The Office of the Vice President for Communications and Office of the Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer recently notified users of Facebook Workplace that the university would be moving to U-M Slack as its primary collaboration tool for enhancing workgroup communication.
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Faculty, staff and students who use Workplace will need to move to U-M Slack by Sept. 17.
“After working with colleagues in the Office of the Vice President for Communications to assess their needs for workgroup communication, we were pleased to offer Slack — a service that is already familiar to and frequently requested by many members of the U-M community — to support dynamic, cross-campus collaboration,” said Ravi Pendse, vice president for information technology and chief information officer.
“ITS moved quickly to reach an agreement with Slack so the tool could be in place and provide value to the community before the start of the new academic term.”
U-M Slack is available to all faculty, staff and students on the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses and at Michigan Medicine.
“The collaboration and connection experienced in Workplace can continue in the U-M Slack community,” said Kallie Michels, vice president for communications.
Group administrators have begun relocating existing Workplace communities and groups to similar channels in U-M Slack.
“We are particularly excited about our first two U-M Slack workspaces — Maize & Blue and umichWORKS — where individuals can reconnect and continue learning about the institution’s amazing programs, services and benefits,” Michels said.
Faculty and staff who sign into U-M Slack will receive an automated invitation within 24 hours to join umichWORKS.
Documentation and materials for using U-M Slack are on the ITS website.
Included are details about features and benefits, as well as information on how to create an account, request a workspace, become more adept at using the tool and frequently asked questions.
“U-M Slack will help community members make the connections they need to make, as everyone settles back into being on campus,” Pendse said.
