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Archives: Service News

News content type for use by UW-IT Services on IT Connect

EWS EVAL Release 8 is now available

Enterprise Web Services (EWS) has just released an update in EVAL for multiple web services in support of UW Finance Transformation (UWFT). For an overview of how EWS is adapting to support UWFT, refer to EWS for Finance Transformation.

Monthly Scheduled Releases

Updates to EVAL for all EWS services are now released on the same monthly schedule. This allows us to better synchronize with Enterprise Data Platform’s release schedule for Finance Transformation. For more information, refer to the Data Availability Timeline.

What’s New in EWS Release 8

Web Service

Overview of Release
FWS v2 (Outbound)
  • Several existing fields and resources have been updated.
  • Some endpoints have been removed per FT Functional team recommendation.
  • Several new fields have been added.
  • Some breaking changes were introduced.
  • Minor bug fixes.

For more information, refer to FWS v2 Outbound R8 Release Notes. For support, refer to Support | FWS.
FWS v2 (Inbound)
  • Validate Worktags is a new resource now available from FWS Inbound.
  • Submission ID type used by FWS Inbound updated to ULID.

For more information, refer to FWS v2 Inbound R8 Release Notes. For support, refer to Support | FWS.
PWS v2 There are no changes planned for PWS v2 for FT, however, we are now providing an instance in EVAL pointing to Workday Tenant UW13 to support FT development and testing.

For support, refer to PWS Support Information.

Spring 2022 Content Manager Update

Hello IT Connect Content Managers,

This is the Spring 2022 edition of the quarterly IT Connect Content Manager Update.

In This Issue 

  • IT Connect UX Enhancements project update
  • Prepare for a caontent freeze this summer
  • Web content best practices: Retiring and archiving content

WHAT’S NEW?

IT Connect UX Enhancements project update

The project to overhaul IT Connect so that it better serves its users is wrapping up a series of user research efforts and using data from the research to shape the direction and design of the website. The goal behind the new IT Connect is to present clearly organized content so that the UW community can more easily find technology information and IT-related tools and services, with the site better reflecting the current state of technology at the UW.

From user research, the project team created a new information architecture, the organization, structure and labeling of content, with the content organized where users would expect to find content. Next, a prototype of the new site based on the new information architecture is being created to validate the information design of the new IT Connect through user testing. A leaner homepage and emphasis on search will also be a part of the prototype.

A high-level wireframe schematic that summarizes the structural changes of the site is available here.

The new IT Connect will incorporate content from the UW-IT organizational site (uw.edu/uwit) to create a single website for information for the UW from UW-IT. The organizational website has information about UW-IT’s divisions and units, IT governance, jobs and more. Data from user research and Google Analytics show that users searching for IT information have been confused about which site to use. This effectively put IT Connect and uw.edu/uwit in competition with one another, which will be resolved by streamlining content into a single site.

In the coming months, as decisions are finalized, more information about the specific changes coming to IT Connect will be shared with content producers, service owners/managers, and all of UW-IT. This will include information about how content will be organized on the site, and where the content you manage will be moved.

Prepare for a content freeze this summer

A key part of the IT Connect UX Enhancements Project’s is to determine how content on IT Connect can be organized so that students, faculty and staff can more easily find content, and content is organized in a clear and unambiguous way. The end result of this research will be a complete reorganization of the site’s content into the new information architecture (the organization, structure and labeling of content). 

Implementation of this new content organization will require a two-to-four week freeze on content edits on the live site. This will allow for the live site content to be duplicated on a staging server, so that it can be reorganized into the new schema before the new site goes live.

During this content freeze, your ability to add, edit and remove content on IT Connect will be temporarily removed to ensure no data is lost. Because when the site is switched over to the new IT Connect, it will use the content database for the staging server. 

While the exact dates of this content freeze are not yet known, they will be communicated well ahead of the content freeze with all content producers and service owners and managers. 

If there is an urgent need to change content after the content freeze goes into effect, then the exception will need to be approved and coordinated with the project team. This is to ensure that the content changes can also be implemented on the staging server and persist after the cutover to the new site.

Web content best practices: Have a retirement plan for content

The content on a documentation website like IT Connect changes and grows over time. But specific content on a website is rarely forever useful to end-users. If resources like news or updates are dated or if tools and services evolve or are deprecated, content owners should evaluate whether or not the content should be retired and removed from IT Connect.

