uAchieve Cloud update

After a successful functional walkthrough with the vendor, the uAchieve Cloud Migration project has moved forward into user acceptance testing. Project go-live is targeted for mid-June, selected to align with a pre-planned pause in orientation. More detailed information about go-live activities and timing will be shared at the May RAC meeting.

May RAC meeting

The Registrar’s Advisory Committee (RAC) will meet virtually over Zoom on Monday, May 11 at 9:30 a.m. The agenda will be sent to the RAC google group in advance of the meeting.

Quarterly RAC meeting Dec. 1

The quarterly Registrar’s Advisory Committee (RAC) meeting will be at 9 a.m. on Monday, December 1 over Zoom. Agenda items include end-of-term reminders, updates on the “One Big Beautiful Bill” act, and FERPA guidance on communicating with students via email. If you would like to attend, join the RAC Google Group to have the meeting added to your calendar. For more details about RAC and the quarterly meetings, see the RAC information page.

May virtual RAC meeting

ASR will be holding a virtual RAC meeting 9-10 a.m. (CDT) Monday, May 12. Details and the agenda will be shared with the RAC google group in advance. 

February RAC meeting

Academic Support Resources will distribute written updates for February’s Registrar’s Advisory Committee (RAC) meeting and host drop-in, virtual office hours on Thursday, February 17, from 1:30 to 2:00 p.m. via Zoom. Please note that you do not need to schedule time to attend the virtual office hours. This will be a community session for those who attend and no preparation is needed other than your questions.

In addition, content will not be prepared by ASR representatives. It is intended as a place for you to come and ask any questions regarding the content provided in the written update. An email with the meeting information, updates, and Zoom link will be sent to all members of the RAC Google Group. This will also be added to the RAC’s Google calendar for further reference. Past RAC meeting minutes are available.

ESUP - Student Systems Town Hall

Attend a town hall meeting to learn how the Enterprise Systems Upgrade Program (ESUP) will change the way students, faculty, and staff interact with the University. The changes discussed will be implemented in February, 2015 - less than a year away!

This meeting will focus on the student system--a key component of this multi-year effort to upgrade the University's systems and reexamine business processes. It covers admissions, financial aid, student finance, student records, and more. You will hear leaders of our student system talk about the changes and improvements that will happen as result of ESUP. We will also hear from a representative of the new myU portal effort on their progress. There will be time to ask questions or voice concerns about the student systems upgrade effort.


ESUP - Student Systems Town Hall
Thursday, May 15
2-3:30 p.m.

Locations:
4 Hill Hall (Crookston)
520 DAdB (Duluth)
7 HFA (Morris)
397 USq
114 STSS (Twin Cities, East bank)
B35 Ruttan (Twin Cities, St. Paul)
Online option for those on other campuses (R.S.V.P to be sent details).

Please R.S.V.P. so the team can ensure adequate accommodations.

Sneak peek: new self-service centers in PeopleSoft 9.0

Two "sneak peek" videos on the new Faculty Center and Advisor Center are now available. The videos provide an overview on how these centers will benefit users. The ESUP Student Training Team will be developing more in-depth tutorials and documentation of this new functionality before ESUP goes live.

ESUP update

Several project teams have spent the past eight months in Interactive Design & Prototyping (IDP) sessions looking at the 8.9 functionality versus the 9.0 and reviewing all modifications that have been made up to this point. Currently, 60% of modifications have been removed. The teams have also written over 500 functional designs and are currently working on business process documentation to facilitate training opportunities.

The change management and communication team will work to ensure stakeholders know what the changes are and how they are impacted by them. Next steps include preparing test scripts, performing security analysis, starting system training, and completing plans for training, change management, and communication.

Staff should continue attending Town Halls and RAC meetings and reading the weekly update emails. Additionally, tech staff should connect with IDEAA. IDEAA is a community of practice around Integrating Data, Enterprise Architecture, and Applications. It is how the University developer community can discuss ESUP and data integration. The main goal is to get information about changes to data integration to those that create applications and reports.

