OneDrive, Teams, SharePoint. Are you overwhelmed by all the options in Microsoft 365 and not sure how they relate to each other or what you should use when? Join EASI’s information management team for this interactive discussion on how these products fit together in the information lifecycle so that you can find the best fit for your needs.
Connect+Learn: Stay on Track with Planner, Tasks and To Do
Microsoft Planner, To Do and Tasks are three integrated tools that can help your hybrid team stay organized, on track and connected. Use these tools to visually organize, prioritize and track different types of teamwork, including projects, initiatives and simple tasks.
Join Connect+Learn for an introductory session on how you can use these tools to manage hybrid teamwork. Topics discussed will include:
- What is the difference between Planner, Tasks and To Do?
- How to use Planner, Tasks and To Do to organize and manage tasks.
- Integrating Tasks and Planner with your departmental team or channel.
- And more…
Resources
CIS 5.17.0 Release
Date: August 5, 2021
To: CIS Users
From: Course Information System (CIS)
Re: CIS 5.17.0 Release
To: CIS Users
From: Course Information System (CIS)
Re: CIS 5.17.0 Release
Dear CIS Users,
We would like to inform you that CIS 5.17.0 is now live, with the notable changes listed below. Please refer to the Release Report for the full details.
- Course Experience Tagging is now live in the Syllabi module (learn more about the Course Experience Tagging process here)
- Improvements to the Exam Details Excel Spreadsheet extract to add course titles and delivery modes
- Various changes to divisional Exam Details submission forms to accommodate the return to campus for Fall 2021
If you have questions or need support, please refer to our help documentation or submit a ticket.
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.
Sincerely,
Course Information System
Connect+Learn: Microsoft Bookings for Office Hours and Appointments
Join Connect+Learn for this session on using Microsoft Bookings to manage office hours and other appointment types. We will leave lots of time for questions. Topics discussed will include:
- What is Microsoft Bookings?
- Configuring your Bookings page to manage office hours and other appointment types.
- Best practices for Bookings pages.
- And more…
Resources
Connect+Learn: Tools for Re-Entry – August 3
Getting ready to return to campus and want to understand the tools that are available to you? This session will provide an overview of Information Technology Services’ Return to Campus Toolkit. Join Connect+Learn to learn more about the range of tools that can assist you and your division in your return to campus.
Topics covered will include:
- Tools available to the University community that can facilitate workspace management.
- Tools available to the University community that can facilitate working on hybrid teams.
- Tips and tricks.
- And more…
Resources
EASI Go Prod AMS Updates – March 1 to July 31, 2021
Date: August 3, 2021
To: Administrative Management System Users
From: Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration
Re: EASI Go Prod AMS Updates – March 1 to July 31, 2021
To: Administrative Management System Users
From: Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration
Re: EASI Go Prod AMS Updates – March 1 to July 31, 2021
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.
The following are major changes from March 1, 2021 to July 31, 2021:
Enterprise Shared Services
New Microsoft 365 Courses and Training Centre from EASI (March 2021)
In March 2021, EASI launched two new Microsoft 365 courses: Introduction to Microsoft 365 @ U of T and High Performance Collaboration. These courses are offered in self-paced and instructor-led formats via SuccessFactors and are targeted towards staff and faculty who wish to build knowledge and skills in Microsoft 365 applications offered by U of T. Divisions who would like to adapt the course materials to their own needs can download the training decks, instructor guides and job aids from the EASI Microsoft Training Centre.
COVID-19 Rapid Screening Pilot (April 29)
U of T has partnered with the Creative Destruction Lab’s Rapid Screening Consortium to implement a ten-week voluntary Rapid Antigen Screening pilot program for select employees with public-facing roles with high in-person interactions on the St. George campus. Eligible employees can schedule rapid screening appointments using the U of T’s UCheck application.
