IDEAA group discusses ESUP data integration at kick off

On June 25, over 110 people attended the Integrating Data, Enterprise Architecture, and Applications (IDEAA) informal Community of Practice kick-off meeting.  The group provides a venue where the University developer community can discuss the Enterprise Systems Upgrade Program (ESUP), foster collaboration, and mitigate ESUP’s potential impact on developers, analysts, and others involved in data integration at the University.

“I think the IDEAA group is addressing a critical component of ESUP, the data,” said Dave Peterson, Web/OBIEE Developer in the Office of Institutional Research. “The kick-off meeting was exciting but also intimidating as the University’s data systems and their relationships are a BIG problem. It was important to get the ball rolling and that is exactly what the kick-off meeting accomplished.”

L to R: Barbara Scotford, Bill Collings, Tim Gagner,
Colin DeLong, and Joe Goggins present at IDEAA kick-off meeting

IDEAA plans to invite speakers from each of the major functional areas (Student, Human Resources, Finance) to future meetings to present about coming changes, both decided and potential, as a result of ESUP.

According to Colin DeLong, the main goal is to get information out about data integration-related changes to people across the University who build applications and reports and gather feedback about those changes.

"We're excited about working with the IDEAA group on integration solutions and other data- related topics. This is a great opportunity to share information and ideas on the ways we can work together to make the ESUP implementation as smooth as possible.  This group seems to be positioning itself as a valuable asset for data integration concerns across the University for a long time to come," said Tim Gagner, ESUP project director for Infrastructure and Operations.

The next IDEAA meeting is July 29 from 10 - 11:30 a.m. in 155 Nicholson Hall. For more information and to watch a video of June 25 meeting, go to z.umn.edu/ideaa.