If you want to save content that is no longer relevant to end users, your service or product team should create a repository for that archived content outside of IT Connect. Some content repository tools allow you to archive content within the same tool where you publish it, which is fine so long as it’s not accessible to any end users. Documentation should be saved with other service-related materials according to the UW’s records retention policies and the University’s archiving practice.

Removing outdated content from websites reduces the clutter that users have to sift through in search results and navigation menus, and makes a website as a whole more usable.

DOCUMENTATION, TRAINING & CONSULTATIONS

Do you need some help creating IT Connect content, another head to brainstorm content organization and layout, or want to learn how to use the features available in IT Connect? There’s several ways to get help:

  • Training: One-on-one training for managing content on IT Connect is available from the IT Connect product manager, Nick Rohde, over Zoom or in person (once normal operations continue after the coronavirus pandemic). Get tips on correctly formatting content using the tools in IT Connect or learn how to organize your content. To arrange training, send an email to help@uw.edu with IT Connect Training in the subject line.
  • Consultation: Consultation sessions for individuals or teams are available from the IT Connect product manager, Nick Rohde. Send an email to help@uw.edu with IT Connect Consultation in the subject line to schedule a consultation.

 

New CoreData Database provides a standard set of country names, abbreviations, and codes

Prior to 2021, the UW lacked a uniform list of countries from which to perform reporting and data analysis. This caused difficulty in providing consistent data and information across the enterprise and led to calls for a universal standard. In response to this need, the UW’s Data Governance Operational Committee published the UW Country Code Standard.

In partnership with the UW’s Data Governance (DG) Operational Committee and Office of Global Affairs, the Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) has introduced the CoreData Database to help departments across the University adhere to this standard set of country names, abbreviations, and codes. 

Who should use the CoreData Database?

The CoreData Database can be used by anybody who has access to the Enterprise Data Warehouse and would like to look up the most recent country names, abbreviations or codes.

About the data

The CoreData Database has adopted the Geopolitical Entities, Names, and Codes Standard (GENC) for country names, abbreviations, and codes standard. Country names in the CoreData Database reflect unaltered GENC country names used and maintained by the U.S. government (National System for Geospatial-Intelligence “NSG” Standards Registry). The GENC Standard is the U.S. government profile for representation of names of countries and their subdivisions/territories. It specifies an authoritative set of country names, abbreviations, and codes for use by the Federal Government. The Standard complies with U.S. law and U.S. government recognition policy. 

Support

UW Country Names and Codes Report

We are happy to announce that you can now access a UW-approved list of country names and codes in a single report! The UW Country Names and Codes report can be accessed on BI Portal.

 

What is the UW Country Names and Codes report?

The University of Washington’s impact is broad and truly global, with projects and partnerships in more than 130 countries, as well as students and alumni who engage in nearly 200 countries.

Previously, the country names list used in various units across campus has not been consistent, causing problems when merging data. Over the past several years, the Office of Global Affairs, in partnership with University Advancement and UW-IT, consulted with units and stakeholders from around campus to develop a proposal for standardizing a list of country codes. The Data Governance Steering, and Operational Committees, have approved Geopolitical Entities, Names, and Codes (GENC) as the UW country names and codes standard. This standard meets U.S. government requirements and has been approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. View UW’s Country Code Policy for more information. 

The UW Country Names and Codes report lists the most up-to-date list of country names and codes using the Geopolitical Entities, Names, and Codes standard. Included are: 

  • Short name of the country name
  • The two and three-letter abbreviations for the country name
  • The year in which the GENC list was updated by the Country Codes Working Group (CCWG), which is a centralized body for U.S. government activities to request new country code elements.

Who should use this report?

This report can be used by anybody who has access to the Enterprise Data Warehouse and would like to look up the most recent country name.

Using the report

  • Map: Click on the map to view the country name. Notice you will see additional information about the country in the tooltip.
  • Search: Type in the name of the country in the search box. Press ‘Enter’ and the report will return matching results
  • Table: View the full list of countries by scrolling through the table. The list of countries is in alphabetical order, by default.

Additional resources

 The links below provide additional information about topics related to this report:

If you have questions or are having issues accessing the UW Country Names and Codes report, please submit a ticket to help@uw.edu with the following subject line: “BI Team: UW Country Names and Codes.”

