SIS Ecosystem: The SIS Project and Its Supporting Work

The Student Information System (SIS) Project aims to re-envision and improve the student experience at UC San Diego. The reality, however, is that one project alone, no matter how large or complex, cannot do this. The SIS Project team is responsible for overseeing the work of more than just the SIS Project; the team is also responsible for the oversight of other key projects with connections to the student-experience and existing student-related systems.

The SIS Project team is currently overseeing or contributing to more than ten distinct projects, all of which contribute in some way to the success of the SIS Project. This includes both in-scope project work, as well as preparation work and continuity planning. The responsibilities of the SIS Project team for each of these additional projects varies from full responsibility for project execution to oversight of change management activities to awareness of ongoing project progress. The SIS Project team refers to all of this work, collectively, as the SIS Ecosystem.

To read more about the scope of the SIS project and its supporting work, please read this article from February 2022: Managing Project Scope. For updates on each of the active projects being overseen by the SIS Project team, please continue reading.

Active Work for the SIS Ecosystem

Below is a list of active work currently underway within the SIS Ecosystem, all of which contributes to the successful execution of the project.

Ecosystem Updates

It is our goal to keep the university community updated not just on the core SIS Project, but also on all the other projects that make up the ecosystem. Below are brief descriptions of, and updates on, each of the currently active projects.

Core Student Information System

This in-scope work will replace our current Integrated Student Information System (ISIS) with a new student information system.

Recent project milestones:

• RFP for SIS Vendor Partnership Released (November 2021)
• Vendor responses reviewed, meetings with vendors, and vendors scores tabulated between January and April 2022
• Recommendation submitted to and endorsed by governance committee, then submitted to project executive sponsor between April and May 2022
• University senior leadership currently determining next steps for the project

Curriculum Management

This in-scope work will implement a curriculum management system for the university. This will be a wholly new system, as we do not currently have a curriculum management system, and will serve all areas of the university, bringing the School of Medicine, School of Pharmacy, and the Division of Extended Studies onto a system with the rest of campus.

Recent project updates:

• Curriculum Management: Tracking Course and Program Details in a Complex Academic Enterprise (March 2022)
• What We Need from a Curriculum Management System (April 2022)

Oracle Student Financial Planning (SFP) for Financial Aid

This in-scope work will replace our current financial aid system, Pro Student Aid Management (ProSAM), with a new system, Oracle SFP.

Recent project updates:

• Implementing a New Financial Aid System (May 2022)

Classroom Resource Scheduling (25Live) for Extended Studies

This preparation work for the SIS Project will implement 25Live for the Division of Extended Studies (DES). 25Live is currently used for campus classroom scheduling and space use optimization, with this project DES will use 25Live for classroom and event scheduling.

Recent project milestones:

• Project kickoff was held on May 5, 2022
• DES stakeholders began training on the use of 25Live on May 18, 2022

CRM for Extended Studies International Programs Applications (Slate)

This preparation work for the SIS Project will implement Slate for Extended Studies’ International Programs. Slate is currently in use on campus for both undergraduate and graduate applications.

Recent project milestones:

• Project kickoff was held on January 13, 2022
• Current state process mapping and requirements gathering were completed between January 19 and May 3, 2022

Degree Audit (uAchieve) for Extended Studies

This preparation work for the SIS Project will implement uAchieve for Extended Studies. uAchieve is currently in use on campus for degree audits and will be used at DES for certificate and non-certificate program audits.

Recent project milestones:

• Memorandum of Understanding signed between Extended Studies and Enrollment Management for the hiring of a Degree Audit Encoder to support DES
• Degree Audit Encoder recruitment opened

Graduate Financial Support Request Tool 2.0

This preparation work for the SIS Project will update the Graduate Financial Support Tool to work both with the new financial system and with the new financial aid system. The successful completion of the in-scope Financial Aid Project depends on the successful completion of this project.

Recent project updates:

• Project added to SIS Project Ecosystem in April 2022

Mobile WebReg Application

This preparation work for the SIS Project will design and deploy a Mobile WebReg application for an improved student experience. Students have requested a mobile application and will welcome the ability to register for classes via this mobile application, so this enhancement should be greatly appreciated.

Recent project updates:

• Mobile WebReg Overview road show presented to the Registrar's Office in March 2022
• Ongoing change management meetings
• ITS will be focusing on Summer 2022 student hiring/training and ongoing development
• Mobile WebReg follow-up meeting scheduled for late October 2022

Report Remediation

This preparation work for the SIS Project will create new versions of existing reports using the Student Activity Hub as the underlying source for the data, rather than other systems.

Recent project updates:

• Onboarding Cognos developers to work on work on recreating existing student reports using data from the Student Activity Hub
• Continuing to work to bring new new data sources into the Student Activity Hub

Virtual Advising Center 2.0

This preparation work for the SIS Project will enhance an already existing and daily utilized unified communication tool between students, College advisors and Department advisors as it relates to sharing and preserving student advising records.

Recent project updates:

• Ongoing weekly business team meetings to envision, discuss, and review features and enhancements; topics include user interface layout, navigation of threaded communication flow, and differences in current practices by campus departments for communicating with undergraduates versus graduate students
• Developers show mock-ups and demonstrate enhancements every two weeks based on previous discussions

Downstream Systems Inventory

This continuity planning work for the SIS Project aims to identify all systems downstream of the student information system and help determine how they will work with the future system. The SIS Project team collaborates with ESR Continuity Planning on this work.

Recent project updates:

• Submit to the inventory of existing business processes and applications that are using data from ISIS or other student-related systems

Questions?

Have questions or concerns about any of the projects in the SIS Project ecosystem? We want to hear from you! Contact us at esr-student@ucsd.edu.