2025-03-25

Continued discussions on gathering resources for and support the TDX Asset community of practice.

We addressed an open question about connecting Axonius to TDX Asset as part of discovery for the Cybersecurity Improvement Initiative. While the group wasn't particularly concerned from a data privacy perspective, the general consensus was that pulling additional asset information in through a new connector would likely create attribution issues and necessitate other cleanup; Axonius' fields and TDX Assets' do not have a 1:1 correlation, and any connection would likely also not pull in custom attributes, resulting in minimal utility for IT Pros. If discovery could be conducted without importing assets from TDX into Axonius, that would potentially be a happy medium. The TDX at Illinois Service Team is taking our feedback under consideration and revisiting the discussion with Cybersecurity.

2025-02-18

Urbana TDAG welcomes a new ex officio member, Trish Curry, from the IT Enterprise Service Management Office (ESMO). Trish will share updates on ESMO IRMA efforts and her expertise on ITIL 4 best practices. 

TDAG also welcomes back Janet Jones as our Executive Sponsor.

The SPMO will be sending a new representative to the committee, Kristie Nock, in lieu of Rebecca McNaught. Welcome Kristie, and thank you to Rebecca!

Discussion item - 12.0 and New UI preview. TDAG shared initial impressions. All feedback and bug reports should be sent to the TDX @ Illinois service team.

Discussion item - TDX Asset Resources. What resources are currently out there? What resources would be useful to have? What resources and training can TDAG contribute or coordinate the creation of across the campus TDX community? We will be revamping the TDX Asset App channel and also coordinating with the campus-level project to potentially connect FABPlus and TDX Asset.

Update from IT ESMO - 

2025-01-24

TDAG members discussed various features of TDX that their units aren't currently using, or aren't using much, that they would like to use more. The group identified three priorities to focus on for information sharing this semester: Reporting, the Asset inventory app, and TDX Forms. 

We discussed the efforts of IT ESMO and how they related to TeamDynamix and TDAG. We heard an overview and status update on the Service Catalog project, as well as a summary of the work the Incident and Service Request Mgmt Advisory Group did in Fall 2024 to produce high-level guidelines for adoption across units. Those guidelines will be published on the IT ESMO website.

TDX Collab Board update - In late December, ITLT approved the purchase of the unlimited iPaaS license. The iPaaS governance working group is continuing to plan the structure of the service and rollout plans. The CB also met with TDX on 12/18 to discuss the product road map.

TDX Work Management will be upgraded to version 12.0 on March 15th, 2025. The Sandbox will be refreshed one week prior, March 7.

The new TDX UI will be released on May 31, 2025. A Preview environment will be available in February, and TDX training materials will be updated to reflect the new look and feel. 

2024-10-28

The new Urbana TDAG cohort kicked off the 2024-2025 term with introductions and updating the charter for the new year. The revised charter is linked on the system-wide TDX website.

2024-09-20

The TDX Collaborative Board is gathering iPaaS use cases to present a case to ITLT to purchase the full, unlimited license for the platform. They requested that Urbana TDAG contribute use case ideas via a survey, with the intent of opening it up further if needed. The survey is available here: https://go.uillinois.edu/ipaas-use-cases

The TDX at Illinois Service Team presented a short demo and explainer of the iPaaS platform to TDAG to help spark ideas. At the September TDAG meeting, we discussed the use cases that are being explored in the iPaaS pilot, the ideas that had been shared in the survey so far, the collection of use cases the CB has already assembled, and various ideas for more use cases.

Joe Blanks and Katy Thompson renewed the discussion around the TDX Asset app and the OVCRI inventory management app, FabPlus. The ongoing project to develop an API for FabPlus and establish a connection with TDX has been paused a couple of times due to resources being funneled to the iPaaS pilot, but is back on the priority list. TDAG members shared their perspectives on what would be beneficial, as well as concerns about data management and automation without oversight. The group spent some time thinking outside of the realm of just tracking IT equipment, to better understand the scope and perspective of business managers who track non-IT items in FabPlus or other systems. This topic will be pursued independently of TDAG, and it will remain on TDAG's agenda in the coming months, as well.

