Thank you for contributing to the Student Success Fund

We had a great picnic last week and were able to raise $1642 for the Student Success Fund (nearly 20% more than last year)! The number of donations also increased with a total of 92. Thank you for all your giving and participation in the raffle. Students directly benefit from your generosity.

All items from the raffle have been distributed to their respective winners (see the list).

IDP reviews due in August

Complete your Individual Development Plan (IDP) during the month of August, making sure to meet with your supervisor to discuss it. If the process is new to you, read more on the ASR Intranet.

As you work on your IDP, remember that asrsupervisors.umn.edu is available with resources and advice about how to get the most out of conversations about professional development.

No more mid-year reviews

In the past, ASR has conducted formal, documented mid-year performance appraisals around this time of year. We will no longer do mid-years, and will do annual appraisals only (in April). Everyone is still encouraged to have a mid-year check in.

Since we aren’t documenting work at the mid-year spot, we encourage you to keep a running list/document over the year of your work and contributions to assist with writing the annual appraisal when it is time. You can learn more about the performance appraisal process on the ASR Intranet.

ASR’s strategic plan

Sue’s latest monthly recap video introduced a strategic plan that has been in development for the past seven months. This plan will be reviewed in greater detail at the September In-Service (9/27). Until then, we thought it might be helpful to share a little more background.

Using the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) model as a starting point, the directors focused on establishing 10-year targets in three particular areas:

1. Achieving student success targets
2. Improving the employee experience within ASR
3. Enhancing systems and processes

This model leads to developing a Vision/Traction Organizer (VTO). The directors used the VTO to break down 10-year targets into 5- and 1-year plans that are then supplemented by quarterly “Rocks” (more generally known as a subset of SMART goals; read more here). According to this methodology, rocks are concrete, attainable, strategic initiatives that have been prioritized in support of a 1-year plan.

You can learn more about the EOS model at eosworldwide.com.

ASR-IT director search update

Two candidates have been selected as finalists to move to the second round of the interview process for the ASR-IT director position. In addition to meetings with ASR leadership, these candidates will deliver a 30-minute presentation about their vision for leading ASR-IT, if offered the position. All ASR staff are invited to attend these presentations. Candidate names and resumes will be shared two days in advance. You will be able to share feedback via a form after the presentation.

PCMC seeking new steering committee members

The University of Minnesota Project & Change Management Collaborators (PCMC) group is looking for new members on their steering committee. Assist with shaping and leading programs and resources for the University community on project and change management topics, tools, and methodology.

PCMC is a University-wide organization for staff and faculty (students are also welcome). PCMC hosts monthly programs from September-May each year, including workshops, lectures, panel discussions, and book clubs centered on the methodologies, experiences, tools, and resources. They also host a variety of resources online.

Information about PCMC, their programming archive, and resources library is available on the PCMC website.

If you are seeking a way to be involved in the University community, a leadership opportunity, or a chance to work with campus partners from all areas of the University, please consider volunteering. Time commitment varies between 5-10 hours a month.

If you are interested, contact pcmc@umn.edu.

PeopleSoft Campus Solutions 9.2 Upgrade Project wrap up

The PeopleSoft Campus Solutions 9.2 Upgrade Project officially concluded on June 30. This project kicked off in April 2017 and was completed in two phases. The first phase—a technical upgrade of Campus Solutions from version 9.0 to 9.2—was delivered in September 2017. The second phase delivered functional improvements over several months. This included 16 individual initiatives focused on leveraging delivered functionality not already in use.

In summary: the University is now the most current it has ever been with PeopleSoft Campus Solutions releases and is positioned to take advantage of new functionality. Project teams explored the application of Fluid pages and Enterprise Component Tools (Activity Guides, CAF, Forms Builder, WorkCenter, Notification Framework, and Pivot Grids) to meet business needs and delivered Service improvements for students, faculty, and staff.

For more detail, see the CS 9.2 Completion Report.