MIT Reports to the President 1995-96

STUDENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

The Student Information System Department (SIS) exists to serve the students, administrators and faculty of MIT. It provides 24 hours a day, seven day a week support for both the On-Line Student Information System (OLSIS) and the administrative system (MITSIS). The Department is user driven in its approach to all aspects of SIS support and the goal is to meet or exceed the User's needs within the schedule required.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR

This year was the first full year with MITSIS under new management. The SIS Team, which began the year reporting to the Office of the Registrar, became a department reporting directly to the Vice President for Administration. This change in reporting recognizes the continued broadening of the scope of the SIS.

The Student Services Reengineering (SSReE) effort took center stage. The SIS Team provided technical consultation to the redesign effort early in the year. The subsequent implementation effort, known as the Financial and Academic Services Transition (FAST), was formed and served as a project structure in which new SIS development for redesigned business processes is being accomplished.

Early in the FAST implementation, the emphasis was on building the procedural and technical foundation on which the redesigned processes would be supported. The FAST IT Mobilization project targeted the following tasks (among others) to create this structure: 1) profiling of the current system, 2) investigation of system development methodology and 3) initiation of future system architecture.

Several FAST-related tasks were undertaken. Some of these, such as the Graduate Student Awards processing (started by the Graduate Student Office), Automated Pre-Registration (initiated by the Office of the Registrar) and Student Access Enhancements (in support of the Bursar and Student Financial Aid offices) were begun prior to the SSReE effort. These tasks, embraced by the FAST team, continue to make progress toward successful implementation in the near future.

PERSONNEL

This year met with some personnel opportunities. Specific personnel changes were: 1) JoAnne Stevenson, a Senior Analyst Programmer was recognized as the SIS Assistant Manager and continues to be a valuable partner to the SIS Director, 2) Andrea Bernard was promoted to Network Application Programmer Analyst, recognizing her key role in expanding the SIS computing infrastructure, 3) Chris Gerstner, Senior Analyst Programmer in charge of the Financial Aid functionality resigned and 4) Huey Chan joined the staff as Senior Analyst Programmer, providing leadership support to the Financial Aid Office. In addition to the changes to the permanent staff, short term needs were met by the utilization of expert consultants. This combination of MIT personnel and outside assistance created a highly skilled and responsive development team which continued to provide a high level of system maintenance and development support.

FUTURE PLANS

As part of the Student Services Reengineering effort, the SIS department will undergo organizational changes to more effectively support its user base. This internal reassessment of the SIS department will take place in conjunction with the FAST effort. Working with the reorganized home offices (Bursar, Registrar, SFAO) and the new Student Services Center, a broadened user group to provide direction of need and priorities of new SIS support will be defined. In addition, partnership with MIT's IS organization will continue to be fostered.

Specific projects to be undertaken will be defined by/with the User departments. However, the goals for the coming year are to:

Robert A. Rippcondi

MIT Reports to the President 1995-96