September 2011 Archives

By the end of next summer, WebVista will be decommissioned and Moodle will be the University of Minnesota's sole Course Management System (CMS). In preparation for this transition, the University is engaging in a major upgrade from Moodle 1.9 to 2.0.

We have put together a CLA CMS transition plan that will provide an opportunity to explore and develop courses in Moodle 2.0 and complete the transition of every CLA course in time for fall 2012.

See the CLA Course Management System Transition Plan (PDF) for complete details.

Support

The CLA TEL team is your first point of contact for CMS transition and upgrade support. Contact us at 4help@umn.edu.

For the latest information and additional resources for the CMS transition and upgrade, including free Moodle 2.0 Technology Training, visit the U of M Moodle website.

The Transitional Administrative Director position is posted. The employment req number is #174392. The application deadline is very short so we can move quickly on the search to assist those units with administrator vacancies. We welcome applications. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me, Margaret Yzaguirre.

Thank you.
mmy@umn.edu
612-626-9352

There may be differences between MOA language and the Fund Purpose in DMS, but the MOA must be the ultimate deciding factor about how to spend funds. Units should review all of their MOAs periodically in the event that their use of funds may have strayed from original (or recently updated) donor intent in the MOAs.

If you have any questions, please contact Rose Pederson
r-kerb@umn.edu
612-626-7611

Saturday evening, October 1, 2011 beginning at 6 p.m. through Sunday, October 2, 2011 ending at noon.

Services Affected (avoid these during the window)

• Most of the University's web-based and server-based systems (View the full list as a PDF)
• Active Directory File storage (Home, Shared, Project folders)
• CLA Research servers
• CLA Unix-based file servers (clio and thalia)
• CLA Database servers
• CLA Web servers
• CLA Terminal Server

Services Not Affected (common services that users often ask about)

• Google Apps (Gmail, Doc, Sites)

Specific Details

• The University's Office of Information Technology (OIT) will be shutting down its main data center (WBOB) to perform necessary maintenance, testing, and repairs of facility infrastructure. CLA-OIT houses all of its production servers in WBOB.
• Specifically, the Emergency Power Off and fire suppression systems need to be tested to comply with Fire Marshal requirements.
• To prevent damage to critical equipment, University and CLA engineers will be powering down servers, network, and other valuable equipment in advance of the test and returning systems to full operation following some additional overnight maintenance.
• The OIT data center services team intends to leverage the downtime to fulfill some additional data center activities that are less urgent, but require the power to be off. View the full scope of maintenance activities, including the schedule for restoring services (PDF).
• Plans for this outage began earlier this summer. The OIT Change Approval Board and the University of Minnesota IT Leadership Alliance both lobbied for better timing to minimize the impact on instruction, research, and other essential University functions.

FAQ

Can I work during the maintenance window?

In general, CLA-OIT recommends that you avoid using the affected services during the maintenance window. Systems may be available during the maintenance window, but they can and will be shut down without warning and may be unavailable for hours at a time. So, use only at your own risk.

Can't this be done without disrupting service?

To prevent damage to critical equipment, University and CLA engineers will be powering down servers, network, and other valuable equipment in advance of the test and returning systems to full operation following some additional overnight maintenance.

Can you reschedule this window to a more convenient time?

Plans for this outage began earlier this summer. The OIT Change Approval Board and the University of Minnesota IT Leadership Alliance both lobbied for better timing to minimize the impact on instruction, research, and other essential University functions. Unfortunately, circumstances prevent moving the work to a more opportune time during an academic break. However, the maintenance window was shortened as much as possible and moved to night-time hours.

How do I find out more?

If you have any questions or concerns contact us at 612-624-4357 or 4help@umn.edu. During the service interruption, updates will be available on the University of Minnesota System Status page.

