YU Link, the new intranet designed for use by all York University faculty and staff, is set to launch June 17.
YU Link (pronounced “You-Link”) is, in essence, a doorway that offers quick and easy access to the tools and information you need as an employee of York University. YU Link was developed with input from a pan-University project team and the Creating a Better Workplace group.
YFile news and information about the University will be available on YU Link. You can also customize news feeds from sources both inside and outside the University and get important announcements, targeted bulletins about emergency closures, facility notices and more.
YU Link also centralizes your personal information, benefits, pension, training, YU-card and library information into one easy-to-navigate and convenient interface, eliminating the need to search in multiple locations. Faculty members will see details of the courses they are teaching as well as library research guides relevant to those courses.
If you are interested in new career opportunities, there is a link to York job postings. If you want to develop your skills or learn something new, you can find out about training options through YU Link. You can connect with your colleagues just as you would with other social media platforms such as LinkedIn or Twitter through the “Who Knows How?” section, which offers a great way to get answers to questions in a few areas, with more coming over time. A tag cloud gives an at-a-glance view of what your colleagues are discussing. There is even a free classified advertising listing where you can buy, sell or trade with others on campus.
Here are some of the reasons for introducing YU Link:
York employees need to use a number of applications and online systems as part of their jobs. YU Link pulls together the most frequently used applications and content in one convenient place. Think of it as a one-stop dashboard where employees can access the tools they need to do their jobs.
Each day, employees receive a great deal of e-mail from mailing lists and official sources at York, which can be distracting and sometimes overwhelming. Announcements on YU Link are specifically targeted to employees to ensure they are as relevant as possible. Employees can choose when to visit YU Link to receive all of their announcements, which means fewer e-mails arriving in your inbox.
Over the past several years, York employees have been using social media platforms and online tools in their daily lives outside of York University, and they see the benefits these tools provide. It is a logical next step to bring the advantages of these tools to the workplace so employees can make use of them here as well.
The public York U website currently houses a lot of information that is relevant only to University faculty and staff. Moving this content from the public website to YU Link over time will reduce clutter on the public website and allow it to focus on its main function: attracting the best students to York – a goal that is becoming more and more important as competition in postsecondary education increases.
On June 17, YU Link will offer the following to York University employees:
• A customized YU Link home page – when you sign in, you will land on a page that customized to your role(s) as a York U faculty or staff member. There is an instructional video to guide you through the setup of a personalized version of the home page and other aspects of YU Link;
• Organized content – news and content pages are grouped by function. You can also see departmental, divisional, or Faculty-specific news on YU Link;
• Targeted announcements – the announcements section offers immediate access to important employee and operational bulletins, University closures and more;
• Personalized links – your training information, including a list of required training and courses offered by Learning & Development, is collected into one place. There are links to University webmail, payroll, pension information, and Sun Life Financial benefits.
When YU Link debuts on June 17, most employees with computers supported by University Information Technology will see a link appear on their desktops, while others can go to the Faculty & Staff home page for a link to YU Link. Over the next year, more resources and functionality will be added.
More information about YU Link will appear every week in YFile until the June 17 launch.
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