Start of spring term

Thank you to everyone who contributed to a smooth start of term! Our systems remained stable and the cross-functional “command center” was quiet. A good start to the term has a very positive impact on the experience of students, staff, and faculty, so we greatly appreciate all of the preparations to make that happen!

2020 date discussion

Any written material with a date now requires the full 2020 and should not be dated with the abbreviated 20. If a date is abbreviated to 20, someone could easily rewrite it as 2012 or 2037, which would allow them to alter the date in their favor. Therefore, all dates need to be written out as the full 2020 to avoid any future scams or potential confusion.

Additionally, if a new or updated form requires a date that needs to be filled out, the form should allow for either a 20 and two spaces for the second 20 or four spaces total for each number. This makes it clear to the reader that we want the full 2020 written out.

Performance appraisal reminder

Remember, performance appraisals will start with employee self-reviews in February. Each employee should download the appraisal form from the intranet, complete sections A & E, and submit to their supervisor by Friday, February 28.

Self-evaluations will cover the time period of April 2019 through December 2019. We expect some goals may still be in progress because of the altered time frame. If you have specific questions about the time frame or your goals from last year, talk with your supervisor.

TDX transition

Existing tickets in ServiceNow will not be migrated to TeamDynamic (TDX). If users have information in a ticket that they access frequently, they can capture this information using two different methods:

Create a Knowledge Base article based on the information in the ticket, which will migrate to TDX

Download the ticket for future reference by exporting the data

For additional data needs that may arise once TDX is live, ServiceNow data will be eventually exported into an Oracle database that will run against Tableau. Users will then be able to formally request access to the historical content following University retention policies.

UMN benefits package monetization

Identified as a one-year goal in the area of “improving the employee experience within ASR,” a UMN benefits resource (link will open a copy, then save to your drive) has been created to consolidate information about financial and other benefits provided by the University to employees. Another benefit of this resource is that you can calculate the financial value of benefits received by entering an annual salary and updating any differing insurance rates, as needed.

This resource is available for ASR staff to view in the HR Toolkit, and it has also been added to the hiring checklist when making a job offer. If you have any questions or concerns, please email asrcentral@umn.edu.

Workshop opportunity: Facilitating challenging conversations

The ASR Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee is excited to invite you to a workshop called “Facilitating challenging conversations” on February 14 from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. in Peik Hall room 28. The workshop will be led by Stef Jarvi from the Office for Equity and Diversity and is only open to ASR staff members.

Please RSVP if you plan on attending! Space may be limited.

This is the first workshop in “Wake up and smell the coffee!,” a series of sessions the ASR DEI committee plans to host in 2020. If you are unable to attend our first session, we hope you may be able to join us for future ones! ASR has recently been named a recipient of a 2020 Campus Climate Micro-Grant award, which we will use to fund this series and provide snacks and beverages at each session.

Workshop description
“This workshop addresses one of the most ever-present and significant aspects of equity and diversity work: education through dialogue. In each participant’s on-going development as an ally and a leader, they will find themselves in more and more situations that call for careful listening, nuanced language, well-timed questions, and skilled facilitation. This workshop offers each participant an opportunity to develop these educational skills.” February 14 from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. |Peik Hall room 28.

For anyone interested in OED’s certificate program or for those currently enrolled, you can count this workshop toward the program.

Performance appraisals

This year, performance appraisals will start with employee self-reviews in February. Each employee should download the appraisal form from the intranet, complete sections A & E, and submit to their supervisor by Friday, February 28.

Self-evaluations will cover the time period of April 2019 through December 2019. We expect some goals may still be in progress because of the altered time frame. If you have specific questions about the time frame or your goals from last year, talk with your supervisor.