COE Projects & Initiatives

• COE coordinates the Academic IT Advisory Group (AITAG), a workgroup of the distributed school IT groups that lie outside of central ITS.
• Members include directors from:
  • Jacobs School of Engineering
  • Library
  • Rady School of Management
  • San Diego Supercomputer
  • School of Social Sciences
  • School of Biological Sciences
• The groups advises on campus IT policy and governance, as well as aligns on data and development policies. 

The Business Excellence Community of Practice (BECOP) welcomes anyone who is excited about bringing good change to our great institution.

The COE Team is the administrative sponsor of the BECOP program. Contact COE to volunteer or provide your ideas for BECOP 2025! Visit the BECOP Website for more information.

Business Office Ticketing in ServiceNow (BOTS)

Visit often for frequent updates!

Business Office Ticketing in ServiceNow (BOTS) is an initiative sponsored by the Academic Affairs Finance & Administration (AAFA) and operated by COE, managed by Assistant Director Kevin Waldrop. The program was piloted for central administrative business offices in order to move from siloed, private email requests to a ticketing system that provides efficiency, support backup, data and improved customer service. In the summer of 2022, the pilot moved to full production and currently offers customer request workflows for most business office services.

WHO?

These administrative business offices from Academic Affairs and Student Affairs are currently participating in BOTS.

WHAT?

The program is structured with representatives from participating administrative business offices that are organized into functional workgroups. Workgroups have one representative from each business office and meet quarterly to prioritize next steps for new forms and process improvements.

HOW?

Customers only need to bookmark one location, their business office website 'Get Help' page. This menu provides a list of available services with links to forms and resources. Tickets created in ServiceNow are routed to the appropriate group for assistance by business office staff.

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• The Collaborative is a group of non-school business offices that work together to streamline and align on best practices in campus fiscal and HR processes.
• Business offices involved:
  • Undergraduate Colleges Business Office (UCBO)
  • Enrollment Management Business Office (EMBO)
  • Academic Affairs Business Office (AABO)
• COE
  • has been continuing work developing The Collaborative, central business offices working closely together for collaboration and idea generation, best practices and staffing support. Functional Workgroups created ‘Support Requests’ to streamline onboarding of staff coverage, activated ideas to end processes no longer needed, and develop other improvement activities.
  • created ServiceNow KPI Reports and Dashboard for tracking progress and efforts of The Collaborative business offices.
  • Designing The Collaborative Calendar, a shared online source for timekeeping deadlines, campus deadlines, etc.
  • Developing a Shared Communication Pilot for The Collaborative business offices in MyEmma for the teams to share notification templates and efficiently send one message to all staff supported by these units.
• The Collaborative's mission: 
  • “Together, we foster a culture of teamwork, support, and collaboration, driving process efficiency and innovative solutions, and delivering exceptional customer experiences, while upholding the university's mission and strategic goals.”
• Coming soon: thecollaborative.ucsd.edu

• COE created a Kuali Build Course Materials & Services Fee Proposal submission form and approval process into Kuali Build to replace the current email and pdf file method.
  • The automated workflows and singular documentation will save effort and time, and also provide persistent documentation of the request and decision.
• Submission Form

• Process Map

• Collaborated with HR to establish 8 Ecotime Office Hours during peak times for any staff, supervisors and student employees. Provided user feedback for helpful instructional edits.
• COE consults with GEPA for the Ecotime Compliance Data sharing process. 
• Initiating a Timesheet Deadline Reminders Pilot for efficient and standardized notifications with The Collaborative central business offices and their supported units.

• Created an automated data filtering & sorting tool to easily distribute the Weekly Staff Hiring Pause Exception Request (SHiPER) Reports to the 8 Schools saving about 30 minutes per week / 26 hours per year, eliminating the manual process of copying and pasting.
• Travel & Entertainment Exception Request - Designed and launched an Academic Affairs tool for travel and special entertainment exception requests and designated approval routing as a Kuali Build application. TSEER Form

• Completed phase 1 launch of the Faculty FTE Registry and continuing data reconciliation toward future state stabilization. 
• Created a Faculty FTE Request Form to be launched in early 2026. 

Effective February 19, 2025, UC San Diego is pausing hiring for core-funded positions. The pause will be in place until further notice, and may be amended if circumstances change. The campus will be notified of changes by email and on the AAFA HR page.  

COE, in collaboration with AA HR, constructed and maintains the hiring pause exception request form utilizing Kuali Build. If you would like to learn more please reach out to us at coe@ucsd.edu.

Academic Affairs Kuali Build Community of Practice                        

A Community of Kuali Build Users to Connect, Collaborate, and Create

Visit our COE page to learn more about the Month Gatherings, Resources and ways to Connect!

Visit AA Kuali Build CoP

• Oversight and project management of the Faculty Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) and Mortgage Origination Program (MOP) processes and communications as well as lead the MOP Task Force in creating future state (Phase 3) recommendations to the EVC and Chancellor for selection process and local operations. Key Elements:
  • Phase 1 & Phase 2 Process - PM for MOP Task Force to develop the selection process, quarterly application timelines, and campus communications. Process Map.
  • FHAP Assistance Form - By developing two Kuali Build intake forms (UCSD and Pre-UCSD) and workflow, moved the assistance process from email into ServiceNow ticketing for the FHAP/MOP Team.
  • Readiness Request Form - Developed and launched Kuali Build intake forms (UCSD and Pre-UCSD) for faculty to indicate readiness for randomized selection to join the MOP application process. Process Map.
  • Website - revised website organization and content: FHAP Website and MOP Webpage
  • MOP Q & A Sessions - established regular opportunities for faculty and staff to ask about local and UCOP process questions. 2026 Sessions.
  • Phase 3 / Future State - PM for the MOP Task Force to develop and propose future state selection process and campus funding model. In process.
  • Zero Interest Program (ZIP) - Replaced the previous email/pdf loan approval process with a Kuali Build approval workflow. Reduces pre-approval wait time Allows for faster receipt of pre-approval letter. 
  • Document access is confidential. Process Map.

In collaboration with the AAFA Space and Capital Planning team and leading report developers, the Center for Operational Excellence has developed 10 in-depth tableau dashboards to assist department administrators, space managers, supervisors, and HR representatives with their space management related duties. 

Learn more about the reports and how to access them on the Space Reports page.

• Collaborated with AAFA Office to create an SOP for administering the Academic Affairs Staff@Work Process, making future efforts to administer for AA schools & units much easier.
• Redesigned the EVC and AAFA Asset Management workflow and approval process to align with ITS’s new single ticket. Created user friendly process map to describe who takes which action when, and who should be involved.
• Standardized DSA/Business Systems ‘Get Help’ web offerings for central business offices
• Created a I-9 Issues Report Sorting Tool and an I-9 Semiannual Report Sorting Tool to automatically display only the VCAA Depts and separate by School from a larger list to share with Schools. This includes trend data and charts for tracking. Previously was sorted by selecting each Dept code manually and was time consuming each week. Process Map.
• Created a Work Authorizations Expirations Tool to automatically display only the VCAA Depts and separate by School from a larger list to share with Schools. This includes trend data and charts for tracking. Big savings of time and effort for EVC-Staff HR and AABO. Process Map.