Issue link: http://digital.corporatepress.com/i/416289
30 | november/december 2014 | Facilities Manager University of Iowa: We Built Steve Fleagle WHERE DID YOU START WHEN YOU MADE YOUR LAST BIG ADMINISTRATIVE IT INVESTMENT? Like many other large universities, the University of Iowa developed its student information system (SIS) using mainframe technology starting in the late 1960s. The components of the SIS were developed independently, both technically and function- ally. At the time, there were no obvious connections between the various functional areas. Each of the primary areas—admissions, registration, and financial aid—was developed over the decades and resulted in complete, but somewhat isolated, applications. By 2004, two things had become obvious. First, the indepen- dent nature of the various applications was becoming a barrier to meeting student and administrative needs. Second, the con- straint that the technology placed on the applications—especial- ly in terms of the ability to enhance, extend, and integrate—pre- sented an even bigger barrier. It was clear that we needed better integration and a better platform to improve our efficiency and to provide an enhanced student experience. WHAT DID YOU DECIDE AND WHY? When we began our evaluation process of new SIS options, the vendor landscape was full of uncertainty. We had significant questions about whether the systems on the market at the time would be able to be successfully implemented at the University of Iowa. Peers commented that after they had implemented their new SIS, they ended up several years behind in function- ality from their previous systems. The functional offices were wary of taking steps backward in terms of their core business systems. Altogether, this didn't leave us with many good options for vended solutions. In 2004, we went through the traditional RFP evaluation process and selected a commercial product. However, early on in the implementation, the functional and technical staff began expressing concerns about functionality, technical architecture, and scalability. After discussions with the vendor and implemen- tation partners, we stopped our implementation project. Shortly after that, the vendor announced that it was discontinuing development and was phasing out support for the prod- uct we had selected. Since we had just recently explored the market, we knew there weren't any other commercial or open-source products that would meet our needs. A few years earlier, we had implemented our own student portal and billing system. This had been successful in terms of functionality and resources consumed. With no other options, we decided we would take the same ap- proach with the remaining SIS modules. WHERE ARE YOU HEADED? Replacing the legacy system with an internally developed system was a six- year project with an out-of-pocket cost of $3.2 million. This took longer than typical vended SIS implementations, but it was also much less expensive, since we used mostly internal resources and didn't have software licensing or ongoing maintenance costs. With the new SIS, the Admissions Office was able to streamline its applicant processing to reduce the admissions deci- sion time from two weeks to 48 hours Open Doors for Everyone with America's Durable Door Openers ™ Model 2300 residential and Model 4300 commercial automatic door openers work with wall plates, switches, keypads, radio-operated hand controls and almost any activation method. Power Access continues to be the premier provider of automatic door openers for four decades, with many thousands of installations. For interior or exterior doors (DV\LQVWDOODWLRQDQGUHWUR¿W $XWRPDWLFRUPDQXDORSHUDWLRQ :LUHGDQGZLUHOHVVFRQWUROV 3URJUDPPDEOHRSHQFORVH KROGWLPHV 6WDQGDUG9$&FXUUHQW 800-344-0088 automaticdoor.biz