September 2022 IT Highlights

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discover.maine.edu for Non-Credit Registration

Several departments across the UMS have partnered with the vendor Course Merchant to pilot an e-commerce solution for non-credit course registration. Course offerings from UMaine Cooperative Extension, Maine Law, the Maine Business School, and the UMS Micro-Credential Initiative are included in the pilot, which launched earlier this month. discover.maine.edu includes a storefront where learners can browse available courses, register for them using either a maine.edu or non-maine.edu email address, make payment, and be auto-enrolled in the course in Brightspace.

(Content for this article was provided by the Course Merchant Implementation Team)

Multi-Factor Authentication

Screen shot of second screen that appears after initial UMS login. Asks to choose an authentication method. Duo Push or Passcode. Select Send Me a Push or Enter a Passcode.

Multi-Factor Authentication helps protect the intellectual property and personal information of faculty, staff, and the digital assets of our campus.

MFA verifies that the person attempting to access your account is really you! To do this, MFA requires you to provide confirmation using something you have in your possession – such as a mobile device that has been enrolled in MFA, in addition to something that you know – your current UMS login and password.  This significantly reduces the probability that an unauthorized person will gain access to your account.

Over 750 account holders are successfully using MFA during their logins each week to protect their accounts. Some of the feedback that we have received:

  • Enrollment Process:
    • “Thought it was very simple and the instructions were clear and easy to follow”
    • “Pretty simple process, not much that could be done to make it easier.”
    • “Instructions were thorough and not difficult.”
  • Daily Use of MFA:
    • “Using the mobile app is fast, easy, and only a small extra step to authenticate each day.”
    • “The process is easy, just pushing the approve button.”
    • “Duo App works very well on [my smart device].  Enter credentials, respond to [device] notice for MFA, and voilà – logged in.”

All faculty and staff are currently eligible to enroll in MFA. If you regularly access sensitive data – including human resources, student records, or financial information – we encourage you to participate in this pilot.

To enroll, please complete this Google form.

After your form is submitted and processed, you will receive an email from accounts@maine.edu with information about the next steps to complete your enrollment. Depending on the number of responses, there may be a delay between the submission of the form and the receipt of the email.

If you have additional questions about MFA and how it is being implemented, please explore these articles in our Knowledge Base or contact the IT Help Desk.

(Content for this article was provided by the MFA Core Implementation Team)

Repaving MaineStreet

The Repaving MaineStreet initiative consists of projects to transition the MaineStreet HR and Financials systems to Oracle cloud platforms and a reimplementation of MaineStreet Campus Solutions, our student information system.

The initiative is designed to:

  • improve the MaineStreet experience for students, faculty, and staff via mobile-friendly and easily accessible self-service functionality.
  • adopt best practices for process improvement and standardization by leveraging delivered platform functionality and workflow automation.
  • provide greater data consistency across modules resulting in improved process efficiency and expanded opportunities for inter-campus collaboration.
  • minimize the need for individual third-party systems and enhanced data integration between critical systems.

ERP Analysts (ERPA) and its sub-contractor Drivestream were selected to serve as our Implementation Partners during all phases of the Repaving MaineStreet initiative.

Oracle HCM & ERP Cloud Implementations

These projects kicked off in June 2022 and are split into three phases.

  • Phase One – HireTouch, the current UMS employee applicant tracking platform, will be sunsetted at the end of June 2023. For that reason, it was decided to expedite the implementation of the Oracle HCM Cloud Recruiting module with a target go-live of early May 2023.
  • Phase Two – Implement Oracle HCM (remaining modules) and ERP Cloud platforms. Go-live is targeted for January 2024.
  • Phase Three – Implement Oracle Cloud EPM (Enterprise Performance Management) module.  Go-live is targeted for January 2024.

A high-level view of the overall timeline is represented below:

Image of timeline running from 4/22 through 2/24. 1st phase runs for 11 months starting 6/22; 2nd phase runs 10 months starting 6/22 and 3rd phase runs 10 months starting 3/23.

The Oracle HCM & ERP project teams are completing Interactive Requirements and Design Workshops (IRDW) with representatives from all areas of HR and Finance. These workshops will help inform the design of the Oracle Cloud platforms and related business processes.

Campus Solutions Reimplementation

This project is currently in the analysis and discovery phase, which will inform the overall project approach and timeline.

Discovery sessions with representatives from student administrative functional areas, faculty, and students will be conducted from mid-October through mid-December.

The project will formally kick off following the analysis and discovery phase at which time the project timeline will be presented.

Upcoming Overall Repaving MaineStreet Milestones

  • Mid-October: David Demers, UMS CIO, will visit each campus to provide an overview of the Repaving Initiative and other IT initiatives.
  • Mid-October thru Mid-December: Campus Solutions Discovery sessions with representatives from student administrative functional areas, faculty, and students.
  • October 31 – November1: Initial review of the Oracle Cloud Recruiting module in a test environment.

(Content for this article was provided by the Repaving MaineStreet Implementation teams )

UMaine Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center

The grand opening of the new E. James and Eileen P. Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center (Ferland EEDC) building located on the University of Maine campus took place on August 24, 2022, and is considered to be “the largest project of its kind in UMaine history.”.  The 115,00 square foot building will contain state-of-the-art audiovisual/classroom technology systems.  The technology project totaling roughly $1.4 million includes six active learning spaces, twelve team meeting rooms, seven conference/seminar rooms, several technology-enhanced teaching labs, a student commons spanning the first and second floor, digital wayfinding, and a Welcome Center that is the focal point for campus-wide STEM outreach.

The building includes several new technical solutions.

  • New wireless screen sharing devices, ScreenBeam, allows faculty and students to display content from laptops and mobile devices through Miracast or Airplay.
  • Room scheduling devices, Extron, are located throughout the building.  The devices:
    • Allow faculty, staff, and students to view the schedule for the classrooms
    • View and schedule on the device the team meetings and conference rooms
  • Occupancy sensors in the team meeting rooms will be released for scheduling any room that remains unoccupied for 15 minutes with the start time.
  • Interactive kiosks for building wayfinding are located on the main street of the first floor
  • AV over IP system backbone
    • The back-end equipment (amplifiers, switches, encoders, wireless screen sharing devices) is located in a closet on each floor.  This removes the need for free-standing racks in the room.
    • All content devices’ video/audio can be sent to all displays.  This allows rooms in the building to serve as breakout spaces for each other.
    • Single cable type for all devices (Cat6)

Due to unprecedented manufacturing and supply chain issues caused by the COVID pandemic and other global events, the equipment and systems have not been fully installed.  The Classroom Technology team worked closely with the install vendor and the stakeholders to accommodate the top priority of presentation functionality for the classrooms.  The audiovisual/classroom technology systems will be fully installed and operational by the start of the Spring semester.

(Content for this article was provided by Angela Cook, Director of Academic Technology)