Project Updates

Student Registration for Fall 2009 in TitanConnect

[03/16/09]  Students may begin to use the new TitanConnect Portal and TitanConnect Self-Service option to register for courses.  Access is available 24 hours a day - everyday.

TitanConnect Portal Upgraded to Parallel Domain Environment with Load Balancing

[03/07/09]  The TitanConnect Portal has been rebuild using a parallel domain configuration with a high-availability load balancing solution in front of it.  Load balancing for the TitanConnect INB/SSB is occurring using Oracle's internal solution.  

TitanConnect Catalog and Schedule go live

[02/21/09]  Final touches are in and the new catalog and schedule for the upcoming 2009-2010 are now online and available for public access using the TitanConnect SSB solution.

TitanConnect Admissions +5 to go live November 6, 2008  

 [11/6/08]  The Admissions offices of the University opened up online applications for processing in the TitanConnect environment.

TitanConnect HR to go live August 15, 2008

[8/15/08]  The Human Resource team is pleased to announce that we have successfully completed the launch of our new payroll system through Banner!  The first checks from the new system will be distributed this Friday, August 15, 2008.

Open Forum Project Update

TitanConnect Portal and E-Mail Preview Sessions and Conversion Sign Up

[5/8/08]  One of the most exciting components of the TitanConnect Enterprise system is the new integrated e-mail and portal solution.  At UDM, the TitanConnect portal will eventually be the one single sign-on solution we intend to offer all IT related services through.  The portal will be your launch pad into Banner, the e-mail system, a University-wide calendar and ultimately all other IT solutions.  The first application to be made available through the portal is the new e-mail system.

Before many leave for the summer, ITS would like to offer several quick preview sessions to see the portal and e-mail environment.

Sessions will be held in Life Sciences Room 115 at 1:30 pm and run approximately 30 minutes.  The dates of the sessions are listed below:

Friday, May 9 (tomorrow)

Wednesday, May 14

Thursday, May 15

At the sessions, anyone interested in migrating to the new e-mail system may complete and submit on-the-spot the conversion request form (which is also available at http://it.udmercy.edu/forms/index.htm).  Conversions will take place throughout the summer with the goal to have all Communicate users on the new e-mail system by September 1, 2008.  Existing Exchange users will remain in the Exchange environment.  A brief discussion on the conversion process will be shared as well at the preview sessions.

Dates and times for sessions at the Corktown and Riverfront campuses will be announced in the near future.

For those interested in seeing the new portal page, please visit http://tc.udmercy.edu.  IE users may need to click through the security warning to see the page.

For those interested in hands-on training, a number of sessions will be announced in the next week for sessions during the summer and sessions after Convocation Week.

Users will be happy to know that new features will include spell checking, rule processing and calendar integration.

Student e-mail accounts will also move into the new environment.  Details of timing and conversion will be announced at a later date.

For the sixty users who participated in the beta-test, we would like to thank you for your service.  The findings of the beta-test team were most helpful in identifying issues to be resolved and issues that we need to provide workarounds.

Updated Calendar Now Online

[4/11/08]  Please see the training section for the updated calendar.

New E-Mail and Portal goes to Beta-Test

[11/30/07]  One of the very exciting features of the TitanConnect enterprise system will be a new e-mail solution and web-based portal environment.  The portal will be the “home page” for all TitanConnect users and provide single sign-on capability to all of the features of the system.

ITS has spent the past several months setting up the portal and e-mail components of the enterprise project and has successfully completed an internal alpha-testing phase.  Alpha-testing took place during the past six weeks and included ten ITS users.  Now, ITS has invited specific individual users to further test the implementation before it is officially live.

There is no defined end-date for testing at this time.  After several weeks of beta-test usage and clear resolution or acceptance of any known issues, ITS will announce an end-date and then start to schedule the move of all other users to the new environment.

At this point in time, it is recommended all users begin to clean up their e-mail accounts in anticipation of the upcoming move to the new environment.

TitanConnect's Finance component first to go live

[11/01/07]  On Thursday, Nov. 1, the first part of UDM's TitanConnect enterprise system went live for purchase requisitions, electronic approvals and budget management. In just six months, the TitanConnect Finance team, along with participants across the University, have been able to reach this first major milestone in the TitanConnect project.

Now, users will have the ability to enter their own purchase requisitions directly into the TitanConnect system, saving the Purchasing department the task of transcribing and entering all requisitions. Users will then be able to track their requisition online as it is approved by the appropriate parties.  With TitanConnect, walking requisitions across campus will no longer be necessary.

