V. Directions in Administrative Computing

Published December 1, 2004

• Current Environment
• Planning Issues
• Five-Year Objectives

Pressure for more access to more data by more people (faculty, staff, students and alumnae) and the universal acceptance that the Web has become the natural location for much College work make the development of our Web resources a primary focus for the entire LITS organization. Where once administrative databases were glorified filing cabinets, their effective use may now provide our only hope of simplifying jobs.

While Mount Holyoke had previously adopted a “best of breed” approach to administrative computing, which combined locally developed systems with separate stand alone systems, the College is now moving toward more a consolidated and integrated application environment where technical and end user support is most effective to provide for core services. This consolidation across application and technical infrastructure helps to ensure better interoperability, increased operating efficiencies, improved security, contained training costs, and more flexible staffing assignments.

Upgrading all our administrative systems and providing Web-based access to their databases are primary current and near-term commitments. We are also committed to refreshing the College’s base of desktop computers on regular three to four year cycles to assure adequate access and computing capacity.

The Current Environment

• The Financial Systems: Lawson, Maximo, Faculty Information System and Cyborg
  All of the financial systems are currently running in maintenance mode. A major upgrade to the Lawson system has just been completed. Lawson financial reports are made available via the Web through a system called Report2Web. Cyborg (Payroll/Personnel) and Maximo are scheduled for upgrades by the end of the 2004.The Faculty Information System (FIS) is under review for conversion to a new database environment.
• The Student System (SIS)
  The SIS project using Datatel software is in its second year of implementation. Admission has been operational since July of 2003, with student records implementation completed April 2004 and student receivables moved over this summer. Given the normal shake down period for systems of this magnitude, we expect to be fully operational on all systems by the end of 2004.
• Desktop Computers
  As technology changes and needs of our end-users grow in complexity, LITS continues to maintain the priority of providing a robust computer environment that will meet those growing needs. We annually replace 25-30% of our desktop computers in a systematic and but flexible manner. As new technologies emerge, this process will need to shift to accommodate the acquisition and maintenance of these technologies as well. Peripherals and accessories, adaptive technologies, portable devices will all continue to evolve and their deployment on campus will be necessary to support the distributed information and work environment.
• Other Major Administrative Systems
  The other major administrative systems under review for replacement include the Library system and the Alumnae/Development system. A review of a new Five College integrated Library system has been completed for a contract signing by the end of 2004. We are now beginning a review of the Datatel application for Alumnae/Development, with a goal of 2005 to begin a conversion effort.
• Campus Web site
  The current campus Web site was redesigned and released in 2002. That redesign was facilitated by a common structure used by the primary pages of the College. The College Web site is multifaceted, providing authors the freedom to have creative designs while also providing a structure so that strategic College Web pages have a similar look and feel and consistent navigation buttons. Individual authors may take advantage of these features or not, but the main College pages all take advantage of this facility.

This facility needs to be improved soon to allow the rapid deployment of alternative Web views. The marketing importance of the College Web pages is critical; individuals make critical decisions about attending the College, and our Web pages must stack up favorably with our competitors. We need to be able to adjust large sections of our Web site rapidly.

The College's Web presence will continue to grow in importance as a communication tool, as a transaction system, and as another important tool in the development and delivery of the curriculum. The support for this tool will extend to each information provider and user. Coordination of design and content will be essential to continued success of the Web site - so we foresee continued partnership with the Communications Office in helping sustain the College's identity program.

To address these issues we are currently moving to a Web content management system to support the growth and development of the campus Web presence. We plan to have this system installed and operational in 2005.

Planning Issues

The overriding goal for Administrative Computing is to eliminate the use of the IBM AS/400 platform by 2007 and to move toward consolidation and integration of technical and application level infrastructure. That means that besides SIS, Summit (Alumnae/Development), Cyborg, and other ancillary AS/400 systems (e.g., Health Services) functionality will be integrated into Datatel or Lawson. Even Lawson functionality might be integrated into Datatel if the situation warrants it. The hardware, operating system, database, Web server, security, and the applications themselves need to be assessed to determine what standards and applications should be defined for integration and consolidation. Whatever the outcome, we will seek to minimize the number of applications we support and the type and kinds of components that support them. This will reduce interface management among the administrative databases,
provide standardized tools for accessing and manipulating data, manage software version control, and provide unified server and operating systems management.

