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This community-driven effort will give research and education organizations added insight into their peers’ implementation of cloud services.
We are pleased to announce the launch of the pilot phase for the ServiceNow and Canvas Institutional Profile projects.
Built and designed over the last several months, with the NET+ ServiceNow and Canvas Service Advisory Boards, this project provides an important opportunity for Internet2 NET+ ServiceNow and Canvas subscribers to collaborate and develop insights about their usage of these services.
These pilots facilitate the gathering and sharing of service specific profiles from the community to further institutional collaboration and implementation of best practices around cloud services in use at peer institutions.
ServiceNow Pilot
Participating institutions can learn which of their peers consider themselves experienced experts in implementing specific ServiceNow use characteristics, ask questions and discuss relevant topics with fellow subscribers, and easily view trends in ServiceNow usage throughout the NET+ ServiceNow program.
NET+ ServiceNow Service Advisory Board members Terry Fernandez and Tracey Richardson are already realizing the benefits of completing profiles for their institutions.
“Having the opportunity to know which applications are being used by various institutions is really important, and better yet knowing who to talk to about specific scenarios,” said Fernandez, who is assistant vice president for IT customer service, American University.
Tracey Richardson, senior director, Service Management Office, at The Ohio State University, concurred. “For me, there is value in having all of this information in one place,” she said. “I can’t tell you how many times we’ve wondered whether there is another university doing x, y, or z, so having this information in one place is in and of itself a huge value. It’s a very valuable tool that we will use, so look for us to call you.”
Canvas Pilot
Institutions participating in the Canvas Pilot can determine which of their peers consider themselves experienced experts in using a particular third-party integration and/or are subscribing to additional Canvas services. They can easily view trends in usage throughout the NET+ Canvas program.
NET+ Canvas Service Advisory Board members Karin Roberts and Diane Butler have already completed profiles for their institutions and offered their perspectives on why the Institutional Profiles Pilot for Canvas is beneficial for the research and education community.
“To be able to connect with peers, especially if you are struggling in a particular area, and find out about their experience with a certain vendor or functionality is invaluable,” said Karin Roberts, technology manager, University of Washington Information Technology Academic Experience Design & Delivery. According to Roberts, the profiles may help facilitate “interesting conversations” between institutions of similar size and focus.
Diane Butler, former associate vice president in the Office of Information Technology at Rice University, echoed these sentiments about the ease of making connections with peer institutions and quickly gaining insight into important trends. Butler offered the example of increasing the accessibility of Rice’s learning management system.
“I could come to the Institutional Profiles Platform, see everybody who’s using this functionality, and very quickly benchmark,” she explained. “Then I can go back to my institution and say, ‘Look, all these people are using it. Rice is not, and so we really do need to move the needle on this.’ It just makes it easier for me and makes me not have to email 10 or 15 people at different universities, trying to track them down and get information from them.”
Learn More
If you are a NET+ subscriber and would like to see a demo of the project itself or to sign up for the pilot for either service, please contact NET+ Program Manager Matthew Bus at mbuss@internet2.edu.
If you are not a NET+ subscriber and would like to learn about these and other benefits for the NET+ Canvas and NET+ ServiceNow programs, please contact us at netplus@internet2.edu.