Department Space Coordinators should be receiving reminders from U Space Management about updating your department's U-Space inventory by Friday, October 7th, 2011. This will allow one week of approval time for the college to meet the final deadline of Friday, October 14th, 2011 at 4:30 p.m. The space inventory snapshot will be taken on October 15th, 2011, and sent to Facilities Management (FM). FM and the Budget Office will establish CLA's the operating cost projections for fiscal year 2012-2013 using each department's total square footage. Scott Elton, will begin reviewing and approving department updates in U-Space beginning Monday, September 26. Contact Scott if you have questions about this process (6-0950, elton003@umn.edu).

Those of you who have attended East and West Bank Advisory Committee meetings this week know that Facilities Management is well aware there many issues that need to be sorted out with new team cleaning model. They are continuing to balance how much each team is expected to accomplish each shift and promise to provide us with schedules of which rooms/areas will be cleaned on what days in October. In the meantime, continue to report areas that need cleaning to the FM Call Center (624-2900, fmcc@umn.edu). If you need to escalate your concern contact the FM Team Lead for your building and request they walk through your area with you. If you do not know who that is contact Scott Elton at CLA Planning (6-0950, elton003@umn.edu).

• Program Income
• Clinical Trials
• Standardization of Invoicing/Reporting Worksheets
• Award Closeout
• Sponsored Accounts Receivable
• "A Day in the Life"
  

Kelly Services is pleased to be one of the staffing partners for the University of Minnesota. In partnership with the U of M HR department (Laura Negrini) and Purchasing department (Cathy Naborowski), we are pleased to invite you to an Open House to meet your Kelly Services team.

Stop in any time between 11am - 1pm to gain an understanding of our services and share with us how we can assist you with your staffing needs. We will undertake a brief information presentation between 12:00 - 12:30.

When: Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 from 11am - 1pm
Where: Coffman Union, Room 324
RSVP: 3429@kellyservices.com

Don't forget to bring a business card to exchange!

With the start of this academic year, Alex Rothman assumed the role as Associate Dean Graduate Programs and Research. Effective immediately Associate Dean Rothman will provide CLA collegiate approval on all PRFs. Please add him to the your routing chain as you prepare to submit proposals to the the Office of Sponsored Projects.

CLA Proposal Routing Procedures
The PRF requires electronic signatures from the following, in order:

1. Principal investigator's department chair and department chairs of any other key CLA personnel (e.g. co-PIs) on the project
2. If key personnel outside of CLA are included in the proposal, the authorizing agent from their colleges or centers
3. Gayle Anderson (ander104), Grants Management Coordinator - CLA Fiscal Administration. Gayle will review the proposal (see CLA Review Concerns) and if it is satisfactory, will forward it to the next level.
4. Alex Rothman (rothm001), CLA Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs - whose signature authorizes final CLA approval.

Foreign National Employees who have applied for a social security number will receive a pink colored memo from Central HR when they check in centrally to complete their I-9. This memo will state that the employee must provide the department with the SSN within 90 days once they receive the number.

Please get the word out to your foreign national employees to provide you with their social security number as soon as they receive it. Also, please make sure that the social security number information is communicated to the service team so that they can update HRMS and the Online I-9 system with this information.

Kathrin Hahn and Stacey Buachart of ISSS will be holding three J Visa Information Sessions for our department contacts in September and October. The sessions will cover the steps on how to invite and host international scholars and faculty. Bring your questions and concerns! There will be a session held on the West Bank, East Bank, and on the St. Paul campus. A registration system has been put into place. Please register so we can be sure to have proper materials and space for all attending. Register here.

Kathrin Hahn and Stacey Buachart of ISSS will be holding three J Visa Information Sessions for our department contacts in September and October. The sessions will cover the steps on how to invite and host international scholars and faculty. Bring your questions and concerns! There will be a session held on the West Bank, East Bank, and on the St. Paul campus. A registration system has been put into place. Please register so we can be sure to have proper materials and space for all attending. Register here.

Please join the Office of the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs in welcoming our newest staff members, Allison Lindberg and Trang Nguyen.

