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Administrative Support

Conferencing with ReadyTalk

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ReadyTalk

OIT offers a versatile teleconferencing solution, ReadyTalk, to faculty and staff.   ReadyTalk is much more than a telephone conference service.  Some of the ways you can use ReadyTalk are described below.

Quick Launcher – Enables conference leaders to initiate an audio conference or a web conference with just 2 mouse clicks. More information and a link to the download are located here http://www.readytalk.com/products-services/integrations/productivity/quick-launcher.

Outlook Scheduler – Meeting organizers can add their ReadyTalk conference login to an Outlook meeting request with a single mouse click.  This is convenient for organizers and the invitation makes it convenient for participants to join a meeting.  Participants can choose to dial into the conference or they can click on a ‘Call Me’ link and have ReadyTalk call and connect them to their meeting. Check out more information and a link to the download here http://www.readytalk.com/products-services/integrations/productivity/outlook-scheduler.

ReadyTalk for Google – Meeting organizers can add their ReadyTalk conference login to Google Calendar meeting request with a single mouse click.  You can download the Google Scheduler here http://www.readytalk.com/products-services/integrations/productivity/google-calendar.

ReadyTalk for Lync – ReadyTalk’s integration with Lync makes it easy to connect with individuals directly from your active directory of contacts.  Right click on any contact to send them a link to join an instant meeting.  For more information: http://www.readytalk.com/products-services/integrations/productivity/microsoft-lync.

Other features of ReadyTalk include:

  • Chairperson dial me:  Conference leaders can choose to dial their conference phone number, access code and passcode in order to access their conference call OR they can choose to have the bridge call out to their phone and connect them to their meeting.  Chairperson dial me is available through the Quick Launcher and within the web conference interface so that you can choose the entry point that is most convenient for you when you host your meetings.
  • Video Conferencing:  Build stronger connections with the individuals you meet with by using ReadyTalk’s video conferencing service for your meetings.  The video conferencing service is offered as a complement to web conferences where attendees need the ability to see each other.  Up to 25 people can attend and see the video streams of up to 4 attendees at any one time. The  video streams can be swapped out so that you can share the video of different individuals throughout your meeting. The service is designed to help IT organizations manage bandwidth utilization across their organization where our service is concerned and to provide adequate real estate for the individuals to review a slide desk, document and other visual content during a meeting.
  • VoIP: In addition to accessing a conference call via telephone, ReadyTalk now offers the option for hosts and attendees to join a conference call via VoIP (using their computer).  Meetings may have a blend of access methods across the spectrum of attendees.  Some individuals may call in by phone and others may use VoIP for the same call.  The chairperson opens a web conference in order to make VoIP available and then individuals can select the access method that is appropriate for themselves. A headset is recommended for our service to ensure the best audio quality experience.

Questions about ReadyTalk can be directed to ReadyTalk Customer Care.

Kuali Financial System Nears Release

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Kuali
UCI’s Kuali Financial System (KFS) team is helping UCI departments prepare for transition to KFS next year.

As noted in an earlier article, the Kuali Financial System (KFS) is new, comprehensive software that integrates UC Irvine’s core financial functions, including general ledger, procurement, budget, disbursing, and travel reimbursement. It will replace UC Irvine’s more than 30-year-old financial system, which is paper-intensive and has become increasingly difficult to support.

In addition to the KFS web site, where the project and its goals are described, OIT has created a Wiki which includes resources to help departments plan for the transition, links to training, and other key information.

Kuali Coeus: Proposal Development and Routing

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Kuali

The new Kuali Coeus Proposal Development module is now available to faculty, staff and Contract & Grant Administrators across UCI for developing and routing proposals to Sponsored Projects for review and submission.

With the successful completion of the pilot program launched on August 6th of last year, the Office of Research has been rolling out Kuali Coeus to the rest of the campus.  Complete implementation is expected by the end of this month, at which point Kuali Coeus Proposal Development will replace the existing Administrative Approval (AA) form, which will no longer be accepted.  Department Managers have been contacted individually to schedule training and to setup workflow parameters for their specific areas.

Questions about Kuali Coeus may be directed to Kuali Coeus Administrator Barbara Inderwiesche at barbara.i@uci.edu or by calling (949) 824-4789.

To stay informed about further development and implementation of Kuali Coeus at UCI, please sign up for the KC-project listserv by sending a blank email to kc-project-join@uci.edu.  You can also follow developments in Kuali Coeus at UCI’s Kuali web site: http://www.kuali.uci.edu

Work Toward UCPath Continues

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UCPath (an acronym derived from “UC Payroll, Academic Personnel, Timekeeping, and Human Resources”) is the University of California’s project to deploy a single payroll and human resources system across all 10 campuses, five medical centers and the Office of the President. The new UCPath system is expected to meet the core needs of each location while capturing the efficiencies, improved data and cost-savings associated with unified systems. The UCPath Center is the new shared service center that will be used by all employees to access payroll and benefits information.

Penny White, director of Administrative Policies & Records in Administrative and Business Services, agreed to take on the role of UCPath Project Manager effective November 1, 2012. In this role, Penny is responsible for ensuring that UC Irvine successfully transitions to the new systemwide human resources and payroll system on time, and that the campus and UC Irvine Medical Center are ready to transition to the UCPath Center, the systemwide shared service center.

Currently, UCI is projected to convert to UCPath in October, 2014.  Work has already begun in many areas to meet this goal:

  • Analyzing the UCPath design documentation to determine the changes that will be required for existing UCI applications that support Payroll, Human Resources, and Accounting business processes
  • Designing improved tools for campus users including a data warehouse that will provide filtering, grouping, and labeling functionality to simplify production of sophisticated reports
  • Collaboration among UC Path, campus, and UCIMC teams on data warehouse and data distribution plans
  • Meeting with campus stakeholders to determine system migration impact

OIT will publish periodic updates as work on this major initiative advances.

Recruiting Top Students with Intelliworks

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Data Center

UCI seeks to enroll the best students, while simultaneously maintaining our commitment to a diverse student body. Enrollment Services invests considerable effort and expense every year in identifying and encouraging high school students to consider us for their college career.  UCI doesn’t lack for applicants; the approximately 4,500 new freshmen who enrolled for the Fall 2012 term were selected from a pool of 65,000+ applicants. Appealing to the best students, as well as those whose goals align well with UCI’s strengths, and those who represent a variety of backgrounds and interests requires a lot of data collection, analysis, and management. Combine this with the fact that colleges and universities across the country are all aggressively recruiting the same caliber of students from the same pools, and the task of identifying, recruiting, and enrolling the best of the best becomes extraordinarily complex and competitive.

Early in 2011, the Office of Admissions & Relations with Schools realized that maintaining UCI’s high entrance standards while going up against some of the best recruiters in the business would require something more than business as usual. As a result, Admissions launched a project in collaboration with OIT to implement a state-of-the-art constituent relationship management (CRM) system to help stay competitive. Admissions eventually selected Intelliworks CRM as the system of choice for this essential mission.

Intelliworks not only allows for the collection and reporting of key information, but it also allows Admissions to automate much of the routine work (e.g., responding to interest inquiries, prompting for follow up activities, managing bulk email campaigns, etc.). This, in turn, frees up valuable resources within Admissions to provide key face-to-face contact and other personal touches with prospective students and their parents.

The transition from a manual system based on emails, spreadsheets, sticky notes, and hallway conversations to an automated state-of-the-art CRM has not been without its challenges, but the payoff of being able to more accurately target UCI’s message, more carefully manage the recruiting cycle, and capitalize on opportunities to recruit the type of student UCI wants at any particular time, is already paying big dividends.