Recently I was reading an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education about how a few schools were data mining to predict which students were at risk for dropping out of school. Initially I had my usual response when I read or hear about something another school is doing, “That’s really cool - why aren’t we doing that?” You may have a similar reaction when reading about approaches and technology that are in use elsewhere and wondering when or why not at UNT. I receive a lot of publications so it is not unusual for me to feel the same way on an occasional basis.

In this case though, I was brought back to reality. It just so happened that I had dinner at a conference a few weeks before with a gentleman from one of the schools (a large Big 10 school) mentioned in the article. I had learned during dinner this particular school is in the midst of implementing their first “purchased" student system. He shared with me that their current approach to registering students is to use paper forms. The school returns a paper packet back to students for confirmation of their course schedule and billing. Further, they do not accept credit cards for payments from students. I was shocked! Our university had registered students via telephone since the late 1980’s and had delivered registration via the web since the 1990’s. We had accepted credit card payments online since the 1990’s.

I realized at that point the fallacy of my thinking. I recalled the Dutch proverb that states “No man is a prophet in his own land.” When I read about exciting initiatives that other universities are doing, I often discount what UNTS is doing because I assume other schools are doing everything we do plus the new exciting thing that I’m reading about. I thought about conferences I have attended and seeing presentations about other schools’ initiatives, realizing that often we are doing these same things and dreaming even bigger. It reaffirmed for me that UNTS has made significant advances. I also realized that the difference in the use of particular technology between UNTS and other institutions were as much about choices as talent or commitment. Looking back at our past accomplishments and projects, the talent and commitment of our staff both in the functional and technical areas is outstanding. All areas have continually raised the bar for service without proportionate increases in resources.

The administrative areas at UNTS and the technical teams that support them are doing some pretty cool things. We are in the midst of the implementation of imaging at UNT including integrating delivery of images associated with EIS content to a large number of users. Our "still young" business intelligence practice is about to move beyond delivery of parameter driven reports to dashboards and analytics. The HR/Payroll steering committee is evaluating the delivery of many more self-service functions for employees and managers eliminating massive amounts of paperwork. The student administration area is working on an interactive tool that will allow students to create “road maps” to track their progress toward graduation. On the infrastructure side we have developed and implemented many tools, approaches, and processes to improve performance and recoverability. Just one example is near real-time backup of production campus solutions, distance learning and financial databases from the primary site on campus to the backup site at Discovery Park.

Going forward constituent expectations, technology capabilities and options, and those pesky external mandates will continue to grow in volume and complexity. Dr. Troy Johnson, Associate Vice-President for Enrollment Management, pointed out to me recently that our institution will not lack for opportunities and will have many more opportunities than can possibly be tackled. The key challenge will be deciding which opportunities to address with scarce administrative and technical resources to provide the greatest value to the University of North Texas System.

Imaging Application Integrates with EIS

Tracy Hansen, Computer Systems Manager, Enterprise Systems Technical Services, CITC

UNT is currently implementing the ImageNow electronic document management, imaging and workflow solution by Perceptive Software in several areas across campus where paper-intensive processes hinder efficiency. ImageNow integrates with EIS applications to give users instant access to document images directly from their EIS screens rather than having to leave their desks to search for paper files. With a button click on an EIS transaction record, users can view all the corresponding paperwork in ImageNow. Additionally, ImageNow Workflow allows electronic routing of the documents.

Previously, departments used the EC-Imaging system in which paper documents were processed before being scanned and manually indexed into EC-Image. With ImageNow, documents are scanned immediately as they arrive and indexed instantly using LearnMode™ technology that assigns a document index value from the data in EIS. The seamless integration of ImageNow with EIS ensures that users do not have to key in index values, and that all documents are indexed accurately, immediately visible in the system and processed in a fraction of the time.

Phase 1 of the ImageNow implementation is near completion. Purchasing and Payment Services, and the Controller’s Office are in production using the software. Phase 2 will include the areas of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships, Human Resources, Registrar, and Graduate Admissions. UNT will also roll out ImageNow to the Center for Students Rights and Responsibilities, Advancement, International Studies and Academic Affairs. Using ImageNow, administrative offices can capture all documents upfront, link them to the corresponding student records in EIS, and electronically route documents to the employees that need to review them, rather than physically delivering packets of paper that can get lost or delayed. Reviewers in academic departments will receive an e-mail alert when documents arrive in their workflow queues, resulting in a quicker turn-around time.

ImageNow helps create process efficiencies. Its reporting capabilities also allow managers to refine their processes by seeing how long documents sit in certain queues in order to identify and eliminate bottlenecks.

EIS Partners with UNT's ImageNow Project

The CITC Infrastructure & Technical Services Team (ITS) handled all of the hardware and operating system setup to support ImageNow. They helped in configuring the network for the servers that house the imaging software.  This was a unique setup as it was not installed in the area where ITS normally has MS Windows servers.  It was installed under the campus active directory that is managed by the CITC Directory Services Team. Extensive testing was conducted by ITS to ensure everything would work appropriately.  ITS received significant help from the CITC divisions of Communication Services and Enterprise Systems Technical Services during the setup.  Another aspect of the work done was setting up the fax portion of ImageNow which included work from the CITC Data Communications team managed by CR Chevli.