TDAG 2024-2025 Membership Updates were discussed. Prior ex officio members rolled off and new ex officio members signed on. TDAG general committee members have until noon on Wednesday, 9/25, to confirm that they want to continue serving in the advisory group in the coming year. Any open slots will be filled via a call for nominations in coming weeks.

2024-07-29

The View-only technician role pilot is concluding in August, and the TDX Service Team will release documentation and announce availability shortly thereafter.

The TDX Service Team reports that they're currently onboarding 10 units into TDX, and they've received community feedback that the MS Teams channel collaboration space element of onboarding has been very useful.

The PMO and TDX Service Team are working on automating PPM reports to display info in Power BI. Looking ahead, this may be an appropriate use-case for iPaaS.

Fall TDX Open Hours are currently planned to start up again in late September 2024.

iPaaS guided flows sessions are complete, and White Glove use-case #2 (staff onboarding process, UIC HR) is kicking off. White Glove use-case #1 (Teams account provisioning) is continuing.

The TDX Mobile App was released in late June. Any bug reports can be shared with the TDX Service Team via their request form. A notable behavioral quirk is that opening TDNext links from emails on a mobile device does NOT launch the TDX Mobile App at this time. TDX App Admins are encouraged to code hard-links in their Notification Templates that add a button for viewing the ticket in the mobile app.

The feature request for persistent login in the mobile app has been filed with TDX.

Urbana TDAG will not meet in August.

2024-06-21

The final TDX Open Hours Spring session will be June 26, 2024, rescheduled a final time to accommodate iPaaS trainings and ITPF work.

The View-only technician role pilot is proceeding with positive feedback from the participants already using it. Remaining TDAG representatives will be sending access lists to the TDX Service Team this week.

IT ESMO will be discussing the Service Catalog launch version at their meeting this week, including planning attribute standards, addressing consistent formatting, and management best practices for catalog entries. Targeting end of summer for the release. Certain service offerings will not be included in the first release. Some are already present in TDX and will remain there until later phases, some are currently out of scope and will be addressed after feedback from the initial rollout.

We received an enhancement request idea about including thumbnails of attached files and images in TDNext. TDAG provided the email address for the TDX Service Team to submit the idea for consideration.

ATLAS is targeting beginning of Fall Semester for all units to be transitioned to TDX for ticketing. They're looking ahead to non-IT units, as well, including LAS MarCom.

2024-05-17

iPaaS pilot group has completed all onboarding trainings and white-glove treatment flows are in progress.

The TDX Service Team and a wide variety of stakeholders around campus are exploring the connections between Axonius, FabPlus, and TDX Asset. Joe Blanks asked TDAG to share guidance on an ideal flow of data about assets for IT Pros between these systems.

The View-Only role proposal is being reviewed for final comments by Cybersecurity & Privacy.

IT ESMO Service Catalog announcements are happening soon, ~a month away from release of initial structure recommendations for feedback and iteration. TDX stakeholders have several initiatives on hold while the service catalog project was being developed. TDAG will be ready to assist with feedback, training, and implementation, as needed.

U of I - Main naming convention cleanup for all attributes has begun. Tech Services is also specifically working on Power BI dashboards for U of I - Main users to leverage data that TDX can't report on natively.

TDX Service Team is working on onboarding eight groups into TDX as of May, and they're engaged in preliminary conversations with a non-central HR unit to see if TDX can improve their internal processes and workflows.

The Collaborative Board has submitted its current list of prioritized Enhancement Requests to TDX, and they're reaching out for pricing info on the forthcoming TDX AI chatbot, which is built-on and integrated with iPaaS.

TDX will be releasing a native mobile app with more functionality than their PWA/mobile site currently has. ETA This summer, 2024.

The final TDX Open Hours session will be June 12, 2024. Over the summer, the Service Team will brainstorm with TDAG on any improvements to the format or communication about Open Hours to bring as much value as possible to stakeholders.

