January 16, 2006
NEWSSize of new data system causes delay
It’s out with the old and in with the new for Maricopa Community College District’s (MCCD) Student Information System (SIS). That is until the district postponed the release date indefinitely.
According to Joni Grover, project leader of the new SIS at Mesa Community College (MCC), MCCD has been planning to replace the old SIS with a new one since 2002 when it contracted with PeopleSoft, a Hewlett Packard application used by universities such as California State University and Northern Arizona University. According to a newsletter published by Grover in Spring 2004, MCCD’s original deployment date for the new SIS was December 2004 to March 2005.
That was until Oracle, a computer programming company, bought PeopleSoft from Hewlett Packard. In a later newsletter dated Spring 2005, MCCD postponed the deployment date of the SIS to February 2006 so it could evaluate the impact of the buyout.
Miguel Corzo, director of strategic information technologies, said in the newsletter, “We have received a good sign from Oracle...they are retaining many of the individuals in the development and support area, which are the people we work with on the project.”
In a recent interview, Grover said MCCD has once again postponed the deployment date of the new system—this time, indefinitely. Grover said the district made the decision in November 2005, when they realized the incredible magnitude of the project.
MCCD is comprised of 10 community colleges, each with an SIS of their own. The new SIS would combine student records into one system, allowing students to attend more than one college in the district and still have their information easily accessible. The current system requires a student to have separate identification numbers and fill out an official transcript request form each time they transfer to a college within the district.Grover said the new “vanilla” system will start out with a basic structure that project developers can add to in the future, much like toppings to vanilla ice cream. “This new system will be built with security in mind, from the ground up,” said Jonathan Trotttier, an information security manager at MCC.
The new SIS will be password protected with different levels of security throughout the system, according to Grover.
Shaina Brandenburg-Andreasen, a student at MCC, said she does not agree with the implementation of the new SIS. “They are just looking for more information about private individuals so they can jack up tuition,” Brandenburg-Andreasen said. She is happy with the current system although she would change how Social Security numbers are used as student identification numbers.
MCCD’s website, www.maricopa.edu/nss, says the new SIS will randomly select a student’s identification number when they register with the college. Before the district launches the new system, MCCD will perform numerous tests to verify the system’s security and train faculty and staff to use the system properly.
Each of the 10 community colleges in MCCD has a team consisting of a project leader, set up and design teams, and others to help the faculty and staff make the transition.
Grover said the testing process of the SIS is run by the district selecting departments in the colleges, such as financial aid or admissions. These departments then explore the system with the help of functional experts who have been working on the design and set up of the SIS from the beginning. “Eventually,” Grover said, “the district will have each college select student focus groups to test the final system before it goes out.” When the February 2006 postponement was announced in November, MCC already had the selection of these student focus groups in progress. It is now on hold until MCCD announces a new deployment date.