It's ISIS time...

If you haven’t already heard of ISIS, then you soon will. Standing for Integrated Student Information System, the ISIS programme is a major strategic development for the University and will transform the University’s ability to manage student information, by creating a single record for each student that can be easily accessed by all colleagues, resulting in a more efficient and effective system. The new system will provide much more than simply the student record. It is an integrated solution that covers the whole student lifecycle from initial enquiry to alumni.

The Programme is being rolled out in 3 phases, with each phase containing a number of projects. Phase I has already been completed and successfully deployed functionality for Admissions, System Resources, Security Management, Curriculum, System Enquiries and Reporting.

Phase II has already delivered the first project which enables the HESA return on destination of leavers to be submitted from the new system. The others are going live over the next few months and include Academic Database, Curriculum Management, Student Records, Fees and SAAS (Student Awards Agency for Scotland), Self Service Registration and Statutory Returns.

In parallel with Phase ll, projects due to be delivered in Phase III have already commenced activities with key stakeholders from across the University being brought together to define and record our current business processes and requirements.

The students will benefit from a modern comprehensive online service, including self-service capabilities. Academics will benefit from reduced administration and easy access to online student data, as well as the ability to track a student’s progress online throughout their studies. Administrative staff will see increased efficiencies through the introduction of a single student record. The University leadership will benefit from improved reporting and better access to management information. Everyone will benefit from the implementation of a secure and resilient system which is flexible and easy to maintain.

The application was selected after an extensive evaluation of potential systems in the market place. It assessed the functionality of the product, cost, and the overall implementation approach. The supplier finally chosen was Agresso who have an established track record in working with higher education institutions and have an extensive portfolio of relevant software solutions.

Kathleen Maurer, Head of Enterprise Information Services for GCU says: “At some point, every single person in the university will be touched by ISIS and so it’s vitally important that we make sure we are getting it right for everyone. With this in mind, an immense amount of consultation and planning with key staff across the University has been necessary to ensure the business processes and requirements have been at the heart of the implementations.”

A major part of each project is the migration of the relevant data from the legacy system Omnis, over into ISIS. Full User Acceptance Testing is then conducted in a controlled environment before the End User training takes place just prior to switching over to the new system.

The ISIS Programme has been a huge undertaking, with colleagues from across the University all playing an integral part in its development. As well as the dedicated ISIS core team of nineteen people, there are also ISIS Co-ordinators in all schools and support departments, whose role is to provide a two-way channel of communication for the Programme. In addition, over sixty members of staff from across the University with expertise in specific areas, have also been drafted in to support the activities in each project. Support and advice will continue once the programme is rolled out.

Kathleen concludes: “We appreciate that the transfer to the new system takes time and does require considerable input from staff. However, once fully implemented, the entire University stands to benefit from the ISIS programme. It will enable us to provide a high quality student experience and to ensure that we are at the forefront of the sector.

We’d like to thank everyone who has been involved so far for their help and support, which has been invaluable in developing the programme.”

More information on our ISIS programme is available on the ISIS website.
The ISIS Programme blog also offers regular articles with a comments facility.

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