Phase 1 of the pilot has been implemented for the following areas:
- Faculty of Dentistry clinic – Staff, faculty, and students
- Health & Wellness – Staff
- On-site essential workers that interact with the public (e.g., Campus Safety Officers)
Enterprise DocuSign goes Live! (June 2021)
The Enterprise DocuSign service is now live and provides departments with the ability to manage electronic agreements easily with extended benefits to other stages of the agreement process, such as preparing, acting on, and managing agreements. We are delighted that we have the Department of Vice President Research and Innovation piloting DocuSign, as well as the Chief Administrative Office at School of Continuing Studies on board for the initial launch of the Enterprise DocuSign service. You can request access to the Enterprise DocuSign service here: https://uthrprod.service-now.com/sp?id=sc_cat_item&sys_id=556703031ba4f450d57786e9cd4bcbe0
Intune (ongoing)
The Microsoft Cloud Architecture team has been working closely with OISE as part of a pilot to develop a new offering that will allow divisions to access our institutional Intune device management tools. Intune provides IT administrators with the tools to provision, deploy, manage, and secure endpoints – desktops, mobile devices, and applications. The Divisional Intune Access (DITA) pilot extends core Intune services to divisional administrators and allows local IT teams to provision devices using Autopilot, report on devices enrolled and inventory of devices belonging to a division, and remotely manage devices (remove, wipe, retire, unenroll, restart).
Network Drive Migrations to SharePoint Online (ongoing)
EASI Information Management has been working with departments to transition them from legacy shared network drives to SharePoint Online, providing consulting and bulk file migration services. Since March 2021, we have migrated approximately 4TB worth of data. SharePoint provides improved collaboration features and removes the need to use VPN or remote into desktops. For more information, visit our site: https://utoronto.sharepoint.com/sites/SPLearn/SitePages/Migrating-Network-Drives-to-SharePoint-Online.aspx
Human Resources Information System (HRIS)
SuccessFactors: Performance & Goals (April 2021)
On April 19, 2021, the 2020 / 2021 Performance Assessment process opened for Professional & Managerial (PM), Confidential and Research Associate / Sr. Research Associate (RA/SRA) employees. A new, simplified performance form and workflow was launched that allowed managers to carry forward the previous year’s performance rating for some or all of their employees without completing the traditional process. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, this new flexible process was introduced to streamline and reduce the administrative workload on our people leaders and employees.
Kronos Implementations (ongoing)
The HRIS team has implemented Kronos’ workforce timekeeper for many units across the University and it has officially gone live in the following areas:
- Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation (IHPME)
- University of Toronto Scarborough, Trades
- Dalla Lana School of Public Health (DLSPH)
- University of Toronto Mississauga, Management
- University of Toronto Mississauga, Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre
Work Study implementations were also made in the following areas:
- The Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
- Hart House
- Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration (EASI)
Financial Information System (FIS)
Fiori Launchpad Reporting Solution (March 22, 2021)
On March 22, 2021, EASI launched Fiori Launchpad Reporting. This solution is located within the SAP Fiori Launchpad and allows users 24/7 access to run a range of key reports. The solution provides reporting functionality on live AMS data during scheduled AMS downtimes, including holiday shut down, fiscal year end, fiscal month end and pay runs. This initiative was part of the S/4HANA Migration, which is a continuation of the U of T Enterprise Modernization Program.
Fiscal Year End 2021 (May 3, 2021)
The 2021 FI Fiscal Year End event went as planned and the EASI team was able to leverage the benefits of the SAP S/4HANA upgrade to deliver all year end objectives, while reducing overall processing time. All programs ran significantly faster with as much as a 50 per cent decrease in processing time for some programs. This allowed central staff more time to verify fiscal year end results during business hours. With the implementation of the new Fiori Launchpad Reporting platform during the SAP S/4HANA upgrade, FI business users could run common FI reports during the fiscal year end closure period and view fiscal year end results in real time.
Expense Reimbursement Direct Deposit – Web Application Update (June 14, 2021)
EASI along with Financial Services launched a new version of the ERDD-web application on June 14, 2021. The new ERDD-web application leverages SAP’s new interface design principles, which provide an updated user interface with improved usability and accessibility. The modernized and simplified user interface displays all claims on the homepage for easy tracking and provides better search functionality. This application is also part of the overall U of T Enterprise Modernization Program.
