UW-IT Insights – Spring 2015
eNewsletter sent May 14, 2015
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| A quarterly review of what UW-IT is delivering to the UW community
Contents: Waiver of F&A rate | Cyberinfrastructure Plan update | Network Infrastructure plan | MyUW Mobile updates | Husky Experience pilot project | MyPlan improvements | HR/P new timeline | In brief Facilities and Administrative rate now waived on UW-IT research storage, compute and contracted cloud services
The Facilities and Administrative (F&A) rate is being waived for these UW-IT services. This allows Principal Investigators (PIs) in a sponsored research program to choose the most appropriate solution to meet their computing needs, whether it be contracted cloud services, storage or compute services through UW-IT, or purchasing equipment directly, without having to consider the inclusion of indirect costs. Prior to this change, UW-IT services and contracted cloud services were not included in the waiver, resulting in artificially high costs for those solutions, especially when compared to purchasing equipment directly. Without these indirect costs, PIs now can purchase exactly what they need through UW-IT, with the ability to expand or shrink capacity on demand. This change includes the following benefits for researchers, PIs and the UW:
Although the F&A waiver will not be applied retroactively, all new charges on existing sponsored research will not be subject to the F&A rate. And new sponsored research proposals may exclude the F&A calculation for these costs. Cyberinfrastructure’s latest move: Bring computing superpower to more UW researchers
“We built a very capable system with Hyak, the University’s shared research computing cluster, and attracted major anchor users with large computational needs,” said Chance Reschke, UW-IT Director of Research Computing. “We want to make these same tools available to other UW researchers who may occasionally need to work with supercomputers to solve large problems.” Research scientist Pramod Gupta recently joined UW-IT to help expand consulting and outreach efforts. The goal is to provide broad-based education through courses and documentation, combined with targeted consulting, to enable UW researchers to make effective use of computational resources, no matter how big or small their needs, Reschke said. “When it comes to cyberinfrastructure, our job is to ensure access,” said Reschke, who recently won this year’s David B. Thorud Leadership Staff Award for his work in advancing UW-IT’s high performance computing resources for UW researchers. UW-IT seeks to help researchers identify the most appropriate computational resource, Reschke said. “We want an environment at the UW where access to computing resources is never an impediment to discovery.” UW plans for the future of IT network infrastructure
“Buildings don’t change but technology moves very fast,” said David Morton, UW-IT’s Mobile Communications Director, who is co-leading the initiative. New technological approaches to designing, building and managing network infrastructure offer an opportunity for increased efficiencies and performance at reduced costs. Through the initiative, UW will consider whether it should rethink the way buildings are wired and how technology is offered to campus in light of these changes, Morton said. Kicking off this spring, the year-long initiative will involve partners from across the University, including Capital Projects Office, UW Real Estate, Office of the University Architect, Housing & Food Services, the College of Arts & Sciences and UW-IT. Among the goals:
MyUW mobile introduces Relevant Events and other improvements
The feature is a direct response to student requests to see events pertinent to their interests, as expressed in previous surveys and user research. The feature integrates with UW’s event calendar system, Trumba, pulling event data from departmental calendars. Only calendars that run on Trumba can show events on MyUW mobile through this new integration. Departments that want to switch to Trumba can contact help@uw.edu for assistance. Other enhancements in the works include a new feature that links to library research guides, an integration with MyPlan that will show courses “ready to register,” and new information for graduate students that will provide an overview of their degree committee, leave requests and actionable notices. UW-IT also made recent accessibility improvements, including fixes to improve navigation with screen readers and other accessibility tools. Since its release in September 2014, MyUW mobile has experienced nearly a 90 percent increase in access. Husky Experience Initiative launches “Thrive” communications pilot
Thrive messages will raise awareness of key resources to help first-year students transition to the UW and get the most out of their experience here. The pilot supports the Husky Experience goal of providing transformative educational experiences—inside and outside the classroom. Published weekly on MyUW, the messages will encourage first-year students to explore campus, participate in co-curricular activities and connect with other students. The pilot was developed partly in response to research conducted by UW-IT that revealed challenges students face in participating in co-curricular opportunities, including a lack of information, time to participate and social connections. The Thrive pilot, a partnership of the Provost’s Office, First Year Programs, the Career Center, Undergraduate Advising, Residential Life and UW-IT, seeks to improve the way students receive information. MyPlan registration enhancements ready for fall students
HR/Payroll Modernization extends timeline to June 2016
The extended timeline to deliver the UW’s new Workday HR and payroll system provides additional time for change management, user engagement, and readiness activities, and helps project partners in the Medical Centers, HR Information Systems, the School of Medicine, and UW-IT address impacts on downstream systems. This work will be accomplished within the original project budget. The Configuration and Prototype phase continues into July, when the Test phase will commence, running through mid-May 2016. Campus engagement and participation will increase during this period and will include reviewing change impacts and Workday roles, and determining unit changes; participating in user acceptance testing and role-based training; and completing unit readiness activities and assessments. In brief:
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UW-IT research storage, compute and contracted cloud services are no longer subject to indirect costs for sponsored research expenditures.
Expanded consulting services and more tools for UW researchers who need to scale up their computational resources are now offered by UW-IT as part of a cyberinfrastructure plan to enhance support for research.
With major technological shifts under way, UW is launching an initiative to reevaluate its wired and wireless network infrastructure to make sure it will meet information technology needs far into the future.
Students can now see UW events relevant to their major in MyUW mobile thanks to a recent integration with departmental UW event calendars.
Starting fall quarter, first-year students will receive targeted, timely messages via MyUW as part of a pilot called Thrive, which supports the Husky Experience Initiative.
New students registering for fall quarter over the summer will have access to several significantly improved registration features in MyPlan that will be released May 31.
Following a decision earlier this year to maintain a semi-monthly pay frequency, the HR/P Executive Sponsors have decided to extend the project timeline by six months to go live on June 16, 2016. This decision comes after an in-depth analysis of impacts by the HR/Payroll Modernization team that included an assessment of business processes, design, configuration and integrations, training and change management, and other University and unit systems.