FWS v2 EVAL Release 7 is now available

Enterprise Web Services has just released an update for FWS v2 EVAL to support UW Finance Transformation.

Change Summary:

  • Several existing fields and resources have been updated.
  • Several new fields have been added.
  • Some breaking changes were introduced.
  • Minor bug fixes.

See our FWS v2 R7 Release Notes for a complete list of new features, changes, and bug fixes.

Additional resources, including a ‘Getting Started Guide’ to support your evaluation, are available on our FWS for Finance Transformation Support page.

We have already started working on Release 8, scheduled for 4/28/22. Bookmark the Planned FWS Reference Data (Outbound) – Release 8  page to watch our progress. When you see a change item move to “Ready for Review” or “Done” before the release date, this will indicate that a change is available in DEV. You can also use this page to monitor upcoming breaking changes so there are no surprises!

Support:

  • Please submit support requests to fws-support@uw.edu with ‘FWS v2 EVAL’ in the subject line.
  • Subscribe to fws-ft-users to stay current on upcoming deployments and changes.
  • Subscribe to the FWS for Finance Transformation Support page; we will be adding new resources to this page periodically.
  • We will support questions related to e.g. missing data, data structure, access/connection issues, and adding access for additional NetIds or Applications.
  • For questions regarding data quality please contact UWFT at uwftask@uw.edu.

Changes coming to UW Office 365 for UW NetIDs granted access using the Provisioning Request Tool

A version of this message was sent to UW employees who have granted access to UW Office 365 using the Provisioning Request Tool on March 17, 2022.

What is happening?

Effective September 6, 2022, UW NetIDs provisioned for UW Office 365 using the Provisioning Request Tool (PRT) will receive the UW Microsoft Standard service level. As the person who has granted access to UW Office 365 for UW NetID accounts listed at the bottom of this email, you must act before September 6, 2022, if the person/UW NetID using the service needs more functionality than the Standard service level. If so, you will be able to request an upgrade to the Advanced service level.

Learn more about the features available in the Standard service level and compare the service levels.

We are alerting you to these changes now in case they impact your budget planning.

What do I need to do?

  1. Review the list of UW NetIDs that you have provisioned for UW Office 365 at the end of this message. As of today, these are the UW NetIDs that will receive the Standard service level.
  2. Determine which UW NetIDs, if any, you would like to upgrade to the UW Microsoft Advanced service level.

Why do I need to do this?

Currently, the vast majority of UW NetIDs using UW Office 365 have the same service level – the UW Microsoft Transitional service level. Beginning in September 2022, the UW will provide three different service levels for UW Office 365. Populations will generally be assigned to Student or Advanced service levels, with some populations moving to the Standard service level.

What are the different UW Microsoft service levels?

Service Level Population
UW Microsoft Advanced service level UW Faculty and Staff

UW Medicine

UW Emeritus Faculty
UW Microsoft Student service level  UW Students
UW Microsoft Standard service level Individuals who have been granted access to UW Office 365 via the Provision Request Tool

Learn more about:

When can I purchase an upgrade?

If you would like to increase the service level for one or more UW NetIDs, you will be able to purchase the UW Microsoft Advanced service level starting July 1, 2022.

The Advanced service level will cost $110/year per UW NetID to implement and will require Workday worktags to purchase.

We will send additional emails when we have more information to share with you about the purchase process. We are notifying you now so you can begin planning and reviewing the potential impacts of these changes to your department budgets.

Please note that the list of UW NetIDs is current as of today. We will send an updated list of affected UW NetIDs closer to July, when you can purchase an upgrade, if necessary.

What happens if I don’t take action?

Effective September 6, 2022, UW NetIDs provisioned for UW Office 365 using the Provisioning Request Tool (PRT) will receive the UW Microsoft Standard service level.

Questions?

Please contact the UW-IT Technology Service Center at help@uw.edu or 206-221-5000 with questions.

Major changes coming to UW Google

A version of this message was sent to all users of UW Google on June 8, 2021

Google recently announced several significant changes to their Google Workspace for Education product and how it is licensed. These changes will have major implications for UW-IT’s ability to provide UW Google (aka Google Workspace, formerly known as Google G Suite and Google Apps) to the UW. Although this situation is still unfolding and many details remain undetermined, we want UW Google users to be aware of the impact we face due to Google’s altered business model and what UW-IT is doing to respond.

