Update from Stacey

I am very excited about the changes recently announced for ASR-IT. In less than a month, we will welcome a new director of academic enterprise systems, and we had three business analysts transition from Admissions to ASR this week! With that excitement, I also recognize the importance of making sure we have high quality plans in place for onboarding new folks to ASR. We are doing good work with our current hybrid arrangements, but we need to be deliberate when it comes to forming teams, meeting people, and learning how things work here. If you have ideas about onboarding (generally, or for these folks in particular), please drop me a note at tidball@umn.edu.

I'm also excited about March Madness. While ASR employees cannot participate in traditional bracket contests (see below), we've had some fun alternatives in years past. There was a "Marsh Madness" tournament of marshmallow cereal treats several years ago, and we had a few years of a free-throw contest in Fraser Hall. What are some ways you like to enjoy this season that highlights our student athletes?

ASR-IT

Application Development team:=

• A year ago, we set up our first application to automatically renew its SSL certificate (SSL certificates keep communication with our applications encrypted and secure). A couple weeks ago, it renewed itself without any intervention from us. Now all of our applications are configured to do this, which means we are well situated for when renewal periods go from one year down to 90 days.

• There are a few upgrades currently in progress: TFMS and our Sessions API, which is a service used for an integration on the OCM website.

• We’ve been configuring a service called Traefik that will allow us to run multiple applications on a single server using containers. We already have three applications running in a test environment! Once this infrastructure is expanded, we can work towards deploying more than one Traefik server consistently.

  
  

Data Engineering team

• Began using Coursedog data in our Databricks proof-of-concept and working on how to best transform and store this data in Databricks. This is progress towards establishing a cloud based home where BA’s and technical staff have the ability to access and service data needs from ASR’s  many student data sources.

• Provided Student Degree Progress data and expertise to Student Data Analytics (SDA) so that they could work with Duluth on a curriculum analysis request.

• Started the move from LastPass to Azure Key Vault for secret management. Migrating to Azure will set us up for OIT's eventual planned Secrets Management service.

ASR-IT PeopleSoft Business Analysts

• All Teams

• We’re testing two PeopleSoft Images and a Critical Patch (CPU) security update to remain in compliance with our ERP vendor (Oracle/PeopleSoft).

• We’re working on UM Reports deprecation.

• Financial Aid IT

• We’re continuing work on FAFSA Simplification, which includes analysis of impacted custom code, equations and SQL, and user queries. We’re also testing and preparing for Federal Work Study reporting, reviewing new data models delivered by Oracle, and finishing up a new housing survey. Lastly, we’re updating the Student Aid Internet Gateway to protect federal tax Information.

• We’re working with SF-IT and functional staff on each campus to implement the new Minnesota Office of Higher Education (MOHE) program: American Indian Scholars Program.

• We’re collaborating with HR to implement replacement reports for Work Study.

• Student Financials/Campus Community/Shared Data IT

• The Spring 2024 Tuition Calculation setup is in progress.

• For the 1098-T, we’re providing data for business areas to review and correct prior to year end and moving to a digital  W9-S form.

• We’re testing QuikPAY changes for administrative users with a new dashboard and multi-factor authentication.

• Non-resident Alien Tax process updates are being tested.

• Poorly-formatted email addresses were removed from the system, which helps reduce SalesForce errors.

• We’re partnering with the UX and Content Strategy team to move posting training online.

• There are various working groups addressing policy or process changes, including Regents Scholarships and Student Service Fee changes.

• We’re hiring a new BA for the Campus Community/Shared Data team.

• Sarah Hoegger and Jack Kimmes presented at the HEUG Central Conference in Chicago this month.

• Student Records IT

• The Coursedog team provided a building program requirements demo this week.

• We created and posted registration appointment times for Twin Cities, Morris, and Crookston.

• We’re finalizing work with Parchment to configure single sign-on (SSO).

• We finished the fall 2024 operations and job processing calendar.

• We delivered PSEO fall 2023 files to the system campus representatives, and we’re working through corrections before delivering it to the Minnesota Department of Education.

