Navigating Student Invoices & Financial Arrangements

Date: May 10, 2024
To: SIS Users
From: Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration
Re:  Navigating Student Invoices & Financial Arrangements Session

Dear SIS users,

Please join us for an exclusive Connect+Learn session featuring insights from Student Accounts within the University Registrar’s Office, and Student Receivables & Accounting Office within Financial Services. The session will delve into essential topics such as guidance on interpreting official U of T Student Financial Invoices and explore the diverse options for establishing and maintaining Financial Arrangements (e.g., fee deferrals).

The session will take place on Thursday, May 30 at 11 a.m.

Topics will include:

  • Exploring invoice views in ROSI; highlighting key features and crucial line items.
  • Guidance on where and how students can access instructions for making payments or self-initiating a fee deferral.
  • How staff can effectively maintain Financial Arrangements in ROSI (e.g., major award).


Registration is not required for this event. You can access the meeting via this 
Teams Meeting Link.

Sincerely,
Student Information Systems

Important SAP GUI Upgrade Instructions

Date: May 8, 2024
To: SAP GUI Users
From: Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration
Re:  Important SAP GUI Upgrade Instructions

 

Dear SAP GUI users:

As you may be aware, U of T will be transitioning to the new version of SAP GUI as the current version is no longer supported. We have notified divisional IT administrators about this change, and they will help to facilitate with the upgrade from SAP GUI 7.6 (Patch 6) to version 8.00 (Patch 4). The new version includes performance improvements, and enhanced stability and security.

This upgrade represents minimal change to business processes – once upgraded, you will see a simplified list of connection entries on the Logon Pad, and you will be able to connect to the AMS environment. There will be no changes to the theme.

Logon Pad:

Current View New View
SAP GUI Logon Pad with many connection entries SAP GUI Logon Pad after the upgrade showing fewer connection entries

If you have questions about timing for the upgrade, please contact your divisional IT administrator.

If you do not have a managed desktop or a local IT administrator, you can submit a ticket to the Enterprise Service Centre.

Sincerely,

Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration

Monthly SIS Training Resources & Support Session

Join us on the first Thursday of each month for an informative Connect+Learn session on SIS Training Resources & Support, tailored primarily for new ROSI users. The Student Information Systems (SIS) group manages enterprise student and curriculum applications, and processes for the University.

SIS provides reporting tools, enhancement and production request forms, and support for the SIS applications. In the session, we will discuss:

  • Student Information Systems – What we do and how to get help
  • ROSI and OASIS Training Materials & Resources
  • What we support and what we do not (and where to go for those)
  • When to use ESC and how to write a ticket and use ESC appropriately

 

Resources

Recording [Stream]
Slides [SharePoint]

Generating ROSI and ROSI Express Reports

Join Connect+Learn for a session on Generating ROSI and ROSI Express Reports. This session will explore several methods that staff in academic units and Registrars’ Offices can use to generate class lists, reports, and downloads of ROSI information. The initial focus of this session will be on the new class list report which is generated from ROSI Express using Power BI. Attendees will be shown a basic feature set and how to navigate the refreshed interface. Current ROSI screens used for report generation and how to pick up the file output from ROSI Files will also be explained. Similarly, the downloads portion of this session will explain how to access file output and formatting files, including headers, for practical use.

Topics to be addressed:

  • New Class List reports in ROSI Express (Power BI)
  • Sending ROSI reports to ROSI Files (pdf and Excel formats)
  • Download basics (time permitting)
     

    Resources

    Recording [Stream]
    Slides [SharePoint]

Redacting Personal Information in the Enterprise Service Centre

Date:  April 26, 2024
To: Student Information Systems Application Users
From:  Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration
Re:  Redacting Personal Information in the Enterprise Service Centre

 

Dear SIS Application users,

When submitting a ticket for assistance to the Enterprise Service Centre (ESC) for SIS applications such as ROSI, Degree Explorer and eMarks, please ensure you have redacted all personally identifiable information (e.g., names, addresses) in ESC textboxes, subject fields, screenshots, and attachments. Only a Person ID is required to assist with an issue.

