Hi everyone,

Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration (EASI) would like to update you on the latest major production releases and updates for U of T’s Administrative Management Systems (AMS) and Enterprise Shared Services.

The following are major changes from October 1 to November 30, 2024:

Administrative Management Systems

SAP GUI Upgrade (October)
U of T has completed the transition to the new version of SAP GUI. Digital Workplace clients received the upgrade from SAP GUI 7.6 (Patch 6) to version 8.00 (Patch 4), and IT administrators facilitated the upgrade for divisions. The new version includes performance improvements, as well as enhanced stability and security, and represents minimal change to business processes.

S/4HANA Upgrade (November 2)
As part of yearly system and application maintenance, U of T upgraded from SAP S/4HANA 2021 to version 2023 on November 2. Over a six-month period, the team conducted extensive testing (including 2,500 test cases) and performed multiple dry runs to ensure a smooth transition. The twelve-hour upgrade included post-upgrade tasks and final testing. It also included removal of Question-Based-Authentication from Employee Self-Service (ESS) and Manager Self-Service (MSS) and UTORMFA enforcement for ESS/MSS, Employee Reimbursement Direct Deposit, My Research, and the Capital Projects Portal. By leveraging the latest advancements in SAP technology, U of T is better positioned for future upgrades and innovations.

Human Resources Information System

Removal of Question-Based-Authentication (November 2)
On November 2, EASI and People Strategy, Equity & Culture (PSEC) removed question-based-authentication from Employee Self-Service (ESS) and Manager Self-Service (MSS). This change improves security across U of T applications and offers a simplified user experience, allowing users to access ESS/MSS immediately after authenticating with UTORid, password and UTORMFA.

Technical Services & Architecture

StarRez Cloud Migration Project (November)
StarRez is a system used across all three U of T campuses, and 13 residence operations, to manage the application, operation and management of residence services, including undergraduate, graduate, and family housing. The StarRez Migration Project, launched between September and November, moved the on-premises system to a modern and secure cloud platform that is hosted and supported by StarRez. Migrating to StarRez Cloud has many technical and user benefits, including user interface improvements, up-to-date releases, 99 per cent uptime and full technical support from StarRez. At the same time, EASI has worked to modernize StarRez integrations with other systems such as AMS, Student Accounts, and TCard Photos to provide better security, and more frequent and accurate data exchanges.

Enterprise Shared Services

M365 Email Reconciliation Project (October 31)
The M365 Email Reconciliation Project was successfully completed by the target deadline of October 31, 2024. The project decommissioned approximately 382,000 accounts and provisioned 23,000 alumni accounts. To date, the team has received 33,432 alumni opt-in requests, 1,368 status verification forms, 8,241 incident tickets, and fielded 1,715 support calls. Project support is ongoing, and the team continues to provide assistance.

Enterprise Service Centre (ESC)/ServiceNow Upgrade (November) 
ServiceNow, the underlying platform powering the Enterprise Service Centre (ESC), was successfully upgraded to the latest release overnight from November 18 to 19. The new release, named Xanadu, brings stability and security enhancements as well new features such as an improved rich text editor.

Entra ID Connect Upgrade (November 19)
On November 19, U of T upgraded Entra ID Connect, a service used for Microsoft identity management. The goal of this upgrade was to improve performance, security, and compatibility, to support long-term sustainability of U of T’s identity infrastructure.