Cloud First Initiative: Debuted during the May IT Roundtable meeting, ISC's vision is to work with Schools and Centers to Position Penn for the Future of IT Systems and Services by Pursuing a “Cloud First” Strategy to Accelerate the Speed of Delivery and to Drive More Value Through Technology. More details coming soon.
PennO365: Working closely with campus partners, ISC is pleased to announce that more than 15,000 email accounts have been successfully migrated to PennO365, consolidating ten email systems. We are now prioritizing the activation of additional O365 features. The project, which began in April 2015, will be completed by the end of June 2016. For more information about the University’s new email system, please visit our Service Catalog.
Project Management Office: Our new PMO will offer Schools and Centers a wide variety of resources for project, program, and process management, as well as planning and productivity tools and techniques. The PMO team created the new Project Partners Special Interest Group as a forum for receiving announcements, participating in events, sharing experiences and discussing issues of interest to members of the group. We are also set to launch a pilot of the new Lite Project Toolkit, designed to assist those who manage small projects that run from three to six months in duration. If you are interested in participating in the Lite Project Toolkit pilot, please email projectpartners@lists.upenn.edu
Lynda.com: Penn has entered into an expanded agreement with Lynda.com, an online video training service that provides instructional videos covering a wide range of software products, technologies, and business topics. The new agreement now includes all Penn full-time and part-time faculty and staff.
Human Capital Management: We are in Phase II of the Human Capital Management (HCM) project. HCM aims to increase Penn’s HR and payroll work efficiency, enhance our ability to be responsive to changes in regulatory and compliance issues, and improve information quality and access. During Phase I we documented four current state processes for both staff and faculty: Recruit, Hire, Onboard, and Labor Distribution. During Phase II we are (lightly) documenting an additional 12 processes, we are baselining the current HR/Payroll operation, we are identifying short-term HCM process and technology improvements, and we are developing a communications plan.
2016 Commencement Webcast: In close coordination with The Office of the President and University Communications, ISC's Penn Video Network, Technology Services, and Client Services teams delivered our most successful commencement video streaming event in history. Our live stream was viewed by more than 4,000 people and the archived file has been viewed more than 100,000 times.
Client Care: Client Care is continuing to expand and improve ISC’s service desk. This spring the team made improvements to the service Order Management System based on client requests and prioritization feedback. OMS users can now create custom templates, complete port checks without creating an order, and more easily place orders due to budget code formatting improvements. We successfully onboarded intake for PennO365, BEN Financials printer support, Contracts (MS and Adobe), ISC Billing, and finished the consolidation of first-tier VOIP support. During FY17 the team will continue the process of onboarding more services in a systematic way, furthering our aim of providing one place for clients to go for information, ordering, and issues. We are working with our staff to ensure we have a deep understanding of every service ISC supports.
IT Financial Management: The overall Apptio configuration is complete, and we are finalizing validation and presentation. ISC Shared Services is planning a client invoice pilot for the beginning of the fiscal year for some of the services that are currently billed through our existing Twister automated billing system. They also recently presented the application to several Schools and Centers that might be interested in implementing the application themselves. For more information please contact Bill Kasenchar.
Continuous Improvement: ISC’s Continuous Improvement Program is identifying and removing obstacles which get in the way of achieving our organization’s vision and purpose. The team is completing its first four projects now, enhancing ISC's Production Turnover Process, Onboarding Process, New Employee Training, and Internal Communications.
Service Catalog: Guided by ISC's new strategic Service Management Process, our new Service Catalog launched in March, adding more than 100 pages of expanded content. New features include more accessible rates information, improved search functionality, and a convenient “Services A to Z” list. The team is continuing to expand service content to meet campus needs.