Project News, Resources and Training

Note: the census outage is complete and system operation is now normal.

Census will take place on the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 24.* Due to the need to “freeze” the database to take the census snapshot, users (faculty, staff and students) will not be able to access ConnectCarolina pages from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00pm on Jan. 24.

For a complete list of the outage impact, view the System Status page.

NOTE: due to additional maintenance being conducted during the same timeframe, the following applications will also be unavailable:

• HR Central (and other HR/Payroll applications; see System Status page for a complete list)
• Finance Central
• Campus Services Web Apps
• Friday Center Web Apps
• Telecom Service Request
• UNCALL

Please contact the Help Desk (www.help.unc.edu or 962-HELP) with questions.

We appreciate your cooperation and support as we continue to make ConnectCarolina more efficient for our users.

* The official census date is Mon., Jan. 23. The process for pulling census data is run the day after to allow the time needed for departments and schools to complete corrections on errors and missing data for reporting to General Administration.

As the calendar year draws to a close, here is an update on both the operational and project portions of ConnectCarolina.

ConnectCarolina is the name the University uses for its PeopleSoft implementation. PeopleSoft is an enterprise administrative system that includes Campus Solutions, Human Resources/Payroll/Benefits and Finance components. Continue reading for updates on all of these components.

The ConnectCarolina team continues to work on supporting and making changes to Campus Solutions (student systems) while implementing the Finance and Human Resources/Payroll parts of the project.

Campus Solutions

The Enterprise Applications Coordinating Committee (EACC) approves and prioritizes enhancements and other changes to ConnectCarolina Campus Solutions.

The Users Forum represents faculty, staff and students to provide guidance and feedback regarding concerns, issues and enhancement requests. The Forum’s input is conveyed to the EACC.

Based on the EACC's guidance, here are the top 10 Campus Solutions priorities:

1. Campus Solutions support (includes tickets, user issues, interfaces, vendor patches, etc.)
2. Admissions - 2012 cycle
3. SSN changes (federally mandated)
4. Nightly update of undergraduate student eligibility
5. Allow two terms for Summer School
6. Single application for graduation
7. Campus Solutions security redesign
8. PeopleSoft updates (#22 and #23, containing many financial aid updates)
9. Implement TouchNet Billing, a third party application to allow students and proxies access to view and pay bills, view 1098T documents
10. New financial aid year processing

Finance implementation

The Campus Working Groups have participated in Conference Room Pilots in which business analysts demonstrated how requirements will be met in the new PeopleSoft Finance system. Campus Working Group members:

• Review and give feedback—does this meet your area’s needs?
• Validate business requirements
• Identify potential gaps
• Identify conversions, interfaces, report requirements

This feedback and information is being used in the design phase of the project.

HR/Payroll implementation

Documentation of As-Is processes has been completed. Campus Working Groups are meeting to review requirements, similar to the Finance Campus Working Groups.

The University is well into year three of using ConnectCarolina’s Campus Solutions as its student services administrative system. Here is a look back at the last year of the project, including changes and upgrades to Campus Solutions, and the beginning the implementation of the Human Resources/Payroll and Finance systems.

September 2010

• Student Aid Packaged at Record Rate: Financial Aid disbursed over $100 million in a span of 10 days using the new ConnectCarolina system despite a number of unique challenges, including a new method of administering Federal loans and new grant money requiring the full-scale revision of approximately 8,000 financial aid award packages.
• First census completed in Campus Solutions

October 2010

• The Advisor Center in ConnectCarolina went live, a new component for advisors that centrally displays Academic Profile, compiling information from a variety of sources (program/plan, term activation, quick enroll) with quicker, intuitive navigation via tabs within the same component.

November 2010

• First component of ePro launched (vendor catalog); addressing a Bain Report recommendation, ePro was fast-tracked ahead of the Finance implementation; ePro provides more details about purchases with the goal of increasing negotiating power with vendors for better prices

December 2010

• Grading done in ConnectCarolina for the first time

January 2011

• Second component of ePro launched (small order process)
• Starlight interface with Campus Solutions Financial Aid implemented

February 2011

• New functionality launches, including:
• Tar Heel Tracker (degree audit for undergraduates)
• GPA Calculator
• New Course Request Approval system
• Application for admission to Summer School in ConnectCarolina

March 2011

• As-Is process review begins for Human Resources/Payroll implementation

April 2011

• Online ordering of transcripts goes live

May 2011

• Upgrade from Oracle (vendor of PeopleSoft, the underlying software behind ConnectCarolina) improves the look/feel and navigation of ConnectCarolina
• Human Resources Division announces PeopleAdmin as the new recruiting tool
• Graduate School announces it will use ApplyYourself for admissions applications
• Undergraduate Admissions announces it will use the Common App (as well as continuing to use CFNC) for admissions applications

June 2011

• Human Resources and Finance Campus Working Groups form

July 2011

• Implemented ability to store student records electronically in ImageNow with access via Campus Solutions
• Class and Grade Rosters in alpha order

August 2011

• Class roster with photos report available, addressing Faculty’s most requested upgrade
• Internal transcript available to staff and academic advisors
• Major behind-the-scenes effort to interface from ApplyYourself and Common App to ConnectCarolina for admissions

September 2011

• Academic Early Warning (online for the first time) in ConnectCarolina
• Major behind-the-scenes effort to update numerous online applications for admission for schools and programs across campus

Here is a look at the July 2009 – August 2010 successes:
http://connectcarolina.unc.edu/news/erp-news/a-year-of-successes.html