From: technews <technews@ou.edu>
To: "'it-fyi@listserv.ou.edu'" <it-fyi@lists.ou.edu>
Subject: it-fyi: Universities to Solve PeopleSoft Glitches (Chron of Highe
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1999 14:45:13 -0600
Universities Lean on Each Other to Solve PeopleSoft Glitches
By FLORENCE OLSEN
When glitches plagued the debut of a computer application designed to let
students register on line for courses, officials at several universities
were forced to scramble. But they found time to keep in touch with each
other.
The system, which gives each student transaction a unique identification
number, began misreading some of the numbers and preventing some students
from registering, says J.W. Myers, the university's assistant vice-president
for information technology.
James Madison officials say they took down the Web portion of the PeopleSoft
registration system shortly after 5 p.m. on November 1, only four hours
after turning it on for the first day of spring pre-registration.
Registration resumed the next morning, after university officials returned
to using the Windows version of the software, which was working fine, Mr.
Myers says.
Students registered by phone or in person.
James Madison officials immediately notified other universities in
PeopleSoft's "early adopters" program, Mr. Myers says.
Three other institutions -- Gallaudet and Northwestern Universities and the
University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh -- had planned to use the new Campus
Connection software when students registered for winter- and spring-term
classes.
Those plans were put on hold in the wake of James Madison's problems. What
ensued instead were daily conference calls to PeopleSoft, with officials
from each of the universities patched into the conversations.
Northwestern, which had planned to use the software for pre-registration
this week, suspended that plan for at least seven days. Northwestern
officials say they need to test software patches provided by PeopleSoft to
fix the problems that James Madison reported.
Alan K. Cubbage, vice-president for university relations at Northwestern,
says the university hopes to have the problem fixed in time for full
registration, which is scheduled to begin next week. "We aren't going back
to pencils and bubblesheets," he says.
In August, Gallaudet began using the software to let students look up
information about their schedules, transcripts, and financial aid, but not
to register, says Kenneth Epstein, a professor of educational foundations
and research. Gallaudet officials say they are still weighing a decision
about having students register on line for spring classes in a few weeks.
"Since hearing about some of the problems at J.M.U., we want to make sure
that all the interactive stuff works properly," says Mr. Epstein.
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Copyright 1999 by The Chronicle of Higher Education