If you know of somebody in your unit who fits that description, please make sure they are aware of the opportunity to participate in this community of practice. More information is available at http://z.umn.edu/ideaa.

Student Degree Progress update

The fall 2009 cohort graduation rates will be finalized in the next few weeks, and colleges have been asked to follow up with students to ensure timely degree progress. To reach the University's goal of a 60% graduation rate, a total of 3,229 degrees must be posted. Currently, 96 are still needed. Colleges are reminded that it is appropriate to backdate a degree to the last term the student was enrolled in degree-applicable courses.

Student data for the second year through sixth year cohorts will also be sent to colleges. This information will help the University become more proactive regarding student degree progress.

Minnesota Transfer Curriculum clarification

There have recently been questions regarding the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum (MnTC). The MnTC is the result of a collaborative effort by all two- and four-year colleges and universities in Minnesota to help students transfer their work in lower-division general education. The University has clarified the policy to waive Liberal Education (LE) requirements by indicating that previous Minnesota community college AA degrees and the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum (MnTC) must be completed prior to the first term of enrollment at the University of Minnesota. Many community colleges require students to request the MnTC designation on their transcript, but if there is no date of MnTC achievement, it is difficult to understand how and when a student achieved the MnTC.
Some considerations Admissions uses in determining when to post the LE waiver flag for a MnTC include the following:

-If it is clear on the community college transcript that no University of Minnesota courses were transferred back, we will add the MnTC.

-If it is clear that the AA degree was achieved prior to a student's first term of enrollment at the University of Minnesota, a student's LEs will be waived. (The AA degree is dated on a community college transcript.)

-If courses from the University of Minnesota were transferred to the community college, the MnTC will not be added.

Students who completed the MnTC after enrolling at the University of Minnesota may be eligible to have the policy waived, but they must fill out an Academic Policy Petition.

Update from Bob McMaster

Bob McMaster, Vice Provost & Dean of Undergraduate Education, recently provided an undergraduate education update to the Registrar's Advisory Committee (RAC). Highlights from his presentation included the following:

- Bob is working with all undergraduate education units on a strategic plan for undergraduate education, which will be incorporated into the overall Undergraduate Strategic Plan for the entire university.

- A team is being organized to work on researching several critical questions that will be addressed during the next 5-10 years to continue improvements in undergraduate education (e.g., How do we continue to close the retention gap on our campus?).

- The PeopleSoft Upgrade student group is on track for the launch in October 2014.

- The remodel to Northrop is slated to be completed by 2014. The grand re-opening is scheduled for April 4, 2014.

- The University is up for reaccreditation in 2015-16. Between now and then, there are a series of initiatives underway that will help us to prepare.

- Graduation and retention rates remain a high priority. The graduation rates have improved significantly over the last decade, but have remained fairly steady at 58% over the past two years, so it will be important to discover what factors, including the structure of the University curriculum, may be slowing time to graduation.

- Another high-priority initiative is the President's Emerging Scholars Program (PES). Previously named Access to Success, PES now enrolls nearly 500 students each fall, who receive scholarship aid and enhanced support from this program. PES admits students who, if using only the primary, formal metrics (e.g., GPA, ACT score), wouldn't be admitted to the University. When secondary factors are also considered, students are admitted based on the primary factors, and also considering secondary factors such as community involvement and leadership skills.

- Enrollment numbers continue to increase, and this year there are more undergraduates on campus than ever before (over 31,000), despite the downward slope of graduating high school students. Demographics for the undergraduate population show as 52% from the Twin Cities.

ESUP: What's Changing?

Since the Enterprise Systems Upgrade Program (ESUP) kicked off in October 2012, people have wanted to know what is going to change when the new system goes live. Users of the University's enterprise student system expect the look and feel of the system to change, but they also know that this is the first time that there has been a comprehensive examination of the related business processes since 1999. The question on everyone's mind is: what will change as a result of that examination and how?