These changes to UW Google services will include:

  • Limiting the use of UW NetIDs with UW Google services to only personal (individual) UW NetIDs. The use of Shared UW NetIDs (such as those used for department, course, student activity office accounts) with UW Google services will be discontinued.
  • UW-IT’s ability to provide UW Google Shared Drives (aka Google Team Drives) will be significantly limited and will likely necessitate the migration of data to alternate storage solutions or tools.

In addition to the above changes, we anticipate significant storage limitations for accounts associated with personal UW NetIDs. Because conversations among Google, multiple peer institutions, and Internet2 (representing hundreds of higher education institutions) are currently ongoing, the exact parameters are still being determined.

Timeline

At this point, the only known deadline is August 25, 2021. On that date:

  • The ability to create new UW Google accounts for Shared UW NetIDs will be disabled.
  • The ability to create new UW Google Shared Drives will be disabled.

Please note that the above changes are the first in a series of changes to the use of UW Google. Changes will also impact UW Google accounts associated with personal UW NetIDs. As negotiations among the UW, Google, peer institutions, and Internet2 yield additional actionable details, UW-IT will communicate with the UW community.

Planned communications to the UW community

We are communicating with you because you have a UW NetID associated with a UW Google account and because we want you to be aware of these changes and what UW-IT is doing to address them. In addition, we will publish articles in campus newsletters and hold Q&A events for the UW community.

As details and timelines — in particular, regarding storage limits and shared drives — are clarified, we will send call-to-action notices to affected individuals with specific guidance on how to mitigate impact to their use of UW Google services.

When known, specific limits, timelines, and guidance for migrating data will also be published on IT Connect. In the meantime, we encourage people who want to begin exploring alternate solutions to review these options for online storage.

Lastly, we want to acknowledge that news of yet another disruptive change, coming on the heels of a year fraught with multiple stressors, is far from welcome. But we believe in the resilience of the UW community and its ability to respond with patience, fortitude, and a spirit of collaboration.

Questions

Please contact the UW-IT Technology Service Center at help@uw.edu or 206-221-5000 with questions about the UW Google Changes Project.

Use of UW Google with Shared UW NetIDs ends August 29, 2023

A version of this message was sent to owners and administrators of Shared UW NetIDs with a UW Google account on March 15, 2022. Messages included a customized list of Shared UW NetIDs, owned or administered by the recipient, associated with UW Google services. 

Due to changes to the UW Google service, the use of UW Google with Shared UW NetIDs will be eliminated, effective August 29, 2023 (revised from original date of September 5, 2023). The UW Google service includes YouTube, among other frequently used tools. Owners and administrators of Shared UW NetIDs with UW Google service accounts must migrate data from these services or delete data that is no longer needed (according to the UW Records Retention schedule and the UW Medicine Records Retention schedule).

Any data that is not removed from these services will be deleted after August 29, 2023.

Please note that Shared UW NetIDs are not being deleted; only UW Google accounts and services for Shared UW NetIDs are being deleted.

What is happening?

In 2021, Google announced significant changes to their Google Workspace for Education product and how it is licensed. These changes, detailed on IT Connect, have major implications for UW-IT’s ability to provide UW Google (aka Google Workspace for Education, formerly known as G Suite and Google Apps) to the UW.

Google now considers the use of Shared UW NetIDs — widely used to support teaching, student activities, research, public outreach and business processes across the UW and with external partners — a violation of its Acceptable Use Policy and will be prohibiting their use. To comply with Google’s new requirements, the UW must discontinue the use of UW Google with Shared UW NetIDs.

As a first step toward compliance with Google’s new requirements, UW-IT discontinued the creation of new UW Google accounts for Shared UW NetIDs in August 2021. Owners and administrators of Shared UW NetIDs with existing UW Google accounts should begin planning to migrate data from these accounts.

What do I need to do?

  1. At the end of this message, review the lists of Shared UW NetIDs that you own or administer.
  2. Create a migration plan for email, files and business processes that must be retained.
  3. Review alternatives to UW Google for Shared UW NetIDs.

If the UW Google account is no longer needed, the owner should revoke access to UW Google services for the account using the Provisioning Request Tool (PRT). This will delete the UW Google account and data.

Is it possible to pay to keep services associated with Shared UW NetIDs?

