EASI

Enterprise Applications and Solutions Integration

News

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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
  • Student Information Systems 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

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AMS System Outage – November 2 from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Date:  October 8, 2024
To:  AMS Users
From: Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration
Re: AMS System Outage – November 2 from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m.

 

Dear AMS Users,

Please note that the systems below will be unavailable on Saturday, November 2 from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This outage is planned to facilitate yearly system and application maintenance and the removal of Question-Based-Authentication for Employee Self-Service (ESS) and Manager Self-Service (MSS). In addition, UTORMFA will be enforced for ESS/MSS, My Research, the Capital Projects Portal, and Expense Reimbursement Direct Deposit. Please see full details in this memo.

Unavailable Systems

  • Academic Administrative Appointments (AAA)
  • AMS SAP GUI
  • Capital Projects Portal
  • Employee Self-Service (ESS)/Manager Self-Service (MSS)
  • EvoSuite Applications (EvoOrder, EvoPlan, EvoNotify)
  • Expense Reimbursement Direct Deposit (ERDD)
  • Fiori Launchpad Reporting
  • Invoice Workflow
  • My Customer Account
  • My Research (MR/Portal)
  • SAP Asset Manager Mobile (sync will not work)
  • uSOURCE

See our System Availability page for a list of ongoing information on system status.

Sincerely,
Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration (EASI)

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Microsoft Outlook for the web: Third-party cookie block causes users to sign in again on Chrome and Edge

Starting late September 2024, Outlook for the web users may need to sign in again due to Google’s third-party cookie blocks in Chrome and Edge, following a migration to MSAL. A banner will prompt users to refresh their session, affecting those without device SSO.

What is happening?

Microsoft Outlook for the web is undergoing an authentication platform migration to a public client authentication model using MSAL (Microsoft Authentication Library). The change to client-side authentication will be subject to Google’s third-party cookie block that may be active in Chrome and Edge.
Google’s third-party cookie block impacts navigation to Microsoft Entra ID to perform silent single sign-on (SSO). To overcome this block, Outlook for the web will present a banner for the user to refresh their session. This will enable navigation to Entra ID to refresh their token. SSO-enabled Windows devices are expected to silently sign in users with SSO without requiring further interaction and will not display the banner. This issue affects Outlook for web users. It will not affect users of new Outlook for Windows, Outlook (classic), Outlook for Mac, Outlook Mobile for iOS and Outlook Mobile for Android.

When this will happen?

Microsoft will begin rolling out late September 2024 and expect to complete by late December 2024.

How this will affect users?

Before this migration: Outlook for the web users were not affected by the third-party cookie block in Chrome and Edge and were able to stay signed in unless they signed out or were signed out due to inactivity.
After Outlook for the web migrates to MSAL, Outlook for the web users without device SSO who are using Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge and who have third-party cookie blocking enabled will start seeing the following if Outlook for the web is not able to silently sign in the user with SSO:
    • Outlook for the web will display a red banner below the ribbon and require users to sign in when a session is open for more than 24 hours.
    • Windowed (deep linked) Mail items and Calendar events will display a blocking dialog requesting users to return to Outlook for the web to sign in when the deep-linked item token expires.
    • Independent of Outlook for the web’s migration to MSAL, Outlook for the web may include embedded experiences such as apps that may stop functioning due to the third-party cookie block. If this happens, the app may provide an app-specific experience to refresh their token. Alternatively, the user may be able to right-click the app to launch the app in a browser or can choose to refresh the entire Outlook for the web session.
Sign-in error message in red banner below the ribbon in Outlook for the web: “You need to sign in. Your session has expired. You may need to enable pop-ups in your browser for this site. Sign in to continue”:

click to zoom
click to zoom

What you need to do to prepare?

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New Outlook to Replace Mail and Calendar Apps on Windows

Starting in summer of 2024, Microsoft will transition the default Windows Mail and Calendar apps to the new Outlook for Windows. Key changes include:

    1. Taskbar, Start Menu, and Desktop Shortcuts: Mail app and Calendar app will be replaced with new Outlook if freshly installed on Windows 10 or 11 devices.
    2. Toggle Relocation: The toggle to switch back to Mail & Calendar will move from the Ribbon to the About Outlook page in Settings.

No Action Required: No preparation needed. For more details, visit the Microsoft Support page.

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Removal of Question-Based-Authentication for ESS/MSS

Date:  October 2, 2024
To:  AMS Listserv
From:  Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration and the Division of People Strategy, Equity & Culture
Re: Removal of Question-Based-Authentication for ESS/MSS

 

Dear Staff Members,

To enhance the user experience and improve security across U of T applications, Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration (EASI) and the Division of People Strategy, Equity & Culture (PSEC) will be removing question-based-authentication from Employee Self-Service (ESS) and Manager Self-Service (MSS) on November 2, 2024, during yearly system and application maintenance.

