Student Administration System Upgrade Go Live
In February 2023 the Student Administration System was upgraded, one of the largest IT upgrade projects completed in UCC.
What was this project about?
The Student Administration Systems upgrade included the upgrade of UCC’s ITS Student Records system and the DMIS mark entry system, the implementation of Jaspersoft reporting, and a range of software functionality and security enhancements.
ITS is UCC’s Student Records IT System used for the management of the various stages of the student lifecycle such as Application & Admission, Registration, Fee Payment, ID Card Production, Examination Timetables, Examination Results and Graduation. Over 1000 admins and academic staff and over 25000 students use the ITS software.
Staff will use the back office ITS Software for management of the Student Academic Record, management of Student Fee Payments, and for producing the Result Broadsheets used in Examination Boards.
Students will use the student facing version of ITS, which is branded in UCC as MyStudentAdmin, to complete Online Registration, access their Examination Timetable and access their Programme and Module Results.
ITS is also the main data source for Student Information, which is populated out to the numerous other software systems around the University. Examples – Access Control, Digital Hub, Canvas, the Mardyke, the Library, Student Health, Student Counselling, DMIS Mark Entry, the Careers Service and UCC’s Data Warehouse.
What improvements came from the Upgrade?
ITS is the source of Student Data to the Digital Hub and the enhanced student administration services introduced as part of the student administration strategic programme. This project was a critical enabler for support stability, functional enhancements and introduced significant security improvements.
The Upgrade brought ITS from Version 3.5 up to the latest available Version 4.1 and included the upgrade of the platforms supporting the student administration applications.
For the Staff facing back-office version ITS Software, the upgrade focused on moving away from older style screens and provided the staff members with a more modern User Interface for managing Student Data.
For the Student facing ITS Software, which the students will know as the MyStudentAdmin software, two major changes were implemented. The first is a significant security enhancement around login, and the latter change involved making the MyStudentAdmin software more device responsive, so that the User Interface responses appropriately to Mobile and Tablet devices and presents a more professional looking service to students when they are logged on using their mobile devices.
A Shout Out to the Project Team
The upgrade was led and project managed by Jason Sheehan from Academic Services, which is part of the Deputy President & Registrar’s Office, together with IT Services staff, Michael Walsh and Paul Sheehan, with critical go live support provided across the team in IT Services. A significant software testing phase was also carried out by the Student Records and Examinations Office, Fees Team, and Admissions Team. A truly cross functional UCC project effort.
Together with email communications to staff and students, Student IT Services shared information about the upgrade including any changes or impacts to service through their Instagram and Twitter accounts.
With a lot of hard work from all those involved in the Project, the ITS Upgrade v4.1 upgrade was successfully deployed and went Live on Feb 13th 2023!