ASR-IT

• Application Development
• Planning for Q4 prioritization is underway!
• The team has been focused on the upcoming Drupal 10 upgrade:
• Both classroom.umn.edu and all campus One Stop sites are affected.
• The One Stop Kiosk underwent a long-overdue upgrade. There were no functional changes, but this paves the way to reduce our tech debt for this application.
• We’re poised to begin addressing tech debt for the Tuition and Fee Management System (TFMS), which needs a few upgrades to stay in compliance. 
• The team will participate in Campus Codefest August 17 and 18.
• Our custom Class scheduling distribution summary (CSDS) application has been moved to Tableau with the help of Ian Whitney and the Student Data Analytics team. This allows us to decommission several things in our portfolio.
• Campus Community/Shared Data/Student Financials IT
• Fall preparation activities are taking up most of the team’s time (tuition setup for all campuses and other start of term readiness items).
• Participated in PI Planning with OIT.
• Completed a project to export certain fee data into the Common Data Layer.
• Continued to work with OIT on Proposed Changes to Email Offerings.
• Tools 8.59.19 CPU testing and Financials Image testing.
• Financial Aid IT
• Fall preparation activities are in full swing (Packaging/Repackaging, SAP evaluations, Disbursements) for all campuses.
• FAFSA Simplification/Student Aid Index activities.
• One Term Exceptions with OSF/SDP.
• OSF/Admissions AY start-up discussion.
• NCAA CAi upgrade analysis and assistance
• PeopleTools 8.59.19 CPU testing
• Student Records
• Participated in PI Planning with OIT.
• Continued to work with OIT on Proposed Changes to Email Offerings.
• Tools 8.59.19 CPU testing.
• Preparing for Coursedog launch.
• Working with the Learning Abroad Center to see if we can assist with automating any of their business processes.
• Summer term grading.
• 13 credit exemption retirement.
• Student Data and Analytics
• Admission Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) 
• On track for end of September launch admissions trackbook dashboard
• Building 3 more dimensions 
• Build RPD and testing
• Retention Priority
• Training fall 2023 to spring 2024 campus and cohort specific models 
• Delivered Class Scheduling Distribution Summary (CSDS) Dashboard to OCM
• Ongoing Enhancements
• Waiver dashboard (Tuition Attribution)
• Partnering with OIT HR to recruit a new SDA team manager (see notes above). Ingrid Nuttall will be leading the search with OIT HR supporting the hiring committee with the hiring process.

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.

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-IT

• Application Development
• Team will be recruiting soon to replace Brittany’s position as a developer in ASR-IT.
• We’re ¾ of the way through updating 120 Oracle passwords for our systems and applications.
• We’re working on stories for Data Integrations, SDP, Roomsearch, and the One Stop Drupal sites.
• Planning for the second quarter of 2023 is underway.
• DORS
• New software release, Yeti 2023.1, deploys to Test February 28. 
• 3 new features were deployed to Test and are being reviewed for approval:
• Configurable Direct Billing Account Field
• Add Conference Number to Conference Pages 
• Display Special Request Public Description Field 
• Cut over to Cybersource from the prior payment process is scheduled for Production this week.
• Jadu
• Ryan Ceresnak, ASR & OUE Jadu Administrator, and ASR’s Jadu (e-forms and workflows) portfolio will be moving from ASR-IT to reporting through ASR Operations & Strategic Initiatives beginning next week.
• The OSF Housing/Living Arrangement Change request form went live in Jadu on Monday February 20. This was previously a PDF form for students to change their living arrangement status for financial aid purposes.
• The Jadu Dashboard project kicked off last week. Ryan is leading requirements gathering activities for OIT. This new functionality will address a significant gap identified in the Jadu system analysis conducted last year by having a custom user-facing dashboard that allows users to manage their work in the system.
• Student Data & Analytics
• Team will soon be recruiting to replace Alex Rose’s position as an IT Pro 3-Business Intelligence & Data Analysis.
• Proof Of Concept between Kafka and Databricks has been completed, which allows us to more easily bring data from one source to another for analytic purposes.
• SDA will present some of our work at the March ASR All Staff Assembly, including the Retention Priority Analysis and Curricular Analytics.
• Admissions work is continuing in the EDW as we strive to deliver the Admissions Trackbook for all campuses.
• SDA team had two presentations at the UMN Student Success Conference:
• Leveraging Data Analytics to Find Potential Leavers and Exploring How to Intervene
• Supercharge Your Intuition with Data and Analytics
• Student Financials, Campus Community, and Shared Data
• HR Image testing in partnership with HRMS BA’s
• Working with HR on legal name changes and preferred name functionality
• Email for Life analysis
• Helping OIT with information on data feeds so they can retire the x.500 from RecWell, bookstores, etc.
• CARES/HEERF and OHE reporting
• Center for Allied Health Programs moving to Pharmacy preparation
• Changes to TFMS export and the search capabilities
• Student Records
• Worked closely with CCAPS and University libraries to resolve access issues for College in the Schools students
• Email for Life Analysis
• Center for Allied Health Programs moving to Pharmacy preparation 
• Coursedog support
• Changes to National Student Clearinghouse reporting
• Preparing for Parchment Upgrade
• Preparing for fall 23 enrollment appointment setup

