Across Cornell, the digital experience is everything on a screen that a community member interacts with to get things done. That experience extends to all the systems and applications and data that drive what a community member sees or does on their screen. 

The Cornell Experience Modernization Initiative (CEMI or “See Me”) is a community-driven effort to improve the digital experience for everyone who uses technology to accomplish their work and further their learning on a daily basis. CEMI strives to unify and improve the university’s systems and processes to better serve our entire community—faculty, researchers, clinicians, students, staff, alumni, partners, and donors.

By creating more efficient and user-friendly experiences, CEMI will enable our community members to focus on what matters most: advancing Cornell’s mission. 

Behind the Scenes in a Digital Experience 

Imagine going to your favorite restaurant. You sit down, browse the menu, place your order, and enjoy a delicious meal. That’s your experience as a diner—what you see, smell, taste, and interact with directly.

But behind the scenes, there’s a much bigger system at work: servers taking orders, chefs preparing dishes, dishwashers cleaning up, and suppliers delivering fresh ingredients. All of these roles and processes contribute to your overall dining experience, even if you never see them.

In the same way, Cornell’s digital experience isn’t just the apps or websites used to make payments, complete HR activities, interact with alumni, or register for classes. It includes all the systems that help community members manage data, support students, donors, and patients, and keep everything running smoothly. Each person may only see the front end, but a whole “digital kitchen” is actively working behind the scenes to make it all possible.

Getting Rid of the Big Red Tape 

Cornell’s current digital experience is composed of over 1,000 separate and often duplicate systems, applications, and data collection tools. Individually, each component was chosen and customized to streamline work for one or more colleges, schools, or business units. Unfortunately, several decades of individual additions resulted in a layered bureaucracy that now hampers the university’s ability to quickly assess and address challenges, opportunities, and priorities as they arise and shift. 

Eliminating that digital bureaucracy, or Big Red Tape, is one of the goals of CEMI. 

Introducing CEMI

Learn more about CEMI concepts in the next article in this series, CEMI 102: Streamlining Broadly Used Systems.