The Student Information System transition
On Monday, January 26, Concordia’s 32-year-old legacy information system was replaced with a package solution from Oracle/PeopleSoft called Campus Solutions.
The new enterprise-level Student Information System (SIS) supports virtually all student-related services, processes and business functions at the university.
Transition takes time
As with any implementation of this size and scope, some glitches are to be expected in the next few weeks. The SIS project team is focused on supporting students, faculty and staff, and is working through any required fixes.
For faculty and staff on the front line, it will help to understand the full range of available support and to know who to contact in each specific case.
Here’s how SIS support works:
- Technical issues
Contact the IITS Service Desk for problems with your browser, accounts, passwords, permissions, etc.
- How-to questions
For administrative units, ask the Super User assigned to your department about how to perform various tasks in the new system. You can also refer to the SIS self-study training modules on Moodle.
Training and support are ongoing. Super Users have been identified for administrative areas to provide a first line of support and to answer questions as they arise.
Super Users are often staff who worked on the project in their area of expertise and are well-known to the people in their sections.
Find out more about the support structure on the SIS Renewal Project Hub. A list identifying the Super Users per department can also be found there.
The issues at hand
Access permissions represent the bulk of issues faculty and staff are reporting to date.
“Security in the new SIS is much more granular than what we had previously,” says Terry Too, SIS project manager. “We converted the permissions of the old SIS as best we could, but we knew that adjustments for this would be one of our greatest challenges in terms of volume after go-live. We’re getting these fixed as fast as we can.”
Academic departments are going to get additional training support. Plans are being made to offer six three-hour training sessions which will guide people through the various SIS-related functions in each academic department. Details about the training sessions will soon be available on the SIS Project Renewal Hub in Cspace.
Some students experienced difficulty when attempting to pay their tuition online. Pop-up blockers in web browsers (Chrome, for example) are the likely culprits. Students need to check that their browser isn’t automatically blocking pop-ups without notification, and ensure that pop-ups are enabled.
Applications for admission to Concordia that were initiated and not confirmed by the applicants before system cut-over also require extra attention. The recruitment and admissions offices are working hard with the faculties to address this and keep the relevant applicants posted.
“We are working as fast as we can to resolve these issues so that the work of the Faculties can get back on track,” says Too.
Solving the issues collaboratively
“My experience of Concordia has been one of community,” says Bradley Tucker, associate vice-president of Registrarial Services and the University Registrar.
“A major system transition like this counts upon our ability to collaborate as a community to solve issues as they arise. I appreciate the patience of our faculty and staff as we move forward through this implementation period with an eye to taking advantage of new functionality in the future.”
Faculty and staff can learn more about the new Student Information System in the SIS Renewal Project Hub on Cspace.