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Administrative and Enterprise Systems and Services (AESS) Campus Update

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OIT’s AESS group plans and implements secure, reliable, modern, and innovative technology solutions that support Rice’s business processes and advance the university’s enterprise functions. Randy Castiglioni, Associate Vice President, summarizes fall projects:

DegreeWorks Upgrade – A major upgrade to the Degree Works curriculum planning system was implemented. Key features of the upgraded system include a web interface for scripting degree requirements and the ability to extend degree requirements to other campus websites.

Hyperion Planning Budget System Upgrade – Hyperion Planning is the system used to create and manage the university’s budget. It is an Oracle product. A major technical upgrade was completed that improves the performance of certain features and also readies the system for future functional improvements from Oracle and the ability to deploy the system to the Oracle cloud.

Acquia Web Deployment – Campus websites continue to migrate to the Acquia cloud platform. Acquia is the company that provides the cloud hosting service for the Drupal content management system. Several sites were migrated over the fall including: Smalley Curl Website, Engineering, Doer Institute, Rice Quantum Institute, General Counsel, Scientia, Computer Science, Health Research, Unconventional Wisdom, Campus Emergencies, Economics, Data Science, and United Way. A major enhancement to the Acquia web platform was the integration with Rice directory information. This feature allows a website to be updated with the information contained in the Rice directory for an individual. This creates data consistency and eliminates the rekeying of information. Also, roles can be assigned with designations for faculty and staff.

PTO (Paid Time Off) Application – Over the fall AESS worked closely with the Human Resources office to develop a benefit time tracking and reporting system. The system allows employees to enter benefit time taken for the month and submit it to their supervisor for approval. It also provides a balance of the employees’ time. The application is a part of the Esther system and is currently being deployed to campus.

UG Application for Degree – The annual update to the Undergraduate Application for Degree went live August 1 that allows graduating seniors to make their application for their degree through Esther.

Outsourced Payment Processing – Over the fall AESS worked closely with the Controller’s Office to outsource check printing for vendor payments to Chase Bank. This arrangement streamlines the university’s check processing and provides vendors with the ability to use ACH processing in lieu of paper checks.

Visitor Project Phase 3 – The third phase of the Visitor Tracking System went live this fall. The Visitor Tracking System facilitates the registration and approval of visitors to the Rice campus and their access to Rice resources such as the library, information technology resources, and parking.

System Integration – Much of the work of AESS involves integration between systems. Over the fall work was done to provide data feeds and exchanges to the new SallyPortal system, CourseLeaf, and the Faculty and Researcher Information System (FARIS). SallyPortal is a professional development hub that allows Rice alumni and parents to connect with students and each other. CourseLeaf is the new course and classroom scheduling system. FARIS replaced FIS as the system that tenured and tenure-track faculty use to submit their Faculty Annual Reports.

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