Using the new final grade entry process

As the semester continues after the launch of the Upgrade, many upgraded systems will be used for the first time. For example, in the next few weeks faculty, instructors, and their proxies will use the new final grading process. As part of the Upgrade, the University’s custom developed grade entry applications were retired and are no longer available. Faculty, instructors, and their proxies will now enter grades by utilizing the MyU: Teaching tab. Here are some highlights of the change and some helpful tips for grade entry.

Please note: the information below is intended to complement what may have been sent from colleges or departments to their teaching faculty, including processes specific to their unit.

Verify access to grade rosters

Faculty, instructors, and their proxies should verify that they have access to all of their assigned grade rosters before the last day of instruction. To do this, access your Faculty Center in the MyU: Teaching tab and view the Grade Rosters for the classes you teach. When grade rosters are created (generally about twelve days before the last day of the term), those with access will see an icon that looks like a person inside a square next to the class in Faculty Center. Click that icon to view the roster. If you do not see the grade rosters you expect, please contact your department scheduler.


Class rosters and grade entry for courses owned by the School of Public Health are available only through the School of Public Health grading system. Faculty within the Medical School and the Law School typically do not access their grade rosters electronically and should contact their administrative support if they have questions.

Uploading grades directly from Moodle

Final grades entered in Moodle can be transferred directly into the grade roster within the Faculty Center. This guide to uploading gradebooks from Moodle to the final grade roster in PeopleSoft outlines the process. Those using this option should make sure that the final grade roster has been created prior to uploading from Moodle. It is important to note that once the grades have been transferred, they still must be reviewed and approved in Faculty Center.

New “NR” grade replacing grades that are left blank

Once the grading deadline has passed, a new grading mark, NR (Not Reported), will be given to students who are not assigned a grade by their instructor. The NR will be treated like a blank grade was in the previous system (e.g., zero grade points, zero credits).

Additional resources available on One Stop Faculty website

How-to guides on entering grades, making changes to grades, and more are available in the Grades section of the One Stop Faculty website. Grading due dates, frequently asked questions, and grading and transcript policies are also available.

Tech tips

• A good first step for those encountering difficulties is to clear their browser’s cache.
• Browser type and version can affect grade entry. Those having trouble should try updating their browser or using another one. 
• Grade entry will work on mobile browsers (e.g., phones, tablets). Some pages have been designed to respond to multiple screen sizes, and some have not. Non-responsive pages should still function, but may be less aesthetically pleasing and could present anomalies. 

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.

ESUP Student Work Stream: Collaboration Key to Successful Decision Making

Members of the Student work stream Functional Steering Committees (FSC) faced a daunting task during the nine months they spent in Interactive Design and Prototyping: the first comprehensive examination and restructuring of PeopleSoft-related business processes since 1998. This included reviewing 93 business processes and nearly 900 modifications to the existing system. The goal of this effort was to increase efficiency and retire as many modifications as possible to allow for using delivered functionality. The challenge was accomplishing this while maintaining a high level of service. Questions such as, "Is there a better way?" and "What modifications can we do away with?" were routinely asked and the FSC members were charged with finding the answers and making decisions.

Read more about how they did it on the ESUP blog.

Service outage Wednesday, Jan. 29

Some PeopleSoft applications (HR, Student, and Finance) may experience intermittent disruption for approximately two hours on Wednesday, January 29 beginning at 5 p.m. During this time, the database will be preparing a copy of the data from the PeopleSoft applications to use during testing phases for the Enterprise Systems Upgrade Program (ESUP).

ESUP has worked closely with IT's service owners to minimize disruption across the University. Updated information will be posted to the University's system status page during the two-hour outage.

The list of affected applications include:

- Financial aid status (Truth in Lending Act process)
- Electronic Promissory Note (old version for ULoans and Perkins)
- Electronic Promissory Note (new version for HPL, PCL, NFL, NL)
- eFAAN (Financial aid awards)
- Exit interview
- Student account
- Official transcript
- View grades/Unofficial transcript

What is Interactive Design and Prototyping (IDP), and why do we need to do it?

The core activity of the next phase (starting in February) of the Enterprise Systems Upgrade Program (ESUP) is called Interactive Design and Prototyping (IDP). To learn what IDP is and why we need to do it as part of our upgrade process, see the recent post on the ESUP blog. The ESUP blog will serve as a primary source for information on ESUP, so keep checking back for the most up-to-date information.

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 graduate education catalog

The new graduate education catalog is now available online. The PDF version of this catalog, with links to University policies and campus resources, will be available soon.

This is the first graduate education catalog to be generated from the Program and Curriculum Approval System (PCAS), as well as the first to include all graduate programs of the University. Users may now search for the most current program information using the search feature of the online catalog, including a search by keyword.

Current and archived catalogs are available as PDFs on the University catalog website. Catalogs for all campuses can also be found online.

