Honouring Innovation, Collaboration, and Community across Canadian Higher Education IT

The 2023 CUCCIO Awards are next week and the excitement is palpable as the finalists gear up to showcase their exceptional achievements at the upcoming CANHEIT conference. These prestigious awards recognize the outstanding contributions made by Canadian universities and their IT departments in fostering collaboration, driving innovation, and building strong community bonds. These awards shine a spotlight on the remarkable finalists who have gone above and beyond in these three key categories, propelling the Canadian higher education IT landscape to new heights.

Collaboration

Collaborative course development at UBC’s Emerging Media Lab

For the past year, the Emerging Media Lab (eml.ubc.ca, an innovation hub under UBC IT) has collaborated with a faculty in residence in the development of a project-based learning (PjBL) course dedicated to emerging technology development. The Emerging Media Lab supports technology development for teaching and research coordinating with faculty in residence and staff to mentor students to create emerging technologies. The technologies that are developed are proposed by any faculty at UBC in order to solve a pedagogical problem or advance research prototypes. The purpose of the co-development of the course was to fill a gap that could train students on proof-of-concept projects where they could learn how to prototype using Agile project management methodologies. The course fits into a one-year cycle of project development. In semester one specific tools are combined with group-based projects to improve students' collaboration skills and ability to practice prototyping and “agile” techniques. They develop proof of concept projects that are proposed by any faculty at UBC and industry client partners. After the course is complete, in semester two and three, some of those projects are further developed into minimum viable products with a lead faculty. More tools are taught during those two semesters and agile scrum is implemented to align individuals and teams. The goal is to use that MVP for research funding or implementation of technology in a course. The course grounds our students and processes into a one-year cycle.

Project contacts: Dr. Patrick Parra Pennefather and Saeed Dyanatkar
Institution: The University of British Columbia

M365 Migration Project

The Emily Carr University email system is the primary mode of personal communication between our students, staff, faculty, applicants, vendors and partners. During the last 365 days (May 2, 2021 – May 2, 2022) email storage usage has grown by as much as 11.8% over the start of the period. Our monitoring systems indicate that over the same 1 year period we experienced 99.95% system availability with 4 hours and 2 minutes of recorded downtime.

Between April 4, 2022 and May 2, 2022 (30 day period) period our email systems processed approximately 138,409 emails. Our email spam filter identified almost 33,838 of these as spam email messages. The vast majority of these are legitimate spam but we have too many instances of false positives. The impact of a malicious email getting around our spam filters and being clicked on by an unsuspecting user can be catastrophic. Ransomware attacks have compromised large organizations in British Columbia like SFU, TransLink and LifeLabs.

Emily Carr University staff, students and faculty see the current email system as a critical channel for communicating with internal and external partners. This project involve moving the email system, data and related services to the Microsoft 365 cloud hosted and managed solution. Related services such webmail and calendaring will also be moved in order to enable seamless integration.

Project contact: Laszlo Hollander
Institution: Emily Carr University of Art + Design

Workday@uOttawa

In 2019, the University of Ottawa embarked on the Administrative Services Modernization Program, as a result of a review of the HR and Finance processes and finding they were no longer meeting the needs. This program's vision was to modernize the HR and Finance services, together, making them more efficient, flexible, and easier to use. Its objectives were:

Ensure simple services that answers the needs for professors, researchers, employees and students.
Governance, transparency, inclusion while reducing risks.
Facilitate decision making based on data that’s accurate, complete, accessible and up to date.
Improve efficiency and accuracy of the administrative services.

As part of this program, the Workday@uOttawa project was launched in 2021, to implement Workday as the new ERP for the University (replacing Banner and other legacy systems).

Project contact: Nisrin El-Amraoui
Institution: uOttawa

INNOVATION

UBC’s Automation Delivery Team

The Automation Delivery Team at UBC was established to find innovative solutions to support UBC's Operational Excellence initiative. Establishing this team to support the ambition of the university to find ways to reduce manual and repetitive tasks to free up time to focus on activity that is more meaningful, and to improve stakeholder, staff and faculty experience.

