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Student services project to go live soon
UB’s new student information system will go live in phases over the next year, improving and simplifying tasks, including academic advising, registration, grading and processing financial aid, Kara Saunders, assistant vice provost for undergraduate education, told the Faculty Senate at its Tuesday meeting.
While members of the UB community may struggle, initially, to adapt to changes, the Student Services Transformation project, part of the UB 2020 long-range strategic plan, will ultimately modernize the university’s operations in a way that will benefit students, staff and faculty, Saunders said.
“We had one of our members…compare this to moving into a new house—that as you’re getting ready to do things, you’re really excited for everything that’s going to happen, you’re packing boxes and you’re really getting pumped up for this,” Saunders said. “And then you get in the new house and it’s really great and you’re running through the rooms and you’re all excited about what you have. And then you realize you’re living out of a suitcase…The furnace breaks and you’re not really sure how to fix it, but you could have fixed your old furnace.
“So it can be a little bit frustrating as you get new to the process, but then when you get to the other side, you discover closet space you didn’t have,” Saunders continued. “Spring comes around and the flowers start to come up and there’s things there that you didn’t even know were there, and you’re able to start really using what you have.”
The Student Services Transformation project is all about improving customer service. Students will be able to map out their academic program, entering information on courses they plan to take in future semesters—data that will give departments an idea, in advance, of how many sections to schedule.
Faculty members will benefit, too, from advancements such as the new system’s ability to assign multiple instructors to a single course, enabling professors in team-taught classes to perform such functions as grading and reviewing student lists. The system will streamline data collection, enabling authorized offices across the institution to share students’ personal information.
Saunders told her audience that the project will go live in phases between now and 2011, beginning with a new course catalog, which is already up and running. Changes to the look, feel and functions of the MyUB portal are among the most visible improvements on the way.
The Student Services Transformation project is a university-wide initiative, with a core project team that includes stakeholders from dozens of UB units, ranging from schools to University Communications and the Division of Athletics. As implementation begins, staff members knowledgeable about the new information system will be in touch with offices and departments that will be affected, Saunders said.
“As we’re getting ready for some functionality to roll out, we’re going to be in direct contact with those audiences and let them know what’s coming so that it’s not a surprise,” she said. “We’re already in touch with department schedulers about what’s happening, with undergraduate admissions and graduate admissions folks.”
One of the most powerful demonstrations of the importance of the transformation project came at the end of Saunders’ presentation when she showed senators screen shots of the old system—dated, with typed commands and neon lettering on a black background—and the new system, which resembles a Web site.
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