PeopleSoft, related applications unavailable for much of October 13 & 14

Beginning Saturday, October 13, the Office of Information Technology will upgrade the critical software (PeopleTools) that supports PeopleSoft Campus Solutions and Financials. To accommodate this upgrade, all PeopleSoft systems (e.g., Financials, HR, and Student Administration) and related applications (including One Stop self service), will be unavailable from 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 13 until 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 14. Batch jobs will not run during the upgrade. Full functionality will be restored by 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 14.

This upgrade will allow the University to continue to receive technical support from Oracle, and is a critical building block for the Enterprise System Upgrade Project. More information is available on the PeopleTools Upgrade page.

What is an implementation partner?

In June 2012, in response to an RFP, three consulting firms presented their proposals to serve as the implementation partner for the enterprise system upgrade. Of the three firms, CedarCrestone (CCI) was selected and a contract was approved by the Board of Regents in July. But what is an "implementation partner" and why is one needed?

Some software installations are so significant and/or complex that they are undertaken relatively infrequently (e.g., the upgrade of the University's enterprise system). Because of this, institutions generally do not have dedicated upgrade experts on staff. So when it comes to undertaking a major upgrade, those with expertise in performing the installation are brought in. This is called an implementation partner. The partner is selected based on their experience in implementing similar installations of the software at similar institutions.

CCI is the University's implementation partner for the Enterprise Systems Upgrade Project. They have extensive experience with higher education implementations of PeopleSoft and with business process redesign, including splitting the Human Resources and Student database into two separate databases--a task to be accomplished during this upgrade.

University project staff will work alongside CCI staff allowing them to build the University's internal knowledge and expertise. Since a dedicated and focused team is required for a long-term project of this scale, University employees will move to the upgrade for the duration of the project, and many will be "backfilled" in their home departments or units so that the day-to-day work of the University continues. Since employees who work on the project will return to their home appointments, units or departments who hire backfill employees must have a clear plan to transition backfill employees at the end of the project.

Though the number will vary over the span of the project, the combined team will include between 200 and 300 people, the majority being University employees. With CCI contributing extensive PeopleSoft implementation experience and University staff contributing internal knowledge and expertise, the strengths of both will be leveraged to ensure the success of the project.

PLC and CC updates

As part of the ongoing graduate education transition, Plan Level Coordinator (PLC) and College Coordinator (CC) roles must reflect current information, as it ensures the critical success of workflow processes. Forms without correct information will be routed to the wrong person for approval, delaying a timely decision for the student. Please be sure to update any PLC or CC changes by emailing Heather McLaughlin or Brad Bostrom.

Speedy registration statistics

Registration statistics were exceptionally fast, despite a few bumps with system performance. More than 99 percent of registration transactions were completed in less than three seconds. During high volume days, more than 38,000 transactions were completed. The quick performance is due, in part, to the recent Exadata upgrade.

Changes to TXT-U

TXT-U is the University's emergency notification text messaging system to provide students, faculty, and staff with critical campus safety information. To increase its effectiveness and reach, in mid-to-late May 2012, current students, staff, and faculty with an active Internet ID and University of Minnesota email address will be automatically enrolled in the new TXT-U system. Those with cell phone numbers included in their University personal information will receive emergency text messages.Those wishing to not use this system will be able to opt out (instructions will be available once the new system is in place). More information can be found on the TXT-U web page.

Committee Assignment Workflow

Based on a careful review of the Appointments to Graduate Examination Committees policy and feedback received at meetings of the Registrar's Advisory Committee, the process map for the assignment of committee [PDF] has been revised and automation work is underway. Once this process automation is complete, both assignment of adviser and assignment of committee will be released for use simultaneously. This automation will affect two forms currently in use: the Degree Program form and the "Thesis Project/Proposal" form.

The "Degree Program" form will be revised to exclude adviser and committee assignment information. This form will be available and should be used exclusively once the automated processes are live. The "Thesis Project/Proposal" form will be retired and will no longer need to be submitted to the Graduate School.

Prepare now for entering grades later

Grades for most full semester and second 7-week session University courses on the Twin Cities campus should be entered online by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, May 16.

Instructors should verify that they have access to all of their assigned grade rosters before the last day of instruction. If an instructor is able to view a class list for a course using the "My Classes" report in UM Reports, he or she will have access to the grade rosters for that course. See Grade Reporting for more information about how and when to enter grades.

Moodle Upgrade Scheduled for May 13

An upgrade to Moodle is scheduled for Sunday, May 13 during the regular 6 a.m.-noon maintenance window. Moodle will be unavailable for 2-4 hours during that time. Because this is an "in-place" upgrade, no action is required from instructors and other course site owners.

This upgrade will add new features such as a mobile-friendly theme and ensure that critical fixes and security patches to Moodle will continue to be available to the University.

Shibboleth implementation for Pillar applications on March 25

On Sunday, March 25, all web applications under the Pillar infrastructure (e.g., Web Registration, Student Account, FA Status, Parent/Guest) will transition to the new Shibboleth login/sign-out protocol from the Central Authentication Hub (CAH). There is no extended downtime that accompanies this work.There are two changes users will notice:

• A new look and feel to authentication pages. Many users will have already seen this change in other applications, so the look will be familiar.


