Information Technology News Archive

1996 - 2017

New Student Health and Counseling System

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Student Health

In February, UCOP mandated that all UCs move student health operations to a common EMR (Electronic Medical Records) system.  UCI was using a system call “Medicat” for the Student Health Center and a product called “Titanium” for the Counseling Center.  The new system UCOP selected was “Point and Click” (PnC).

UCI was one of four campuses that were not currently using PnC.  The time line set by the Regents and UCOP was aggressive.  They wanted the conversion completed by August.

Combining both independent programs into one caused several issues with privacy and security.  Technical staff had to learn PnC in a hurry.  New virtual hardware was prepared and site visits and evaluations of the UCI environment were conducted.   A huge amount of collaboration was needed with the vendor.  A lot of the research and testing took place after hours and on weekends so that it did not disrupt normal business operations of the centers.

With support and assistance from staff and leadership within Student Health and the Counseling Center, the challenge to make this high-visibility conversion was met.  On August 14th the Counseling Center was migrated to the new system successfully.  Technical issues with the Medicat database caused delays for migrating the Student Health Center, but it finally took place on September 10th.  During this conversion process OIT staff continued to provide a high level of service to the other departments within Wellness, Health and Counseling Services as well as supporting the existing EMR system.

PnC is now in production at the Student Health Center and the Counseling Center.

In Brief October 2012

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latest news

  • Students are now able to request a ‘Preferred Name’ for use in place of their legal first name. Use of this new information in campus systems is optional, though several systems will be using it beginning this Fall, including the campus online directory, Class Rosters, Financial Aid and EEE.
  • Accounting Systems is holding forums to answer questions regarding the Kuali Financial System (KFS) monthly until February 2013.  The next one will take place in the Student Center, Doheny Beach A, at 1:00 on Tuesday, October 23.  You can register at https://eee.uci.edu/survey/forum
  • OIT Staff in the modulars in Physical Sciences quad have relocated to offices on the 6th floor of the Ayala Science Library.
  • OIT Staff in the University Research Park are relocating to the Physical Sciences modulars October 22-23.

Next Steps with Exchange

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Data Center

The transition from Oracle Calendar (OCal) to Exchange calendar took place on August 6th.  Exchange offers the potential for email service that is integrated with calendaring, and OIT is examining options for implementation of Exchange email.

Many faculty and staff currently use OIT Mailbox Services for email, which you may know as imap.uci.edu or webmail.uci.edu, and which you may access using Webmail or Thunderbird. Outlook Web Access (OWA) and Outlook are among the tools commonly used to access Exchange services.

We have developed a process for migrating email from OIT Mailbox Services, and we will be pilot testing the process soon.  Considerable manpower is required for email migration; it could take a year or more to move everyone.  We are assessing costs and alternate strategies.

One possibility for speeding the transition is to allow receiving and sending new email using Exchange, but to defer moving stored email.  Users would continue to access pre-existing mail using Thunderbird or Webmail, or as secondary folders mapped to Outlook.  OIT is conducting a second pilot for this model.

Finally, we are working on a pilot of Office 365 (Exchange in “the cloud”), and reviewing recharge rates for Exchange and related services.

We appreciate your patience while we continue planning efforts.  Please share any thoughts you have on migration options with OIT Director Brian Buckler (bbuckler@uci.edu) or CIO Dana Roode (dana.roode@uci.edu).  Please contact our help-desk (949-824-2222 or oit@uci.edu) for assistance with Exchange.

UC Recruit: a UC Working Smarter Initiative

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Data Center

Working Smarter, the UC initiative that envisions ten distinct campuses using one efficient administrative framework, has designated UC Recruit as one of its signature projects. UC Recruit provides for secure online academic hiring that supports the commonality of Academic Personnel business practices across the UC system.

Originally developed at UCI in 2006, Recruit automates and streamlines much of the academic recruiting process.  From job posting, applying, reference gathering, reviewing by the search committee, selecting a hired candidate and, finally, archiving all materials in accordance with University policies and legal considerations, the system also aids campus equal opportunity employment efforts and annual Affirmative Action reporting requirements. At UCI alone, over 33,000 applicants have used Recruit with over 191,000 documents and reference letters uploaded into the system, saving paper and time for increasingly over-assigned staff and faculty committees juggling multiple priorities.

In 2011, UCI’s AP Recruit system (re-branded UC Recruit) was adopted for system-wide deployment at all ten UC campuses, eliminating redundancy and further reducing costs.  Along with its home campus, those that are running UC Recruit include San Diego (2009), Berkeley (2012), Davis (2012), Santa Cruz (2012), and San Francisco (2012). The remaining 4 campuses (Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, and Santa Barbara) are slated to be in production by the end of Summer 2013.

For more information about UC Recruit, please email recruit@uci.edu or visit UC Recruit site at http://sites.uci.edu/ucrecruit/about-recruit/ .

Kuali Coeus: The Future of Proposal Development at UCI

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Kuali

On August 6, 2012, the Office of Research (OR) and the Office of Information Technology (OIT) implemented the Proposal Development component of the Kuali Coeus (KC) system.   KC includes systems for the electronic review, routing, approval and submission of proposals to Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA).

Presently being used by a pilot group, including representatives from The Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, TEC Business Center, Biological Chemistry, UCI MIND, Advanced Power and Energy Program, Social Ecology, SPA and OIT, KC will be made available to the rest of the UCI research community this quarter.  Additional information about the roll out and training will be available in the near future.

KC is a comprehensive system to manage the complexities of research administration. It assimilates the functions of multiple existing systems into a single integrated system to better support an institution’s research enterprise. The Proposal Development component of KC, when fully implemented, will enable electronic proposal development (including budget development), proposal routing, review and institutional approval, as well as system-to-system submission of proposals to Grants.gov.

To learn more about KC and to stay connected with the latest developments, please sign up for the KC-project listserv by sending a blank email to kc-project-join@uci.edu.