Spring/Summer 2000 - Vol. 51, No. 1

Upgrade It? Replace It? Or Start a Revolution? An Adventure Story from the University of Arkansas
So Many Needs
Finding a replacement system would appear to be the obvious solution. But the university had only recently survived the traumatic implementation of a new student information system (SIS) for which it was, unbeknownst to university officials, the Beta site. The campus couldn’t stand another painful implementation. And now that the SIS was finally working, the university needed a product that could interface with it, preferably one that could use the electronic database manager that had been purchased for the SIS.

Furthermore, the university needed a system that truly fit its needs, rather than one into which it would have to squeeze and stretch itself, like the software version of a Procrustean bed. The University of Arkansas is a highly regulated institution, with a state classification and compensation system, state regulation of position titles and numbers, a prescribed staff evaluation system, state leave regulations, state purchasing requirements, and various other laws and regulations governing, or at least affecting, nearly all of its business, financial, and human resource functions. And it has a culture and history that favors a high degree of departmental autonomy and decentralized decision-making.
Introduction
So Many Needs
Any Capability I Want?
A Revolution is Sparked
Modules Away
1, 2, 3 Testing, Testing
Did Someone Mention Mistakes
Reaping the Rewards
In addition, the university needed a system that would run on its diverse mixture of desktop hardware. With computers growing rapidly in power and speed, but with prices still relatively high, the university couldn’t realistically consider a replacement of the machines from which its users would have system access. These machines ranged, at the time, from dumb terminals to 286s, 386s, and 486s and included PCs and Macs. Although most of these machines have been upgraded and replaced in the intervening years, the university still has a considerable variety of networked desktop hardware on which any system would have to work. The quick obsolescence of hardware and software is a simple reality, but so is the unlikelihood that the university, or any other higher education institution, is going to be able to place the newest and best on everyone’s desk.

Furthermore, the university needed a system that would run on its existing mainframe, servers, and institutional network; otherwise, their replacement costs would have to be figured into the purchase price. And the system would have to be compatible with any new technology that might be purchased during its lifetime of use.

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