• When users "sign-out" of a Pillar application, they will be removed from Pillar, but not the larger the U authentication. For maximum security, the browser should always be closed after signing out.
  
  When authentication services were provided by the CAH, when a user clicked on the "Sign-out" button, all of the user's security credentials would be cleared and the user would be removed completely from University services. Under the new Shibboleth protocol, this is no longer an option. Security is by "Service provider". Pillar is one of a number of service providers. For example, if a student signs out of Registration and in the same browser window navigates to Gmail, they would not need to login again. Gmail is a different service provider.

Updating Course Guide

The ideal time to update Course Guide information for May/summer session and fall 2012 is by March 29. This allows students to view the information available as they are making registration decisions.

It only takes a few minutes to update the Course Guide. Instructors can log in from the faculty Course Guide web page, enter a course description, upload a recent syllabus, or link to an existing public website. In a recent survey of University of Minnesota undergraduate and graduate students, 89% indicated that they have used the Course Guide to choose their courses and/or plan for registration.

Dual-career registration available to students starting summer 2012

After a successful pilot program within Academic Health Center units, Academic Support Resources will now offer students more registration flexibility while pursuing multiple degrees at different career levels and the option of registering as a non-degree seeking student for undergraduate or graduate courses while pursuing graduate or professional degrees.

Students seeking degrees at different career levels
Starting summer 2012, degree-seeking students pursuing degrees at different career levels will be able to register for classes in both careers for the same term. Career levels included in this dual career registration option are graduate and professional (Veterinary Medicine, Dental School, Medical School, and Pharmacy). Note: The Law School will not participate in this registration option. Students in the Law School must register for only one career level per term if they are dual degree-seeking students.

Key points to this option:

• While students at the undergraduate level can seek multiple degrees at the same time, they cannot be degree-seeking at the undergraduate and graduate or professional careers simultaneously.


• Students in masters, PhD, and post-baccalaureate certificate programs are not allowed to take classes as a degree-seeking and non-degree graduate level student during the same term.


• If a degree program requires continuous enrollment (e.g., Grad 999 for masters and PhD students), students will need to follow that requirement even when they were not planning to otherwise register in that career.

Students seeking degrees and taking classes as a non-degree student
Also starting summer 2012, degree-seeking students in Graduate Education, School of Veterinary Medicine, School of Dentistry, Medical School, and the College of Pharmacy may register as a non-degree student for undergraduate or graduate level classes. Note: You cannot be a degree-seeking student and a non-degree student at the same career level.


More information

• The dual-career registration page on the One Stop website has information on eligibility and restrictions; registration procedures tuition, fees, billing, payment, and financial aid; and transcripts.


• Chart illustrating allowable registration by career visually represents which careers are eligible for dual-career registration.

Questions?
Students should contact One Stop Student Services with any questions about dual-career registration. Staff may contact Emily Holt in the Office of the Registrar with questions they may have.

University catalog will transition to ASR

In the near future, ASR will assume responsibility for the maintenance and production of the University catalog--work previously done by University Relations--for all campuses (undergraduate and graduate). Tasks will include review and editing of course and curriculum information in central systems (i.e., ECAS and PCAS) and the creation of a bi-yearly printable version of the catalog. Questions about this transition can be directed to Tina Falkner or Ingrid Nuttall.

Reminder on graduate course approvals in ECAS

Several changes in the review, routing, and approval of 8xxx-level courses in ECAS have been made over the past two years as a result of the graduate education transition.

Effective July 2010, responsibility for reviewing and approving 8xxx-level courses (and select 5xxx-level courses in a handful of interdisciplinary graduate programs) was relocated to the colleges. The Graduate School was removed from the review and approval process for these courses.

Due to requirements of the Electronic Course Authorization System (ECAS), the Graduate School continued to pass courses through ECAS, but without review, following notification of college approval. Exempt from this change were the pre-thesis credit (8666), thesis credit (8777 and 8888), and "full-time equivalent" (8333 and 8444) registrations, which were to remain unchanged until decisions could be made about the future of these central graduate registrations.

Effective June 2011, college/dean-level approval for 8xxx-level courses (and some 5xxx-level courses in interdisciplinary graduate programs) was added to ECAS for colleges that had not previously been in the ECAS approval queue. As a result, ECAS now routes all 8xxx-level courses for college/dean-level approval before routing them to the Graduate School queue. Graduate School "approval" is still required by the ECAS system, and the Graduate School continues to submit the courses, without review, when the courses appear in its queue. The central graduate registrations remain exempt from modification, with one exception: The policy on credit requirements for master's and doctoral degrees allows programs to modify eligibility requirements for doctoral thesis credits (8888), with collegiate approval.

Programs and colleges are asked not to submit changes in the remaining central graduate registrations (courses numbered 8333, 8444, 8666, and 8777), pending decisions about these courses later this year.

If you have questions about this process, please contact the student records training & support team at srhelp@umn.edu or 612-625-2803.