ConnectCarolina Go-Live and Service Outages
June 30, 2009| In Service Notices, News, ITS AnnouncementsThe first of a series of “go-lives” for the ConnectCarolina project is currently scheduled to take place on July 20, 2009, when a portion of the University’s new integrated administrative system becomes available for end users. The initial impact of this go-live for much of the University community will be seen in the online campus directory.
Changes to the online campus directory include a redirect to a location in the new enterprise portal, called AccessCarolina, and a redesigned directory update account interface. Students and employees will also see minor changes in the directory search tools.
Behind the scenes, many people from Information Technology Services and ConnectCarolina teams have been working diligently to re-structure the University’s identity and person management systems and clean up data to allow PeopleSoft, the software on which the new administrative system is built, to become the canonical source for person data on campus.
Service Outages
The transition of the online campus directory will require some service outages. The following describes service outages that are currently scheduled to begin Tuesday, July 14 at 5 p.m. and end Monday, July 20 at 8 a.m.:
- Account updates to information in the online campus directory will be disabled. Users will still be able to perform searches in the directory during the outage. When the system returns to full operation on July 20, the online campus directory will be in its new location in the AccessCarolina portal.
- Campus users will not be able to update phone numbers for the AlertCarolina notification system. NOTE: This service outage will not impact the ability for AlertCarolina notifications to be sent to numbers already in the system as of July 14.
- The ability to create new PIDs and ONYENs will be disabled; consequently, hiring that requires creation of a new PID cannot take place during this service outage. ONYEN passwords can still be changed during the outage. When the outage ends, PIDs and ONYENs will be created through the same processes as before the service outage.
AccessCarolina Portal
With this go-live, the portal, a web-based front-end access to PeopleSoft and other enterprise applications, will be the place for current students, faculty and staff to use the online campus directory; prospective students will also use the portal to access the admissions functionality beginning in August 2009. Over time, more functionality will be added to the AccessCarolina portal as it replaces legacy systems including Applicant Central, Student Central and Faculty/Staff Central.
As of July 20, visitors to http://directory.unc.edu will be redirected to AccessCarolina to use the new online campus directory. Basic and advanced directory search features are available to all visitors, while those wishing to update their accounts must log in with a valid Onyen and password.
Directory Update Account
Users will find slight changes in the directory "Update Account" screen including:
- Additional address fields are available to students and employees.
- Individuals may provide several types of phone numbers as part of their directory profile.
- Students will not be able to make their information completely private (known as invoking FERPA) through the directory or through Student Central; students wanting to utilize this privacy option must contact the University registrar to confirm they understand the ramifications of invoking FERPA.
- Employees’ position data will appear within the results of a directory search, however, employees will not see their employment or position information appear on the “Update Account” screen. As is the current process, changes to employment information must be made through the human resources facilitator or a representative within the employee’s department.
- Hospital employees will no longer be included in the online campus directory.
Visit connectcarolina.unc.edu for detailed explanations of these changes.
Directory Search
Following the move into AccessCarolina, the online campus directory search function will remain relatively the same. Users will still have the ability to search for a name using either the “quick” search box or they can choose to populate additional fields for an “advanced search.” On the directory screen in the portal, these two search types appear as tabs: Search and Adv (advanced).
Search results will appear as either a List (the typical default view when multiple results match the search criteria) or as a single Details result (the typical default view when only one result is presented). From the List view, a user may select a name to view the Details for that entry.
While the campus directory search features will be available to the public in a guest view in the portal, users who wish to access full directory features, for example obtain a large quantity of names for viewing, printing, or downloading, will be required to log in using a valid Onyen and password.
What’s Next?
The ConnectCarolina project continues with the launch of a new online application for undergraduate admissions in August 2009 and the roll-out of new student systems continues through October 2010. New HR, Payroll and Finance systems based on PeopleSoft will be developed and implemented over the next several years, giving the University a fully-integrated administrative system.
Visit connectcarolina.unc.edu for more information on the July 20 go-live and upcoming ConnectCarolina implementations.