For example, if you submit a screenshot of a technical issue you are experiencing in ROSI to the ESC, please redact the student’s name from that screenshot. There are helpful screen blur and masking applications we recommend that you utilize to hide personal data before making an ESC ticket submission.

Users of Batch Applicant Uploads: Similarly, please do not submit upload file attachments containing personally identifiable information in the ESC. Please review our updated file submission guidelines outlined on the SIS SharePoint site which describes a secure method of batch upload file submission outside of the ESC.

Thank you for your cooperation.

This email has been sent from a service account and does not accept replies. Please direct any follow up questions to the Enterprise Service Centre http://www.uoft.me/esc

Sincerely,
Student Information Systems

Brief outage for ROSI, ACORN, and other student information systems, Thursday May 2

Date:  April 24, 2024
To:  ROSI Users; Registrar’s Offices
From:  Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration
Re:  Brief outage for ROSI, ACORN, and other student information systems, Thursday May 2

 

Dear ROSI users,

Please note, we need to perform brief but important maintenance to the ROSI database. To avoid conflicts with exams and the first week of classes, we have scheduled this for 10:00 to 10:15 a.m. on the morning of Thursday, May 2. The list of affected systems is below. We will post a notification for students on the ACORN landing page and social media.

We do appreciate that some instructors may need to submit grades that day. We are unable to contact all instructors and would ask departmental or divisional staff to pass on the information. To avoid having instructors being partially through work when the eMarks is taken offline at 10:00 a.m., we will be blocking fresh log ins to the system at 9:30. Instructors who have signed on before 9:30 will be able to continue their work until 10:00. No one will be able to log in to the system after 9:30 until after the maintenance is complete at 10:15.

The same arrangement will apply to the administrative interface for Degree Explorer.

Timetable Builder will remain available. Reporting staff will still be able to access the ROSI Replica database.

The following systems will be affected:

  • Accommodated Testing Services (Student and Admin)
  • ACORN
  • Course Information System
  • Degree Explorer (Student and Admin)
  • EASI Institutional File Transfer
  • eMarks
  • Online Administrative Student Information System (OASIS) – including Absence Declaration, and the Timetable Builder and Transfer Equivalencies database administrative screens
  • ROSI
  • ROSI Express
  • ROSI Files
  • Safety Abroad Student Registry
  • Varsity Blues Registration System
  • Web services/APIs

Thank you for your patience as we make these improvements.

This email has been sent from a service account and does not accept replies. Please direct any follow up questions to the Enterprise Service Centre http://www.uoft.me/esc

Sincerely,
Student Information Systems

EASI Retirements: May 2024

Congratulations to Bob Dirstein, who will be retiring on May 31, 2024, after 13 years of dedicated service at U of T. Known for his unwavering dedication to improving U of T’s research systems, particularly the My Research (MR) platform, Bob has been instrumental in strengthening U of T’s position as a global research leader.

Beyond his professional endeavors, Bob’s presence will be greatly missed for the joy, laughter, and camaraderie he has brought to our workplace, including funny anecdotes, tales of cycling, and his journey into the world of square dancing.

As we bid farewell to Bob, we’ll fondly remember his commitment to excellence and his talent for fostering cohesive teams. Please join me in celebrating his remarkable career and wishing him a retirement filled with new adventures and continued happiness.

Swetlana Signarowski
Executive Director, EASI, University of Toronto


Bob Dirstein

Bob Dirstein, Project Manager/Analyst
Joined U of T: September 1995 – October 2001
Joined EASI: November 2017
Last day at EASI and Retirement: May 31, 2024

Describe your background and how you arrived at EASI
I had worked as a Grants Officer in University of Toronto Research Services in the 90s, where among other things I worked with Pamela Harris to build a system to automate the set-up of approximately 300 annual accounts for the SSHRC institutional grant.  (We just retired this system 3 years ago and folded its functionality into My Research Applications & Agreements – MRA.)

