Project Development Activities
There are two major categories of projects within the TRAX Initiative. Legacy System Replacement projects and Service and Information Improvement projects. It has been recognized that with the critical need to replace our legacy systems, it is also imperative to improve service to students now and into the future. In order to satisfy both requirements, projects from each of these areas are in development concurrently. It is also clear that the current student systems are not meeting the university's ever-increasing needs for data. Therefore, the TRAX Initiative has been fast-tracked to deliver new processes and tools for obtaining information as quickly as possible. New releases of the SIS system are implemented every few months. Figure 9-2 outlines the multi-year plan for delivery and Figure 9-3 describes the planned releases between February 2002 and March 2003.

Currently, the Student Information System is delivered in one of the following forms:

Online

SIS Client - The client interface is provided for heavy users and is highly customizable. Typically staff using the system for daily updates and inquiry use the SIS client which is installed on the staff member's personal computer. The client is self-upgrading and provides a very efficient means for maintaining student data.

SSINFO - Student Services Information (SSINFO) provides web-based access for students to obtain and provide information such as personal demographics, class schedule, financial aid information, fees and invoice summary, online payment of tuition, fees and housing and much more. Several new enhancements have been made to the system within the last year. Refer to statistics (Figure 9-1 to view usage information and Figure 9-3 and Figures 9-4 through 9-8) for full listings of newly implemented features.

SIS on the Web - Implemented in July 2001, this feature allows academic advisors and specific departmental staff to view the same student information that the student sees on SSINFO. This allows the advisors and staff to better assist students with questions. In the future, this interface will be expanded to collect data such as grades. The ability to obtain course rosters for faculty will be added to this interface in July 2002.

Query

A student information query database (SIQ) is available for ad hoc requests for research and operational data. The majority of the data is updated on an hourly basis. Brio Query is the tool currently used to obtain data. A group of TRAX and departmental data query specialists produce the enterprise reports needed.

The current query database model is very difficult to use and requires much expertise to be able to obtain the information needed. The SIQ Refinement project was commissioned to understand and redevelop the 13 query data models in order to facilitate easier access to query data. The first 5 data models are planned to be implemented on June 29^th, 2002. The remaining 3 admissions-related models should be implemented by October 2002 and the refinement of the remaining 5 models, relating to newer functionality, will be scheduled when the requirements are better understood.

With each new release, requirements for reporting are analyzed and the data is modeled as appropriate in the SIQ database.

Project Status

The need to produce results quickly has been recognized. In order to "fast track" progress, projects are scheduled to progress concurrently. Initially, the plan to "fast-track" development included a new release of the SIS application approximately every six months. As we have moved forward, it has become apparent that it is more efficient to schedule smaller releases more frequently to allow for components to be put into place that are prerequisites for future development.

A release plan was developed which covers December 2001 through March 2003. This plan includes the implementation of course information and course schedule on the web, missing financial aid information collection, event management, academic history repository, transcript generation, certification processing, instructor and schedule deputy course information update capability and full audit functionality (http://www.purdue.edu/VPSS/Trax, Releases/Projects, Current Release Plans).

This fiscal year we successfully implemented 5 releases. The features in these releases are described in Appendix C, D, E, F, G and H. During November and December of 2001, we implemented our largest and most complex release of the SIS system to-date. The highlights of this release were the creation of course management and venue management components, student and internal organization management, a new system launcher with desktop icon capabilities and the implementation of the "Purdue-pay," electronic payment of tuition, fees and housing on SSINFO. The November release essentially doubled the size of the Student Information System. The implementation also brought to light many new issues regarding ownership and maintenance of shared organization and person data. Cross-functional teams have come together to analyze and resolve these issues. The support and cooperation among the many departments affected has been impressive.

In order to address the emerging issues regarding access to student data, the SIS Access Security project was initiated. The purpose of this project is to define the procedures to be used by University staff for managing access to data in the Student Information System (SIS) and Student Information Query system (SIQ).