“The co-operation and camaraderie in and among all of these groups to facilitate this set up was very exciting as each group had to work continually together to make this new setup work for this high-profile application,” said Michael Heredia, ITS Computer Systems Manager.  “In the past, each group had very distinct duties within the course of an installation.  After their particular part was completed, the group was no longer involved and really had no knowledge of the outcome of the installation.  It was very refreshing to be part of the whole where all became involved in the solution.”

Working with ImageNow consultants was an important and positive aspect of this project. “The consultants from ImageNow were very friendly and professional, and helped in constructing the environment so as to keep the availability of the product to the users 24/7,” said Michael Heredia.  “We all worked together to not only make sure the application would be able to run but to also make sure the servers and network were properly secured.” Paula Davis, a member of the EIS Application Infrastructure Management team, worked with the consultants for three weeks getting application software installed on servers. She converted close to 3 million images from the current EC-Image system to ImageNow. In collaboration with staff from UNT Purchasing and Payment Services and the ImageNow consultants, she migrated information for LearnMode into ImageNow. LearnMode does the indexing of the images in ImageNow.

ImageNow Button Facilitates Document Retrieval in EIS

The EIS Tools, Applications, Reporting, and Portal team (EISTARP) recently created tools in EIS that allow systems developers to easily incorporate ImageNow document retrieval into desired EIS pages.  “These tools will expedite the process of incorporating ImageNow into EIS with minimal training for the developers,” said Ginny Richards, Administrative Computing Team Manager, EIS Tools Support. “A developer simply adds a “button” to the page or subpage, does a little configuration, and voilà, functional users with the proper security access are able to click the button to retrieve any scanned documents related to the item they are looking at in EIS.”

Financial Aid Fact Book

The Financial Aid and Scholarships Systems Data Team (FASSDT) have been working closely with the Director and Associate Directors in UNT Denton Financial Aid and Scholarships to create and design Cognos reports from the EIS data warehouse database.  The reports developed are allowing Financial Aid and Scholarships to create a fact book containing historical data analysis of information, such as number of financial aid recipients, student’s calculated financial need, and the type of aid awarded to meet the student’s need.  Analysis of past financial aid trends will allow the administration to better determine the financial aid funding needed for upcoming years.  It also allows the Financial Aid and Scholarships office to evaluate the information to make sure that UNT is using the current level of funding to best meet the financial need of students.

The reports are available to the Financial Aid users through the myUNT Portal, and can be accessed anytime for the most up-to-date information.   The completion of this project is a milestone in allowing Financial Aid and Scholarships the ability to provide quick and accurate responses to requests involving financial aid information from both within and outside UNT.

CRM Project Update

The Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) application provides a new prospect recruitment system. The CRM team is comprised of project members from the UNT Admission's offices and AIS (Administrative Information Systems) developers in UNT's Computing & Information Technology Center (CITC). CRM was implemented in the UNT Graduate Admission's area during the project's Phase I (see "Graduate Admissions Improves Recruitment Capabilities with CRM"). Undergraduate Admissions is expected to go into production with CRM by mid-October 2008.

Dr. Troy Johnson, Vice-President for Enrollment Management, recently sent the following message to campus audiences:

Below is a Ten Point Summary of our current phase with CRM.  It's a major step as you'll read.  It's expensive and takes lots of effort from many corners.  I cannot overstate how critical this is to our operations.  Mostly, CRM is full of opportunity for UNT.

1. Future CRM Use at UNT.  We will have established significant technical resource infrastructure to support further development of CRM at UNT.
2. Critical Firsts for Undergraduate Admissions.  Undergraduate Admissions will be enabled for the first time to conduct electronic and print communication with prospects and potential prospects from within the same system.
3. Replacement of 20 Year Old Prospect System.  By the end of this phase, we will be enabled by CRM to retire a legacy undergraduate prospect system that has been in place for more than two decades. 
4. Applicant to Enrollment Tracking.  CRM will enable us to significantly enhance our ability to respond to SAT and ACT profile data, target and market to high scorers and ensure effective applicant to enrollment tracking.
5. Custom Data Entry and Search List Use.  By the end of this phase, we will be enabled by CRM to more effectively use purchased student search lists, achieve direct capture of web-based student inquires, and streamline manual data capture with a custom data entry solution.
6. Enhanced Deduping of Records.  A single effective instance of each individual in CRM will be maintained by means of a custom deduping solution that will also facilitate EmplID matching in Campus Solutions.
7. Immediate Creation and Update of Files. As prospects submit applications or test scores, processes will ensure that these individuals are also created/updated in CRM.
8. Batch Processes for High Volume Distribution.  We will have CRM batch process support for the high volume distribution of core undergraduate print collateral, such as view books, housing, financial aid, scholarships, Honors College, etc., as well as the ability to integrate immediate online delivery into recruitment communication flow. 
9. Recruitment Targeting.  We will have the ability to use campaign and web dialog functionality to target specific segments of the undergraduate prospect pool, as well as to promote recruitment events.
10. Evaluation Tools.  We will have the ability to develop the reports we need to manage our business process and better evaluate the effectiveness of our undergraduate recruitment efforts. 

