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About the Project

The Student Information System (SIS) Project is part of the Enterprise Systems Renewal (ESR) effort. The new SIS will support academic and business transactions throughout a student’s academic lifecycle and will provide analytics to help improve the student experience and student educational outcomes.

Strategic Vision

One University, One Student IT Ecosystem. We will create a modular, scalable, secure, integrated set of tools that help the university meet evolving student needs and institutional priorities and contribute to improvements in the overall student, faculty and staff experience.

Guiding Principles

The work we do and the systems, processes and reports we design, develop and configure throughout the project will be:

  • People-centered. We will prioritize the needs of our student, faculty and staff users and seek to improve and optimize the user experience within the context of what’s best for the institution as whole. 
  • Impactful. We will question the current state to develop an improved, student-centered future state; we will further the university’s mission to serve learners from all backgrounds and meet the needs of underserved and vulnerable populations; and, we will recognize and support what is uniquely UC San Diego.
  • Equity-minded. We will ensure that equity and inclusivity are fundamental aspects of our decision-making; we will create safe spaces for dialogue and honest, transparent communication about the work we are doing and its impact; and, we will uplift the experience and knowledge of under-represented perspectives.
  • Flexible. Our systems and processes will be able to adapt to meet the ever-changing needs of the university and will allow us to accommodate a myriad of learner types and learning experiences.
  • Efficient. Our systems and processes will prioritize an efficient and intuitive user experience and optimally support and serve the students, faculty and staff who rely on them.
  • Connected. Our systems and processes will allow all parts of the university to coexist in unified systems, including General Campus, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Health Sciences and Extended Studies.
  • Expert-led. Our projects will be led and executed by our internal staff, who best know our processes, policies and needs, with an external implementation partner to provide support and guidance where appropriate.
  • Sustainable. We will maximize configurations and minimize customizations so that our systems and processes remain sustainable over the long term, even as they change and evolve.

Shared Expectations

As we work together to execute on the projects under our purview, we will set shared expectations for project work to ensure the success of each  project, as well as the overall SIS Project. These include:

  • Defining clear priorities when selecting and resourcing projects
  • Working with business and technical owners to define a shared understanding of what success looks like for a project
  • Engaging university community members from multiple levels and across many roles to gather feedback, share updates and encourage active collaboration and participation
  • Prioritizing honest, transparent communication, including disagreement, and encouraging the sharing of questions, concerns, challenges or issues 
  • Minimizing risk by implementing best practices, contingency plans and risk management plans and by leveraging the experiences and lessons learned from previous projects, our higher education colleagues and communities of practice
  • Developing comprehensive change management plans focused on communications, training and ensuring that the people side of change is integrated into the overall project plan
  • Documenting our current state processes and using Lean Six Sigma tools to improve them for the future state
  • Assessing readiness to proceed at key project milestones, including project kickoff, go-live and closure
  • Planning to transition the projects to service operations with clear business and service ownership, governance and best practices to ensure ongoing change management, testing, training, quality assurance and support are in place

Scope

The SIS Project will provide a comprehensive, modern solution for UC San Diego's business needs. The following business areas will be impacted by the project.

  • Course and class scheduling
  • Enrollment and registration
  • Academic records
  • Curriculum management
  • Student finances
  • Financial aid and scholarships

Sponsor

The project sponsor ensures project success through leadership support. The sponsor for the SIS Project is:

Elizabeth Simmons
Executive Vice Chancellor

EVC Simmons

Governance

Project Governance provides leadership support to the project team and ensures decisions are made in accordance with Guiding Principles. Governance members make certain the project is operating within stated constraints (budget, schedule, scope, etc.) and monitors risks and associated mitigation efforts.

Escalation Role
Elizabeth Simmons Executive Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs
Kevin Chou Director, Enterprise Systems Renewal (ESR)
Carlos Jensen Associate Vice Chancellor, Educational Innovation
Ted Johnson Associate Controller
Vince Kellen Chief Information Officer
Pierre Ouillet Vice Chancellor, Chief Financial Officer
Jim Rawlins Associate Vice Chancellor, Enrollment Management
Hugo Villar Dean, Extended Studies
Governance Members Role
Carlos Jensen (Co-Chair) Associate Vice Chancellor, Educational Innovation
Jonathan Whitman (Co-Chair) Senior Director, Student Information Services, Information Technology Services
Marie Carter-Dubois Associate Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs Resource Administration
Ahren Crickard Director, Center for Operational Excellence
Collins Ejiogu Chief Administrative Officer, Division of Extended Studies
Cheryl Harrelson Associate Vice Chancellor, Alumni, Annual Giving and Pipeline Development
Hemlata Jhaveri
Associate Vice Chancellor, Housing Dining Hospitality
Erica Lennard Assistant Dean, Graduate Academic Affairs
Cindy Lyons Registrar
Silvia Marquez Executive Director, Financial Aid and Scholarships
John Moore Dean, Undergraduate Education
Jim Murphy Interim Associate Dean, School of Medicine
Jim Rawlins Associate Vice Chancellor, Enrollment Management
Cheryl Ross Associate Vice Chancellor/Controller, Business Financial Systems
Alysson Satterlund Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs and Campus Life
Brett Stalbaum Committee on Academic Information Technology

Core Team

The core project team ensures a successful project planning and implementation. The core project team makes decisions, sets priorities, manages risk and escalation, and maintains cross-project awareness and change management.

Meet the SIS project team.