To keep online services from lagging behind, UF is proceeding with plans to modernize its current student record system.
The 30-year-old homegrown technology, which includes the Integrated Student Information System, is expected to be upgraded within the next three to four years.
Elias Eldayrie, UF Information Technology vice president and chief information officer, said the upgrade is needed to meet the demands of mobile technology along with the growing population of students accessing UF services online.
“A lot of the functionality that students are used to today is much more modernized than what the system does today,” he said. “The mobile technology is not really as functional as we would like it to be for all parts of ISIS.”
Eldayrie and Zina Evans, associate provost and vice president for enrollment management, will be working on the estimated $40 million to $70 million upgrade of all student records.
One such update to ISIS is a waiting list for class registration, Eldayrie said.
“If you are trying to register for a class, and the class is closed, the new system allows you to go on a waiting list,” he said. “It’s first come, first serve, so when a seat opens up, then boom — you’re in.”
A six-month analysis of the current system revealed that it could address only 78 percent of the university’s needs.
“We think the new system will help us get closer to 95 percent of what the university’s needs are,” Eldayrie said.
He added that the new system, which will be implemented next January, will allow students to do more on their mobile devices.
UFIT communications manager Tracy Gale said the new system will better serve the UF online community.
“This way it will be in a comprehensive system, which is easier for staff to use and easier for people behind the scenes to maintain,” she said. “Not only will it make things consolidated, but this also allows us to look at expanding services in the future.”
A version of this story ran on page 3 on 1/17/2014 under the headline "UF to revamp ISIS, mobile tech"
