Deliver high-quality services:
Deliver core IT services that ensure operational excellence for the business & administration, & support the necessary collaboration & innovation for academics & research.

Next Generation Unified Communications: ISC signed a contract with Vonage Business for Penn’s next generation phone and unified communications service. Migrations from PennNet Phone to the Vonage solution will take place in phases, beginning in early 2020 and lasting 30-36 months. Starting soon, PennNet Phone clients should expect to see more targeted communication with details of the new service and migration plans.

Online Accessibility: Penn is working with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights on efforts to make campus websites and applications more accessible for persons with disabilities. Kara Gaulrupp has been hired as a web accessibility analyst to lead the charge.

PennERA: An upgrade to the PennERA (Electronic Research Administration) application is in process with a target implementation of April 2020. The upgrade is required to effectively respond to current and future business needs and will bring improved functionality to users. Enhancements include an updated user interface, a new user access and routing module, an improved Proposal Development budget tool, and other functionality. PennERA users will be contacted directly with information about the upgrade as rollout approaches. Questions can be directed to pennerahelp@lists.upenn.edu.

Research Portal: The Office of the Vice Provost for Research is leading the Research Portal initiative (formerly known as the Burden Reduction Initiative), which will reduce time required for faculty to accomplish administrative requirements associated with their research. Research Portal consists of three primary systems: Grant Financial Management (GFM); Conflict of Interest & Extramural Disclosure (COI); and the Portal, which will provide improved systems access and the consolidation and presentation of information. 

Identity & Access Management Program: Please see our latest update regarding Internal IAM project developments, IAM “by the numbers,” what’s ahead, and the availability of the PennPath service offering.

Workday@Penn: The University community is invited to register and attend a town hall on January 31, 2020 to learn about the latest on Workday@Penn. Launched in July 2019, Workday@Penn is transforming how we deliver human capital management-related services, such as staff recruitment, payroll, time management, faculty and staff benefits administration, and more. Representatives from the governance and management team will review details of the first six months of operation, describe the continuous improvement workstreams, and present the 2020 roadmap, which includes an introduction of new functionalities. A recording of the town hall will be placed on the Workday website for those unable to attend in person.

Next Generation Student Systems (NGSS): The project team is excited to announce that Pennant Reports, formerly known as the Institutional Research Query Database (IRQDB), launched on December 18. It entails a new, more user-friendly interface. While currently available to the School of Arts and Sciences, a broader release is planned for 2021, which will make Pennant Reports available to all schools. The Financial Aid workstream completed the first phase of implementation for Blackbaud, the selected named scholarship tool, in December. Additionally, the NGSS team conducted several on-site sessions with Torchbox on user experience (UX) and reached a consensus on the approach, technology, and next steps. In early 2020, the NGSS project will continue to be heavily involved in testing activities for the first releases of Records and Financial Aid (Fall 2020).

Service Management: ISC's Service Management Office is developing a proposal to simplify our Service Catalog. The goal is to optimize administrative overhead and improve budgeting within our Apptio financial management system.

New HR Director: ISC is interviewing for a new HR Director, with a hire expected in February.

Thank you for your support!