UTORMFA will also be enforced for ESS/MSS, Employee Reimbursement Direct Deposit, My Research, and the Capital Projects Portal.

After November 2, new staff and faculty members will no longer sign up for question-based-authentication, and will be required to sign up for UTORMFA, U of T’s multi-factor authentication solution.

View of Question-Based-Authentication that will be removed from ESS/MSS on November 2:

 

screenshot of question-based-authentication

If you have any questions about this change, please contact Prashanth Premkumar, EASI Project Manager, at prashanth.premkumar@utoronto.ca

For questions about access to ESS/MSS, please submit a service request in the HR Service Centre.

Sincerely,

Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration and
The Division of People Strategy, Equity & Culture

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U of T 30-day Microsoft Teams Chat Retention Protocol in effect after 5pm October 1, 2024 

Date: October 1, 2024
To: EITU, MTRC, InfoTech, AMS, Broader Channels
From: Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration
Re: U of T 30-day Microsoft Teams Chat Retention Protocol in effect after 5pm October 1, 2024 

 

Dear colleagues,

Following on the Sep 23, 2024 final reminder memo on Teams Chat Retention, the University of Toronto’s implementation of a 30-day retention protocol for all individual Teams Chats, will begin after 5:00pm on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. These are messages that occur outside of a Microsoft Teams Channel.

If you have any urgent concerns regarding your MS Teams Chat, please submit a ticket via https://uoft.me/m365help immediately.

Important: Teams Chats deleted by a retention protocol are permanently removed and cannot be recovered. The new Teams Chat Retention protocol will be applied to all UofT Teams users.

To review more FAQs to help you prepare, visit U of T Teams Chat Retention Protocol website.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

 

Kind regards,

Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration (EASI)

Information Technology Services (ITS)

University of Toronto

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Count and Registration Cleanup

Join us for a Connect+Learn session on Count and Registration Cleanup. The Enrolment Count is performed three times annually by Planning & Budget (P&B) for the internal distribution of funding, enrolment projection, and divisional planning. These statistics are sent to the Ministry of Colleges and Universities to monitor future funding allocations.

This session will guide staff in academic units through the process of interpreting the initial count procedures instructions from P&B. Topics will include:

  • What action to take when you receive the Count Procedures Email Notification from P&B
  • Financial Cancellation (“FINCA”) timelines and procedures
  • ROSI Pre-Count Diagnostics
  • ROSI screens that will be useful for reviewing registration or activity status changes

Staff from Planning & Budget will be presenting this session with the EASI-SIS team.

Resources

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EASI Go Prod NGSIS Updates – July 1 to September 30, 2024 

Date: September 30, 2024   
To: ROSI Users; ROSI Express Users
From: Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration 
Re: EASI Go Prod NGSIS Updates – July 1 to September 30, 2024 

 

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. The following are major changes from July 1 to September 30, 2024:

Accommodated Testing Services (ATS)

Accommodated Testing Services coordinates on-campus assessment accommodations for students with disabilities who are enrolled in in-class courses offered on the St. George Campus. ATS has released the following enhancements:

  • Introduced instructor emailing functionality: ATS staff can now manage course contacts and send various instructor notification emails. This new system replaces the older one, offering a modern user interface and reducing the number of systems needed for business processes.

Course Information System (CIS)

The Course Information System streamlines syllabi and exams processes for instructors and administrators. The following improvements have been introduced: 

  • Various general improvements and many specific enhancements were made for the Faculty of Arts & Science (FAS), the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering (FASE), and the Faculty of Music.
  • Department Administrators at FAS, UTSC, and FASE can now create Change Requests in the Syllabus Builder module. Change Requests allow administrative staff to send questions to their instructors and request modifications to submissions, directly within CIS.

Curriculum Publisher (CP)

The Curriculum Publisher is an online application that allows divisions and departments to publish course and program offerings. Between July 1 and September 30, divisional calendars were published for the following areas: John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design; the Faculty of Medicine’s MD Program; and the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy.

eMarks

eMarks enables the online submission of course grades and amended grades. It also allows instructors and departments to track any changes made to a student’s grade. The following improvements have been introduced:

  • Introduced a streamlined authentication process.
  • Fixed an issue where the hidden course functionality would become unresponsive when attempting to hide or unhide courses.

Student Information Systems (SIS) Core Systems

The administrative core systems, including ROSI, ROSI Express, and OASIS, completed the following major releases:

  • Completed improvements for the University of Toronto Advanced Planning for Students (UTAPS) 2024-25 payment journal and reconciliation process.
  • Completed the Ontario Education Number (OEN) process for the upcoming Summer, Fall, and Winter sessions.
  • Completed an enhancement to support scholarship deferrals in ACORN.
  • Completed database performance improvements for the ROSI to SAP data feeds.