“Please note that reaching functional maturity with these aspects of CRM will take us most of a full cycle of use, through September 2009,” said Dr. Johnson.  “Also, progress and experience continue to grow following phase one, CRM installation and graduate recruitment.”

Student Records System Development Activities

EIS functional areas are supported by teams of system developers. This quarter we take a look at the technical activities of the Student Records System Development team lead by Linda Wallace. This team supports the areas of student records, admissions, and contributor relations at UNT.

For Admissions, work is progressing on the Funnel Report. The report compares Admissions data week by week with numbers from the previous year at the same point in time. The report will be produced using Cognos; go-live is scheduled for the end of the summer. Undergraduate and Graduate Admissions staff will benefit by having significant time freed up that currently is taken up with manually pulling and calculating the data for this report.

For Student Records, many development hours are focused on addressing requirements to enforce the “6 drop limit rule” required by SB1231. Students reenrolling in Texas public institutions of higher education for the first time beginning in fall 2007 or after may drop a total of six courses. This total includes any course a transfer student has dropped at another Texas public institution of higher education. This does not apply to courses dropped prior to the census date or courses dropped with a grade of WF, and do not apply if the student withdraws for the term or session. Students enrolled prior to Fall 2007 are not affected by this legislation.

For Contributor Relations (CR), team members collaborated with the Data Warehouse & Reporting Infrastructure Team to provide reporting using the data warehouse and the Cognos Query Studio. CR functional users can now do ad hoc reporting easily and efficiently. Additionally, a new Communications Report was developed that allows CR functional users to identify and communicate with UNT contributors who need follow up contact.

When The Lights Go Out

EIS is very dependent on electronic resources to sustain its functionality. This quarter we look at the backup system used for power outages.

1. In case of power failure to the GAB and Discovery Park (DP), what is the power source?
   • GAB - a very large UPS (universal power source) containing 80 truck-size type batteries that auto-switches to a generator
   • Discovery Park - UPS only. There is a generator at DP installed on an outdoor pad but not yet hooked up to the UPS. It should, before the end of the year, be connected as the power source to which the DP UPS will auto-switch.
2. How long will the power source run?
   • GAB UPS - switchover time to generator is about 9 seconds, then generator runs indefinitely, given fuel as needed
   • DP UPS – potential UPS run time before failure is about 2 hrs; the generator, once in place, will run indefinitely, given fuel as needed
3. How is power source fueled?
   • Both UPS units are recharged by city power
   • Both generators are diesel
4. Who is responsible for this backup system?
   • The UPS units and generators are maintained by UNT Facilities; monitoring is conducted by Computer Operations, CITC Infrastructure & Technical Services.

UNT HR and CITC Partner in PS Query Training Effort

The UNT HR department recently adopted a new paradigm for HR staff to query EIS data. Rather than having one staff person responsible for all query requests, there is a "super user" in each HR area that received extensive training on the use of PS Query 8.9 to prepare them for their new responsibility. These users are supported by HR staffer, Tony Mitchell, who has IT experience. Tony is referred to by HR staff as the "PS Query super-super user".

The training that HR super-users received was a collaborative effort between CITC and HR. Over the period of a week, staff attended two types of training sessions conducted by CITC staff. Steve Vrbka, Application Team Manager for Payroll/HR Systems, lead information discussions on the PeopleSoft tables and data that the queries would touch. The first session was a high-level overview and the second session dealt with tables relating to specific HR areas, such as Benefits and Compensation. Session attendees also participated in PS Query 8.9 training lead by Cathy Gonzalez, EIS Training, Communications and Administration Manager. This training gave them hands-on experience learning the PS Query 8.9 functionality while performing exercises using the knowledge acquired in the information discussions. Tony Mitchell has continued the learning experience in subsequent weeks by conducting weekly follow-ups in the HR training lab. During these sessions, HR "super users" get assistance with query questions that come up as they become proficient in conducting query tasks. Feedback from the users indicates this training model has worked very well for them. From the IT perspective, the level of training these users received was imperative for ensuring queries are being run by people who are savvy about the impact queries have on EIS resources.

The benefits of using this support and training model have been multi-dimensional. On the HR side, users are more knowledgeable about their tables and data as well as becoming more independent to run queries when needed. Super users can make small edits to existing queries without having to wait for support from a CITC system developer. Now they can test and troublshoot their queries with the help of their HR “super super” user prior to running them in production. This approach frees up system developers to tackle only query problems beyond the scope of the “super super” user, and to focus on the many projects and support issues needed by functional areas.