R3 Year in Review Celebration Session: December 7, 2021. President Claude Brulé reveals R3 Change Champion Net

Dec 07, 2021

The AC Community saw special guests President Claude Brulé and members from Thesis (previously Unit4) Laura Lea Rand and Patricia Anderson. The community along with Thesis had much to celebrate at the R3 Year in Review session on December 7, 2021. The Change Champion Network was revealed, major project milestones were featured, including data from multiple streams of the R3 Project.

After a suspenseful 20 question Kahoot! game with the attendees, the R3 Project also welcomed a new Kahoot! champion, Rob Kershaw, ending Jason Taker’s, the Manager of R3 Implementation and Digital Transformation, reign. Rob Kershaw is a new addition, joining the R3 Project on November 15, 2021 as the Manager, R3 Project eLearning and Development.

R3 Project is not just about replacing our current student information system

“The R3 Project is a College-wide transformational project where we will rethink, redesign, and reimagine” President Claude Brulé reminded the audience. “It is reimagining how we can bring to life our mission statement of Transforming Hopes and Dreams into Lifelong Success in our day-to-day activities.”

Brulé explained that the R3 Change Champion Network is a group of individuals who will support their divisions through the R3 transformation project. “The role of our Change Champions is to understand key R3 messages and tailor communication for their colleagues; provide feedback and advice to the R3 Project Team; learn new processes and the Thesis Student Management System; and support understanding of relevant changes.”

The AC Community welcomed 41 R3 Change Champions, with a College-wide representation including formal members from the Students’ Association.

The R3 Change Champion Network is comprised of individuals from:

  • Academic Development
  • Academic Operations and Planning
  • AC Online
  • Advancement Services
  • Pembroke and Perth Campuses
  • Students’ Association
  • Campus Services
  • Cooperative Education
  • Facilities Management
  • Faculty of Arts, Media and Design
  • Continuing Education/Other-than-full-time
  • Human Resources
  • Information Technology Services
  • International Education Centre
  • Marketing and Recruitment
  • Registrar’s Office
  • Risk Management
  • Faculty of Health, Public Safety and Community Studies
  • School of Business and Hospitality and Tourism
  • School of Advanced Technology
  • Truth, Reconciliation, Indigenization
  • Student Support Services
  • President’s Office

The R3 Project is made up of multiple streams

“The R3 Project is made up of multiple streams.” Lois Pollock, R3 Business Co-Lead, explained. “This includes Enterprise Architecture, Identity and Access Management, Data Governance, Integrations, and Portal in addition to the Student Information System.”

R3 Project Business Co-Leads Lois Pollock and Krista Pearson presented impressive data points to the audience from multiple streams of the project, including the onboarding of 2562 Algonquin College employees to multi-factor authentication (MFA), engaging AC stakeholders 339 times, successfully completing the first end-to-end migration trial test of 30,000 student records and 5,000 staff records, and more.

Personalize/Configuration Phase about examining how work gets done and how the processes can be improved

Sam Wong, R3 Senior Project Manager, and Laura Williams, R3 Communications and Training Project Manager, explained to the Algonquin College community what they can look forward to in the next phase.

“We want to challenge ourselves to build new processes and configure the system in a way that is transformational,” Sam Wong explained. “By redesigning and rethinking our business processes related to the Student Information System, we can then begin to configure our version of the Thesis Student Management System.”

Expanding on Wong’s information, Laura Williams told the audience that during the upcoming phase, Subject Matter Experts and Core Users will be involved in discussions about business processes either through design workshops or focus groups. “Our students will have the opportunity formally and informally to be involved in the project,” Laura Williams explained. “We have several co-op and summer students on the project regularly; Students’ Association members are also formal members of the Change Champion Network as well as the Implementation Committee.”

The R3 Project notes that there will be more opportunities as the community progresses through the project phases. This is a college-wide transformation, and the project is best when we have many voices across the College contributing.

Watch the Showcase:

Watch Each Section:

00-9:10 Welcome and Introductions: Laura Stanbra
9:11-12:23 Change Champion Network Reveal: President Claude Brulé
12:24-14:20 R3 Project Familiarize Phase Accomplishments: Krista Pearson
14:21-16:24 The R3 Project Major Milestones: Lois Pollock
16:25-20:53 Coming in January: Personalize Phase and Change Champion Network: Sam Wong and Laura Williams
20:54-42:06 Racin’ Jason Kahoot! Elicia Kirk and Jason Taker
42:07-1:03:01 Live Q&A

Access the slides of the Dec 7 Showcase here.