The student core systems, including ACORN and Degree Explorer, completed the following major releases:

  • Enhanced fee deferral functionality to allow scholarship recipients to defer their fees directly in ACORN.
  • Made updates to the Student Equity Census in ACORN.
  • Completed technical improvements and monitoring to support course enrolment in ACORN.
  • Enhanced the program assessment functionality in Degree Explorer.
  • Onboarded the Computer Science graduate department and added a new Department Admin role in Degree Explorer.

Timetable Builder (TTB)

The Timetable Builder application allows students to easily create and optimize their course schedules with a convenient, user-friendly and accessible user experience. Between July 1 and September 30 the following improvements were introduced:

  • Scheduling information for the Faculty of Information was added to the application, and administrative users were added to the administrative interface in the Online Administrative Student Information System (OASIS).
  • Fixed an issue where using the breadth/distribution requirements filter did not return results with partial wildcard.
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EASI Go Prod AMS & Enterprise Shared Services Updates – June 1 to September 30, 2024

Date: September 30, 2024   
To:  AMS and Enterprise Shared Services Users
From:  Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration 
Re:  EASI Go Prod AMS & Enterprise Shared Services Updates – June 1 to September 30, 2024

 

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 June 1 to September 30, 2024:

Administrative Management Systems

SAP GUI Upgrade

U of T has been transitioning to the new version of SAP GUI as the current version is no longer supported. Digital Workplace clients have received the upgrade from SAP GUI 7.6 (Patch 6) to version 8.00 (Patch 4), and IT administrators have been facilitating the upgrade for divisions. To date, more than 90 per cent of users have logged in to SAP GUI 8.00. The new version includes performance improvements, and enhanced stability and security, and represents minimal change to business processes. Completion for this upgrade is targeted for October 2024.

Human Resources Information System

TA Administrative Management System Analysis and Recommendations (June)

Beginning in June, EASI kicked off a series of consultations to identify and document the various administrative processes and tools used to manage the “recruitment-to-hire” of Teaching Assistants (TAs). These wide-ranging sessions with business process owners and IT leaders from Single Department Faculties (SDFs), Multi-Department Faculties, and campuses captured current manual processes, custom applications, and areas of improvement. Recommendations and a business case describing a short- and long-term vision for a pan-University TA Administrative Management solution will be presented this fall.

Retiree Benefits Administration and UPP Transition (August)

Working closely with the Division of People Strategy, Equity & Culture (PSEC) and University Pension Plan (UPP) teams, a number of changes have been implemented to the Human Resources Information System (HRIS), supporting the transition of services to UPP and the administration of retiree benefits. HR partners and business officers should reference recent PSEC memos for detailed changes.

Work Study Top-up Enhancement (September 1)

In conjunction with PSEC, on September 1 the EASI/HRIS team implemented a streamlined process for Work Study top-ups. The total hourly rate for Work Study can now be entered directly in the Time Data screen when processing pay in HRIS. The Work Study Program Hiring and Payment Procedure has been updated to reflect the enhancement and is available on the HRIS SharePoint site.

Research Information System

UTRAC Inter-Institutional Agreements Template Generator (August)

The My Research team recently launched a new feature in UTRAC – the University of Toronto Research Accounts tool – that allows the Division of the Vice-President, Research & Innovation (VPRI) research officers to generate a fully editable draft inter-institutional agreement (IIA) for sub-award transfers using an existing template with auto-filled data from the grant record. This feature saves staff considerable time and effort on IIA creation and data entry, and ensures consistency of legal terms on these important institutional agreements.

Enterprise Shared Services

L4 SharePoint Site Template (June 7)

On June 7, the L4 SharePoint site template was made available for use across U of T. This enables users to upload L3 and L4 content on SharePoint, with some exceptions. To accommodate sensitive data, this template has restrictions to ensure data is secured. Read the full announcement.

LISTSERV Server OS Upgrade (August 19)

On August 19, U of T’s LISTSERV server successfully underwent a scheduled upgrade to migrate to a supported operating system, as the previous operating system had reached its end of life and was no longer supported. LISTSERV administrative functions remained unchanged and there was no change to the end-user experience.

30-day Microsoft Teams Chat Retention Protocol (September 30)

Effective September 30, all individual Teams chats will be subject to a 30-day retention period. Individual Teams chats will be permanently deleted after 30 days. This Retention Protocol is implemented to enhance records management and ensure data security. Three rounds of communications have been circulated through various channels across the three campuses to reach to all Teams users. Additionally, three information sessions have been conducted to help users navigate this change. Learn more about the 30-day Microsoft Teams Chat Retention Protocol and recommendations to prepare for this change.