e-Business
Using the Internet to get your work done
e-Business is transforming key administrative processes through the use of Internet technologies.
It means students, faculty and staff can access campus services over the Web. Online services save time and make life easier for students and faculty. They give staff more time and the tools they need to provide more personal service when it's needed. And they let everyone focus on the main reasons you're at UBC: teaching, learning, research and building community.
Pay your tuition fees online, complete forms online, order catering from UBC Food services online ... There are already many ways to use the Internet to make your work - and life - at UBC easier.
UBC's e-Strategy is helping to put these and other campus services on the Web and integrate them into the myUBC Web portal. Find out what other projects are in development and are already online.
e-Business Initiatives Quick List
- EnableIT
- UBC CV
- myUBC Web Portal
- Consolidated Billing
- Process Streamlining
- Web Self-Admission
- Email Upgrade Project
Enable IT
EnableIT is a two and a half year project to review, streamline and Web-enable approximately 140 administrative processes in Human Resources and Financial Services. By mid-2005, students, faculty and staff across UBC will be using the Web to access information and process business transactions such as payroll, registering for benefits, purchase order requisitions, authorizing and paying invoices, travel and expense claims.
The goal of the EnableIT project is to re-design UBC's key administrative processes and leverage technology faculty can spend more time on research and teaching instead of paperwork. Improving processes will give staff more time to provide more customer service for people across the university and allow departments to run more efficiently.
With a project budget of $8.5 million, EnableIT is one of the largest projects to date in UBC's e-Strategy. By the time it is complete, students, staff and faculty in more than 300 departments, faculties and units and will be affected by the project.
Resources:
- New Project to Re-Design and Web-Enable UBC's Administrative Processes Underway (e-Strategy Update article)
- EnableIT web site
Contacts: Niran Subramaniam, Robert Boudreau, Richard Spencer
UBC CV
Description:
The myCV project is building an online tool that will:
(1) make it easy for members of the UBC community to construct online CVs, drawing wherever possible on existing databases from campus units (Human Resources, Enrolment Services) and off-campus units (PubMed, NCE Common CV).
(2) allow the CV owner to populate research grant applications, annual reports, personal or department websites etc., with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of control.
These two principles drive the myCV project at UBC: "I should never have to enter the same information twice. I should always retain control over my own information."
The system is now being built with collaboration from the Faculties of Arts, Commerce, Dentistry, Forestry, Medicine, and Science, the NCE Common CV in Ottawa, and the Michael Smith Foundation in Vancouver.
Developed in partnership between ITServices and the Office of Research Services (ORS), the project is an outgrowth of the Arts and Commerce Online Annual Report and the Faculty of Medicine CV project.
Resources:
- Visit the UBC CV Web site for more information and status updates.
- The ORS is involved in several projects to improve services for researchers at UBC. Office of Research Services Maps Out Process for Change
Contact: Brent Sauder
myUBC Web portal
Description: myUBC gives students, faculty and staff a single point of entry to the UBC's many Web-based resources. It gives you convenient and personalized access to the tools, services, and information you use every day. It also provides university administrators with the opportunity to streamline key business processes and improve contact with constituent populations.
More than 33,000 student, staff and faculty currently use myUBC. It is a key element in e-Strategy's plan to use the Web to radically improve administrative processes and ensure they support UBC's strategic goals in learning, research, community and people.
myUBC looks much like an ordinary Web site, but it's really a Web portal-a technical framework that holds information channels in a customizable layout. Each channel contains a single university service or resource, and appears as a small window on the user's screen. You choose which services and information you'd like to receive by subscribing to channels that you want. You can also control the layout, organization and colour scheme of and customize the portal the way you want.
Channels are created and maintained by UBC Portal Partners-UBC departments, faculties, student societies and clubs who provide Web-based services to the university community. The portal brings these services together at one online location, presenting a unified view of the university's administration and resources. If you are interested in developing a channel for the portal, see http://developers.my.ubc.ca. For more information about the technology behind myUBC, visit JA-SIG's uPortal site.