The Purchasing department will offer support service on these functions, and more training will be offered by the TitanConnect Finance team which consists of Vince Abatemarco, Leon Dantzer (chair), Tina Maitland, Bev Matlas, Ken Palazzolo, Jim Priskey, Maggie Simon, Sara Twomey and Heather Wilson.

"TitanConnect" Project Name Selected

[6/15/07]  The Executive Steering Committee for the new Enterprise system has selected from over 65 entries, the project name "TitanConnect".  The winning nomination comes from UDM student Janine Dorsey.  Janine will receive a very fashionable Titan Sweatshirt and T-Shirt.

Several others provided similar nominations to the winning entry.  Students Jennifer Zerweck and Daniel Malley as well as UDM's MSON Recruiter Mary Beth Langan will receive a very fashionable Titan Sweatshirt.  Thank you to all for your participation in this exciting project.

Work on the TitanConnect project has been rapidly moving forward.  Both Finance and Human Resource functional teams have begun the setup of their modules while the Student team has invested a large number of hours documenting existing business processes.  A proposed data standard manual is expected in the near future from the Data Standards team.  FAO and Advancement continue to prepare for the new environment.

With the naming of the project, news of the project can be reached online at http://www.udmercy.edu/titanconnect/

Core Implementation Quality Team Named

[6/1/07]  Earlier in the year the President’s Council named a “Core Implementation Team” to operate as a quality control agent for the TitanConnect project.  The team consist of approximately 30 people representing areas across the entire University that will review proposed business processes from all functional teams.  Additional subject matter experts will be invited to participate based on the process under review.

It is anticipated approximately 50-75 business processes will be reviewed over the next two years.

For a full list of team members, see the Team Membership page.  The permanent members of the Core Implementation Quality Team are:

Vince Abatemarco (Finance)
Margaret Auer (Academic Affairs - Library/IDS)
Monica Barbour (Finance-Legal)
Elaine Bell (Academic Affairs - Institutional Research)
Greg Cascione (Advancement)Leon Dantzer (Finance)
Keri Gaither (Athletics)
Maureen Lennox (Dental)
Loretta Lewins-Peck (Law)
Bev Matlas (Finance)
Jenny McAlonan (FAO)
Sharon Messenger (ISO)
Steve Nelson (HR)
Hossein Nivi  (Academic Affairs - Business and Administration)
Liz Patterson  (Marketing & Public Affairs)
Diane Praet  (Registrar)
Jim Priskey  (Finance)
Sandra Ross  (FAO)
Linda Small  (Advancement - Alumni Relations)
Diana Squires  (Dental)Connie Stier  (HR)
Denise Williams  (Enrollment)
Monica Williams  (Student Life)
Emmy Yousey (President's Office)
Lisa Zessin (Academic Affairs Office)

Open Forum Update Meeting 

[5/17/2007] This Thursday, May 17, 2007 an open forum update meeting to update the community on the status of the project will be presented in Fr. Albright Hall (LS 115) at 1:00 pm.  In addition to the update, some instructions on the business process documentation approach will be shared.

Project Naming Contest

The move to a fully integrated enterprise system is a significant step in delivering "Great Things" to our students, alum, faculty and administration. 

We anticipate the implementation of the new system to take place over the next 18-24 months.  The project needs a catchy and creative name.  Please e-mail suggestions to its@udmercy.edu by Tuesday, May 15th, 2007.  A winner will be chosen by the Executive Steering Committee and a prize will be awarded. 

The new system will provide many internet based self-service features as well as provide integration of data across all departments.  All users will move to a new e-mail system and have a portal account for convenient access to available resources.

For more information on the project and Banner's features please see the following presentation.  Additional information will be shared with the University community on a regular basis through this web site, newsletters, e-mail messages and open sessions.

Executive Steering Committee and Functional Team Membership

[3/15/2007]  The president's council has appointed the Executive Steering Committee.  Functional team membership has been formed.  The Core Implementation Team (consisting of representation across the University) has also been formed by the President's Council.  Invitations to the Core Implementation Team will be made shortly.  For membership information please visit this page.

Enterprise Application Open Presentation

[2/15/2007]  On Thursday, February 15, 2007 , the following presentation was shared with the University community.

Invitations from the President's Council to committee and team members will be sent out in the next two weeks.

President Stockhausen Announces move to New Enterprise System - SunGard Banner 

[2/8/2007]  On Thursday, February 8, 2007, Fr. Stockhausen announced the plans to implement an enterprise wide solution for information systems across the entire university.  This project will take place over the course of the next 18 months and bring together all distributed systems.