A few stand-alone systems remain (e.g., PowerFAIDS – financial aid, Course Catalogue – course scheduling, EMS – event scheduling, Maximo – work, materials, and asset management, Telesoft - telephone software) and will continue, as it is unlikely that any one integrated system will ever contain all of these components. Where opportunities present themselves, we will look to integrate more of these systems into existing major applications.

Five-Year Objectives

• Financial Systems
  As noted earlier the Lawson upgrade, from version 7 to version 8, has just been completed. Work will now begin on rolling out the Web-based version of Lawson now scheduled to be in place by the middle of 2005. Informix is the database server we currently use to store Lawson data. With the release of the next Lawson technical upgrade, scheduled for Dec. 2004, Informix is no longer supported. That doesn’t affect us immediately because the application upgrades planned for the next three (3) + years will run on the technical environment for quite some time. It does, however, factor into our desire to consolidate/standardize on a database platform and the need to make a decision about the database platform direction needed. Access to and delivery of financial data to the desktop remains a need of our users.
  Cyborg (Payroll/Personnel) is scheduled for an upgrade by the end of the 2004. Beyond that, besides regulatory and necessary maintenance releases, no further upgrades are planned because of our goal to get off of the AS/400. The time is coming to evaluate what system (Datatel or Lawson) should be used for Payroll/Personnel. The evaluation process needs to begin soon. The goal is to have a decision made by mid 2005. That decision will have a direct impact on the use of Lawson. If the decision is made to use Datatel’s Payroll/Personnel modules, then eventually a decision will have to be made about using Lawson at all. No matter what decisions are made, they will be made in collaboration with the business offices and the Mount Holyoke community.
• Student Systems
  The SIS implementation project is planned for completion by Fall 2004. From that point forward there will be ongoing maintenance and developmental upgrades to the functionality of the software. Most notably, Web Advisor (class registration via the Web) is scheduled for Fall 2004.
• Alumnae/Development
  Currently under discussion is moving from the Summit AS/400 system to Datatel’s Benefactor system within the next 24 months. Once Student Records and Accounts Receivables (financials) go-live this summer/fall attention will be given to evaluating Benefactor. The business offices and LITS staff are now beginning to confer with other institutions (e.g., Hampshire, Amherst) immediately to get a feel for the system.
• Desktop Computers
  Observing industry hardware and software standards minimizes many support service issues and aids in the reduction of incompatible software occurrences between departments. As technology changes, the technological needs of our community become more complex. Our challenge is to harness this change, while endeavoring to maintain a sense of standardization that will serve the broadest baseline of our community.
• Campus Web site
  Redesign of the Mount Holyoke Web site is in the early phase of planning. The Web is a critical publication, communication and access tool for internal audiences and perhaps even more importantly for our external audience. While it must serve both audiences, the focus of the new design will be on external audiences, prospective students. The Web as a powerful marketing and communications tool must be current, flexible and evolutionary. We are currently evaluating content management systems to provide a database driven approach to our Web site development as well as simple editing and site management tools to allow easy distributed content development and Web site design changes. The Web server(s) will continue to undergo the same infrastructure enhancements and consolidation as our other critical enterprise servers do.
• E-Business and E-Commerce
  Increasing demands of students, faculty, and alumnae, continuing budgetary constraints, and emerging opportunities for new and/or increased revenue streams are compelling higher education institutions to develop and implement e-business and e-commerce strategies. E-Business and e-commerce encompass many areas, including but not limited to, accessibility of services via the web; improvement of business processes; education and training; and risk management and compliance. Existing forays into these areas include: gift payment via credit card; student information via the web; and purchasing cards, all securely defined. We'll strive to meet the needs of the College in this area.