When Ohio University purchased a computer system to manage student records in the 1980s, it was on the cutting edge of such technology. Today, the university is one of only eight that still use that system ' which predates the Internet and requires hours of downtime each day to process new information.
If all goes according to plan, the university's current system ' designed by a company that sold its interests in the higher education market more than a decade ago ' will be replaced by a database purchased from software giant Oracle Corporation in the fall of 2010.
It will change essentially everything we do
said Registrar Debra Benton, adding that the most visible change for students will be the new system's increased availability.
Hours of operation for Web sites won't be necessary in the Oracle system, which uses Web servers that don't require downtime to process new information. The new system will also require only one log-on to access a myriad of services currently offered through separate sites.
The entire cost of a new Oracle student information system, or SIS, is not to exceed $20 million, said Shelley Ruff, director of Enterprise Applications, adding that the system is expected to last 10 to 15 years. The Board of Trustees has already approved the expenditure of $4 million, which is being used for pre-planning and to buy the Oracle software.
The $4 million that has already been approved came from a bond issue taken out by the university, said Sally Linder, university director of media relations.
The total cost of the new SIS has yet to be determined, Ruff said. Also unknown is where the money for the project will come from, she said, adding that the board may determine that in winter or early spring.
The university's SIS selection team picked Oracle this summer after visits and on-campus software demonstrations by Oracle and Sungard, another database company, Winter Quarter. The university's human resources and financial operations already use Oracle software.
Reached Friday, Matt Gibbs, a contract administrator in the Department of Procurement Services, said he didn't know how much the old SIS cost and that the university didn't retain records going back to that date.
Benton was a graduate assistant under then-Registrar Bill Jones when the first system, designed by American Management Systems, was installed. OU was beta-testing the software and there were plenty of bugs to work out, she said, adding that at first the system couldn't correctly calculate grade point averages.
They had some basic logic problems Benton said. Programmers from the university's now-defunct Computer Services division of information technology worked with a programmer from AMS who lived in Athens for more than a year to work out most of the bugs.
Bill Jones, registrar from 1995 to 2003, said he spent many 60-plus hour weeks working with AMS to get the system operational.
We worked unbelievably hard for three (or) four years straight G? to get the system working as its creators intended Jones said. There were times that we felt like 'Oh my god
what have we done.'
AMS sold its licensing rights and software to the Informs company of Montgomery, Ala., in 1996. Informs also took over maintenance for existing AMS systems.
OU uses a software program called Crossplex to allow its student information system to interact with university Web sites, which allow students to pay bills, register for classes and submit admissions information online.
AMS introduced the Degree Audit Reporting System ' commonly referred to as DARS ' and TRIPS, the telephone registration system discontinued in 2006. Records from the university's homegrown databases were moved into the AMS system.
Not everything went smoothly. Larry Terrell, university registrar when the system came online in 1990, recalls that the system did have more than a few bugs to work out. At first, it couldn't calculate GPA or academic standing correctly.
It had to be programmed at the last minute
Terrell said of the fix for the GPA glitch, adding that problems with the system forced him to work all night on one occasion. Although he could not estimate the number of problems the AMS system had, Terrell said they were numerous.
Tom Daniels was the university's chief information officer at the time ' many Computer Services staff under him worked on the AMS system ' but his experience with the system was primarily through his space management responsibilities.
Those guys absolutely killed themselves to get this system working
Daniels said. AMS handed us a piece of junk G? they handed us a system that did not work to specification.
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