SIS Project: What We’ve Heard (December 2023)

In November, we continued our engagements with the university community by meeting with the School of Physical Sciences, School of Arts and Humanities, Rady School of Management, Jacobs School of Engineering, School of Global Policy and Strategy and the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs leadership team. The purpose of these meetings was to offer updates, give context and provide planning support for the Student Information Systems Project through various presentations.  

All the groups we met with in November were highly engaged with the SIS Project presentations and provided valuable feedback while raising important questions. Below are some of the themes we discussed and heard:

• Continuity planning: We're working hard to keep things running smoothly despite the many expected challenges and changes ahead. To do that, we're talking to many departments to ensure everyone is on the same page. One thing that's come up a lot is how to handle student systems that might be affected. We've had some really productive planning sessions where people have been eager to talk about the current inventory and how we can make sure we have everything we need.
• Report remediation: In November, we received concerns from some stakeholders about how the remediation process would impact their respective schools or units. They also sought clarification on the next steps, such as whether there will be more opportunities to discuss how the changes will affect them directly and how we plan to provide training and support to meet their needs. We are currently addressing these concerns and will provide updates as soon as possible.
• Change freezes: We've been talking a lot about the upcoming pausing of non-SIS project work in the student information services area so that our business and technical teams can focus on getting the new SIS up and running. These conversations have been happening both widely and with specific impacted groups. 
  • Some concerns have been raised about the groups affected by the change freeze and whether everyone is being properly informed. Also, requests have been made for sufficient advance notice to prepare for any impacts related to the change freeze.
  • Additionally, some folks have asked if there will be a list of projects affected by the freeze and if they can receive status updates and notifications for the projects they've submitted for an exception evaluation that they are directly involved in. 

If you have any questions about the freeze, please feel free to connect with the team at esr-student@ucsd.edu 

Thank you to the groups we met in November. Please know we value your input. You are an important part of our community and we're grateful for your active involvement. We look forward to continuing these conversations with the university community quarterly. 

If we have not met, we are keen to meet with you to better understand your needs and concerns for the project. If you’d like to invite the SIS Project team to join a department/team meeting, please email us at esr-student@ucsd.edu.