I then went to Toronto Metropolitan University (Ryerson) where I was Director of the Office of Research Services for a decade and after that I started my own company. One of my first clients was U of T, where I started working on the administrative research systems.  When the previous project manager, Patrick Boal, retired in 2017 I was asked if I would apply for the position. The rest is history.

What will you remember most about EASI?
My co-workers. They have been a wonderful group of people to work with and get to know. That and the scavenger hunts.

What were some of the key projects that you were most proud to work on?
I’ve really only worked on one massive project, the My Research (MR) system. For those of you not familiar with MR, it’s a system that handles all the administrative aspects of research, with the exception of Intellectual Property Management. It covers research proposal submission and internal review, non-funded agreements e.g., Material Transfer Agreements, Human and Animal Ethics protocol submission and review, research account set-up and expense review, and tracking of financial deliverables.

What will you remember most about U of T?
The friends that I’ve made here.

What do you plan to do in retirement?
Figure out what I want to be when I grow up. My only immediate goal involves cycling. I bought myself a nice carbon fibre road bike a couple of summers ago. Last summer I made a few trips to Niagara Falls with it. This summer’s goal is to make it there and back in the same day, about 350 km. Wish me luck!

 

Generating ROSI and ROSI Express Reports session on April 25 at 11 a.m.

Date: April 17, 2024
To: ROSI Users
From: Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration
Re: Generating ROSI and ROSI Express Reports session on April 25 at 11 a.m. 

 

Dear SIS users,

Please join us for a Connect+Learn session on Generating ROSI and ROSI Express Reports on Thursday, April 25 at 11 a.m.

This session will explore several methods that staff in academic units and Registrars’ Offices can use to generate class lists, reports, and downloads of ROSI information. The initial focus of this session will be on the new class list report which is generated from ROSI Express using Power BI. Attendees will be shown a basic feature set and how to navigate the refreshed interface. Current ROSI screens used for report generation and how to pick up the file output from ROSI Files will also be explained. Similarly, the downloads portion of this session will explain how to access file output and formatting files, including headers, for practical use.

Topics to be addressed:

  • New Class List reports in ROSI Express (Power BI)
  • Sending ROSI reports to ROSI Files (PDF and Excel formats)
  • Download basics (time permitting)

Note: Registration is not required for this event. Please use the Connect+Learn iCal attached in this email to add the event to your calendar. You can also access the meeting via the Teams Meeting Link.

Sincerely,
Student Information Systems

ROSI Database Quarterly Maintenance – Friday, May 24

Date:  April 11, 2024
To:  ROSI Users; Registrar’s Offices
From:  Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration
Re:  ROSI Database Quarterly Maintenance – Friday, May 24

 

Dear ROSI users,

Please note that we will need to take ROSI and most associated student information systems offline on Friday, May 24 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. to perform quarterly maintenance on the database. We will return the systems to service sooner if the work is completed earlier than 9 p.m.

In addition, while ROSI-REPLICA on the Managed Instance (MI) will remain accessible during the maintenance, data will not be synced with ROSI starting at 5 p.m. It will be synced again at 9 p.m. when maintenance is complete. Other batch procedures will be suspended during the outage but will resume after the maintenance is completed.

The following systems will be affected:

  • Accommodated Testing Services (Student and Admin)
  • ACORN
  • Course Information System
  • Degree Explorer (Student and Admin)
  • EASI Institutional File Transfer
  • eMarks
  • Online Administrative Student Information System (OASIS) – including Absence Declaration, and the Timetable Builder and Transfer Equivalencies database administrative screens
  • ROSI
  • ROSI Express
  • ROSI Files
  • Safety Abroad Student Registry
  • Varsity Blues Registration System
  • Web services/APIs

Timetable Builder (Student) will remain available.

A notice will be posted on the ACORN launchpad and social media so that students are aware of the outage.

Thank you for your patience as we make these improvements.

This email has been sent from a service account and does not accept replies. Please direct any follow up questions to the Enterprise Service Centre http://www.uoft.me/esc

Sincerely,
Student Information Systems