Friday, August 18, 2017

The Workday project is underway

A message from Human Resources and Information Systems & Technology

The University is partnering with Workday to provide campus with a user-friendly and intuitively designed human resources (HR) management system. Among other benefits, the system will facilitate a transition to fewer paper processes and allow employees HR self-service on any device. Improved service and client experience will be at the forefront of the Workday implementation.

The project team has been engaged with Workday training and workshops with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), our implementation partner, to discuss the University’s requirements. The UWaterloo team’s knowledge of current processes and pain points, much of which was learned through the “Voice of Campus” workshops, combined with PwC’s knowledge of best practices for higher education will allow us to uniquely configure Workday so that it best serves Waterloo employees and managers.

In the next few weeks, data conversion and planning for Workday integrations with other systems will continue. The project team will be reaching out to campus partners to plan for interface work and define requirements. A prototype of the system will be tested and validated with campus stakeholders. Collaboration with campus remains a top priority of this project.

A new Workday website has also been launched. The site will be continually updated with Workday information. Please visit to learn more about Workday or to submit questions and feedback. The Workday team looks forward to hearing from you!

Optometry professor has safe eclipse viewing advice

by Peter Stirling

On Monday, August 21, the U.S. will see its first full solar eclipse spanning from coast to coast in 99 years, and the Optometric community has been actively working to raise awareness about the potential retinal damage that can happen without using safe techniques to view and photograph the eclipse.

Dr. Ralph Chou, Professor Emeritus at the School of Optometry and Vision Science, has been at the forefront of answering questions about eclipse viewing safety for news outlets across the continent. Beyond his career in Vision Science, Dr. Chou is an astronomer and eclipse chaser. He has also been part of a campaign by the American Academy of Optometry and the American Academy of Ophthalmology to raise awareness about the dangers of viewing or photographing the eclipse without proper glasses or filters.

“It only takes a brief amount of time for the sun to damage the retina if a person views an eclipse directly. The injury is painless and its effects on vision do not become noticeable until several hours after the retina is injured,” said Chou.

Even if the sun is between 80 to 97 per cent covered, viewers still aren’t safe without eye protection designed for this purpose. Those planning on viewing the solar eclipse through a binocular or telescope are also still at risk.

“There is a much higher risk when using binoculars or telescopes (without appropriate filters) because your eye is then not only exposed to visible light, but also concentrated infrared light,” said Chou.

Watch this video to see how he has perfected his technique over the years.

There's still time to volunteer for New Student Transition

Don’t forget to sign-up to help welcome the new incoming students of fall 2017. There are several ways to get involved:

• Airport Bus Pick Up September 1-3: sign up online to volunteer for Airport Bus Pick Up.
• Family Welcome September 3-4: sign up online to volunteer for the Family Welcome event.
• Orientation’s Family Send-Off September 3-4: sign up online to volunteer for Family Send-off.
• Warrior Wayfinding September 7-8: sign up  online to volunteer for Warrior Wayfinding.
• Wear a Here to Help Button September 1 to 15: Request a button.

Anyone with questions is invited to contact the Student Success Office at sso.newstudent@uwaterloo.ca.