Allison (Alli) started as the Executive Office and Administrative Specialist on Wednesday, August 17th. She received her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Minnesota with a major in History and a minor in French Studies. Alli has been working full time as the Events Associate in Global Studies for the past five years. Alli was the recipient of a CLA Internship Grant for spring 2006 and was employed at The American Swedish Institute as the Education and Youth Programs Intern.

Alli is responsible for managing Associate Dean Jennifer Windsor's and Assistant Dean Nanette Hanks' calendars. She can be reached by email at lind1101@umn.edu or by calling 624-8675.

Trang started as the Undergraduate Programs Coordinator on Monday, August 22nd. She received her BA degree in Organizational Communications and East Asian Studies from Augsburg College and MA degree in Intercultural Relations from Lesley University. Trang has been employed at Wheaton College as the Senior Assistant Director of Admissions and Coordinator of Multicultural Recruitment for the past three years. In addition, Trang has worked in the Office of Admissions at Mount Holyoke and Augsburg College.

This communication is a reminder that CLA Human Resources serves as the first point of contact for all non-student unit level employment system and recruiting inquiries. In continuing efforts to effectively support consistency and to ensure that the appropriate parties remain apprised of employment related issues, units are asked to contact CLA HR, not the OHR employment team for employment matters such as changes to existing postings, background verifications, applicant screening, etc. OHR will not respond to individual unit requests, but will refer inquiries back to CLA HR for assistance.

If you have any questions, please contact your respective Personnel Specialist, Tihara Chadwick 4-0098 or Millie Reid 6-7648.

This month's CLA NOW meeting will take place tomorrow, Thursday, September 15, in room 220 of the Science Teaching Student Services building, 9:00-10:30am. We hope to see you there.

For a copy of the agenda, please click here. 

During the month of September, the CLA Service Desk will be extending support hours. We invite you to call 624-4357 (4-HELP) Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Fridays from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The ReUse Center recently received many items from cleaning out the Folwell swing space. Feel free to check it out if your office is looking for furniture or other supplies.

It is with mixed emotions that I announce the departure of Helen Kopietz, department administrator of GWSS. Helen has accepted a position with the Carlson School of Management, and her last day in CLA will be Friday, September 16.

We would greatly appreciate hearing from you or someone you know who could temporarily assist GWSS while we work with the department chair to determine a replacement for Helen. GWSS needs immediate help with entering summer 2012 and 2012-13 courses into ECS/ECAS. They'll also need to make graduate appointments for Spring 2012 courses. There is also the need for the responsibilities of the day-to-day work that Helen does that is not necessarily predictable. For example, they need a contact person who receives communications from the college, and alerts the chair to upcoming deadlines. If interested in helping GWSS, please contact me as soon as possible to discuss this further.

On behalf of CLA I extend my gratitude to Helen, and I know we all wish her the very best in her next career chapter.

Thank you,
Margaret
(6-9352, mmy@umn.edu)

The FY12 TIP dates will be December 31, 2011 and June 30, 2012. The deadline to invoice the Foundation prior to December TIP is November 15, 2011 (noon). The June TIP deadline is May 15, 2012. (You can always check the DMS login screen for the TIP invoicing deadlines.)

Over the past two weeks, CLA-OIT's "Meet Your Team" document was emailed to all CLA faculty and staff announcing your department's technology support team. Contact Sarah Knoblauch at sjk@umn.edu or 624-7874 to request printed copies of the materials.

We appreciate your support in notifying your department's faculty, staff, and graduate students on how to request computing and academic technology needs. While our processes have changed, our commitment to personalized service has not. We thank you for your support.

Getting Support

• Call 624-4357 (4-HELP) or email 4help@umn.edu for all support requests.
• The CLA Service Desk and field technicians are responsible for getting you the support you need, following up to make sure you are satisfied, and thoroughly documenting requests.
• The new Technology Administrators (Tech Admins) focus on consulting, planning, and matching needs to the best technology services available.