2024-04-19

The group reviewed the prepared draft of the View-Only Role guidelines and provided feedback to the Product Owner, Joe Blanks. He will incorporate the feedback and finalize the document with the TDX at Illinois service team and TDX global admins over the next couple of weeks. TDAG members will submit lists of their technicians who need View-Only Access to U of I - Main.

We began a discussion on what processes can be more efficient, the goal of which is to identify any that TDX (and/or iPaaS) may be able to accomplish. Due to limited meeting time, this topic will be revisited at the next TDAG meeting.

2024-03-15

TDX CB update - iPaaS purchase and TDX Work Management contract renewals are complete! Planning in progress for white glove service for training and building preliminary flows. Trainees identified from each university, totaling 10-12, beginning training in April.

Discussion items around the view-only role, the TDX Request Enhancement Process, and in-progress discussions with unit leadership around areas that need more efficiency.

Next Open Hours is April 10, 2024 from 2-3pm, again focusing on reporting.

2024-02-16

• TDX at Illinois Open Hours sessions for Spring are every 2nd Wednesday of the month from 2:00pm - 3:00pm
   
  • February 14th, 2024
  • March 13th, 2024
  • April 10th, 2024
  • May 8th, 2024
  • June 12th, 2024

  Join Zoom Meeting: Must authenticate via Illinois NetID and Password

  • TDX at Illinois Open Hours Meeting Link
  • Meeting ID: 828 9103 6364
  • Password: 379592

• TDAG and the TDX at Illinois Service Team are discussing the structure of the "view-only role" rollout and permissions review cadence. TDAG members are identifying pilot users to get a sense of scope for stakeholders in need of this role
• The TDX Service Team is in preliminary discussions with several non-IT units looking to enhance their request handling.
• TDAG shared some priorities for the coming year with the TDX Service Team and Global Admins, including interest onboarding process resources and reporting guidance. The Collab Board has an investigation group looking at EDW TDX reporting and Open Hours are available to request reporting demos and discuss best practices.

2024-01-29

• Intro - Palmer Buss, newest member of the TDX at Illinois Service Team an additional global admin
• "View-only role" request for TDX technicians has been drafted and submitted for approval from both TDAG and other relevant parties in Tech Services.
• DPA review is complete for iPaaS purchase and can be used for the TDX Work Management platform renewal, as well. Negotiations in progress.
• Discussion topic: what are you currently working on with TDX?
• For future meetings
  • Are you asking your leadership/admins which processes can be more efficient?  
  • Think about what kind of goals, objectives, deliverables, success TDAG would like to see from the Service Team. 3-5 items for next meeting
    

2023-11-15

• TDAG membership has changed for 2023-2024! A link to the revised charter and membership list will be available on the TeamDynamix system-level website in the coming days.
• TDX Service Team Update
  • The team spent time this Fall focusing on customer interactions and gathering feedback (IT Pro Forum, Business Excellence Symposium, Open Hours Planning Meeting). They're now incorporating that feedback into their future plans for improving the service.
  • The view-only technician role has been approved, pending finalized documentation. This role is expected to be available upon request in January 2024.
  • The manager role is now available and can be promoted. An option has been added to the TDX Service Request intake form.
• Office Hours Planning Meeting
  • The Office Hours meeting was held on Monday the 13th, with representation from the Global Admin Committee, TDX Service Team, and members of TDAG. Attendees were largely from UIC. Topics ranged from how UIC's TDX implentation went, to needs for more integration with HR and business processes, to a TDX Asset Inventory demo by Brian Damm of Student Affairs Technology. We look forward to the next one, early January 2024!
• TDX Collab Board Update
  • iPaaS acquisition has been prioritized by ITLT, and the Collab Board is now identifying the top three "white glove" flows we will ask TDX to build for us during the pilot phase. If all goes well, a sandbox will eventually be opened for other stakeholders.
  • Contract renewal discussions continue.
• TDX CTC Update
  • The monthly newsletter will go out early to account for the Thanksgiving holiday. TDAG's new membership cohort will be announced, along with a link to the revised charter.
  • Training deliverables have been defined for the coming year, and the CTC will facilitate as appropriate.

