The second of two competitors for Ohio University's student information system contract gave live demonstrations this week, leaving the $20 million decision to the 20-member selection team, which must choose a vendor by late March.
SunGard gave three days of public demonstrations as part of its bid to replace Ohio University's student information system, which could cost up to $20 million, said Shelley Ruff, director of Enterprise Applications.
This week's presentation by SunGard follows software demonstrations by Oracle earlier this month. Both vendors sent teams to walk attendees through three days of live system demonstrations open to students, faculty and staff.
A university selection team will meet over the next few weeks to discuss the two systems and will make a decision by late March. Configuring either system is expected to take between two and two-and-a-half years, Ruff said.
Whether the university deploys all components of the system at one time or chooses to implement the system gradually will determine how soon students begin using the new system.
Both Oracle and SunGard have portal-based products, where students, faculty and staff use a single sign-on point to access a customizable dashboard. Students will be able to register for classes, pay bills and utilize blackboard with both systems.
Sungard integrated Blackboard and e-mail into their Unified Digital Campus portal; Oracle also integrated Blackboard, but didn't include e-mail integration in their demonstration.
SunGard and Oracle differ in how the background configurations of their systems, largely invisible to students, operate. How well these back-end components compare to and improve upon university needs will be a major determinant in which system is chosen. These components include the processes for setting up a schedule of courses, configuring tuition payment options and calculating financial aid.
Currently there are between 50 and 60 different types of extracts, applications and third-party products that interface with the SIS.
Those will all be investigated as to how they can be reduced
minimized or eliminated Ruff said. This will save the university money it would have spent on licensing fees, but how much and where that money will be saved hasn't been calculated, she said.
Various levels of security differentiate student, faculty, staff and administrative access to both systems. The CIA and U.S. Mint use Oracle's database, company representatives said during their visit. SunGard representatives also emphasized the multiple levels of security.
Although both companies have returned requests for proposal that include the estimated costs for their systems, they will not be released until after a vendor has been chosen.
This is a multimillion dollar project and so it is in our best for the university ... to keep confidential the pieces that we can in terms of contract pricing and negotiations Ruff said.
The university's current SIS is 13 years old and relies on 20-year-old technology. It uses mainframe computers that require significant downtime for information processing. Oracle and SunGard use modern server technology that allows 24/7 access to the system and continual processing of information.
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Oracle gave its demonstrations of its student information system earlier this month.