EASI Go Prod NGSIS Updates – March 1 to July 31, 2021
Date: August 3, 2021
To: ROSI Users; Registrar’s Offices
From: Student Information Systems
Re: EASI Go Prod NGSIS Updates – March 1 to July 31, 2021
To: ROSI Users; Registrar’s Offices
From: Student Information Systems
Re: EASI Go Prod NGSIS Updates – March 1 to July 31, 2021
Hi everyone,
Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration (EASI) would like to update you on the latest major production releases and updates for the NGSIS program and student systems. From March 1 to July 31, 2021, EASI completed close to 100 releases for a wide range of applications.
The following are major changes during this timeframe:
Curriculum Management / Curriculum Publisher
In January 2021, the University of Toronto Mississauga completed its first governance cycle for courses and programs in Curriculum Management. In the fall of 2020, Student Information Systems and UTM began implementing UTM’s first Calendar in Curriculum Publisher, building the new framework from scratch. The Calendar itself was finalised and published on June 14, 2021. Each Calendar published in Curriculum Publisher this year has first undergone an upgrade from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 and in many cases enhancements made to functions within each Calendar.
Course Information System
The Course Information System streamlines syllabi and exams processes for instructors and administrators. CIS has made the following releases:
- Administrative Access to Historical Data (March 30, 2021)
This new feature allows Department Administrators and Registrar’s Offices to view submitted data from any past session, reducing the need for divisions to manually download and archive CIS data themselves. - Divisional User Management (April 28, 2021)
Registrar’s Offices now have the ability to manage administrative access to CIS for their division on their own. - Refactoring & Performance Improvements (June 23, 2021)
A variety of performance improvements, usability enhancements, and bug fixes were released. Most notably, the load times in a few different areas of the system have been noticeably reduced and the Syllabi and Exam Details Excel extracts have been improved to handle larger datasets.
Absence Declaration Enhancement (July 6, 2021)
EASI released an upgrade to the Absence Declaration tool available in ACORN for students and previously in ROSI for Administrators. The Absence Declaration enhancement allows administrators to track current, past and cancelled absences with more detail, including date, course, session, instructor, students’ notes and administrators’ notes. The administrators’ screens for Absence Declaration are housed on the Online Administrative Student Information Services (OASIS) platform. OASIS is where new ROSI functionality will be built in the future.
Award Explorer
Enrolment Services has released the following functionality as part of the Award Explorer project:
- Online Award Record Form (July 14, 2021)
Enrolment Services has launched a new staff portal that will standardize the entire Award Record Approval process across U of T. New and enhanced workflows will guide users through each step for creating, amending and inactivating awards, replacing the current and difficult-to-navigate PDF and email process. On-screen guidance and form validation will help to reduce errors and additional data collection will help to prepare for functionality that will automatically match students with awards.
- Display FIS Fund Balance (July 30, 2021)
This module provides award administrators with access to view FIS award account balances in near real-time. As well, in the future it will provide tools to create and track award budgets and disbursement activity over the fiscal year. This integration will increase transparency of available award funds and spending with a goal to reduce over and under spending. In addition to improved fiscal reporting, the FIS data will be an essential component for the future auto-matching function.
Course Delivery Modes (July 2021)
The temporary course delivery mode codes introduced for the duration of the pandemic are being supplemented this year to clarify expectations around examinations. There are now two codes each for Synchronous and Asynchronous online delivery with one indicating that an in-person assessment, often the exam, is required. The In Person code stands alone.