2023-09-27

• TDX Project Update
  • Final working session to close out Project Phase 3 scheduled for Oct 2, 2023.
  • Pilot groups are up and running with Asset and/or API and the recommendations/best practices documents will be complete by the time the features become operational functions through the Service office.
  • The TDX Service team is incorporating Asset support into their SLA
• TDX Service Team Update
  • New TDX Service Request forms are live and working well; planned additional options for sandbox access/creation requests.
  • James Lockhart is fully onboarded as the new Global Admin
  • Internal discussions about TDX Office Hours idea continue. ITPF TDX Workshop should generate some ideas about community needs.
• New committee membership nominations call will go out in October. Thank you to the current committee for your service this year!

2023-07-12

• TDX Project Update
  • Pilot units have completed onboarding into TDX Asset & CI; remaining participating groups will likely start onboarding immediately following the Fall semester kick-off, concluding in Oct 2023
  • The Metrics page on the main TDX website, fed by Tableau data, has been updated to accurately reflect UIC onboading ticketing units.
  • The Project Manager and pilot groups agree that the initial Asset sandbox build-out will not be needed past mid-August.
• TDX Service Team Update
  • James Lockhart is onboarding as a Global Admin, and Ben Mosenthal has concluded his time in the role.
  • The TDX at Illinois service page in the client portal is being revamped, along with a new intake form.
  • "Office Hours" are being established as a resource for TDX users and admins, as well as prospective TDX customers, to connect with the service team.
  • The TDX at Illinois service team will coordinate with Urbana TDAG to fulfill any TDX demo requests they receive.
• The "view-only" technician role discussion will continue with the Privacy Office on 7/19.

2023-05-11

• TDX Project Update - Jeff on behalf of Ginger
  
  • Ginger Hundgen is the new Project Manager for TDX Phase 3.
  • VetMed and ACES will be live in TDX Asset this month, and CITL is starting work in it, as well.
  • Gies had to delay due to data structure work and unexpected limits on resources.
  • Engineering and F&S are both interesting in TDX for Assets are would like demos.
  • Working group is making progress on best practices and recommendations.
• TDX Service Team Update - Joe
  
  • Working document for TDX unit onboarding is in progress, out for feedback this week.
  • Investigating FabPlus as a possible companion tool for TDX. Looking into API development along with other interested parties on campus
• TDX CTC Update - Al
  
  • Website relaunch is live: https://web.uillinois.edu/teamdynamix/ - FAQs and a Road Map are coming soon
• Ideas for expanding Global Admin resources on the Urbana campus have been shared up to the Collab Board. The GA's also identified a TDX Manager role that could provide at least some group membership control to units, and they're working on a recommendation for implementation.
• Scheduling a meeting with Security & Privacy to discuss the View-only technician role idea.

2023-04-13

• TDX Project Update - Ahsan
  • ACES, IT Partners @ Gies, and VetMed IT are moving forward immediately with production Asset apps.
  • PRI has a pilot Asset app already and will serve in a consulting role as well as adjust their app to align with agreed-upon best practices going forward
  • SAT is onboarding to TDX ticketing, and shortly afterward to Asset
  • Education will use it, timeline ~June
  • All other stakeholders are still deciding
  • Stakeholders who are proceeding met to discuss best practices and define security roles
• TDX CB Update - Al
  • Enhancement requests have been prioritized, organized, and sent to TDX reps ahead of our Product Review meeting on 4/18/2023.
  • CB meeting recaps can be found here
• TDX CTC Update - Al
  • New website should be launching the week of the 17th
  • Training - Phase 3 stakeholders will gather training needs and send to CTC to evaluate and facilitate. TDAG also welcome to suggest training needs
    • In this meeting, TDAG suggested technician onboarding training
• TDX @ Urbana Service update - Joe
  • DIA and F&S have gone back to their original ticketing systems to take advantage of features not currently offered in TDX. The Service Team is following up with each unit to define a list of feature needs and concerns
  • Huron has sponsored an investigation of TDX as an option for IHR. AITS has scheduled a demo, and John C. offered UPB as a non-IT example resource
  • With the change to the asset threshold ($2500), there is more interest than ever in TDX Asset. Phase 3 scope isn't changing, but we can bolster communication about the option and progress. Jeff Fox reports that IT Council was mostly aware of Phase 3 - hooray! - and everyone else is caught up now.
    • Addendum post-meeting - Al - Op Ex apparently has a parallel Asset mgmt project; TDAG will coordinate where possible
  • Sprint updates - Update Service Catalog Entry/Service Footprint, Drafting new forms for the TDX Service page, specifically, drafting Tech Svcs U of I - Main app admins roles and expectations, providing training needs/suggestions to CTC
    
