The Visitor Task Force testing software in March.
Visitors add value to the Rice community by filling vital roles. While visitors are important, Rice must also be cognizant of liabilities associated with having them on campus. To manage these liabilities, Rice has adopted a series of formal registration processes and operating procedures to regulate how the university extends privileges to long-term visitors who need a Rice ID card, campus parking sticker, building/lab access, or IT services.
The Rice Visitor Project is a collaboration of multiple departments across the campus, led by Renee Block, Director for Risk Management, and Arnaud Chevallier, Associate Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Graduate Studies. Representatives have been working on an acceptable process since 2011. Under the direction of Paula Sanders and Kevin Kirby, the collaborating departments include OSR, Research Compliance, HR, EH&S, General Counsel, OISS, IT, Administrative Systems, Engineering and Natural Sciences.
- The sponsor and visitor complete an electronic application, which is then vetted by a one-over approver and then evaluation by the campus approving authorities. When a visitor request is approved, Banner notifies downstream privilege providers, and privileges are activated at the given start date. IT’s team built the web interface and approval work flow. Administrative systems updated the Banner system and worked with the service providers. Thus far, the process for visitors service providers is in production. The process for academic visitors is in discussion.