SIS Project: What We’ve Heard (July 2024)

We are halfway through the 2024 year, folks. Can you believe it?! I surely cannot. I’ve always appreciated the summer time of year at UC San Diego. For me, it is a little bit quieter on campus, and a little bit slower around the office–a perfect chance to reflect on the work completed so far this year and to look ahead to all that we want to accomplish in the rest of the year. 

The Student Information System (SIS) Project team used this past month to do a retrospective, looking back over 2023 and reviewing all of our valuable engagements and meaningful conversations that we had with the UC San Diego community.

We love the results of this retrospective because it highlights all the important topics, themes, concerns and considerations that the campus community has about all the work of the SIS Project portfolio, bringing us together as a collective voice and force for improving the student, staff and faculty experience at UC San Diego. 

The 2023 Numbers

Infographic Overview

The 2023 calendar year was incredible for our team! Ramping up our organizational change management (OCM) team allowed us to really begin the necessary OCM work required for a portfolio of projects of this magnitude. 

Viewing the Infographic on the left, notice that we met with over 1,700 individuals from 30 different units, teams and departments across UC San Diego. Our 74 engagements totaled 3,420 minutes or 57 hours and covered the following topics:

• 27 SIS Project Portfolio Updates to keep groups informed on quarterly project milestones
• 17 SIS Project Portfolio Introductions to build awareness and inform on the SIS Project work 
• 13 Change Freeze Engagements to notify groups regarding the upcoming system freezes to support the Triton Student System (TSS) Project
• 9 Report Remediation Discussions to review reporting needs and concerns with units
• 6 Continuity Planning Sessions to discuss continuity planning with units to begin the process of preparing our systems connected to ISIS for the implementation of the new student information system, TSS.
• 2 TECHTalk Presentations to connect with the larger technical community about the SIS Project work. 

Diving into the Deep End: Questions & Comments

Throughout our 74 engagements in 2023, the team received and responded to 234 questions and comments from participants. We are incredibly grateful to each and every one of you who asked a question (or two or three)–raising important considerations, providing insightful advice and ideas and sharing your feedback. Because of your meaningful engagement, our project work continues to morph and adapt, becoming more holistic, comprehensive, inclusive and impactful.  

Report Remediation (20%)

• By far, the most popular topic that we received questions and comments on was report remediation, totaling 20% of the overall total (46 mentions). 
• Questions and comments about report remediation included: pulling queries, access and data permissions, report customization, reporting roles in future state and ad hoc reporting.
• We understand that reporting is essential to you and your work, and we know we have to get this part right. We are listening to you, so keep the questions and comments coming!

The New SIS (19%)

• The second most popular questions and comments category was about TSS, the new SIS, receiving a total of 44 mentions. 
• Throughout our engagements, we heard various questions on the functionality of the new SIS, such as, what will it be able to do, what won’t it be able to do, will it have automation and the like. 
• Additionally, participants also asked about the following: project timeline and go-live, how the TSS implementation will be rolled out, supporting the entire campus with the launch, access and permissions in the new system and retiring ISIS (our current SIS)

Training (11%)

• Training ranked as the fifth most popular topic, being mentioned 25 times across our 74 engagements. 
• Participants not only provided ideas and suggestions for what should be included in the training, but also shared their concerns regarding incomplete training impacting daily operations and tasks.
• The comments and feedback received on this topic have been instrumental in allowing us to develop ideas and raise important considerations with project leadership.

Support for the Change (6%)

• About 6% of participants made asks or mentions about receiving support through these project launches and changes–not just for themselves, but for their entire unit, department or group. 
• Many are curious about how updates will be communicated to you and how we will continue to keep everyone informed and included in the project. 
• Also, a few individuals even shared their enthusiasm with us and asked us how they could get more involved in the project work.

All Question & Comment Topics

Here is a complete list of all the topics raised and their corresponding frequency throughout our 2023 engagements:

• Report Remediation: 46 (20%)
• New SIS (TSS): 44 (19%)
• Other SIS Projects: 31 (13%)
• Data & Activity Hubs: 30 (12%)
• Training: 25 (11%)
• Change Freezes: 24 (10%)
• Support for the Change: 15 (6%)
• Change Impacts: 9 (4%)
• Testing: 5 (2%)
• Appreciation: 4 (2%)
• Budget: 1 (1%)

2024 Recap: We Are Here  

Now that we’ve taken a deep dive into the 2023 engagements, let’s see how things are progressing for 2024 so far. 

Thanks to the community's willingness to engage and meet with us, our 2024 engagement numbers are surpassing expectations. In terms of number of engagements, hours and participants, we are well past the halfway mark compared to 2023. And, in just the first 6 months of this year alone, we have already met with more units and teams than we did in 2023. Can we take a moment to give a celebratory “yippee!?”

Here are how our 2024 numbers are looking so far:

• 40 Hours of Engagements
• 914 Participants
• 35 Units & Teams
• 57 Engagements
  • 18 SIS Project Updates
  • 12 SIS Project Introductions
  • 10 Report Remediation Discussions
  • 9 Listening Sessions
  • 8 Continuity Planning Sessions

Our Gratitude

To all the groups who invited us to speak with them and those who have taken the time to meet with us–thank you so much! We value each and every conversation and appreciate all the input and feedback received throughout our engagement efforts. We can’t do this work without your inquisitiveness, commentary and thoughtfulness. Continue asking us the hard questions and playing devil’s advocate, because only with your engaged involvement will we be able to ensure that we live up to our project’s guiding principles and shared expectations by including your most important needs in our project planning.  

We are available to come and meet with any group to share about the project and hear your unique needs and concerns. Please invite us to join a department/team meeting by emailing us at esr-student@ucsd.edu.