Peak Enrolment 2021 (July 30, 2021)
EASI is pleased to announce that this year’s peak enrolment for students in ACORN went smoothly. Similar to previous years, the system successfully handled a large number of logins on the Faculty of Arts & Science’s “priority removal” enrolment day. The first round of enrolment at 9 a.m. had a peak of 1,980 students and the second round at 10 a.m. had close to 2,600. The third round had a peak of over 3,300 students and the fourth had over 3,000. In each round, within a minute or two of logging in approximately 1,500 students had already enrolled in classes. We look forward to next year’s enrolment and will continue to ensure students have an efficient enrolment process.
Student Academic Advising Customer Relationship Management (CRM) (ongoing)
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool will complement the eventual renewal of the student system. In 2020, the NGSIS team selected Salesforce as the vendor of choice to establish a Student Academic Advising CRM Proof of Concept. The team evaluated features within the platform and will continue to validate and finalize functional, administrative, and technical requirements throughout the spring and summer of 2021. The RFP for selecting an implementation vendor has been published and the procurement process is currently underway to select the implementation vendor. The first phase of the program will involve a discovery and planning session intended to finalize scope targeted towards a fall 2022 launch with the Faculty of Arts & Science.
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
Peak Enrolment Successful – Student Information Systems Available
Date: July 30, 2021
To: ROSI Users; Registrar’s Offices
From: Student Information Systems
Re: Peak Enrolment Successful – Student Information Systems Available
To: ROSI Users; Registrar’s Offices
From: Student Information Systems
Re: Peak Enrolment Successful – Student Information Systems Available
Hi everyone,
We’re excited to announce that today’s peak enrolment day for students in ACORN went smoothly and you can now resume activities on our Student Information Systems.
Similar to previous years, the system successfully handled a large number of logins on Faculty of Arts & Science’s “priority removal” enrolment day. The first round of enrolment at 9 a.m. had a peak of 1,980 students and the second round at 10 a.m. had close to 2,600. The third round had a peak of over 3,300 students and the fourth had over 3,000. In each round, within a minute or two of logging in approximately 1,500 students had already enrolled in classes.
We look forward to next year’s enrolment and will continue to ensure students have an efficient enrolment process.
Thanks everyone for your patience and support and have a great long weekend!
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
Reminder: Please Limit Usage in ROSI and Related Systems on Friday, July 30
Date: July 29, 2021
To: ROSI Users; Registrar’s Offices
From: Student Information Systems
Re: Reminder: Please Limit Usage in ROSI and Related Systems on Friday, July 30
To: ROSI Users; Registrar’s Offices
From: Student Information Systems
Re: Reminder: Please Limit Usage in ROSI and Related Systems on Friday, July 30
To all ROSI / ROSI Express / Degree Explorer / Rocket Shuttle Users:
This is a reminder that Friday, July 30 will be a very heavy enrolment day for students in ACORN, and we expect higher than normal system resource usage for most of the morning.
Please avoid running any ROSI or ROSI-related processes that might place any additional burden on the system between 8 am and 1 pm on Friday, July 30.
Processes to avoid include:
- ROSI downloads
- ROSI batch jobs
- ROSI admissions correspondence batch printing
- ROSI Express reports
- Rocket Shuttle queries
- Degree Explorer reports and program assessments
- Student Records Web Services (SRWS) API
- RXP REST API
After 1 pm on Friday you may resume these activities as needed.
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
ROSI and other student systems maintenance Friday, August 20
Date: July 28, 2021
To: ROSI Users
From: Student Information Systems
Re: ROSI and other student systems maintenance Friday, August 20
To: ROSI Users
From: Student Information Systems
Re: ROSI and other student systems maintenance Friday, August 20
Dear ROSI users
We will need to take ROSI and all associated student information systems offline 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., on Friday, August 20 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. The following systems will be affected:
- ACORN
- Degree Explorer (Student and Admin)
- ACORN Grant Application
- ROSI
- ROSI Express
- Course Information System
- Timetable Builder
- Varsity Blues Registration System
- Safety Abroad Student Registry
- eMarks
- Exam photo invigilation
- Elections
- Web services/APIs
A notice will be posted on the ACORN launchpad so that students are aware of the outage. We will send a reminder notice to you closer to the date.
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