Until the Interactive Design and Prototyping (IDP) activity for business processes was complete and the team recommendations made their way through ESUP governance, it was difficult to discuss the changes that might be happening. With the Student work stream nearing the end of the IDP phase, a picture of the new system and its associated processes is becoming more clear.

The Student work stream has done a tremendous job of following the three principles of their system's upgrade:

1. Utilize delivered "Self-Service" functionality for students, faculty, and staff.


2. Wherever possible, use delivered PeopleSoft functionality without customization or implement the industry-standard, best-practice approach.


3. Improve or retain U of M business process best-practice solutions not delivered in PeopleSoft.

The work of IDP was centered on an entire business process and as the recommendations for those business processes are approved through ESUP governance, they are being made available on the ESUP What's Changing? website. On that page, you will see a list of approved changes that are now being communicated to the University community. A short description of the recommendation for the process is on the page, as well as a link to more detailed information.

This will not be the only venue for communicating these changes. More opportunities, including training, will be available as we near go-live in fall 2014. If you have questions or feedback on the information available on the page, please email esup@umn.edu.

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.

New meeting structure for RAC

The structure for the monthly meeting of the Registrar's Advisory Committee (RAC) will change starting in January in order to increase information sharing and participation in the Enterprise Systems Upgrade Program (ESUP). There will be two shorter sessions for topics specific to undergraduate education and post-baccalaureate education with a longer combined session that will cover topics common to both audiences, including ESUP.

The new structure will follow the schedule below:

9:30-10:00 undergraduate education topics
10:00-11:30 topics common to undergraduate and post-baccalaureate education (including ESUP)
11:30-noon post-baccalaureate education topics

In months where the common session does not take 90 minutes, the post-baccalaureate session will start and end earlier. This will be noted in the agenda circulated in advance of the meeting.

If you have any questions about RAC meetings, please contact Kate Sophia.

New feedback channel for Portal upgrade

As part of the Enterprise Systems Upgrade Project, the University of Minnesota will implement a new web portal. In order to maintain open communication with all stakeholders throughout the process, a feedback channel has been created to ensure that the needs of all staff, faculty, and students are considered. If you have comments, questions, or concerns about the new web portal, please submit it using the online form available at z.umn.edu/portalfeedback.

New process for submitting CC, DGS, PLC updates

A new online form updating changes to Plan Level Coordinator (PLCs), College Coordinator (CC), and Director of Graduate Study (DGS) positions is currently being created and should be available soon. Along with this form, a list of who is currently serving in these roles will also be provided. The location of these forms will be announced once they are released.

Committee workflow user guide

A committee workflow user guide has been created to assist all students, faculty, and staff in better understanding the committee update and request form and how it should be completed. The user guide shows a student view of the committee workflow, highlighting specific areas that may require more attention or instruction from the college or graduate program. To view a PDF of the user guide, click here.

To submit feedback on the workflow user guide, contact Heather McLaughlin.

July RAC canceled

July's Registrar's Advisory Committee (RAC) meeting has been canceled. A majority of attendees preferred to defer any pending items until the August 6 meeting. Please read the PBED Digest (last issue sent June 15) or check The Ledger for updates in the interim.

Policy committee wraps up

The Graduate School Policy Review Committee is wrapping up its current work. The committee will draft a memo to Provost Karen Hanson outlining the committee's progress and remaining policy issues. The policies still in progress are grading and transcripts and course numbering. The committee is not proposing significant changes to either policy. Some of the changes to both policies include removing references to the Graduate School and graduate faculty and clarifying policy portions that apply only to undergraduates. As with other policies, the committee recommends adding several FAQs for clarity. The revised policies will be made available for review and comment.

For more information about the committee and where each policy stands in the approval process, click here.

New process supervisor for registration exceptions

Bettie Walker, a One Stop counselor in One Stop Student Services, has been named the new process supervisor for registration exceptions for graduate students. She may be reached by email or by phone at 612-626-5433.

The position was previously held by Dan Dalaney.