Things we do (outside of work): Gopher Zulpzes

Known as team Gopher Zulpzes in the puzzle world, this group of four has a knack for jigsaws. You might say their teamwork makes the pieces fall in place (ba-dum-ch!)

For the third year in a row, they competed in the St. Paul Winter Carnival Jigsaw Puzzle Competition that took place on January 27.

Pictured from left to right is Lindsey Konerza (ASR-IT), Deb Edwards (OSF), Ken Kiehm (ASR-IT), and Stephanie Kearley (OSF).

As you can imagine, the competition is all about who can complete their puzzle the fastest. Teams form in two categories, either in the adult bracket or the family bracket, and are four members each. All teams are allotted two hours to complete their puzzle.

But rather than using traditional puzzles for the competition, 500-piece PuzzleTwist® puzzles are used. The picture on each box cover doesn't 100% match the puzzle! Twisted, right?

St. Paul Winter Carnival Jigsaw Puzzle Competition 

The Gopher Zulpzes completed their puzzle in 55:05 minutes, landing them in 13th place out of 78 teams. Said Lindsey, "The puzzle that we put together this year was definitely harder then last year's puzzle and we finished more than 10 spots better then last year."

Congrats, Gopher Zulpzes, and thanks for sharing!

Hogan assessment invitation

ASR directors invite staff to complete the Hogan’s Leader Focus assessment. This is a voluntary opportunity. The assessment aims to provide insight into how you manage categories of self, career, and relationship, how you set priorities, and define success. This can be beneficial to you, your team, and your career goals in different ways:

• Learn about your strengths
• Learn how to work with others with differing styles
• Gain understanding about how other people respond to you
• Reflect on your skills and get a deeper understanding of how to use them
• Identify areas where you can grow
• Gather ideas for how to overcome challenges

If you choose to participate, you will complete two online surveys and receive a written summary of the report. You will also explore what the results mean in a group debrief. Results are confidential, but participants are invited to share their insights during the debrief.

If you’d like to take the Hogan Leader Focus assessment, submit a PDR by February 23, 2018. You will receive an email with more details and a link to take the assessment. If you have questions about the assessment, contact John Vollum (vollu004@umn.edu).

This effort is part of ASR's organizational effectiveness strategy to develop leadership skills in all ASR staff members. A number of ASR staff, including the directors, have completed the Hogan Leader Focus and we are excited to be able expand the number of staff who have access to the insights provided.

Error & Incident reports: what they are and why we use them

You may or may not know about or receive Error & Incident reports, but here is a refresher of what they are and why we use them in ASR. Error & Incident reports are used to share information in order to help troubleshoot issues and clarify the status of errors and incidents, usually regarding system issues. There is also historical value in the reports; they help ensure we have made corrections and improvements to avoid the same errors in the future.

Complete an Error & Incident form when a system issue or error is discovered and the issue may impact multiple staff, students, or teams. Once completed, the report is sent to a distribution list that includes many teams within ASR as well as some contacts outside of ASR such as system campus partners.

The form can be found in the right side bar “Quick Links” section of the ASR intranet. If you are unsure you should submit a report, have a conversation with your supervisor or team.

Report of External Professional Activities (REPA)

Each year, P&A and other staff identified by their unit are sent a REPA form to report external professional activities. If you receive your annual reminder to complete the REPA form, please complete it promptly. You will be asked to enter your unit approver. Sue Van Voorhis (vanvo002) is the unit approver for all of ASR.

ASR job descriptions

All ASR job descriptions have been moved into a folder in the Google Team Drive called “ASR HR Toolkit.” All employees will have view access to the Team Drive and will be able to see all ASR job descriptions and other resources for ASR including checklists for hiring, onboarding, or offboarding ASR employees.

The Job Descriptions folder was created to move the descriptions to one location with a standard format that includes a description of ASR, the specific unit, and the ASR knowledge, skills, and abilities. We will be talking about this tool in the next ASR Supervisors meetings. In the past, some job descriptions were stored in the ASR directory. The ASR Directory on the ASR intranet site will no longer be supported and will be decommissioned. (To look up staff contact information, use search.umn.edu or type someone’s name into the search bar of www.umn.edu or other university web sites.)

TES update

Newly-admitted, prospective and current students at the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus can now use Transferology to explore transfer options. Behind that public-facing database is a new, electronic Transfer Evaluation System (TES) that facilitates direct communication between Academic Support Resources, the Office of Admissions, and the departmental course evaluators. Since its launch on January 8, TES has helped students make timely decisions about their transfer options.

Between January 8 and January 29, 66 courses were submitted for evaluation through the new system and website. Courses have been evaluated for CCAPS, CLA, CBS, CSOM, CEHD, CFANS, and CSE. Of the submissions, 37 of them received decisions within 2 days or less. This is a much-improved turnaround time from the previous paper/email-based process.

With TES, students receive quick communications that include evaluation decisions, details about transferability, and a point of contact for further questions. As staff, if you have questions about TES, contact tes@umn.edu.

9.2 Functional Upgrade updates

On January 28, there were more releases related to Functional Upgrade initiatives of the PeopleSoft Campus Solutions 9.2 Upgrade.

The first of two parts of work for duplicate ID tool and process enhancements is complete. Users of the duplicate ID tool have additional functionality that allows them to manage cases and track case history as well as provide transparency to University staff about duplicate ID case resolutions. Person Comments on related records will now automatically be added when the case is complete.

The gender identity, pronouns, and preferred name initiative had its first release of functionality. The preferred name of students now appears on the waitlist and class permissions pages. More enhancements are planned over the next four months.

The escheatment compliance project is now complete. Communications are ongoing in the process and the documentation has been completed.

More detail is available in the current project status report.