ASR-IT alignment update

On Monday, June 6, the ASR-IT alignment group kicked off. ASR Directors began this work in February 2021 to explore the following:

• Clarify business process ownership in a complex environment
• Find opportunities to better align networks of subject matter experts in ASR to further collaboration
• Identify areas for potential organizational changes

The group presented their findings and recommendations recently to their co-sponsors, Carin Thoms and Jaime Wascalus, and they are finalizing a presentation that they’ll present to ASR Directors on September 14, 2022. More information will be shared about the recommendations and next steps over the coming months, along with plans in ASR-IT and across the organization to address gaps in alignment. A huge thank you to the participants of the group who met multiple times weekly throughout the summer to analyze ASR-IT and provide insightful recommendations:

• ASR-IT - Carolee Cohen
• ASR Operations and Strategic Initiatives - Renae Faunce
• OCM - Sarah Kussow
• One Stop - Richard Campo
• OSF - Stephanie Kearley
• OTR - Emily Holt

ASR-IT alignment kick-off

On Monday, June 6, the ASR-IT alignment group kicked off. ASR Directors began this work in February 2021 to explore the following:

• Clarify business process ownership in a complex environment;
• Find opportunities to better align networks of subject matter experts in ASR to further collaboration, and;
• Identify areas for potential organizational changes.

Directors began these conversations reviewing ASR’s organizational structures and highlighting strengths, opportunities for improvement, and constraints. Groups convened and reviewed OTR/C&C/Central and ASR Operations and put forth recommendations for consideration.

The group has been asked to provide recommendations that will improve processes and create efficiencies within ASR IT, as well as align the unit to work best with other units in ASR. Questions the group will be exploring include:

• What challenges does ASR-IT face the the way they currently work as a unit and across all ASR units?
• What changes should ASR-IT make to work more effectively and efficiently across ASR?
• What opportunities are there for changes to reporting structure in ASR IT?

One individual from each ASR unit has been assigned to the group. These unit representatives will be checking in with their individual units and bringing back feedback and ideas for the group to consider. 

Members include:

• ASR IT - Carolee Cohen
• ASR Operations and Strategic Initiatives - Renae Faunce
• OCM - Sarah Kussow
• One Stop - Richard Campo
• OSF - Stephanie Kearley
• OTR - Emily Holt
• Sponsors - Carin Thoms and Jaime Wascalus

Updates from OTR and CC Alignment work

Last summer, a cross-functional team met to look at opportunities for alignment across Continuity and Compliance and the Office of the Registrar (OTR). Several changes were made as a result of that team’s work, including a change in reporting structure for the DegreeCat team (to ASR-IT) and the Degree Audit, TES, and Athletic Eligibility teams (to OTR). The Office of the Registrar has continued to work with the team’s findings and additional changes building off of the alignment team’s work include:

• The creation of a Service Operations unit managed by a new position, Assistant Director of Service Operations (posted in early June).
• Alignment of diploma operations, Records CRR functions, imaging, shared data, and mailroom operations under the Service Operations unit (Matt Duggan, Josemy Morales, and Trung Mac will report to this unit when the new manager is hired).
• This new position will also begin to manage OTR’s student athlete eligibility functions; however this will be a longer transition and team members currently responsible for this work will not change reporting lines. Our goal is to transition work and not people as we are able, with some duties being carried out by the new manager position.
• Effective June 6, Karsyn Zetah, Barb Yungers, and Colleen Harms report to Amber Cellotti under an aligned undergraduate and graduate records management unit.
• Effective July 1, Matt Duggan will take over supervision of the Records CRR team.

A sincere thanks to the OTR and C&C alignment group for their work last year and also to the entire OTR team for their continued support of the University community while these changes took shape.