last-minute requests are managed and technology is working correctly, and that people have clear information about needing UCards, etc. The Office of Student Finance and ASR-IT have worked on packaging aid for summer, supporting 3,734 students thus far. Some highlights from OSI are in the article below too. All of our units contribute together to the success of our students, and I’m very grateful and champion our work with University leadership whenever I have the opportunity.
In OUE, we’ve been keeping a close eye on the fall class. Now that the May 1st confirmation deadline has passed, it’s safe to share that we have a very strong class entering next fall. We can’t announce exact numbers yet, but even with some summer melt, we anticipate meeting the class size targets. I’m pleased to share that one of those fall students will be my son Eddie!
ASR intranet homepage redesign
The ASR Intranet is being redesigned by members of the Operations and Strategic Initiatives team. The first phase of the project is complete, which includes conducting user research and redesigning the hompage. A new homepage design has been finalized and will replace the existing homepage on Monday, May 8, before the end of the workday. All the information on the current homepage will be temporarily moved to a separate page under Employee Resources. Updates will be given as the team continues to work on this project. For a more detailed overview of the work that has been done, see the ASR Intranet homepage redesign presentation that was given at the All-Staff Assembly on Thursday, April 27.
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
Mexico's history and culture are vast, ancient, and deserving of celebration. The oldest neighbor of the United States, Mexico declared independence from Spain just 30 years after the US separated from England. But Cinco de Mayo isn't a celebration of Mexican independence. It’s a minor celebration of a Mexican victory over the French in 1862.
The holiday is widely celebrated in the United States due to a confluence of history, politics and capitalism. In 1862, when the battle occurred, many people living in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California had been Mexican citizens just 20 years earlier before their territory was claimed by the US in the Mexican-American war. These people celebrated the defeat of the French and their descendants have continued to celebrate the holiday.
In Mexico, the holiday was popularized by Porfirio DÃaz, who had fought in the battle before becoming the long-running de facto dictator of Mexico, whose reign led to the Mexican Revolution. After the revolution, Mexican citizens largely stopped celebrating the holiday while US celebrations continued.
US celebrations outside of California were mostly modest until the late 20th century when beer companies began marketing the holiday. Perhaps seeing it as an opportunity to create another St. Patrick's Day-like celebration, the marketing has largely focused on stereotypical symbols of Mexico. Marketers and beer sellers replaced shamrocks with sombreros and corned beef with tacos, and a new US party was born.
As Cinco de Mayo celebrations have grown, so too have attempts to honor the full breadth of Mexican and Indigenous culture. If you’re interested in checking out some Cinco de Mayo celebrations, here’s a few in the Twin Cities:
The holiday is widely celebrated in the United States due to a confluence of history, politics and capitalism. In 1862, when the battle occurred, many people living in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California had been Mexican citizens just 20 years earlier before their territory was claimed by the US in the Mexican-American war. These people celebrated the defeat of the French and their descendants have continued to celebrate the holiday.
In Mexico, the holiday was popularized by Porfirio DÃaz, who had fought in the battle before becoming the long-running de facto dictator of Mexico, whose reign led to the Mexican Revolution. After the revolution, Mexican citizens largely stopped celebrating the holiday while US celebrations continued.
US celebrations outside of California were mostly modest until the late 20th century when beer companies began marketing the holiday. Perhaps seeing it as an opportunity to create another St. Patrick's Day-like celebration, the marketing has largely focused on stereotypical symbols of Mexico. Marketers and beer sellers replaced shamrocks with sombreros and corned beef with tacos, and a new US party was born.
As Cinco de Mayo celebrations have grown, so too have attempts to honor the full breadth of Mexican and Indigenous culture. If you’re interested in checking out some Cinco de Mayo celebrations, here’s a few in the Twin Cities:
- St. Paul's West Side holds a massive Cinco de Mayo celebration
- Festival 5 de Mayo 2023 - Cinco de Mayo on Lake Street in Minneapolis
ASR Staff Engagement May 4 Survey
With warmer weather finally arriving, this week’s ASR Staff Engagement Survey is spring themed. Thank you for continuing to share your stories and experiences.
According to the last survey, most say they use 3-5 different software systems daily at work (79.3%). When asked about the use of project management software, 58.6% of respondents say they do use project management software such as Asana. Most respondents use a physical notepad or sticky note when taking their own notes or writing down reminders (31%), followed by Google Docs (27.6%), and virtual notepad or sticky note (10.3%).
Finally, Clue received the most votes for favorite board game (20.7%), followed by Scrabble (17.2%), and Trivial Pursuit (13.8%). Thanks all for your continued participation! It is very much appreciated. The results from the last survey are available below.
April 20, 2023 survey results
How many software systems (such as PeopleSoft) do you typically interact with on a daily basis?
According to the last survey, most say they use 3-5 different software systems daily at work (79.3%). When asked about the use of project management software, 58.6% of respondents say they do use project management software such as Asana. Most respondents use a physical notepad or sticky note when taking their own notes or writing down reminders (31%), followed by Google Docs (27.6%), and virtual notepad or sticky note (10.3%).
Finally, Clue received the most votes for favorite board game (20.7%), followed by Scrabble (17.2%), and Trivial Pursuit (13.8%). Thanks all for your continued participation! It is very much appreciated. The results from the last survey are available below.
April 20, 2023 survey results
How many software systems (such as PeopleSoft) do you typically interact with on a daily basis?
- 2 or less (10.3%)
- 3-5 (79.3%)
- 6 or more (10.3%)
- Yes (58.6%)
- No (41.4%)
- Physical Notepad or Sticky Note (31%)
- Google Doc (27.6%)
- Virtual Notepad or Sticky Note (10.3%)
- Personal/Dry-Erase Whiteboard (6.8%)
- Word Doc (3.4%)
- Google Calendar (3.4%)
- Clue (20.7%)
- Scrabble (17.2%)
- Trivial Pursuit (13.8%)
- Life (10.3%)
- Monopoly (6.9%)
- Sorry! (3.4%)
- Mousetrap (3.4%)
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