July 2023 IT Leadership Team meeting update

At the July IT Leadership Team meeting, topics included the new GSAS course registration system, the Law School’s upgraded registration system, Balanced Scorecard updates, as well as a FY24 discussion, and more.

Launching an improved registration system for the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

The new course registration system was successfully launched in August 2022. It was prompted by the need to overhaul an older infrastructure with poor user experience and abundant data. The new self-service banner had three goals:

1. Eliminate the need for two separate systems, processes, and timelines for registrations for Yale College and graduate students.
2. To “future proof” the system for other schools to duplicate.
3. Simplify the faculty experience with the design of instructor permissions.

The goals were accomplished using “go-live war rooms, and agile framework, team standups, and sprints,” Kory Riddle stated. Both technical and functional teams collaborated in the development and testing phases of the project. Though there were lessons learned - the need for continuous improvements and an outlined change management plan- and ongoing challenges after the go-live date, the reactions from faculty and students were overwhelmingly positive, and the launch was deemed a success.

Evolving Law School’s custom application journey

Prompted by an extensive course catalog, and limited administrative functionality, the Law School upgraded its registration system to better the experience of both faculty and students. The old system required API data updates to ensure the addition of 400 courses for its 650 students. With over 4,000 course requests, the team uploaded 750 files to integrate multiple systems and create a more seamless experience. Challenges encountered were due to the data model’s complexity and the team’s lack of a prior project to serve as a project template.

The system launched with a June pilot of 400 students, with an inspired feature of full-text searches to allow students to expand courses. Heather Abbott stated, “Though the new implementation impacted day-to-day operations and required a steep learning curve, the school expects greater efficiencies in the future.”

Balanced Scorecard Updates and FY24 Discussion

There was a lively discussion on both topics. They acknowledged that the work on the FY23 initiatives was “in a good place,” with most no longer requiring coordination with the SLT and LTs. Progress includes:

• five fully completed initiatives
• two initiatives carrying over from FY23 to FY24
• four mature initiatives to be executed going forward by service owners

FY24 initiative owners provided updates on various goals and deliverables for their initiatives: 

• IT Engagement (formerly Communications and Conferences): A carryover initiative from FY23 that will put into action recommendations from two documents developed in FY23, one on insights for improving IT communications, and the second on activities and events to build engagement within the IT community at Yale.
• Landscape Analysis of AI (Artificial Intelligence): The objective is to “shape faculty and staff’s behavior and expectations” on using AI by “developing guidelines and recommendations” for the university. Ensuring technical procurement and setting privacy, legal, and information security standards for the university is a key priority.
• Software at Yale: This initiative will focus on developing a comprehensive catalog of software titles at Yale. The purpose is to create an accessible portal for faculty, students, and staff to quickly locate all available software titles.
• Job Family Redesign: A carryover initiative that is now set to extend the “shared practices around market-based equity and performance calibrations” to more of the Yale IT community, including C&T staff. The effort had previously applied only to M&P staff.
• IT Service Representation: This initiative ensures Yale community members can easily find, understand and request IT services. It is highly correlated with an FY23 initiative on customer-focused representation of services.

The next IT LT Meeting is scheduled for September 27, from 9-10:30 a.m.