ANR Update

President Drake approves 2024-25 salary increases for policy-covered employees

Dear Colleagues,

Despite this being a very challenging budget year for California, the Legislature passed and the governor has now signed a final state budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year, which does not cut funding for UC. We are deeply grateful for the steadfast support of the governor, and our elected officials, for higher education in California.

With the budget signed, President Drake has formally approved the 2024-25 systemwide salary program. The 4.2% salary increase for policy-covered staff and academic appointees at all locations recognizes the extraordinary efforts of employees during this past year. Pay increases will take effect on July 1, 2024, for employees who are paid monthly and on June 23 for those who are paid bi-weekly.

Thank you for your dedication and passion for our mission of improving the lives all Californians. As we head into the 4^th of July holiday, I hope you can enjoy some quality time with friends and family.  

Best wishes, Glenda

Glenda Humiston
Vice President

 

Academic advancement 13/24-month option change to 18/30-month option

VP Glenda Humiston and I have made the decision to change the 13/24-month option in ANR's academic advancement process to a new 18/30-month option. Before seeking an advancement, first-term academics usually complete at least two years for those in a two-year term cycle, or three years for those in a three-year term cycle. ANR merit and promotion guidelines have allowed an exception to this policy by allowing first-term academics to submit a merit or promotion advancement under a 13/24-month option, i.e., to seek advancement after at least 13 full months for those in a two-year term cycle, or after at least 24 full months for those in a three-year term cycle. In both options, the academic must show the equivalent of 24 (or 36) months of performance in the reduced review period.

Due to an increase in advancement requests for 13/24-month options, the number of service years for requests going down in the last five years, and several cases of first-term academics being denied due to lack of performance equivalency, we are changing the option to an 18/30-month option, respectively. Starting with the 2024/25 advancement cycle, first-term academics may seek advancement at the earliest after at least 18 full months for those in a two-year term cycle, or after at least 30 full months for those in a three-year term cycle. The change will ensure equity with previous years' advancements when fewer 13-month requests were requested and avoid the additional burden of negative outcomes (for academics, supervisors, and UC ANR at large). The change was discussed with the AAC-Personnel Committee in the annual advancement debrief and will be clarified in the eBook.

We will continue to strive for academic excellence, and I assure academics that a critical element of our merit and promotion system remains to reward outstanding achievements and performances. At the same time, we must ensure that early advancements and acceleration requests remain exceptions to the rule and do not become standard requests.

I also want to remind everyone that, as of October 2023, VP Humiston has approved an early-career CE advisor academic market-equity adjustment (for Assistant CE Advisor and Associate CE Advisor ranks). Leadership continues to review academic salaries and the advancement process to ensure salaries align with salaries in the labor market for comparable academic positions.

Brent Hales
Associate Vice President for Research and Cooperative Extension

Integrated Web Platform (IWP) 101: Understanding the Basics

Dear Colleagues:

This message provides essential information on the implementation of the new UC ANR website using the Drupal Content Management System (CMS).

Integrated Web Platform (IWP) Background

The IWP project will enhance UC Agriculture and Natural Resources' digital presence for both internal web editors and our clientele. In the coming months, UC ANR will transition from the homegrown Site Builder to Drupal – a more stable, flexible, and powerful CMS that will make our content more discoverable to the communities we serve. This much-needed change will bring significant improvements in how we manage and present content, as well as optimizing our content for search engines.

There have been challenges with transitioning from Site Builder and the Blog system in the past, and that is why we are now working with Kanopi, a new vendor that has experience joining projects and taking them to launch. The IWP core team is leveraging the work of previous UC ANR committees and vendors (including UC Davis IET) who provided feedback, initial planning efforts, and prototypes.

What is changing and what is staying the same?

Site Builder and Blogs will be retired; Drupal is the replacement. As part of this change, UC ANR will have a whole new navigation and look and feel for our web editors and site visitors.

As we work through the development and implementation of IWP, additional changes will be identified and communicated.

SITE BUILDER & BLOGS	DRUPAL
Discoverability / UC ANR's Web Presence
Analytics tell us that most website visitors use Google to search and find UC ANR content.	Website visitors will utilize the Content Hub, Drupal's dynamic search feature.
Site Builder crashes.	Drupal has modern and continually updated technology to reduce the likelihood of crashes.
Tags are inconsistent between Site Builder and Blogs. Anyone can add a new tag in Blogs.	Consistent tags drive relevant information to the Content Hub/search. Tags and taxonomy will be established and maintained by a governance group.
Editing Experience
Editors would create a page and populate it with text and assets.	After considering the audience and where the information would be reflected in the Content Hub, editors create content using pre-defined Content Types, rather than creating a page. Content Types allow for more flexibility in the future and improved management of UC ANR information and resources.
Anyone with ANR Portal can create a new site or Blog.	There will be an approval process to start new sites (e.g., content editors) and new procedures to add additional site managers (e.g., groups). This will reduce duplication and stagnant sites that exist in Site Builder, and ensure content is discoverable navigable, manageable, and on-brand).
Sites and Blogs are managed in different interfaces and systems.	Sites and blogs will all be managed in Drupal.