Through their successful automation projects, the Automation Delivery Team at UBC has achieved remarkable results. Their solutions have saved UBC thousands of countless manual hours, allowing staff members to redirect their focus from repetitive tasks to more rewarding and meaningful activities. This shift enables UBC staff to directly support and assist students, staff, and faculty, fostering a more supportive and engaging environment for the entire UBC community. Benefits per project can be quantitatively tracked and measured in terms of measures like FTE hours saved, process elapsed time, user satisfaction to see the benefits for each bot, in addition to any qualitative measures. We have seen thousands of hours of FTE savings, along with time saved in process elapsed time.

Automation Delivery Team at UBC represents the pinnacle of innovation, collaboration across UBC. Their seamless coordination, from capturing client processes to developing and deploying highly effective bots, has transformed numerous workflows, resulting in enhanced efficiency and improved experiences for UBC and its community.

Project contact: Laleh Mosadegh
Institution: The University of British Columbia

The Air Travel Emissions Mitigation Initiative (ATEMI)

The Air Travel Emissions Mitigation Initiative (ATEMI) mitigates the impact of emissions from air travel to reduce the University’s overall carbon footprint. Launched on March 15, 2023, ATEMI encourages all departments and U of T community members to consider the impact of air travel on the university’s carbon footprints and find alternatives wherever possible. All unavoidable university-funded air travel is charged a carbon offset fee based on the distance travelled. These fees are pooled to fund projects across U of T’s three campuses that reduce university-related carbon emissions.

ATEMI began as a Campus and a Living Lab research project completed by a student group in 2019. In 2020, the Sustainability Office team began developing a formal proposal from the student project. An Advisory Committee was set up to oversee and guide the initiative as it took shape.

The team that brought ATEMI to life worked hard to consult with the university community, build buy-in for the initiative, and take it from an idea into a fully developed program with communication, process, and technological components.

The Sustainability Office partnered with the Information and Technology Services (ITS) and the Financial Advisory Services and Training (FAST) teams to build a mechanism within existing financial systems and processes to calculate offset fees during the reimbursement period and retroactively charge it to the corresponding departments. Extensive and detailed effort went into designing, developing, testing, training, broadly communicating, and launching the changes across the university community.

The team championed the ATEMI initiative with enthusiasm and dogged persistence. Their efforts yielded a best-in-class offset program with a fair kilometer based fee and no third-party offsets, ensuring greater control and accountability for the use of the collected funds.

Going forward, ATEMI is estimated to mitigate approximately 50,000 metric tonnes of scope 3 emissions, which equals almost 50% of the St. George Campus’s combined scope 1 and scope 2 emissions. The team behind ATEMI realized another major win for the university’s efforts in reducing its carbon footprint.

Many team members from across the university contributed to ATEMI from F&S, ITS, and CECCS teams in addition to the support of our colleagues at FAST. The support of the Advisory Committee Members was instrumental in ensuring a successful program at launch.

Project contact: Marc Couture
Institution: University of Toronto

OneCarD Program at uOttawa

Almost 3 years ago, the University of Ottawa undertook the OneCard program. uOttawa's One Card program is a comprehensive campus ID card system that provides students, faculty, and staff with access to a wide range of services and facilities on campus. The goal of the program was to streamline operations across the university and improve student experience. One of the goals was to implement a card printing solution for both student and employees and ease access to campus services and facilities, making it easier for the community to navigate campus life. The services included in the program are (but not only limited to) Meal Plan, Residence Door Access, Campus Access Control, Library Access, Sports Services, Printing, Laundry and Transit Pass.

