Kuali Ready Admin Newsletter - October 2018

Welcome to the Kuali Ready Admin Newsletter. This newsletter will keep you informed of product updates, continuity best practices, and community news and events.

Community News

New Members of the Ready Community

Kuali and the Ready team would like to extend a warm welcome to our newest Ready users:

• University of North Texas Health Science Center
• Stephens College 

Ready is getting a new Sr. Engineer

George South will be joining the Ready team on November 5^th. George is an expert developer and is also very talented in working with the customer community to identify ways to improve the user experience. George and I will be reaching out to many of you to get your thoughts on your use of Ready, and what you would like to see as we move forward. If you would like to share your thoughts or ideas in advance, please go here:

                https://kuali-ready.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/topics 

Higher Ed Based Conferences

I recently attended the URMIA conference in Salt Lake City, and what a great conference it was! The Association celebrated its 50^th year. I was able to meet many of you in person and had some great conversations. It’s always so valuable to put a face to a name. Thanks to all for the great feedback you shared when we talked. 

Also, if you’re attending IEAM in Grand Rapids next week look for Tony, who will be there in attendance, or send him a note at [e-mail], to let him know you’ll be there so he can meet with you. This is a great opportunity to ask him questions, provide your feedback on Ready, or just get to know Ready’s awesome Customer Engagement Director.  

Business Continuity Tip of the Month

Emergency events come in all shapes and sizes, and very few provide you with an opportunity to think quickly and prepare at the time one hits.

In addition to considering in advance how to mitigate risks and optimize your recoverability by preparing solid business continuity plans, and the knowledge gained from those activities, it is good practice as you’re working with department leads to discuss the importance of emergency supply kits.

Experts suggest gathering a 72-hour supply of essential items that are required to manage through an emergency until a normal supply of resources is available. The emergency kit could be for your work area, car, or home for family preparedness, but ideally all three are in place.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has excellent recommendations here, https://www.ready.gov/build-a-kit, on how to build a kit, where you should have one, and the contents for a basic kit. The site also provides recommendations for additional emergency supplies that you can add to your kit as you progress in your preparedness.

If the recommended contents of a kit seem overwhelming, begin with the basics of water, food, flashlight, radio (preferably NOAA), extra batteries, a whistle, and first aid kit. By starting small and building up your kit over time, you can meet the recommendations. You may already have many of the items around your home and just need to organize them in an easy-to-access location, where you will know just how to find them if/when you need to.

And, with the winter season right around the corner, having a kit with extra items such as a warm coat, boots, heavy wool socks, and warm and sturdy work gloves in the trunk of your car can be life-saving in an emergency. And at home, don’t forget to prepare for your pets as well.

In addition to the DHS website, there are many great resources available for more preparedness information. Here are just a few.  

Are You Ready? A Guide to Citizen Preparedness www.fema.gov/areyouready/

American Red Cross www.redcross.org

U.S. Department of Education www.ed.gov

Product Updates

We heard from many of you that you would like to see the order of the selections on Ready’s menu rearranged to be more intuitive, and items in the plan development section be more reflective of the order in which your plan builders would approach their plan building process. We listened and rearranged Ready’s menu as illustrated below.The changes will not impact the functionality of Ready but will allow for plan building to flow more intuitively.

If you have suggestions for Ready improvements, please share them here: https://kuali-ready.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/topics

 

Upcoming Events

Creating Business Recovery Plans – A Kuali Webinar

November 7, 2018 at 11:30 am, MDT

In this webinar, Megan Levy from the University of Washington, will walk you through how she successfully launched her use of Ready, and her “build your plan in a year’ methodology. She will share with you how she gained executive support, gets UW department leaders excited about building their plans while up against competing priorities, and her friendly and varied ways of spreading the message. Join us on November 7^th, for this very insightful webinar and come prepared with your questions for Megan. Watch for an invitation to register for this event.  

Alerting Anxiety Exercise - Disaster Resistant Communities Group 

October 19, 2018

This exercise will serve as an opportunity for college or university public safety and emergency management staff to work through scenario information and injects dealing with activating your institution's emergency notification system. Get more information and register here: http://www.drc-group.com/project/aae.html, and if you haven’t already, spend some time on the DRCG website. It’s a fantastic resource for emergency planning and preparedness information.

Thank you to our Ready Community for your continuing support of Kuali Ready and for being a member of our wonderful community.

Terri Eikenbary,

Ready Product Manager