As the University of Iowa moves forward with the Board of Regents’ TIER (Transparent Inclusive Efficiency Review) project, the UI TIER leadership team is committed to keeping the campus informed on the latest developments in connection with the initiative.
The team will be sharing updates in Iowa Now on the 1st and 15th of each month. Information on the initiative can also be found on the UI TIER website.
Here are the latest developments on the UI’s academic and business cases:
Ad Astra conducted a webinar on Wednesday, July 22, with faculty and staff from the Office of the Provost and the Office of the Registrar. They discussed the developing recommendations regarding classroom utilization and reviewed the data sets included in the analysis.
Pappas Consulting has been working with Continuing Education to clarify some questions related to Distance Education. Additional material will be provided to them by the end of the first week of August. Pappas continues to be on track to provide a draft copy of its academic report by the first week of September.
FN-01 University Shared Services
- The University Shared Services Staffing (USS) Sub-Committee met July 17. The members of this team are: Josey Bathke, Hans Hoerschelman, Sue Sager, Dani Weber, Trevor Glance, Cheryl Reardon, Audra Haddy, Laura McLeran, and Diana Leventry. Several options on the methodology were discussed. The team will meet again to finalize recommendations.
- The USS Data Sub-Committee is working on a dashboard methodology for reviewing transaction data. This committee will meet in the near future with Dick See from the HR-01 project to discuss combining HR-01 data with the USS Financial Data.
- Cash deposits have now been added as a potential service to be provided by USS.
- Two new team members have been added: Sara Jedlicka, Treasury, and Ben Barreras, Printing and Mailing Services.
HR-01 Revise Distributed HR Delivery Model
The HR-01 redesign team has completed preliminary planning meetings with each of the Senior HR Leaders for the colleges and divisions participating in the TIER project. These meetings provided the opportunity for a good exchange of information about the current HR structure in each organization and how that compares with the desired future state of HR services.
Update on the pilot programs:
- College of Pharmacy – On July 22, 2015, the HR-01 team presented its final recommendations to college leadership.
- Division of Continuing Education – On July 23, 2015, the team’s initial recommendations were discussed with the Senior HR Leader. Further discussions will take place with division leadership over the next several weeks before the recommendations are finalized.
Work has begun with the Division of Vice President of Research and Economic Development, which includes the Oakdale Campus. This will be an integrated implementation of both Finance Shared Services and HR redesigns.
Faculty/staff Email Upgrade Coming Soon
Faculty and staff email accounts will be upgraded to Microsoft Office 365 by the end of the calendar year, giving employees access to many exciting new features—like 50 times larger email quota, 1TB of cloud file storage (compared to the current 25GB home drives), the ability to download the full Office Suite for FREE on up to 5 personal devices, optional access to online Office apps for easy collaboration, and more.
The upgrade to Office 365 is part of the OneIT Communications & Collaboration project, and the migration does not include email accounts provided through UI Health Care. Visit this OneIT page for more information.
Open Forums Set for Aug. 6-7
Three OneIT Listening Posts are scheduled for anyone on campus who has questions about the forthcoming upgrade of faculty/staff email to Office 365, or about any of the OneIT projects.
- Thursday, Aug. 6, 3:30-4:30 p.m., S401 Pappajohn Business Building
- Friday, Aug. 7, 9-10 a.m., 100A (Zopf Auditorium), Pharmacy Building
OneIT Program Office staff will address questions or comments about OneIT activities. The Communications & Collaboration Project Team will answer questions about Office 365.
Faculty Engagement
In response to questions from UI faculty about how they can engage with the OneIT process, the Program Office updated its Faculty Engagement Opportunities guide to help faculty get involved with the OneIT process. This page outlines committees, governing bodies, and campus IT leaders who are identified as resources for OneIT engagement.
OneIT Project Updates
- Storage: Captured savings and efficiencies from Public Health and Iowa Memorial Union home drive migrations. New Large Scale Storage (LSS) service for business (non-research) users is online with initial customers. Developed plan for moving College of Business home drives to Files@Iowa. Planning Research Data Storage Service (RDSS) expansion to support Carver College of Medicine migration and growth.
- IT Governance: Project team discussed and is revising a communication/relationship diagram.
- End User Support: Kickoff meetings held by two sub-project teams (Desktop and End User consulting, and Service Desk Unification). Scheduling project-planning sessions.
- Data Centers & Servers: Relocated 15 rack units of servers and two clusters from Chemistry to ITF. Conducted five macro audits in chemistry and law building server rooms in detail with Facilities Management and various IT staff, capturing over 50 data points for each room. This brings the total of server rooms reviewed to 8 of 36.
- IT Project Management Office: Concluded interviews with 23 stakeholders across campus this week, and in the process of developing themes concerning those interviews. Project team members interviewed ITS and distributed unit IT leaders, as well as select project-management experts on campus to evaluate needs and potential gaps with a project-management service. The group is currently working on a proposed timeline for planning and implementation of a project management office.
If you have questions or comments, please contact the OneIT Program Office.