Enhancing Digital Accessibility

Videos without captions exclude those with hearing impairments. Pitt IT is working with the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion to make resources available for helping units meet ADA 508 compliance standards for captioning videos.

In addition, Pitt IT worked with University Counsel, Purchasing Services, and the Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion to develop accessibility language that was incorporated into the new Microsoft Campus Agreement (MCA). We will work with other suppliers to incorporate similar language in new and renewed agreements going forward.

Pitt IT provides a range of technology resources to support accessibility in the University and community. In the video below, Angie Bedford-Jack, Director of Digital Equity and Special Projects in the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, shares several key tools for promoting digital accessibility and inclusion.

Enhancing Fax Service

The need for traditional faxing remains a requirement in many instances. As legacy telephone infrastructure is upgraded to Microsoft Teams across the University, a workaround is necessary for continued use of fax machines. In response, Pitt IT is onboarding departments to a modern, secure, and cost-effective solution called eFax. eFax enables departments to have incoming fax messages delivered to an email address that they specify. It also allows faculty and staff to send faxes at no cost from any device that they use to send email messages.

Establishing Tech Ambassadors

Pitt IT’s Tech Ambassadors program employs Pitt students to help their fellow students. It provides an opportunity to help students get career-ready and develop Microsoft skills to achieve a competitive advantage over their peers. In partnership with the Student Affairs Career Center, Tech Ambassadors have helped students learn LinkedIn profile best practices, make the most of Microsoft tools, and earn Microsoft certifications to help in job hunting.

"We depend upon our Pitt Tech ambassadors to be on the pulse of student’s current needs, but also ready to serve, train and connect students to the best tech resources for their academic success and skill development in their careers."

Alyson W. Kavalukas, Assistant Director, Pitt Career Center

Modernizing Analytics

Analytics has become an indispensable tool that enables University decision makers to uncover hidden insights, make informed decisions, and track progress toward achieving our goals. As part of its Analytics Modernization initiative, Pitt IT led a focus group composed of representatives from several schools to identify analytics needs. As a result, we created an Active Student Dashboard that makes it easy to view student advisor lists, mailing information, service indicators, and other commonly requested student data. Pitt IT also created a new Class Schedule Dashboard by bringing together dashboard users from different schools, identifying the common ways they use their data, and building enhanced tools to address their collective needs.

Optimizing Performance Tracking

Pitt IT worked with the Office of the CFO, Office Provost, Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Research, and other central units to launch a Pitt Performance dashboard providing an enterprise-wide view of more than 90 critical metrics — ranging from academics to research and philanthropy. The dashboard utilizes data from the Student Information System, enterprise financial system, human resources and payroll system, and other cross-organizational systems, as well as data provided by units for tracking metrics used to measure progress on objectives aligned with the Plan for Pitt.

Partnering With Governance Committees

The IT Advisor Committee (ITAC) provides governance for all IT at the University and serves as an advisory body to the Chancellor. The group is comprised of members of the Chancellor’s cabinet, deans, senior University leaders, students, faculty, and staff. ITAC endorsed four budget priorities for Pitt IT: Analytics Modernization, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Assessment, Identity and Access Management, and One PittNet Modernization. In addition, they reviewed Pitt IT's FY23 Operating Budget and a revised draft of the University Network Policy.

Providing Library Access for New Hires

Newly hired Pitt faculty members sometimes had trouble accessing library resources over the summer to prepare for the start of fall classes because their official start date did not take effect until fall term. Pitt IT worked to enhance the integration between the University Library System and the University’s system that stores employee data, enabling faculty hired over the summer to access library resources and prepare for classes before their official start date.

Streamlining Supplier Payments

Paper checks are less reliable and secure than electronic payments and more expensive for the University to process. Pitt IT collaborated with the Office of the Treasurer and the Payment Processing department to develop a consistent and efficient process to streamline supplier payments and provide new options for electronic payments, saving the University time and money.

Supporting University Operations

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems support nearly every facet of University operations. They enable day-to-day business and facilitate long-term strategic goals. The ERP Solution initiative aims to ensure that these critical systems ― including financial, student information, and human resources applications ― are positioned to meet the University’s evolving research and educational priorities.

The Office of the CFO and Pitt IT spearheaded a collaborative 18-month assessment to identify modern replacements for the University’s ERP systems. This process engaged more than 400 stakeholders across all campuses. We have completed the ERP Assessment and will present a recommendation once a new Provost is appointed.

Upgrading Timekeeping

Pitt IT worked with Purchasing Services to secure a three-year agreement to upgrade our Kronos timekeeping system, used to collect and approve work hours for union-eligible employees. The new cloud-based system will result in savings of $52,000 and new functionality to help departments better manage their payroll expenses.