SIS Portfolio: 2024 Year in Review

Looking back on 2024, we see a year that marked significant growth, engagement and progress for the Student Information System (SIS) Project. This retrospective highlights the key metrics that demonstrate our commitment to transparency, community involvement and systematic project development throughout what proved to be a pivotal year in our implementation journey.

Engagement Metrics: Campus Connections

The engagement metrics reported here reflect the SIS Project team’s external outreach with the university community. Activities focused on informing campus about project progress, listening to concerns and collecting valuable feedback to guide our development efforts.

Versatility and Variety

Through collaborative efforts with subject matter experts (SMEs) and fellow team members, the SIS Project team wrote a total of 40 articles and developed 22 videos in 2024 to keep stakeholders informed about project progress, challenges, and milestones. 

Our videos included both our monthly “2-minute What You Should Know summaries” as well as project introductions, quarterly updates, and meet the team videos. These materials were distributed through our 12 monthly newsletters that reached an average of 6,017 recipients across the campus community. 

With over 6,000 minutes of viewership, our Kaltura video content generated 1,447 plays, indicating strong interest in visual updates and explanations of the project's evolution.

Talk about Topics

Moving from behind the recorded screen to the synchronous live screen, we dedicated 2,950 minutes presenting project details, progress, and future plans to various campus groups. We completed a total of 72 engagements for 2024 on the following topics:

• 35 SIS Project Portfolio presentations to build awareness of the SIS Project work and inform on quarterly project progress.
• 19 Continuity Planning discussions to review necessary efforts regarding the remediation of applications, integrations and reports in preparation of the new Triton Student System.
• 13 Triton Student System engagements to specifically communicate important information regarding project details and timeline, including a Town Hall event held in October 2024.
• 4 Financial Support Payments Tool Project sessions to interact with audiences impacted by the forthcoming changes in graduate student funding.
• 1 CourseLeaf Project presentation with the Academic Senate to keep them informed of project timeline and progress. 

Partners in Progress

The SIS Project team engaged 1,450 participants across diverse campus units, departments, teams and committees. The participation breakdown reflects the broad institutional impact of the new system:

• Academic Affairs: 36% of participants, representing the largest stakeholder group.
• CFO Area: 34% of participants, which included units such as Business & Financial Services, Human Resources, Campus Budget Office, and Cashiering.
• Groups & Committees: 17% of participants from the Council of Deans of Academic Advising (CDAA), Undergraduate Academic Advising Council (UAAC), Business Officers and Assistant Deans.
• Student Affairs: 8% representation from Student Life, Global Initiatives, Student Conduct Office, Resource Management, Student Health & Wellbeing and more.
• Health Sciences: 3% of participants from the School of Medicine, Skaggs School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Public Health & Human Longevity Science and more.
• Marine Sciences: 1% of participants with Scripps Institution of Oceanography
• Academic Senate: 1% representation from members of the Academic Senate.

Resources & References

In addition to articles and videos, the team also developed 73 communication materials to support different levels of project work and to provide easily digestible and accessible content for university use. This included slide decks, project one-pagers for people leaders, frequently asked question documents, fact sheets and more. In addition, many business process owners and SMEs created support materials such as standard operating procedures (SOPs) and knowledgebase Articles (KBAs). 

Project Metrics: Teamwork in Action

Alongside reporting on the engagement metrics for 2024, we also wanted to provide some data regarding the work of the projects within the SIS portfolio. These project metrics showcase how our teams and project participants are working together to achieve critical project deliverables, make informed decisions and reach important project milestones.

Where Did the Time Go?

The project team logged an impressive 50,400 hours of work across all project activities. This substantial time investment reflects the complexity and scope of implementing a comprehensive student information system that will serve the entire UC San Diego community. Also, it is important to note that many (perhaps even many hundreds more) hours are not specifically logged and tracked for various project tasks and activities. So, while this number is quite large, it is only part of the representation of the time invested in project work. 

Big Achievements, Big Rewards

We had three projects successfully go live in 2024: Slate, uAchieve, and 25 Live for the Division of Extended Studies (DES). Bringing DES onto the same systems as campus has been a critical goal for the SIS Project, and these launches mark the completion of significant preparatory work needed in advance of the new Triton Student System go live. Read more about the importance of these projects in our February 2025 article: "Uniting Campus Systems."

Collaboration & Commitment

Throughout all the workstreams of the SIS Project portfolio, an approximate total of 1,050 meetings, design workshops and planning sessions were completed throughout the year. The sessions ranged from technical design workshops where teams made critical configuration decisions, to implementation team and planning meetings focused on achieving specific deliverable milestones, to advisory committee meetings that provided critical feedback for project direction. These collaborative activities underscores our commitment to inclusive development practices and decision-making.

Shining the Spotlight 

In 2024, we were proud to launch a new recognition campaign, SIS Trailblazers, and to showcase our first recipient, Rachael Lapidis. The campaign’s goals are to foster a culture of appreciation by highlighting the impactful contributions and collaborative spirit that drives our success, with monthly recognition ensuring consistent celebration of the diverse expertise and dedication that make complex system implementations possible. Learn more about the campaign, see other nominees and submit your own nomination, view our SIS Trailblazer webpage.

Leadership Alignment 

Alongside the 1,000+ project meetings in 2024, we also held and conducted 38 meetings with SIS Project and ESR Program leadership groups to ensure that overall project objectives remained aligned with institutional priorities and that decision-makers across campus were consistently engaged in project progress, challenges and strategic decisions. These included meetings with Chancellor Khosla regarding SIS Project budget, resourcing and timeline; engagements with executive leadership; ongoing conversations with both the Student Information Services Committee (SISC) and Enterprise Information Services Committee (EISC); and project steering committee sessions. 

Looking Forward

The impressive metrics from 2024 reflect not just project progress, but the extraordinary collective effort of hundreds of individuals across our campus community. We extend our deepest appreciation to all those who have invested their time, talents, expertise and energy into the SIS Project work. We recognize that your commitment to the project requires resilience, flexibility and adaptability all while managing your daily responsibilities and challenges. As we look forward to the remainder of 2025 and gear up for 2026, which will include many project releases and system launches, we know that continued success depends on each of us overcoming challenges and sustaining a spirit of collective optimism and shared commitment.