UW Information Technology

UW-IT Insights — March 2018

Table of Contents

Technology helps improve classroom scheduling
New look for Workday coming with March release
Faster access to Workday data
New security enhancements for UW network reduce risk, may impact off-campus users
Switch to the new version of MyUW before June 14
Register now for the UW TechConnect conference
New service provides departments with secure, remote access to UW resources
In brief

Technology helps improve classroom scheduling

Students in a classroomKey online tools will support a new classroom scheduling policy that’s expected to make a significant difference at UW Seattle — ensuring that most of the approximately 4,000 courses each quarter have an assigned time and a classroom slot at least three weeks before registration begins.

The Learning Spaces Policy — effective spring quarter 2018 and phased in over the next year — was adopted to ease a frustrating challenge for faculty and students: not knowing the exact time and location of a class before the start of a quarter.

The Office of the University Registrar and other key departmental scheduling coordinators are switching to 25Live, a suite of advanced online tools that optimize classroom and event scheduling, calendaring and reporting. The University successfully tested 25Live this past winter quarter and expects to have it fully deployed this spring. It replaces an older system that relied on manual, slower processes. The policy and additional enhanced efficiencies achieved by the Registrar’s Office already have had a positive effect in scheduling classes for spring quarter.

25Live was purchased and will be implemented by the Division of Enrollment Management at UW Seattle, UW Tacoma and UW Bothell, with technical and logistical support from UW-IT and the Office of the Provost.

New classroom utilization visualization tools also will allow the Registrar’s Office and others to see classroom scheduling data by department and distribute classes more evenly across a longer instructional day. UW-IT is currently developing interactive “heat map” visualizations that quickly pinpoint scheduling problem areas and help units stay in compliance with the classroom distribution policy.

The Office of the Provost enacted the new policy to improve how classrooms and time slots are assigned each quarter, an increasingly difficult task as more classes are being offered to meet growing enrollment. Read how the Office of the Provost arrived at the new policy.

New look for Workday coming with March release

Woman working at her computerThis March, Workday will roll out a redesigned homepage featuring easier navigation and an enhanced user experience for employees using assistive technologies. Enhancements will include high-contrast graphics, easier navigation, increased visibility of Notifications and quicker access to the Workday Inbox. Get a sneak peek.

These enhancements are part of major upgrades that Workday releases twice per year, in September and in March.

Faster access to Workday data

Computer Network with serverUsers can now get data from Workday up to 10 times faster than before, with access to near real-time data, thanks to improvements to the Enterprise Integration platform (EIP), a UW system that combines data from different sources and provides a unified view of critical information that can be used to make informed business decisions.

EIP is a valuable tool for the UW, created by UW-IT to ensure information for the University is timely, accurate, clear, secure, consistent and easily available to campus users. Currently, one of its key functions is to take data from Workday — a source of human resources and payroll data not previously available — and make it seamlessly available to older administrative systems with different data requirements that remain in use at the University.

The near real-time enhancements allow the EIP to better keep up with the constant flow of information in Workday, so any changes in data are quickly made available to downstream systems. That means administrators and other users also can see the latest data much faster than before.

New security enhancements for UW network reduce risk, may impact off-campus users

lock and chain over computer keyboardThe University is making important security enhancements to protect the UW network against an increasing number of malicious attacks that put devices, systems and data at risk. These changes will impact people and groups that connect to UW resources from off-campus using a remote desktop or file-sharing application.

Starting April 24, 2018, anyone accessing UW resources from off-campus through a remote desktop and network file-sharing applications will be required to first use an authorized UW or UW Medicine secure virtual private network (VPN) service, such as Husky OnNet, UW Medicine’s SSL VPN (Pulse Secure), or a departmental VPN. A VPN is an application you run on your computer to establish a secure connection to a network.

These security enhancements involve blocking specific network ports that carry the largest volume of hostile traffic into our network. The first set of network ports to be blocked will be those related to file-sharing and remote desktop applications. Other ports may be blocked in the future. The changes will apply to the entire UW network, including UW Seattle, and at UW Tacoma, UW Bothell and UW Medicine facilities. Security-based network port blocking is a common practice used by numerous higher education institutions. Visit IT Connect for more information.

Switch to the new version of MyUW before June 14

computer screen showing MyUW navigationAll faculty and staff are being asked to switch to the new, modern, responsive MyUW, which has been available to students since fall 2015 and to faculty and staff since July 2017. The new MyUW provides more personal, timely, and relevant content matched to your affiliation with the University, reduces information overload, and provides easy access to key links, tools and information.

Make the switch by June 14, when the legacy MyUW will no longer be available. To ease this transition, the two versions (new and legacy MyUW) will be operated in parallel until June 13, so that you can make the switch when it’s convenient for you.

How do you know which version you’re using? If your MyUW banner says “Switch to the new MyUW!” that means you’re still on the legacy system. Switching is easy: Just click on the link. You can also click this link to automatically switch to the new version: http://my.uw.edu/choose/new.

Remember that bookmarks will not migrate automatically. If you have just a few bookmarks, try using the new Quick Links feature. Also, visit IT Connect for more MyUW information.

Register now for the UW TechConnect conference

Two people shaking hands in a conference roomEngage with more than two dozen speakers on some of the most pressing topics in IT and higher education at the fifth annual UW TechConnect conference on March 13. Topics include information security, data management, University IT strategy, accessibility, future workforce skills and more.

Featured speakers from EDUCAUSE and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and UW-IT Vice President and Chief Information Officer Aaron Powell are expected to discuss tough IT challenges and encourage professionals to work together to identify creative solutions.

The all-day conference offers IT professionals a chance to examine emerging trends, network, share ideas and learn how others are using IT solutions in a university setting. This year, conference organizers are encouraging participants to register early. Visit the TechConnect website to learn more about the speakers and to see the full schedule.

New service provides departments with secure, remote access to UW resources

Woman looking at her cellphone from remote locationThe new Husky OnNet service for departments provides secure access to restricted resources on the UW network for on- or off-campus users. The for-fee Husky OnNet-Department service can be configured to allow departmentally authorized users access into restricted departmental resources such as servers behind a departmental firewall or within a department’s private network address space.

It also allows departments to provide access to users who are not current faculty, students, staff, including external collaborators, retired faculty, former graduate students and authorized vendor partners.

Learn how your department can use and sign up for the Husky OnNet-Department service by visiting IT Connect. UW-IT already provides the free Husky OnNet service for current students, faculty and staff. The service supported more than 27,000 connections by more than 3,200 users during a recent month.

In brief:

    • Sign up for Azure cloud computing seminar: Learn how to work with big data, mixed reality and visual intelligence using cloud computing at an Azure University event on April 17 at the HUB. Two 90-minute sessions are tailored for UW faculty and students, so register now.
    • Workday reminder: All UW employees are now required to use Duo for two-factor authentication (2FA) when signing into Workday, not just when accessing personal information. The new requirement is a security enhancement to better protect UW employees’ sensitive information. Learn more about 2FA on IT Connect.
    • DO-IT gets new grant for accessible K-12 computing education: A new National Science Foundation grant focused on improving K-12 computing education for students with disabilities has been awarded to the DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology) Center and the UW Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering. The funding will allow the two organizations to continue their “AccessCSforAll” work that helps ensure computing courses are accessible to K-12 students who are blind, deaf or have reading-related disabilities. Read the full story.