New digital credential and print diploma vendor: Paradigm

Students with conferral dates of January 1, 2024 and after will receive their digital credential and physical diploma via Paradigm, the University’s new digital and print diploma vendor. The Office of the Registrar (OTR) submitted its first print diploma order with Paradigm this month. The first digital credentialing order will be placed on Monday, March 4. 

OTR began the RFP process for digital and print diploma services in late 2022. The RFP process was initiated due to the University's contract ending with their current digital diploma vendor, Parchment, and the desire to consolidate systemwide diploma services. Prior to the implementation of Paradigm, physical diplomas were produced by University Printing Services and manually distributed by OTR staff. Paradigm’s services will create several efficiencies in this process and provide additional benefits to students, such as providing tracking numbers to students when their diplomas are mailed. 

Students should not expect any disruption in diploma services (either print or digital) as a result of this change. Students with conferral dates prior to January 1, 2024 will continue to access their digital credentials via Parchment. Students have permanent access to their credential via their issuing vendor. Students will also have permanent access to their digital credential regardless of their future affiliation with the University.

As a reminder, digital credentials are not available to students with conferral dates prior to fall 2019. Any questions can be directed to otr@umn.edu. 

Notarization and Apostille process changes

As of February 12, 2024, OTR is no longer offering Apostille services. However, students can still have their documents notarized by OTR and access Apostille services via the MN Secretary of State directly. This service change reflects the standards of other Big10 University partners. All five campuses have adjusted their Notarization and Apostille One Stop pages to reflect these changes. 

Parchment admin platform upgrade

From October 3 to 4, our Parchment admin platform will be upgraded to combine the platforms for transcript and digital diploma services. The student ordering experience will remain the same, but there will be changes to student accounts, particularly for those who have previously created an account. Students who log in through MyU will not need additional account support. Students who previously created accounts will need to create a new one, which will be updated by OTR/One Stop with a student ID for an order to be completed.

Upgraded functionality will include:

• Improved tracking and support for digital diplomas
• Third-party ordering for external requesters/institutions

Registration assistance at your fingertips

OTR Training and Support has step-by-step user guides for enrollment. There are three different PeopleSoft pages you can use to register students for classes. Which enrollment page do you prefer to use?

Our guides are designed to be used with the PeopleSoft page you prefer. Each link contains the user guides for most enrollment processes:

• Quick Enrollment Guides
• Enrollment Request Guides
• Block Enrollment Guides

If you need help with enrolling students contact OTR Training and Support at SRHelp@umn.edu.

Required training during the stay-at-home order

Required, in-person training has been transitioned to video conferencing by the OTR Training and Support team. They will continue to support your training needs in a timely way. You can register as usual on the Training Hub website, and the team will email you with arrangements for the new format. Please contact the team at SRHelp@umn.edu for any concerns about in-person, student records training.

Student Program Plan training

Student Program Plan training will continue to be offered for staff who need training. Instead of being in-person format, we’re transitioning to a remote format to accommodate staff working off-campus.

As always, staff may enroll in training through the Training Hub. OTR Training and Support will then contact enrolled individuals to provide them with instructions for joining the training online.