Resources: myUBC
Contact: Wilson Lo
Consolidated Billing
Description: This project will simplify and enhance the student billing and payment process, for students and service providers. Students will be able to see all amounts owed, with due dates, on a single web screen. They will be able to choose to pay some or all of each amount, and will be able to pay either on-line or in person at a service counter in any participating department.
The payment system will handle credit card authorization or direct debit from the student's bank account, and will automatically direct payments to the correct departmental accounts. It will allow staff to accept in-person payments for any of the amounts owed, including those owed to other departments. Consolidated payment will reduce the cost of processing student fee payments and the time required for staff to accept payments, distribute them to internal accounts, and reconcile cash register and credit card transaction information.
Contact: Audrey Lindsay and Rino Ong
Process Streamlining
Description: Process Streamlining is an important part of e-Strategy in that it helps UBC departments make the right decisions about what technology tools are the right solutions to improve administrative and business processes. It is essentially a methodology used by departments who want to change the way they work use. Several UBC departments have used Process Streamlining with great success, including the Office of Research Services and Human Resources.
Starting in January 2003, Human Resources is offering a workshop to show departments what's involved, how to manage change, and how they can use Process Streamlining to improve work flow and change their processes to improve services for students, faculty and staff.
Resources:
- Office of Research Services Maps Out Process for Change - e-Strategy Update article
- Process Streamlining Overview (RTF file)
- Process Streamlining Project Report (PDF file)
Contact: Peter Godman
Web Self-Admission for Students
Description: UBC's Web Self-Admission software allows incoming students to evaluate and, if they meet admission requirements, admit themselves to UBC over the Internet.
Potential students use the Web to evaluate themselves against UBC's admission requirements by entering data about their high school courses and grades. Those who meet the requirements can then admit themselves directly on the Web. The data they enter is verified and an offer of admission confirmed. Those who don't meet requirements receive immediate feedback on missing prerequisites or grades that must improve.
With the software, UBC can make more offers to top students earlier in the year, and reduce the processing work involved in admissions. Staff spend less time tracking the status of applications and more time consulting with students on how their admission choices may affect their program and career options.
The Self-Admission software has won the 2003 Award for Excellence in Administrative Information Systems from EDUCAUSE, an American non-profit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology.
Launched in December 2002, the electronic self-admission tool is the first of its kind at any Canadian institution. The software was developed by UBC's Enrolment Services office to streamline the undergraduate application and enrollment process. The idea for the software came out of the SIMPL Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) project, which set out to find ways to radically improve service for prospective students.
Contact: Richard Spencer
Resources and Documents
- UBC's Web Self Admission Software Wins Educause Award for Excellence
- New Students Admit Themselves to UBC Over the Internet
UBC Email Upgrade Project
The Netinfo / Interchange E-mail Upgrade Project is the initial phase of the new university-wide e-mail and calendaring service. The purpose of the project is to upgrade the existing e-mail service to a more robust and reliable service that will provide increased performance and a solid foundation for future functionality and growth.
The benefits for students, faculty and staff include additional storage space and improved performance and greater functionality. The goal of the initial phase of the project is to upgrade the e-mail infrastructure hardware and software. Then in subsequent phases, introduce people who use the existing Interchange service to the new service, while providing additional storage space, with little or no service disruption.
Resources:
- For full details, visit the Email Upgrade Project Web site.
- Help Shape the Future of E-mail at UBC - and Win Canucks Tickets! - e-Strategy Update article discussing some of the issues around upgrading UBC's email services
Contact: Brock Smith
e-Business Archive
UBC Wins 2003 Educause Award for Excellence
"In this case, UBC has made a bold leap forward. The Web Self-Admission project in my view really starts to empower students - and prospects - with IT the way some of us have long anticipated. This initiative is at once sensible and
transformational."
Richard Katz
Vice-President, Educause
