Your Voice is Shaping the Transition!

🗣️ In the first survey you told us you were hopeful yet cautious. You mentioned that role clarity, training, system navigation, and support at go-live are essential. And we heard you! We embedded your insights into user acceptance testing, process optimization activities, and weekly communications. We will continue to provide you with the time and space you need to adopt the change sustainably and adapt to fluctuating environments. 

🗣️ The second survey was live from late July through Aug 22nd and asked the following questions:

🧭 What activities to this point were most helpful?

🧭 What might be your biggest challenge after go-live? 

🧭 What do you feel most confident about?

🧭 What further support do you need?

🧭 What kind of training do you prefer?

We are currently analyzing the results of the second survey.  Your input will help shape our approach to go-live!

 Recent Events

🚘Train the Trainer, July 22 - 24: A group of change champions will be trained to deliver Grad Slate training to users across campus. 

🚘Bridge to Campus-Wide Training, July 28 - August 15: Opportunities for the campus community to learn their roles and tasks in Grad Slate.

🚘Readiness Survey, July 28 - August 22: We'll take your pulse on the transition to Grad Slate. This is your chance to shape training, communications, and support before and after the launch date.

You are warmly invited to join our upcoming Academic and Administrative Unit Demonstrations with the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) Change Champions from June 17 to 20.

This open door experience provides a unique opportunity for you to witness our progress firsthand, connect with our UAT change champions, and see the new system in action as we move closer to go-live. We will celebrate our progress with coffee and treats!

What to Expect

👀 Live observation of user testing scenarios across key roles and processes;

👋 Team members will be on hand to answer any technical or functional questions you may have;

👥 Sponsors and leaders will attend to help us mark milestones and celebrate our progress;

🛣️ Witness our learning journey and discover lessons learned, successes, and opportunities for improvement;

🔊 Hear about ongoing documentation of items that surfaced during testing.

Change Champions will demonstrate the system for those in attendance. Choose a day, method, and time block that works best for you and/ or your team. Calendar invitations with links for virtual sessions will be shared.

In person sessions: June 17 and 18, 9-10:15 or 10:45-11:45

Virtual sessions: June 19 and 20, 9-10:15 or 10:45-11:45

Please RSVP by sending an email to iguana@ualberta.ca to ensure you’re set up with the right access and to receive further details.

This is an important moment in our change journey. Your participation will not only encourage our Change Champions, but it will also offer valuable insights into how the implementation is landing across teams. We look forward to sharing our progress with you!

The first round of User Acceptance Testing (UAT) for Grad Slate wraps up this week. A HUGE thank you to all testers for their hard work and commitment! 

From May 22 to June 16, the project team will work on fixing defects logged during testing; review all of the enhancement suggestions; present reports and data to governance groups, and start to bridge learnings from the first round of testing to process optimization. 

Later this month and into June, the Training and Development Change Champions will learn more about Canvas to see how it can sustain training and resources for users into the future. 

📌Round 2 of testing will begin on June 16. More details to come!

From the feedback we received, we know that many of you are hopeful yet understandably cautious. 

Themes like role clarity, training, system navigation, and support at go-live are coming through strongly. And we are listening. We’re embedding these insights into how we shape the training, communications, and experience of change. And importantly, we’re supporting our change champions to keep pace and give you the time and space to adopt the change sustainably.

Known pain points:

❌Transparency gaps in file status and decision-making timelines 

❌Duplicative and inconsistent processes across departments

❌Lack of clarity around roles and process boundaries

This transition is about more than a new admissions system: It’s about enabling our teams to do their work more efficiently, more clearly, and with stronger support. We’ve heard clearly that the current system creates inefficiencies, stress, and too much duplication. Slate is our opportunity to reimagine not only the technology, but how we collaborate across faculties and units. Reimagining how we work and collaborate can help reduce the impact of known pain points and steer us into spaces of clarity and engagement.

Many of you are also feeling change fatigue. It's real, and it's valid! You are managing concurrent changes, not just in systems, but in policies, roles, and team structures. We acknowledge that this can feel overwhelming and we’re encouraging every team—and every leader—to prioritize wellness, space, and psychological safety as much as we prioritize system go-live. Wellness is not a nice-to-have: it’s a success factor. 

🌱Learning Together🌱Building Momentum🌱Strengthening Community🌱

Spring is a season of change and renewal, and that's exactly where we are with Project iGUANA. 

Over the past two months, we’ve taken important steps forward in shaping the future of graduate admissions at the University of Alberta. Here are some highlights from our recent work:

🌟Survey closed

Thank you to everyone who participated! Your input is currently being analyzed to help us better understand stakeholder needs and readiness.

🌟Subject matter expert interviews completed

We engaged experts across the Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies and the Registrar's Office to map current processes in Accreditation and Documentation.

🌟Future state design ready for User Acceptance Testing

Based on your comments, we’re shaping Grad Slate with an eye toward clarity, consistency, and addressing academic and administrative needs.

🌟Slate demonstrations and Change Champion conversations

We’ve hosted preview sessions, answered your questions, and introduced key features. We are extremely grateful for your continued feedback!

🌟Engagement opportunities and training are in development

The experiential phase of learning, training design and role workflow will be co-created with our Change Champions.  Implementation and go live will be supported by Canvas, the University's new learning management system.

Recently, the project team has engaged in meaningful discussions with governance committees and leadership, while also delivering key presentations to stakeholder groups. Based on these conversations, we are excited to announce a shift in our implementation approach for Grad Slate admissions. Instead of a staggered rollout with early adopters, we will move forward with a unified campus-wide launch.

To support this rollout, we are establishing a network of Change Champions to drive engagement, readiness, and adoption across units. We invite you to read more about this important initiative below, and if you haven't already, please sign up here to join us as a Change Champion.