Details on the Upcoming SIS Upgrade

Here are some details about the SIS upgrade and how it will effect student advising:

Various computing functions will be taken off line Friday, February 15, 2008 for 6 days as the university migrates to a new version of the applications you are familiar with for looking at your transcript, degree progress report, registering for classes, drop and add, and several other important functions. Many functions will be affected, and when the system comes back on line Thursday, February 21st, it will have an entirely new look and feel starting with Onestart. Onestart is a local, IU designed, web portal that connects you to applications and services including those provided by Oracle (formerly PeopleSoft). Friday the university is migrating to Oracle 9.0 on all campuses (the downtime will be university wide).

Here is the immediate impact to you, the student. First, for 6 days starting next Friday, academic advisors and others normally involved with student records and services will not have access to most of the tools we use to help you. We won’t be able to answer questions during that period based on your record. If you are thinking about scheduling an advising appointment, call (812) 855-2151 before Friday! Most advisors plan to spend Friday, and the following Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday catching up on training and other things we can do to prepare for the new system.

Second, the system will have a new look and feel on Wednesday, February 20th. The functionality will be the same, but some of the things you are used to will be in different places. For example, the Onestart services tab will open with a view of your schedule, any holds on your record or bursar balance, and a few other things of that nature. To look at your degree progress report you will need to go a little deeper into Onestart to find it. Look for something called the “Student Center” when you open the Onestart services tab. This will take you to lots of the tools you are familiar with.

The new system is more dynamic, and as it evolves, you are going to see improvements in all areas. There will be a student academic planner, which is merely a place where you can make notes about courses you plan to take in various semesters. However, you will be able to load courses from your planner into the registration system when its time for you to register for classes. This migration is taking us to a more powerful system and we expect growing pains, of course, but also a much better system as the university continually improves it.