    • Addendum post-meeting - Al & John C. - Reaching out to UMN OIT to pick their brains about how they onboard and train app admins for their single shared TDX app
• Additional Global Admin resources - Al
  • With large units coming on board next - SAT, IHR, potentially ATLAS - now is the time to evaluate the capacity of the Global Admins and think creatively about how to expand it to meet the growing need. Janet Jones joined for this part of the discussion.
    • Ideas discussed - designating a rotating GA from non-central units, participating non-central units providing funding for a permanent GA position, spreading some of the basic GA tasks around the whole system GA pool, continuing to push TDX for a federated technician creation and group management option
  • TDAG will work on a recommendation to CB and loop Security & Privacy in to make sure we're staying within best practices
• View-only technician role discussion, next steps
  • Picking up from last meeting, this is still desired, and the next steps will be to start a dialogue with Security & Privacy about any potential concerns. Participants identified, conversation timeline TDB

2023-03-15

• TDX Project Update - Ahsan
  
  • Testing in progress, group document to capture thoughts and ideas. Meeting on 3/24 to discuss next steps and decisions about who is ready to move forward with their own Asset app.
• TDX CB Update - Al
  • After months of testing, TDX GAs and TDX CB have decided to not pursue Grouper as a self-serve group and access management tool. Discovered technical limitations that meant GAs would still have some steps, and it ended up being more work for App Admins and GAs. Grouper's scope will be redefined back to only managing dynamic groups with custom access to customer portals, as originally intended.
• TDX CTC Update - Al
  • A prototype website has been established and stakeholders are adding content now, like charters for the various governance groups, updated FAQs sourced from CTC and TDX @ Urbana, and updated timeline and Metrics.
  • The training subcommittee has reviewed technician training KB articles and cleaned up messy code from Word copy-paste, fixed accessibility issues, and identified screenshots that need to be replaced to reflect the new editor that was released with version 11.6.
  • Standing by to communicate Phase 3 updates via the newsletter and to facilitate training/documentation needs that come out of the Phase 3 recommendations.
• View-only technician discussion - Al, Ethan, Sheena
  • Discussion largely focused on security concerns this time around. We talked about establishing an MOU or similar agreement for any technician who is given access to another app, even just view-only access (no such document was created for U of I - Main). A process for bulk access requests would also need to be created.
• ITPF TDX Session Ideas - Al
  • Based on several conversations with a wide variety of stakeholders, Al proposed two ideas for ITPF sessions related to TDX. The group agreed that they'd be useful and discussed possible topics to cover. Al will send out a call for participation to TDX App Admins.