No, it is not possible. The removal of Shared UW NetIDs from use with Google services is driven by the requirement to comply with Google’s new terms of service, which define the use of Shared UW NetIDs as a violation of Google’s acceptable use policy.

When do I need to migrate my data?

All data that needs to be preserved in UW Google accounts for Shared UW NetIDs must be moved to a new location by August 29, 2023. All UW Google accounts and data for Shared UW NetIDs will be deleted after that date.

UW-IT recommends that you begin work now to create a data migration plan.

Can UW-IT help me migrate my data?

Unfortunately, due to limited resources, UW-IT is unable to offer individualized data migration consulting or assistance. Your department’s IT group is your best resource for assistance and recommendations.

Review alternatives to UW Google for Shared UW NetIDs and guides for data migration.

Can I stop receiving these reminders?

You will receive periodic reminders about moving content from the affected UW Google accounts. If you prefer not to receive these messages, the owner of a Shared UW NetID can delete the UW Google account for a Shared UW NetID using the Provisioning Request Tool (PRT) by clicking “Revoke” next to the service. This will delete the UW Google account and all data.

Please note that only an owner of a Shared UW NetID will see it listed in the PRT and can act; Shared UW NetID admins will not see the Shared UW NetID listed in the PRT and cannot perform this action.

Questions?

Please contact the UW-IT Technology Service Center at help@uw.edu or 206-221-5000 with questions about the UW Google Changes Project.

FWS v2 EVAL Release 6 is now available

Enterprise Web Services has just released an update for FWS v2 EVAL to support UW Finance Transformation.

Change Summary:

  • Several new resources and fields have been added.
  • All resources that allow search by ’changed_since_date’ now allow searching by Date and Time. Previously, only a Date search was supported.
  • Some breaking changes were introduced.
  • Minor bug fixes.

See our FWS v2 R6 Release Notes for a complete list of new features, changes, and bug fixes.

Additional resources, including a ‘Getting Started Guide’ to support your evaluation, are available on our FWS for Finance Transformation Support page.

We have already started working on Release 7, scheduled for 3/31/22.  Bookmark the Planned FWS Reference Data (Outbound) – Release 7  page to watch our progress. When you see a change item move to “Ready for Review” or “Done” before the release date, this will indicate that a change is available in DEV. You can also use this page to monitor upcoming breaking changes so there are no surprises!

Support:

  • Please submit support requests to fws-support@uw.edu with ‘FWS v2 EVAL’ in the subject line.
  • Subscribe to fws-ft-users to stay current on upcoming deployments and changes.
  • Subscribe to the FWS for Finance Transformation Support page; we will be adding new resources to this page periodically.
  • We will support questions related to e.g. missing data, data structure, access/connection issues, and adding access for additional NetIds or Applications.

For questions regarding data quality please contact UWFT at uwftask@uw.edu. 

RPG Release: Updated Departmental GPA calculation on several reports

Based on this user feedback, the Report Prioritization Group released several important and timely updates to the BI Portal reports:

In this news story, we provide a summary of the changes. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write help@uw.edu and put “BI Portal Report Question: Departmental GPA” in the subject line.

Change Summary

This release includes 2 major updates:

  1. Major Departmental GPA logic has been updated in the following reports. Before the fix, three reports were inconsistently displaying the correct Departmental GPA for a given major:
    1. Student Grade Report by Course
    2. Student Grade Report by Major 
    3. Student Degree Information
  2. Major Departmental GPA was added to the other two reports:

    1. Undergraduates Eligible to Register.
    2. Current Student Information

This new field can be accessed from the ‘Columns to Display’ drop-down filter:

Once the Departmental GPA column is selected from the list of filter values, the report will display the Departmental GPA for each Major:

  • Major Departmental GPA is generated from transcript courses taken and is sourced from the previous quarters for each student. Only courses taken that are in the same department as the student’s major are counted; e.g., all GEOG courses for a GEOG major, or for a History major all courses offered by the History department (even though History has multiple curriculum abbreviations).

Questions and Feedback:

This report references important institutional concepts like “Major Departmental GPA”,  and many others. If you have questions about the meaning of these or any other terms, please explore the links or find more detail in the Knowledge Navigator.

As always, if you have any questions, please write help@uw.edu and put “BI Portal Report Question: Departmental GPA” in the subject line.