Timeline and transitions

• UC ANR Employees should begin cleaning up Site Builder now: https://ucanr.edu/sites/sb3help/bestpractices/site-builder-maintenance/. Additional reminders and resources will be forthcoming.
• Employees are invited to Zoom training sessions about cleaning up Site Builder (see link below).
• Drupal is expected to go live in December 2024. If the launch date changes, we will communicate it broadly.
• Once Drupal is live, you will no longer be able to create new sites on Site Builder.
• Site Builder and Blog content will continue to be available during the transitional period.

About Drupal CMS

Drupal is a content-oriented CMS that allows for dynamic content delivery and can provide an array of benefits:

• Improved Content Organization: Drupal's taxonomy system enables sophisticated categorization, enhancing content discoverability.
• Enhanced Searchability: Content in Drupal is structured for better SEO (Search Engine Optimization), making it easier for our clientele to find what they need.
• Greater Flexibility: Drupal's Content Types provide templates for various kinds of content, allowing for consistent but also dynamic presentation.
• Scalability: Drupal can handle large volumes of content and traffic, accommodating our growing needs and improving system stability and availability.
• Consistency: IWP will help ensure a uniform look and feel across the website, enhancing the user experience and promoting UC ANR branding.

Learn more about Drupal at https://www.drupal.org/. 

Starting Simple

Based on learnings from previous challenges, we are starting simple with a foundational build. This approach allows us to:

• Lay the groundwork for a more sophisticated platform and build future enhancements.
• Build confidence as we familiarize ourselves with the new system at our own pace.
• Test and learn Drupal's functionalities.
• Become scalable to allow for further growth and better management of content.
• Iterate and make improvements based on feedback and performance data.

We need everyone's support in this major undertaking. We will communicate when and how you can assist with the above processes for a robust, efficient, and orderly transition.

Contact Us!

For the latest updates on the IWP project, please visit our Integrated Web Platform (IWP) Project Webpage or email us at iwp@ucanr.edu.

Site Builder Cleanup Office Hours

As part of Site Builder cleanup efforts, Stephen Dampier is holding a weekly open office Zoom Sessions to answer your questions.

When: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3 p.m. - 4 p.m. PST

Zoom Link: https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/97937501529?pwd=Zm1PaGRuc0htcnVZbmZQaGcya3oxQT09

IWP Core Team
Kit Alviz
Dustin Blakey
Stephen Dampier
Linda Forbes
Mike Hsu
Scott Leaf
Andrew Waegli

IWP Project Sponsor
Tu Tran

Academics needed to serve on search committees for new UCCE positions

Dear Colleagues,  

We are excited to begin recruiting for the new academic positions announced by Vice President Humiston in May. As communicated, the new UCCE recruitments will be released in small batches over the next several months. To begin the process, we are asking academics to sign up for service on search committees for recruitments managed by UC ANR, which include 29 UCCE advisor positions and 13 UCCE specialist positions.

Please use this Qualtrics link to sign up for committee service. Please note that the survey also allows you to sign up as search committee chairs. 

For information on the search committee process and committee duties, please review UC ANR search committee instructions.

We thank you for your consideration and service during these important upcoming recruitments. 

Daniel Obrist
Vice Provost for Academic Personnel and Development

Launching ServiceNow for UC ANR IT and HR

We are happy to announce that we are approaching the go-live date for our new ServiceNow platform for Information Technology and Human Resources! This upgrade to ServiceNow replaces Zendesk that has been used by IT and HR. UC ANR's implementation of ServiceNow is the start and will provide a strong and recognized platform that can help us streamline how we manage requests and services.

ServiceNow will go live the evening of Friday, June 21, 2024.

Here's what you can look forward to with ServiceNow:

• Single Platform Convenience: Track and manage IT and HR tickets in one location, ServiceNow's Employee Center
• Secure Access: Log in securely using UC ANR's Single Sign-On (SSO)
• Improved Visibility: Stay updated on request status from submission to resolution
• Knowledge Base: Over time, UC ANR IT and HR will expand knowledge bases to provide information on common questions

As we move forward, it's important to recognize that, like any major transition, we may experience some initial bumps. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we fine-tune the system to better serve you.

How to Request IT and HR Support:

• Upon go-live, the UC ANR Portal will be updated to link to ServiceNow at https://ucanr.service-now.com/esc,  where employees must login using UCANR Single Sign-On (SSO) to access our new Employee Center where you can create tickets for HR and IT
• Remember the HR (humanresources@ucanr.edu) and IT (help@ucanr.edu) emails will remain available to create tickets in ServiceNow

Preparing for Go-Live:

• Be Aware - Open tickets will be forwarded to ServiceNow, so if you have an open ticket, you will receive notifications as part of the move to ServiceNow 
• Validate Access - For UC ANR employees, verify your access to UCANR Single Sign-On (SSO) with DUO as it is required to access UC ANR's ServiceNow
• Review Training Materials – Learn about our new UC ANR Employee Center, how to submit tickets and how to view tickets – https://ucanr.edu/sites/servicenow
• Office Hours will be available June 24, 25, 26 1-1:30 p.m. for support:

-              Join Zoom Meeting: https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/91385989113?pwd=M2VwZHN1VzVDbVhQTEdjM3FOOTNwUT09

-              Meeting ID: 913 8598 9113

-              Passcode: 570931

Thank you for your continued support as we move forward with our implementation of ServiceNow!

Tu Tran, Associate Vice President for Business Operations
Bethanie Brown, Interim Executive Director of Human Resources

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