Improving the quality of services rendered to employees

Pliers and gears
SFUVET/Loris Theurillat and Pierre Daendliker

The ongoing process of digitalisation and technological change shaped the activities of the Services Division in 2020. For example, the IT team had its hands full dealing with the challenges posed by the switch to teleworking and distance learning. The widespread introduction and use of Microsoft Office 365 and Teams facilitated virtual collaboration, and the corresponding tools were also put to good use in distance learning. The same applied to the new laptops purchased for the Lausanne, Lugano and Zollikofen sites. A factsheet was prepared to provide teleworking employees with tips on how to work securely from home. This was done to ensure that the changeover would not only work from a technical standpoint, but also satisfy data protection requirements.

Data security will also be covered in the ICT strategy to be developed. In addition, the SFIVET Executive Board decided to commission an evaluation of the IT architecture. The evaluation findings will provide an initial basis for this strategy. At the beginning of 2021, a corresponding call for tenders will be issued for this purpose.

In order to improve and facilitate work with the Information Manager (IM), which is SFIVET’s central administration platform, the Services Division redesigned the various roles and processes in 2020. IM key users will remain the first point of contact for questions from users regarding their day-to-day use of the system. Any additional requirements will be handled through a structured change process that takes into account the needs of as many people as possible. This change process will be coordinated by a system owner. In the second half of the year, training sessions on the various changes were held for the employees concerned.

Moreover, SFIVET has been committed to an Open Access strategy for some time and wants to keep all its academic publications saved on a centralised server in the future. To familiarise those affected by these changes, the Open Access Unit organised a webinar on 19 November 2020 to clarify practical aspects relating to how and where to submit publications and corresponding data. This measure ensures that SFIVET publications will be made accessible to a wide range of users on the SFIVET website and via the digital library ReroDoc.