Spring Graduate and Professional Education Assembly

The Spring Graduate and Professional Education Assembly will take place Wednesday, April 3 from 1:30-3:30 p.m. in the Mississippi Room of Coffman Union. The assembly will explore questions related to tracking graduate student career outcomes. Facilitated table discussions will explore specific topics in greater depth. For registration and additional information, click here.

Reminder to submit Graduate Degree Plans

If you have master's or certificate students anticipating a May 2013 degree completion, please encourage them to submit their Graduate Degree Plans to Graduate Student Services and Progress (GSSP) no later than March 8. With the current reduction in staff, adhering to this deadline ensures timely and efficient service to graduate students.

ESUP Student IDP sessions begin

The Student work stream has started Interactive Design and Prototyping (IDP) sessions. Previously, sessions were focused on "what, not how." In this second phase of the upgrade, the focus is on the how. Teams will work from now through August examining business processes and developing solutions for bridging any gaps between delivered PeopleSoft functionality and business process requirements. As each module gets deeper into its work, more information will be available on the ESUP Student website.

Opportunities to engage with ESUP - Student Records

The Student Workstream of the Enterprise Systems Upgrade Program (ESUP) is now in the second phase of "Analyze & Design." The key activity of this phase is Interactive Design & Prototyping (IDP). IDP focuses on the University's business requirements and how the new version of PeopleSoft will meet those requirements. When the off-the-shelf version of PeopleSoft does not meet all of the business requirements, a "gap" in functionality is identified. The team will then work together to develop solutions for bridging the gaps.

In order to find the best possible solutions for the gaps it identifies, the Student Records team is establishing regular "town hall" meetings to engage with the students, staff, and faculty involved with the affected business processes. These meetings will be held on the second and fourth Friday of each month. The purpose of the meetings is to:

• Identify and validate stakeholder requirements for business processes 
• Collect input from stakeholders on proposed solutions to identified gaps 
• Provide a forum for the team to share information on project process

Meeting information--including time and location, agenda, and any supporting documents--will be posted to the ESUP Student Records Stakeholder Engagement group (join to receive updates) and the ESUP Student Records webpage.

The first meeting will be Friday, February 22, 8:30-10 a.m. Each campus will have a location to attend in person:

• Crookston: 116 Kiehle Building
• Duluth: 206 Montague Hall
• Morris: 7 Humanities Fine Arts (HFA)
• Rochester: 398 University Square
• Twin Cities: B20 Fraser Hall

These meetings are open to the public, but those who wish to attend should RSVP using this form.

PeopleSoft sign in page changes Feb. 24

The sign-in page for PeopleSoft Campus Solutions/Human Resources (CS/HR) and financial systems will change on February 24, 2013 to match the University of Minnesota's new M Key sign in page. The change will be made during the PeopleSoft weekly maintenance window (Sunday, 6 a.m. to noon), during which the systems are regularly unavailable, so users should not experience additional service disruptions.

To view a before and after example, see PeopleSoft Sign In Page Changes February 2013. IT Service Management (ServiceNow) users can refer to CHG0033310 for more information about the change. Additional questions or issues should be directed to technology help staff.

New Tuition and Fee Management System to launch March 1

The University's new Tuition and Fee Management System (TFMS) will provide a centralized location for all tuition and fee information. The new system will help reduce errors and give collegiate and departmental staff more control over the tuition and fee request process. Users will also be able to track tuition and fees across multiple fiscal years and generate reports using PeopleSoft data.

The initial implementation of the TFMS may require users to enter additional data (e.g., estimated revenue, assessments, public description), potentially increasing the amount of time it takes to enter fees during the first fee cycle. Questions about the TFMS should be directed to SFHelp@umn.edu.

Training begins for Tuition and Fee Management System

Training sessions for the University's new Tuition and Fee Management System (TFMS) will take place February 21, 25, and 28. Collegiate fees will be entered by departmental staff into the new system beginning March 1, 2013. Additional support, including a Google site, will be available shortly. Questions about the TFMS should be directed to SFHelp@umn.edu.

Good luck to Renae Faunce

Renae Faunce has accepted a new position with ASR's Student Records Training and Support Team. Her last day in Graduate Student Services and Progress (GSSP) will be Friday, Feb. 15. Questions regarding master's and certificate degree programs should be directed to Amber Cellotti; questions regarding doctoral programs should be sent to Stacia Madsen. The email accounts gscmte@umn.edu and grad-wfg@umn.edu will continued to be monitored by Amber and Stacia as well.

Assistance for international grading standards

The Graduate Admissions office recently updated its International Grading Standards tools on its Admissions Toolkit page.

Program staff and faculty may also call or email with questions about foreign transcripts, grading systems, degree comparisons, university recognition, etc. Contact information is available on the Toolkit.

New grad ed policy guides available

Two new graduate education policy guides are now available on the Graduate School website. The guides for the Credits for Master's and Doctoral Degrees policy and for the Application of Graduate Credits to Degree Requirements policy were sent to Deans, Associate Deans, Directors of Graduate Studies, Plan Level Coordinators, RAC Members and the College Advisory Group on February 1.

Feedback regarding the guides is welcome. Please contact Karen Starry with questions or comments.

New Preliminary Written Report workflow

Beginning early March, the Preliminary Written Report form will be replaced with an online workflow. This workflow can be initiated by plan level coordinators (e.g., DGS Assistants) and DGSs to record the outcome of the preliminary written exam. A communication will be sent once the new process is in place. Please contact Stacia Madsen with any questions.