Project contact: Ilva Peci
Institution: uOttawa

Community

Dana Sanderson, CIO

Dana Sanderson wears many ‘hats’ in our community. He has been a frequent and prolific contributor, supporter, and participant in CUCCIO’s many initiatives and fora. Dana has filled several roles on our Board, participated as a working group member, CUCCIO representative, and ceaseless supporter of collaborative efforts large and small throughout his time at UPEI.

As Bob Cook (facilitator of our LDP and ISLDP programs) notes “Dana has been exceptionally generous since LDP inception sharing his expertise, experience and wit with the cohorts as a frequent topic speaker, virtual social event host, and a consultant on their presentation projects. He has never said no to a request (N.B. Art would like to say ‘opportunity’, a turn of phrase Dana himself would no doubt find amusing) to share. His wisdom has been monumentalized in the cohorts’ identification of numerous “Danaisms” … truths to lead by.”

For all his contributions to support the development of others, Dana is just as open to his own professional growth and learning from others. Dana also sits on the NREN representing NB-PEI ECN, a role often filled elsewhere by full-time staff, where he practices his signature skill as a ‘bridge builder’ between the CIO community and that of the R&E networking world.

Institution: University of Prince Edward Island

IT@UofT Inclusive Language Guide

A number of volunteers formed the Inclusivity Working Group within Information Technology Services (ITS) at the University of Toronto in the spring of 2022. Since its inception, the group has made significant strides in expanding engagement and awareness to ensure an inclusive environment within the IT community at the University of Toronto. Their exemplary efforts and achievements make them deserving of recognition through this award nomination.

One of the key goals of the group has been to provide regular facilitated opportunities for ITS staff to explore experiences and ideas related to supporting a culture of inclusion within ITS. Through interactive discussions and workshops, the group has created a safe space for staff to engage in conversations about inclusivity, fostering a sense of community and belonging.

Furthermore, the group has been instrumental in the ongoing development of inclusion resources, in particular the collaboratively authored IT@UofT Inclusive Language Guide. This resource, which was published in June 2022 with input from ITS staff and guidance from U of T's People Strategy, Equity & Culture and Sexual and Gender Diversity Office, aims to raise awareness and encourage the use of inclusive language in the workplace. The group has also ensured that the guide is a living document, open to updates based on community suggestions, and has created an appendix specifically focusing on inclusive language and communication in the information technology field.

In addition to their contributions to inclusivity resources, the group has also organized community events once per term, providing opportunities for ITS staff to engage in important conversations. Topics such as unconscious bias and web accessibility have been explored, and the group has partnered with other offices and divisions to broaden the impact of their initiatives.

The members of the Inclusivity Working Group, with leadership from chair Sarosh Jamal, have gone beyond their normal work roles, actively modelling a commitment to creating an inclusive environment and continuously learning about strategies and practices that promote a welcoming culture for IT professionals and clients alike. Their efforts have not only enhanced the university c community, but also improved the staff experience, resulting in increased engagement and retention of valuable IT staff. Their work espouses the University of Toronto “principles of equity, diversity and inclusion, and their fundamental relationship to achieving excellence.”

In conclusion, these exemplary leaders have demonstrated exceptional efforts in promoting inclusivity within ITS and the broader IT@UofT community. Their contributions have positively impacted the university environment and staff experience, making them deserving of recognition through this award nomination.

See the guide

Project Lead: Sarosh Jamal
Institution: University of Toronto

The CUCCIO Awards celebrate the remarkable achievements and transformative initiatives undertaken by Canadian universities in the realm of IT. The finalists in the collaboration, innovation, and community categories exemplify the spirit of excellence and dedication that drives the Canadian higher education community forward. As we eagerly anticipate the awards ceremony at CANHEIT, we celebrate the finalists for their unwavering commitment to collaboration, their pioneering innovations, and their efforts to build vibrant and inclusive communities. They inspire us all to embrace the power of technology to shape the future of education and make a positive impact on society.

Celebrating Excellence