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Three software companies have given CWRU's UWIN2 planning committee
a sneak peak of what is possible with a campus-wide system of
data.
Representatives from Oracle, PeopleSoft and SCT made presentations
to the committee over a two-day retreat in late July. All three
companies focused mainly on software solutions for student records.
CWRU plans for UWIN2, the University-wide Integrated Information
System, to be a campus-wide database that would start with student
records and incorporate administrative support, like purchasing
and grant management. The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software
also may eventually include alumni information.
"Committee members were pleased overall by the vendors' presentations
and are excited about the possibilities," said Bob Jefferis, UWIN2
project director.
Highlights from Oracle, which has recently started offering ERP
software, include a system that would interface with Blackboard
and calendaring, activity-based costing and user-designed fields,
among others.
PeopleSoft, which is well established in the ERP business, offers
entirely Internet-based architecture, onsite support as well as
comprehensive interfaces and other features.
The advantages to SCT, which has been in the student records
market for a long time, include interoperability, a Web portal,
common people table and decentralized zones of operation.
Information from the retreat, as well as from online surveys
completed by hundreds of CWRU employees, will be used by the UWIN2
planning committee to spell out the specifics of a system. The
committee will then issue an RFP, or request for proposal, with
the top two bidding vendors returning for a campus-wide open forum
in early November. Additional companies will then be identified
to meet any specific needs not covered by the main software system.
Employees also can provide input and keep abreast of the ongoing
project during monthly brown bag information sessions the second
Thursday of each month. The next UWIN2 forum is from noon to 1
p.m. September 12 in 13 Crawford Hall.
Information on the initiative is also available online at http://www.cwru.edu/its/uwin2.
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