As the 2022 fall semester wraps up, UIS would like to share some of the recently completed major upgrades. Teams worked for several weeks — and in some cases months — to prepare to bring PeopleTools, InfoEd and Tableau to new release levels with the goal of offering users greater stability (InfoEd), better navigation (PeopleTools) or new features (Tableau).

InfoEd upgrade

InfoEd completed an upgrade to improve the application’s daily stability, address bug fixes and enhance configuration tools. While the user interface did not change, annual upgrades like this one ensure applications are at their peak performance and reduce the number of support ticket requests. The project team would like to recognize a great collaborative effort from Jennifer Silverthorne and the eRA strategy team, Carlos Mennechey and the eRA delivery team, Cindy Kraft and Siegfried Appelt from the PMO, Tanya Scott, Patti Smith and Joshua Hernandez from the QA team, RyAnne Scott and Deirdre O. Keating for added support with our comms, Bradley Weidman and Scott Chalupa, and all the talented UIS staff who supported our mock cutover and go-live.

PeopleTools upgrade

In late October, PeopleTools upgraded with new features for HCM and Campus Solutions users. Both groups received customized guides and video tours for their specific upgrades that highlight the new homepage navigation options, global search bar, and enhancements to the NavBar.

The application was able to go live on time despite several unanticipated challenges, thanks to strong coordination by Siegfried Appelt, a focus on customers led by Jackie Hess and Matt Lemme, dedicated work by our HR IT and Student IT teams, robust QA testing by Sasi Sunkari and team, and contributions from Brad Baker, Robbie Wood, Bob Hasenhundl, Kim Sethre and the entire CU-SIS team.

Tableau upgrade

The Tableau server recently upgraded three environments, coordinating UAT and communications with campus partners. The upgrade introduces several new features:

Workbook Optimizer: Running the Workbook Optimizer before publishing will evaluate a workbook against best practices. Each suggestion explains the potential performance impact and what could change to align with recommendations.
New Search Experience: Results are now faster and ranked based on signals like text relevance, popularity and recency to ensure users find the data they need.
Ask Data Phrase Builder: This intuitive click-through workflow provides visual prompts and suggested actions to build queries (as phrases) with the fields and filters most relevant to the user.

Upgrades require a great deal of planning, coordination and collaboration across teams and with campus stakeholders. We are grateful to everyone who contributed to assessing, testing, customizing and implementing these upgrades.