ISIDORE Project

Progress, Performance and Future

Overview

What has been done so far?

Evaluation of what has been done

What worked well?

What could be improved?

How performance evaluated and who by

IAUL

Auditors

What is next phase and when does it happen?

When will it affect IT staff?

What is ISIDORE (Recap & Update)

Collegiate University Wide Student Record System

Uses Oracle Student System software

Graduate Admissions, has now been phased in at Oxford, with all users trained

Graduate Admissions Office Nov 2004

Colleges and Departments March 2005

All completed ahead of schedule

What is ISIDORE (Recap & Update)

The second phase is other Student Admin Processes

Data collection exercises started Mar 2005

Agreed approach end Apr 2005

Tier 1 installs revised processes and configured OSS implementation planned centrally from Sep/Oct 2005 (due to delay in finishing complex Oxford security)

Tier 2 installs Colleges and Departments Sep/Oct 2006

Access to data

Local Information Custodians determine authorised users and their role

Authorised users can get read only access to relevant data to import into local systems

No links are currently planned to write data into ISIDORE from local systems

Because Oracle security delays will limit the full roll out of student admin, some standard reports are being developed using Oracle Discoverer and are now starting to be tested by selected users

Feedback on First Phase

Independent User Survey (by IAUL)

2/3rds viewed the process as a positive improvement in graduate admissions

Ability to guarantee a College place to applicants

Greater rigour in decision making

Increased understanding of staff role and interactions with others in the process

Colleges ability to inform applicants of number of places for each programme of study was a great benefit

“The University has begun to meet the principles of the new admissions process”

Feedback (continued)

The negative 1/3rd were concerned that:

The process had been designed for Student Administration rather than UABs and Colleges

The process implements gathered field selection. Why can’t we decide one by one, as we used to?

Why the fuss about meeting legislation? We would like to keep our existing processes unchanged

the project recognised that graduate correspondence can be improved and is therefore consulting with users on changes. [Although the correspondence documents for graduate applicants worked exactly as the user agreed design!]

Feedback (continued)

Feedback from IT staff

The use of PDF print outs was a very great improvement (in ease of setting up users and “training free” nature to Acrobat Reader users)

The instructions on set up and the IT briefing sessions were helpful

The instructions were too long and the dialogue box images insult the intelligence of IT staff!

Feedback from the Auditors on this phase

The project was well controlled and documented. Lessons learnt from an earlier project had been put to good effect.

Reliability of University Wide Data System

Server Room

Redundancy of Network Connections

Redundancy of Computers

Redundancy of Services

Redundancy of SAN equipment

Redundancy of Backup

Disaster Recovery

Performance

No server room performance issues, but there have been some admin network issues which are now being addressed (99.93% system availability before recent network issue)

Problems with flash flooding didn’t interrupt use

What is in Next Phase

Tier 1 September 2005

Implement Phase 2 processes and procedures in stages (see below)

Implement OSS to support new procedures and related student data

Allow data to be updated in OSS by designated super users, rather than by ALL relevant staff (current security issue).

Implement clear procedures to ensure effective data capture and managements

Provide all relevant staff with access to required data, most likely in report form

Tier 1a (MT 2005)

Undergraduate Admissions (for 2006)

Statutory Returns

Register Students

Manage Progression and Change

Reporting

Fee Collection

Tier 1b

Exams and Assessment (Mid Jan 2006)

Exam Scheduling using Facility CMIS (End Jan 2006)

Post Programme Activities (End Mar 2006)

Transcript

Degree Certificate Printing

Associated reporting

Tier 2 (MT 2006)

Review implemented processes and procedures

Devolve updated access to OSS to all relevant staff in Divisions and Colleges

System Overview -General

Oracle Student System
Application Layer

Oracle
Database Layer

Database Tables in
External SAN

Apache
Web Server

Web Firewall &
SSL Accelerator

Approved Browser on
Client PC

System for Heavy Users

Oracle Student System
Application Layer

Oracle
Database Layer

Database Tables in
External SAN

Apache
Web Server

Oracle Forms
Server

Web Firewall &
SSL Accelerator

jInitiator on
Client PC

Approved Browser on
Client PC

When will it Affect IT Staff

Until Tier 2 is about to go live there will be little impact upon local IT staff other than:

Some work to incorporate centrally produced data, obtained from secure reports

Attending Communication sessions for IT staff to be briefed

Prior to Tier 2 roll out ready for MT 2006, it will be necessary to set up staff with Oracle jInitiator plug in and to ensure that their machine can auto launch PDF reports [The same requirements as for Phase 1, but on a larger scale]

Questions?

For further information please visit the project website:
www.admin.ox.ac.uk/isidore

Or email:isidore@admin.ox.ac.uk

Statutory Returns are to Higher Education Statistics Agency, Higher Education Statistics Early Survey & Research Activity Survey

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ISIDORE Information Custodian Briefing

30th July 2003

Project ISIDORE

Lorraine Cotterell

2004-06-24T06:30:55

John Jenkins