2023-02-15

• TDX @ Urbana Service update - Joe
  
  • Asset app has been created in Sandbox for the 3-week testing window
  • Internally, the service team is working on defining the responsibilities of TDX App Admins specifically in the U of I - Main app
• TDX CTC Update - Al
  • Communications team is evaluating how the Project Team and stakeholders will communicate. Project Team will take point on messaging, and the CTC is there to facilitate or assist, as needed (i.e. put recipient lists together, add relevant items to the newsletter and website)
  • Moving forward on the TDX website revamp
• TDX CB Update - Al
  • Coordinating with the Global Admins and TDX on a few bugs that have been identified
  • Business Review meeting with TDX reps where we shared upcoming projects/initiatives from each campus.
    • They shared features and improvements slated to roll out in the next year, including reporting tweaks, displaying CC's, auto-desktop refresh, and in late 2023 making a chatbot available for certain customers.
    • New TDNext user interface coming in about a year.
    • TDX mobile app still not expected this year.
    • TDX Converge is May 22-24, and the CB will be suggesting an Open Mic feedback session.
• Discussion about a potential "view-only" technician role to facilitate ticket transfers and collaboration.
• Discussion about CITL getting a TDX demo
• Connecting Security & Privacy with the Global Admins to discuss email intake issues.

2023-01-18

• TDX @ Urbana Service update - Joe
  • Product Owner Joe Blanks has been here two months (congrats!) and is getting up to speed and getting to know the TDX stakeholders.
  • The Urbana TDAG channel will migrate to the TDX Administration MS Team
• TDX CTC Update - Al
  
  • TeamDynamix website at web.uillinois.edu/teamdynamix will be refreshed in the coming months. Revised FAQ, more info about governance, and an updated Metrics chart, among other things.
• Project Phase 3 Update - Al
  
  • Will soon send an email to all stakeholders who indicated an interest in having their own TDX Asset app and/or API access to the Asset app. (API access to Ticketing apps is handled through a standard request to the TDX @ Urbana service.) The email will set expectations for how to use the Sandbox for testing and what deliverables we're asking for (recommendation for best practices and nomenclature, identifying training/documentation needs).

2022-11-16 - Phase 3 Survey Results Review

• Service Team updates
  • New TDX Product Owner, Joseph Blanks, started at Tech Services this week. He will eventually replace Janet Jones as an ex-officio member of TDAG. Global Admins are Ben Mosenthal and Gary Kambic (backup)
• Collab Board updates
  • TDX 11.6 release coming Dec 3, 2022.
  • Sandbox refresh Nov 29, 2022.
  • iPaaS still stuck in legal limbo (GDPR).
• TDX CTC updates
  • Monthly newsletter going out a week early in Nov and Dec to accommodate holiday schedule.
  • CTC reaching out to TDX sandbox app admins ahead of the refresh.
    
    
• Phase 3 Survey Results Discussion
  
  Qualtrics survey results added to a color-coded spreadsheet and sorted by level of interest. The committee decided on follow-up questions to gather info about scheduling, get a better sense of use cases, document concerns or contingencies, and clarify a few responses.
  
  • Decision: TDAG will reach out first to the respondents who answered “Enthusiastically Interested” and “Very Interested” to any of the four in-scope features for Phase 3. Units expressing mild interest will be contacted after the winter break.
  • Decision: As part of receiving Asset App access, TDX app admins in those units will comprise an informal advisory group to collaborate on setup, best practices, naming conventions, and other info sharing to keep implementation as consistent as possible across the environment. The advisory group will be added as a relevant tag in the existing TDX App Admins shared channel in MS Teams.
  • Decision: As part of receiving accessing to app-level TDX APIs, TDX app admins in those units will comprise an informal community of practice for information sharing.

2022-10-26 - First Full Meeting

• Reports from the Project Team, Service Team, Collaborative Board, and Comms & Training Committee (CTC).
• Decision to scope Phase 3 to non-IT ticketing, IT ticketing (continued), local asset/inventory mgmt, and app-level API access.
• Survey finalized, sent out to IT Council and a rep on Business IT Collab. Survey active as of November 1st, closes November 11th.
• Training resources offered to committee members to help get familiar with additional TDX features in scope for Phase 3.

2022-10-07 - Urbana TDAG Fall 2022 Kick-Off meeting

• Intros
• Future meeting scheduling
• Phase 3 scoping preliminary conversation
• Decision to create and send an updated interest survey scoped to Phase 3